On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 12:25:11 +0000, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 12:11:59 -0000, "thunder"
wrote:

Hey, I'm a Linux advocate. When I switched, I never looked back.

Ok, I'll take you up on that.

But first, explain what it's advantages and disadvantages are.

Yikes, you're going to make me think. ;-) First, I've been using Linux
almost exclusively since sometime in the mid-nineties. So a comparison
with Windows, for me, is very difficult.

I switched because I was increasingly frustrated with Windows limited
ability to be configured and it's refusal to do the things I wanted. I
found I was often dropping into DOS to get things done. So, I tried Linux.

Linux is incredibly flexible. You can use a GUI, or not. As for GUIs,
you have a choice of dozens of window managers and several different
desktops, all standard issue. You should be able to find something you
like. Hell, you can even make a desktop quite similar to Windows,
although I don't know why you would want to.

I find it easy to configure, either through the GUI preferences, or
editing a text file. Scripting, if needed, is built in. Shell scripts,
Python, or Perl, are all freely available.

It's rock-solid stable. I leave this machine on 24/7, and the only time
it goes down is for a power outage. I can honestly say, I have never had
a kernel crash, and only a few lock-ups when I was doing something funky.
The lock-ups were always able to be cleared without rebooting.

As for programs, I use Debian and the last time I looked, it had over
8,000 programs freely available for download. There is something for most
any application, and most are quite powerful.

Bugs or security issues are fixed quite promptly, as in days not months.
No viruses, ActiveX disasters, browser insecurities, etc. etc. Oh, and as
an example of speed, this box is an AMD64 running a true 64 bit OS for
over two years. It will need replacement before MS ever gets Vista up and
running.

And it's FREE. I'm off the M$ upgrade train.

Disadvantages? Macromedia hasn't released Flash for 64 bit systems. I
could chroot a 32 bit browser, but I can also live without Flash. For
those who simply can't live without a Windows app, Linux also has a
Windows emulator, wine, which seems to do the trick. Although, I have
never felt the need to use it.

While I find most applications are easily set up, usually automatically,
occasionally there will be problems. Most things are well documented, but
I have had to scratch my head. Setting up a network printer wasn't as
easy as it should have been. Oh, and there is some equipment that is not
supported. Win-printers and Win-modems come to mind, but then, they
aren't true printers or modems. However, you do have to be careful when
purchasing equipment. WiFi cards are particularly difficult, as Linux
supports chips not cards, and card manufacturers quite often switch chips.

Look, Linux may not be for everyone, but it has come a long way, and is
quite serviceable. Try a live CD. It's free, so no harm. Bear in mind,
it will be slower than if it was on your hard drive, but it will show you
some of Linux's capabilities.