Why use Linux?

Rhys · 5 Jul 2007 at 12:07

I have just tried for the second time to use Linux. I installed Ubuntu which I read was user friendly. Previously i tried Opensuse.

I have now come to the conclusion that any Linux application is just too complicated for me. Why on earth ado I have to type in commands to install stuff?! Linux has a lonnnnng way to go before it replaces Windows for 99% of the population.

Dj_Jestar · 5 Jul 2007 at 12:33

*yawn*

read: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

tntcoder · 5 Jul 2007 at 12:36

Rhys said:
Linux has a lonnnnng way to go before it replaces Windows for 99% of the population.

Linux will never replace Windows for 99% of the population...

If you look at the way Linux is designed from the kernel to the command line interface you will see how much more powerful it is than Windows and even though its designed more as a server OS, with someone willing to put the time into learning how things work it can be a perfect desktop OS with a full suite of multimedia/internet/office applications which are all easy to use.

This is why you have to type in commands to run stuff, it is not designed to be a simple point click execute, giving users the option to compile programs from source allows a high level of customization to be used, however having said that Ubuntu is one of the most n00b friendly distros and does make things a lot easier for you, and you don't infact have to type commands to install stuff, you can use a GUI tools such as Synaptic, where you just search and click install. Most of the complex command line tools have simplified GUIs to them these days, its just a case of putting the time in to find them.

To many people come to Linux expecting it to look and operate just like Windows, but the reality is that you aren't paying £300 for a retail license or whatever and everything is built by open source community of developers, a lot of it unpaid free time work.

Rhys · 5 Jul 2007 at 13:08

The point is to make Linux the best OS that the community is capable of making. Not for other people: For itself. The oh-so-common threats of "Linux will never take over the desktop unless it does such-and-such" are simply irrelevant: The Linux community isn't trying to take over the desktop. They really don't care if it gets good enough to make it onto your desktop, so long as it stays good enough to remain on theirs. The highly-vocal MS-haters, pro-Linux zealots, and money-making FOSS purveyors might be loud, but they're still minorities.

That was a good article. The above sums it up.

mattyrigby00 · 5 Jul 2007 at 13:19

linux can be hard to get going but is overall a much better os, only problem is some games have no way of running on linux, for everything else theres linux equivalents basically. it also runs much faster and uses less resources. sometimes there is big problems which are hard to resolve, but usually someone else has had the same problem and google finds the answer.

Rhys · 5 Jul 2007 at 13:25

Im running it on VMware and I cant get the media player on it to play a wmv. Its so frustrating.

Dj_Jestar · 5 Jul 2007 at 13:46

Which is Microsoft's fault for deliberately concocting the WMV format in a close source environment to prevent other operating systems from viewing said video's.

Good thing their developers are poor and left huge gaping hole's for the creators of the w32codec to.. err, create w32codec's for linux.

riddlermarc · 5 Jul 2007 at 13:49

Rhys said:
Im running it on VMware and I cant get the media player on it to play a wmv. Its so frustrating.

Which media player, and are yo uusing the 2bit or 64bit version of the OS (Ubuntu?)?

marc2003 · 5 Jul 2007 at 13:53

i have to say installing apps in ubuntu is an absolute doddle compared to windows. none of this downloading, double click setup.exe, next, next nonsense. everything you can possible want is available through the package manager. it's so easy. just use ubuntu forums/ubuntuguide.org and they have how-tos for just about everything, escpecially for windows users moving to ubuntu.

i'm still running windows primarily because of my games, but ubuntu is a very nice OS indeed.

Rhys · 5 Jul 2007 at 14:25

I will give it a go tonight and see. I think my problem is Im coming at it with Windows eyes and it all looks wrong.

Bes · 5 Jul 2007 at 14:35

Why use linux?

It's MUCH faster & lighter
More stable
Prettier
More customisable
Free
Far far more secure

It just feels 'right' to me

<3 Arch

Rhys · 5 Jul 2007 at 15:21

Bes said:
Why use linux?

It's MUCH faster & lighter
More stable
Prettier
More customisable
Free
Far far more secure

It just feels 'right' to me

<3 Arch

* Its no faster in my (limited) experience
* Windows XP is stable enough for me
* XP is pretty enough
* Dont want to custom it
* I doubt its far more secure than XP with relevant security apps.

I read a lot of comments like yours which made me investigate it. But as I found from my experiece its not much fun working it out, it isnt revolutionary in any way and Linux is still for geeks which is the way they want it.

squiffy · 5 Jul 2007 at 15:26

The myth of Linux "never crashes" is false.
My machines (XP) have never crashed when intalling software/drivers, unlike in Ububtu. Installed ATI/Nvidia drivers. Splat. Installed MS Explorer 5 button fix. Splat :rolleyes:

Not very well supported soundcards/ATI.

GarethDW · 5 Jul 2007 at 15:28

Rhys said:
I will give it a go tonight and see. I think my problem is Im coming at it with Windows eyes and it all looks wrong.

Yep, that's a hurdle virtually all of us had to overcome... unlearning the Microsoft way of doing things.

I've tried explaining to some people about hard drives not being called "the C drive" or "the D drive", or how the GUI can be a separate part of the OS to the kernel and if the GUI crashes it doesn't bring downthe OS, and they have just had blank looks on their faces. After a while, though, the penny drops and those concepts start to make sense

Dj_Jestar · 5 Jul 2007 at 16:16

Bes said:
Why use linux?

It's MUCH faster & lighter
More stable
Prettier
More customisable
Free
Far far more secure

It just feels 'right' to me

<3 Arch

Depends on Distro.. If you install something like Ubloatu it won't be much, if any faster.

I'm working with an openSuSE server at the moment, and I've never seen anything so gash in my life.

Gentoo > Arch

.walls · 5 Jul 2007 at 16:25

Dj_Jestar said:
Gentoo > Arch

Sneeze at Gentoo and you have to recompile everything... Arch > Gentoo

Mobius 1 · 5 Jul 2007 at 16:26

im using Mint linux at the moment, and its great. everything is pre installed like mp3 support which i believe isnt pre installed on ubuntu. it also has a program pre loaded to install the drivers for your graphics card with the click of a button. its pretty easy. i highly reccomend it for a n00b distro. its also very quick and boot time isnt too bad.

on that subject, does anyone know how to speed up the boot time at all?

Dj_Jestar · 5 Jul 2007 at 16:43

=walls= said:
Sneeze at Gentoo and you have to recompile everything... Arch > Gentoo

My desktop has lasted 3 years without so much as even stumbling, let alone falling over. Sneeze == Gentoo fallover? You built it wrong

Bes · 5 Jul 2007 at 18:50

Rhys said:
* Its no faster in my (limited) experience
* Windows XP is stable enough for me
* XP is pretty enough
* Dont want to custom it
* I doubt its far more secure than XP with relevant security apps.

I read a lot of comments like yours which made me investigate it. But as I found from my experiece its not much fun working it out, it isnt revolutionary in any way and Linux is still for geeks which is the way they want it.

What did you install? Ubuntu?

Arch is faster & lighter than XP absoultley no doubt about it-Ubuntu is slow compared to Arch and comparable (perhaps a bit faster/ lighter) than XP.

XP is stable, but I have had Explorer crash/ XP BSOD a few times. I have never had Linux crash on me

It's much easier to make Linux look prettier than XP

Well if you don't want to customise it, why are you using Linux? Look at the article posted earlier in this thread- the analogy of buying a Lego car and complaining you just want a toy car without having to build it applies here

And yes Linux is more secure- The fact you don't surf the Internet or write a letter to your Autie Maude in Norwich as a user with root permissions is a good start

Bes · 5 Jul 2007 at 18:53

Dj_Jestar said:
My desktop has lasted 3 years without so much as even stumbling, let alone falling over. Sneeze == Gentoo fallover? You built it wrong

To be fair I would run Gentoo if I could be bothered with leaving my computer on 24/7 so it could recompile something or other every time an update for something I have installed somewhere is released. Whilst I love the idea of Gentoo, in my opinion it's just too hard to use day-to-day like Arch.