Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Richie London on 07 February 2009, 08:15:23
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m8 has changed his pc from windows to linux, reckons its better, smoother?? and less chance of getting bugs and viruses. is this true or not. is it worth changing over to this or staying with xp pro??
fingers on the buzzers and the answer is?? :D
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you'll get mixed replys as some members are using linux and some using xp and some using vista
i'm using xp and ann is using xp
i've built a computer for my security camera's which runs on win 2000
but i have herd linux is good
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Windows Vista ....... :y
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my pc is a time machine i bought about 10 yrs ago is 98 and i bought the xp ugrade for it, was thining of changing that to linux as it seems to crash quite a bit. thats my jukebox, got all my albums on there ;)
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ubuntu and kubuntu ??
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m8 has changed his pc from windows to linux, reckons its better, smoother?? and less chance of getting bugs and viruses. is this true or not. is it worth changing over to this or staying with xp pro??
fingers on the buzzers and the answer is?? :D
Don't believe the hype. This is one of the biggest problems with Linux. It is no less prone to bugs, and there are virii for Linux. There are loads more Windows virii, so all Windows users always run AV software. Linux users think they are immune, and don't bother. Pillocks.
wrt to smoothness/performance, Linux (along with any X11 based graphical system used on virtually every Unix) will be slow with graphical desktops. You have to understand the reasons for X11 to understand why it will never be as fast as Windows graphically. X11 was designed to be a multiuser networked system (basically, you'd run a graphical app via your own machine, but the app itself would run on a central Unix server). The layering needed for this destroys performance.
The one really, really good thing that Linux had was the Unix security model - every user ran with limited permission (same as running a 'Limited User' user account in XP, or 'User' in W2K). If you needed 'root' (Administrator in Windows) you had to temporarily switch to root user to perform that task. Trouble is, most distros have relaxed this now, and allow you to permenently run as root, which is every bit as dangerous as running as an Administrator in W2k/XP.
Vista has a great way around this elevated priviledge thing (knowing that most users consider not running as Admin is a comment about their penile performance) called UAC. Most stupid people turn this off because they are incredibly stupid and shouldn't be allowed near a computer. Leave it on. It kind of implements that part of the Unix security model whereby you're in a limited mode (thus can't do damage to machine), and your prompted to allow anything that needs higher rights. This can catch many nasties before you're machine is compromised (assuming you don't just answer 'Continue' without understand what and why something needs extra rights). Its not a complete answer - as per Unix/Linux, still possible to inject nasties via bugs - but its a massive improvement from the XP model, and every idiot running as Admin.
And don't get me started on Linux's resource (mis)management - its appalling.
Back to your original Q, there are plenty of free distros out there, try one, see what you think. Remember, most Windows apps won't run too well under Linux, those that will run tend to be slow. Also, be aware that Windows and Linux don't like each other much, so if you go dual boot, you need to know what you are doing.
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my pc is a time machine i bought about 10 yrs ago is 98 and i bought the xp ugrade for it, was thining of changing that to linux as it seems to crash quite a bit. thats my jukebox, got all my albums on there ;)
What kind of crash? BSOD? If so, whats the stop number?
XP is a mature OS, and the kernel is pretty much tried and tested. BSOD will always be either bad hardware or a bad kernel mode driver.
If its an app crash, you need to update the app.
:)
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Biggest question has to be 'What will it be used for?' If it is a games machine then there is little point using linux as too many current games will not run even in WINE or similar. If it is for internet and typing and such then it is worth giving linux a go just for the experience. You could even go mad and set it up as dual-boot.
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Biggest question has to be 'What will it be used for?' If it is a games machine then there is little point using linux as too many current games will not run even in WINE or similar. If it is for internet and typing and such then it is worth giving linux a go just for the experience. You could even go mad and set it up as dual-boot.
WINE, despite the name, is pretty much an API emulator, and quite slow. So even if you can run Windows apps under Linux (and not many you can), they don't run too hot.
Dual boot, you need to know what you are doing, particularly if you reinstall Windows XP (later Windows more Linux friendly).
The best option I would consider for trying Linux for most people is VMWare Server or VMWare Player. The OOF Linux Server ran for 2.5yrs on a Windows machine using VMWare Server. For Linux users wanting to run Windows apps (probably not the latest games though), VMWare Server is available for Linux as well.
However, in this case, as the OP's PC is so old, I would say any modern Linux won't run that well on it.
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TB gave a lot of technical information but I would like to say something as a "user".
I tried several Linuxes - Ubuntu, Mandriva, Mandrake and usually after a month or so I was reinstalling the system to XP. Linux itself is ok, its similar to WIndows, but always bit different. I know a lot of free Windows software - download, run, install and play. With Linux it was always more or less difficult and I had many problems finding how to run software even when installed.
Open Office is very similar - looks like Office but even thought people complain about Office 2007 it's just easier to use and runs every supported file. Once I made a CV using OO and saw it printed from Office - it just looked crap.
But if you are looking for a free system to write an e-mail or search Internet it's a good choice.
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thanks for all the information folks
if i have the pc on, i can be listening to music then all of a sudden it just shuts down and re starts. usually after about 15 mins. i cant run the pc off my mobile like my laptop because it wont except my bluetooth device so i cant go on microsoft to update anything, i have media player 11 running that i put on a dongle and just transfered to the pc. could it be that i havent the updates on the pc that are needed to run it properly
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A chap at work recons VMware is the way to go. If I understand this correctly, he has a basic Xp installation to run the machine, and a number of Virtual Machines that run on top. So he has a virtual machine for XP, one for Vista, one for Mac OS, one for Linux etc, and merely switches to the one he wants to use. He also backups each virutual machine, so if one ever gets hit with a virus, he merely dumps the damaged one and recreates from his stored backup, and that's it a reinstall in a couple of mins. OK his machine is fairly powerful, with 4G ram etc, but the advantages look very attractive.
Ken
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ubuntu and kubuntu ??
Try Ubuntu - they also do a live boot CD - boot off it straight into Linux to get a feel for it without affecting your existing Windows setup.
I use multi boot systems which include various flavours of Windows and Linux. If unsure how to set up dual (or multi) boot, look for a decent boot manager.
[edit]Or read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot[/edit]
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Try Mint,
its an Ubuntu derivative that has all the Extra,s (codecs,dvd software etc,etc) included.
Another good one worth trying is PCLinuxOS,currently in the middle of a big update to the latest core parts of the Operating system.
I switched to LInux about 5 years ago,didnt like the boring blank blue screens,and stupid amounts of crap that Windows seems to attract.
Even changing the appearance was a major pain in the butt.
As long as your not heavily into games and such then Linux easily does everything else--for nowt. Though you are free to make a contribution to the maintainer of the variant you use.
eddie
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as an alternative why no go down the Mac route?
You can run a windows VW if so required
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the number of applications for windows can not be compared to that can run on linux..
as an operating system internals TheBoy explained really good..
so I dont see any point to compare them unless there is a personal enthusiasm..
so deffo windows..
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Try Mint,
its an Ubuntu derivative that has all the Extra,s (codecs,dvd software etc,etc) included.
Another good one worth trying is PCLinuxOS,currently in the middle of a big update to the latest core parts of the Operating system.
I switched to LInux about 5 years ago,didnt like the boring blank blue screens,and stupid amounts of crap that Windows seems to attract.
Even changing the appearance was a major pain in the butt.
As long as your not heavily into games and such then Linux easily does everything else--for nowt. Though you are free to make a contribution to the maintainer of the variant you use.
eddie
Don't forget, supported versions of Linux are way, way, way more expensive than Windows - hence an awful lot of companies are dumping it for Windows Server.