I'm a Linux Geek Now

I've been playing around with live CDs (more on this later) that turned my computer into a Linux system long enough. I've finally taken that geek step too far... I now have a Linux computer.

OK, maybe not too far... my system can still boot into Windows XP. I've set up a dual boot system. When I turn my machine on, I get an option to go into windows or linux. The best of both worlds.

I'm using the Suse disto (geek for distrobution.. it's the Linux that Suse puts out). I had a few in mind, and then though I was just overthinking it, and picked one.

Why Linux? Well, I'm a geek for one! Beyond that... it's nice. Lots of free programs. My free CD (downloaded from the net, though you can buy it too) cam with the operating system and just about every kind of program you can think of. Word processing, games, spread sheets, media playing, media editing, chat, IM, browing, web pag editing, picture editing, vector... ok, you get the idea. Usually more than one each. And I just picked the one CD one! Next time, I'll get a box version I buy which will have more, just for fun.

It's also fast. The system itself takes much less of the resources of the computer, leaving more for other stuff... like the programs you use the OS for. It was so snappy, I had to get used to it. Many things that I'm used to getting a slight delay on when doing now happen very quickly.

And, overall, it was pretty easy. The install had some issues... I couldn't boot into windows without some changes.. but once installed, it's pretty much as easy as windows to use, for the most part. When using the programs that come installed, it's as easy as windows. But installing programs are an issue sometimes. And at a basic level, some things work differently... not harder, just different. But that is enough to throw you off at times. Even me, the sort of geek. You even have to use the command line at times, like the days of DOS.

Another plus is that it's very stable. I got NO system crashes at all so far. No program crashes either. I never notices the system slowing down over use, and never had to reboot the system to clear things up. That was very nice!

Now, I'm not suggesting you all go give up windows and install Linux. I'm also not suggesting you all go though the possible headaches of setting up a dual boot system. I'm just saying you need to know there are alternatives.

Once excellent use of Linux is for older machines. They may be too old to run current programs, but most of them will have no problem with Linux. So a useless machine becomes useful again.

Again, don't go out and make any drastic changes... just think about there being options.

Later this week, I'll talk about the live CDs out there, where you can play with Linux without making any change at all. Beyond playing around, it can be very useful in many ways. And I'll also talk about some possible uses for it that I haven't seen so far, but could be a nice model for someone to make some money off a 'free' live CD.

Later, and I hope you all had a nice weekend.