Advantages and disadvantages of Linux??

i jus wanted to know what the advantages and disadvantages of having Linux are compared to having Windows XP and compared to the Mac OS..if any1 knows...or knows any websites...it would be greatly appreciated...thanks in advance

 

Advantages -
Free
Excellent support
Lots of distros/setups to choose from
Secure (if setup correctly)
Very very powerful OS

Disadvantages -
Not easy to use (even with the easy-to-use distros)
Sometimes lacking hardware support (ie, newer laptop network cards, etc)
Lack of newer games
Lack of powerful specific software (like CAD, etc)

 

kk...thanks MWP...and would u recommend using it instead of Windows XP??...i play a lotta games...more of the up-2-date games...watch movies...surf the internet..talk on AIM..and use microsoft office programs like powerpoint and word...should i jus stick wit XP??..or should i use Linux??

 

If that's all you are using XP for, I would stick with XP. Linux is harder to learn and you have to do a lot of dos type commands.

If you are really interested in linux, then you'll want to install both. Linux has a partition utility when you install it, so you can create partitions. Just have one each for Linux, XP, and a separate one that you can access from both systems. This will allow you to use XP if you need to, but you can still learn Linux.

Like MWP said, its not easy to use. I would recommend getting Fedora Core 4 if you want to test it out. Its similar to windows, but you have all of the linux features.

SG

 

No reason whatsoever to get Linux in your case.

 

kk...thanks a lot...i gess if it is hard to use..i'll jus stick wit Windows XP for now...thanks again

 

Some benchmarks have shown that games are able to run like 10% faster under Linux.
So, you may still think about Linux in the future.

 

I think you'd be suited for linux, only if you are willing to learn. Software is no issue at all with emulation like Cedega ($30 for binaries, CVS for free). This is a program that features a Win32 runtime environment in Linux, with full support of DirectX (games!!!) and linux already has OpenGL. On the side of hardware support, any hardware is supported under linux, just not always automatically. Some things you may have to look for and install yourself. A good linux forum for help on this is http://www.linuxquestions.org They provide alot of Linux OS specific help. So Hear's my list


Advantages:
Free
No viruses
No ActiveX auto install Crap
Far more powerfull than Windows
More secure than Windows
Better support (Open Source, updates all the time)
Lots of Free applications that can Replace the Windows Counterparts
Open Office (MS Office, just free and Open Source)


Disadvantages:
Hard to get fully up and running supporing all hardware
Slightly difficult to get software support, but w/ Cedega its not much of a problem


I personally recommend the most fully packed Distro, and my personal Favorite Slackware. This distro is put together by one guy, and supported by many groups. You can easily find software to install, and in fact there is a site dedicated to binary package releases for slackware. Get it and more info from http://www.slackware.com/ For 64 bit http://www.slamd64.com/ and packages from http://www.linuxpackages.net


Hope that helps, you can do anything with linux. Anything!!!

 

It might be a good idea to install Linux on an older computer that you have just lying around (if such a computer exists, of course). That way you can sort of learn it hands-on and decide whether or not you like it.

 

ok...thanks again

 

What kind of partition do you need for both linux and windows to be able to access it? I have been able to access the windows partition from linux, but would like to be able to access the linux one from windows.

 

The best way that I found was to make a separate partition that is Fat/Fat32. Windows won't need any additional steps once the partition is created, but you'll have to mount it in Linux.

SG

 

I have a computer with both Linux (Fedora 3) and Windows XP on it and it was a huge pain to get it to boot both. I ran into all sorts of problems because of the nature of the boot partition and linux's boot loader. I won't go into it, but it took many hours of trying to figure it out despite following guides that I found online.

 

Well, i have no experience using Lilo with Fedora Core, but my experience using it with Slackware has been Phenominal. It is excelent when configured in expert mode (allows windows and linux to be loaded). Also, as for the shared partition, using a FAT32 is Best, because FAT is really depricated. You can also simply use an EXT2 filesystem, linux's native FS, and use this nifty windows driver to view it in Windows, its called EXT2FSD, and can be obtained here http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/ Be sure to read the documentation on how to mount the partition in windows, and there is even some help in there on how to get it automatically loaded on boot (registry editing, beware) Take a look at that too.


EDIT: The reason to use FAT32 or EXT2 with the driver is that writing to NTFS isnt supported under linux, however writing to FAT32 is supported under both. Problem is FAT32 is old, and cumbersome, so using EXT2 with the driver (you could also use EXT3, but writing, although supported, can give undesired outcomes), allows you to read/write to the partition in Windows and Linux

 

Well, I like to use Linux installed by my system administrator and I hate M$ Windows, but ... when I tried to do it myself on my laptop I understood a hidden meaning of what I read on one forum:

Linux is free ... for those whose time is worthless.

 

I love linux but it just doesn't have the compatibility that windows has right now. The main things I've seen it lacking in is large applications (linux alternatives for Macromedia Studio MX and Adobe Photoshop, Audition, Premiere, After Effects, and Encore anyone?) and support for odd hardware and power management. Both of these aren't really linux's fault but until they are addressed I'll be sticking with Windows XP and Windows Vista.

 

Pros
It's not windows
It's free
It's not windows

Cons
None that outweigh using windows

 

I prefer Windows XP over linux anyday, but the best and only way to see if Linux is right for you is to try it yourself. But don't be fooled into thinking you have to format, partition and dual-boot or do any complicated installs. Make it easy on yourself and use a Linux distro that runs off a CD. Knoppix and SuSe 9.3 Live are some very good choices. It's also a great alternative to using a "guest" account in XP. Boot from one of these CDs and let guests do whatever they want. They can still write essays & search the internet, and even save files onto a floppy or thumbdrive without ever having access to your hard drive.

Knoppix v3.4 English (CD).iso Screenshot | Homepage

SuSe 9.3 Live (DVD).iso Download | Screenshot | Homepage

I prefer SuSe's live eval over Knoppix but the last version I tried of Knoppix was version 3. By the screenshot they're now using KDE 3.x which is the desktop I prefer. Still I've always liked SuSe's distros more any other; they're based off Debian which I prefer over Redhat based distros. Everything just goes more smoothly with SuSe (as smooth as any linux distro can be). But take your pic, I provided screenshots of both and links to their homepage. Hope that helps you out.