In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:07:46 +0100
<4708842.oL8KDF8VSW@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Common Myths About Linux OS
>
> ,----[ Gist ]
> | Is it for Free?
No, though it depends on what one means by "Free". If one
means "with minimal effort", Linux comes fairly close.
If one means "with *no* effort", then no; one at least has
to download it, which costs a few nanocents a byte or so --
or a few cents per gigabyte, if one prefers.
Or perhaps one can borrow a disk from a friend...but even
that takes some effort, if only to come up with a good
wheedle. :-) Or, if said friend offers, one has to take him
or her up thereon.
This is not a clear question, despite its apparent simplicity.
There's a threshold involved.
> | Must be Difficult
No, it's no more difficult than installing Windows, as I
understand it, and may even be simpler. One thing about
Windows, of course, is that it's usually preinstalled.
However, the Linux installations I've done, despite the
complexity of Gentoo's handbook (which goes into quite a
bit of detail), tend to go nice and smoothly.
LiveDiscs take some of the risk out as well, allowing a person
to "try before committing the system". Does device A work
with Linux? Pop the disc in and give it a whirl.
> | Can I access the Internet Through It?
Define "access". Most systems will indeed access the
Internet through a plethora of gateways and equipment if
one's using DSL or cable, and firewall off everything.
Linux does very well here, actually.
> | Will it Crash?
Of course it will crash -- if only because someone pulled
the plug out and such, and there's always random variables
in any system. The question is "how long between", and in
some cases, "why".
I've had a system up for more than a year, and it only went
down because of a power glitch. Admittedly, it's lightly
loaded, but still, that's par for the course for Linux;
systems go down for reasons other than software instability.
Microsoft apparently gets crazy if it stays up for more
than about three months, though it's getting better.
Of course this isn't all that meaningful for desktops,
especially if one turns off the machine on a nightly basis.
> | What about Viruses?
What about them? There's an occasional Linux virus
("bliss" comes to mind) and there are security issues
with Mozilla. Note: this is Mozilla. Not Linux.
Most "viruses" nowadays are little more than trojan horses
or probes, anyway. The true infectious virus which inserts
itself into the bootblock is now fairly rare, though they
can be arbitrarily nasty.
> | How do you memorize so many commands?
Eh?
Me, I'm an old Unixhead, but one can point and click
using KDE or Gnome, if need be. The writer will have to
be more specific.
> | What about Compatibility?
What about it? That's too general a question, breaking
down into a number of subquestions.
[1] File compatibility. OpenOffice can read MS Office
files for the most part (there is a mildly interesting
incompatibility regarding embedded spreadsheets, but
OpenOffice can actually *view* the graph without trouble;
it just can't *edit* it). ASCII is readable everywhere.
Most Linux tools can handle BMP graphics, despite its
non-standardness, and of course the standard stuff such
as GIF, PNG, and JPEG are no problem.
[2] Program compatibility. This one's harder. However,
Linux does offer Cedega, Crossover Office, WinE, and .NET.
DOSEMU and QEMU are also available for very old applications.
> | Can I attach it to a Network?
See "Internet" response, above.
> | Can I chat with IRC, MSN or Yahoo?
Gaim is a touted solution. I don't do chat anymore, although
Linux does support IRC.
> | What about miscellaneous hardware like Flash Drives or Webcams?
I've never had a problem with Flash Drives. I've not tried Webcams.
> | How about ripping CDs?
I've had minor problems ripping, but no more than that.
cdparanoia gets a little verbose at times. I don't
rip all that often.
> | What will happen to my Windows?
What did you, the installer, want to happen? The simplest
"installation" might be to use a LiveDisc, to get one's
toes wet. A more comprehensive installation might be to
install another hard drive on an existing Windows system,
then place GRUB on the primary drive (holding Windows).
Note that one will definitely have to ensure adequate
power in the power supply; otherwise one will have problems
regardless of OS.
If one wants it all on one drive, tools such as ntfsresize
can be useful -- I have a Dell here which dualboots nicely
except for a clock problem, which is probably a setup issue
I've not bothered to debug.
> | Will my existing hardware work?
For the most part. This is of course another very general question.
> | Are there any Office Suites that come with it?
OpenOffice, KOffice. Another very general question; it wasn't
that long ago that "office suites" were nonexistent (or
meant something else).
> | Is it secure?
Define "secure". No system is perfectly secure. Linux and
Mozilla have issues, but they are few and far between. No
Linux box that I know of has an A2 (A1? A3?) or EAL7 rating,
depending on which spec one is using. However, no Windows box
does either, unless it sits in a locked closet unplugged, which
makes auditing a non-issue.
When one mentions viruses, chances are Windows is the
default. And having a line of t-shirts (www.errorwear.com)
which have various well-known error conditions -- most of
them from Microsoft -- can't be good publicity.
> | Support for Games?
Depends on the game. UT2004, Quake4, DoomIII, Nexuiz,
and QuakeIII are the ones I know about. Except for Nexuiz
all of these are a bit long in the tooth, though I for
one would think Linux/OpenGL is a better gaming platform
than Windows/DirectX.
> `----
>
> http://www.pawas.com/articles/Linux/Common_Myths_About_The_Linux_OS.htm
>
> This gives you a clue of how scarce a knowledge people have of Linux. A
> colleague of mine thought that Linux was "all command0line". That was less
> than a year ago. He is working in IT support services.
Linux isn't even command line, it's callgate/firewall
thunking using int $80 (on x86; other micros use different
instructions). The command line feeds into bash, or
maybe python. Windows has a Shell, too; it just happens
to be graphical. I don't know what interrupt(s) Windows
uses for its kernel.
Sloppy thinking! Of course, I'm a pedantic literalist
anyway, as you've no doubt figured out by now. :-)
One of the more amusing side trips Andrew Schullman does
in _Unauthorized Windows 95_ is to replace the Shell, by
editing a .INI file, with SOL.EXE, resulting in a dedicated
(16-bit) Solitaire machine. In a Linux system, the options
are more varied (there are more layers to tinker with, from
xdm initial login to startx to the X server itself, and one
can contemplate Xnest to have a server-within-a-server!),
but one can contemplate a number of similar modifications
for such applications as kiosks.
But Linux doesn't really have a graphical system, anyway,
unless one counts the framebuffer driver (which can
generate graphics, somewhat a la very very old Borland
stuff, or writing directly into A000:0000 EGA style [*],
only more uniform). Depending on layer, one is looking
at X, KDE, or Gnome -- all of which are bundled into most
Linux distributions, and many enable them by default.
Other possibilities include Xfce and Motif. I'd have to
look; I'm a Gnome man and have been for awhile.
It's nice to have lots of choices. :-)
[*] nowadays, most video cards support paging, so one can only modify a
part of the graphics using this technique, and only on DOS systems.
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista. Because it's time to refresh your hardware. Trust us.
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