Quote:Original post by jperalta Edit: Oh, yeah, on other con that really irks me... BSD people are in love with csh and vi, both of which I can't stand the only shells that are installed by default are sh, csh, and ksh (iirc), and no bash... and your default editor is vi
[help] Csh and vi? My, oh my. I prefer bash and nano, myself. Oh well, at least you can install them later on, it's not a HUGE deal, really. [smile]
Quote:Original post by jperalta Edit: Oh, yeah, on other con that really irks me... BSD people are in love with csh and vi, both of which I can't stand the only shells that are installed by default are sh, csh, and ksh (iirc), and no bash... and your default editor is vi
[help] Csh and vi? My, oh my. I prefer bash and nano, myself. Oh well, at least you can install them later on, it's not a HUGE deal, really. [smile]
I know, I'm just a fan of bash and jed and at times during install (setting up config files before installing bash or jed) it's just kind of irksome.
I was using Mandrake 8.0 - 10.0 for a while and i switched to stock Debian last summer. It took a few weeks to hammer down all the loose ends (font de-uglification, installing programs and libs i wanted, system settings, etc) and to otherwise make a nice little nest, but now it's awesome. My system is constantly up to date with just two commands:
apt-get update apt-get upgrade
It makes Mandrake look like it's from the stone age in that department. On the other hand, Debian is hard to do simple things with. Like setting the clock... I have no idea how to do that. I fixed it by installing an app which keeps me synced over the internet ;-) Mandrake has a nice centralized command center i wish Debian had. But once you are set up with Debian, that's it. No more wipe-the-drive-and-install-the-next-version routines. Massive upgrading is really smooth, even more so than mainstream Windows (not like Windows is the model for that anyway. In fact, it's pitifull for upgrading).
Linux in general is good for: - Customization. You can customize the snot out of it. - No annoying "wizards". It lets you do exactly what you want (if you know how) - Security - Stability - Do-It-Yourself feel.
Linux is NOT good for: - User friendliness. It keep getting better, but the sad truth is that software makers and hardware manufacturers do not have Linux on their minds when designing their wares. As a result, everything is a workaround. - Software installation. It's different on every distro and easy on none, unless they provide the exact package you need. - Sorrowfull lack of commercial software. (Hellooo? Photoshop? OSX but not Linux?) - Hardware support is dodgy on bleeding-edge and exotic items (but usually okay for most things) - Easy system configuration. Again, depends on the distro. RedHat/Fedora, Mandrake, and SuSE all do pretty good at these things.
If you don't have the time to really sit down and learn, don't bother. You'll just frustrate yourself.
Quote:Original post by leiavoia It makes Mandrake look like it's from the stone age in that department. On the other hand, Debian is hard to do simple things with. Like setting the clock... I have no idea how to do that.
I really like Fedora Core 3. And it's free. I dual boot it with Windows. You may have problems finding all the dependents you need to get the media functionality you take for granted with Windows, but it can be done with a minimum of fuss.
I've been using the live CD of ubuntu for a few days now, and I'm really liking it. I'm just worried about installing it for dual boot with my Windows XP.
Guess I have to go read up on it more.
What are the chances of being able to mess up your windows with installing a build?
Old Username: Talroth
If your signature on a web forum takes up more space than your average post, then you are doing things wrong.
I was one of those people who tried Mandrake but never really liked it. A while later I tried Gentoo, then installed Debian. Despite taking a bit of time and effort to set up, I really like it. I enjoy spending the time tweaking it to do just what I want. I started using it more and more; I had Windows just for games.
Now, for some reason, Windows won't work. A disk test utility says my drive is error-free, but wiping the drive and doing a fresh install of Windows leaves the system unbootable. Linux still works fine. I and several others with technical knowlege can't figure it out. I can't use Windows on my computer any more, but it doesn't really bug me. I miss some of my games that don't have Linux versions, but I'm getting a laptop this spring so I'll be able to play games on that.
The first thing, in my extensive experience on the subject, you should know is that nobody actually knows what they like or dislike about linux.
Lots of people will give you lots of stereotypical reasons for lots of things and claim to adhere to certain beliefs. It's all part of their insanity.
There are a lot of people who dislike linux because they know a whole lot of winapi, directx, and are heavy invested in learning microsoft technologies. They know the other guy, they don't know this guy. When they suddenly don't soak up the same mountains of information they've slowly accumulated about windows when trying out linux, they freak and invent hundreds of excuses for why linux sucks. You'll never hear the real reason from them. There are many other types of cases.
There are similiar things for why people like linux. For example, some people like linux just because there's a big community and they can feel involved just reading all of it. They'll never admit this either.
Nobody will ever tell you the real reason they like/dislike it. So take everybody's statements with a grain of salt.
I can offer two bits of advice for trying out linux, however. One, find a linux friend to help you install it. Don't get me started on how much of a bitch it is to install any operating system (personal experience with ancient debian woody and windows 2000 here). Two, use it. Lots of people install it, shrug, and never use it again. Well, duh. You didn't use it. It's not like there's a whole new usage category that opens up that lets you do completely new things with linux you'd be willing to stop whatever you were doing in windows and reboot for.
Use evolution, check email. Install eclipse and hack some java code. Run firefox and check out strongbad's latest email. Discover liferea and get the feeds from wired, slashdot, lwn, etc streaming into your computer. Maybe try to start hacking on some gtk app or something. try some games: gnotan,wesnoth,uqm, or spring $5 on getting World of Warcraft to work on linux from cedega or whatever.
If you use it, you'll find all the big things are there, and all those little things that used to be just different, actually turn out to be nice. sometimes very nice. gstreamer is freaking amazing. not particularily at format compatibility, perhaps, but the sheer capability is astounding. Some dude is using it to do video broadcasts.
That's all I have to say about having a good experience with linux.
