I don't know why I get the urge to blog about my Linux journey. I'm sure it's not very interesting. But after a few days of working hard trying to set up ClearCase the way I want it so I can generate p2 repositories from our Wind River product release views, I've gotten back to why I was a *nix guy back in the day before Windows became a much better desktop.
I guess when you find a use for cpio, you are clearly destined to be a Linux junky. I've also fallen in love with NFS automounting (shh, don't tell my wife, she'll find that weird). When I can go 'cd /net/yow-dschaefe-linux' and get to my Linux box from anywhere on the WAN, that's pretty cool, not to mention handy. Doing a 'cpio > /net/yow-dschaefe-linux' from a ClearCase view on a Linux machine in California to my box in Ottawa and have fairly decent performance, that's the greatness of Linux file systems in a nutshell.
And using KVM to set up a virtual machine to run the version of ClearCase I need and from there to NFS mount a directory from my real hard drive and then to do a ClearCase view export back to my real machine so I can run the generator at full speed, it just rocks. It's not for the meek and it has taken me more time that I wanted to figure it all out, but Google is your friend and now that it's set up, I'm ready to go.
So, yes, I still think Windows is the better desktop, but for file and compute servers, Linux is clearly the champ. But of course, you all know that already :)
Why not have the best of both worlds and use a Mac? I have my home dies mounted over auto NFS, can use gcc and friends, and have a consistent and good looking UI. And when you need to, you can remote desktop to your Windows PC or VNC to your Linux box.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point Al. And I'm seeing more and more Macs out there being used by developers. Now to convince my boss to get me one :)
ReplyDeleteHave you tried Ubuntu? I've been using Ubuntu desktop for about a year now and I'm quite impressed.
ReplyDeleteBenefits: stable, decent package manager, decent integration.
Drawbacks: had some difficulty getting drivers for my video card working, had some difficulty installing on a dual boot config.
Yes, I tried Ubuntu and I'm on Fedora 9 now. And to be honest, it's hard to tell them apart. My issue is really with Gnome/GTK and probably more with X in general. And really, it's the fonts that make a big difference for me.
ReplyDeleteI've used many distributions and long time I was happy with Gentoo... the font's were an issue to play with.
ReplyDeleteI did use OS X for 1 year, but it's not a developer's platform in what I've needed (different libraries for C, C++, ...) - it was much more handy to work in Linux.
But back to fonts... because of many HW issues and changes and my lazy nature I've tried Ubuntu and I've disliked fonts and the whole look. Than I've switched to Mint Linux and it's event nicer font rendering than Apple has. And sure, not comparable to what Windows has to offer as OS, that's poor....
Advise to try Mint, it's sure worth that half hour.
Sorry....
ReplyDeleteNicer/better fonts are chosen, not rendering. Rendering is sure the same as in Ubuntu....
I'm not sure that windows is still the better desktop. Using a full fledged desktop distro (ubuntu, mandriva) and you get a very nice desktop expericence. Even vista eye candies (in even better quality with compiz) are present. Anyway, shall anybody be happy with the OS of its choice. I use Windows at work and Ubuntu.
ReplyDeleteYou might try installing the Windows fonts under Linux. On Ubuntu, this is as easy as grabbing the "msttcorefonts" package in Synaptic and restarting X. The difference is quite marked, and I actually prefer the way Linux renders the resulting fonts to the way Windows does - they seem sharper and easier to read. Sure, you may call it "cheating" to use Microsoft fonts under Linux, but hey - whatever it takes to make staring at the monitor for 12 hours a day more enjoyable...
ReplyDelete