Posted on 01/24/2014 6:48:04 AM PST by ShadowAce
Most of the time when I write articles on this blog I will have planned them out and worked out when and how I will publish them. (I know some of you might be thinking "Really?").
Occasionally though a nugget drops straight into your inbox and you really don't need to put much thought into it at all. Today is one of those days.
Earlier this week I received an email containing a link to a very interesting video, from Steve Barth, who produces videos for CBT Nuggets.
The video linked below is split into two main sections.
In the first part there is an overview of what Linux actually is, from Shawn Powers, who is a trainer for CBT Nuggets.
The second part of the video has 10 points which give an overview of the things that make up a Linux based operating system and how best to try it out.
It really is an overview but a good place to start.
After you have watched the video check out these links for more help:
False. Most consumer-friendly distros of Linux are no more maintenance intensive than Windows or OSX and are much more secure. Ubuntu and Mint, most notably, are designed with ease of use in mind.
I've had Ubuntu 12.04 running on my PC for almost a year and have have to do very little in the way of maintenance. A majority of hardware manufacturers develop Linux drivers and maintenance programs. I only use my Windows desktop for PC gaming. Otherwise, everything from email to web browsing is handled by my Linux box.
I think most people speak negatively of Linux out of fear or outright misinformation. Linux is useable by even the biggest neophyte, and I believe its market share will continue to grow over the years.
It’s been over a decade since I’ve looked into dialup. I honestly do not know any more.
Sorry with Windows 7 and 8 I’m not seeing any malware. Maybe you are comparing the latest Linux to an unsupported version of windows like win95 or winXP.
Ok do you want to try an little experiment? Let’s say you install the latest version of Ubuntu. And 1 year later they have had two upgrades.
How do you upgrade? How much time does that take? Oh and you’re using a brand new laptop with a docking station with 3 monitors and RAID SSD built into the laptop.
Open a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get upgrade
Reboot when it tells you it’s done. Problem solved.
Ubuntu, specifically has LTS (Long Term Support) versions that will be patched regularly for a few years as part of their efforts to provide stable OS platforms. I’ve been using 12.04 for a year and I love it. I’m moving to 13.10 on some of my servers, but 12.04 is stable and safe.
So 12.04 works with the latest and greatest laptops with raid0 SSD and 3 monitors?
SSD isn't a problem since it's presented as just another drive.
Display configuration isn't a problem, since it won't be overwritten, and your given is that it's currently working.
Red Hat works the same way. One command, and you're upgraded. I'm sorry you are having such a difficult time with the concept.
Its not the concept it’s the real world results that aren’t working.
Compiling?
- ./configure
- make
- sudo make install
Do it relatively frequently in the case that I need a package that’s not in the repos - or as someone else said I need some software that needs a tweak - or sometimes just because I can :)
On a fast machine all of the above takes almost as much time as it took me to write this post.
I run 12.04 on a desktop utilizing 2 OCZ SSDs and 4 monitors on two nVidia GeForce GTX460 cards in SLI mode over DVI-D. There’s no problem with anything. I play Minecraft on it and use it for email, web browsing, and banking.
Laptop hardware should work just the same. There are manufacturer/OEM drivers available for a majority of the laptop mfgs out there.
Put Ubuntu on a USB drive and do a Live boot from it on your machine just to see how it runs. You don’t have to commit to reformatting or buying an expensive SSD for it if you don’t want to.
See this is what gets me “There are manufacturer/OEM drivers available for a ***majority*** of the laptop mfgs out there”
You know everytime I try to run Linux on desktop I must have all the minority machines because there are ALWAYS missing drivers or I have to compile them myself. For example, card readers that are built into the laptop. Or the function key on the keyboard doesn’t work.
For servers Linux is fine and even preferred in many instances. But not for the desktop.
Core components such as disk controllers, USB controllers, motherboard chipsets, graphics cards, sound cards, integrated motherboard components, hard drives, and other major system components are covered. When you start talking about “ease of use” or what I call “trim” components such as specialty keyboards, multimedia card readers, and PCMCIA cards, you’re on your own. The problem is that those components are usually designed and developed around a kernel such as Windows, and they’re not designed for critical system functionality. They’re “nice to haves.”
Linux works for me with every major motherboard manufacturer (ASUS, Gigabit, ASRock, EVGA, MSI, etc.) and every OEM (HP, Dell, IBM). I’ve had little issue finding drivers for graphics cards made since 2004. If it’s “plug and play” certified, it works in Linux. Custom hardware aside, Linux is a rock solid OS.
I ordered a usb mouse and I never even wondered if it works with Linux. It did, as soon as it was plugged in
Maintenance wise, they're all pretty equal though Windows does take more time to setup and automate things like virus scanning and updates, disk optimization, etc.. than Linux and Mac does.
Having said that, I've been finding it much easier to run some "legacy" programs under Linux & Wine than on Windows 7 or Windows 8. Oddly, these legacy apps run faster and are more stable on Linux w/Wine than on Windows 7 or Windows 8. Go figure.
I run Linux Mint and Ubuntu desktops. I've been an Ubuntu fan the past few years however Mint really impresses me for speed and ease of use.
If it runs on a standard platforms with minimal support, it’ll run on Linux. If you have to find a specialized driver for support in Windows or OSX, it’s not likely to work in Linux out of the box; but that doesn’t mean a driver can’t be built or developed for it.
Posting from Mint 14 Cinnamon. I never have to worry about viruses with this laptop, which I got from my sister because it was virus ridden.
Arris wireless modem doesn’t work, but others can be made to work with Linux using ndiswrapper and a Windows driver
what will they think of next?
I’ve had Ubuntu on a laptop for a few years but never did much more than email and web browsing with it. I really don’t like the Ubuntu desktop much. After trying a bunch of Linux distros and desktops I settled on Mint Cinnamon. For a Windows user since 3.1 (I did skip 95, ME and Vista - and Bob) the transition was fairly easy. Wine is great. A few applications that aren’t very good on Windows 7 run fine under Wine.
That’s why its not mainstream consumer ready.
ndiswrapper is not my favorite compiler, but it’s functional. I’ve spent many days pounding my head against a keyboard trying to get a Broadcom wireless card to work.
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