LINUX chatter

[shikamaru]

Ubuntu here. Easy, good support, auto-updates and it's free. I dual boot with Windoze. I first installed Windows, then shrunk that partition to free-up some space on the hard drive, then installed Linux. So either way will work.

Depends on whose boot loader you want to control the bootstrap process .

[allodial]

I wish I could afford the downtime...

I ran across a software engineer from Laser Magnetic Storage International, knew him from there, and bought Red Hat, hired him to set up a dual boot on my laptop. That turned out to be pretty time costly in itself. The guy was out of work and bought a cell phone with what I paid him. The cell phone got him a job in Atlanta with T-Mobile...

I never did get it up and running.

How long ago was that if you don't mind asking? RH used to be preferred. Nowadays I can install from scratch but... I prefer to just roll out Debian or a flavor thereof (apt get is awesome). Ubuntu is about rock solid. I remember the days when Linux was moreso unstable and questionable in use. But Ubuntu is rock solid. There are free virtual machines that allow you to run MS Windows and your favorite Windows apps. Or you can use the WINE (a Windows Emulator). Thusly you can have your cake and eat it too. Ubuntu + Windows running underneath in a VM.

Re: MacOS. Its funny how many people are just figuring out that MacOS is just BSD with Apple-flavored lipstick on.

For those who are sick of MS, its possible to install MacOS on a PC. Or still, one can run MacOSX in a VM under Windows (I have!) or under Linux.

Agreed: Ubuntu + Virtualbox or VM Ware + MacOS or Windows 7 VM-images = win. Dual core or better with lots of RAM is probably the way to go.

[shikamaru]

How long ago was that if you don't mind asking? RH used to be preferred. Nowadays I can install from scratch but... I prefer to just roll out Debian or a flavor thereof (apt get is awesome). Ubuntu is about rock solid. I remember the days when Linux was moreso unstable and questionable in use. But Ubuntu is rock solid. There are free virtual machines that allow you to run MS Windows and your favorite Windows apps. Or you can use the WINE (a Windows Emulator). Thusly you can have your cake and eat it too. Ubuntu + Windows running underneath in a VM.

I forgot about Debian! That's what I run my Xen server on.

Re: MacOS. Its funny how many people are just figuring out that MacOS is just BSD with Apple-flavored lipstick on.

Funny .

[allodial]

OpenBSD, IMHO is the best if not of the best OS's. The problem was the lack of a Java 2 VM for a loooong looooooong time. I figure it would have done the readers an injustice if OpenBSD had gone without mention. However Debian/Ubuntu have it for usability.

[Banja]

How funny. Spent a couple hours looking into Linux yesterday evening, and then I see this thread this morning !! Looked into Linux a couple of years ago, the Linux offerings seem to have come a looooong way in a short period of time, or am I wrong ?

Debian really peaked my interest along with Linux Mint. Does anybody have any experience with Debian ?? After reviewing the various Linux offerings it sure looks to me that once you made the transition, that now you could leave Windows way back in the rear view mirror.

[allodial]

How funny. Spent a couple hours looking into Linux yesterday evening, and then I see this thread this morning !! Looked into Linux a couple of years ago, the Linux offerings seem to have come a looooong way in a short period of time, or am I wrong ?

Debian really peaked my interest along with Linux Mint. Does anybody have any experience with Debian ?? After reviewing the various Linux offerings it sure looks to me that once you made the transition, that now you could leave Windows way back in the rear view mirror.

Debian is great. Its the choice of many 'elite' Linux gurus. Ubuntu is effectively a variant of Debian which itself is a Linux variant. Package management (i.e. software installation, removal or upgrade management) in Debian (apt get, aptitude) is superior to that of Red Hat IMHO (rpms).

[shikamaru]

How funny. Spent a couple hours looking into Linux yesterday evening, and then I see this thread this morning !! Looked into Linux a couple of years ago, the Linux offerings seem to have come a looooong way in a short period of time, or am I wrong ?

Debian really peaked my interest along with Linux Mint. Does anybody have any experience with Debian ?? After reviewing the various Linux offerings it sure looks to me that once you made the transition, that now you could leave Windows way back in the rear view mirror.

Debian is a very solid OS. I use it for my Xen server. Works very well right out of the box.

My preference for desktop is for Ubuntu or Mint. If you are starting out, I recommend one of the aforementioned flavors.
If you already have Wind0ze installed, install VirtualBox first, followed by creating a VM, and finally setup of your chosen Linux flavor.

[Banja]

Debian is great. Its the choice of many 'elite' Linux gurus. Ubuntu is effectively a variant of Debian which itself is a Linux variant. Package management (i.e. software installation, removal or upgrade management) in Debian (apt get, aptitude) is superior to that of Red Hat IMHO (rpms).

Thanks Shikamaru, your advice actually saved me some time I believe. What got me looking into Linux was that Sunday night my old puter blew up...finally. Had to get a new one. I used my son's laptop in the in-between time, which has Windows 7. Quite honestly W7 impressed me. One of the things that impressed me was using my standard privacy enhancements, absolutely zero cookies or LSO's were being dropped on the machine. Quite honestly I like W7 better than XP (never thought I would say such a thing). Then I got looking into Linux a little closer and ran into this video on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkgahANeq14. The title of the video is Linux Sucks.

Basically the presentation makes the case that Linux will never get any better because of the lack of profit. That the troubles Linux has had, at the desktop level they have been facing for 10 years, and the problems never get straightened out.

So, if I decide to play around with Linux, your suggestion of using Virtualbox seems like the best play.

[shikamaru]

Thanks Shikamaru, your advice actually saved me some time I believe. What got me looking into Linux was that Sunday night my old puter blew up...finally. Had to get a new one. I used my son's laptop in the in-between time, which has Windows 7. Quite honestly W7 impressed me. One of the things that impressed me was using my standard privacy enhancements, absolutely zero cookies or LSO's were being dropped on the machine. Quite honestly I like W7 better than XP (never thought I would say such a thing). Then I got looking into Linux a little closer and ran into this video on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkgahANeq14. The title of the video is Linux Sucks.

Basically the presentation makes the case that Linux will never get any better because of the lack of profit. That the troubles Linux has had, at the desktop level they have been facing for 10 years, and the problems never get straightened out.

So, if I decide to play around with Linux, your suggestion of using Virtualbox seems like the best play.

I would argue that Linux is getting better and will continue to get better due to improvements from people all over the world.

It is because of Linux that for profit IT companies have been pressured to come out with better products.

Virtualbox is a good way to go until you become proficient in Linux to a high degree.