XP+Compatibility

[LukeHashJ]

Alright i've been running XP for two months and Mandrake Linux for about a month now. Xp hasn't crashed once or expierenced any problems with any programs. I doubt XP even has a BSOD. Most of my hardware was auto-detected at setup and the entire installation took less than an hour. It was very user-friendly and required almost no information at all. It practically installed itself. I then installed mandrake on a different partition and it turns out that there aren't any drivers for my intel modem. Altogether windows XP has treated me kindly and hasn't encountered any problems yet. Another plus is the windowsupdate feature - you can get updates on your drivers and on the system very easily... very useful. So XP is stable, compatible, and easy to get upgrades for. Despite its creator - it is definately worth the money i spent on it (99$) and i would reccomend it.

[psyjax]

It's loaded with spyware, keeps track of it's users. Has one of the worlds most tyranical corprations behind it, and is bloated beyond belife. That's why people don't like it.

If you don't mind the fact that you are exposing yourself tp becoming a Microserf as your own OS begins to spy on you and force you into a perpetual upgrade cycle of not only the OS but the software it forces you to use, then have fun!

Personaly if I had to use a wondoze I would use an earlyer version without all the liberal EULA BS. Windoze 2k comes to mind.

But then again, despite even these short comings, wondoze just generaly sux usage and experience-wise.

I love OS X! wooo...

[ March 20, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax ]

[LukeHashJ]

Spyware. Hah. I've never used my real name/address/shit on xp. I dont use IE,and I don't use anything made by microsoft other than the OS, so how could this harm me in anyway?   It is bloated beyond "belife" because it is an easy to use OS that still has advanced features.

 

quote: If you don't mind the fact that you are exposing yourself tp becoming a Microserf as your own OS begins to spy on you and force you into a perpetual upgrade cycle of not only the OS but the software it forces you to use, then have fun!

As if other OS's don't need updates? If they don't then they aren't advancing very far or are already so "perfected" they obviously don't need updates. I don't use the MS software, and don't have to update it. Furthermore all that "useless shit" that is installed is an option to install or not. You don't need to install it.

I've used windows for 6 years now; and yes the earlier versions were pretty bugged out (win95) but XP has no compatibility issues, and can do everything that any other OS can do (unless you can give me an example, i'll stand by that)

[dbl221]

The reason your modem wasn't detected is that your are using a Winmodem...buy a real modem...any kind and Linux will detect it just fine....a real modem is also faster than a Winmodem.  Winmodems move certain hardware functionality into software to make things easier for people who don't understand computing to use a modem.  This is the exact opposite direction from the trend of the rest of the electronics industry.  Anything that can be done in software can be done at the hardware level FASTER....thats just the way it is....get a real modem.

[LukeHashJ]

I understand what a winmodem is, and i know it is a winmodem and i know that it sucks... but the point is it doesnt work in linux.

[ March 20, 2002: Message edited by: LukeHashJ ]

[Centurian]

Hey,

 

quote:Originally posted by LukeHashJ:
I understand what a winmodem is, and i know it is a winmodem and i know that it sucks... but the point is it doesnt work in linux.

[ March 20, 2002: Message edited by: LukeHashJ ]

Obviously you only understand part of what a winmodem is and everything dbl221 said is correct but there is more.

Winmodems are just another way for MS to force people to use Windows. They make deals with hardware companies and those hardware companies in turn make winmodems (Crappy modems made to be used only on windows). For that reason most winmodems are not well supported under other OS's. The hardware companies do not create winmodem drivers for other OS's so any drivers for non-MS OS's that you find for winmodems have been created on a trial and error basis.

[psyjax]

Thus it has been proved how insidius M$ is since you have obviously been bullyed away from Linux because of a shitty modem you were forced to use. Tho you didn't want it, M$ used you and you don't even know it. You were, what we affectionetly term, Micro-fucked   .

[Calum]

Luke, you seem to be a sensible individual, so i think you know all the bad stuff about M$ and you just don't give a shit! There's no incentive for somebody like me or anybody else here to change yr mind if you are prepared to be stubborn. It doesn't mean one opinion wins, and another loses, just that we have different priorities.
ie: you don't mind paying for windows, even given the info listed above, because you've had an easy time with it, as far as usage goes. Also you don't mind upgrading to whatever M$ chooses to release next, which will be necessary because they won't continue to support XP after a year or two when some other "OS" gets released.
I on the other hand have a very proprietary laptop, and i enjoy trying to make linux work on it. The things i have got to work, i think are more stable than how they work in windows. that's only my opinion, but i think i'll keep my dual boot situation for a while yet.
May i just say though that a lot of options that could be included in a windows install aren't.
I have programs i would rather use than internet explorer and notepad for example, but they get installed anyway. It's irritating, but if one person gives a shit about it, another person may not.

It's similar to another situation that's ongoing in the world today (although the M$ row is not quite so drastic). Many people buy nestle products because nestle makes a lot of stuff and it is difficult to avoid buying their products. nestle are responsible for thousands upon thousands of infant deaths in third world countries, due to a ruthless marketing campaign which is designed only to make money by being directly responsible for the deaths of those poorer than themselves (click here and here to find out more).
The point here is that some people are very moved by this. they think of their own children and they abhor the idea that nestle could be responsible for this kind of sufferring in the name of the almighty buck, and some other people don't give a shit.

People are ultimately responsible for their own actions and whether it be something like genocide, or something as comparitively trivial like computer software, there will always be those people who are fanatical to their own detriment and also those who could not care less so long as their own ass is covered.

The only way for a government or corporation to turn a liberal democracy into a dictatorship is to encourage and nourish this self motivated apathy. That's exactly what Microsoft and nestle are doing. The thing that astonishes me the most is that when you tell people that they are self motivated and apathetic, they get very defensive. Guilty conscience i reckon...

It's funny how discussions about windows XP always get me talking about world politics...

[ March 21, 2002: Message edited by: Calum ]

[badkarma]

if easy usage and dumb downess floats your boat then more power to you, however if you look beyond XP's innocent looks and easy operating you will notice a *lot* of flaws (some minor, other major) with windows xp, my biggest gripes with it are the obvious privacy issues (even if you fill out fake names/addresses, they have your IP which is owned by your ISP who can backtrace you to that IP, so if you really offend M$ they can still get you by the balls), the fact that the computer for which I payed a lot of money is essentially owned by microsoft (I have zero control about what microsoft does with windows (and consequently my pc)) and the fact that there is no way to configure some things windows xp does (like irq steering, I had 6 devices on 1 irq and no way to reassign the irq's manually, this wouldn't be that big of a problem except for the fact that my geforce 3 was on that irq and that meant hell for 3d performance (only 6000 3dmarks with a geforce 3, 1gb ddr ram and a amd athlon 1400, which should be at least around 9-10k)

To a lesser extent I also don't use windows because of M$'s bussiness practices, however if they would actually made a good, stable, secure OS which is easy to configure but also has advanced options and offers me control over my pc I'll be the first to use it, without actually giving a damn about their business practices (take for example proctor&gamble, they have a monopoly in some areas of food production, however most of their products are of excellent quality so I buy their products for their quality, if the products wouldn't live up to my standards of quality I wouldn't buy them   )

my 2 cents

[Gooseberry Clock]

http://www.emulators.com/secrets.htm

Damn, the hit counter's too big.

[ March 21, 2002: Message edited by: Gooseberry Clock ]

[LukeHashJ]

That makes sence, BadKarma. The IRQ steering is definately a pain in the ass and a major downside. My geforce3 is bogged down like a bitch...

centurian - Is there any way to get a winmodem to work on a non-windows(linux) OS via an emulator? I knew it was a win-modem when i first bought it, but i got a great price, and i wasn't planning on using any other OS cept windows anyways (it was for the family computer at the time) but now that i have my own computer and i want to possibly put another OS on it what should i do? Its an Intel Pro/dsl 2100.... used by qwest (dial-up) broadband... im running a 64k isdn and would appreciate any reccomendations on a different modem.

Calum - I do give a damn, its just at this point there isn't much i can do about it.

[LukeHashJ]

Oh yea, and what version of linux would you most reccomend for me? I'll use it for gaming/surfing... not hosting a server or anything... possibly some coding later on.

[Centurian]

quote:Originally posted by LukeHashJ:

centurian - Is there any way to get a winmodem to work on a non-windows(linux) OS via an emulator? I knew it was a win-modem when i first bought it, but i got a great price, and i wasn't planning on using any other OS cept windows anyways (it was for the family computer at the time) but now that i have my own computer and i want to possibly put another OS on it what should i do? Its an Intel Pro/dsl 2100.... used by qwest (dial-up) broadband... im running a 64k isdn and would appreciate any reccomendations on a different modem.

As far as emulators there is VMWare and Plex86 is coming along nicely I hear.

Personally I would have to recommend Mandrake, or SUSE. I use Mandrake 8.1 right now and I am planning to go to Mandrake 8.2 soon.

Hardware support is somewhat dependent on what OS you get. Mostly they all support simular hardware but I have heard of a couple exceptions. Go to  Mandrake Hardware they list alot of different modems that are supported. Just use the javascript pulldowns to choose what you are looking for.

Games are a bit more difficult. You can use Winex to run many windows directX games. Also more games are coming out for Linux all the time. I have about 80 linux games on my system right now. Some of them are awesome and others are just ok. Just like in windows.

With the growing number of linux users games are going to become much more popular in the near future.
In the meantime you can always run a dual boot system. That way you can play windows and linux games and do basically everything else under linux.

[LukeHashJ]

awesome, thanks centurian.

I'll *probably* end up reformatting and dual booting with XP/Linux.  What File System would you recommend for Linux? Just native?

[ March 22, 2002: Message edited by: LukeHashJ ]

[Centurian]

Hey,

I am using the native ext2 and I like it. Alot of people use ext3 or reiser. Redhat has gone over to ext3. People say it is a bit faster.