What can Linux do that Windows XP cant?

[Maximilian]

Ive ran linux, the ubuntu version of it, it seemed nice, no real problems as i didnt really try much on it, i knew games wouldnt work, and microsoft office xp hahaha, would NEVER work.

I figure if you stick a new skin on windows to make it look like linux, you've got linux right there! What does it do better? What does it do that windows cant do at all? How does the filing system stack up against NTFS?

Just for the record i dont consider "ITS FREEEE" to be an advantage.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Stability and usability. With linux, you can have it do whatever you want without having to rely on these "tweak" apps. In addition, you can upgrade to the latest distro by running the update manager; now you don't have to buy XP pro to upgrade from home. :roll:

EDIT : In addition to that; Linux runs great on lower-end systems, it's not a ressource hogs like some operating systems. *cough windows*

 

[wetcat007]

I think what it doesn't do would be a better way of looking at it. It doesn't get infected with spyware and viruses(well it's possible but not compared to windows) it doesn't phone home everyday. It doesn't crash as much.

Ubuntu is the first linux distribution that really really impressed me. It's great.

BTW just install openoffice, similar to MS office

 

[n0cmonkey]

This applies to both Linux and the BSDs, and probably (Open)Solaris too.
Strong, secure, useful VPN out of the box.
Strong, secure, fully customizable firewall out of the box.
Useful, strong, secure host intrusion detection engines out of the box.
Connect to servers using strong, secure, and useful connections (OpenSSH) out of the box.
Monitor and manipulate logs of one or more systems easily and in an automated fashion out of the box.
Modify parts of the system that you believe could be better.
Use one disk on many systems without having to pay for a license on each.
Use the same install disc for servers and desktops.
High level routing operations are a snap and utilize programs already installed.
Sniff network traffic using standardized tools out of the box.
Stream and display media out of the box.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Go fast. Disney uses Linux because it's %75 faster. I'm gonna try Ubuntu today.

 

[Hyperblaze]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Ive ran linux, the ubuntu version of it, it seemed nice, no real problems as i didnt really try much on it, i knew games wouldnt work, and microsoft office xp hahaha, would NEVER work.

I figure if you stick a new skin on windows to make it look like linux, you've got linux right there! What does it do better? What does it do that windows cant do at all? How does the filing system stack up against NTFS?

Just for the record i dont consider "ITS FREEEE" to be an advantage.

Say what?!?!?

Check out cross over office. Your igorance astonishes me. At least make an attempt to do some research before making wild claims.

Edit: you don't consider it being "free" to be an advantage?

You mean you would like your IT department to pay hundrends in licenses fees while it could of gone into other useful things like better hardware?

You like having to worry about Viruses and spyware?

And don't give me the "anti-virus" software makes you worry free about Viruses. A proper operating system shouldn't even need an anti-virus software

Honestly, it's really user prefence when it comes to it. Does Linux fit your needs better then Windows? If yes, then go down that path. If windows fits your needs better then Linux (while I do feel sorry for you), then go down that path.

And if you don't care about all the advantages of Linux and just like using Windows blindly without a care in the world, I'm more then willing to help you clean the crap out of your computer when it goes broke. My fee is 200 / hr.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: LoKe
Stability and usability.

I've had Ubuntu and Kubuntu crash much more often on me than XP has. Just like XP, the crashes are rarely due to the OS itself, but more whatever crap you've installed.

In addition to that; Linux runs great on lower-end systems, it's not a ressource hogs like some operating systems. *cough windows*

Again, not entirely true. Kubuntu (KDE) quickly uses much more memory than XP does. And if you have some really nice themes (like embassy), your system really starts to choke.

 

[Canterwood]

Tux racer ftw.

 

[Nothinman]

How does the filing system stack up against NTFS?

The filing system? There are at least 3 main filesystems supported by Linux, ext3, Reiserfs and XFS. Personally, I avoid Reiserfs at all costs because every time I've used it I've ran into problems but other people seem to use it just fine. I put XFS wherever possible it seems faster than ext3. Frankly all of them are just as good, if not better than NTFS if for no other reason than they don't need defragmenting. Sure there's some fragmentation, it's unavoidable, but you'll never notice it in normal usage like you will with Windows.

Just for the record i dont consider "ITS FREEEE" to be an advantage.

You should, the ability to change the source code without any restrictions is huge. Science is where it is today because scientists share their results freely in order to get input from other scientists and Linux is the same way. Everyone in the world is free to participate equally.

Again, not entirely true. Kubuntu (KDE) quickly uses much more memory than XP does. And if you have some really nice themes (like embassy), your system really starts to choke.

He said Linux runs well on lower systems, not KDE. KDE and Gnome are known to be memory hogs, if you use something lighter like Enlightenment, Blackbox, WindowMaker, etc it'll run just fine.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: LoKe
Stability and usability.

I've had Ubuntu and Kubuntu crash much more often on me than XP has. Just like XP, the crashes are rarely due to the OS itself, but more whatever crap you've installed.

In addition to that; Linux runs great on lower-end systems, it's not a ressource hogs like some operating systems. *cough windows*

Again, not entirely true. Kubuntu (KDE) quickly uses much more memory than XP does. And if you have some really nice themes (like embassy), your system really starts to choke.

I can personally say that I've never used Kubuntu. Even Gnome will run on nearly anything, and that's a lot more eyecandy than other distros. =]

 

[OSX]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Ive ran linux, the ubuntu version of it, it seemed nice, no real problems as i didnt really try much on it, i knew games wouldnt work, and microsoft office xp hahaha, would NEVER work.

I figure if you stick a new skin on windows to make it look like linux, you've got linux right there! What does it do better? What does it do that windows cant do at all? How does the filing system stack up against NTFS?

Just for the record i dont consider "ITS FREEEE" to be an advantage.

Games do work, as does office xp. Obviously, you know roughly nothing about linux, so thus this entire thread is quickly explained.

Linux's package managment is infinitely better than that of Windows. Looking up something on Google, downloading it and then running a non-standard installer isn't package managment. It's a waste of time.

You can't make something look like Linux. Linux is just a kernel, you can make it look like Gnome or KDE, or any other WM/DE.

 

[dealseaker]

Originally posted by: OSX

Originally posted by: Soviet
Ive ran linux, the ubuntu version of it, it seemed nice, no real problems as i didnt really try much on it, i knew games wouldnt work, and microsoft office xp hahaha, would NEVER work.

I figure if you stick a new skin on windows to make it look like linux, you've got linux right there! What does it do better? What does it do that windows cant do at all? How does the filing system stack up against NTFS?

Just for the record i dont consider "ITS FREEEE" to be an advantage.

Games do work, as does office xp. Obviously, you know roughly nothing about linux, so thus this entire thread is quickly explained.

Linux's package managment is infinitely better than that of Windows. Looking up something on Google, downloading it and then running a non-standard installer isn't package managment. It's a waste of time.

You can't make something look like Linux. Linux is just a kernel, you can make it look like Gnome or KDE, or any other WM/DE.

I know nothing about Linux, but am looking in to it, trying to figure out what to download seems to be hard for me right now, there is so much, I don't know which one to pick. any link to a download/reference would be nice for me

 

[Hyperblaze]

Originally posted by: dealseaker

Originally posted by: OSX

Originally posted by: Soviet
Ive ran linux, the ubuntu version of it, it seemed nice, no real problems as i didnt really try much on it, i knew games wouldnt work, and microsoft office xp hahaha, would NEVER work.

I figure if you stick a new skin on windows to make it look like linux, you've got linux right there! What does it do better? What does it do that windows cant do at all? How does the filing system stack up against NTFS?

Just for the record i dont consider "ITS FREEEE" to be an advantage.

Games do work, as does office xp. Obviously, you know roughly nothing about linux, so thus this entire thread is quickly explained.

Linux's package managment is infinitely better than that of Windows. Looking up something on Google, downloading it and then running a non-standard installer isn't package managment. It's a waste of time.

You can't make something look like Linux. Linux is just a kernel, you can make it look like Gnome or KDE, or any other WM/DE.

I know nothing about Linux, but am looking in to it, trying to figure out what to download seems to be hard for me right now, there is so much, I don't know which one to pick. any link to a download/reference would be nice for me

for a brand new user, I would recommend knoppix (to get a feeling of what a full package lijnux distribution feels like). The nice thing about knoppix is that it doesn't install on your computer, it just runs off your cdrom.

When you reboot and remove cd from cdrom, it's like it was never there.

If you actually want to have a linux distro installed on your machine. There are several distros geared towards the end user.

Mandrivia used to be one (not sure about now, I haven't touched it in a while)
Fedora Core
Many folks say Ubuntu or Kubuntu (personally I hate the archiecture of that one)

and if you really want to go into the nuts and bolts of linux, you can always go with my personal favorite, Gentoo

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
This applies to both Linux and the BSDs, and probably (Open)Solaris too.
Strong, secure, useful VPN out of the box.
Strong, secure, fully customizable firewall out of the box.
Useful, strong, secure host intrusion detection engines out of the box.
Connect to servers using strong, secure, and useful connections (OpenSSH) out of the box.
Monitor and manipulate logs of one or more systems easily and in an automated fashion out of the box.
Modify parts of the system that you believe could be better.
Use one disk on many systems without having to pay for a license on each.
Use the same install disc for servers and desktops.
High level routing operations are a snap and utilize programs already installed.
Sniff network traffic using standardized tools out of the box.
Stream and display media out of the box.

Also don't forget:
I can carry around my operating system on a keychain, or not.
I can carry around a operating system based off a cdrom, or maybe just hand out install cdroms willy nilly.
I can create as many copies as I feel like and am able to give it away to as many people as I feel like.
I can do company wide rollouts of software without having to pay a dime.. or I can pay if I feel like it and get the support.
And make extensive modifications and improvements to my operating system and publish them online to the benifit of every one else, or not.
I don't have to deal with activation or registration or anything like that if I don't feel like it. Also I don't have to worry about my operating system 'phoning home' unknown to me just because somebody 'forgot' to mention it.
I don't have to join some special club or pay extra in order to get access to fixes quicker then everybody else.
I can upload everything to a bittorrent website without having to worry about being called a pirate.
I can examine the source code AND be able to use any changes I feel like making to it.
etc etc etc.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: dealseaker

Originally posted by: OSX

Originally posted by: Soviet
Ive ran linux, the ubuntu version of it, it seemed nice, no real problems as i didnt really try much on it, i knew games wouldnt work, and microsoft office xp hahaha, would NEVER work.

I figure if you stick a new skin on windows to make it look like linux, you've got linux right there! What does it do better? What does it do that windows cant do at all? How does the filing system stack up against NTFS?

Just for the record i dont consider "ITS FREEEE" to be an advantage.

Games do work, as does office xp. Obviously, you know roughly nothing about linux, so thus this entire thread is quickly explained.

Linux's package managment is infinitely better than that of Windows. Looking up something on Google, downloading it and then running a non-standard installer isn't package managment. It's a waste of time.

You can't make something look like Linux. Linux is just a kernel, you can make it look like Gnome or KDE, or any other WM/DE.

I know nothing about Linux, but am looking in to it, trying to figure out what to download seems to be hard for me right now, there is so much, I don't know which one to pick. any link to a download/reference would be nice for me

If you're new to linux, I'd recommend you start with something light of course. A livecd is ideal. Now there are a ton of livecds out there and each of them have certain qualities about them. I'd recommend a livecd that has a few proprietary stuff in it (like the ability to play mp3 and avi files) and it has to have good hardware support (not crash on nvidia/ati video cards, detect a various amount of wireless cards, etc).

Two distros I'd recommend to the absolute newbie when it comes to linux would have to be SimplyMepis and Kanotix (don't worry Kanotix supports german and english on the livecd). They're extremely easy to use and leave you with a good impression of linux.

Another good distro is Ubuntu, but it won't be able to play your mp3s or play videos without some tweaking. Also it seems to crash two newer nvidia cards I have. Its a great distro overall, but I would only recommend it if you plan on installing it to the hard drive. There are other great livecds to play with too. Try out as many as you like!

So I've told you about the livecds now you just have to put them on a cd. All these distributions will distribute their cds as .iso files. These are image files which hold the data that should be on a cd. All you need to do is:

1) Check the validity of the iso files once you've downloaded them. In the same place you downloaded the iso files from there should be a file that says something like MD5SUMS or something like that. It contains an md5 hash of the image file so you don't go and burn something that's faulty. A good windows program that can check the file for you is called MD5Summer.

2) Once the iso file checks out and is ready to be used, burn the file as an image file. This step is important. Don't drag and drop the iso file to your blank cd in windows. Use a program like Nero (there's an option to "burn as image") or a free burning program like ImgBurn or something else that can burn image files.

Then all you'll have to do is make sure you can boot the media. Usually you can just hit F11 during the POST or setup your boot device order in your BIOS.

And that's all you need to know to start using linux.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: Canterwood
Tux racer ftw.

Lol, tux racer. I would actually recommend Tremulous or Alien Arena 2006 for any linux gamers out there. They're both free and are lots of fun.

 

[magomago]

What is a linux "skin"? There is no such thing! Find me a desktop that is considered pure "LINUX" Aside from shell, I can't think of one

 

[Link19]

I totally agree with the points drag and n0cmonkey made. It can also be configured to be more stable and efficient than Windows can be out of the box. Linux is a great OS. It is even better than Windows XP if only there were native Linux binaries for all games and applications everyone likes to use.

 

[pcgeek11]

Again, not entirely true. Kubuntu (KDE) quickly uses much more memory than XP does. And if you have some really nice themes (like embassy), your system really starts to choke.

Unfair comparison here, Linux uses/reports memory usage differently than Windows.

pcgeek11

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: magomago
What is a linux "skin"? There is no such thing! Find me a desktop that is considered pure "LINUX" Aside from shell, I can't think of one

You can't say aside from the shell, that's cheating. =/

 

[Nothinman]

You can't say aside from the shell, that's cheating. =/

Why not? Gnome, KDE, etc all run on many more OSes than just Linux.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
This applies to both Linux and the BSDs, and probably (Open)Solaris too.
Strong, secure, useful VPN out of the box.
Strong, secure, fully customizable firewall out of the box.
Useful, strong, secure host intrusion detection engines out of the box.
Connect to servers using strong, secure, and useful connections (OpenSSH) out of the box.
Monitor and manipulate logs of one or more systems easily and in an automated fashion out of the box.
Modify parts of the system that you believe could be better.
Use one disk on many systems without having to pay for a license on each.
Use the same install disc for servers and desktops.
High level routing operations are a snap and utilize programs already installed.
Sniff network traffic using standardized tools out of the box.
Stream and display media out of the box.

Also don't forget:
I can carry around my operating system on a keychain, or not.
I can carry around a operating system based off a cdrom, or maybe just hand out install cdroms willy nilly.
I can create as many copies as I feel like and am able to give it away to as many people as I feel like.
I can do company wide rollouts of software without having to pay a dime.. or I can pay if I feel like it and get the support.
And make extensive modifications and improvements to my operating system and publish them online to the benifit of every one else, or not.
I don't have to deal with activation or registration or anything like that if I don't feel like it. Also I don't have to worry about my operating system 'phoning home' unknown to me just because somebody 'forgot' to mention it.
I don't have to join some special club or pay extra in order to get access to fixes quicker then everybody else.
I can upload everything to a bittorrent website without having to worry about being called a pirate.
I can examine the source code AND be able to use any changes I feel like making to it.
etc etc etc.

And high availability firewalls and VPNs.
And mesh network wireless access points.
And play hack without scouring google for an .exe.

And I can do it all on a computer a little smaller than my hand. :evil:

 

[nova2]

these software lists should be explicity mentioned

"The table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux."
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

http://distroguide.box.sk/index.php/Linux_Software

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

You can't say aside from the shell, that's cheating. =/

Why not? Gnome, KDE, etc all run on many more OSes than just Linux.

Oh yah.. Just about any POSIX-style-compliant operating system that has GNU tools ported (which is pretty much all of them still fairly modern) to them can run most of the software Linux can.

OpenBSD,
FreeBSD,
OpenSolaris,
Dragonfly BSD,
OS X,
and a few others.

Then there are odd varients like
GNU/FReebsd Debian port or the Ubuntu/Debian port GNU/OpenSolaris by Nexenta Systems.

Linux has the major advantage of probably being the more technically advanced operating system kernel out there for Free software based Desktop operating systems. It has very good hardware support (probably the best after Windows for desktop-class hardware) and advanced features to aid in making the operating system a bit more user friendly (good preemptive characteristics, advanced hotplug support, and so on and so forth). But it's by no means the only system that is usefull.

Also for non-technical related items it is going to have the largest developer and user base. There is a lot of documentation handy. It has good commercial support and you can get Linux installed on Desktops, Laptops, and Workstations if your willing to go with second teir OEMs or go for the 'professional workstation' class hardware from Dell and other folks.

However Linux isn't perfect and other OS developers are hoping to make a impact themselves. Such as SUN with OpenSolaris (although I expect that it's more for server stuff or traditional unix workstations then anything else)

FreeBSD has a push with their 'Desktop BSD' system which is a desktop-centric FreeBSD distro. There is a commercial one that has gotten good reviews called PC-BSD, but I don't know much about it.

These things have the advantage of avoiding lots of the legal entanglements that Linux has that people complain about. (although certainly if they get popular they will end up with their own issues) Also developers have different minds about technical matters and such that may appeal to different people. People tend to complain about a lack of 'internal ABI' stability in Linux that prevents drivers for one kernel version on one distro from working on a different Linux kernel on a different distro.

With QT4 comming out soon with KDE there is hope among some for a successfull Windows native port of KDE for their next release. This is a bit of a holy grail for some folks, I guess. So that's interesting.

Everything is designed with portability in mind.

Although for a new user I suggest sticking with Linuxes like Ubuntu until you get used to the 'Unix' way of doing things before trying more challenging systems.

However by using Virtual Machine environments like Vmware Player images (they'll run in Windows or Linux equally well (or a bit better in Linux)) or using various 'Live CD' style operating systems trying out alternatives to Windows is easier then ever.

For example if you want to try out Vmware player you can find images at http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/community.html

They include ReactOS (NT Clone), Syllable (non-Unix style GPL'd operating system), Fedora Core, FreeBSD, Redhat, Kanotix, Debian, PC-BSD, OpenBSD, Kubuntu, Suse, Damn Small Linux. Also you can find many more by searching through google or whatnot.

They are fun to play around with.