Ubuntu Linux As Free Operating System Alternative linux operating system

[truefusion 3]

... but its just not practical as a primary Operating System.

I don't understand how it isn't. My Linux OS can do everything i can do in Windows (and more), and some of this stuff Windows doesn't even come with pre-installed. Linux may not be the best for gamers, and i'm not much of a PC gamer, but gaming isn't what makes an operating system practical. Practical would fall into media and internet: music, e-mail, graphics or images, video, IM, documents, etc.—all of this Linux can do. Plus, even some governments in the east are switching to Linux and Dell allows you to choose whether to have Ubuntu or Windows pre-installed into the system.

 

Simply not true.

May i ask what's not true about it besides what it can imply? I feel that you've just simply added to what i had to say, which i won't disagree with.

 

No, linux just installs a program to try and handle multi-os booting.

I know, but it's the same thing, right? :XD: I mean, i don't think i've seen a distro that doesn't install either GRUB or LILO.

[birudagmawi 0]

Lets just put this to rest. The following are my final thoughts on this topicL

 

1)While Open source Ubuntu Offers a better community and developer support it still gives away its source code to hackers who can easily reverse engineer it

 

2)Ubuntu and its cousin Os's are all great operating system for beginners and moderate computer users, otherwise, you will be having a lot of trouble when installing Microsoft Friendly softwares, unless you are willing to compromise for Linux Friendly Open source software.

 

3)Dell giving put Ubuntu as a Pre-Installed option is great for us, but to them its just a big PR stunt to put them on the headlines, but who cares, Linux is on a Major PC Manufacturer Cool!

 

And I am done....

[mabhishekjhawar 0]

hey i have loads of UBUNTU cds to distribute here in india. open source rulz.. but i hardly use linux becoz i m addicted to windows. but i like mac and ubuntu for virus free. :XD:

[iGuest 3]

Well,I started using linux to years back,when windows slacked like anything on my comp,started with mandriva then to fedora and now to ubuntu.Just installed gutsy gibson edition of ubuntu,It's great.Thanx to all the coders out there working for the people to get open softwares.I just like the way it works from installation to features.I usually do a lot of programming and the tools provided in linux destros help with that without extra softwares which I have to download in windows.To birudagmawi :Well you see linux was made by programmers around the world who thought that it's inappropriate to spend money on an operating system when they can build one of their own.Linux was never made for normal user it was made by people who have the zeal to learn for those who want to learn .But due to the growing popularity of linux it became a buzz word among common Pc users also.Thats why it's becoming as simpler as it could be to the common user with each realese(you should see the installation feature of the ubuntu,windows cant be compared with it).It takes time to bring a change. And regarding the viruses,Ya I surely agree that viruses are going to increase in linux,but it will not increase at rate with which it increases it increases in windows because linux kernel is much better built than windows.And as far as your concern for hacking linux is concerned I should give you example of APACHE web server which is an open source web server and is much more popular then windows counter part in terms of security, Open source doesn't make software vunerable to hackers it is the software design which matters more.Well I see my friends who once were addicted to windows have started using linux they like the idea of having the orignal copy without paying a single penny and too less configuration needed,Although they had problems in the beginning.And dell policy is not a public stunt it's a demand of the people which has made them to bring out a laptop with ubuntu so that they can capture linux users also and decrease the price of laptop to remain competitive.-AcumenWorks

[zamaliphe 0]

I think the Ubuntu family are among the easiest distros to use, especially for those just starting out in the Linux world. The installation is fairly easy and installing software using the relevant package manager is far easier than most distros, and miles ahead of installing software on Windows

i also think that Ubuntu is among the easiest distros to use

but i dont like it i use debian inested

and i think that debian is mutch moor stable and safe for me

[de4thpr00f 0]

The easiest distro i found was Sabayon, but this one requires a lil'more use of ram.What i personaly don't like about linux:- The GUI of programs (aMule i.e.)- Permissions: why can't i be admin of my computer? (security reasons? i'm an home user, no one else touch my pc)- File explorer- Loading is too slow- Incompabilities- No autocad- No photoshop (gimp is far from photoshop. Where are the personalized palletes?)- Command lineWhat i like:- Python (runs on win 2)- live experiment- Free =)

[rvalkass 5]

- The GUI of programs (aMule i.e.)

Unlike on Windows, Linux allows you to totally change the GUI. Gnome, KDE and XFCE are all popular window managers that control what everything looks like, You can then completely customise those further, to make everything look exactly as you want it. Surely all this control is better than Windows' choice of blue, silver or green?

 

- Permissions: why can't i be admin of my computer? (security reasons? i'm an home user, no one else touch my pc)

There is nothing stopping you granting yourself root privileges. However, if you give yourself root access then you have full power to screw everything up. Every file that controls the fundamentals of the operating system is suddenly open to you. Believe me, you will at some point do something wrong, and having root access at the time will make that cataclysmic. The other main reason you don't get root access from the start is to protect you from yourself. It sets boundaries (all your stuff goes in home - don't litter the rest of the drive with it ) and makes you think about what you are doing when you have to switch to root to run a command.

 

- File explorer

Like everything in Linux - if you don't like it, download a different one. There are loads of different file managers out there, usually tied to a certain window manager. I have KDE and currently have two file explorers installed - Konqueror and Dolphin.

 

- Loading is too slow

Of what - applications or the whole system? The system boot is certainly much faster with Linux than Windows. My laptop takes 30 seconds from me pushing the power button to me seeing my desktop, and 10 seconds of that is GRUB giving me the option of booting to a different OS. If I boot into Windows, I can be sat here for 5 minutes. Applications load just as fast, if not faster, with Linux in my experience. Even running applications under WINE I don't notice a performance drop.

 

- Incompabilities

Hardware or software? Software is easy - pretty much every Linux app lets you import and export proprietary formats like Microsoft Office. Problem solved. Hardware is a little more tricky. However, it is really down to the hardware manufacturers to come up with the drivers. They provide them for Windows, occasionally for Mac and pretty much never for Linux. There are community drivers out there and most things now are plug and play (my mouse, camera and scanner all requested drivers in Windows, but in Linux they are plug and play). If people keep pressurising the hardware vendors then maybe they will see sense and write Linux and Mac drivers.

 

- No autocad

- No photoshop (gimp is far from photoshop. Where are the personalized palletes?)

Specific software is always a problem for people. There are free alternatives though, that will usually read and write the same formats. Run a search and take a look - someone else will have had the same problem and come up with the software to solve it. The GIMP, I must admit, is rubbish, but it is improving. I also heard they are doing a complete UI overhaul. Finally!

 

- Command line

Last time I checked there was one of those on Windows - but very few people ever use it. I use the command line on Linux quite a bit, but only because it is usually faster for repetitive tasks than clicking around a GUI. Everything you want to do with the command line is well documented and is easy after a while.

[de4thpr00f 0]

Unlike on Windows, Linux allows you to totally change the GUI. Gnome, KDE and XFCE are all popular window managers that control what everything looks like, You can then completely customise those further, to make everything look exactly as you want it. Surely all this control is better than Windows' choice of blue, silver or green?

True, but windows has a template system too, KDE, Gnome, xFCE are all tools, they will not work side by side. This happens in windows too. (kde,gnome and xfce can work side by side, but you need tricks.)

There is nothing stopping you granting yourself root privileges. However, if you give yourself root access then you have full power to screw everything up. Every file that controls the fundamentals of the operating system is suddenly open to you. Believe me, you will at some point do something wrong, and having root access at the time will make that cataclysmic. The other main reason you don't get root access from the start is to protect you from yourself. It sets boundaries (all your stuff goes in home - don't litter the rest of the drive with it tongue.gif ) and makes you think about what you are doing when you have to switch to root to run a command.

Did you ever tried to loggin as root?Sometimes you have to be root to solve some problems, the solution of windows is easy, log in as admin.
Solution of linux is: Get on the command line, logg as root, give urself the priviledges, log out, log in with your account and make the changes.

Like everything in Linux - if you don't like it, download a different one. There are loads of different file managers out there, usually tied to a certain window manager. I have KDE and currently have two file explorers installed - Konqueror and Dolphin.

I wasn't talking about the aspect of the explorer, but all those folders that are needed to run a simple program

Of what - applications or the whole system? The system boot is certainly much faster with Linux than Windows. My laptop takes 30 seconds from me pushing the power button to me seeing my desktop, and 10 seconds of that is GRUB giving me the option of booting to a different OS. If I boot into Windows, I can be sat here for 5 minutes. Applications load just as fast, if not faster, with Linux in my experience. Even running applications under WINE I don't notice a performance drop.

For me linux loading is very slow, it keeps finding for objects (kde environment is loading,mouse driver is loading...) . With windows i'm sure that i enter my desktop in 30 seconds maximum.Loading of linux reminds me the loading of that game "The Sims".

Hardware or software? Software is easy - pretty much every Linux app lets you import and export proprietary formats like Microsoft Office. Problem solved. Hardware is a little more tricky. However, it is really down to the hardware manufacturers to come up with the drivers. They provide them for Windows, occasionally for Mac and pretty much never for Linux. There are community drivers out there and most things now are plug and play (my mouse, camera and scanner all requested drivers in Windows, but in Linux they are plug and play). If people keep pressurising the hardware vendors then maybe they will see sense and write Linux and Mac drivers.

Hardware incompability is hard to solve on linux, is not hard if you have drivers for it, but still it's harder to install on linux than at windows.Yes, you don't have problems with mouse and camera and all that stuff, but what about a sound card incompability? Or a graphic card incompability?
Yes, for windows you the drivers also, but they are faster to appear.

Specific software is always a problem for people. There are free alternatives though, that will usually read and write the same formats. Run a search and take a look - someone else will have had the same problem and come up with the software to solve it. The GIMP, I must admit, is rubbish, but it is improving. I also heard they are doing a complete UI overhaul. Finally!

Specific software is what most of people use.There are no alternatives for Auto-cad, try to find it yourself, see what you get.

Last time I checked there was one of those on Windows - but very few people ever use it. I use the command line on Linux quite a bit, but only because it is usually faster for repetitive tasks than clicking around a GUI. Everything you want to do with the command line is well documented and is easy after a while.

My father can easily use cmd (command line on windows), can you tell me if he would find difficults using the linux command line? You know what? Don't answer, of course not...Tell me, any other person at your family uses your laptop?
Or you are the owner of it so only you use it?
Just wondering.

Greetz
~
Joăo Lopes

[rvalkass 5]

True, but windows has a template system too, KDE, Gnome, xFCE are all tools, they will not work side by side. This happens in windows too. (kde,gnome and xfce can work side by side, but you need tricks.)

No real tricks are needed - clicking a menu item at login lets you switch between window managers. Windows gives me a choice of 9x style or XP style, or to buy an extra piece of random software to get my PC to look how I want it to. Why should I pay extra?

 

Did you ever tried to loggin as root?

Sometimes you have to be root to solve some problems, the solution of windows is easy, log in as admin.

Solution of linux is: Get on the command line, logg as root, give urself the priviledges, log out, log in with your account and make the changes.

To run a command as root I type sudo command or su command. My parents, who are not exactly tech-savvy, can do that. With Windows I have to stop what I'm doing, save, quit, log out, turn the PC off, reboot while holding F2, select "Safe Mode with Networking" from a text menu, and wait to be logged in. And even after all that I still don't have full true control!

 

Hardware incompability is hard to solve on linux, is not hard if you have drivers for it, but still it's harder to install on linux than at windows.

Yes, you don't have problems with mouse and camera and all that stuff, but what about a sound card incompability? Or a graphic card incompability?

Yes, for windows you the drivers also, but they are faster to appear.

Installing a driver on Linux is 4 clicks of a mouse button (sometimes even less now). Installing a driver on Windows requires CDs, manuals and all sorts of stuff.

For the record, across 4 PCs I have installed Linux on (that I use) I have never had a problem with sound or graphics. The most I had to do was install a package to get widescreen resolutions on my laptop - but that is well documented and supported. Windows requires a myriad of CDs for both sound and graphics.

 

Specific software is what most of people use.

There are no alternatives for Auto-cad, try to find it yourself, see what you get.

I found this, along with the usual Sourceforge stuff and free design apps.

 

Tell me, any other person at your family uses your laptop?

Or you are the owner of it so only you use it?

I am the only person that uses my laptop. However there is a desktop in my house running Linux that is used by the entire family. They all say it is easier to use than Windows, looks better and is faster, along with a load of other positive comments.

[truefusion 3]

- No photoshop (gimp is far from photoshop. Where are the personalized palletes?)

Although the GIMP is far from Photoshop, you can do most of the things you can do in Photoshop in the GIMP. Sure it may require more manual work, but this adds to the experience. Plus, a lot of Photoshop users are into brush work, of which the GIMP can provide a lot of experience in, or at least to me it has.

For me linux loading is very slow, it keeps finding for objects (kde environment is loading,mouse driver is loading...).

Have you tried Mandriva (perferrably 2007; 2008 isn't all that great) or other Mandriva-based distros? Through experience, Mandriva has been the fastest performing distro i've used. It may not have a good of a repository as Ubuntu, but the performance was nice. Of course, you may not notice a difference in performance in computers faster than the one i'm using, or i should say, on computers with more RAM than the one i'm using. 'Cause i've seen Kubuntu perform quite fast on my friend's laptop. My friend allowed me to switch the operating system to Linux when Windows "somehow" failed him and after re-installing Windows, Windows wouldn't let me get passed the Windows verification (you know, that thing that says different hardware has been detected). Although their computer experience has changed, there has been no complaint from them, and their daily computer life hasn't changed.

There are no alternatives for Auto-cad

Ever since i've heard about AutoCAD and have seen pictures of it, i tried searching for free alternatives. Note, i heard about AutoCAD years ago. On my personal search for an open-source AutoCAD program, i found a few alternatives. However, i didn't bookmark the sites, nor did i download the programs. I guess Blender (the open-source 3D modeling program) caught my eye and made me lose interest in these AutoCAD alternatives.
But as a quicky search, you may want to check out QCad

[de4thpr00f 0]

Well i had never heard about QCad, i need to try, autocad is a very must need to engineering. My parents can use linux, my sister hates it. the reason? amsn isn't good enough for her lol.At my pc i have: FreeBSD, Win Xp, Win vista x64 (don't ask me why) and Kubunto.free bsd for tryouts, win xp for autocad and kubunto for personal use. But think about the gamers. where are they on linux? (i'm talking about popular games)

[rvalkass 5]

But think about the gamers. where are they on linux? (i'm talking about popular games)

I looked into this a while ago and found that there are some Linux games out there that are worth playing! OpenArena is one of my favourites at the moment, Warzone 2100 is also quite good. If you look hard enough you will find a few good games out there. Now, for running Windows games (I assume thats what you mean by "popular") you can use WINE. It certainly doesn't work for all games and applications, but quite a few will work well. I was quite surprised by the number of new games that worked when I first looked through their database.

[MickE 0]

I have tried Ubuntu myself but I never ended up keeping it installed on my computer. I would never think of only using a unix based OS on my computer, only in dual boot (with some Windows OS) because, basically, Windows is soo popular, and besides all the comments on it for being not secure, not stable, ... if you install it and don't play around with it, don't test its limits, they're good OSs. They have a very intuitive interface, very easy to use. Unlike the unix-based OSs I've seen. I already had problems installing the drivers of my graphics card, last time I tried I spent at least an hour searching forums reading comments, instructions, copying commands... none worked! so I went back to XP for now. I'm sure I will try Ubuntu again later on (or another distro, if someone can recommend me a nice one) another option I considered is installing Mac OS X on my pc (yes I know it sound like "incompatible" but I can install it, I know that ) it has some very nice graphical effects that I like, BUT I've read it isn't half as safe as it claims to be. the only reason it's safe is because only a very small part of the computer using people use it. it was something like when you opened "explorer" seven other programs where partially opened which could be used to get into your computer, and I don't like the sound of that the security for Unix-based OSs is the same imo. they don't get attacked because the gain for the people that make the virusses is too small. atm it's the same for Vista, there are hardly Vista - only virusses because the amount of people using it is too small. I read somewhere there will be a Vista-virus boom in about half a year, because then the market share of it will be big enough...the price of popularity?good thing about the complexity of Unix-OSs is that it will take a LONG time before they get popular enough to get virus programming attention!

[DeM0nFiRe 0]

I myself just started using Xubuntu. It's actually pretty cool so far. It's so pretty compared to windows that it hurt my head for the first couple of days. XD The only real disappointment I have is the lack of product support for it, but I knew that when I installed it ahead of time. That's why I do a dual boot and put windows on it too

[mahirharoon 0]

linux is the best os for a serverand the worst os for a home computer