OT but only slightly - windows xp alternative
Submitted: Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 22:45
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F4Phantom
hi all, as we all use windows/computers a lot I was put onto an new operating system by a computer mate of
mine called ubuntu. Its linux which is a competitor to dos/windows. In a nutshell its a lot like windows but faster, smoother, 1,000,000.00 times more reliable, has almost unlimited extra programs to go with it and its free. A guy called mark shuttleworth from south africa - he was the first space tourist we all heard about - made this operating system and then gives it out by sending cd's to anyone who askes at his cost. He is trying to knock microsoft off its perch. After 5 mins of trying out ubuntu I installed it. You can use it for free, download more software in seconds for free and its open source too. Also its much easier and more intuitive. As for the latest vista effects, these linux guys invented them a while ago. Also this os is far more compatible with everything including windows, it set my wireless network up instantly with no stuffing around, no new drivers or restarts and a general pain xp is. I now also have it on an old laptop which is running much faster - because ubuntu is light. My mate in the last 7 months of running it has not had one lock up or crash and it does not get clogged up with new software installs and uninstalls over time like xp. I have had a little investigation and companies are switching to it, as is the french government and the top man for dell computers runs it. Its starting to get a little momentum and will be interesting to see where it winds up, I would be quite happy for it to be the long term os we all use.
I would recommend anyone who likes the idea of corporate free computer usage and free for all software along with reliability and all the stuff above to check it out, you can download it for free and use it right away. You can even have a full test drive without installing. I am about to try and get my navman with moving maps working.
www.ubuntu.com/
Reply By: Richard Kovac - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 22:59
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 22:59
But does it run OziExplorer???
I have looked into duel loading to give it a try, but to be trufully I don't get any problems with XP. two desktops one laptop and the NavNet...
Will not be upgrading to Vista until I get a new computer..
but an interesting read..
Richard
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Follow Up By: F4Phantom - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:07
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:07
It has a windows emulator if you really love a program. I currently dual boot, I gave it 50 gig to play with. I have a lot of business stuff working on xp so that will take time to shift. One major setback is that games are very complicated and the emulator cant run them so it will not suit everyone.
I have no idea about Ozi but my opinion is that its a very simple program and therefore not a problem, I have not tried though. It does have a few free gps programs and I think it may even do google earth with gps.
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Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:25
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:25
Phantom,
A competitor to XP? I don't think so mate.
Linux has been around for several years in one incarnation or another and in itself is a derivative of Unix.
If you were experiencing problems with XP, it wasn't set up properly, or had been corrupted. XP is a very stable Operating System.
Now Vista, that is something entirely different and it will take some time to stabilize the product. But it will eventually happen.
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Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 15:46
Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 15:46
>>> XP is a very stable Operating System.
Can ya hold off on the friday funnies until Friday, Dave gets all shirty
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Follow Up By: Shaker - Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 at 23:54
Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 at 23:54
I would agree that it is stable.
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Reply By: South - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:34
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:34
Microsoft will never be knocked off there perch. Micrsoft Office = core business application, until such time a product comes out that is far superior then other OS's will generally only be used by those that hate MS, 'geeks' or people that like to fiddle around.
It is the end user that makes XP/Vista unreliable, that causes the machine to run like crap. As soon as a users rights are removed from stuffing about with a PC the machine runs like clock work, give the person back the rights to fiddle and it goes pear shaped. Happens everytime without fail.
It is not the linux persons that designed the Vista fancy pants stuff, rather it is the apple persons, design/graphics/whichever/whatever has been and always will be the domain of Apple.
I am not opposed to linux, rather I know it will never become mainstream, thus my studies and work revolve around the Microsoft products. linux is in a lot of workplaces now, but in the background completing tasks that the end user will never know about.
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Follow Up By: F4Phantom - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:42
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:42
yeah mate i accept all that, this aint for everyone, but its a very good os and is designed for the average person not a tech head as are the the older unix/linux os's. In the end I doubt there is a best of everything but after using this for only a short while I think it is better in the majority of areas for me. If others are in the right category it could help them out either from running older computers or perhaps because this is free.
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Reply By: Urshtnme - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:52
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 23:52
I don't know if this is relevant but I'm running Vista on my new laptop and it sucked for a while but it's pretty good now. Runs Oziexplorer really
well plus other programs. It'll get better in time though.
OK, I'm off for another red wine....
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248859
Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 08:15
Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 08:15
F4,
I am not a lover of Bill G's software either. My son did run Ubuntu for a couple of years, but we have put his system back to XP. He is doing a 4th year science/honours degree at the moment. If any one can give a system a good try out, he does. Too many problems with finding drivers that worked 100% of the time. I was raised in computers in Unix, Version 7 (pre vi), Berkley, SB, even ran my early business software on Unix. But most of my software suppliers dropped the Unix potings. :o( Otherwise I would still be running Unix.
Agree with you that there is some good free software out there. Remember all the GNU utilities from over 10 years ago.
If you can run linux, good. Competition is good for the market.
I am currently running open office and Mozilla on XP instead of Bill's proprietry software.
Agree with you about the speed. A lot less overheads and lower memory use with Ubuntu.
Greatest thing I like about Linux/Unix - no windows viruses will run on it. When I was runnning Uni, people used to ring me up warning me that they had accidently sent a virus. They were shocled to hear that it never worried me. Programmes complied to run on windows OS will not run on a Unix system.
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Reply By: Member - Dexter - Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 09:08
Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 09:08
We have three laptops at home. One runs MS XP, one runs Apple MacOS and one runs Ubuntu Feisty 7.04.
My observations:
XP - fat, slow, vulnerable but it seems to work all the time, because everyone elses proprietary drivers are optimised for it.
Feisty - lean, fast but a nightmare to make wireless internet work on my cheap Taiwanese laptop, impossible to configure anything made by Canon. And the 3D "eye candy" you mentioned, called Beryl/Compiz can cause mauch instability on some machines. I do like the no virus/no spam environment (relative to the others).
Mac - not too bloated like XP but fast and very, very
well integrated integrated. Great 3D.
What I do like about Ubuntu is the enormous free help available off the forums. You don't get that with the others. They usually want money.
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Reply By: Member - Greydemon (WA) - Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 15:56
Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 15:56
".....until such time a product comes out that is far superior .... "
To find a product which is far superior to Windows is about as hard as finding a flea on my dog - not very hard at all. Unfortunately its not about the product, its all about marketing, which is also why we ended up with VHS videos when Beta were actually much better.
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Reply By: Hillbilly123 - Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 at 19:50
Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 at 19:50
And the most common problem with any computer is the connection between the chair and the mouse.
After several years as a tech trying to fix the things when you get told anything except what was really done to the thing.
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Reply By: Member - Gecko (WA) - Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007 at 11:12
Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007 at 11:12
If all you were using your system for is office and internet Linux in alot of flavours work very
well, (I prefer Suse) however many years ago software programmers/manufacturers decided to write the programs to work with Windows, both Linux and apple were/are superior products, unfortunately the software we have all come to know and love can only be used with emu's and these do not work with everything, Linux would easily knock microsoft off its "perch" if the software makers were to write the same programs for both system's and it was a little more end user friendly, while the software for Linux is coming along the operating system still has a little way to go to meet the needs of the majority, having said that however in the last few years especially it has come along way and with more and more open source programmers putting in the effort who knows.
It has to say something that these alternatives did not go the way of Beta tapes and are still around and doing
well.
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