Would you switch to Linux?

By Scraggles
in Poll Station

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Would you switch to Linux? (Why?)  

260 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you switch to Linux? (Why?)

    • Definitely not!
      73
    • Definitely, if a few changes were made.
      39
    • Maybe if a few changes were made.
      81
    • I'm already a linux user.
      67

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Enthusiast

.calibre

Posted
Posted

I haven't been using Linux long, and my first real experience was Gentoo. The docs are brilliant and I had no problems installing it, and it's VERY user friendly once it's up and running. I wont be going back to Windows, Linux does everything I want, and more, better than Windows ever could.

I notice a lot of people saying "Oh but the commands are hard" or "Hardware is SO hard to get working". It really isn't, I've had to get my TV card and Soundcard working and it was just a matter of editing a few lines in some files. It really couldn't have been any easier. There's the added bonus that there's plenty of resources should you get stuck, for example, any problem I've had so far has been fixed by a five minute search on the Gentoo forums.

I wanted to use MSN & AIM, so I just done "emerge gaim" - A few minutes later it was downloaded and compiled. I wanted to use Firefox and Thunderbird, after "emerge firefox" and "emerge thunderbird" they started downloading and compiling, all was well... Gentoo's Portage system rocks. Linux isn't nasty, it's not going to bite so long as you go through what you're doing slowly and make sure you understand what exactly it is you're doing.

Once you've got used to a distro you like and found the programs you like to use, you'll love it.

Grand Master

+Elі Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Definitely not!

Perhaps years from now when it has real driver support for ALL available devices and when the interface isn't so ugly and when you don thave to install many programs from the command prompt, and when you will not be forced to have to look for zillions of dependency files to be able to install something and make it actually work. Perhaps then, for now Definitely not!

Enthusiast

.calibre

Posted
Posted
Definitely not!

Perhaps years from now when it has real driver support for ALL available devices and when the interface isn't so ugly and when you don thave to install many programs from the command prompt, and when you will not be forced to have to look for zillions of dependency files to be able to install something and make it actually work. Perhaps then, for now Definitely not!

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The interface hasn't been ugly for a long time, there's plenty of window managers available now and for the most part, they're fully skinnable. I prefer my UI to Windows actually.

You don't need to install from a command prompt, or look for dependencies - There's plenty of managers that will do it all for you via a gui :yes:

As for real driver support, IMO it wont happen any time soon, but look how far its come without it ;)

Grand Master

x-byte

Posted
Posted

I've tried Red Hat, Mandrake and one more (don't remember the name now). But it's not for me, I play a lot of games and I prefer Windows for that.

I would switch if the Linux desktop enviroment was as fast and responsive as Windows is. And as userfriendly. And of course better hardware support.

Grand Master

Menge

Posted
Posted
I notice a lot of people saying "Oh but the commands are hard" or "Hardware is SO hard to get working". It really isn't, I've had to get my TV card and Soundcard working and it was just a matter of editing a few lines in some files. It really couldn't have been any easier. There's the added bonus that there's plenty of resources should you get stuck, for example, any problem I've had so far has been fixed by a five minute search on the Gentoo forums.

585546557[/snapback]

the commands aren't really that hard.... oh.. hang on... what if my linux didn't automagically see my windows partitions? oh yeh! "mount /dev/hda1 -t ntfs /mnt/windows ".... now that's easy and intuitive.

and... "was just a matter of editing a few lines in some files. It really couldn't have been any easier." are you kidding me?! any respectable user-experience councelor would've screamed in despair to that! if you want users to be able to use the thing decently, at least give it a user interface for doing things! for god's sake! this is not the apple II anymore!! oh wait... the apple II HAD a user interface for doing that kinda thing.... and that was what? System 5? i'm not saying that linux doesn't have a user interface (it does have TONS, in fact)... but i'm trying to say that all of them are incomplete in the aspect that they only cover some of the day-by-day usage... if i want to add some new hardware... oh well... i might need to endeavor into conf files and terminal commands... it's a pain.

i still remember trying to make my Wacom work properly on my linux install (fedora core 3, btw)... the sheer amount of editing and "hacking" i had to do was amazing... my wacom still doesn't work... why? cause i simply got ticked off by the amaaaazing driver support in linux...

i'm trying as hard as i can not to be a fanboy here... but linux has a long way to go before becoming really a mainstream-able os... the impression that i get is that linux was made on this little one box and has, ever since been hacked around by other people to add hardware support.

I wanted to use MSN & AIM, so I just done "emerge gaim" - A few minutes later it was downloaded and compiled. I wanted to use Firefox and Thunderbird, after "emerge firefox" and "emerge thunderbird" they started downloading and compiling, all was well... Gentoo's Portage system rocks. Linux isn't nasty, it's not going to bite so long as you go through what you're doing slowly and make sure you understand what exactly it is you're doing.

Once you've got used to a distro you like and found the programs you like to use, you'll love it.

585546557[/snapback]

this is just a personal opinion, but i prefer the old "just unzip it in the folder" approach that these very same programs take on windows :)

all in all... i'd love to see linux come back as a mainstream-able os. really. it has more developement potential than windows does. but i dont think it's quite there yet :)

Grand Master

ichi

Posted
Posted (edited)
Definitely not!

Perhaps years from now when it has real driver support for ALL available devices and when the interface isn't so ugly and when you don thave to install many programs from the command prompt, and when you will not be forced to have to look for zillions of dependency files to be able to install something and make it actually work. Perhaps then, for now Definitely not!

585546600[/snapback]

Even Windows doesn't support ALL available devices.

Regarding the interface, I wouldn't say this is ugly, but then again that's a matter of tastes.

Dependencies and command line... use Synaptic and get rid of both problems.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with people not wanting to use linux, just with misconceptions.

Edited by ichi
Grand Master

Fotix

Posted
Posted

Ok, I've ignored most of the Linux complaints until now, because individual experiences with hardware may vary... but ugly? Huh? You can have the darn thing looking near identical to XP setup with a hacked Msstyle and hacked Shell32.dll if you want it to be.

Click to enlarge. I have anti-aliased fonts enabled only for really large and really small font sizes but you can have them on all of them. This is KDE on Xandros.

snapshot22hj.th.png

Mentor

Mathiasdm

Posted
Posted (edited)
I would, if it were made as brain-dead friendly as Windows is. (I'm a bit on the lazy side).

:D

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Try SuSe, Linspire or Ubuntu ;-)

I can't promise it will work perfectly, but there's quite a good chance.

Definitely not!

Perhaps years from now when it has real driver support for ALL available devices and when the interface isn't so ugly and when you don thave to install many programs from the command prompt, and when you will not be forced to have to look for zillions of dependency files to be able to install something and make it actually work. Perhaps then, for now Definitely not!

585546600[/snapback]

1. Not all hardware is supported on Windows. I hope you're not using it!

2. There are at least 20 different window managers (I wouldn't be surprised if there were over 50).

3. You can use a package manager. No dependencies you need to look for, no command prompt you need to use.

Welcome to Linux! :laugh:

Edited by Mathiasdm
Grand Master

rezza Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
I would if there was native WiFi support.

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There is native WiFi support for some cards - most notably cards based on prism or orinoco or symbol chipsets, like a lot of the netgear 802.11g cards, but there are plenty of others too. And if there aren't native drivers, you can use the windows drivers through ndiswrapper.

Regarding the interface, I wouldn't say this is ugly, but then again that's a matter of tastes.

585546662[/snapback]

I would ;) Eterm is one of the ugliest terminals around! Nasty fonts and that absolutely horrible menu bar... ugh. I much prefer a nice minimal setup, but as you say, to each his own.

Grand Master

ichi

Posted
Posted
Eterm is one of the ugliest terminals around! Nasty fonts and that absolutely horrible menu bar... ugh. I much prefer a nice minimal setup, but as you say, to each his own.

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What menu bar? I don't use any menu bar on E.

If you mean the bar at the top of the screen, that's the dragbar. It has nothing to do with menus.

Veteran

hyperactive

Posted
Posted
I support Linux and everything it's related to.  I've noticed on the poll that quite a few of you would never use Linux.  Well I have three strong words for you...

C'mon! C'mon!

PLEASE!

585552429[/snapback]

I voted never. I have installed and played with it out of curiosity many years ago. I think BSD is better. I won't use any unix again (I left the unix world perminantly when I switched my PC to NT 3.5). The fact that it keeps kicking around show how backwards computing has become, and yes, MS is also backwards (but for MS it is more transparent as to why).

For today's practical purposes, I prefer OS X. I put up with XP tablet PC for now.

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
...I won't use any unix again (I left the unix world perminantly when I switched my PC to NT 3.5)...

...For today's practical purposes, I prefer OS X....

585553304[/snapback]

Tell me I am not the only one seeing the irony in that post... :rofl:

Veteran

hyperactive

Posted
Posted
Tell me I am not the only one seeing the irony in that post... :rofl:

585553314[/snapback]

there is a great irony to it. :D

Unforunately, when computing is controled by boys from the 60's who want to keep their hold on it there is not much else to do!

As I said, for practicality I prefer OS X -> that does not mean I fully endorse it (it is just the better of the bunch available)

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
Definetely not - I don't trust open source

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Just curious here, but what don't you trust about Open Source. I mean, the code is all out there to be analyzed by anyone (even if you are not a programmer, if there were some awful, subversive code in there, word would get out quickly and there would be tons of evidence).

Mentor

eye_see_you

Posted
Posted

Already using Red Hat Enterprise AS , Redhat 8.0 and Windows , XP Pro, XP home, Win 2k , win 2k server and 2003 server. Soon to be learning more around solaris 10. I like the linux variants and what they have to offer but as for eas of use say for family to be able to use the system I have to stick with windows. Its just not there for my wife to be able to use and be friendly about it. So rahter than deal with a dual boot system or have multiple systems all the time.

Grand Master

Angel Blue01

Posted
Posted (edited)

Defintely not. I love Microsoft products.

My organization might -but it'd need excellent hardware support -we're not ditching all our printers-, Windows emulation -WINE doesn't cut it- and be as easy to administer from a GUI as Windows -no command prompt. -not easy to do when you're not around.

Also it'd be one more thing that manufacters and programmers would have to support. One platform for all.

Edited by Angel Blue01
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