Tell me about Linux
 

So I'm thinking about getting a new laptop, something simple mostly for internet access and maybe some occassional word processing. I'm looking at a [URL="http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-12?c=us&cs=19&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs"]Dell Inspiron Mini 12[/URL] and you can get it with Ubuntu Linux as the OS instead of Windows. Should I go with Linux over Windows? What would you recommend?

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[YT]0-22EpQOm8c[/YT]

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

I'll be honest with you and Linux dorks leave me alone... it's super lame.

If you really just want to be able to use the internet, it's fine.

Basically the only people I know who use it do it just so they can say "I run Linux." If you get an awesome deal on it though, go for it.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Here's some pros and cons:

[url=http://www.cae.wisc.edu/whyuselinux]Why Use Linux? | CAE[/url]

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

The new netbooks are awesome. They're not for any serious work but do things like watching movies and browsing the internet well (forget about doing any gaming on these). Ubuntu is the #1 consumer grade Linux OS out there and it does a fantastic job as a netbook OS, so much so that Windows 7 was digned to compete with it (and other linux distribution in the netbook market).

The Dell mini comes with Dell branded "Ubuntu Netbook Remix" which I am using on an Asus EEE netbook as I type this post. I have been using Ubuntu for the last 4 years exclusively both at home and at work and I love it. I'm a geek but some folks might find it frustrating because they expect it to function just like Windows. You never have to have a virus protection software installed and there's boat load of applications available free software developers around the world, some of the application are awesome and some of them trash. Ubuntu has a great development cycle, they release a new version every six months and the fix bugs and update some applications in the time between major releases.

If you have a specific question let me know.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

I wish my problem was as small as yours Matty. Yesterday I had a meeting and its now my turn to convert from a company computer to an agency owned (meaning I buy) computer. Now I have to learn alot about computers in a short two month period. I'm talking everything from the conection to what ever else I need for a four person business. The company is picking up the cost (well some of the cost) but they are only providing us with a spec sheet and no help with venders.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=TheMalcolmConnection;529822]Here's some pros and cons:

[URL="http://www.cae.wisc.edu/whyuselinux"]Why Use Linux? | CAE[/URL][/quote]

OMG that article is so out of date that the disadvantages no longer apply. When was the last time you used Linux, especially Ubuntu?

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Some of my users have it and I really don't see the draw.

I don't have any good reason behind it. Maybe it's because I get free Windows/Mac software here and I don't have to purchase stuff.

I'd probably change my tune if I had to buy an OS, but I just have never been a fan. Not only that, the people I know around here who run Linux act just as high and mighty as people who own Macs.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Everyone that I know that uses it, swears by it (aside from playing games). Personally, I cannot bring myself to use it unless I have to. It's like a foreign language to me right now. I pick up bits and pieces here and there, but am far from proficient with it.

My buddy is also an IT guy and he had both OS's installed on his PC. About a month later he removed Linux alltogether. So in reality, it depends on the person. From my experience if you can learn the OS and get comfortable with it, then you might never go back to Windows or whatever you use. On the other hand if you cannot get the hang of it, then you will be buying a new OS in the near future.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=saden1;529826]The new netbooks are awesome. They're not for any serious work but do things like watching movies and browsing the internet well (forget about doing any gaming on these). Ubuntu is the #1 consumer grade Linux OS out there and it does a fantastic job as a netbook OS, so much so that Windows 7 was digned to compete with it (and other linux distribution in the netbook market).

The Dell mini comes with Dell branded "Ubuntu Netbook Remix" which I am using on an Asus EEE netbook as I type this post. I have been using Ubuntu for the last 4 years exclusively both at home and at work and I love it. I'm a geek but some folks might find it frustrating because they expect it to function just like Windows. You never have to have a virus protection software installed and there's boat load of applications available free software developers around the world, some of the application are awesome and some of them trash. Ubuntu has a great development cycle, they release a new version every six months and the fix bugs and update some applications in the time between major releases.

If you have a specific question let me know.[/quote]

Is OpenOffice pretty comparable to MS Office? Are MS files compatible with OpenOffice and vice versa?

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=Mattyk72;529844]Is OpenOffice pretty comparable to MS Office? Are MS files compatible with OpenOffice and vice versa?[/quote]

OpenOffice can read and generate MS Office compatible files but the process isn't always 100% perfect. For most basic types of documents everything looks just as it does on MS Office but documents heavy on MS propritory features may need adjusting/touchup. In some instances OO avoids [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Excel#Software_errors"]replicating MS bugs[/URL]. The newer version (OO 3.0) does a fantastic job with convertion to MS formats than the previous 2.x.

You may also want to note that [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument"]Open Document Format (ODF)[/URL] is now an international standard and going forward MS has commited to supporting the standard due to [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument#Worldwide_adoption"]market preasures[/URL].

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Thanks for the info saden

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If you are getting a netbook and are using it strictly for surfing the web and email, then Linux would be fine. The learning curve with Ubuntu is pretty easy, and there are so many things you can add-on easily. I have it on a dual boot on my work laptop, but because we are a Microsoft shop, I'm booted into XP 99% of the time.

I was looking at the Dell Mini 12 as well, but I'm now leaning towards this [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152075]MSI Wind from Newegg[/url] to be my new personal portable computer, from which I will probably do a dual boot XP Home/Ubuntu, maybe even add OSX to the mix.

And OpenOffice is a great alternative to MS Office. I've used it interchangeably with Office 2007 for a while now, and with the things I use it for, users haven't noticed any difference.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

I compare Linux to Mac. A lot of the advantages will disappear as their market share grows and they are faced with real market pressure and growing security issues. As everyone has said, for a net machine it is fine. If you want it as a productivity machine then you'd be dopey to not go with a PC or Mac. As an aside I am hearing good stuff about Windows 2007. I think Microsoft may actually put out a good one with 2007. It should be out sooner rather than latter considering the negative public reaction and slow corporate adoption of Vista.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

No worries, I'm a big Linux guy that TMC alludes to but unlike Applers I know I'm a whore and I keep it real :) I am proud that my cell phone, home phone, work phone, netbook, laptop, desktop, workstation, TV, vacuum cleaner, and PS3 all run Linux.

...and I take issue with the notion that Linux can't be used for productivity. Linux is a tool and productivity depends on what you're trying to do.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Take what you will but don't count on us following you if somehow you find a way to make the Warpath accessible only on a Linux OS :D

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=BDBohnzie;529874]If you are getting a netbook and are using it strictly for surfing the web and email, then Linux would be fine. The learning curve with Ubuntu is pretty easy, and there are so many things you can add-on easily. I have it on a dual boot on my work laptop, but because we are a Microsoft shop, I'm booted into XP 99% of the time.

I was looking at the Dell Mini 12 as well, but I'm now leaning towards this [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152075"]MSI Wind from Newegg[/URL] to be my new personal portable computer, from which I will probably do a dual boot XP Home/Ubuntu, maybe even add OSX to the mix.

And OpenOffice is a great alternative to MS Office. I've used it interchangeably with Office 2007 for a while now, and with the things I use it for, users haven't noticed any difference.[/quote]

I like the sound of that MSI Wind but I'm just not sure if I want to go with a 10" screen. I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 right now with a 16" screen so going down to 10" might be tough. I'm just tired of lugging this thing around though. It's just not practical for traveling and forget about trying to use this thing on a plane.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=Mattyk72;530115]I like the sound of that MSI Wind but I'm just not sure if I want to go with a 10" screen. [B]I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 right now with a 16"[/B] screen so going down to 10" might be tough. I'm just tired of lugging this thing around though. It's just not practical for traveling and forget about trying to use this thing on a plane.[/quote]

I too have an Inspirion system - 6400 I believe. I beefed it up with some after market DDR Ram, so even though it's two years old it still runs nicely. You're right about the airplane thing. Pain in the ass. I'm also looking to get a smaller system. I really don't have advanced computing needs - internet, email, personal finances, and music. Pretty basic. I'm ready to park this Inspiron as a desktop and move on to something more compact. But yeah, moving from a 16" to a 10" screen would be tough.

Matty - you ever have battery issues with your Dell? I had to replace the factory battery after the first 6 months or so, and I have some friends who have had similar issues.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

10" is very small and portable. The 8.9" screens are really small and the keyboards on sub 10" netbooks hard to operate. Go to BestBuy and try them out first.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=GMScud;530119]I too have an Inspirion system - 6400 I believe. I beefed it up with some after market DDR Ram, so even though it's two years old it still runs nicely. You're right about the airplane thing. Pain in the ass. I'm also looking to get a smaller system. I really don't have advanced computing needs - internet, email, personal finances, and music. Pretty basic. I'm ready to park this Inspiron as a desktop and move on to something more compact. But yeah, moving from a 16" to a 10" screen would be tough.

Matty - you ever have battery issues with your Dell? I had to replace the factory battery after the first 6 months or so, and I have some friends who have had similar issues.[/quote]

No, I never had any battery issues. I guess I lucked out and missed the first wave of Dells that had that issue.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=Mattyk72;530115]I like the sound of that MSI Wind but I'm just not sure if I want to go with a 10" screen. I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 right now with a 16" screen so going down to 10" might be tough. I'm just tired of lugging this thing around though. It's just not practical for traveling and forget about trying to use this thing on a plane.[/quote]
That is why I was originally looking at the Dell Mini 12 - screen resolution. But, I decided that the Wind was more suited for what I was looking for. My work laptop, as well as my wife's laptop are both 14 inch screens, so the jump down won't be so drastic.

And that's what I'm looking for as well, portability and knowing that if I need to do any programming or heavy computing, I still have my work and home desktops, as well as my work laptop. Plus it's always fun to have a new toy!

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=BDBohnzie;530169]That is why I was originally looking at the Dell Mini 12 - screen resolution. But, I decided that the Wind was more suited for what I was looking for. My work laptop, as well as my wife's laptop are both 14 inch screens, so the jump down won't be so drastic.

And that's what I'm looking for as well, portability and knowing that if I need to do any programming or heavy computing, I still have my work and home desktops, as well as my work laptop. Plus it's always fun to have a new toy![/quote]

Yeah I always have my desktop for the heavy lifting too, I just use my laptop for really basic stuff so it makes no sense to be lugging this thing around. And yeah, I'm always looking for my next toy too! LOL

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I would go the dual boot route, just to give yourself the option to boot in to Windows if you find some program that doesn't run in Wine(runs Window programs in Linux).

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I'm trying to figure out what to do with my old laptop if I go through with buying a new one. Anyone ever use one of those cash for laptops type of sites out there?

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

craigslist.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Put a fresh install on it, then set it up as a home file/print server, or hook it up to your TV...

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

My wife, parents and sister surprised me with a MSI Wind for my birthday yesterday. It's pretty awesome. Hard to imagine something this small being that powerful. Draft-N wireless, bluetooth, 6 cell battery, and with the 1.0A bios, I can overclock and take it up to 2 GB of memory. It comes installed with XP Home, which I've patched and is up to speed. The screen is pretty remarkable, and clearer than the 2 LCDs I use here at work.

If you are looking for something to surf, check email and do some light stuff, I highly recommend a netbook, whether it's MSI, Asus, Dell, etc. You won't be sorry.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Nice surprise there BD!

I have a Dell mini 12 on the way, should have it by the middle of this week.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=Mattyk72;529814]So I'm thinking about getting a new laptop, something simple mostly for internet access and maybe some occassional word processing. I'm looking at a [URL="http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-12?c=us&cs=19&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs"]Dell Inspiron Mini 12[/URL] and you can get it with Ubuntu Linux as the OS instead of Windows. Should I go with Linux over Windows? What would you recommend?[/quote]

Ubuntu is the most "dumbed down" Linux variety, which means that it's a much more natural transition for people coming from OS's like the Windows and Mac flavors.

The ones that they're putting on these laptops are luckily geared for the hardware so unless buggy, you should have very little to no issues, which can exist with graphics drivers, etc when installing on a desktop not designed for it. You probably won't have to be editing .conf files daily and manually updating your kernel or anything. I haven't used them on all of these netbooks and minibooks lately, but I've read a bit, seem to be pretty fine and stable.

Any specific questions/issues you have about the OS itself?

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=FRPLG;529896]I compare Linux to Mac. A lot of the advantages will disappear as their market share grows and they are faced with real market pressure and growing security issues. As everyone has said, for a net machine it is fine. If you want it as a productivity machine then you'd be dopey to not go with a PC or Mac. As an aside I am hearing good stuff about Windows 2007. I think Microsoft may actually put out a good one with 2007. It should be out sooner rather than latter considering the negative public reaction and slow corporate adoption of Vista.[/quote]

Define productivity :laughing-

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=Mattyk72;533185]I'm trying to figure out what to do with my old laptop if I go through with buying a new one. Anyone ever use one of those cash for laptops type of sites out there?[/quote]

Craigslist...

what are the specs and asking price?

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Actually I think I might hold on to it for a while.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=tryfuhl;539345]The ones that they're putting on these laptops are luckily geared for the hardware so unless buggy, you should have very little to no issues, which can exist with graphics drivers, etc when installing on a desktop not designed for it. You probably won't have to be editing .conf files daily and manually updating your kernel or anything. I haven't used them on all of these netbooks and minibooks lately, but I've read a bit, seem to be pretty fine and stable.[/quote]

Not sure if you made your decision yet Matty, but this would be my major concern -- hardware drivers. Some vendors don't have drivers for linux. Although sometimes 3rd parties will develop them, or different drivers will work, it can be a pain in the ass. There will always be drivers for windows.

It's really a drag because I dual boot, and I would love to use linux more. However, there are no drivers for my skype phone. I use my skype phone for work, so I can't go without it. Everything else I need works (with very little config), yet I can't use linux because it lacks support for just one of my devices. For shame.

So basically, if you get a system with linux, of course it should work correctly right out of the box. However, if you ever want to add new hardware, you could run into problems.

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I ended up going with Windows XP

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=GhettoDogAllStars;539434]Not sure if you made your decision yet Matty, but this would be my major concern -- hardware drivers. Some vendors don't have drivers for linux. Although sometimes 3rd parties will develop them, or different drivers will work, it can be a pain in the ass. There will always be drivers for windows.

It's really a drag because I dual boot, and I would love to use linux more. However, there are no drivers for my skype phone. I use my skype phone for work, so I can't go without it. Everything else I need works (with very little config), yet I can't use linux because it lacks support for just one of my devices. For shame.

So basically, if you get a system with linux, of course it should work correctly right out of the box. However, if you ever want to add new hardware, you could run into problems.[/quote]

The computer and OS were made for each other, not in a lovey dovey way, but the OS was designed around the particular hardware in those machines.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=Mattyk72;539435]I ended up going with Windows XP[/quote]
nothing wrong with a lil dual boot if you still want to try it out

if you want something small and simple you can run kubuntu or xubuntu

of course you can run ubuntu "live" (boot from cd) to try it out

knoppix is another popular bootable solution, you can boot it to a thumb drive and since the data is re-writable, you can actually save changes

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

Read about this a bit the other day: [url=http://wubi-installer.org/]Wubi - Ubuntu Installer for Windows[/url]

It allows you to install Ubuntu inside Windows, so you don't have to mess with any partition managers...just install it where you have room, and it adds Ubuntu to your boot menu. Don't want it anymore? Just go into your Windows Add/Remove Programs and uninstall it...

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=BDBohnzie;539549]Read about this a bit the other day: [URL="http://wubi-installer.org/"]Wubi - Ubuntu Installer for Windows[/URL]

It allows you to install Ubuntu inside Windows, so you don't have to mess with any partition managers...just install it where you have room, and it adds Ubuntu to your boot menu. Don't want it anymore? Just go into your Windows Add/Remove Programs and uninstall it...[/quote]

Not worth it honestly. It's really easy to create a new partition in Ubuntu without messing up your current data. Now it's EASIER to use Wubi but it's going to be VERY dependent on your disk being nearly perfectly defragmented. When I used Wubi to install Ubuntu it worked fine from the start, but sometimes it wouldn't go as long as a day before I'd have to defrag the disk from Windows to make Ubuntu boot properly.

Most Windows users aren't going to know how to properly launch the linux kernel from the GRUB command line since it doesn't come up with the GRUB menu in that case. I got really tired of defragmenting every day or three to bring up a silly boot menu so I uninstalled and did a proper install which is only a tiny bit more time-consuming and TOTALLY worth it.

Re: Tell me about Linux
 

[quote=Mattyk72;539435]I ended up going with Windows XP[/quote]


Good decision to avoid Vista.

I am dual-booting with XP and PCLinuxOS 2008(a good starter Linux to play with and learn).

[url=http://www.pclinuxos.com/]PCLinuxOS - Home[/url]