printf("Hello World!\n");

[kingtermite]

Hello Linux Peeps,

The forum email threatened to force me to stare at BSOD images or something like that if I didn't come here and introduce myself.

Hello. I'm KingTermite. I've been around a few different tech forums before, so a few of you may know me.

I'm a software developer and long-time computer geek going back to the mid DOS days (my 1st computer had DOS 4.0), and a bit further than that in school computers (TRS-80, Tandy).

Anyway, although I'm old to computers, I'm fairly new to Linux. A bit about my Linux history (I'm a complete newbie).

~1993 or 1994 =>
I bought a book at Barnes & Nobles about Linux with an installation CD in it. It was one of the early Linux version/distributions. I don't even remember which one.

I was planning to install it as a dual boot back then, but some BIG BOLD text in the book warned me of possible dire consequences if I had a "Diamond" video card.

Well this was a new computer which I got the most kick ass "Diamond" (who was "the" name back then) video card available. It was like $400 for that video card alone.

Suffice it to say, it scared me from installing it.

~2005 =>
Installed Ubuntu on a 2nd computer I got dirt cheap but had no "real" use for. I didn't have network cable plugged in when I installed and it didn't therefore install/configure network. I couldn't get network working after that, so I didn't spend much time with it.

~ 2 weeks ago =>
Installed latest Ubuntu on my laptop (only computer). Now I'm enjoying the hell out of it. This laptop came with Vista. I hated Vista within about a month and put my old XP back on it. Then I installed Ubuntu on a separate partition I created.


------------------
I'm liking Ubuntu overall, but also curious about trying some other distributions (particularly, OpenSUSE, Fedora and possibly even BSD). Any thoughts on comparisons between Ubuntu/OpenSUSE/Fedora/BSD would be appreciated.

Part of me really kicks myself in the happy sack for not getting involved back in the early 90s when I started to try it. I would love to been involved from the early days.

Until you see more of me.........chao for now!

[devils casper]

printf("Hello World!\n");

Thats one of the best Introduction Title I have ever read.

Welcome to the LinuxForums kingtermite !

Most of Linux distros provide LiveCDs too. Best way is, try LiveCDs and decide yourself. Check this Poll too.

I hope you will enjoy your stay over here.
Have fun with Linux !!

[techieMoe]

I'm liking Ubuntu overall, but also curious about trying some other distributions (particularly, OpenSUSE, Fedora and possibly even BSD). Any thoughts on comparisons between Ubuntu/OpenSUSE/Fedora/BSD would be appreciated.

What do you want to know? The biggest difference between Ubuntu/OpenSuse/Fedora and BSD is that BSD is a UNIX-derived operating system with a different license and different development philosophy from the other three.

Keep in mind that I'm greatly simplifying this for the sake of brevity. There's more to the process than what I'm describing, but this is a good overview of it.

Linux is a clone of UNIX, but it has no actual code from UNIX in it. BSD started out with UNIX code in it and gradually worked it out over the years. BSD is generally released as a package deal: the kernel and all the utilities are tested together each version.

Linux consists of a kernel and set of apps that are all developed separately. When Ubuntu wants to release a new version they gather up the latest stable versions of the programs they want and make sure they work well together, but there's no regimented "block" of apps that are guaranteed to work 100% of the time.

Linux the kernel and most Linux software is released under the GNU General Public License, which requires (among other things) that you release the source code for other people to use, and if they use it they must release their changes to it as well.

The BSDs use more permissive licenses that only really require that you offer credit somewhere in the program for any code you use, not necessarily the code itself. There's a lot of BSD code in Microsoft Windows, for instance.

As for the differences between Fedora, OpenSuSE and Ubuntu, they're more subtle. Fedora and SuSE use a software installation/management tool called RPM (Redhat Package Manager). Ubuntu uses the Debian package manager apt-get. Most of the other differences are just window dressing.

Fedora and Ubuntu have traditionally used GNOME as their default desktop GUI, whereas SuSE has traditionally used KDE. All of the distros are capable of running any GUI, it's just a matter of what comes in the box, so to speak.

[kingtermite]

Thats one of the best Introduction Title I have ever read.

Welcome to the LinuxForums kingtermite !

Most of Linux distros provide LiveCDs too. Best way is, try LiveCDs and decide yourself. Check this Poll too.

I hope you will enjoy your stay over here.
Have fun with Linux !!

Thanks for the compliment.


Good tip on the Live CDs...I didn't think about that. I may toy with that over the weekend.

[danbuter]

The biggest difference for the distros you use is the update manager programs. I prefer Ubuntu because I like aptitude. I like OpenSUSE, but eventually dropped it because I really don't like YaST. I haven't played with Fedora, but I plan on it, as I don't know much about RPMs and want to learn. I know next to nothing about BSD.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Hope Linux turns out to be a great experience for you.

[kingtermite]

Thanks for the welcome everybody. I've downloaded and tried the LiveCDs for Fedor and OpenSUSE.

I really didn't like the look and feel of OpenSUSE. It was organized funny. It seemed it was harder/longer to find things and less organized.

Fedora was nice, look and feel was almost identical to Ubuntu. My only issue was some graphics artifacts on the screen. I may give it a more thorough shot soon.

[devils casper]

Dont worry about Graphics problems. Its easy to fix those after installation.