[tlug] Japan Times Linux Article

[Charles Muller <acmuller@example.com>]

I was *sure* that I sent this out to the list yesterday, but private mail
indicates that at least some people did not get it. So here it is again, the
Japan Times article.--Chuck

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Linux Takes on Windows: Challenger has its charms, but still suits geeks best

By MICHAEL JAMES The Baltimore Sun
(Carried in the Japan Times, Thursday, October 24, 2002)

Contrary to popular belief, the cops will not arrest you if you don't use
Windows. There are some interesting alternative operating systems out there 
--  and with perseverance, you won't go crazy trying to use them. Chief among
them is Linux, the largely free, enormously geek-popular system that hardline
anti-Windows users rave about, which has Tux the penguin as its mascot. The
core of Linux was written by Linus Torvalds, 32, a Finn. There are others,
including FreeBSD, which has been around for more than 20 years in one form
or another, and BeOS, which has such a hard-
core following that "Be" fanatics stuck with it even after the parent company
folded last year.

I tried out a free version of Red Hat Linux on my computer and found that it
worked reasonably well once installed. But let's get one thing straight up
front: Installing any Windows-alternative operating system is not for the
technologically squeamish. Unless you're a somewhat advanced Windows user, I
wouldn't try it without a geek or doctor present. Even for an advanced user,
getting a new operating system to do everything we take for granted with
Windows can be a time-consuming and daunting task. Surfing the Internet,
sending e-mail, and looking at digital photos require a labor-intensive setup
with Linux and its brethren. (If you're really dying to get a Linux system
without the hassle of installing it, you can buy a Linux-based computer "out-
of-the-box" at www.dell.com.)

Another major stumbling block is software. Most of today's high-end and oft-
used applications  --  Adobe Pho-
toshop Elements, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, Roxio CD-burning software,
and just about every cool game  --  are written for Windows or Apple's
Macintosh computers. Sure, there are Linux-based alternatives, like the free
Microsoft Word-emulating program OpenOffice, but in many cases they don't
have the ease of use or firepower of Windows-based software. So why do it?
Why use a different operating system in this Microsoft-controlled digital
world?

There are several reasons. First off, there's the moral reason offered by a
growing handful of Windows dissenters, who have turned to another operating
system in a virtual protest of Bill Gates' iron grip on today's PC. Another
reason is financial. Linux, FreeBSD and BeOS can be downloaded free (although
Linux, which requires about a 1.6 gigabyte download, can take a while). You
also can buy registered versions of Linux and FreeBSD at most computer stores
starting at about $70. The big difference between downloading Linux for free
and paying for it is that paid versions come with nifty software and even
access to a tech support line that will help you set everything up. Linux
also ranks high in stability and network security. You're much less likely to
see your system lock up or crash once Linux is installed, and the networking
environment is generally considered much more secure than Windows, keeping
hackers out.

Last, but not least, there's the programming angle. If you're someone with
such proficiency that you're comfortable learning to compile or write your
own software, the programming environment is more accessible in Unix-based
systems like Linux. My wife's 17-year-old nephew, for instance, is an
aspiring programmer who loves Linux and can't live without it. Of course, he
works for a government computer think tank and scored 1460 on his SAT, so
he's not your average computer user. The uber-geeks that love Linux often
point out that it and most of the programs written for it are "open source,"
which means the language of Linux is free source code available for anyone to
understand and use. With lots of developers manipulating the code, the
reasoning goes, programs will be more useful and bug-free over time.

To find out just how well Linux worked, I set it up as a second operating
system on a 733 MHz Pentium III computer. Windows remained on the computer as
the first operating system. I recommend that you keep Windows on your PC if
it's already installed and run the alternative operating system, whether it
be Linux, FreeBSD or BeOS, on a second hard drive partition. This takes a
little doing, but it's not too difficult and the documentation for all these
systems spells out what you need to do in step-by-step instructions. If you
want to go the free route, you'll need to download three huge Linux
installation files. Even on a high-speed Internet connection like a cable
modem or DSL line, this will take eight to 10 hours. So start the download
and go to bed. Hopefully you'll check in the morning and it'll all be done.

Of course, you could just go to a computer store and buy the registered
version on disc. Linux has many different versions, or distributions, to
choose from, and which one you pick depends on your individual taste. The two
most popular versions are Red Hat ($150 if you want the technical support),
generally the top choice, and Mandrake ($70 with technical support), which in
many ways closely emulates the look of Windows. They are cantankerous
installations, to say the least. You'll need to make a 3.5-inch boot floppy
from a file you've downloaded. Then you'll need to burn CDs from each of the
three giant files you've downloaded (Nero and EasyCD Creator are good burning
programs that should do the trick). Once you create the CDs, place the first
disc in your CD-ROM Drive, place the boot floppy in your 3.5-inch drive, and
reboot the computer. The Linux installation program starts and, hopefully,
nothing will go wrong. Unfortunately, something always goes wrong.

In my case, Red Hat Linux didn't like the configuration of the hard drives on
my computer, causing the installation program to lock up at the "partition
check" phase. That was Greek to me, so I headed to another computer in my
house and surfed the Internet until I found a likely solution: I had to give
special instructions to the installation program  --  specifically, typing
"linux ide (equals) nodma" at the installation command prompt. Once I did
this, Red Hat Linux took another 45 minutes to smoothly install itself on my
computer. As soon as I tried to log on, however, I hit another snag. I was
prompted for a log-on ID and password  --  which came as a surprise to me,
since I had specified a password during installation, but not a logon ID. So
it was back to the Internet to solve this issue. It turned out that the
default log-on ID for Linux is "root," or, in some cases, "local
host.localdomain."  That makes perfect sense, right?

I logged in successfully this time and was pleasantly surprised by the smart,
crisp look of Linux. I also was surprised by the Windows similarities  -- 
there's a program menu in the bottom left-hand corner much the same as the
Windows Start menu; a handful of basic icons on a desktop, and the usual
assortment of basic utilities, such as a CD-burner, Web browser (your choice
of Konqueror or Mozilla) and an e-mail client. Once you've installed this
alternate system, you'll need to get used to a whole new host of programs you
may not have used in the Windows environment. In Windows, for example, I
perform photo retouching with Photoshop. But, Linux's image and photo
manipulation program is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, or the Gimp
(which does have an obscure Windows version). Using Linux is like being in a
foreign land, sometimes trying to learn a foreign language. But if you're
patient, have a modest degree of computer savvy and like to tinker off the
beaten path, you can get a new operating system to function at most levels as
efficiently as Windows. Just remember to have a lot of aspirin handy.

---------------------------
Charles Muller  <acmuller@example.com>
Faculty of Humanities,  Toyo Gakuen University
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism and CJKV-English Dictionary 
[http://www.acmuller.net]
Mobile Phone: 090-9310-1787