Today I decided to write about something a little different but that is very dear to me: GNU/Linux.
What is the GNU/Linux? (Commonly known only as Linux)
To keep the history "lesson" really short, UNIX was released in 1970 (by AT&T) and was widely used, but it was expensive, making it inaccessible for most people at home and students. In 1983, Richard Stallman started the GNU project with the goal of creating a free UNIX-like operating system. In the early 90s, a full OS was almost complete but there was no real interest in finishing the development of a kernel (called Hurd) for GNU. In 1991, Linus Torvalds, while studying computer science at the University of Helsinki, began developing what later became the Linux kernel. But a kernel does nothing without a shell, compilers, a library etc, so he used some from the GNU project. And basically, this is how GNU/Linux was born and why the correct way to address it is this! But we all just use Linux because it's easier and shorter. :p
Linux is free, you can copy it, change it, distribute it, etc, as long as what you do with it keeps being free for everyone.
Linux is widely used worldwide. On a enterprise level it's actually the most used system on web servers because it's very efficient, reliable, secure, fast and cheap. It's also used by many IT students, power users, hackers and general enthusiasts. Android is used on over 80% of mobile devices and guess what? It's based on Linux (the kernel)! Internet of Things? Linux!
So, as you can see, almost everyone might be using Linux in some way and not even realizing it. The fact that it is open source and free allows that thousands of volunteers contribute to it's development and when a vulnerability is found, usually a fix is released short after, making it a very secure system.
So, before I get specific in the pros and cons of using Linux, let me tell about why would you want to use Linux.
Linux is the ideal candidate for the following needs (and many more):
- Troubleshoot other computers. You don't even need to install it! Just boot it live from a DVD or USB stick. Go on, try it!
- Make a Chromebook more useful. Chrome OS isn't giving you what you need? Try Linux!
- Host a web site or webapp. It's the most used OS in web servers for a reason... Actually, for many reasons.
- Work with hard drives and partitions. Is your Windows partition broken in such a way that you can't even see any files in it? Linux might help. It did help me and some of my friends on this specific subject more than once.
- Automate everything in your home. With a little Linux knowledge and a cheap computer (e.g. Raspberry Pi) you can create all sorts of home automation gadgets.
- Run a home server for backup, streaming, torrenting, and more.
- Create a dedicated media center. Since Linux is excellent as a server, using it as a media center is a great idea. You can even use an older computer that you have laying around.
- Create a dedicated video game machine. If you are like me, you love video games. But running windows games in Linux can be tricky. But what about all those classic games that you loved back in the arcade days and on consoles as a kid? Well, you're in luck. Linux is excellent for this and there's even purposely built Linux distributions to play game son emulators. You can use an old computer or even something as small and cheap as a Raspberry Pi! Check out my previous article about Retro gaming.
- Brush up on your hacking and security skills. There are purposely built Linux distributions for penetration testing, hacking and testing all kinds of security vulnerabilities, making it very convenient if you want to learn or develop you knowledge in these areas.
- Revive an old or slow PC. Because it is so efficient, Linux hardware requirements are always lower than other OSes. Different distributions may have different requirements and some distributions even have different flavors, so you can use a certain distribution no matter how old or recent your PC is.
- Learn more about how computers work. Linux is a great system, and it can be as easy or as in deep as you want it to be. If you want to know more about how your system works, using BASH commands in the Terminal will get you a deeper perception on the subject. If you're a beginner, Ubuntu or Linux Mint (my favorite) are distributions that I suggest because they are super easy to use and install.
Now that you are absolutely convinced that you need Linux in your life, lest see some of the Pros and Cons.
Pros:
- It is very easy to install but you don’t need to install it straight away. If you just want to test it and see if you like it, you can boot Linux from a USB stick or DVD and use it from there. It will boot just fine and you don’t need to make changes to your hard drive.
- If you have a bit of developer in you and know what you are doing, you can change Linux to suit your needs. Unlike Windows (as it’s illegal).
- It’s free! You don't have to pay for it.
- You can distribute your changes in Linux to help others (as long as it's free also).
- It is known for being a more stable and secure system (the chances of getting a virus on Linux are notably lower than other OSes).
- It consumes very little resources and space unlike Windows. So you can virtually run a system on 500MB of drive and 300MB of ram. Pretty impressive if you ask me!
- It can be run alongside with Windows or inside of Windows if you don’t want to jump ships completely.
- It is a very smart and powerful system. You practically have power over whatever you want and configure almost everything.
- There are alternatives for nearly any programme or it’s close cousin (e.g. Photoshop, Microsoft Word - there are free alternatives).
- Software that you commonly use is already pre-installed. And usually, what doesn't come pre-installed, you can install it directly from inside of the OS itself (kinda like an app store).
- The software automatically updates alongside system updates, making it a very secure and updated system.
- Usually, when you install Linux, everything works out of the box. You don't need to install any drivers, and that includes your printer!
- As a result of the previous point, your user experience might even be more user friendly than Windows, specially if you are not very familiar with windows.
- You can share files with and from computers with other OSes.
- There is community support for troubleshooting
As it's not always easy to make a change or try something new and different, here are some of the Cons.
Cons:
- Might not be as user friendly as Windows or as ‘straight out of the box’ if something doesn't install correctly (e.g. some hardware might not work correctly).
- There isn’t a dedicated tech support, so getting ‘fixes’ for things is in your hands unless you want to subscribe to some form of an enterprise Linux distribution (for a company that might be a good solution). However, you do get the software free so it’s something to consider (you're only paying for the support).
- If you are a gamer, you will prefer Windows as most of the games aren’t available but that’s not to say you can’t. Just not as much and as easy.
- Drivers don’t really exist, there will be work arounds but users have reported problems when trying to use certain hardware or old hardware.
- It’s probably better used as a dual boot rather than a Windows replacement due to the fact you can’t get propriety programs on it and although they offer cousins, it won’t be the same. Photoshop is Photoshop, after all.
- There might be a slight learning curve if you are a Windows power user (in the sense that you are very used to do things one way and Linux does it differently).
- Office software, although very powerful and compatible (with Microsoft Word, for example), might not have (yet) the latest functionalities that you are used to, or the document formatting might be a little off when you open it in other more mainstream office software. Yet, in recent years, these minor inconveniences have been minimized.
Linux is a very powerful system and it's free. My first time installing/using it was in the 90's, with Red Hat Linux. Since then, I started using it, learning it and ended up trying many distributions. Some don't even exist anymore. Nowadays I have one laptop installed exclusively with Linux Mint, that I use daily for common tasks and to play emulated games, and only use windows in other computers to do very specific tasks like playing the most recent PC games, music and video editing and to setup my racing drones, all this because there's no alternative software for Linux or because the alternative does not satisfy my needs. If you haven't tried Linux, give it a chance! You might actually like it! ^^
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