This Is Why I Love Linux So Much!

I have a rack computer system. It allows me to plug in different Hard Drives and run different Operating Systems. I run several different Linux distributions on these hard drives. Ubuntu, Freespire 1.0, Freespire 2.0, Linspire 5.0 and Kiowa Linux populate these hard drives. I've also loaded PCLinuxOS, Mandriva One, Mepis, and a few others to see how they run and how they differ from the distros I normally use.

This evening, I needed to get a file off my Linpsire 5.0 hard drive. Linspire 5.0 was the real first solid Linux distro that convinced me to switch and leave Windows behind. It was also the easiest to use and had the friendliest, most helpful user group and community.

I plugged the drive in. But this was the first time I was using Linspire 5.0 with my new 22-inch wide screen flat panel monitor.

No problem. Before you boot the OS, Linspire has a main menu that comes up in Grub (Great Universal BootLoader). Grub gives you a list of choices. The first choice bots Linspire. The other choices are for troubleshooting the operating system. The one I'm interested in is "ReDetect." ReDetect runs a scan and diagnostic of sorts and looks at what kind of hardware you're running. True to its name, It re-detects all the hardware on your system.

So, I selected "ReDetect." Linspire then began scanning all the hardware on my system. Linspire saw my brand new monitor, loaded the proper drivers and set the optimal resolution.

Then, the log-on screen came up.

When I logged into Linspire, my monitor had the proper Nvidia drivers running and was set to a nice resolution of 1900 x 1440. Wow! How slick is that?!

Compare that to the Windows experience of getting a new monitor to run. You have to load a couple of disks (usually the driver disk and Windows disk) in order to get the drivers and set the screen resolution. Then, after all the data is loaded, you have to reboot.

With Linux all I did was click the mouse and chose "ReDetect."

Just one more reason why I love using Linux. You'll love using Linux, too. Get Linux.