Menewsha Avatar Community - Do you know Linux ?

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Do you know Linux ?

Hiya people. Just wanted to share something.
I have long been using Windows. It is easy to use and fairly robust if you install a good anti virus software.
I also used Mac OS. Unlike Windows it is fun to use. However the expensive hardware sometimes can bite you in the buttocks.

And Linux. I have been using Linux for the last 2 years lately I have been using the OpenSUSE distribution. Don't know how many of you are in to computers and stuff but I really am.

The wiki says

Quote:

Linux (commonly pronounced /ˈlɪnəks/[3]) is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL[4] and other free licenses.

Linux is predominantly known for its use in servers, although it is installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from embedded devices and mobile phones to supercomputers.[5] Linux distributions, installed on both desktop and laptop computers, have become increasingly commonplace in recent years, owing largely to the popular Ubuntu distribution and to the emergence of netbooks.[6][7]

The name "Linux" (Linus-linux.ogg listen (help·info)) comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The rest of the system usually comprises components such as the Apache HTTP Server, the X Window System, the K Desktop Environment, and utilities and libraries from the GNU operating system (announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman). Commonly-used applications with desktop Linux systems include the Mozilla Firefox web-browser and the OpenOffice.org office application suite. The GNU contribution is the basis for the Free Software Foundation's preferred name GNU/Linux.[8][9]

However let me just simplify the whole thing in bullets ;

It is free!
It is NOT easy for a newbie computer user
It is not for new hardware since drivers sometimes don't exist
You can always rely on the robustness of the system
There is always a free version of whatever software that Mac or Windows offer that can work in Linux

I started using it because of the first item : It's free.

I have for long been a fan of Fedora due to its openness and available packets for almost everything and moreover flexibility of RedHat helped me through the deadly marshes of Linux world. However Fedora lacked something. That something was user friendliness. True it does have community friendliness but it lacks the friendliness which new users who have no experience with linux need. I new user to Linux must not be chocked to death with driver problems or repository clashes and dual-boot bugs.

OpenSUSE has many pros but many out-of-the-box bugs too. Let's start from the installation.

Installation : So far this was the easiest installation ever. I just emptied a partition on my windows drive and simply installed openSUSE within it. The dual-boot settings was all done automatically. For this openSUSE gets 50 points!!

First Boot : (Driver Problems) It seems that openSUSE has the same driver problems as Fedora. The moment I installed openSUSE the video card was not able to work properly (NVidia 6600 GT or TD don't remember ) I got this weird screen with lots of bright colors. The problem was resolved by taking the following steps ;

Step1: Reboot machine and write 3 at the end of the boot line in the boot menu.
Step2: In command line (init 3) write " zypper ref && zypper up " and update your system.
Step3: After update write " zypper ar http://download.nvidia.com/opensuse/11.1/ "
Step4: Write " zypper install x11-video-nvidiaG02 nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-KERNEL " where KERNEL is your supposed kernel name which you can learn from entering the following command " uname -a "
Step5: Reboot your system and cross your fingers.

By taking these five simple steps you will now be able to boot openSUSE.

Playing Around: As you can understand instead of YUM in Fedora openSUSE uses ZYPPER which is kind of funny name for package handler. The user interface is ... well... different really... it's almost like XP. ( I am using gnome... just couldn't get used to KDE ) And that's about it... If I were to give a windows user a Linux and had to choose between openSUSE and Fedora I would probably give them an openSUSE. However openSUSE lacks the Fedora repo's and such...

And so far I am very happy with it. If you have been using Linux please tell me about your distribution. And I hope I haven't posted something too long :sweat: I really start to ramble after a while.

This would be better suited to the computers and Video Games sub forum. I'll move it across there now for you. Good luck with finding some answers!

I know one of our users who uses Linux, I'll poke them in your direction :yes:

You forgot a option in your poll for 'all of the above' xD

My boyfriend uses linux for his computer engineering course - ubuntu is the version he uses because thats what they use at his uni, but he loves linux ^^ It is a very stable OS and even i enjoy using it, but because it does have similarities to a mac, which is my main OS :yes:
I just wish there was more mainstream programs for it, if it had photoshop support i'd be using it all the time! lol

But yeah, I myself am a mac user because i did a graphic design course ^^ I enjoy using mac, it did take some time to get use to coming off PCs. My boyfriend hates it because its such a dumbed down OS and everything is so different and wishes the OS didn't exist xP

Windows aggravates me, so I've considered switching to Linux a few times. But it seems a bit silly for me to do, considering I'm pretty much just the average computer user and most of the things I want to run probably don't have Linux support.

My dad's a computer tech, so he had RedHat on his computer for awhile. Being young, I didn't explore it much, but I liked all the games it had. xD They were quite superior to Windows games.

I did a test a week ago. I left an XP Professional pc and a Linux PC open for 3 days. (did not touch it or anything just left them on) XP Professional was hardly working in the end of the test while Linux was zipping through. Although they had the same hardware (same laptop). Tells you something doesn't it.

I've always wanted to experiment with Linux, but I don't really have much of a reason to, other than to just mess around with it.
I hope that we'll be playing around with a Linux machine next year in my Cisco class.

You should it's fun. Ah ... Cisco... Somtimes you hate it sometimes you love it... I too have been learning Cisco... Trust me it's fun!!

Ehhhh, I did an intro to Cisco/PC for my Freshman year and I enjoyed it, since I love to troubleshoot and fix things. I love to work with my hands and whatnot.
But the Cisco class for next year is all about networking and servers, which is the area I enjoy the least. XP

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiteowl (Post 1764585382)

That's not exactly a particularly unbiased, useful or properly controlled test. If we're going on anecdotal evidence alone, my old Win2k system would put on 2 months of uptime without even batting an eye. When I upgraded it to XP Pro, none of that changed. I'd let it run 7 weeks or so at a time and then would throw a restart at it just in case there were pending updates.

That aside, once you get under the hood, Linux is a server software first with user end desktop stuff laid over the top of it in most cases. It's natural that it should provide longer uptimes with less maintenance based on the simple concept that it was designed to do so.