and search for “Linux help” , “Linux tech support” or Linux help . One of the very good points of using Google as a search engine is that even if you type into the google search box your exact problem or problems - for example - how big a swap file do i need when installing Linux - or even how do i learn how to use Linux ? , there inevitably will be someone , somewhere on Google who asked the same exact question and who hopefully was given an answer or answers which hopefully will be of direct help to you with your problem , problems and concerns.
When you run into difficulties with Linux - run that search. You will find an astonishing amount of useful material and information on the web. This will include links to bulletin boards and mailing lists where people and other Linux users are asking , answering and have provided questions and relevant answers towards the kinds of problems have on a day-to-day basis.
Next - remember as well to search for Linux in your newsreader and also in RSS feed posts and visit any Linux newsgroups that you come across in your travels , readings and websites that you come across in your internet searches and travels.
Linux will run a large number of programs concurrently
2) Sharing with other computer operating systems
Linux , can coexist on the same computer as other operating systems. As an example you can choose to multi or dual boot. For example the same computer can be setup to have either Microsoft Windows / Microsoft Vista or Linux on the very same computer
3) Developer tools
Linux is bundled with a wealth of computer software development tools for programmers whether that on the particular installed distro , online or in book form. Your distro of choice will come bundled with a number of software development tools which may include Perl, Python or C++ tools
4) Networking
Linux provides more than the ideal environment to run web as well as FTP servers. Linux’s history is that its origins delve back to the UNIX operating systems . Networking capabilities are more than excellent and exceptional in depth and breadth.
5) Modular
Because Linux itself i based on intrinsic modules it can be stripped down from its most sophisticated forms , which require tens of gigabytes of hard drive space to run from just a solitary single floppy disk
6) Security
Linux is more than highly regarded for its security features. Only the security administrator is allowed to make system level changes. System level changes may include such events and practices as installing or uninstalling software, changing passwords as well as making changes to individual’s access privileges . In addition at present linux is more free of viral , computer viruses , spyware, malware and greyware threats.
Defining the pro and cons of Linux as a computer operating system for yourself depends on any of a number of variables/
First of all ” What are you doing with your new computer ?” asks computer consultant D. Heppenstall.
People buy computers to run programs. If the programs that you or your business use are all in the windows operating system - then windows is your easiest choice. Why make things more complex than they need be. It may be false economy like the Schmendrick you saved $ 2 on the cost of an item yet spent over a tank of gas on driving between the various value village thrift stores. On top of that he believed he saved in addition as it was “senior’s day” and he received a 15 % added discount. Your additional costs in terms of tech support , lost productivity and aggravation are not worth the time and expenses involved. If you are in a certain field such as graphics and there is a major preference in your industry to the Apple Macintosh system then that may be your best choice. Software may be more expensive for Macs than windows yet you may have the licenses already - upgrades are cheap . As well you have expertise and experience with that system as well as troubleshooting basic problems.
People use computers to run programs. This includes the most used programs in the world - internet browsers and even mail programs such as outlook express. If this is all that you do with your computer - Linux may be fine for you - those programs are already installed in functional forms on a Linux computer with open source programs. Firefox on a linux will not be that much different than firefox on windows. There are lots of other open source browsing programs as well available. Just do not expect a direct version of Microsoft Internet Explorer for Linux - be it Ubuntu , Mandiva or any other of the major Linux distros.
Next take into account what kind of hardware that you be running Linux on ? That not only includes your computer itself - its motherboard , video sound card , network cards et al. Wireless especially on Lunux can be a bitch to configer if not native on your Linux distro of choice. Hardware that also has to be considered if you want to make the change to Linux ( some say upgrade) in addition are printers , modems and network cards, scanners and even monitors.
Linux driver support is getting much better with major vendors such as HP ( Hewlett Packard ) for printers and scanners routinely providing Linux drivers and support documents for Linux distros ( but not the older Windows 98/ME operating system streams). However take into account whether the available Linux hardware drivers support your particular Linux distro of choice.
In the end it is always best to make a copy ( ghost or clone backup) of your present hard drive or at the least swap hard drives with a replacement in order that you can restore your present operating system if necessary.
A most interesting article on how Linux “Could help reduce poverty”
Note: This is a contribution post discussing 2008 Blog Action Day theme, “Poverty“.
Poverty is a global problem, which is not limited to third world developing countries. Even mature developed nations like United States has ~18%poverty rate. There are many reasons and causes of poverty, which includes but not limited to, natural disasters, war, disease, politics, religion, and over-population and so on and so forth. Some of these causes are beyond our control while others are beyond our means. There is no single factor that can totally eliminate poverty, even the almighty latest Linux Kernel release; but many ideas and anti-poverty initiative can come together to reduce the causes of poverty. What can Linux do?
There is a popular saying that goes like; “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to use a cheap Linux powered computer and you have fed him for a lifetime” (something to that effect). OLPC is such a program whose mission is “..to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.” Based on Fedora, there is an estimated 550,000 XO laptops sold in 23 countries since the program started. While it’s too early to say if the mission is a success, we can only see the effect of this program a decade or so from now when this generation of XO laptop users grow up. There are other large scale adoptions of Linux in Education Institute:
Brazil opened a request for proposals for 150,000 “educational laptops” for it’s Um Computador por Aluno project; where one of the primary requirement is “GNU/Linux operating system” (http://webeduc.mec.gov.br/ - Portuguese)
Government officials of Kerala, use only free software, running on the Linux platform, for computer education, starting with the 2,650 government and government-aided high schools.
In Indiana, 22,000 students has access to Linux Workstations at their high schools.
In Germany, 560,000 students and school stuff migrate to Linux.
By 2009 all computers in Russian schools are to be run on Linux.
One of India’s 28 states plans to distribute 100,000 Linux laptops to students.
Price is right.
Linux can also play a crucial role in government offices and administration as they can be easily deployed with very low-powered computers, thus bringing the cost of computers within their reach. Especially in third-world developing nations, this can play a vital role as an increase number to talented work force can finally afford to compete with the help of low-cost, “legal” software and operating system. There are several large-scale adoptions of Linux powered computers by government in many countries:
The City of Munich migrates its 14,000 desktops to a free Linux distribution.
Gnu license - the opening text of the GNU open source license clearly states “Everyone is permitted to copy verbatim copies of this license document. However changing the license is strictly not allowed nor permitted”.
The preamble to the GNU license goes on to point out that in the cases of most licenses and in this case specifically software licenses, that most of them serve the purpose of restricting you and other users the freedom to change, modify and enhance whereas in this case both the roles and functions of the license is to guarantee and enhance that the software is free and can be altered and added by anyone
This is both the beauty and the strength of open source Linux computer operating system software.
Defining the pros and cons of the Linux open source computer operating system depends on any of a number of variables , benefits and advantages of each and every different as well as distinct computer user as well as the functions , uses and settings of each and every different computer user. It’s as if the computer hardware expert Douglas Heppenstall asks prospective computer users and buyers “What is it that you want to use your new computer for?”
Linux affords and offers a number of distinct as well as beneficial advantages to computer systems and computer users.
First of al Linux offers true multitasking. Linux will definitely run a large number of computer programs at the same time, and with great stability. Remember that a computer browser is a program. An office suite another. A media player, disc burning, and media players / centers are all different and distinct programs. Linux can run any of a number of different computer programs all at the same time, smoothly and without crashing or coming to a crawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwl.
Depending on the pros and cons of Linux should you try it out ? There are various stories of myth of computer experts whose parents or friends told them to install the newest Microsoft operating system (O.S.) on their computer - either Microsoft (Windowed) Vista or Windows XP whereupon the young person installed a popular Linux distro - Ubuntu Linux or something similar. The users were reported to have marveled at the beauty and simplicity of the operating system at how bright and smart Bill Gates and the Microsoft team were.
The question becomes - how long would this situation last if there was not tech support in terms of the neighbor / relative / teenager or other family member geek. Would the linux continued to run smoothly and troublefree without 24/7 support. Windows may not be perfect but at least its meant for the masses in terms of overall durability and the numbers games. That is most of the windows components be it the wireless utlity or whaterver are like vanila and very scaled down. 1/10 of 1 % of windows users is more than a deluge of calls. It only took the smallest , insignificant problem in a car line to be tranferred into real life statistics of auto users to be called a lemon. Its similar to microsoft windows . Its been field tested to a great degree- often users , who purchase the product , are beta testers to the greatest extent. By the time most computers users receive and use their copies of Microsoft windows its been battle tested and in most cases will run - or if not in most cases its the knob behind the keyboard.
