Thread: Linux

Last night in the pub I was having one of my periodic left-wing rants to the effect that I am tacitly supporting Microsoft by being forced to use Windows as an operating system. One of my mates said he thought that Linux was a possible alternative OS for PC's. Anybody any knowledge about this?

Specifically (and I am not computer literate);
a) is Linux a possible OS for PC's;
b) where would I find it (I'm told it's open source, I had a quick search but couldn't find anything that looked useful);
c) all my software is configured to run under Windows. If Linux was a valid OS option for me, how hard would it be to reconfigure my machine?;
d) could I do irreparable damage by just trying?

Any help would be appreciated, as I really don't want to be a pawn in Microsoft's game (you don't need to agree with this sentiment, but there it is, I do)

a) yes
b) there's Linux mags about that often carry instructions on how to set it up
c) as far as i'm aware you'll need Linux-specific software
d) running Windows and Linux on the same machine can be tricky if you get the partitioning wring

saying that, i still have the disks to install Ubuntu on my PC in their sleeves, haven't got around to trying it out on my old PC

Devshed have a complete part of their forum dedicated to Linux, might be worth a browse or a search

On a few other forums the majority have said that Linux is much better OS, I would switch but most of the games for PCs run on Windows so if you want to game your stuck with the Windows crowd. Besides that Devshed is pretty cool

I'm with you Trix...if it weren't for games, I'd tell Bill Gates and his box of shit he calls an OS to kiss my lilly-white ass.

How about buying a Macintosh?

I am fairly familiar with Macs, Windows, & Linux, having used them on a daily basis for some time now. For scientific users, Macs or Linux is the way to go. For everyday-type folks, I would suggest Windows.

Some things I like about Linux, some things I don't. By far, of the three, Linux is the least user-friendly.

The reason I like Linux and Macs for science-type shit, is that they come with a lot of compilers and LaTeX.

I'm typing this from a Mac by the way, and my laptop has a dual partition with Windows and Linux.

Do they have Linux on any machines where you work Guitarist? You could play with it there and see how you like it.

Cheers

Originally Posted by william

How about buying a Macintosh?

Ya, I considered that, as it's an academic favourite right enough. But spending money? Not if I can help it!

For everyday-type folks, I would suggest Windows.

Computer-wise, I suppose I am an everyday-type person, as I know shit-all about how they work (and no desire to learn). Nevertheless, as I said earlier, my left-wing tendencies urge me to dump the last of my dependence on Microsoft

Do they have Linux on any machines where you work Guitarist?

I have no idea, we are routed (is this the right expression?) through a local i.e. in the dept, Sun server, which I understand uses Unix as an OS. My local machine was set up to "look like" Windows.

But I am talking home use here. My fear is that, in trying, inexpertly, to get Linux as a new new OS, I will crash and not have the expertise to recover, as the documentation I have found heavily hints that Linux is not for computer-illiterates like me.

Just a quick anecdote about Linux being user-nonfriendly...

To plug in a flash drive, I have to open a terminal and type
"mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/flash"

That is... if I remembered that correctly (my laptop is still on the fritz...).

In Windows and Mac, you simply plug in the flash drive.


Of course, I'm sure there are users that have configured their Linux so that all you do is plug it in, but I personally never looked into it.

Cheers

Hi there

Linux is cool stuff. I use to be windows oriented and after using Linux, I am kind of falling in love for it.

I'm still a newbie in Linux and i'm trying hard to learn. Anyway, you can try to get (Linux) furdora 7 on a DVD. It runs separately on your windows platform and would not affect on your windows.

I hope this would help you and Hope that you will fall for it too..

Cheers:

For those people who think said Linux can damage your computer, you can use a LiveCD version, such as puppy linux, which runs and can store all data on, the CD it comes in, or a usb flash drive. This means you can carry your OS in your pocket and run it on any computer without touching the data on said computer's hard drive.

Some distros of Linux are in my opinion a much better OS than Windows. It's very easy to customize your linux setup, something you can't really do with Windows, which generally adds alot of useless bullshit that I don't want.

I'm particularly fond of SUSE... I've got SUSE installed on my home machine (use FC4 at work) and it's never crashed on me ever! And that's the same install in over a year! Unfortunately I can't say the same for FC4... It's pretty unstable...

The one thing I like best about Linux is the amount of extra memory that Windows would otherwise use up.

It's very powerful for rendering memory intensive scenes that I can't render on an equivalent Windows machine render fine on Linux...

Sure, it may be a little more setup time, but definately worth it in my opinion... Plus you can modify the kernel source, not something that would really be necessary in most cases, but still possible.

I read once that when vedors need to write drivers for Windows, Microsoft fly their Windows source code in a helicopter with heavy security! Not surpsiring since Microsoft has made billions out of Windows!

Hope that helps!