Tel us what you use Linux for and Win a £200 eBook Reader!

[Russell]

Here's your chance to let us know what you do with Linux on a daily basis and be in the running to win an eBook Reader worth more than £200!

Click here to learn more about the competition we've been running over the last month in conjunction with our friends at GreenReader.co.uk.

You can select as many options as are applicable to you. If none of the options match your choice, simply click 'other' and post a reply telling us what it is…

Good luck and have fun! We'll now be picking the winner out of the hat on the 12th July 2010

Don't forget - you must take part in all the polls to be in the running! The first, second and third polls can be found on the links.

[stigweard]

It's great to see that there is GNU/Linux software in nearly all these categories which matches or betters equivalent software for other OSes. I have used music production software in other OSes and Linux and, although the Linux software is not quite there, it is catching up fast. Perhaps the games category is where Linux has furthest to catch up but there are encouraging signs like the release of the Steam client for Linux.

[Russell]

Couldn't agree more. *If* Valve make Steam available to Linux users I actually think it's going to have a bigger effect on the landscape than many people credit.

Oh, and don't forget to vote everyone!!!

[stasike]

At home I use Linux almost exclusively.
It does everything I need for my day-to-day work.

At work, well, ... I am a mercenary. I use whatever system the customer requires. I can always suggest use of the free software, but at the end ... I have to use whatever is at my disposal.

I ALWAYS try to smuggle in at least Vim, and other free software.

I also use Linux in my e-ink reader. But that is a little bit different category.
It came with the device and I have little control over it.
I doubt that most of the Kindle, or Sony reader users have an idea what software their reader uses.

[Russell]

I also use Linux in my e-ink reader. But that is a little bit different category.

Out of interest what e-Ink reader do you use? We're always on the lookout for new manufacturers to approach for reviews etc.

Thanks for your comments!

[stasike]

Out of interest what e-Ink reader do you use? We're always on the lookout for new manufacturers to approach for reviews etc.

I used to use Sony reader PRS-500 - the first e-ink reader accessible to mere mortals outside Japan. Before PRS-500 there was Sony Librie, available only in Japan and *very* tightly tied to Japanese on-line store (you couldn't even load your own(!!!) books), and Iliad from iRex - an 8 inch device with astronomically high price-tag.
PRS-500 used Montavista Linux as its operating system. But you only learned that after reading press releases, copyright notices, looking at the useless source code that Sony provided for download (They had to do that to comply with the GPL, all the interesting stuff was proprietary anyway), and when the hackers took apart the first firmware update binary blob.

At the moment I use PocketBook 360 and I urgently need another one for a family member.
From the point of view of a Linux User and Developer (henceforward LUaD ), the PocketBook 360 is THE device to have.
Not only it runs Linux (like the vast majority of e-ink readers out there that I am aware of), the developers have provided a meaningful SDK for development of applications, and in a true Open Source spirit, they have left lots of doors open for you to tinker with the device. The device is extremely configurable, you can install your own binaries, even a Linux terminal.

One of the doors that the developers left open is that when you connect the machine to the PC, a disk (that I shall call /media/Pocket101/ here, as it appears on My Mint Linux) is mounted.
There you find /media/Pocket101/games directory.
You copy downloaded third party binary here ant it appears in Games menu on reader.
You can also find /media/Pocket101/system/bin directory.
Here you copy your own version of any application used by the reader, for example third party version of fbreader, and it is used instead of the default one.
So the contents of the directory that is seen from the outside as /media/Pocket101/system/bin is internally in a directory that is in the $PATH variable before all the other directories, so you** can extremely easily replace any binary just by Drag&Drop of file from any Linux, MacOSX or Windows machine.
The same situation is with /media/Pocket101/system/config directory. You put your own version of any config file here and it is used instead of the default one that comes with the firmware.
Extremely hacker friendly.

As a direct result of all the above, most of the things are configurable and you can tweak the settings so the device displays your e-books exactly to your liking.

** and not only you - an advanced LUaD - but also any computer user that can drag and drop file to a directory from a graphical interface

[malakor]

More and more Linux-based devices come to the market. Some is apparently, while some was embedded.

Use of Linux in a dailly life is so wide-opened. To name a few, normal use like dailly Desktop PC, Hi-speed internet (your ADSL routermy be running Linux). NAS devices are Linux-powered.

In the space, Mars explorer robots running Linux?

Linux is everywhere! You have to live with it!