What does it take to be a LINUX user?

[R.P.F.]

A friend of mine has been urging me to switch to LINUX.. He said that LINUX is way user friendly than Windows and the transition is not that bad. He is a tech-guru so he probably defines 'not bad' differently from me. I am a Window user right now. I am not very familiar with operating systems. I'm just wondering what it takes to make the switch. Thank you.

 

[MartinJH]

Just seen the Ubuntu OS. It looks fantastic from my point of view. I can't comment on the transition from windows to Linux but I will be dual booting now that's for sure.
It will vary I think from person to person, when I used it it did feel intuitive, similar to Macs OS which I love to use when away from PC.
If I remember the one issue he had was driver support so becareful on that one and make sure you have a way of getting net drivers if Linux doesn't have yours otherwise good luck.

 

[I like Serena]

I had some trouble.

First my Windows got infected by a virus that got in, regardless of firewalls and virus scanners.
(And no, I'm not one of those people that opens email attachments just because they say: open me! )

I got rid of the virus, but my network driver had become corrupted.
Then it turned out my company was unable to restore a clean image to my laptop, and they were kind of difficult about fixing it (not going into details here).
I couldn't fix it myself since I only have a company license for Windows. (License problems! Yuck! )

I decided to install Ubuntu Linux, which helpfully created room for itself without destroying any of my data.
Since then I've been working happily with Ubuntu Linux.

No licenses, no viruses, and basically the same look-and-feel as Windows.
I'm happy again!

 

[R.P.F.]

Just seen the Ubuntu OS. It looks fantastic from my point of view. I can't comment on the transition from windows to Linux but I will be dual booting now that's for sure.
It will vary I think from person to person, when I used it it did feel intuitive, similar to Macs OS which I love to use when away from PC.
If I remember the one issue he had was driver support so becareful on that one and make sure you have a way of getting net drivers if Linux doesn't have yours otherwise good luck.

Thanks for reminding me. I will look into that.

 

[R.P.F.]

I had some trouble.

First my Windows got infected by a virus that got in, regardless of firewalls and virus scanners.
(And no, I'm not one of those people that opens email attachments just because they say: open me! )

I got rid of the virus, but my network driver had become corrupted.
Then it turned out my company was unable to restore a clean image to my laptop, and they were kind of difficult about fixing it (not going into details here).
I couldn't fix it myself since I only have a company license for Windows. (License problems! Yuck! )

I decided to install Ubuntu Linux, which helpfully created room for itself without destroying any of my data.
Since then I've been working happily with Ubuntu Linux.

No licenses, no viruses, and basically the same look-and-feel as Windows.
I'm happy again!

Aww..that's a cute fairy tale. So you have been happy ever after?
Yeah I might try to get Ubuntu on my laptop alongside WIndows. Do you use command lines?

 

[I like Serena]

Aww..that's a cute fairy tale. So you have been happy ever after?
Yeah I might try to get Ubuntu on my laptop alongside WIndows. Do you use command lines?

I've been running Ubuntu for a year now and happy with it!

I've run into trouble only twice.

Once when I had some compatibility problems with a Word document that I shared with colleagues.
But my Windows still works, except for the network driver, so I edited the Word document in Windows (after rebooting).

And a second time when my company asked me to update my company profile, which requires use of Microsoft Internet Explorer and specifically of Microsoft Word.

As for the command line, I do use it, but it's not necessary.
Everything in Windows works in Ubuntu in a similar way too.

I use the command line only for those nifty things that the Linux command line offers, that are simply not (default) available in Windows (grep, ssh, perl, sort, strings, patch, diff, e.a.).

 

[MartinJH]

In all honesty I thought Ubuntu wasnt worth the time to download, try, find drivers and inevitably delete. I was under the impression you needed to be a command line whore etc, how very wrong I've been proved.
Having the 64bit cpu is anyone using Ubuntu in x64.

 

[I like Serena]

In all honesty I thought Ubuntu wasnt worth the time to download, try, find drivers and inevitably delete. I was under the impression you needed to be a command line whore etc, how very wrong I've been proved.
Having the 64bit cpu is anyone using Ubuntu in x64.

For the record, I did not have to search for drivers, and I did not have to be a guru to get Ubuntu to work. It works all on its own, and finds anything it needs on its own accord!

 

[MartinJH]

For the record, I did not have to search for drivers, and I did not have to be a guru to get Ubuntu to work. It works all on its own, and finds anything it needs on its own accord!

Which is what I like :D.

 

[jhae2.718]

You almost always don't need to search for drivers in Linux. They're built into the kernel.

I am a full time Linux user, using OpenSUSE on my personal machine (also with a Win7 VM) and Xubuntu (basically Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop) on the computer I use in the lab I work at. Ubunutu is generally the most popular distro for people new to Linux. (On the other hand, the latest 11.04 uses the new Unity desktop environment, which is awful IMO, so you may want to try 10.10.)

You don't need to use the command line in modern Linux distros. However, bash provides an extremely easy way to get things done. I use the CLI daily.

Another great thing is the amount of awesome software you can get for free. The package management system is unlike anything on Windows, but is a great way to manage programs and to keep everything updated.

RPF, you should download the Ubunutu LiveCD and try it. (You can boot into the CD and use Ubuntu without modifying anything on your computer.)

@ILSe: if you have to use MS Office, I've heard it runs well under Wine. Unfortunately, LibreOffice Writer doesn't support .docx formatting very well. (If only people would learn to use LaTeX for everything...)

 

[I like Serena]

@ILSe: if you have to use MS Office, I've heard it runs well under Wine. Unfortunately, LibreOffice Writer doesn't support .docx formatting very well. (If only people would learn to use LaTeX for everything...)

Thanx! I'll try that next time!

 

[Pattonias]

I would say that to use linux you have to have the patience of a saint and enjoy the frustrations that come from having to dig up drivers. All in all though, I would say that Ubuntu is the most user friendly. Hard to hold up against windows though. Linux requires a little computer savy.

 

[R.P.F.]

You almost always don't need to search for drivers in Linux. They're built into the kernel.

I am a full time Linux user, using OpenSUSE on my personal machine (also with a Win7 VM) and Xubuntu (basically Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop) on the computer I use in the lab I work at. Ubunutu is generally the most popular distro for people new to Linux. (On the other hand, the latest 11.04 uses the new Unity desktop environment, which is awful IMO, so you may want to try 10.10.)

You don't need to use the command line in modern Linux distros. However, bash provides an extremely easy way to get things done. I use the CLI daily.

Another great thing is the amount of awesome software you can get for free. The package management system is unlike anything on Windows, but is a great way to manage programs and to keep everything updated.

RPF, you should download the Ubunutu LiveCD and try it. (You can boot into the CD and use Ubuntu without modifying anything on your computer.)

@ILSe: if you have to use MS Office, I've heard it runs well under Wine. Unfortunately, LibreOffice Writer doesn't support .docx formatting very well. (If only people would learn to use LaTeX for everything...)

Good to know! Thank you.

 

[R.P.F.]

I would say that to use linux you have to have the patience of a saint and enjoy the frustrations that come from having to dig up drivers. All in all though, I would say that Ubuntu is the most user friendly. Hard to hold up against windows though. Linux requires a little computer savy.

Yeah that's what I figured. I will try to get that computer savy over the summer.

 

[Adyssa]

I switched to Linux a few years ago. I still use Windows for a few things (games mostly :P and Ableton), but I'm really close to not needing it at all. The recent versions of Ubuntu are mind-blowingly easy to install and configure. I would say quite a bit easier than Windows. For example, setting up a Windows install:

Insert CD, next, next, etc, finish ... wait ... wait ... 45 minutes and a few reboots later ...
Install network driver
reboot
Install sound driver
reboot
Install video driver
reboot
Update Windows ... hours and hours later .. !
reboot, reboot, reboot
Install basic software suite
reboot again no doubt
then set about locking it down some, customizing the desktop, removing annoyances.

compared to Linux (I use Mint at the moment, a full featured Ubuntu derivative)

Insert CD, next, next finish etc ... 15 minutes later
Install video driver
reboot
Update .. maybe 20 minutes.
DONE

Almost all the software I use comes pre-installed (programming tools, office suite, image editor, instant messenger, email, etc...) The extra bits are just a matter of a finding in software centre and installing. Network is up straight off the bat, even video is good to go but I choose to use the proprietary ATI driver. Linux these days is super easy. If you want to get right into the guts of it and fully customize the install, then more power to you, but it's not necessary. I would recommend it to anyone, mums, dads, kids, schools, workplaces ... Windows is a giant waste of money unless you simply must use it for compatibility reasons.

For the record, a good way to check out Linux and have a good play around is to use virtualization. I run VirtualBox (Sun >> Oracle) and it's free. VMWare is a bit better (but it costs). Anyway, install it in Windows, and then you can install operating systems "virtually" and run them inside Windows. This way you don't have to leave your comfort zone, and you can get a handle on a new OS, or 10 new OS's!

 

[MartinJH]

I switched to Linux a few years ago. I still use Windows for a few things (games mostly :P and Ableton), but I'm really close to not needing it at all. The recent versions of Ubuntu are mind-blowingly easy to install and configure. I would say quite a bit easier than Windows. For example, setting up a Windows install:

Insert CD, next, next, etc, finish ... wait ... wait ... 45 minutes and a few reboots later ...
Install network driver
reboot
Install sound driver
reboot
Install video driver
reboot
Update Windows ... hours and hours later .. !
reboot, reboot, reboot
Install basic software suite
reboot again no doubt
then set about locking it down some, customizing the desktop, removing annoyances.

compared to Linux (I use Mint at the moment, a full featured Ubuntu derivative)

Insert CD, next, next finish etc ... 15 minutes later
Install video driver
reboot
Update .. maybe 20 minutes.
DONE

Almost all the software I use comes pre-installed (programming tools, office suite, image editor, instant messenger, email, etc...) The extra bits are just a matter of a finding in software centre and installing. Network is up straight off the bat, even video is good to go but I choose to use the proprietary ATI driver. Linux these days is super easy. If you want to get right into the guts of it and fully customize the install, then more power to you, but it's not necessary. I would recommend it to anyone, mums, dads, kids, schools, workplaces ... Windows is a giant waste of money unless you simply must use it for compatibility reasons.

For the record, a good way to check out Linux and have a good play around is to use virtualization. I run VirtualBox (Sun >> Oracle) and it's free. VMWare is a bit better (but it costs). Anyway, install it in Windows, and then you can install operating systems "virtually" and run them inside Windows. This way you don't have to leave your comfort zone, and you can get a handle on a new OS, or 10 new OS's!

I don't seem to have those issues with 7, perhaps with XP back in the day but for a while I have used Ghost image. This takes under 10 minutes to install and I have everything set up as I like. Even creating the image meant I had to install everything like I would, that did take about 45 minutes but after that its luvvly. I have yet to install Ubuntu, perhaps this weekend.
I must add, for installing drivers, like youve said for Windows I don't restart until I have installed all drivers that I can, this limited the restarts to perhaps two, under Ubuntu I realize you don't need to do this but I thought i'd say so to keep Windows from having a few points taken away from it, it isn't the worst OS, very crowded but still very good but that's another thread.

 

[Pattonias]

I know this isn't necessarily an issue yet, but I recommend restarting after each driver install. That way if one of them breaks the computer (OS), then you'll know which one did it. If you install them all at once you'll have to guess. This has saved me some heart ache in the past on initial installs.

 

[Adyssa]

Yeah that's my rule for installing anything really, one thing at a time, and if it needs a reboot then I do it right away. Linux, however, can often restart a sub-system without a hard reboot. It's just a small perk, but it's nice. :)

 

[MartinJH]

I understand what your saying :), unfortunately I have done this more times than id like and haven't had any issues for the last 6+ years. If I did have an error a usual quick Google usually throws up the issue.
I suppose everyone has there ways, I am confident in the way I have been doing things but anyway this is going off topic lol :).