Increased Linux interest

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It's cool to see the increase in Linux interest.

I was just looking at the history of the Unix/Linux Forum and from August 2003 to the end of June 2005 there were 3 pages of threads created. Since the beginning of July 2005 to present there have been 2 pages of threads created. During the same time there is a smaller percentage of posts in the forum with 0 responses too.

We have the beginnings of a good Linux presence. A few more guys around like Phoenix and hbroomhall and we'll be on our way to being a good place to come for Linux knowledge because there are enough of we Linux noobs to make it a non-threatening place to ask questions.

 

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It is great to see all of the interest in Linux.

Personally I just wish that I had the time to devote to it other than just playing with it on a Virtual PC occasionally.

Hopefully though when I finish my degree in May I'll be free to learn what I want to learn!

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I should perhaps mention that I don't currently run a copy of Linux, but have been working with, and programming for, many versions of Unix for about 20 years. These include SysV of various flavours, SCO, Interactive, AIX, HPUX, SunOs/Solaris and several versions of BSD, as well as older distros of Linux.

Currently my main workstation at work is FreeBSD, and I run a FreeBSD server at home.

Harry.

 

I have a brother who runs FreeBSD. It's strange because he knocks Linux as just a copy of FreeBSD and not a very good one, but then runs Windows 98 on his home computers.... I've never been quite able to figure that one out.

 

As you guy's may or not know i dual boot my main using computer (laptop) XP/Ubuntu.
I haven't booted in to XP for about 5 weeks now. Ubuntu has all i need and more. It is stable, secure and teaches me more about how the OS works and computing in general.

I am more than happy and genuinely interested in learning Linux. There is plenty of information and support out there and it is free! I think it is the way to go personally.

I mean, you take an XP machine. If you want to network you need Pro. If the machine hasn't already got it you are talking £100?
By the time you stick your anti-virus, CD/DVD burning, office suite, web stuff, video editing software blah blah you could be talking several hundreds of pounds per machine!

I realise that Linux is Linux and Windows is Windows but i have to say that Linux is a huge interest for me now and the future.

I planned to do the A+, N+, 70-270 but..... I hope to do some work for a company who know very little about computing (make me look very good ). Now, they will be even more impressed if i can set them up a fully functioning office suite and possible e-mail/web server for a small cost as opposed to a huge one!

 

Boyce, Open Office 2 is pretty cool even if you do run it on Windows XP. The last two laptops I sold, I installed Open Office on it for the users and they were impressed. A lot more people would use open source software *if* they were aware of it's existence. We should do our bit to make them aware.

Pete

 

I just gotta say, it sure is cool seeing all the new "Linux" signatures and long time Windows admins starting to experiment with Linux....

I don't know what has created all the interest but it sure is neat to see. Maybe, just maybe, Linux's time has finally arrived and it's really going to start growing from the grassroots among the Windows admins. That's how it's really going to get accepted into the business world.

 

To be honest before joining this forum linux never interested me at all. I never had any personal reason to experiment with it but after reading threads I thought “Why not?” as I am sure a lot of people have.

It has opened my eyes to a lot of things and has helped me get into a way of thinking “Do I actually know as much as I think I do?”

The satisfaction I got today from finally installing linux and gaining access to the internet was something I had not experienced in the computer world for a long time.

It is hard and it is different from what I know as for 7 years in work I have dealt with windows and windows only .But that is what we are all here for and long may it continue from a personal perspective.

 

Just for you Freddy here's my new linux sig

 

ROFL.... Way cool, Bluerinse. I can't tell you what a great laugh I got out of that. You da man!!

 

I understand completely. When I started playing around with Debian and started being able to configure my computers from the bash prompt and through text files it was one of the most empowering feelings I'd ever had on a computer. My skills have have just expanded exponentially since I started with Linux. I don't mean just my Linux skills either. I mean the entire scope of my computer skills. My confidence has shot up and so has my ability to troubleshoot.

For me, Debian is what computing was always meant to be for me. I get a sense of satisfaction from working with it that I have never gotten from Windows.

 

I have never captured quite the same buzz that I got when I first started experimenting with Windows 3.11, I had to learn DOS, which thankfully has given me an edge to this very day. I got a kick out of creating and editing my own batch files, as well as autoexec.bat. config.sys, win.ini. system.ini etc. Dealing with conflicts meant you needed an understanding of IRQs and I/O addresses, there was no plug and play then. Even editing the registry nowadays does nothing for me in comparison.

Your posts regarding Bash are really inspiring btw. The only issue I have with Ubuntu and Mepis is that they both worked out of the box, apps an all I was kinda hoping for more of a challenge but it was all too easy. I am not saying Linux is easy to learn but I am saying that it *can* be very easy to install these days. There is good and bad in that IMHO.

 

The slight problem I have with Linux is that I'm a gamer so use windows as it does everything including games but it is expensive to run in a business environment. Linux does interest me and I'm planning on installing Ubuntu on an older PC I have once I fix it up and join it to my Windows 2003 domain that I run at home. The reason I'm doing this is I really think that companies are in the near future going to use alternatives to Windows due to costs. I personally use Open Office at work instead of Office 2000 (Mainly cause it's crap) and think that this is going to give Microsoft a reel run for it's money in the near future.

 

That's one reason I stick with Debian. Not that it doesn't work out of the box, but that you must most of it through text files. BTW, if you want a challenge from Linux, find a copy of the old stable releases of Debian called slink, potato, or woody. You'll get your old DOS buzz back again pretty quickly, or install Gentoo where you have to compile everything as you go.

 

Hey Harry, have you tried PC-BSD? If so what do you think of it?

 

I might just do that

Thinking about it, I actually got more of a buzz from programing my Spectrum all those years ago. the Sinclair Basic was a bit clunky but it sure taught me a few things about strings, variables, DIM arrays etc. I wrote stock control programs, cheesy games, all sorts of stuff. The problem today is that the GUI hides what is going on in the background.

 

Well all this talk about Ubuntu has persueded me to download and install it on an old PIII i had lying around.

After installation it has taken me about 1 and a half mins to connect to my router, transfer firefox bookmarks off a windows share and start typing this post. So far, im quite excited. I have always dabbled with various flavours of linux now and again and get the urge to install and play for a while but i could never see myself using it as a primary operating system. However, this feels a lot better.
The user interface is simple and clean. Most software installed by default. Calender and tasks are a click away. And so far OpenOffice opens all my MS Office docs's.

Quite impressed as it goes!

Think Windows will be put to the side for a while!

Will let you know how i get on.

Neall

 

No - sorry I haven't.

Main reason for running FreeBSD rather than any other variant is that when I joined my current company that was the OS of choice.

My previous company standardised on NetBSD - so the home machine I had on loan from them ran that.

I recently downloaded and used a Knoppix disk - mostly for QTpart which I needed at that moment. Haven't done anything else with it though.

Harry.

 

Looking forward to hear how you get on, Neall.