What do you use Linux for?

[mase123987]

I do! It's better than Ubuntu. I don't like Unity, but Mate is nice.

I did not have to look for printer drivers on the vendor's (Brother) website and install the printer drivers. Mint recognized the printer immediately.

Mint is nice because they include a lot of the things Ubuntu doesn't out of the box like codecs, etc.

 

[WasteSomeTime]

I keep hearing about mint & win Linux. So far I've been told that that win Linux is for people who want to use Linux but want it to be like windows.
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[fatclue_98]

Anybody remember LinDows from about 10 years ago? eMachines sold a lot of $199 desktops at Walmart with that OS.

 

[bradbamford]

Anybody remember LinDows from about 10 years ago? eMachines sold a lot of $199 desktops at Walmart with that OS.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I remember them getting shutdown in the courts by Microsoft. (At least under the name Lindows, which Microsoft now owns the trademark for)

 

[WasteSomeTime]

I tried the live DVD of Linux mint and the touch pad didn't work. Is this because I did not install it and this works the same Ubuntu does when it fetched the drivers from the internet?
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[Laura Knotek]

I tried the live DVD of Linux mint and the touch pad didn't work. Is this because I did not install it and this works the same Ubuntu does when it fetched the drivers from the internet?
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I had to actually install any Linux distro in order to configure touchpad settings such as scrolling/tapping and sensitivity.

 

[WasteSomeTime]

I mean it works. The mouse moves and the gesture to scroll the page up / down works, but tapping the touch pad to left click doesn't.
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[mase123987]

I mean it works. The mouse moves and the gesture to scroll the page up / down works, but tapping the touch pad to left click doesn't.
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Sounds fairly normal. Everything should work with the properly with a full install. May need a new driver.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I mean it works. The mouse moves and the gesture to scroll the page up / down works, but tapping the touch pad to left click doesn't.
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I had to do an actual install to get touch pad taps set up.

 

[WasteSomeTime]

You mean you install the synatics touch oad driver? I probably spelled that wrong.
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[Laura Knotek]

You mean you install the synatics touch oad driver? I probably spelled that wrong.
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That is correct. "Synaptics" is the name of the touchpad driver in addition to being the name of a Ubuntu package manager that is not limited to touchpad drivers.

 

[WasteSomeTime]

Ok sounds good.
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[Laura Knotek]

I started using Linux when my Windows 3.1 floppies corrupted and I didn't have the $80 to buy new 3.1 floppies. I started with RedHat 3.0 or 4.0 " Colgate edition. I got it at the library.. Everything was done from the shell back then. I wrote a lot of scripts back then for getting dialup modems to work with Linux. U.S. Robotics (when they existed) contacted me about using my scripts.

I still play with Linux today. My main laptop runs Win8 64bit and LinuxMint 64 bit.

I'll be doing the dual boot once again. I had only been running Mint 14 on an older PC, not on my primary one.

 

[sentimentGX4]

I use Ubuntu for a the following reasons:

1/ a more secure web browsing experience. I don't want to have to worry about viruses, etc. Ubuntu is basically the place I go for all the risky web activity. Think NSFW or what would not be appropriately discussed on this forum. I basically just go around clicking random download links. Never had a virus. (In the off chance that I do have a virus, though, I use ANOTHER Linux distro for more secure activity just to be safe.)
2/ support for more file formats. Windows doesn't support audio formats like .flac or video formats like .flv. I know there are probably some video players to patch up functionality; but, I'm really just not into finding which is right for me.
3/ the Empathy chat client. Before Windows 8, Windows lacked a good IM client. I know there were programs like Pidgin; but, that really bogs down your system. Windows 8 has a built-in messenger app (for Facebook chat and Skype only); but, the problem is that it isn't very reliable with regards to receiving messages. So it is back on Empathy I go.
4/ random open source software. If you're too cheap to go off and buy real software, Linux has you covered with some shoddy alternative programs. Some example of some scarcely used programs I use is a video editor. I don't need to edit videos; but, it doesn't hurt to change the length of a video occasionally.
5/ powerful features like partition editing, bootloader, live media, etc. My computer is ancient and doesn't know how to boot from USB without GRUB. There was this nice GUI bootloader called Plop. Guess what? Complete garbage. I literally have Linux to thank for having Windows 8 on my computer.
6/ it's a nice backup OS. Have you ever worried that your computer is useless because something is going wrong with whatever OS? I never have to worry about that. I always have two backup OSes on my computer.

There are probably more reasons and I could go on and on. Linux simply packs a lot of functionality that Windows doesn't. You just have to be the right person to search for the functionality; but, ultimately, it's a good alternative and I proudly consider Ubuntu to be primary OS.

 

[gedzum]

I used Linux to breathe new life into my old Sony Vaio and was curious to see how it worked. First I tried Ubuntu, then Mint and now using Fedora. It's been a nice learning experience, even if occasionally it takes longer for me to figure some things out. Mainly use it for web browsing or if I want a 2nd monitor/machine for when my phone is not sufficient. I really ought to pick up a Win 8 tablet already!

 

[WasteSomeTime]

That's odd. I thought pidgin is better than empathy.

 

[mase123987]

That's odd. I thought pidgin is better than empathy.

Remember the days AIM was all you need? EVERYONE had it!

 

[WasteSomeTime]

Yeah I had trillian for a long time and aim was all I used.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Linux Mint updated to version 15 'Olivia'. http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_olivia_whatsnew.php

 

[jmshub]

I have experimented with a few different flavors of Linux over the years. On the desktop, I am still a Windows guy. My two desktops are running Windows 7, and I have Win8 on my laptop. I do like Linux as a server. I have an old netbook running Ubuntu Server and running a webserver.