11 replies to this topic

[martvefun]

Hi,

I was wondering before posting my questions about it here, is there many people using GNU/Linux here ?

How/when did you start using it ?
Which distribution are you running ?

I started using it about two-three years, when I enter the university (I had an old laptop, no way running windows on it)
I started with (x)ubuntu, last year mostly on debian. Now I installed archlinux three month ago and have uninstalled my old windows xp
maybe one day if I have time, I'll go for LFS (always dreamed about my martOS)

[truefusion]

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 03:41 PM, said:

I was wondering before posting my questions about it here, is there many people using GNU/Linux here ?

For the obvious ones, look for the ones with the Linux penguin in their avatars.

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 03:41 PM, said:

How/when did you start using it ?

I started using it (i.e. Kubuntu) back when my first hard drive failure occurred. I was running off of live CD till my new hard drive arrived; the live CD made it possible for me to order things online and still use my computer (though limited use).

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 03:41 PM, said:

Which distribution are you running ?

Ubuntu, mostly for its ease of use and repository. I have in the past dealt with Knoppix, Fedora, Mandriva and Gentoo and some custom flavors of Ubuntu, like Mepis and Linux Mint. Mandriva would have to be my second favorite. I learned a lot when using Gentoo, though. Linux is my primary operating system, too.

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 03:41 PM, said:

maybe one day if I have time, I'll go for LFS

I had tried that a long time ago but gave up; i couldn't get passed a certain make error. Can't remember for what, but it was probably for glibc. If i tried again today, i could probably get by it.

[princeofvegas]

I ahve been running linux for about 7 years now. I started out on Gentoo and now I am using a modified version of debian.

For a newbie linux user I would definitely recommend Gentoo and conducting the non-graphical install from the installation manual. It will dive you in and you will begin to understand the ins and outs of your operating system and computer before you ever get a windows manager installed on the box. I learned this way and I will be honest... It will be frustrating at first and probably take you restarting the installation several times, even when you are almost done.. however it will be worth it in the long run because you will better understand the capabilities of the linux environment and how to customize the kernel to suit your needs. Wow.. talk about a run on sentance if I have ever written one.. haha.

If you have any questions please feel free to send me a PM or reply to the topic and I will be more than happy to help you out.

[martvefun]

waw you've started with Gentoo ?
you mean that operating system where you have to compile your kernel (and almost everything else) ?

I'm sure it's great if you succeed doing it but your knowledge about linux should be high (I'm not sure I have it yet) and even more your patience
I'm glad when I can introduce linux to one of my friend who is not so much in this computer stuff (studying law or something like that). I do it with ubuntu because I think it's the best way to not make them run away.

Yes it's possible I PM you one day...

[rvalkass]

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 08:41 PM, said:

is there many people using GNU/Linux here ?

Quite a few are dual-booting, and there's also quite a few of us using Linux as our only operating system (like myself). When I built my new PC I'd already decided to install Linux on it rather than anything else, but I looked at the cost of Windows 7 anyway and was shocked to find that people actually pay that ridiculous price

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 08:41 PM, said:

How/when did you start using it ?

I started using it a few years ago on my laptop. I dual-booted to start with, mainly because I had no way to transfer all my files from my existing Windows installation to a clean install. I started looking at Fedora, Ubuntu, Mandriva etc. and eventually settles on Kubuntu. The community looked good, and it looked far better than Gnome on Ubuntu!

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 08:41 PM, said:

Which distribution are you running ?

I'm still using Kubuntu as my distribution of choice, although I keep a good eye on Fedora as well and try out each new release. It's just that so far nothing has really compelled me to switch over I occasionally check out major new releases from other distributions, but there have always been issues that have stopped me wanting to switch for one reason or another. They're mainly personal preference things though.

[princeofvegas]

Also, as a side note.. if you are going for speed and security vs. usability I would also recommend not using a gnome based or a kde based windows manager. I personally use fluxbox and love it. It is 100% customizable to my needs and I only have to install desktop items that I want to use. That was I am not left with a million extra features that I am never going to use and are only going to slow down my computer.

[H.O.D]

As you can see there are a lot of people using Linux over here. So rest assured that you have a mini-community of sorts to post your queries to I'm a newbie user and have started using Ubuntu recently. It was the first flavour recommended by many people and I found that I liked it right away. It's really great to use and for a newbie user who doesn't want much from his OS, it's perfect. But if you want to get more out of your computer, then you better start looking at other flavours like Fedora, Mandriva as well. Mandriva comes fully loaded with all kinds of packages and software so there isn't much to add after installation, whereas in Ubuntu you have to download some basic things such as audio codecs.

Also it would be better if you start off with dual-booting. In the starting you may find that you are comfortable doing some things in Windows than in Linux. Until you get used to the working of Linux you can switch between those two. For example, I have problems connecting my netbook to my TV using a VGA cable in Ubuntu. When I tried the same in XP it was up and running in seconds because of the software provided along with the netbook! There are things like this which are still making me stick to dual booting, but most of the time I'm on Ubuntu only and it's really very smooth.

So I hope this newbie's experience was of some help to you. Since you already used xubuntu once you know how it 'feels' So I hope you get reconnected with Linux very soon again!

[martvefun]

princeofvegas : I had a try about fluxbox some time ago, but I didn't like it
I want to have an evolved wm. Yes there is lot's of feature I'm never going to use but there is also some I don't find on "less supported" wm (maybe I don't search hard enough)

H.O.D : when I read your post, it seems to me that you think I4ve stopped using Linux.
Not at all, I've never been so into as I've uninstall my windows not long ago

For me ubuntu is great for new users not so much interested into computers. If you really want to understand how it works, you should go for gentoo or archlinux as princeofvegas

[Rael IAK]

I am also a relatively new Linux user. I started using it about a year ago off a Live CD. After trying a few and doing some research, I decided to go with Debian and the LXDE desktop. Which version, or distro, you choose is largely a matter of what you want to do with it.

1) If you just want an operating system that is "ready to go" out of the box, much like Windows is, Ubuntu (or one of it's variations) or PCLinux are good choices.

2) If you want to know your OS inside out and tinker with it then something like Gentoo would be more to your liking as has already been pointed out. If you are not much of a computer "geek" then you should prepare yourself for a fairly long learning curve though.

3) if you are like me and a "middle of the road" guy then you should look at something like Debian or Fedora.

The particular reasons I picked Debian was mostly;
1) It's reliability. It's a very conservative project. They are slow to release new versions compared to say, Ubuntu. Their philosophy is to get the bugs out before they release it as "stable". Don't expect the latest release to have cutting edge software but it is safe to assume that it's bulletproof.

2) It has the largest number of pre-compiled and tested application packages around right now at about 23,000.

Before a recent Windows crash/reinstall that resulted in my master boot record and or the Linux boot loader getting scrambled, I was using a dual boot set-up as well. I think it makes perfect sense to use your computer effectively while you are getting comfortable with Linux. Personally, my goal is to switch to Linux as my only operating system.

Hope this was of some help.

[knoppixusr]

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 10:41 PM, said:

I was wondering before posting my questions about it here, is there many people using GNU/Linux here ?

Indeed I believe there is a healthy amount of Linux users on trap17. Based on a old poll i saw here a while back, I think there might even be more Linux users here than Windows users.

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 10:41 PM, said:

How/when did you start using it ?

I probably started goofing around with Suse 9.1 in 2004 i think, After someone from work invited me to a Novell Linux Seminar. After about 2 years I made a permanent switch to Linux on my home laptop. I can recall that I settled for the PC-Linux OS distribution at the time. Yet aother year passed and I finally switched over from windows to linux at work and used wine to run any windows appz i needed at work. At this time I was the only person at my office using Linux in a windows environment and at some stage I had a NX service running on my box that allowed some of my colleagues (windows users) to log into my Linux computer and play the Linux games (mostly Frozen Bubbles) on their windows desktops at the same time I was working in my email, web browser and wineappz. I was quite impressed considering the hardware I had was only a 700mhz with 512 mb memory.
When i changed jobs again II had to use windows again and after a few months I installed Linux on my work box again and ran windows within vmware after getting really annoyed at always having to rebooting windows and not being able to anything while it is in the process of rebooting. At least since then I could reboot my virtual windows and carry on working in Linux.
Nowadays I use Sun Virtual box instead of vmware, and only use windows for the programs that doesn't work under wine. Email, web stuff etc I do all via Linux. My preferred distro for servers is Centos and for desktops Knoppix (for Low spec hardware) and PC-Linux (for Better hardware)

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 10:41 PM, said:

Which distribution are you running ?

Right now on my workstation Knoppix 6.2. On my Laptop at home I Duel boot PC-Linux 2009 and Knoppix 6.2
All of my servers are Centos 5.1 or 5.2 Except for fire-wall's which are IPCOP based.

martvefun, on Mar 9 2010, 10:41 PM, said:

I started using it about two-three years, when I enter the university (I had an old laptop, no way running windows on it)

A low spec Laptop with Linux plus Dosbox and some old classic dos games still keep me entertained most of the time. I like old school games. Even age of empires, dark reign etc work with wine.