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| Thread ID: 68765 | 2006-05-10 06:28:00 | XP wins - no more linux for me.... | sam m (517) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 453757 | 2006-05-12 22:12:00 | Hmmmmmm Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but last time i installed a XP system, there were several other disks of drivers that had to be installed with it, plus several downloads, and it took quite a few hours to actually get the thing up and running in a way that i was vaguely happy with. I've installed Mepis-Linux on 3 machines now, and, and the third machine, which is my friends machine that i have set up as a dualboot and has printer issues which i haven't even tried to fix as i don't use a printer anyway. Other than that, i have had no real problems. My son has installed SuSE9.0 on a slug, which makes it run FAR better than XP, which was a joke on the thing. XP would not let it play music vids and stuff owing to lack of grunt, where as SuSE does the job perfectly, without issues of installing the "correct" video driver etc. Which leads me to the video issue..... So XP has video sorted has it? Well under Mepis i select Nvidia during installation, and my vid card is sorted, just like that. Under XP :lol: good practice for my sense of humour that be.. i mean having to run a separate disk that the manufacturer has to provide.... sheesh! But anyway, thats just my experiences, and maybe i've been lucky, or maybe those who can't find a distro right for them have been unlucky, i don't know.... |
personthingy (1670) | ||
| 453758 | 2006-05-13 00:01:00 | Interesting views. I've been using Linux, as a kind of a sideline, interest, curiosity for a few years now, off and on. I find it fascinating and frustrating and often it doesn't deliver on the promise (on the desktop anyway; as a server is a different thing). But mucking around with it has sure given me an appreciation for computing. Just say someone wanted a computer for undertaking very basic stuff i.e. e-mail, internet, spread sheet, word processor, printing and had absolutely no interest in computers or how they work and was going to spend as little time as possible on them apart from those basic tasks I mentioned, then wouldn't a well set up linux machine do the job as adequately as windows (its free too and extends the life of old machines). I mean the sort of person I'm talking about wouldn't even know or be interested in such simple tasks as defragging windows. So, for someone like that it wouldn't matter what the OS was, its all irrelevant to them and I think thats how most users are, as, if something goes wrong whatever the OS they're going to need someone to put it right for them anyway. So the debate really only applies to us, who are interested in this sort of thing or to organisations whose IT is critical to their performance. This rambling is a kind of a question? |
jcr1 (893) | ||
| 453759 | 2006-05-13 01:04:00 | I agree there is probably too much choice as far as Linux distros go, if you are unsure, stick to the well known ones. Ok I have far too many pc's to experiment on unlike most people who only have one or two (it is my job you know :nerd: ) Of course I listen to music on that outdated appliance, the stereo, non compressed and no DRM (not yet anyway). I also watch videos on another dedicated appliance, the dvd player and a CRT TV. Everything just works and no driver issues (even in Windows). A pc cannot do everything well. Just remember that billions of dollar haven't been spend on Linux (although alot of time and therefore money has gone into it) like Windows has. Windows should be better. Its got hundreds of well paid Microsoft developers working on it. Microsoft can afford to pay the best. They couldn't get Eric Raymond though :D esr.ibiblio.org |
dolby digital (5073) | ||
| 453760 | 2006-05-13 02:04:00 | Linux is pretty good these days, but it still has a few driver issues - like my wireless network card based on the realtek 8185 chipset. | Greven (91) | ||
| 453761 | 2006-05-13 04:31:00 | Linux is pretty good these days, but it still has a few driver issues - like my wireless network card based on the realtek 8185 chipset.***. And how many complaints have we had that people can't use their "fairly new" printer, scanner, etc, on their new XP machine? Of course Linux won't always have handlers for some new hardware ... either because it's not "mainstream" or, quite often, that the manufacturers won't give developers access to the information they need. But it's not a problem. It's easy enough to ask whether something is supported before it's bought. Google knows. ;) And if something is popular, the support does come. It might take some time, but it does come. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 453762 | 2006-05-13 06:44:00 | Of course I listen to music on that outdated appliance, the stereo, non compressed . . . . . . . Apart from the total overkill of compression that makes most recorded music become utter mush designed for radio which then compresses the living snot out of out even more . . . Compression is no substitute for having enough power to cope with the more powerful parts of our music . Be glad you don't have it built in . . . yet . I am so glad that my music player ( amaroK ) offers no compression, and the stereo i'm playing it into only has only a limiter that i control . |
personthingy (1670) | ||
| 453763 | 2006-05-15 04:17:00 | I can't think of anything that Linux can't do easily that Windows can. Except maybe infection by viruses, worms, malware, spyware... :DWith a little tweaking you can run these under wine :) -Qyiet ::edit Correct me if I'm wrong but XP doesn't have a naitve DVD player does it? Don't you have to install WMP10? And what formats can't be played in Amarok if you have all the codec's installed? And are you saying that WMP can play all formats natively? Can you play .ogg format in WMP without adding extra codecs?Actually you need more than WMP10.. you need to install a 3rd party mpeg2 decoder, which is driving me nuts on re-installing my WindowsXP MCE pc as I lost the damn disc that came with my DVD drive. ::edit2 anyone who can link me to an appropriate decoder will be rewarded with... well very little :D |
qyiet (6730) | ||
| 453764 | 2006-05-15 04:37:00 | Actually you need more than WMP10.. you need to install a 3rd party mpeg2 decoder, which is driving me nuts on re-installing my WindowsXP MCE pc as I lost the damn disc that came with my DVD drive. ::edit2 anyone who can link me to an appropriate decoder will be rewarded with... well very little :D install a codec pack - most of them come with a mpeg2 decoder. I use the k-lite codec pack. I also have 3 OEM copies of power DVD (& none of them installed at this point in time), but I've lost the CD for 2 of them (The cd keys are safe in my list) Just about every DVD drive & some video cards come with an OEM copy of power DVD, so nobody has any use for my spare copies. |
Greven (91) | ||
| 453765 | 2006-05-15 04:51:00 | install a codec pack - most of them come with a mpeg2 decoder . I use the k-lite codec pack . I also have 3 OEM copies of power DVD (& none of them installed at this point in time), but I've lost the CD for 2 of them (The cd keys are safe in my list) Just about every DVD drive & some video cards come with an OEM copy of power DVD, so nobody has any use for my spare copies . Thanks Greven . . now to unhijack the thread . . Uh . . . linux completely sucks and will never be usable by real people on the desktop . . . That should do it :D -Qyiet |
qyiet (6730) | ||
| 453766 | 2006-05-15 04:55:00 | Interesting views. I've been using Linux, as a kind of a sideline, interest, curiosity for a few years now, off and on. I find it fascinating and frustrating and often it doesn't deliver on the promise (on the desktop anyway; as a server is a different thing). But mucking around with it has sure given me an appreciation for computing. Just say someone wanted a computer for undertaking very basic stuff i.e. e-mail, internet, spread sheet, word processor, printing and had absolutely no interest in computers or how they work and was going to spend as little time as possible on them apart from those basic tasks I mentioned, then wouldn't a well set up linux machine do the job as adequately as windows (its free too and extends the life of old machines). I mean the sort of person I'm talking about wouldn't even know or be interested in such simple tasks as defragging windows. So, for someone like that it wouldn't matter what the OS was, its all irrelevant to them and I think thats how most users are, as, if something goes wrong whatever the OS they're going to need someone to put it right for them anyway. So the debate really only applies to us, who are interested in this sort of thing or to organisations whose IT is critical to their performance. This rambling is a kind of a question?The difference would be noted as there mates will say to them 'I hope you're keeping your updates, up to date, not to mention your antivirus, anti spyware, firewall, (has that covered it or did I miss one :p)... ' jcr1; you'll be in some trouble when they go looking for and discover you haven't installed those staples of the windows world |
Myth (110) | ||
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