Windows Vs Linux?

[danielbb90]

I was going to install linux when my hard drive came, later this week , replaceing my hard drive and dual booting.

But today, I don't think I should...

So this is just a quick question.

What does everyone els think about this?

- I have XP home that came with my laptop

- or ubuntu linux. <- Great os!

Thanks

Edited August 12, 2006 by danielbb90

[bobt]

If you have enough hard drive space, why not go with both?

Good luck,

Bob

[raintheory]

The only reason I have not gone completely to Ubuntu on my laptop is because my E-MU 1616m won't work with it.

[danielbb90]

Thanks for the replys...

I have (well will have) a 120GB hard drive,

I've like linux more than windows, well for a few years.

Just cos of the state of hardware I haven't been able to make the transfer.

A dual boot I think it the option, I just would want to prevent dual booting it takes too long.

But VMWare won't detect my mp3 player in recovery mode to firmware upgrade (linux can't).

So that forces me to have windows installed.

I guess I'll think about it some more, but I think my initial thourght is to go windows xp, but I don't like m$,

Note: My laptop is fully suppoted by linux drivers.

Edit: I made up my mind, I'm dual booting, and I'm not letting myself backout of this one!

Edited August 12, 2006 by danielbb90

[KrazyIvan]

I mulled around quite a few years about installing and running a dual-boot system. I tried a few distros and dual booted a few of them but never really on a permanent basis. When I received my laptop that changed things. I am in the process of moving everything XP related from my desktop to my laptop and kicking windows off my desktop. That way if I ever need windows I still have my laptop. Maybe I can kick the habbit for good but I know my wife can't. That is what is making this whole transition go so slow. She still needs time to get used to the laptop before I completely remove windows from my desktop.

[pata2001]

It all depends on your apps that you're going to be using, and how much time you're willing to spend learning command lines. Although I think linux has a great potential, it's not for me. I don't have time having to do command lines and recompiling a kernel just to install a driver or enable something. I have better things to do. I can't believe that with the nature of linux being opensource, it seems that there is a lack of interest in making it more user friendly. I admit that linux now is MUCH more user friendly than before, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. Simple things like installing drivers should be simplified, not forcing user to use command lines and edit config files manually.

Even for ubuntu, doing things like enabling 3d acceleration would force you to resort to command lines and/or recompiling the kernel.

Edited August 13, 2006 by pata2001

[veezhun]

coincidently, i installed kubuntu last night and am dual booting with windows xp pro.

everytime i need some software, i need adept or go to the command line and do a sudo apt-get... its frustrating and not easy for the kind of people who like to do simple things...

[Stuge]

Frankly saying I like Windows more than Linux.

[danielbb90]

Thanks,

I have used linux before and I like it more than windows, besides about 2 games and my mp3 players firmware there is nothing I can't do in linux.

I'll dual boot and see how I take to it,

Thanks

[streaml1ne]

Most command line functions on the 'desktop' linux distros have graphical equivalents. There are tools like Synaptic for apt-get on Ubuntu and Yum Extender for Fedora that let you install packages. I look at it this way, 95% of the desktop linux distros will run out of the box and be perfectly fine for most. The command line magic that comes into play the other 5% of the time is no different than tweaking the registry when something goes awry on Windows. As for additional driver support, they're called kernel modules, if your driver doesn't function as one then it's broken. You should never have to recompile a kernel to gain additional driver support AND most distros come with such a generic kernel that again, 95% of the existing hardware out there is supported out of the box. This doesn't mean however there is no benefit to kernel recompiles as you can generally strip out unused drivers to gain performance and free up some memory. Quite frankly if you need absolutely usability, get a Mac But if you want a system that is stable, fast, has good public support, is FREE, has no Microsoft WGA/Activation BS, and can essentially be run for months on end without a reboot, use linux or one of the BSD's.

[danielbb90]

Thanks for that streaml1ne,

Months on end without reboot? Really? Thats a new one on me!

[streaml1ne]

My desktop at work runs FreeBSD 6:

pleiades[16:12]# uptime

4:12PM up 153 days, 1:50, 10 users, load averages: 0.11, 0.07, 0.02

My laptop at home has been up for 35 days and only because I took it into work a month ago. Prior to that it was up for over 4 months. I have servers in work that prior to our colo-provider having a power outtage were up for over 800 days, and they see heavy usage. Unless there's a kernel level bug/patch that is NOT in a loadable module it's very very easy to keep a system going indefinitely. That's another benefit of using kernel modules, let's say a driver has a critical bug in it, you can simply unload the driver, patch it, reload the driver and never take down the system itself. Unix systems are very resilient.

Oh, and for those two games, try wine. They might work just fine. www.winehq.com

[danielbb90]

I've tried them in wine.

Partitioning dousn't bother me anymore anyway, thanks for all yor help (all of you)

Thanks,

Edited August 13, 2006 by danielbb90

[Christopher]

FreeBSD is fantastic, we run that on the server here for minidisc.org and have had continuous uptimes beyond a year..

As for Linux vs. Windows, it depends on what you do with a computer in the first place. If you do websurfing, e-mail, or picture/document creation then a Linux-based derivative is a decent. However, sometimes it is a little bit of a hassle getting all of your drivers working correctly or things configured in a way that is care-free. I have also seen OpenOffice documents look like complete crap when viewed in Microsoft Office programs, which is troublesome when in college.

I can't really utilize wine/Cedega for gaming (Battlefield 2, City of Villians, etc) because graphics just can't be run the way I want them to (heavy AA/AF) in this manner.

In my opinion, Linux should be kept as a server-based operating system; that's where the true strength lies.

[danielbb90]

I haven't thourght about useing FreeBSD before, its a neat idea.

Just I would prefer to use something I've used befroe. Maby sometime in the future I will try it.

I found wine to usefull for simple programs like "microsoft gif animator" and CDex, they work flawlessly. (besides the cansel button on CDex) lol

I have made documents in openoffice and opened them at school in word, never had a problem, they look the same, but that was word, not any powerpoint things or anything too fancy, maby I should do some tests there!

All the drives for my laptop work out-of-the-box, that is pritty convienient! (Besides my scanner that takes about 3 minuets to install)

I'll see how it goes, thanks kurisu.