o.k., I know very little about linux but have always wished I had the time it would take to become proficient at it. I know that linux uses way less resources than winblows, but to someone like me, at least I can do almost anything I want in it.
I think it would be good if some of you linux affectionado's could enlighten the rest of us as to what the benifits are, & maybe convince a few more of us that it may be worth the time & dedication it would take to exlore this option..............
what would the learning curve be in your opinion(s). is linux the kind of thing that an average joe can spend 10-15 hours on & then be able to start doing something with it, or is this reserved for only the nerdiest high tech ones that can imerse themselves in it for countless hours of countless days for a really long time............can someone with a life still find room to learn this, or is it as complicated as learning to become a computer programmer (I already have a job, thank you)
MY NEWEST INSTALL:modded infiniti fx with big screen
first windows carpc install........my liquid cooled LVDS screen :D
Bravo to frodo for his succinct interpretation of the Linux learning curve.
Having said that, lets get to brass tacks.
Advantages
- its not Windows (tm)!
- faster! (mostly - there are exceptions of course)
> this ties to the next item
- less resource usage: to name a few -
> memory/disk space requirements are drastically less than any slimmed-down Windoze
> the minimum [functional] requirement for Linux is a 386-16. Mhz. yah, so who uses that anymore? Nobody - but it's nice (for me) to know that I can run Linux as a mail server/whatever on an old 486 or whatever
- UNIX philosophy: one job for one tool
> want to dump a file to stdout or a pipe? cat. want to read email? mutt. want to print? lpr. None of this "We've added 512 new features to this version of Mail Reader! Sure, it doesn't actually read mail anymore..."
- once you get the hang of things, you can figure out exactly what your computer is doing at any given moment
> less imporant for the casual user, i'll admit - but I like to know why my disk is thrashing, damnit!
- open source
> free as in speech <- more important
> free as in beer (mostly) <- slightly less important to many of us
> have half a brain and don't like/want to change something about an app/kernel/etc? go for it. it's nice to share, too.
Disadvantages
- steep learning curve
> if you don't pay attention, you won't get anywhere
> dabbling will pretty much get you nowhere
> most gurus won't give a newbie the time of day if they haven't RTFM (not sure that's a disadvantage, tho)
- less "mainstream"
> want to play that latest whiz-bang game? well, you'll have to run a Win32 emulator, or wait for the devs to release it for Linux (probably never)
---
There are many more of each, but I'll end this hot-air fest now. Let me/us know if you have specific questions.
The most frustrating thing about linux is relearning everything that you take for granted after years of experience with MS Windows. Once you get used to it, you cannot live without it.Originally Posted by turbocad6
Disadvantages:
SOFTWARE! I don't see Linux having a free program like NaviVoice, or having a navigation program that won't send you down a one way street in the wrong way.
advantage:
WRITE ONE
now before you fire back at me i understand you may not know how to program, but the good thing about open source is for the few out there that can/do can write their own. I found a tutorial on writing GPS apps:Writing your own GPS applications
Now anyone with programming skills can get the "meat out of that code" and write an app in C then make it open source and EVERYONE can improve on it, debug it, and essencially make it better...
as far as the learning curve goes, it depends on how you learn of course. I started off with an old 486 pc and installed Red Hat 7 on it. I probably destroyed my setup a million times, but each time i learned what i did wrong and did asearch to learn how to do it right. If you get nothing out of this, i want you to learn that
I had a perfect quote to go here,
but hell only knows what I did with it....
You have to pay to get voice recognition on linuxadvantage:
WRITE ONE
now before you fire back at me i understand you may not know how to program, but the good thing about open source is for the few out there that can/do can write their own. I found a tutorial on writing GPS apps:Writing your own GPS applications
Now anyone with programming skills can get the "meat out of that code" and write an app in C then make it open source and EVERYONE can improve on it, debug it, and essencially make it better...
as far as the learning curve goes, it depends on how you learn of course. I started off with an old 486 pc and installed Red Hat 7 on it. I probably destroyed my setup a million times, but each time i learned what i did wrong and did a
Not if you can find someone who grabbed ViaVoice before IBM took it away...You have to pay to get voice recognition on linux
Required reading: The Linux Documentation Project
Many, many issues/questions one might have are addressed in a HOWTO of some sort.
True but if im going to spend 1000+ dollars on a car pc, why not pay 40 for speech to text - it definately beats the cost of a windows license...how much is that now?You have to pay to get voice recognition on linux
Some projects working on free voice recognition...not good yet but getting there.
http://freespeech.sourceforge.net/FreeSpeech/html/
http://www.perlbox.org/pbtk/
I had a perfect quote to go here,
but hell only knows what I did with it....
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