Another Linux Success

I needed to do some very light network monitoring. All I had sitting near me was a very old Dell computer with a 600MHz PIII processor and 256M of RAM.

No problem, I figured... just go linux. It's light. It will work.

It installed quickly and flawlessly. The only disk I had nearby was a Kubuntu Hardy, which I was really worried about installing due to the whiz-bang KDE interface.

To be honest, it came up pretty quickly and was only a bit slow under KDE. After installing my personal favorite desktop, XFCE, the system moved along nicely (and there were no bouncing cursors!). In fact, it moved so nicely it was surprising, especially for a PIII with 256M RAM. Rest assured that it wouldn't run Windows like that.

The box is now sitting in the network room, monitoring some switches without issue. After installing X11vnc, I can monitor the desktop from my desk.

Next time you need to do something and only have old hardware, try linux. You won't be disappointed.

I miss using Linux. Low virus threats. Plenty of free software at your fingertips. No licensing worries. Just take a disk and install it. Linux has become a very nice system. Not that unfamiliar to Windows, as far as the graphical interface. As time progresses I hope to see more and more compatibility with Windows software, especially games, because Linux generally has an alternative program that does the same thing as a similar Windows program. And, in time, maybe the software companies will write more software and games for Linux.

But, the factors that keep me from switching over fully.

- I work on computers, and the majority of systems are still Windows. So, I guess I should stay familiar with it.

- I use a Forex trading robot on MetaTrader4, and I'm not so sure about everything working properly for me.

Troy

I'm in the same boat. I despise Windows. So I have a bunch of linux machines doing the heavy lifting and one Windows box to stay compatible and feel everyone's pain. It's still difficult to administer Win networks via linux though.

Btw, XP runs flawlessly as a virtual machine under linux. Windows is MUCH better behaved virtually than on hardware. Uses less resources too.

If I could get a virtual machine version of Windows to run my Magic Jack, that would be good. And if it would run MetaTrader4, that would be nice as well.

I have been quite fond of OpenSuse.

Computers would be so much simpler it would be if the world ran on Linux. Think of how easy it would be to re-install the operating system without worry of a licensing problem. And, Linux has become quite user friendly. Many Windows users would be right at home with some of the distributions.

What is a good virtual machine to run on, say, OpenSuse? I didn't have very good success the last time I tried a virtual machine.

And, I have Windows 7, I need to install and get familiar with at some point.

I guess, I'm just stuck with using the Windows system, to some degree.

Troy

Can't give a 'real' one anymore, but here is an ascii star for that description: *!
It's exactly what I have going on - have Vista on a laptop, Debian on all computers (including the laptop). I couldn't have put it better - to stay compatible and feel everyone's pain.. Hence the star it may sound snobby to some, as apparently 'everyone lives in pain but us' .. but it absolutely is the way I feel. It's not just financial 'pain' (licenses, licenses and licenses), not just the fact that Microsoft's software works in its own unique "user-friendly" way and users simply have to adopt, but the combination of those two.. People don't just feel like Windows is their only viable choice, but they even pay for it. Again, that sounds snobby, but I really do empathize - even though windows users don't experience it the same way, of course, it seems really sad to me. I think they could be happier with open (source) software.. Eh. You said it best - just to feel everyone's pain. Thanks for that ;]

@cybertroy :: One of my friends advised me to try OpenVM - I haven't yet, but he's kind of a linux noob and installed it without any problems at all, so it should be a breeze. Running programs in a virtual machine should do pretty much exactly the same as running them natively, as far as I know. MetaTrader4 can even be run in Linux without a virtual machine; all you need is wine (see this article).

Thanks!

"We don't want open, stable, and free, dammit - we want WINDOWS!"

I have a pool of loaner netbooks at work, most with Ubuntu. We've never had a complaint and these people have trouble operating Windows.