One of the main reasons is that I am sick of windows rot. I am using windows 7, and the more you load the slower it gets. Questions I'd like to ask are: 1. What is the best version of Linux? Fedora, Ubuntu? 2. Also, I understand that you can run windows programs with the Wine program. Are there any disadvantages to using Wine, mainly want to know if it is seamless or is it hoops to jump through. 3. Are these OS's faster and more snappier than windows as you add stuff to the OS. 4. What is the best features that you like with these OSs.
Choose a Linux distro depends on what you're going to be using it for. Do you have programming or developer experience? If you're just sick of Windows and want to try something new, I recommend you use Ubuntu. Wine works great for me but you're going to run into compatibility issues with certain programs, especially with sound. I was able to get Spotify working on it easily though Try Ubuntu off of a burned DVD or a flash drive and test stuff out before you completely make the switch. In my time with Ubuntu, it is not the lightest flavor of Linux but it doesn't really slow down. Advantages to Ubuntu is that it uses the Unity GUI , and can be more user friendly. If not you're going to have to learn to compile tarballs and etc to install certain programs. My second choice would be Debian, but I always run into a ton of driver issues
1. You want a newbie-friendly distro it sounds like. Ubuntu is the most popular among Linux newbies. You'll find distros like Mageia and Fedora similarly user-friendly. My experience with Mageia/Mandriva is that installation and driver issues are minimal at best, certainly better than on Windows. 2. Depends. For most things you need to do - web, office documents, productivity, multimedia, graphics etc. there are Linux apps that will serve your needs well. You can run Windows apps with Wine, but your success will vary from "great" to "couldn't even get the installer to load" depending on the type of app and what types of API it uses. There are some companies like Transgaming that offer customized solutions for gamers if that is important to you. But the bottom line is if you're going into Linux expecting to depend on Wine for running important applications, you'll likely have some trouble. I run Mageia just fine as a daily driver and it suits my needs most of the time, but I'm not a gamer. One more thing you should know: Blu-Ray support on Linux is .... put it this way, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a Blu-Ray disc to play on Linux. 3. Depends. The thing with Linux is that you are not necessarily subject to the bloat of a Windows system. And yes, it maintains its stability and doesn't tend to get bogged down over time the way Windows does. As for speed, Linux can be lightning fast in some scenarios, and underperform Windows in others. Up until very recently for example, Flash video performance has always been slower on Linux (finally fixed in version 11 I think). 4. Linux really offers the biggest benefits to the power user. It is far, far more customizable, and if you know how to use it well, you can get many more things done much quicker and more efficiently on Linux than on Windows, starting from common things like basic file operations. You can do things the Windows way too, but you won't really get the best out of Linux that way.
Everything Jeoperde said is correct. Personally, Debian is the best but not very newbie-friendly. Also there is no easy way to run Netflix on Linux. At least this used to be the case; not sure if it's been solved. I would suggest multi-booting until you are sure you want Linux.
Great help. I am not a programmer, nor do I want to learn all the power commands that linux can offer. I'd really just like a system that isn't a bottleneck. I know for a fact that windows itself slows things down. I never thought about it it before but, is the reason things slow down due to the fact that when I install something *** windows adds a process to my background? Thinking out loud, doesn't linux give me more control over my processes? Also, repped!
Yes. It's annoying because there actually is an equivalent SilverLight plugin for Linux called Moonlight, but it doesn't support the DRM stuff that Netflix requires so it's a no-go. Other VOD services like Amazon and Hulu Plus will work fine though.
what version of windows are you using? i am running windows 7 with a SSD drive and it's fast as hell. barely even restart other than to install updates.
There are several reasons why Windows tends to slow down. One reason is, as you said, new processes loading at startup/in the background/extra DLLs loaded into memory and staying there. Another reason is that Windows stores all its information in a giant database called the registry, and over time that registry gets bigger, more disorganized and fragmented over your hard drive. Also the windows file system is naturally prone to disk fragmentation, while most Linux file systems are not. Linux offers you plenty of control over processes, but really where you'll find the advantage is that you won't be fretting over that stuff most of the time because your system performance won't degrade gradually like Windows in most cases. On Linux, typically if the system is running unexpectedly slow, there is ONE runaway process causing it and you can easily see it, kill that process and get back to normal performance.
Yeah, I am well aware of the registry issue. It is the worst invention microsoft ever produced. While we are on this subject, does linux give you the choice of filesystems at install? I've heard that ext4 is pretty good. Care to shed any light on this?
1. I use Ubuntu on a daily basis. I chose it based on my roommate's (a programmer) suggestion after my ceaseless b****ing about how long my PC was taking to loan. 2. Wine will run Windows programs, but you'll end up having loops to jump through, to put it simply. I wouldn't rely on it. 3. No system is going to be snappier as you have more applications running. That said, you can run a lot of programs at once because the system itself uses less of the computer's hardware resources to run, leaving more of its resources to do stuff with. 4. My favorite things about using Ubuntu are, first, how quickly my computer starts up. There are things that load once you log in, but they've never slowed the computer's performance, and I've always been able to get right into the task at hand once I log in. No waiting. Second, I don't get prompted to allow the system to do something everytime I open a browser window or open a program. Third, I don't have or pay for anti-virus software. I've never had a virus. Never had any problems with pop-ups or spyware. In fact, I've had a virus on the computer, but it couldn't do anything because it lacked the permissions to make harmful changes to the system. In short, Ubuntu has been great. The only shortcoming is that there's a lot of software that you either can't use or will have a hell of a time getting to work on the system. What I've always done is had a Windows system that I don't use for anything except using software that I can't use in Ubuntu. For everything else, I use Ubuntu. When I surf the web, I use Ubuntu. When I download music and put it on my Cowon J3, I use Ubuntu. Etc. Etc.
Windows gives you just as much control over your processes. Download CCleaner and start deleting stuff in your windows startup. You can also disable services in your service manager.
Usually Ext4 will be the default file system and it's good enough for most people's needs, but if for some reason you wanted to change, you'd be able to. Also to address Johndoe's comment, yes, any system will tend to get slower when you're running many apps at the same time (especially once you exceed available physical memory and start using swap or disk I/O is involved). But there is a difference between that and the system simply becoming slower because you've installed 50 new applications that are loading background DLLs, startup processes and what not. That tends to happen on Windows, but not on Linux.
I constantly use Linux at work and am a system admin. for it, but I would NOT want to script or program a command line interface once I'm done at work... that would be hell. I would use it at home but not while I still have my daughters here, although it might be good to teach them a bit. True story, bros: A friend who was in the same IT department where I work was telling me that at his mom's house (sorry, no pics of his mom) everyone used the main computer, and he'd been called three times to repair viruses, pop-ups, etc., etc. He got tired of that junk. He installed LINUX (I believe it was single-user Fedora at the time), and he hasn't been called back, but to install major programs like StarOffice and other major programs, but... no slow downs, no complaints, no problems since that. True story, bro.
Windows has a better desktop environment, though. 7 really nailed integrating the dock and the taskbar, integrating search into explorer, and Aerosnap. Unity and GNOME3 are messes.
Linux Mint is a nice build. It's built off of Ubuntu, but comes stock with all the extra things that Ubuntu leaves out of the build that you would usually just go install anyway. It is also a very sexy looking build. LOL.
I have a Ubuntu machine. I like it. Are you talking about Windows rot meaning a 3-4 year install is slower than a fresh one, or the longer you go without restarting the slower it gets? I thought Windows 7 greatly improved the first Windows rot issue? My install is 2.5 years old now and still fast.
