WHAT OPERATING SYSTEM/S DO WE AS ZIMBABWEANS PREFER TO USE?

Question

Am just trying to gauge what "we" as Zim user's prefer be it Windows Oses (95-Win7), Mac OS or Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, Debian etc) . If you guy's could state what you use and if possible why that OS and version.  

Myself i have been slaved to Windows Oses for years but a friend introduced to me Linux's Kubuntu 11.04 a few month's ago. Am stil a newbie but am slowly detoxing myself of Windows................................. .............................hopefully for good. Oh! the enhanced security and no virus issues is why am using Linux.

Answer 1

l use Ubuntu Server 64 LTS.

How did l come to use it.
l was studying networking, going to college and those were the days of Win 98SE and newer kid in town XP. Buying hardware like computers to build network became more expensive as l was progressing into higher level of networking. i tried cheaper option of building my own PCs but money and room to accommodate them became an issue as l had family also to take care of.

Enter Virtual Machines.
l came across virtual machine and l liked it straight away as l can have as many computers as l like all under one computer. Furthermore, they ar just a folder which you can just copy into another computer or back it up somewhere. But my happiness was shop lived. XP was terrible with Blue Screen Of Death, and the limitation of memory it can handle, only 3.5gig max! Windows Server was the answer but it was also terrible with BSOD plus cost. lt suffered heavily when l tried running virtual machines plus router emulation software GNS3 at the same time.

Enter Linux.
l talked my problems with my manager at work and he gave a CD copy of Fedora, that was fedora 4 then, l never looked back. It was solid hard to break OS, but l was soon disappointed because it was hard to get proprietary software like mp3, wmv codecs to work. l switched to Linux Mint and l was in happy land for a while.

Then Ubuntu charmed me.
My demands for power machine grew, l decided to build a computer based on gaming machine but using a Linux OS. When my PC was ready, l tried Linux Mint but it was too flake especially on handling memory over 8gig. Thats when tried Ubuntu Server, l was stunned at first intsall coz it does not give you a GUI, you have to manually install it. lts still cranking in my machine now.

Why Ubuntu.
Even though Linux Mint is good, it is based on Ubuntu. The only difference is that Mint adds all the proprietary codecs. But Ubuntu is Dedian based and a bit extra secure than other Linux distros out there.
One thing l like with the LTS(Long Term Service) release is that they are meant to run for four years without fundamental changes eg Ubuntu LTS server is still using gnome gui where as other main line ubuntu are now running the new Unity gui. Until Unity gui is well polished and ready, it will never be included in LTS version.

Comments

Wow! 8gig of ram, sounds like a monster of machine you got there. For those unaware like i was till a few hours ago there's a program called "wine" that will enable you to run games meant for Windows in Linux. The list of games is limited but growing though, its good start for those concerned about gaming.

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wine is not as good as people want yu to believe. It is a scaled down version of professiona software called l think Crossover. Every time l have used wine it left me more convinced that l dont need. What l did or do is that l have a Windows virtual machine with all the software l can not get to run on Linux natively eg cisco p voip softphones. That way it saves a lot of troubleshooting if something goes wrong with the software or driver issues.

It was a monster about four years ago when l built it, but now l demanding more power out of it and it cant give me enough! Have you ever heard of Scientific Linux? The one they are using to run computers used at Zen for collision and black-hole exploration. Im already contampleting building my next rig to run that OS, it looks so great on VM, now l want it on real hardware

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Scientific Linux?........No, i sounds like it would be totally command based? If so i would be lost.

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No, you would think that. It have a nice and the most cleaniest gui l have ever used so far, l mean gnome gui as yu know they ar a lot of gui(faces) for linux eg gnom, kde, xcfe etc. When it comes to enterprise, big companies and gvt agencies who cannot afford to have there servers down even for a bit, Red Hat is the king of Linux.

But there is one problem, there community sponsored version Fedora have no server version. And also, its there experimenting OS. Thus were Centos OS came in. It provided bit to bit version of Red Hat for those who like Red Hat but dont want to pay services charge.

The only problem with Centos is that its always a version behind Red Hat. Thus the gap Scientific Linux have bridged. Its a exact clone of Red Hat plus more. They have fine tuned it those boffins who are trying to recreate life through the big bang theory.

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May you send me the link that's if its downloadable? so i can take a peek at it.

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https://www.scientificlinux.org/download

Answer 2

I have lots of games on Ubuntu. I currently have more than 20GB games. Most of them are humbe indie bundle. Others are quake3, enemy territory, mars, openarena, postal, sauerbraten, serious sam 1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights, Heroes 3, Descent, ScummVM games (best are broken sword 1 and 2), vdrift, torcs, Unreal Tournament 2004 (best), alienarena, Nexuiz, Xonotic, minecraft, smc, lots of nintendo games (like mario), duckhunt, some flash games, angry bird (chrome version) and many free games from software center. All of these games are native Linux games (built specially for Linux). Currently I am only playing one game. If I happen to complete all these games, I will be playing till I get married and have children and they get old. People say Linux lacks games. Yes, Linux might lack many modern games, but companies have created enough games even for die hard gamers who want to play games while using their Linux OS. If game companies see this as an oppertunity and go for multiplatform (mac, linux) games rather than targeting particular platform, they will only benefit not lose.

Comments

Yup and i thought Zim was in the dark age of Windows. Finally I see some light at the end of the Tunnel. Lets be honest here. no Linux is better than windows, but now there is an option out there isnt it? and option is a good thing. Just think for a while... for one to have a windows systme with all that one requires can cost you tons of dollars... if you want to use legal licenses. I dont have that kind of money to spend on software. I go green and cheap. So Linux is the answer.
Im surprised some actually found lots of working games. I only tested a few speacilly FPS (line Enemy Territory, True Combat elite and Urban Terror. let me tell you this they r great entertainment and as good as many Win Games.
Please keep the good job of spreading the word out there. I personnaly distribute copies and install several linux distros for friends and other people.