i want to install linux on my computer, but worried about viruses Post: 302365531

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Operating Systems Linux i want to install linux on my computer, but worried about viruses Post 302365531 by pludi on Tuesday 27th of October 2009 10:29:15 AM

10-27-2009

Registered User

Let's see if I can answer some of your questions:

Depends. Since Linux isn't made by a company, but a whole load of volunteers, there isn't a fixed response time. Generally, you'll have to differ between project/upstream response time (those who write/wrote the software where a bug is found) and distribution response time (time between a fix and it's availability in the repository).

So far, the most horror stories about break-ins on Linux systems wasn't because there was no fix available, but because the administrator forgot to apply the fix. Notable exception: the Debian OpenSSL/OpenSSH bug, which went unnoticed for quite some time.
For someone used to MS desktops: probably Mint, maybe Kubuntu or Fedora.
If you aren't afraid of the command line, Ubuntu and a gradual switch to Debian.
If you want to delve right in, Gentoo, Slackware, or LFS.

Others might have different suggestions, as it's pretty subjective.
Again, depends. Most hardware should work fine, others might not. You might find "exotic" hardware working out-of-the-box, while "regular" won't. Example: a friend of mine tried to install Ubuntu on an Eeee PC. Wireless didn't work because the Windows driver screwed around with the firmware. Only remedy was to remove the battery, let it sit for a few minutes, re-insert the battery, which reset the wireless controller. After that it worked like a charm.

The best way to check this is, if available, to download a live-CD of your distribution of choice and start that. If you notice some hardware missing a bit of tweaking might be needed. If it's only your printer you're worried about: any modern Linux spooler (mostly CUPS these days) should have no problems with any printer. If it does, there's always OpenPrinting for drivers.

pludi

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LEARN ABOUT SUSE

uuid_compare

UUID_COMPARE(3) 						    Libuuid API 						   UUID_COMPARE(3)

NAME

       uuid_compare - compare whether two UUIDs are the same

SYNOPSIS

       #include <uuid/uuid.h>

       int uuid_compare(uuid_t uu1, uuid_t uu2)

DESCRIPTION

       The uuid_compare function compares the two supplied uuid variables uu1 and uu2 to each other.

RETURN VALUE

       Returns	an  integer  less  than, equal to, or greater than zero if uu1 is found,  respectively, to be lexigraphically less than, equal, or
       greater than uu2.

AUTHOR

       Theodore Y. Ts'o

AVAILABILITY

       libuuid is part of the util-linux-ng package since version 2.15.1 and is  available  from  ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-
       ng/.

SEE ALSO

       uuid(3), uuid_clear(3), uuid_copy(3), uuid_generate(3), uuid_is_null(3), uuid_parse(3), uuid_unparse(3)

util-linux-ng							     May 2009							   UUID_COMPARE(3)