Any Linux users here?

[zumbruk]

Just idle curiousity, really. Anyone here *not* an MS user?

[Bodo]

Moi; but I'm using Macintosh (design) at uni and W2k (engineering and development) at work. Testing MCAD Pro/Engineer for Linux at the moment

Got nothing other than Linux at home though
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=23&h=&t=31356

[Sparks]

Ardent non MS person.

I've got a couple of (fairly) recent macs, and a museum piece. Have to use MS at work though.

I plan on getting a non intel (i.e AMD) box for linux soon. Just need to make up my mind which one.

I am trying to get a job with the German government as they DON'T use MS.

Sparks

[tuffer]

Redhat 7.3, Suse 8.1 Pro and a bit of OpenBSD 3.2 for good measure. Oh yeah and W2K because I like to waste loads of bandwidth downloading updates.

[Graham]

Yeah lots of Linux here, most all our web and intranet stuff uses Linux, Plus some of the app servers we look after...

we've even persuaded a few clients to use Linux servers running samba as data storage servers on windows networks he he...

pity web sense and mail sense wont work properly on linux though, so had to use some micro$haft for that...

edited to say, although this pc is XP the browser im using is opera...

>> Edited by Graham on Sunday 6th July 20:43

[sybaseian]

I have RedHat 7.3 on an old Laptop, but also tried to put it on a new laptop with XP and ntfs and it threw a bit of a fit. I suspect that it doesn't like the fact that I'm running ntfs.

Anyone suggest a work-around other than re-building my new laptop with FAT32 filesystem and then installing RedHat.......

[tja]

Two systems here, one Redhat 9.0 (server), one Win2k (desktop, read games ). Been using Redhat since about 4.something. Server currently provides web, ftp, mail & samba services.

[rjo]

Not yet, but I want to.
I have a couple of spare boxes here and I want to try Linux on at least one of them.
So which distribution should I try?
I have a couple of them here.
And is it true that it is not that much of a problem to put Linux on a partition on my main computer?
I love the idea of running windows under linux but I don't want to dive in the deep end until I know I can at least float a little.

[tuffer]

Redhat, Suse and Mandrake are all very easy to install. Suse is very simple with updates etc but Redhat is compatible with more software.

I have heard that Suse >8.1 is able to run MS office i.e. Just stick the MS Office CD in and install it!! Anyone know if this is true?

[Bodo]

tuffer said:

I have heard that Suse >8.1 is able to run MS office i.e. Just stick the MS Office CD in and install it!! Anyone know if this is true?

It's called SuSE Office Desktop; havn't used it yet, I am very statisfied with the usability and compability of OpenOfficeOrg yet

---

rjo, I have only used the SuSE distribution, but I guess all distributions are equal in quality. I bought SuSE because they had a student offer for the Pro version, which costed the same as the Home edition.
I wasn't a when I first installed Linux, but I didn't even need the documentation to do so. The installing process is self-explainable and took 20 minutes including all applications on a P3 system. The printed documentation is valuable as reference and as an explanation of the abilities of certain programs.
If you're familiar with Windows environments, it'll take some time to find the best applications that substitute the ones you were using with Windows, since there is no (mouth-to-mouth)-advertising.

To make good for that shortcoming, here are mine :
Mozilla instead of Internet Explorer and Outlook
XMMS instead of Winamp
OpenOffice.org instead of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access
The Gimp instead of PaintshopPro or PhotoShop (I've made all the T350 conversions with that )
GDAM is a sophisticated electronic turntable
etc. etc. Ask here, if you're looking for something in particular

You may install Linux alongside Windows on a different partition, but NTFS partitions cannot be changed by the Linux install CD/DVD. FAT partitions can be resized by Linux.
It is important that you install Windows first, and then Linux, because the Windows installation may overwrite/format the Linux partition. Linux respects an already installed Windows.
When I wanted to have Windows with an NTFS partition alongside Linux on a ReiserFS partition, I first made partitons with the Linux CD on a formatted hard drive:
eg.

1. 10GB for Win-System,
2. 10GB for Linux-System,
3. 20GB for a FAT-Partition and
4. 20GB for a Linux /home

I then installed Windows with NTFS into the first partition, and formatted the third with FAT. Then I installed Linux into the second partition, and made the fourth the Linux-/home partition, which is the user-files partition (folder).

Since Windows has been recognized by Linux, Linux installed a boot manager into the MBR, which lets you choose the desired O/S when booting the system. The third partition will be recognized as D: in Windows, as well as eg. /win in Linux, which lets you have access from both environments to the same data

[zumbruk]

Better than I thought then! FWIW, I have Sun Solaris, Red Hat and Windows NT both at work and at home, where my main machine is a SPARC Ultra 10 with Solaris 8 (must upgrade to 9 ...)

[rjo]

Thanks for the advice guys.
I think I will go off and have have a search.
I just noticed in a mag that I have been reading that there is a plug-in for Linux that allows Office to run. Is called Crossover Office and that is all I know about it. Incidentally, the cover cd has a copy of Debian Linux 3.0r1. Haven't read the article yet but it looks interesting.
Bodo; Am now a happy Mozilla 1.4 user. Use it for mail as well.
Downloaded Gimp last weekend and I must admit I thought it was worth a try after seeing the work you had done with it. I haven't had much experience with graphical programs and find Photoshop a bit to much at this stage. Paintshop is easier and the Gimp looks perhaps even easier. Or maybe I am just getting the hang of them.
Still, for the price it is amazing.
I really like the spirit of the people involved in the open source area, even if I don't understand a lot of what they say on the fora I have visited. (That 'fora' is in case Carzee is reading this).
But I'm learning.

[rjo]

Just thought I would let you know that I have finally got this Linux (Debian) running and my internet connection up.
Probably if I live to 100 I may become proficeint at it. It's a challenge and a lot of fun anyway.
Tip for others wishing to take the plunge. Listen to the smart guys and go with Red Hat, Susie or Mandrake.
While I have been searching the net looking for solutions to my problems with getting this working I have found a constant message. Debian is not for newbies.
But at the moment I am a happy lad.
I deserve a beer

[Liszt]

Ok go on then, convert me. Is there a good reason for me to switch to Linux? I am capable in MS OSes and have been for years (MVS as well but that is another story).

I use my machine for office type stuff, playing with the web, and gaming (lots of gaming)

Is it worth me switching to Linux? If I need any small apps I tend to write them mmyself in either VB or ASP.

I am a bit of a tinkerer so wont mind learning, but what will I gain?

[squirrelz]

It's gaming that's stopped me moving my main machine to linux. Use Mandrake 9.1 for my firewall/internet gateway/mail server/file server box.

[rjo]

I am hoping someone who really knows what they are talking about will jump in here and answers this.
For my own part I am interested in Linux for curiosity, a belief that it has real advantages in some areas (Linux is used a lot for servers etc) and a need to learn new skills.
But I am also worried that we are heading towards a position where one company has a monopoly in the area I think is most important for human developement. Communication.
I worry that if one company dominates and effectively destroys all opposition (not that I think that is their aim) then our freedom to express our thoughts can be compromised.
And I like the egalitarian nature of open source. People all round the world working for free for the common good.
So I would like to support them.
And I don't play many games, but I have written this on my XP machine.

[Bodo]

rjo said:

I am hoping someone who really knows what they are talking about will jump in here and answers this.

Well, that's not me, but I'll try to bridge the time until somebody does

Liszt said:

Ok go on then, convert me. Is there a good reason for me to switch to Linux? I am capable in MS OSes and have been for years (MVS as well but that is another story). I use my machine for office type stuff, playing with the web, and gaming (lots of gaming)

I can't see limitations to use Linux for Office stuff. I pick two solutions:

a) use www.openoffice.org - the open source version of Sun's StarOffice. I didn't miss a feature, usability is similar to MS Office (self-explainable), and files may be saved in all usual formats, including MS.

b) use MS Office on the SuSE Office Desktop-distribution.

All distributions I know support multiple booting options, ie. install several O/S on one PC, and decide at boot time which one to use. Handy, when you want to get something quickly done without needing to learn how to do it on Linux (never get really lost)

Re games: I'm not a game-user, but there are lots of games included in some distributions. However, being unexperienced, I can't decide if they're quality.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled over a website about Linux-Games, which looks like a catalogue of games running somehow on Linux:
http://holarse.wue.de/index.php?content=allespiele

Liszt then said:

Is it worth me switching to Linux? If I need any small apps I tend to write them mmyself in either VB or ASP. I am a bit of a tinkerer so wont mind learning, but what will I gain?

Hard for me to answer that one, as I don't know enough about the capabilities and use of VB and ASP.
IIRC, PHP www.php.net is often used alternatively to ASP.
Best have a look at a distributor's site to see which languages are supported, and what development-kits are supplied

IMHO, Linux is worth a try for every keen computer user. You don't have to be a nerd or a geek to benefit from Linux' advantages, but you shouldn't be afraid from looking up documentations when you get stuck. There's a solution for every problem

[RAW-SEWedge]

Yeah Redhat 7.3 Firewall running CP NG R54.
Redhat 7.3 mail/web server and general bastion host.
Redhat 9.0 Fileserver/print good old samba fools the MS machines ever time. Win XP Win 2k and Pocket PC 2002. Oh yeah and a DOS 5 machine with Turbo C linked to the scalectrix via home made cable to record those all important track time.
Heat in the spare room is a bit intense though, brings a little Caribbean feel to the place and all the fans remind me of the sea

[lx993]

I use it (SuSE distro, 2.4.10 kernel) for my mail server.

However for all desktop work I've switched over to Mac OS X - pretty much all the best bits of both Linux and Windows. Most opensource Linux code compiles and runs fine on OSX, but if you're not feeling in a techie mood, there's all the friendly Apple stuff.

Not the cheapest option, but you do get cool looking equipment

If you're not bothered about ultimate processor speed then OS X is definitely worth a look as a non-MS system. There's a new machine available next month with an IBM 64-bit cpu which ought to be as fast as the fastest Wintel boxen, though...