CLASSIC POST: Can Linux Really Replace Windows? (9/28/2001)

This was originally written for angryCoder which seems to have pretty much died so I though I'd at least give some of my old articles new life.

Can Linux Really Replace Windows?
Server: Probably
Workstation: Perhaps.
Average home PC: No way!

What! That's it?
Where are the statistics, the numbers--the proof! Show me proof!

Ok, proof--

Proof Summary:
My Wife's Computer: Definitely Not.
My Computer: Nope
My Other Computer: Sure, why not. I don't want anything to do with Windows XP and having to contact them whenever I get a new hard drive.

Background:
Let me start by giving you generic hardware specs. None of my workstation home PC's have any major power. The fastest CPU in the house is a K6-2 500mhz. (Not fast at all by today's standards) They each had around 128Meg and Win98SE.

I've been working with computers for over 15 years--programming for closer to 8 so I figured Linux would be a walk in the park. I know my way around the command line interface of DOS very well and UNIX pretty well too. I can move files around, fdisk, dir, chmod, w, h, ls -al, etc. with the best of them (or so I thought).

Plus as a past Delphi developer (up to 3.0) I was really excited about Kylix.

This whole thing started when my wife was complaining that I was using her computer too much and making it unstable. That happens when you have Adobe Photoshop, two Visual Basic IDE's, Interdev and seven or more IE windows open on the hardware I described. (I still think it was all her. I just can't prove it!)

So I figured, "Hey, Linux is really stable!" -- I read slashdot. I figured those folk know their stuff. About once a week I see some blurb about how great Linux is, and how it can replace Windows in the workplace, saving gobs (or mountains, I forget) of cash on licensing fees. "Linux is more fun to use and is just plain better than Microsoft windows." Ok, I'm game...

I had an old copy of the Mandrake 7 distribution on some CDs that I bought in New Orleans (another story there). "I'll just plop those CDs in and I'll be done in about an hour!," I thought.

I just don't know enough about Linux. Yeah, I know about Gnome, KDE, X-Windows (sorta). I used to telnet into HP-UX machines on a regular basis to handle corporate billing processes by moving files around, chmod-ing them, ftp-ing them from one place to another, etc. But what is this? COLOR in the text console? WOW! That is so cool!

But wait, this is a PC for my wife to replace her Win98 Box. She just wants Email, Web Browser, and a little MS Office stuff (Word, etc.). A text-based box will not do.

First of all, my AGP video card was not compatible. Then, my network card was not compatible. Then, my sound card was not compatible. It even complained about my case. Yeah right. It never complained. They just did not work. It never said, "You know, I like you and all; but none of this hardware is gonna work on me unless you jump through some hoops."

But I'm a trooper. A few hardware problems aren't going stop me! They never stopped me in the windows world. I've coded in C. If I have to, I'll write my own driver! And off I went...

Mayday, Mayday! Abort, abort! Danger Will Robinson!

Did you know that (as far as I saw) everything in Linux is configured in text files? This reminded me of Windows 3.11 and all the .ini files. To their credit, these text files are well documented--just not good enough for me. It did not say, "You have an AGP ATI-Rage card, type 'ATI-Rage 128' here." It said, "Here is where you define your video card."

I was able to get the network card and the sound card working. After many struggles, I used older equipment and it worked like a charm. My sound card is from my OLD 386. Worked great! I switched the NIC with a NIC in my existing Win98 box. Low and behold, it liked it. The incompatible NIC worked fine in Windows.

But the graphics, and thus, the fancy Gnome or KDE UI (user interface), were not working. This will not do. So I researched and found an answer. I love Google--(groups.google.com) to be specific.

I needed to upgrade my X-free to a higher version than what I had. But oh the pain! Microsoft has ruined me! It is so easy in Windows or even the Mac world I imagine. Just click a few times: Yes, Yes, No I don't want to reboot, and I'm done!

Since it is late, and the only place around here that is open is Barnes and Noble. I rush out there to find the cheapest "Learn Linux" book that has CDs. I pick a Redhat book, because I hear they are pretty good.

So now I'm on version 8. Thank the stars and everything else! It has the right version of X-free that I need (4 point something).

What the #$@%! Why is it slower than Windows 98?

Yeah, you heard me. Slooooooooooower than Windows 98 was on the SAME machine. Oh the command line interface is fast, but of course it is fast, it is all text!

Oh, I was so disappointed. But wait! Compusa is having a sale on RAM -- $19 for a 128 Meg PC133 stick. I buy 3 because I've heard that with Linux, it is not the speed of the processor, but how much RAM you have.

I shut down Gnome to install the ram. It hangs, so I kill the power. It does not come back up. I do not want to reinstall because I don't want to reinstall Mozilla again. Plus, if this is going to happen on a regular basis I need to know what to do. It runs though something that reminds me of scandisk. But it stops and says, "Sorry, I suck." Turns out I have to type some cryptic command to tell it do a special scan and fix the file system differently then it normally would-I'm sure my wife is gonna looove this....not!

The 384 Megs of ram did make a difference. I even got SAMBA working and was playing my MP3's. It was still slow! Star/Openoffice was not installing. Plus I REALLY missed Ctrl+Enter when typing URL's. I was playing MP3's in the MP3 player that it came with (looks like winamp), and surfing in Mozilla, because Netscape 4.7 sucks--the window refreshes and screen updates were awful. The MP3's were even skipping-no it was not my network. I felt like I just put Windows 98 on a Pentium 100 with 32 Megs of ram!

I expected everything but the slowness.

I rebuilt the box as Windows 98 SE in less than an hour. (Not counting figuring out how to uninstall linux. Microsoft has instructions on their website.) I gave it to my wife and her PC became mine.

BTW - the machine flies even with those ridiculous themes installed!

I don't use her computer any more.

I'll check back with Linux in 6 months or more. In the mean time, I'll try FreeBSD. I hear you only need two floppies to install it...

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