Linux

I'm so far behind in my writings and my Blog its ridiculous but I've been busy. I also have a hard time with the realization that this first month is almost over - Happy (belated) New Year.

I've been busy with a new project- Linux. I'm so tired of Microsoft and the entire ongoing madness that I decided to give Linux another look. I tried it a few years ago and was amazed then, at how easily it loaded on a machine that I couldn't get running again with MS because of some damned missing .dll file. Although I had the original disc, the machine refused to recognize it. However, the problem back then with Linux was, that I couldn't find the programs I needed for what I was doing. Times have changed and for the last couple of weeks I've been trying different Distributions of Linux.

So far I've tried Red Hat 9, DSL (Damn Small Linux) Mepis and Knoppix to mention the main players. These all have their advantages and their weaknesses.

Pros: Of the advantages; in general they load flawlessly, recognize almost all hardware with out any input and even load the Internet connections without having to go through that tedious connection setup. This alone is enough to way the the MS crowd but there is much more.
There are literally thousands of programs out there which cover almost everything imaginable that Microsoft or Mac or any other OS has going now. And if your favorite program replacement equivalent is not found - wait five minutes - it will show up soon enough. In the mean time there are windows emulators and interpreters such as Wine that will allow you to run your favorite MS windows programs directly under them. Then there's the price issue - a staggering '0' - at least for the most part. In general Linux and almost all the software designed to run under it is open source allowing anyone to copy, configure, change and redistribute without payment. There is variations to the differing types of open source rights but thats pretty much it in a nut shell. (check the specific programs in question).

One of the most irritating this for me with MS is is the constant need to upgrade. Sure I could set it on automatic and they would install without my intervention, but I like to know what is going into my computer. These upgrades are mainly to combat the dangers of cyber attacks, something Linux has virtually no need for - in fact there is almost no need for anti-virus software while running a Linux machine (email is another issue - you need it) - in fact I'm not running any anti-virus at this moment. With MS you also need to constantly keep your hard-drive clean and formatted which is both time consuming and bothersome - these are also handled in Linux automatically without the need for intervention. Another thing that Linux has over MS is their multiple desktop design. Most Distro's offer the ability to have as many as twenty different desktops running and configured at once - memory depending of course. Now this takes a little getting used to but once you do, you wonder how you got by without it. The idea here is you can have a desktop configured with shortcuts and icons for say - web design, another for your office duties like payroll, another for your contacts like instant messenger, email and to-do lists. You could have one for your server configurations complete with the links and running programs waiting for you or perhaps you're into digital imagining and you have several programs and utilities to do this, you can have them all and switching is a mere click of a button. Its very cool.

Cons: There are a few; sometimes too much is just that- too much. One of the most difficult thing to figure out is which Distribution is for you. With the plethora of choice which is growing continuously, and there are hundreds of permutations to date of different kinds or flavors of Linux to choose from, the decision can be overwhelming - about all you can do is try several until you find what you like - and this can take awhile. (which is where I am at this point). And then just when you think you have it narrowed down - Oh there's one I haven't tried yet and or another release comes out on one you already tried but NOW it has this that that one didn't - and it goes on and on and on...
Another thing I found is that the same program can run and look quite different from one Distro to another which will drive you nuts because you finally find some that yo really like but it doesn't have this, then you find a Distro that has that but it makes this look bad or it doesn't do that and believe me after a half dozen or so near similar environments you get so lost in what or who had what unless you take meticulous notes. then again what good are notes if you can't have what you what in one package. Well I guess yo can if you what to get into programming and configuring and patching and designing and .... hell I just what the thing to run and to do what I need done.

Then there's the damned permissions thing. Almost all of the Linux line is permission(s) nuts with the exception of Knoppix which is wide open upon install. Now I can understand the concept here but if Linux wants to convert MS or any other OS over, then they must realize that the average person only has one person on their desktop so let them use the damn thing without having to be a programming guru.

I found one Distribution that at first I really liked dis piste the permission thing, then I tried to play some music on my CD. I spent two days trying to get the computer to find the thing then to point it on the correct path and the sound drivers and the like to get it working - still not there, I gave up and took it out. Now this is the same CD drive used to install the vary same program that was running, and now I can't get it to find the damned thing, not to mentions the fact that I've been working on computers and have formal training into the electronics and repair of the same at a prestigious college where I was the head of my class. If I can't get this to work, the average Joe who just wants to hear his music is going back to MS.

Above all, may greatest complaint against Linux to date (this applies mainly to third party programs of any OS as well) is that far too much of the programming, although very good in their own right, is done by very young naive and ignorant youth. I say this because so much of it is done in microscopic text where only very young eyes with telescopic vision can see it. Now this wouldn't be so bad if there was a way to set the text and font parameters- but sadly many don't. I feel that I don't belong there and that the youth are laughing at anyone who can't keep up with them. Well the program they have created could be the best in the world, but if I can't see it or its functions, I sure as heck can't use it and I'll go elsewhere. So the joke is on the programmers because they have single handedly narrowed their clientèle to minuscule proportions and along the way they have help give Linux a bad name as an alternative operating system.
So there yo go ... you find a phinominal operating system that seems to have everything you wanted at a price you can't say no to - then you open a program to do instant messaging and yo can't read the text, open another and the text or the graphics are so large when opened, that the close and exit buttons are buried where you can't access them and you can't find you hard drive or your CD or something that you where used too unless you spend many hours on the help lines and or forums to get what you want.

Ok, so Linux has some issues, but there are others like BSD and even MS-Linux (for a price) but it definitely has its great points. In fact this article including picture was done entirely on a Linux machine without a problem. In fact this particular Pentium running Linux seems vary comparable with my much newer machine running ten times faster with ten times the memory which is running on windows.

Conclusion: However, at the moment as far as I'm concerned, the more I play in the Linux sandbox of learning, the better Mackintosh is looking.
I just want a machine to work without having to learn a bunch of code and particulars to use it. Then again I can't afford to change all my programs over to another $ money company machine. THERE MUST BE A COMPIMISE somewhere- I'm still looking - but one thing is for sure, I'm not going back to MS. In the mean time I'm running a dual operating system where I do most of my work on Linux and only use MS if absolutely necessary.