Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alinkorea]

It's now possible to try Ubuntu (linux based operating system) on your computer. You can save Ubuntu to disc and then load the disc to 'see' what it's like on your computer. Then close comp. start again and hey presto ,your back to your normal operating system. It's well worth a look.
www.ubuntu.com

[Bulsajo]

Have you used it? Anyone else?
Thoughts, comments?
As a gamer, will I still have to have some flavour of Windows to get the most out of my pc? And if so, does that really rule out any advantage for that Ubuntu might have?
I mean to me the whole advantage of having a non-Windows o/s would be not having to pay MS for a licence (although I gather there may also be some security advantages?)

[alinkorea]

I tried it yesterday. It worked very smoothly. No doubt from what I understand security is improved. Windows, especially XP, has become inundated with security concerns. Also it's free.
One of the main reason Linux systems interest me is because of Window's virtual monopoly of the market. Except for Apple's OS, virtually every computer you buy will come with Windows.

[Dodgy Al]

Here's another thread about Ubuntu. Very interesting...

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=67803

I'm gonna wait until I buy a new computer, then experiment with Linux on my lappy. She's running like bloody washing machine these days, so new computer purchase is imminent. Yay!!

[Delirium's Brother]

I used to be a Linux zealot...now I'm a little bit more realistic about it. Experience does that to you. I learned Linux the hard way, without any of the fancy automated installation routines, etc.

I've heard good things about Ubuntu, but haven't tried it yet. Right now I'm using Slackware 9. It's a good stable system, but I find it a little too hardcore for my knowledge level. Actually, I think Linux is best for either the complete noobie (using a distro like Ubuntu) or the total expert (using something like Slackware). If you are one of the in-between people, like me, you might experience some frustration. That's just my opinion.

If you are using your computer as an office, or entertainment centre; then there won't be a lot of problems switching over to Linux. Ubuntu is your best bet, I think. I don't play any games on the computer, but if you do, then I would suggest looking at the titles available natively and under wine. The last time I checked, the amount of games was poor. That was a while ago, so you should check yourself. I do know people who have WoW running under wine so a lot is now possible.

In terms of software generally, for everything you can do on a Windows box there is a similar open source solution available for Linux. Some of them are better than Windows versions and some of them are worse than Windows versions. Such is life.

The fact that there isn't a lot of security problems with Linux has more to do with the fact that there aren't enough users yet to make it worth the effort for hackers to start messing around with Linux based viri and other exploits. But they do exist. Just yesterday, someone tried a sendmail exploit on my box. Now, I have to rebuild my desktop! yeah! woohoo!

Sure, Linux is as stable as a piece of granite, and light on its feet too (i.e. light on your box's resources), but everyday Windows is catching up, at least in the stability measure. If they could just put their code on a diet.

I applaud you for not wanting to make Bill G. any richer, but I think that you have to be realistic if you choose to migrate to Linux. I love it, and would never go back, but that love was hard-won. If you switch, you are likely going to learn a lot more about computer OS operations than you ever dreamed of. Most people don't what to know that much about it. What about you?

Ubuntu is probably a safe bet to avoid a lot of the usual Linux pitfalls.

[Demophobe]

[cyrax]

I do a lot of work on GNU/Linux (Linux) and the distribution that I use is Debian. I tried using Ubuntu a cpl of months back. Its a neat package and I was quite comfortable with it because it's derived from Debian.
However I am a developer and I need the kernel headers and all that stuff which I prefer to download from Debian updates.
Coming to the audience, my father had serious problems with using Ubuntu (KDE). Especially with printers (yada yada). Ahh don't get me started on the sound daemon things. Demons!
So in my opinion, there is a lot more that needs to be done to bring this OS to mass market. Maybe the UI developers can learn a thing or two from MacOS X or even from Windows XP.
I prefer the commandline to GUI so GUI doesn't matter to me.

[Demophobe]

[munji]

I use a dual boot between, winxp and openbsd that is - World's most secure OS and worst OS on same thinkpad.

Started with Linux over a decade ago when I installed it using 1.44 floppies - no CD's, ftp download. Was definitely not easy but it was my first attempt. Had used redhat when they were not famous, then slackware, debian etc. before switching to FreeBSD (on a 486 120Mhz desktop), yellowdog linux on a mac and eventually OpenBSD. I have loved both the BSD's - its a breeze to install the core system (10-20 mins) for all green. Installing the additional programs is super easy as well with the pre-packaged binaries.

Have been wanting to move completely to OpenBSD - in many ways I was using OpenBSD more than windows before coming to Korea, but it doesnt support new versions of wine and that has left me undecided whether I should go back to FreeBSD or linux. I've got Ubuntu 6.06 LTS liveCD's ordered through launchpad.net and booted with those and loved the drastic changes in the lively interface compared to my experiments-with-linux days. If I go for linux, then it would be one of the ubuntu distros. There are three kinds and they all seem fun!

Having said all this, I'm still using winxp boot almost daily since its click-n-go for many apps that I use often. A new hard disk and then it would be a restart...

my 20KRW - try it (linux/*BSDs) more than once and see if you're comfortable - you'd be surprised.