Why I love linux

Khannie

Warning! Random musings!

I can't remember when I ditched windows completely (I admit to still having a VM, but that's because the stupid lexmark printer wont work in linux) but it feels like a while ago now. I'd guess a year. I'd been using linux daily in work since about 2004 because it was a lot faster than my windows desktop (2GHz box v's my 700MHz one).

So anyway....I'm in work today....and I wanted to get a video that I bookmarked yesterday to watch on my psp on the way home.....so I used freenx over ssh to view my home desktop, browse to the bookmark, download the video then kick off a conversion to psp format, then scp'd the file to my work machine (probably all possible from the command line, just easier to get the bookmark etc. graphically). Nothing remarkable there really but.....then I got thinking about it.....scp is so great....then I thought....well....that's really down to ssh......then I'm thinking....well.....ssh is nothing without the shell.....and that's when it hit me (and not for the first time)......the power of linux resides in the little tools. It's when you string them together that its true power emerges.

I used to think "I wonder if XYZ is possible". Now I just think "I'll have to find out how to do XYZ" because I just assume that it's possible....whatever "it" is.

So....if you do.....why do you love linux?

*note: haters please start your own thread.

joe_chicken

2 words:

Repository Management. (yum, yast, apt... whatever, they're all good)

I was browsing yast in SuSe a couple of months ago and came across Beneath a Steal Sky... nuff said really.

I've stopped thinking "How can I do this?!", I think "What repository package can do it for me?!"

oscarBravo

I'm with Khannie - the whole design philosophy (and in fairness, it's the Unix philosophy, not just Linux) of small modular tools that can be infinitely combined to do your bidding... awesome.

I ditched Windows maybe two years ago, apart from the VM I use to run online banking and suchlike things that insist on Windows.

Naikon

Let's see:

-The superior file system and repository services such as the ports collection.
-Also, Unix based computers are more fun to work with(sad but true:D).
-No disk fragmentation.
-X windows/KDE and SSH.
-The GNU compilers and development tools.
-The Linux binary compatibility layer to run Linux software.
-I am using FreeBSD 6.2 btw.
-The system doesent make me feel like an end-user with the heavy windows dependence on the GUI.

*I only use windows now mostly for games as WINE doesent compare to a native windows machine*

DonkeyStyle \o/

Khannie wrote:

So....if you do.....why do you love linux?

It makes me feel all smug and superior.

Capt'n Midnight

I've got Ubuntu. I haven broken it completely yet. So far editing/deleting some text files or an apt-get has recovered from situations where windows would be blue screening and from previous history a reinstall would only have a 50:50 chance of recovery.

I've had the GUI uninstalled (at least twice) have installed beryl, kde and kfce over the top so it thinks its kubuntu (for now)

But the apps are nice, none of that windows VB shareware krudd.

NutJob

Its sarting to look real good and gettingeasier to use.

Can still be a pig at times but thats life.

As for smug meh all i know is i prefer it to vista which eats fast pcs(kills mine) and i never warmed to macs.

Now if i could just get a port of visual studio and counter strike id be a happy chappy. Mabe one day

Khannie

Nutjob: CSS works well through wine. I haven't played it myself yet, but that's only because I don't know where my HL2 cd is. UT3 (like all the unreal series) will have native linux support. \o/

You're right though....Visual studio is still (IMO) the best piece of kit ever to come out of Redmond.

joe_chicken wrote:

2 words:

Repository Management. (yum, yast, apt... whatever, they're all good)

Oh yeah....this is a real beauty too. Getting all your software from a trusted source really has huge benefits. No spyware. No viruses. Lovely.

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

It makes me feel all smug and superior.

HAHA.

joe_chicken

Khannie wrote:

Nutjob: CSS works well through wine. I haven't played it myself yet, but that's only because I don't know where my HL2 cd is. UT3 (like all the unreal series) will have native linux support.

CSS does work a treat.

As does HL2.

I freaked a friend out by spinning the desktop with Beryl while he was looking over my shoulder.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Lower carbon footprint burning isos rather than hitting the shops

IronMan

I love it for Amarok, the most amazing audio player I have ever seen, for apt-get , for Beryl (useless but nice to look at), and for its surprising ease of use in most siutations (using Ubuntu).

What I don't like:

Firefox looks ugly in Linux, and performance is even worse than on Windows.
I hate Open Office. I admit it, I'm a big fan of MS Office.

Neither of these is actually a pure Linux issue, but rather on the software that is packaged with an average distro.

Yook

Becuase the other night I caught my friend looking at porn (ssh'd in, 'ps aux'...oh lookie...MILF Porn) on my laptop after I went to bed. I hopped on my desktop, exported my DISPLAY as ":0", killed vlc and typed opened up meatspin (google it if ya wanna see it) in firefox fullscreen.

I had another shell x-forwarded to to the laptop, opened up Kmix, unmuted the sound and turned the it all the way up (it was connected to a sound system at the time) and sat back listening to Dead or Alives "You Spin Me Round" from upstairs laughing until he came up to me. He said he was watching 4400.

I would have never got that much satisfaction from such an incident using Windows. BTW, both of my machines are Kubuntu Feisty.

edit: Thanks man

Thomas_S_Hunterson

I got sitebanned for a month before for posting that link so i'd take it down if i were you before someone sees it!

pid()

Khannie wrote:

So....if you do.....why do you love linux?

It's free, fast and lightweight. You can openly read the discussions between kernel developers on sites like kerneltrap.org because the discussion is open and public. This not only gives you an insight into how they think, but also lets you know where the future of linux is going. I love playing around with the source code in the kernel. If I'm bored I'll just say to myself "Right, I want to figure out how the linux memory management subsystem works" and jump right in. That to me, is exactly why I love it.

Then there's application layer stuff I like. For instance, Fluxbox is just genious. It's so lightweight I'm still amazed by it, and I've been using it for years now. I have a beast of a machine but I still run Fluxbox. KDE and Gnome just don't cut it, they're bloatware and look and feel too much like Windows for my liking.
The shell, be it bash, csh or ksh - it's pretty damn brilliant. Screen has saved my life on several occassions as well. Without screen I wouldn't have such a kickass development environment. Shell scripting is also great fun, and saves hours of work and it's pretty easy to get to grips with too.

Gentoo is pretty damn good. The package management is great and you learn a lot doing a stage 1 install.

Great thread.

po0k

Linux is just the kernel. It's fun to ./configure though.

I still run WinXP on my home machine, purely because of games and because I built an NVRaid-0 set when I built the machine 2 years ago.
Switching away from Windows now, thinking of using either Debian, Gentoo or FreeBSD.
My only gripe is hardware vendors (FOAD Broadcom ye shower of cants) and 3D drivers.
I reckon Wine + Xen will take care of any 'legacy' apps I might still need.
Cedega may be worth subbing to if I get back into modern games.

The thing I love about the whole Nix/OSS is that you can assume that just about anything can be made run on any flavour, within reason.
I place far more value on interoperability than "one-stop-shop" vendors that bitch and moan if you don't follow their creed.

In fairness, out of all the major and minor OSes on the planet, Windows is the gimpy-legged, non POSIX-compliant, single-user ugly duckling. It just happens to be fncking everywhere in the consumer market, like crabs and syphillis.
it still doesn't have proper tab-autocompletion.

Why are Philips-head screw drivers really popular?

Also, read up on Plan9 and Inferno and why we're still working within an out-dated computing paradigm.

Khannie

SyxPak wrote:

Linux is just the kernel

Two gtfo's for you today. :P

SyxPak wrote:

Switching away from Windows now, thinking of using either Debian, Gentoo or FreeBSD.

Out of those 3, I'd recommend gentoo for home use (I use it at home and it's fast as f*ck). BSD's lacking driver support for newer kit compared to linux.

SyxPak wrote:

My only gripe is hardware vendors (FOAD Broadcom ye shower of cants) and 3D drivers.

Nvidia 3D on linux is basically on a par with windows performance. I have achieved 600FPS in-game in UT2004 with my 8800GTS on linux. ATI is still lagging a fair bit behind in the performance stakes.

Oh...and yes. Broadcom cants.

zekiel

The only reason I havent moved fully to linux is basically like most others the need to play some games! Wine and cedega are getting better but still dont entirely cut it, beyond that I dont really use windows for much else. 90% of my work is done on my laptop which now has ubuntu on it (have gone through I dont know how many flavours at this stage, enjoyed them all!)

Why I love it is like most others on this thread simplicity once you know the system workings. Its a learning curve but once you grasp it your flying and wondering why you ever really bothered with windows.
Unfortunately most of us grew up with being fed windows & more windows, so the change can be difficult but once achieved the rewards are endless.:D

indeed, great thread!

Squeeonline

IronMan wrote:

I love it for Amarok, the most amazing audio player I have ever seen, for apt-get , for Beryl (useless but nice to look at), and for its surprising ease of use in most siutations (using Ubuntu).

What I don't like:

Firefox looks ugly in Linux, and performance is even worse than on Windows.
I hate Open Office. I admit it, I'm a big fan of MS Office.

Neither of these is actually a pure Linux issue, but rather on the software that is packaged with an average distro.

I have to agree with you on Amarok, using it right now and its amazing. I cant run Beryl but it has to be better than Vista Aero.

I am also a closet fan of MS office, but that is only because OO is pretty crap. I dont agree with your comment about Firefox. I am using 2.0.0.6 and i love it. So much better than IE 6 which doesnt even have tabs. Plus all the extentions that i have added only make it better and faster. Using Adblock plus, i never see any ads at all for example.

pid()

Squeeonline wrote:

I have to agree with you on Amarok, using it right now and its amazing. I cant run Beryl but it has to be better than Vista Aero.

I am also a closet fan of MS office, but that is only because OO is pretty crap. I dont agree with your comment about Firefox. I am using 2.0.0.6 and i love it. So much better than IE 6 which doesnt even have tabs. Plus all the extentions that i have added only make it better and faster. Using Adblock plus, i never see any ads at all for example.

I'm not too big a fan of OO either. If I _have_ to create .doc's I'll use abiword.

georgelowden

96 total, 1 running, 94 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie

Squeeonline

georgelowden wrote:

96 total, 1 running, 94 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie

Sorry, what is that list? People on this page who are running linux?

nadir

I love the way you can tear it all apart, the modularity of it. grab a kernel, grab a package manager, a desktop. custom build your software.
It's great. I love bsd too, but I always end up using linux on my desktop, it's more of a mish mash than bsd, but I think thats it's great quality.