Software > Open Source, Operating Systems

Linux - an alternative to windows?

By Lasa Information Systems Team

The last few years have seen the development of the operating system, Linux – which provides an alternative to Microsoft Windows. Linux enthusiasts argue that it’s more reliable than Windows. And we can all sympathise with the idea of software that doesn’t add any further to Bill Gates’ wealth. But is it really feasible for agencies to abandon an almost universal standard? We put Linux to the test.

We decided to test Linux on one of the old PC’s cluttering up our storeroom. The machine we used is pretty typical of the sort of old PC that should be nearing the end of its useful life as a Windows machine; a Pentium 133, with 64Mb of RAM but only a 1Gb hard disk. Getting a copy of Linux wasn’t a problem; there are at least three different magazines in the newsagents dedicated to Linux, and we got a copy of the software from one of the free cover CD’s.

What’s Inside Your PC

The first task before installing the system is to ascertain what is inside your PC. Linux should work out what hardware you have automatically, and install appropriate driver software. In case it doesn’t, you’ll need to tell it about the technical specification of your machine. You’ll find the information you need in Windows Control Panel.

I dutifully read through the user guide, and popped in the CD – the variant of Linux distributed by a company called Mandrake. I then hit my first hurdle with the ‘auto-allocate’ process. The guide assured me that the disk would automatically re-allocate the hard disk space to make room for Linux; but whatever I tried this just didn’t happen. So I read up about the joys of disk partitions – the way the hard disk is divided into discrete areas – and during installation I manually allocated half the disk to keep Windows, and set aside the rest for Linux. After this the installation went swimmingly and I set up the required users on the Linux system.

God-like Powers

Since Linux is designed to be a network system you have to log on to use it, and it tracks which files you have access to and which of the programmes running are yours. It’s very easy to add new users: I created a user ‘dan’ for my everyday work. Each Linux installation also has a ‘root’ user, sometimes known as a superuser. Root is there for the times when you need to configure the system: when logged on as root you have God-like powers to read, write and delete all files and parts of the system. Linux uses a thing called LILO which gives you a choice at start-up of whether you want to run Windows or Linux. When running Linux you can also see the contents of the Windows partition, so you can access those files, but not the other way around. The bare essence of Linux is a command line interface which will look disturbingly familiar to early DOS users. The command line is the place for geeks and the adventurous, but most users expect a point-and-click graphical user interface so Linux comes with a choice of them. Mandrake installed the K Desktop Environment (KDE), which is similar enough to Windows, with start button, task bar and so on. I could find my way around easily.

Star Office

I then tried to install Star Office, the free Linux office package produced by Sun (the Open Source version is called Open Office see the knowledgebase article OpenOffice.org 1.01 office suite). But curses! Because of the limited space left by the Linux installation (about 180MB in the 500Mb partition) I only had room for the minimum Star Office set-up. Because testing the compatibility of Linux software with Word and so on was a big part of this experiment I wanted a full version of Star Office, so I gritted my teeth and decided to delete Windows all together and only have Linux.

But curses a second time! When I re-installed Linux, using the whole hard disk, Mandrake decided to install loads more extra packages (every Linux installation comes bursting with free applications) and I was still left with very little free space. Although with a bit of practice it is straightforward to add and remove installed Linux packages, as a beginner I was uncertain as to which ones were vital and which optional. I felt I was reliant on the installation programme to make those choices for me. So for the third and final installation (have I lost you yet?) I made one partition for Linux (half the disk) and one to put Star Office in, so that I was sure to have enough space for the latter. Finally I had a nice shiny Linux installation and installed the Star programme without problem.

On my PC Star Office takes a minute and a half to fire up, but once it’s there you have a full suite of pretty efficient seeming office programmes (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation etc.) I used a floppy to transfer Word 2000 docs to the Linux machine and Star Office opened them all without problem. You can also save docs created in Star in Word format, and these transferred back to the Windows machine equally smoothly. The same seemed true for the few basic Excel files I tried.

So there you have it – an old machine, good for nothing but the skip, running a free operating system and a free Office programme and compatible with the latest Microsoft Office versions. Not bad. By itself, hardly an argument for ditching Windows in your office, because factors like available technical support and established user skills count for so much. But it shows how Linux can revitalise hardware left for dead by Windows, and that free software is no longer an island

Open Source

Both Linux and Star Office are Open Source Software. This means that the source code – the programming that created the software – is publicly available. As a result, people can co-operate to share and improve the software.

The development of Linux has depended on many people working together in this way. For more on open source software see the Knowledgebase article Going With Open Source Software.

For an introduction to Linux see AbilityNet's About Linux factsheet (PDF 400Kb - articles requires Adobe Acrobat.  If you don't already have this, download it from Adobe). Further information on Linux available from Linux Online.

Linux: is this the future?

The idea behind Linux – reliable software, available cheaply to everyone – is of course highly appealing. Linux is attracting a lot of interest from all kinds of people, from small voluntary sector organisations to major multinationals. We’ll be keeping in touch with future developments.

At the moment, Linux is mostly used on servers, for particular tasks like sending and receiving email. It works well, hardly ever failing – but it’s more complex than Windows 2000 to set up. So you’ll need access to someone with the technical skills to support linux.

Should you consider replacing Windows with Linux on the desktop – the computers people have on their desks? At the moment, we’d say possibly not – for the reasons explained below. But as Linux continues to develop, this may change - for an example see the article on Police forces taking up Linux on The Register.

Linux isn’t Standardised

You can buy or download for free at least six versions of Linux. You aren’t getting the same product from different distributors – there are real differences, and understanding what they mean is far from easy. Different distributions can include different versions of the “kernel,” the software at the heart of Linux.

For an interface like Windows you’ll need desktop software, and you have two choices, KDE and Gnome. Different distributions include one or the other, or both. So do you choose Red Hat Linux  with Gnome, Mandrake Linux with KDE, or Corel Linux with a box containing a cuddly penguin? (It’s true!).

For more information on the different distributions of Linux see Distrowatch  and Linux Online.

The Software You Need May Not be Available

There are lots of applications for Linux. Star Office or Open Office may take the place of Microsoft Office. But what about an accounts package your accountant can work with? Sage and Quicken aren’t available. What about DTP files you can send to a commercial printer? There’s no Publisher, no PagePlus, no Pagemaker, no Photoshop. Specialist voluntary sector software like Funderfinder or AIMS is all currently only produced for Windows. As Linux develops, more alternative software is becoming available for it (for example The Gimp image editing package).

Windows emulation software that can run Windows programs on Linux is also becoming more advanced. As the popularity of Linux increases, it is also possible that mainstream software manufacturers will develop Linux versions of their products so they can hang onto their market share. There is still some way to go but in the future software availability for Linux may well become less of a problem.

Linux isn’t Easy to Use

Linux was originally designed by techies for techies, and it still isn’t as easy to use as Windows. For example, Dan’s experience shows how difficult it can be to install. However, as Max from UK-based campaigning organisation Seeds for Change) which has successfully made the transition to Linux says:

"... How often do users actually install Windows? It is done by people confident with this task. The same standards should be applied to installing any other OS (Operating System) - those who are confident or willing to learn are doing the work so it is their standards of "easy" or "difficult" that installation and setup should be judged on...").

Is Linux Really Cheaper?

The cost of running a computer system isn’t just about software and hardware - you need to pay for training and support. If you switch to Linux you’ll need to train people in how to use it. Training and support will be harder to get than with Windows. Most agencies still use Windows, so you'll need a higher level of technical knowledge to sort out Linux-Windows translation problems. As the use of Linux becomes more widespread and the software itself develops, this should hopefully become less of an isssue.