[quote]thomas.galvin wrote:
So… I really don’t think that the words:
Fuzzyapple wrote:
My understanding [Linux, sic] another operating system (OS)?
Should provoke the words:
frankjl wrote:
You can setup a dual-boot configuration on your machine where you can choose whether to load Windows or Linux.
Although I would kind of like to watch that process unfold.[/quote]
lol
My 2cents. Ubuntu is as a good a place as any to start. At one point I had it on 2 of my 3 comps, and was happy until I wanted to print and put my laptop’s webcam to use. That killed it for me in the end, the hardware compatibility issues, though that isn’t necessarily the OSS community’s fault (not enough linux driver support out there).
Take for instance what I found to be horrendous Linux drivers for ATI cards, and they were supposed to be a major improvement!
If you use the LiveCD, and everything runs fine on the hardware side of things, give it a shot. Useability has surpassed Windows on several counts, and once you get used to how stuff runs (e.g: installing programs, updating repositories, using the command shell for various tasks) you’ll find it’s a good fit.
Just take note of the discrepancy in support between Windows/MacOSX and Linux when it comes to drivers and widely used programs (Skype on Linux is relatively the suckage, Flash still doesn’t work as well as it should etc.)
Oh, and the sound management on Linux is broken, especially Ubuntu, is broken. This caused me quite a few headaches in a variety of areas, heheh, good times.
[quote]Fuzzyapple wrote:
Undertow wrote:
What are you looking to do on your laptop?
Wine allows some windows games but I dont know about steam.
If you already payed for vista, mine as well use it. I hear its a real resource hog though.
Just basically use it for doing school online and making word documents nothing else. Would switching to Linux make my computer a little faster? It actually takes 5-8mins to upload my main desktop screen, I keep it in hibernation or standby so I don’t have to wait so long to get going on it.
EDIT- I’ll get my actual specs for my laptop when I get home.[/quote]
You can probably drastically increase your boot speed simply by cleaning up the computer and turning off all the crap that’s probably running. Your computer is slow to boot because it’s full of junk and is trying to start up half the programs on your hard drive. Further, leaving the computer running all the time is only making your computer run slower. It may allow you to skip booting up, but it’s just a band aid. While it’s continually running various caches and temporary file folders are filling up and every program you turn on while it runs is basically being left on, even after you “close” them.
So to actually help your real problem: to start, turn off all but the essential programs. Go to control panel, windows defender, tools, then software explorer. From there you’ll be able to remove unneeded programs from the start up list. I believe it even prevents you from removing essential programs, so just click off everything you can. After that, do things like defragmenting the hard drive and either use a program like McAfee or a stand alone program like internet washer to clear out the cache, temporary files, and the registry. Finally, when in doubt monitor how much shit your computer is running at any given moment. Just open up the task manager and look at the processes list. If it’s a mile long turn off the nonessential programs.
As for linux, if you only wanted it because your not happy with how your computer is running on windows and don’t know anything about it you might not want to get it. Since it sounds like you’re just doing basic websurfing and gaming with your computer, proper care and maintenance should keep your windows machine running well above your needs.
Fuck dual booting linux with xp. You want to run another OS. Just run it. You have another computer to run your shit right there. Boot from the cd and proceed to install. Learn what you can from the installation. If you have questions look them up online with you new computer. Just make sure to take all the data you want to save off your old one first.
Have fun and good luck!
Go with vmware or virtual box. no reason to hastle with dual booting if you just want to play with linux a bit.
Screw ubantu, it’s crap. Install centos.
[quote]dirtbag wrote:
Fuck dual booting linux with xp. You want to run another OS. Just run it. You have another computer to run your shit right there. Boot from the cd and proceed to install. Learn what you can from the installation. If you have questions look them up online with you new computer. Just make sure to take all the data you want to save off your old one first.
Have fun and good luck![/quote]
One of the best ways to learn, just jump into the deep and try it. You can always go back, just make a backup of the data. And today’s linux distro’s with GUI aren’t that hard to operate.
I had a Debian server a few years back as a web-, file-, ftp- and mailserver.
I don’t recommend dual booting if you’re a noob to linux, several complications can be had. Install it solo on a comp first, figure out what you need to, then try a dual boot.
I switched to Ubuntu on my desktop last year. There were some hurdles to overcome at first (hardware compatibility issues causing system lockups), but since then it’s worked beautifully for me. I don’t miss the spam/adware/viruses of windows, or the un-ending pursiut of the latest software. All the programs are simple and free and I can do pretty much everything I did with windows. The Ubuntu forums are very helpful if you have any issues.
Unless you have exotic hardware, driver support under Linux beats Windows any day of the week. Games is another issue, and very few are compiled for anything other than Windows.
In general, Linux is a much better experience than Windows. Give Ubuntu a try. I’m certain Linux has come a long long way since frankjl last used it.
I run Ubuntu on my laptop and win7 on my pc. If you dont plan on playing games then ubuntu is excellant and not a big learning curve over windows os. I like the simplitity of it, ubuntu that is.
Okay thanks everyone for their opinions about it!!!
I’ll look into it more, defiantly. Yes, I’m not a computer “genesis” but know my way around one. I think I’m going to get the Linux Live disk and give it a whirl on my laptop. Again I don’t game on the laptop just strictly business.
Looks promising…
[quote]lixy wrote:
Unless you have exotic hardware, driver support under Linux beats Windows any day of the week. Games is another issue, and very few are compiled for anything other than Windows.
In general, Linux is a much better experience than Windows. Give Ubuntu a try. I’m certain Linux has come a long long way since frankjl last used it.[/quote]
This. I’ve used Ubuntu for about three years now. I love it. Installing programs is by far the easiest thing in the world! I chose to learn some of the command line stuff but it was totally unecessary, just a bit faster.
I dual boot XP/Ubuntu. I only use Windows for games and some music production software (mainly because of driver support).