<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.100" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi, Shawn. Like everything Linux has its ups and
downs. Here is a list of good and a few bad things I found about
Linux.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Linux is much cheaper than most operating
systems. Unlike Windows where you have to pay something on the level of $189.00
for a full version, or $300.00 for Windows 2000.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. Linux has a much tighter security as far as
firewalls, port scanners, and other programs to make sure that would be crackers
stay off your machine. What is more many of these programs come with Linux, or
can be gotten from the net for free. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. You get a wide range of developer tools such as
gcc, kgcc, with the operating system where as in Windows a c or cxx compiler
will cost you $100.00 on up.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>4. ISP's usually can not disconnect you if you are
online, and if you are really advanced you can setup your own dialup services
without going through an ISP.Where in MS Windows the ISP sets how long you are
on, and after 2 hours or so you are kicked off the net, and have to redial in.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>5. Linux has two of my favorite programs Lynx and
Pine. You can read strait text messages and view the web in a text only format
which works a lot faster than waiting on a Windows based brouser like Netscape
or Internet Explorer to bring up pictures.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>6. Linux has incredible stability. Unlike Windows
9x it doesn't crash that often. Like in x even if the app crashes an
alt+backspace usually can cut the process, and kick you back into the shell. At
which you just enter startx and rerun tthe program.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If any other consol program should crash usually a
quick keyboard exit command like control+c will get you out of the
application.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>7. Using programs like screen which is packaged
with Red Hat you can run litterally hundreds of programs without seeing much
proformence loss, and without crashes. You can be downloading a Linux program in
screen 1, building a cxx project in screen 2, and be reading programming notes
in Emacs or another editer in screen 3.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>8. Full user profiling. Unlike Windows Millennium
which as a limited sort of user profiling Linux can have a fully customized
setup for every member of your family.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You can log in as Shawn and have a text consol
setup, and other family members or friends can log in and go directly into
x.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A few things I don't like.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Having been a Windows user first I don't like
not having vary good access to the x environment. X quite frankly has a few vary
good programs such as OCR packages, Wordperfect 2000, KFM which are really nice.
Which at some point that will be fixed once I complete my developer
classes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. Many times people package programs differently
such as tarring a program rather than using rpm which is an awesome package
utility for Linux. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. Although it is nice getting the source code
sometimes it is a pain when some programs are only in source format. Which means
you have to run make, build the binary, and then install it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For most people this is not a problem, but many
people don't like it at all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>However, in most cases you can find a binary
version, and just install that. If you want to change it in some way you can
grab the source code, and build a new version.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Summary</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In short Linux is not for everyone. If you must
have a Windows environment at this point stick with WWindows until an x screen
reader that is of the nature of JFW or Window Eyes can be built.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If you don't mind using text apps such as Pine,
Lynx, Emacs, and entering in hundreds of command line commands then Linux is
probably fine for you.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As stated before ocationally an application may
have to be built before it can be installed, and for myself that is not a
problem. For a newby who has never compiled an application it could be
frustrating at first.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>However, the stability, security, and use of
processes you will find no where else. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=shauno@sgtnet.com.au href="mailto:shauno@sgtnet.com.au">Shaun
Oliver</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
href="mailto:Speakup@braille.uwo.ca">Speakup@braille.uwo.ca</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, January 30, 2001 7:36
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> advantages of running
linux..</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi guys.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'd like to know what the advantages and
disadvantages of running linux are. I am considering running it here at home
and need all the information I can get before ai proceed. I realise that with
speakup there's greater flexability and all but that's about all I know at
this stage..</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any help would be greatly appreciated..
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Shaun</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>