linuxmatters
Andyland began using the Linux OS on Web servers in 1995. At times the same machine has been used for programming, production, and Web serving,— hardly ever crashing or needing to be rebooted, unlike contemporaneous commercial operating systems. From 2003-2016 the Gentoo distribution was used. After a hardware failure in late 2015, a new server was brought online that runs the Ubuntu Server version of Linux. As an artist deeply engaged with net.art, it's hard to imagine a 'Web' without free, open-source tools. As Linux has become more polished, some of the do-it-yourself requirements have diminished; yet even in 2016 I find myself making contributions to a broader community of users, spurred on primarily by a desire to solve problems for my own server. The channels for reporting such discoveries have proliferated and the likelihood of people finding tips posted here has diminished due to search algorithms that favor established sites with many reciprocal links. Therefore as of 2016, I am belatedly and officially closing the Linux Tips and Tricks Wiki and converting this project to an archival status as static HTML.

— Andy Deck

 

Linux is good.

This server is running Linux. I use Linux to make net art. By contrast, Microsoft is bad. Their software is silly, slow, and restrictive. I couldn't make my art with their software, because I would soon go mad. Enough said.

There are plenty of links for finding out about Linux. If you can't find that information, Linux is probably not a good system for you, because it's not beginner-simple...yet.


— Deck, 1998

 

Letter to the Editors of U.S. News and World Report

Nov 16, 1998

To the Editor:

Most of what your article "Microsoft's pesky rival," had to say about Linux was true -- it is more stable than Windows systems, and it is believed by many (including myself) to be the "future" of operating systems. However, I take issue with two points. One was that "the [Linux] interface is a poor substitute for Windows." Actually, the Windows interface lacks basic functionality that Linux has, such as a convenient mechanism for searching the contents of the system's files for key words. Moreover, with regard to the graphical user interface, there are recent developments for the Linux system which contradict your assertion. I am currently using a seamless and easily configurable desktop manager provided on the Red Hat Linux installation CD-ROM. Secondly, your characterization of some Linux advocates as "rabid" in their hatred of Microsoft begs the question: "Who's rabid?" Is it the company whose name has become synonymous with industrial coercion, or is it the individual developer who believes passionately that there is a better way to produce software that gives people more than the illusion of choice?

Andy C. Deck
Lecturer
Information Technologies

 

 
Documentation
Gentoo Linux
Ubuntu Linux
Apache Group
Mozilla