A question...

[fajrdrako]

How many of my friends here use Linux?

Comments

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

I have for years.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Good - so if I need help and advice, I can ask you? What kind of Linux do you use?

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Use is a bit strong of a word. I have Linux on my eeePC and have struggled with it for months. I'm no luddite, but I don't know much at all about Linux and I find the forums and information online very difficult to navigate, because the people who use them are already very good at it, and they don't explain things in a way beginners can understand.

[takhys]

I'm in exactly the same situation. It's very easy to do everything that comes pre-loaded and set up on the eeePC, but sorting out something new takes quite a while.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you find that too! I was starting to think I was just being exceptionally dim, even for me.

On the plus side, I'm going on a series of courses to teach me about Linux, starting in a couple of weeks. I'm not volunteering to act as a Helpdesk, but at least I might improve my geekese so I can actually understand the help fora...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So it's tricky when starting out. Hmm. I will ... take that under advisement. I was eyeing books like "Linux for Dummies". Are they helpful, do you know?

(I made up that title, but there are books like that out there in my public library. Mostly specific to certain types of Linux. Ubuntu for dummies.)

[judymoe.livejournal.com]

I've used it in the past, just about the time they started working on KDE and Gnome. I haven't used it in years, but have recently been thinking about giving Ubuntu a shot (back in the day SUSE came with some very weird...um, 'features', and wasn't as easy to install as I hear the new stuff is).

For those who do, do they still use vi, or just OpenOffice, etc.?

So, why do you ask?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I ask because I got a new computer a while ago, with Windows XP on it, which I know how to use just fine. There are things I don't like about Windows that many people have told me wouldn't be a problem with Linux. I'm a little hesitant to learn a new system; I'm capable enough, but I'm no techie, and I already know how to do the things I need to do with Windows. I have no compelling need to change.

Anyway, a friend has taken my old computer, which works fine, and is installing Linux on it so I can give it a try. I was curious about other people's experiences.

What people are saying more or less confirms what I've heard: that Linux isn't intuitively obvious or necessarily easy, and there's a certain learning curve.

If it clarifies anything, I've tried using a Mac, and I pretty much hated it.

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

My machine came with OpenOffice, and I've been very pleased with that.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

Depends what you want to do.

For newbies, I'd suggest pico rather than vi for simple text files. OpenOffice is the best for documents.

And definitely KDE is an easier windowing system to use than Gnome.

[flautopiccolo.livejournal.com]

My sons put Linux on our upstairs 'internet' computer. So I've used a computer with Linux, but don't know much about Linux itself.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That gives you somewhat more experience than I have! What do you know how to do - log on, open the browser? Does it use Firefox or will I need to use entirely different programs?

[sraun]

My server runs Debian Linux - e-mail, web services, etc. for fireopal.org and ytilaer.com. My experience with Linux as a desktop/laptop platform is fairly limited.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Right! It's something. That's probably where I'll start.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

I use Linux (Fedora) at work; our major current product lines run on it.

Every month or two, my desktop machine does something sufficiently abnormal or weirdly undesirable that I have to get help from one of the experts, and the problem turns out to be something pretty damn obscure -- that is, only an expert would likely be able to fix it. I can't comment on other versions of Linux, but I wouldn't use this at home.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip! I'd hate to have to be dependent on someone else for oddities. But I think I'm getting Ubuntu, not Fedora. We shall see.

[iclysdale.livejournal.com]

I'd second all the suggestions for Ubuntu. I use it on a bunch of my computers, and it's the first Linux distribution that I'd really recommend to people who *aren't* geeks. On the whole, it behaves the way you expect it to, and it just works.

If you want me to bring over a bootable Ubuntu disk sometime I actually make it over, we can load it on your computer, and you can take a look.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'd second all the suggestions for Ubuntu.

Thank you! But I really don't have a choice here - a friend is installing it on my old computer and the version will be the one he thinks best, which he hasn't told me yet. I could ask him to use Ubuntu, but he probably will anyway.

On the whole, it behaves the way you expect it to

Yay! That's what I want.

If you want me to bring over a bootable Ubuntu disk sometime I actually make it over, we can load it on your computer, and you can take a look.

If you want me to bring over a bootable Ubuntu disk sometime I actually make it over, we can load it on your computer, and you can take a look.

Sure! That would be great.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I too use Linux, though it's a lesser-known KDE-based version known as Knoppix.

I used to use Unix-based stuff for years, but have not done so for a while.

One of my pet peeves with the open-source movement generally is the lack of open-source documentation. A well-known joke reflects this: Real Programmers don't write documentation; if it was hard to write, it should be hard to document (or have *no* documentation). I find this tendency particularly stupid, but (short of joining the Linux Documentation Project myself, which I may do if I *ever* find the time) it's a problem not too likely to be fixed. [It's a commentary that, out of all the programmers in my last job in Vancouver, I was the *only* one willing to ensure that the program documentation was correct, accurate, and actually matched what the program did. Even my boss couldn't write documenting prose; he usually asked me to whip it into shape. :-/]

Plenty of people are willing to write programs, but pitifully few of them are willing to spend time describing (documenting) what they wrote.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

And yes, I'd be happy to answer your questions.

I usually find most dialects of Linux *much* more stable and less resource-hungry than Windows; a five-year-old PC will run almost any version of Linux just fine. [Try doing *that* with Windows Vista!]

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Knoppix

I like the name!

A friend once gave me a few overview-type lessons in Unix. I found it delightfully cryptographic and strange.

Real Programmers don't write documentation

Sigh.

Plenty of people are willing to write programs, but pitifully few of them are willing to spend time describing (documenting) what they wrote.

I think it's a difference in brain function. Those who are good at the kind of conceptualizing (or whatever it is!) that make programming their thing, aren't into writing mundane (or even extraordinary) prose. And people like me, who would enjoy writing the documentation, don't write programs.

You are an exception, having both skills. Be proud!

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Me! I use Ubuntu on my home machine and I also have an eeePC

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What's an eeePC?

[itsarift-thing.livejournal.com]

I have done (not exclusively) - it is hubby's preferred system - he likes to tinker :D

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

How handy - to have an expert in the household! Personally, I hate to tinker. I am not a tinkerer, except with stories. I like to know what I'm doing before I do it.

Doesn't always work.