[CLUE-Tech] information

[Jeremiah Stanley]

On Thu, 2003-05-29 at 16:41, Bill Hanzel wrote:
> I'm "CLUE"less about LINUX.  I see "Red Hat", "Mandrake" and other
> LINUX offerings.  What is the difference, advantages or other things I
> should be looking for in an operating system.  I have been a Microsoft
> user since MS-DOS.  I am currently using Win2K pro.  What am I
> missing.

I don't know what you are missing. But I can tell you what I was
missing. I got into linux in '97 because I needed to have a platform to
write and test CGI scripts. I only had modem access to the internet and
it was a gigantic pain in the arse to code a little, upload, test, watch
it gronk, and then go back to step one.

So, someone loaned me a copy of slackware on floppies that I loaded onto
a hand-me-down machine. This is back when installing linux was hard. I
learned more about x86 hardware in one month that I ever wanted to know.
I now had a place to make perl. And, as got me started on other things I
now had access to a C compiler (them things ain't free!).

Alot of what you are missing depends on what you use Winders for. I came
from a Mac background so I had very little on linux that I didn't
already have on Mac. There is no Photoshop other than the GIMP, which is
great don't get me wrong but, it still won't ever be what I was used to.
The other deficiencies were the lack of a good vector drawing program
(Illustrator) and a WYSIWYMG (what you see is what you might get) layout
program (QuarkXPress). The other thing that was missing was fonts. Oh
man, the fonts! I have 4,000+ fonts for Mac. I was invested heavily, and
still am to a point.

Anymore I use RedHat 9 as my desktop machine. I'm more used to the way
RedHat sets things up. There really is no preference other than that it
fits like a glove; a well worn glove with fingers missing at times. But
I digress. I also have a file/mail/web/firewall/dial-up server (yes, I'm
still in the eGhetto of Arvada) that runs RedHat 7.1 still. I'm planning
on making it run Debian once I can familiarize myself enough to be
confident that I'm not going to hose myself into a weekend of pain.

I am a huge linux fan. I got used to using the command line for just
about everything. I run X (the graphical desktop baseplate) and Gnome
(again, I'm used to it, no other preference). The only applications I
use on a regular basis are a few hundred terminals and Mozilla. And
since I am an audiophile I have Xmms running all the time. On occasion I
will run Evolution (a mail client, I normally use pine) and Grip (a CD
ripper/encoder). I'm still stuck running Winders for games and
Illustrator.

To summarize; you are missing a world of software that you don't have to
pay for, it's free. You are missing a world of software that is fun to
work with. And, most importantly, you are missing a world of software
that you can modify to your needs. So often it my experience there are
problems that cannot be fixed with a hammer alone. You need other tools
and the best tool to have is a machine shop so you can fabricate tools.
Be they the complexity of rocks and sticks or a breeder reactor core you
can make and break them yourself. As was posted, linux is a
Do-it-yerself operating system.

CLUE is a great resource. These guys have all kinds of backgrounds from
engineers to professors to full time admins all the way to extremely
knowing hobbyists. There are people who oft post messages that have
authored books. They often do install fests that are a huge learning
experience on the hardware/network level.

-- 
JStanley <miah at miah.org>
http://www.slavewage.com/