Red Hat Linux 8.0 Personal

Now, however, Linux is at least easy enough to use(like Windows 95) and although I had to buy a new modem, it worked with all my PC interal hardware. I still have a scanner and digital camera that doesn't work, but I expect Logitech to produce a driver at some point for the camera.

This Linux is great! It's powerful like Unix but very much like Windows 95 in presentation.

There is a learning curve to go through to learn how to do stuff but so far I know this will be my primary new operating system. Goodbye Microsoft! Welcome Red Hat Linux!

This system comes with a lot of free software and development tools for programming and web development etc. To get this much stuff with Microsoft you would have to spend thousands of dollars.

I will never go back to $$$ Microsoft. Linux is the value oriented operating system for the users by the users. You get the source code for the system too!(Not that many of us can understand it, but ok!)

THIS IS FREEDOM FOLKS!

Macintosh wants to control their hardware too much and keep their system away from hardware they don't make. Now Microsoft wants to control our hardware and software too. Linux is the only operating system that is a viable alternative to these two companies that want to control how you use your computer.

Vote with your wallets and purses folks.

This is the new system for the 21st century. Join the open source revolution! :-)


Getting to know Linux   May 21, 2003
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I've been using Linux for about six months now. Red Hat 8.0 works well with my home LAN & Macintosh PPCs. The earlier versions 7.1, 7.3 used to be challenging especially undoing my WindowZ mentality. I like the way that RH8.0 smoothly configures on my Ethernet LAN. I intend to use Linux exclusively after test driving it for a few months. I don't need to reboot on every system change, only once an a while I would even have to logout. My system is dual OS'd with Windows 2000 Pro. and Grub startup. When or if I need to upgrade to RH9.0 I won't hesitate. I finally bought a Red Hat manual so you know that I've been winging it.


Linux rocks, RH8 does not   May 12, 2003
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

If this was simply a review of RH8 in the contex of a supported environment, then I would give it 5 starts. But RH8 Personal edition, as a means for getting Linux on a home box by a non-sysadmin, is not completely where it could be.

The principle reason is the lack of drivers. I tried to get RH8 Personal on my Dell Dimension 2350 and the lack of even a functioning video driver made it all but impossible. Also, fdisk doesn't work with XP, so I had to use PartitionMagic 8.0 which has its own issues (it makes a Linux partition that Linux doesn't think is Linux.) I bought RH9 and things worked much, much better. However, I had to go through a lot of grief to get my Broadcom 440x network driver up and I still can't find one for my Canon i850 color printer. For Linux to be fully competetive with Windows in a home environment, it needs to reach a broader level of hardware compatibility.

A dual boot was my best choice and setting it up was largely uneventful for me with RH9. I need Linux as an interface to computational systems that do the serious kind of work Windows is incapable of. But my slide scanner, with a driver embedded in Photoshop Elements, requires either a Mac or Windows. Once more drivers and software are available for Linux, I can finally get rid of XP.


Best linux yet but decide what you want to do with this   April 20, 2003
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I have tried many distributions and versions inclding corel, redhat 7.3, mandrake 7-9. I have two machines and what I have the linux for is to do my school work. That means papers, writing java and c++ programs and other tasks handed to me by my computer science professors. If this sounds similar to what you want it for then it's perfect in my opinion. There are so many tools that are for free that you'd have to buy for windows but you can have them for free in the linux world. On the other hand, if you are the regular home user who wants to download multimedia files, play games and you don't want to know how the machine works, then I'd have to say it doesn't get better than windows right now. Linux has has made great strides and it might very well become suitable for all users soon..