I Am Now Thoroughly Corrupted

[crokett]

by Linux. It started several weeks ago with getting frustrated by the endless reboots of my XP laptop to install updates. As a test I set up a Linux desktop at work. I used that for a month and was amazed at how easy it was. Last week after my laptop bluescreened applying some updates from work, I finally put Linux on it too. Aside from some initial issues with wireless (caused by yours truly) the move was seamless. Most things work better or are actually easier than they did in XP. A few things I've discovered:

Linux is endlessly configurable and you can make it whatever you want it to be. I much prefer the filesystem and config file design to the Windows registry. There are a ton more options you have for troubleshooting than you have for Windows. I would not have been able to fix my wireless problem in Windows without at best reinstalling the card and at worst reinstalling Windows. Having my entire user environment located in my home direcdtory instead of scattered through the registry makes backups much simpler. Software installs are simpler too. It takes a few seconds to download a new package that gets installed automatically and I've never had to reboot to use the new software. Actually I haven't rebooted my laptop in a week and my desktop hasn' been since I installed it.

[cgallery]

Actually I haven't rebooted my laptop in a week and my desktop hasn' been since I installed it.

When I had the IMDB account (maintaining approx. 25 servers until Amazon brought the hardware "inside") I had some Linux boxes I used for load balancing that had > 3 years uptime.

[Richard in Smithville]

Phew! I thought it was something we did!

[leehljp]

Ahhhh the power behind a Unix foundation! Power corrupts! Absolute power corrupts absolutely! And its organizational implementations makes it feel soooo good!

[sparkeyjames]

I have been using Linux for about 10 years now. It all started with a massive viral invasion of Windows 98 box I had and after clearing it, I thought to myself that there must be a better way. Before using Windows I had an Amiga computer this gave me some clue as to what a real OS should be like. In some ways the Amiga OS was Unix like but yet it was still not Unix. Enter Linux. Fast, stable and just fun to investigate it's potential and how it worked.

What OS other than Linux can be configured as a Desktop, a File server, a router, an Enterprise grade firewall, an Enterprise grade web server, an Email server that can handle in excess of 65000 user accounts, an FTP server, runs on devices as diverse as your wireless router and some of the fastest supercomputers and all WITHOUT spending a fortune on the software? The only answer is the BSD based systems and those are Unix (like) systems just like Linux. The human race does not yet know what a great thing it has in the Linux OS and other free and open source software, but it is slowly beginning to find out.

Although I have had to keep Windows around (love my games). For general purpose use and anything involving the internet Linux is my OS of choice. Highly configurable safe from 99.99% of viruses, worms or malware spread by software installation, a web browser or infected email and it just works. In some cases for years without a reboot or even a slow down in usability. Try it and you may never look back.

Jim

[smorris]

Here's the stats from one of the *nix boxes I admin, a corporate proxy for 1500 users. I have 17 IDS platforms with comparable uptimes located around the globe.

%uptime
10:39AM up 1057 days, 26 mins, 2 users, load averages: 0.02, 0.01, 0.00
%uname -a
FreeBSD hw1proxy.REDACTED.com 6.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE

[crokett]

I will add that Linux is not for everyone - gamers still need Windows around. I have an XP desktop at home because our printer does not have Linux drivers available. I also have not moved my in-laws laptop to Linux because I've had issues getting their webcam to work under Linux on my laptop. But for that I would move them over in a heartbeat.

[LinuxRandal]

I will add that Linux is not for everyone - gamers still need Windows around.

Depends on the game. (codeweavers, Wine, other platform)

I have seriously considered going console (also Linux friendly), if my game/games of choice become available on it/them.
That said, since I have my first laptop, what kind of battery life are you getting on it now, compared to using Windows on it?
Thanks