Reclusive Linux founder opens up

[Reiver_Fluffi]

Just thought I would share this if anyone was interested:

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/05/18....linustorvalds/

[daniewicz]

Thanks. Interesting read.

[wakish]

it's always nice to have people sharing something

[tyme]

I didn't know Linus was reclusive :unsure:

[Ixthusdan]

He is because the press says so.

 

Duhhhhhhhh........

 

I like the group of 20 implication. Funny thing is I'll bet that none of us have ever communicated with any of the 20, which is not at all what Torvalds was trying to say. But the media person was. That's interesting.

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Linus comes over to my house every day for lunch and chess. He's a sore loser, too.

[daniewicz]

[jlc]

http://www.thenetworkadministrator.com/Linus%20Torvalds.htm

 

Thought this was interesting too, he uses such the noob distro...... :huh:

[Murda]

http://www.thenetworkadministrator.com/Linus%20Torvalds.htm

 

Thought this was interesting too, he uses such the noob distro...... :huh:

 

Actually, there are no "noob distros" IMO. Linux is just Linux. If you feel too noobish with your current distro, uninstall all GUI elements from your distro and use the CLI (vi, lynx, pine etc). Linux is made to be an Operating System and using different distros (Gentoo, Slackware, Debian) doesn't mean that you're more intelligent than other people.

 

I use Mandriva because it's simple and easy to use for everyday web browsing, e-mail, RSS and other things. I don't need to install/set up Mandriva for 2days to get it to work the way I like. That doesn't mean that I don't know a single thing about computers.

[iphitus]

Actually, there are no "noob distros" IMO. Linux is just Linux. If you feel too noobish with your current distro, uninstall all GUI elements from your distro and use the CLI (vi, lynx, pine etc). Linux is made to be an Operating System and using different distros (Gentoo, Slackware, Debian) doesn't mean that you're more intelligent than other people.

it's just not as simple as removing the GUI elements. I'd like to see you do that on a SuSE system and be able to configure it easily. put simply, the configuration layer implemented by distros behind some of those gui tools, aint a nice thing to see. sure, you could go down to the bare level and do it all manually, eg configure network manually with ifconfig/iwconfig, but once you end up down there bypassing all the distro's scripts, you may as well not be using that distro.

 

there are distros that are designed to be easy to configure at the command line. SuSE and Mandriva arent one of them.

 

I use Mandriva because it's simple and easy to use for everyday web browsing, e-mail, RSS and other things. I don't need to install/set up Mandriva for 2days to get it to work the way I like. That doesn't mean that I don't know a single thing about computers.

 

Of course :) But you *may* not know so much about what is really going on behind those graphical tools.

 

James

[Murda]

Of course :) But you *may* not know so much about what is really going on behind those graphical tools.

 

Yes, but in many cases, you don't even have to know about them. Or if you know about them, you don't need them.

 

But this conversation started from Linus Torvalds, who says that he uses FC5 on PPC. Why should he use any of those "advanced" (not noob) distributions when FC5 is able to provide the same environment and same tools as any other "advanced" distro. He's a pro in Linux, but it doesn't mean that he has to use some pro distro because of that. :P

[Gowator]

But this conversation started from Linus Torvalds, who says that he uses FC5 on PPC. Why should he use any of those "advanced" (not noob) distributions when FC5 is able to provide the same environment and same tools as any other "advanced" distro. He's a pro in Linux, but it doesn't mean that he has to use some pro distro because of that. :P

Disclaimer, I haven't used FC ever.....

 

I think the important point is some distro's set out to provide GUI tools to attract noobies and some provide screwed up tools to prevent noobies ever learning and changing distro.

If Fc allows you to use it as you like then that is not like suse or Mandriva which both spend time and effort deliberatly breaking the distro for non their-GUI config.

 

The question of what you *need* vs want is not black and white but experience tells me that what the distro maker tells me I *need* is usually wrong.

[Murda]

I think the important point is some distro's set out to provide GUI tools to attract noobies and some provide screwed up tools to prevent noobies ever learning and changing distro.

If Fc allows you to use it as you like then that is not like suse or Mandriva which both spend time and effort deliberatly breaking the distro for non their-GUI config.

And.. You mean GUI tools are only for noobies? Advanced/experienced users prefer only CLI then? IMHO GUI tools are there to make your life easier. If they don't have the answer you're looking for, you have to go to the CLI side. Distros like SuSE and Mandriva have great GUI tools and the user can do pretty much via GUI. I think that it's only a good thing. Like always in Linux world, you can choose not to install these tools on both of these distros and do all configuration old-school way.

[iphitus]

And.. You mean GUI tools are only for noobies? Advanced/experienced users prefer only CLI then? IMHO GUI tools are there to make your life easier. If they don't have the answer you're looking for, you have to go to the CLI side. Distros like SuSE and Mandriva have great GUI tools and the user can do pretty much via GUI. I think that it's only a good thing. Like always in Linux world, you can choose not to install these tools on both of these distros and do all configuration old-school way.

All i can say is that configuration manually, is a helluva lot easier if you have an understanding of how it works, and are not scared of the manual. It's also a heap easier to debug if stuff doesnt work, and you dont have to put up with crap from GUI's that don't work as advertised.

 

Murda, unless you've used other distros like Arch or slack, I suggest you're a little out of depth here. Take as a prime example networking. Under mandriva you've got some fancy wizard that works if it feels like it. Underneath that is a pile of distro relevant scripts that work as a frontend to iwconfig, ifconfig and to an extent wpa_supplicant. They arent the most human friendly things. Other distros have their own scripts, which are designed to be human friendly, and are often just the simplest layer over the base tools, so that you know exactly what is going on.

 

So yeah, theoretically you can strip mandriva down and use the base tools, but in doing so, you're really gutting out the distro and implementing the features of others - you may as well not use it if that's how you decide to use it.

 

Anyway, Linus is free to use what he want's, its obvious that he cares not for messing with his distro, but more for having one that works, is stable, and up to date, so that he can continue his role as collaborator and developer unhindered. I don't really think any fuss or discussion should be put into it, he's human just like us and can choose what works best for him. Because it works best for him, is no indication that it will work best for our uses, so picking something entirely because Linus uses it, is plain idiocy, thus, it shouldnt really matter to us what he uses.

 

James

[jlc]

Anyway, Linus is free to use what he want's, its obvious that he cares not for messing with his distro, but more for having one that works, is stable, and up to date, so that he can continue his role as collaborator and developer unhindered. I don't really think any fuss or discussion should be put into it, he's human just like us and can choose what works best for him. Because it works best for him, is no indication that it will work best for our uses, so picking something entirely because Linus uses it, is plain idiocy, thus, it shouldnt really matter to us what he uses.

 

James

 

Which is why he says:

 

At some point I decided it doesn't really matter any more: the market is big enough that nobody cares what _I_ do, so just for simplicity

I ended up doing just one distribution so that my different machines looked as similar as possible.

 

I just wanted to stir the pot up, thought it would be fun......

 

My personal opinion is that Fedora really isn't for new people, but new folks can use it. There gui's are just little python interfaces, that don't break anything like the other "two" can break if you go and change it by hand :) It has to many advanced feautres that most distros don't have and can be a little bleeding for most folks to deal with.

 

Take SELinux for example, Google has a working Picasa for Linux, what do they tell Fedora users to do because SELinux "breaks" it? Tell you to turn it off!!! Instead of looking at the code and saying hey, maybe this is not so secure.

 

http://james-morris.livejournal.com/11429.html

 

http://people.redhat.com/drepper/selinux-mem.html