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

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.

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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!

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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.

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. :-)

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).

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.

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

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! :rolleyes:

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. :D

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. :)

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.

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

windows (MSFT) drove me away!

MAC OS sucked back then.

Linux makes me happy so I keep using it.

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!

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.

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

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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.

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true

RMS - did some good stuff by creating GNU project. I have a love and hate relationship with RMS, becuase of his attitude.

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.

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.

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)

:D so there it is

I had no idea that universities in Mexico were so advanced! Where can I get an application? :D

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Originally Posted by je_fro

I had no idea that universities in Mexico were so advanced! Where can I get an application? :D

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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...

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? ;)

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.

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!

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"

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

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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

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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....

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

Yogi_Bear: www.microsoft.com

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...

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!

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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!

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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!

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Originally Posted by Yogi_Bear

With Windows you just get EXE (or Com)

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What is EXE and what is Com? Don't you speak engrish?!?
Seriously, you need one of those "I just installed linux, now what?" sites. Unfortunately those have long been purged from my bookmarks...
I see you're browsing all kinds of threads here and posting/deleting a few interesting comments too... :D What you need to do is read, amigo.
Besides...what's your actual beef? What exact problem are you having?
I think all you really need is to google "synaptic" and then go here:
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

I think a user needs to be able to use both Windoze and Linux proficiently before he/she can comment sensibly about both systems.

A short burst of experience with a Linux distro can hardy form a fair opinion of Linux.

Comparing a Linux with the new Vista will show without drivers a MS system is many times worse than Linux, which has at least adequate generic drivers for the daily needs.

Thank you all for your replies, especially to you wh666-666! I will definitely have a look at the version of Linux you use and see if it can restore my faith. Do you always have to use CLI's (Command Line Interface) to use Linux effectively? Can you use just a GUI one? Perhaps that is my problem with Linux? Not understanding the CLI's. I just havent found one I am comfortable with (especially if there is more than 100 versions :eek: !!) Perhaps I should look round a bit more. Can you please explain to me the difference between Unix and Linux? Is Unix just another Linux Distro? Thanx again for all your help and appologies if it is taking away from the original thread of this post!

Steve

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Originally Posted by Yogi_Bear

Is Unix just another Linux Distro?

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Umm, no. Unix (simply put) is the big father that started it all. Today there is a number of operating systems that are similar to Unix, so there is an entire Unix family. When Linux Torvalds started to code the Linux kernel and used the GNU tools like GCC, he had the creation of an Unix-like OS on his mind.

For an indepth history and even a nice picture detailing Unix and its offsprings, have a look at this wikipedia entry.

Edit: yes, Linux can be used without the command line. I just installed Kubuntu Feisty Fawn (Beta) on an in-law's computer and didn't have to touch the command line once. In my eyes it's the easiest Linux I have ever seen.

I for my part happily relied on GUI tools and wizards when I was a newbie, too, but occasionally I would still try this strange thing called command line and play with it until I found out, that some tasks can be done more easily and efficiently with it. Today I just use a GUI app or the CLI depending on what I feel like using. :)

I get by in various Linux (100+) and survive in BSD and Solaris by the CLI commands common in all of them.

Personally I think Linux CLI is a gold mine. The knowledge would be still useful when Win2k, XP and Vista are history.

Yogi_Bear

In truth, file extentions .EXE .TXT etc. in linux are for the users not linux, linux doesn't care about file extentions linux uses permmisions (read, write, execute), but you can worry about that later.

The command line is very powerful, windows can only dream of such a thing. Take Parcival's advice and start with a GUI front end, and little by little try the command line. If you have a basic understanding of the command line you will be able to get around in any linux distro and most unix systems as saikee has said.

I lost about 6 hours a month to defragging/scandisc/ virus/adware/spyware scaning /cleaning out temp files ETC Etc etc... All the while running windows. plus i had the wga notification come up even with a legal copy of XP.
I cant remember when i first found out about linux... i remember being extatic "OMG No viruses LOL!!!" and iv'e been able to get alot more done since iv'e switched. It doesn't cost a cent and thats good because im only 15 and dont have a job... (600$ for the best version of vista? Pass.) Then theres the fact that MS/apple products are made to make money, not to be a good product.
I've recently found out that the same effects as aero can be used with kde with half the overhead.
My GF loves the penguin.

EDIT: Vista is the PS3 of Operating Systems.

My first box was an 8088 with 64K of ram and a 40MB hard drive (which was *huge* for the time) working under DOS (3.2?? I think...) Had a lot of time to learn command line behavior. Years later, when I had enough money to buy a new toy, I managed to get a 486 chip and a 70MB drive (with 256!!! K of ram). That box used Win 3.11. I hated that OS, but it got me to be lazy about the command line. Then came the day I got an AMD 586 with 2MB of ram and decided to move to Win ME.

After several years of steadily rising blood pressure and increasing headaches, I decided I'd had enough. I read a little bit, and knew that Linux was making inroads into the desktop OS world, so I got online and did a little searching and found a distribution called Mandriva that sounded like I could handle it. So, I paid for a box with disks and a manual, and put it on. I dual booted the machine for awhile, but Windows finally said "you play with me and only me, or we don't play at all". So, I wiped the drive and replaced it with Mandriva.

Since then, I've gotten a slightly more powerful hardware platform, and a big enough hard drive to keep three Linux OS's on it. I suppose I could run more, but why be greedy? Right now, I have Mepis 6.5, PCLinuxOS (forget the version...), and Slackware 11.0. When I feel brave, or just want to break something and try to fix it, I go into the Slack and start messing with package installations or try to tweak something I've been thinking about. I've gotten really good at installing Slackware.

I like Mepis because I have yet to see it be unable to autodetect any hardware I've thrown at it. I like PCLinux OS for its looks, and the package manager. PCLinuxOS really does try to emulate the look and feel of the Microsoft XP desktop, which is not so bad, if you go between Windows boxes and Linux boxes the way I do. Of the three OS's I have currently, PCL boots up the fastest.

The main reason I use Linux, though, is because nowhere do I see the word "Microsoft" in the system or any of its applications.

justdean,

Welcome to JL.

Why did I choose Linux? It's simple.

My net-rat (the cybernetic equivalent of a rusted-out 1995 Chevy with a bad muffler) is a 1Ghz PIII with 384 MB of RAM and interchangeable 80 gig hard drives (they're in those little plastic caddies), one carrying Windows 98SE, the other originally carrying Ubuntu (now carrying Debian).

I set up the removable hard drives because I told myself I was going to teach myself Linux. Well, for months I procrastinated, even through numerous WIN98SE malfunctions, most of which were annoying (a WIN98 session which doesn't require at least one restart is a rarity), three of which required a from-scratch reinstallation. After the fourth major malfunction, looking at the fourth reinstall in only 8 months, I weighed my options - 3 hours formatting my hard drive and reinstalling everything from scratch, or taking the Linux plunge? I shut down the machine, switched out the hard drives, and re-booted.

I can't say that I've never looked back, or that my Linux experience has been perfect (I've been through 3 distros so far). All of the distros I've tried have been "broken" in some way. There are bugs in them which manifest themselves in annoying sorts of ways. But despite all the complications, Linux still beats the chicken soup out of Windoze 98, or Windoze 2000 (which just barely ran on my machine). And it sure beats the hell out of spending hundreds of dollars for a new machine. Restarts are A LOT less frequent.

But what I like best about open-source software is the absence of the customer-is-the-enemy attitude which is so prevalent among commercial software companies, digital content providers (can you say "SONY rootkit"?) and quite frankly every other major corporation. I mean, why else would Microsoft let Windows Vista mung up non-copyrighted original content just so that RIAA and MPAA coke-heads could protect their $500.00 lunches?

(BTW, why are there banner ads for Microsoft all over this site?)