Forums Upgraded

[FishFace]

Sounds like something's seriously screwed with your Linux box... No computer, Windows or Linux should be that bad if the setup's good. Difficult to know what it is - could be RAM, disk fragmentation (unlikely; linux FSs usually do on the fly defragging if there's enough spare space) background processes or anything.

 

I think the actual time for booting is longer for Ubuntu than for Windows, but Windows has a far longer time to get to a usable desktop. Windows is therefore more annoying as I can boot to Ubuntu, leave it to boil the kettle, and when I come back it'll be done and I can log in and go. Windows, though, I have to bootup and if I leave it's sitting there while I'm gone, but I can't use it as soon as I come back.

 

Anyway, it sounds like the Linux box needs some TLC/Reinstall magic

[sparhawk]

The major difference in experienceing the boot time is, that Linux first runs all backgroundprocesses, before the user can login. With Windows this is not the case, because even when you can already login, there are still processes started (if there are enough to be started).

The description sounds to me like sombody installing Linux with all possible software and then runs it. Of course this means that the boot process will run ages and the system might also be slow, depending on the amount of RAM it has. In general when I had a freshly installed empty Linux box the boot process was never noticable slower then a freshly installed empty Windows box.

[obscurus]

It behaves as though there is not enough memory. I don't have much access to the system configurations, they are controlled by the administrator, so I am not sure exactly what is wrong with it. Since all I normally run is a browser to access the database, I can't imagine what is hogging all of the resources. They are 2.8 GHz P4s with 256 MB Ram, Aopen XC cubes. Nothing amazing, but they should be able to load a bloody browser OK - the Windows one does, and Linux is supposedly a bit lighter on the resources than XP, so I have no idea what is going on.

 

I might have another crack at installing Linux on my home machine... I have Lycoris Desktop LX on CD - it seems aimed at people like me, who don't want to get overly bogged down in the minutiae of configuring the system, and it behaves like windows I've read some good reviews about it... dunno if you guys have any other recomendations as far as Linux versions go. I'm not good with command lines, I like GUIs all the way so I wan't to stear clear of that as much as possible, at least for now.

 

Maybe when I have some more experience with setting up Linux I'll be in a position to tell the idiots at work how to do their jobs...

[FishFace]

The current hot topic as regards Linux is Ubuntu - comes with plenty of GUI tools so if you have any standard machine you should be able to avoid the command line. OTOH, a CLI is a very efficient way of doing certain tasks, hence I have a gnome-terminal window open at all times on a separate workspace. One big advantage of using Ubuntu is that it will be likely more up to date than your Lycoris version, and you'll be able to update easily to new versions of the distribution when they are released (every 6 months, IIRC)

 

As far as I'm concerned, Linux is "ready for the desktop" depending on who is using it. If you're willing to learn, persevere, have things break and then fix them, and occasionally leap into that murky world of command lines, it's fine. If you want something as simple as Windows, I don't know whether most of the mainstream distros will provide that; perhaps Linspire or Lycoris.

[Fingernail]

Posting here because it's not listed as the most recent news anymore.

 

I guess we should stop people posting in these news threads so they don't get out of order and the wrong one appear first. The OST (before this post) was listed as MOST RECENT NEWS when it clearly isn't.

 

I guess we should lock public posting to this forum and create duplicate discussion threads in the general discussion area.

[sparhawk]

That woudld be a good ida. People can discuss it in the other forums, because this one is only for news updates.