Linux?

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I like x too. But its a huge configuration problem for new users.

For example, I updated alpha 9.04. It removed my nvidia driver.. again. Leaving me with nothing.

Install 8.10.. install driver. update to 9.04.. lost driver. Install 9.04 directly, install driver. great! A few hours later.. update 9.04.. lose driver. This, of course, is why they call alphas unstable!

I'll install again tomorrow. I have an idea for avoiding that driver loss.

What happened to this thread................................................................................................

MY apologies for derailing your thread.

If you are wondering what makes it different to windows and Mac and cannot see, then that is a victory for the linux distributions.

IF you cannot use it, thats a point off Linux' score.

For sure, some of us like the obfuscation. Linux, for me, was like having a new language dropped in my lap. "Here, figure this out". That really gets my motor running. I'm not unduly bothered by breaking things because thats when new fun adventures happen.

I remember the absolute wonder when I first logged into a live CD. I thought "Ok, NOW what?". I could tell that I faced a huge journey; many paths were lain before me. I had no idea where to go, but didnt feel constrained in any way. It was utterly alien, but also an environment where I knew I could make sense of things.

I'm trying to avoid parroting the usual advantages of linux. "no virus risk, customizable interface, freedom from restrictive licensing, crash resistant, light on resources". These things count, but I guess you hear them often enough. You are looking for other reasons as to why you should discomfit yourself and adopt Linux.

It will stretch your intellect. Somewhere deep in the rabbit hole, something will click and you will be over a cognitive hill; Linux will make sense.

You'll understand computers better. Like looking at a house from all sides, you will gain a perspective on what is possible, and what is not. Having, at the least, a liveCD will allow you to assess if you have a hardware problem or a software one. If something breaks in windows(or OSX) but works in Ubuntu, you know your hardware is not damaged.

You'll be a part of an enthusiastic community. Nobody loves computers more than linux geeks.

You will be part of a big change in the world. Your involvement will promote change. The open source movement is growing beyond the digital. There are physical examples of open source now.

I think one thing, being predominently a windows user, is picking the distro which is best for your hardware if you're a beginner.

I've tried playing around with slackware, gentoo, arch, debian etc. and always got to a point where I've got several things still to configure, like a webcam or a bluetooth mouse or a modem, and then once I've fixed it or tried recompiling the kernel I've found that that's broken something else. A great learning tool, but a problem like having to delete the config for my bluetooth mouse and re-pair it every boot up is simply infuriating, especially on a laptop (although this case was actually on ubuntu!).

Best bet for learning linux is to use it on a laptop - as there are often tutorials online showing you how to get a particular laptop working on linux (especially the new netbooks which have great support forums) and then try distributions that tend to mostly work out of the box (e.g. fedora mandriva and ubuntu). Although I must say that currently running fluxbox in fedora 10 on my acer aspire one and the performance doesn't seem to be ahead of a slimmed down xp.

From my experience if you want compatibility go with windows, for stability get a mac, and for completely custom solution where you chose a level of stability, appearance, selection of applications etc to suit you then go with linux (appearance wise checkout the difference between rat poison and compiz-fusion)

Recent Fedora releases have been criticized by some users as overly bloated.


Or you can triple-boot a Mac and have it all.

on my Asus EEE 701, Archlinux boots in under 10 seconds and gets to the login screen for gdm in under 12.5 from cold start. it depends on what services you run and when you start them.
I use my EEE as a media player and a video player at home when connected to the network, for those purposes they perform better than a slimmed down XP SP3.
Fedora and Ubuntu are designed to cater for as many users as possible, so it runs insane amounts of services by default, if you stopped a lot of them starting at boot performance would dramatically improve

I've used Mint and it's not a bad distro at all. It is based off Ubuntu and uses Ubuntu repositories, so there's a huge selection of software out there to pick from for it. One thing it has going for it is it has all the multimedia codecs already installed so unlike Ubuntu, you can watch Youtube videos, listen to MP3s, watch DVDs, etc, right out of the box and not have to go install all the extra stuff needed for that. I just installed Ubuntu 8.10 and had to do all that and it was a bit of a pain, but wasn't hard.

I read the latest version of Mint, based on Ubuntu 8.10, has a new network manager tool Mint lacks. I haven't tried it yet, so I'm not sure what the deal is with it. I've used Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Mepis, and Mint and so far, I like Mint and Ubuntu the most. I've also used Xubuntu on the old 400mhz box I have and it ran surprisingly well.

Good luck.

I have very little Mac experience, but that doesn't mean it's imposible for me to use. I am never around Macs much anyway. I grew up with Windows and will always be running Windows on my computer. Last June, I decided to try Linux. My first choice was Kubuntu because the GUI was similar to Windows. It was a major pain in the butt and I eventually ditched it for Ubuntu and enjoy using it.

I'm running Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex and so far, I like it. It's dual booted with Windows XP Home. I found something online about how Firefox and Thunderbird can share profiles on a dual boot between XP and Linux and was going to try it. Thought it might be cool to be able to constanly get Emails on either side of my system. If I can do this, I might be able to transition myself to Linux from Windows.

I tried a few distros that used KDE desktops, like Mepis, Kubuntu, and PCLinuxOS. I worked with Linux Mint for a little while and realized I liked Gnome, so now I'm running Ubuntu. I think KDE, even though it's very Windows like, is a bit of a resource hog. I also tried Xubuntu with the XFCE desktop. I ran it on an old 400mhz machine and even though it ran OK, I had some problems with it. That was a couple of years ago and it might have gotten better since then.

I may eventually start doing more in Linux, but probably will still have Windows in one form or another on my PC.

I use web-based e-mail (AOL and GMail) and connect to them through an e-mail client (Apple Mail, ThunderBird, Evolution... don't care which) so after 2-3 minutes of configuration, I can get all my emails regardless of OS. But what article was that? It'd be cool to get my bookmarks and such back and forth more easily.

I am a GNOME guy through and through. For some reason, I just can't stand KDE.

No it just imports from xp the first time. There is, however, a firefox add-on that will sync emails and links. But its available to all OS not just linux.

I'm now online with Linux for the first time since going broadband over 3 years ago. I had been dual-booting Windows and Mandrake in my dial-up days, using the Winmodem for Windows and a serial modem for Linux but never managed to reconnect my Linux after my Broadband switchover - until now, that is. I installed Mandriva 2009 today and it connected immediately. Things have definitely improved. I'm online with Linux right now. It's just a pity that I still need Windows for some programs!