byebye vista!

[Fragle]

so after like two years of putting up with constant win vista BS, i finally bit the bullet and looked around for alternatives. i wanted to steer clear from windows, and since i'm on a pc linux was the logical choice.

after some tech talk with friends of mine i finally settled for sidux.
boy, it's FAST. like 10 times faster than win vista, i kid you not. i'm running a intel core 2 duo 1,66ghz 2gig ram notebook, and some stuff was painfully slow in vista, even everyday tasks.
sidux was super easy to install. i'm i complete computer newb and know next to nothing, but with the help of some internet research i got everything to work fine. hell, there's even a free guitar pro clone out there for linux, which can import and export gp3-5 files. didn't expect that, but it's fucking cool since my bands rely on GP for the main songwriting and throwing around ideas.

now, i'm not a gamer, and i assume linux won't do the trick for anyone heavily into games. all i'm doing is surfing around, listening to music, watching movies, icq, guitar pro, open office, that's it. i can do every single task in sidux, but like 10 times faster.

getting stuff to work is a small challenge at first - if you're used to having an exe installer do everything for you, installing software is very different at first. after 1 day of tinkering around i can safely say that sidux isn't more complicated, just different, with way more options, way more transparency, and last but not least it's much faster.....did i mention it's fast??

i'm a happy camper.
now, if only linux had a decent support for audio stuff i'd probably switch on my recording machine too, but since everything is sooo windows dependent in the audio realm (or yes, mac ) i don't quite see that happen anytime soon.

it's amazing though, i though xp was fast in comparison to vista. the new sidux system absolutely dwarfs xp in terms of speed.

sorry for the long post

 

[greyskull]

cool.
was gonna say.
ardour or errrrr ardour then?

 

[kev]

I would love to go linux but its a ballache and far too incompatible for a main machine still

 

[kaomao]

Yes linux is fast but it's like shooting yourself inthe balls to get things working.
Glad you find a version which won't get you mad.
For me the two best option right now are OSX (a monster for audio) and Windows 7 (a monster for gaming)

 

[hoehlentroll]

you're coming back, gates and I know it ...

 

[ahjteam]

I thought this was going to be another pc2mac thread

 

[updog]

I thought this was going to be another pc2mac thread

microsoft sucks

 

[JBroll]

Yes linux is fast but it's like shooting yourself inthe balls to get things working.

I can't see how anyone who has done a full Windows install from scratch (from partitioning to driver installation and subsequent bazillions of reboots) can say this with a straight face, especially since everything from Slackware to Fedora has amazing hardware recognition, hardware drivers built in, and more frequent releases that seriously cut down on update time.

Jeff

 

[hoehlentroll]

while this is true, you'll always come to a point where you have to deal with the prompt and to be honest, if you're not a programmer it's hard to do that!

 

[JBroll]

while this is true, you'll always come to a point where you have to deal with the prompt and to be honest, if you can't read it's hard to do that!

That's a bit better...

Jeff

 

[LeSedna]

I'm sorry to say I'm with hoehlentroll. For anybody used to PC or Mac philosophy, linux is quite painful. I have used different unix distributions during 2 years, and there were always somewhere something pissing me off. Yes, you have to READ to fix things, but you still need at least a minimum of IT interest to run it properly, which is my case, I have some strong geek sides, but fixing lines in system files is only fun 5mns. On some computers with the most used distributions, I had to edit lines to make it mount devices at startup. Not everytime of course, but still, it was fucking annoying. And even if of course you just have to "read" somewhere the solution, somebody not into programmation would be lost at some moment. There always had a moment for that, soon or late. For me, keeping a windows or macos clean for a long time when used a lot is as easy as linux, especially since W7 was born. During the vista time, I was seriously more interested by linux. Now I don't see the point of it, excepted for people actually needing its stability for specific use. In fact, it works better technically, but you need some geekness to run it. You have to be someone who doesn't think spending time on the OS itself is not loosing time (I do).

I miss some aspects like the way to install programs and the way to keep them updated transparently (dependent on the distributions). But even said that, it's hard to teach someone 0% geek how to deal with packages etc. I'm sure, starting from zero for someone who is not used to the PC world, it may seem easier than downloading a .exe and having to deal with "where to install it, what to install, uninstall the clean" which is painless in linux. But still, I'm not so sure.

 

[slashvanyoung]

I always have a live-version of Fedora on a USB stick around and it was the first Linux distro I tried that didn't leave me with major headaches because of driver-shortage. But I've been so content with the latest versions of XP and especially Win 7 now that I simply have no need to move to Linux permanently.

 

[JBroll]

I'm sorry to say I'm with hoehlentroll. For anybody used to PC or Mac philosophy, linux is quite painful. I have used different unix distributions during 2 years, and there were always somewhere something pissing me off. Yes, you have to READ to fix things, but you still need at least a minimum of IT interest to run it properly, which is my case, I have some strong geek sides, but fixing lines in system files is only fun 5mns. On some computers with the most used distributions, I had to edit lines to make it mount devices at startup. Not everytime of course, but still, it was fucking annoying. And even if of course you just have to "read" somewhere the solution, somebody not into programmation would be lost at some moment. There always had a moment for that, soon or late. For me, keeping a windows or macos clean for a long time when used a lot is as easy as linux, especially since W7 was born. During the vista time, I was seriously more interested by linux. Now I don't see the point of it, excepted for people actually needing its stability for specific use. In fact, it works better technically, but you need some geekness to run it. You have to be someone who doesn't think spending time on the OS itself is not loosing time (I do).

I miss some aspects like the way to install programs and the way to keep them updated transparently (dependent on the distributions). But even said that, it's hard to teach someone 0% geek how to deal with packages etc. I'm sure, starting from zero for someone who is not used to the PC world, it may seem easier than downloading a .exe and having to deal with "where to install it, what to install, uninstall the clean" which is painless in linux. But still, I'm not so sure.

Apparently my technophobe parents and elementary-school brother are bigger geeks than you are.

For mounting and other system files... how many lines *can't* be copied-and-pasted from past fstabs? The answer should be very small, and modern installers set that up for you at installation. Even if not, the online guides - as I'll elaborate on later - are great, and I'll be damn surprised if you can get the average Windows user to fix one of his mounting errors in Disk Management without kicking and screaming.

I haven't 'worked on my os' in any capacity more serious than updating software in... well, honestly, I don't remember, and if *I* could get a decently running system for that long then there's no way that it can be particularly hard.

As for installing packages... you mean to tell me that Synaptic is harder than looking on whatever download sites one can find and hoping for the best? Perhaps that updating is really going to be easier manually than with a dedicated update manager that checks *everything* it knows of?

Finally, 'looking someplace to read solutions'... I fail to see how this is better than having MULTI-BAZILLION DOLLAR 'TECH SUPPORT' DOING THE SAME THING! The fact that Geek Squad (substitute your unfriendly, unethical, incompetent neighborhood retail-chain 'service' department as necessary) exists *and profits* is testament enough to something being hopelessly fucked in a certain other part of the technology world.

Nothing here is 'hard', it's just 'hard if you're expecting everything to be just like Windows' - and if that's the case then it's time for a head examination.

Jeff

 

[Harry Hughes]

Heh I can't say I've had much trouble with Vista, no more issues than any other Windows OS I've used.
That being said I'll definitely make the move to Win 7 when I get a new machine

 

[Proggm]

Nothing here is 'hard', it's just 'hard if you're expecting everything to be just like Windows'

Well, that's the problem. Everybody's grown with Windows so they expect every other OS to work like it.

Most Linux based OS's are not difficult, but old habits die hard and that's why many try to stay away from it.

If you ask me.... I say fuck that - you can even choose Ubuntu, that's as friendly as Win/OSX and like 10 times faster and more stable/customizable. Only problem is software compatibility, and there are many workarounds for that (and if that's still a problem, multiboot - problem solved).

 

[kaomao]

LOL at this thread.
I guess JB you didn't have so much customer care experience!
I work in the IT for 10 years. Been custom building pc's from the first 90's. Had the first computer back in 1986 and you're telling me that Linux for a normal "Windows" guy is easy?
Please try to say that to all the dumb ass I have to deal with everyday ... you're gonna help me a lot.
Because you're a smart guy doens't mean anyone can use Linux so easily.
My friend had to connect her goddamn iPod to a linux machine, what a PITA to get it working....
Strange enough on linux most of the time, when you need a driver, they give you source codes for a goddamn reason: you gotta recompile it on your machine to get drivers working and finally have them stable.

 

[Fragle]

wow, lots of misconceptions here.

well, first things first, as i already said in my OP if you're a gamer or need a lot of gimmicks linux is NOT for you.
if you're a guy like me who only needs his notebook as a WORKSTATION or just everyday stuff (read: office, internet, listening to music) linux is faster, more stable, and just as easy to set up.
believe me, i'm not a computer geek...i know a few workarounds for the usual things in the windows realm, know how to format a drive and reinstall the OS etc, but that's just about it.
it took me like half an hour from throwing vista out of the window (no pun intended) to having sidux run smoothly for 95% of my applications. it took me barely another day to cover all the other everyday tasks and get those running just fine.
yes, you need to use the terminal/console.
no, it's not difficult. just DIFFERENT. seriously, a few commands like cd (change directory), ls (list), su (superuser=admin), apt-get install (guess what), apt-get remove (once again, guess what) and you can go 99% of the way. it's damn fast too. just type let's say apt-get install openoffice.org, type y for yes, and it barely takes a minute until openoffice is up and running. linux/sidux is doing all the background work for me. i don't even have to specify where to install stuff, as sidux has a very logical file organization and automatically installs the appropiate files in the right areas. once again, the file organization is not difficult, it's just different from windows.

yes, there are some distributions that need more skills to operate on....but there are also the ones that are like windows lookalikes, just minus the unnecessary background shit thats slowing down windows all the time.

as for hardware support, well i haven't run into a single issue yet. the only firmware that wasn't automatically installed with the OS was for my wireless card, and all it took was to add a single line to one of the files so it could detect and download the firmware. barely took 5 minutes to get it up and running.
i certainly remember the times where i had to go through countless driver cd's to get my video card, bluetooth, wlan, camera, touchpad etc to work after a windows reinstall.

 

[Notuern]

The dangers of Linux is that you might end up re-installing your computer twice a week.
Seriously, my cousin got so stuck in all these new features and updates you could do with the kernel that he ended up recompiling at the very least once a week on each computer(One stationary, one laptop and one server.).

.. but thats only if you decide to be geeky.

 

[-Gavin-]

I can't see how anyone who has done a full Windows install from scratch (from partitioning to driver installation and subsequent bazillions of reboots) can say this with a straight face, especially since everything from Slackware to Fedora has amazing hardware recognition, hardware drivers built in, and more frequent releases that seriously cut down on update time.

Jeff

Agreed.

I am 100% Linux on every machine and i just find that for my needs, it is the best solution.

 

[FIXXXER]

i'm i complete computer newb

yeah, "VISTA" sucks !

i never had any problem with vista...
i've seen so much shit of how people work with computers,
how they install/remove software, how they organise their data etc.

90% of all computer problems are sitting right in front of it, that's for sure

sorry man, but maybe a PC course would be better than swithcing to another OS




cheers
S.