Linux Boogey Men

or Untruths About Linux Which Scare The Children

Introduction

I love Linux. My work loves Linux. You should too. Not only is it a great server platform, but it is becoming an increasingly pleasant workstation environment too.

But there are voices in the wilderness who argue that Linux is too difficult for Joe User.

They are correct.

Correct, if you assume that Joe User is a mildly retarded individual with zero abilility to read and learn from his own mistakes. If you consider yourself to be a Joe User, perhaps you need help. I'd like to think that for people looking to do more with their machines, Linux offers the wider realm of capabilities than that Other OS at a bargin price. Try it. Don't believe the hype. Demand more from your OS.

By the way, in case you heard that Apache/Linux was slow, take a look at this.

Waiting for the Millenium OS? At least we see eye to eye on somethings.

Impossible Installation

It has been suggested that Linux is a difficult install. It is. It is an Operating System, not an application. Have you installed any version of MS Windows recently? When is the last time you tried to dual boot Windows and another OS? This is not a task that most users even know about, let alone try. It isn't surprising that newbies choke on this stage. You have to understand how hard drives are used by your OSes in order to make informed and safe decisions about the allocation of your hardware.

Frankly, I think dual booting is stupid. Machines are cheap. Either rumage around for an old machine or buy a new one for under $400. You don't need monster hardware for Linux. In fact, getting older hardware will usually be easier for you and Linux.

If you must dual boot, RTFM. Really. You have to read, think and learn. Linux will muck around with your partition tables. If you don't understand what that means and don't want to learn, you shouldn't be playing with this or any OS. Really. These guys are happy to keep you stupid.

You can always buy a Linux box.

No User Applications

What are you trying to do?

• Office Suites
  • There is no MS Office for Linux. Yet. I frankly expect that Redmond will eventually port this suite.
  • WordPerfect.
  • Applixware. Tried liked it. I don't need Office suites anymore.
  • Star Office.
  • KOffice.
• Database Servers
  • Oracle.
  • Informix.
  • MySQL. My preference for simple DB needs.
• Games
  • Civilization III.
  • Doom.
  • Quake.
• Emulators
  • vmware. A virtual PC in an X window.
  • WINE. Windows API for X.

This is a small sampling of applications. I use Linux for web developement. For programmers, Linux has compilers for nearly every language you'd want to program. I have odd requirements for machines. Like stability.

Difficulty of Maintenance

For most users, maintenance means "installing new applications". Few home users do backups, let alone setting up RAID services or Network Address Translating firewalls. Is it harder to install applications on Linux than Windows?

Depends on the app(like Windows). RedHat has a graphic tool to handle RPM installations (and dependencies!). There is no "install shield" for Linux. A GLP port might be nice, although these folks allow you to play tetris during the fully VGA install.

No Support

There is no support for any software. Repeat this until you believe it, for it is sooth. You are your own best tech support person. The sooner you realize this, the better support you will receive.

Redhat does offer support, both for 90 days and for longer. VA Research does as well. This company does nothing but Linux support.

Better support is found in the man pages, on the web, on usenet, at LDP and on IRC. Did I mention LUGs?

What Should You Do?

Install Linux directly. See for yourself. Keep an open mind. Linux is different. So was the Macintosh when it debuted in 1984. There is always a learning curve to a new OS. But, you may find that this one is worth the trip.