Linux and Windows Woes

DarkPath · 2006-03-04 03:43:15

Ok, so I've been in and out of Linux for a few years now... at first, my big question was which distro to use but Arch has since solved that one quite nicely. ;-) However, now I seem to be having a different problem--I just keep going back to Windows. I'm not sure exactly why this is, but I do. From a technical standpoint, I feel that Linux is superior in many ways... sometimes drastically so. On a few points, I notice the shortfallings of Linux, but generally those are due to lack of support from proprietary companies (big example being, say, ATI drivers for Linux... nVidia is decent, but still not the level of their Windows drivers).

Perhaps it has something to do with my habits. I started learning computers on Windows and have used it since. I can get a Windows machine up and running in about as much time as it takes me to install Windows, grab the latest patches/service packs, and install a list of programs. From there, it's generally just tweaking stuff and getting all my settings squared away again. The thing is, I'm getting to the point where I can do this with Linux as well! The problem is that even still, I go back to Windows! This could be me just being afraid to take the dive and switch over... but I just don't know. Gaming is important for me, so it's almost a necessity to have Windows available. Also, I find that, in general, Windows is a bit more user friendly. Now, I don't mean this so much as Windows itself but more the programs available only for Windows. A couple of examples I can think of off the top of my head are Trillian for IM and uTorrent for BitTorrent. Both of these are things that I do very often. Yes, on Linux I use GAIM, but it just doesn't have everything that Trillian does... and I've been hard-pressed to find good hotkey support for GAIM (any suggestions on that would be HIGHLY appreciated, however ;-)). I use the Official BitTorrent client in Linux though... I've thought about Azureus, but it's just too bloated! uTorrent is great in that it's small, ZERO bloat, and uses an amazingly small amount of memory. Again, any suggestions on another client would be highly appreciated. ;-)

I enjoy Arch and it's simplicity/configurability/intuitiveness... but I just keep going back to Windows. Any have some ideas? Maybe I just need to make Arch more of a GUI-only system... have it boot into the X server with a graphical login... at the moment, I always start on the console and startx. Believe me, I'm a Linux fanboy/enthusiast through-and-through... I always pimp Linux/Arch whenever the opportunity presents itself... but what kind of fan am I if I only use Linux sparingly at best? :oops:

/Sorry for the kinda long post/rant, I think I just needed to spout off stuff, heh
//Broke up with my g/f of ~3.5 years a week ago... so if I seem indecisive or whatever, that's probably why ;-)
///The Arch community rules! Too bad I'm surely classified as a lurker... heh

Cerebral · 2006-03-04 05:09:08

I was similar when first starting to use Linux.. possibly because I had problems getting my wifi drivers installed and because I had more time for gaming when I first started playing with Linux than I do now.

However, I decided I'd 'make the switch' some time ago - copied my thunderbird mail and my firefox bookmarks over onto a shared fat32 partition, and started messing around with Arch. I made myself get everything set up - gaim/thunderbird/firefox/whatever else I needed, then just stuck with it and made sure not to reboot into windows for a while. I think I used... maybe KDE at the start, then went to E16 and finally settled just now on xfce; started with a graphical login but I was doing too much fiddling around with ATI's drivers for that to be terribly reliable, so I've recently gone to console-login + startx.

My advice is to just set it up, then force yourself to stay in Linux for a while. Eventually I became more used to this environment than windows, and just having such a powerful command line in comparison makes me use things like cygwin whenever I'm back IN windows now. Recently had to reinstall Windows because of some problem or another, and decided to do a simple, barebones install - nothing but the gaming apps I want.

So yeah... I guess the point of this long-winded reply is to just get yourself booted into an environment you like in Linux, and keep yourself there for a bit. Eventually it'll be like a second home.

shbang · 2006-03-04 06:00:25

If you like windows use it. a computer is just a tool to be used. use it to YOUR best advantage. sorry for short reply, it's not brain surgery. the most important thing is to understand your environment and know how to use it.

codemac · 2006-03-04 14:09:52

For me it's about what I need to get done on my computer. Everything I need to do fall under a set of categories. Programming/schoolwork, email/net-things, gaming. Linux does the first two better than windows, so I have Linux as the default boot option in grub, and the one labeled "Counter Strike: Source" below it.

What you should really do if you are having a struggle with this is figure out what categories of stuff you tend to do most, and see if Linux or Windows has the better way of doing it. My bet is you'll choose linux unless the only thing you do is play video games and program in .NET/C#

iphitus · 2006-03-05 02:21:38

codemac wrote:

My bet is you'll choose linux unless the only thing you do is play video games and program in .NET/C#

And even then, there's mono, countless native games and cedega

twpvw5 · 2006-03-05 07:19:23

Ya, know it's possible to use both. I personally use arch at work for web devlopement and at home for my financial planning, school work, etc... but when I want to play a game, I just boot over into windows. both are fast , and stable when properly maintained and they both have their strengths and weeknesses you just have to figure out what you need each of them for and when. I don't think I'll ever go all linux because I need some software that is windows only but that really doesn't bother me as long as it's the best software for the job at hand.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-03-04 03:43:15

Linux and Windows Woes

#2 2006-03-04 05:09:08

Re: Linux and Windows Woes

#3 2006-03-04 06:00:25

Re: Linux and Windows Woes

#4 2006-03-04 14:09:52

Re: Linux and Windows Woes

#5 2006-03-05 02:21:38

Re: Linux and Windows Woes

#6 2006-03-05 07:19:23

Re: Linux and Windows Woes

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