Re: OT - Desktop Linux

In article <120fkags9ukl84e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
L.A. Purple <zen@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
D. Gerasimatos wrote:

L.A. Purple wrote:

Anyone here using Linux on a desktop or laptop computer?

Yes, both. MacOS X and Windows also.

What Linux distro are you using, if I might ask? And how do
you have the Linux firewall set up? Is it just a port blocker?


Red Hat Enterprise


I use ipfilters, which works fine. I don't use an application-based
firewall. Port-based and application-based firewalls have their respective
advantages, but overall I think I'd rather have a port-based firewall if I
could only have one. There is an application-based firewall called
TuxGuardian, though.



Keep reading all kinds of pros and cons about Linux being
a more secure OS. Some claim it's no better than Windows.
Others swear it's quite bulletproof -- sort of like a Mac.

I wouldn't call any networked system 'bulletproof'.

Agreed. However, quite a few Mac enthusiasts seem to have an
especially high opinion of their "invulnerable" Macs.


Mac users are comparing themselves to Windows, in which case they
are 'invulnerable'. I think if you are worried about that sort of
thing right now then VMS probably wears the 'invulnerable' crown. :)


Thanks, Dimitri. Been reading up on it whenever time permits.
Fwiw, I've read that JPL/NASA uses Linux to some extent. Pre-
sumably, you would know a bit more about that firsthand.


Yes, it's become much more common over the past 5 years. Intel/AMD
led in price/performance for a long time, but once they led in performance
regardless of cost (or at least at the low and middle-tiers - systems costing,
say, under $500K) it became hard to ignore them no matter how fond one
was of SUN, HP, SGI, IBM, etc. For workstations I think there are still
more Suns overall, but that is rapidly changing. There have been Linux
(and *BSD) systems in use for a long time, but it's just within this 5 year
period where they became accepted by management for critical tasks.


For desktop use (Office, e-mail, etc.) there are an awful lot of Macs.
I think Macs and Windows-based PCs might be about equal. I mostly
use a Linux box with Windows running in VMWare, although I have a Mac
laptop, too. I think Mac is the most elegant solution for a UNIX junkie,
but there is just some software not available on the Mac platform (e.g.
MS Project) and the Mac hardware is so darn slow (this may change with
the new Intel chips in Macs).


Dimitri

.

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