The real strengths of Linux lie in inter/intra networking. Whether the network is big or small there are many solid reasons for choosing Linux.
Like I said before, it's fast, powerful & flexible, don't forget that unlike "Windows" Linux is real multi-tasking & multi-processor capable.
Unlike Windows, Linux's kernel can be fine tuned by removing all the bits that YOUR system doesn't need. What's the point of having loads of ISDN
, soundcard, scanner, USB, IDE or SCSI support, floating around on your system (worst of all using system resources unnecessarily) when they are not needed :o)
You are able to configure & fine tune the kernel to suit your hard & software needs on YOUR computer! This makes the platform very flexible,
& also makes it inherently more secure & stable.
To give you an example, I recently inherited a 3-4 year old retired desktop PC, an old HP Vectra, 120MHz. 32MB RAM, which I was
told hardly had a days use without a big fat "blue screen" & a crash (it was running Win95). I have been using this box as a web server
for over 6 months & have succeeded in crashing it a handful of times, not bad considering that half the time I didn't really know what
I was doing, & was unfortunately logged in as "root" :o)
The last time the box was booted, or turned off, was around 6-8 weeks ago! Considering that this "office PC" was never designed
for this kind of use makes it's current reliability & stability very surprising, but on the other hand not ........ we are talking
about Linux :o) It must be pointed out at this stage that there are very many other networking OS's around, all the variations of Unix
(of which Linux is one!), Novell, NT...... , all of which except for Linux are proprietary, i.e. not Open Source. All of which have their
pros & cons.
There are 2 "basic" levels of operation under Linux, known as the TUI (Text User Interface) & the GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Linux gurus don't like the comparison but the TUI can be likened to DOS, & the GUI to the traditional "Windows" approach.
If a comparison helps understand what is going on & what everyone is talking about then why not. I have a purely TUI driven server,
& a GUI on the faster box.
The TUI is driven, like DOS, from the command line & is as simple as typing the programme name along with any arguments/ variables/ options/ strings.....
i.e. ls -ahl [ENTER]. The ls programme (short for list) is comparable to the dir command in DOS, but more powerful, & the -ahl means all
files (a) human readable in kb & Mb (h) & long listing showing all the file/folder attributes (l). We will be going into this type of
Linux usage in greater detail.
I think the GUI is pretty much self-explanatory & the "push all the buttons & see what happens" approach will get you through in the
end. With the help of the many great GUI driven desktops like KDE &
Gnome, to name but a few, you will be up & running in no time.
There are many desktop environments available that make Linux look very similar to Windows making it easier for some people to get
accustomed to (but that's no fun :o). The constant development, the beauty & the flexibility of these desktops have helped Linux to a new
standing in the community.
Linux has been around for a decade or so & is well known & respected in the "networking" community, but the number of home users has
been snowballing over the last few years making the public acceptance grow. Linux is a name that people know & it's one of the few
OS's that offer a real alternative, in my mind the better alternative. In the years to come it will be a power to be reckoned with.
Trust me you won't regret it.!
Compared to many of you my first contact with a computer came in '96 with my first PC. I was never a great fan of DOS
(mainly because I didn't really understand what was going on) & my knowledge of DOS was limited to the good old "format c:"
level, just enough to get Windows reinstalled. I always looked at myself as a "typical" Windows user, all that mattered was
that the programmes worked. My interest in Linux is due to my "Linux guru" friend Carsten, who I think got just as big
a kick out of this "project" as I have. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for your patience
& ability to explain the fundamentals, without you none of this would have been possible! Cheers dude!!! :o)
