Why are you running Linux?

[clutch 1]

Just thought I would pose a poll as for your reasoning in selecting this OS. For me, the final kicker was the pricing on "upgrading" our Exchange server from 5.5 to 2000. As there is no longer an upgrade option, it will now cost at *least* $10,000US for us to REPLACE the licenses, rather than a few grand at the most to upgrade them. I decided that since many applications have matured, while many more new ones are coming down the pipe for Linux that I would try using it again.

[Crashedmyfiesta 0]

Of course M$ is evil. Why else would I have to scour the .net for weeks trying to find if anyone had written a driver for this cheap carp modem that depends on Windoze for its operation? Whatever happened to building a proper modem? Why do PC makers insist on cutting corners?? A thousand quid on a brand new PC and they couldn't even be BOTHERED to give me a proper freakin' modem??!!!***!!!

 

BTW I found a driver in the end.

 

Paul.

[Admiral LSD 0]

Does phpBB support multiple choice polls like vB? Several of those options apply to me.

 

At the moment though, the main reason is because Windows and decent routing software won't run on a 486DX4/100 with 32Mb RAM and a Hercules graphics card whereas Linux and iptables are perfectly happy in even less than that.

 

However the customisation, stability, security and to an extent evil Bill () have all played their part over the years.

[clutch 1]

Which version of Windows and which version of Linux are you addressing? NT4 will run just fine on that box, as I have had several servers in the past running file and print servers (as well as Domain Controllers) on that class of box. I would imagine that running a fully loaded Mandrake 9.0 on it would probably crush its will to live.

[zero0w 0]

That's why we need Linux from Scratch.

 

The basic reason is to be windepent, and more importantly, I can't afford several copies of Windows AND MS Office for the computers of my family members all at the same time. Nor do I see justification to do so in an upgrade after upgrade (I doubt if many of us will use MS Office the way those corporate data/IT professionals use, or many of us see the really need to upgrade from Win98/2k to XP as necessary, if just to run our favorite apps).

 

The way I see it, Linux and GPL are indispensable to the open source scene we have these days, and the releases of mozilla.org and Open Office in addition to LAMP and perhaps Gimp are significant as well. The only complaint I can make is the lack of games and media/web authoring applications, which also began to catch up now (eg. Cinerella, Blender, Audacity, and Quanta; but a killer audio/MIDI production app is still pending). There are still more mileages to cover to achieve a level-playing field. But I am optimistic, considering internet is the great propellor of (computing and other) knowledge productions and distributions.

[Admiral LSD 0]

Quote:

Which version of Windows and which version of Linux are you addressing? NT4 will run just fine on that box, as I have had several servers in the past running file and print servers (as well as Domain Controllers) on that class of box. I would imagine that running a fully loaded Mandrake 9.0 on it would probably crush its will to live.

Currently, a server class install of Red Hat 7.2. Mandrake is optimised for Pentium processors and as such probably won't even install on that machine. The video card (it's a combination Hercules monochrome/CGA card IIRC but I keep it in Herc mode because text looks best at 720x400) would most likely screw NT over and I have no plans to upgrade it any time soon (I do most of its configuration via SSH so doesn't need anything really fancy at its end).

[Corvus 0]

Let's see.. re-registrating..again?

Just tired of M$ Windowz Claiming it's greatness when it sux. ..Let me see.. Accessing various ms sites when I already blocked them? How about THEIR ads? humm .NET I don't want it.. yet I have removed it 17.. oh wait it is there again. ..other items appearing when I didn't ask for them..? (..I am not bitter.. ..ok so maybe a little bit. )

 

how about Intel releasing chips when they knew they were bad? Sounds just like M$.. NEway

 

But I do like my games.. ( Help.. please.. WINE ..)

Lindows.. If only I wouldn't have to re-pay for updates. Humm sounds fishy.. (but it aint Windows )

 

-Corvus

[blueworm 0]

My main reason for using linux is Philosofical, I believe in the the principals of the free software foudation (free as in freedom of speach)

[Corvus 0]

Bingo. MS doesn't seem to be free in any sence.

[PenguinBiker 0]

I honestly believe that gates is the devil himself ' ;( '

 

i think tux could kick his ass any day 8)

[Corvus 0]

Hey.. notice how People know there is another OS and how they don't use Linux because their favorite application runs on it. )

 

Humm.. I THink only one of those answers would be "0" anyways. )

Those that use the site KNOW Linux exists. And those that really don't probably never will be seen here ) Oh well.

 

-Corvus

[PenguinBiker 0]

well if anyone actually does ansere "theres another os" i would have to seriously question their mental capacity as far as my favorite app running on linux it does but thats not my reason for useing linux my reson for useing linux is 1 microsoft is hellspawn and 2. i didn't have enough money for a mac when i started to use linux

 

and now my reason is i just can't stop useing it i like having a os that is capable of doing almost anything with enough work.

Viva-La-Penguin

[Timmay 0]

I had to go with, its new and shiny, closest to my answer because my answer is "because its there". I actually love XP coming off of DOS, Windows 3.1, Win 95, 98, 2000 and even ME for about a week. Free software is good, though I find its easier to pay in the long run to get all updates. Its also getting harder and harder to find free versions on many Linux websites and Linux still has a LONG way to go to be as user friendly as Windows. You may disagree with that, but take it from someone who runs it casually, its friendlieness sucks. Bad. All of them. Well, Lindows makes it a bit easier, but you dont know what you did really. If they want to go mainstream, the average guy needs to be able to just go without all the driver and app issues I and many others have. Too bad they cant support .exe files out of the box and ship files and drivers that way, it would make all the difference in the world.

[PenguinBiker 0]

Not to be insulting but i think people who love windows are ignorent about the other options out there, if you don't want to go with linux because its to "hard" to use try going with a mac they're fast , powerful, stable, and easy to use

as far as windows goes i refuse to use an operating system that has flaws purposely designed in it

[PenguinBiker 0]

Linux does have a ways to go in user friendlyness but it is taking that distance in leaps and bounds (i mean suse and redhat can be downright simple to install if you don't choose more advanced options) also simple to run you just have to learn a new interface

the people that talk about how hard suse is to just run (i'm not talking about console commands just running it) are treating it like windows

 

microsoft is losing money and i think that they will just continue to lose more, as more and more people become aware of the better options like macs and linux.

 

well i'm going to stop for a while before i continue to rant and rave about M$

[Corvus 0]

Ranting an raving can be fun. ) (especially with M$ involved )

 

) true Linux is getting better in regaurds to ease of installing, and users can use it like windows. Some programs are just in a different place (and named differently too.. boo-hoo Ever look at someone's machine that they setup themselves anyways? Granted file names are basically the same.) So much for huge learning curve, but then some don't like a slight bend.

 

I think one of the better examples is RedHat as it ID all of my hardware correctly (Minus one of the two on-board NICS). And basic graphical layout is similar enough to get one started with out knowing anything. Oh well... atleast with the one that works I can find drivers for the second.

 

 

Hey.. look.. very little rant 'n rave.. But can't that go without saying? ) hehe

[PenguinBiker 0]

in some cases hardware detection in linux can be better than in windows i'm currently working on my jewlry teachers computer which thinks the cdrom drive is a floppy :x but thats windows for you. lately my only hardware detection problems have only been my moniter (its a kds flat crt) i might not have bought it if at the time i had known that "KDS" stands for korean data systems.

 

but anyway back a little bit closer to the topic

 

i use linux simply because it is already better than everything else out there (i like it better than OSX because of its flexability)

 

my last install of suse i would feel sorry for the newbie that touched it i had 6 partitions on my main hd (its a single user computer) and things as someone in KLUG (kalamazoo linux users group) said "were in the wrong place" because of where things were on partitions but it worked for my and i knew exactly where things were. i'm installing gentoo new becasue its the laatest and greatest shiny thing (i have other more intelligent reasons)

 

just useing linux doesn't involve a big learning curve anymore like it used to with some distros depending on what you do you can completly avoid using the terminal (i have yet to find a user who does this)

 

well i have to go to class now ;(

[Corvus 0]

) Yeah.. windows didn't (even after installing some drivers _again_ ) recignise a few things.

 

If anyone wounders XP(.. forget ME - go back to 98SE) .

 

I kina found it useful (to me) to place things where I want.

 

"Hey..looky that.. I found it! and so fast!"

[PenguinBiker 0]

i like how if windows doesn't have drivers for some hardware it will use "the closest match" and that almost never works it just makes it harder to get it set up and the cycle begins (my teachers computer now thinks the cd-rom is a corrupted hd, why the hell it thinks that i have no clue its setting up a cd-rom drive so it asks you to insert the f'ing windows install cd ;( )

[PenguinBiker 0]

i like how in linux you can place things where you want and they work do that with windows and you can make it crash, and burn.

[Corvus 0]

How about when you HAVE the REQUIRED driver, but Windoze says it is no good, you need a newer or same driver? )

 

HALLOOOO.. ?

[PenguinBiker 0]

alot of things in windows just don't add up, literatry (ok i know thats spelled wrong. can you even tell what word it is?) like when you have a 40 gig harddrive (it even showed up as a 40 gig drive in windows) and there is 23 gigs free and 8 gigs used Where did the other 9 gigs go? (this happend to me with win xp a while ago, when i got my computer i ran dual boot win xp and mandrake each having a 40 gig hd to themselves, windows i'm proud to say hasn't touched my computer for over a year and a half) also in other ways, earlier in this thread i was talking about one of my teachers computer. one of the schools "tech people" as almost everyone calls them added ram to the computer, and when it booted up the cdrom drive worked just fine. THATS ALL HE DID, ADD MEMORY i watched him do it. Before that it thought that the cdrom was either a floppy or a corrupted cdrom drive HOW WOULD ADDING MEMORY FIX THAT? ;( ?

 

and that is one of the hundreds of reasons why i try as hard as i can to avoid anything made by or made in part by microsoft.

 

if anyone has learned anything by my ravings it should be this: windows runs about as well as an 80 year old drunk man in a 1000 meter dash

 

i'm not done yet, only tired

[firefox2501 0]

The reason I have enjoyed using computers for as long as I have is because of curiousity.

 

There is always that "Well how does it work" that floats around.

 

Windows uses "wizards" to set up everything, but if you don't know how it works, you can't troubleshoot it.

 

Sure, you can use frontends to configure things in Linux. But it is just as easy, if not easier, to edit config files to suit. And in doing so, you learn how the program works and how to troubleshoot it when it doesn't work.

 

That is why I love Linux.

[PC-Janitor 0]

It's a bit like the first time I played with MS-DOS, only now every day I can learn something new. Linux is a real brain stretcher, but not a stupid one like Windows. With Linux, when you find the answer, you've found the answer. In Windows answers are nebulous and lack definition.

 

I think that's why when I'm looking through A+ answers and practice questions, they often take a kind of nodal 'go back two steps and fix something else' option or give a couple of options one of which will fix the problem....

 

Quote:

Question 799a

 

You are an IT Consultant who has been asked to troubleshoot a hard drive failure on a clients PC. When you arrive on site and first turn on the clients computer, you notice a grinding noise... What would be the most likely cause of this failure?

 

[*] The sound you hear is friction from the base of the machine rubbing against the garbage chute on it's way out of the building.

[*]A loose drive floundering around the bottom of the case after being thrown at the wall on several occasions.

[*]Read/Write head failure.

[*]Dodgy wheel on base of tea trolly.

or

[*]None of the above.[/list:u]

 

or, because one of the options in every good training manual is "Make sure the machine you are working on has plenty of memory" you get events like...

 

Quote:

...one of the schools "tech people" as almost everyone calls them added ram to the computer, ... THATS ALL HE DID, ADD MEMORY ... Before that it thought that the cdrom was either a floppy or a corrupted cdrom drive HOW WOULD ADDING MEMORY FIX THAT? ?

 

Sorry, I'm being silly now, I'm going to the fridge to take my pils.

[Corvus 0]

Quote:

Answer to Question 799a


* The sound you hear is friction from the base of the machine rubbing against the garbage chute on it's way out of the building.

I have a nextdoor niegbour who tosses his machine against the wall on a regular basis. He once passed me a CD and asked if I could put it in my dirve and run it. (It is a cd for his Voodoo card) hea was having problems after deleting all of the files that ended or otherwise had "VGA" in the file name or description, because he had a ..<I have no idea>..

m- Sure.. Humm not working.
n- Nope.. and it wont work in mine either. Can you fix it?
m- *take the cd out.. notice spiral scratches ..(like a record)* um no I can't.
n- Why not?
m- By any chance when you opened your CDROM was the cd still spinning?
n- yeah.. I pushed it into the tray thing untill it stopped. I think the tray is busted too.
m- ..and you ask me to fix it?
n- yeah. it's just a little scratch.


"
It spins up
but it won't slow down
My cd is spinin' round an' round..
Open the door and it flies on out
Hits the wall and I scream and shout:

Abra-abra-cadabra
That should fix it up..
Abra-abra-cadabra

Abra-abra-cadabra
(Hey have you got any duct tape?)
Abra-abra-cadabra...
"