Techno Page
By Harendra Alwis
Linux looks good
Only the heart of UNIX-like OS
The future of computers
Linux looks good
I have been a follower of the new world order... I mean of Windows OS all
my life except for a few months when I had to use Macs' rather out of circumstance
than out of choice. My friend 'the great one' has been trying out Linux
for a couple of months and rather typically of him, started advocating
the benefits of his new discovery.
Initially I thought Linux would be quite intimidating because I am no
code monkey and all I've heard about it is that "it is free, but it is
only for high end users".
If you look around a bit, it won't take you long to figure out that
almost the whole of Sri Lanka is using one or two copies of any given version
of the Windows OS (this is also called software piracy). The good thing
about Linux is that you get the licence to use it for free. If you are
using Linux, it is possible to have all licensed software running on your
machine and still not have spent a cent on any of it (except maybe for
the download time).
A word of caution though; installing Linux is no easy job. You have
to go through a separate tutorial for that, but don't let that put you
off. It should be a worthwhile experience as retold by many who bore the
pain to do it.
You'll need to determine a couple of things before you install Linux
on your system. For example, you should know which particular distribution
of Linux you'll be using (there are many), whether you are going to have
Linux coexist with Windows on your system, and if your hardware is compatible
with Linux.
All you penguins out there, feel free to write in to Techno Page and
share what you know about Linux with your fellow readers.
Only the heart of UNIX-like OS
What's all the buzz about Linux? Chintana Wilamuna finds
out
Linux is only the kernel (the heart of any UNIX-like OS). You need various
other software to unleash the true power of Linux. If you want to install
and use Linux you have to download Linux from one place and other software
from different ftp sites.
Some companies have made this a painless process by gathering all these
into CD-ROMs.
These are called Linux distributions. There are various kinds of Linux
distributions available in the market. Popular Linux distributions are
Red Hat Linux 7, Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 and Slackware Linux 7.0 (there are
many more). Many people confuse this Linux version number and the version
numbers on Linux distributions. Linux version number has nothing to do
with the version number of a Linux distribution.
Though you can download a popular Linux distribution from their ftp
site for free (dialup users: don't try this at home), it is more productive
to install it by a CD. If you'd like to install and use Linux don't try
to buy a CD from a local CD store.
(All CDs you buy for Rs.100 or less are pirated CDs). Contact a friend
who use Linux or a LUG (Linux User Group) and ask them for help and if
you have trouble installing or configuring anything related to Linux just
ask them and believe me they will be more than happy to help you. (Lanka
Linux User Group can be reached at www.lklug.pdn.ac.lk)
Features of Linux
* True multi-user multitasking
* Kernel can emulate FPU instructions
* Complete implementation of TCP/IP
* Virtual consoles
* Complete programming environment (that Microsoft people cannot even
dream of) - C/C++, Java, Python, Perl, Pascal, LISP, PHP, TCL, FORTRAN
etc.
Linux is compatible with most of the hardware available in the market
today.
Internal modems and some printers can be a little tricky to configure
under Linux, but when it's correctly configured it works a lot faster than
under Windows.
This applies more to software than hardware. For example if you have
used 3D Studio Max 4.0 under Windows 98 to render some rather complex scenes
you can see very clearly how unstable the system is (it's little more stable
under Windows 2000). If 3DS Max have a Linux version it would be a killer
app. (I don't know if it's ported to Linux yet; this is my opinion, your
mileage may vary)
No matter how good a program is, it's up to the operating system to
supply a stable platform to it. If the base system is not very stable and
robust it's less productive to use any software under it.
That's why movie makers and visual effects coordinators use Linux based
platforms to use programs like Alias Wavefront and Pixar's Render Man to
make complex and eye-catching 3D effects, though they have versions that
run on other platforms.
Use Linux to make your life easy and interesting and to understand what
really a computer can do (rather than playing games).
The future of computers
What the experts said...
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
"I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked
with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad
that won't last out the year."
- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
"But what ... is it good for?"
-Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting
on the microchip.
"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even
built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us?
Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come
work for you.' And they said, 'No'. So then we went to Hewlett-Packard,
and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college
yet.'"
- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and
H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer in 1976.
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,
1977
"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
- Bill Gates, 1981 |
