Linux, Anyone?
Who uses Linux? Any good stories? Horror stories? I have been running a
Linux box for several months now. Nothing on it really, just built it to
check out Linux.
For the most part I like it. Of course, you wont ever see a MicroSoft Product
on one, but isnt that the beauty of it? I’m tired of MicroSoft’s continual
attempts at world domination. Having said that, I’m sure Microsoft will
either figure out some way to purchase Linux, or destroy it.
The office suite applications (there are more than one to choose from)
availbale for Linux supposedly handle all MS Office file types. As soon
as I figure out how to access a FAT32 partition on another machine I’l
let you know how KOffice handles an Office (.doc) file.
Everything is free, except some of the commercial products. Pretty
much everything you buy commercially for Linux, you can download for free
if you dont need the manuals and help, and arent using it commercially.
I bought the Suse Linux distrubution. Came on like 8 CDs or 1 DVD, with
manuals, technical support available at their website, advanced support
available, regular updates. Pretty good deal for $80. I also obtained a
copy of the Red Hat distro with the purchase of a hefty Linux manual. Came
on a DVD. I havent installed it yet, but I am thinking about slamming it
on top of a Win98 installation mjust for funsies.
You can install it right on top of Windows, supposedly. Most of the help
I’ve waded through is in the context of a dual install on top of a Windows
operating system. A boot manager is intalled during setup. Pretty slick
if you arent too crazy about buying another computer.
The first application I am going to attempt to implement is the fax
server, HylaFax. The free fax program (there are several to choose from)
is very flexible and can forward the faxes pretty much anywhere as email.
Similar to the internet faxing products available now, like jfax. Or other
server based fax server products, like RightFax.
The second implementation? Webserver, Apache. The most widely used web
server application on the net. Free. With the ability to host multiple
sites on one box. If the box is strong enough (I have pretty meager needs
at this point,) all I need to do is manage my bandwidth. If any of my web
based endeavors are too successful and the bandwidth gets to be be too
expensive… well, we’ll deal with that when needed.
With server-side perl support and a MySQL database implementation (both
software products are available free,) I can run a personal electroinc
publishing house utilizing the free
Movable Type publishing tool.
I guess I just am not comfortable with the registration feature of
WinXP, even though I hear it is a great product. Combine
that with the stability and security problems, and I think Microsoft will
pay a dear price in the next three to five years if something comparable
hits the market, especially if it is free, or even cheap.