Article comparing SimplyMEPIS Linux and Windows

[donecweb]

Well I said I would be producing an article comparing SimplyMEPIS Linux and Windows and here it is.
http://bestwebstop.dbws.info/simplymepis-linux-or-windows-compared-by-donec.php

[Andy]

Great article Don! Over Christmas my son managed to mess up his grandparent's windows (XP) computer and I restored it's useability by installing Ubuntu (Linux variant). But I hit a big problem with this that you mentioned in your cons for MEPIS:

Please note since I don't have a dial up connection I can not checkout the dial up modem situation.

My parents use dial-up and the modem I fitted a year ago is a Win Modem using a Motorola chip-set. This kind of modem has minimal hardware functionality and relies on a software driver to provide the modem functionality to the operating system. I don't understand why this should be the case if only for extreme cost-cutting in the hardware. The major problem is that Motorola don't support Linux directly and only provide data on the modem chips to interested developers. So I could not obtain a Linux software driver to support this modem. So I could not connect to the internet!

But the Ubuntu Linux is very similar to Windows so it is easy to use without knowing any technical details.

I am wondering if your comment about security is correct about windows. If the user does not have admin privaleges, then Windows should be as secure as Linux shouldn't it? Linux being open source is easy to re-compile and distribute with any dodgey code inserted into the source is it not?

p.s. what does MEPIS mean?

[donecweb]

Thanks Andy for the kind words.

I am wondering if your comment about security is correct about windows. If the user does not have admin privileges, then Windows should be as secure as Linux shouldn't it?

Security is still a major problem for Windows because the way it is setup many things can be done to it even if you do not have admin privileges. Windows also does not require special permission to access different ports allowing crackers to break into the computer via the internet. However the biggest security threat is that it is extremely popular for crackers to use the tools that are free on the internet to break into Windows computers. This encourages newbie crackers to try their hand at getting into any computer they can. This is a major problem because even though these are newbies they have at their disposal many automatic tools that give them the power to break into computers that are not so secure like Windows. I don't mean the ability to break into firewalls and get through anti-virus checkers as that takes some special knowledge as far as I know. Instead I mean making small programs that get attached to other programs that the unsuspecting user downloads when they visit a website or download a program and work from the inside ordering the computer to open up to the outside world working in the background unseen and thus giving access to the computer to the cracker. The new OS Vista is setup so many more things will require the use of passwords just like Linux OS distros and this will help, but because there are already so many crackers out there with experience in cracking Windows that will see Vista as a challenge I don't think it will be enough.

Linux being open source is easy to re-compile and distribute with any dodgy code inserted into the source is it not?

Easy is quite a relative term but considering that, what you say is quite true. This is why it is important to get your distro from the proper source mainly directly from the project source. However keep in mind that the lack of popularity of a new distro provider will limit the success of going to the work of producing a distro that has special openings or doors or holes in it. Also the Open Source community is comprised of many Hackers (NOT CRACKERS) that want their community to flourish so they watch new versions rather closely and discuss them in many different forums. This allows them to pass the word of any distro that has this kind of flaw in it around to others making the distro quite undesirable. Also such a distro would have no peer value and much of what makes the Open Source community work and provide good software is peer value as anyone can produce junk. Now as Linux distros become more popular with the common user then this will of course become more of a concern. However it should be noted that when you use a Linux distro in the just a user configuration there is not much that you can do to the set up in important areas without using a password even making or deleting folders in some areas of the computer require you to work as root and you need a password for that which you can set to anything you desire which would be practically impossible for a cracker to figure out if you make the password a good one. Also remember that the way Linux is setup if a user does get their area messed up and keeps a backup it is easy to  restore the offending users stuff. Also, I believe, you can always just delete the user and create a new one that is not messed up. Of course the new user will not have the special setting that the old one did or access to the data but the system and software that is available to all users would be unaffected.

p.s. what does MEPIS mean?

I don't know what MEPIS means and no one is talking. I think the idea is to make people wonder so they will think about it and thus keep MEPIS on their minds increasing it's popularity. There are rumors as to what it means but as I said Warren Woodford the founder of SimplyMEPIS has not confermed any of them and has not he himself said, that I know of.

[SensoVision]

I've finally found a time to read and comment this post. And should say, Don, that you've wrote good article! You've look to this problem from new side describing your own experience and I believe it could be useful to people who interested in finding good and bads about both OSs and consider possible switching.
I also like idea about comparing commercial software with it's prices and free analogs. Maybe you consider to update article in future with some screenshots of programs or provide links to sites where they can be downloaded, this could be handy IMHO.

I also would like to say few words about cons:

1. I have experience with all the versions of Windows since it's beginning and the Disk Operating System (DOS) used before Windows. Which used the same tree structure and the use of file extensions as the current Windows OS. I had (and still have) some difficulty getting a handle of the tree structure of a Linux based OS such as SimplyMEPIS. Also the lack of file extensions causes me to have problems with what to click on to run a program while in the tree structure. However I think I am finding the Linux SimplyMEPIS method is actually better and easier even if it causes problems for those of us that have such biased experiences. So this my turn out to be a pro instead of a con but at present it is still a con.

Should admit that I had same problem for a first month but after getting used to Linux a bit I find it's file structure to be superior in many things, actually only executable files doesn't have extensions most of time(with some exclusions), the rest like text, pictures, music and video still using extension for compatibility and ease of use.

2. There is a bug in the current 6.0 version of SimplyMEPIS that makes it almost impossible to install a printer when using a wireless network connection. The process is intuitive and simple but when you are told to scan for the printer and it finds the network and you click on the network to select the printer you get an error message. After many tries I was successful but as of 01-17-2007 it is something they need to fix.

Don, if you don't mind to get workaround for this problem in console, maybe I can help you, just post more details to this problem and I'll see if I had idea how to avoid it. I'm sharing two printers with CUPS to notebook with XP through bluetooth network and it's working just fine.

My parents use dial-up and the modem I fitted a year ago is a Win Modem using a Motorola chip-set. This kind of modem has minimal hardware functionality and relies on a software driver to provide the modem functionality to the operating system. I don't understand why this should be the case if only for extreme cost-cutting in the hardware. The major problem is that Motorola don't support Linux directly and only provide data on the modem chips to interested developers. So I could not obtain a Linux software driver to support this modem. So I could not connect to the internet!

Andy, have you visited this site: http://linmodems.org/ ? It provide a way to run so called Winmodems under Linux.
Anyway myself I prefer hardware external modems just because they doesn't consume system resources and cause slowdowns to PC and they are working much more better on low quality phone lines.

Linux being open source is easy to re-compile and distribute with any dodgey code inserted into the source is it not?

As long as you stick with well known distro and use software from first hand(developers) or prepackaged by maintainers of your distributive there should be no such problem like attached code which would exploit your system...
In Linux is just like in Windows, if you're doesn't do mindless thing than you shouldn't get yourself into big trouble, the only difference that in Linux it's harder to get yourself such troubles if you act only from user account. If you mess up thing you can just go to admin and fix everything.

PS Don, maybe you should setup some form under article for people to write feedback or questions about it? Or if you wish feel free to send them over here
Just wrote this remembering how many unanswered questions I got after each article I'm reading, and they was growing in number all the time That was mostly because I was looking for help in a wrong places...

[donecweb]

PS Don, maybe you should setup some form under article for people to write feedback or questions about it? Or if you wish feel free to send them over here 
Just wrote this remembering how many unanswered questions I got after each article I'm reading, and they was growing in number all the time  That was mostly because I was looking for help in a wrong places...

Denis I'm not sure how I could do that. On my site there is a comments form but it never gets used.

[SensoVision]

Denis I'm not sure how I could do that. On my site there is a comments form but it never gets used.

I see. Don, if you wish to have a comments under article like in blogs let me know if you need help with form or adding comments, once I get more free time on my hands I may help you with this, or just share some of my code I'm using in scripts. In meantime you may just place a link to Linux board and use it for supporting article readers if you feel that it would be convenient for them