Advantages of Linux

[Sayonara]

i think that linux has some problem with certain hardware, is this a common problem?

Not so much problems as "sorry, nobody has written a driver for that yet".

 

If you know your stuff it's often fixable though, apparently.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Since you can write a driver yourself...

[LucidDreamer]

Since you can write a driver yourself...

yes, or take some code and modify it.

[Jordie]

i think that linux has some problem with certain hardware, is this a common problem?

 

Yes Linux does not support some hardware but there is usually a work around. For example my Broadcom based wireless card would not work under Linux and only had drivers avaliable for Windows. I downloaded ndiswrapper from ndiswrapper.sf.net (or go to sf.net and look up ndiswrapper) and was able to use my windows drivers for linux to get my wireless card to work.

 

I love linux and the reason why is

 

1. Security

2. Diverse

3. Advanced

 

When I 1st switched to Linux is wasn't very hard to learn. Mandrake and other distros make it simple any more to use Linux. Most servers run Linux. For example I bet this server that host this site runs Linux or even BSD. Microsoft is trying to release longhorn early because there hurting to Linux. Linux is free open and open source! It has several compilers pre-installed for your use and is just plain nice! You can pick from diffrent window managers so if you don't like the gui of let's same gome you can move to kde, blackbox or another window manager avaliable.

 

Wine works well with most applications. Here is me running the windows application mIRC from mirc.com.

 

 

You should try linux and give it a chance! It won't bite!

[Callipygous]

what i know of windows/linux pros and cons:

 

1. linux makes viruses/spyware/adware much less of a problem because most are designed to target windows machines (which will change if linux starts to compete)

2. gaming on linux sucks, you can get things like wine but i have been told it hurts performance. most gamers dont like that.

3. linux has cool icons that will stand up and run away when you try to click them!

4. linux support/help SUCKS. its designed by geeks who assume that others have the same level of intuition and knowledge as they do. some of the linux programs (like open office) i have used have had help built in but it sucked and was not very helpful, i ended up figuring it out on my own. there isnt really an official place to go for tech support but since its the geeks favorite OS and geeks tend to frequent internet forums, you can usually find help with your problem somewhere online.

5. linux is FREE. greater words have never been spoken. no more throwing hundreds of dollars at microsoft.

6. linux may also be hard to get used to if you have been using windows your whole life. things arent where you expect them to be : P

[Jordie]

what i know of windows/linux pros and cons:

 

1. linux makes viruses/spyware/adware much less of a problem because most are designed to target windows machines (which will change if linux starts to compete)

2. gaming on linux sucks' date=' you can get things like wine but i have been told it hurts performance. most gamers dont like that.

3. linux has cool icons that will stand up and run away when you try to click them!

4. linux support/help SUCKS. its designed by geeks who assume that others have the same level of intuition and knowledge as they do. some of the linux programs (like open office) i have used have had help built in but it sucked and was not very helpful, i ended up figuring it out on my own. there isnt really an official place to go for tech support but since its the geeks favorite OS and geeks tend to frequent internet forums, you can usually find help with your problem somewhere online.

5. linux is FREE. greater words have never been spoken. no more throwing hundreds of dollars at microsoft.

6. linux may also be hard to get used to if you have been using windows your whole life. things arent where you expect them to be : P[/quote']

 

Your 1st 1 is wrong. Linux has file premissions. A virus for Linux usually uses some kind of flaw to gain root and then do damage. But because these flaws are so rare your not going to get many viruses that do harm outside of your /home directory. Also may I add in all anti-virus programs for Linux are 100% free. Accept a few professional ones used on servers.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

How easy is it to partition the hard drive and dualboot?

[Jordie]

How easy is it to partition the hard drive and dualboot?

 

With a distro like Fedora or Mandrake it's simple. Mandrake and Fedora both have graphical installers and make installing Linux a snitch! It really depends on what distro you pick. I would pick Mandrake. Fedora is nice to but red hat inc has modified some of the programs avaliable for fedora because of copyright reasons when Mandrake has not. I think you would like Linux alot. You should try a live cd if you have not already. This way you can get a taste of Linux without having to install it to your hard drive.

[Callipygous]

Your 1st 1 is wrong. Linux has file premissions. A virus for Linux usually uses some kind of flaw to gain root and then do damage. But because these flaws are so rare your not going to get many viruses that do harm outside of your /home directory. Also may I add in all anti-virus programs for Linux are 100% free. Accept a few professional ones used on servers.

 

so whats wrong about my first one?

 

like you seem to be saying, viruses arent a big problem. and like i said at the end, it WILL become an issue if linux starts to really compete.

 

i dont care what safety features you have built in, the smart-but-angry crowd will find a way around it.

[Mad Mardigan]

I dont think viruses will be that big of an issue unless it becomes more uniform like Windows where the vast majority is using the same source code. The could attack differ programs, but if there is still many versions of the source, then it should not fail.

[Jordie]

so whats wrong about my first one?

 

like you seem to be saying' date=' viruses arent a big problem. and like i said at the end, it WILL become an issue if linux starts to really compete.

 

i dont care what safety features you have built in, the smart-but-angry crowd will find a way around it.[/quote']

 

Linux is an operating system that has about 100 viruses (give or take a few). Most of these viruses can not do any harm to your system. Most of them just do simple things like delete all the files in /home or infect all the files in home or so on.

 

The reason why most Linux viruses can't do more is because file premissions. For example right now I am logged in as the user 'Jordan' on my system. If I logged in as root and created a file by default the user 'Jordan' could not access this file. I would have to allow 'Jordan' to access it.

 

Lets say I create a file called win.txt as root and then login as Jordan. Let's say I download a file that looks for win.txt and deletes it. I run it and it fails to delete win.txt. Why? Because the user the executable was run under dosen't have premission to access win.txt.

 

Linux viruses are going to have to find some kind of flaw and use it to gain root before they can do much harm to the system. Because of this your not going to have many wide spread Linux viruses or worms as you do with a operating system that does not have a form of file premissions like Windows for example.

 

Yes I do agree with you they will become a problem as more people began to use Linux. But I doubt there going to be as big as a problem as Windows viruses/worms is due to the file premissions and other security implementations.

 

Also there are several home users, prorgrammers and corporations that already do use Linux. They have not become a big problem yet?

 

And if there is a flaw that allows a file to gain root access or something of that sort a patch is usually released within 15 hours or less were as Microsoft it takes two or so days to release patches.

[Callipygous]

thats great!

however, windows wont let me delete system files either, that doesnt stop nimda from doing it. nor does it stop nimda from deleting things in the MBR and ruining my harddrive. it may be that linux security is much better than that of windows, but the virus writers are very good at finding ways around such things. i am aware of the fact that right now there are very few viruses for linux, but if they accounted for 90% of all computers like windows does the viruses would begin to focus on them.

[aM]

How easy is it to partition the hard drive and dualboot?

 

That is werry easy with all distributions i have tried(I have installed a good bunch of them, but havent used all of them), the only one i got stuck in(and that was a year or 2 ago was college linux. College linux got a "hardcore" installation prosses if u want to use their installer to creat a partition.

If u look away from this one linux is really cool:P

[Jordie]

thats great!

however' date=' windows wont let me delete system files either, that doesnt stop nimda from doing it. nor does it stop nimda from deleting things in the MBR and ruining my harddrive. it may be that linux security is much better than that of windows, but the virus writers are very good at finding ways around such things. i am aware of the fact that right now there are very few viruses for linux, but if they accounted for 90% of all computers like windows does the viruses would begin to focus on them.[/quote']

 

I have made a virus or two for Windows and let me tell you it is far easier to make a virus on Windows then it is then Linux. Linux is more secure then Windows because of file premissions. Windows has no security implementions when Linux does so it makes Linux more secure then Windows already.

 

Yes you can delete system files on Windows Xp. If you think system file protection is going to stop a virus writer on Xp your kidding me. There are ways passed that. There have been for a long time. Microsoft made it so if you hit cancel or don't select anything at all on the dialog it dosen't replace the system files. Now they could of done better then that. :|

 

I never sent any of my viruses out but made them because I was intrested in how they worked. I no longer make them but am glad I learned about them.

[pulkit]

I was faced by this windows v/s linux debate for quite some time about 2 or 3 months back. Eventually I HAD to install linux on my pc because my college department (comp science) works on linux. I use it primarily because all the stuff for my programming needs is available in the labs solely on linux. But at home, I try my best to find equivalent windows software.

 

What I have realised in these few weeks is that anything that you can run on linux you can easily find and INSTALL on windows. The same is not true the other way around. Installing stuff on linux for inexperienced users and sometimes even for experienced ones is a major headache. Of every 9 or 10 packages you try initially, you would probably end up successfully installing just 1 or 2 if you get lucky.

 

For all its openness and utility, I still do not find it as user friendly as windows. And also, as far as stability is concerned, the first time I experienced a crash on windows xp was about a year of usage. In a short span of 3 months, I have experienced system crahes and hung pcs on fedora core 2 and mandrake 10 five or six times. As a result, I still think of xp as a far better os. As far as threat of viruses are concerned, I think you can protect yourself fairly well with firewalls, anti viruses and security updates.

 

A major problem I also face is learning the konsole commands. Its absolutely crazy trying to do that, there are enormously long man pages that are sometimes impossible to read. The learning curve is very steep, but frankly work efficiency does increase, you can in general achieve the same task with fewer key strokes in linux as compared to windows.

 

If you sit on a large LAN, then too linux can be fun. I as a novice could pick up bits and pieces of networking fairly easily. But the fact remains, I always find windows more comfortable to work in, though I continue to strive to learn linux.....I write this post whilst I am logged into linux....... (firefox --- not as good as ie as far as i am concerned )

[Jordie]

I was faced by this windows v/s linux debate for quite some time about 2 or 3 months back. Eventually I HAD to install linux on my pc because my college department (comp science) works on linux. I use it primarily because all the stuff for my programming needs is available in the labs solely on linux. But at home' date=' I try my best to find equivalent windows software.

 

What I have realised in these few weeks is that anything that you can run on linux you can easily find and INSTALL on windows. The same is not true the other way around. Installing stuff on linux for inexperienced users and sometimes even for experienced ones is a major headache. Of every 9 or 10 packages you try initially, you would probably end up successfully installing just 1 or 2 if you get lucky.

 

For all its openness and utility, I still do not find it as user friendly as windows. And also, as far as stability is concerned, the first time I experienced a crash on windows xp was about a year of usage. In a short span of 3 months, I have experienced system crahes and hung pcs on fedora core 2 and mandrake 10 five or six times. As a result, I still think of xp as a far better os. As far as threat of viruses are concerned, I think you can protect yourself fairly well with firewalls, anti viruses and security updates.

 

A major problem I also face is learning the konsole commands. Its absolutely crazy trying to do that, there are enormously long man pages that are sometimes impossible to read. The learning curve is very steep, but frankly work efficiency does increase, you can in general achieve the same task with fewer key strokes in linux as compared to windows.

 

If you sit on a large LAN, then too linux can be fun. I as a novice could pick up bits and pieces of networking fairly easily. But the fact remains, I always find windows more comfortable to work in, though I continue to strive to learn linux.....I write this post whilst I am logged into linux....... (firefox --- not as good as ie as far as i am concerned )[/quote']

 

You can run Internet Explorer on Linux with Wine.

[pulkit]

You can run Internet Explorer on Linux with Wine.

 

See thats the entire point I wanted to bring out. I work on linux only because I do not wish to waste time acquiring g++, gcc, and libraries for windows and that for those libraries my college won't pay, I'd be paying myself (Remember that lots of stuff is not free even on linux)............in no way do I currently find linux to be "superior"to windows. After working in windows I find lots of software not upto the mark in linux - typical example - yet to find any cd writing software that will match up to nero 6.

 

And also, my attempts to use wine (the man pages are not too helpful) have been futile till this point, so i decied to give up on that idea. Easier solution -- log into windows !

[Jordie]

See thats the entire point I wanted to bring out. I work on linux only because I do not wish to waste time acquiring g++' date=' gcc, and libraries for windows and that for those libraries my college won't pay, I'd be paying myself (Remember that lots of stuff is not free even on linux)............in no way do I currently find linux to be "superior"to windows. After working in windows I find lots of software not upto the mark in linux - typical example - yet to find any cd writing software that will match up to nero 6.

 

And also, my attempts to use wine (the man pages are not too helpful) have been futile till this point, so i decied to give up on that idea. Easier solution -- log into windows ![/quote']

 

 

Gcc, G++, G77 and several other compilers are free. I have only ran into two programs that cost on Linux. So your argument is no good there. And Linux is a totally diffrent OS. It is not designed to run Windows applications just as Windows is not designed to run Linux applications.

 

Wine is a optional program to allow you to do this. It's not required. Also just type 'wine' at the console it will create a profile for you then just do ./program.exe or double click on it's icon or do wine program.exe in the console. Wine is not difficult to use at all.

 

Sorry but it seems your used to how easy Windows is. Your arguments are no good in my opionon. Linux is a bit advanced in some areas but once you master it you will love it. Linux also allows you to have more control over your system. I mean it is open source.

[Callipygous]

I have made a virus or two for Windows and let me tell you it is far easier to make a virus on Windows then it is then Linux. Linux is more secure then Windows because of file premissions. Windows has no security implementions when Linux does so it makes Linux more secure then Windows already.

 

Yes you can delete system files on Windows Xp. If you think system file protection is going to stop a virus writer on Xp your kidding me. There are ways passed that. There have been for a long time. Microsoft made it so if you hit cancel or don't select anything at all on the dialog it dosen't replace the system files. Now they could of done better then that. :|

 

I never sent any of my viruses out but made them because I was intrested in how they worked. I no longer make them but am glad I learned about them.

 

i never said linux wasn't more secure, i said they would make the viruses anyway. if you dont think it would become a problem you are naive. thats all there is to it. they will find a way around your security, always.

 

(and no, i never said "system file protection is going to stop a virus writer on Xp" thats my whole point, nothing will stop the virus writers.)

[Sayonara]

I sometimes wonder if there are any virus writers who would want to write viruses for Linux, let alone put them in the wild.

[Callipygous]

I sometimes wonder if there are any virus writers who would want[/u'] to write viruses for Linux, let alone put them in the wild.

 

im guessing you mean virus writers do it to get back at the corporations, or something along those lines? id say that some of them do it for that, maybe a lot of them. but i know that some are just mad at the world and do it to take out their frustrations. virus writers generally want their programs to target the largest possible audience, so if linux starts to become a large audience...

[Jordie]

im guessing you mean virus writers do it to get back at the corporations, or something along those lines? id say that some of them do it for that, maybe a lot of them. but i know that some are just mad at the world and do it to take out their frustrations. virus writers generally want their programs to target the largest possible audience, so if linux starts to become a large audience...

 

 

Mad at the world? Wow! No most virus writers are between 13 - 25 years old. Most of them get intrested in virus writing because it's just an intresting topic. The only time I myself have seen a worm unleashed on the Internet to attack a company besides Microsoft was the mydoom worm that did a DDoS on SCO because of issues they had with Linux.

 

Some virus writers do it just to prove they can do it. Some of them do it because there hired out by people. You would be suprised how often this happens.

[Callipygous]

Mad at the world? Wow! No most virus writers are between 13 - 25 years old.

 

im missing the relevance. unless, that is, you were trying to support my argument. people between 13 and 17 tend to have teen angst (mad at the world) and people from 18 to 25 tend to to still have a stupid, playing around, kind of attitude(as a generalization).

 

as for doing it because it interests you, thats bs. maybe you write one out of interest and test it on your machine or home network, but if you send it out you have an agenda or you have problems.

[Jordie]

im missing the relevance. unless' date=' that is, you were trying to support my argument. people between 13 and 17 tend to have teen angst (mad at the world) and people from 18 to 25 tend to to still have a stupid, playing around, kind of attitude(as a generalization).

 

as for doing it because it interests you, thats bs. maybe you write one out of interest and test it on your machine or home network, but if you send it out you have an agenda or you have problems.[/quote']

 

I agree with you. Any person(s) who sends viruses/worms out is just an idiot. It's morally wrong. And it's not bullshit that I wrote a windows virus or two out of intrest. That is why I did it. Not for any other reason and I never did send my virus/worm out. Accept to Norton (they allow you to submit them for anaylization.) I did it because I wanted to find out how they worked. Now that I know how they work I am able to prevent them and remove them from systems. In order for you to stop a virus you must 1st learn how it works.

[Callipygous]

I agree with you. Any person(s) who sends viruses/worms out is just an idiot. It's morally wrong. And it's not bullshit that I wrote a windows virus or two out of intrest. That is why I did it. Not for any other reason and I never did send my virus/worm out. Accept to Norton (they allow you to submit them for anaylization.) I did it because I wanted to find out how they worked. Now that I know how they work I am able to prevent them and remove them from systems. In order for you to stop a virus you must 1st learn how it works.

 

i only meant its bs that someone would write and send out a virus out of interest. i know some people write them to learn, i was saying all the ones you would have heard of weren't written out of curiosity.