technology Operating Systems

[chukker 3]

I don't often see people talking about BSD a lot in these threads. And apt-get really is nice. Heh. I don't know much about this stuff though, may I ask why you prefer ZFS?

 

ZFS is kind of like raid, lvm, and a filesystem all in one.  Instead of using a raid card to combine drives, creating a physical volume/volume group, and the creating filesystems on top of that, everything is controlled by ZFS.  It breaks all the abstraction layers, but that turns out not to be a horrible thing when dealing with filesystems.

 

You can combine 6 disks, for example, in a configuration that can withstand 2 drive failures (similar to raid6, but it's called raidz2).  All data is checksummed and auto-healing, so there's no fsck command, although there is a background scrub you should run occasionally.  And it uses copy-on-write, so you can snapshot/clone a huge filesystem instantly, and it won't use any additional space until you make changes to one of them (and then, only enough space to store block-level differences).  I use this for snapshots - I have snaphots of my home directory every four hours going back two weeks.  And new filesystems can be created/expanded/reduced in size almost instantly.  This also makes consistent backups really easy.

 

The only downside is memory consumption.  But in a dedicated file server that's not too big a problem.

 

I'd like to use OpenBSD almost exclusively, but the lack of good virtualization support (no, sparc ldom does *not* count) and lack of a fuse-like filesystem make it a pain. FreeBSD works, and I like ports, but I don't like having to compile everything from scratch all the time, and don't really want to bother setting up my own build server.  NetBSD could work, but I never quite got along with pkgsrc for some reason (which is my fault, not pkgsrc's).  DragonflyBSD also uses pkgsrc.  Debian generally just works, 

[Starswirl the Trixie 975]

Well, viruses and malware still exist for Linux. Just remember than whenever you run a command as root (as in, the superuser with permissions to do anything), that you know what each part of that command is doing. The good thing is that usually, Linux distro's package security updates with their main release, so you don't need to worry about a standalone antivirus like in Windows. That might have been what you meant though.

 

Mint is good to start with. It's based off of Ubuntu, which is also good to start with. I'd agree with Linux Mint though, it uses Cinnamon as it's desktop environment, which looks Windowsy enough to adapt to.

 

With the latest version of Windows looking like a slightly more technically advanced version of Mac, I am strongly considering switching to Linux (Ubuntu most likely, but I'll look into Mint).  How difficult is it to learn how to use?

[uuunph 288]

ZFS is kind of like raid, lvm, and a filesystem all in one.  Instead of using a raid card to combine drives, creating a physical volume/volume group, and the creating filesystems on top of that, everything is controlled by ZFS.  It breaks all the abstraction layers, but that turns out not to be a horrible thing when dealing with filesystems.

That sounds really hardcore. Well, maybe not so much if you run your own server. RAID itself is already "too much" for me, so it sounds like something I wouldn't use. So of course I'd assume that ZFS is better than using a different filesystem with a dedicated RAID card. That'd be pretty nice.

 

With the latest version of Windows looking like a slightly more technically advanced version of Mac, I am strongly considering switching to Linux (Ubuntu most likely, but I'll look into Mint).  How difficult is it to learn how to use?

Well, learning to use it is actually pretty easy. The more specific the customizations, and the more "perfect" you want your system to be, then that stuff gets a bit harder, as you have to do your own research.

 

Most of it is just researching individual steps to solve any problems or make customizations. Well actually, most of it is in the graphical interface, so you don't even really need to do all this terminal stuff. But I'm just saying, if you have to (or want to?) use the terminal, it's best to understand what the commands do. Eventually, you memorize that stuff and you can get work done really fast.

 

Of course the learning would be pretty easy. Just might take a while to get your system the way you want it.

 

For reference, I'm using W7 now. I'm also considering switching back for some odd itch.

[chukker 3]

That sounds really hardcore. Well, maybe not so much if you run your own server. RAID itself is already "too much" for me, so it sounds like something I wouldn't use. So of course I'd assume that ZFS is better than using a different filesystem with a dedicated RAID card. That'd be pretty nice.

 

Eh, it's not really hardcore.  It just means that if I lose a hard drive I can replace it and not have to restore from backups.  Some people might think it's better, but that's arguable (anyone up for a vi vs. emacs war? :-)).  Besides, it only really has good support on FreeBSD and Solaris/Solaris-derivatives, so if you want RAID on linux you need to use something else.

Edited March 19, 2013 by chukker

[Avalionis 201]

had Vista on my old computer...but when I upgraded to a newer system, it came with Windows 7. I find it's much better really...if I ever decide to invest in a laptop though, I'd prefer not to get Windows 8 on it...least until, it gets good reviews and such.

[SCS 7,537]

I've used Windows primarily, as well as a DOS operating system (without Windows installed as well.)

 

I don't remember what operating system the first computer I remember using had. It was very old, so it might not have even had a Microsoft operating system, but I'm not sure. 

 

After that, when I was still a young child, I primarily used a computer at my mom's office. I think it had Windows NT on it, or perhaps 98, or Millennium. One of those ones that are sort of in the middle, not primordial but before XP.

 

My mom's home computer many years ago had Windows 95 on it. I remember breaking it at some point in time by deleting a system file, for science of course. (No, I did it on accident, not really understanding the concept of system files back then, and I felt bad.) Later on I think I ended up installing MS-DOS on that computer as an independent operating system, my plan being to give it to my dad. I don't think he knew how to use DOS, because I remember then installing Windows 98 on it. 

 

My first computer to call my own had Windows 98 on it. I ended up putting on my science goggles once again by deleting all of my personal files that I later wished I had saved, and installing DOS on it as an independent operating system. Once I got tired of that, I think I put Windows 98 back on it, but I'm not sure. 

 

After that, this still being several years ago, I used my mom's laptop. It was newer, and had Windows XP Professional on it. 

 

Eventually, around four years ago or so, I got my own laptop that was even newer. It had Windows Vista on it. 

 

I got my newest computer a few months ago. At this point in my life I finally had enough experience with computers to know what to look for when buying one. I asked my parents for a laptop four years ago, simply because it was a laptop. I didn't realize at the time that its specs were pretty low, but I did get great use out of it. My current computer has Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Mac OX S Mountain Lion.

 

This is a really good operating system that handles tasks very well. It can handle a load of tasks as well, that is, if your hard drive is working right. 

[Sky Warden 2,243]

I use Linux, for most of my time. I don't dual boot, and I only use Windows in my school's computer, but since I have a notebook now, I almost never touch Windows anymore. Well, my clients use Windows, but I don't use them.

 

Linux is very good for administration and advanced computer stuff. I'm a web developer and a programmer, and Windows can't do everything I need, and cost the way too much computer resources than Linux. I use Ubuntu Quantal.

 

The security, the performance, and the flexibility is outstanding! I'm not a gamer and I think Ubuntu interface is much prettier than Windows, so I have no issue with it.

[Gekoncze 327]

I have tried Mac, not Linux though, but I'll go with Windows, always. Windows 7 to be exact, not Windows 8. Not only do almost all games run on a Windows PC, I'm so used to Windows' interface anyway that switching to another OS would be quite hard for me.

 

That, and I'm too lazy to set up a dual boot to try it. 

Just to note: you don't have to set up a dual boot to try it. You can use some virtualising tool like virtualbox to run it inside Windows.

[Jokuc 8,174]

I use Windows 7 and Zorin OS (Linux) as Dual Boot operating systems.

 

I recently tried ZOS and I got to say that it's WAY faster than Windows is. So I'm using Zorin most of the time except when I'm going to play games. That's when I change to windows.

[~Scootaloo 440]

I have been thinking about swapping over to Linux for a while. I've used it before, but that was a while ago. 

 

I need a distribution that can:

 

-Supports an Office Suite that is compatible with Microsoft Office.

-Runs well.

 

I don't need it to be able to run video games (because it is a laptop, and honestly I don't play them that often). I want to be able use Photoshop, and I really would rather not have to dual boot just because of Photoshop. Suggestions?

[Sky Warden 2,243]

I have been thinking about swapping over to Linux for a while. I've used it before, but that was a while ago. 

 

I need a distribution that can:

 

-Supports an Office Suite that is compatible with Microsoft Office.

-Runs well.

 

I don't need it to be able to run video games (because it is a laptop, and honestly I don't play them that often). I want to be able use Photoshop, and I really would rather not have to dual boot just because of Photoshop. Suggestions?

Linux has an office suite that can open file with .docx. Even the build in, Libre Office, can do it. I'm not a visual artist, so I don't know any good software in Linux which is similar to Photoshop. Therefore, I will suggest you to use WIndows and take the pain.

[Red Diamond 549]

I use Windows 8 on my laptop. Not my decision; it came installed on the laptop my parents got me on a black friday sale. If it were up to me I'd be using Windows 7 since 8 is just more tedious to navigate through and has a bunch of crap pre-installed on it that I have no need for whatsoever. 

 

I might look into Linux at some point, mainly so that I wouldn't have to worry about viruses/malware. I'm not the most tech-savvy person so I'd probably go with something like Mint. If anyone can give out any recommendations for Lunix OS's that'd be great.

Linux is a fantastic OS, especially Ubuntu, and Fedora. There is CentOS, but it's kinda bad, IMO. A very great OS you should definitely try! If you want to run Windows programmes on Linux, you need Wine.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Night Light

[uuunph 288]

I have been thinking about swapping over to Linux for a while. I've used it before, but that was a while ago. 

 

I need a distribution that can:

 

-Supports an Office Suite that is compatible with Microsoft Office.

-Runs well.

 

I don't need it to be able to run video games (because it is a laptop, and honestly I don't play them that often). I want to be able use Photoshop, and I really would rather not have to dual boot just because of Photoshop. Suggestions?

Most office suites support .doc and .docx formats. Most distributions will come with LibreOffice already installed, which I'm using right now here on Windows. Of course most other cross compatible suites work as well.

 

And pretty much every distribution "runs well". They're based off of the same kernel, after all. For more performance however, I guess you could try a lighter desktop environment. That might help out with the laptop too. I'd suggest any distro that ships with XFCE, LXDE, or Evolution. XFCE is my personal favourite DE choice. So try Xubuntu, or maybe Linux Mint with XFCE? Well actually, you can have any DE on any distribution. So it really doesn't matter if you decide to change DE's.

 

Photoshop is not compatible with Linux OS's. The closest alternative I can think of is using Inkscape for composition (it's vector based, which is pretty cool; plays nice with tablets), and then editing in GIMP. Enable GIMP's single window mode, since pretty much no-one likes the multi-window interface. Both are open source.

 

If not, your only choices aside from dual-booting are Virtual Machines which I guess kinda defeats the point, and running it in a compatibility layer known as WINE. CS6 has a platinum rating, which is pretty good. Keep in mind that you'd still get slightly decreased performance, and it varies from each setup.

 

Well, that's enough typing. You have fun.

[~Scootaloo 440]

@,Thanks for the advice. I am not really worried about Office support as much, but sometimes my teachers (when I used linux) would say like Power Point presentations didn't look right or something along those lines.

 

As for performance: I have an Intel Core i5-3210M CPU to be honest I don't know how good that ranks with other laptop processors all I know is that it sure as hell is a lot nicer than my IBM Thinkpad T43.

[Sky Warden 2,243]

@,Thanks for the advice. I am not really worried about Office support as much, but sometimes my teachers (when I used linux) would say like Power Point presentations didn't look right or something along those lines.

 

As for performance: I have an Intel Core i5-3210M CPU to be honest I don't know how good that ranks with other laptop processors all I know is that it sure as hell is a lot nicer than my IBM Thinkpad T43.

Are you kidding? That's so much power! Mine is just Core i3 and it can run three virtual servers and two clients. I use Virtual Box for that.

 

If you just need it for drawing, it's far more than enough.

 

I warn you : you may not be able to play good games with Linux.

[MrDingerFan51 11]

I voted other because I have a crazy mega boot. I have Windows 7 on \dev\sda3 and Windows XP on \dev\sda5 and Linux Ubuntu 12.10 on \dev\sda\2 on my Sony VAIO laptop from around 07. On my HP Desktop, I have Windows 8 Pro x64. I've got an old Macbook laying around somewhere with Mac OS X 10.5 as well.

[~Scootaloo 440]

Are you kidding? That's so much power! Mine is just Core i3 and it can run three virtual servers and two clients. I use Virtual Box for that.

 

If you just need it for drawing, it's far more than enough.

 

I warn you : you may not be able to play good games with Linux.

Complete specs.:

 

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bits

Intel Core i5-3210M @2.50 GHz 2.50 GHz

8GB DDR3 RAM

1TB HD

Intel HD Graphics 4000

 

My laptop's main jobs are:

 

-Video/Photo Editing

-School work (Office 2013 works great)

-Web Browsing

 

I think I'll be staying with Windows for the sake of comfort and the fact that I really would rather not have to part with Photoshop just yet.

Edited March 21, 2013 by ~Scootaloo

[Sky Warden 2,243]

@@~Scootaloo.

 

 

The laptops main jobs are:

 

-Video/Photo Editing. I think somepony has mentioned the software name. I'm don't edit images.

-School work (Office 2013 works great). Libre Office will be enough.

-Web Browsing. Much faster with Linux.

 

Your machine is much more power than mine, but mine is enough to make me productive though.

[Milk Wave 454]

Complete specs.:

 

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bits

Intel Core i5-3210M @2.50 GHz 2.50 GHz

8GB DDR3 RAM

1TB HD

Intel HD Graphics 4000

 

My laptop's main jobs are:

 

-Video/Photo Editing

-School work (Office 2013 works great)

-Web Browsing

 

I think I'll be staying with Windows for the sake of comfort and the fact that I really would rather not have to part with Photoshop just yet.

I see you have some good stuff in your computer. All except.

 

Intel HD Graphics 4000

EEEEHHH

Even if that still suits you to your needs, I would always upgrade to a dedicated graphics or use an AMD apu even if its not necessary.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Moon Wave

[~Scootaloo 440]

 

Even if that still suits you to your needs, I would always upgrade to a dedicated graphics or use an AMD apu even if its not necessary.

 

It's a bloody laptop I'm not about to poor money into it. The video/graphics editing I do is mainly on the CPU which is more than capable of handling it. I don't see any need to upgrade the laptop if it were a desktop I would've upgraded by now.

[Milk Wave 454]

It's a bloody laptop I'm not about to poor money into it. The video/graphics editing I do is mainly on the CPU which is more than capable of handling it. I don't see any need to upgrade the laptop if it were a desktop I would've upgraded by now.

Its a...

Holy god im mindblown. For a minute there I thought your computer was a desktop considering what it has in it is extrodinary.

Fairly sorry about that then. Part of it was the fact that I dislike intel cpu's because of thier integrated graphics. It would be acceptable with an Nvidia or AMD but other then that, no.

[~Scootaloo 440]

@ lol ya now you understand. It would cost a lot more money to upgrade a laptop (plus my options would be a lot more limited as well) even if I wanted to upgrade it.

[MrDingerFan51 11]

I think I'll be staying with Windows for the sake of comfort and the fact that I really would rather not have to part with Photoshop just yet.

 

Cough, Wine, cough. I installed Photoshop CS6 on Ubuntu using Wine. It's really quite simple. All you have to do is Google a tutorial.

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+install+photoshop+in+ubuntu

[~Scootaloo 440]

Cough, Wine, cough. I installed Photoshop CS6 on Ubuntu using Wine. It's really quite simple. All you have to do is Google a tutorial.

 

Yep and wine also has a load of other problems emulating numerous other windows applications so nope... not swapping to the penguin just yet. 

 

I like linux, but I it amuses me when linux users conveniently forget the downsides yet are quick to point Windows downsides out.

Edited March 22, 2013 by ~Scootaloo