Why do you use Linux??

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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I've always used Windows in one form or another but I'm intrigued by Linux after a very small experience of wiping an SSD before sale using "Parted Magic"

The UI looked nice and clean with, from what I saw, a great deal of the functionality of Windows without all of the bloat!

I guess my question is, which Linux UI is a good one for a total beginner to try and what do you guys use it for anyway over and above Windows??
 
Linux is popular because it was the first operating system to gain massive traction that was free, open source and community based. If you think about other proprietary licensed operating systems like Windows and OSX(Unix), its proprietary nature limits its ability to develop with, and develop on. You have to either pay, or be on the 'in' team. Because the Linux kernel is free, it has the least barriers to entry. As a result, the population that works with Linux is super massive. The more people that are involved with it, the more source code is compatible with it, the more you can achieve under a single operating system. You never have to reinvent the wheel, unless the wheel doesn't exist, because the chances are, somebody has already invented a perfectly good wheel for you. In windows, you have your desktop, or you have the stupid new fullscreen 'charms' window. If you want to change it, tough. Under linux, if you don't like your desktop/windowing environment you can change it!

These days with POSIX compliance, most operating systems essentially do the same stuff with nuanced differences. The only determining factor is where your friends are.

edit: Oh and Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop is probably the sweetest Linux based distribution i have seen to date.
 
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Mint cinnamon is a great place to start. I'm more interested in the server side of things so i just use the command line stuff. It's free, it works and there is a massive amount that you can do with it.
 
I'd also suggest Mint Cinnamon.

I started using Linux back in the early 2000's I think. I used it to learn a Unix environment for work. The huge choice of distros and window managers really annoyed me back then as I just wanted to be presented with a simple choice like Windows.

I've used it on and off through the years but have grown to love the way Linux does things and love the choice it gives now. I far prefer it to Windows even though I tend to boot into Windows in most cases.

I like the choice and the freedom of always being able to find a distro that does things "my way". e.g. don't like the way that Windows is going? No problem get a Linux distro. Don't like the way that distro is going? No problem get another one instead.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

I think I might have a play about with Mint Cinnamon and see how I get on with it!

I've currently got a laptop with W7 on - how would I go about installing Mint Cinnamon on there too so I can choose which to boot up?
 
I dabbled with redhat in the mid 00s, world of warcraft ran absolutely brilliant on it but I couldn't get any other games working so didn't keep it for long.
Since Valve decided to support it though I have installed Ubuntu a few times and removed it when some thing didn't work, I must have hopped between that and Win7 about 20 times in the last year.
Seems as it is here to stay this time though, it just does every thing I want right now and I don't play any new AA games, just not into them any more so it's no longer a problem. And WINE is working better than ever so I still keep some windows apps that I use.
 
I've just gone through Zorin 9 > ElementaryOS > Mint Cinnamon and safe to say I'll be stopping there.

It does seem the most 'windows like' and although I could probably use it easily enough I don't think I'll replace the failing WinXP I had in mind at my parents.

Seems nice enough though. :)


Edit - Zorin wouldn't even work, errno 5 issues even booting from USB.
 
Had a look at Mint Cinnamon last night, albeit running from the CD rather than installing it on the hard drive of my laptop.

Looks very interesting at first glance, although it was pretty slow at times, I assume due it accessing the CD though!?

I like the idea of having an OS that I can have a play about with but there were a couple of issues:

1) My wireless indicator on my laptop was continually flashing as opposed to it being a solid "on"!?!?! It didn't seem to affect the connection to my router but was a bit off-putting!

2) It seemed to crash when I closed the lid (still plugged in) - when I opened it back up I had the mouse cursor but nothing else would work!?!? (keys, mouse buttons etc)

Other than the above I quite like the look of it so will have a proper play about this weekend!

Thanks for the recommendations guys!
 
Someone I know was continually egging me to try Linux.Every time I tried to install a distro it failed for one reason or another.
With XP support coming to an end I was looking for another O/S for my media player pc and decided to put some effort into a Linux install.
After using various distros I've finally settled on lubuntu 14.04 with xbmc.
It does everything I want and it's FREE ! :)

Can't see me ever paying for an O/S again.I have Win 7 on my main pc and that will continue until support ends for that
 
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