which OS is easiest to install? ***POLL***

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SSP

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
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Its a tie between WinXP and Mandrake 8.2 for me. Those were the fastest installs I've had. Dont know avout RH, but after buying RH 6.0, I wont try anything from RH again.
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
1
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Originally posted by: ToBeMe
Why even have a poll if the OS it seems a lot of people have specified isn't even a choice?
rolleye.gif
None are that difficult, but, I have to agree, XP Pro is so simple a mindless dolt could get through it without a problem.....................Linux isn't bad, and as soon as they can include as many drivers as XP Pro does, it will rank right up there, but, as long as I have to have several drivers in hand post install to get everything going, XP wins even over 2K since everything is already setup, including printer/scanner/camera when installing XP Pro............

I have never had to worry about that with linux, OpenBSD, BeOS, or Mac OS X. I have had to worry about it with win2k. I have never used WinXP so maybe Microsoft fixed the lack of drivers for basic hardware problem they had when I installed 2k :)
 

AU Tiger

Diamond Member
Dec 26, 1999
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Originally posted by: n0cmonkey


Mac OS X has the second easiest install. I think I have 10 clicks of the mouse and Im done.

A vote for Mac OS. I've never owned an Apple, but I installed OS X on my dad's computer and it was a piece of cake. I'm a fan of the OS, just not the system.
 

SSP

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
17,727
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Originally posted by: FoBoT
i can install FreeBSD 4.6 on virtually any box i put together in my house with only TWO 3.5 " floppy disks!!!!

tell me another OS that can match that!

QNX. One disk. :)
 

Rakkis

Senior member
Apr 24, 2000
841
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I think the results will be skewed as people seem to be voting for what is easier for THEM (since they feel comfortable using the OS). I haven't had much experience with *BSD, but you can get a working system ready with < 10 clicks if you accept all the defaults. Customizing doesn't add many more. One of the benefits of haiving one company controlling both hardware and software.

I mean... seriously, Windows 2000 vs MacOS?

The ONLY time Windows 2000 is "easier" to install is when you use an unattended installation (with its accompanying inf). And even then, most people wouldn't be able to do that.

My vote is for MacOS.
 

Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
Originally posted by: FoBoT
i can install FreeBSD 4.6 on virtually any box i put together in my house with only TWO 3.5 " floppy disks!!!!

tell me another OS that can match that!

you moron. it has to DOWNLOAD the os. it's not like it pulls it out of thin air.

you're better off making the 400 meg iso.
 

civad

Golden Member
May 30, 2001
1,397
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I would put the following on my list :

Win XP (least painful install)
Mandrake 8.2 (fast, though the 'warm up' before the install takes a while). Ditto for RH 7.2
Win 2K (dont raise eyebrows: which other OS install allows you to have a few beers while perfroming the install?)

--Civ
 

Justin218

Platinum Member
Jan 21, 2001
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I've installed the Mac OS(7-10), 3.1, 95, ME, and XP. I have to say the Mac OS installs h ave always been a breeze. You can actually just walk away, it doens't ask you sh!t every 10 minutes.
 

A5

Diamond Member
Jun 9, 2000
4,902
5
81
Knoppix, or any other live-on-disk distro.

Just burn that bitch to a CD and reboot...in <5 minutes, you're in a perfectly working KDE3 environment :)

I wish the big distros could set themselves up like Knoppix does :p
 

ToBeMe

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
5,711
0
0
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: ToBeMe
Why even have a poll if the OS it seems a lot of people have specified isn't even a choice?
rolleye.gif
None are that difficult, but, I have to agree, XP Pro is so simple a mindless dolt could get through it without a problem.....................Linux isn't bad, and as soon as they can include as many drivers as XP Pro does, it will rank right up there, but, as long as I have to have several drivers in hand post install to get everything going, XP wins even over 2K since everything is already setup, including printer/scanner/camera when installing XP Pro............

I have never had to worry about that with linux, OpenBSD, BeOS, or Mac OS X. I have had to worry about it with win2k. I have never used WinXP so maybe Microsoft fixed the lack of drivers for basic hardware problem they had when I installed 2k :)
Come on now................I'm a fan of both Win & 'Nix, and have used FBSD on occasion, but, can you honestly tell me 'Nix or FBSD is going to have all my hardware and my printer/scanner/camera all setup and ready to use upon first boot into the desktop?;) I think not..........and I can speak from recent expierience (last week) as far as Mandrake/RH goes and they were the newest builds of each................

I suppose it also depends upon what you consider the "easiest" though..............the number of "clicks" doesn't vary greatly, but, an OS which has everything installed and ready to go upon first boot is what I consider the easiest..................

 

Maleficus

Diamond Member
May 2, 2001
7,682
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Originally posted by: Killbat
Originally posted by: Maleficus
XP is suck :D

Uhm.... no. XP installs almost accidentally it's so easy. Keep that CD locked up tight!

Plus, XP has been just as good to me as 2000 was, which is to say awesome. If you have personally had problems with XP, care to share? Or are you just expressing an opinion you think is trendy without any firsthand knowledge of the subject?


Well since i was joking thus the teethy smile...

but no i really dont like XP because it doesnt really give me anything else i want and the mouse acceleration is really annoying for games and when i turned it off it didnt turn off. I really didnt like the whole new scheme either and immediately went to classic mode but there was still some view options i didnt like, nothing major just i prefer 2k to the bloat of XP.
 

athithi

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2002
1,717
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I've installed Win2k, XP, RH 7.1 and of course 95/98/NT. Installation-wise XP was the easiest (apart from an unattended Win2k install that I got done at work). Was never happy with XP - too fat, too slow, too gaudy (yes, I *know* about the classic theme) and my laptop would just hang for no reason whatsoever. So, IMHO, XP sucks big time. RH 7.1, I installed on my laptop, my desktop and a quad processor server at work. Easy install? BS :| This moron writing the review is talking about dual-boot and boot loader and ext3 journal file system as if every 10-yr old kid would know about it. The server at work still locks up when booting up and I need to press enter a few times before it will go in - and to think I recommended Linux highly
rolleye.gif
I am now stuck with the task of fixing that server because unlike this a-hole at linuxworld says, RH 7.1 installation goofed up on me - I would've done the NT/W2k install in a couple of hours or so. But then, what can you expect someone who reviews s/w installation based on how many CDs you need to switch - this is absolutely the worst review I have ever read in my life :disgust:
 

IcemanJer

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2001
4,307
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okay.... if I have to put all the operating systems I know onto the poll.. it's gonna be looooooong!!

<edit>
sh!!!t....... oops..... accidentally deleted the Win2K answer from the top....... :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
btw, Win2K had like 18 or so votes before I deleted it off the top..
</edit>
 

PrincessGuard

Golden Member
Feb 5, 2001
1,435
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Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: Electrode
The Electromatic OS install meter:
(10 - piece of cake, 1 - oh god no!)
OpenBSD: 2 (n0c, I don't know why you think this is easy, even I have a hard time with it)

Its quick, straight forward, doesnt crash, well documented, easy to understand.... Like I said, no problems. :)

fdisk and disklabel aren't exactly the most intuitive partitioning programs out there... Everything else is pretty straightforward though.
 

IcemanJer

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2001
4,307
0
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the article at Linuxworld.. I wouldn't even come close to calling that a review. But then again, it IS published on Linuxworld, so it's heavily biased, like if you have an article covering the same topic published on a very-pro-Windows website would probably trash Linux just as the same.

<rhetoric> oh where can we go for some decent OS review without all these biases...?? </rhetoric>
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
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I think the Win2K install is a pain... Installing the OS itself goes quite easily; the part I don't like is the need to constantly reboot the system after every visit to Windowsupdate for security patches and service packs. Why do they do that? It seems like it makes a 45 min job into a 3 hour job.

Mandrake installs quite easily, and you don't need to reboot the box when doing security updates...
 

yakko

Lifer
Apr 18, 2000
25,455
2
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Of all the OSes I have tried XP was the easiest because I really didn't have to do sh!t except wait.
 

IcemanJer

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2001
4,307
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Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Mandrake installs quite easily, and you don't need to reboot the box when doing security updates...
I'd think that's probably true for all UNIX-based OS.. you just shutdown and restart the processes without needing to shutdown the kernel.. unless you're doing a kernel update.. The problem with Windows is that everything is pretty damn integrated that if you change something to a part, you kinda have to restart the whole thing to make it apply the effect. It seems like my server haven't had an uptime of more than a week before I had to install some update and reboot it.
 

LaBang

Golden Member
Jan 31, 2001
1,571
0
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Mac OS X is by far the easiest OS to install. There really is nothing to it.

OS 9 and lower were harder to install and work but still pretty easy.
 

IcemanJer

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2001
4,307
0
0
what's the file system that MacOS uses? I'm assuming it's still the same for pre and post OS X cuz you basically can still access each other's files from either OS.
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

you moron. it has to DOWNLOAD the os. it's not like it pulls it out of thin air.

oh, i thought is just magically created the OS from thin air
rolleye.gif