# So... what now?



## Martellian (Sep 5, 2009)

I decided to finally try out Linux (Kubuntu) so I downloaded it, burned the iso, added another partition to my hard drive, and now have the option of dual booting at startup.  My question now: What do I do next?

Specifically, what can I do that would have been impossible to do with Windows 7?  What is it about Linux in general that creates legions of fans who diss every other operating system?  Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it so far, but I guess I'm wondering what the main differences are.


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## Rel (Sep 5, 2009)

Martellian said:


> I decided to finally try out Linux (Kubuntu) so I downloaded it, burned the iso, added another partition to my hard drive, and now have the option of dual booting at startup.  My question now: What do I do next?
> 
> Specifically, what can I do that would have been impossible to do with Windows 7?  What is it about Linux in general that creates legions of fans who diss every other operating system?  Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it so far, but I guess I'm wondering what the main differences are.


Make a Windows virus.


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## Pi (Sep 5, 2009)

Rel said:


> Make a Windows virus.



It's generally the case that virus-writers use their target operating system for their task.

To the OP: You use it, break it when it fixes, upgrade it when it needs upgraded. It'll let you know when most of these need to happen. Otherwise, you just say "I'm using Linux" and get comfortable with the differences.

When that's done, you'll probably have a better idea of what to do. Try learning one of the languages used for random programming tasks, though. I'm a big fan of Ruby, but you'll probably hear Python more often suggested.


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## nrr (Sep 5, 2009)

Martellian said:


> Specifically, what can I do that would have been impossible to do with Windows 7?  What is it about Linux in general that creates legions of fans who diss every other operating system?  Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it so far, but I guess I'm wondering what the main differences are.


It's a userland created by some disillusioned Lisp hacker from the MIT AI Lab running on top of a kernel written by a Swedish Finn from Helsinki who got the original inspiration from a UNIX-like OS geared toward teaching operating systems concepts written by a United States citizen working abroad in Amsterdam as a professor at the Vrije Universiteit.

In short, it's... a bookshelf made out of mashed potatoes.  Everyone loves mashed potatoes.  Ergo, everyone loves Linux.

Right?

(For the record, I run Windows.  I kicked my desktop Linux habit in 2007 after having used it as my sole desktop OS since 1998-ish.)


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## Eevee (Sep 5, 2009)

What do you use a computer for?  Do that.

I run it because it helps me get far more work done.  This may not apply to you.

Package managers are pretty cool.  Install whatever you want without having to hunt down an installer, and get it all upgraded at once.


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## darkfox118 (Sep 5, 2009)

what can you do? 

well.. its just an OS.. BUT the benefit you get is its open source.. whassat mean? it means lots of random people have made lots of random things for you to add to it.. some useful, some not.

for instance.. with linux you have bash.. which you can use to make on the fly automation scripts. 

you can move programs from one folder to anotjher more easily (although why??) you can mount things in weird places if you really feel like it (FStab, Mtab) 

all in all.. as a base user, theres nothing all that great about linux imo except the shielding it provides from most viruses and the plethera of handy tools and customizations to the gui that you can do.

what I would recommend is if you have a good video card.. go check out "beryl." its great.. and you'll love using it. 

download open office if kubuntu didn't come with it.. that gives you all the stuff you need for general word processing.

gimp can do graphics (although I can't figure it out.. then again compared to most people here I SUCK at photoshop too..) 

uh.. you can also play around in /proc and get info on what your system is doing.

all in all.. linux is a great tool to learn how a computer REALLY works.. windows hides a lot of it from you. I know the 1st time I realized my "C drive" was "mounted" inside my file system.. smoke came out of my ears.

oh one last thing.. learn to SUDO.. and learn apt-get.. you'll love being able to install a program with something as simple as "sudo apt-get install programname"


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## Rigor Sardonicus (Sep 5, 2009)

You can't do anything in Ubuntu that Windows can't do.
You would need a real distro for that.


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## Runefox (Sep 5, 2009)

Well, if your reason for installing Linux was to do things that Windows couldn't, you might be a little disappointed. There's a much more powerful command prompt and a number of utilities designed to run from it (and interact seamlessly with each other), a much more powerful and accessible network stack, etc. If you want something a little more tangible, Compiz lets you set up a number of desktop effects that Windows 7 / Vista's Aero interface couldn't do (though technically they could, if they truly wanted to). Depending on the implementation, it's also almost universally less resource-intensive than Windows (XP through 7), making it an ideal place to jump ship to for older systems once XP support dies.

Customization and freedom from the upgrade tax is the name of the game as far as Linux goes unless you're a power user who finds he needs the extra flexibility as far as commands/scripting goes, or a server admin who wants to set up/run a low(er)-cost server, or some other special case where you absolutely need Linux to interface with something. Also, a lot of hardware drivers are included by default; Some distributions even come bundled with binary drivers from manufacturers who have yet to release documentation for their hardware. In particular, Intel chipsets (including graphics, wireless, and wired ethernet) tend to have excellent support. There are quite a few pieces of hardware that absolutely do not work under any circumstances, but these are growing to be fewer and fewer. It's a good idea to check the hardware compatbility list for any operating system you might be thinking about installing.

I suppose there are a few things, though, that you can do with any flavour of Linux that Windows can't; I don't believe there's a Windows port of Frozen Bubble 2 yet. Also, AmaroK is one of the best Media Library-based media players available on any platform.


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## Martellian (Sep 6, 2009)

darkfox118 said:


> what can you do?
> 
> well.. its just an OS.. BUT the benefit you get is its open source.. whassat mean? it means lots of random people have made lots of random things for you to add to it.. some useful, some not.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the advice, and I'm liking SUDO already, that was definitely the easiest Firefox installation I've ever done.



Runefox said:


> Well, if your reason for installing Linux was to do things that Windows couldn't, you might be a little disappointed. There's a much more powerful command prompt and a number of utilities designed to run from it (and interact seamlessly with each other), a much more powerful and accessible network stack, etc. If you want something a little more tangible, Compiz lets you set up a number of desktop effects that Windows 7 / Vista's Aero interface couldn't do (though technically they could, if they truly wanted to). Depending on the implementation, it's also almost universally less resource-intensive than Windows (XP through 7), making it an ideal place to jump ship to for older systems once XP support dies.
> 
> Customization and freedom from the upgrade tax is the name of the game as far as Linux goes unless you're a power user who finds he needs the extra flexibility as far as commands/scripting goes, or a server admin who wants to set up/run a low(er)-cost server, or some other special case where you absolutely need Linux to interface with something. Also, a lot of hardware drivers are included by default; Some distributions even come bundled with binary drivers from manufacturers who have yet to release documentation for their hardware. In particular, Intel chipsets (including graphics, wireless, and wired ethernet) tend to have excellent support. There are quite a few pieces of hardware that absolutely do not work under any circumstances, but these are growing to be fewer and fewer. It's a good idea to check the hardware compatbility list for any operating system you might be thinking about installing.
> 
> I suppose there are a few things, though, that you can do with any flavour of Linux that Windows can't; I don't believe there's a Windows port of Frozen Bubble 2 yet. Also, AmaroK is one of the best Media Library-based media players available on any platform.



Again thanks for more advice.  Luckily my reason wasn't to do things that Windows couldn't, it was to simply to have an additional operating system to have fun with.

A big thanks to everyone, I'll definitely be checking out everyone's recommendations.


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## Pi (Sep 6, 2009)

Learn TeX and Metafont and start doing industrial quality typesetting.

8)


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## sgolem (Sep 7, 2009)

The easiest way for me to explain this one is by telling you about what I get out of it.

What I get out of linux is it's fast and carefree.  Just keep it updated, and don't worry about antivirus or anything like that.  I also like how everything is free.  I've had both macs and pcs and both have broken and needed a reinstall in the past, multiple times.  With linux, you don't have to worry about keeping up with a disk, since you can just redownload and reinstall everything as often as you need to, as many times as you want.  I actually use Ubuntu, but if I wanted to run Kubuntu like you, I could, and for free.

I also enjoy how you can completely customize just about everything.  (start here http://www.kde-look.org/ )

If you enjoy doing things you're not supposed to be able to do, you can try to run World of Warcraft or other programs through wine or something like that.


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## Night-Leopard-800 (Sep 10, 2009)

Ubuntu is sooooooo much better than Windows because of its overall setup, ease of use, how easy it is to setup, how nicely it runs on older machines (Ubuntu is on my 11-year-old Dell ) and the fact that since its kernel is so obscure, virus-makers have little incentive to target it. And since its free and has such a wide community, problems can get fixed much faster than they would if it were owned by a big company such as Microsoft (which can't seem to get decent receptionists for customers) or Apple.


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## Rigor Sardonicus (Sep 10, 2009)

Night-Leopard-800 said:


> Ubuntu is sooooooo much better than Windows because of its overall setup, ease of use, how easy it is to setup, how nicely it runs on older machines (Ubuntu is on my 11-year-old Dell ) and the fact that since its kernel is so obscure, virus-makers have little incentive to target it. And since its free and has such a wide community, problems can get fixed much faster than they would if it were owned by a big company such as Microsoft (which can't seem to get decent receptionists for customers) or Apple.


Ubuntu's one of the most popular Linux distributions available right now, so your claim of obscurity hasn't been valid for quite some time.

Nice job spouting the same praise as the official site, though! It doesn't make you look like a brainwashed n00b _at all!_


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