Linux Instead of Windows


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There are Arch Boot disks with Gnome/XFCE already loaded on.

where are said disks?

Arch is a pain in the ass to setup

I have still to yet succesfully boot it to a gnome DE lol

where are said disks?

Arch is a pain in the ass to setup

I have still to yet succesfully boot it to a gnome DE lol

After following the beginner's guide to get arch installed basically all you do to install and run gnome is pacman -S gnome gnome-extra, and then just systemctl enable gdm.service and reboot...

Haven't read the whole topic. Only page 1.

Just wanted to say my 2 pence.

I shifted to Ubuntu as my main OS after renting a few VPS's and learning it quite well Via SSH.

However, I soon switched back to windows due to; mainly a driver error which would case my whole system to crash and restart and seemingly random times. I found it out to be a graphic driver that wasnt compatible. Also though, before I switched, I thought that I didn't use many programs that were not available on linux, however I soon found out that I do. No photoshop was a nightmare (don't like GIMP) and the code editor I used at the time wasn't supported. Also, I found it very annoying to go to a software/feeware website and find it to be windows only.

I'm always downloading/trying out new software and that really ****ed me off and was the final push I needed back to windows.

Its just not worth it IMO. Windows is really the best and most popular OS for a reason (IMO)

Haven't read the whole topic. Only page 1.

Just wanted to say my 2 pence.

I shifted to Ubuntu as my main OS after renting a few VPS's and learning it quite well Via SSH.

However, I soon switched back to windows due to; mainly a driver error which would case my whole system to crash and restart and seemingly random times. I found it out to be a graphic driver that wasnt compatible. Also though, before I switched, I thought that I didn't use many programs that were not available on linux, however I soon found out that I do. No photoshop was a nightmare (don't like GIMP) and the code editor I used at the time wasn't supported. Also, I found it very annoying to go to a software/feeware website and find it to be windows only.

I'm always downloading/trying out new software and that really ****ed me off and was the final push I needed back to windows.

Its just not worth it IMO. Windows is really the best and most popular OS for a reason (IMO)

You made the mistake of expecting linux to be like windows. You don't download new linux software by visiting freeware websites, you do it from the software center. If you try to do everything on linux exactly the same way you were used to on windows you're not going to get good results. Windows, OSX, and Linux are different operating systems and they work very differently.

I recently built a NAS to store and serve all my movies and TV shows to HTPC's throughout my house. I originally thought Ubuntu would be the best choice for performance reasons. However, I found it to be a real pain to configure and the installation on my TV was so tiny I couldn't even see it. I'd just hoped that Linux could be mainstream for something because I really want to like it but now I am of the mindset that it is an enthusiast's OS.

If you are interested in an operating system for your NAS box that is very powerful and easy to use, I definitely recommend FreeNAS. It is built on top of a powerful FreeBSD base, and has a nice web interface that allows you to run the box headless and remotely administer it. You don't need to know anything about how the underlying OS works. That is not to say that Linux does not work well as a file server - I currently host my SMB shares on CentOS 6 (my only machine not running Debian natively) - but FreeNAS is definitely easier to setup for a novice.

I mean there is no standard windowing toolkit that I can count on being installed on a user's machine.

I'm not sure why would one expect the existence of a windowing tool-kit on a UNIX?-like operating system.

I also believe your Windows example is flawed.

Again, you have to learn it for it to work the way you want. Same way you start with any other software, no matter what OS.

Windows takes little to learn. Linux, you never stop having to learn. When you think you do then something changes or makes it irrelevant. Only thing most users learn from Linux is how to google, copy and paste into terminal or remember to type sudo apt this and that. Ask how to do most anything in Linux and the immediate response or search result is "Open Terminal and type" Once it's setup the way you want regardless means little next to the whole point of using an OS..running applications. This is where it is entirely user dependant, some can make do, some can't. I have to have Netflix and ITunes, I can't just work around it and there is no workaround. Commercial support means a lot to most users.

  • Like 2

I loved OpenSUSE 12.2 and would use it full time, but I'm really into playing classic games through emulators like MAME, Kega, BSNES, and Nestopia and those programs run a lot better on my Windows install. No matter what I do, they all run like ass on Linux. If it wasn't for that, I'd be all for switching. I do have OpenSUSE running in a VM and have it loaded on one of my laptops :) One thing I would recommend is installing Linux on a VM and experiment/make changes in the VM before doing it on a real install.

If you are interested in an operating system for your NAS box that is very powerful and easy to use, I definitely recommend FreeNAS. It is built on top of a powerful FreeBSD base, and has a nice web interface that allows you to run the box headless and remotely administer it. You don't need to know anything about how the underlying OS works. That is not to say that Linux does not work well as a file server - I currently host my SMB shares on CentOS 6 (my only machine not running Debian natively) - but FreeNAS is definitely easier to setup for a novice.

No, my Synology nas has its own is. I had wanted to use ubuntu on the htpc's.

Windows takes little to learn. Linux, you never stop having to learn. When you think you do then something changes or makes it irrelevant. Only thing most users learn from Linux is how to google, copy and paste into terminal or remember to type sudo apt this and that. Ask how to do most anything in Linux and the immediate response or search result is "Open Terminal and type" Once it's setup the way you want regardless means little next to the whole point of using an OS..running applications. This is where it is entirely user dependant, some can make do, some can't. I have to have Netflix and ITunes, I can't just work around it and there is no workaround. Commercial support means a lot to most users.

That's not true. You are always learning something new in Windows, too. New updates means changes in how the whole thing works, minimal changes or not.

Understand that the Terminal is the backbone of Linux, just like DOS was back in 3.1/95. Everything that you do in the GUI, is actually doing it in terminal, for you. Learning terminal can give you so much knowledge and make things a hell lot easier.

For example, I know a friend who keeps a list of all his programs he runs on Ubuntu. So, all he has to type is:

sudo apt-get install VLC Gimp Chrome whatever

It's easier than going through the Software Center. It installs all programs noted all in one.

He was already using the Linux version I like and that is Linux Mint and he said it didn't work for him.

Stop being so sensitive.

Not sure if you're talking about mine but I loved mint with cinnamon. I just couldnt get it to see windows 8 to set up as dual boot. Is there a way to install it on a drive and then afterwards install as boot manager that would let me select mint or win 8?

He was already using the Linux version I like and that is Linux Mint and he said it didn't work for him.

Stop being so sensitive.

Not sure if you're talking about mine but I loved mint with cinnamon. I just couldnt get it to see windows 8 to set up as dual boot. Is there a way to install it on a drive and then afterwards install as boot manager that would let me select mint or win 8?

He was already using the Linux version I like and that is Linux Mint and he said it didn't work for him.

Stop being so sensitive.

Not sure if you're talking about mine but I loved mint with cinnamon. I just couldnt get it to see windows 8 to set up as dual boot. Is there a way to install it on a drive and then afterwards install as boot manager that would let me select mint or win 8?

He was already using the Linux version I like and that is Linux Mint and he said it didn't work for him.

Stop being so sensitive.

Not sure if you're talking about mine but I loved mint with cinnamon. I just couldnt get it to see windows 8 to set up as dual boot. Is there a way to install it on a drive and then afterwards install as boot manager that would let me select mint or win 8?

I think that Microsoft changed the bootloader again in Windows 8, so that may be causing GRUB not to detect it. There should be an option during the Mint installation to choose which drive you write the bootloader to or to not install a bootloader at all. If you choose to install the bootloader to your secondary drive, for example, instead of your MBR, you may be able to use the "select boot drive" (often activated by pressing F12 during BIOS splash) provided by your firmware to boot Mint. Otherwise you can attempt to make the Windows bootmenu include Mint using this method, assuming it still works with Windows 8 (which I have not verified).

I think that Microsoft changed the bootloader again in Windows 8, so that may be causing GRUB not to detect it. There should be an option during the Mint installation to choose which drive you write the bootloader to or to not install a bootloader at all. If you choose to install the bootloader to your secondary drive, for example, instead of your MBR, you may be able to use the "select boot drive" (often activated by pressing F12 during BIOS splash) provided by your firmware to boot Mint. Otherwise you can attempt to make the Windows bootmenu include Mint using this method, assuming it still works with Windows 8 (which I have not verified).

There is a program for Windows called EasyBDC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyBCD). This might make things a lot easier.

There is a program for Windows called EasyBDC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyBCD). This might make things a lot easier.

Did you read the tutorial I linked to? It is hosted on the NeoSmart Technologies Wiki. Not only are NeoSmart the creators of EasyBCD, but the tutorial explicitly involves using it. The tutorial even has a link to the product information page and download page for EasyBCD (not just its Wikipedia entry).

Did you read the tutorial I linked to? It is hosted on the NeoSmart Technologies Wiki. Not only are NeoSmart the creators of EasyBCD, but the tutorial explicitly involves using it. The tutorial even has a link to the product information page and download page for EasyBCD (not just its Wikipedia entry).

yeah, sorry about that. I didn't click the link.

Windows takes little to learn. Linux, you never stop having to learn. When you think you do then something changes or makes it irrelevant. Only thing most users learn from Linux is how to google, copy and paste into terminal or remember to type sudo apt this and that. Ask how to do most anything in Linux and the immediate response or search result is "Open Terminal and type" Once it's setup the way you want regardless means little next to the whole point of using an OS..running applications. This is where it is entirely user dependant, some can make do, some can't. I have to have Netflix and ITunes, I can't just work around it and there is no workaround. Commercial support means a lot to most users.

Search results often tell you to "open a terminal and type", because its far easier to just have people copy and paste a simple command then to say "Open this, open this, open this menu, go here, do this etc...". I do tech support and often have people use the command prompt for somethings because its quicker than digging through the windows UI. For example all the "sudo apt stuff", such as adding ppa's, updating the system, and installing packages can be done via the GUI, instructions you find give you commands because its faster and easier to just input a single command.

And btw there is now a fairly easy workaround to get netflix on ubuntu: http://www.iheartubu...esktop-app.html

You just add that ppa and you get a working netflix icon.

Banshee works well as an itunes alternative, its got the amazon music store out of the box and can sync with many (but not all) apple devices.

  • Like 3

Search results often tell you to "open a terminal and type", because its far easier to just have people copy and paste a simple command then to say "Open this, open this, open this menu, go here, do this etc...". I do tech support and often have people use the command prompt for somethings because its quicker than digging through the windows UI. For example all the "sudo apt stuff", such as adding ppa's, updating the system, and installing packages can be done via the GUI, instructions you find give you commands because its faster and easier to just input a single command.

yea, they do that often for MS too. However that has nothing to do with getting consumer's to embrace or prefer Linux...well obviously. I will not keep clarifying my point any further just so you guys can debate about a series of Distrobution's where more than half of it's userbase has Windows as a second install. I'm about for making Linux a complete and competitive solution, for that we need some commercial support just to start and regardless...it'll never happen and you know it.

And btw there is now a fairly easy workaround to get netflix on ubuntu: http://www.iheartubu...esktop-app.html

You just add that ppa and you get a working netflix icon.

and that's cool, great start...and how long has Netflix been around on Windows? it's 2012 and we have some programmers just now getting out an "alternative" . great, wasn't around when I needed it or apparently easily found. However it never looks good to average joe when you have to point stuff like that out to them and they see this on the same web page

WARNING! You could screw up your system if you dont do this properly! You have been warned!

Edit the fstab file as root:

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

...and modify the line with your primary EXT3 file system. On that line where it says "errors=remount-ro" make the addition of ",user_xattr" so the result should look something like this:

UUID=94f7fc1e-fa27-4b24-99f3-4b461665a4a4 / ext3 errors=remount-ro,user_xattr 0 1..............

Again, it's nice to see more support....But if Netflix isn't making this themselves, then it's really not any closer to getting commercial support........do you even really understand what i'm trying to say here? Again, this isn't really about me nor would it complete my needs to ditch windows 100% anyway.

Banshee works well as an itunes alternative, its got the amazon music store out of the box and can sync with many (but not all) apple devices.

lol, i already said it's not an alternative. can't do much with it on an ipad really. been there, done that. You go out and buy an Ipad, take it home and connect it to your Linux and not use ITunes...get back with me on how that works out for ya.

This thread is about "Linux INSTEAD of Windows" and I made my valid points and experience that most user's can't just plop to Linux and be all happy happy, that was my whole point...i'm not talkn about just me, i'm talking about making Linux a truly viable competition to Windows and OSX to your average joe consumer. This isn't a debate, it's reality...if it were not, We would see far more sales of Desktop and laptop PC's that include Linux and offer commercial support. This isn't about which of us Geeks like what or can do what on Linux.

This isn't a debate, it's reality...

And, yet, we have gone on about it for 10 pages.

No, Linux isn't always perfect. If it was, it would be out in retail against MS and OSX.

yea, they do that often for MS too. However that has nothing to do with getting consumer's to embrace or prefer Linux...well obviously. I will not keep clarifying my point any further just so you guys can debate about a series of Distrobution's where more than half of it's userbase has Windows as a second install. I'm about for making Linux a complete and competitive solution, for that we need some commercial support just to start and regardless...it'll never happen and you know it.

and that's cool, great start...and how long has Netflix been around on Windows? it's 2012 and we have some programmers just now getting out an "alternative" . great, wasn't around when I needed it or apparently easily found. However it never looks good to average joe when you have to point stuff like that out to them and they see this on the same web page

Again, it's nice to see more support....But if Netflix isn't making this themselves, then it's really not any closer to getting commercial support........do you even really understand what i'm trying to say here? Again, this isn't really about me nor would it complete my needs to ditch windows 100% anyway.

lol, i already said it's not an alternative. can't do much with it on an ipad really. been there, done that. You go out and buy an Ipad, take it home and connect it to your Linux and not use ITunes...get back with me on how that works out for ya.

This thread is about "Linux INSTEAD of Windows" and I made my valid points and experience that most user's can't just plop to Linux and be all happy happy, that was my whole point...i'm not talkn about just me, i'm talking about making Linux a truly viable competition to Windows and OSX to your average joe consumer. This isn't a debate, it's reality...if it were not, We would see far more sales of Desktop and laptop PC's that include Linux and offer commercial support. This isn't about which of us Geeks like what or can do what on Linux.

As a linux user I don't by apple products in the first place because I know they don't have good linux compatibility. I'd get an android tablet :p

And you don't know that linux "will never succeed" any more than I know it will, its pointless speculation to make such a broad remark.

As someone that's used linux for years the situation for commercial support, hardware, support, and application has gotten FAR better than it used to be and continues to improve. Your right that for many average consumers its not there yet, but its always been making good progress. With more companies like valve getting involved we will see things getting even better.

  • Like 2

yea, they do that often for MS too. However that has nothing to do with getting consumer's to embrace or prefer Linux...well obviously. I will not keep clarifying my point any further just so you guys can debate about a series of Distrobution's where more than half of it's userbase has Windows as a second install. I'm about for making Linux a complete and competitive solution, for that we need some commercial support just to start and regardless...it'll never happen and you know it.

and that's cool, great start...and how long has Netflix been around on Windows? it's 2012 and we have some programmers just now getting out an "alternative" . great, wasn't around when I needed it or apparently easily found. However it never looks good to average joe when you have to point stuff like that out to them and they see this on the same web page

Again, it's nice to see more support....But if Netflix isn't making this themselves, then it's really not any closer to getting commercial support........do you even really understand what i'm trying to say here? Again, this isn't really about me nor would it complete my needs to ditch windows 100% anyway.

lol, i already said it's not an alternative. can't do much with it on an ipad really. been there, done that. You go out and buy an Ipad, take it home and connect it to your Linux and not use ITunes...get back with me on how that works out for ya.

This thread is about "Linux INSTEAD of Windows" and I made my valid points and experience that most user's can't just plop to Linux and be all happy happy, that was my whole point...i'm not talkn about just me, i'm talking about making Linux a truly viable competition to Windows and OSX to your average joe consumer. This isn't a debate, it's reality...if it were not, We would see far more sales of Desktop and laptop PC's that include Linux and offer commercial support. This isn't about which of us Geeks like what or can do what on Linux.

As a linux user I don't by apple products in the first place because I know they don't have good linux compatibility. I'd get an android tablet :p

And you don't know that linux "will never succeed" any more than I know it will, its pointless speculation to make such a broad remark.

As someone that's used linux for years the situation for commercial support, hardware support, and application has gotten FAR better than it used to be and continues to improve. You're right that for many average consumers its not there yet, but its always been making good progress. With more companies like valve getting involved we will see things getting even better.

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Siri AI now has a cross-platform app, which is supported on select models of iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. What's different about WWDC: I wrote a detailed feature this week discussing how Apple changed the WWDC keynote this year, blurring the lines between its operating systems. Apple didn't have dedicated segments for its operating systems this year and didn't even publish the official press releases. Liquid Glass slider (finally): It's that time of the year when Apple previews fresh updates for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, and other platforms. A new transparency slider for Liquid Glass is coming to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate. Is your device supported?: If you're wondering whether your Apple device supports the new developer beta builds, you can check the respective compatibility lists for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and watchOS 27. Siri AI not coming to Europe: Yes, that's true due to complications related to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). While Apple penned a blog post to tell its side of the story, a European Commission spokesperson told Neowin that the DMA does not prohibit Apple from launching its services in the EU; the company is simply required to comply with the law. New child safety features: Apple announced a trove of new safety features for kids, including a simpler setup experience for parents, Ask to Browse, Time Allowances, and a redesigned Screen Time UI. Parents can now visit a new website to find answers to common questions around child safety features. More cloud power: Apple's Private Cloud Compute cloud infrastructure will now run beyond its own data centers for the first time. It's working with Google and NVIDIA to run new Apple Intelligence workloads on Google Cloud systems powered by NVIDIA GPUs. This week in Meta news Catch up on the latest Meta news updates that arrived throughout the week: Data from outside: Meta is rolling out a new update globally to personalize your AI responses and primary feeds using data from outside businesses. It already targets ads based on shopping activity, but the latest development enables it to personalize other "parts of your experience." There is a toggle in the Settings to disable activity from other businesses; however, it won't prevent companies from sending your data to Meta. Level playing field: The European Commission has ordered the social media giant to restore access to WhatsApp for third-party AI chatbots, including ChatGPT and Copilot. Meta previously blocked rival AI chatbots from operating on WhatsApp, prompting the Commission to launch an antitrust investigation. Spying on users: On the flip side, WhatsApp accused the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm, NSO Group, of deploying a fresh wave of targeted "spear phishing" attacks against its users, which were thwarted by WhatsApp's security teams. Reorder profile grid: Adding some customization for the profile grid feature, Instagram now lets you rearrange posts in your profile without deleting and reuploading content. Go to your profile and long-press any thumbnail to find the "Reorder grid" option. This week in AI news Catch up on the latest artificial intelligence news updates that arrived throughout the week: Claude RAM hogger: Windows users are getting infuriated by Claude Desktop's hidden 1.8GB Hyper-V VM bug, which spins up if you use Claude Cowork or agent mode even once. It shows a Vmmem process in Task Manager, indicating 0% CPU usage but 1.8GB of RAM usage. Claude Fable 5: The new state-of-the-art AI model from Anthropic beats OpenAI's ChatGPT-5.5 in multiple AI benchmarks. Claude Fable 5 sits above the Opus models and outperforms most other generally available models across knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and more. However, the model was abruptly suspended after receiving an export control directive from the US government. Stack Overflow for AI agents: The popular Q&A platform has launched Stack Overflow for Agents in beta, which AI agents can use to share, find, and reuse coding knowledge. It explained that AI agents operate in isolation, creating an Ephemeral Intelligence Gap, and valuable tokens are wasted on something another agent has already solved. Upgrading Codex: OpenAI is buying a company called Ona, which makes secure cloud execution and orchestration technology for developers. The ChatGPT-maker aims to make Codex agents run for days without being tied to a local machine or an active session. It also announced a new developer mode in Chrome. This week in open-source news Catch up on some of the latest open-source and Linux updates that arrived throughout the week: Linux 7.1 rc7: Linux Torvalds dropped an optimized rc7 with crucial fixes for AMD and laptop hardware. He said that a stable version of Linux 7.1 could arrive next week, adding that the latest RC is not small, but smaller than recent releases. Alpine Linux 3.24: The latest Alpine Linux release added support for COSMIC Desktop, Linux 6.18, IPv6 installer support, automatic serial console configuration for headless setups, and major package updates and removals. This week in Microsoft News Microsoft had to shut down more than 70 GitHub repos after they were compromised by malware, Teams is getting a controversial tracking feature that users may hate, and the company explained why the new update makes PowerToys faster. You can check out Taras's freshly baked Microsoft Weekly roundup to catch up on all the interesting stories this week. This week in gaming The latest issue of Pulasthi's Weekend PC Game Deals curates several exciting games on sale this week. On the Epic Games Store, the new titles on display for grabs include Warhammer 40K Speed Freeks and The Ouroboros King. NVIDIA GeForce NOW's summer sale lowered the prices of both the Performance and Ultimate membership options for a limited time period. Meanwhile, the Xbox Free Play Days brought Undead Labs' post-apocalyptic title State of Decay 2, as well as two Team17-published titles. That said, here are some more stories from the gaming world: Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen expansion to bring snowy region, new updates also coming Playground drops 30 minutes of Fable gameplay, shows off life sim and morality system Playground Games confirms Forza Horizon 6 save wipe bug Doom: The Dark Ages Revelations expansion gives the Slayer a brutal Chain Spear State of Decay 3 is out in 2027, reveals Plague Nests with new co-op gameplay trailer From the review corner This week, Taras got his hands on the DuRoBo Krono portable e-ink reader, which comes with a $279 price tag. It's a smartphone-sized device with a rotating dial, sitting somewhere between premium and cheap in terms of build quality. Speaking of the pros, the physical controls are cool, the smart dial is useful, the battery life is good, and Android 15 has no-nonsense software. On the flip side, the device lacks software customization, the built-in AI needs improvement, the smart dial is a bit wobbly, and there is no ambient light sensor. EA Sports UFC 6 EA Sports UFC 6 does a better job at onboarding new players than most fighting games, according to Pulasthi's detailed review. The game comes with rewarding combat systems, top-notch animation, impressive impact physics, and visible damage on fighters. However, the menus lag a lot, grappling isn't very fun, and the flow state feels a little misplaced. More price drops! We got you covered with some hot tech deals all week. For some reason, if you missed out on a great discount, here is a summary of some recent deals that are still alive: GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC ICE 16G - $649.99 (13% off) 1TB Samsung T7 Portable SSD - $189.98 (31% off) AirPods Pro 3 - $179 ($50 off) Edifier R1280Ts Powered Bookshelf Speakers - $129.99 (24% off) To view all of our recent deals, click here. So, these were some of the biggest tech news and other updates from this week. There will be more issues of our 7 Days series in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing to extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option. Have a great weekend!
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