Linux

Linux

For those of you unfamiliar with Linux, here’s a quick lesson.   No wait, don’t go.  Linux is good.  No . . . move the mouse away from the back button.  Hear me out.

First off, a little history.  Linux didn’t come about until the early 90’s.  Before computers were in practically every home.  Before most people heard of the Internet.  And using a computer was for nerds.  But before that, was UNIX.  This operating system was created 20+ years before Linux.  Take a guess . . . 1969.  So why is it not more popular than Microsoft DOS & Windows?  Well let’s consider who had computers in 1969.  Large corporations like IBM & AT&T, some Universities and the government.  By the time the personal computers started rolling out, MicroSoft had a contract with the PC manufacturers to have DOS installed on each system.   Most consumers then became familiar with that and then later with Windows.

Since DOS and Windows became the primary operating system on a majority of the computers in homes, the software industry wrote programs for the OS that were going to give them the most sales and exposure.  It did only make sense anyway.  Who would want to write a personal finance program for a system whose primary users were Colleges and big Corporations when you could write it for a larger crowd of consumers.

So why do we care?

Open Source!  Open Source means that the source code, the code the programmer writes before it’s translated into machine language, is open for the public and other programmers to scrutinize.  Companies that require your money for their products protect their source code with a passion.  If anyone were to get their hands on it, the company feels they could no longer make a profit because then programmers worldwide could modify that program a slight bit and try to sell it or give it away for free.  I have no problem with that, because people do need to make a living (however Billions of dollars is ungodly).  However Google seems to be able to make a giant profit while giving away quality software and services.  Hmmmmmmmmm.

Now with everyone in the world having access to the source code for Linux, there’s a great benefit there.  As programmers look over the code, some may find ways in which certain parts could be written better, making the program better, faster and more secure.  Now we’re talking thousands of programmers here.  Some volunteer their time, others are paid by the company they work for to improve the software and so forth.  There’s even corporate sponsors who help with financial support.

There’s a revolution happening. In Japan, Russia, Utah. Many businesses are also making the switch.  Many corporations already have it running on their servers and other parts of the company that a majority of their employees are unaware of.

What else does Linux run on?

• Mobile phones
• Household appliances
• Network routers
• Network storage
• DVRs
• Gaming Consoles
• GPS devices
• Large Hadron Collider  .  .  .  oops, I probably should not have mentioned this one.
• And many others

In fact, a large majority of the internet is running on Linux.  Without even knowing it, most people recieve their e-mail, web pages, downloads, etc.  from computers running . . .  yes you guessed it, Linux.

What can you do with Linux on your computer?

Pretty much anything you can do on Windows, you can do on Linux.  There’s an equivalent program to the most common programs that run on Windows.  Here’s a nice list of comparisons.  Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention, these programs are also OpenSource . . . i.e. –FREE.

My mother-in-law mentioned one day that she did not like the idea of using Linux, because if she were to save a document using it’s Office program, that no one else would be able to view it unless they too were using Linux.  Au contraire mon frere.  OpenOffice, which is also available for Windows for free, can open MSOffice documents and save to that same format, alleviating any of that hassle of non compatible file formats.

What if you have a Windows program that does not have  a Linux equivalent?  Wine . . . to help loosen you up a bit.  No wait, that’s WINE, a program that allows most Windows apps to run on Linux.  Another nice option is the dual boot.  This allows you to have both operating systems installed, but you chose which one you want to use when the computer boots up.  This way if you definitely need to play Battlefield 2142, you can boot into Windows, but when you want network security and no lockups, you can boot into Linux.

Should you discard Windows?

I am currently writing this on a Windows machine.  Why do I like Linux and yet cling to Windows?  If it weren’t for some of the feature rich software that I use for my other hobbies (3D animation, Video Editing & Spec. Effects & DVD authoring), I would make the switch.  My other PC also has Windows on it so the kids can use certain programs that are written specifically for Windows.  I just may have to upgrade that one and install WINE.  That will be another day though.  Sure to be documented here when I do.

My recommendation is to use whatever fits your needs.  However for the servers that I will be setting up, Linux is the right choice.  Installed without the Graphical Interface, it will have less overhead and run even faster, allowing it to perform all the tasks it’s expected to without a problem.

Learning Curve

Now here’s the tricky part.  Oh “a catch” you say?  Noooooo, I would not do that to you.  If you are setting up Linux on your desktop or laptop, installation, configuration and operation is very similar to that of windows without it locking up on you.  And if you need help setting something up or configuring something just right, there are good resources online such as ubuntuforums.org and ubuntugeek.  If you do, I would recommend Ubuntu or Kubuntu as they both are basically the same except for their GUI and there is tons of support online as listed in the previous sentence.

For setting up servers, that is a little bit trickier.  Alot of it will involve the command line interface, known as the shell.  It will involve editing text files with all sorts of options and such.  This is the fun part.  Yes, I am out of my mind.