Are you happy with linux?

azerty · 2007-08-23 19:39:47

Actually I'm pretty happy with GNU/Linux, especially since I found my way to Archlinux.

I think GNU/Linux is a great operating system even if, in my opinion, it has some flaws.
The freedom to modify and adjust your system to your needs is just great, and from this point of view I don't want to leave GNU/Linux for any other OS.

But what I really miss in GNU/Linux is one major GUI, which implements everything (settings, themes, fonts etc..) in a correct and clean way, so the user experience would become much more neat imho.
Don't take me wrong, I really appreciate the Shell and it's very powerful way to use and configure the OS by working in text mode. But for my needs, a GUI is sometimes simply crucial when it comes to Webbrowsing, some kind of file management and multimedia like movies or watching the pictures from your last holidays.

So I would welcome a simple, (lightly) customizable and fast GUI like WindowsNT/9x's one. Nothing fancy, just this grey and simple one. Possibly it should even be directly integrated to the kernel in a way that by setting one or two lines in a config file, the GUI becomes activated and starts up by dropping one command in the Shell. This way the people who don't need a GUI (Servers etc..), wouldn't be bothered by it.

I really depreciate the way how GUIs and especially X are working currently. X' way to enable us a GUI is so old it should be in the museum now imho.

Husio · 2007-08-23 20:08:56

Yes, I'm. I also have OS X, but don't use it. GNU/Linux has eveything I need.

Leigh · 2007-08-25 07:44:16

xnooby2 wrote:

The current generation has no idea how good they got it.
With Arch you do a quick install, configure your machine, then pull down almost any kind of software you want. No license fees, no dongles, no laser-etched disks, and no cost. It's amazing.

I can totally relate with xnooby's post

mic64 · 2007-09-20 21:22:04

Hi

well I was happy with Linux for the last couple of years.
But the latest kernels are all crap. The schedulers are so bad, that sometimes you think you´re sitting in front of an old i386.
I don´t get it. What was wrong with old ones? Where you could do 100 things at once and your desktop was still very responsive.
With todays kernels you can´t do that anymore.
It really hurts to say this, but sometimes I´m thinking going back to the dark side.

Gullible Jones · 2007-09-21 03:59:49

@mic64: Append highres=off nohz=off to the kernel line in menu.lst. This will fix suspend problems due to the scheduler tweaks, and at least in my case it seems to improve performance significantly.

Right now I'm pretty happy with Linux, in spite of the aforementioned scheduler bugs. The only thing that really gets to me is lack of good standalone multimedia players, and some promising-looking ones are in development at the moment...

(There's also the business with FAM/gamin/direct inotify support. The way that stuff has been handled is extremely stupid and has gotten on my nerves a bit... At least gamin is being updated again, but in all seriousness, FAM is buggy, unmaintained shit. The Gnome and KDE people going and incorporating inotify support right into their FMs was just a dumb move. It would have been much smarter to use a common library for monitoring files, with support for multiple methods and an interface that wouldn't be hard to program support for into a file manager - which is what the Gnome people tried with gamin, before mysteriously abandoning it. But other than that, I'm happy, and I'm definitely happier than I would be on Windows.)

flyer · 2007-10-16 06:00:01

i like archlinux. my nephew talked me into trying it. only been using it about a year. but i've learned so much more in that year than the previous 5 with windows. don't know how many times i had to reinstall MS cause of their crap system. i've broken a lot of stuff but never had to reinstall from scratch. and if you have a problem the info is out there not, so with MS. they like to keep you in the dark. it does everything i want with music editing and such. not so good with certain games but everything is a tradeoff. the only thing i use MS for anymore is some games and benchmarking. and the only reason for that is cause you can'tcompare the 2 systems. it's the apple and oranges thing. so i have 1 dedicated MS box for games and benching. everything else i use linux. and i learn something almost everyday.best thing is it's free. people spent big bucks for VISTA and the thing is so full of bugs MS has already decided to give up and come out with a new system in 2010. that said linux is not for everyone. most people just want to e-mail and surf the net, all they want is something simple to use that works most of the time. if you want to exercise your brain and learn use linux.

stylopath · 2007-10-16 07:43:16

When using Windows i always missed the freedom of customization.

Of course i applied some changes to my windows, but every customization had to be applied by some additional software and so my freedom was depending on other programmers/companies.
When i installed my first real (real means i really wanted it and i was ready to learn a lot) Linux System (which was Ubuntu), i first loved the stability and the amount of free software installable right away through the package manager (i used a graphical fontend by the time).

Using the system more and more, i recognized that all these customizations i either missed in windows or i had to install additional tools for where easily possible with linux without being depended on third-party-software. I _really_ began understanding and loving gnu/linux.

By trying several distributions i learned what the differences are, and what the benefits of free software are. I understood that linux is not about being cool or just different, it's about freedom. Finally i found the Distribution which gives me the freedom i want, but still guides me on a secure (=stable) way through gnu/linux - being able to customize everything i want and change setup exttremly easy (and fast though) without _having_ to do everything on my own.

In general i would call Archlinux a binary distro with a source option , while i would call gentoo a source distro with a binary option. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and the first one is what i've been looking for since i used my first PC (which was a 486 SX25 with Dos5.0 ) . After 15 years of feeling lost withing the computer-world, I'm finally at home. Thanks arch, thanks linux !

*EDIT* To cut it short: Yes, i am happy with linux!

Last edited by stylopath (2007-10-16 07:44:14)

Matt3o · 2007-10-16 08:20:00

Actually... there are no alternatives to linux for me.

I installed Windows Vista. 20gb just to have the bare OS installed. 33% of RAM (2gb total) leeched without any application running. Big problems with openGL. Vista suggested to update the ethernet drivers and PC stopped booting. Turned on external SATA HD and Vista freezed. There are something like 60 services always on that I will probably never use and very little information whether I can turn them off or not. Even the mouse driver (logitech's setpoint) is buggy.

I also have an intel iMac 20" (prev-gen). Great PC I must admit, and absolutely gorgeous software (textmate, transmit, imovie, ecc...). I saw the new aluminum iMac. The 20" version has a TN lcd screen that is unwatchable (have a look http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?imag … ay1bg9.jpg the background should be a solid color... it seems a gradient instead)! The worst lcd screen I've ever seen. This way Apple totally ignores prosumers. If you are a home user you can buy an imac, if you are a (super)pro you can lend 3000 bucks and get a mac pro... but there's a void in between.

So here I am on linux and I must say that I like it. The good (or the bad, you decide) is that is always evolving. Every day there are some little evolutions. Every 3/6 months you get a completely new experience . I just miss photoshop (darn!). Most of the things can be done on Gimp but what I do in 2 click on photoshop I need half a hour on gimp.

Last edited by Matt3o (2007-10-16 08:22:25)

shevegen · 2007-10-18 15:24:42

To the point, I am NOT happy at all with Linux as a whole.
I am using it as my main OS since start of 2004, and I was using many different distributions.

I agree with all guys that state that too many distributions do the same. They are all basically the same!
At best, they just quarrel "hah, i use dpkg, you use rpm, I win!", when indeed both have disadvantages and advantages.

I have come to the conclusion that the REALLY nice ideas need to be rewarded, and this is why I actively
try to help distributions that do:
- Their thing in a good way (like archlinux ;> )
- NEW INNOVATIVE IDEAS (usually that means the smaller distributions, unfortunately, they often just die because of lack of interest...)

Sometimes I feel that how developers treat ME isnt what I want to have.... for example, take the new gimp. It has some great parts, like a
better select tool, where you can now click on the corners and reshape it easily. At the same time though,
it changed keybindings and adjusted options. THAT ANNOYS ME TO NO END... In fact, I think I would like to use gimp
with a keyboard-only interface, especially for these idiotic repetitive tasks like filter-enhance-sharpen etc...
But as a whole, Gimp is quite fine. What I really have a huge problem is openoffice. Does anyone realize that without openoffice,
Linux does not have a real office suite? Ok there is koffice which kinda works, but for some reason, the old MS Word
was better (!!!), than i.e. openoffice - and i actually mean, a LOT better
I am not sure if Sun is stupid, or if they created something that bad on purpose... (I love Abiword by the way, unfortunately
it has some minor quirks and lacks some file formats right now... i hope that this will be improved though)

One other thing I hate it is cron syntax... who invented this? And why is cron so limited and non-obvious
to a user? I'd much prefer a human-readable guide like "every 15 minutes do fetch_email" or similar,
where fetch_email could be some method invocation in some other scripts etc.... oh well

Ok i think i could go on and on but my MOST IMPORTANT point is:

People, if YOU see a new idea somewhere, do NOT shoot it down! Ideas must grow. If you shoot it down
early, it wont grow. Many ideas will suck, but THIS DOES NOT MATTER! It must grow.

PS: And i really hate how similar so many distributions are.... cant they think of NEW ways?
PSS: The one thing i truly love is the language Ruby

Last edited by shevegen (2007-10-18 15:26:20)

shevegen · 2007-10-18 15:29:00

"With todays kernels you can´t do that anymore.
It really hurts to say this, but sometimes I´m thinking going back to the dark side."

I agree partially. I think the Kernel guys overengineer too much on their side, without taking the
bigger picture of the desktop users into account. It seems like complexity adds onto complexity,
but the real quirks are rarely changed/go away....

I also didnt like the attitude towards con s's patchset, Linus talked out of his *** there....
Maybe instead of flaming Gnome, he should use his brain and recommend ways of
desktop usage. I am sure if the KERNEL would support such ways, people would
jump on that. (Just take HAL, its rather complicated, but people liked it because
they felt that we all need HAL...)

mic64 · 2007-10-20 22:41:53

I tried today the .23 kernel.
First the stock one, then the kamikaze one compiled wit P4 (Core2Duo) option.
Well..if they really changed something, then they hided it pretty good, cause there isn't any improvement
in the scheduler area.
running under 100% CPU Load it still behaves like crap.

yomtendok · 2007-10-21 22:08:19

Personally I am very pleased with Linux. In my two years of heavy use my distros have met most (if not all) of my expectations, and exceeded many; it fits my needs very well. I really love the how customizable everything is, and I love feeling in control of my PC. There were always things about Windows that I disliked when I used it, and as I learned more about computers and when I heard there were operating systems out there that didn't cost any money, I had to know more.

I don't think Linux should try to "take over" or even go after a bigger user-base, personally. I think that the people who are attracted to what a Free operating system will always come to it, as will those who are fed up with the other OSs (primarily Windows). That being said, I'll encourage people I know to try it out or to switch when I think they would benefit (even if only for the low- or zero-cost and lack of viruses and malicious software), but I don't really see the point in seeking a constant supply of new users. Really, I think this is a version of the philosophy of constant "progress" seen in most industrialized society—why have stability when you can always have more?

But I do think there are many benefits in using a non-MS operating system. Windows is obviously quite susceptible to attack, it costs an incredible amount, almost everything is proprietary and also costs more than it should, and for some reason unknown to me, just using it makes it's quality degrade over time. About a year and a half ago I had to reinstall Windows on our family computer, but around the same time I also reinstalled my copy of Ubuntu Dapper. For a good chunk of the time the Windows install on the family computer was fine, but it's now complete trash. There is no spy/malware detected, no viruses... it's just junk. The computer crawls at boot-up, crawls to execute, crawls to open anything, crawls to save anything... and so on. Certain executables even crash the computer (Quicktime is one, PartyPoker was another, and the other day I even had it crash using cygwin). In the same time I had absolutely no problems with my Dapper install. Of course, I also have switched distros on my personal computer, but this was out of curiosity and not necessity.

I also don't think the gaming is as big of an issue as many people make it out to be, but of course that is subjective. I was lucky to fall in love with some of the games that have Linux binaries (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, mainly, and I plan on buying ET: Quake Wars very soon). But I don't think the thing Linux gamers should be most concerned with is making Windows games usable on Linux; this will only allow the trend of making games for Windows only to continue indefinitely. Instead, plant the seed in developers minds' before the game is released. idSoftware is obviously excellent for Linux gamers, and (this is a personal opinion) I think many developers are becoming more open to producing games to Linux. But I could be wrong—and DX10 is going to throw a wrench in things, no doubt. I'm fine with so-called "gamers" sticking with Windows, though; I'll just hope the games I want to play are available to me (I still enjoy console games, too, unlike many).

Last edited by yomtendok (2007-10-21 22:09:26)

buttons · 2007-10-21 22:40:56

What an odd question. I don't think it's possible to know anything about operating systems and be absolutely happy with them. There's always something quirky, useless, or outright wrong.

The fortunate thing is with linux these niggling issues can be fixed (mostly). In other OSs, well, learn to live with it. Invariably I use some other OS (windows, probably) when I don't feel like bothering with anything. The minute something gets on my nerves, though, I'm back to linux. It's tailored to me.

At the moment I have no other installations. As a developer I have only Linux as a choice. Admittedly sometimes I miss games. And no, not the games linux already runs...there are plenty it does not. Wine is not infallible.

Noneus · 2007-10-21 22:54:49

I'm quite happy with Linux. The only annoying thing is that I can't play Age of Empires 2 at playable speeds. That's it. I need some Windows apps. But VirtualPC helps alot...

Of course sometimes there are problems. But that's the good thing about Linux. You can fix nearly everything without reinstalling and maintaining a system takes not much time thanks to package management.

Kknd · 2007-10-22 18:05:44

Very happy. I haven't found any "major" negative thing in it, and I'm liking Arch a lot!

CuleX · 2007-10-22 18:41:19

Yep. I'm happy. Why? I'm Linux user since err... No idea. Long.

Last edited by CuleX (2018-11-15 18:17:53)

xelados · 2007-10-24 07:36:01

I am a very happy Linux user. If it wasn't for a very small collection of games, schoolwork, and openCanvas, I wouldn't use Windows at all. I think I'll be ditching school soon, though, so I'll likely have a fresh 20 GB HDD to store my files on since Windows offers me very little in the way of usefulness.

The biggest thing that drew me to Linux was the customizability. Ever since Windows 98, I've wanted to be able to alter the GUI or system to my own needs. I felt that if I'm going to have an OS or piece of software on my computer, I should be able to change it however I need to. Linux gives me that freedom and doesn't threaten legal action if I decide to change things around. The Corporation, as it were, is non-existent in Linux from my perspective.

LinuxViking · 2007-10-25 04:38:00

I love linux, hate windows, and think macs are overpriced (no offense!)

Also, I agree that it is pointless for linux to try and "be" windows. A lot of the major security breeches in windows are caused by their "user-friendliness". But can you really call it "user-friendly" when you have to pay for expensive anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-etc programs all of which boot at once on startup and cause your system to slow down??

Plus honestly I consider for the most part distros like ubuntu and fedora (dependency hell aside) to be much simpler to install and manage than windows. Especially since they have active support from their respective communities. Also, there is no way windows 3.0-95 could do what distros like puppy and damn small linux can do to old garage sale computers.

Last edited by LinuxViking (2007-10-25 04:45:09)

Bison · 2007-11-02 12:32:38

I'm definately happy with linux. Here's why:

Most importantly, gnu/linux is the only OS that stays out of my way. I develop on windows at work (ugh!), I'm always fighting with slowness, locking up, etc...and the point&click pattern is really bad for my productivity.

Choices. With Gnu/Linux, you can choose a distro that fits your needs. Plus you can choose which WM you want to use and what not.

Its free, which I think leads to a rolling release system (which I happen to be a fan of). Commercial software has to come out with a full release in regular intervals so they are still making money from their regular customers.

Package Management. So easy...

The only thing I don't like about linux is that I can't work from home, because I can't seem to get vpnc+rdesktop to work well - and my IT people tells me their is no cisco vpn client for linux...

xd-0 · 2007-11-02 12:52:48

Bison wrote:

I'm definately happy with linux. Here's why:
Most importantly, gnu/linux is the only OS that stays out of my way. I develop on windows at work (ugh!), I'm always fighting with slowness, locking up, etc...and the point&click pattern is really bad for my productivity.
Choices. With Gnu/Linux, you can choose a distro that fits your needs. Plus you can choose which WM you want to use and what not.
Its free, which I think leads to a rolling release system (which I happen to be a fan of). Commercial software has to come out with a full release in regular intervals so they are still making money from their regular customers.
Package Management. So easy...

Couldn't have said it better. You can do what you want, and its rather easy to do it with all the conf files in plain text. And like you said, it stays out of the way, specially with some lightweight wm.
+ You don't need per see accept some fuzzy license to use it.

xaw · 2007-11-02 21:44:48

@Bison: really? I thought I've heard of a Cisco VPN Client for Linux....

EDIT: Yes, there is a client for Linux, the documentation for v4.6 can be found here

hussam · 2007-11-02 23:04:32

I wasn't really satisfied with Linux until I used ArchLinux. Every distro I installed before Arch ( whether on my machine or on a friend's machine) had one thing I didn't like.
Arch is great because it is easy to configure. pacman is the easiest package manager to use and system configuration is easier than other distributions because of having many things consolidated in /etc/rc.conf.

jinn · 2007-11-03 10:12:26

As always there are PROS and CONS for everything..

Linux pros:
* comfortable to do work with
* very configurable, easy scripting
* free...
* great uptime
* never used a antivirus in linux, never got spyware or virus
* modularity cause competition -> better ideas -> better software (i.e. gtk vs qt)
* can add more stuff here..

cons:
* needs time to learn if you want to use its true power.. dont say "you dont need to learn anything for ubuntu" .. without sitting hours and learning scripts, bash, zsh, kernel, you will never know the power of linux.

* hardware support, sure alot of things work, but alot of things dont work either.. or work good for that matter
* modularity also cause redundancy.
* Apps that exists only for windows (low rate voip, games, many stuff can be added here..) dont work in linux
* can probably add more stuff here

-----------
Windows pros:
* everything works with max 5 min installation
* there is only one type of install file.. compared to .deb, .rpm etc etc..
* hardware support
* can add more stuff here.. i think..

cons:
* works only very well after configurating with nlite
* spyware...
* virus..
* expensive..
* vista -> 10gb.. drm etc etc..
* rotten memory handling -> crash after 1 month uptime (being optimistic here..)
* can add more stuff ..

Conclusion:
Windows Xp pro works actually very well (of course not as a server).. only after sitting hours and creating a nlite modified win Xp with all updates, removed unneccessary processes etc etc.. But workspace sucks. Always miss multiple desktops. software that create multiple desktops on windows sucks.. atleast those that I have tried, when I tried to linuxify windows once...

Linux just rocks for multiple reasons.. but can cause headaches sometimes..

Havent tried Mac os X but looks damn good.

voonte · 2007-11-03 12:08:55

Linux still has a long way to go until I'd be happy with it on the desktop. Development is still too focused on servers, which is not all that wierd, since many kernel developers are hired by companies that could care less about desktops. But still, linux is the best alternative.

Now that I think back on my time with Microsoft Windows, it was such a chore to use. I miss a package manager everytime I have to use Windows. One thing I don't miss, though, are the slow, bloated, and non-intuitive anti-virus/spyware software.

Phenax · 2007-11-03 12:27:26

Linux has loads more hardware support than Windows

Arch Linux

#51 2007-08-23 19:39:47

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#52 2007-08-23 20:08:56

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#53 2007-08-25 07:44:16

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#54 2007-09-20 21:22:04

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#55 2007-09-21 03:59:49

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#56 2007-10-16 06:00:01

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#57 2007-10-16 07:43:16

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#58 2007-10-16 08:20:00

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#59 2007-10-18 15:24:42

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#60 2007-10-18 15:29:00

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#61 2007-10-20 22:41:53

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#62 2007-10-21 22:08:19

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#63 2007-10-21 22:40:56

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#64 2007-10-21 22:54:49

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#65 2007-10-22 18:05:44

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#66 2007-10-22 18:41:19

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#67 2007-10-24 07:36:01

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#68 2007-10-25 04:38:00

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#69 2007-11-02 12:32:38

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#70 2007-11-02 12:52:48

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#71 2007-11-02 21:44:48

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#72 2007-11-02 23:04:32

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#73 2007-11-03 10:12:26

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#74 2007-11-03 12:08:55

Re: Are you happy with linux?

#75 2007-11-03 12:27:26

Re: Are you happy with linux?

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