Why did you go linux?

Message

DEaigo · Post by **DEaigo** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:24 am

Me being MS until i can get gentoo working i would like to know why u use linux. I'm using to try sumthing new plus i can't afford Ms much longer. Plus i'm paranoid about pc security and it really gets many people when i tell them not to use windows.

So why are you using/trying Linux?

Stormy Eyes · Post by **Stormy Eyes** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:38 am

I got into Linux back in 1999 'cos I was building a new PC for the first time and I wasn't willing to waste $150 on Windows 98. I stayed with Linux because I can make it work the way I want to.

po0f · Post by **po0f** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:41 am

I tried linux out (RH7) ~6 years ago. I thought it was cool, but my system at the time couldn't run X, so meh. I had to have a gui.

About a year ago, I had a box donated to me with a dead hard drive. I tried to pop my Win2k hd in, but couldn't get it to work (tried my best though). So I got some Mandrake iso's from my neighbor. Then went to Suse, then Gentoo.

Side note: Win2k ran on the same comp (200MMX, 32MB ram) that RH7 couldn't. ??

geniux · Post by **geniux** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:49 am

I'm using Linux because:
Win always hangs or crashes

I can change the look of my desktop however I want it

Linux learns me alot
It's free

It's fast, stable and secure

DEaigo · Post by **DEaigo** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:57 am

linux is great but with my experiences with xandros it was extrmely slow.

is gentoo fast???

would i get a faster boot time than win 98.

b4rtm4n · Post by **b4rtm4n** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:12 pm

If you haven't seen it you folks would probably enjoy /. 's What keeps you off windows thread.

Been using DeadRat in a corp environment since 2000. Previously played with DR5.2 for no other reason than I had it on cd. Played with 'drake, Suse, LFS.

Discovered Gentoo 18 months or so back and it's my 1st choice for anything where I don't need a real speedy setup (Slackware takes that role).

Reason for using Linux. Patching != reboot and Kernel tweaking is fun.

Keep a win2k system for gaming and not much else.

Enigma_Man · Post by **Enigma_Man** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:40 pm

I just "made the switch" a few scant weeks ago. I had been an avid windows user... no... even supporter *hangs head in shame* for quite some time. My reasons for such were: It accomplishes everything I need it to in a reasonably speedy manner. I had used Windows 95, and then went to 2000 (both of those were probably the respective best of their group, IMO), and never really had a problem. In Win2k at school, I had an uptime of 56 days straight, and I use my computer for _everything_.

However, I had been interested in exploring GNU/Linux for quite some time. How can a guy be a self-proclaimed "geek" and not dabble? I just never got around to it. Recently though, MS has just... been up to _soooo_ many retarded things, even more than usual. Patenting the button... c'mon.

So, that was my deciding factor really. For me, GNU/Linux has taken a lot of adjustment in mindset of how the OS works, and has been a learning experience, which ended up being really fun. It's to the point now after about a month where I can accomplish as much in Linux as I could in Windows, even though I can't for the life of me pick a GD Desktop Environment

-Jesse

Stormy Eyes · Post by **Stormy Eyes** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:44 pm

DEaigo wrote:is gentoo fast???

would i get a faster boot time than win 98.

If you configure it properly, Gentoo runs like a coked-up bat out of Hell. Xandros probably turns on every service under the sun at boot time, but with Gentoo you can configure which daemons start, and run a very stripped-down system.

playfool · Post by **playfool** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:45 pm

I was introduced to Linux in high school, and over a course of a year I decided to switch completely to it, since the anti software piracy groups were on everyones neck and I didn't pay for Windows out of principal (and need, I'm poor and I can't follow their insane version bumping). So I decided to dump everything Windows and stop playing games, it really increased my productivity in class since my Linux laptop wasn't allowed on the Internet so I wasn't browsing during class.

riis · Post by **riis** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:03 pm

I had a decent w2k setup for years, but I had slowly started moving more and more of my tasks to my Linux system, which was RH7/8 -> LFS x 2 -> Gentoo. I just liked how much control I was in all of a sudden. And I didn't feel like installing XP, I can't afford it and I don't like my OS/DE to constantly insult my intelligence with all its god damn pop-up auto wizard crap.

Linux does the job for me, and a lot better.

ed0n · Post by **ed0n** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:21 pm

I was introduced to Linux from my LUG freinds, and then deceided to buy some new hardware and try linux ( redhat ) .

flyinspirit001 · Post by **flyinspirit001** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:47 pm

i started after read of a magazine where linux was defined as "geek"

and very useful

gospleOfLinux · Post by **gospleOfLinux** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 2:02 pm

DEaigo wrote:would i get a faster boot time than win 98.

Answer... you don't have to reboot! Linux can run for years...

I work in the non-profit sector... lots of stuff to do, not much money. With linux, time and hardware are my only costs, which means I can use more of my budget to do some people some good.

gospleOfLinux · Post by **gospleOfLinux** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 2:09 pm

Enigma_Man wrote:...I can't for the life of me pick a GD Desktop Environment

That's the beauty, you don't have to.

mat74 · Post by **mat74** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 2:48 pm

I got Linux, 'cause back then I bought a new cd-rom/recorder and windows didn't want to recognize it. WHAT?! - I thought?
This crap is supposed to be plug and play and before I start messin around with Windows to get it running( where there's rarely any documentation) I might aswell give Linux a try- knowing it would be..uhm...difficult in the beginning but well documented. And here I am, still using it since then (that was a year ago) and never had anything like dual-boot and never missing windows a single minute.

mat

Tii · Post by **Tii** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:10 pm

Windows is boring.

Lews_Therin · Post by **Lews_Therin** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:24 pm

My school runs some DEC Alpha server running Tru64. At first, I was restricted to logging into the commandline since we were not doing X programming yet. But then one class was held in a room containing ~30 thin clients...at that point, I started hunting around for a Linux distro (I hadn't heard of *BSD yet), and encountered the word "Gentoo" on a slashdot post. It took me a little while to install (x86, huh?

), but it works great on 3 computers.

Stormy Eyes · Post by **Stormy Eyes** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:39 pm

Derryth wrote:Windows is boring.

Which may well be the reason for its success in corporate environments.

nejiron · Post by **nejiron** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:51 pm

because I wanted to be hardcore

abzs2k · Post by **abzs2k** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:54 pm

Stormy Eyes wrote:
Derryth wrote:Windows is boring.
Which may well be the reason for its success in corporate environments.

Exactly. Sometimes you just want it to work. For example, I ripped 2 CDs from Windows Media Player - it automatically downloaded CDDB data for them, added it to the ID3 tags, named the files, created a new folder for the artist in the My Music folder, created subfolders in the artist folder for each album, downloaded the album art covers and changed the folder (artist & album) thumbnails to the album art. I love Windows Media Player!!!

Stormy Eyes · Post by **Stormy Eyes** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:04 pm

abzs2k wrote:Exactly. Sometimes you just want it to work.

Maybe you've had different experiences from mine, but when I "just want it to work", I reach for a recent SuSE distribution.

Gobbo · Post by **Gobbo** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:12 pm

Google Search:Linux

I did that a couple years back and went through:
Mandrake
RedHat
Fedora
Debian
Slackware
Knoppix-hdinstall
Lindows/Spire
SuSE
and the best... GENTOO!

abzs2k · Post by **abzs2k** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:27 pm

Stormy Eyes wrote:
abzs2k wrote:Exactly. Sometimes you just want it to work.
Maybe you've had different experiences from mine, but when I "just want it to work", I reach for a recent SuSE distribution.

Is there a linux equivilant of WMP, that will do everything I just described?

Stormy Eyes · Post by **Stormy Eyes** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:34 pm

abzs2k wrote:Is there a linux equivilant of WMP, that will do everything I just described?

I don't care. (but Amarok might fit the bill)

Listen, if WMP makes you happy, then more power to you. For my part, if I own a computer, then I insist on absolute control over that machine. Gentoo gives me that control, and Windows does not. I'm a control freak. Rather than make my lover and friends miserable, I fuck around with computers.

spectrum · Post by **spectrum** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:34 pm

Stormy Eyes wrote:
abzs2k wrote:Exactly. Sometimes you just want it to work.
Maybe you've had different experiences from mine, but when I "just want it to work", I reach for a recent SuSE distribution.

YAST kicks all forms of ass....AND it's GPL...how long before we can optionally use it on our Gentoo boxes? I don't feel it's needed, but I think it would be a nice option, no?