The [Main] 'Why did YOU choose Linux?' Thread - Page 10


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Thread: The [Main] 'Why did YOU choose Linux?' Thread

  1. #136
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    3
    Hi. I only started to take Linux seriously as a desktop OS replacement for windows after I recently tried out Fedora Core 4. I love it! Before that I had tried out RedHat8 and Suse 9.2Pro but managed to muck-up the kernels by installing ATI drivers. I thought it would be like installing something on Windows but with a command line rather than a double click! Learnt a lot from trying to ressurect them, even though I didn't succeed. The reason I tried out linux is because I like the ideaology and philosophy of it, and the fact that I really detest Microsoft as a company.

  2. #137
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Monterrey, Mexico
    Posts
    15
    Hi
    The first time I came in contact with linux was in one of my classes at the university.
    It was called "Open Operating Systems I", which sounded interesting.. to tell you the truth i wasn't even sure what Linux was before that.

    The first course was completely taught using the console, we didnt even install the graphical part. By the way it was a whole new thing to install linux, it took us like 3 classes to be able to do it right hehe, we installed mandrake at that time.
    I thought i was pretty interesting but was still too much of a newbie to install it at home or anything.

    After that i took the next course which was "Open Operating Systems II", in which we used the graphical part. I believe it was KDE.
    I really liked the feeling that i had a choice! i didnt HAVE to use windows...

    A few weeks later I installed it on my laptop and messed it up a few times..
    THEN I started experimenting with different distros.
    First I installed Mandrake, then Fedora Core, i tried the live CDs of slax and knoppix, i Installed Ubuntu and used it for a while...
    Then in a programming course it was required to install openSuse, i installed, and loved it! it seems very complete..

    I've been using openSuse for about a year now and just recently installed version 10.2
    I love the way linux can be customized and how you can do whatever you feel like doing.

    I really like the idea of opensource and i really dislike Microsoft! (too bad xbox is microsoft, i like it)

    so there it is

  3. #138
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Republic of Texas
    Posts
    5,898
    I had no idea that universities in Mexico were so advanced! Where can I get an application?
    Need help in realtime? Visit us at #linuxnewbie on irc.libera.chat

    Few of us will do as much for our fellow man as he has done.
    --Andrew Morton on RMS

  4. #139
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Monterrey, Mexico
    Posts
    15
    Quote Originally Posted by je_fro
    I had no idea that universities in Mexico were so advanced! Where can I get an application?
    we have the most prestigious university in latin america and one of the best worldwide ITESM! (you can find plenty of info in wikipedia)

    heres the page:
    http://cmportal.itesm.mx/wps/portal/english

    hehe... i'm not studying there though.. my university is called "Universidad Regiomontana"

    http://www.ur.mx
    3rd best here in Monterrey...

  5. #140
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Buffalo, NY
    Posts
    4
    As a student of Linux, my main reason for choosing Linux is due to Microsoft’s inexpen$ive and 100% secure operating systems. I especially love the consumer friendly end-user license agreement that comes with Vista. Can you feel the love in the air?

  6. #141
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Reston, Virginia
    Posts
    78
    In late 2000 I accepted a job in Oracle to work as desktop support. It was not what I wanted to do there, but it was a foot in the door. I had already heard of linux and knew a few people who liked it, but I had never given much thought to using it. In talking with my manager, I knew there was a large internal push to start looking at linux. My manager was supportive, so I dove in, spending lots of extra time in the office working on it or doing resarch online or in books.

    Sometime in 2003 I had a good reputation in the company and help build a Linux desktop solution for Oracle based on RedHat. It has been upgraded with the last version I worked on based on RHEL4.

    In early 2004 I switched departmets to the development team supporting about 7000 Linux servers, all based on RHEL3 or RHEL4. Eventually, I took over as lead of my team and helped implement quite a few solutions that are still used internally.

    In 2006 I found out my wife and I were going to become parents, so I left Oracle to work at another company as a Linux admin for a much larger salary. I was sorry to leave Oracle, but after 6 years, I was about as high as I could go in my career there without going into management (I am still working on my MBA so I want to wait till I finish that first before management).

    Kinda a long story, but that is how I got started. For myself, I use Gentoo on the laptop they gave me, or OSX on my 17" Macbook pro (I love Mac's as well). Most of the servers I build and maintain are RHEL based, and I really like RHEL as a business solution.
    - TIMMY!


    Linux user #306469.

  7. #142
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    UK (unfortunately)
    Posts
    68
    Im in my twenties now, so when i was a little child my dad who worked for cable & wireless brought home a HP 85 PC, my first PC. Wow, writing progs in basic and playing ski!! From that point i used dos, win and apple mac but when win95/win98se came out i used windows from that point on. Its what i needed to use for studies and later work. About 6 years ago though linux distros were getting more popular. Always used to use opera and now been using firefox for ages with all my fave add-ons. I didnt get a decent internet connection till a year or two ago (before that i didnt have one for a year or two).

    I started having similar problems to other ex ms users here. Having to continuely tweak registry, have loads of different security and malware suites and tweak all my settings just so all software would run as stable as possible. Having to use so many programs i had to use free/open source software and had a look back at linux as an alternative. Seriously though, ex ms user or present ones, dont you find you spend 3/4 of your time on system maintenance? (if you dont your likely to be withing the 91% range of ms users infected with malware they may not even know about).

    Definetly getting easier for the typical user so over the past year ive been trying live discs and since ive had systems with multiple hdd's ive tried installs on empty drives so no risk of messing up if i made a newb mistake as il still have to use xp at times at least for work. Overall ive been very suprised with linux over the past year, easier installations than ms, never crashed at all and some sweet looking distros. Only thing that has held me back has been that i couldnt get wireless working stopping me using it as a main OS. Just recently got it working via pcmcia though albiet on b band at 11mb.

    The only annoyance is manufactuers like broadcom and hp. HP actually secretly lock hardware preventing changes in an attempt to keep you using microsoft which is grossly unfair. Fair enough to say when i eventually sell this laptop after the cover expires i wont buy another hp or broadcom product again, infact my broadcom card is going to be mailed back to a representative in the future with a*se wipe marks all over it, just for fun.

    Very good on old hardware as well ... got a ibm thinkpad lappy (spare) x21 800mhz that wouldnt run win2k or xp comfortably but blisters at a fast rate running a linux distro, brilliant!

  8. #143
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    875
    THE ONE,

    I started my linux adventure, back with SuSE 6.4, I couldn't get sound to work, and I didn't know that much about computer in general, so I didn't stay with it.
    I then gave it another shot with Mandrake 8.1, around 2001-2002, or when ever Walmart was selling Mandrake, that didn't last because I didn't take the time to learn linux.
    Then in the summer of 2004, I rebuilt 12 computers for a buisness that had folded, and just wanted to put a OS on the PC's so they could sell them. There were 13 systems total, 12 pc's and 1 server running linux, the 12 pc's were running win98 and were so loaded with viruses and trojans, I had to even flash the bios to get them to take a new OS. But there was one system, the one not bothered, THE ONE, with Linux. Then not long after I finished with those 12 systems, I worked on Lord knows how many other windows systems ridden with viruses, trojans, and spyware. Then one day a guard at work asked me about his system, He had done a restore and left his system running overnight on broudband without a firewall, and when he got up in the morning, his desktop was loaded with porn shortcuts. He asked how that could happen, I asked him if he had a firewall running or not, he looked at me with a look of firewhat.
    It was really starting to bother me, why doesn't SOMEBODY MAKE A OS, THATS MORE PROTECTED, then that ONE system kept coming to my mind. I was so impressed about THE ONE, and so fedup with all the loop holes in windows, and yes sad for all the people that were forking out all kinds of money to get rid of viruses from there windows systems, I told myself I will learn this linux. So in October of 2005 I installed Debian Sarge, because I had read it was so stable, and now I can say I'm about 98.8% windows FREE.
    I will always have to have windows to keep up on the OS, for working on other systems, and I play some games (less and less) that run on windows. But I do everything else on linux, I am also at every chance I get telling people about linux. I'm so glad I came back and made it a goal to learn linux, there's been some bumps in the road. Nothing that a little searching on GFL and sometimes asking questions on this forum or others has not been able to overcome.
    Oh and the first system I installed Debian Sarge on (One of the 12 system I had worked on, I took it as part payment for installing win-98 on the others a pIII dual cpu work station) is still up and running, it's been folding protiens for almost 1.5 years now, (If your not folding protiens, it's a good cause, you can check it out HERE ). So I guess if I were to sum up linux I would have to say
    "Linux is not just a OS, it's an adventure, and THE ONE worth taking"

  9. #144
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    7
    I am sorry I do not understand?

    I am very new to Linux ( having recently installed Unbuntu yesterday, and I have never used anything so complicated in my life! Is Linux always going to be this complicated or will it get easier? I cannot install my grahpics card drivers, I do not understand all this stuff about terminals, apt-get etc! All i wanted was an alternative to windows that was as easy to use as windows! Linux definitely is not it!! I will need to go back to Windows because Linux is MUCH to complicated for my little brain!! Please help!! Thank you!

    Steve

  10. #145
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Republic of Texas
    Posts
    5,898
    Quote Originally Posted by Yogi_Bear
    I will need to go back to Windows because Linux is MUCH to complicated for my little brain!! Please help!! Thank you!

    Steve
    What all do you need to do? If all you need is email and web browsing and word docs, it's all there. The names of the programs are different, but it's not exactly rocket science....
    Need help in realtime? Visit us at #linuxnewbie on irc.libera.chat

    Few of us will do as much for our fellow man as he has done.
    --Andrew Morton on RMS

  11. #146
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    7
    Thank you for your reply je_fro, but for me it IS rocket science!! I would like an operating system that doesnt crash, has easy to open programmes (ie you can just double click on a programme to install it and it just installs (without have to find out what file-format it is in, what you want to open it in and is it compatible with the version of Linux I am using. etc. etc. etc) Also, I cannot work out why one version of Linux will run RAM and another will and yet another version of Linux (ie ubuntu,) will not! and then, when you do try and run a RAM programme in Mandrake it asks you want you want to run it in? How are you expected to know that? I know that I am probably being to simplistic, but Windows IS simplistic, its just flipin expensive and buggy! I really do wish Linux would take a leaf out of Windows book and go to an ease of use policy!! This Linux is way to complicated!! Shame! Perhaps I should learn how to re-programme it to make it easier for beginners!! Thanx again je_fro

  12. #147
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    boston, mass USA
    Posts
    1,878
    Yogi_Bear: www.microsoft.com

  13. #148
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Republic of Texas
    Posts
    5,898
    Unlike winblows, you don't download exe's off the net and install them. Distros come with package management systems. Find out what yours uses (ubuntu uses apt-get with the Synaptic front-end...it's in your menus) and above all, read your distros documentation. Windows doesn't come with much...do you remember when you first started using windows? Was it easy? NO, it wasn't. Same thing here...
    Need help in realtime? Visit us at #linuxnewbie on irc.libera.chat

    Few of us will do as much for our fellow man as he has done.
    --Andrew Morton on RMS

  14. #149
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    7
    LOL, thanx again je-fro! You have still lost me!! What is a Synaptic Front End? and an apt-get? Also, what is a Distro? (Are Linux users able to speak proper English?) With Windows you just get EXE (or Com) Simple! And, yes, when I first loaded Windows it wasn't easy, BUT, it was a damn site easier than Linux!!

    Steve

    PS, I have used Dos 6.22 so I know about CLI's!
    Last edited by Yogi_Bear; 04-08-2007 at 10:15 PM.

  15. #150
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    UK (unfortunately)
    Posts
    68
    Quote Originally Posted by Yogi_Bear
    LOL, thanx again je-fro! You have still lost me!! What is a Synaptic Front End? and an apt-get? Also, what is a Distro? (Are Linux users able to speak proper English?) With Windows you just get EXE (or Com) Simple! And, yes, when I first loaded Windows it wasn't easy, BUT, it was a damn site easier than Linux!!

    Steve

    PS, I have used Dos 6.22 so I know about CLI's!
    Distro is short for distrobution. Think of it like xp or win2k, very similar but a different look and feel but still based on the same system kernel. A linux distro can be made to have a GUI like a mac or XP or vista or anything at all really. There are over 100 distrobutions for linux yogi so loadsa choice out there. Im sorry to hear of your experiences, to be honest im not a fan of ubuntu either. I find it a bit ugly and not the nicest distro but dont give up on linux yet. As I said in an above post you can run linux on hardware that you wouldnt even be able to run win2k on.

    The terminal on linux is just like the command prompt on windows and if you need to know a command just ask. Ive found them to be alot easier and very often one short line instead of C:\dos\run .. run\dos\run .. Just a little humour there but everyone must remember the dos commands that went on for lines at a time just to copy a damn file or something else just as simple. As je_fro said, its a different system but learning linux is still easier so far than learning dos when it was new and all we used before was basic.

    If you want to post your hardware specs people here would be able to recommend a distro that might be a bit easier and support all your hardware. Im using a distro called dreamlinux thats very easy to use. Have a look at OSDIR on the web as they have screenshots of distros. See what you like then try a live cd before you commit yourself.

    Synaptic front end (apt get) is just a way of getting program packages. On synaptic package manager i can just go in through a graphical interface and mark what i want to install and it will download and install automatically instead of having to type in apt-get in to the terminal. You can also get *.run files, i have an ati card on one laptop and their website has a *.run file for driver install (just like an exe) so I just double click and install just the same way.

    In some ways linux is a bit more difficult. Ive had experience with linux systems in previous years through work and years ago it still looked too complicated but ive recently switched my everyday web browsing lappie to linux. Dont think im a linux fanboy and biased as an ms hater because that isnt true. I still have windows on a couple of rigs for various reasons but the fact of the matter is for every day use you dont need a bloated OS like windows.

    Remember to have fun! PS: Download supertux btw, kicks sonics a*se!
    Last edited by wh666-666; 04-08-2007 at 11:36 PM.

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