I tried installing and configuring a Linux server at my job a couple of years ago with very poor results. Went back to MS. Now, I’ve finally gotten LILO to play nice with Win2000 and Mandrake 9.1 at home. Downloaded Blender under linux, fired it up, went to my Projects folder on my mounted ntfs drives and Huzzah! Everything was just like it had been on the Windows side.
The blending experience on each platform seems identical to me. Blender truly is cross platform. Wow!
Anyway, wish me luck.
Good luck you’ll need it! It seems that Blender is one of the few things that works REALLY well on linux. I use linux as often as I can but there are a lot of problems which a linux novice such as myself can’t fix without wasting a lot of time. I keep trying to make linux my default OS for creating 3D but with the large lack of support for tablets and the tendancy for the GIMP to suck, its difficult at best. I am thinking about trying a new distro soon as I am not as happy with redhat 9 as I would like to be.
TorQ
wow its not just me who thinks linux isnt for everyone!!!
i dont like it cos its to much effort! i just wanna buy something and get on creating. not configure and tweek and ask faq groups how do i get my new mouse to work!
i never promoted linux to be for everyone …but i love the little bugger 
…works great for me, i love waiting for apps to compile, i love the asking questions and searching for answers bit …well, i’m just 100% linux user
but i always say: if you wound and OS you really like …stick to it …i did, and it just happens to be linux …if you like win* or macOS (X), any other *NIX, BeOS, SkyOS, whatever …it’s ok with me
p.s. TorQ, which distro are you using? …i’ve got everything working …not just working, but working as i want it to 
silver_hook, you sound alot smarter at linux than us rest of us novices. I have good inclinatiom to continue though, GOOD LUCK, harkyman!!
not true …i’m not a guru …it’s just something that a few years of linux do to you …you learn it like it and it learns to like you
there was a really nice Slackware saying/fortune output a few years ago: “Linux is linux friendly …it just happens to be picky about its friends” …basically meaning, if you’re nice to it, it’s nice to you 
I use linux for everything because I like to learn. I like to know what makes my probrams tick. I like to be able to configure everything from what ports my programs use to what type of password hash encryption my ldap user entries have. I like being able to hack various server components to make them behave in a way other than the programmers think it should work. I like haveing a huge arsonel of commands that do anything I could possibly think of and more. I like not having to reboot my damn computer everytime I install a new server or run secutiry updates. Linux is freedom!!!
Ok mabey I went to far with the freedom part . I have a huge problem with athority, and I feel that windows and non-opensource windows programs have to much control over what I need and want to do. Although in the workplace there is an accosional need for windows boxes due to political reasons, but with a lttle perl know-howI have no problems getting linux to integrate smoothly with any windows serverice(including mssql).
Sorry, I don’t know where I was going with this. I always go on a rant when the subject comes up :< .
welcome! one more soul free from the evil…
.b
Glad to have you back! I really like using Linux. Sure, it takes time to learn, but most of us had to put in tie to learn about using Windows as well, it’s just so ubiquitous that we don’t realize that it took awhile to learn.
Blender is one of many apps that work well with Linux, once it’s set up. Mandrake 9.1 has been the easiest to set up of the distros I’ve tried so far, too! Other than Blender and a few other specialized graphics apps, I didn’t have to add anything.
-Waylena
I use it because of all the free software and I’m benifing the free market by hurting Microsoft