HaydnH Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 +1. Linux has improved considerablly in the last few years thanks to Ubuntu. Personally I'd say Fedora has done more to improve the quality of Linux, it's very nature is meant to be a development style cutting edge OS, however for the same reason I wouldn't recommend it as a desktop OS for a non-geek. *nix variants are great if you like to dabble in things or want something very simple for web browsing, but dont think they are yet up there with Windows in terms of plug and play are they? Havent played with them for years, might download some live CDs (or whatever the USB stick term is for them now) and have a play. Actually they're not too bad. There's still a hardware related issues, for example Wireless card compatibility which has always been a bug bear of mine. However this is usually due to their not being an open source driver available and the Windows ones (which you can use through a wrapper) being proprietary so the linux distros can't provide them - although these days they tell you exactly where to get them and how to install them. Going Intel on the Wireless card solves most issues you'll see to be honest along with getting the right video card if you're going for 3d (but then which gamers use Linux??) . When I last used Windows (years ago) you pretty much always needed a driver from somewhere (CD/internet) for your hardware, if this is still true then I'd say Linux is more plug and play friendly than Windows and has the added bonus of the drivers automatically being updating as they're part of the distro rather than downloaded from a 3rd party manufacturers website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Unfortunately my Compaq laptop had wireless issues on Ubuntu, otherwise I would have stuck with it... real shame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnH Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Unfortunately my Compaq laptop had wireless issues on Ubuntu, otherwise I would have stuck with it... real shame Changethe wireless card? I did this on mine recently to go from N to G. It's usually pretty easy: Unscrew the cover to the wireless card, unclip the 2 (or 3) aerials, unscrew the screw holding the wireless card in place, swap, reverse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I did this 5 years ago, just make sure that any software that you currently run on Windows has a Mac equivalent. My accounts are on Quick Books Pro and although there is a USA version for Mac there wasn't in the UK. I just run Parallels and Windows XP when I need to use Quick Books. It works for me and wouldn't go back to Windows now. Hope it goes well for you. I am in the process of dumping Windows for iMac. Any prewarning of pitfalls would be appreciated. Alex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humpy Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Windows 7 here Windows Installation time has SO advanced since Win 95 - Install time is around 20 minutes. If its taking 2 hours to install then there is something wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Unfortunately my Compaq laptop had wireless issues on Ubuntu, otherwise I would have stuck with it... real shame Changethe wireless card? I did this on mine recently to go from N to G. It's usually pretty easy: Unscrew the cover to the wireless card, unclip the 2 (or 3) aerials, unscrew the screw holding the wireless card in place, swap, reverse. Yeah I know I should I just couldn't be bothered I agree if Windows is taking more than 20 mins to install something is wrong I have a 64 bit version that also installs a lot more and that still only takes about half an hour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Win7 here, since I cannot play FPS games on a console at all, grew up on CS 1.3 and it's become second nature to use keyboard and mouse instead of a game pad. Also for my requirements I need an OS that can handle singular files larger than 4GB Recently did a mini upgrade on my PC with also involved using Hexis vinyl From this: To this: Asus P67 Sabertooth motherboard Intel i5 2500K CPU 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz RAM EVGA GTX470 HydroCopper graphics card Personally I find it looks just as sexy as an iMac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 How come there is air in the system? Are they filling ports or something? When I used to run my old W/C'd PC it was running closed system so to me that seems a little odd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Water cooled? That's really disappointing, I thought BM had a distillery in his PC How come there is air in the system? Are they filling ports or something? When I used to run my old W/C'd PC it was running closed system so to me that seems a little odd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrh Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Win7 took me 20mins to install (having it on USB stick makes it soooo much quicker) *nix variants are great if you like to dabble in things or want something very simple for web browsing, but dont think they are yet up there with Windows in terms of plug and play are they? Havent played with them for years, might download some live CDs (or whatever the USB stick term is for them now) and have a play. Well it certainly felt like 2 hours after installing Office as well and that was from a USB stick! Generally Linux sets up new hardware silently in a few seconds... Windows turns plugging in just a mouse or USB stick into a pantomime of pop-ups. Don't get me wrong, Windows 7 is the best version yet but the old problems remain... Speed/Stability drops over time, random issues only solved by a reboot, Rootkits, etc... My solution is to have a work-only Windows laptop that's kept as clean and simple as possible, while a Linux nettop handles surfing, video, torrents, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Water cooled? That's really disappointing, I thought BM had a distillery in his PC It might be Cranberry & Vodka How come there is air in the system? Are they filling ports or something? When I used to run my old W/C'd PC it was running closed system so to me that seems a little odd Yes, those are indeed fillport lines. One loop for CPU, one loop for GPU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 How come there is air in the system? Are they filling ports or something? When I used to run my old W/C'd PC it was running closed system so to me that seems a little odd Yes, those are indeed fillport lines. One loop for CPU, one loop for GPU Flash git In my day you were lucky to get anything so fancy. I had DangerDen blocks on my CPU/GPU, some hacked up rad and a pond pump to power it all The best I got from it was a Zalman water tower thing that I bolted to the back which made it all nearly fanless, it was very very quiet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrh Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Just been reading both OSX and Windows 8 are starting down the path of only allowing you to install apps from official app stores, from which they take a 30% cut of course. http://www.osnews.com/story/25619/Mac_OS_X_10_8_restricted_to_App_Store_signed_apps_by_default Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnH Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Just been reading both OSX and Windows 8 are starting down the path of only allowing you to install apps from official app stores, from which they take a 30% cut of course. http://www.osnews.com/story/25619/Mac_OS_X_10_8_restricted_to_App_Store_signed_apps_by_default Yep I read this, stupid idea if you ask me... not that I have to worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 If Microsofts track record is anything to go by, then Windows 8 will be epic fail. It's always every other OS they bring out is any good. WinME = Bad WinXP = Good Vista = Bad Win7 = Good Win8 = ??? (but prolly bad, lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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