Linux Anonymous

[DevynCJohnson]

Hi, my name is Devyn and I am addicted to Linux. My new favorite wallpaper proves it (http://www.wallidesk.com/wp-content...r-fix-normal-linux-get-your-fix-wallpaper.jpg). For all of you that are addicted to Linux, you may love this wallpaper.

Share with us how you got hooked on Linux.

I got my first hit with Ubuntu on March 2011. I had heard about Linux months before then and I researched Linux and then tried it. It was a few days before Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty) was released that I tried Ubuntu, so I have used Ubuntu 10.04 (Maverick) up to the latest version 13.04 (Raring). Soon, I will get Saucy about a month after its release. I like to wait to make sure the releases are indeed safe and stable. Today, I am deathly allergic to Microsoft products and other proprietary software.

I have tried nearly every Linux distro and form of Unix. Solaris and its derivatives are great, but support is poor. BSD and its forms are becoming popular, but again, support could still use some work. If a BSD system were as good as Ubuntu, I may setup a dual-boot. Until then, I use Ubuntu on my laptop. As for my Raspberry Pi, I use Raspbian.

 

[flunwyc]

I started out in 2003 with Mandrake, dabbled with Ubuntu, Fedora, Opensuse and Slackware a bit but never really got into them, but dual booted Ubuntu and windows for a few years. Finally got into Debian back in '08 (best decision ever), then moved onto Slackware and FreeBSD last year.

Support is not really a factor for me, but it depends on what you mean by support. I can't really fault Debian, Slackware and FreeBSD when it comes to security updates and support. If you mean "help" and documentation type support, then I'm not sure. Those requiring that kind of support have the option to pay for it - for everyone else there are a wealth of forums, blogs, documentation, mailing lists, wikis, etc.

 

[DevynCJohnson]

I started out in 2003 with Mandrake, dabbled with Ubuntu, Fedora, Opensuse and Slackware a bit but never really got into them, but dual booted Ubuntu and windows for a few years. Finally got into Debian back in '08 (best decision ever), then moved onto Slackware and FreeBSD last year.

Support is not really a factor for me, but it depends on what you mean by support. I can't really fault Debian, Slackware and FreeBSD when it comes to security updates and support. If you mean "help" and documentation type support, then I'm not sure. Those requiring that kind of support have the option to pay for it - for everyone else there are a wealth of forums, blogs, documentation, mailing lists, wikis, etc.

You are right, "Support" is a vague word. I should have defined myself. By support I am mainly referring to updates and development on both the operating system and applications. For all Unix/Linux systems, I have never found a distro that lacked or had poor documentation, help, wikis, forums, mailing lists, etc.

 

[flunwyc]

FreeBSD support is pretty good in almost all respects, in that releases are quite well maintained for about 5 years. Security updates also pretty good and the ports system is well maintained. I can't really fault it.

Any *BSD is however a steep learning curve, even for e GNU/Linux user.

 

[DevynCJohnson]

FreeBSD support is pretty good in almost all respects, in that releases are quite well maintained for about 5 years. Security updates also pretty good and the ports system is well maintained. I can't really fault it.

Any *BSD is however a steep learning curve, even for e GNU/Linux user.

I find all BSD systems easy to use. I do not like the fact that updates are not as regular as it is with Ubuntu. Also, it seems to me like the software selection is not as great for *BSD as it is for any given Linux distro. Other than that, *BSD is awesome.

 

[flunwyc]

Well with FreeBSD, binary updates are slower, but if you use the ports system, which you perhaps haven't delved into yet, then you can keep your system very much up to date. With the exception of bloated c++ monstrosities like firefox, building from source doesn't take that long and the ports system is pretty automated if you use the tools (portsnap, portupgrade, etc).

Software selection doesn't really bother me as anything which is not available in standard repositories, I just build from source (and create native packages).

As for *BSD's being "easy", I'd have to disagree. Some of the reasons why GNU/Linux is more popular is that it's now simpler to install and configure and that the Linux kernel supports more hardware. With FreeBSD in particular, after an ncurses based install, a prospective desktop user is presented with an X less system and then faced with installing xorg, window manager and other packages for themselves - then configuring it all manually. I have no trouble creating an .xinitrc for my user, building ports, editing /boot/loader.conf and /etc/rc.conf and reading manuals, etc, etc, etc. For a lot of users, especially those coming from "hand holding" distros, that is anything but easy..