The last part in this series. You can find part 1 and 2 here and here.
What do you think of Android?
Well, Wikipedia says that Android is a Linux distro. It runs Linux kernel and also has some utilities like ls or dd or cat, whatever. It also runs on x86 and ARM arhitecture.
My real opinion about Android? If it's not pure Android, how Google wanted to be, or an independent fork (like CM), than the UX is shitty. This is the truth. Samsung, HTC, LG, suck, or "whatever Android ROM from a known phone manufacturer sucks".
Device fragmentation is a real issue. Linux fragmentation is a real issue. (it's not the disk or partition fragmentation that I'm talking about)
Oh, I also find it nasty that it runs Java VM over Linux. It sucks and makes the device to underperform.
Are there other devices that run Linux, except mobile phones with Android?
Yes. A shitload. There is a high probability that you have a device near you that runs Linux and you don't know. I know that some Sony TV's run Linux kernel, plenty of SOHO routers run Linux, Cydia on iOS5 runs Debian package manager (dkpg), the GPS devices in Bucharest buses run on Linux (the distro is called C90++), InfoTVs from Bucharest subway system run on Linux, the Bucharest Otopeni Airport uses Linux.
My guess is that everything that has the "smart" label on it, runs on a *nix based or *nix like system.
You said something about fragmentation
Yes. Not the Windows kind of fragmentation. The concept and the ideea is basically the same. The only fragmentation that the end-user knows is the filesystem(FS) one, so we'll talk about it. I won't get into the details of how FS fragmentation occurs, but I'll tell you about the myth that fragmentation doesn't exist in Linux. That's false.
Fragmentation exists, but:
- it's not that visible
- it doesn't affect the performance because...
- ...the kernel and the FS were designed in such way that the fragmenation is minimum.
And in my opinion, they succeded point #3. Anyway, in 2013/2014, 50% of computer users have an SSD. The problem is that the statement from #3 is true only for Linux specific FSs. If you write on NTFS partitions, for example, fragmentation will occur.
Linux specific filesystems?
Ext2/3/4, btrfs, reiserfs, xfs, etc. The most known FSs are Ext2/3/4, and the most used right now is Ext4.
Can Linux see a Windows partition? Can Windows see a Linux partition?
Yes and no. It depends on the distro and we'll split this in two answers:
- user-friendly distros (Ubuntu, SuSe, Fedora) and any other distro that doesn't need configuration upon installing, recognises, mounts, reads and writes on FAT16/32 and NTFS. The other distros need a driver (called
ntfs-3g). FAT16/32 is supported in kernel. - Windows, doesn't recognises Linux FSs. Though, there is a driver for Ext2/3/4 in Windows that lets you write or read an Ext2/3/4 partition from Windows.
Sidenote: Also MacOS needs a driver for writing on NTFS partitions. That's because Microsoft OSs are super-closed source. It's Microsoft's fault.
Why do you use Linux?
Because™. I use Linux because my phone runs Android and I don't want an iPhone. Also, my router runs Linux and I'm very happy with it.
Check this.
No! Why do you use distro "X"? What do you like at Linux?
What do I like? The freedom. The fact that I can do a thing in 20 ways, and either one of it it's the correct one. The fact that I can have a updated OS with only one command line. It's a lot to takl about, but I like it because it simply works. More details for my native language speakers, here.
What distros do you use? What did you use?
I started with Ubuntu. I've been through Mint, SuSe, Fedora, but I always go back to my first two loves: Ubuntu and ArchLinux. I am a fanboy of ArchLinux and rolling release model, but I keep telling myself that I need to run a stable distro. That's why I use Ubuntu 14.04 right now. (The stable release is two months from being ready for public)
Whom would you recommend Linux?
Anybody should try Linux. And anybody should try distro X/Y/Z.
Android is a Linux distro and it's probably present in a range of 100m from you. I could say that even an unexperienced user can use Linux.
What do you mean when you say "Linux"? A distro? The CLI? The kernel? Leave your questions in the comment section below.
Until the next post, stay classy Internet!
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