Thread: Linus VS. Bill

My opinion is that Linux is very stable operating system, but not so user friendly (i mean the console, the windows are OK). About Windows there is only one word to write MICROCRAP .

My vote went to Windows.

Tried Linux, didn't like it, and, as GaPe said, its not very user firendly, and as with oskillian, created some major problems. Yelled so many profanites I would have made a sailor on shore leave blush!

Besides, most of the corporate/personal users use windows, so why not cater to them.

I think that if someone that knows how to use LINUX sets up the box, and it is set to start with Xwindows, and all of the icons are right there on the desktop... then it is really easy.

So basically if a system administrator sets it up... no problems.

People have learned to think windows. That is why it is hard for some people. Though, many of these people do not remember what is was like to sit down at a windows box for the first time.

Usually, people's first experience with linux is sitting down and installing it themselves and trying to figure out how to login and what

startx does. (gets you into the GUI for those that don't know)

I tend to bet that most of you didn't get handed a windows disk with your first experience with a computer and got told..."Here, I know you have never touched a windows computer before, but install this with its defaults and configure the internet settings to go through a proxy server and set up your pop account." You would say, screw you... that is too hard. I have no idea what you are saying.

Do any of you remember a time when you didn't know what notepad was... or that it was an executable... or even what an executable was!?

Linux is easy. There are RPMs (package managers) that install everything for you... there is a very robust GUI with awesome default screensavers, bg images, games, and more. DHCP sets up your network simply if you have a cable modem. Major software manufacturers have their own installers... so if you wan't the latest Netscape browser... it is easy.

There is a learning curve to everything. You gotta give it more than a month... I played games for my first month. Then I learned how to install a new game.

Now, though... I am stuck back on win 98. I am just to lazy to reinstall Redhat 7.1 on one of my empty partitions. Too much to do that required IE 5.5 (online classes, etc).

But I still think that Linux is awesome....

I tried Linux a while back and hated it - a lot. My work needed me to revisit it, however, and I've found it changed 180 degrees since my first dabbling. It evolves quite rapidly and driver support is actually getting... *drum roll*... good!

Anyway, if you don't want to duel boot or even install but would like to play with it a bit, may I recommend Demo Linux? It is preinstalled on the CD and comes with some nice shtuf. www.demolinux.org A bit slow, since it is running off your CD though. And no, it doesn't use any swap space whatsoever from your hard drive, doesn't touch it at all, so all is safe.

Otherwise, SuSE 7.2 or higher is the way to go, I think. Great app support, much better hardware detection than Red Hat. I run MSVC from it, since it's Windows compatibility on my mid range machine is so great. That way I don't have to reboot to make Windows apps, plus it actually benchmarks faster from my Linux side (varies with system!)

OK, I'll shut up now.

-Justin

You are absolutely right Justin W.
Many of those who have voted for windows, have tried linux, but that was a long time ago. If you buy yourself a copy of Redhat 7.2, mandrake 8.0, or Suse 7.3, I will guarantee you an easy install! The newest linux-kernel and X11 system supports every new videocard or network card that just have been released on the market. And the kernel is updated very often. A lot more often than Windows.
Trust me. Try linux today, and you will get hooked to the free and most configurable system in the world!

Try a format (or fdisk, dunno anymore) /MBR next time to get LILO out of your master boot record

merry xmas
cody

This should sum it up:

Windows > High System Resources, supports everything

Linux > Low system Resourecs, just only supports powerfull stuff.

Originally posted by oskilian
OK, so linux sucks! time to uninstall and go back to single-mode-boot. Do you think that was easy? I didn't get rid of the *^"£$"?? LILO!!!, I reformatted, deleted every partition, did low-level formats... NOTHING WORKED!!!

Same thing happened to me w/Mandrake 8 (think it was 8, could be wrong). And that wasn't the only thing that was messed up. When I got the CD, I was told that I didn't have to partition the drive, that Mandrake would take care of it.

It may have been a blemish on the CD or maybe my drive was hitting the hooch or something, because midway between partitioning, it would die. That's it, no warning, no nothing, just progressing right as rain, then ... nothing but a blank screen with a cursor blinking.

After calling Linux and Mandrake a few choice names, went out and bought Partition Magic, partitioned and installed.

Well the whole dilemma must have soured my Linux experience, by the next day I was ready to get rid of it. And so I did. Or at least I thought I did. Reformatted the partition, reincorporated partition, etc. But still couldn?t get back into single boot mode. I did not have the same level of patience and perseverance that Oskilian had, because I took the easy way out and activated Boot Magic (from the makers of Partition Magic).

Well the whole dilemma must have soured my Linux experience, by the next day I was ready to get rid of it. And so I did. Or at least I thought I did. Reformatted the partition, reincorporated partition, etc. But still couldn?t get back into single boot mode. I did not have the same level of patience and perseverance that Oskilian had, because I took the easy way out and activated Boot Magic (from the makers of Partition Magic).

hey you are being unfair here

a) all you needed to solve your problems was a dos/win boot disk
and type in
fdisk /mbr

if mandrake screwed up your partition table then they really are to blame but
did you really read the readme well before installing or did you go on a clicking spree??

btw
if you had tried to install win over any of the linuxes it would simply have trashed the mbr and would have left you with just one os to boot from
atleast linux is considerate enuf to let you boot both os's thru LILO or Grub Loader or something

i know there is a lot of linux illwill here
but i beleive you havent given it a real hard try bleive me once you get used to it you'll love it
its just the windows upbringing that sometimes gets in the way
remember you had to learn to use windows once
and so will you have to with linux

just bcoz someone is a expert win user doesnt mean linux is going to be easy on the first try so be well informed abt what you are doing
bfore you go and blame a superb OS for all the ills in the world

btw i always use partition magic to make partitions
its superb

a) all you needed to solve your problems was a dos/win boot disk
and type in fdisk /mbr

You know, I thoguht of fdisking the hard drive, in hopes it will cure what ail's me (so to speak). But, being a hardened computer user (i.e. does not back up ), I decided against it.

i know there is a lot of linux illwill here but i beleive you havent given it a real hard try bleive me once you get used to it you'll love it its just the windows upbringing that sometimes gets in the way remember you had to learn to use windows once and so will you have to with linux

No ill will here, just a bit of past frustration. As a matter of fact, I was thinking of giving Linux a second chance. Don't think I'll be using my Mandrake CD though. Went to the link PotitKing provided (DemoLinux is memory serves) and was going to download the *.iso to burn to a CD, but when I saw that the download time was 48:49 (on a cable modem!). Needless to say I got a bit impatient when I had waited about 10 mins and it had barely moved, so I canceled and figured I try again later.

Who know's, maybe I'll go out and buy RedHat someother day. I did get a gift card from and Office store as a Solstice gift, maybe I'll use that.

You all better look out, my next post is gonna be for Linux help. (Do you get the impression I'm not a very patient person?!)

[edit]The link was provided by Justin W, not PotitKing as I had thought. Thanx Justin[/edit]

DrakkenKorin, just so you know, fdisk /mbr does not partition your drive. It just fixes the master boot record. For win2K it is fixmbr.

Also, DemoLinux has a compressed download as well which is about 200MB smaller than the full uncompressed iso.

Finally, I don't like Red Hat personally. The distro is not very.. intelligent, doesn't include as much cool software, and costs more than, say, SuSE. When judging Linux, remember that not all Linux's are equal. Please don't judge Windows on 9x (or 3.1) and don't judge Linux by an old version or only one distro.

-Justin