reasons why I love linux

[snoorkel]

1. it's silly. right now some packages I'm downloading are spamdyke and maildrop-toaster
2. package managers. imagine, instead of going to VLC's website and selecting,downloading,installing the app, you type "install vlc" and it does it for you. linux has this
3. robustly extensible. edit system files, upgrade kernels, swap plugins and services on-the-fly, never reboot
4. lightweight, you could run linux (without a desktop) on like 2mb RAM
5. comes in many flavors, all have fresh and unique tastes

what are some of the reason why you love linux?

[bluaki]

upgrade kernels, ... , never reboot

This does not go together. Kernel upgrades are pretty much the only thing that require a reboot, although some other things require restarting the X server which for a desktop machine might as well be a reboot.

lightweight, you could run linux (without a desktop) on like 2mb RAM

With 2mb, bash and sshd are probably out of the question. Even top probably wouldn't be able to run.

it's silly. right now some packages I'm downloading are spamdyke and maildrop-toaster

when I was trying to recompile ffmpeg the other day, I noticed it (optionally and by default) uses some "libschroedinger"
I've seen some other silly package names too

I rather like its hardware management capabilities. Aside from of course things created with only Windows drivers, the hardware that is supported will work immediately without some of the ridiculousness Windows hardware management has of failing to detect devices, reinstalling the driver for basic things like "USB Mass Storage Device" and "HID Mouse" every time it's connected to a different USB port, and not-uncommon conflicts between unrelated drivers.

and when a device is connected, there's quite a few rather nice things you can do with it. The main reason I switched to Linux in the first place was that, after getting a 16:9 monitor, I realized that it's completely impossible in Windows to force my graphics driver (for the computer I used at the time) to output in a 16:9 resolution, when X11's automatic configuration immediately showed me the ideal resolution. I more recently have several sound tweaks for things like playing/rerouting line-in and using my bluetooth headset and I also use my desktop as a router with its extra ethernet port and wifi antenna.

[snoorkel]

This does not go together. Kernel upgrades are pretty much the only thing that require a reboot, although some other things require restarting the X server which for a desktop machine might as well be a reboot.
With 2mb, bash and sshd are probably out of the question. Even top probably wouldn't be able to run.
when I was trying to recompile ffmpeg the other day, I noticed it (optionally and by default) uses some "libschroedinger"
I've seen some other silly package names too

I rather like its hardware management capabilities. Aside from of course things created with only Windows drivers, the hardware that is supported will work immediately without some of the ridiculousness Windows hardware management has of failing to detect devices, reinstalling the driver for basic things like "USB Mass Storage Device" and "HID Mouse" every time it's connected to a different USB port, and not-uncommon conflicts between unrelated drivers.

and when a device is connected, there's quite a few rather nice things you can do with it. The main reason I switched to Linux in the first place was that, after getting a 16:9 monitor, I realized that it's completely impossible in Windows to force my graphics driver (for the computer I used at the time) to output in a 16:9 resolution, when X11's automatic configuration immediately showed me the ideal resolution. I more recently have several sound tweaks for things like playing/rerouting line-in and using my bluetooth headset and I also use my desktop as a router with its extra ethernet port and wifi antenna.

2mb was a little exaggerated, I know you probably couldn't run a full environment with that 

and I guess it's true that you can't update linux kernels without a reboot, though I do it with a combination of openvz's tools and http://www.ksplice.com/

[LCK]

Didn't they get Linux to run on a potato a few years ago?

They did

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2008/12/linux-on-a-potato.html

can you install Linux in my head too

[bluaki]

Didn't they get Linux to run on a potato a few years ago?

They did

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2008/12/linux-on-a-potato.html

That's a satirical article. It's practically impossible to really do that, especially not with just a single potato.

can you install Linux in my head too

This reminds me of a certain comic: http://xkcd.com/644/

[snoorkel]

potatoes: nature's ideal bit processors

[PLEASEHELP1991]

Didn't they get Linux to run on a potato a few years ago?

They did

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2008/12/linux-on-a-potato.html

All Aperture Science personality constructs will remain functional in apocalyptic, low power environments of as few as 1.1 volts.

[bluaki]

All Aperture Science personality constructs will remain functional in apocalyptic, low power environments of as few as 1.1 volts.

Even if you somehow have a 1.1 volt computer, you would be running the operating system on that computer itself, not the potato

potatoes: nature's ideal bit processors

This would require a ton of potatoes, run slowly, and react poorly to operational heat, but in the end you could truly claim that the operating system runs on potato hardware. Not practical at all.

and your computer would start to smell bad after a while

[?????]

It's free and I didn't want to be stuck with XP.

[snoorkel]

I got a new HP elitebook last wek and installed Fedora 16 + GTK3 it's really nice

learning that managing laptop power saving with linux is kind of a "DIY" experience though

[Mobius135]

I love it for its open-ness and customization. Sadly I've never been able to get into it as much as I like, I've never found any good resources that worked for me. Not saying there aren't great resources.

[?????]

GTK3 it's really nice

What the fuck?

I love it for its open-ness and customization. Sadly I've never been able to get into it as much as I like, I've never found any good resources that worked for me. Not saying there aren't great resources.

It does take a while to become comfortable customizing stuff.

[Hiro]

i'm going to give ubuntu another try right now

[snoorkel]

ubuntu fucking sucks

[silvertone]

why dont u Bunt that into the trash hell yaaaaaa