From: Tsume <tsumeruby@...>
Date: 2005-11-22T02:43:57+09:00
Subject: Re: [OT] Trying to change my OS from Windows to Linux/Mac

On Tuesday 22 November 2005 02:12 am, Sam Kong wrote:
> Hello, Ruby people!
>
> This is not about Ruby itself but about OS.
> The reason that I ask this question in this group is that I've been
> motivated to use other OS's than Windows by this group while I learned
> Ruby.
> Thus the people in this group can answer my question very well.
> Also, I feel very comfortable with people in this group, even if I
> don't know them personally.
> (I feel like they are my friends.)
> This question is not meant to bring flame wars!
>
> I use Windows at my work and home.
> Of course, I tried several linux OS's (RedHat, SUSE, Debian, Gentoo,
> Ubuntu) and this year I even purchased Mini Mac.
> However, I haven't succeeded to make myself used to these OS's.
>

Linux is Linux, they are basically all the same, the only real difference is 
usually the package manager and a few different configuration files which 
differ from Redhat-based to Debian-based. Its very easy to use one or the 
other, I just jump on a box and start adjusting settings I need. Linux is 
just a kernel, distro differences are very small, at least to me.

> I have some questions to linux users and Mac users.
>
> 1. When you use Ruby on Linux or just in general on Linux, do you use
> text-mode or graphic-mode?
>

Full install of KDE of course, and drop down to openbox when I'm not doing 60 
million tasks at once.

> 2. I've never succeeded to make my laptops work perfectly on Linux.
> Sometimes, network card is not working, other times, USB is not
> recognized, or Sound card is not working. I've tried on 5 different
> laptops with different Linux but none was perfect. How do you overcome
> this problem? Well... if you use just a text-mode, this might not be a
> problem.
>

You must research what the laptop specifications are before trying Linux on a 
laptop. I use Toshiba based laptops with linux on them all the time. Fully 
supported. Toshiba has a synaptic touchpad problem, but is easily fixed. The 
kernel in ubuntu breezy has patches already.

I only used NVIDIA based laptops so I may use twinview. GeforceFX 5200 Go 
64MB, this card works very well. Even the softmodem works on this laptop. 

M35-S456 (re-certified, not refurb, was best deal at time, 1.7 GHz loaded - 
except the DVD-RAM drive.. worthless)

19"(1600x1200) + 15.4"(1280x800)

I've come to the conclusion buying a desktop is worthless unless you're a 
gamer, since the computer will be outdated in 6 months.. :)

"Just buy a new laptop every 6 months :)"

> If anybody has experience of moving from Windows to Linux or Mac,
> please share the success story.
>

Ruby is best used on a system which is LSB based, mainly because the 1.8.2 and 
older versions don't have good support with mkmf.rb. I seen there are 
improvement in new versions with the find lib/and includes with the new 
version, but it is irritating when you have libraries in a odd directory.

I haven't installed Winows on any of my home/work computers in 5 years. I've 
been a *nix guy. I've been using ubuntu/with KDE mainly because its the most 
friendly and has the best package support. Even Java, mp3, etc packages are 
on a remote repository which is not affiliated with Ubuntu, but is nice to 
know someone has unofficial packages :) I'd say something about FreeBSD or 
NetBSD, but most people aren't competent enough to sit there and use a unix 
based system. The OSes will definitely teach you how to use a *nix based 
system and even as problems arise will teach you more about problems of 
compilers and linkers.

Best of luck with your adventure to find a new distro.

// Tsume