Some of you probably ever wondering why did I decide to use a *NIX Operating System, especially Linux, especially Ubuntu (err.. currently I’m using Linux Mint. it’s a descendant of Ubuntu, though) as main OS although I have Windows 7 (legally licensed for sure!) installed in my machine. I’ll explain it for easy.
First, Linux is a new thing for me. I own a notebook just recently. To be exact, August 2010. And it came with Windows 7 preinstalled because I want to play with Aero shell. But soon, I feel kind of bored with it. I’m a kind of man who become bored quite easily. So, I tried to install some different theme packs. But, as you know, my notebook ran out of memory so fast.
Second, as I explained on first reason, I like to try different feels of desktop. On Windows, the app for changing the appearance (desktop window manager, dwm.exe) used too much memory. But in Linux, I was able install as many eye candy and desktop environment as I like without slowing the performance down. My notebook using first gen of Intel Core i5, 2GB of DDR3 memory, and ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphic processing unit. So I had no issue (although it was said that ATi doesn’t work well with open source community) with so infamous compiz, the most wonderful work of developers of Linux OS’s.
Third, you are free to use any desktop environment. The choice is yours. Unlike Windows which only available with one desktop environment as it is, Linux OS’s come with multiple choices such as the famous GNOME and KDE or less famous but lightweight XCFE and LXDE.
Wait, what is desktop environment exactly? Desktop environment is a bundle of software which allow you to interact with your OS with certain style. It also provides some basic functions like drag-and-drop, copy-paste, and much more.
Each desktop environment comes with specific app for specific task like Gedit (GNOME) and Kwrite (KDE) for text editor, Nautilus (GNOME) and Dolphin (KDE) for file management, and Epiphany (XCFE) and Konqueror (KDE) for web browser. But, because all of them are open source software, so you can use them between any desktop environment. For example, you can use Kwrite (KDE) on GNOME, XCFE, or LXDE desktop. All you need is the dependency file for Kwrite.
And for a bonus, you can change the feel of GNOME desktop into MacOSX (Mac is based on Linux!) and KDE into Windows 7. And if you search in some forums, there are some theme packs that can change the feel of GNOME into Windows 7 as well like mine.
Okay, it’s enough for today. I’ll continue in the second part. Stay tuned and wait for other reasons why I use Linux.
Notes of Belthsazar 