Windows or Linux? (moving to Linux, how is it?)

[wesley]

I think Apple may disagree with you there.

you may be right but the cost of Apple computer will be double of my budget PC.......

 

[electrofelix]

I'm still yet to discover a Linux distro which is as stable as Windows XP. Sure, Linux itself might not fall over but the GUI and programs running on it certainly do. Also updating it while simple in theory is not nearly as easy as Windows. Basically Linux comes across as shoddy, unprofessional and cheap It is only good as a server OS, not a desktop OS in my opinion.

lol, so enterprise systems run a shoddy, unprofessional and cheap OS for HPC systems.

As for easy updating, since I'm on dialup I find windows an absolute pain. With gentoo I can request that the update program prints out all the urls for each update that I need, similiarly for redhat, fedora, debian and ubuntu. Put these in a file and pop them onto my pendrive and go elsewhere to download the updates. Also if I decide to reinstall, I don't have to reinstall and then have to download all the updates again. With linux I can install using the updated files instead. Trying to save the windows updates so that you can use them again should you reinstall is a real pain.


I really depends on what your needs are. For most people Windows is still the best solution. For others who understand both their system and linux almost any distro will be more stable than Windows. I haven't had any problems playing DVD's, mp3's, divx, ogg, etc. The only formats I run into problems sometimes are wmv and wma, and I can still play about 95% of those.

 

[Fred_Or_Dead]

I must admit the biggest bugbear for me have been video codecs. I am no Linux expert but I am not stupid either and despite my best efforts I just cannot get any Linux distro to play either videos or DVDs properly. Linux for desktop is slowly improving and some of the commercial distros (SuSE, Mandrake etc.) are damn good.

VLC has builds for:

Mandrake
SuSE
Debian
Red Hat
Familiar
Gentoo
...etc

 

[Dunky]

The thing with Linux is there's a learning curve associated with it. A lot of things will work out the box but there are certain things you have to setup (codecs, DVDs, etc.). But these are done to give you freedom of choice. Don't like VLC? Install xine, totem, mplayer, you choose! If you don't like Firefox then install Opera, Epiphany, Mozilla (the original). Don't like GNOME? KDE, XFCE, Fluebox(?) await you. Linux is about flexability. If you are willing to put the effort to do a bit of research to finding solutions, you will be rewarded with a free but very usable and stable operating system.

In all honesty, any issues I've had with linux I just need to google or visit the distro's forums and I can find a solution or some information to which I can make a solution which I can then share to other users. The linux community is very well supported and very friendly.

What you put in is what you get out of Linux

 

[cb_linus]

Some interesting posts. I guess whether Linux is right for you or not is down to experience then, and what sort of environment you want to use. I have to admit, I still have the odd problem with Linux but this is related to my choice to use it 64bit instead of 32bit (wine doesn't work to well for me) but then I've had a few problems with Windows XP too.

I'd agree that Windows XP is user friendly but I'd suggest part of that is down to Microsoft simply getting the user used to doing things a certain way for a succession of it's operating systems without providing much of an alternative to do things differently. It's been mentioned before on this forum, but if you gave Windows and a known user friendly Linux distribution (I'd suggest Suse) to someone who'd used neither before and asked them to learn each, I'd suggest the learning curve would be about the same.

As far as hardware detection goes, most users know that Windows will work on their machine because the machine is designed to work with the version of Windows that has been pre-installed on the machine (hence the designed for Windows XP sticker). Windows XP does not work well (at all) on the old Windows ME machine I spent many a month on (Athlon 1300, 256mb ram) - in fact it just used to freeze and refuse to boot up after an hour or two Windows has hardware problems, not just Linux.

I also think that way that many Linux distributions update is great - such as the fact that when I update my Gentoo box I also get updates to games installed (latest patches) like UT2004 & NWN and well as other programs like my office stuff. I'm sure updating Windows XP doesn't automatically offer the chance to update Open Office or Microsoft Word.

As far as the GUI, I admit I'm not a fan of the default look of a lot of distributions but they are very customisable. Judging from the massive screenshot threads in the Windows forum I would guess that a nice looking GUI is a pre-requisite for many desktop users - I'm actually very happy with my current Linux DE - lots of eye-candy such as a nice starter bar, transparent desktop calender, weather module etc screeny. I would suggest that if the Linux GUI is coming a long way (apparently KDE 4 will support the same widgets that OSX uses ).

 

[JGJones]

Ubuntu user

I went cold turkey and replaced Windows on my main desktop with Linux - Ubuntu. I actually dual boot between the two really, but every day I use Linux.

For me it does everything I need and I only use Windows once in a blue moon.

Works wonderfully for me including all multimedia.

BUT I have to agree with Wesley - I tried to help him, but Wesley's not hopeless with computers, but his problems with Linux is down to lack of knowledge of it - a noob is going to have a worse time to be frank.

Still I do believe Linux is improving a lot, but still have some way to go...

However here's a nice link...A Linux user switchs to Windows...funny

http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/5937.html

 

[Caged]

lol, so enterprise systems run a shoddy, unprofessional and cheap OS for HPC systems.

Enterprise doesn't run on Linux.

 

[Dunky]

BUT I have to agree with Wesley - I tried to help him, but Wesley's not hopeless with computers, but his problems with Linux is down to lack of knowledge of it - a noob is going to have a worse time to be frank.

Linux has a steeper learning curve than Windows. Prior knowledge of the linux always helps a lot, but the best way for a 'noob' to learn linux is to have patience and a willingness to do some research and learn. Linux can do everything that Windows can do (tasks, not specific applications), it just may require a bit more setting up. A quick search, Wiki, FAQ or support docs and it's sorted. Remember that linux is a community project and decisions are based on input from a large userbase. This means that apps are included / excluded / editted / included but not installed for a good reason.

However here's a nice link...A Linux user switchs to Windows...funny

http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/5937.html

It's a good read and funny in places, but it stinks of 'linux fanboy' material which really isn't what the linux community needs - Linux and Windows are both operating systems and suit a different set of users. Each user has a choice between the two and Linux is all about freedom of choice...

 

[electrofelix]

Enterprise doesn't run on Linux.

I'm going to assume your making a joke about the "Enterprise" starship

 

[Mr Potatohead]

Enterprise doesn't run on Linux.

Maybe you're thinking of the USS Enterprise.

There are plenty of enterprise linux solutions around. Novel and Red Hat are both examples of companies producing enterprise linux solutions.

You may want to take a look here and here for some examples of succesfully deployed enterprise linux solutions.

Moving on...

To the OP:
My personal experience of linux started in 2004 when I installed fedora core 1. My impression was that it was very stable and functional, but I had less use for it than windows at the time. When I moved to fedora core 2, I was very impressed - it had detected and configured all my hardware, the only thing needing to be done was installing the nvidia driver so I could have opengl functionality. By this time, I had sorted out replacement software to everything but games. I was using windows less and less. Skipping forward to now, I don't even have windows on this machine any more, nor do I have any desire to use it.

I guess it goes to show that linux has grown on me, as it might on you if you try it.

 

[Caged]

Ah, but "here are a couple of companies using Linux" doesn't back up the fact that "enterprise runs on Linux". Enterprise runs on UNIX and Windows. Linux lives on web servers and people's home rigs built out of salvaged parts. I wouldn't put my company in the hands of an operating system with so many members of the community pulling it in different directions.

And even then, if enterprise runs Linux, that doesn't make it right for a home system.

 

[JGJones]

Linux has a steeper learning curve than Windows. Prior knowledge of the linux always helps a lot, but the best way for a 'noob' to learn linux is to have patience and a willingness to do some research and learn. Linux can do everything that Windows can do (tasks, not specific applications), it just may require a bit more setting up. A quick search, Wiki, FAQ or support docs and it's sorted. Remember that linux is a community project and decisions are based on input from a large userbase. This means that apps are included / excluded / editted / included but not installed for a good reason.

It's a good read and funny in places, but it stinks of 'linux fanboy' material which really isn't what the linux community needs - Linux and Windows are both operating systems and suit a different set of users. Each user has a choice between the two and Linux is all about freedom of choice...

You're right. I came across this which I can agree with a lot for where many experienced Windows user get problem with Linux:

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Linux is not Windows.

 

[JGJones]

Ah, but "here are a couple of companies using Linux" doesn't back up the fact that "enterprise runs on Linux". Enterprise runs on UNIX and Windows. Linux lives on web servers and people's home rigs built out of salvaged parts. I wouldn't put my company in the hands of an operating system with so many members of the community pulling it in different directions.

And even then, if enterprise runs Linux, that doesn't make it right for a home system.

You have used Google?

 

[dayloon]

Some interesting posts. I guess whether Linux is right for you or not is down to experience then, and what sort of environment you want to use. I have to admit, I still have the odd problem with Linux but this is related to my choice to use it 64bit instead of 32bit (wine doesn't work to well for me) but then I've had a few problems with Windows XP too.

I'd agree that Windows XP is user friendly but I'd suggest part of that is down to Microsoft simply getting the user used to doing things a certain way for a succession of it's operating systems without providing much of an alternative to do things differently. It's been mentioned before on this forum, but if you gave Windows and a known user friendly Linux distribution (I'd suggest Suse) to someone who'd used neither before and asked them to learn each, I'd suggest the learning curve would be about the same.

As far as hardware detection goes, most users know that Windows will work on their machine because the machine is designed to work with the version of Windows that has been pre-installed on the machine (hence the designed for Windows XP sticker). Windows XP does not work well (at all) on the old Windows ME machine I spent many a month on (Athlon 1300, 256mb ram) - in fact it just used to freeze and refuse to boot up after an hour or two Windows has hardware problems, not just Linux.

I also think that way that many Linux distributions update is great - such as the fact that when I update my Gentoo box I also get updates to games installed (latest patches) like UT2004 & NWN and well as other programs like my office stuff. I'm sure updating Windows XP doesn't automatically offer the chance to update Open Office or Microsoft Word.

As far as the GUI, I admit I'm not a fan of the default look of a lot of distributions but they are very customisable. Judging from the massive screenshot threads in the Windows forum I would guess that a nice looking GUI is a pre-requisite for many desktop users - I'm actually very happy with my current Linux DE - lots of eye-candy such as a nice starter bar, transparent desktop calender, weather module etc screeny. I would suggest that if the Linux GUI is coming a long way (apparently KDE 4 will support the same widgets that OSX uses ).

That is a nice screeny. How do you get stuff like the calender and weather module ??

 

[cb_linus]

That is a nice screeny. How do you get stuff like the calender and weather module ??

Thanks The modules are actually part of e17 (several, like those are installed by default now) which gives it a very integrated feel. As the future release of Enlightenment develops* there should hopefully be more modules released for it - at the moment there are other modules such as engage (a bit like OSX launcher bar), a temperature & battery module and a network monitor module as well as a few others. The screenshot doesn't really do it justice - while e17 is quite light (takes maybe 45 minutes to compile compared to the 6+ hours for KDE) it is quite feature rich and has some nice animations / transitions when switching from one application to another or when using the menu. Here's a screenshot I took for the 'Mac OSX competitors?' thread, which shows a bit more off. I thouroughly recomend giving e17 a try (it's my default window manager, though I use nautilus for my file browser - e17s file browser is being worked on) even though it is pre-release (be careful to save your work if you are going to fiddle with it though - rare crashes do happen but the code is worked on very regulalry )


*it's pre beta but available for a few distros, I think including Ubuntu

 

[puppy]

I was using Ubuntu until recently and it's good. However I upgraded my soundcard to the Creative X-FI and this isn't supported yet in Linux so no sound Also, support for the new Pixma range of Canon printers is non-existent (yes, I know that's Canon's fault) and my Nebula DigiTV card won't work either (for the same reason)

That's the problem really - the moment hardware manufacturers take linux seriously and start writing decent drivers then Windows will have real competition, but given the tiny number of linux desktop users (yes I know many, many servers are linux-based) they don't give a stuff - blame Mr Gates for that one!

 

[cb_linus]

I have to admit, I chose the components for my computer based on the fact that Linux was going to be installed on it so hardware related problems were pretty low (I'd suggest since most desktop pcs are built with Windows in mind compatabilty issues are reduced from the outset). Still, Linux works for me and I'm happy with that I may, or may not, dual boot again with Windows some time in the future but mainly for gaming reasons.