I am stuck on Windows simply because I need the programs that runs on it. But I want to switch to Linux.
So whats something you can do on Linux that you can't do on Windows?
Programming; not Visual Studio, shitty Windows-based programing, butrealprogramming. Linux is the only option for serious programming and development. The lack of suitable or stable graphics drivers (proprietary drivers,, at least) makes game development limited, though. Still, for databases, networks, and everything, really, Linux is the only option.
Modify the OS; Linux is the only OS (large enough to deserve interest) that is completely open. You can download and modify the Linux kernel, and make your own distro. Mac OSX and Windows are distributed in binary format, already compiled, whereas Linux can be distributed (depending on the distro), and is always available in the source-code format, open for learning, tinkering, and glory.
Hacking; both ethical, and unethical, Linux is the only option. Backtrack, Kali; all of the popular hacking distros are LINUX based. Without Linux, you're stuck with the DRM infested Windows and Mac OSX systems, which are so locked up, that hacking is impossible.
Freedom; you have so many choices of GUIs, interfaces, flavors, versions, and uses. Linux is truly open, unlike everything else.
It's quite an interesting question because it's very hard to just list what is possible on an open source UNIX-based operating system with a modern kernel that is not possible on a closed source archaic operating system that was phased out in the early nineties by IBM, then bought by Microsoft, then patched up/fucked over to present it to the market as Windows NT, then fucked over some more to represent it several times as XP, Vista, 7, 8, Blue, etc...
What I can say, is that I can hardly get any efficient work done on Windows anymore. I've been using GNU/Linux since 1996, and I still use Windows (now 7) for gaming and for Adobe Lightroom, but every time I want to do something that I take for granted with Fedora, Windows fails, like first I have to wait a few minutes for drivers to load, and if I get lucky, it finds those drivers, otherwise I have to go online an find some, and if I get lucky, they work, or like when I go online in Windows, after about 20 seconds I notice stuff happening that I dodn't ask for, data gets send to somewhere without informing me, or the computer does something in the background without telling what exactly, and if I want to find out, I have to invest several minutes of time and effort to do so, or like the everlasting threat of malware and stuff that is totally absent in GNU/Linux, or things just don't work, like expensive professional hardware that obviously doesn't have the "made for Windows" logo on it, or like everything costs money, like Adobe Photoshop costs a fortune, while GIMP is free and does the same thing, or audio sounds hollow and thin because Windows can only handle so much in terms of bitstream, whereas MP3's sound much better in GNU/Linux, or some DRM prevents me from watching or listening to the media content I bought and paid for because it's a piece of crap, or punkbuster crashes again because of how stupid windows is and my games won't start or crash, or I can't develop Drupal sites locally when on a plane because Windows doesn't have all the needed functionality, or I can't encrypt business mails so that I can send them in any practical way, or it takes ages for something like outlook to load, whereas evolution starts up in 10 ms and offers better functionality, or there is no multiple different platform account integration in Windows like in Gnome, so I have to first install a metric ton of malware applications that bog down my PC when I just want to get notifications about my messages, or the network speeds are slow as hell, whereas in GNU/Linux they are fast as fuck, or I can't debug apps for Android because Windows doesn't do that, or I can't monitor the data stream of my android phone because windows doesn't do that, or Skype for Windows has only half of the features Skype for Linux has, and has shitty audio quality in comparison, or I can't quickly set up an SFTP server to send a large file to a colleague that won't go by mail, and when I set it up with another metric ton of malware apps, it works slowly and inconsistently, whereas in GNU/Linux, it's fast and painless, or I lose half a day's work with some more stupid Windows updates that break everything, whereas GNU/Linux updates seldom require any attention or reboots or whatever, etc... BUT, the most obvious thing you can do with a GNU/Linux machine is repair Windows machines that can otherwise only be repaired with a format c: or worse.
As an ethusiast, it's also nice to use GNU/Linux because you can install an enthusiast grade distro, where you have to/can hack around a lot, like Arch or Gentoo, and at the same time you can have a distro installed that never ever gives any problems, is solid as hell and always does exactly what it's supposed to do, like Fedora/OpenSuSE/Debian/Slackware.
I would recommend using GNU/Linux to anyone that loves computing and/or working efficiently. However, it's not like you'll know everything about it immediately, there will be a learning curve, whatever anyone says, you can't just go 20 years fast forward in software evolution and expect not to have a learning curve! Usually, the moment a GNU/Linux user realises that he wants something else than Ubuntu or derivatives thereof, that's when the learning curve has been conquered, that's where the fun begins.
The biggest problem GNU/Linux has, is not Windoze, it's Ubuntu, because it not representative of the great GNU/Linux user experience at all, but it's marketeered to death. I was lucky enough to start using GNU/Linux before Ubuntu happened, but nowadays, it's very hard to convince people to ignore Ubuntu and go with a real GNU/Linux tier-one distro like Debian or RHEL/Fedora/CentOS or SuSE/OpenSuSE or Slackware or Gentoo or Mageia/ROSA or Arch Linux, because those, and their direct derivatives, are where it's at, Ubuntu will only make you disappointed in GNU/Linux sooner or later.
I definitely prefer programming on Linux over Windows. C programming especially. It's even (get this) easier to setup and learn on Linux than on Windows.
try changjng tx power in windows (you cant)
with all this being said, say I run linux, Pretty much all I would do is internet and programming ? then if I wanted to do anything such as edit video,audio,or pictures or play games I have to switch to windows. :/
sorry for the noob question but what is tx power?
Transmit Power (I think that is what he is talking about) basically overclocking your wifi =P (kinda sorta notreally)
resurrecting dead computers is a big one
Try ubuntu. Now with steam.
Or try Fedora which I'm sure you can also install Steam on.
You can run a modern OS on your low-spec machine.
I've been told that I should go with gentoo cause it's better as you can choose whatever you want to install or do or remove and so forth, you basically control anything you want there. But when I read about it, people said that all it does is show you a screen of text everytime you install stuff, which is basically the stuff it reads to get it installed, and then takes a lot more time to setup (installing stuff and fixing setups and so forth) and all you do is copy-paste codes to do things and press enter once in a while, instead of actually learning the coding yourself. I Havn't tried it, but it doesn't sound that much as a system I would like to try, but anyone got any advice on a GNU/Linux that actually can teach me the codings and so on and still is safe from getting hacked/malware? cause I would like to play around some, but right now it seems like ubuntu is the only one that fits the safety profile.
Don't install Gentoo unless you want to learn about a Gnu/Linux. Gentoo is for the enthusiast crowd. Install Gentoo is more like a troll/meme
sudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudosudo
and yes, gentoo is a difficult linux fork to install/use. stick to mint or debian
Valve are working on that. You wait a couple of years and every game will run on GNU/Linux.
Linux is better for the internet imo, in windows i can barely stream 1080p or on a shitty day 720p when am on linux i can stream original due to there been not as many background apps or windows stealing half my bandwidth, granted am not on a super connection but still linux performs well :)
Do not forget for some apps you can use wine :) although you probs know this already :) but the sooner creative stuff and games move to linux then where golden
Also the learning curve is a plus, if windows goes down a lot of people will go for ubuntu because it just works, the dont wanna mess about... i can understand that, but us geeks will have a OS which gives us more with our hardware and software :) or they go to mac lol... hackintosh yes, normal mac no....
Id say go to arch and beast mode it, install what you want/need and just update when you need to, Debian stock is also good :) id love gentoo but 1 am not good enough with linux 2 i cba taking 10 mins to install 1 package regardless of speed, maybe on another system later down the line though :)
If you are new to linux, a distro like Ubuntu or Linux Mint would probably be best. You can do pretty much all of the same things on both distros. The only difference is that Ubuntu and Mint come preinstalled with all of the things you need to start using your computer. If you go with Gentoo, you will have to spend an hour or two (if you know what you're doing) getting things set up the way you want them. Distros like Gentoo and Arch Linux are better for people who have a specific way they want their system to be set up and don't mind putting in the time to do so. If you want something that works right off the bat, then I'd go with an easier distro.
Some of the easier distros that come to mind include:
- Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or Lubuntu. The last 3 are Ubuntu-based but with different desktop environments.
- Fedora
- OpenSUSE
Gentoo is awesome but has had some issues with broken systems in the past (libexpat updates borked my system beyond repair one time). I still always end up on one of these BSD like linuxes in the end. Sabayon is a good place to start for a newbie with gentoo, but sometimes the binaries seem a little too bleeding edge. I really learned by starting with red hat, did'nt really understand the init scripts, then somehow i found slackware and that was my bread and butter for at least 5 years and i still have a few slack boxes. I just wanted to consume myself in linux and eventually went with BSD style, I actually struggle with DEBIAN though even today because all the configs seem so obscure compared to BSD style (to me at least). Really though some of the things linux does with scripts in different distros can be the greatest hurdle in mastering all the different flavors.