So it's
an amateur Operating System?
The people who write code for Linux do it because they want to, not
because they have to. They probably write code for a living, so why
should something that they do for the love of it be any worse than
the stuff they write professionally? The code is open to peer-review,
then is extensively tested before it is considered reliable. Mistakes
and bugs are quickly sorted out. Huge corporations don't react as
quickly and are often reluctant to even admit that any faults exist.
So what
can it do?
Linux can do anything a Windows, Mac or OS/2 machine can do and probably
a lot more. How many Windows machines can read the hard drive partition
used by another Operating System? I could download files under Windows,
then open them with Linux programs and either save them on the Windows
drive or in the Linux partition. Or write them to a CD
It has
a graphical interface (Xwindows, point and click with a mouse). The
picture below is the KDE (K Desktop Environment) interface. The only
thing you really need to adapt to is the "single mouse click"
default Linux behaviour and you can change that if you don't like
it .
You get
a huge number of programs to use with Linux. When you buy a Windows
Machine, you get the basics: web browser, e-mail and a few other bits
and pieces. With Linux you get a choice of web browsers and e-mail
clients, graphics tools, Office suites, a few games, in fact, more
stuff than you'll ever need. Half the problem is figuring out what
various utilities do.
So, what's
the difference between SUSE, Red Hat, Debian, Mandrake and other flavours
of Linux?
Although
the core operating system is the same, different sellers add their
own tools to make it either easier to use or more powerful. Imagine
if Ford built a basic car which was delivered to various dealers.
One dealer sells it as a sports car (with alloy wheels and a performance
tuned engine), another sells it as a reliable family car (with the
engine tuned for economy and ordinary wheels), another dealer makes
a luxury car by adding air con and a CD player.... Linux is like that,
all flavours are based around the same core operating system. The
nice thing is, you can add bits from other distributions to make it
what you want. I use Linux
Mandrake, a easy to install and use distribution from France,
but if Red Hat includes something nice in their distribution, I can
install whatever features I like. (Mandrake started off with Red Hat
Linux, but they changed itto how they think it ought to be.) For more
details on the distributions (i.e. core operating system with a collection
of software) there's an useful page at
The Linux Distribution Game.
Is it
suitable for beginners?
If you've never used a PC before, you will need an operating system
installed for you, but it's no harder for a beginner to use than any
other.
Do you
need to be an expert to install it yourself?
If you are able to format a hard drive or re-install Win 95/98, you'll
have no difficulties in installing Linux. (In fact, the only problems
you'll have is deciding how many of the utilities and programs you
want to install.) There are always extensive documents with each distribution,
but the best way of learning what needs to be done is to check out
one of the on-line resources. Try Linux
newbie for useful articles. Always back up vital data before installing
Linux. It is possible to lose data, but not likely.
What about
negative points?
Some devices (such as scanners and new hardware) are not always supported,
although someone produces drivers for popular devices after a while.
Your internal modem will probably not work with Linux either, as many
recent modems are "winmodems" and only work with MS Windows. (Windows
acts as a huge driver. It's cheaper to get the modem's functions performed
in software than buying an extra chip for the motherboard inside it).
There are not many popular games available, so if you want games,
you'll need an more popular OS or just have to make do with the colllection
of free games that come with the distribution you've bought. Mandrake
came with Freeciv, a clone of Civillisation 2, Nethack, various board
games, card games etc. It makes the few games given away with a MS
Windows CD look decidedly poor. Linux will quite happily share a PC
with Windows, so if you want to dual boot to play games or use other
programs, you can. It installls a boot-loader and gives you a choice
of what to boot by default.
Anything
else?
You can read the Windows portion of your hard disks, you can see all
the files there, open pictures and save them, work on documents (some
Linux programs, such as Abiword, Star Office and Open Office.org's
office suite (free) can read MS Office files and Gnumeric can read
and write Excel spreadsheets. Linux was born on-line, so you have
a choice of five or six web browsers and utilities to collect your
e-mail) Obviously it doesn;t run the Windows programs, but Linux is
so much more FUN. Probably the reason I started to enjoy PCs in the
first place. I've learned more since I've had Linux than since DOS
was around. (remember the sense of satisfaction when you got a DOS
game to run?) There are programs to enable Linux to run Windows programs!
Reliability,
reliability, reliability!
Windows
seems to always crash, needs re-booting and is generally irritating.
There are more Windows machines about and plenty of viruses that will
corrupt your system due to the poor security features in Outlook Express.
Mandrake includes a (free) firewall to help keep out on-line crackers.
Linux machines are just not affected by the viruses that kill Windows.
A Linux box might receive a virus in an e-mail, but it won't affect
it and it won't send it to all your friends. The virus is stopped
there. Linux is more stable; even after installing things, it's never
asked me to re-boot and while programs occasionally fall over, they
don't take the machine with them. Try it for yourself, and discover
why:
