Hi guys,

I'm actually a Linux user and like to hear people's opinion on this controversial issue. (Linux or Windows)

I'm sure many people have had about Linux but most get scared of the name. They believe it's an operatiing system that's meant for the gurus so to say.

But I'm happy to tell you that Linux is actually making a more interactive interface operating system system with nice colours, quite flexible to use (you can play your DVD, VCD, MP3, audio CDs, games, run Microsoft Word / Open Office, etc.) and never have to worry about viruses ever again.

Imagine, many programmers now write programmes for Linux, e.g. Yahoo Messenger for Linux, SQL, Maya, and lots more. Guys why not give it a try? I've worked with many versions: Redhat, Knoppix, Mandrake, etc but I would say Mandrake Linux 10 is a good one to start with.

Bye guys.

There is a Red Hat linux cohabiting with WinXp on my PC. I don't use it much to be honest. But I support it.

The easiest way for a newbie to linux is to try a Live CD I.e the whole operating system boots from the CD without affecting your hard disk. If you feel comfortable with it, then you can stick with linux. I run Kanotix 2005 on my regular laptop. Works perfectly. Wireless network, sound, name it its much better and faster than windows. Plus, I dont need to bother about viruses when opening email attachments. My second laptop runs simplyMepis. Which is one of the easiest OS to install.From booting the Live CD to a fully functional system takes less than 20 minutes. And you can continue using your system while its installing unlike windows which will take full control of your systemfor about an hour if not more.

Linux comes with all drivers, I plug in my USB CD burner and its recognised, plug in my printer its recognised. In windows you need to install drivers for each component you are using.

All in all, I have no regrets switching to linux. I am what you can call a distrojunkie but after trying Ubuntu, Xsandros, Linspire, PC Linux, Suse, Knoppix, I have settled with Kanotix and I dont think am going to be trying any other distro any time soon. Visit www.distrowatch.com for daily news and reviews about linux.

@Niggy what distro do you use?

Linux is still a little unpolished for main stream use but given time it has possiblities for serious market share. I run linux on servers (except when I need ms sql (it's a VB thing) and for domain controller)

Have another system with Linux OS...the company prefers you working using LINUX. Everyother thing i do is windows based...maybe too old to change i guess

Thats because Linux is free (well the distrobutions that I like)

Debian is the best

This web-site runs on a Linux-based (virtual) server which I run remotely, so I'm quite used to the the idea of Linux as a production server.

However, as a web administrator I cannot run Linux on my desktop because 87% of the visitors to my website use Micrisoft Internet Explorer, which of course only runs on Windows. It is easy to get the open source software products which usually run on Linux (PHP, MySQL, Apache Web server, etc) to work on Windows, but you can't get popular Windows software (e.g. office) to run on Linux!

Dual-booting between Linux and Windows only works when you work primarily on one OS and use the other for learning or playing games. When I was studying at OAU Ife, I used to run Linux as my primary OS and WIndows for playing games and movies! I had friends who ran Windows as their primary OS but would occasionally boot to Linux just to 'learn UNIX'.

However, as I'm typing this I don't even have any copy of Linux on my hard drive because there's no point switching between the two operating systems when all the open source software I want to use can equally work on Windows! So, for now, I can only campaign for the use of Linux on servers!

Hidden_Hunter:

Linux is still a little unpolished for main stream use but given time it has possiblities for serious market share. I run linux on servers (except when I need ms sql (it's a VB thing) and for domain controller)

You might need to dl a couple of the recent distros and see. I dont agree that linux is not polished enuff for the desktop. I havent been using windows since last year. and I cant tell you how much more rewarding it is. Since u like debian, try Kanotix, Simply Mepis, Ubuntu , they are all debian based and as such using apt-get, you have over 10,000 free programs at your disposal from the debian repositories.

Seun:

This web-site runs on a Linux-based (virtual) server which I run remotely, so I'm quite used to the the idea of Linux as a production server.

However, as a web administrator I cannot run Linux on my desktop because 87% of the visitors to my website use Micrisoft Internet Explorer, which of course only runs on Windows. It is easy to get the open source software products which usually run on Linux (PHP, MySQL, Apache Web server, etc) to work on Windows, but you can't get popular Windows software (e.g. office) to run on Linux!

Dual-booting between Linux and Windows only works when you work primarily on one OS and use the other for learning or playing games. When I was studying at OAU Ife, I used to run Linux as my primary OS and WIndows for playing games and movies! I had friends who ran Windows as their primary OS but would occasionally boot to Linux just to 'learn UNIX'.

However, as I'm typing this I don't even have any copy of Linux on my hard drive because there's no point switching between the two operating systems when all the open source software I want to use can equally work on Windows! So, for now, I can only campaign for the use of Linux on servers!

Some interesting points there.Well I dont believe in OS bashing and I certainly dont critise what I dont know about.

First point, as a web administrator, am sure you will agree that majority, cross that, the vast majority of servers running the net are based on LAMP[Linux, Apache,MySql,PHP]. Yes you can run Microsoft Office or Internet Explorer on Linux. Ever heard of WINE, Win4lin,VMware? These are all virtual machines which make it possible to run a guest OS on a different OS. In any case, have you tried Openoffice? For me, it is much better and functional than MS Office. It even natively allows you to save your documents as .pdf not needing the expensive full adobe acrobat product. And with the new version 2.0 which has an inbuilt data base program much like microsoft access, I dont even need to use MS office anymore.


You apparently have not even been near a linux system for quite some time. As you are no doubt aware, 6 months in the computer industry is a very long time. Most distros release new versions every couple of months. I am very sure if you were to try a Live Cd such as Knoppix www.knoppix.net, Simply Mepis www.mepis.org,Ubuntu www.ubuntu.org, Kanotix www.kanotix.com, Suse http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/, you would be shocked at how much advance has been made since you last used linux. I started with Knoppix last year cos my laptop then was messing up. I was dual booting cos I had to keep Microsoft Office for school work. Since I discovered that the beta openoffice had a database program, I have removed windoze completely from my computers and I dont even miss windoze.

If you are interested in trying some live CD's cos I know it would take forever to download it in NIgeria, I could burn some copies for you and pop them in the post As a power windoze user, who has used windoze from win 3.1 thru win NT to win 95 and going on thru win 2000 and win ME to win XP, I have seen both sides and I believe I can effectively decide for myself which is better. I dont worry about my registry getting corrupt, I dont worry about viruses, I dont have to update my system every two days, the computer just does what its supposed to do and that is work.

Agreed , a lot of people believe linux is geeky and only for IT gurus, but a lot of the current desktop distros are desinged basically for windows converts and believe me, if I could run a linux system, anybody can. At times, I go for weeks without even opening a command line interface.

I started using linux about two years ago. Within this short time my knowledge and appreciation for the operating system has grown dramatically. I simply love the environment. I could write short commands to copy files and folders instead of using the mouse to drag them from one location to another. My computer host a redhat linux and windows Xp operating system. A relatively good advantage the linux Os has over windows is when there's a power failure. the linux Os recovers gracefully while windows drags slowly, scanning system files and folder. I have gotten tons of materials that make my work with linux easy. for a newbie, you may want to try out "Beginning Redhat linux 9" published by wrox. It is a good starting point. You'll be glad you did!

@Niggy what distro do you use?

jogego, thx man i respect ur contribution. i wz formerly using redhat 9 bt now i'm using mandrake 10. i'm currently downloading fedora core 4, dat should take about 3days or so. kanotix and knoppix r both debian base which i don't like. when i wz working with knoppix i installed it on my system hd disk with this command (knx-hdinstall). mandrake evolved from redhat linux and has lot of supports too. no dependencies problem. the smb4 is superb, no need for any config. bt redhat had really made me old fashion so i work with the terminals alot.(no choice man).

I did try knoppix hard disk install but you know its not really primed for a hard disk install. I just changed from knoppix to Kanotix about two weeks ago. They are birds of the same feather but kanotix is more on the bleeding edge than knoppix. Never had any dependency problems, thanks to apt- the debian package manager. Its wonderful and always resolves all dependencies and installs straight.

Why does FC4 take so long? Is it a DVD? Thats one reason while I love the debian based distros, it gives u a functioning system and u can add programs that u need. Just 700MB to dl

Why does FC4 take so long? Is it a DVD? Thats one reason while I love the debian based distros, it gives you a functioning system and you can add programs that you need. Just 700MB to dl


well it's 4cd and i'm even downloading at the rate of 100kbps form my office where i'm hving my IT. At home we use a multlinks internet connection which i dare not try to use or i'll spend 4wks on it.n as u know i'll ve to go home by 5:30 . actually i started 2,3 hrs ago n the first cd is done now left with 3 hopefully i might complete the download by tomorrow.

...anyone interested in mandrake 10 can contact me. it's for free guys just 3cds. i
m currently downloading fedora core4 so when it's done i'll be willing to give it out too.

If your lucky you might be able to find some magazines that have come from abroad that have a linux distrobution on the cover cd/dvd

@jogego, the fedora core I just downloaded is still at test. I did a test(before installation) on the CD n it told me failed. I ven't really installed it. bt I ve a strong conviction that it would work. since it wz through the internet(ftp using reget) the error is likely. did you get your distros too by internet n if yes when you tested the CD at boot wz it successful?

Niggy:

@jogego, the fedora core I just downloaded is still at test. I did a test(before installation) on the CD n it told me failed. I ven't really installed it. bt I ve a strong conviction that  it would work. since it wz through the internet(ftp using reget) the error is likely. did you get your distros too by internet n if yes when you tested the CD at boot wz it successful?

Yeah, NIggy, I normally download the .iso's and burn the Cd's.Yeah you are supposed to check the md5 but I hardly bother. As long as u use a good download manager, it should download o.k. I normally just dedicate a system to it for the duration of the dl.

My ISP mirrors linux distro's (all of the popular ones and some of the lesser ones (you can request them if there not there and there usually they're by the end of the day)) Haven't had a corrupt download yet from it and I usually get 800 kilobytes a second while downloading

this thread should be renamed from "Linux vs. Windows" to "Linux Rulez, Don't you all agree". yeah linux rules but in the server market. windows still sells more and that's because it appeals as a desktop OS. who plays quality 3D games on their linux box.

i believe anyway, linux has prospects on the desktop. i also believe X should be replaced with something much light and faster, yet similar.

Windows baby.Although i have been trying to learn LINUX for a while now but i still do everything in Windows.

@jogego, i guess u said u 've tried out suse linux? how is it, is it debian base too. would like to know n try it out. i when to their site n i think their product dats free is the eval version.

I use Linux and Windows equally.

Windows mainly for gaming, Linux for movies, music, multimedia, development and such. I'm into game development (learning process), and the major reason I use both OSes is to be able to develop cross-platform games.

I started with Slackware Linux, then I went on to try Vector Linux (which is Slackware-based) and Ubuntu (debian-based) just for a change. Vector Linux is small, fast and light-weight and it was basically designed to bring older systems back to life (486-esque), that kind of thing. So basically, no bloat and such-like. The thing about most distributions now is that they include a lot of "crap" that you don't need. Anytime I find a distro whose ISOs span more than one CD (as I have to download an ISO over a 64k connection, which isn't fun), I just decide to forget about it. Additionally, I have a SuSE 9.1 Pro DVD lying around somewhere though, I haven't tried it yet. I also got Ubuntu 4.10 CDs free, but I then proceeded to download and install the 5.04 release (about 586MB), since I was impressed, and I'm still impressed. Automatic hardware detection is sweet with these distros!

I would recommend Ubuntu as a distro for any newbie who doesn't have much time to learn just about everything about Linux.

The thing about Linux is that you don't have to pirate software (this is a very serious issue in Nigeria). Most people don't even know that piracy is illegal. Also, Linux is best suited as a server environment. You can customise it to suit your needs instead of having to put up with what you don't need hogging up system resources and memory. Linux comes with all the development tools you can ever need, free! Except for the IDEs which aren't as good/polished as Microsoft Visual Studio. I can confidently tell you today that there's no better IDE than Microsoft Visual Studio.

People think Linux is difficult to learn because they are lazy. They've been spoilt with Windows' vanilla user interface. Plus they don't like to read, but they want everything to be done for them. With a bit of Googling and such, you'd be able to get good guides on how to use Linux, console commands, etc. There's an infinite (well, something like that) amount of documentation on the Internet. Well, for those of us who started with MS-DOS, it wasn't much of a problem

Just my 2 cents...

What of Mac OS? Nobody is talking about it, it's equally good.
@shockreaction, what sort of games are you developing?

@IAH, like to ask u where i can get mac os? can it be downloaded, n the link pls?

Well, if I intend to develop a 3D first person shooter, as my first project, then later on, 2D/3D role-playing games.

As for MacOS, you definitely have to purchase it. And it only runs on Apple computers which are a tad too expensive compared to normal x86/IBM-compatible clones as far as I'm concerned

I don't think you can download Mac OS because it runs on Apple computers and it's not free. You can visit www.apple.com/macosx. It's very good and not prone to viruses like Windows but the main snag is that you miss out on a lot of games and other softwares which cannot run on it. Some are cross-platform, though.
@shockreaction, good luck on your project. I don't think you need to use 2 OSes to develop cross-platform games. If you develop with OpenGL and OpenAL on Windows, it works on all platforms.

@IAH, so what about purchasing the cds. i'm a linux user bt i love exploring other OSes

IAH:

@shockreaction, good luck on your project. I don't think you need to use 2 OSes to develop cross-platform games. If you develop with OpenGL and OpenAL on Windows, it works on all platforms.

Well, I'm using C++, not Java. Windows executables don't run on Linux and vice versa. You have to take your code and compile separate executables for Windows and Linux. Then comes testing and debugging on both OSes...
I'll be using the Simple Directmedia Layer (SDL) to handle window management stuff along with OpenGL (for graphics), and some other SDL libraries (audio, images, network code) because it's cross-platform.

I'm quite impressed by your knowledge of these things. How comes? Haven't come across any Nigerian women with knowledge of such... In other words, I like you already. Heh.

Niggy: Since you're looking to try out other OSes, you might want to take a look at one of the BSD variants.
FreeBSD
http://www.freebsd.org/

NetBSD
http://www.netbsd.org/

OpenBSD
http://www.openbsd.org/

They're also UNIX-based and you can download the ISOs. NetBSD is particularly notable for the fact that it can run on almost any platform.

@shockreaction.thx man. goin to the link rightaway. just got a new feel from some linux distros myself ...slax and berrylinux. fedora core 4.
the slax is just 160mb n fantastic! it's based on slackware.(2.6 kernel, kde 3.4 , mplayer, xmms, openoffice)n installs on hdisk before u pronounce shockreaction.
the berrylinux is based on fedoracore 3.
just finished downloading mandriva mini live cd 2005 412mb, yet to try it.
my first download of fedora core 4(4cds) was corrupt so i just initiated another download from a different mirror, ll be done by tomorrow.

finally, i installed the fedoracore4 . it's kool guys! bt one thing is it depends on which linux distro u are migrate from. being a current mandrake user, i still don't appreciate the desktop interface.(don't get me wrong, it's niceit's kde3.4 imagine!) . bt i still prefer my mandrake 10 plastic desktop theme n font display. n again, i still doesn't ve the support for my via graphic card yet. n the package is not yet out from via arena. so for now i 'd stick to my mandrake.
i'm currently downloading Beatrix linux, just 182.4mb.

@jogego, i chk out the kanotix , hmmmm not much with the interface, just like knoppix. don't think i like the fish logo too.