Linux Or Window System? Which One Works For You?

By Darren Thomas

Windows and Linux ( also being known as UNIX ) are two of the most popular platforms today, each has their own favorite followers and so-called fans because each of these platforms have their own advantages, so to speak.

Come on and let us study together what are the advantages of these two platforms,

i. Reliability – many specialists such as developers cited that UNIX is way more reliable than Windows. However many others who have been with Windows NT4.0 claimed that the reliability of Windows can be very close to UNIX, and this is especially true relying on the proficiency of the non-professionals whom are using Windows.

ii. Performance – well, I guess after some good debates, Windows and Linux are equally great in sustaining the quality of their hosting tasks and therefore had been performing well in their Hosting performance consistently.

iii. Cost – UNIX is definitely a lot cheaper than Windows, due to the fact that majority of the UNIX software products are distributed under a free of charge license while for Windows, this has never being the case. Comparatively UNIX hosting is more popular than Windows because for the same level of performance and flexibility among these two platforms but one is mostly free of charge or very likely to be a lot cheaper than the other platform, which one would you choose as a consumer?

iv. Accessibility and ease of use – today, there is really no significant differences between these two platforms in the perspective of user-friendliness. Both of them can be used with great ease. However, if you are a professional in the web hosting world, then UNIX would be your optimum choice, while for new-comers, you can choose any of these platforms as both of them are comes with a user friendly control panel with a user interface over the website.

v. Open source – one of the greatest advantages of UNIX is its open source based, with that, It is highly compatible to work with many different operating systems with ease. However as Windows is not of open source based, it is not as flexible as UNIX.

vi. Stability – although each of these platforms has their own fans as said before, however because UNIX or Linux are mostly servers, they tend to be more stable and it is the best choice for users who need a stable environment to deliver their tasks such as for a developer or even for a secretary.

vii. Linux work best for professional games – Games which are created for Linux work seamlessly, and in addition to that, some of the Windows games can be enabled to work in Linux. One good example is the: Play-station 3 is now being shipped with Linux pre-installed on the hard disk.

viii. Support and guidance – because of the significant number of users using Windows today, it is often found to get support and assistance easier should you have any issues with Windows platform. The turn-around time for fixing any issues for resolution is much faster for Windows, no doubt on that.

Despite whether you are an avid fans of Windows or Linux, you deserved to be complimented on the great work you have done in working on Windows or Linux to discover many of their benefits over the other in many different areas.

This is one great knowledge sharing among us as consumers because to be able to pick yourself a good hosting provider, paying to every little details are essential.

When you are searching for web hosting, reverse researching is important where you should find out the complaints about the host. Which field they are weak in? What mistake they always do? This can give you a clear picture on their performance. For more information, check out web hosting reviews.

Darren is a full time web developer attached with a web hosting company.

Recently my nephew came to visit and brought his computer. It was running WinXP and he said the CD drives were broken, and it needed a new motherboard! Well, since he’s only 12 his diagnosis was understandably quite a bit off. There’s no need to pay a technician huge sums of money to “fix” this broken system, with my trusty case full of live Linux discs I was ready to start.

First, we booted into Windows– It did not recognize the CD drives in the computer, Device Manager reported a problem with the drivers, indicated by yellow exclamation points.

Now, normally a casual Windows user would have to start jumping through hoops trying to figure out how to fix the drivers problem, but in this case he was done with Windows, what with all the spyware and general instability problems, and he was ready to give Linux a try. So, we turned off the PC, let it sit for 10 seconds, then turned it on, inserted the Linux Live disc (Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala), and booted up into Linux.

Some argue that Windows is inherently easier to use than Linux, while that may have been true 15 years ago before the Graphical User Interface became increasingly popular for Linux distros, nowadays there are new advantages to the less-savvy computer to really like about Linux.

For instance, look at this example about problems with drivers for CD-ROM drives. Most Linux distros come complete with CD-ROM drivers, video drivers, USB device drivers (Like my Linksys Wireless-G stick) which has never been the case with Microsoft’s Windows. When you first install Windows on a PC you aren’t done yet–Oh no, it will probably a couple hours for you to track down all the proper drivers for your system. Linux- put your Live CD in the drive, boot up and go!

And, if you want to add more software to your Linux system, you have the convenience of Package Managers.  All the biggest Linux distros have thousands of all different types of applications available from games, to business, to development specifically put together for that particular distro. For instance, Ubuntu has over 20,000 different programs known as “packages” that are each uniquely tailored to your particular ditribution. Package managers resolve dependency problems which have historically plagued operating systems like Linux because there were specific versions of individual files required by some programs that weren’t already installed on the system, resulting in problems.

Getting out of the “Windows mindset” gives one the freedom to expand his horizons when it comes to getting the most out of one’s computer system with the least cost.

#1 Families with kids who use the computer

Those of us who have kids know that they aren’t so savvy about what not to click on especially when surfing the Internet. Without a mindful grownup watching everything his child does online, problems are soon to crop up. Leave a 10 year old alone for an hour by himself on the family PC and I will say with almost 100% certainty that their will be spyware and viruses on that computer! Besides the obvious danger involved in letting kids surf the web without proper filters, the great chance of them clicking on those fancy “animated cursor ads”, or any of a vast number of fancy Flash attention grabbers will absolutely fill your Windows PC with security threats.

So what’s the solution, you ask

The solution to this problem is to use a Linux Live CD on that computer! Simply put a Live CD in the CD-ROM drive, shutdown your Windows machine, and when you turn it back on, you will have a menu appear that will allow you to boot into one of many Linux Operating Systems, and they can click and surf with abandon since the Linux Live environment will not touch your installed Windows system.

The image above shows what you see when you put in the Linux disc, in this case we use Ubuntu, it’s the most popular but there are surely scores of other Linux distros that will work very well.

Using Linux as a Live CD is certainly a fun endeavor, but it does have a few drawbacks–namely, the most important difference for most of them is that anything you do in Linux while in the Live environment will not be save once you’re done and restart the computer. Anything you change, like adding programs, changing system settings, etc., will all be gone for next time. But this shouldn’t be a problem for the casual Linux dabbler.

#2 People who use many different computers

What do you do when find yourself with several different computers at home, and you like to go to your friends’ houses and use their computers? Maybe you want to show them what your doing on your computer, but you don’t really want to drag an entire desktop computer to someone’s house, do you?

So what’s the solution, you ask

The answer is, you can install your entire system onto one of those small USB memory sticks. As long as the computer you stick it into supports booting from USB (and most modern computer do), then you can simply take your PC with you in your pocket!

And Ubuntu makes this very simple to do since they have a command to create a “USB Startup Disk”:

It’s really that simple- Once you have your “Startup Disk”, you really have a full Ubuntu installation on a Flash drive that ’s only limited by the capacity of the drive.

As you can see, these are just two examples of how people who wouldn’t normally think that they would have a good use for that “other” operating system, there really are some great “out-of-the-box” uses for Linux besides the everyday use some may find intimidating.

Check back here for more great uses of Linux and thanks for reading!

In these times of financial turmoil, one must find as many ways to save money as possible. One of the most important areas of life people may spend a big chunk of their money on is with their computer. That is why finding ways to lessen bills relating to using your computer(s) can become evident so quickly. By following my tips below you can find yourself immediately starting to see the costs of your PC use drop dramatically.

First, and most important is to use Linux. Linux is a free, and open source competitor to Microsoft®, and Linux is the “kernel”, or fundamental coding of the Operating System, which is utilized through one of hundreds of different Linux distributions, or distros. The details may seem complicated to a lifetime Windows user, but a bit of research can make it all plain in no time. Distrowatch.com is a great place to start looking at all the different, exciting types of distros that are out there to pick from. The freedom to choose and setup just the Linux system makes it very exciting too, if you want to have the control, and not have a big corporation somewhere tell you what you can and can’t do with your own computer. That’s another very important advantage of Linux- It is not “owned” by any single organization, so you have the freedom to do what you want.

First of all, lets compare the initial costs of putting the latest Linux distro on a new computer, or the latest Windows, which is currently Windows 7. We will use Ubuntu as the Linux distro since it is the most popular, but would could use any Linux example, now couldn’t we?

From Ubuntu.com

$0.00

Now Windows:

From Microsoft.com

$199.99 to $319.99

As you can see, right off the bat you are hundreds of dollars ahead just by choosing Linux as your operating system!

Let’s choose one more example. This time, since we already have our operating system selected, we need an office suite, right? Well, Microsoft® has a very popular one, ubiquitously known as “Microsoft Office”. Well, don’t fret Linux users, you can’t use that app, but we have one that is quite compatible, and some would argue better, Sun’s Open Office. Let’s compare prices:

From Openoffice.org

$0.00

Now Microsoft Office:

From Microsoft.com

$149.95 to $679.95

As you can, we can save lots of money in the basics by taking the Linux route, versus the mainstream-friendly Windows path.

Grand total for a full-featured operating system, and robust office-suite:

Windows = $349.94

Linux   = $0.00

Kismet is a network detector, packet sniffer, and intrusion detection system for 802.11 wireless LANs. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring mode, and can sniff 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g traffic. The program runs under Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Mac OS X. The client can also run on Microsoft Windows, although, aside from external drones, there’s only one supported wireless hardware available as packet source.

Kismet-2.7.1 Screenshot

Distributed under the GNU General Public License, Kismet is free software.

Kismet is unlike most other wireless network detectors in that it works passively. This means that without sending any loggable packets, it is able to detect the presence of both wireless access points and wireless clients, and associate them with each other.

Kismet also includes basic wireless IDS features such as detecting active wireless sniffing programs including NetStumbler, as well as a number of wireless network attacks.

Kismet has the ability to log all sniffed packets and save them in a tcpdump/Wireshark or Airsnort compatible fileformat.

To find as many networks as possible, kismet supports channelhopping. This means that it constantly changes from channel to channel non-sequentially, in a user-defined sequence with a default value that leaves big holes between channels (for example 1-6-11-2-7-12-3-8-13-4-9-14-5-10). The advantage with this method is that it will capture more packets because adjacent channels overlap.

Kismet also supports logging of the geographical coordinates of the network if the input from a GPS receiver is additionally available.

Kismet has three separate parts. A drone can be used to collect packets, and then pass them on to a server for interpretation. A server can either be used in conjunction with a drone, or on its own, interpreting packet data, and extrapolating wireless information, and organizing it. The client communicates with the server and displays the information the server collects.

I made a good find on Digg.com today that reveals the author’s 24 top Linux programs, and I like the list so much I thought I should blog about it.

Do yourself a favor and have a look:

http://laptoplogic.com/resources/top-24-linux-apps

Well, I tried to get Puppy Linux installed on my old Presario notebook PC as I wrote about recently, but I just couldn’t get the install to take.

Old Compaq Presario

For some reason we could not get the Grub boot loader to boot it up properly. No big deal, that gave me a good excuse to try another distro, and I’m glad I did!

CrunchBang Linux 8.10 is the distro that I was interested in trying on this old machine because it was advertised as being lightweight, and made for lesser machines. I tried the “Lite” version, that ran very well, so I the opted for the “Standard” version, and it’s been great ever since. It installed without a hitch.

CrunchBang is tightly based on Ubuntu with Openbox as the window manager, a much lighter-weight one than Ubuntu’s standard, Gnome.

CrunchBang Linux 8.10

It is also interesting looking because it makes use of Conky, which is a free software system monitor for the X Window System. and since it is prominently sitting on the desktop, it makes it seem easy to check it out and start to configure it, with all the examples out there it really isn’t that tough. CrunchBang ran great on that 192MB of RAM dinosaur with Firefox running (with the included Adobe Flash, by the way!), only bogging down when the Package Manager was also running.

All in all, whether or not your PC is old and worn out, CrunchBang Linux is a great player in Linux arena!

Linux has many advantages over other operating systems as people who actually like to use their computers can attest.

This is a list of the most notable reasons why Linux is the King of the operating system world:

• This OS is supported by thousands of folks dedicating their time and resources all over the world from the kernel level all the way up through the layers, right up to the desktop manager of each distro
• There is no bureaucracy or politics involved every time a bug or security enhancement is needed
• Since the software used is FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) the emphasis is placed not on how much money can be made by the corporation behind it, but rather how great and functional it can be made for the end user
• You have far more choices for the latest technology with Linux than you do with Windows or Macintosh — Have a 10 year old PC? No problem, distros like Puppy Linux will let you plug in that brand new USB memory stick without having to go out and try to find a driver for it.
• You don’t have the virus and malware problem on Linux machines as you do with Windows
• You can make the Linux desktop look as fancy or not as you want, with Linux the choices are up to you
• With the major Linux distros downloading new software is a snap- most distros have literally thousands of packages available in just a mouse-click or two
• Feature-to-feature comparisons of Linux and Windows show Linux is the most secure OS out there

As this list shows, there really are many important reasons why these days Linux is what we all should be running on our computers!

Buy Linux on disc today

I am currently trying to find the best live Linux CD for an old notebook computer I have, a Compaq Presario 1700 XL260. This computer has a 500 MHz Pentium III processor, 192 MB of RAM, and over 5 GB of hard drive space. It looks like it also has a DVD-ROM, two USB ports –One currently used by my mouse, the other buy either a USB memory stick, or a USB wi-fi adapter.

Initially I tried to get the PC working with a Linux distro that would allow me to get online wirelessly with my router using that USB wireless-G adapter mentioned earlier. I was pretty sure that I’d have to use a lightweight distro since the dearth of RAM would be probably the biggest limiter in my distro selection choices.


My first try was with …. DSL — Damn Small Linux. Weighing in at 50MB, the highly-regarded, extremely light weight distribution proved to live up to its billing, however it certainly wasn’t as user friendly as I would have liked. It comes with JWM and Fluxbox, no Gnome, or KDE with this one, obviously. One big problem I encountered with this version as I occasionally did with subsequent ones is that getting Linux to talk to a USB wi-fi adapter is much tougher than I would suspect a PCI wi-fi adapter. Not to mention I’m sure all distros will connect to a network with no problem these days using a hard-wired ethernet.

My next Linux distro to try was Puppy Linux, the 100MB powerhouse. This was truly an exciting version to use since it had so many advanced elements for such a small size that it really seemed like that could be a daily user that could keep up with the big fellas in the Linux world. It was really fast, too, since it booted itself entirely into the minuscule RAM on the computer! The distro ships with JWM / IceWM + ROX Desktop user interfaces for your convenience. So, it’s still a small distro but it has more modern desktop environments than the previously mentioned DSL.

I eventually tested around a dozen distros, and understandably the more “packed-with-features” distros like the Ubuntus and the Arch Linux types were really too much for the mature system. Unfortunately since the system doesn’t have an ethernet port, it really limits the functionality of the networking aspect.

It’s certainly true that there are some modern albeit light-weight distros out there today that can certainly bring life back to this baby. It still has Windows 98se installed on its hard drive, and I certainly wouldn’t consider trying XP but it’s a lot of fun looking at the latest in mini-Linux and seeing what this machine is still capable of.

Buy Linux today

Milestones in the creation of Linux

+1960s No one can argue that with the introduction of Unix in the 1960s we would not have Linux today. It was originally developed by AT&T employees at Bell Labs

History of UNIX systems

+1983 The GNU project was started with the purpose of creating a free UNIX style operating system consisting of free and open source software (FOSS)

+1980s BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) was a free operating system project developed from AT&T’s 6th edition of Unix.

+1991 Linus Torvalds realized his terminal emulator based on Minix was turning into an operating system, and this was the makings of today’s Linux kernel

Linus Torvalds

+1992 Linus suggested releasing the kernel under the GNU General Public License. He first announced this decision in the release notes of version 0.12. In the middle of December 1992 he published version 0.99 using the GNU GPL.

Linux and GNU developers worked to integrate GNU components with Linux to make a fully-functional and free operating system. Torvalds has stated, “making Linux GPL’d was definitely the best thing I ever did.”