- This topic has 20 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Mar 5-11:58 pm by Brian Masinick.
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Brian Masinick
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/linux-vs-windows
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Brian Masinick
rokytnji
Nice no nonsense comparison. I never could grok the tree analogy of the linux file structure system in my mind.
Everything clicked for me when I transposed it thinking of my Linux install as house and certain rooms are built to keep
the kids out without their permission. If the kids wanna play in that room. They better make copies 1st in case they break something.Everyone has their own way at looking at things.
Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problemsBrian Masinick
@rokytnji: Your analogies and interpretations are good too.
For me, when I got into using computers, at first I used mainframe servers, but very close to the time that I started using desktop systems I also started using UNIX systems, so I could see that the UNIX systems had a richer set of capabilities, though they lacked a simple, easy to use user interface. For many years I advocated simpler user interfaces, and eventually we did get simpler interfaces almost everywhere, but now many people have their noses in their phones or tablets and rarely put them down; therefore I question what I was advocating; had I seen then what I see now I may have sought a different way, like a way to put the stuff down.
Fortunately I have a good wife; if I am guilty of spending too much time with devices, I’ll hear it from her; I also see for myself the impact when I’m out in public; I have devices in my pocket or left behind; people have actually run into me because they’ve had their heads down and their minds preoccupied with whatever they are viewing or typing… enough, I’m about to take a break, lest I do it again myself!
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Brian Masinick
marcelocripe
Comparing Linux and Windows in 2022
Mr Brian, I think the main difference between some GNU/Linux and Windows that was not covered in the article is that with some specific operating systems, such as antiX, TinyCore, SliTaz, Puppy Linux and other few distribution options, allow computers that are considered junk by Microsoft to be used in full and are not junk.
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Comparing Linux and Windows in 2022
Senhor Brian, eu acho que a principal diferença entre alguns GNU/Linux e o Windows que não foi abordada na matéria é que, com alguns sistemas operacionais em específico, como por exemplo, o antiX, o TinyCore, o SliTaz, o Puppy Linux e outras poucas opções de distribuições, permitem que os computadores que são considerados lixos eletrônicos pela Microsoft sejam utilizados de forma plena e não são lixos eletrônicos.
Brian Masinick
andyprough
Hi Brian, that article is one of the best comparisons I’ve seen in awhile, because it was all technical rather than emotional like so much of the tech press these days.
I agree with @marcelocripe, for me it’s all about being able to consistently use the machines that I want for as long as I want to, without being forced every few years to upgrade. MS and Apple are constantly progressing their customers through required hardware upgrade paths.
Also, some years back I fell in love with building my own versions of programs from source code and tinkering with the config files to build them the way I want. You can probably still do that with Apple and MS, but not for the guts of the OS. One of my favorite packages to build and tinker with is the kernel – I doubt that you can ever build your own kernel for Windows or Apple. I also love to compile and configure and re-program my own window managers – Is that even possible on Windows and Apple? Aren’t you stuck with whatever proprietary desktop they’ve made for you?
- This reply was modified 5 months, 4 weeks ago by andyprough.
Brian Masinick
@andyprough: I don’t build too many software packages any more, though I have actually built a few over the past couple of months.
I used to build the entire GNU Emacs collection occasionally. We had what we called a “contrib” package collection way back when I worked on Digital UNIX.
One of the packages SOME developers would build and add to the “contrib” area was GNU Emacs. I used to sometimes grab my own, and at times they were newer than the versions in ‘contrib”, so one time I got to be the contributor for GNU Emacs and I was happy!EndeavourOS has a pretty good collection of software, yet every once in a while something hasn’t been built into binary form. Like Arch Linux, their have AUR packages, and on top of that, the ability to build packages from source. It’s cool, but some of them take pretty long to build.
The one factor that has me building LESS software is that the set-ups on my laptops are not always conducive to building a lot of software; the process is pretty involved for some of the newer, larger software packages, so I tend to wait for these to be built for me. One thing we have in common is that we’ve built kernels from source.
I think most of the time that I built kernels from source I had a server where I could build it in the background. I still prefer to build it somewhere other than an interactive machine I’m working on, though I’ll do that in a pinch, especially if I’m grabbing a bite to eat or doing something else; naturally I review logs and status to make sure the process works properly!
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Brian Masinickseaken64
Exactly, Marecelo. Windows has abandoned a lot of perfectly good machines. And Linux has kept them going.
But Linux changes all the time also. At least there is usually a work-around and community of users who can support the work-arounds. With Windows you either keep up with the latest version or you get nothing. (Although there are some groups of users who also contribute to keeping an old Windows program funtioning or share tips on using an old version. Similar to Linux users).
The things I had the hardest time with was permissions and multi users. My DOS/Windows background did not prepare me for that. And I had no contact with NT or Novell Netware in my early days. So the security model was difficult for me to get my head around.
Seaken64
Brian Masinick
@Seaken64: Through either good fortune or just due to the fact that I worked for a hardware/software manufacturer (Digital Equipment Corporation for about 13 years, I had opportunities to use free software, commercial software, and competing hardware and software. Sometimes when we had competing hardware on premises we were porting our software onto those platforms; other times it was to assess the competition. I did two tours of duty not only as a software engineer, I also took on System Administration, especially for those multi-platform environments, and I was also a very good problem solver, so we had a small team of people who’d only have a couple of departments they’d support, and we’d spend the rest of our time either building tools for the team or stepping in to help them with their biggest problems.
I found one system that had some significant network performance issues; it was a multi-clustered (multi-system, multi-disk, multi-application environment). One solution was to keep the systems in a clustered environment, so they could provide natural backup for one another, but by default, separate a few of the different major workloads. One had a heavy market Email messaging application – it was, after all, a sales and marketing organization. I put all of their background network Email on one server and increased the number of network links allowed to be open – only on that server, then their other server could be devoted to their own people and their office automation (Email, word processing, spreadsheet environment). That worked great; I could tune each server optimally for the different workloads those systems used, so large numbers of network links on one, and large amounts of disk and user memory on the other one. Nobody else thought of or tried that solution so my approach was appreciated and applauded.
Another time we were trying to sell many workstations to telephony customers and we were also trying to sell them office automation stuff on their big servers and network services on their workstations. Once again, tuning for the workload matters. I increased the working set of the default memory allocated to each user to be anywhere from 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 or full track blocking (this was BEFORE we had GB and TB of memory available). Big performance gains instead of 5 records per block – that was so fifties and sixties – too small; now I’d allocate an entire cylinder of memory for a single read or write unless the system was super old and extremely memory constrained!
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Brian Masinick
blur13
Started reading the article but stopped at:
“There can be two files in the same directory with the same name in Linux. In Windows, users cannot have two files in the same folder with the exact same name.”
Thats a pretty big mistake for a technical article comparing linux and windows. I mean, in Linux “users cannot have two files in the same folder with the exact same name” as well.
- This reply was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by blur13.
Brian Masinick
I was thinking that they were considering version numbers – file names with ;1, :2, etc. but they were mentioning the use of upper and lower case letters; CLEARLY in Linux even one case change makes the file DISTINCT, in Windows, the difference isn’t even noticed, EXCEPT if it’s in some kind of POSIX/UNIX/Linux layer in the Windows environment; such an environment SHOULD distinguish these, otherwise it’s not a proper implementation; but who knows; that quirk probably DOESN’T work on Windows.
The other comment is that using subtle differences between filenames is POOR PRACTICE on ANY operating system, whether it WORKS or NOT!
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Brian MasinickColonel Panic
One difference for me is that I can update my Linux distro whilst I’m still using it; in Windows, I’ve seen normal business held up for a whole morning whilst a suite of computers downloads and installs the latest security update from Redmond.
The other, perhaps obvious point is that if this machine (which has a motherboard more than ten years old now) dies overnight, I can buy a new (or secondhand) machine, take the same DVD-R disk I used to install the *distro I’m using to type this in on it and install the same operating system on the “new” machine – all without paying a penny. If I tried to do that with Windows, Redmond would want to charge me for a new licence.
*Crunchbang Plus Plus at the moment.
Brian Masinick
@colonel-panic: great points!
The flexibility, usability, ability to update, the ability to have very many different configurations and uses for Linux software.Someone was asking about upgrading from a 3 year old version of Linux. Yes, it’s possible, though it may not be trivial.
I suggested that they save and backup their system and also copy files of interest and then install a newer version and then copy back files of interest. I was serious that this would probably be easier and safer, but it MAY be possible to simply change the release details for the repository and upgrade.
Yes, that might be possible but it might also break something. It depends greatly on which major components are undergoing change. I’ve done crazy stuff with Sid, TRYING to break it and it’d continue to work. Another time though I did a change when networking was undergoing changes and broke it completely. I always have spare systems so I installed a newer one, so I follow my own advice.
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Brian MasinickBobC
Comparing Linux and Windows in 2022
Mr Brian, I think the main difference between some GNU/Linux and Windows that was not covered in the article is that with some specific operating systems, such as antiX, TinyCore, SliTaz, Puppy Linux and other few distribution options, allow computers that are considered junk by Microsoft to be used in full and are not junk.
But its not just the machines that are treated as useless junk, its also the PEOPLE that own them…
Not only is a machine a terrible thing to waste, so are the owners that couldn’t afford new ones capable of running MS’s latest crud.
marcelocripe
But its not just the machines that are treated as useless junk, its also the PEOPLE that own them…
Not only is a machine a terrible thing to waste, so are the owners that couldn’t afford new ones capable of running MS’s latest crud.
We cannot forget that the person had to work to be able to buy the computer that became obsolete for the big corporations. These same corporations produce a product with an estimated date to become obsolete, making consumers their slaves.
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But its not just the machines that are treated as useless junk, its also the PEOPLE that own them…
Not only is a machine a terrible thing to waste, so are the owners that couldn’t afford new ones capable of running MS’s latest crud.
Nós não podemos nos esquecer que a pessoa teve que trabalhar para conseguir comprar o computador que se tornou obsoleto para as grandes corporações. Estas mesmas corporações produzem um produto com a data estimada para se tornar obsoleto fazendo com que os consumidores se tornem seus escravos.
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