Windows and linux
 

Heya everyone
I'm new to linux, i'm just a person who wants to learn more
Sorry this must be such a dumb question but it is in the forum newbie! :)
Can someone, who can spare a few moments, explain what the difference is between linux and windows?
I'm getting the book "linux for dummies" soon so it might explain things more lol! but can anyone for now please explain the basics of linux?
thanks a lot guys

the difference?

eek!
<sals head explodes>

aw man I don't know where to start


here's one bit for ya

Linux has far superior security to windows

say I wanted to send you a virus
I would have to write the virus and send it to you
you would then have to give the offending pice of code executable permission and run it
if you ran it as user then all it would do is screw up your user area and you could recover by logging in as root and creating another user
to screw the system up you would have to run the code as super-user (administrator)
but once you realise the difference between root and user you wouldn't ever run code you didn't know the origin of

the best I could do would be to carefully craft some code to cause a privelege escalation (gaining root authority without your permission)

man, what a question!

hehe i know!
test ya knowledge :)
thanks for that, its just i have only got to know about linux recently, im very very new to it, just want to learn about it, learn the basics, if you get what i mean!

help me please!!!!
 

im new to linux suse and all linux products. My dad put it on my machine as some form of torture for bad grades but I have decided I liek linux so now im trying to get things to work. recently I changed my resolution with the yast function trying to get to 800X600 to view my html fonts normally. everything went well and it said I had to reboot. I did that and then my machine wont give me a gui. then I went to xf86config thingy reconfigured just to get my machine back so I could have my gui back and fatal I0 error 104 pops up when i type startx (connection rest by peer) on x server ":0.0" after 0 requests (0 known processed) 0 events remaining. I dont know what the x server is either lol. any help is appreciated : /

you can run yast2 from the command line

as in, when x fails it returns you to a command prompt
just type yast2 and follow the instructions

The main difference is in their origins. Linux is based on UNIX which was developed for mainframes used by many people whilst Windows is based on DOS which is single user desktop system.

This is why Linux gives better multi-user and multi-tasking support as well as security.

Under Windows other users can access/delete your files(indeed your whole desktop!) as well as uninstall applications you might rely on.

I used to have to hide stuff in the /Windows directory!!

i dont understand entirely if you could go line by line what i have to do that would be so much better for me and thx for responding so quick : )

When running XFree86 ( X ), press Ctrl+Alt+F1. This should get you to a (text) VT. To get back press Ctrl+Alt+F7.

Hey Fett
You should get the book "linux for dummies" like me hehe! i ordered it last night
fairly interesting actually, well what i have read about it and heard about it
good starting point
:)

if it helps, i'm new, i started with red hat 6.2 but gave up, i could get x windows to work, and i didn't know anything about programming c.... i got a book called the RED HAT LINUX BIBLE, came with RH 9, installed perfectly, however after about a week i was bored of GNOME to i re installed with KDE, and all of the programming stuff i wanted EMACS etc... The best thing i did was to find PICO, which is part of PINE ( a mail thingy) EMACS for a newbie is difficult to get your head round, PICO is fantastic (and very easy), obviously i aint any good with linux, but i know where i mucked up, so if you want any EASY help with what not to do i could try...

only way learn linux is install it and use it! (preferably on a seperate harddisk)
At the moment I got a linux server running clarkconnect which let's an old P200 play firewall, mailserver, webserver and share files for the windows and mac systems at home. My laptop hasn't been booted into windows for about a month, openoffice, evolution, xmms, mozilla and pan let me do everything windoze did but more securely and looking a lot nicer too!