[EMAIL PROTECTED] said: > I'm wondering what everyone's motivation is for using Linux on a > laptop instead of Cygwin + Windows.
My motivation for using GNU/Linux on a laptop: 1. GNU/Linux is free (in the sense of freedom) software. Windows is not. With GNU/Linux I can have a system with only free software. 2. Free software gives me more continuity. With proprietary software one is always depending on the latest fancies of M$ and co, like the bi-annual forced upgrade to another closed data format. 3. In my experience, Cygwin is not quite the same as the real thing. I used Scilab + GNUplot under Cygwin for a while, but the piping thing did not work as well as under GNU/Linux, for example. Some of the ported software is less stable under Cygwin than under GNU/Linux, Lyx for example. 4. I am an Electronics engineer. I find writing software that accesses a serial or parallel port easier in GNU/Linux than in Windows. 5. my best machine at home is a laptop. 6. It works well - so far I have only had problems with my winmodem, but it seems there is a kernel patch available. 7. The more people are using GNU/Linux the more chances that free software won't be outlawed so soon. (You obviously noticed that efforts are on the way from M$ and friends to make free software illegal, haven't you? - for example the patenting of certain networking protocols would be a way to achive that) - Josef -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
