Hey! Linux people!
 

Ok so i'm fairly new to linux. I've only been at it for about 2 years with the VERY user friendly Kubuntu. I am alright with the terminal, I understand what most commands mean, not always the -x's. But To be good with linux do I actually have to be enthuastic about it or is it like windows where over time i'll just eventually figure it all out? I don't even use windows for anything other than playing games.

And also, how many people here use linux as their main OS?

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Hiya.

Depends what you want to do with it. You won't ever figure it all out, it's incredibly deep. I'd say do as much as you feel comfortable with, and then experiment a little. Try running a mail server on it. Do some programming. Run a database server.

If you want to get into the command line stuff, learn how apropos and man work, read some old stuff - I suggest starting with Linux Gazette, it goes way back. Remember of course that things have changed a lot, but you will surprise yourself with all the things you could do since the mid 90s. It gives you an idea of where it's coming from.

Above all, get very familiar with Google! And have fun.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Me and google are best friends now. like i said i've been at it for about 2 years, and boy some of the issues this laptop has had.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

I use Linux as my main os, though I did pass a couple of windows professional tests. I think it makes sense that you will get more value and fun out of linux if you put some time into studying it seriously.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

I started fiddling around with Linux in 2002. It was a steep learning curve. But it's not NEARLY so hard now. Ubuntu forums, Google, even popular books are much easier to follow, written for the smart non-programmer.

I have a work computer running Ubuntu, exclusively, and a home computer running PCLinuxOS, exclusively. My son is a Mac addict, but even he admits that I manage to keep older equipment surprisingly modern, up to date, all for free. In the PC and Mac worlds, you pay for everything!

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

- great to hear about someone using a Linux-based operating system...

- remember, Linux is the kernel of the operating system... many of the commands and programs you'll use during your Linux-based sessions have exact counterparts in other operating systems, such as the BSDs (Open, Free, and Net), Solaris, AIX, and so on...

- so it's a Good Thing™ that you're pursuing because the skillsets you hone while using your favorite distro will carry over to other consoles and hold you in good stead as your develop your career - whatever passion you choose...

- and you will feel comfortable and at home when you sit down and compute using a shell or X-based session...

Linux: It's All Good!™

:-)

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

i don't know any terminal commands, but i'm running freespire on my desktop. i love it, and google is my friend too.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

I've been using Ubuntu half a year now after ditching Windows 2000 (yes I know).

What I like about using Ubuntu:

- the fact that I can tweak and customize almost anything.
- installing and updating massive amounts of free software via the repositories
- no worries about spyware and viruses, or antivirus software hogging the memory
- managing windows with XFCE and Compiz-Fusion is much better than Vista
- the idea that it is MY software and no company dictating how I can or cannot use it.
- the Ubuntu forums and documentation are awesome. Much more helpful than MSDN. I could solve every problem I came across so far by searching them.

What I don't like:

- the fact that I *have* to tweak and customize to do simple things, like using multiple monitors.
- the hodgepodge of not so integrated applications and libraries that don't always work together
- buggy XGL, Flash plugin crashes Firefox all the time
- (Proprietary) driver issues. For example there is no decent driver yet for my ATI graphics card that works with the new kernel in Gutsy, so I'm stuck with Feisty
- no Adobe software available. Although the Gimp and Inkscape are nice.

I think you can get by with how-tos and copy-and-paste solutions from the forums, but like BoxOfSnoo wrote you can dig endlessly into the internals of Linux. A good place to start is getting familiar with stuff like basic GNU tools, bash scripting, rights management, the boot process, and how X works.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Adobe Photoshop 7 is working beautifully in Wine, and from 0.9.54 CS and CS2 too...

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Linux has been my main OS for about 5 years.

The amount one needs to use the terminal for for normal stuff in linux is getting less and less. The same with the amount you need to know.

For example. a few years ago if you wanted good disk performance you need to know how to enable DMA. This meant you had to read man pages and figure out if you drives supported it. Test it on you sysem. Modify config files etc. Some people wanted graphical tools for enabling it. Today, it is automatical enabled if you hardware supports it. Not only do you not need to mess around, you don't even need to know it exists.

There will always be people who prefer to use the terminal and find it faster. And these people will mostly give commands to solve problems on forums, even if there is a simple graphical way to do things.

There will probably always be things that require a terminal, but I imagine these will be things that most people dont need or want to do. Things like programming, server administration, debugging etc.

I have install linux for people who have no interest in how a computer works, and would never use the terminal. Doing an install will probably always require a bit of knowledge and interest (but everyone knows a nerd :-) ).

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Yeah, linux is my main OS.

No, you don't have to be enthusiastic about the command line. But it's not going anywhere if you change your mind.

A great text that may help to explain things is "In the Beginning was the Command Line." The author does go off on a diatribe or two, but does a really good job explaining what you lose and what you gain when you start using a GUI.

http://artlung.com/smorgasborg/C_R_Y..._I_C_O_N.shtml

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Linux here, too. I need some Windows software (Mathcad), so I'm running XP/Cygwin here at the office. So UNIX everywhere, Linux at home (and of course, on the N800).

You'll pick up the stuff you need to get done what you do. If you do have enthusiasm, of course you'll learn more. And with an open system, there's a lot more to gain by that than with Windows. But in both cases, just using it will teach you to the level you use it.

Great link, Dick, I didn't know that was on-line... have the print edition.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

I jumped on the Linux bandwagon about 7 years ago (and haven't looked back). Started with RedHat, then Fedora and now I'm a happy Kubuntu user (after much resistance). I bought my mom a new laptop and tried to install Ubuntu on it, that didn't work because I couldn't fix screen resolution issues. Next thing I tried was PCLinuxOS and everything worked flawlessly. You will find issues here and there, but those are hard to avoid.

My Linux box is where I do most of my things, except for work emails that reside on an exchange server (the company gave me a Windows laptop). Like someone else mentioned, mainly thanks to Ubuntu and Google we don't have to deal with the frustrations of the past. I remember the dependency problems in RedHat that used to drive me nuts.

I recommend you visit www.distrowatch.com every now and then. For the last several months PCLinuxOS has been the king (Whattup Ubuntu?). I bought the N800 mainly because it runs Linux and Nokia deserves my support.

Long Live the Mighty Penguin!!

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

gimp works very well for me and does everything I need to do as far as photo editing is concerned.

I have been a Linux user for 13+ years. I started with Slackware Linux. All of the tools I use are Linux native tools except quicken which I run under windows on vmware.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

another "transition" link: Linux is NOT Windows

rob.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

I've been using Ubuntu on my main desktop for over a year now. A few months ago my girlfriend noticed the lack of error messages on my screen compared to hers (XP) so she asked if I'd install it for her. I handed her the CD and a beer and 30 mins later she was sitting in Ubuntu.

After an hour the screen went black. Reboot. Black screen. Kept doing this and after some fact finding it looked like it was choking on her crappy ATI video card. We went out and abought a $30 card with an Nvidia chipset and it's been running great ever since.

Moral of the story. While Ubuntu has very robust hardware support, your system might have something that it doesn't like. I got lucky. She was semi-lucky as it only cost $30 to get up and running. But it's been great ever since. I threw Ubuntu on my eeePC and it's been running great. Between the eeePC, her PC, my PC, and my 770, it's a linux house. ;)

Weird that stuff just works now. (Not to say you'll never have any Linux horror stories, but overall a way better experience.)

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Ever try Evolution with the exchange plugin? Works pretty good for me.

Been running Linux for about a year now. Had a serious XP choke and decided to try Debian as that was what we were using at work. Unfortunately I only had one blank disk left and it was some sort of minimal server install disk. Either way I spent about a day and a half learning the tough way about what a package manager, x server and desktop manager was, as I was too lazy to go out and buy another spindle of blanks. If I hadn't done it that way, I probably wouldn't have caught on as fast.

About two weeks later I went on a rampage around the house and purged my life of microsoft for good. Even had Ubuntu running on my xbox for awhile. No regrets, but the only thing I long for is a cad program.

Messed around with Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Fedora 8. I've found each has their strong points and still don't have a favorite. Either way I love linux for making computing fun for me again. Back to the days when I was like 7 punching away in Dos on some old 286. The thing I really like about it, is if you're determined and maybe slightly obsessive compulsive, anything you think a computer should be able to do is possible.

The girlfriend is wondering when i'm going to be able to ssh into the toaster.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

I run XandrOS on my desktop, and it's very user-friendly.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Linux has been my main OS since 1992. Kernel 0.97, i think. I've been a Unix guru since 1982.

There were no Unix manuals to speak of in 1982. Just source code. That has changed, and we still have source. In Winders, you struggle figure things out, and then it changes, or you keep running into bugs. In Linux, once you figure it out, it works forever.

My 1987 Mac II died in 1997 (only 20 years). I transplanted the brain (that's the hard disk, not the CPU as you might expect) into a newer 68000 box last year. I'll do that again soon, as this one has died too. I may have to run a Mac emulator soon.

You could learn everything eventually, if it weren't for all the new stuff coming out, uhm, every day. And it's not like, hey i've got this filter that converts Mac newlines to Unix. It's more like, hey, i've got this new app that lets you create and edit animation over 3D models, and the next day it's, hey i've got this new app that lets you edit musical score, and the next day it's, hey i've got this new app that converts text to speech. With all this new stuff coming out, who has time to build new stuff?

It's been a wild ride.

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Linux has been my secondary OS, only because I need XP :( I currently am running Ubuntu 7.10 on my box with a dual boot of XP. I also have KDE4 installed on it :D I also like using the command line to install new apps, just because of the robust "sudo apt-get install ****" :).

Re: Hey! Linux people!
 

Linux on the laptop and HTPC, sadly windows on the home desktop only because kids like to play the games that are only available for windows.

For navigating through the shell prompt, even as a guru myself, I still find this link very useful

http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html