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Originally Posted by cdanik
well mac is a linux distro right? I can add mac if you think I should.
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No, it's based on Darwin, from the BSD family. It should be added, though, of course.
I'm a Linux user, Slackware is my distro. I like its flexibility and how I can customize it exactly the way I want. I like a lot of things that aren't generally used, for example having to click on a titlebar to raise a window, but being able to use it while it is not raised. I also like shading my windows (making only the titlebar visible) and other stuff like that. I like being able to pick my own window manager, and being able to switch between window managers as I please. And the command line is awesome, it takes awhile to learn but is MUCH more productive (I think that's the description of Linux in general).
Other things I like are being able to do whatever I want with the filesystem. I don't have the operating system tools managing it for me, I just put stuff where I want and it will work. This makes me feel pretty restricted on other Linux distributions as well, especially Debian and its derivatives, or Fedora, or SuSE. The only distributions I really feel comfortable in are Slackware and Arch Linux. I've heard the BSD's are nice, but it's a little different from Linux, and what I have works perfectly for me.
Availability of software is a big issue for Linux, but you can in general find opensource variants of almost any big softwares you'll need. Also, instead of smaller, simpler programs with more specific functions being crappy shareware stuff, such as are developed for Windows, you end up with opensource software that is better supported and works better as well. One project I love is WINE, which is the Win32 API completely rewritten for other operating systems. It works better than you'd expect. It is just as fast as running the same software on Windows and requires no modifications most of the time. Simple programs (of the crappy shareware variety previously mentioned) work just fine, as well as many complex programs (these may require some "hacks" though). Older games, even DirectX ones, often work flawlessly, GTA Vice City for example. Newer games often run with some hacks. The software I miss most on Linux is Photoshop, so I have gotten it to run under WINE (No matter what open source fanboys might like you to think, GIMP is nowhere near as good).
Wow, that's a long post, but you can obviously see I love my Linux.
EDIT: I'm surprised to see the votes in favor of Linux, but I suppose it's because most people who would answer a thread like this are Linux users.
10-23-2007, 04:17 PM
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