Maybe it’s a German thing.
I did find Dells that could be bought without an OS, but they were enterprise grade and cost the earth.
Same here, but I didn’t spend a lot of time looking, After 3 stores I quit trying.
When my Windows98 finally got me aggravated enough to move on I figured I’d try another OS
I asked “what do you have other than Window?” and the answer was always “we don’t”
Those calls are rife in Australia, too. It’s one of my favorite sports to string them along as long as possible—seeing how long they can put up with me. First, I have to get the computer on, which is very difficult for me, and then establish that by “keyboard” they don’t mean the hooks on the wall where I hang my keys, etc. (You get the picture.) It’s amazing how long some of them persist, despite rising frustration. 
1 Like
I never liked Windows and have been using various versions ever since Win 3.1. Far too bloated and so many unnecessary programs which I never used. Software utilities are not a choice, always included and if deleted the risk is that some shared library disappears making other programs inoperable.
Numerous time I installed Linux but always reverted back, mostly because of the infuriating steps required to install software. Linux now seem to be gradually getting their act together. The majority of software does not require Googling for the specific software version and then terminal access to cut & paste the cryptic command string. That is one definite plus point for Windows and believe Apple even make the task simpler!
About a year ago I installed LinuxMint 17 (from the thumb-drive). It is running on a 20 Gig Solid State Drive partition, very fast dual boot, shared Windows folders and delighted with the improvements. Fortunately the majority of software is now even easier to install and I do especially like the optional operating system/software update procedure. I also installed the in-house WAMPP/XAMPP equivalent and after initial teething problems am impressed (thanks @Pullo.)
The desktop is very similar to Windows 7 and should be easy for anyone switching to LinuxMint. Beware of the LinuxMint 17.1 desktop configuration, it is way too complicated. After numerous changes I was unable to return to the basic settings and resorted to a new installation.
Ever since good old Dos I have always considered the graphical operating system to be a glorified menu that should only be used to select and run programs. Operating system software programmers seem to forget this fact and are forever making unnecessary enhancements.
Synaptic Package Manager: search for what you want, check the box, click “Apply” and you’re done. It will automatically advise you of any additional packages required and select them for you. So simple, even my husband can use it.
It only works for stuff in the repositories, of course, but that’s most of what I want.
This is the problem I found; if you wanted something out of the ordinary it could be painful to install
This happens on most software and a lot of hardware. They think by adding a load of options it makes the product more attractive rather than sorting out any base problems; that would involve to much hard work.
Digital cameras are one such example; they add a load of in camera filters etc. How many people use these filters more than once or twice especially on dslr’s?
1 Like
Probably the reason why I have mine set to output RAW only - I’ll decide what filters (if any) I want to use, once it’s on a screen large enough to see what effect they’re having.
As most others, I tried Linux every couple of years, found it lacking and reverted to Windows.
I’ve been using it full time for a couple of years now and this time round have yet to find any program that I couldn’t install from a repository (official or unofficial) or as a .deb file.
I do quite a bit of Ruby and JavaScript stuff. The development environment offered by Linux is simply leaps and bounds ahead of that offered by Windows.
1 Like
Just out of curiosity, can you quantify the improvements under Linux for me a little? I’m not challenging the statement, I just want to better understand what it means for you in practice.
Gladly.
Starting with Ruby version managers, it is a piece of cake to get rbenv or rvm up and running and to compile and install multiple versions of Ruby. Neither of these projects offers Windows support at all. The last version manager I tried on Windows was pik, which has been discontinued. Maybe another project sprang up in the meantime, but I haven’t tried it.
Then you have the installing of gems. On Windows you have to install Ruby’s dev kit (which includes a bunch of Linux tools) to create a sensible build environment. I had countless headaches trying to install FXRuby (although that got better when the project changed hands). I also had considerable problems with the myslq2 gem and the rmagik gem.
Then there is the question of getting a server stack working. On Linux you do:
sudo apt-get install lamp-server^
On Windows the process is (or at least was) considerably trickier. I can remember running into mysql and ruby version incompatibilities.
Working in the terminal is nicer in Linux. Ever tried copy/pasting stuff from Windows command prompt?
Adding variables to your environment is nicer, too.
Reagrding JavaScript, npm is buggy on Windows and can break completely when file and folder paths longer exceed 260 characters. This is currently unfixed.
This is just off the top of my head : )
I must admit, my limited attempt at getting Ruby functioning on my Win8 laptop whilst at SXSW did lead me to a similar conclusion, though I’m nowhere near being as far into things as you are - intuitively it feels right though. Fortunately I have a handy Ubuntu LAMP server sitting up a corner to play with, though that’s only accessible when I’m at home. [Note to self: stop trying to get clever when you’re on the move…]
If you’re interested in getting rbenv up and running on Linux, I wrote a short tutorial here.
Other than that, if you have any Ruby/Linux type questions at any point, feel free to ask.
I’ll bear that in mind, thanks. For the moment, I’m trying to get my HTML/CSS/JS front-end chops in some kind of order, then onto the bigger stuff. My aim whilst at SXSW was to see how much I could follow before getting hopelessly lost - in that regard, I was quite successful… 
Sorry, off-topic. Back to the Linux question…
Adobe. I need Photoshop/Illustrator (ideally latest and greatest ) and I havn’t had the best of luck running it with Wine. It’s the only reason I have Windows/Mac installed.
Good luck with that : )
I bit the bullet and invested a couple of weeks in learning Gimp (which suffices for my needs).
I did manage to get quite a lot of the Adobe CS3 series up and running using Wine.
Yeah I had it all running fine till CS3 but then things started not working with regards to Hardware Acceleration and I had to bite the bullet. Considering they are basically giving away Windows 8/10 work pays for the mac’s it’s not the end of the world.
Absolutely. It’s all about knowing what you want to do with your system.
I had to edit a svg a while back. I tried on Linux. Hated it (and was unsuccessful). I then handed it off to the designer at work—it took him about 3 minutes to make the change on his iMac in Illustrator.
What is stopping me switching to Linux? Nothing, I’ve been using Linux exclusively for the last 3 or 4 years.
Since making the switch every time I have had to use windows 8 in a VM I hate it and cant wait to get back.
Things I love about Linux:
- Everything is free. The only paid piece of software I’m using is Sublime Text
- Speed… my mid-range laptop boots to the desktop in under 10 seconds and everything is much faster than windows. My hex-core xeon desktop is even better.
- Virtual Desktops
- Proper package management. The windows software management method of downloading a .exe file from arbitrary websites and having its own installer seems so antiquated these days. Being able to update all of the software on my PC with one command is so much more civilised and a real time saver.
I started on Mint then switched to Arch for the rolling release model. One thing that annoyed me about Mint is not being able to use the latest and greatest versions and doing a OS reinstall every 6 months to achieve that is not an effective use of my time.
Also look a Krita, I find it far better than GIMP for most tasks. GIMP has a few different filters but Krita, overall is far more user friendly and nicer to use.
Interesting, my girlfriend who isn’t particularly technical and uses her laptop for word processing, web browsing, managing her ipod and little else really likes Mint KDE. She was having problems with Windows 7 being incredibly slow, I switched her to Linux (After getting her to try a livecd) and she hasn’t looked back since.
1 Like
Thank you, I will check it out.
This was one of the things that prompted me to switch off Windows for development purposes. I actually ran out of space in my Path variable because it caps at 1024bytes. I had to add some custom folder variables to make it shorter, then when I ran out again I said “screw it” and installed Ubuntu again. (For the record, I think I found out later there was a better way to get around the Path variable max length restriction)
I always had issues with Wine for pretty much anything. Photoshop runs fine in a Virtual Machine, though. I actually got to where I preferred it, because I could boot from a VM saved state where Photoshop was already running, than I could booting Photoshop from scratch even from a SSD.
GIMP unfortunately is not an adequate replacement, even once you get around the learning curve. It’s ok for very basic stuff, but is terrible for anything more complicated.
Windows 10 is getting this as a native feature, finally. I still have to use Windows for work so I’m kind of excited about this feature. Even if it’s probably going to be at least 3yrs before I get it. lol