Why Use Linux?

brendan · 14 Feb 2011 at 16:29

Cleanthes said:
I'm planning a Linux switch for my laptop so I can use the spare copy of XP to buy the Win7 student upgrade version rather than full retail. Then I can get WMC for cheap in my planned HTPC.

Why use windows in a media center? XBMC + linux for the win!

@mmj_uk - it's just because your version may not have been installed using .deb packages or because the .debs don't match. Ignore it, that restricted driver manager thing is fairly stupid. Just disable it from your startup

Cleanthes · 14 Feb 2011 at 16:51

KraniX · 14 Feb 2011 at 17:44

Guitarman0 said:
I am complete Linux noob and just wanted to know, why do you guys chose Linux over Windows or OSX? Obviously there is the fact that it is free but what other reasons do you have?

I am just curious because all I have ever used is Windows and OSX and am tempted to try Linux.

Thanks

Give it a go, I'm a big fan of W7 but is nice to try something different, I like the free open ethos of Linux. Just trying Ubuntu 10.10 on my laptop and is great.

There are some excellent free alternatives to almost everything in Windows, plus you have better security/privacy almost by default.

zangetsu19 · 14 Feb 2011 at 18:40

Is the learning curve Steep or is it easy to pick up

Smit · 15 Feb 2011 at 08:55

zangetsu19 said:
Is the learning curve Steep or is it easy to pick up

Depends which distro/window manager you choose.

Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Mint/openSuse etc will be easy for you to use to start off and allow you the chance to go deeper and use the terminal (command line) if you wish to do so.

brendan · 15 Feb 2011 at 09:17

Cleanthes said:
I thought XBMC had a problem with Blu-Ray?

I want to be able to access everything from one media programme with a remote. As far as I could tell, WMC with something like TotalMedia Theatre integrated is the only way to do that with Blu-Ray.

If I'm wrong, let me know - I'd much rather have XBMC if it wasn't for this!

Libbluray can do bd+-v10 but nothing too recent unfortunately. It's possible to use XBMC on windows and use an external player to play bluray's like powerdvd (the bluray version obv.)

Or if you want complicated, use external player on linux to launch a VM that's always in standby with windows on it and exectute the disk...

Cleanthes · 15 Feb 2011 at 12:08

FatRakoon · 4 Mar 2011 at 03:12

For me, its simply because I dont like to follow the masses.

And Im not even that good with Linux...

My favourite computer that I own is my good old Atari Falcon and thats over 20 years old now.

It feels different for me, and using a Mac or Linux or Widnows, or even Amiga or Atari has a completely different feel to the next one.

I kind of like how Linux feels.

I used to swear by KDE/RPM distros however since KDE4, I have hated it and moved to Gnome and this also pushed me into DEB. and again even within linux itself they feel different to each other.

My favourite distro is Sabayon and thats Gentoo based and I love it.

wilko49 · 8 Mar 2011 at 04:41

The journey from linux noob to competent user provides as many or as few opportunities to learn how the OS handles under the hood as you want. I'm not running a linux box at the moment, but I considered it a valuable learning experience. Plus the live discs are great for system recovery/maintenance.

Jamie23 · 9 Mar 2011 at 01:56

Tried to migrate to linux as my primary OS once I went to uni as I thought it would be beneficial. Really enjoyed using Mint and it served all my purposes however I did run into problems with trying to get wireless card drivers and eventually had to go back to windows as I couldn't find the drivers to make it work

Guess I used it as it did everything I needed and helped with my module in linux in uni as I could practice commands.

craptakular · 9 Mar 2011 at 07:38

Jamie23 said:
Tried to migrate to linux as my primary OS once I went to uni as I thought it would be beneficial. Really enjoyed using Mint and it served all my purposes however I did run into problems with trying to get wireless card drivers and eventually had to go back to windows as I couldn't find the drivers to make it work

Guess I used it as it did everything I needed and helped with my module in linux in uni as I could practice commands.

This was similar to troubles when I first switched back in 2004, now I buy laptops/ desktop components based around there windows and linux performance. I appreciate you don't want to bin a perfectly good laptop now, but you could run linux in virtualbox to give you practice opf terminal commands.

Then when your current laptop dies, buy a new laptop that works 100% out of the box in windows and linux.

Subliminal Aura · 9 Mar 2011 at 08:38

I've been hardcore linux since 1995 but still can't use it as my primary desktop, it is however my primary server OS.

Closest I've been is with a windows / linux synergy setup.

bledd · 9 Mar 2011 at 09:57

I use mint and ubuntu on two machines, simply because it's free

I don't want to faff around or break it, I'd hate that. They just seem to 'work'

Windows 7 is my preferred OS

brendan · 9 Mar 2011 at 10:18

Subliminal Aura said:
I've been hardcore linux since 1995 but still can't use it as my primary desktop, it is however my primary server OS.

Closest I've been is with a windows / linux synergy setup.

You've used linux in '95 but can't get it to work as a desktop?

Is something wrong? :eek:

Subliminal Aura · 9 Mar 2011 at 10:36

brendan said:
You've used linux in '95 but can't get it to work as a desktop?

Is something wrong?

It's difficult to explain, I just don't feel comfortable with any of the desktop environments/windows managers and I've tried a lot of them even daily builds of Beryl/compiz years back. However I did feel at home with fluxbox and was happy for about 6 months.

The real trouble is with bleeding edge stuff, typically software related not kernel related. If anything linux kernel development is always ahead of the rest but software development on the other hand .....hmmmmmm it just seems to lag behind windows because all the developers target windows first.

Spyhop · 9 Mar 2011 at 14:37

Subliminal Aura said:
It's difficult to explain, I just don't feel comfortable with any of the desktop environments/windows managers

To me, they just look and feel decidedly amateur from a GUI design perspective, which is understandable, since that's likely what they are.

VeNT · 9 Mar 2011 at 15:41

I run Vista on my desktop and Lubuntu on my laptop
The reasons I run it on my laptop are:
1)Faster / Better supported
I'll qualify this as follows:
I can run a supported, updated linux OS on this hardware
but even Windows XP (inc updates) is slow on here (installed 2k on here and it wasn't bad but again, not supported, no Chrome/firefox for 2k)

2) more secure
I still get updates etc (not sure how long XP would be supported, 2k isn't supported anymore)

3) Free
I don't have to buy another licence (although this came with an OEM licence for XP Pro)

4) Fun
I've learnt so much about computers/software/hardware/programming from using linux and have found application for my new skills at work etc

5) concept
I think that having things like linux that are open source etc and free thus giving an alternative to windows/osx is important.
even if you don't contribute that much then atleast by furthering your own skills you will be able to help others who encounter the same issues!

6) running linux gives you like +4 Google-Fu

Demon · 9 Mar 2011 at 15:45

The thing with most OS's today, if you consider Linux systems, windows and mac in general broad terms, you have to look at it on an individual basis.

- Tinkability(tm)
Linux > Windows > Mac

- New Hardware Support
Windows 7 > Linux == Mac

- Ease of use for doing slightly more complex things
Mac > Windows > Linux

- 1 Click installs
Mac > Windows > Linux

- Availability of Industry Standard desktop productivity software
Windows > Mac > Linux

- Cost
Linux >> Windows > Mac

- Server features
Linux > Win Server > Mac

- Reliability
Max == Linux > Windows (I find Win 7 to be quite reliable though)

So for me, it's obvious why I stick with Windows 7 as my day to day OS, I have several linux devices, and run FreeNAS as well as have lots of VMWare images of mainstream Linux builds for developing and messing around.

I just 'feel' as if Linux will always be trapped in that underworld of complexity because of it's pure aspirations and differences of opinion (KDE Vs GNome, and all the massive flavours of Linux), the fact is, it's roots are not in a world of GUI's and deskto use, so all the GUI aspects of the OS seem to be written by geeks, for geeks (

)
In otherwords, the very thing that appeals to some people is what is holding it back, standardisation.. It's only very very slowly trying to get there.

It's true that some out the box installations are very easy and you get a Desktop and a browser all provided for you, but as soon as you want to start adding a load of apps or configuring stuff, it all depends on which flavour of linux you have as to how it works, and it can change quite radically between major versions..

And so many things end up with me in a shell sudo'ing and typing command line stuff, and each 'flavour' of *nix OS seems to be subtly different..

Jamie23 · 9 Mar 2011 at 16:38

Oxy said:
This was similar to troubles when I first switched back in 2004, now I buy laptops/ desktop components based around there windows and linux performance. I appreciate you don't want to bin a perfectly good laptop now, but you could run linux in virtualbox to give you practice opf terminal commands.

Then when your current laptop dies, buy a new laptop that works 100% out of the box in windows and linux.

Yea I'll be keeping it in mind for next time.

FatRakoon · 12 Mar 2011 at 23:32

The learning curve for me with linux has been, or rather is a see-saw of idiocy and stupidity.

I mean that in a good way.

For example, I keep getting mixed up with mounting filesystems, and editting the /etc/fstab accordingly, which is a fairly easy task, more idiotic is the fact that I use a unix-like add-on for my Atari Falcon called Mint, and in that I use Unix filesystems and that had to be done manually and I was just fine in that.

Also I have been able to fully control a temporary network and remotely control it over the network both locally and remotely.

I have also been able to help a good load of friends over the phone and then when I have a similat problem, I have just sat there and given up.

Also even more stupid is that my main Linux Falvour is Sabayon and I have never failed to sort anything out with that, but my Ubuntu / Mint Box has been a complete bugger.

So its been a weird experience to say the least.