Chile Forum

Advice, please, on buying a new computer. Eventually, we will be buying new computers. I would like to convert over to Linux.

Should we buy a computer with both Vista and Linux installed, with a (what I believe is called) double-boot option?

Can you operate a computer with Linux alone in Chile?

Thanks

I have linux and windows on the computer I am using right now. I have not booted in to windows since I installed it about 4 months ago. In fact, I have not used windows for more than a couple mins in about 5 years.

Duel boot systems are likely your best way to go.

It is getting less and less common to find something that you can only do in windows. The only program I use anymore in windows is fireworks and flash for graphics development, and that is simply because I learned to do graphics on fireworks and I'm too lazy to master the Gimp graphics program in Linux. There are a few proprietary programs that the companies refuse to release a linux version for, but expect those will surrender sooner rather than later now that major computer makers like dell and Lenova / IBM are selling linux notebooks and desktops.

besides keeping one copy installed on the computer I use in the office for an emergency, all of our other computer systems are pure linux.

Newer machines works nice with virtualization, with my Lenovo 3000 v100 subnotebook I run 3 windows xp and one linux ubuntu without problem, all at once! with the low cost of memory you MUST use 2 GB ram and forget about the old problems in dual boot, with virtual machines you can change between operating system and share information in a snap. To change from one system to another is as easy as to move from one window to another.

I reccomend any brand with Intel Centrino Duo processor or duo-2, it runs cool, smoth and consuption of battery is pretty low. With 2 GB RAM you are ready to any virtual operating system. Microsoft Virtual PC is a free download, there are another virtualizing software but VPC is one of the best products from Microsoft in decades, rock solid.

An external USB hard drive 130 GB for backus is also very convenient

Really if you are new to linux, I would say you might want to reserve linux for all the cheap computers you will find in Chile that could never run windows XP and never ever windows vista.

You might also try live cds. I really like PClinuxOS. It comes on a live cd, and when you are ready to install it is a full blown linux operating system that is based Mandriva linux (without all the buggy junk).

If I had to run windows OS, windows servers, databases, and buy all the software that would be required to run our business including the allchile.net server and all of our other websites, we would need an easy $100,000 US a year (that is likely just the basics).

That is just software. I would say each work station would run about $5,000 to $10,000 US in equivalent software in the windows world, and perhaps more.

Because I can run Linux on the biggest piece of out of date junk I can find and for many years longer, I save about 80-90% on hardware cost.

As Bill Gates is fond of saying, you should get the facts about total cost of ownership for linux vs windows. He is right, it a very significant difference.

The time waisted worrying about viruses alone likely saved us $100,000 last year.

Basically, if we ran windows in Chile we would not be in business.

by the way, nice machine (Lenovo 3000 v100 subnotebook)

Yes, is a nice machine and pretty cheap also, It costed about US$ 460 (without fancy gadgets as web camera, DVD burner and fingerprint reader) but is perfect to work I recommend it. Extra 2 GB RAM was purchased separatly same as the small external hard disk 130 GB and 2 GB pendrive, total cost was about US$ 800.- plus US$ 94 for taxes (just the laptop paid taxes). Default OS is the old Windows XP, and I installed two more clean copies of XP and one of Linux Ubuntu 7.04, so it has the best of both worlds.

What you say about software cost is true but for me is not easy to manage with a Linux-only machine, specially in my case, because sometimes I sell programs in Visual Basic for Aplicattions (Offcie components programmed).

I am trying to get PC-BSD to wake up on my Lenovo laptop.

I was surprised to read that the Linux kernal may get updated up to four times a day. BSD (freeBSD, netBSD, etc.) is updated only about once every year or two, after careful review. Sounds a little safer than any Linux. (Of course, the car that doesn't run is the safest one. )

The rapid linux kernal updates are part of the natural development cycle in Linux and other open source fields so that the newest changes can be deployed for testing by early adopters and developers. It means millions of developers and testers are almost instantly kicking the tires on new features and revising them.

As a set of feature matures in the kernel, the updates to it slows down until the point where it is deemed stable for general use. Many times that happens a year or more after it initially makes it in to the bleeding edge of the latest kernel.

The kernel you use in your distribution, whatever one you might choose, might not update for a year or more and they tend use an older more conservatively tested kernel. Many distributions for servers and such still run a linux 2.4 series kernel, even though the 2.6 has been out for years. Even then each distribution or end user can compile their kernel themselves for special purposes (e.g. desktops, servers, cell phones, PDA, security systems, etc.). So, the fast update cycles are Linux.

Security patches and updates on all the software on my systems are similar. They can be released daily. I have seen bugs in open source last less than 15 mins before a patch was developed and committed to the next update. Which is really irritating to find a bug, rush to go get the credit for finding it, and have someone already posting a patch for it; but, it is very good from an end user's perspective.

On the other hand, windows kernel updates about once every 10 years (and then just the graphics). Not updating is a serious problem with windows. They have the stick your head in the sand about problems until the can not be fixed software policy. Serious flaws go for years unfixed or even acknowledging they exist. There are bugs in windows XP that where put their by Bill Gates himself as a teen ager in the Garage.

The way I put it to people is why would you get on an airplane that used secret science or math for its construction, but you use closed source software?

Open Source is nothing new. It is just the scientific method. Peer review in something as complex as software is critical.

They did a study a while back that the programming hours that goes in to Linux kernel alone are so valuable in terms of cost of programmer's hours, no company (even Microsoft) could afford to pay an equivalent team of programmers. It was something like 50 times the man hours that have gone in to developing windows (35 years vs about 15 for Linux). They had a number to go with it, something like 500 billion dollars. That was about 3 years ago also. That is why it is far more than the kid in the basement now also. It is IBM, cisco systems, HP, teams of corporate programmers hacking away at the kernel around the clock and around the world. That also does not cover all the other open source software projects that run on Linux. There are thousands, perhaps millions of them.

So, updates need to be deployed to them all in nearly real time.

by the way, if you are having trouble getting BSD to boot on your laptop it is likely because they have not released the drivers for it yet in BSD. Having a slower release cycle also means they are not able to keep up with the latest hardware, or the diversity of hardware on the market.

Try one of the live linux distributions on one DVD or CD. If it boots to a workable desktop off the dvd, then it will likely install without a problem. Lenova should not be a problem, as they have most of the same hardware from the IBM think pad series that Lenova bought.

>wake up on my Lenovo laptop.

sorry I miss read the problem. Yea, that can be kind of tricky on any laptop.

I can boot some Linux distros, but not all. It is a good thing that it is just a hobby.

The IBM think pad was actually the first laptop ever designed for linux, and not windows.

I don't believe Lenova however has incorporated the same bios in to its in to the Lenova line of laptops. Your problem getting it to wake up is typically caused by home grown bios software. They are not standard from laptop to laptop, as each company likes to write their own for power saving, and such.

PClinuxOS has good built in all around support for just about everything on the market. I have never found a computer that won't boot it.

You might have a look at linuxonlaptops.com for a list of distributions that people have installed on your laptop. I typically start there when buying a laptop to get a feel for what sorts of issues there are with any particular model.

I went out and bought a cheap used desktop machine locally through Craig's List and just installed PD-BSD. It installed very smoothly. Very impressive! i am going to have fun with this.

Now trying to get it to connect to the internet via a network card.

Cheers,

Gammel