9 Reasons Why Linux is For the Average User

Well, every Linux user worth his/her salt has a list of why Linux is perfect for [adjective] users, so I sat down and thought up a list for myself! 9 Reasons why Linux is for the average user. The reasons aren't in any order, just the order that I thought of them, so don't think that I place particular importance on the ones at the top, or that the ones at the bottom are a bit useless really. Anyway, read on to see why I think that Linux is perfect for the average user!

Secure

Linux is very secure by design, mostly due to the file permissions system, which prevents you from tampering with any files you don't have write access to. This more or less makes a Linux virus that does more than mess with your own files impossible to get as a normal user. If someone runs as root all the time, all the security in the world it useless - but not using root for everyday tasks is an important lessen taought in many distros.

The average user just wan't to use their computer, they don't want to fiddle around with getting it secured. Linux's inherent security is therefore a boon to them.

Stable

As long as you're not running beta, alpha, or software in any other stage of development other than "final", Linux is very stable. This is partly due to the separation of GUI and Kernel, which is not present in Windows. This means that if the GUI does freeze, the computer doesn't need to be rebooted - the GUI just needs to be killed and started again, with a keyboard shortcut.

The average user doesn't want their computer crashing all the time when they use it, they just want to use it with no hassle. Again, a good reason to use Linux.

Free

Linux, and most of its software, is free as in speech, and free as in beer. The user has the right to edit the code, and do whatever they want to it. This allows patches and bugfixes to be developed incredibly quickly by a myriad of developers using that particular program, and sent to the project maintainers upstream.

>The average user doesn't like paying hundreds of pounds for an operating system or software, freedom of price is therefore a good reason to use Linux. The average user also doesn't want buggy software, so the freedom of speech is a good reason to use Linux.

Packages

Most distributions (all?) have some form of package manager, which makes it easy to install, remove, and update software. Coupled with online repositories (such as many distributions have), this enables the user to update the entire system with one command, or even a click if a graphical package manager is present.

The average user doesn't want to wander across the internet looking for updates for all of their software, yet many of them think this is the only way due to what I call "Windows Sheep Mentality". A package manager which can upgrade all of their software, including the OS, for free is therefore a good reason for the average user to switch to Linux.

Hardware

Linux actually supports more hardware out of the box than Windows does. Okay, so the supported hardware is often specialist, that is because Linux is very popular on servers and similar things that need to just work and use the Right Thing. However, if installed on any given computer, Linux is likely to work. Windows will probably not, especially if you have some esoteric hardware or something, without umpteen driver discs.

The average user doesn't want to upgrade their computer just to use the next version of their OS; Linux works with very old hardware as well as very new, which is a reason to use Linux.

Support

Many Linux distributions offer paid support, and almost all have a large and (usually) welcoming community who will go out of their way to help someone who needs it. This community support is usually the same quality professional paid support would be, yet is free. There are also a lot of generic Linux communities online who will help with anything if they know how, and their generic solutions will often help on many distributions.

The average user doesn't want to ring tech support and talk to an Indian person, after their call has been outed across the world, only to be told they have to reinstall Windows. Free and in-depth support is therefore good.

Variety

Linux has a lot of variety in ways that Windows and OS X just can't. One example would be the abundance of window managers and desktop environments. Another, would the base system - no two distributions are the same. This variety, coupled with the fact that there are over 300 distributions, means that there is a distribution for everyone.

The average user wants to use what works best for them, they don't want to have to use someone else's standard which may not fit them very well, this huge variety is therefore an advantage.

Customisability

Without the customisability of Linux, the variety wouldn't exist. Every aspect of Linux can be edited and customised by the user - from the widget theme, right down to the init scripts controlling the booting of the system. Compare THAT to a Windows user's ability to change the wallpaper, colours, or a couple of icons.

The average user wants their computer to be, well, their computer. They want it to look how they want it to look, and the customisability gives them that.

Compatibility

Linux is compatible with most propriety file formats, including the incredibly popular Microsoft Office file formats. This means that a Linux user needn't worry about probelms sharing files with Windows users, as they can save the file in the Windows format - or even in a format such as PDF which is the same on all operating systems.

The average user doesn't want to jump through hoops for other people to be able to use their files, and Linux provides an easy way to use the same file formats as everyone else.

If you would like more information about Linux in general, please have a look at my blog (http://blog.yarrt.com) or email me (mike@yarrt.com). I will gladly answer any questions you have about any Linux-related topics.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_S_Walker

Tags: computer and information technology

Multifunction and Rugged Mobile Printers

Multifunction Printers

Computer technology is constantly improving on itself, yet one area that seem appears to receive little attention is printer technology. Many home businesses not only require printing functions but scanning, copying and faxing as well. Frequently, each of these devices is set-up as a separate piece of equipment, requiring not only significant investment of money but of office space as well. One of the newer creations in the field is the multifunction printer, with the ability to print, scan and fax. With a multifunction printer one electronic piece of equipment completes all these jobs and takes up much less space as well as costing much less money than the combination of all devices purchased separately.

However, when the key to a multifunction printer is that it does all of these functions adequately but none of them to the degree of a stand-alone device. There are several features that need to be taken into account when researching a multifunction printer that best meets one's individual needs.

The first feature that needs to be taken into consideration is the type of printer: multi-function printers can be inkjet, laserjet, or color laserjet. Inkjet printers operate by forcing variably-sized droplets of ink onto a piece of paper or similar medium. A laser printer produces text and graphics on plain paper, using the same technology as digital photocopiers; they employ a xerographic printing process but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor.

The speed of a laser printer or inkjet printer is measured by the ppm (pages per minute), the number of pages a laser or inkjet printer can produce in one minute. Print speeds of laser or inkjet printers may vary depending on many factors such as the complexity of the document, page coverage, and the design of the printer itself. Generally, as the speed increases, the quality of the output decreases. A typical inkjet printer may print at speeds that vary between 1 to 28 pages per minute for black text and 1 to 20 pages per minute for color, photographs or graphics. The speed of a mid-range monochrome laser printer may vary between 6 to 25 pages per minute for sharp black texts and 2 to 20 pages per minute for black and white graphics. The print speed of a typical color laser printer's will vary between 6 to 20 pages per minute for black text and 1 to 12 pages per minute for color graphics. Image quality is another feature to examine and depends on the number dots per inch printed. The standard resolution of 600 x 600 dots per inch is sufficient for most everyday printing but is unsuitable for printing quality photographs or graphics. The more dots printed per inch, the higher the image quality.

The scanner function is also of great importance in a multifunction printer that can use two types of scanning technologies. A charge-coupled device (CCD) uses a light-sensitive integrated circuit that stores and displays the data for an image in such a way that each picture element, or dot, in the image is converted into an electrical charge. Contact Image Sensors (CIS), used more with flatbed scanners, place the image sensor in near direct contact with the object to be scanned in contrast to using mirrors to bounce light to a stationary sensor, as is the case in conventional CCD scanners. A CIS typically consists of a linear array of detectors, covered by a focusing lens with LEDs that allow the CIS to be highly power efficient, with many scanners being powered through the minimal line voltage supplied via a USB connection. CIS devices typically produce lower image quality compared to CCD devices but make the printer more durable. Another feature of scanning is how the documents are scanned; they can be fed in a sheet at a time, in which case an automatic document feeder that holds at least 50 sheets facilitates use, or they can be scanned over a flat-bed. The flat-bed ones allow scanning of thicker objects.

The faxing function is properly the one that may be the most simplistic. A minimum fax/modem speed should be 33 Kbps. Other fax features that might be offered are color faxing, fax broadcasting, and/or group dialing, as many multifunction printers do not offer full fax functions.
Finally, given all the functions a multifunction printer requires to carry out, a lack of internal memory is extremely noticeable. While 8 MB of memory may be adequate for home office or small office use, an efficient and effective multifunction printer that have at least 16 MB of memory or more. The greater the amount of memory, the faster that certain multifunction printer processes can be carried out.

Rugged Mobile Printers

Rugged mobile printers are built rugged laptops. Being mobile, they can pretty much fit in your pocket or glove compartment. Rugged mobile printers can be mounted in vehicles next to your rugged notebook or some are mounted directly to a rugged computing device. A rugged printer is made to take a beating and most can withstand drops from nearly 10 feet. The rugged mobile printer is geared around the MIL-STD 810F test confirming its ruggedness and ability to handle the daily rigors of everyday use. From 2.5" to 4" receipt printers, to full sheet 8" x 11" size printers. A rugged printer will handle any job while on the road printing inventory receipts or printing law enforcement issued citations.

Visit http://www.OCRuggedLaptops.com for more information about the rugged mobile printers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mack_Harris

Tags: computer and information technology

Desktop Virtualization

An enormous change make be lurking in the future for desktop computing. The change is known as desktop virtualization. Desktop virtualization is a situation where the physical personal computer desktop is in a separate location from where the end-user accesses it. The personal computer accessed remotely can be at home, in the office or in a data center while the end-user can be in a different location, such as a hotel room, city, office building or an airport. This is in sharp contrast to the current environment where the end-user directly accesses the personal computer, its operating system and applications and all associated peripherals in a closed and immediate environment.

Desktop virtualization presents many advantages for information technology departments, as management of the desktop is quickly facilitated. One change in a setting in the operating system, for example Windows, can be made once in a central location and all employees receive the change once they access their virtual desktops. Previously, information technology departments either were required to visit each desktop to make this change or push the change down to each desktop from a central server.

Although desktop virtualization may appear as a panacea for information technology departments constantly endeavoring to maintain current with software patches and other updates, the practical options for large-scale adoption are just emerging. Consequently, many information technology departments are not moving so quickly to adopt this technology. Its real viability for computing has not been completely proven for massive scale adoption. Yet many are looking to this technology as a great potential for lower the operating costs of owning and managing personal computers and desktops, which usually are a large percentage of information technology budgets.

As with most innovations, there are risks involved. As the personal computer entity basically resides in the data center, the biggest risk is greater reliance on the uptime of the data center. If the data center goes down, personal computer access then becomes unavailable. In addition, it requires significant investments in up-front costs for servers, storage, network bandwidth, licenses and thin-client hardware. Software as a service may be a less expensive alternative in terms of expense and implementation as the application resides on a server and is accessed by means of a browser through the web.

Two strategies exist for the implementation of desktop virtualization: the "fate image" approach of today and the stateless strategy of the future. With the fat-image approach, the operating system and applications are combined into a single image stored on a data center server and viewed on a simplistic computer by means of various remote access protocols. The advantages to this approach are the centralization of storage and increased security for data. In the stateless approach, every time an end-user turns on their computing device, the data center creates a temporary virtual image from a set of master operating systems images and icons and delivers those to the computer. In this approach, end-users are given only the applications they need based on who they are, their privileges and what they are trying to do.

The disadvantage to the fat image approach is that the operating system and the applications are stored in the data center and if patches have to be applied, someone still has to do the work. Patching is still facilitated as it is done in the data center rather than on individual computers but every virtual desktop still requires the same patching and management as would regular desktops. In a stateless environment, such patching would be done in one place and only those who require the patched application would receive it.

As with all new technologies, adoption is slow, particularly in smaller organizations where desktop virtualization may not be an issue. However, for larger organizations, a wait-and-see approach could quickly turn into a missed opportunity sooner than expected.

Visit http://www.OCRuggedLaptops.com for more information about the rugged laptop industry.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mack_Harris

Tags: computer and information technology