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Windows -> Linux move. Whats my best bet?
- Thread starter rain2k4
- Start date
The absolute easiest way of getting Linux running on AMD64 bit is to go out and buy SuSE professional 9.0 for AMD64 proccessors.
It's a 120 dollars. You get all the special doo-dads and active support to get it working if something screws up or you need help. All brand new stuff designed for the home user.
I don't think they have a free ftp download/install for x86-64. Just for a 8.2beta version.
Redhat's 64bit offering is aimed for enterprise users and higher-end stuff. It's 792 dollars for their version.
Other Linux distros are working on ports. More will be out in the next few months.
edit
Oh, TurboLinux 8 is aviable in x86_64 form. 99 bucks with support, 69 without support. I don't have any exeriance with using this Distro, so I don't know. Personally I like Suse
Mandrake had a version of their 9.0 that was amd64-native, but I can't find it. Should be out their. It's not aviable for free install either, though. Maybe they decided to put off actively distributing a 64-bit version untill they get their 9.2 version going.
It's a 120 dollars. You get all the special doo-dads and active support to get it working if something screws up or you need help. All brand new stuff designed for the home user.
I don't think they have a free ftp download/install for x86-64. Just for a 8.2beta version.
Redhat's 64bit offering is aimed for enterprise users and higher-end stuff. It's 792 dollars for their version.
Other Linux distros are working on ports. More will be out in the next few months.
edit
Oh, TurboLinux 8 is aviable in x86_64 form. 99 bucks with support, 69 without support. I don't have any exeriance with using this Distro, so I don't know. Personally I like Suse
Mandrake had a version of their 9.0 that was amd64-native, but I can't find it. Should be out their. It's not aviable for free install either, though. Maybe they decided to put off actively distributing a 64-bit version untill they get their 9.2 version going.
Barnaby W. Füi
Elite Member
Linux is free. Free as in Freedom.
Not free as in no money.
How ya suppose to make money off of something that you give away? 😛
What makes Linux free is the GPL liscence. This is a liscence that governs what you are allowed to do with your software.
You can sell it, change it, give away copies yourself, rewrite it, put it in other programs as long as that code is free too.
If you sell it you have to give away the source code at no cost, but you can charge for the distribution of it. Like for instance you can charge people for the cost of the CD's if you mail the code to them, but you can't do it at a profit.
That's the SOURCE CODE only. After it's compiled and put into binaries they can sell it for what ever price they feel like. But fundamentally the programs will still be free since you can download the code and compile them yourself.
It's more designed so that you can make a profit from your programming, but when a person gets your program they have FULL access to it. They can change it, modify it, and give it out to their friends, even charge them for it if they like, but then they would be forced to distribute the source code themselves.
The confusion is caused by the dual nature of the english word "free". Free as in the liberty and all that. ANd then the word free as in a 100% percent off sale.
Most companies give away free (no cost) installs just as a public service. Redhat is now supporting the Fedora project and that's were you can get the free version of REdhat from now on. SuSE has the free ftp install, and mandrake has the free ISO install images.
Of course after you receive the CD's if you choose to buy, you can give them out for free yourself on the internet, perfectly legal just as long as you make sure to leave out the unfree (freedom) parts. Lots of little distros do that all the time.
What you miss out from not buying the offical versions of Linux is the tech support (something doesn't work, you call a number, they tell you what to do) and the little programs that due to liscencing issues just can't be given away for no cost.
Free (no cost) stuff is something nice they do so that you can get new customers and make it easier for people to switch to linux.
Once AMD 64 gets more common you will have free distros like Debian (100% free in every sense of the word) which they make sure that their are no liscencing issues before hand. Unfortunatly they require a large base of users/developers on their free time to work on porting and troubleshooting the new platform. So it takes a bit longer, but progress is already underway.
Companies like Redhat and SuSE have the pleasure with working together with the bignames in the computer hardware world to make their stuff work with new hardware. Companies like Intel, IBM, AMD, even Apple take active part in working on parts of the operating system. They have full time employees dedicated towards developing linux.
This leads to the rapid developement and constant improvements. And since the nature of the GPL source code everyone gets to benifit from these developements in software technology.
I am about the closest you can find to a hardcore capitolist. So you have to understand were I am coming from.
You can go in a download the source code for the entire OS if you want to from Redhat FTP servers (some people actually do that) and then build it up and design my own OS around that. However if Redhat/Suse puts the effort into developing, designing, and compiling the OS themselves and make it into a form that is easy to use, I don't mind realy paying for it.
However right now I use Debian so all that is mute 🙂
If you don't want to pay for it, you can get the x86 versions that will run perfectly well in 32 bit mode on x86_64 platforms. The free (no cost) versions will be aviable for downloads and installs eventually, and even if companies like Redhat decide not do distribute them then their will be plenty of others to do so in their place at no cost to you. So don't worry.
You just asked for the easiest way. And paying 120$ is by far the easiest way, Right Now.
🙂
Not free as in no money.
How ya suppose to make money off of something that you give away? 😛
What makes Linux free is the GPL liscence. This is a liscence that governs what you are allowed to do with your software.
You can sell it, change it, give away copies yourself, rewrite it, put it in other programs as long as that code is free too.
If you sell it you have to give away the source code at no cost, but you can charge for the distribution of it. Like for instance you can charge people for the cost of the CD's if you mail the code to them, but you can't do it at a profit.
That's the SOURCE CODE only. After it's compiled and put into binaries they can sell it for what ever price they feel like. But fundamentally the programs will still be free since you can download the code and compile them yourself.
It's more designed so that you can make a profit from your programming, but when a person gets your program they have FULL access to it. They can change it, modify it, and give it out to their friends, even charge them for it if they like, but then they would be forced to distribute the source code themselves.
The confusion is caused by the dual nature of the english word "free". Free as in the liberty and all that. ANd then the word free as in a 100% percent off sale.
Most companies give away free (no cost) installs just as a public service. Redhat is now supporting the Fedora project and that's were you can get the free version of REdhat from now on. SuSE has the free ftp install, and mandrake has the free ISO install images.
Of course after you receive the CD's if you choose to buy, you can give them out for free yourself on the internet, perfectly legal just as long as you make sure to leave out the unfree (freedom) parts. Lots of little distros do that all the time.
What you miss out from not buying the offical versions of Linux is the tech support (something doesn't work, you call a number, they tell you what to do) and the little programs that due to liscencing issues just can't be given away for no cost.
Free (no cost) stuff is something nice they do so that you can get new customers and make it easier for people to switch to linux.
Once AMD 64 gets more common you will have free distros like Debian (100% free in every sense of the word) which they make sure that their are no liscencing issues before hand. Unfortunatly they require a large base of users/developers on their free time to work on porting and troubleshooting the new platform. So it takes a bit longer, but progress is already underway.
Companies like Redhat and SuSE have the pleasure with working together with the bignames in the computer hardware world to make their stuff work with new hardware. Companies like Intel, IBM, AMD, even Apple take active part in working on parts of the operating system. They have full time employees dedicated towards developing linux.
This leads to the rapid developement and constant improvements. And since the nature of the GPL source code everyone gets to benifit from these developements in software technology.
I am about the closest you can find to a hardcore capitolist. So you have to understand were I am coming from.
You can go in a download the source code for the entire OS if you want to from Redhat FTP servers (some people actually do that) and then build it up and design my own OS around that. However if Redhat/Suse puts the effort into developing, designing, and compiling the OS themselves and make it into a form that is easy to use, I don't mind realy paying for it.
However right now I use Debian so all that is mute 🙂
If you don't want to pay for it, you can get the x86 versions that will run perfectly well in 32 bit mode on x86_64 platforms. The free (no cost) versions will be aviable for downloads and installs eventually, and even if companies like Redhat decide not do distribute them then their will be plenty of others to do so in their place at no cost to you. So don't worry.
You just asked for the easiest way. And paying 120$ is by far the easiest way, Right Now.
🙂
umm.. that post was way to long.
In summary:
Linux is free because the GPL liscence says so.
GPL software governs how the original source code is handled.
You can give it away, you can sell it, you can use it in your own GPL'd programs, you can modify it.
If you sell it, though you have to give it away for free. (the source code that is.)
Redhat/Suse can sell it because they put lots of time and effort into developing the software and overall OS. Plus they have some programs that are non-free included. Plus when you buy it you also buy tech support. They make it easy.
They still give away the source code for free, non-the-less. So others can make there own distros and give that away for free (no cost).
Redhat, Suse and others give away free installs on x86 because they are nice and want more people using linux and want people to like them. When x86_64 get more common they will do the same with that, too.
Meanwhile distros like Debian and Gentoo will come out with free (no cost) AMD64 versions in the somewhat near future.
In summary:
Linux is free because the GPL liscence says so.
GPL software governs how the original source code is handled.
You can give it away, you can sell it, you can use it in your own GPL'd programs, you can modify it.
If you sell it, though you have to give it away for free. (the source code that is.)
Redhat/Suse can sell it because they put lots of time and effort into developing the software and overall OS. Plus they have some programs that are non-free included. Plus when you buy it you also buy tech support. They make it easy.
They still give away the source code for free, non-the-less. So others can make there own distros and give that away for free (no cost).
Redhat, Suse and others give away free installs on x86 because they are nice and want more people using linux and want people to like them. When x86_64 get more common they will do the same with that, too.
Meanwhile distros like Debian and Gentoo will come out with free (no cost) AMD64 versions in the somewhat near future.
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