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I use linux all the time, I'm no expert, but I'm learning. There is nothing which I want to do on a PC which I can't do in Linux (except play the sims and black&white (except I think sims works with wine?)). The things I do regularly:
1) Write letters, do my university coursework etc [openoffice, koffice] 2) Work on my websites [kate, PHP, MySQL, Apache, PERL] 3) Listen to MP3s and CDs [xmms] 4) Read e-books [Xpdf] 5) Waste time [KSpaceDuel, Frozen Bubble, LBreakout etc] 6) Surf [konqueror, opera, mozilla etc] 7) Email [kmail, Evolution, mutt] 8) Watch TV [zapping] 9) Use instant messengers [Kit, Licq etc] 10) Look at my digital photos [Gimp, Eye of gnome] 11) Keep track of my finances [openoffice, koffice] 12) Seti@home 13) Burn CDs [um... forgotten what I use] 14) And more. What is it that you do in addition to this that you think you can't do in Linux? And using linux do do these things would have other advantages: 1) More stable [10 days uptime and counting (had to restart to have a new electric meter put in) 2) Free, no $£$£ needed. 3) Open - you can see the sourcecode and alter it if you want. 4) More fun to learn about. Hope this helps you make the right choice. |
Y use Linux instead of windows ??
1)Cash.MS gets way too much money for their garbage.
2)Licenses again a cash factor but this comes from being a computer refurber and installing windows 95-2k because XP is too expensive.And Linux is next to nothing for even a resller like myself. 3)Have you used any of the above OSs with recent software?Crash and burn baby.Crash and burn! 4)Packages!RD,Mandrake,Ark all come with all the basics you could possibly need!Windows comes with IE and MP Ooooh! 5)Drivers! 6)Drivers! 7)Drivers!Ok I said it 3x but most of these MS OSs lack support for newer hardware or older.And even XP has support for some newer stuff but it is not backwards compatible with a lot of hardware(Or software!).I must have downloaded 5k drivers in the last 6 years for MS OSs.For Linux I downloaded a Nvidia driver and Winmodem driver and that's it!(For 4 computers so far.) 8)Compatibility.In my opinion MS best product ever Win98.From a reseller point of view reasonably stable,easy to install,easy to get(cheap)and compatible with older and newer hardware.And this year has seen the death knell of 98 as it's just too too old.But compared to Linux it's a joke and so is XP.Awesome support in RD and Mandrake for hardware. 9) Very easy to install for someone who is not computer savy.At least ARK,RD and Mandrake are.(Friend with no knowledge instlled RD without a hitch!) 10)Choices,choices and more choices.From distributions to packages to settings awesome! There is one big negative through no fault of Linux and that's software compatibility which is just not there for many programs. Although the tide is turning many software companies are starting to offer Linux versions of their product. Overall I'm switching to Linux and so are my customers although they may not know it yet!It's 10x the OS that MS XP or their other crap is. PS Security. I never realized how bad MS products are at making you PC safe.In fact none of them except the Pro versions have any!And even Xp Pro,W2k Pro and ADV SRVR 2003 have big issues.Pathetic for the money people spend on Gates's nonsense. |
Yeah, bring it on!
About the drivers:
I've seen monkeys do better than M$. I rebuilt my computer (mostly new hardware including motherboard) and I just kept the hard drive with linux on it, and guess what? It booted and worked fine first time, only thing that wouldn't work was USB because the new mobo was usb-uhci while the old was usb-ohci, but that was fixed easily. I tried that with win98. Crash and burn... lots. Well, at least '98 don't ask you for some CD key when you do that. |
Linux vs. Windoze
It's interesting to read all of the posts because they mainly center around the idea that one OS is better than an another. Everyone has an "OS loyalty," for sure. I guess, to me, it's a matter of what OS does what best. I am a developer and our shop does n-tier applications, of which the middle tier is written in VB6, which is a Windoze only language. At home, I use Linux exclusively for email, browsing, documents, etc, but use Windoze for gaming, because in my opinion, Linux currently sucks for gaming. I hate to have to jump through burning hoops just to play a stinkin' game. For everything else, Linux rocks, and you can't beat the price! I have used many different OS's over the years and have nearly all the M$ OS's on my shelf, but XP. I am stopping at 2k because I cannot, in good conscious, plunk down the $ for XP, especially with it's intrusive "activation" functions. I recently had an opportunity to play with a Mac and OS10...very nice and it has Linux underpinnings...:D Of course, these ramblings come from a veritable "OS collector!" I almost forgot: long live Slackware!
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What?!
Linux sux for gaming?! The only reason I can think of for saying that is because there's so few games out for linux.
1) Windoze crashes when I game (same as when I do anything) 2) Windoze multitasking is crap, so my FPS jerks when downloading something at the same time, etc... 3) I can't get to a console or another graphical desktop from a game in windoze. 4) etc, etc, etc.... UT2003, Decent3 and Rune are all the modern games I play at the moment, PRBOOM runs my DOOM and DOOM2 WADs, AbuseSDL rocks, etc... Setting my 3D up was EASIER than in windoze and the few problems I've had with installation, etc. were easy to solve. Linux is THE gaming OS.... because it works. |
last week we saw another hilarious reason to use linux rather than windows.
the latest version of windows with it's built in firewall and all was brought to its knees by an internal security vulnerability. not only were computers round the world affected, but microsoft's own computers too, for a hole they released a patch for a months before. If that doesn't highlight the slackness of microsoft and the awkwerdness of trying to apply microsoft patches to microsoft systems in the real world then i don't know what does. so in the aftermath, microsoft, anticipating a high demand for their windows update server have taken the smart move and switched windowsupdate.com to linux. Well, fair play, when push comes to shove, linux has shown itself to be reliable far beyond the capabilities of a toy system such as windows. related links: http://promote-opensource.org/module...=1&storyid=206 http://forum.microsuck.com/cgi-bin/u...c&f=1&t=000564 |
Re: What?!
Quote:
Paul |
Oh, soz, It's reflex action to explode like that.
But yeah, I get your point, trying to get wintendo games to work under wine is rather difficault. I've heard of many success stories from winex subscribers, but well, that costs money, which sux. For now, I stick to linux native and open source games (like TORCS, which rules) and continue to sign porting petitions. btw: I know there's good step-by-step HOWTOs for Half-Life under "normal" wine, best to google for them. -Taiyo |
Its knew, fresh, and a very good learning experience.
I just signed up for linuxquestions.org a day or two ago, and its good to help others when you can.
My very first linux distro was Mandrake 8.0, I had bought it at Best Buy for 30$. When I first installed it I had doubts on whether my purchase was wise. I had no flippin clue on how to install it. My first attempt ended up with a fully formatted drive. I had accidentally overwitten windows. After I had booted up none of my hardware was working. My USB Acer burner was not recognized, my lucent modem, my soundcard, NOTHING. It was just over a month until I actually paid 20$ for a techie to reinstall windows for me (I had no idea at the time on how to remove linux). After that I toyed with the newest distros, but always got stuck with my modem, I eventually gave up and formatted linux. It was about a year or so until I gained enough knowledge to get a working linux box. My attempts where discouraging alright..... but I kept on. The truth is that Windows limits your learning curve. I mean you cant compile drivers, software and the kernel, but in linux you can. You cannot pick apart windows and learn how it works, all MS gives the end user is a GUI. One of the key things that I like the most about linux is that it is several cds (commercial distros). On other cds it is just s.t.u.f.f.e.d with apps and all kinds of stuff. With windows whats do they give you....a GUI. About two weeks ago I installed Mandrake 9.1. It took me about a week to fully get my machine working. I installed drivers, configured the desktop, got K3B burning CD's, and I have to tell it was just a blast, the power was at my finger tips. Above all, if anything the linux community is just great, I especially like this linuxquestions.org, this is where I got the answers to the most crucial hardware in my box. On the net there is just an overload of information for newbies on liinux. Sure windows has there own little help system, but in my opinion I would rather have the advice of thousand of people, than just one telephone rep from MS. To be completly honest, the ONLY reason I have windows on a second drive is for back up purposes, say something goes wrong in linux (after all I am a newbie) I can boot to windows and search for a answer. Ever since linux has tooken over my permanent desktop, I have been trying to help as much as I can, posting help for other with the same hardware. It good to give back for what others have given you. The absolute bottom line is that if you dont find linux interesting, and you do not feel like learning how a computer works, than stick with windows, its crappy and expensive, but what the hay. I just get tired of complaining windows user that they are tired of MS and they BS. Linux is ganing momentum, its an unstopable force, just remember linux = freedom. I just would like to say thank you to the linux community, and Linux for laying that first round of asphalt. Thanks for the chance to voice my opinion. |
"Why use Linux instead of Windows?"
Well how about this... I have a Compaq laptop that according to the sticker it was "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP." (It was advertised as being a suitable desktop replacement, 512 MB RAM, 1.3Gig processor, etc...) Overall it is pretty good as long as all you want to do is surf the internet, check email or something of that nature. Try doing Win Updates and it freezes, install Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect Edition or Borland's JBuilder 7 Enterprise Edition or even Intervideo's WinDVD 4 and it is likely to freeze up. Experiment with it and it does this with any version of Windows that I have tried - 98SE, Me (yeah yeah, I know its garbage), 2000 Pro, XP Home, XP Pro, and even 2003 Server Standard. Sent it back to Compaq and what did they do? They replaced the modem that I don't even use. (I access the internet via my LAN, here or at school.) So I get it back and you guessed it, it still does the same thing. But... I try Mandrake 9 & 9.1 as well as Red Hat 8 & 9 on it and the problem disappears. Tried SuSE 8.2 on it but SuSE didn't seem to like my laptop. So why use Linux??? Hmmm, I don't think that my laptop is going to give me a choice in the matter... it hates Windows. |
A Computer is a Computer
I believe that any basic set of commerical hardware would work under linux (motherboard and cpu). Both the motherboard and cpu dont require some "special" windows only drivers, if linux where to be loaded on, any major distro would be able to communicate. As far as "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" all thats means is that most likely the builder -Compaq- put a special modem, sound card, and video card in. Modems can be made specifically for windows (winmodems) and so can soundcards, but I have never heard of a commercial sound card not working in some form or another in linux.
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Actually, the thing about the sticker was that if it said, "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" wouldn't it give the impression that it should at least be able to run it? But it can't and I am tired of sending it back and dealing with techs who can't read and fix the wrong thing.
As I speak, RH9 is installing on it. I found a tutorial from a guy who claims to have everything working on a similar model using RH9 and some patches for ACPI and kacpi. It will be my first attempt at compiling my own kernel and all. I am very well expecting to screw it up. :newbie: I'll know before too long. It just means that I can't do any of my VB.NET, or C# homework on it. Unless I can get VMWare to run on it. (One of the pluses of working at the college that I attend, lots of "free" software and OSes. Unfortunately its all M$ oriented.) |
it's not free. not at all.
C++ is free. Linux is free. and to be honest if you need to do VB.NET and C# homework then i hope you won't be able to use those skills in the real world. I'd rather people learn technologies which allow progress and stability, in preference to money grabbing and corner cutting. edit: btw nothing personal against yourself, i just mean i hope all this .NET and C# crap comes to a dead end, i certainly will be working on that premise and i hope people who put their eggs in one basket with microsoft will get their comeuppance soon, that's all, i'm not trying to say that's you in any way. sorry for any confusion. |
For me, it was free, in the sense that no cash came out of my pockets to pay for any of it. Just favors and such. Quite often what assistance I provided the people who gave me all of the OS's and app, I would have done for free. I did help many for free, but some wanted to give me things to say thank you. I merely accepted.
I want to teach at the UC level, I guess that means by extrapolation I will be one of those people who "can't", ie, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." ;^P As for programming in Linux, I think I will concern myself with that whenever I can figure out how to get things running on the system without hosing the system as I just did yesterday, TWICE! And yes, I would very much like to see the stranglehold that Microsoft has over the local colleges, as well as other institutions and individuals broken. Choice and diversity are good for competition and benefit everyone in the long run. |
Oh, by the way, since I have purchased box sets that support the distros and provide me with tech support that does a very good job of telling me, "That is not covered, sorry, bye.", I have actually paid "outright" more for Linux than I have Windows. If I had known that I could refuse the EULA and get a refund for the computers that I have bought that had MS already installed I would never have paid for Windows even discretely. Ok, so Windows Server 2003 cost me 3 hours of my time sitting through a seminar that a Networking teacher signed me up for. But it got me out of class and they fed me and gave me all the sodas I wanted too.
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