Coolest thing you can do using Linux that you can't do with Windows or on a Mac

Posted on in Categories Linux, Linux desktop last updated February 3, 2008

Interesting post, from the blog:

Someone asked me this recently. I don’t have just one answer. I compiled a list of things I thought of and emailed it to my friend…then I thought I would post it here for future reference.

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

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8 comment

  1. Rather childish, juvenile, etc. but amused me greatly when I found out:

    cat /dev/hda1 > /dev/dsp
    raw audio data (wav files I think) are played appropriately, the rest sounds like varying types of techno/house (dependent on what file system your drive has)

    Or if you don’t want garbage in your term window when testing devices, instead of
    cat /dev/input/event0 > /dev/dsp

    Though these two little diversions aren’t extremely useful or impressive, it’s the little low level hacks that endear me to Linux. For example, I once helped a friend surpass some file system restrictions that partition magic had by a boot cd, a reverse ssh tunnel, and disk druid.

  2. Coolest thing I can do using Linux that I can’t do with Windows or on a Mac is I can do everything I want with it but not pay a penny.

  3. The coolest things I can do with Linux that I can’t do with Mac or Windows… I can read/write/correct files on their file systems and they can’t read/write etc to each other or me. More so I can use fuse and cross mount each of them as if they were local to my system. This allows me to transfer files from one to the other through my system that they can’t get to each other save by sneaker net.

    Next has to be dmidecode. It allows me to directly query BIOS, motherboard and peripherals getting exact details about state and components. A lot to be learned on how to use this one for sure.

  6. I can do whatever I want!
    My kernel got fucked up recently, but I was able to restore it because I had access to it and I could modify it.

    On Windows or Mac I would have needed assistance from a computer technician and it might have taken several days to fix instead of the two minutes it took with Linux!

    I love Linux…

  7. I can think of many things!

    I can install a program with a single line, “yum install [app]”
    I can get photos off of my phone via bluetooth as easy as a flashdrive (no software needed to be installed)
    I can mount CD’s like it was nothing.
    I can change my Window Manager rather then trying to do so by laying crappy programs that hack the one you already have.
    I can change anything I wish to change with a little know how
    I can yank files from any old harddrive who’s OS got messed up.
    Just the fact that I can use the unix command line is awesome (although OSX can do this)

  8. I can freely modify my system to do what i want it to do.
    Hell i dont even have to install antivirus software.
    plus setting up packages and other software is so easy and compatible.
    The command line is very simple and saves you alot of frustration.
    Plus in linux your a Normal User,Unlike windows it seems your always superuser
    I love being able to do what i want and not what Microsoft wants.
    i recommend anyone wanting to program or look into pentest security to switch to linux.

    But out of all these its “OPEN SOURCE”
    gotta love it!

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