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I think I'm going to be going back to XP

Brainonska511

Brainonska511

Lifer
So after my 4+ month excursion that spanned from Ubuntu 8.04 through 8.10 and a little dabbling with Kubuntu 8.10 (KDE 4.1), I think I'm going to be switching back to Windows XP SP3.

Reasons why:
-Limited hard drive space; only have a 100gb drive on my laptop, and I kind of need the extra space. I can't get rid of the Windows partition, since I still need it for certain tasks, like seeing equations in Word (doesn't work properly through WINE or OO)
-DVD playing - it's annoying how ATI's drivers can't handle OpenGL overlay properly, and thus always having to turn off desktop effects to watch a movie.
-Battery life sucks compared with XP, even after trying out some of the additional tools (like laptop-mode, etc?)
-I want to play some games again and that also ties in with the limited hard drive space.
-Photoshop Lightroom is not compatible through WINE. There are a few other alternatives available under Linux, but I don't want to shell out $100+ for another photo editing program when I have one already and the free alternatives didn't do quite what I wanted to do.

Things I Liked:
-Snappy OS
-Desktop effects
-Multiple desktops
-Really easy to use
-Everything worked out of the box, driver wise
-Awesome media players and the fact that they worked with my laptop's hotkeys. It's really hard to get them working under Windows with anything other than WMP and PowerDVD.

If I ever go and build a desktop to use as a file-server/internet machine, Ubuntu will definitely be my first choice of OSes, because it is a) free, and b) perfectly useable for non-gaming tasks.
 
Since it's for a laptop, I'd have to agree with you. Linux isn't as power efficient as Windows, without extra (sometimes complex) steps.
 
For what it's worth, the next version of Ubuntu (9.04) which is due out in April this year is including lots of new power controls for laptops, it's supposed to be a huge improvement. Akin to the network tools overhaul in the latest Ubuntu.
 
Originally posted by: Crusty
For what it's worth, the next version of Ubuntu (9.04) which is due out in April this year is including lots of new power controls for laptops, it's supposed to be a huge improvement. Akin to the network tools overhaul in the latest Ubuntu.
Click to expand...

I've heard that. And in some ways, I'd love to use it. But the space issues are starting to get kind of annoying. Also, I forgot to mention that Lightroom isn't WINE compatible, so every time I want to do photo editing, I require a reboot into Windows. And just my wanting to pick up a game every now and again (was thinking about installing either the TF2 gift I got from the ATOT SS or installing FEAR).

Either way, it was fun while it lasted and definitely a positive experience.
 
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: Crusty
For what it's worth, the next version of Ubuntu (9.04) which is due out in April this year is including lots of new power controls for laptops, it's supposed to be a huge improvement. Akin to the network tools overhaul in the latest Ubuntu.
Click to expand...

I've heard that. And in some ways, I'd love to use it. But the space issues are starting to get kind of annoying. Also, I forgot to mention that Lightroom isn't WINE compatible, so every time I want to do photo editing, I require a reboot into Windows. And just my wanting to pick up a game every now and again (was thinking about installing either the TF2 gift I got from the ATOT SS or installing FEAR).

Either way, it was fun while it lasted and definitely a positive experience.
Click to expand...

Yep, those are the exact same reasons I keep a dual-boot(or even triple on my laptop... yay vista!) around. There are some things that you just can't do in Linux that Windows can do, likewise I keep Linux around because there are somethings that I just can't do in Windows(or at least do it with little pain).
 
Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
Did you try Virtual Box instead of Wine? I've been playing with it lately and its pretty nifty.
Click to expand...

No, but I think that would fall under my space issue - as I would then have 2 instances of Windows installed. I never edit photos enough to warrant the trouble (even if it is simple enough) to install a virtual machine within Ubuntu. Additionally, I don't know how easy it would be, since my only OS comes on some crappy rescue disc with some crap DOS program (won't re-install Windows for me unless I have <2GB of RAM in my computer...).

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it might have been the better option to pursue, but the disc space I have left and the fact that I'm using a laptop just push me back to Windows.

Ubuntu is definitely my first choice if/when I build another desktop.
 
I'm definitely going to be keeping an Ubuntu Install/Live CD around. Great utility for fixing things - I had some files with "?" and ":" in them, and thus had to boot over to the LiveCD so Windows could transfer the files. I also f*cked my MBR by uninstalling Ubuntu through formating the partition. After rebooting from Windows, the Grub bootloader kicked back an "Error 17".

I just booted into the LiveCD, opened a terminal and typed
sudo apt-get install syslinux
sudo dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
Click to expand...

And it works. (I didn't have a real Windows CD to use the recovery console method).

Apparently, this would also work:
sudo apt-get install mbr
sudo install-mbr -i n -p D -t 0 /dev/sda
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: aceO07
Since it's for a laptop, I'd have to agree with you. Linux isn't as power efficient as Windows, without extra (sometimes complex) steps.
Click to expand...

As long as the hardware is supported, Linux is a smart choice for a laptop.
I've been running Gentoo on my Toshiba for months and it's better than Windows for power consumption as well! The reason in simple: my dual core can run all the time at the lowest frequency and the system is fast, while in Windows I have to leave the frequency dynamic and usually the cpu load is high, as the power consumption.

Brainonska511: in my opinion if you need to use wine every day Linux is not a smart choice. If you can't get rid of your Windows programs you should turn back to XP. If I were you I'd keep Linux as the "backup" operating system, in dual boot. That's what I did in the past, Windows was the "backup" OS as I had to use programs like Visio and Powerpoint for work... I refused to use wine, it was better to reboot, run Windows and go back to Linux after finishing the presentation.

I wish everyone would use openoffice...
 
Originally posted by: recoil80
Originally posted by: aceO07
Since it's for a laptop, I'd have to agree with you. Linux isn't as power efficient as Windows, without extra (sometimes complex) steps.
Click to expand...

As long as the hardware is supported, Linux is a smart choice for a laptop.
I've been running Gentoo on my Toshiba for months and it's better than Windows for power consumption as well! The reason in simple: my dual core can run all the time at the lowest frequency and the system is fast, while in Windows I have to leave the frequency dynamic and usually the cpu load is high, as the power consumption.

Brainonska511: in my opinion if you need to use wine every day Linux is not a smart choice. If you can't get rid of your Windows programs you should turn back to XP. If I were you I'd keep Linux as the "backup" operating system, in dual boot. That's what I did in the past, Windows was the "backup" OS as I had to use programs like Visio and Powerpoint for work... I refused to use wine, it was better to reboot, run Windows and go back to Linux after finishing the presentation.

I wish everyone would use openoffice...
Click to expand...

Linux battery life sucked for me compared with Windows XP. Dynamic switching is better anyway - the CPU comes out of sleep mode, quickly performs its task and then goes back to sleep. In a fixed-frequency mode, it can take longer to perform the same task and end up wasting more energy.

After I installed Ubuntu 8.10, I didn't bother with WINE. The only time I needed to use Windows was when I had taken new pictures and needed to run Lightroom; thus, I didn't need Windows everyday and was able to stick with Ubuntu for so long. I would have kept Ubuntu as a back-up in dual boot, but I just don't have the space on my laptop. I have a live-disc if I need a temporary backup.

As far as OO goes, I don't really like it. I prefer MSOffice 2003 over OO.
 
The problem with Microsoft Office is the file format. In my opinion MSOffice is still the best office suite out there, but the documents are not easily portable.
If you make a presentation with PowerPoint and try to open it in OO it's hard to edit it and even watch it...
That's why I wrote "I wish everyone would use openoffice". I didn't mean the program, but the file format. It's so annoying when you cannot open a document because is made with another program.
 
But then if you make something with oo nobody will be able to open it as most people use ms. Unless you know to do save as and save in ms office format (guessing oo has this option, I can't recall seeing it though).
 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
But then if you make something with oo nobody will be able to open it as most people use ms. Unless you know to do save as and save in ms office format (guessing oo has this option, I can't recall seeing it though).
Click to expand...

You can save in MSOffice format through OO. You can set it as the default in the options menu or you can do it manually every time.
 
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