Will I be able to use Linux?

**Lesli** · December 22nd, 2006, 06:34 AM

Hi. How advanced of a user do I have to be to use Linux and can someone point to a place or summrize the key difference between Linux and Windows. Will I be able to use it? What key features does it have? How are programs installed? Most programs I see are for Windows/Mac. Does that mean its very limited? Are the products the same in Linux as in Windows?What is the *main aspect I need to know or be good at to be able to use Linux effectively? Whats the most difficult part of Linux for a daily user? What are its biggest flaws and pro's?Thanks for any replies!

**SunDizzle** · December 22nd, 2006, 10:19 AM

You need to brush up on command line based codes in order to fully understand Linux. There are many free flavors out there, I used Fedora up until I got rid of my old pc. Try linux.org they have a plethora of information. All in all it's a very solid os, not all products are available for it but there are many more open source products than you think. You don't need ms office, for instance, because you can get open office for free (i think becuase i remember some sort of copyright law suit about it or what ever).

Linux is very fun in that you can customize it further than windows and most of those controls are built in. You can also customize the hell out of the kernel but the only thing I found buggy were the drivers. Everytime I updated mine it would crash and give me hell until I found out where the problem was.

Good luck and have fun!!

**Theophylact** · December 22nd, 2006, 10:47 AM

Yeah, Open Office is free (runs on Windows, too).

Most Linux distributions have pretty good graphical user interfaces (GUIs) very similar to Windows, and operate much the same way. As SunDizzle says, to take full advantage of the operating system you need to learn the commands, but you can still do most of what you want to do by clicking your mouse.

Most modern Linuxes also install essentially automatically and have drivers for typical hardware, though there are some well-known problems (ATI graphics cards don't always play well with Linux).

**CMonster** · December 23rd, 2006, 03:47 AM

You need to brush up on command line based codes in order to fully understand Linux.

-the above statement is relative. Much has progressed in Linux and you can do all of the typical user configurations from a graphical interface these days. However, it is true if you want to become an expert user the command line is your most powerful too.

www.linux.org is a great site for general information on Linux

Give one of the run-from-CD Linux versions a try like Knopix http://www.knoppix.com if you decide to install Linux I highly recommend OpenSUSE 10.2 - it's awesome and comes with lots of free applications
http://www.opensuse.org

**fpantovich** · December 23rd, 2006, 03:50 AM

also, if you are looking for a very user-friendly Linux that can actually install a good chunk of windows applications on it natively, then try this one. Also, take a look at the sites they mentioned above to get some background on what Linux is and learn a little bit about it before taking it on. It can be a great OS if you let it be.

http://www.linux-xp.com

**GameManK** · December 27th, 2006, 03:57 AM

Originally Posted by Lesli

Hi. How advanced of a user do I have to be to use Linux

I would say in some ways the less advanced the better because then you have less to unlearn. Any typical activity such as webbrowsing and word processing is the same as in windows, but safer.

Will I be able to use it?

Unless you are a windows power user/microsoft fan or you have some annoying piece of hardware that's currently not supported (most typical hardware is supported and much rare hardware as well, and you almost never have to install drivers).
Also note that if you are a gamer, linux is not for you because most commercial games are not available for linux.

What key features does it have?

Safety from windows viruses.
Free as in no cost.
Free as in speech (open source).
Hardware detected automatically (mostly).
Powerful command line.
Large selection of free software.
Ease of software installation (no annoying next,next,next wizards) for software that is packaged by your distribution.
Very customizable.
If you have the right video hardware you can get some cool 3d desktop effects, at least as good as OS X and better than Vista. This is still in alpha though, so it's buggy and not set up out of the box.
and more...

How are programs installed?

Programs are usually installed via a package manager, which is a program where you can browse a large repository of free open source software and install anything you want with one or two clicks.
However, if you want to download some program off a website that is not in the repository for your distribution (rare for the big popular distros) and there is no package available for your distribution, you usually have to compile it yourself, which tends to be a pain.

Most programs I see are for Windows/Mac. Does that mean its very limited? Are the products the same in Linux as in Windows?

There are very few commercial applications for linux, but there are many great open source applications you've probably never heard of. Some of these open source applications are available for windows as well and you might have heard of them or use them, such as Firefox, OpenOffice.org, and the GIMP.

What is the *main aspect I need to know or be good at to be able to use Linux effectively?

Have an open mind, and know to ask for help on forums.

Whats the most difficult part of Linux for a daily user?

For a daily user (as opposed to getting it set up) I guess the most difficult part is the occasional missing codec to view a video or something on a site that's in some proprietary windows format.

What are its biggest flaws and pro's?

I listed the pros. The flaws are

It won't run windows software, which usually only matters with games.
If you have some piece of hardware that doesn't work out of the box, you are often screwed because manufacturers don't provide drivers.
As I already said, you usually can't just download and install a piece of software off a website. While this can occasionally be inconvenient, it's also a security feature.
Proprietary media codecs (such as MP3) are often not installed out of the box, but you can easily install them yourself.

Some good distributions to try are Ubuntu, Kubuntu, OpenSUSE, and Fedora. Many distributions are available as a live cd so you can try the OS right off the cd without installing anything, then install it if you want.

**jetman** · December 27th, 2006, 04:24 AM

Originally Posted by Lesli

Hi. How advanced of a user do I have to be to use Linux and can someone point to a place or summrize the key difference between Linux and Windows. Will I be able to use it? What key features does it have? How are programs installed? Most programs I see are for Windows/Mac. Does that mean its very limited? Are the products the same in Linux as in Windows?What is the *main aspect I need to know or be good at to be able to use Linux effectively? Whats the most difficult part of Linux for a daily user? What are its biggest flaws and pro's?Thanks for any replies!

Sure you can. Anyone who can master XP can do a lot w/ Linux. The one area where an absolute newbie may have a little trouble is w/ printing. But printing notwithstanding, get a live Linux CD and give it a whirl. Freespire is the one I would suggest. It looks and behaves a lot like Windows and has a free service called Click-N-Run, to help newbies w/ installing drivers and applications. Good luck...

**Laka** · January 5th, 2007, 08:58 AM

Of course you can use Linux. There are many distributions available, though Ubuntu is very good from the user friendly side.

At one time you'll have learnt how to use Windows, its just the same with Linux these days. As long as you can use a mouse and keyboard you'll be fine.

As for installing software, again Ubuntu is very good as it has many built in packages that can be added via a simple Add/Remove programs program in the main menu (just like the Windows 'Start' menu).

My advice would be install it and stick with it for a few weeks, I'm sure you'll pick it up very quickly

**fpantovich** · January 5th, 2007, 12:22 PM

not running windows apps on linux is not true anymore. http://www.linux-xp.com/ runs the majority of windows based apps/games natively. I dunno how they did it, but somehow they integrated the windows application manager into the linux application manager and it seems to work very well. I have been using it on one of my test systems for a while flawlessly. Installed Marvel Ultimate Alliance, M$ Office 2007, and a few other windows-based apps flawlessly and they all run great, sometimes I wonder if they actually run better than they do on windows, heh..

As for trying out linux, test out one of the Live CD versions before installing, because if you don't like it, then you didn't spend all that time installing and won't have to go back and reset everything. Good luck.

**Laka** · January 5th, 2007, 12:45 PM

CrossOver Office is also a good application for installing Windows applications on Linux.

I also agree with fpantovich, live distributions are a great non destructive way of testing out the OS.