Hi buds!!
Anand signing in again to bore you on an off topic :D stuff
My friends call me a Linux guru (lolz) so I’ll try to keep this review as non-technical and short as possible.
I am writing this review because there are some linux users/lovers here. Its just that they are a bit lazy to write a review (like I am).
Update1: I had written this review on Saturday. But I was waiting for the category to be added! I thank MS! I hope to keep you guys busy to add new topics :D
Update2: All the people who rate this topic Very Useful, Useful, or Somewhat Useful OR the ones who do not rate, will be installing Linux on their PCs right?
Update3 So many updates within minutes!!!!huh!! Hardware compatibility added.
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I am a computer geek ;) and I have long ago left behind, the realm of your own pyaara Micro$oft Windows os. Since the day my papa bought me a pc at home, I LOVED windows OS like anything, and simply hated the Linux OS (huh, no gui. Remember all those crapy commands..) Of course! Wheres the fun without an intuitive gui ?
Still, I even tried installing Redhat 7.1 at my home pc and immediately stopped the installation process at the partitioning screen. Damn, Linux needed a partition type of its own :p ’’to hell with it’’
I had joined NIIT for a software course where I saw Linux for the first time! And to my surprise it had a gui... It had a very crude look though (Redhat 6.2)! But speed awesome. So the myth is not true after all. Linux uses something known as the Xserver system to render gui on to the screen and handle mouse commands. But still ’’partitions’’ was an issue.
I am a lover of Quake3Arena! And I would do anything to make it fast on my system, especially I needed to watch it at 1024x768 resolution on my pc.... But windows was getting on my nerves. Win98. Every month the registry used to get corrupt and what not... Quake3 loaded at snails pace, giving out 8-10 FPS on the high quality mode :( I really wanted to break free!
Thats where again Linux came to my mind and there is a Linux version of the game available. Linux was built by Linus Torvalds to run a game faster for himself (why not :d)
Well, I am not a hardcore coder so I didnt write an OS of my own, lolz. I put my hands on this DragonLinux which was a breeze to install. (No partitioning). I refered no documentation absolutely!!! But DragonLinux didnot have a GUI and it was out of my bounds to download the stuff (X11 software) from a dial up connection.
Finally(fortunately), I got hands on Mandrake cds and loaded it (in a breeze) and played Quake 3 Arena (After compiling drivers for my graphics chipset :D, lolz)
Timeline to become a geek: 1 month without documentation!!
Times have changed and now I use Fedora core 4 (Redhat/fedora seems a lot faster to me and I love rpms than debian debs). Sorry I am late to write this review since Fedora core 5 is out few days ago!
Phew, that was just an introduction ;)
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Fedora core 4:
Fedora core series are a rock solid series/versions of Linux distribution and they offer a wide variety of software packages for you. I find FC1 and FC4 to be better ones.
I wont go into the benefits of Linux over windows blah blah... But I’ll describe how I use my Linux system as a home user.
1. Surf mouthshut.com - :D Fedora ships with firefox - The fastest browser on Earth.
2. Check pop3 emails - Do check out Evolution email suit. It will put out Outlook Exp to shade. Rock solid data integrity of emails. Very very user friendly
3. Tweak Desktop looks - You can compile in or install any any any modules/themes to make your desktop as appealing as even the Apple mac OS. Forget the Windows...
4. Office apps - Fedora comes with OpenOffice. Though I am not a power office user I do not find Office as user friendly as MS office. I think this is the only cons Linux is having but you can carry your daily office stuff.
5. Music, Multimedia - It is a redhat policy not to bundle closed source mp3/mpg decoders. But they do not stop you from installing softwares! You have xine, mplayer, xmms. These players beat window med. player ANY DAY. They can readily play divx, dvd, xvid, mp3, wma, wmv, rm, roq, au ..... etc etc etc ones which you(& even me) have not heard of!
Full 5.1 audio support is available on Linux!
Mp3’s sound awesome under linux - xmms! You’ll forget winamp, jetaudio, WMP etc!
6. Quake3arena, Doom3, Unreal tournament, Return to Castle Wolfenstien, Quake4 etc etc etc - Yeah, I installed/tried Linux for power gaming, remember? You can play OpenGl games if the game developers have provided you with a Linux patch. Or you can play your direct3d game using ’’WINE’’
Needless to say, games load and run faster seemlessly on Linux.
7. Image editing - Gimp. Never heard of it? I know :) ’’The GNU Image Manipulation Program’’ is available for windows too and its free! Try it. The profile pic which you are seeing (my bike) is editted/resized using gimp.
- You bet if your system gets infected by a virus, :). Does not need an antivirus, firewall or anti spyware software!
9. Hack servers - there are some basic tools like nmap etc etc which you can use to.... you know what :D I am a poor hacker though :((
10, 11, 12, 13.....n - All you can think of doing on windows! You can do it on Linux :)
Hardware compatibility:
Just put in any hardware in your box and the Linux kernel detects it for you! Thats the speciality of Linux!! Fedora core has a utility called Kudzu which does the necessary changes in the configuration files and the new device is ready for use!
Special note on Winmodems/internal modems - These modems are NOT serial port devices instead they run on virtual com ports under windows. Hence they are not properly supported under Linux. Anyways they are outdated!
Special note on AGP/VGA cards - Any vga card follows the VESA standard, so if you put in a card which is manufactured tomorrow, Linux can still make it work for you using the vesa module! Not to mention, under 1024x768 resolution unlike windows, where you are asked ’’Driver ki cd daalo!!!’’ $%^#$&#
For 3D hardware acceleration, you’ll need drivers from ATI or Nvidia as applicable.
Special note on USB devices - I am not sure about memory devices/sticks, but there may be an utility ;)
If your pc is current or old, it will be supported as is and Fedora won’t ask you for any drivers! :p
So finally,
Pros -
., it is an awesome system, trust me :)
Cons -
Some say Office app is not good :(
It needs that people like you to be brain washed about windows, lol.
Anand signing out...
p.s. Do rate and comment! Dont be lazy. Windows v/s Linux wars welcome. No prizes to imagine who wins - Linux hahaha...
Sorry that some techy linux terms are used. Well what do you expect? I use Linux since 4-5 years :p