Whats the deferences between linux and windows

[hottrod]

Ok yesterday I went and got me a new computer from the local college. They were selling their older computers. I got me a pentium 4 with 512mb Ram but the problem was is that it only has windows 2000 on it. So insted of going out and buying windows XP. I was thinking about geting linux to run my computer and was wondering what kind of defferences their are between the two operating systems.

[Tina TV]

Get an Ubuntu CD stick it in you machine and try it. It costs nothing. Last time I checked they'll even post it to you for free.

Ubuntu would not be my choice as a techie but it is a linux distro that I know works out the box on most PCs and is a good sampler of what you can do.

Once you've played with it you might want to try some of the more specialist versions if you want a machine taylored for say movie editing, TV recording or software development.

If you need any advice or help contact you local Linux User Group. People there will range from 14 to 70 in age and from raw computer first timers to hardened get payed serious money for it professionals. One thing I can guarantee is they'll all be friendly and willing to help.

When was the last time you saw a free support group for the other product?

ps. This message comes from a Firefox browser on a 800MHz P3 Gentoo linux box with 384MB RAM. The machine I use professionaly every day as I've yet to need anything faster. Linux does not tie you into a hardware upgrade treadmill either.

[cosmicB]

Linux is you building your own operating system by downloading bits and pieces.. and inventing your own bits of software... For starters you must have at least a collage understanding of the inner workings of a computer, before you can begin...

The best part of Linux, is that Linux users are like one big happy family of mankind, all helping each other, like the world should be...

If you surf "linux forum", you'll find that they are mostly gentle-giants and gentle-geniuses...

It's worth going Linux...

I read that you can run Windows and Linux on the same computer... simply by formatting the hard drive, and partitioning it with fdisk.. then load the two OS's each on a different partition...
I think if you are to do the two systems on the same computer.. it's very likely that it's about at least a whole month project.. so it's best to have an old Windows PC setup and running on the side, for you to keep connected to the Net, while you build your new computer...

Also a good plan to build the computer from bits and pieces too.. so you'll have something fast and reliable, and state of the art...

I'm planning to go Linux one day... I expect it will take me six months serious dedicated learning, and about a thousand dollars.. and very likely sweating a lot of blood, and inventing a dozen new cuss words, till I get it right...

Ideally would be to purchase a Linux computer already set up and running... I'm sure there are lots for sale...

_____________


So you got a new PC with Windows 2000 already in it... You lucked out!..
I hear from the experts that W2k was Microsoft's answer to the business world's computer needs... W2k is supposedly the best Windows system, even better than XPoo...
If I got that PC, I would leave it as is, and be proud of it...

[RodC]

I don't know if it is accurate to say that "Linux is you building your own operating system by downloading bits and pieces". Most distributions of Linux come with a TON of applications (for instance Openoffice which has all the things you'd find in MS Office) and come ready to play with right out of the box.

I'm running Debian (Sarge release) and have been mostly happy with it. I have had a lot of frustration with getting it to recognize the hardware on my machine and for some reason (nobody seems to know why) Skype won't work on Debian.

I've heard good things about Suse's new release and it's ability to detect hardware. Apparently it will even work with my Wacom tablet.

Linux is great for the reasons that it's free, stable, doesn't hog memory (like Windows), and there are thousands of Open Source (free) utilities available for it. Check out www.freshmeat.net (no, it's not a porn site )

[monosodium]

It's unfair to say that either is better or worse, but the question to hotrod would be - why do you need to upgrade or change the operating system? What are you looking for that you don't have right now? What do you want to do with the system?

I'd disgree with RodC - Linux is just as unstable as Windows, but it does benefit (like the mac) from having a much smaller userbase (because Linux itself is a collective term, there are many smaller distributions which are actually the products you install) it is not a single operating system in the way that Windows is. This does give it some resilience that problems which affect one may not affect others, but can also lead to a false sense of security that you are somehow immune to attack and also can introduce compatibility problems that Rod has seen (such as those with Skype).

Memory management is an issue for Windows, because it will prefer to keep things in memory so they can be accessed quickly. There's no benefit in maintaining a small memory footprint when you have to keep pulling things in off the harddisk. Most people who use memory management as an argument have a limited understanding of what is actually going on.

Equally it's very inaccurate to suggest that OpenOffice is a complete replacement for Microsoft Office, as it's approximately equivalent to Office 97 if that. It's "good enough" for some tasks, but if you're used to newer features then you'll find OpenOffice pretty lacklustre. Unfortunately, again only people who don't actually know how to use MS Office properly think it's comparable.

Switching from Windows to Linux you'll also find that many of the applications you're used to using don't exist, but it depends on what you do and what you need.

Like Cosmic (and it's unusual for me to agree with them) I personally think you'll be wasting your time if you don't have either a significant understanding of what you'll be doing, or someone to set it all up for you and show you how to work it.