Giving Linux a go... and liking it! · Monday January 22, 2007

Lately I’ve been experimenting with different Linux distros. Let me tell you some of my experiences and thoughts on them. (This post will mainly talk about Ubuntu, Kubuntu and PCLinuxOS.)

My background as a computer user

I was about eleven years old when my parents bought first PC to our house. It was a 486 that had DOS and Windows 3.11. I used it mainly to play games and that kind of stuff. Later on I bought my first own computer (which I also assembled myself with little help from a friend of mine), which was a Pentium 266MHx MMX with 3DFX Voodoo display adapter and such things running Windows 98. Again I played a lot and listened to music on that machine, etc. (That computer is still in use as a firewall running Smoothwall, by the way.)

My next PC that I’m still using as my number one computer, was a self assembled machine consisting of AMD Athlon XP 2600+, 1GB of RAM, Club3D Radeon 9600 Pro etc etc. Operating system has been Windows XP until my late experimenting with Linux started. Now I have Windows XP, Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS installed on my computer and I’m getting more and more accustomed to using Linux instead of Windows. The revolution has begun…

Why I started testing Linux in the first place?

Well, first of all, Windows Vista was on its way to replace XP (well, it will take time) and I didn’t want to even touch it. And I don’t want to touch Vista even at this very moment. This was the first reason to start looking for options. Other good reasons might have been my friend’s recommendations and the need to learn more about Linux to be able to utilize it in my work. Also many of the screenshots I had seen about different Linux distros were just awesome.

Which distro is the best for me (and you)?

Let’s take a little look at different usages that you might want to use your computer for and which distro you might want to use.

Deciding on which distro to use depends on what you are going to use your computer for. Many distros are developed towards different usages, therefore you can get a very powerful tool to do just what you need if you make the right choice. Here’s a very short list based on my experiences:

Server use: Ubuntu

No doubt about it, Ubuntu is my choice for running a web server. Installing a LAMP server couldn’t be easier: just download Ubuntu Server and install it with LAMP server option and you’re ready to go! Of course you have to do some configuring to get the best possible end result, but when wouldn’t you need to with servers? Ubuntu is stable and very popular, so it will develop fast.

Desktop use: Kubuntu or PCLinuxOS

If I had to choose my favourite Linux distro at the time, it would be PCLinuxOS. It looks great, works very well and was very easy to learn. Although I haven’t been using it enough yet (still got all my “important” files under Windows XP partitions, damn it!), it gets my admiration and respect.

For older computers Kubuntu might be a better choice. I tried installing PCLinuxOS to a 733MHz computer (with 256MBs of RAM), but it wouldn’t install (although it might have been because I tried to install it from a Live CD, don’t know for sure). Kubuntu installed fine on that same computer, which is in use by my girlfriend, used mainly to surf the Web and etc.

For really old computers:

Damn Small Linux! I just tried DSL on an old computer and it worked like a charm. (Although the network card didn’t seem to work, even though DSL recognized it.) Anyway, I’m going to try DSL some more… it seems to deserve the chance.

Problems with Linux

Hardware support is IMO the biggest problem with Linux. With some bad luck you might not get everything working easily. I’ve ran into trouble mainly with different network interface cards and Canon printers. Also configuring my ATI display driver wasn’t too easy with Ubuntu, though I’ve had no trouble with other distros.

One thing that might cause problems to many is of course the learned routine of using Windows. Linux is not Windows, although today it isn’t that much different to use. It isn’t harder to use, but it is different. I’m saying that if you’d learn to use computers by using Linux, you would think Windows is odd at first.

Lightness is nice

One thing I like about Linux a lot is that it’s pretty light. I mean, programs don’t take forever to load and with certain distros you don’t need a state-of-the-art computer to get along. With Linux I have been able to find use for computers that wouldn’t have no future running Windows. (I didn’t mean to turn this post into a Linux vs. Windows battle, but I guess it’s too late… oh well. Better luck next time.)

What’s next?

Now that I’ve gotten into the Linux world, I guess there’s no turning back. I like the ability to just download a new distro and install and try it, and if I don’t like it – no problem, no money wasted. So, what I’m going to try next? Maybe I’ll have a little bit of more experimentation with DSL, if I can get my hands on an old laptop. And one of my friends has been telling me for ages that I should try SuSe, so maybe I’ll give it a go later, too. And concerning my job, I guess I’m going to learn more about LTSP soon…

And of course if you have any suggestions, be my guest… :)

Tags: Linux | computing

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