Top ten misconceptions about Linux

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Compliments of listverse.. I love this site!

http://listverse.com/2009/05/31/top-10- ... out-linux/

/me read and nodded the entire time. I will forward it to my SO.
Seriously, how can you explain to your significant other that just because you us many command line (or terminal) tools and have a very "doubleplusunshiny" GUI that Linux in general isn't command line only and doubleplusunshiny?

Linux is good for computer users who are not completely computer illiterate.

I have not used Ubuntu but my experiences with Linux and all UNIX systems have been that there is a lot of set-up to be done at first and this requires a knowledge of scripting or some help from someone else who knows scripting.

The first obvious one for me is that the backspace key on my keyboard does not automatically erase the character I last typed. Hey - that is what the key is there for, just like the A key is there to print an A. It is really about time they sorted that one out if they haven't already.

I come from the days when you typed in the name of the program you wanted to run rather than clicking it off a menu and I felt more "in control" doing that. I also hated the concept of software having to be "installed". If it's there on the hard drive it should work. At worst you may need to configure it to your own directory structure.

Of course Linux like all UNIX systems will have an issue running software if your path or LD_LIBRARY_PATH are not set up correctly. This again is something that should probably be made easier for the common user. Most of the time you do not actually want to make your search path too big as this can slow down your software.

No scripting to install on modern popular systems like Ubuntu, Mint, Mepis, OpenSuse, Fedora, and on and on and on. Some types like arch or the more technicals ones you MAY find a reason to.



This is possibly the most bizarre thing I have ever heard said about linux. Of course back space works. How the heck do you think we correct typing mistakes?

About the only program I can think of that might re-purpose back space is vi, predating MS-dos. vi was written in 1976. Linux started in 1991. Checking the math, vi was 15 years old at that point. It is now 34 years old.

Far more likely you had a hardware problem.



You statement here boggles my mind. Setting up library paths are not a user action for an install. The only thing most users need to type during an install is their name and password.

Programs, like they did even in dos, are easily capable of storing their own paths(and making them) should they need them. Otherwise things in linux are set up much more systematically. Things are in standard locations. Programs can find what they are looking for and remember it.

They can even modify the path variable. User help not needed.

Further, ALL modern operating systems have a process running that keeps track of where directories and files are. Its called a "file manager" and it resides in memory.

I would guess that you are GREPing strings from 30 year old Unix man pages, but even the modern Unices are not like that anymore. Apples OSX is very much a modern Unix for instance.

If you are that out of touch, please dont comment.

Finally, linux literally means Linux Is Not UniX

Last edited by Fuzzy on 09 Jun 2009, 5:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

Perhaps the keyboard configuration is wrong? (Sorry, stupid question) Is it set to USA?

I assure you, by backspace key works fine.

Hes talking about a problem 15+ years ago.

That's a backronym, the word Linux originally meant Linus's UNIX, after the developer of the Linux kernel.

Misconception: Linux doesn’t have technical support

Sure it does. But unlike Windows, you have choice of paid and unpaid technical support. By unpaid technical support, I mean a large number of communities on “the Internets”, available twenty four hours a day. It is a community of enthusiasts, who love using Linux and will be more than willing to help you with your problem. If for no other reason, than to make another Linux convert!

As far as paid technical support goes, there are companies such as Red Hat and Canonical which do just that. If you really need it, you can get the same kind of technical support you get for Windows.

BS!

LINUX is great but I think there might be...just...maybe...at least one website out on the "internets" that provides technical support for Windows.

LINUX is good enough without the Windows bashers having to market their product by comparing it with Windows and making claims such as this.

Allk you LINUX heads out there, if I create a windows based application in Ubuntu will it work on Fedora or Red Hat?

It should. Linux is still Linux.

Just wondering if the Desktop GUI's differ that much. At one point there was an effort to "standardize" many of the different flavors of desktop GUIs.

Linux doesn't appear in uppercase because the spelling of "UNIX" in uppercase is trademarked by The Open Group. However there are many "Unix-like" (another term TOG dislikes, and combats) platforms that have appeared in uppercase format such as UNIX, MINUX, AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, ULTRIX, XENIX, and even LINUX. However Linux isn't an acronym. It is a blend between its creator, Linus Torvalds, and the MINIX platform he was trying to recreate with input from the comp.os.minix community.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel#History

I use the same desktop GUI (namely GNOME) regardless of what distro I'm in. GNOME, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, et al are all available regardless of which Linux distro one uses. The main thing about cross-distro compatibility would be making sure that all the dependencies can be satisfied, but I doubt that would be a huge problem.

Indeed I work from a UK keyboard and have only used Linux at work, but always I have to edit my user start script with stty erase ^H and maybe it does just assume a US keyboard because " and @ often "switch" to their US keyboard locations too.

Fuzzy, don't be silly. Everyone knows that true Linux haxorz are too l33t to make typing mistakes. Hence why Torvalds and Stallman deliberately disabled backspace in Linux, to separate the gurus from the n00bz.

Yeah, I remember issues with trying to delete a character while learning VI. I found EMACS a little easier to use but this was before LINUX. I think most flavors come with EMACS now.

No, most linux distros actually don't include emacs- they typically have vi, nano, ed, and whatever editor comes with your graphical interface (gedit in my case).