What's Linux, and what's it good for?
It's an operating system for your computer, like Windows or Mac OS. You can do
anything you would normally do--play music, write your papers, watch movies,
instant message your friends, or even play graphics-intensive games, like
NeverWinter Nights, Quake3, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and more. Linux
gives you a stable environment to do things in, however.
Unlike Windows, Linux won't:
- crash (unless you really try)
- give you an Internet virus
- lock you into one way of doing anything
- cost you any money
- do your laundry...yet
My computer science professor said I need to use it. What's the big
deal?
Linux is especially well-suited for programming--the C language was built
around Unix (and vice versa). In fact, the Linux operating system itself is
written in C! It is a natural environment to do your class projects in, giving
you the flexibility of doing work at home instead of being stuck in the labs.
How can I try it out?
Linux runs in almost all of the labs in ECS and ITE; just reboot a machine and
tell it to boot into Linux! If you want to try it on your own machine, come to
the Installfest this weekend. We'll help put Linux on your machine Sunday, September
7th in the ECS Atrium (the big hallway above Lecture Hall 5). It starts at
1pm, and the last installs will begin around 5pm. You'll need to bring your
machine, keyboard, mouse, and monitor, and a willingness to learn; we'll supply
the rest!
Who are you?
The UMBC LUG is an organization of and for people who use or would like to use
Linux.
UMBC-LUG members come from all
walks of life and courses of study. You'll find among our ranks students of
IFSM, chemistry, mechanical engineering, math, visual arts, sociology, music,
social work, philosophy, and yes, even computer science, all bound together by a common
love of Linux. We welcome you to join us (membership is not limited to UMBC
students) -- if you are interested in becoming a member of the UMBC LUG, just come
to a meeting and check it out.
We meet regularly on the first Sunday of every month in ECS 333, which
starts at
1pm. We also schedule tutorials for using Linux to do
things like write and debug programs, encrypt your data, and other cool stuff;
the tutorial schedule is posted on the LUG web site
(http://lug.umbc.edu/).If you're interested in finding out more, check out
our mailing lists:
UMBCLINUX -- this is where we have most of our discussions. To subscribe:
Send mail to majordomo@lists.umbc.edu with the words "subscribe umbclinux"
(without the quotes) in the body of the message.
If you just want the news there's
LUGNEWS -- Just the News. To subscribe:
Send mail to majordomo@lists.umbc.edu with the words "subscribe lugnews"
(without the quotes) in the body of the message.