Re: FN-FORUM: Best Linux Distribution?

date posted 18th August 2004 22:05

On Wednesday 18 August 2004 19:42, carmel andrews wrote:

> Like I said, I don't wish to bitch about, linux is
> good, if you have a bare bones system, with little
> need for decent h/w, i'm just extending you the
> benefit of my experience

It is all about power and knowledge.
If you're interested in learning how things work, you get almost unlimited
power back, because you are in control.
You start to realise you are not limited by the license you paid, but by your
knowledge, so really you are not limited at all.
For instance, if i plug my mp3 player into a windows machine I need to install
the software that came with it, and the clunky interface only allows songs to
be written TO the player, not saved from it.
Plug it in to Linux, and it is mounted as a drive, with full read/write
access, and it is far easier to drag/drop files than to use the clunky
interface.
Or, for instance i have a bar at the top of my screen with my 12 virtual
desktops, showing all programs and files that are open. Programs can be
dragged between screens. Groups of screens are assigned to projects I'm
working on, so i never need to close the programs I am busy with when
switching to a different project - just click on the desktop i need.
Desktop use is timed to, and shown in my calender app, so i can see how long I
worked on each project per day/week/month etc.
All programs are restored after a reboot, and I only need to reboot because it
is a portable - Dell Inspiron 5100 - (ohh, btw - WIFI is up at boot, and is
faster than on windows, and gprs internet over bluetooth work perfectly when
I'm on the road).
Programs never slow the OS down either (I just checked - i have 57 programs
open at the moment, spread over 12 desktops). If something does go wrong with
a program, simply close it, or kill it, and all the rest keep working like
they should. No massive unexplained RAM use. No virus scares. No spyware. No
trojans etc etc.

I could go on and on, and the funny thing is that I am not contradicting your
opinion - yeah, Linux requires you to learn things that XP does for you, but
that's the beauty of it - full control.
You find it an advantage not having to learn CLI, while it is really just one
of many powerful tools that require some learning to get the most out of
them, and speed up everyday tasks many times over once you know them.

I must admit Mandrake 10 is far faster, and has far better hardware support
than older versions though.

I guess i'm just extending you the
benefit of my experience too. :o)

Richard