any linux users?

[Diagmato]

First off, hey everyone. Ive never seen such a fast growing forum! well done to the site owner - quite an accomplishment for any web-developer.

I have an interest in Linux (hence the topic title). Does anyone here use it? If so, which distro?

probably seems odd coming into a forum about railways, and talking about linux - blame tubechallenger .

 

[Ben]

this may seem a stupid question bare with me

is linux an OS or a Browser?

 

[Tom]

Operating system!

 

[Craig]

It's an operating system.

I occasionally use Knoppix when I want/need to boot a computer from CD.

 

[Tom]

I occasionally use Knoppix and Ubuntu (very good OS) if I need to boot from CD.

 

[Ben]

oh right sorry for my ignorence

 

[jd]

I've considered getting Linux to try out. Can you reccomend a good distribution?

 

[Tom]

CentOS is a very good distribution to use!

 

[Diagmato]

Knoppix, to say the very least, is excellent for having a feel for linux - if you dont want to risk any possible trouble with your pc. Take the cd out, and the pc boots up as if nothing happened.

It certainly needs credit for being able to recover data. For example, if windows, for whatever reason wont boot up, pop the knoppix cd in, and backup your documents. Perhaps browse the internet and see if theres a way to fix windows, before resorting to a format.

In windows, companies charge big deals of money for various software, security tools, drivers, and so on. Whereas, Linux has its own versions. Writing to a cd, for example. Writing a letter in OpenOffice. Anti-virus tools? No need. Viruses are written to run on windows, and completely dont understand Linux. If you just use your computer for web-surfing, multimedia, web-development, email, office work (to some extent, as it doesnt seem to be fully compatible with Excel), Linux provides a very cheap solution.

But playing games . I miss that. Havent had any success getting a pc game to work, despite trying wineX.

 

[Gareth Hale]

To be honist, Id reccomend waiting till December / Janurary and get the all new,. Windows Codename Longhorn!!

 

[tramboy]

Hate to be a sceptic, but its probably going to be January 2007 before Longhorn is released, especially as it's been delayed once already!

And then there will be all the security patches and what have you for it!

Cheers

Dave

 

[Diagmato]

To be honist, Id reccomend waiting till December / Janurary and get the all new,. Windows Codename Longhorn!!

Have you heard how Longhorn will be paid for? Its not just a one off price, of £170, or so, its a price every year. Microsoft certainly dont deny it when people say it will be somewhere in the hundreds. Imagine paying that every year, just to use a computer. Theres been discussions about it on msdn.com. They havent come to a conclusion about the final price, but its pretty convincing that it will be a yearly fee. If you dont pay, you cant use the operating system, meaning your locked out of your computer.

For windows, stick with XP. Hopefully itl be a good few years before microsoft stop any support for XP (windows update, etc). Judging by their new security platfomr - TCPA (renamed now, i think) they will probably try and force you to use Longhorn, force you to pay the annual fee, force you to use whichever software they have listed on their "trusted computing platform", etc.

Microsoft seem to think people can afford literally anything they throw at us. If things were completely their way, we would have to be very rich to have a computer.