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Started By
Message
Someone explain Linux to me?
Posted on 8/8/14 at 7:47 pm
Posted on 8/8/14 at 7:47 pm
What is it for in practice?+
7
Posted on 8/8/14 at 8:07 pm to FT
it's an operating system. Why you would come here rather than google makes me question your desire to actually know. Posted on 8/8/14 at 8:11 pm to ell_13
I googled before I came here. I don't really understand why people use it over a traditional operating system. So if you use it, I just wanna know why and what makes you stick with it, or made you switch?
Posted on 8/8/14 at 8:15 pm to FT
quote:
I don't really understand why people use it over a traditional operating system.
What would you define as a "traditional" OS? Linux has perfectly traditional roots, probably more than Windows and Apple.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 8:15 pm to FT
Most websites you visit run on Linux. However, about .00001% of home and business desktops run it. You have to be a super nerd that just runs it for the fun of it.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 8:29 pm to ColdDuck
Under the hood, Linux and Mac OS are nearly identical.
Yes, Steve jobs ripped off nearly all his products.
Yes, Steve jobs ripped off nearly all his products.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 8:31 pm to FT
quote:
I don't really understand why people use it over a traditional operating system. So if you use it, I just wanna know why and what makes you stick with it, or made you switch?
It's fast and never slows down.
Viruses are essentially a non-issue.
Software is dead simple to install, and everything updates automatically. Everything.
There is no limit to how you can make it look and work. Complex as hell, or dead simple.
It's free. I can install it on whatever I want, as often as I want. No hassle.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 8:39 pm to Korkstand
quote:
I can install it on whatever I want
...except any normal software. QuickBooks, Office, Visual Studio, AutoCad, any accounting software, any medical practice software, any law firm software, any insurance agency software, any architecture or engineering design software, etc...
But you can run a website, which is where it has its niche. Perhaps as a firewall or other under the hood processes. But not as a productive end user computer.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 9:06 pm to FT
My reason was because I had a 12 yr old laptop that was corrupted and didn't have a windows install cd. Installed Linux mint on a USB stick and installed to the pc and now it works like any other much newer pc with nowhere near the specs. For simple browsing and other tasks, it's great.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 9:37 pm to ColdDuck
I said install it on, not install on it. But...
quote:I wouldn't infect any machine with that trash unless it's the only thing it's used for. There are online services that mostly replace it, though.
QuickBooks
quote:LibreOffice works great for me.
Office
quote:Linux has dev tools to suit nearly everyone.
Visual Studio
quote:CAD is a legit weak spot for Linux, but LibreCAD is great for 2D.
AutoCad
quote:A whole lot of stuff runs in the browser these days.
any accounting software, any medical practice software, any law firm software, any insurance agency software
quote:These won't be best of class, but there is software available for pretty much anything.
any architecture or engineering design software
quote:Android is also quite a "niche". Cable/DVR boxes. Embedded systems. Movie production and visual effects workstations. There are likely more systems running Linux than all other OSes combined. There is little that it isn't used for.
But you can run a website, which is where it has its niche. Perhaps as a firewall or other under the hood processes.
quote:I have been quite productive for the last 8 years, as have millions of others. Maybe you should do a little research?
But not as a productive end user computer.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 9:37 pm to ColdDuck
quote:
But not as a productive end user computer.
It can very easily be a productive end user computer if you know what you're doing.
Of course VS isn't going to work on Linux, just like it won't work on OSX. There are plenty of other programs that do work just fine.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 9:39 pm to InVolNerable
So which of you uses it as their main os?
Posted on 8/8/14 at 9:43 pm to FT
Linux is very flexible and in the last several years has become the base of an operating system that millions of people use every day, but may not realize it.
Android runs on a linux kernel.
Most major websites run on linux.
OSX is pretty much a Mickey Mouse interface on top of a custom linux.
More people should use it on their desktops that all they use for is web, email, etc, there would be a lot less infected computers.
As someone already said, it's usability in say a business environment is limited because it won't run a lot of business software. I didn't really care for the way it was worded, though. It's not like someone wrote those business applications, then Windows wrote their OS and it could run it, but linux wrote it's OS and it couldn't run it.
The reason linux doesn't run those applications is because those applications were programmed to run in a Windows environment.
If more commercial applications were written for linux, I think it would take the world by storm.
Android runs on a linux kernel.
Most major websites run on linux.
OSX is pretty much a Mickey Mouse interface on top of a custom linux.
More people should use it on their desktops that all they use for is web, email, etc, there would be a lot less infected computers.
As someone already said, it's usability in say a business environment is limited because it won't run a lot of business software. I didn't really care for the way it was worded, though. It's not like someone wrote those business applications, then Windows wrote their OS and it could run it, but linux wrote it's OS and it couldn't run it.
The reason linux doesn't run those applications is because those applications were programmed to run in a Windows environment.
If more commercial applications were written for linux, I think it would take the world by storm.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 9:57 pm to FT
quote:
So which of you uses it as their main os?
I do on my personal laptop.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 10:33 pm to FT
quote:
So which of you uses it as their main os?
I use Linux Mint on my primary computer at home and have a few older systems running Ubuntu that I use for file servers and backups. I do have a gaming system that runs Windows 7 however.
I just personally prefer Linux. I have been using it for years and use it at work as well. I have worked on several software projects that were developed on Unix (no GUI, all command line - vi, cc, gdb, etc.), so I feel at home in the Linux environment.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 10:49 pm to FT
quote:
What is it for in practice?+
Penetration testers usually make heavy use of some flavor of Linux in their work. Many "appliance" devices use some flavor of Linux or Unix as the underlying OS, including NAS's, network switches, routers, wiFi AP's, etc.
Funny story actually - one day I swung into a Burger King, and one of the LCD's that show the menus was displaying a panicked Linux kernel. It's in more places than you might think.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 11:29 pm to MaroonWhite
I have an old pc laptop. If I want to wipe it and install linux where would be the best place to read how to do this? 
Posted on 8/8/14 at 11:45 pm to BACONisMEATcandy
Ya'll can talk Linux up all you want. The simple fact is that it is not for the masses.
Posted on 8/8/14 at 11:46 pm to BACONisMEATcandy
quote:
I have an old pc laptop. If I want to wipe it and install linux where would be the best place to read how to do this?
Just go here, download the 32 or 64 bit Cinnamon version, then burn it to a DVD. Pop it in, power up and follow the prompts.
Installing Linux is easier than installing Windows these days.
Posted on 8/9/14 at 12:04 am to SG_Geaux
quote:Many a grandma runs Linux these days without issue.
Ya'll can talk Linux up all you want. The simple fact is that it is not for the masses.
The only reason it's not for the masses is because people continue to say it's not for the masses, so people continue to be afraid to try it, and so it continues to be a minority desktop, and so commercial software companies continue to ignore it, so people can continue to say it's not for the masses.
The more people that try it and realize the benefits, the better. Install it on your parents' computer when Windows goes to shite. They will call you less often. Install it on an old machine for your kids, there's tons of browser games for them to play. Put it on a partition on your own machine to play around with. It's fun when you want it to be, and it gets the hell out of your way when you need to get shite done.
Windows annoys the hell out of me these days, I dread having to use it on someone else's machine. Linux is a better OS in every respect. The only thing it needs is higher adoption, and the increased commercial attention that comes along with that.
Or we can just wait a few more years as more stuff moves to the browser.
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