Advantages of Linux?

[bobert]

I have been hearing about Linux in recent months. My knowledge of Linux is zero. I would like to learn more. Please share any insights, hypertext links, horror stories, tips, tricks, etc. Thanks in advance

[HAL9000]

Advantages;

Free, you're not adding to the MS monopoly
Stable, I can run my Linux box for months without a reboot.

Disadvantages;

BIG learning curve to those of us that have had Windows pounding into our heads.
Several distributions, may take you a while to find one that works best for you.


Feel free to add to the list.

Now I don't really have much of a clue about Linux, but I was able to get Mandrake up and running, load Apache, and get my web page up and running. Now if I only had the time to learn to do more with it as it really isn't doing too much other than being a web server at the moment.

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

Advantages:

Free, meaning unfettered. cost wise, it costs whatever the company wants to charge for it. of course, most are nice enough to distribute it free as in beer, as well.

you are not adding to "anyone"'s monopoly. MS is not alone in that dept.

stability, sure....of course, properly administered, any OS can be.

Several distributions, and the ability not to have to go with a distribution at all, just build your own. the customization factor is high, you have so much more room to tailor your system to the task at hand. it's like legos, you build your own system from various parts scattered around the net.

Disadvantages:

point and click is not nearly as important as RTFM.



to be any more specific, you would have to redefine your question. what should we be comparing it to? you can't compare it to windows very well, cause it's a built on entirely different concepts. compared to some of the other versions of *nix, it might be better in some aspects, but doesn't tend to scale up as well as some. most of the time, it's better to find out for yourself how something can be advantageous, because only you have your particular needs.

[bobert]

Are there certain tasks that Linux does better than others? My short-term goal is to have a small home network. I would eventually like to make Linux run the firewall and act as the single connection point to the internet. My real goal is to learn a lot more about both hardware and software, so I'm not always relying on somebody else to fix my PC when problems occur.

[mairving]

Are there certain tasks that Linux does better than others?

Server-wise Linux can't be beat. Running a firewall on a Linux box is not hard either and works well. It works great as a fileserver w/samba or a webserver w/apache. It is also a lot less memory processor intensive (unless you run X-windows) than Windows. Plus you don't have to reboot if you change config settings. The list goes on and on.