The [Main] 'Why did YOU choose Linux?' Thread - Page 9


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

  1. #121
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    God forsaken state of Illinois
    Posts
    74
    When I first tried Linux several years ago it was mainly out of (yawn) boredom with windoze and a little sheer curosity on what this clone of some far away arcane thing called unix was all about.

    Didn't take long to see how it was so far superior at it's core. And with the miles and miles Linux has leaped ahead with what we have today, it's a no brainer:

    To me, Linux wins on:

    *Stability - rock solid baby
    *Security - keep your prying spyware, self installin, DRMin' mits off MY system. Chump.
    *Flexibility - Burger King concept. My way, right away.
    *Freakin cool looking desktops.
    *Much more functional desktops (many years after Unix / Linux had helpful things like virtual desktops, MS Win had what???? Microsoft Bob?)
    *It's just more fun
    and too many more to list.

  2. #122
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Harford County, Maryland
    Posts
    135

    Oh, BROTHER, where art thou...?

    Quote Originally Posted by woodsmoke
    BUT.....no scanner....however, BROTHER to the rescue...buying a Brother MFC 420CN scanner/printer etc. last month made me Windoze freeeee!
    Can I pick your brains a little here?

    I'm on my [second] printer, that was *quote* Linux compatible, but well...you know how that all goes. Forget about the scanner!

    My official source for hardware (Newegg...bless 'em) says that the combo unit you've listed is Mac and Windows friendly. Nothing 'bout Linux. Seeing just that, I would not be further tempted to purchase it. Your experience, however, intrigues me enough to seek more info.

    May I impose on you to narrate very briefly what your experience was inducing Linux to 'get nice' with the BROTHER machine? (BTW, would I to make this purchase, it would be running thru Mandrake 10.1, where ever that may mesh with your own experience).

    Thanks in advance for your help.
    Success isn't measured by how high you fly: Success is measured by how high you bounce!

  3. #123
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    1

    hate apple

    ever since i could buy afford to buy my own computers since going off to college i have owned macs..and after having ****ty experiences with the company regarding their horrible hardware products...the massive ibook G3 logicboard failures and now the G4 ibook logicboard going down the ****ter like many other users immediately after the year long warranty period...i realized the only reason i need to keep using any apple products because OS X is a vastly superior operating system to windoze but it is proprietary to Apple hardware so after being fed up with horrible service from apple though i would try Linux more specifically the yellow dog distro since it seems to be the easiest to get going on a PPC arch. and i have abs no experience what so ever with lunix and reading reviews it seems to be the easiest to get going on...so now i have a partition of OS X and Yellow Dog Linux of my iBook but i hear once you get the hang of Linux its all pretty similar on whatever architecture...so sweet and simple reason is I have come to loathe apple but i loathe MS more so going to give linux a try. :-)

  4. #124
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    720
    I chose Linux because I read about it in an Internet magizine. It said that Linux was a free alternative to Windows.

    At that time, I was using Windows 95/98, so the machine was crashing like everyday, and I was tired of it.

    But I couldn't find a way to actually install it. I didn't have a CD Burner, and I was confused about all this "rpm" junk I kept seeing on the mirrors.

    However I did get a friend to send me a copy of Mandrake 8.2 back in 2002, and the rest is history.

    I chose Linux because I like freedom. I also chose Linux because I wanted something more challenging than Windows. And I am still learning, but I came a long way since my Mandrake 8.2 days (which was back in 2002 I think).
    Last edited by Seph64; 04-19-2006 at 03:11 PM.
    "Who is General Failure and why is he reading my Hard Drive?"
    Linux OSes I use: Gentoo, and Linux From Scratch.
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  5. #125
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    2
    I'm a newbie to linux. I haven't recently had problems with Windows (XP). It rarely crashes, works with all my devices (camera, ipod, etc). It was easy to setup a home network with other computers. Staying away from viruses and such hasn't been a problem (since I cut back on the porn). I'd say for the everyday user that just wants to listen to music, manage pictures, email and surf the net, Windows, and i'm sure Macs, are great.

    Why I'm switching...
    -I don't need high sys specs to have up to date software (I'm running an old pc great)
    -I won't get popups telling me to buy the newest version of whatever
    -No constant attempts to "protect" (DRM) my music
    -something about building a system completely customized for me. I can't program but the rest of you are kind enough to offer so many options it boggles the mind.
    -free! actually, I won't be able to sleep without donating to some projects, but I can try them all out risk-free.
    -Freedom (as explained by many previous posts)
    -Fun. It's something new and seems to stay new with constant development from around the world.

  6. #126
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Essex, England
    Posts
    206
    Why I use linux now is because windows sucks and I'm an amd fanboy so i can't get a mac.

    Originally I got linux because I was building my first computer and I could think of myriad ways I could be better spending my money than on windows, so I bought suse 7 instead, which turned out to be a fantastic idea because their support line rocked, even if they were all german, cos germans are just friendly people.

    Either way, I hardware dual booted on that rig for a while (that is, I pulled the plug on my linux drive when I needed windows) but eventually I learnt that buying the absolute cheapest hardware is a bad idea. That is to say, my win 98 install managed to crash 32 times in one day, and it'd keep doing it after reinstalls and so on (why I kept rebooting I'm not so sure). Either way suse (probably 8 by that point) was only crashing twice a day so I had an obvious winner there.

    Eventually i gave up on that computer and got a new laptop, at the time I was in colombia somewhere and you can't get legitimate anything anywhere if you want to and by this point I hated windows anyway so I put a redhat 9 dvd I had lying around into my new laptop and that worked alright. It didn't seem to work for me as well as suse and yast did but it did the job. When I got back I put suse 9 in and was happy enough. then i started messing with gentoo and despite going 6 months without a gui, ended up really liking it. Unfortunately my laptop was very slow so i invested in a mac mini.

    I fell in love with OSX, it has far more idiot proofing and user friendliness than windows could ever hope for and getting into the command line and doing some real hacking is just a click away. It was the best of both worlds. Then I kinda botched some soldering and needed to get back on my laptop quick. Unfortunately at this point it had been nearly a year since I'd turned my laptop on and I knew an emerge -u world would've taken weeks so I tried on debian for size.

    Basically, debian's alright, it has the whole portage style thing going on but apt-get never really did it for me. Now I have a new computer and I find suse isn't as great as I once remembered now that I'm on gentoo, so I'm staying on gentoo and I'm happy with it because it really gives me the freedom to install whatever I want or, more importantly, don't want.

    Though I may be trying to get osx86 working soon
    Just remember: Heaven is for the hedonist

    Shadebug- registered linux user #379039

  7. #127
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Middlesbrough, England
    Posts
    2

    Thumbs up a REAL friend

    I started using Linux to keep a friend quiet. I thought I was just keeping the peace but now I see he was doing me a massive favour!

    In 2004, a Dutch friend of mine started telling me about Linux. Everytime we spoke (usually on IRC) he would mention Linux related things and nag on at me to dump Windows and embrace Slackware, which was his chosen distro. I needed Windows for my work, as everything was setup and had been running quite nicely for years, so my apprehension at switching to a new O/S was with good reason. So, we eventually came to a compromise...

    As i only had the one computer, I needed another to use as a Linux system. I rang around all my friends to see if they had any spares or systems they wanted to get rid of. I did have one friend who had an old business computer he didn't want and was willing to give away, but to go pick it up meant a 200 mile drive. I told my Dutch friend and he went crazy, telling me "why are you still at home? go pick it up!" and a lot more words to that effect. He kept on at me perpetually, for hours. So, I went and picked it up. I drove 200 miles in the pouring rain on a cold and windy December afternoon and arrived home again in the evening with a computer. I didn't even know if it was fully operational or not as we only powered it on to the POST screen when I collected it. At the time I wondered if I had lost my sanity because I did all this mainly to keep the peace.

    To cut a long story short, the computer I had been given wasn't up to the job of running any O/S. There was a reason for it being "free"... the CPU was on its way out and the motherboard had been physically damaged. I spent the next day trying to get it to work but there was not much hope really. So, after two more days of phoning and searching I obtained the replacement parts and finally I had a stable working system (P2 400 - 256Mb RAM). I set my two machines up next to each other on the same desk, and connected them both to the router, so I could be given instruction on how to install Slackware from my Dutch friend over the IRC network. Everything went very smoothly, though I didn't have a clue what I was doing, it all seemed very complicated to me. The new filesystem structure and commands were confusing and so were the multitude of names and titles associated with Linux that you never even heard about under Windows. However, we all have the ability to learn and over the next weeks and months that followed my inception into all things Linux started to develop further. Usually we would share a screen session for a few hours a day and that is how I got to grips with the basics of Slackware Linux. In addition to what my friends share with me, I use books and online forums, I also google a lot in order to advance and gain more experience.

    The world of Linux is certainly paving the way to the future for me. I'm loving every minute of it and I'm so glad my initial Linux experience was with Slackware. It's not the easiest of distros to get to grips with but it's not rocket science either.

  8. #128
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Hattiesburg, MS
    Posts
    187
    I originally chose Linux because I love a challenge, but lately, it's not a challenge anymore. With this last Kubuntu install, it was easier than WinXP. So now I'm doing other things to challenge myself, like trying to replicate a web server environment. I've also become addicted to finding new things with Adept package manager.

  9. #129
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    285
    I chose Linux after reading the Windows EULA, which should only be done with a bucket between your knees! You may not be able to control your need to vomit.

    ed

  10. #130
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    547
    windows (MSFT) drove me away!

    MAC OS sucked back then.

    Linux makes me happy so I keep using it.
    $whatis microsoft
    microsoft: nothing appropriate

  11. #131
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Posts
    9
    I just started using computers! So put that in your book! I figured i would never learn enough on WindowsOS so my friend burned a copy of Debian helped me install it cause i had no idea how and i love the community and problem solving even if its frustrating some timsm, all of this is GREAT!

  12. #132
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    41
    This list could go on forever, but I'll try to keep it brief:

    Stability: every flavour of windoze I've ever worked on from 3.1 through 2k3 has been inherently unstable and insecure. I grew tired of the relentless patching, rebooting, rebuilding cycle. Windows corrupts itself over time and short of blowing it away with an SOE periodically there is nothing you can do to stop it. Of course, then the damned SOE needs updating too, so over time it too becomes crapola.

    Security: Linux is inherently more secure than windoze in any flavour could ever hope to be. As long as microsoft builds future windoze flavours off the same codebase it will always remain inherently insecure.

    My computer, my way: I'm tired of windoze and many windoze based apps calling home when I've not instructed/configured it to. Just because I happen to be online does not mean that when I hit f3 to search for files on my local drives I want to search the damned net or ms.com. In addition, micosoft makes many decisions for you, stores crapola all over your drives and unnecessarily locks you into proprietary file formats. Who said that my Word processor had to be a browser anyhow?

    In short Linux gives me stability, security and freedom of choice - three things microsoft isn't capable of, and in the case of the latter, something microsoft also has no intention of providing.

    Linus Torvalds will go down in history as the man who revolutionised an industry and put choice back in the public domain. For that I thank him and the broader Linux community sincerely.

  13. #133
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    681
    TO MANY REASONS .

    1. ancesor of UNI*
    2. stable kernel
    3. I have freedom in what is installed on my system (gentoo , freeBSD using ports)
    4. Cost
    5. no corp running it . LINUS will be LINUS !!!
    6. Im a geek
    7. METALHEADS are linux dev and so are TECHO geeks.
    8 . its not XENIX (microsoft shot at UNI*)
    9 . way more rules
    "Software is like sex: it's better when its free."
    -LINUS TORVALDS

  14. #134
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    681
    Linus Torvalds will go down in history as the man who revolutionised an industry and put choice back in the public domain. For that I thank him and the broader Linux community sincerely.
    true

    RMS - did some good stuff by creating GNU project. I have a love and hate relationship with RMS, becuase of his attitude.
    "Software is like sex: it's better when its free."
    -LINUS TORVALDS

  15. #135
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    6

    Back in the stone age...

    Let's see... I was working developing a database application on contract, to run under DOS 3.x w/32-bit extensions. Well, I'm sure you can imagine how fun that was. This was on the computer that friends dubbed "the mother of all PCs" -- a 66MHz 486 DX2, w/8MB and a whopping 360MB hard drive (with an EISA SCSI adapter).

    Anyway, a friend at work told me about a U*X clone that was free (after I'd spent $$$ on a copy of SCO). I downloaded it, copied it to maybe 40 floppies and I took it home. Bummer, though, it didn't have support for SCSI back then (Jan or Feb of '92). I think I was one of the early beta testers for SCSI drivers, but now I'm not sure.

    Later, after years of pain with re-installing from scratch, a new company came out with a package manager (RPM). Woo hoo!!! I was in heaven. I've stuck with Red Hat / Fedora since then for just that reason (and familiarity now).

    At some point I had a 5-boot system: MS-Windows (3.1 or 95), MS-Windows NT, OS/2, Apple Rhapsody and of course RH-Linux. Neither Microsoft OS would run for more than about 25 minutes, while the others ran just fine. [As an aside, I blamed it on MS ineptitude, as many others blame their Linux problems on the OS. After my CPU died I discovered that it was bad MS support for the Cyrix 686 chip.]

    For perhaps the last 4 years the only MSW I used at home was through VMWare hosted on my Linux workstation, but since I upgraded to FC5 (from RH9), I can run the very few MSW apps that I use through Wine, so my 10GB NTFS partition is still unformatted.
    --- NVRAM
    Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
    Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)

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