We were recently reading Lifehacker and found an article on Why its Readers Switched to Linux. We thought we might put our two cents in.

• Dislike of Microsoft and Windows – We certainly got fed up with them. We admit to being primarily a Linux using now(this blog was built on open-source). Every few years you have to get the new Microsoft whatsis or you’ll be left behind. And, using Vista as an example, the new whatsis isn’t always an improvement.
• Speed – A lot of the built-ins to Windows slow down the computer. It is why Linux runs faster on older hardware as well as newer hardware. It has background processes and programs just like any other system, but the overhead is usually much less.
• Customization – This may be a pro or a con. Nothing is so configurable as Linux, with dozens of different packages to expand, change, or customize your experience for most standard functions. Of course, such choice can be be overwhelming to some. In which case you can stick to the defaults. No harm, no foul.
• Price – 99% of things for Linux are 100% free. There are some commercial license Linux programs, as well as ones that ask for your donation in assisting them. You can forego them, or you can contribute to the community.
• It’s Just Better – Not a great argument, we know. But our frustration level is way down. We can’t adopt the philosophy that change is impossible because Microsoft won’t let us. If enough people want a change to a piece of software, it happens. And if it doesn’t, if you are a programmer, you can hack it in yourself.

So try out your friendly neighborhood Linux distribution today. We recommend you consider Fedora or Ubuntu. Both have a reputation for being new user friendly and easy for those who have no Linux knowledge to use even if they don’t want to delve into the guts behind the graphical interface. You can even download bootable CD versions to try out before deciding if you want to switch.

For information on Linux distributions and their estimated popularity, visit Distrowatch.

Dell will be offering systems with Linux, based on a customer demand. Three systems will be offering it to start…the XPS 410N(Starting price $849) and E520N(Starting price $599) desktop machines, and the E1505n(Starting price $599) notebook.

Initially, Dell will offer a subset of the component options they support on the three systems and will continue to work with vendors to improve the stability of the associated Linux drivers in order to offer more options as part of a longer-term goal to increase the number of drivers that work at the kernel level.

They have a video available about Linux from StudioDell entitled Linux 101: What’s all the Fuss?.

Ubuntu Linux is available free of charge for download for your existing systems at the Ubuntu Website. Ubuntu is divided into desktop and server editions released every six months. For those of you interested in switching to Linux for daily use…you might want to give it a try. We use Fedora Linux ourselves…but we are creatures of habit.

We use Fedora Core Linux for many of our systems…especially the servers. Today, Fedora(which has dropped the Core from their distributions), released Fedora 7, codenamed Moonshine. We are downloading it for upgrade of our systems as we speak.

OS Upgrade time is always a happy time in our household. We use it as an excuse to dust our system interiors(you should do this regularly) and review our systems for possible hardware upgrades. This year, we’re gutting the interior of our main server. The old pieces will be reallocated to other functions.

For those of you considering jumping on the Linux bandwagon, Fedora 7 incorporates some exciting new features. You can take your Fedora installation disc(usually a full DVD) and customize it…adding or removing packages and software to install…thus you could create a distribution that only installs what you need it to…or that substitutes packages not included in the standard distribution…You can also create a LiveCD that will boot Fedora without needing a hard drive, and customize this as well.

Here are the release notes…Wait a few days to download it…it is going to be overloaded for a bit. We’re hoping it will improve some of the weaker areas of previous distributions…the release notes seem to indicate they’ve worked on those areas.

Dell will once again be offering Windows XP on new machines, as well as Windows Vista. On their suggestion website, a plea to restore the option for XP racked up more than 10,700 votes. It will immediately offer XP again as an option for four models of Inspiron notebooks and two models of its Dimension desktops.

Dell has also said it plans to offer Linux as an option…also due to increased demand. It feels the issue is driver support, however. Their goal is to have all open-source drivers, and that means choosing components with such drivers available, or with the understanding the manufacturer will make them available. Currently, Linux device support can be hit or miss. If they sell a system…it must be preconfigured to work with all the hardware.

We have an Inspiron notebook that we loaded with Fedora Core linux…our current preference. It works flawlessly…after a slightly higher learning curve. Each component had to be configured.

We recently started experimenting with QEMU. QEMU is a generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer.

As an emulator, it can run operating systems and programs made for one machine on another. It currently can emulate the ARM processor(used in routers and other embedded network hardware), SPARC, PowerPC, MIPS, and more are coming.

As a virtualizer, it can create a virtual computer than can run a complete operating system on it. There is an optional drive available to enhance speed.

QEMU runs on the command-line under Windows and Linux-based computers, but pops up a window or a full-screen display for the operating system it is virtualizing. We have used QEMU to experiment and test bootable CDs. These CDs boot a complete operating system and are often used for diagnostic testing on computers.

You can find the latest version of QEMU for Windows here.

To try QEMU out, get a CD image of a bootable CD in iso format, and run the following command:

qemu -cdrom [iso filename] -boot d

That will boot whatever iso you want in a virtualized window.

We’ll have more on QEMU in the future, but it is a great way to experiment with Linux and other operating systems, if you want to try them without major alterations to your system. For more information, try the QEMU on Windows wiki.

Knoppix is a distribution of Linux developed by Klaus Knopper. It is designed to be booted off of a CD or DVD. There are many customized versions of Knoppix designed for various different functions. It is useful to users not only for those who wish to run their system off of read-only media, but as part of an arsenal of tools for computer diagnostics.

Damn Small Linux is an even smaller distribution based on Knoppix. It is a 50MB mini desktop designed to be booted from a Mini-CD, a USB drive, or even within Windows. There is a larger variant available that is currently around 85mb for those who wish to take advantage of certain technologies that the smaller footprint does not allow.

KnoppMyth is the Linux equivalent of Windows Media Center Edition. It is a Knoppix distribution that attempts to automate the setup and usage of the MythTV DVR package. It can be used in a variety of ways. We’ll have more about MythTV in the future.

There are numerous other variants. But a plain vanilla Knoppix CD or DVD can mount Windows drives when the Windows OS is corrupted, resize partitions, and thus is a valuable tool. The graphical tools included as well as the standard command-line Linux tools can be a lifesaver.

Recently, a Windows XP computer failed to boot. We could not, no matter how we tried, get it to boot even to Windows XP Safe Mode. We booted the system with Knoppix, backed up the data over a network, then did a wipe, reinstall, and copied the data back.

This is the announcement of Zod. Zod permits you to call him “Fedora Core
6″.

Tremble, Earthlings, for Zod is released from the confines of testing. Zod
intends to hammer the servers of the world … starting TODAY! For those
who chose the world-domination-acceptance package in your last
installation, you need do nothing — Zod is beaming itself to your
computers already. If your keyboard begins to get hot, back away … very
… slowly …

For the rest of you minions who failed to do Zod’s bidding previously,
this is your ONE AND ONLY CHANCE to redeem yourself. Go quickly! Download
the torrent NOW. Obtain the ISO immediately. Zod’s minions know to back up
their /home directory and to begin immediate installation of the GREATEST
version of Fedora Core EVER.

When you are done genuflecting, listen carefully. Zod now delivers an
important message to Zod’s predecessor, the Fifth Iteration of Fedora
Core, known to some as Bordeaux:

“KNEEL BEFORE ZOD, for Zod has many improvements that convince users to
upgrade and abandon you! Ph34r me! Mwahahahaha.”

Zod accepts that the Fedora Project continues to provide software and
security updates for Bordeaux, as per the policy of Zod’s minions. Zod
chooses to permit this action to continue.

We are downloading the latest disk images for Fedora Core 6 for 32-bit and 64-bit processors as we write this. For a complete summary of new features, visit the Fedora Project list here. We are looking forward to a new and exciting upgrade, although since our systems are in constant use, we will have to find some downtime to minimize the loss of services.

Redhat’s Fedora Project is scheduled to release its sixth version this Thursday, October 19th.

We’ve been using Fedora since it was Red Hat’s personal edition…since Version 7.1. There are times when Windows is being particularly difficult that we contemplate ridding ourselves of our Windows machines and going totally Linux. For those of you who think Linux is complicated…remember, the learning curve may be a bit higher than Windows, but it offers the same graphical user interface and desktop features most computer users are used to.

Fedora Core 6 offers improved versions of its desktop management programs, Gnome and KDE. All applications that use dynamic linking have been rebuilt with new code that improves performance by fifty percent, and performance of various subsystems and applications have been significantly improved.

The new version now supports Mac machines running Intel processors.

It means in a week or two, when the various repositories are updated and the download lag eases, we’ll be upgrading our Linux-based computers. We will have more information on our personal view of Fedora Core 6 then.

For those of you who have rejected Linux as an option…just remember…almost anything you can want is available for Linux, and it is pretty much free. How much does a copy of Windows XP cost? Or Vista when it comes out? And how much does Microsoft want from you to upgrade?