Let's see where we stand.

cv

I think that you should change the title from

"How Familiar Are You With Linux?, or other open source software?" to

"How Familiar Are You With Linux?, or other open source OS?"

Coz, from the possible answers I read, I don't think that your poll is intended to people who use open source applications under windows.

Anyway this new subforum seems a good idea to me

"I can use it easy enough but I'm not much of a techie with it."

Would love to know a lot more, just a question of having the time...

I installed and ran Linux on an old PC a few years back, just to see what it was like. My greatest difficulty was in getting drivers up and running for an obscure Token-Ring card.

Now I'm running Mac OS/X and like having access to lots of open source software, much of which was written with Linux in mind but which runs fine under XWindows on the Mac. Among other things, I use GIMP and Open Office.

This poll topic has been on my mind quite a lot. I'm one of the just-getting-started guys.

I'm still overwhelmed by what I'm supposed to do with an iso image/ tar image/ a tar.gz.bz/ whatever image etc. Assembling all this in the 'right' place is daunting to me now also, so I couldn't do such an install if I wanted.

But, what IMO is important to point out is most all of the mature flavors on Linux have their own CD and/or DVD install disk sets. With these it's not at all intimidating to get started with Linux.

That said, I just got [comfortably] into, and then successfully back out from the command line this weekend. But I have to admit, it started off with a whole bunch of hard shutdowns. And yet, while it was a long weekend, the experience was very productive and I learned an awful lot.

I used the install disks I scored via the generosity of a fellow forum member. No, I couldn't have gotten to the command line through installing an iso but I think with a bit more time I will.

If you're still intimidated, get Linux on a disk set and go for it. Every time I do a re-install I learn something new. Best of all, it's all cumulative.

Have been using Suse linux for a while now, I'm dualbooting with WinXP.

60% of my usage is Linux, for browsing the web, e-mail, open office work etc.

WinXP gets used for gaming, and the stuff I don't have the expertise yet in Linux. Am now trying to get to know Gimp a lttle bit better...

Not much of a hero at the command line yet, have just learned the hard way that Linux is very sensitive on caps/nocaps in the command line

Have been using Suse linux for a while now, I'm dualbooting with WinXP.

60% of my usage is Linux, for browsing the web, e-mail, open office work etc.

WinXP gets used for gaming, and the stuff I don't have the expertise yet in Linux. Am now trying to get to know Gimp a lttle bit better...

Not much of a hero at the command line yet, have just learned the hard way that Linux is very sensitive on caps/nocaps in the command line 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's only for knuclefingers , monty.

Not for repetitive strain injury wrist guy's

> Among other things, I use GIMP and

> Open Office.

Those run fine on Windows. Cant see the need for the extra agrivation trying to get Linux to work when Windows is so cheap. (esp. in Thailand.

In fact it looks like OpenOffice 2.0 will be far superior to MS Office.. it's really that good.

Anyway, in the poll I could have filled in a number of answers, including that I'm ok with it, that I do run another Open Source OS (FreeBSD) but finally I opted for my strongest feeling which is that I hate it!!

It's like a love-hate relationship though.. WIll give Ubuntu a try soon.

hi'

I first tried a Linux distro in 96 ... a red-hat, then came mandrake, both interesting, at that time dependencies and simlinks, any new patch, package needed time to be installed manually, all these configure, make, make install and clean were headhaches

got to try a debian, hard to install but so stable and the first one which made all my devices work ...

during a time, I tried slackware, not an easy install, but then stable, great, but you need to like the cmd lines ... a real unix clone, not this easy.

one day a good idea came up, trying suse... problem! all full distro aren't free ...

got a live cd, appreciated and got a full 5cd's of the version 9, loved it

still on suse, after re-trying mandrake in version 9 and 10 until 10.1, now using suse 9.2, and ready to try the new 9.3 or may be take the hours needed to update kde and gnome and a load of packages ...

imho, suse is the most stable one with the latest improvement in each new distro .... and this distro has got nothing to prove now, all devices easily installed even an n'vidia card.

if there is a distro m$ should worry a bit about would be the suse one.

some distro are made for one purpose, as mandrake firewall and IPCop, they are mostly useful in networks as they protect every single machine even windows ones.

of course I use some others ... for maintenance, like chromonium a good tool for a quick diagnostic on a windows based machine, just need to start from cd and al the tools need are there, some others like knoppix are live cd's and allow to boot from the cd and use it and save a configuration on a floppy or usb key, which is a great way to get a taste of linux without the install.

I heard about a nice one called gentoo, anyone tried it?

using more windows because of my job, but never left Linux, and with the years seem to get better, a bit like the wine, need some good years to be really tasty

I guess that I can say that I'm used to linux and pretty good at it

francois

ps; Linus Thorwald use Suse Linux

have a guess why?

it's the most stable of them all

I am a newbie to this forum (first post etc,etc). That said I have Slackware 10 and 10.1 (boxed set) also FC2 and RH9 on disk for anybody in Phuket who needs/wants them.

I have a Thinkpad R51 laptop running Slackware 10, at work I dual boot a Thinkcentre with XP and a Compaq something-or-other desktop dual with FC and XP.

I have a fair amount of OSS software which I'll be more than happy to share with anybody who wants it :-)

I am a newbie to this forum (first post etc,etc). That said I have Slackware 10 and 10.1 (boxed set) also FC2 and RH9 on disk for anybody in Phuket who needs/wants them.

I have a Thinkpad R51 laptop running Slackware 10, at work I dual boot a Thinkcentre with XP and a Compaq something-or-other desktop dual with FC and XP.

I have a fair amount of OSS software which I'll be more than happy to share with anybody who wants it :-)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you like slackware you should checkout Vector Linux, it is quite speedy. I'm still new to linux but I have been happy with this distro.

vectorlinux.com