Oh, so very true,...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| JaseP Aug 06, 2010 9:10 AM EDT |
The article is a bit of a rant, but the gist of what it presents is true...
Here's my own rant/diatribe... For experienced computer users (& not necessarily just coders, mind you), all three major OS platforms are able to be used and installed/maintained, etc. with relative equality. I just recently had an experience installing Win XPee on a fairly old & exotic piece of hardware, a Pepper Pad 3. Anyone who will tell you that installing Linux is more difficult than installing Windoze is a liar or a fool. That said, to my surprise, I was actually able to get one more piece of hardware working on the Pepper Pad 3 in XPee than in Linux (a machine that originally came with a customized version of Fedora Core 4, that, as a doofus, I wiped to try to install Ubuntu,... Doh! No harware support for its exotic components). It is 10 times harder to install Windoze than it is to install Linux. In Linux, 99% of the time, the system will be usable after install. Maybe not all of its features will work at 100% until you make some tweaks, but you will generally have a complete running system. In Windoze, you often have to go on a driver hunt just to get basic functionality (Wifi, Video resolution, etc.). Then you have to install mallware protection... When I had the Pepper Pad runing Ubuntu 8.04, I had its split keypad with bluetooth and Wifi working and native video resolution. Keypad and bluetooth required a custom driver. I couldn't get the touch-screen working, not sound either. In XPee, I have sound working, but no touchscreen just like in Linux. Wifi and keypad required drivers that I scoured the Internet for,... The keypad's scroll wheel doesn't work in XPee. Niether system has the camera or the IR transciever working. Niether system has functional battery monitoring working (so I can't tell if I need to rebuild its battery). The XPee system crashes, regularly, like a pre-Wright Brothers airplane attempt. In Linux it is stable as a rock. But I need XPee around in order to reflash devices that only have Windoze flash utilities, or configure certain pieces of hardware that only come with Windoze configuration software. It's the only system, and will continue to be the only system, in the house that runs or will run M$ stuff (until it dies, & I need to draft another machine into that service). I just don't trust M$. Not since the Win98 days. I don't own an Apple device, but have used them. They're pretty and nice, and somewhat intuitive... but I am not a fan of vendor lock-in. I like that they are POSIX under the hood... It sickens me that they used BSD without so much as a decent "thank you" to the Open Source BSD community. So the article basicly hits it, all three have their uses. I prefer Linux for myself and the members of my household. All three major OSes have their pluses and minuses, but don't believe all the FUD,... make up your own mind. I made up mine, and I'm a Linux guy. And after yet another encounter with XPee, I still hate Windoze. |
| olefowdie Aug 06, 2010 12:23 PM EDT |
It's worth noting that OSX did contribute back to BSD, and it is also worth noting that OSX isn't just POSIX. It passes UNIX specification, making it truly UNIX. |
| herzeleid Aug 06, 2010 5:12 PM EDT |
"It passes UNIX specification, making it truly UNIX." Passing the YOONIX (TM) specification is mostly a matter of money changing hands. Some decidedly un-unix-like OSes have passed the specification, for instance IBM OS 390. Anyone who loves unix knows linux is family, as soon as they log and look around. linux is most assuredly "unix". Now, as to whether it's "YOONIX (TM)", that's a matter for lawyers and businessmen to decide based on proper payment of fees and a checking off of list of technical specifications which are not all that difficult to implement. |
| tracyanne Aug 06, 2010 5:44 PM EDT |
Quoting:And after yet another encounter with XPee, I still hate Windoze. Ah, but after an encounter with Windows 7 will you still hate Windows? I installed it on a machine and after 3 days still did not have my development environment working properly (that's 3 days of installing software), So I still hate Windows. |
| Steven_Rosenber Aug 06, 2010 6:50 PM EDT |
Having set up Windows 7 - this very week, in fact - I can say that it's a lot harder to go from zero to working as compared to the average Linux distro. I'm talking a crapware-free install with a Windows 7 ISO, then finding and installing up to a dozen drivers. Pain in the a&^, it is. |
| jdixon Aug 06, 2010 8:37 PM EDT |
> Pain in the a&^, it is. So, the same as always then. :) I haven't had the joy of installing Windows 7 yet, but I just finished a clean reinstall of Vista for a co-worker. An HP laptop, with no Vista disk, of course, It wouldn't boot, in either normal or safe mode, and the F11 reinstall didn't fix the problem. Only a clean install of Vista from DVD worked (how I obtained a Vista Home Premium 32 bit DVD will not be discussed). It turned out her video chipset (an NVidia 8600 G SM, from memory) is broken in some way and won't run the NVidia drivers. As soon as they're installed it boots to a black screen and then reboots after 15-30 seconds. I tried at least 4 version of drivers from HP and NVidia's websites, but no luck. If you just use the basic VGA drivers, it boots fine. I couldn't find a fix anywhere. :( Anyway, she has a working laptop, minus the NVidia drivers, and instructions for how to unload them if they get loaded again. Vista is as bad as I remembered from the last time I worked on it, even with all the drivers from HP already available. |
| Scott_Ruecker Aug 07, 2010 2:07 AM EDT |
I am not proud to say this but of all the versions of Windows out there XP is the easiest, if by easiest I mean its easier to pull teeth out of an elephant while they are drunk..;-) |
| TxtEdMacs Aug 07, 2010 10:03 AM EDT |
Quoting: [...] pull[ing] teeth [from ... ] elephant[s] [...]Oh, so that's how you have been earning cash lately. Nothing but inventive. Keep up the good work, YBT |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 07, 2010 2:50 PM EDT |
Just to be a thorn in the side here, I updated to 2.6.32 on my ancient server, and now sound doesn't work. Oh well. |
| gus3 Aug 07, 2010 4:15 PM EDT |
Sound? On a server? |
| jezuch Aug 07, 2010 6:09 PM EDT |
A tiger? In Africa? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 08, 2010 8:16 AM EDT |
Actually, it's connected to the TV, and I keep hoping that I can use it as a media machine. But, there is alway a butt, it's 1GHz and has trouble even with YouTube. Since NetFlix can stream to the kid's Wii, that's done better than the so-called "media" machine. But, again with the butt, streaming audio like wcpe.org worked well through it until last week. Heavy sigh. Oh woe is me. etc. |
| Steven_Rosenber Aug 08, 2010 11:45 PM EDT |
If you have a product key for Windows 7, you can do a clean install from an ISO that matches the version of your key. In my case, even though my laptop shipped with 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, I was able to install 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium, and lose the crapware that came with the Lenovo as well. I just so happen to have links to Windows 7 ISOs on my blog: http://insidesocal.com/click/2010/08/windows-7-isos-you-can-... My install is a dual-boot with Fedora 13. Ever since I got Fedora installed, I haven't booted into Windows ... |
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