How is Linux as a computer operating system

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

The real power behind Linux is when you work from the terminal. I had a Linux box as my office workstation for 15 years, with a copy of Windows 7 in a VMware environment for the one single program that we needed which was Windows only.
I don't think I ever used the workstation outside of the terminal. SED, AWK and VM are incredibly powerful for file manipulation.

But can they read, display and edit a word doc or excel spreadsheet?

I got this Mac and was all excited about having terminal on my home PC, but I haven't found much to do with it which is irritating.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

The real power behind Linux is when you work from the terminal. I had a Linux box as my office workstation for 15 years, with a copy of Windows 7 in a VMware environment for the one single program that we needed which was Windows only.
I don't think I ever used the workstation outside of the terminal. SED, AWK and VM are incredibly powerful for file manipulation.

I grep that

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

What's the advantage of Linux over Windows?

Originally Posted by legion

1. Uses way less system resources. I run Ubuntu on a Celeron with 2GB of ram and it performs similar to Windows 10 on my i5 with 8GB of ram. It's also a great way to make old hardware useable again.

2. Doesn't constantly send information about you back to Microsoft. Doesn't automatically download software you don't want or need.

3. It's free. It's stable. It is actively improved.

Big disadvantage is if you need to use software that is only available on Windows. You can try to fiddle with emulators and other things to try to make it work, or you can keep some Windows machines around (my solution). Like I said, it's a great OS for web surfing and light use of office productivity applications (word processor, spreasheet, etc.).

I will add that you do not need antivirus and you do not need to defrag or disc clean up and you can update if you want but do not really need to. I started running Mint from a flash drive. Then tried several distros on a partition along side Windows. Linux just keeps getting better. I only use Windows for certain things.

[KFC911]

I ran Unix for performance reasons on high end servers, and other servers like DNS, and even on mainframes for network stuff like TCP stacks, OSPF, etc. Twas the only option ....

I prefer complex Op Systems though.... it kept me employed.

I was a systems guy....more OS's than I can remember....much less count .

[Alan A]

If you have a Linux machine keep a windows one handy so you can still google how to fix the install or upgrade that just bricked it.

To be fair I had Debian with an Nvidia graphics card that was 95% of that issue.

Nowadays I use a Mac. All the power of Linux but with the office suite still working. Since they now have 64G of ram they’ll do most of what I need.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by Alan A

..... Since they now have 64G of ram they’ll do most of what I need.

I remember being happy with a 64k upgrade.....

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by dad911

I remember being happy with a 64k upgrade.....

Why anyone would need all that memory is dumbfounding

[masraum]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

I will add that you do not need antivirus and you do not need to defrag or disc clean up and you can update if you want but do not really need to. I started running Mint from a flash drive. Then tried several distros on a partition along side Windows. Linux just keeps getting better. I only use Windows for certain things.

defrag or disc cleanup? 1995 called and they want their 486back.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

I remember being happy with a 64k upgrade.....

Hah, my first PC in college had 640k. I remember fiddling with the himem.sys and autoexec.bat trying to maximize the mem util. Loading games from 5.25" and 3.5" floppies because it didn't have a hard drive, but then a couple of months later, I bought a 32MB "hard card" (hard disk mounted on a HDD controller that fit in an ISA slot). I think my next upgrade was a VGA card that I think came with 512k RAM, which I eventually upgraded to 1MB. I never did upgrade the RAM for the PC though. There was a 384k upgrade that you could get.

[JackDidley]

If you want a fast, easy linux test drive, go here https://www.linuxliveusb.com/ download and save LiLi. Format a flashdrive to FAT 32. Open LiLi install and run. It will ask where to install linux. Select the flash drive. It will ask you to select a linux and where to save it. There are several, Tahrpup 6.0 is fast and simple to use. Install it to the flash drive. Only takes a few minutes. When it is done reboot to the flash drive. I have an easier method but it is limited in the selection of linux distros.

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by masraum

defrag or disc cleanup? 1995 called and they want their 486back.

Dude, my Windows 10 OS still has disk clean up. What Windows are you using ??

[masraum]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

Dude, my Windows 10 OS still has disk clean up. What Windows are you using ??

Sure, it's got it, but I'm not sure how necessary it is. I used to do it but stopped because I stopped seeing a benefit.

[Brando]

Linux is great - you just have to get a system that is setup how you want. I've been running Pop!_OS for a month (instead of upgrading from Win 7 to Win 10). They have pre-built/pre-configured systems as well.

https://www.system76.com/

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by KC911

Why anyone would need all that memory is dumbfounding

I started on a 6502 with 16k of ram.

Now honestly I could do with another 64G for my laptop on top of what’s in there. Some things didn’t change for the better...

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by masraum

But can they read, display and edit a word doc or excel spreadsheet?

YES!
AS long as you remember to save them as a .TXT or a .CSV file.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pazuzu

yes!
As long as you remember to save them as a .txt or a .csv file. :d

lmao!

[svandamme]

Linux as main OS: if you have to ask, you probably won't like it.

those who like it, would just get it , try it, and live with it.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

YES!
AS long as you remember to save them as a .TXT or a .CSV file.

Using Libre OpenOffice, you can edit .doc, ,docx, .xsl, .xslx and so on.

The only problem I've had with OpenOffice is trying to print spreadsheets. Their functionality for selecting what to print, setting margins, and text size is lacking compared to MS Office.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I grep that

But can you "vi"

[svandamme]

it's not always a question of can you vi
but do you know how to get out of it