Linux Switch: Is it worth it?

reply to post by Pimander


Hello, friend. I run Fedora 16 KDE myself. Fedora is for people who really like to take time and set up their desktop, and here are a few things you should know. When you begin the install, choose "Encrypt Hard Drive," and "Review" then on "Home," and "Swap," click "Edit" and encrypt those partitions too. Choose on;y the KDE desktop, forget Gnome unless you are into torture. After the install, when you get to the Log In screen, choose "KDE" from the session manager, Gnome is in the script by default. Set Power Options, configure screensaver, and go into the Forum for advice on how to do things. I will be happy to answer any question you may have.
Welcome to the Penguin Club.
Auto

reply to post by autowrench

Hi Auto,

Don't worry, I wouldn't even consider Gnome. I can plainly see KDE is king. Why on Earth do folks bother with Unity/Gnome?

How much will the encryption effect speed? I want to be secure but don't like sacrificing speed. I thought I was secure with Fedora anyway (although I think there is an NSA connection to the security which makes one wonder.!

reply to post by questforevidence

The only reason to not switch to Linux is if you like games.

What are you worried about? Linux has, in the repositories, over 150 games of all varieties. Install Wine, and you can in fact install Windows Games on your Linux Computer. My wife is playing
Bejeweled 2 on her Linux Toshiba Satellite Laptop right now.

reply to post by JiggyPotamus

I have never really used Fedora, but it is probably like Ubuntu

Fedora is nothing like Ubuntu. The only real challenge a new Fedora user would run into is with Video cards. Fedora does not play well with ATI, and if you have Nvidia, then please follow these instructions for installing drivers: F16,F15 & F14 Nvidia driver guides Another program you will need is YumX. Fire up a Terninal and get into root, then type yum -y install yumx, and press enter. Find it in System on the menu. YumX is a GUI for all of the many programs Fedora has. You will also want to install Autoplus, a script that will install all codecs, players, and so on. Do not use Autoplus to install Nvidia driver.

reply to post by Pimander

How much will the encryption effect speed? I want to be secure but don't like sacrificing speed. I thought I was secure with Fedora anyway (although I think there is an NSA connection to the security which makes one wonder.!

None at all. I have an ASRock Board with Nvidia chipset and Video Graphics, and 3 Gb of RAM. My Fedora KDE flies. What the hard drive encryption does is encrypt all of the contents of your drive, making it virtually impossible to hack. You can set up the Firewall to masquerade your internet connections, and install a Proxy Server to run on a proxy, making you pretty near invisible on the net. You can disable SELinux, I always do on mine.

I got severely hacked once, running Windows 2000. Never again will I run Windows.

reply to post by autowrench

My concern is that if I encrypt whole drives then my system will waste time encrypting and de-encrypting every time it accesses system files. That will slow my system down. Surely I can just encrypt sensitive files?

Originally posted by Pimander
I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch to Linux. I've chosen Fedora as it is supposedly one of the most secure and I want to use KDE desktop which is their default. I have tried it using a live image running off a flash drive and it is still as fast as Windows XP.

Can anyone give ma any reason not to switch? I use my Netbook for the web, media including watching video and music, office programs and some free strategy games. I also use it for my guitar but not as a sequencer, just for running guitar pro.

I can't think of a single reason not to. Do any of you guys have one?

If you are just using it for the internet stuff then it would be fine. For everything else I would not depend on Linux to deliver, they have tons of programs that are almost as good and kind of like the windows based ones that you are used to. Linux superiority is mostly a religious belief that requires lots of faith.

Originally posted by Pimander
reply to post by autowrench

 

My concern is that if I encrypt whole drives then my system will waste time encrypting and de-encrypting every time it accesses system files. That will slow my system down. Surely I can just encrypt sensitive files?

edit on 30/1/12 by Pimander because: (no reason given)

In Fedora, the Encryption takes place upon boot, I have to input a password. Upon installation, you have a choice of using LUKS. LUKS places two Logical Drive Patritions for your system to run in. I don't use it myself, I use the standard 5 partition setup, Boot, Home, Var, Temp, and Swap. Everything is 256 bit encrypted except Boot. This does not slow down the system at all. My rig boots, after password input, inside 20 seconds to log in screen. Shuts down even faster.