How many of you are using Linux just to be cool?

t_2199 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 146

OK maybe thats a weird thread for a linux forum but this is really on my mind for a few days now and please understand me right I dont want to start a flamewar or something...(I have big respect for the Open Source Community)

I was a Windows User for several years now but I just had to try linux too see what its all about.. First I started with SuSE but I was never satisfied with it so one day I decided to install Gentoo. It was like opening the door to another world I was confused big time at the beginning but now I would call myself Linux experienced. I was so amazed by Linux or better with Gentoo and yes its an absolutley amazing OS and the whole community is amazing, too!

So I had Gentoo fully installed and I was very satisfied with it and I was browsing arround the forums, emerged some programms, helped to find bugs, tried out many WMs like GNOME, Kde, enlightment, fluxbox, blackbox, played arround with the kernel, reinstalled everything from the scratch with reiser4 just for fun and all the "cool" things you can do with Linux. But one day everything was working smoothly and I was wondering: "Cool, I have Linux now and what can I do with it now ??"

What I do with my PC usually:
Listen to music -- Winamp owns XMMS. Takes less memory runs more stable and you can get thousand of plugins!

File sharing -- Theres no decent Direct Connect client for Linux and yes I tried them all -- DC++ owns them all.. Plus theres only an old version avaible for linux of my favourite Bit Torrent Client ABC (Yet another bit torrent client) ..

Playing some DirectX games if I want to waste my time -- Much better windows driver for the most graphic cards + most of the games runs faster with windows nativley...

Burning CDs..... Nero (my old version, not the latest) owns K3b or all other burning programms I ever tried under linux

Coding.. Ecplise is avaible for windows, too.. OK kdevelop is cool but I dont really need it..

Browsing.. Mozilla is avaible for windows, too..

Going to lan-partys -- Its a pain in the ass when you go to a lan party just with linux installed!

Office -- OpenOffice is avaible for windows, too..

Browsing arround in the lan -- I dont feel like installing a Samba server just because I want to have acces to my brothers porn..

Watching Videos.. I tried Kaffeine and MPlayer and I had problems with both of them (random crashes and other things)... Could be the codecs though but I never had any problems with Media Player.. I think the windows media player is ugly but at least its running fast and without crashes..

Overall I have to say I can do my work much faster with windows I have the feeling that the WM that XP is using is much faster than KDE´s kwin + xp boots in about half the time linux needs (even without X)..

So for me theres absolutely no reason to use Linux instead of Windows and I dont feel like keeping Linux just to say" Hey look im a smart hacker I know how to use Linux".. The only reason that came to mind is that its free.

So my question is how many of you just use Linux so others think of you "wow what a guru" and how many of you take a advantage of using linux instead of using windows..

And now please dont start with the things like: Its way more secrue! No its absolutly not. If you click on a exe file you got from some spam email account of course youll get a virus. I never used a Firewall neither a Anti-Virus prog the only thing I did was turning on the automatic update function. I never had any problems with secruity.

Omadon · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 103

I don't approve much of Microsoft business practices.
Everyone and their grandmother can write a destructive worm for the windows platform, and they do spread. Microsoft often takes weeks to release a security update after a hole has been made public.
Software is generally better supported on Linux than windows; as most of it is open source, there is a greater community of people who understand how an application works and are willing to aid in the support effort.
Most Linux software is free.
Windows like control, it likes to execute applications which I don't want to run, and it's difficult to force such activites to stop. Linux generally tells me everything, and I can control what goes on on my machine.
Linux has superb remote administration tools (sshd), allowing me to access my machine from remote locations with ease.
Linux seems more developer oriented (I code C/C++, and I find better and more tools on Linux than Windows for this.)
Linux is open source, and supports open source efforts; open source software is generally more stable...

thousands of dedicated intellegent minds render a better result than a few.

I use Linux because I support open source.

Pigeon · Guru Joined: 21 Jun 2002 Posts: 307

Eh? If you don't like it, don't use it.

I use linux when linux does the job better, and windows when windows does the job better. So should you.

Dr Evil · n00b Joined: 24 Jan 2004 Posts: 41

I don't use Linux because it's to be cool or anything. Rather, I enjoy it because it's an alternative to the primary OS used by most home users. I enjoy the UNIX style environments. I can do 95% of what I can in Windows, and do it free in Linux.

Granted, I realize that there are issues with some things in Linux that Windows might not necessarily have, and vice versa. But, over the course of the past few weeks (since I got this Gentoo box running), I have found that I do almost all of my computing on the Linux box, and my Windows box sits relatively idle. I'm more comfortable using the environment that I have set up (and continually tweak). I find I'm more comfortable being able to do much of the computing I need to do from a command line environment if I need to.

For me, it's simply a matter of comfort. Windows wore out its welcome, although I do still need to keep it around. However, Linux has won me over simply because I enjoy it more so than I do Windows. I also enjoy that it doesn't hold my hand, and can often be quite troublesome to configure something properly. I guess it's the challenges as well as the comfort that I like.

So no, it's definitely not a cool factor. It's just an alternative OS that I prefer.

Riftwing · Apprentice Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Posts: 293

Well, for me it's the opposite. For you, the only reason you can see to use Linux is is that it is free while for me the only reason I can see to use windows is games.

gtaluvit · Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 8:53 pm Post subject:

I use strictly Gentoo at home. I blew away my windows partition over a year ago and never went back. Now I don't play many PC games, I can access my digital camera, all my hardware works, and I have *FREE* apps for all I need so losing windows wasn't an issue.

Now, with the examples you gave, I can see your point in the windows makes more sense for you, since Nero is an excellent app and so forth. However, lets look at an example of something that Linux can do easily that windows is hard pressed to support.

Example. I had a movie file I wanted to share with people at work. I SSH'd into my box, copied the file to my public_html directory, and people could get to it. However, our workstations are managed and Win2k didn't have the proper codecs and couldn't install them. I SSH'd back in, used mplayer/mencoder to covert the movie from whatever codec it was to simple MPEG1. Placed the new file in the public_html directory, and boom, everyone could watch. That even has "cool" factor.

You use the tools that are available to you and that work best for you. Gentoo is best for me.
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shank · n00b Joined: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 67

Why do I use linux?

Simply put, its the CODE!

It's free to distribute and its free to edit/look at!

It's OPEN, doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that's the advantage of GNU/*BSD/LINUX.

I use windows when i have to, for using Offix etc.

I really like OS X, from a user perspective.

But, i spend most of my time either browsing the web, chatting on IRC, or poking around in code.

If your a coder then I don't see how you cannot like *BSD or LINUX. All the codes there for you to learn from, use, and abuse.

That's why GNU and open source software is great! When I sit down at a liinux box, i feel like i'm in control, and have access to all the guts of whats happening on my computer, i own the computer, the computer doesn't own me. When I use a windows machines (and to a lesser extent a OS X box) i feel confined, I can only do what MS says i can do, what I'm allowed todo. THis isn't so in linux.

It's the FREEDOM man. FREE as in SPEECH!

ponds · Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:00 pm Post subject:

I think that linux is great in the fields for which it excels. I think alot of people use linux that don't need it, but I think its awesome that they use it. I also think alot of people don't use linux that would benefit from it.

That being said, and I mean no offense, but it sounds like what you're using it for are kind of basic things that don't require any real computing or environment, with the slight acception of coding.

Windows is probably a better environment for that because it sacrifices extensability for ease of use.

In my job, there isn't a day that I could live without linux. I cannot imagine doing 95% of the things that i do on windows.

sgaap · Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:05 pm Post subject:

hjlane3

soda_popstar · Apprentice Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 177

After about a year and a half of Linux use, I've pretty much come to the same conclusion as that of the original poster. It's been great using Linux, but there really haven't been too many real advantages. Last week's dip back into the Windows world solidified that argument for me. Don't get me wrong - Linux is great and I support open source and open standards. But from a more pragmatic point of view, a commercial OS like Windows or Mac OS X is a better working environment for me. It has nothing to do with the inherent nature of commercial products, but the fact remains that driver support and general ease of use is found there.

Some advantages that I find are the Linux filesystems, which allows multiple users or applications to access the same file simultaneously. I love being able to allow my brother across the network view the same TV shows at the same time as me. It's a pain when I have to wait for him to finish watching videos on his Windows computer before I take a peek.

Another good plus for Linux is the lack of adware! I installed zip utilities, FTP clients, etc. in Windows XP and the adware is such an eyesore.

However, on the flip side, it just feels great knowing that virtually all hardware I throw at Windows XP will just work. Linux is a great project and its progression has been astounding, but don't undermine Windows. It's an excellent OS as well.

Sqeaky · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 31 Dec 2003 Posts: 105

I use almost exclusively linux, the only reason I have windows is to do work stuff, but that will change soon.

reasons I use linux instead of windows
1. Its free
2. I get the choise as to what I use and what I have installed, have you ever tried removing internet explorer. For something with so many security flaws you think there would be a way to get rid of it.
3. I can fix it. if I get a cryptic error in either OS I can search for it on google and find any available fixes. Keyword [available]. I have never had a software issue with linux that could not be fixed. I have had many software issues with windows that could not be fixed short of a reinstall.
4. Linux does what I want and what I tell it to, windows does lots of extra stuff. I do not always want lots of graphics and cool stuff mandatorily as part of my os i would rather have a faster more responsive system. I also do not like spyware, many times in windows this unavoidable and trying to remove things that have patched explorer.exe or taskman.exe is not possible without reinstalling. In gentoo a comparable issue would involve checking the source and recompiling.
5. It's stable. Linux is many times more stable than windows. All my friends blame me for my unstable windows boxes, but a regular user should not be able to destabilize the OS doing regular user things. linux/kde/gnome do not crash when i move icons on the desktop, but sometimes windows does.
6. Security. Each OS has a way to go before true security is reached but linux is much closer, it does basic things like prompt for passwords and allow basic file permissions that work windows permissions generally do not work correctly. I have never sat down in front of a windows box that could stop me from seeing certain files.
7. Updates, linux gets updates frequently and security updates almost overnight, windows gets security fixes once a month and upgrades whenever MS feels like releasing another service pack.
8.Software choices, MS forces windows media player on the user, I don't like it i don't use it by I can't remove it did I use this reason already, well it needs to be stated that the user who wants it must be able to setup their computer appropriatly. Example a file server doesn't need media players it needs maxixmum hard drive space.
9. games I play run faster in linux, namely unreal and quake3. and starcraft runs plenty fast.
10. ease of use does not matter to me, I can use any OS quite well.

placeholder · Veteran Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 2500

Mirrorball · Apprentice Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 235 Location: Brazil

Isn't it cool that there are thousands of programmers out there writing software anyone can install for free and download its source code? And I don't approve of Microsoft's business practices. In fact I boycott several companies besides Microsoft. I would hate myself if I were supporting those greedy bastards somehow.

Riftwing · Apprentice Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Posts: 293

Sqeaky · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 31 Dec 2003 Posts: 105

when I totally dropped windows xp I gained about 15 fps in ut2003 and from what I understand ut2004 is just enhancements and bugfixes for 2003.

oh yeah and for game trials there is no registry to hide crap in, I can see what files a games changes and reset game trials( I have a full time job and frequently work overtime, so plz don't be mad at me for wanting to get atleast a few play hours in on a game demo) if I still not sure I want to buy it, or at a minimum I can remove it however I cannot remove all the reg keys that have been hidden from me to make my system less capable of doing what i want.

Sqeaky · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 31 Dec 2003 Posts: 105

Oh yeah and capitalism rocks, its breeds competition which creates innovation. like the athlon 64(YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY). I can of 2 technological innovations(good or bad) for every one from a socialist nation.

*edit*
I think windows is much better for the average gamer

oldan · Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:49 pm Post subject:

well, DUH.
Of course it's cool. But I also think there are some valuable things I can do with Linux I can't do with Windows (and vice-versa). Ditto FreeBSD

--Oldan

placeholder · Veteran Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 2500

Sqeaky · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 31 Dec 2003 Posts: 105

You cn get more levels by playing on new servers and there was a way to get vehicle support in ut2003, you needed to know what you where doing and do it from the ut2003 console. ut2004 was originally going to be just another patch. but it did get a little bit out of hand which is why it is now not compatible with ut2003.

Riftwing · Apprentice Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Posts: 293

Somehow this has magically turned into a UT2003/2004 thread...
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placeholder · Veteran Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 2500

stonent · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2003 Posts: 1138 Location: Texas

I wanted to use Linux to be cool, that wore off quickly as I found RH 6 kinda *meh*.
Then came Mandrake 8 better but still nothing excited me about it.

Then I found Freesco and later ClarkConnect and finally found a niche in my house for it, but still my main system. Knoppix comes along and finally I'm starting to see how useful it can be. Then I get a job which has me setting up Linux servers and simulation equipment. Now I'm seriously considering making a switch back. (Though it was strictly RH 6.2 there)

Finally Gentoo finds its way into my laptop and suddenly, "Hey I don't have to choose out of a list of 9 million packages (in which I have no idea of their use) during the install!" and "Wow, my system will always have the latest updates without waiting forever for updates!"

That was all it took. The CFLAGS are just a bonus.
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nlightn · Apprentice Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 171

superjaded · l33t Joined: 05 Jul 2002 Posts: 726

Heh, when I initially tried Linux out (around eight years ago), I really had nobody to "act cool" around. I didn't really get into forums like I do these days to say the least.

So, no, I don't really use Linux "to be cool." I don't think anyone tries out linux "to be cool." They may try it because of all the hype it gets these days, but it's not very comparable to someone doing something in highschool to conform what the "cool kids" believe to be cool.

I look at it a different way, as far as whether or not I "need" Linux. Windows doesn't give me anything Linux doesn't do better (commercial/closed stuff nonwithstanding), so I use Linux.