Living with Linux

Today I have a new experiment. I'm going to install Linux as a second operating system, and use it as my primary OS for as long as possible. I don't know how long this will last, which I guess is the whole point.

I've used Linux many times before, but never for an extended period of time. At uni I used it to check cross-platform functionality, and there was a lab on it at one point, but I steered clear of using it for any real period of time because, well, it ain't Windows. I can't game on it and I can't sync an iPod to it. Nowadays, I don't really game on the PC, and I no longer have an iPod/iPhone, having ditched my iPod when I got my iPhone, and ditched my iPhone when I got my HTC Desire HD.

To me, Linux is an awesome idea, but going from Windows to Linux is like going from an Xbox 360 to a SNES - you're definitely reducing functionality. The point of this endeavour is the question...

Is the reduced functionality of Linux, worth escaping from the commercial software model?

Switching to Linux comes with a number of question, the main one being "Which distro do I use?" Linux comes in many distributions, which is a direct result of the Linux kernel being free and open source - anyone can start up their own Linux distro. Some are good, and become famous, the rest aren't, and become nothing. Top of the pile right now are Ubuntu, Fedora, openSuSE, and LinuxMint. I ruled out openSuSE due to the Microsoft-Novell deal, and LinuxMint after their page on distrowatch indicated stability issues. I've used Ubuntu and Fedora before, and decided to go with Fedora, for now, for no other reason than whenever I install Ubuntu on a laptop at work, I have to waste a lot of time trying to get WiFi drivers -_-

Currently, Fedora's install DVD is downloading. When that's done, it's install time.