Why is linux "flexible"?

[Blitze105]

Ok.. this question is for me and many other new linux users. I have used linux for atleast 3 weeks and i love it. It completely owns on Windows with ease.

You hear this phrase.. a lot when working with linux, "linux is very flexible." But how and why? I don't exactly see what this means.. could any one fill me in?

Such as.. i want to be able to hit 1 or 2 keys to make a terminal appear, is it possible? things such as that, is that why people think its so flexible? Or is it more hardware related?
-blitze

[smith88]

you have a good point. People do often refer to linux as flexible without explaining why.

IMHO linux is flexible because you have access to the source code for it and can make it into almost anything.

For example the extreme geek could make a linux kernel (the heart of linux) which has only the parts he or she needs, with absolutely no extras to enable maximum speed, or that person could make a kernel that has everything anyone ever needs without having to find device drivers or anything anywhere else.

But than at a level the user will see, linux is flexible in how many different programs for each use it has. Think how many office suites there are for linux (3 that I can think of), how many audio players and (ARGH!) how many text editors there are (at least more editors than there are people in Australia).

I suppose at the highest level, if you're using KDE, than the desktop environment is very flexible and has an option for everything you can think of (and even more).

Don't forget, Linux is flexible in what it can run on. The same linux kernel code can is used to run mobile phones, gps devices, computers, reuters, servers and set top boxes. Now THAT is flexible.

Hope that helps

[Blitze105]

I completely agree with your reply, however; i was trying to point this at a less adept user. It is true though, Linux can be bent and shaped like no other OS. Once you are "geeked" up to it, that is.

Another useful thing I was playing around with, was right clicking the panels at the top and bottom of the screen in fedora core 4. You can add panels, and add custom things to them. Needless to say i have many of them now
-blitze

[Cabhan]

I say it's flexible because it can do whatever you need. For the simple user, applications are available that allow for all basic needs without fear of viruses. For more advanced users, you are provided with an excellent system of plain-text configuration files, open standards that allow for a great deal of innovation, and even the ability to customize just what your computer can do.

I personally compile my own kernel (which isn't as difficult as you might think), and I therefore am able to only support hardware and functions that I actually use, as well as things to play with.

Basically, for me Linux is about control: I have 100% control over my computer, instead of relegating it to behind the scenes.


Also, if you're looking for stuff on, say, opening a terminal, I recommend looking in your DE's Control Center. You can find stuff there about setting hotkeys. If you have a keyboard with special keys, I'd also recommend the LinEAK project which enables you to map commands to special keys. For example, my terminal opens whenever I press the "Media" button.

[Blitze105]

Very nice. I think I will put that link and a few others about custominzing linux in the my sig. Once i get better with it i'll learn about editing kernels and everything
-blitze

[Kojak]

Flexibility is for me a number of things:

- Having the same system available on a variety of different processors (e.g. 32-bit PC, 64-bit PC, PPC processors) thus minimizing time needed to learn different operating systems (You can concentrate on one or two distros)

- Being able to set up a system tailored to your needs (Home-Desktop, Server, Firewall,...)

- Choosing between a GUI or non-GUI system layout, a RAM eating or RAM saving environment.

- Choosing between the applications that you like best

- Deciding yourself, if you want to run a system with binary files or source-based

- Deciding if you want to configure from top downwards or build from downwards up.

[jaboua]

For me, the strongest flexibillity, is that you can perform maintenance quite easily as root while graphically logged in as regular user.

Just [ctrl][alt][f2] or use the console, login as root and away you go.
No need to logout, login as administrator.

Or just "su -" in a terminal (my preferred method)

[aysiu]

Such as.. i want to be able to hit 1 or 2 keys to make a terminal appear, is it possible?

Yes. I hit Control-Shift-T, and my terminal pops up. I hit Windows-F and my Firefox pops up. I can make a keyboard shortcut for just about any command. I've tried this in Windows, and it doesn't really work.

Take another example, though.

This is a tutorial on changing the Gnome menu icon.

This is a tutorial on changing the Windows Start menu button.

You tell me which looks easier.

[Dapper Dan]

Because you can play SuperTux while waiting for your new 2.6.16 kernel to compile...

[rm-rf]

Great question. Linux is flexible for a number of reasons: first of all it is based off of Unix, and Unix has a very interesting way of writing programs, the best way I can describe the Unix way is with an example: Internet Explorer is programmed to run any program you happen to download, this is a major security hole. So the obvious fix is to make a web browser that doesn't do this right? The problem with that though is that someone might want a web browser that does this (for some reason), so Unix programs don't have policy wired into them, a Unix web browser will need to be configured to automatically run programs, or not to. Thus getting a Linux/Unix box to behave the way you want it to is as easy as reconfiguring a few programs. Also Linux is a free kernel, so you can modify it easily to behave the way you want it to. With daemons, the sticky bit, groups, the sudo command, seperation of policy and mechanism, and C preprocessor statements, turning a server into a desktop is as easy as editing a few files.