Thread: finally switched to ubuntu from windows...

  1. #16
    In my head happyclown's Avatar
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    20 years ago, I tried Linux. Had problems with drivers and lack of apps.

    So I said "I'll try again in 5 years time. By then things should improve".

    15 years ago, I tried Linux. Had problems with drivers and lack of apps.

    So I said "I'll try again in 5 years time. By then things should improve".

    10 years ago, I tried Linux. Had problems with drivers and lack of apps.

    So I said "I'll try again in 5 years time. By then things should improve".

    5 years ago, I tried Linux. Had problems with drivers and lack of apps.

    So I said "I'll try again in 5 years time. By then things should improve".

    This year I tried Linux. Had problems with drivers and lack of apps.

    So I said "I'll try again in 5 years time. By then things should improve".

    Will update in 5 years.
    OS: Linux Mint 13(Maya) LTS 64 bit.

  2. #17
    (?<!re)tired Mario F.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by doubleanti View Post
    to analyze natural language data.
    That interests me. Not sure why you choose Linux for that, though. Any algorithm or library you could use or create on that field should be cross-platform anyways. Choosing to do this in an operating system you are not familiar with will just be increasing your project time and for no real benefit, I guess. Unless, for some reason, you have no choice.

    But anyways, what are you planning to use/do? It's a vast field that I nurture a lot of interest in. Unfortunately, I don't have an academic background (which here proves fatal), so as much as I would love to develop something in this field, I found NLP quickly goes beyond my abilities. Perhaps if I invested more time into it... In the end, however, what little I have done in that field, I have been doing it by using existing libraries/algorithms, sometimes in unrelated areas. For instance, some months ago I used the Damerau-Levenshtein Distance algorithm (altered to fit my needs) on a program that required a list of postal codes possible matches to update as the user entered a street address.

    Unfortunately, on those areas that are more dear to me, I cannot seem to find the skills; Speech processing and also natural language understanding.
    Originally Posted by brewbuck:
    Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.

  3. #18
    and the hat of sweating
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    Quote Originally Posted by happyclown View Post
    This year I tried Linux. Had problems with drivers and lack of apps.
    Which Linux did you try and what hardware are you using? When I install Ubuntu I never have any driver problems (except for the RAID on my motherboard which Linux didn't even see).

    What apps is it lacking? Games? Who cares about games; that's what Windows is for.

    I use 100% Linux & Solaris at work and have no problem getting things done.
    At home I use Windows with Linux in a VM whenever I need it.
    "I am probably the laziest programmer on the planet, a fact with which anyone who has ever seen my code will agree." - esbo, 11/15/2008

    "the internet is a scary place to be thats why i dont use it much." - billet, 03/17/2010

  4. #19
    Linguistic Engineer... doubleanti's Avatar
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    @cyberfish: yes my old research partner also used to be a very hard core linux purist and used a more low-level (if thats the word?) distro, but now uses one that 'just works'.

    @Mario: I have used Unix at school roughly one quarter at a time for several project classes so, on a user level I am familiar with the system. Also from 2004 to 2007 I used Kubuntu in the lab.

    As for cross platform compatibility, this is in Java so quite literally back in 2004-7 I used to sneaker-net my code back and forth from home (Windows) and the lab (Kubuntu), and no problems. Then, after working at home on Windows for three and a half years, until these past three weeks, I ran my code in a Ubuntu system, and all is well (since I kept up with the new JDK).

    As it turns out I didn't use any of it's changes, but yeah I guess that is one of the strengths of Java. And at a certain level, as with any language, it just allows you to do stuff that in a more hard core language like C/++ I'd have to find libraries for or roll my own. Even then I get lost in details that aren't algorithmic even, or don't serve to drive directly the overarching analyses relevant to my dissertation. But then, if I had to start over I can't name a better language for computational linguistics. By the way, NLP is a part of CL, and CL consumes other topics which don't include modeling language processing tasks. I work in semantic models for distributional information.
    hasafraggin shizigishin oppashigger...

  5. #20
    (?<!re)tired Mario F.'s Avatar
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    Ah, CL. Definitely a discipline I could chose if I decide to go back to university... which I actually do
    Originally Posted by brewbuck:
    Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.

  6. #21
    Make Fortran great again
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    Quote Originally Posted by happyclown View Post
    So I said "I'll try again in 5 years time. By then things should improve".

    Will update in 5 years.
    I would agree, except that I ended up forcing myself to use linux for two weeks and learned that its advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I tried it several times before that and just thought it was stupid.

    To everyone who says that linux is crap for whatever reason, then why does linux rule supercomputers?
    Supercomputer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  7. #22
    (?<!re)tired Mario F.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Epy View Post
    To everyone who says that linux is crap for whatever reason, then why does linux rule supercomputers?
    Let me play devil's advocate and ask you what the hell does one thing have to do with the other?
    Originally Posted by brewbuck:
    Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.

  8. #23
    Registered User NeonBlack's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Epy View Post
    To everyone who says that linux is crap for whatever reason, then why does linux rule supercomputers?
    Because supercomputers don't need drivers. Supercomputers don't need apps. Supercomputers don't use X11. Supercomputers don't have wifi. Supercomputers don't use pulseaudio. Supercomputers don't sleep/hibernate. So on and so forth.

    If toothpicks are such poor building materials, then why does everyone use them to pick their teeth?
    I copied it from the last program in which I passed a parameter, which would have been pre-1989 I guess. - esbo

  9. #24
    Lurking whiteflags's Avatar
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    You've really never seen the amazing things people build with toothpicks?

  10. #25
    Banned ಠ_ಠ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by whiteflags View Post
    You've really never seen the amazing things people build with toothpicks?
    they build completely normal things with toothpicks, it's only amazing because toothpicks are such a poor building material
    ╔╗╔══╦╗
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  11. #26
    Linguistic Engineer... doubleanti's Avatar
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    Yeah I'd have to agree with Mario on that one, different OSes can handle different user requests, so servers need less interaction and OSes geared towards that offer modes as such.

    Does anyone know how many people use *nix on the desktop? I've heard numbers ranging from 5 to 15%.
    hasafraggin shizigishin oppashigger...

  12. #27
    (?<!re)tired Mario F.'s Avatar
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    It's not really the difference between a server and a client desktop, although indeed the same could be said. It's that supercomputers are highly specialized machines with absolutely no interest in providing a kernel beyond that which necessary to perform the tasks the supercomputer will be assigned to. It can at best be said that Linux adapts well to many types of computers, including supercomputers because it makes a clear distinction between the kernel and the OS, because it's open source and thus highly customizable and because it's free (tada!).

    This however doesn't mean Linux is just a good operating system for the general consumer and their desktops. Despite the fact I do like Linux, it's not. Not yet. And this reflects on the fact it's only marginal represented on the desktop market with a probable share no higher than 1.5%. To put it in another way, nobody cares if Linux is used on the overwhelming majority of supercomputers today if they find it hard to use or impractical due to a culture of "you got it for free, so fix it yourself and STFU".

    Linux stands on its own, instead. It's not better, or worst, good or bad. It's exactly what it is meant to be by its user. On my case, it's a good operating system that has been enriching my experience and curriculum alongside with Windows. For others Linux is unnecessary and indeed they will be right.
    Originally Posted by brewbuck:
    Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.

  13. #28
    Reverse Engineer maxorator's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Epy View Post
    To everyone who says that linux is crap for whatever reason, then why does linux rule supercomputers?
    Supercomputer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Well, if you own a supercomputer, then go ahead.

    It seems to me that the Linux world is not really oriented to a graphical interface. So I think that Linux is a good thing, but just not something I'd do my everyday things on. I do use a Linux server through SSH a lot, to write network applications or sometimes I simply prefer to compile apps on Linux (I edit in Windows and an application automatically syncs the files).
    "The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore

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