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Linux operating system

A computer operating system for those who want freedom.

As I mentioned on the main computer page of this site, I was entranced with the UNIX operating system when I was exposed to it in college. The power of those systems eclipsed anything that I could have at home. As I learned more about UNIX and it's history, the more I became intrigued with it. I also knew that the high power web sites were all run on UNIX based machines, so I knew that being comfortable with the UNIX environment would be an asset to my career. I looked into what my options were for a UNIX system at home, but the costs were too astronomical.

That all changed when I learned about the Linux operating system. Here was a UNIX-like (it's technically can't use the UNIX name, as it belonged to some greedy corporation) operating system that I could run on a garden variety PC. It was also a community developed software, built on the philosphy of share and share alike. So I ended up buying a book on a Linux distribution (Slackware '96) so that I could read and inform myself before I dived in.

It was worth. In those days, hardware support was spotty. I had to make sure that all of my components would work with Linux. That meant learning hardware, which is what I did. I eventually got Slackware '96 installed onside of Windows on my first hand built PC. It was intoxicating.

Over the years I've continued to use and learn more about Linux. I currently have two Linux "systems". The first is a handheld I bought earlier this year, a GP2X. The GP2X is similar in size and use to a Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), but it's more open to the average user to do things that Sony doesn't want you to do on the PSP. The GP2X encourages you to write your own software for it and to try things that the manufacturer hadn't envisioned. I use it as a portable game system and as an MP3 player, basically a portable personal entertainment device.

Linux desktop The other is my main desktop computer. This desktop is not the ultimate Linux computer by any means, but it gets the job done, more reliably than any other computer I've owned. For those interested It's a 2.0GHz AMD Athlon M with 512MB of RAM, 120GB hard drive, 15" LCD monitor and a Nvidia Quadro FX 500 video card with 128MB of video RAM. Ironically, this computer is running the latest version of Slackware, even after using other distributions. Slackware can be difficult to get working at times, but I feel that once I do get it working, I'm better equipped to do that on ANY Linux computer.

The Linux of today is a far cry from those early days. It is an environment that lends itself well to an everyday system. I use it to browse the web, maintain email, and write web pages. The beauty is that I can do all of that with no fear of the garden variety viruses and spyware. I get them all of the time in emails, but since the system isn't a Microsoft technology, it's perfectly harmless. It's easy to laugh and click "Delete". There are tons of programs for it, but I haven't had the time to fully investigate them.

So if you are getting bored with Windows and the BS that Microsoft puts you through to get their money, you might want to check out Linux. I'd look at distributions like Ubuntu or Fedora that are more user friendly than Slackware.