Wich linux should I use?

[constantoo]

try ubuntu which i now use

[Solar]

Actually, if you are looking for minimum maintenance, maximum out-of-the-box functionality, I'd go for Linux Mint. Effectively an Ubuntu base (including using their .dep repository), with some parts added that Ubuntu doesn't ship by default (non-free codecs, for example) and streamlined for maximum out-of-the-box enjoyment.

I was pretty stunned to see it support suspend-to-RAM, suspend-to-DISK, my laptop's hotkeys, all audio and video formats I have on my hard drive etc. right away.

Well, I had to install G++ manually, but you can't have everything.

[gravaera]

Up until a few months ago I struggled with windows, slow, heavy, and blue screens. If you suggest slackware I will look into it.

This is honestly one thing I will never understand: how it is that people manage to find ways to make their Windows PCs generate so many blue screen errors. I get those only when about the third year into any laptop's overall lifespan when the HDD is beginning to see corruption. (Maxtor...yeah )

I mean: you hear people taking and saying things like: "Windows is so unstable." And yet I've never had any real problems with my windows that couldn't be fixed without much trouble. The biggest argument people bring out against Windows is ZOMG!!! BSOD!!!. But yet I cant even remember the last time I got that.

I don't use Antivirus software or antispyware software. Those are all a farce. It's a big conspiracy. I firmly believe that the Av companies have something to do with the number of viruses online. I am actually able to detect and delete my own viruses myself (I know: you don't believe me). All I use is a firewall: Zone alarm Pro does it great for me. And I'm NEVER infected.

I don't EVER have to clean and reinstall.

I honestly think that the reason people get so much trouble is that they browse all the wrong sites on the internet. *cough*porn*cough* People say: "Windows is $h!t. My PC crashed."

What he didn't tell you was the end of the sentence: "...after I clicked on some 'singles' ad on an obscure website."

I'm not trying to start a flame war, but I think that Windows really isn't that bad. I like both Windows and Linux, since both have their upsides. As long as you're nice to your windows, you won't experience any problems. Same goes for Linux. I don't believe that Linux is innately better than Windows.

[Solar]

The biggest argument people bring out against Windows is ZOMG!!! BSOD!!!. But yet I cant even remember the last time I got that.

Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you aren't. I remember the office PC at my last job that reproducably BSOD'ed: Copy from IE, paste into MS Word, hit "Print", BSOD. Faulty drivers, bad apps, it's easy to destabilize your system to the point where it starts BSOD'ing.

To be honest, though, I've had about as many deadlocked Linux systems as I've had BSOD'ed Windows boxes.

I don't use Antivirus software or antispyware software. Those are all a farce. It's a big conspiracy. I firmly believe that the Av companies have something to do with the number of viruses online.

Bull.

I am actually able to detect and delete my own viruses myself (I know: you don't believe me). All I use is a firewall: Zone alarm Pro does it great for me. And I'm NEVER infected.

Strongly depends on what you do. I do only ever surf the same dozen-or-so websites. I don't even open mail that doesn't ring a bell either through its subject or its sender. I don't download little-known software from the web. I've never been infected either.

But it is very easy to become infected. Surfing responsibly is a strong countermeasure, but better safe than sorry. Oh, and Zone Alarm Pro is just as much a placebo as most of the "mainstream desktop" tools in that department. It helps, a little, but mostly it makes you feel safe.

I don't EVER have to clean and reinstall.

You are the greatest. I marvel at your leet skillz.

As long as you're nice to your windows, you won't experience any problems.

If you're lucky, your hardware is well-supported, and you don't have any special requirements as far as software is concerned...

I don't believe that Linux is innately better than Windows.

QFT. Nor is it innately worse.

[gravaera]

The biggest argument people bring out against Windows is ZOMG!!! BSOD!!!. But yet I cant even remember the last time I got that.

Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you aren't. I remember the office PC at my last job that reproducably BSOD'ed: Copy from IE, paste into MS Word, hit "Print", BSOD. Faulty drivers, bad apps, it's easy to destabilize your system to the point where it starts BSOD'ing.

To be honest, though, I've had about as many deadlocked Linux systems as I've had BSOD'ed Windows boxes.

I don't use Antivirus software or antispyware software. Those are all a farce. It's a big conspiracy. I firmly believe that the Av companies have something to do with the number of viruses online.

Bull.

I don't EVER have to clean and reinstall.

You are the greatest. I marvel at your leet skillz.

As long as you're nice to your windows, you won't experience any problems.

If you're lucky, your hardware is well-supported, and you don't have any special requirements as far as software is concerned...

I don't believe that Linux is innately better than Windows.

QFT. Nor is it innately worse.

Lol. I didn't mean to come off that way, honestly. I just think people talk down too much on Windows when they have no real reason to.

You don't believe it's a conspiracy? I honestly do. Why is it that anyone with half a brain can handle viruses themselves? There really isn't any NEED for AV. I mean: honestly.

And although the AV companies may not directly go about financing, or encouraging crackers, I do think they try to make too much out of what isn't really that much.

Every year, there's the new version of McAfee, or AVG or Norton. And they fade out updates for older versions. But it's generally the same program. All it does is scans streams (consuming ungodly amounts of CPU time) and detects certain patterns based on what kinds of actions the virus exhibits.

Yet they have so many versions that they've officially decided that versioning by release number is a waste of time: now it's V2008 and V2009. I mean: honestly: come on.

And I don't doubt that if things got bad, you would hear about some new super hax virus that just makes the whole world stop. I believe, if nothing else, that at least the 'Y2K' bug was a conception of the AV company malice.

That's just me though.

[frank]

I still think there's a need for real antivirus software. You may be able to spot malware and not open it but there are many many people who use computers who just don't have a clue. Here's a site with a lot of funny examples http://rinkworks.com/stupid/

People are just too trusting with computers, you've had a "Warning your computer has a virus click here to remove it" things pop up before. A lot of people are going to believe it and bam they have a virus. Another thing I've noticed is people like to blame everything on viruses when it really truly is their own stupidity. "I can't find the file I just deleted I must have a virus". Having a working antivirus on their computer lets you say no you just messed up stop blaming the computer.

[fronty]

I think Stallman is right in one thing, or at least had it right 25 (24?) years ago.

Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential features of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what Unix lacks without spoiling them.

I think Unices and clones are the best you can get at the moment but not nearly perfect. My system of choice for PC is FreeBSD or other modern flavor of BSD. I think the biggest problems in (GNU/)Linux are annoying preaching linuxists and distributions; I haven't found any distro that just 'feels right'.

[Coty]

I haven't found any distro that just 'feels right'.

It took me about a month to get used to Ubuntu, but I am used to it now, and I dun wana go back

[frank]

I liked Ubuntu but it just didn't do it for me. I don't know exactly what it was but it just didn't feel right and I switched back to windows. That and I had to fiddle with it a bunch to get my sound card to work correctly. I'll try again or try Linux Mint the next release cycle.

[Coty]

I under stand how that is, I had to install mad wifi (a pain in the neck to install) unlil the Ubuntu 9.04 release, also, you probibly missed the start menu, and the EXEs

[Firestryke31]

I think that, so far, the most annoying problem I have with Ubuntu is that it won't do dual-screen properly. I got it partially working at one point but it was terribly slow. Windows gets it perfect, Mac OS X mostly gets it right, but Ubuntu is the only one that can't handle it (on my setup). All of the guides I've seen are for people with 2 of the same screen, but since I have a laptop they don't work all that well for me.

I also dislike the "standard" development method on Linux. Windows has VC++, Mac has XCode, Linux has AutoHell.

These are the 2 primary issues I have with Linux (and specifically Ubuntu), and while there are others, they're mostly due to using Windows for 15 years. I love the package management, it's nice to be able to automatically scan everything I've installed and see what can be updated.

[Coty]

ahh yes, I miss the dual screen option but I mainly only program, or play with hardware....

[Solar]

Why is it that anyone with half a brain can handle viruses themselves?

1) Realize how stupid the average citizen of your country actually is.

2) Realize that fully half of them is worse.

Computers have become a commodity. If you look beyond the rim of your hacker group, IT department or LAN party gang, you will realize that over 90% of all computers worldwide are used by people who don't have a clue what a "port" is, or even that there are ways to hide files in your file system.

My sister can't handle viruses. My stepmother can't. My wife, who's a fully trained software developer in her own right, can't. Hell, in my team of seven, at work, I doubt there's a single one who could handle a virus without the aid of AV software, including me. (Because I never bothered to learn about it as there is software to handle the problem for me.)

Yet they have so many versions that they've officially decided that versioning by release number is a waste of time: now it's V2008 and V2009. I mean: honestly: come on.

Versioning by release number has been phased out in the Windows world ever since Windows 95 and Office 97. That has nothing to do with AV software.

And I don't doubt that if things got bad, you would hear about some new super hax virus that just makes the whole world stop.

Viruses aren't about "making the whole world stop". They aren't even about disturbing your workflow, which is why chances are good people don't even realize they are infected.

Viruses today are mostly about turning your system into a zombie, a member of a bot-net that can be used to churn out spam mails or run DDoS attacks at the whim of the one controlling the bot-net. Those are services that are sold by the bot-net controllers. And the less publicity they get, the better for them.

I believe, if nothing else, that at least the 'Y2K' bug was a conception of the AV company malice.

You are absolutely, and completely, wrong.

[gravaera]

*Shrug*. I realize that my superstition isn't sitting too well. That doesn't change my end, though. I suppose this is where we just agree to disagree.

With reference to the paragraph where I talked about a virus that would 'make the whole world stop', it was an exaggeration I know about zombie computers.

I suppose I was ambiguous about the principle behind my dislike of AV companies. Viruses are just programs. Antivirus companies have mystified the whole concept to make it seem like Viruses are like...little gods that just mesmerize your computer into a daze of non-productivity.

While the layman's stupidity is not entirely his or her fault, it is slightly disconcerting to see a whole industry founded on the ignorance of the masses. It's about the fact that they've made themselves seem like a purely vital, critical part of an operating system. So much so that OSs (Windows mainly) are shipped with AntiVirus software, and any computer that doesn't have any is like a malady in and of itself.

I think if I were one of the directing members of the Microsoft Team, I would push for coders to write more detailed code, with more emphasis on code efficiency and stability.

Microsoft's own laziness to do a real, ground up overhaul of their OS design makes them, so it seems, accept to have AV become a crucial part of their OS. Although to be fair, going over the large portions of code in the kernel would result in a Team-Oriented approach, and that would just lead to more bad code, since most Dev Teams do not think about the overall, total, in-essence complete System while doing their module.

This is caused by the abstract way that Dev Teams are handed the specifications for what they need to do.

It's a whole net of problems, and it cannot be solved by MS is its current state.

[quote=Solar]
You are absolutely, and completely, wrong.
[/quote]
I was aware of the odds. I just personally believe so. The belief is an aggregate of my scruple-base for coding. It helps culture a certain approach to coding which I believe is best, if not the best, for coding. My stance on AV runs far deeper than I've stated.

Anyway: point: I don't like the idea of using AV. So I scorn it on principle.

[frank]

The current windows kernel, which is based on the NT kernel, is probably one of the greatest things Microsoft's ever produced. The kernel is not the problem, its the crap that is layered over top of the kernel. One of the biggest flaws of Windows's design has been placing so many things in RING 0 in order to get a little bit more speed. Once the code base gets large enough it becomes next to impossible to write bug free programs. There are a lot more people in this world looking for exploits to exploit then there are exploits to fix. So if you don't like Microsoft or Windows don't use it and don't complain about the fact that there are 100,000 people looking for ways to hack windows and 40 looking for ways to hack everything else.