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Listen to 3 Doors Down, "Pages", and maybe you can figure out why I quit. A person bothers to put themselves out there, and no one bothers to care what they have to say, what do you expect.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Linux

I've talked about Linux before, but it's been a while, and there is always new stuff to be found.  I've messed with linux before, but not seriously until the last few years.  WindowsXP commuting suicide on me (bluescreen, reboot, and it "cleaned up" system files, equals dead windows), pretty much did it for me, it was time to check on linux again.  My dad had Ubuntu for a year or two, so I started there.  Now that the company that puts out ubuntu has decided that they know what I want better than I do (going a more Mac/Android look), and the "need" to upgrade/reinstall every 6 months, I have little use for ubuntu.  A rolling release (install once, just keep updating) is much easier to keep up with, usually less hassle.
I've been listening to an older podcast on my non-ipod mp3 player (Apple doesn't play well with others, besides being too expensive) called LinuxReality (http://linuxreality.com/).  Chess's goal was to help those new to linux, and show it it can do, and he did a pretty good job.  Another podcast I want to get to is GoingLinux (http://goinglinux.com) which is still active, and sounds like it is aimed at a similar crowd, but might get a little more detailed.  There are other linux related podcasts out there, of varying degrees, but these are the ones I'm interested in at the moment.  LinuxReality is a good place to start if you want a more beginners perspective on getting started with linux.
My preferred linux distributions are CrunchBang (Debian based livecd, clean light distro, good for aging computers or laptops), PCLinuxOS (Mandriva based livecd, full desktop and user friendly), and more resently OpenSUSE (so far seems like solid user friendly desktop distro, has livecd's and install dvd's).  Other old favorites are Puppy Linux (livecd, good for old computers), PartedMagic (livecd, more of a toolbox type distro).  I pretty much look for Debian based distros, but the Mandriva based (distant ties to Fedora/Redhat) is pretty good too.
Not really a Linux distro, but Ultimate Boot CD is a very good toolbox type livecd with many hardware utilities.
When I'm looking at distros, I usually go for the LXDE or XFCE desktop environments, as they are lighter on resources than Gnome or KDE.  Gnome is still good, KDE feels too much like windows for my liking (the point is linux is not windows), but some love it.  Linux is all about choices, so more power to them.  Those 4 are most common, but there are others.
Besides desktop use, I've also setup small linux servers at one time or other, partly to see how they work, partly for a purpose I had in mind at the time.  I'm slowly working on trying to setup a file server/network backup at my church, with the idea of having it go out to the windows computers and backup documents through the network.  I'm having some trouble understanding how to setup Samba (software linux uses to talk to windows computers), but it's still interesting.  I also setup a couple of computers running PCLinux only (one in the youth room, and one in the lobby/hallway).  Both computers are a bit dated, but run like champs with linux, and haven't had any issues, I just run an update every now and then, and no one has complained about them, they just work.  I would like to turn the aging computers in the office to linux, but I'm not sure that would fly with certain people.  Maybe when windows blows up, or the computers finally quit.  Maybe OpenSUSE with Xfce, or PCLinux Xfce. Hmm... *considers blowing up windows*  Nah, someday.
Get the impression I dislike windows? lol  Long live Linux. :)

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