Windows is running very slow.

Dud3! · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 12:27:14 Post Subject:

Let me just pop in and insert something for dadx2mj:

Forgetting games for the moment, since most games are made for windows, and may or may not run on Linux, let's check the other points since you said something about people with Windows being able to do anything thing with their computers.

Not bashing you at all, just bashing Windows in general.

Let's start simply:

1. You can do just about ANYTHING without restarting Linux, I've even heard of someone replacing the kernel without restarting the system. Just about any change in Windows requires a restart, although 2000 and XP are better about it then previous versions.

2. How many times has Windows completely crashed to the point of not being able to do anything besides pushing the reset button? How many times has ONE stupid applications brought Windows to it's knees requiring a restart? I bet you can't remember how many times, but I can tell you how many times that's happened since I started using Linux at the start of this year, NONE, never, zip, zilch. Everything is seperate, if a program hangs, kill the process, if it completely hangs X, swap to another terminal and kill the process, etc.

3. While bill is bandying about all the great stuff you can do with XP (a lot of the "new" stuff are concepts copied straight from Unix/Linux/BSD stuff), I can throw a wrench in the whole thing with this simple question:

3.a Can you sort a list alphabetically, upper case first, removing all duplicates, and send it to a file called sorted_list AND send only the items starting with A to a file called A_list.......from the command line? HAH! No, you can't, because even simple stuff like that that you should be able to do can't be done without buying a program for Windows to do it. Chances are it will be graphical only, requiring more steps to do something simple.

3.b I have tons of audio and video software, some of it professional quality, on my computer. All of it open source, all of it more complex than anything you get with Windows. Oh wait! All you get with Windows is Movie Maker 2 that only saves stuff as WMV. If you want to get something that you can actually do stuff with, you have to shell out a few hundred bucks to do it. Even if the open source software wasn't free, it would still do more than Windows stuff.

3.c There is so much stuff that you can do with Linux/BSD to actually put your computer to work, instead of you working to make it do something, it's amazing. Computers are meant to simplify tasks and do work for us, with Windows that point has sort of been lost, with Linux that's what it's all about.

4. Open source has one big advantage, developement. Is there a problem with something? Find a vulnerability? Report it to the people maintaing that program and if it's something being actively developed, the problem will most likely be fix in an hour or by the next day! If there's something you think a program needs to have, go in and add it yourself and compile the program again or suggest it to the people that made the program and they just might add it to the next version.

4.a The Linux kernel is constantly being worked on by people around the world. New versions come out every few weeks, and most of the time I find myself with the next-to-latest kernel because a new one comes out after I download the current one! How many times has M$ released a new kernel for you to download? How long does it take for a problem to be fixed? How many features that you suggested to M$ has been added to Windows? That's what I thought.

5. Yes, I'm a total Linux/BSD zealot now after using it and I wish I hadn't got a bad Mandrake 6 CD back in 1997/98 because if I had, I would have been using Linux since then. Better late than never right? The only computer I own with Windows on it is the main computer, which will be staying with my parents when I move, I don't need Windows for ANYTHING! That said, Windows is good for some people, some things, but is really a toy of an OS.

Whoa, did I just do that? OK, stepping off the soap box now, see ya! Wave

BeerCheeze · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 13:03:24 Post Subject:

I'll make you a deal... tell me the differences between

1) Linux
2) Sun Solaris
3) BSD
4) Windows XP
5) Netware (any version)
6) OS/2 Warp

If you can, I will respect your opinion.... if not...

And if you want to impress me...

How would you integrate the login, and services of 200 servers in 50 locations so that any user can log in and access the network resources from any place on the network to do their job.

BONUS BOUNS... Explain how to do it in Linux better than any other OS.

dadx2mj · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 13:05:33 Post Subject:

OK first off setting gaming aside is a huge thing at least to me.

1- What is the big deal about a restart only takes my system a few seconds. Never did understand why people make a big deal out of that

2- In the years I have had it installed I can only think of one time XP has locked up to the point I needed to reboot it. That was because of a bad driver install.

3-

thePMG · Rated XXX Joined: 24 Apr 2004 Posts: 393 Location: Germany

BeerCheeze · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 13:26:34 Post Subject:

I don't want links... want you to explain, in your own words. Explain HOW you would do it, and what the differences are...

thePMG · Rated XXX Joined: 24 Apr 2004 Posts: 393 Location: Germany

Dud3! · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 13:50:59 Post Subject:

3.a was supposed to be the reply, not the rest, I should have started the rest as 4.

Anyway, compiling stuff is not hard, and if you use Gentoo you just tell it to get whatever app you want, and it will download it, whatever it needs, compile it, and install it.

You don't have to keep up with the newest kernel, that's just what I do. Even if you're running 2.4.x you're still more secure than Windows..... It's not so much that bugs are being fixed as it is new stuff being added, support for more stuff, etc.

As for your last question, yes, Linux does everything I want to do and more. The stuff I've been able to do since going to Linux is far more than what I did in Windows. As for games, I quit playing those a few years ago, but I still play some SNES stuff using ZSNES for Linux. Any games I might play are going to be PS1/2 stuff that I want to play one day.

And yes, I do have a computer running Windows as I stated. The main computer that I haven't really used much since I started using Linux full time is staying with my parents. After I move I won't have a computer with Windows on it, and don't want one.

Dud3! · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 13:54:05 Post Subject:

Oh, and you would know what the big deal with restarting was if your computer was actually doing something.

Red Squirrel · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 14:01:06 Post Subject:

Here's my take on this.

Linux is for servers, because it performs better, and a server does not really have to be compatible with much - the protocols are cross platform and don't depend on the OS (ex: the string "GET / HTTP/1.1" is the same on linux then it is on windows or any other os)

Windows on the other hand is best for desktop because it's more supported. But again it depends what you want your workstation to do. If it's just a MS word machine switch to linux and use open office. But if you play games then you're pretty much stuck with windows. I highly doubt there's a linux version of halo and most other popular games. Halo on linux would be ironic, actually, since it's MS that made it.

Spire · Posted: Sun, 23 May 2004 14:48:42 Post Subject:

I just can't help myself...

Hey Dud3! can you Direct Connect in AIM yet?

I'm sure thats just an issue with the AIM software you have to run and not Linux huh...