Topic: Linux?

[Spectral Paladin]

What advantages does Linux have over Windows?

[Phoenix]

Ready for a list i will start, and probably others will continue.

Its free
Its open source
Its less vulnerable for virusses (actually almost immune)
More stability

...

[Spectral Paladin]

The first two don't convince me... would you download free crap?

[gryphon]

well. . you did ask for advantages without specifying the situation or aspect you want to know where it's better at.

Generally when things ar less expensieve than the same product from a competitor that is considerd an advantage.

The same goes for your question. Linux is different then Windows. Although being different is not an advantage.

In which aspect to you want to compair those 2 ?

[Spectral Paladin]

You are right but I already got Windows, so the price is not going to play a role. If Linux wasn't free, I 'd not even consider getting it. I heard it's possible to have them both installed and choose between the two. How do I do that?

[gryphon]

do a dual boot install.. . in short. . first install Windows .. then a boxed / shiped version of Linux. . it will do most of the work for you.
[ with boxed / shiped I mean a Linux distrobution version, like Redhat or SuSe for example, not Debian or uncompiled Gentoo ]

The OS price doesn't play a role anymore. . although consider that most Windows applications ar not for free. . . .

Somehow I get the idea you don't like Linux to start with. . so the question . . or this topic to convice you it is ok seems rather pointless as you already made up your mind.

[Spectral Paladin]

Could you provide a link for a boxed/shiped version of Linux?

[gryphon]

you mean a download link for it ?

it's not that hard to guess where you can get them ..  the companies provie them for free on the websites.

http://linuxiso.org/
www.suse.com
www.redhat.com

[Phoenix]

note: Redhat are 3 cds for downloading... (like 1,4 GB in total...)  

[Spectral Paladin]

Yes I noticed that... is there a smaller download?

[number6]

What advantages does Linux have over Windows?

One of the main advantages of Linux over Windows is it's superior server capabilities. Linux can run very stable for month's at a time running services that bring a Windows machine to it's knees every other week. Windows has improved quite a bit, but Linux (or just about any Unix type system) is still far superior. Linux also has a very feature rich command line interface that a lot of techies prefer over using the standard point and click interface of Windows. I can do a lot more work in less time from the command line.

Linux is also perfect for developing software. All the free compilers and even free IDE's (Integrated Development Environments) are available now.

Linux is also a great learning tool. If you really want to know what makes your PC tick dig into the freely available OS source code.  If you develop you own hardware you can easily write software for Linux that supports your new device.

In short Linux gives you many more options than even the most costly closed OS for little to no monetary cost and is far superior to Windows from a performance standpoint. Is it for everyone? Of course not. I like Linux because it is very useful for what I do. I have been working on Unix systems for almost 10 years now and I have become accustomed to the Unix interface as well.


You can get smaller disk images for Gentoo Linux, but it is a lot trickier to setup than the commercially supported versions like Redhat. The best thing to do with Redhat is just go out and buy the disk at your local software store. It comes with an easy to use installer and can be installed in less than 30 minutes.  

[Spectral Paladin]

Is Linux safe from Trojans?

[gryphon]

nothing is safe from trojans....

although Linux generally has the name of being better protected to resist them..

[Phoenix]

and that is because most of the virusses are made in a windows environment.. kind of java scripting or something like those scripts... so linux is most of the time resistent against those virusses....

[Spectral Paladin]

Ok, I recently returned from vacations, got Linux, installed it, also repartitioned to keep Windows XP. Everything is fine but for a small problem: I removed Windows XP and installed them again but while there are no problems with most hardware (no drivers needed), my modem doesn't work-when it is about to call, it make a sound as if the port opens but then nothing. By the way the modem won't work with linux too-though no worry there since it says that internal modems may not work. Any help?

[gryphon]

Have you tried to update your modem drivers ?

[Spectral Paladin]

I explained the whole situation to make it clear that it is the same modem that previously worked (without needing to update drivers)....

[gryphon]

I removed Windows XP and installed them again but while there are no problems with most hardware

sorry. . I thought you did a new installation of Windows. And in respect to the previous one where you didn't need drivers, I thought to suggest you use newer drivers for it.

Anyway, if your modem opens a port, but then doesn't call it usually has something to do with the line, dial tone missing. . misconfigured configuration. Things like that. If you have 2 ports in your modem, usually a Line and a Phone one. . . make shure it's in the right one and the modem line is a live one.

[Spectral Paladin]

Ok, I found the external modem of my old comp and now everything's fine. One small problem remains however: even though I have sound in Linux I don't in Windows XP. It appears to have to do stg with the sound card. Despite the fact the right drivers are installed a yellow exclamation mark appears in the Device Manager and the XP help says this may mean there is a problem with resources being used by more than one device or stg like that.

[Spectral Paladin]

Hello there... there.... there?

I believe the problem is related to Linux that's why I 've posted this here, and I 'd appreciate an answer.  

[gryphon]

If you have a proper dual boot system one OS won't give you hardware problems with another non-running OS.

Could you post a DirectX diag file so we can loop into the hardware configuration of your computer ?

[Spectral Paladin]

Here is the dxiag.

[gryphon]

mayby a strange guess, but I would suggest to deinstall your current drivers, then upgrade to SP2 and DirectX 9c. It fixed a few driver issues I have had with my modem. It might help in your situation.

[Spectral Paladin]

Ok, I 'll try but before doing so I 'd like to point out that before Linux and repartitioning it worked just fine.

[gryphon]

just some info on dual boots...

when you have just one OS installed, the bootpartition of your hard drive just points to one OS to boot. The only one on it. Which then will be booted.
When you have a dual or tripple boot system your bootpartition give you a choice of which OS you want to boot. After you selected which to boot, it will boot that partition / OS as if it would be the only one on the system. The partition on which the not-used OS is is just inert. . just another drive on your PC. Nothing from that non-active OS can interact or influance your working OS. The only differance is that bootloader thing.

Unless one of your OS'es is booted from another running one. As example, BeOS can be started from Windows.. . so first you actively boot Windows, and then you boot BeOS. But again, that's not an verry good way to dual boot a system.

[Spectral Paladin]

I have Red Hat Linux 9 and it came with a firewall but I wonder, can I trust it or is it as lame as the XP one?

[gryphon]

Linux is more secure by default then Windows, I must say that the Windows XP SP2 firewall is not so bad. But Linux IPchains are different from the Windows firewall.

[desert storm]

does linux run windows programs, like .exe and stuff?  can you play windows games on it?

[Phoenix]

It is possible...

Sometimes there are versions of a game made for linux, so you can just simply install the game..

But I thought there are also emulators, so that you can run a game as if in windows, but im not 100% confident about that...

[number6]

does linux run windows programs, like .exe and stuff?  can you play windows games on it?

From my limited understanding you can run windows exe files under front end applications like WINE ,but  running games under that interface may be a bit tricky. Some games that support OpenGL can run under Linux as native applications and don't need Windows wrappers like WINE.