New to Linux please help!?!?!?! Noob Linux Q's.

[bw2314]

Okay I've always used Windows but recently I've wanted to try something new for my newbuilt system. As I type Linux-Mandrake is downloading and I've heard numerous times that Linux is faster and more stable than Windows but that's really all I know. Please you people know more than me I would like to be enlightened on the Pro's and Con's of Linux and how it fares against Windows!

 

[Alptraum]

About the only thing I think Windows has over Linux for personal use is gaming, Office Apps (there are a number of good opes for Linux out there, but some times you just have to use MS stuff for compatibility with work and so on), and sometimes drivers for brand new hardware.

It really depends on what you want to do, and your question is open ended enough its hard to answer (at least for me, heh). Linux has some great stuff = want to make your desktop an FTP? No Problem. Same with a web server. And other stuff like that.

For the non computer literate (or even those not familiar with anything beyond Wondows) Linux can have a steep learnign curve. Bascially just install it and play around and get used to it. There is all kinds of helpful info built into most Linux distros (the man command for instance) that will help you get around. And plenty of websites as well.

Have fun, its a great OS.

 

[cypriot]

Linux rocks... I used to use Mandrake 8.2... Interface is great and unlike what alptraum said, office applications on linux is pretty good. OpenOffice is a really good replacement for Microsoft Office. In fact I use openOffice on my windows 2k too. I think the only disadvantage of linux is that it's really tough at first. You need to know your hardware. It's not like clicking next > next > next and installing the OS. But then again, its a perfect OS for learning by playing.

I love the kill funtion on linux. You double click on kill icon and then select the program you want to kill, and bang it's gone... I killed my start menu once, when I was a n00b to linux and I couldn't get it back up again... I was so pissed and I had to restart.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: cypriot
I love the kill funtion on linux. You double click on kill icon and then select the program you want to kill, and bang it's gone... I killed my start menu once, when I was a n00b to linux and I couldn't get it back up again... I was so pissed and I had to restart.

That kill icon has been removed from the desktop in Mdk 9.x but is still available with Ctrl+Alt+Esc. It will definitely kill any (gui-based) program that has crashed (or not) so it is very handy (and potentially destructive 😉).

I am running Mdk 9.2 now and I love it. The only problem I have with it is an occassional system lockup on my NForce2-based system (don't know yet if it affects the original NForce chipset also), but I am sure it will be fixed soon in an update. Otherwise check the MandrakeClub Forums for any other issues you might have.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: cypriot
Linux rocks... I used to use Mandrake 8.2... Interface is great and unlike what alptraum said, office applications on linux is pretty good. OpenOffice is a really good replacement for Microsoft Office. In fact I use openOffice on my windows 2k too. I think the only disadvantage of linux is that it's really tough at first. You need to know your hardware. It's not like clicking next > next > next and installing the OS. But then again, its a perfect OS for learning by playing.

I love the kill funtion on linux. You double click on kill icon and then select the program you want to kill, and bang it's gone... I killed my start menu once, when I was a n00b to linux and I couldn't get it back up again... I was so pissed and I had to restart.

You're referring to xkill, which is just an X utility. It's not a linux function or even an OS function. kill the command is something very different.

 

[drag]

Yep. The command is kill and it goes by pid numbers.
Say mozilla froze, you open a terminal and do a ps -A.

Look for the mozilla-bin entry and if it's pid number is 8332 for instance then try:
kill 8332

Wait a sec and do another ps -A

if it's still their then try a
kill -9 8332

Which is a harsher kill command. If it goes away then it may turn into a zombie proccess. Something that just is dead, but won't go away. It doesn't use any system resources but it may be irritating to see it all the time.

You can also use killall and that goes by program name
killall mozilla-bin

And that is easier to use sometimes.

 

[Alptraum]

Originally posted by: cypriot
Linux rocks... I used to use Mandrake 8.2... Interface is great and unlike what alptraum said, office applications on linux is pretty good. OpenOffice is a really good replacement for Microsoft Office. In fact I use openOffice on my windows 2k too. I think the only disadvantage of linux is that it's really tough at first. You need to know your hardware. It's not like clicking next > next > next and installing the OS. But then again, its a perfect OS for learning by playing.

I love the kill funtion on linux. You double click on kill icon and then select the program you want to kill, and bang it's gone... I killed my start menu once, when I was a n00b to linux and I couldn't get it back up again... I was so pissed and I had to restart.

I didn't mean to imply that Open Office and such were no good. I think Its a good program. Sometimes I and many others I know just need to us MS Office for various work related compatibility issues.

 

[Nothinman]

Which is a harsher kill command. If it goes away then it may turn into a zombie proccess. Something that just is dead, but won't go away. It doesn't use any system resources but it may be irritating to see it all the time.

It does use resources, it's still there isn't it? But there's no way to force it gone, eventually it will become a child of init and init continually calls wait() just to get rid of zombies so it should go away eventually but if it doesn't the only way to get rid of it would be a reboot.