# I'm switching from Windows Vista to Mandriva Linux



## simnor

I have got really annoyed over the past three months with Windows, especially Windows Vista and the whole company behind it, and I have vowed to move away from the familiar Windows which i have been using since i was at junior school (good old Windows 3.1). I have started a blog which will report on my journey, please visit and leave your opinions. (http://thelinuxconvert.wordpress.com/).
I want to know other peoples opinions on this, it is a big step to take and it is a decision which I am hoping will help others to do the same in the future. So take a look, favourite it, subscribe to the feed, keep coming back, totally ignore it if you want. Let the conversion begin...


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## heyman421

there's a reason so many people use windows

unless you're just a very casual computer user, you'll be back

or at the very least dual booting


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## Irishwhistle

Switching to Linux is a good idea. It is a bit tricky to learn, but once you learn you will be glad you did.

~JordanII


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## simnor

I will be dual booting, and i will maybe run windows xp in virtualisation software from within Linux but i will be doing this for only one reason and that is that i write software, for Windows and until i understand linux programming that will remain the case, but i will be using linux for everything else. I will never fully come back because of the principle of Microsoft's look on the computing world, all they want to do is dominate every part of it and i will not support that especially when they are just copying other companies and services rather than thinking of their own.


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## heyman421

dude, do you think microsoft cares if you use windows 100% of the time or 2% of the time?

You're still using windows, you've accomplished nothing.

That's like buying a copy of windows, and then refusing to use it, like you're sticking it to the man.  You've still given them their money, do you think they care whether you use it or not?

Get real, man.

You may as well just keep using windows, and switch to using freeware apps instead of purchasing commercial ones.  There's absolutely no difference.


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## simnor

And that is exactly MS's problem, thats all they care about, money, they dont care if i am happy with the product or not. Linux has a massive community behind it where people dont care about money, they care about the user and that is what I want to be part of. If i could write programs for linux and get as many people use them as i do for windows then I would start writing linux apps, but i cant so for now, i will need to use windows to do it, i dont have a choice, apart from not write software, that would be my career out the window


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## heyman421

Why'd you even make this thread?  You just sound like an idiot.

Not only are you "making a stand against microsoft" by continuing to use Microsoft products.

But you also plan to embark in a career writing software for their operating system.

Nicely done.


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## simnor

> You just sound like an idiot.



Cheers! I noticed today how nice Linux users are and the support they give you, an now I've noticed the difference between Windows users and Linux users, a linux user wouldn't call me an idiot


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## heyman421

Dude, in the course of one paragraph you villainized microsoft for their interest in money, while at the same time insisting that you needed to base your own programming career in the windows market, in fear of lack of profitability otherwise.

You ARE an idiot.  A linux user just wouldn't admit it, because they're probably all just as confused and greedy as yourself.


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## simnor

> greedy



What do you mean greedy?


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## heyman421

You want to switch to a FREE operating system, because microsoft is only interested in money.

While at the same time preparing to write your OWN software for windows, in order to make money.

That would be the textbook definition of greed.  Taking and not giving.

You're a dreamer, man.  You're not understanding how the world works.  If everyone switched to the free operating system, there would be no money for you regardless of what operating system you write it for.


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## simnor

everybody has to make money in this world, thats how the world works, if that means that i write software for windows it is because that is where the market is, if linux had more users then i would write for linux, what will actually probably happen is that i will write for windows, linux and mac, and even if i was making money out of my software, i would at least write it for the user not the bank balance.

I dont agree with the fact that you think linux users are confused and greedy, call me greedy if you like, thats your opinion on me in a couple of posts on this thread, but i dont think linux users would be too impressed with you calling them confused and GREEDY.


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## Shane

i say good luck with your switch simnor,Ive been wanting to do it for a long time but i just realy didnt have the time or patients to learn how to use linux properly and plus im a gamer so like yourself would have to either Dual boot linux with Xp or use virtualisation software from within Linux.

there is a programme called parallels which allows you to run windows under linux and you can fast switch between them which is good.

However what concearned me is how much ram it would use up using parralels because been a gamer i like as much free memory as possible when gaming and as you can see i have a very low end system


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## patrickv

some of the members are discouraging simnor from switching. it's his choice.Like navakonaza said if you're a gamer it's better you use virtualisation but you need ram to run vm + your linux host. note that software won't be the same on linux if you're a newbie on mandriva go to www.mandriva.com .

hope your switch works cause mine did..lol!!!


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## simnor

Great to see support from Linux users instead of been called an idiot from a windows fanboy


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## PC eye

Speaking of Mandriva I plan to be adding that to Solaris 10 on the XP Pro sata drive that follows after the XP Home primary ide multibooting with VIsta Home Premium. That will see 5 OSs on the system here. The one drawback having previously run Fedota and 98 along with XP on the old case was dsl! So I keep getting stuck running some MS version of an OS. Just find a good universal boot loader either installed into the Windows mbr or boot a good ubuntu boot manager floppy to choose the partition. That will then load the OS found on it. Have a floppy dirve? Maybe a bootable cd then.


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## _simon_

Wish you the best of luck with your switch, remember there is a learning curve, so don't beat yourself up if you install it and you're totally lost heh

Not used Mandriva myself, but heard good things about it.



heyman421 said:


> there's a reason so many people use windows
> 
> unless you're just a very casual computer user, you'll be back
> 
> or at the very least dual booting



I'm not a casual user, yet I don't have Windows installed at all on this machine. I switched in November 2005.

The real reason that so many people use Windows is because it comes pre-installed on most machines. With Dell about to sell Linux pre-installed machines, this will probably change pretty soon.


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## Shane

Simon@Linux said:


> With Dell about to sell Linux pre-installed machines, this will probably change pretty soon.



realy  

i didnt know they was gonna start doing that  

Ive yet to try out Mandriva like you simon,My faverite distro would be Suse.


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## _simon_

Nevakonaza said:


> realy
> 
> i didnt know they was gonna start doing that
> 
> Ive yet to try out Mandriva like you simon,My faverite distro would be Suse.



Where have you been? It's been all over the news for a while now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6506027.stm

http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=49646

http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsid=8255

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=8526

etc.


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## codeman0013

I understand he is switching but according to the forum rules this thread can be considered spam. He was not asking for help or asking for advice in his switch his initial post was simply to say i'm switching and advertise his dang blog. He never says why he is fed up with vista or if he has even used it it sounds to me like he is just mad becuase he cannot afford vista and wants it. This thread should have been put into the general off topic chat as it has nothing to do with help or needing anything from anyone here and in my opinion it was started to simply get arguements out of users. This thread has been reported to the mods so we will see if it stays open or not..


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## simnor

OK, then here goes...
i opened this thread because i do want help and advice from linux users, i didn't expect it to get into a heated debate. I have got Vista and have been using it for three months, but everytime i turn it on something goes wrong with it, after 5 minutes booting it, windows explorer crashes, non of my devices work, i havent been able to print from it for 3 months, i haven't been able to use my sound card, bluetooth or VOIP phone all because of driver issues. 



> I want to know other peoples opinions on this


taken from my first post, yeah, cause i am not asking for advice!

This thread has gave me a lot of good advice, just because i didnt name it "Should i switch to linux", or "vista has annoyed me are there any alternatives?", i havent done this to advertise my blog, i have enough people go to it without this thread, i linked to it so that people helping me in this thread could have got some more details about what i wanted to do. i do not class this as spam, i know what spam is it happens all the time on my forum, i wont link to it because then you'll acuse me of "spamming" again.
I dont mind if this thread gets taken off, it doesnt really bother me, all it has done is made me more determined to switch to Linux, obviously this forum doesn't cater for Linux enough, all i see is Win Vista or XP.


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## codeman0013

Sounds to me like you have a bad install of windows or a bad version where did you get your cd? I havent had one problem ever with mine and i downloaded the original imave that came out with msdn in november and i have it on my laptop and pc and everything works fine for me...


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## PC eye

The thing I am looking at here since it is in the "Operating Systems" section is the problems? people are having with the new version of Windows is a lack or studying what changes were made as well as what new features are seen. The only problems seen since 2/3 when the retail version went on is based on the need for better sound drivers! for the Creative Audigy 4 Pro currently used. The need to replace some softwares for a newer versions was expected just when first going to XP.

The Classic Look is an easy thing to revert to if that's the problem? How about the new User Account Control getting in the way? That can be disabled. The main problem running Linux here is that the dsl provider doesn't supply any driver support for non MS OSs.  gggrrr...!   So you know why MS has been on for some time now. Adding drives to a system does allow more space to multiboot Windows with other OSs however.


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## jagwah

> and plus im a gamer so like yourself would have to either Dual boot linux with Xp or use virtualisation software from within Linux. . . . here is a programme called parallels which allows you to run windows under linux and you can fast switch between them which is good.
> 
> However what concearned me is how much ram it would use up using parralels because been a gamer i like as much free memory as possible when gaming and as you can see i have a very low end system



I am I guess, what most people would call a hard core gamer. That is basically what I use a PC for, if it wasn't for gaming, I wouldn't even own one. And wouldn't you know it, here I am using Linux(Mandriva) exclusively, no windows to be found here, (_except for those things you open to let in the fresh air_). But I guess to be fair, my case may be  a little different, and I may just have a little luck on my side. You see all the games I play run fine, and run natively under Linux. I basically play games from id software, Quake/Doom series, I also play a little UT2004 (also runs natively under Linux), the descent 1 & 2(which run fine vis a port which updates the games a bit) and a few select various other games. My only problem was that the Editing/Moding tools for Doom3 and Quake4 need to be run in a win32 environment, you can use gtkRadiant to build the your maps, and in the case of Doom3, you can compile the maps from within the game via the dmap command, however you miss access to some 'sub' editers in linux, Quake4 however, you can technically build your maps with gtkRadiant, but they are more or less useless to you, as you can not compile them, plus you have the afore mentioned problem of not being able to access 'sub' editors like the fx editor, gui editor etc. 

  So for some time I used to dual boot, but as time went on, and I experienced more of Linux and open source software, the day came when I just didn't have any desire/want to use Windows any longer. I had to decide whether to give up my desire to map for Doom3 and Quake4, or continue to use Windows, I chose the former, and haven't looked back since. I can still play Doom3 and Quake4, and I can map for all the previous Doom's and Quake's, plus I'm using an OS which I really like, and it's not just the OS, but the whole Idea behind FOSS (Free Open Source Software).

Anyway, That's a bit of my story, now to the use of 'Virtualization Software' as you already know it really does require a beefy machine, you are essentially running 2 OS's, and if you have a top line rig, that's not so much of a problem. However a better(_but no perfect by any means - yet_) are things like TransGaming's 'Cedega', (_which is based on 'wine_')

http://www.transgaming.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=2&meid=-1

or 'wine' which is include in with a lot of distro's, or easily installed, as I said they are not perfect by any means, but they don't have anywhere near the overhead's of the Virtualization Software. And they are getting better and better all the time, supporting more and more games all the time.

But the best way would be if game developers started to support Linux more widely. This will only happen if Linux gets more of the market share and those companies see that there is $$$$ to be made by adding Linux Support. This may or may not happen, and Microsoft is doing it's best to make sure it doesn't, DX10 anyone?, putting the squeeze on OpenGL, etc, etc.

Anyway, all the best to you simnor, hope you find what you are looking for, may you find freedom in a world without windows or gates.


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## Andrewp30

i registered on this forum cause i had to reply to this.

i've been looking into switching to linux for about 2 days now. i have to do my research befor i unhook myself from my windows life support.

pro's of switching to linux:

linux is open source. it is constantly updated free buy thousands of users whos only and main goal is for better use of the users. windows is maintained by 1 company and is VERY limited on updates

linux will always be free thanks to the GPL

windows will never be free and old versions of windows will always eventually have to be replace because microsoft will stop updating them to deal with viruses and bugs (example of most recent one is that microsoft no longer supports windows 2000)

99% of software used on linux is free, 99% of software used on windows cost money

as of june 2004 linux had under 100 known viruses(defined in the book as any bugg, error, security loophole, or trojan. basicly anything bad), whereas windows had more than 70,000 known viruses.
 from the book linux+ Guide to Linux Certification  page 12 paragraph 3.

there are many sites out there with thousands of linux programs that are working and being devoloped.

the linux community is a lot more friendly all around than any community i have been to that focuses mainly on windows.

cons of switching to linux:

can't run many programs i use with windows and don't know what i would do without(cause i don't know what programs linux has out there) that are for windows only.


and on the side.

i have seen a lot of people here that have bashed simnor for realizing that there is a lot more options out there than just windows. and you guys should be ashamed of yourself for being so narrow minded and rude.

thanks for reading, thanks to you who support windows a lot and don't flame me.


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## Bl00dFox

heyman421 said:


> Dude, in the course of one paragraph you villainized microsoft for their interest in money, while at the same time insisting that you needed to base your own programming career in the windows market, in fear of lack of profitability otherwise.
> 
> You ARE an idiot.  A linux user just wouldn't admit it, because they're probably all just as confused and greedy as yourself.



Shutup, get a life. Linux users and support I find are only too happy to help, to learn and to support.

Remember, good on you for switching to linux, you will always have my support!


PS I recommend you switch to Ubuntu instead - THe community support is massive! I posted a thread on ubuntuforums.org and refreshed the page after 30 seconds - there were 4 replies!!!


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## patrickv

lol, y'all are funny. ive been reading this whole thread but at one point someone (i think heyman412) said, simnor will return to windows, trust me he will one day, i switched from windows to linux,then linux to windows now windows to Mac.

its logic there are things linux/mac CANNOT DO so thats why most ppl tend to dual boot.

but then again probably simnor is not the type of guy to do heavy work like me or any others.
but anyhows simnor, all the best in Linux world .

cheers


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## 20thCenturyBoy

Just to put this out there; I love Linux, particularly the Debian flavor. I'm an almost full-time user, with the occasional switch to Windows for games because Wine nor Cedega is powerful enough just yet. 

But honestly, I just don't see Linux becoming anywhere near as popular as Windows or OSX. I can see it becoming MUCH more popular than it is now. I'm sure more mainstream computer companies will follow Dells path. Personally, I believe we'll see Gateway releasing pre-instaled Linux systems next. I can see it taking 30% of the err, market, but no more. This is just with my understanding of the GPL and open-source. I believe the free spirit of open-source will be what actualy keeps Linux from becoming a contender with Microsoft and Apple.

But, I know next to nothing about the GPL and things of that nature. These are just my thoughts after being a Linux user for six months. By the way, when I refer to the "market", I mean desktops.


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## luckyedboy66

heyman421 said:


> dude, do you think microsoft cares if you use windows 100% of the time or 2% of the time?
> 
> You're still using windows, you've accomplished nothing.
> 
> That's like buying a copy of windows, and then refusing to use it, like you're sticking it to the man.  You've still given them their money, do you think they care whether you use it or not?
> 
> Get real, man.
> 
> You may as well just keep using windows, and switch to using freeware apps instead of purchasing commercial ones.  There's absolutely no difference.



....buzz killer!


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## Kamilion

Howdy. I'm another recent switcher.
I've been using computers close to since I was born, my father had a TRS-80, and I've gone through all the greats: Commodore 64, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, PC.

Recently, I was getting sick of XP and all of the hoops it made me jump through.

I've been a linux user since ~1995, redhat to debian to linuxfromscratch to gentoo, and now Ubuntu. My VPS server still runs gentoo since it's only got 96MB and I happen to like -Os -pipe.

My Desktop runs ubuntu 7.10 with compiz-fusion.
Athlon 2600+ on nforce2, 2GB ram, GeForce 6600.

Even with my linux command line skills, I havn't had to resort to using terminal except in two instances:

A: I had to tweak my xorg.conf to fix compiz-fusion. Took 3 minutes and nano was all I used.

B: I develop in ruby on rails, so I have to use the terminal to access that. No problems there. Even an OSX user would have to pop open a terminal from time to time for this.
Likewise with a windows user and cmd.exe.

So far, I've been pretty happy with ubuntu...
Snagged a copy of cedega and installed battlefield 2. Runs just fine, in fact, slightly faster than XP ran it.

I use gmail and google docs primarily, so firefox was all I really needed.

Just yesterday, I had to install VirtualBox and a copy of XP to generate a boot CD for a friend of mine, using ubcd4win -- http://www.ubcd4win.com -- and nlite to build a customized XP install -- http://www.nliteos.com/ -- and everything just worked.

I happened across simnor's blog from the ubuntu forums on configuring virtualbox for accessing usb devices (simple as adding a line to fstab).

Just had to register and add my two cents.

I've been using ubuntu for about 3 months now.

Everything's been stable, nothing's crashed.

I've been using Second Life for about 2 years, and it runs fine natively in linux, thanks to the efforts of the OSS community.

So far, my only problem is that my roommate keeps bugging me to reinstall XP dualboot so I can play games with him. Other than that, he uses my PC occasionally, and hasn't had any problems adjusting to the interface, and he's fairly computer illiterate.

Ubuntu -- so easy even my 85 year old grandmother could use it... And she has!
(After I spent ~15 minutes setting it up initially.)

I used to get telephone calls from her to fix her computer... Explorer would crash, she'd pick up IE spyware from ad banners because she didn't know any better, and assumed all these banner ads that advertise Fix your PC were true.

Honestly, since the ubuntu switch, I've not gotten a single phone call, and I just SSH into her PC occasionally and check up on it. Every time ubuntu pops up a software update, she installs it. No hassle, no problem.

On the subject of software updates...
Just about every day in the past week, Ubuntu's had a software update. I just right click the notifier icon, and select install. Type in my password, and I'm golden.

If only windows were this easy.

Good times,
-- Kamilion


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## alienationware

Simnor said:
			
		

> I will be dual booting, and i will maybe run windows xp in virtualisation software from within Linux but i will be doing this for only one reason and that is that i write software, for Windows and until i understand linux programming that will remain the case, but i will be using linux for everything else. I will never fully come back because of the principle of Microsoft's look on the computing world, all they want to do is dominate every part of it and i will not support that especially when *they are just copying other companies and services rather than thinking of their own*.



Lol, that is such an _original_ statement!  Not!  



			
				Avril Lavigne - Complicated said:
			
		

> *"Lay back it's all been done before..."*



...  Does not just apply to the software industry, but also the entertainment industry, businesses, basically everything that you do was already thought of by someone else way before you.  And you would think that things like Star Wars or Harry Potter are original?  I can show you where George Lucas ripped off the story line for Star Wars 1 to 3 if you like (hint some famous Asian soap opera written in the 50's-60's and still being remade ever so often.  The light saber and "kimono" that Luke wore was Japanese, but the story line for Darth Vader was Chinese in origin).  So, leave <strike>poor</strike> rich M$ alone for being unoriginal!


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## porterjw

And we brought up such an old Thread why...?


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## alienationware

Cuz I missed my chance to poke fun at him...


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