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Community weekly poll: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS?
- 2/8/07 10:33 AM
there are lists of supported laptops
by scott_789 - 2/11/07 6:52 AM In reply to: Was going to try BUT by mcneatry this page, and this page.
It's usually the newest hardware that people have problems with from what I understand. I installed it on an Acer Aspire 3618 (which isn't all that old or all that new) and didn't have any hardware related problems whatsoever! (I have an Intel graphics card, which is more widely supported.) The only thing I had to do was search the forums for a way to disable the double-tap.
The easiest way is to try a live CD and see if it works.
Try it!!! It's kinda fun.
LINUX vs WINDOWS
by bryson01 - 2/15/07 4:12 PM In reply to: Was going to try BUT by mcneaTHE ONLY THING THAT KEEP ME USING WINDOWS ITS THE GAMES AND A FEW PROGRAMS, I OWN LICESENCE OF WINDOWS HOME EDITION AND I HATE IT. I LIKE MORE THE VERSION OF XP PRO NAMED WINDOWS UEv6.0 (HACKED)
Linux....
by meisinscotland - 2/9/07 5:12 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I once installed Linux on an old computer and it was nothing like they said it was in the magazine!! It was all...
..different...
Definitely sticking with Windows NT 5!!
Don't criticise XP if you didn't buy it!
by moronblue - 2/10/07 6:41 PM In reply to: Linux.... by meisinscotlandI posted a message earlier, post 7. I have followed the discussion with interest and my views remain the same. One very important point appears time and time again, problems with XP!!
May I say that I too had many problems with XP, that was when I was running a pirate copy! After many years of doing that I eventually decided to buy, which I did. For two years now I have used XP every day and I have never had a single problem. That's the truth. It's very clear that a high percentage of complainants with regard to XP are running pirated copies. Good luck to you, but don't complain about second hand goods when you don't know where the've been and you've got them on the cheap.
Any operating system should be simplicity to use, even grandma should be able to use it. Linux isn't simple, it isn't user friendly, it isn't intuitive,it isn't practical for the masses in it's present form.
Problems with purely legal copy
by Sith840 - 2/10/07 7:35 PM In reply to: Don't criticise XP if you didn't buy it! by moronblueThe problems people may have with XP are not from pirated copies; or, at least I can tell you I know plenty of people with problems that were not using pirated versions (including me). The problems have ranged from Spyware/Malware to driver issues. The problem has generally been due to updates that break things (especially service pack 2 when it 1st arrived), DirectX driver issues (when they rev direct X, it often causes problems with some drivers, and MS changes it without changing the numbering), conflicts between drivers, and crude attempts at security fixes (it takes MS about 3 revs on average to both fix the problem and not cause new ones).
Of course the number one XP problem that I have had to help people with was caused by McAfee and Symantec AV products. Those are worse than viruses in my view - they cause all sorts of problems that people cannot understand nor track.
That said, Linux is no walk in the park with regard to drivers and updates. If you have a known system for Linux, you are better off, just as with XP. But, over time, things can go wrong, just like XP. This comes from adding new HW and/or updating things and/or adding new applications that require an update (or force it).
I did buy XP - it was legal, and it came with my machine...
by meisinscotland - 2/15/07 6:12 AM In reply to: Don't criticise XP if you didn't buy it! by moronblueBut, it still never was as stable as a copied version of Windows 2000! XD
I also disagree with your theory a bit -- lemme just say why.
Running a friends Windows 2000 CD through a CD Burner isn't gonna cause loss of data, really, is it?
All it does is exactly replicate the little 1s and 0s and recopy them, right?
And besides this is a perfectly stable installation of Windows 2000 on both my computers and I shall be keeping it that way!
Have tried XP Pro and Home to no true satisfaction. Nice OS, sure, but not stable enough for me...
Linux instead of windows.
by kcbigbear - 2/9/07 5:16 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
hello:
a couple of years ago i bouth a new pc with linux but i couldn't figer out how too use it i called tech support and they couldn't help me so i took the pc back and got one with windows!
ken
overriding reasons?
by nmharleyrider - 2/9/07 5:37 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
There is no overriding reason for anyone to switch form Windows to Linux unless they just want to go cheap. If you're happy with Windows stick with it. If you're not and can figure out which of a hundred different distributions of Linux is best for you, go with it.
No a chance
by Cythrawl - 2/9/07 5:43 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have tried several Linux distro's over the years with mixed results.
Ubunutu was the only one I remotely liked but again that didnt last too long. Nearly always I have driver and/or chipset issues/incompatibilites that always makes me ditch it and stick with Windows. NVRAID Install on Nforce 4 RAID arrays for example are such a huge pain the rear end that its really not worth the effort to get it working. And even when you do you still see stuff that fails. Ubunutu for example on Breezy Badger (If I remember right) would lock up booting into the GUI on logon. I had to boot back into windows and print a detailed instruction guide on how to fix it. It was the nVida VGA Drivers that was in the box on Ubunutu.
Also theres the Games. Until an OS (OSX or Linux) gets support for all the AAA games without recompiling, full support for the new hardware, etc etc etc then I will never fully switch. At best all of the non Windows OS's are installed as a cuirosity at the most. Even now I dont even Install them physically to the PC and use VMWare now instead.
oriented towards the O/S, not the apps
by PromisedPlanet - 2/9/07 5:50 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Like Unix and the Unix "support" community, the Linux world is oriented towards the O/S rather than the applications. Someone previously mentioned the arrogance of many longtime Linux users in answering technical questions for new Linux users; I found that to be the case as well. I think the entire mindset of the Linux community is that computing *shouldn't* be easy, and that people who only care about the applications are idiots (like "AOLers").
I recently attempted to install Red Hat Linux. I consider myself to be more technically savvy than most, but it was just a complete pain. The most frustrating thing was a lack of some central Internet repository for support information. Just because something is free doesn't mean it has to be disorganized.
I don't mind dealing with O/S issues when necessary, but I don't want to spend weeks/months dealing with them just so I can run my apps. Linux may be fine for techies, but it's not ready for the masses.
You hit it on the head
by DavidHimself - 2/9/07 7:30 PM In reply to: oriented towards the O/S, not the apps by PromisedPlanetI do use Linux, and I like it, but the apps just plain suck. The best claim any Linux app makes is to be somehow Microsoft compatible. OpenOffice, for example. (Come to think of it, that's about as much as any Mac app claims... And I use MacOS, too!)
Some Linux distros try to make things easier, but the free stuff is generally difficult to get going. Just try to install fonts on Fedora, or a new graphics card on OpenSUSE. Drive you to drink.
Not for Me, at Least Not Now
by arou42 - 2/9/07 6:09 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A confirmed Mac user, I once mentioned to one of my CS professors that if I were to by a new machine, I'd like to create a partition so that I could play with Yellow Dog Linux. He, a Mac user from the solder-it-yourelf days, looked at me as though I'd just escaped from a mental hospital and asked "Why would you want to run Linux when you're already running UNIX?" I guessed he had me there, or at least I was unwilling to argue the point and when I bought a used Titanium book, I didn't create a Linux partition. As someone who has a separate OS 9 partition that she never uses, I have also to consider the likelihood that I wouldn't bother to use Linux; there's also the element of the time involved learning a new OS that would ultimately be less satisfying than OS X.
That said, if I were I PC user, I doubt I'd be running Windows and would definitely be a Linux user, if only because the whole open-source mentality is appealing. I always mean to start playing with it at school, as my colleagues who are actually CS majors run only Linux on their PC's, but I just haven't gotten around to it.
I just want to plug in and compute,
by coffeecan - 2/9/07 6:37 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I don't like having to putz around with an OS to do my work.
I like to keep things simple. I would like it if the windows/apple folks would just give me a choice of not having so much junk cluttering up my system and just let it run fast and uncomplicated.
So if Linux is faster and less cluttered and I had more time to putter and diddle around learning the system. I would try it. Maybe I'm in the minority but I'm thankful that windows came along and standardized a lot of stuff in the computer industry. I remember too well when there were many different producers of products that were useless in many machines and barely worked in a few. Computing was a hit and miss world. Today's computing is so simple compared to those days. Almost anyone can just plug in and go about computing. I do like the fact though that there is someone out there challenging the big boys and forcing them to stay half way honest. So for that reason alone, I will try it as I find more time.
linux
by 1957joe - 2/9/07 6:41 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm to old to learn if this is good or bad, everytime I try something new i screw up my PC
Maybe
by pajanai - 2/9/07 6:43 AM In reply to: Would you consider using Linux instead of Windows or Mac OS? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
As the main article responses indicate, there need to be some strong reasons to migrate to Linux from Windows beyond the "I hate Microsoft" buzz. I don't use Linux currently because I have seen no compelling reasons *to* use linux. Moreover, the trend seems to be moving to creating distros with graphical interfaces over the old amber-on-black screen command line. I've used linux in the past and am genuinely excited to see so many new distros and the current hype that may bring linux into the more mainstream OS options. What I haven't yet seen enough of are discussions of the advantages of using one operating system over another. I don't think it's enough to say "it depends on what you want to do," when most users don't have a clue or don't really care as long as the OS allows them to do it.
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