What do you think about Linux?

Back in the day, OS in the computer should be bought, and there were 2 dominant OS options, Windows from Microsoft and Mac OS from Apple. And then, in 1991, Linus Torvalds decided to develop his own OS that will later be named after him, Linux, and the best part of it is that it's free to use! Years later, Linux becomes quite popular in their own right, and even spawned some notable distros like Fedora and Ubuntu, among others, and apparently Android OS that is embedded on smartphone nowadays was taking its roots from Linux as well!

What do you think about Linux? Did you use one? Which distro do you prefer the most, and how does it feel compared to Windows and Mac OS? Discuss!

Still find it funny that one of the reasons why Linux exists in the first place, is Torwards being incredibly pissed off about Unix and the way it handled. {XD}

I think my OS jumping went like: Win95 (around 2000) -> WinXP (2003-2008) -> Vista (2008-2010)-> Win7 (2010->2015) and Ubuntu (2010->2012) -> Win10 (still on my HDD, not really used, though) and Arch Linux (2012->today)

I do admit, I kinda miss a lot of functionality in Linux that is present in Windows, but that is mostly due to software developers not caring about anything Linux, because money. Like, there's a bunch of games that are Windows only, that can't be played on Wine or a virtual machine. However, I prefer the "do it yourself and do whatever you want" way that Linux allows you to take.

I also find it quite hilarious how Ubuntu got that stigma of being nothing but "the Windows of all Linux systems" {XD}

I only used really old Macs when I was younger in the school library, but grew up on Windows outside of that, starting with XP (and never went lower). I have used various apple things like Macbooks, iPads, and so on in modern times, but I hated them. It feels clunkier and just a big "look at all these over sized things all over to make life easier" feel.

But Linux I never used. Or even saw in action. I heard of it every so often and never wanted to really move off my past 2 Windows 8.1, and now Windows 10 OS run computer. Reading this thread now kinda makes me want to just take a peek at Linux though. It's free anyway, so why not?

Linux has intrigued me on multiple occasions, but I've only messed with it on a VM. It's fun to play with, but I'm in no hurry to jump ship from 8.1 to a Linux distro anytime soon.

What do you think about Linux?
It's the OS of the future, it's better and safer than Windows. However, it isn't good for gamers for now but that might change in the future thanks to Steam being available for Linux as well.

Did you use one?
I use Ubuntu 14.04.

R.F. said:

I also find it quite hilarious how Ubuntu got that stigma of being nothing but "the Windows of all Linux systems" {XD}

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Since it's so beginner-friendly, I think it got that stigma from hardcore Linux users who think that Linux is only for geeks like them.

I use manjaro, 'cos I loved arch, but found it overwhelmingly difficult to set up, especially the audio (I'm looking at you, qjackctl) and manjaro is just arch linux without the pain.

Dark Zeta said:

I would suggest you look at Antergos. I prefer it over Manjaro personally.

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Downloading the vbox image as I post this. It just happens that I basically installed the antergos desktop over KDE on manjaro (even the icon pack) without knowing about it...

While I find that it's not quite ready for use by everyone (some simple things like getting the display to scale properly on hi-res displays etc) when you learn to use it, you have do some things from the command line that once you understand is very efficient at doing things/ It requires you to figure out why things don't work and need to look things up.

if you aren't using it for gaming, or require a specific software not available on linux, it may be an issue. Other than that, distros like Linux Mint, Ubuntu and Antargos are suitable for normal use..

I have used Linux Mint for everyday use for a while now and have used others like Kali as part of my security module at uni.

I prefer using Cinnamon variant of Mint. It looks good and is easy to use, Easy to customize with GTK themes and stuff.

Dark Zeta said:

I have issues with Canonical as a company.

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What issues?

I was completely mesmerized with Ubuntu and I wanted to try it, but I don't have my personal laptop back then, but now I want to try it since my dad gave me his old laptop. A Compaq Presario CQ40-705LA. I want to know if the laptop can take if I run Ubuntu and Windows 10 on it. Specs here. Thanks in advance! :)

Dark Zeta said:

they allowed Amazon to keep track of your searches by default (I see that as an invasion of privacy)

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That's big mistake which made Unity even worse. At least it's easy to disable and since it's disabled by default in Unity 8 (Ubuntu 16.04) and newer, I think Canonical has learned their lesson.

Dark Zeta said:

I'm not a fan of the Unity desktop

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I don't like it as well, it's made only for touch screens and it's pretty heavy.

Dark Zeta said:

they just recently partnered with Microsoft.

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That's so new thing that let's see what happens before judging.

I used to use quite a handful of Linux OS back in the day when using them on Virtual Machine softwares, and most of them are from Ubuntu (I think the first Ubuntu was of Hardy Heron 08.04 LTS). I would enjoy using them, even though I did not getting used to it yet because it (almost) always requires password to logging in, unlike Windows where it's up to you to add password or not.

Recently I'm intrigued enough that I started to use Ubuntu in my VM again, and granted that the latest Ubuntu system like 14.04 can log me in automatically without having to type passwords, it eases some of my pain a little.

Percy said:

I was completely mesmerized with Ubuntu and I wanted to try it, but I don't have my personal laptop back then, but now I want to try it since my dad gave me his old laptop. A Compaq Presario CQ40-705LA. I want to know if the laptop can take if I run Ubuntu and Windows 10 on it. Specs here. Thanks in advance! :)

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I think your laptop's specs might be quite capable enough, but if you're still unsure of the compatibility, I think you can try out Lubuntu (I think it's one of official flavors of Ubuntu designed for low-spec laptop and PC users), or other Linux distros that are focused on low-spec hardware.

Team Fail said:

It seems to be a fairly standard build, you should be fine to run Ubuntu on it, as it's usually designed to run on most hardware. I see you have 2GB RAM, which is what I'd recommend for Ubuntu, you can get away with using 1GB but it'll be a bit slow, so 2GB is about the lowest you can have while keeping the OS snappy. When you go to set up, you'll have the option to set up a dual-boot so that you can run Windows alongside. It'll just install a new bootloader so that you can run either OS. Just grab the 16.04 ISO and burn it to a DVD or load it to a USB and you'll be good to go.

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Starry Windy said:

I think your laptop's specs might be quite capable enough, but if you're still unsure of the compatibility, I think you can try out Lubuntu (I think it's one of official flavors of Ubuntu designed for low-spec laptop and PC users), or other Linux distros that are focused on low-spec hardware.

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Thank you guys :)
I think I'm gonna test first, though. I'll try it on Virtualbox.

I'm posting this from a live boot as I install antergos.

Linux is the bare bone of many servers used in this world, so of course it's a very powerful family of operating systems. I like how there are many distros to choose from, and the fact that all (or most) of them are entirely open source.

Many distros are also lightweight and perfect for smaller devices like netbooks.

last linux os i used was Zorin OS which was ubuntu based i thought it was okay till it kept forgetting the password for my windows shares and sometimes doesnt unlock my keychain after login but i still do prefer windows 7

I used several linux distro in my school life to learn programming. my favorite is Ubuntu, which is quite comfortable to stay with as a newbie.

Everything in any variant of Linux must be compiled according to the GNU licensing. Meaning you need to go into the Terminal and compile any instance before it is able to run as a real program.

All Linux ( including OSX ) is really a form of UNIX GUI. In fact hollywood studios ( or anybody with real money ) is able to run forms of Linux on supped up machines for specific purpose.

Ubuntu is basically the cheapest and fastest to deal with. But with each new release it starts to become more and more like a regular crappy OS. Hold on to a copy of an early release of it.

Mint creator did not anything to do with Zionism or Zionist programmers and so forth. However a big foot hold of Israeli programmers have been playing around with Mint. Mint is a form of Ubuntu.

Debian is probably the most realistic and stable version of Linux that is free. It is rarely updated and is a community only progress OS.

Redhat Linux ( the one the made head lines ) is simular to OSX. A store brought version of Linux ready for non-computer savy people ( like OSX ).

Linux is good for a programmer or anybody else but you need to compile everything and anything you download for it. It is a pain to install as well.

Zoron OS is another variant of Linux as well made for the transition from Windows to Linux. However it is Linux.

OSX is basically Next running on Linux with an Apple feel. It is not OS9 which is the last really Apple OS but OSUNIX or OSLinux. It comes with everything you need

Android is a variant of Linux but is not OSX. Basicaly Android is UNIX as well.

Each contains the same UNIX base with the same UNIX commands.

I understand what you are trying to say. But at it's core it is all UNIX. Reas Also Ubuntu might be from Debian but the reality is that Debian gives you more options then Ubuntu. You can access Android files from a Unix/Linux terminal window and vice versa. I mean great go out and deal with Linux. But your basically left with a bare bones operation with lack of support or community

Ubuntu problem is that it collects information on what it's users are doing with it. So it is mainly good for offline purposes. However that is a roomer. You plan to go to college for programming it will all be UNIX eventually with a dash of Java. However math will be the end divider.

Not into math, you might as well take up art like me. As I flopped out of programming. Not enough love for me.