Are there any Linux users on this board?

[G.A. Heath]

I started with Slackware back in the mid 90s and never looked back at the MSFT world. Today we run Fedora and Centos on most of our machines but we play with other distros for fun. All our computers and laptops all run Linux. No MSFT or Apple to be found in our home.

It's nice to know Linux because my phone runs Linux and I can ssh into it. From my phone I can ssh back to my desktop and check my mail (using mutt) from anywhere in the world. Love it.

WooHoo! someone else who started with slackware.

[bmwrdr]

Alright, there is a burned in Linux user(group) :-)

[bmwrdr]

[cb1000rider]

There is nothing wrong with Redhat or CentOS.

I stared pre-Slackware too. I think Slackware was my first offical "home server".
Redhat is great. However, you learn to do things on RedHat and that's what you know: RedHat. It used to be a bit worse, but easily you'd be confused by another more neutral flavor of Linux.

More recently I've run Unbuntu. I just replaced it (last night) with Centos - it was time for new hardware and I standardized on the OS that I'm now using for production servers at work.

[Amonix]

Slackware was my first Linux cherry popper. Back in my IRC days. I love CentOS and Novell Suse does well. I hate (repeat HATE) SCO Unix. The previous company I worked for made me install that for people. I remember talking to some of the users begging for them to use linux and not that crap called SCO Unix. Oh OpenServer 5 and 6 how I hate thee! :-)

[bmwrdr]

No worries, SCO doesn't exist anymore :-)) But SCO Unix was the first UNIX derivative running on an Intel platform with System V compatible architecture. Linux succeeded, SCO went belly up.

[Amonix]

I still remember the days of talking to them on support when they were in bankruptcy. The guys there knew their jobs were done and trying to leave. :-p

[bmwrdr]

Right, and they tried to sue the Linux foundation claiming a part of the code in the Linux kernel was their property. We had a good laugh back then.

[Amonix]

I used to work for Ev1 back when they threatened Robert Marsh with a lawsuit. I remember laughing until they told us they were paying for a license. I cried in the break room.

[bmwrdr]

Oh wow! I didn't cry because of that. But I was wondering where they got the idea from. But it turned out there were some investors involved trying to get the maximum out of the dead body. Lesson learned, don't beat a dead horse. But nowadays we see the benefits :-) A fully fledged OS with anything one can ask for. And it is for free, helps everybody who wants it and it surpassed all "payware" by far!

[G.A. Heath]

Oh wow! I didn't cry because of that. But I was wondering where they got the idea from. But it turned out there were some investors involved trying to get the maximum out of the dead body. Lesson learned, don't beat a dead horse. But nowadays we see the benefits :-) A fully fledged OS with anything one can ask for. And it is for free, helps everybody who wants it and it surpassed all "payware" by far!

The "license" that Ev1 "purchased" did not benefit anyone. There was no "SCO" unix code in Linux that they themselves did not submit under the GPL and the license they sold to various parties actually violated the GNU license that the Linux Kernel is distributed under.

[bmwrdr]

Right, but they tried it anyway.

[BobCat]

...so if someone who was used to DOS 2.0 (in those days) but has been ignorant of computers since then, wanted to learn about Linux to load it on an old Pentium machine choking on XP, where would y'all direct him to start reading / learning about it?

Regards,
Andrew

[bmwrdr]

Oh well, that's a big jump from DOS 2.0 to a Linux version of today :-)
But honestly, if you have a working hardware platform and a DVD or CD-ROM drive it'll be easier to install than anything you have seen before. Pick a Linux version like Ubuntu or Open SUSE, download it, burn it on a media and boot th PC from it. Everything else is automated and all you have to do is fill the blanks like user name, password, timezone, etc. etc. Once you have it installed you'll see how easy it is and if needed you can find documentation on your system or the Internet.

Here are a few popular releases to gey you started:
http://www.opensuse.org/en/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kubuntu-13.10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BobCat]

Thank You!

I was over-thinking it as usual, ready to read a couple hours every evening after work until it seemed like I understood enough to start.
During plant shutdown over the Holidays there will be time to try it.

Thanks again. Will check back in when and if I take the bull by the horns and actually do it.

Regards,
Andrew