This post was published 3 years 8 months 22 days ago and as such probably does not reflect my current opinions, knowledge or ability.With a lot of schools starting back around now and universities about to begin, we’ve been spending this week looking at software for students. First of all I suggested some useful freeware and open source applications for all students. Then I discussed why computing students should make the most of open source software. Today I want to follow on from that by considering how running Linux can benefit computing students.
Why run Linux in particular?
1. Get experience with a different operating system.
Whilst you can set up Linux to look almost exactly like Windows or Mac, when you get down to the details it is a fundamentally different operating system. Whether or not you prefer using Linux, it’s important to realise that there are alternative ways of doing things. Besides, some experience with Linux or a Unix based OS is vital because…
2. It’s used in many areas of computing.
Although you may see relatively few desktops running Linux, you’ll find considerably more servers which do. Linux is used behind the scenes all over the place: embedded devices, ultra-portable laptops, multiplayer game servers, cloud computing and high performace computing to name but a few. If you want to work in any of these areas, some previous experience with Linux can only help you.
3. You can tweak your system to exactly the way you want it.
Linux is open source, so nothing about your operating system is hidden from you. From the way you want your desktop to appear, to whether you want Blowfish support built into your kernel or compiled as a loadable module, Linux is all about choice.
4. It’s easy to stay up to date and secure.
Linux comes in a multitude of flavours, or distributions, each one with different features, and in many cases a different package manager. Package management is a new concept to a lot of Windows users. Basically, imagine how easy it would be if thousands of pieces of software could be installed, tracked and updated through one central location. No more trawling the web to find a decent CD Burner. No trying to find out which of your applications have newer versions available, and whether you need other software in order to install them. Well, Linux package managers handle all that for you. With a few clicks (or commands if you prefer), you can manage the software you want installed, keeping you up to date and secure.
5. It can be a challenge.
These days, user-friendly distributions like Ubuntu make it easy for even a novice to get a desktop installation up and running smoothly. However, try to get an unusual piece of hardware working, or use a less stable distribution or piece of software, and you’ll probably face a few “challenges”. Now, someone who just want to do some word processing might refer to these as “problems” or “reasons to go back to Windows”, however, I personally find them one of the most exciting features of the operating system. Every time I have a problem, it takes some work and liberal use of everyone’s best friend Google to get over it, but each time I learn a little more about the software I’m using.
6. It runs on a range of hardware.
If you have an older PC lying around, or a laptop that isn’t quite as Vista capable as the shiney sticker on the box made out, Linux can let you get far more out of the hardware. Linux isn’t limited to desktops either, you can try it out on a range of devices from smart phones to games consoles.
7. You don’t even have to install to your harddrive.
If you’re not quite ready to take the step of installing Linux to your harddisk, there are still ways you can try it out. LiveCDs offer you a bootable environment on a CD or DVD so you can try out the OS without making any changes to your computer. You can download LiveCD images of various distributions from their homepages or via bittorrent, or if using the internet is an issue for you, you can order a free Ubuntu CD. Linux magazines also often come with dvds with images of the latest distro releases on them.
If you prefer, you can also install Linux to a USB flash drive or external harddrive to give you a portable version, without re-partitioning your internal harddrive.
8. You don’t have to lose Windows.
If Windows is necessary for some of your work, or you just can’t bear to part with it, you don’t have to give up on installing Linux. It’s easy to set up an environment, either with virtualisation or a native dual-boot install, where you can use either operating system on the same computer.
Over to you…
Do you run Linux? What benefits does it have?
Something I find appealing is that Linux is not used by the majority of the population and this means less viruses (similar to Macs but good for me because they aren’t Macs.) I’m not going to say there are none, just less. Much less.
Linux is also great for people who just enjoy learning in general. I have a friend who wasn’t that interested in computers but did like to learn. He liked Linux because of how much learning could be involved in the use of the system. He started on Ubuntu and now has a desktop built himself. It may seem geeky but it can be fun to learn.
Another thing, on the topic of desktops you build yourself, is intimate knowledge of your own computer. When you build your own desktop from scratch, you learn your computer like the back of your hand, and can usually assess most problems that may come up.
That’s all I can think of, but I am sure there are tons more.
Wow, thanks Jeice, those are some great points.
Although, I’m not sure Linux’s security comes entirely from its smaller user base. Don’t get me wrong, there is currently less incentive to attack it, but I think a few other factors also come into play. The first is that every Linux installation is different, unlike the out of the box install you get with Windows. The number of Linux users is small, but if your virus or exploit takes advantage of a feature of a specific disto, the number of people you can effect gets even smaller. Secondly, the fact Linux is open source means contributers all over the world can help fix bugs and security holes, so if there is a problem a fix can often be deployed quickly and immediately. Finally, and in some ways unfortunately, I think the fact that most Linux users have gained a good deal of computing knowledge means they’ll keep themselves safer.
It’s great to hear about your friend, since most people who try Linux seem to be computer geeks beforehand. I love the fact that there is so much to learn about each feature of the OS, there is always another challenge to face.
I also enjoy building my own computers (although I couldn’t really afford not to even if I didn’t). You’re right – it makes a huge difference to problem shooting, especially in Linux, if I have an intimate knowledge of each piece of hardware in my computer. Compare that to compiling a kernel for my laptop, where I really had to hunt to find out just what each component was – that’s a nightmare.
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Great points I converted about 6 months ago to linux. I really like the customization of the system the most. That and I can take and backup client data without infecting my machine with viruses. Great post title I followed you here from the comment you left on my site, and the Problogger Killer title contest.
Thanks for stopping by Mike, glad to see another Linux user. The lack of viruses (virii?) right now definitely is a convincing argument for using Linux as far as I’m concerned, and I can’t stand being stuck with a system I can’t really customise when I run Windows.
I’d say more important than user base size for Linux’s security is the different design and culture. The idea of restricting privileges is just now reaching the Windows crowd, while on Linux if a user infects themselves, they risk losing their own data, but the odds they’ll hurt the base system or other users is tiny. This is, of course, reinforced by the number of developers thats search for bugs, but also by the Unix philosophies.
There is also how users deal with needing new software. On Windows, users go to Google when they need a program that they don’t want to pay for or pirate, and they download whatever program they find — as admin. The fraction of these with malware is high enough that most Windows users I know have had many run-ins. On Linux, a user will search portage/apt/urpmi/whatever and find software recommended and reviewed by many people who are generally trustworthy. Thus, the program you find will do only what it says it does.
I wanted to comment on your line “If you want to work in any of these areas, some previous experience with Linux can only help you.” Very true, I broke into the computer industry this way. I was hired for my first computer job because I had used Linux. All of my subsequent jobs have used Linux / Unix in one way or another. It may be true that I was looking for these types of jobs, but I think the more computing knowledge you have the better.
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@Cherez – Thanks for your comments, you make a lot of good points. I just hope that the importance of security and the power involved in using a root account is clear to newer users. As you said though, the very nature of package managers make it easy to install the software you want without the malwear you dont.
@Rusty – I’m really glad you have real life experience of that point. As a student I could only really speculate (and hope) that what I’m learning might come in useful, based on other people’s situations. I don’t whether I’ll get to work with Linux professionally, but if not I think the skills and problem solving abilities I’ve gained from using it are transferable to other positions. At worst, I’ve had fun and learned a lot.
I use linux because it does not suck as much as it could.
Oh yes, of course it sucks. But not to the level Windows or OSX does
Still tryin’ to choose my distro. It’s not easy, there are so many to choose from! I tried Ubuntu HH 8.04 but didn’t really like the feel of it for some reason.
I’ve tried Slackware, Arch, Debian, Mint, DSL and Mandriva.
Not sure what I’ll eventually settle on. I’m looking for longevity here and don’t want to pick a distro which will die in a year or 2 after having gotten used to it and fond of it.
@Casey – I guess it’s just a case of which can improve fastest and hence will suck least in the long term. The more features an OS seems to add, the more it seems to get in the way of actually achieving anything.
@RockOnTommy – Luckily, easy to use GUI installers make it simple to install a distro just to see whether or not you like it, and then remove it again. I’ve heard quite a few negative oppinions of Ubuntu 8.04, but perhaps the next release will be an improvement. Personally, I’d recommend Gentoo, because I almost always recommend Gentoo. I love it and other people might too. But really, it’s down to personal preference and you just need to find the distro which best meets your needs. This distro chooser is more fun than anything else, but you might want to give it a go.
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I use linux as much as I possibly can, I find it is much easier to focus on tasks like homework on linux then on windows (never used mac, never plan to). I like to play videogames, and in fact linux through wine plays the majority I like, but I have the ability to be much more organized with workspaces, and with being able to customize my desktop to such a point where I am very familiar with it, its keyboard shortcuts so on and so forth I find I am much more productive and willing to start doing something serious, whereas on windows having things clutter up quickly, or having to do something very repetitive that could easily be done through the CLI/bash, just makes me not want to work.
I get off on the learning experience too. I have grown up on windows 95/98, and therefore have spent a lot of time with XP too, leading me to be very familiar with it. However switching over to linux after I built my first computer and got a big harddrive (1TB external esata), I got a whole different environment to work in, and I did enjoy the few hitches I encountered, challenges as you say, they definitely seemed fun to me, because it was stuff I didnt know, but by the time I was done I was much more familiar with the interface.
I recommend it to many people, normally Ubuntu, because its a very sturdy beginner distro in my eyes. Usually few to no problems with the setup, and a lot of gui, so you can take the CLI at your own pace, and synaptic beats the heck out of windows.
In your case Hazel, I am wondering why you recommend Gentoo. Compiling from source is one thing I find to be a pain. It can be interesting for sure, and occasionally I do use Gentoo because you can tailor your installation however you like, but I really enjoy how easy it is to update distros like debian and ubuntu.
Anyways, one thing that made me change was how easy you can customize your desktop. I am an artist by nature, not so by profession. So I make quite a bit of art through photoshop and have always loved tinkering with settings and the look of things, and with windows it is much much harder to do (I did it, but it took a lot of work). Whereas it is very simple to have very different desktop experiences with linux, with little change to the actual system. For example you could have no task bars, menus, startbars whatever you’d like to call them, and use a right click menu to access apps etc.
I also love me some source code. I’m going into computer science at university next year, and have programmed in various languages for a while now (C++, Perl, Java, Bash), so I love opening up the code and looking around, if the comments are good (some arent, haha), its nice to get a grasp on an actual program, rather then just some exercise a teacher has made up. Its also great to see how others have solved problems you may have. And the community, at least for ubuntu, is amazing! the IRC channel is where its at for help, and the forums are pretty dang good too.
So I use linux because its free, its a great learning experience, its customizable, and its cool. I also love being treated as someone who knows a lot about computers because I run linux (it has a certain air of wisdom to it… ‘ooh he runs linux, he must be really good’, not that I am not really good with computers, its just an interesting effect, lol)
If you ever get the chance, I’d recommend using qemu or virtual box or whatever you like from a usb drive with your favorite distro on it. It makes it very easy to show it off to friends. I personally use a stripped down Xubuntu using fluxbox with my own personal theme.
Another fun thing a few people have been doing is hijacking store computers. Just burn a few discs of your favorite distro, sneak into a store, pop it in the cd tray of a display computer and get it up and running, then walk away. Of course have instructions on the CD saying what it is, and that they have to just remove the cd and reboot etc., but it shows people another option, and is something fun to do if you have the time.
Long post, but worth it I think. Nice article.
Hi Blackbinary, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
The customisability of Linux is definitely an aspect a love. As for it being a better working environment, I’ve been considering setting up seperate users for different tasks for some time now. That way I can have a minimal desktop for gaming, and have a work account which I wouldn’t even add to the games group. However, being able to set a computer to exactly the way you like it can have its downsides. Environments in university labs have become unfamiliar to me, whereas if I used a basic, default desktop I wouldn’t have to deal with as large a change.
I don’t recommend Gentoo to everyone, but I think it is well suited to two groups of users: people who have tried a variety of distros and are unsure about what to choose; and new users who want to learn a lot very quickly. It’s not something which is suited to someone who just wants to have a working system. However, I like having a system which I feel in control of. I love going through the command line install process. Gentoo was the first distro I tried and I learned so much from just installing it, and continue to learn from using it. Even though compiling from source can take some time, I just never enjoyed using any other package manager as much as portage. I agree that it isn’t for everyone, but I think by at least trying it it can give users a better understanding of their options.
I’ve carried a bootable USB drive around before, I haven’t tried it with virtualisation software. It is something I intend to try do though; a member of my Linux society recently recommended it as a great way to store and run presentations. As for sticking CDs into store computers, I can’t say I’ve never considered it, but it isn’t something I’ve tried. Sounds like a fun way to get thrown out of PC World.
Anyway, thanks again for your comment, you made a lot of great points. Best of luck with your university course.
You can have your mates call you a geeky twat.
Then they wouldn’t be my mates, would they?
Besides, you can use Linux without having to shout about it.
I use linux as my primary OS for about a year and I don’t really like it. There’s always something wrong with it. In any given point in time it wasn’t fully functional. Ever! And I don’t mean functions I wish it had – no. I mean functions it claims to have. Like sound. You see – sound is pretty basic function for me. I’m used to the system with working sound (yes – Windows spoils you). Then flash in a browser, browser itself (I know – it works, but… it’s so slow…). Those aren’t very complex features at all! Yet they don’t work. And I don’t really care why it doesn’t work properly. They make the system so they should make it work instead of whining about Adobe or some other nasty company that makes it’s money on ignoring linux users.
Then come applications. When you read about linux you usually find claims that it has like 20,000 free, easy to install applications. Great, but most of them are useless. The majority of the rest should be labeled BETA. Finding working application for a given task isn’t that easy.
I think that the problem of the linux is that it’s developers constantly add new features. There is no design, no plan, no idea behind it. Just a guy that codes whatever comes to his mind. They should stop. Stop, look at what they’ve done and make it work. It isn’t that much fun, but it’s much more important. Why do I have to edit my xorg.conf in a text editor? Why there isn’t any GUI for this? Why UIs aren’t designed with usability in mind? Why nobody cares to write any documentation? I tell you why – because they prefer making some useless compiz effects and plasmoid clones of aero interface. And users aren’t better…. when I look at some discussions about new Ubuntu 8.10 what do I find? People talking about default desktop. Great. I mean it will make a huge difference if the default theme will be brown or not. Forget about the sound, wi-fi, and other broken stuff – make the desktop pretty!
The obvious question is – why do I use linux if I “like” it so much. For some time I was hoping it will get better. I fixed stuff, I tweaked stuff, I tried various applications and waited for new versions. But they weren’t any better (or the progress was to slow?). So right now I’m looking for some other OS that really works out of the box and has documentation. I want to install it and forget about it. It should just work without me constantly taking care of it.
And I know that you learn a lot when you try to make linux work. But should you? Should it be necessary for all drivers to know how car engine works? I’m not proud to be a linux user (it’s funny that most linux users are proud of it). Actually I’m ashamed that I wasted so much time with it while I could do something useful.
Please lose “whilst”.
It’s annoying and retarded.
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