| wIndependence Day Essay: Family Migration to Linux |
by Alexandr Fetisov (July 18, 2002)
You could say that simple curiosity made me look at free OS systems. It started off as a little bit of an experiment. When I was in University, I read about the power of Unix-based systems and decided to try out the penguin at home. Of course, it was difficult to start off with, but the availability of Internet helped me a great deal, as I was able to download megabyte upon megabyte of documentation.
I'm not going to touch on the server capabilities of Linux, as well as development possibilities. My topic is, purely and simply, a Linux-based system as a digital home hub.
Until recently, I had Linux as my second OS, but in the end I decided to go for it and switch to it completely. In doing so, I also managed to get all my family to go on it as well, as my family is quite computer-literate. Both my wife and I attend IT courses in our Universities.
The switch to Linux was very simple - I just uninstalled Windows, brought Linux into the front and put the rest of the partitions under ReiserFS. I had my old configs stashed away, so I just put them into /ets and also set up a new user - my wife.
After about half an hour, she was already playing her favourite game - Mahjong - under Gnome. My wife didn't particularly notice any difference between the Windows and Linux interfaces, so there was no real problem in getting to know the system. Still, she doesn't really get involved with the command line, but if need be, I'm always there to help her. In the end, the transfer from Windows to Linux was virtually painless.
We all thought there would be some difficulties awaiting us. It has often been said, that the user could get confused in a new system, so I was always on standby in case of any questions, but my wife needed a lot less help than I expected. Which, of course, was sad for me - as I like to be called upon to help, and feel useful:) She found the counterpart of the Windows "Start" menu very quickly and got to know all the programs she needed. The only problem presented to us was the novel structure of the directories, but the fact, that many of the Linux programs are also in Russian helped a lot.
We started off initially using ALT Linux, but in the end I decided to return my old friend - Slackware. Having been a successful convert myself, and knowing of other people's experience, my advice would be to start off with having Linux as you second OS. If, after a while, you'll find yourself loading Windows more and more seldom, then you are a ripe customer to change over. But before you decide to uninstall Windows, make sure you've got all the replacement software for your needs on Linux.
Being of a technical nature, I love practical advice. Here is a list of the software components in our home PC (this list was composed after about six months of Linux being the main OS on the computer):- Any distributive
- Window environment - KDE or Gnome
- Office utilities - OpenOffice
- Internet clients - Mozilla, Galeon or Konqueror as browsers, KMail - e-mail
client, X-Downloader - download utility
- Multimedia - xmms audio player, mplayer for the video (my wife prefers xine)
- Web design - quanta
- File managers - I prefer mc, while my wife is a fan of KDE's Konqueror
- Picture editors - GIMP
- Games (we are not avid gamers, so we don't need many) ported by Loki
So, to sum everything up, what were our gains and our losses?
We are able to do more or less everything we did before, but with the added bonus of system stability. The computer can work days on end, and the lack of constant rebooting makes the experience more pleasurable.
Real multitasking is possible: virtual consoles, the possibility to launch several X-Servers with several working windows in each. In the end we have a more comfortable system.
The freedom we gained is also a factor. We don't want to pirate software, so MS applications are way to costly for us. Now we use free Linux applications, which do pretty much the same things, as MS ones.
Another very important aspect - the lack of e-mail and other viruses.
A nice GUI. If you don't know what I'm talking about - just download some desktop themes for KDE 3, and you'll know what I mean.
However, there are some disadvantages, too - primarily, it's the time needed to settle with the system. It does take a while to get used to it, though the graphic interface makes it easier.
In the end, the question is - has Linux proved itself to be a workable desktop OS solution? The answer for us is - Yes!
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Please note: The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the writer, not of the management or staff of DesktopLinux.com.
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