What Made You Switch To Linux?

[Animator 0]

I had a friend that seemed to think I would like Linux many years back. He showed me on his computer, but I didn't see that it had anything over windows, and it looked to me at the time like he;d just installed some new programs. (Gimp - and then he didn't know that well enough to really show it off).

 

Later on I had a hard drive failure with my mission critical machine. As it was off getting serviced I paid $200 for a 486DX2 (very old) computer to at least do text processing. I needed something to help out with a student whom I was helping C++. I saw this as an opportunity to at least try Linux out. I installed Red Hat 5.2... a bear to get going fully and slow and anything would be on that machine. At least it had text processing and I soon learned enough command line to convert unix to dos formats, dump files onto a floppy (mount, cp etc etc) etc for giving the student or printing in my other computer when I got it back.

 

Two things I liked...

Linux already had a C++ compiler so I could test the programs we were writing straight away... we had to search for compilers in Windows.

I left it on one day... for about a week. When I returned to the machine I was expecting it to be totally frozen (Windows would have been). Instead, moving the mouse resulted in the screen flicking into life, and it was still as fast as if I'd only just left it.

That got me hooked.

 

Then Windows XP came out and I got scared by the new EULA which basically gave Microsoft permission to delete stuff from your drive if they crawled around and didn't think something was properly registered. I'm not into piracy, but the thought of "how would they know?" at my risk scared me.

 

After not very long, I found I could do pretty much anything in Linux that I used to do in Windows, only for free (except play my favourite MechWarrior game). Then I found I was getting used to a whole bunch of things that Windows can't do...

 

...been hooked since. These days I usually shut up about it. People ask me when they see what I'm up to

[phdex 0]

Hi,1) No antivirus No spyware , no worry 2) Everything is free and legal (Better and free software)3) Everything is upto you ( customizeable)4) Bored of Windowz ..( looking for difference)5) I like to be different.. and so on.. Thanx

[miladinoski 1]

What made me switch to GNU¹/Linux?

Well, 1 year ago was surfing the Internet and looking for some eye-candy mods to make my Windows installation look prettier and a little like a Mac desktop looked like. I searched and searched and searched, and found lots and lots of non-free commercial software you just had to put your money in to make it prettier, or the ones that were free were too low on features. Anyway, I could only run one of them (for an example - WindowBlinds) so my middle classed laptop (for that time) to don't hog away.
Eternally pi*sed off from this problem, I found an answer in what a friend recommended to me and what I was looking on YouTube - the pure eye-candy for your eye, the grand Compiz Fusion from which I was so amazed that it made me want to install Ubuntu right away (I knew that Ubuntu was the easiest to start with) and backed up all my important pics and vids if something bad happens during the dual-boot set-up of the system. But, because my laptop's battery was slowly fading away, using the laptop on a flat surface made the cooler to work very fast and to turn off the laptop 'automagically' everytime it made the 100°C mark (not sure about the exact limit). That happened when I was installing Ubuntu and the installation was at just 10%. This meant Windows was removed and I had to go with pure Ubuntu because I was so SICK from Windows XP that I didn't want to see it's trace any near my laptop's HDD.

I started to learn the GNU/Linux ways fast! Only 1 year from what happened, my skills in EVERYTHING with computers are improved if not 100 times.

So, don't be afraid. Make the switch.

Make the switch to GNU/Linux.

---

¹ - Remember that the GNU counts. See here and here why. And, yes, I must be anal on this matter.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I agree, switching to Linux (and UNIX in general) does make learning computers a lot easier and more in-depth and I'm not anal about the GNU part since I can slap on BSD utilities onto my installation if I want to so I just keep it as Linux as it is because Linux is just essentially a kernel (also on the sheer laziness of just not adding 4 more characters when I type).xboxrulz

[akashi 0]

the reasons are :1. don't need to worry about virus and spyware2. free3. don't wanna spend my money for M$4. don't need to press ctrl+alt+del5. dont wanna see BSOD anymore..... i don't wanna buy an OS which make me buy another security + performance tune up software.. after switching to linux, i do learn a lot about computer. not just click here and there and then panic because my comp become freeze

[BCD 1]

I switched to linux (not completely, dual boot) because I wanted to learn and setup Apache MySQL PHP and also wanted to setup sendmail option so that I could learn to create my own complete personal website server. I haven't succeeded in setting everything yet as I am still unfamiliar with many of the basic things in Linux and this is making the learning process a lot slower. I am watching videos to learn them, there are many great ones out there.

[slidstream 0]

As an undergraduate cs math major, I do quite a bit of coding. I prefer linux because it seems to have a better ability to write code. That is, its more enjoyable, and its much more apt to command line usage. I personally don't really go to the linux gui all to often, I always have an X-Session, but besides Firefox it's usually just sitting there.

[iGuest 3]

I use Windows and Linux because..What Made You Switch To Linux?

I use both windows and linux because they are both powerful operating systems.I have always been a windows user since my dad got the first computer for the family. It was Windows 95. I loved playing around with it. I broke it several times, but thats how I learned. I started using Linux in my early 20's because Windows started to get boring.I wanted something that you had to learn to understand , I really didnt want my interests in computer systems to just be Windows.Thats where Linux pretty much attracts me. It's something that you have to learn and really take time to fully be aware of what it can do. I don't like any Linux GUI's (Although I did modify an Ubuntu Gnome desktop to look all black and shiny; pretty much by customizing every aspect of the desktop look. But I quickly got bored of customizing desktop looks)I am using Ubuntu 10.04 Server Edition with no GUI. Just pure terminal and that is how I like it. I use it as a webserver for my home projects and I learn every day when I use it. I like that Linux users are proud but you have to understand the way Microsoft works when they take out newer OS's. They basically make their systems heavier so that people have to Upgrade their systems. Thats where Microsofts and Intels partnership binds. All hardware companies and software companies profit from newer Windows versions.My preferred Windows System is XP. If you are a professional user like me, Windows wont fail on you. I've already learned me lessons as a kid about how to prevent viruses on Windows.Needless to say, I believe both systems have their strong points. Both have their weak points. Everyone has their own cup of coffee.For people who are looking into trying Linux, I suggest you basically try different types of Linux distributions. Download many Distro's and play around with them, see which one is easy to grasp for you. If you pressure yourself to understand those difficult ones that don't have much support pages online then you will find yourself quitting. I suggest you try Ubuntu. Pretty much because you can google any type of question or error about it.

-reply by Simonsays

[ysNoi 0]

My reasons are:1. I don't want to use OS illigallly, Linux is totally free.2. Don't want to be bothered with the effects of viruses.3. I don't want to install drivers one by one after installing the system.4. I want freedom.5. I don't want my system slower day by day.6. I want to enjoy free and unlimited support from Linux.7. I am tired of restarting my system all the time.8. Also, I can play hundreds of games for free.

[yordan 10]

5. I don't want my system slower day by day.

Wow! Are you sure ? Because this is my main problem when I install a Linux distro, the wifi drivers are missing, the drivers for my Ethernet adapter are missing, no drivers for my printer... So, if you really don't have to install Linux drivers, you are a very lucky man!

[ysNoi 0]

I think you have quoted the wrong number on the reason that I posted.Well, you can check on your Hardware Drivers to configure third-party and proprietary drivers for your Ethernet Adapter and see if it will work.By the way, what distro are you using?

[yordan 10]

I think you have quoted the wrong number on the reason that I posted.
Well, you can check on your Hardware Drivers to configure third-party and proprietary drivers for your Ethernet Adapter and see if it will work.

By the way, what distro are you using?

You are right, I quoted the wrong part. I wanted to quote the following one :

3. I don't want to install drivers one by one after installing the system.

And, of course, "see if it will work" is different from "I don't want to install drivers one by one".The distros I am talking about are mainly RedHat and Mandrake/Mandriva.
And, of course, when I go to a shop and buy a disk drive, I don't automatically get the concerned Linux Third Party Drivers.
That's why I meant that obtaining functional drivers for Linux is not always easier than obtaining the drivers for the Microsoft Windows version I am using.

[ysNoi 0]

I got what you mean.Maybe I got mistyped my words...Maybe the rigth description is this:I don't want to install drivers one by one (Depending on Distros and Hardware) please correct me if I'm wrong.I used Linux Mint 9.

[FurryHead 0]

I switched to linux because my hard drive got fried, and I had to use a tiny 1.5GB hard drive. Since, I've gotten more disk space (primarily by using my REALLY old laptop as a storage server) but even if I could switch to windows, I wouldn't.I first used Puppy Linux 4.3.1, booting from a USB drive (thank god that computer had supported USB-booting natively), and eventually installed it into my hard drive. Shortly after that came the fatal hard-drive-failure.I am still a avid puppy linux user, now running 5.2 - Ubuntu binary compatible \o/ - though if I had the choice, I'd be running debian lenny minimal install.Just my 2 cents.

[Xarex 1]

I was a Windows user. But was actually forced to switch to Mac and fell in love with Mac. But Mac provided something that I just never could seem to get or understand how to do with Windows: dual booting and Virtual Machine.I had dual booted Windows XP and Mac but also had been able to install Virtual Machine software, and discovered something free and filled with seemingly endless possibilities.. Linux. And the choices of the different Linux OS's are endless too.. so many. I decided to go with the most popular and what people were using.. simply because it was for beginners and also had a lot of support: Ubuntu 10. Installed it off a CD I burned it on to. Very small and took up very little space.And wow.. I must say, it was fast loading and very simple with lots and lots of utilities I would soon add. Although I'm probably a Mac User for life, I would definitely consider getting a very cheap Netbook and installing only Linux on there. So while I'm not quite converted yet.. Linux is not too far from my mind. Also allows me to feel like I'm a part of some cool crowd that has went beyond Microsoft Windows to something far more interesting. Glad I gave Linux a chance. Fast. Seems like it's virus free and wouldn't even know how to run spyware even if it set foot on the platform (a good thing) and I'm quite glad that Linux works well with Virtual Machines, as you can install many more Linux OS's and test them out.