Linux OS Conversation

I going to offer a spot for conversation about Linux OS and its uses. Like myself I'm a Ubuntu 12.04.4 Linux user solely. I've been using and study Linux OS'es now for roughly one year and enjoy the software a lot. If there is anyone else that is Linux user I'd love to see you reply here. Even if you are a Windows user and wish to experiment with Linux OS I'd be more than happy to teach you. 

Good topic Mike. I've 'dabbled' on and off with Linux on a desktop or laptop for several years, as a Linux wannabe. I always end up returning to the dreaded Windows OS for one reason or another, usually availability of one or more apps. OTOH I'm comfortable with Linux on a server.

I always have several different Linux distros to run in virtual machines just to compare them and gain experience.  While some are much easier to maintain than others, I've not found any that compel me to leave Windows on the desktop.  My preference is for Ubuntu or one of its derivations but Debian is quite good too.  I find that the installation and configuration of these today is much better than even a year or so ago.  Unless one has specific need of Windows only programs, I think many people would be just as content running Linux today.  While one could run Windows in a virtual machine on a Linux host, I think that's an unnecessarily complication for most users.  And you would still need a Windows license.

I run Ubuntu on a few of our laptops, mine runs XP in Virtualbox, just don't want to give up the expensive scanner that I've had since 2001.... The Scanjet 5470c is a great scanner however refuses to ride on anything after XP.

jje1960 said:

The Scanjet 5470c is a great scanner however refuses to ride on anything after XP.

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Have you looked at VueScan?

Actually, I have only read some on the Vuescan, considering I already have XP and did all for free with virtualbox, have not pursued the Vuescan.  Maybe I'll take a look on a rainy day.

There is a Linux version.

PCLinux OS has been my "daily driver" OS since 2004. I particularly like the rolling updates that seldom require installing a newer version to stay current..

I prefer just plain old Debian over Ubuntu.  Ubuntu just has way to many updates and things can get unstable.  I suppose for the average user it can be very stable.

I've been working with Mac OS since it came out in 1984, Windows since Windows 3.0 in 1990, and various distributions of Linux since 1991.

Primary linux distros I've used have been:  Slackware, RedHat (before?),  CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian.  I do have to admit that most of the time I am logged in remotely via SSH to a command line on linux machines, but do have a Debian 7.4 with full GUI running on my desk now.

Been a MS user for decades. We run our TV/Home Theater through a Win7 desktop (Win Media Center for OTA TV/PVR, internet streaming, etc.). I have a Toshiba laptop with Win7 that is getting so sluggish I will have to reimage it.  I have an older Toshiba laptop that hums along with Ubuntu 13.04. It would no longer run Vista, no matter how many times I reimaged the machine. With Ubuntu it does everything I ask of it. I often forget that I am using it instead of my Win7 laptop. It is very stable. I love it.

DW has been a Mac user for years, so I recently got a MacBook Air.  I am working through the learning curve, which for some reason seems steeper on the Mac than it was with Ubuntu. I just don't understand the Mac file system. It is so hard to find files and to work through a path to open them.

Anyway. I find all three systems to be perfectly satisfactory, when they are working properly. In my experience, Windows is less stable and requires more maintenance than the other two, but it works great.

I am looking forward to the launch of Ubuntu 14.04. I have resisted updating to 13.10, since the new version is supposed to be superior. Thanks for starting this thread. I get so amused by the emotional responses when one person touts OS "A" and someone else has to tell him all the reasons why he is wrong and OS "B" is far superior. I enjoy using them all and learning their differences and similarities.

I use linux and unix exclusively for servers, I have not dabbled with the desktop environment.
I cut my teeth on FreeBsd in the 90's, running router/firewall computers, file servers, Sendmail/SpamAssassin mail servers, Fax servers, Security camera servers, automated backup servers.
I moved to Redhat and Debian when Linux had a better journaling filesystem than the unix distros. I had a few unfortunate failures due to power outages on FreeBsd. I have used Ubuntu as well.

Wow I'm shocked there is a few Linux users other there. Great I was hoping to reach out and get connected with other and maybe share ideas and trick back and forth. Like myself I ran my own Computer business till 2008 and closed my doors on it because of local economy. But I never quite let go of it. So after seeing Windows 8 I bailed into Ubuntu and continued forward. Now I'm so comfortable with Ubuntu I manage several PC's over the internet by SSH Server connection and/or X11VNC remote desktop. Then handling the server realm I take care of 5 sites directly at the server level (CentOS Linux). Now I just took on the job of teaching on of the local computer tech north of me Ubuntu Linux as well, he happens to be part of the Fire Dept I work with.

Kind of like a good friend I've been teaching him Linux as well but made it a fun thing for him. I'll tap in on him and do something harmless like call out "eject" while on I'm on the phone with him. I can clearly hear the CD-ROM pop open and him close it again. Do this a few times and the laughter starts going on my side and the frustration on his side. Well after while the frustration turns to "I want to know how you did that?" so now he's learn on how to combat me through Linux terminal. So every time I teach him something new I have to find a new weakness as well to attack. So at the same time I'm learning how to harden both sides and make then absolutely secure but keeping all the functionality.  8)

What happen did I scare all the Linux users away or are they afraid to come out of the closet???  ;D

Maybe that's all there is

I messed with Linux a few years ago, but because of work, stuck with Windows and Windows apps.  However, I do have a Windows Home Server 2011 that I use for media and to back up my other 4 Windows computers.  I would be interested in making a Ubuntu server if there is a decent media server built in or add-on as WHS 2011 is pretty much an orphan anymore.  The problem I have is how to handle over 6 terabytes of movies spread out on 6 different NTFS drives in the process of changing over.

I installed  Ubuntu to dual boot with windows 7. Have not played around with it much.

Mopar1973Man said:

What happen did I scare all the Linux users away or are they afraid to come out of the closet???  ;D

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Nope -- I have Red Hat and Win XP (dual boot) on my older Dell laptop, and around 20 years of Unix background, along with messing with various flavors of Linux (Debian, Mandrake, SUSE, Red Hat, Knoppix, etc.), but there is no reasonable way to run Microsoft's Flight Simulator, Pinnacle Studio/Avid Studio, ADE (Airport Design Editor for FSX), Topo USA or a few other titles on Linux, so I'm running Win 7 Pro on my Digital Storm desktop (my FS and video box), and Android in my ASUS Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7") and in my Huawei "smart" phone (pocket computer, really -- I probably haven't talked on it more than 30-40 minutes total in the year and a half I've had it).

Browser, Open Office/LibreOffice and several other things would be fine in Linux, but it's not worth the effort or space to install any Linux on my desktop, since it's too much trouble to reboot just to switch between browsing and video work, for example. If my application needs were simple (word processing, browsing, etc.) I'd switch in a heartbeat.

eliallen said:

I installed  Ubuntu to dual boot with windows 7. Have not played around with it much.

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Let me know if you need a hand learning your Ubuntu. I do a fair job of teaching over the phone and internet.

@ LarryN

Yeah I gotta admit when you use specialized software like Microsoft Flight Sim. you kind of hung up on using strictly Microsoft products to run it. Like myself I've only got 1 app that is Windows App that I can can run in VirtualBox. The rest of my daily usage I've found Linux equivalents. I'm not much of gamer I spend too much time working with computers that the last thing I want to do is play on a computer. I would rather hitch up the RV to the truck and take a ATV out in the woods.  ;D

@ All Reading...

I'm hoping to assist any Linux user and hopefully learn tricks and ideas from other Linux users. So let hear from those Linux users and ways you managed your computer(s) or trick you might know.

I'm not much of gamer I spend too much time working with computers that the last thing I want to do is play on a computer.

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Mike, I'm not much of a gamer, either, but a friend and I get together for 2-4 hours almost every weekend to fly FSX together and chat (over murmur/mumble -- FOSS VOIP). I towed gliders for him back in the '70s, then later taught part time at his flight school, and we've been friends now for almost 40 years, with a common love of aviation. It lets us explore the country, virtually of course, fly formation, revisit old memories (I've recreated two now-extinct airports in FSX that were favorites of ours), keep up with what's going on with each other (he's in the Dallas area, I'm near Denver), and more, along with having fun.

Neither of us think of this as gaming, but rather it is in much the same sense that we'd fly around together in real life, real airplanes, for fun.

I have been using Puppy Linux for about 6 years now, when I has a regular laptop I used live cd or dvd I on my second Asus EEE and use a mini sd card or USB stick to boot from. I keep a couple flavors of Puppy around to play with. When I first got the Asus I have now it had (still does) Win 7 starter but it is sooooo slow with only 1 gig of ram but Puppy runs fast and does everything I need it to.

Jim