Crux of choosing an OS

[QCS]

2) Well, except the way Microsoft still can't even trust you to 'own' your own computer.

2) Why? I hear it a lot from Linux users. Never really understood why.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... ux-1160157

TL;DR?
http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... a-reality/

[Redspear]

I was about to reply that we work on Oolite as a hobby on our free time, but then I realized I am writing this from work... oh well.

[Tichy]

Arch Linux if you like to get yout hand dirty and build your own system (but you are not as crazy as Gentoo or Linux from scratch people ).
Fedora if you prefer something easy,
Debain stable for work or servers.

[Commander_X]

It all reduces to decision trees, starting with several main categories you can think of.
E.g. for the main categories price, software preferences, or gaming.

Price (descending)
- OS X (you're also really stuck with the hardware; the only options under $1000 are MacAir and Mini -- none of them really well equipped for main stream computing.)
- Windows
- Linux

Software preferences (that is mainly the ability to run a large range of programs) (descending)
- Windows (every other type of software under the sun, and their grannies will have a version running under Windows)
- OS X (most of the well known commercial packages will have a Mac version nowadays. YMMV)
- Linux (unfortunately, it is too easy nowadays to make the Linux apps available either on Mac or Windows, so the whole palette of sometimes high end applications, is very likely usable with the "competing" OSs)

Gaming* (descending)
- Windows
- Mac
- Linux
[*] The comment from software applies to Linux here, as well. Also there are some AAA products out there native for Mac.

Trying then to combine the options for your final choice could render it impossible, e.g. OS X _and_ heavy AAA gaming, or OS X _and_ up to $500 computer, or Windows Home Edition _and_ printing to a http shared printer.

[Diziet Sma]

If you want to learn, or are young, or technophile, or paranoid, or frustrated by people telling you what to use, choose a Linux distribution. If you are eager to learn much more without need to, create a Linux distribution

Arch Linux if you like to get yout hand dirty and build your own system (but you are not as crazy as Gentoo or Linux from scratch people ).

What's 'crazy' about Linux From Scratch? You'll learn a lot more about what makes an OS, and how it all works, than you will with Arch.. Arch user's hands are still squeaky-clean, compared to a LFS builder.

[Vincentz]

2) Well, except the way Microsoft still can't even trust you to 'own' your own computer.

2) Why? I hear it a lot from Linux users. Never really understood why.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... ux-1160157

TL;DR?
http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... a-reality/

Interesting reading. My guess is if they "locked" hardware, then, atleast in EU, it would be an obstruction of the free market forces (wrong word, right?).
They would prolly get a huge fine and be ordered to fix it. Iirc something less obtrusive happened earlier (was it with an integrated DVD player software or something. cant remember).
It has to be said though, that its not just being put there to be a PITA, but as a (pita) security feature. I would have hated it if they got it done on win8. I did NOT like the looks of that version.

I have to say, that while I'm a Windows user, I'm not considering myself a PC Master Race or a Windows Fanboy. Its imho just the lesser evil. It does have its shortcomings. Especially their "security features" such as UAC and their lock on Program Files folders, plus its bloating like a dead whale on the beach.

[Smivs]

2) Well, except the way Microsoft still can't even trust you to 'own' your own computer.

Just for clarity, I was specifically thinking of the EULA you have to sign - you know, the one that says although you've bought the O/S it isn't yours....and you've given them permission to rifle through your computer periodically so they can check you haven't done anything they disapprove of.
This old article from El Reg is worth a read before you buy Windows. It relates to Vista, but I bet things haven't got any better since then.

[Diziet Sma]

This old article from El Reg is worth a read before you buy Windows. It relates to Vista, but I bet things haven't got any better since then.

Chilling..

The ironic thing is, Micro$oft tells people to avoid open source software because "you can't hold anyone responsible for damages or loss caused by the software". Yet the reality is, due to their EULAs, you can't obtain any compensation for damages or loss caused by Micro$oft products either.

[NigelJK]

I see these arguments time and again. I repeat: GET A RASPBERRY PI and try them all (except Windows, but you know that already right?). Don't overlook the fact that if you buy into Windows/Linux/Mac (aka Linux) you are buying into (American) standards that are 20+ years old, and they are still crap. Jpeg,Mpeg - pah useless outdated (even in it's day) technology. Why are you restricted to colour depth (on all of these machines)? Even in the days of the BBC micro we weren't. Why has it taken 20 years to get to the point that you can only just get HD streamed over the internet? Acorn Replay would have been able to stream it in 1995, in 16.7M colours (the limit for 32bit computers)?

If you want to dig into 'how it works' you can't beat Risc OS + BBC BASIC VI

[Diziet Sma]

can only just get HD streamed over the internet? Acorn Replay would have been able to stream it in 1995, in 16.7M colours (the limit for 32bit computers)?

I'd love to see some figures to back that claim up. IMO, neither the Archimedes hardware, nor the typically available bandwidth in 1995, could even come close to coping with HD.

[Wildeblood]

Picking up Nigel's theme of they're all crap, what I'd like to know is why does my Windows 8 4-core Pentium machine run Oolite and Stellarium at almost exactly half the FPS of my Windows 7 2-core Celeron machine? So, ISTM Windows 8 is really crap.

[Diziet Sma]

Mac (aka Linux BSD Unix)

Fixed that for you..

[another_commander]

Picking up Nigel's theme of they're all crap, what I'd like to know is why does my Windows 8 4-core Pentium machine run Oolite and Stellarium at almost exactly half the FPS of my Windows 7 2-core Celeron machine? So, ISTM Windows 8 is really crap.

Well, that depends on a lot of factors, doesn't it? My 4-Core i7 2.8GHz with Windows 7 64-bit work machine runs Oolite with much lower FPS than my Vista 32-bit core 2 Duo 2.0GHz laptop at home. You know why? Because the former has an Intel HD for graphics while the latter has an NVidia 9600GTM. The OS is just a fraction of what's going on in the system and I think you can do valid comparisons only with exactly same hardware.

[Vincentz]

Picking up Nigel's theme of they're all crap, what I'd like to know is why does my Windows 8 4-core Pentium machine run Oolite and Stellarium at almost exactly half the FPS of my Windows 7 2-core Celeron machine? So, ISTM Windows 8 is really crap.

Well, that depends on a lot of factors, doesn't it? My 4-Core i7 2.8GHz with Windows 7 64-bit work machine runs Oolite with much lower FPS than my Vista 32-bit core 2 Duo 2.0GHz laptop at home. You know why? Because the former has an Intel HD for graphics while the latter has an NVidia 9600GTM. The OS is just a fraction of what's going on in the system and I think you can do valid comparisons only with exactly same hardware.

Yup. 2 things can really speed up an good ol' computer (PC)
1) Graphics card. Doesnt have to be that expensive. I bought a $100 AMD 7790 (including 25% danish VAT), which ran on a 7 year old 380 Watt PSU (which when broke was replaced by an 11 year old 400 Watt PSU ). It runs on 4 screens simultaneously with one of them being a Full HD TV (or on 3 monitor Eyefinity on games such as Skyrim and Arma 2, both on High settings).
2) SSD. If the bottleneck isn't the graphics card, there is a good chance it is the HD. While pretty expensive, rumor has it that SSDs will drop to half price after summer 2015 (unvalidated). Makes a 2 minute start up done in 15 seconds.

Of course other things like RAM and CPU increases performance, but not on the same scale as the aboves.

[NigelJK]

I'd love to see some figures to back that claim up. IMO, neither the Archimedes hardware, nor the typically available bandwidth in 1995, could even come close to coping with HD.

Well I had a 400x300 256 colour video of the original Thunderbirds 2 countdown running from a 1.8M (3.5 inch floppy) on my original 440 Archi, by the time 1995 came along we had the Risc PC (which according to DEC and Byte magazine was the fastest micro in the world at the time).
The trouble with MPegs etc is that you compress it at source send it down the line then decompress (both video and audio, there is no sync) at the other end, with the Replay system it was just a stream of data, compressed at time of capture. The RiscPC hardware had some clever adaptations which basically allowed for any theoretically possible screen dimensions and refresh rate coupled with a maximum colour depth only restricted by the bus size. In 1995 I was running 1280x1024 in 24bit (note that my first RPC was a mk1 with an arm610 cpu which used the top 8 bits for some cunning memory address techniques) 16M colours (analog in those days), and doing typesetting for various people. I also had the Video editing suit that allowed capture and 'compression' of video sources (you needed very large hdd's for this, mine was 200mb ) into Replay format. I captured all of the Gerald scarf animation sequences from Pink Floyd's The Wall and spliced them to together (this was at 800x600x1024 colours, probably better than the VHS it came from).

There were some pretty large 'pipes' around even in 1995, but these were mostly for commercial usage.
Acorn and ICL (along with Sainsburys, Tescos, high street banks, BBC and ITV) run a 15,000 home experiment around that time which allowed for on-line shopping, off-line viewing of downloaded video and games. Can't find the wiki for it now, but in it's day it was the 'way forward', and so it has proved, albeit using the internet and not dedicated lines.

Edited to add this link to the original plan for VOD:
http://en.inforapid.org/index.php?searc ... 0Top%20Box