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No. You will learn more and be better off buying a system that is supported by an open source operating system. A lot of people like Linux, with a good portion
by jcr 11y ago
No. You will learn more and be better off buying a system that is supported by an open source operating system. A lot of people like Linux, with a good portion using Ubuntu [1], although some prefer distributions like Debian [2], and there are plenty of other Linux distributions out there.
Hacker News itself runs on FreeBSD [3] and many people run it for their laptops and desktops. There is also a variant of FreeBSD called PCBSD [4] which is more geared towards regular desktop/laptop use. There is also DragonFlyBSD [5] and NetBSD [6]. Personally, I prefer OpenBSD [7].
Always be sure to read up on the hardware supported by a given open source project so you make an informed decision when purchasing a new system. Ask around in the various communities (usually mailing lists) if you have questions.
[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/ http://www.ubuntu.com/
[2] http://www.debian.org/ http://www.debian.org/
[3] http://www.freebsd.org http://www.freebsd.org
[4] http://www.pcbsd.org http://www.pcbsd.org
[5] http://www.dragonflybsd.org/ http://www.dragonflybsd.org/
[6] http://www.netbsd.org/ http://www.netbsd.org/
[7] http://www.openbsd.org/ http://www.openbsd.org/
- soulbadguy 11y agoSorry, but i have to say it : This really is one of worst advices i came across on Hacker news yet...
- 27182818284 11y agoThe average US school isn't a great place for open source programs still, sadly. Whether it be teachers giving out notes in .PPT or requesting that essays be sent to them in Word's format so they can leave notes and send them back. This happens at the university level too outside the known-for-computer schools like MIT, Stanford, etc. I will say, though, if you're going into a computer-related field in the future, having a Linux box will put you ahead of a lot of your peers--at least it used to. Maybe Ubuntu is too nice now, but years ago by forcing myself to use Linux as my OS exclusively, I learned a lot of skills I still use much later in life. From SSH to manually mounting drives to xorg configurations to SSH forwarding to etc etc. The forcing yourself to use it exclusively is best for learning, but even having a small headless Debian box in the corner of your room is helpful for learning about different things.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- vilmosi 11y agoYeah, good luck doing school projects on those OSs. Nothing against them, they are great, but it will slow your work down due to the nature of university projects.