Well it’s official, the year is now 2010 and we still don’t have flying cars.
The End
2010 also marks the end of The Linux Experiment. I can honestly say that the last four solid months of Linux use has taught me a lot. In reflection of this I decided to look back at what I had originally wrote about my goals of this experiment and see just how many of them I had accomplished.
- I will have learned enough of the ins and outs to be as comfortable within a Linux environment as I current am within a Windows one.
- This one is a bit tricky to answer. I am far more familiar and comfortable with Linux now than I have ever been before. However I still do not understand a number of things. For example the Linux file system confuses me to no end. What is the difference between /bin/ and /sbin/? Or why do some things end up in /etc/ and others in /var/ or even /opt/? Clearly I have some room to improve here.
- My bonus goal is to have a fully functional, self-created, program that runs native to Linux.
- This one I was actually able to realize. Not only did I have a native OpenGL program running, but in recent weeks I have even created cross-platform .NET/Mono based applications. In addition Linux has proven time and again that it is the platform for web development. I can definitely see myself utilizing it as such in the future.
Fedora
Fedora has been both a terrible nightmare and an absolute pleasure. I have had more problems getting things to just work on this distribution that I care to even remember. Yet time and time again there was something about Fedora that just kept pulling me back in. Perhaps it was the challenge of trying to master a power user’s distribution of choice. Or maybe it was just pure stubbornness. The fact remains that with the exception of Fedora 12 being incompatible with my graphics hardware there was nothing I haven’t overcome.
So would I recommend Fedora to someone? Well… yes and no. Fedora has a rock solid community and lives right on the cutting edge (what? I’m already running KDE 4.3.4??) but it does not make things easy. Now that most distributions have moved up to the 2.6.31 kernel there is really less of a reason for me to recommend the cutting edge simply as a way to get decent hardware support. Obviously if your machine is even newer than mine than perhaps Fedora is still your only stable ticket to that support, but for most users I think there are far better alternatives. Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy Fedora and from what I have read it has come a long way in recent years, I just don’t think I will be using it again anytime soon.
The Future
Today will bring some changes to my computing setup as I plan on removing Fedora and trying out two new KDE distributions, OpenSUSE and Kubuntu, just to see which one I prefer. In addition I will be dual booting with Windows 7 for the first time. I will be sure to keep everyone up to date with my experiences as I do so.
As we here at The Linux Experiment debate where to take the experiment moving forward, be sure to check back for updates on our new experiences!
Some hints I hope will help you:
* The difference between /bin and /sbin is traditionally that things in /sbin are intended to be run only by system administrators, while /bin programs are for all users. You’ll find the same thing in /usr/bin and /usr/sbin, except that those directories (under /usr) are not traditionally expected to be available to the system at boot time.
* I’m not a big fan of the proprietary drivers but if you find the free ones untenable, you might want to check out fedorafaq.org for help trying them out.
Yes, fedorafaq.org has been a tremendous help in the past. Unfortunately not this time. I have actually already put Kubuntu on my laptop but am having problems with it as well (post coming soon!)…
Serves you right for using new hardware 😛