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Recently I decided to try and install Gentoo Linux on an old laptop for fun and learning. I've always liked the philosophy and idea of open source and Linux, but every time I would format and install it (some flavor of Debian or Ubuntu usually) I grew bored after a couple weeks and put Windows right back on. The Gnome GUI and various packages I installed felt underwhelming, and I was really learning nothing at all about the inner workings of the OS.
So, Gentoo was my first "build from scratch" type of distribution and it was not only instructional, but exciting and fun. You feel an almost a child like joy after you hammer away at the command line for hours, trouble shoot your various mistakes, and then finally boot into your system that you (sort of) built yourself. I felt the same rush after getting the GUI up and working.
What made the experience good for me was definitely the clear, concise instructions in the online Gentoo Handbook. It walks you through everything step by step, and explains what is going on so you can learn and not just copy. Also the Gentoo community was very helpful and tolerant of my newbie questions. With bigger distributions like Ubuntu, you have so many people asking for help that it's hard to find the information you need through all the noise.
I'm no expert by any means, but at least now I do feel comfortable working at the command line, editing system files, messing with the GRUB boot loader etc. Someday I'm going to try the even more bare bones "Linux From Scratch" distribution that is really more a learning exercise than a practical OS. Anyway, if you have an interest in learning Linux but have no idea where to start, I would recommend giving Gentoo (I've heard Slackware is good for learning too) a try. It helps to have another computer handy so you can read the handbook online and google any problems you run in to. It takes patience and some frustration tolerance, but in the end it's really quite rewarding and fun.
 
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You sir, I agree with. There's nothing like completely tailoring your computer, which if you're like me, and we already agree on something so maybe you are, you spend a decent amount of your day feverishly typing, fuck what was I talking about.
Anyways, I've saved so much time by spending a couple days customizing and fine tuning my desktop that now I get things done almost too quickly, and now I have too much time on my hands and I'm back where I started before I was so bored I decided to customize my OS so now I'm kind of fucked. But boy was it fun when it lasted. Fuck.
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Some people really like the customization but IMHO the "real" reasons for getting Linux are:- To have a good platform for software development, particularly lower-level code (i.e. closer to hardware)
- To learn a CLI/scripting/Unix-like utilities and commands if you have interest in being a sysadmin or want to major in a field that needs such things
- To gain access to certain software that can't be run on Windows
You can do programming, batch processing, etc. in Windows though, so even the above points aren't complete reasons. Otherwise, after the novelty fades it's going to be just another Windows to you, except more customizable and less compatible with lots of software (e.g. games). Personally, I dual-boot Linux to do some work for school as an EE specializing in communications/computer networks, but usually I'm in Windows. Of course, if you're just really interested in learning about computers or Linux, more power to you. It's useful knowledge.
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United States17042 Posts
it takes a lot of patience to learn how to use linux. But once you do, it's rewarding to figure it out. There are almost no reasons to use linux other than windows, except for "because you want to". That's usually a good enough reason for me, and the reason why I continue to play with it on multiple different systems.
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This blog just encouraged me to get back on linux 
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Canada9720 Posts
On December 18 2008 04:47 GHOSTCLAW wrote:
There are almost no reasons to use linux other than windows, except for "because you want to".
you seem to speaking in generalities, rather than personal preference, and as such, i'm just gonna say that this is totally wrong.
On December 18 2008 04:45 Myrmidon wrote:
You can do programming, batch processing, etc. in Windows though, so even the above points aren't complete reasons.
good look getting the functionality and access to tools in the command shell like you would in bash, or any other *nix shell. even if you employ cygwin, you're going to be pretty limited
my roommate's a gentoo user, and he swears by it, but at home i've been running ubuntu mostly. at work i've recently had the opportunity to use and learn a lot about SLES 10, so i might give open suse a shot for shits and giggles
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Linux is also very good if you believe in open source and truly want to make it a viable way of computing in the future, instead of tithing into the coffers of the Church of Jobs and Gates.
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I agree, but I think there are many more reasons to want to install Linux.
I personnally grew tired of having to reinstall my Win 98 every few months because it became sloooooooow. Dunno if this problem was solved with later Win versions though.
But free software was a big incentive too. Why I keep using Linux though, is because of the awesome community, which is very helpful, and because Linux is amazingly reliable (never ever had a single crash or freeze on this computer)
And finally, I often feel like tweaking my OS. And if you put your mind to it, you can get a very good understanding of Linux, and hence be able to do virtually anything you like.
PS : I use ArchLinux, which has a fast install, just a couple config files to set and the best package manager in the Linux community (pacman).
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i recently installed archlinux as well it was pretty fun, but at the moment i have no practical use for linux other than to mess around with it.
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Once I discovered tiling window managers I realised I never wanted to use anything but linux ever again. That was years ago.
That's all there is to it. I don't evangelise, I just don't understand why anyone would voluntarily use anything else.
EDIT: Archlinux here as well.
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hm quick question, what are the differences between the *box window managers? i've used flux and openbox before and i really dont know what the difference is.
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On December 18 2008 04:45 Myrmidon wrote:Some people really like the customization but IMHO the "real" reasons for getting Linux are: - To have a good platform for software development, particularly lower-level code (i.e. closer to hardware)
- To learn a CLI/scripting/Unix-like utilities and commands if you have interest in being a sysadmin or want to major in a field that needs such things
- To gain access to certain software that can't be run on Windows
You can do programming, batch processing, etc. in Windows though, so even the above points aren't complete reasons. Otherwise, after the novelty fades it's going to be just another Windows to you, except more customizable and less compatible with lots of software (e.g. games). Personally, I dual-boot Linux to do some work for school as an EE specializing in communications/computer networks, but usually I'm in Windows. Of course, if you're just really interested in learning about computers or Linux, more power to you. It's useful knowledge.
"Real" reasons to get a Linux are also :
- The Open source mentality (freedom of choice, helpful communities etc.)
- Not be bothered by virus and avoid having an anti-virus slow your comp down
- Immune to spywares and avoid having an anti-spyware running
- Not having to re-install your comp every 4 months because it gets slow
- Being able to upgrade ALL applications on your computer in a single command
- Tailored stable platform (I keep my comp up 24/7 and in the last 6 month I've had 2 reboots, one being because I accidentally unplugged it moving a table second time being because I accidentally clicked on reboot instead of logoff session...)
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EPT
