Many Linux users are geeks, and vice versa, and geeks can build their own systems or at least install an OS, so why should we buy systems with Linux pre-installed? Why is it so important if the OS is free? Let’s talk about a little thing called “market share.”

When you, Joe or Mary user, buy a computer at Best Buy or Computer Village or order a computer from Dell or Gateway, you get a computer with a system already installed. Do you think they had any trouble installing that system on that computer?

Linux and UNIX-like operating systems in general are regarded as being more secure for the common user, in contrast with operating systems that have "Windows" as part of their name. Why is that?

I have this computer. It came with windows xp pre-installed. I formatted it and installed CentOS Linux for some tests. The computer was then needed for an employee so we put windows xp back on. This is a step by step comparison of installation of the two operating systems on the exact same hardware.

This last Christmas, I refurbished and installed computers for two of my children. As we still have a pile of old games in a drawer, I wanted to provide multi-boot systems. This was much easier and more satisfying than the last time I set up a Linux/Windows dual boot system (with LOADLIN.EXE, which I can't really recommend today).

A value-added reseller of mobile computers and PDAs has ported Linux to a ruggedized, "military-grade" PDA. SDG Systems is offering the "Nomad" from Tripod Data Systems (TDS) pre-installed with Angstrom Linux and Qtopia PDA Edition, and bundled with a toolsuite and build environment based on OpenEmbedded.

LILO (Linux Loader) and GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) are both configured as a primary boot loader (installed on the MBR) or secondary boot loader (installed onto a bootable partition). Both work with supporting operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD, Net BSD, and OpenBSD. They can work with unsupported operating system, such as Microsoft Windows XP, in the configuration file. Both allow users—root users—to boot into single-user-mode.

Linspire, Inc., developer of the commercial Linspire and Freespire community desktop Linux operating systems and CNR.com, a free Linux software delivery service, today officially announced an initiative to offer a custom desktop Linux OS Build Service to partners. Designed to provide custom desktop Linux OS configurations, the Custom OS Build Service will also significantly help partners cut time to market and greatly reduce the overall expense required when building a desktop Linux operating system.

Issue 8 of o3 magazine is now available. This issue provides an end to end guide for building enterprise grade email systems using FOSS. o3 magazine is a FREE digital magazine, published twice a month in PDF format.