Setting up a new PC: Windows vs Linux

I have some experience setting up new PC's. A new computer is never "instantly" ready to use.

Windows

• Remove the trial version Anti Virus (normally McAfee)
• Remove Wild Tangent trial version game pack
• Decide on an anti virus to use, and install it
• Decide on Office software and install it

Linux

(Granted, I am unable to purchase a laptop with Linux preinstalled. So this all happens after you have installed Linux)

•  Update your system
• No trial crapware to ignore
• Some distros come with Office software, otherwise choose and install

Windows machines come preinstalled with all kinds of extras. Stuff you often could live without. Like Lenovo with Superfish, a company feels they can add to your system (normally because they can make some money out of it - I am sure that McAfee pays companies to have their software preinstalled), never with your best in mind. 

I love that Linux is not bundled with nonsense. Yes, every distro does have apps that they bundle together - but never anything like what Windows vendors do. 

I guess that companies will always do things that they feel they can benefit from. 

One exception is the Acer Build your own cloud. Building your own cloud with your desktop PC, that you can access even when your PC is turned off. If you need a file on your phone or tablet, the app reaches out and turns on your PC remotely. Although this might not be for everyone, in the time we live where cloud computing is becoming more important, this can be a very useful for a lot of people. 

Poll Results - Which OS for students?

Well, this post is a little overdue, but the poll results are in and I would like to voice my opinion
here.

I invited forum members from the Mybroadband forum and the Peppermint OS forum to help me with the poll by voting. While some said they would not vote until Red Hat and server versions of Linux where listed, others took the time to vote. Not a lot of people voted, but it seems that most people believe that Windows is still the best option.

I understand that not everyone is ready to embrace Linux, but with students (using Office and web browsing) I do still feel that Linux is a viable option. If you really need Microsoft Office and you don't want to try to run it in Wine, then consider running their web app versions. Go to mail.live.com and sign up for a free account.

I have done a bit more digging about Chrome OS, as I believe that I did take a very harsh view about it. Consider the Amazon top 100 list of best selling laptops, in the top 20 listed items you will find that 6 of them are Chromebooks. Surely Google is doing something right with Chrome OS, or else nobody would be buying these things.

I do however find it sad that it is not as easy to buy a laptop with Linux installed. Dell is said to have a line of laptops for sale with Ubuntu on, but I would rather not run Ubuntu. Part of the problem is, I suppose, that there are so many different flavours of Linux that are available.

Anyways, a big thank you to everyone who voted. I hope to have another poll up soon.

Have you ever considered?

I don't know if you have heard the news, but Crunchbang Linux is basically dead now. With Linux comes great freedom, the freedom to create an OS the way you like it, the freedom to choose to use an OS that you like (instead of the one you are forced to use).

It is sad though when a distro ends. I understand that most projects (especially the smaller ones) do not make a profit. It takes a lot of love, commitment and time (and even money!) to create and maintain a version of Linux. Life changes and sometimes our priorities change and we don't have the time to do the things we used to.

My blog has a point and I am finally there:

If you are running Linux, no matter if it is a small distro or one with hundreds of thousands of users - you should learn a little bit more about Linux in general and broaden your horizons. What would you do if your favourite distro stopped tomorrow? If you only know how to use KDE or Gnome, and tomorrow both projects ended - what would you use? I am not encouraging anyone to be paranoid here please. The fear of change and trying new things is what keeps a lot of people locked into Windows, obviously if you have migrated to Linux from Windows you don't fall into that category. But what could it hurt to try something new? You might find that the really like the MATE desktop if you tried it. You might just encounter a new Linux distro that does things differently, (not that you have to switch) but you might learn a few tips & tricks from them.

Getting comfortable with something for too long and cause stagnation. When was the last time you used a different media player, for example? One of the beauties of Linux is that there are many thousands of apps out there. You don't need to try all of them, but having a broader set of general knowledge would not be a bad things either.

Don't go and change everything all at once now, but when and if you do have some free time - learn a new app along the way and explore a new desktop environment. You might just be surprised by what is out there.

My thoughts about Elementary OS

I started off wanting to test Elementary OS because of all the good press they have been getting lately. I don't have a background with Mac OS and I don't really mind if my desktop looks like I am using a Mac or not.

That being said, I was able to do something I have not been able to get right with any version of Linux to date. I was able to use Bluetooth tethering between my phone and netbook, so that I did not have to plug into a wired network connection to install wifi drivers. Why does this matter? Well, for a lot of people they get stuck here, without an Internet connection you can't really go very far. I usually plug into my router with a network cable, but this was nice too.

I formatted my beloved Peppermint 5 installation and installed Elementary OS, which was a quick and painless install.

Something I missed, was a program called Task Manager. When I had a problem with Dropbox (the panel icon disappeared and my whole Internet connection basically froze while it tried to download 2 GB), I was not able to open Task manager and close Dropbox. I could have Googled what the Terminal command for this would have been, but my Internet was otherwise occupied.

I found their forum weird, not bad. Just very different from what I am used to.

With even their settings menu modelled after the look and feel of Mac OS, I am very surprised that Apple has not sued them for replicating their system too closely (I mean, remember this story).

All and all, because Elementary OS is based on Ubuntu and Debian I found installing applications easy, and I was able to get work done. The majority of my Linux experience has been with Ubuntu derivatives and at this point - I don't want to relearn everything I have learnt.

Considering that I did a blog post showing how to make Peppermint look very close to Mac OS, I don't really see the need to install an OS just because of the way it looks. What happens when I get tired of the "look"? What happens when I want to change the look?

The Elementary team has worked very hard to make a distro that is light and looks good and they have done a good job. Something about it just did not feel right to me. I would still encourage you to test it, because you might love it more than I did.

I have since formatted my HDD again and have installed Peppermint 5 again. Home sweet home. Going on a holiday is nice, but it is great when you get back home to your own house. Your bed, your tv everything set up the way you want to have it.

Do you distro hop? What have you tried recently?

Elementary OS

I am busy testing Elementary OS, the first distro in a while for me. 

Why? Because Peppermint is such a good fit for me.

Elementary OS looks nice, with it clearly having been modelled to look like Mac OS. At this point I only have a live install on a flash drive, but I must say that it boots up very quickly.

I will be testing it for a while and will report back with a proper review.

Anyone reading this using it? If yes, how have you found it?

Chromebooks, the answer?

Please note: I have edited this post as some felt I was biased against Windows. I have decided to remove the word "Windows" from this post (except for that one <===).

I live in South Africa. South Africa is not America. We don't have the latest tech and the tech we have here it is not cheap. So I understand that schools are looking for inexpensive laptops for students, as low cost Celeron machines are usually slow. From my experience, a school network is a dangerous place to plug in a flash drive - because of all the autorun viruses. Lots of schools have ageing computers (think Celeron due to budget cuts) running dated software. 

My netbook performs better running Peppermint than is does with the software that it was supposedly designed for (if the sticker on the bottom left corner of my netbook is to be believed). My system runs faster and my battery life is remarkably better. 

Enter the Google Chromebook, a low cost laptop that lives in the cloud. The Chromebook is not widely available here, and there are questions relating to compatibility with peripherals. I am not against Chromebooks here, I am simply asking a question. 

My question: Why not use a low cost laptop running Linux instead?

Surely there are Linux distros with paid support, surely there are other cloud and hybrid (think Peppermint Linux) options that would or could work well? 

I have asked a few questions regarding this on the Peppermint OS forum and will post community feedback soon. I know that Peppermint does not have a large support team, so providing support on that level is probably not currently possible. But I do feel that Peppermint Linux is as good a choice as Google Chrome OS. You can load it onto almost any laptop and Peppermint has ICE for web apps.

With cloud software you are looking for a platform that is lightweight, stable and easy to use. Peppermint Linux is all of these things.

I am adding a poll, and I would like you to vote and then leave a comment.

EDIT: I have added reasons for why I feel the way I do. 

Mac is a wonderful platform (I haven't been called out for insulting them yet), with the cheapest Macbook (Air 11" R12 999) costing more than 3 times the amount (R3999) of an entry level HP / Dell / Acer laptop, you can be sure that a lot of people buying a Mac is simply not an option. The minimum wage here is less than R4000 per month - and with almost 25% of people being unemployed and with almost 1 in 3 South Africans receiving social grants - you can know that Mac cannot become mainstream while selling at the prices they do, with the level of poverty that SA is currently experiencing. 

My biggest question for using Chromebooks is what support will you have for a Chromebook? If importing them through a service like Orange is possible, at least Chromebooks are available in my country. The after sales support means a lot to me though, whichever way schools and government decide to go, support is the most important factor. What will happen if Google decides tomorrow )or three years from now when every child has one) that the Chromebooks are not a good idea and decide to shelf them (think Google TV, Reader, Wave, etc.) maybe I am being paranoid, but Google already has an end of life page that lists when current Chromebooks will no longer be supported. What does that mean? Well you won't get updates indefinitely if you buy a Chromebook, and at some point Google might decide to can the idea. 

There are times when I can't use Linux, such as when I need to use Corel Draw. Dual booting is necessary. I don't believe that Linux is perfect, but I do feel that it is an option. M$ has created an industry, people spend big $$$ on having viruses removed, reinstalling their OS among other things. They have been good and bad as a company for computing as a whole and it will be very interesting to see what they come up with next. 

Linux malware and viruses

Traditionally you never needed to run an anti virus or use anti malware software while running Linux. According to the Kaspersky blog:  https://securelist.com/blog/research/67962/the-penquin-turla-2/ malware has been spotted.

Up until this time, Turla has only been spotted  on Windows PC's, but now there is a Linux variant. I am not going to try and explain what it is and what it does, rather read the article above.

As Linux grows in popularity, it will grow as a viable target for malware and virus creators. Hopefully security experts will help to keep Linux a secure operating system.

Don't panic yet, Linux is still much more secure than any version of Windows ;)