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Linux?

P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Could someone give me a reason to download and install Linux? I have been a Windows user and have not had any problems with it, and I was wondering if I should give Linux a try. I use my computer for software development, gaming, word processing, etc... Is there a reson I should use Linux? If so, could someone reccommend a distro that would work nicely with my setup:

P4 2.0A @ 2.0
Intel D850MVL
640 MB PC800 RDRAM
Visiontek GeForce4 Ti4600
Creative Ovation 16x DVD-ROM
TDK VeloCD 40/12/48B

Thanks for your help.
 
If you have broadband and a spare machine. You could use linux and apache as a personal web server for family and friends. That's what I did. It's great for sharing photo's with family...
 
Linux is an excellent software developement platform. Every distro comes with a C/C++ compiler and a couple of VC++ like IDE's are available.
Word processing is also well supported with Star Office, Open Office, etc....
Gaming isn't up to Windows snuff.
Before you decide to try it you need to know that Linux isn't Windows and never will be.
You need to decide to spend the time neccesary to learn it. It's a very powerful OS and ultimately way more configurable and secure than Windows.
If you've got the time and patience give it a try.
 
Tiger, will the programs made in the Linux C/C++ compiler run in a windows based machine, or vice versa? Also, I like your sig, and could you recommend a distro?
 
You'll want to try Linux if you've ever wanted to have your own server, or you want to learn UNIX.

If you're looking for something simple just for gaming and word processing, however, you probably won't want to bother installing it.

Anyway, Mandrake, Red Hat, and Caldera are good distros for Linux newbies.
 
KraziKid,
Platform independence of executables wriiten on a Linux system probably depends on the libs used to compile it.
I'm just learning myself so somebody else with more experience should chime in here.
For an easily installed first linux distro you can do a lot worse than Mandrake 8.2.
I'd also suggest getting "Running Linux" 3rd ed. by Matt Welsh and Lar Kauffman. It's an O'Reilly book and a good distro independent resource for beginers.

 
Originally posted by: KraziKid
Tiger, will the programs made in the Linux C/C++ compiler run in a windows based machine, or vice versa? Also, I like your sig, and could you recommend a distro?
Click to expand...

You can't run a binary compiled with gcc in linux on windows. Meaning, if you compile the binary in linux, it won't work in windows. However, if you write the source code so that it doesn't use linux specific features, then you can compile it on windows without a problem.

I would reccomend Mandrake or Red Hat to someone just starting out. Its better to have the hardware setup taken care of for you on your first try so that you can focus on learning the actual operating system than to have to get your hardware working while trying to figure out how the OS is laid out. Mandrake takes care of most of the hardware for you (it should take care of almost everything).

I second the "Running Linux" Reccomendation. Very good introduction and overview of the OS, as well as how to do a lot of stuff. Keep in mind, the book is rather old, and some of its information (the X configuration and samba config stuff come to my mind right now) are no longer applicable to their respective programs.

 
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