Let's talk Linux!

[Chris Miller]

What's your favorite distribution? How much do you know about Linux? Has your bedroom turned into a cybernetic organism because of it?
My favorite distro for a long time was Arch. It gave you an immense amount of control over your system, and was the next best thing to building from scratch. Its only weakness was the Pacman package manager. It was really easy to use, don't get me wrong, and you got cutting-edge stuff with it. However, it had the unfortunate tendency to pull down lots of unneeded dependencies. Recently, they tossed their installation program, so you now set up the entire system from the command line. I'm not sure if that was such a great idea, as it can put off a lot of beginners.

Other than that, I like to look at distros that aren't based on other distros. Debian and Slackware come to mind immediately. So does Tiny Core Linux, which is great for something like a 486. (Yes, I have a working 486 :D ). What others can you think of?

Discuss.

[Tim]

I have used Ubuntu over the years and it has gotten me through. When I got my last two computers, though, I haven't used linux... I might try Slack if I get bored, or maybe something newer.

[Beldaran]

I am writing this from a Debian install. I am not really that knowledgeable to be honest, but I can fiddle around with the command line, compile source, and edit files in Vim. I really like Linux though, and I plan to bolster my skills so that my career can veer in that direction.

[Majora]

I've had nothing but shit luck with linux. Personally, I consider it a pile of garbage. Linux is not a serious desktop OS, in the same way windows is not a serious server OS.

[Glenn the Great]

Where I work we have about a dozen servers running various distributions of Linux, mostly Ubuntu and Red Hat.

A am an application programmer and not a system administrator, so my interaction with these servers is usually limited to uploading Java programs, scheduling their execution in crontab, and reading Tomcat logs in VIM to test and debug web applications. Occasionally I'll tweak settings for Tomcat or MySQL and bring them up or down or restart them. I don't get involved with installing software, updates, backups, or configuring things for networking or security: those are the purview of the sysadmins.

My opinion is that Linux-like operating systems are a great server environment because their customize-ability allows them to be tailored to the server's purpose, they are light-weight and don't waste resources on a GUI. That everything is command-line driven is a boon for a programmer who wants to capture and re-use program outputs. The inconvenience of the command-line is offset by the fact that changes required to the server are relatively few: perhaps you'll only need to do something to your server once or twice a day.

While Linux is great for use as a server, I would never want to use it for my personal desktop. Every GUI for Linux that I've tried feels like a cheap knockoff of Windows. That's true of Mac OSX as well. I will take my Windows 7 any day. I am a gamer, so compatibility is very important to me. If I have a problem with any program, I want to be able to get help from people who are running it on Windows like 99% of all users, and not have the default answer be "it's probably because of your Linux distro" or "I'm sorry I'm not familiar with Linux, can't help you".

Having had the above experiences, I have this opinion about people who use Linux as their personal desktop that they are people who are trying to impress others by doing things the hard way. Like a man who shaves with a straight-edge razor and thinks he is more manly because of it. I've also found that people who use Linux as their primary desktop tend to be the same sorts of people who vote for 3rd parties in elections and are usually very libertarian.

[Ventus]

I've messed around with linux now for quite some time, Mainly with debian based systems. Like Ubuntu, Linux Mint.
Out of all of the Linux Distro's I've tried I've come to like Linux Mint, Its fast and stable and able to be used like a normal OS.

The worst I've tried is Ubuntu, Everytime I try Ubuntu, It always manage's to get killed from something. Like with the newer versions 11.04 - 12.10 Unity has broken so many times its crazy as hell.

Now with Linux Mint, I haven't even had a problem with it.

But Right now I'm more curios in trying Fedora 17 out. I've heard its quite good.
And another two I need to try running is OpenSuse and Arch.

So yeah I've played around with Linux a lot.
But mainly I'm a windows user for hardware compatibly and stability.

[Chris Miller]

...hey, I use a straight razor, and it's great. :p
I like Linux because it's free, and you can do most everything you can do with Windows. Even gaming is making leaps and bounds. They're even working on a Steam client for Linux, which is a huge boon IMO. :D

[Beldaran]

Having had the above experiences, I have this opinion about people who use Linux as their personal desktop that they are people who are trying to impress others by doing things the hard way. Like a man who shaves with a straight-edge razor and thinks he is more manly because of it. I've also found that people who use Linux as their primary desktop tend to be the same sorts of people who vote for 3rd parties in elections and are usually very libertarian.

I'm certainly not trying to impress anyone, because I know that no one is impressed by people who use Linux. I use it because I desire to learn more about it so that I can enhance my employability with serious companies who recognize it for the serious, industrial strength computing platform that it is.

I also enjoy the brisk freedom of using a computing platform unhindered by licenses, patents, DRM, ads, and other restrictions. Linux feels very "purely intellectual" to me. Microsoft products feel like the stylish, well manicured products of the Ferengi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferengi) and Linux feels a little bit more like the United Federation of Planets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Federation_of_Planets); intellectual, dedicated to scientific discovery, and demanding of technical skill.

A person who became very knowledgeable of Linux in 1996 is still very knowledgeable. A person who became a Windows guru in 1996 has had his knowledge completely outdated by forced updates, rewrites, and architectural changes driven by business needs like stock price and marketing. Yuck.

[Majora]

Windows can also be free if you know what you're doing. I'm not one of those "lul pc master race" gaming cretins but I do appreciate that what I do play runs on windows without question.

Belderan: Yeah, no DRM or patents or any of that nonsense. How's that going for you? :P

The thing I detest about linux is that, as opposed to windows where I have to rely on an underpaid and mis-managed crack team of codemonkeys, I have to rely on a crack team of hobbyist nerds. I once installed debian and I could not find out where to install the proper graphics drivers, or if even one exists. Tried to install Lubuntu on my netbook, and the fucking thing wouldn't boot.

I can appreciate the sentiment of open-source freedom, but like the concept of communism, every instance of its execution has been godawful.

[Glenn the Great]

Windows can also be free if you know what you're doing.

Vote NO on KB971033 :)

[Majora]

Precisely! And possibly SP1 altogether.

[Ventus]

Windows can also be free if you know what you're doing.
Yep if you now what you're doing and you can get windows for free pretty easy :P
I've done it with vista and 7, Yes its so easy I can do it.


Vote NO on KB971033 :)
Actually... Vote Yes on KB971033. With it I believe it makes you genuine :P.

[Beldaran]

I once installed debian and I could not find out where to install the proper graphics drivers, or if even one exists.

Then you probably aren't the kind of person who should be using Linux. I found the driver updates to be relatively straightfoward, but again, I am comfortable searching through technical information, building source, and editing configuration files. However, there is no reason to detest something just because you aren't the kind of person it was designed for.

[SUCCESSOR]

Then you probably aren't the kind of person who should be using Linux. I found the driver updates to be relatively straightfoward, but again, I am comfortable searching through technical information, building source, and editing configuration files. However, there is no reason to detest something just because you aren't the kind of person it was designed for.

I've used a couple Debian builds trying to find the right one for my old ass laptop and found that it was very easy to get the right drivers. Easier than with windows because I did not have to hunt them down on google and dig through my manufacturers website and do some trial and error because of half assed descriptions. There is a learning curve to using Linux to get everything customized to your liking but in general most of them work great for casual use "out of the box."

[Majora]

Then you probably aren't the kind of person who should be using Linux. I found the driver updates to be relatively straightfoward, but again, I am comfortable searching through technical information, building source, and editing configuration files. However, there is no reason to detest something just because you aren't the kind of person it was designed for.


Gee I never would've guessed. You'd think after already being familiar with linux's way of installing things, hunting through the package managers and google, I'd find something. But I didn't. Yeah, real straightforward. (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10691609/what/fff/wedv2e2.png)

[MasterSwordUltima]

I've had absolutely no issues with Linux that I didn't solve through learning. And every time I learned more fascinating information about how the system itself works too. And through that learning, I feel my understanding of logic systems has improved.

On the contrary, with Windows - it always seemed like it was the same solution to everything. Either mess around with regedit, msconfig, etc, or change compatibility mode. Or run a chkdsk every now and then if the hardware is getting corrupted. Gets repetitive.


I think that Linux is only for the type of person who is comfortable seeing a naked problem which will remain noticeable until it is resolved; whereas Windows wants to hide the problem and try to go on without it, giving the facade of a much better platform.