Category:Linux

Description

Linux is a free, open-source operating system. It was created by Linus Torvalds while he attended college at the University of Helsinki in Finland. It is based off the Unix system. A penguin, named Tux, was chosen as the mascot for Linux. Since then, developers have been making their own distributions (distros) of Linux. A few popular distros are RedHat, Fedora, Suse, and Debian.

Most distros are completely free. All you have to do it download it, install it, and configure it the way you want it. You can even get a CD in the mail if you pay for shipping.

Advantages

There are many advantages to using Linux. First of all, it's free. This means you don't have to worry about buying a new version of Windows to run new applications or games. Second, it's stable. Linux can run for over a year without needing a single reboot, if you configure it correctly. This is required for people who run web servers or game servers. Third, it's open-source. This means you can edit ANYTHING you want to edit. You could even tweak it into your own distro (please give some credit to the original author). Finally, wine lets you emulate some Windows applications. This is great for transferring to Windows but still using your old applications you love. Many people contribute to the code to make it run better.

Disadvantages

Some disadvantages are that Linux doesn't have a lot of business software like QuickBooks. There is SpreadSheet software, but people don't use it that much when it comes to larger companies. Linux has no toll-free number to call if something messes up. They have a community you can visit, but you're not guaranteed a resolution to your problem. Also, wine doesn't always run all of your applications. Bigger and older applications have problems running on wine.

Is Linux right for me?

Linux has many distros. You simply have to find the right distro for you. If you are interested in educational software or if you're in college you may want to try Edubuntu or something similar. If your interested in programming or multimedia, there are a lot of distros you can choose from.

The best way to find out which is better for you is to ask yourself what you will use it for. Ask yourself why you don't want to use Windows. Look at some screenshots of different distros. If you find a nice GUI, read some information about the distro and run it in VMWare. VMWare is a virtual operating system player. You can run a different operating system inside your current one. That means no partitions are messed up or anything like that. Once you get the hang of using Linux in VMWare, you may want to install it as your main operating system.

Don't give up if you can't figure something out right away. You aren't suppose to understand something completely new to you. If that was the case you would already speak any language you wanted to speak.

For more information please use a very nice website that I like to call Google, or add to this page if you're bored.