Posted on 04/17/2022 10:59:50 AM PDT by ShadowAce
I've used pretty much every desktop out there, and the Linux desktop is still the best of the best.
I've been working with desktop computers since CP/M-80 was the operating system of the day. Since then, I've used MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2, AmigaOS, System 7, macOS, Xenix, SCO OpenDesktop, and more versions of Linux than you can shake a stick at. Even today, I have Windows 10 and 11 and macOS running on test boxes. But what I run on my production PCs and laptops is Linux. Here's why.
First, long before there were PCs, I was running Unix on minicomputers. My first "desktop" was the Bourne shell on a VT-102 terminal. I cut my teeth on shell commands. So, naturally, early Linux came easily to me. Linux turned 30 last year and it was about this time 30 years ago that I started using it on a desktop.
But, enough of techie nostalgia. True I'm still comfortable running a Bash-based terminal for my desktop, but I don't have to. Despite the eternal garbage about how hard Linux is to use, anyone – anyone – can use it today. Heck a decade ago, I taught my then 82-year-old mother-in-law how to run Linux and we didn't even share a common language! She's a native Spanish speaker, I grew up with English, and neither of us has a lick of talent in learning other languages.
So, the bottom line is, no matter how much someone tells you that "Linux is hard!" They're wrong. Oh sure, I'd never have a newbie try say Arch Linux, Knoppix, or Slackware, but it's 2022. You don't have to do Linux the hard way.
Personally, I recommend Linux Mint both for newcomers and for seasoned old pros, like, well … me. Why? Because its default Cinnamon interface is easy to use. If you can run Windows, you can run Mint. If anything, Mint is much easier.
True, unless you buy a PC with Linux already installed, you must install it yourself. But, hello, you can buy PCs with Linux already on them today.
Just go to Amazon and you'll see Linux laptops from HP and Lenovo. Alternatively, you can order one directly from Dell. I particularly favor the Dell XPS 13 models. Or, you can order one from a company such as System76. They make great boxes and have their own easy-to-use Linux distro, Pop!_OS.
If you elect to install Linux, you need to know a little bit about your computer. But, honestly, it all boils down to knowing how to burn an ISO image to a USB stick, rebooting your computer from it, playing with it to make sure it works, and then pressing the install button. That really is pretty much all there is to it.
Another perpetual complaint is "It's so hard to install programs on Linux!" Oh please! Sure you can still install software with apt-get etc., etc., but why bother? You just use the GNOME software installer, the Mint Software Manager, or a similar search for a program and press a button installer. There's nothing to it.
Why bother at all? There are so many reasons.
First, Linux is far more secure than Windows – or macOS for that matter. I mean Windows has its own day of the month – Patch Tuesday – just for fixes.
True, "more secure" is not the same thing as perfectly secure, but security is a process, not a product. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something. But, in the 30 years I've been running desktop Linux I have never – never – even encountered malware or a virus. My Linux servers on the net are attacked dozens of times a day and to date, the score is Steven 100 - Hackers nil.
Linux software is almost always free. LibreOffice, for example, is every bit as good as Microsoft Office and won't cost you a penny. Sure, there are some programs, Adobe Photoshop, that can't easily be replaced on Linux thanks to its third-party software ecosystem. But, if all you need is basic image manipulation, Gimp will serve you well and it's also free.
Say you must – must! – have Microsoft Office. Fine, then run the free Microsoft Office Online web apps off your favorite Web browser instead. There are other ways to run the full versions of Office, and other Windows-only applications, on Linux with programs such as Wine, CrossOver, or just run Windows on Linux with a virtual machine software such as VirtualBox. But, mea culpa, all these methods are complex.
Finally, unlike Microsoft and Apple, Linux distributors are not looking over my shoulder. Microsoft has made it perfectly clear that they see the future of Windows is on the cloud. Apple, of course, controls everything on its Macs. Me? I like having control of my systems. I'm old school that way. If you're not concerned with your privacy or who ultimately owns your PC, that's fine – but that's not the way I roll.
Looking ahead I don't see myself ever not running Linux on my desktop. Give it a try, you just might find it's exactly what you need as well. ®
"Adobe Photoshop"
I’ve been messing with Fedora KDE. You should give it a try ;^)
I have NEVER seen my (backup) laptop startup/shutdown so fast. (Shutdown is less than 3 sec...)
I have had NO issues with it either, everything worked out of the box.
I’ve never liked running an operating system inside another operating system, starting with Windows 3.0. Adding another shell inside a shell inside an OS is like using a restrictor plate on a race car except I don’t want to slow down my computer.
Besides, I’m retired now and have no need to switch back and forth. In Windows 10 I play PC games and run Quickbooks Pro along with running Office 365 (free for life with my retirement) enterprise. I use Linux for fun, web surfing and Gnome mahjong. I like some of the utilities for hacking my hard drive as well.
So, I don’t run Windows on my Apple devices and I don’t have a good reason to run it inside Linux.
My problem with Linux was that in the three versions I tried the updates eventually immobilized the machinne with no way to get at anything from the keyboard or mouse. And yes, I am NOT a tech savy person. I really don’t care for funding MSFT but stick to My W7 because my preferred photop prgrams that do what I want to do withoug having hundreds of options I don’t use cluttering the screen - those programs are W95 vintage and do not run on anything later than 7.
I have two boxes, one W7 and one W10. I finally accceded to W10 after Linux updates froze out my box the third time.
That's precisely why I have a Win7 VM, which can run under either my Linux machine, or my MacOS machine. (I stopped installing Windows "on the metal" many years ago, it's just too messy when things go wrong.)
I have half a dozen Windows-only applications whose mid-late 90's releases work so simply and so well that I refuse to deal with the later versions.
I have been running MalWarBytes for ten years now and have had no problems with malware on my W7 box. I have had W10 for a year on the other box and several virii including a ransomeware for which I just turned it off for three days and it went away. I have MWB on it now too.
“I’ve never liked running an operating system inside another operating system, starting with Windows 3.0. “
Virtualization has drastically changed since then. Modern CPU’s have special “things” now to do the context switching with very low overhead.
Just opened it for the heck of it. Typed emacs -nw and it behaved like a terminal should, no problems. But I'll stick with msys64 bash, thanks.
You can call Windows kernel functions or functions from dll libraries. Very powerful. Can you do that with bash?
I do that a lot using python CDLL which I call from bash. I would only do that with editable and reusable scripts anyway.
I'm gonna put it on an old Lenovo desktop box.
Of the old spare 'relics' I have around here, this one
has no known issues. It's also fast enough to make it worth doing.
So I'll give it a go and see how & if it goes at all.
Yeah - my first programming job was writing Z80 assembly language.
Those were the days (I started in 1984).
“Because you don’t have to donate your money to the likes of Bill Gates or Tim Cook.
ANYTHING is better then that.”
I commend you for standing on principle and back you 100%. Your thoughts are exactly my own. I would give up using computers altogether if there was not another option like linux. I personally find it immoral to aid and abet Bill Gates in any form or fashion period. A little personal time and effort to make the switch to linux eliminated that MS extortion for good.
I worked for DEC. I never touched VAX/VMS at the time. If you could fog a mirror & knew anything about Ultrix (BSD), you were employed doing Ultrix related work & were given what ever you needed to do your job.
You should visit vmssoftware.com to see when the x86 VMS port is released. I’ll bet they’ll have a hobbyist license for it.
Apple has plenty of innovation these days. All the innovation is under the hood. When the glasses & headset are ready, you’ll see a major announcement.
When WWDC arrives in June, there may be hints regarding the glasses & headset.
The smartest thing Jobs did was to stop catering to corporate IT.
We can only hope.
DEC WSE at Alma and Hamilton in Palo Alto?
“But I have some spare parts lying around - so it is now
time to cobble together a daily-use Mint machine. (Why not, eh?) “
Yep... Why not... :)
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