xxkbxx Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 Hello, I am a current Windows XP user and I was just curious what the benefits of Linux are. All I know as of know (or I think I know) is that Linux is free, but what else makes it good? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
naraku9333 Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 In my opinion, the best thing about it is the learning experience. Being able to learn alittle more everyday far out weighs the price as a selling point. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fubz Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 Well i just installed it a few hours ago and im loving it. Its a very new experience. And it does take a good amount to learn, at first your just like... ok now what. Soon you get hold of some basic commands.The thing i found the hardest is the lack of GUI interaction, most of it is all done from command prompt. Or at least from my experince.The overall feel of the OS is great, i love the look and feel of it. It looks nice while not over doing it, and it just plain works. Im not even gonna go back to windows except to load a game... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dragon Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 one thing about Linux you need to be aware of is it somewhat lacks in the software department.don't get me wrong, I use Linux for my business, it has great support in a business environment, but as far as gaming goes, there isn't much there.as far as I am concerned its a great desktop environment, its just as stable as Win XP, only without the huge patching needed every month. Granted the Kernel updates happen occasionally, but that only makes it more stable IMO. also its a little more secure then Windows, only because it doesn't have as many viruses or malware programs out for it because it isn't a widely used system for desktop. Of course that will change if and when Linux starts getting a larger share of the OS market. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
robroy Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 hereandhere alsotwo recent threads basically answering your questionon top of all that It is funso come on and give it a try with one of the live linux distro's. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hitest Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 Stable, secure, fun to use. Up time......you can run a Linux box for days, weeks, months without a crash. Inexpensive to run. Free open source software is the way to go. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanenin Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 In my opinion, the best thing about it is the learning experience. Being able to learn alittle more everyday far out weighs the price as a selling point.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I agree, I love exersizing my brain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanenin Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 don't get me wrong, I use Linux for my business, it has great support in a business environmentjust curious, what kind of business? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted August 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 What I also wanted to know is what type of functions can you run with Linux? I am once again under the assumption that you install both (in my case) XP and Linux and just select either one for startup on the BIOS boot screen, but what types of things will Linux do? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rhema7 Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 What I also wanted to know is what type of functions can you run with Linux? I am once again under the assumption that you install both (in my case) XP and Linux and just select either one for startup on the BIOS boot screen, but what types of things will Linux do?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Yes you can duel boot XP and Linux it will not be at the Bios screen but from the bootloader LILO Or Grub which you flavor of linux will install. usually giving you 15sec to choose which you want before contiuing with the default.I have no problems saying anything you can do in windows you can do with Linux.I use Xandros desktop and if it were not for MusicMatch on demand I would never use windows. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
uberpenguin Posted August 23, 2005 Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 Linux is a Free *nix macrokernel that is developed at a frantic pace, has a lot of support and developers, and a healthy dose of industry support.If none of that means anything to you, then the best benefit is that it is simply "a different OS." We could get into very technical details of how it excells and falls behind various other OSes, but that's almost certainly not what you want. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iccaros Posted August 23, 2005 Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 Hello, I am a current Windows XP user and I was just curious what the benefits of Linux are. All I know as of know (or I think I know) is that Linux is free, but what else makes it good?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>What make Linux good..Well you can do what ever you want.. As in build a really bloated system with all the bells and stuff or just a small 8 meg version that does a specific job. Anything you can do on any OS you can do with Linux. Linux runs on more hardware then any other living OS (I believe that includes NetBSD but I could be wrong there)Linux is more secure then say Windows, not only because it’s not seen as a big of a target (which anymore is not true.. its that most attempts are from script kiddies and are targeting the system in which they have programs to hack them for, as they don’t really know anything) , but because of the separation of users. While in windows you can create a limited user, name me 3 people you know, who do not work in a computer field that does. Also even with the separation of accounts, many companies do not have the admin log in as an admin and log in as user when they serf the web or other work. This means they are always using the system with the most privileges to be exploited.Games even run in Linux.. A project from TransGaming Technologies will run a lot of windows games (I forget the new name) under Linux. But games like Doom III and Unreal 2003 & 2004 run natively. But in this case it should be asked.. What can windows do that is special except run lots of games??If you get help on this board you may think Linux is mostly command line.. This is not true, just a matter of experience. The more experience a person has with a Unix type OS the more they feel the command line is faster then a GUI and they forget the GUI tool is there.. I have this problem.. But truly try this and see which is faster. (By the way I always have a terminal open.. so I’m cheating)To add the contents of a text file to the end of another file..With GUI Short wayOpen word processerOpen both filesSelect content of file one and right click and do copyClick on file two (at the end) right click and select pasteLonger way..Open file browserFind file one and double clickFind file two double clickSelect content of file one and right click and do copyClick on file two (at the end) right click and select pasteCommand line of the same thing.(note this will work in windows also but need to define drive name and use the \ instead of / and use the type command instead of cat)<Unix/Linux>cat /home/user/fileone.txt >> /home/user/filetwo.txt<windows>type c:\Documents and Settings\user\fileone.txt >> c:\Documents and Settings\user\filetwo.txtDone…So the easier question is what can Linux not do?And to that I would say..Music editing is still in it infancy (I mean multi-track studio recording and mixing, not editing a wav or mp3 file) but so was Windows before XP.. Good Visio type programs.. this just need written. The only problem is Microsoft is not going to release the Visio standard.. The Dia has a reward for anyone who can figure a way to import Visio objects…. That’s it off my head…. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dragon Posted August 27, 2005 Report Share Posted August 27, 2005 don't get me wrong, I use Linux for my business, it has great support in a business environmentjust curious, what kind of business?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I do website design, and other business to business projects. you can check out my business site here.Iccaros,The name of the program is Cedega and its non-free but yes it will run close to 90% of the windows OS games out there Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.