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how about a free open-source window compatible operating system

My understanding of Win10 is that it fixes most of the worst mistakes of Win8 and Win8.1, adds a few clear improvements over Win7 (like less bad use of large memory, and some basic virtual desktop support that has some of the features X got about three decades ago).

However, every new version of Windows screws with all the settings and organisation - it is a real pain. And every new version breaks /something/ that worked fine before (in my job, I have a lot of unusual programs).

As for speed differences between Linux and Windows - yes, Linux (especially with a lighter choice of desktop) is far better on more limited systems. But run Firefox or Chrome, and the browser will take far more resources than your OS and desktop regardless of the system - it is usually the apps that use resources, not the OS.

I pick Linux rather than Windows for most purposes, simply because it is a far better for most of the kind of things I want to do. (And I appreciate this doesn't apply to all users.)

Reply to
David Brown
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I always install Windows myself too - pre-installed systems are always sub-optimal. (OK, I admit it - I'm a computer geek. I spend plenty of time messing around with Linux, but I also spend plenty of time messing around with Windows. The difference is, one is fun and the other is mostly trying to fix broken systems.)

A lot of EDA software is Windows only, so you don't really have a choice in the matter. But where you /do/ have a choice, there is not such a big difference for people only using a few particular programs.

I think there are several factors here. A key one is that people who are not interested in computers tend to take what they are given, without considering that they could get something better. Since almost all laptops and desktops come with Windows "pre-installed" (I use quotation marks, because installing the "pre-installed" system often takes a great deal of time), that's what they get. People who /are/ interested in the systems, and /want/ to mess around, are a lot more likely to install Linux than the average computer user.

There is also far more to mess around with in Linux - this makes it fun and addictive. If you put a second hard disk in your Windows computer, pretty much your only option is to format it as a second drive and put stuff on it. If you put a second disk in your Linux system, you can use it in a dozen different ways - make raid setups, use virtual partitions, have a filing system that spans the disks, mount the new filing system in different places, etc. Playing around here is not productive if you are trying to design electronics boards, but it is fun!

Reply to
David Brown

You can tell it to download but not install them and choose to install them at your convenience like when walking away from the machine. You can't do much about it being slow to boot the next time after updates.

What is really annoying is when it sometimes magically resets the flag to force an update now usually on patch Tuesday to fix some terrible new vulnerability and destroys whatever programs you have running by forced shutdown. Some restart OK and some lose everything.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

As an electronic designer, no OS is "fun." A good OS should support files, apps, networking, and devices and otherwise be invisible. Win7 does pretty well there.

Fun! Yikes! Soldering and scoping is fun.

We got the Dells with Raid drives, all working. I did have my IT guy partition out a D: drive for me, because that's handy to the way I work.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
Reply to
John Larkin

Except that it doesn't leak oil, just your information.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

http://electrooptical.net 
http://hobbs-eo.com
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

When you are working on something, then I agree that the OS should be invisible. When writing a post like this it should not matter if you are running Linux, Windows, or whatever.

When you are trying to get to the supermarket, it does not really matter what car you are driving. When you want to go for a drive, or tune your engine, or fix any problems, or fiddle with the navigator, then it matters.

It would be a boring world if we all had the same sense of fun.

But when I set up raid on Linux, the result is faster /and/ safer than Windows with fake raid or even a hardware raid card.

Is it measurably faster? No, not if you measure how long it takes to start your EDA program or load a file. (But it will be if you have a database server or something that presses the disks.) Is it measurably safer? No, not unless you have hundreds of systems to get realistic statistics. Is it more fun? Absolutely :-)

Reply to
David Brown

We're an all-Linux shop here. With the exception of some occasional font weirdness in LibreOffice, and relatively poor support from places like LabJack, I don't miss Windows. OS/2, that I miss. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

http://electrooptical.net 
http://hobbs-eo.com
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Reminds me of the Microsoft advertising campaign from a few years back.

"Where do you want your data to go today?"

:)

Reply to
Clifford Heath

It's still a pile of shit, though. I have Win10 installed on a tower system well away from any of my Linux machines and treat it like weapons- grade malware. I make sure if I have no choice but to use it - usually for printing something - the wifi router is switched off and the wifi dongle removed. For some bizarre reason it only boots up 50% of the time. IOW it will only boot up properly every *other* re-start. The other 50% of the time, it gets to a certain point then freezes, leaving a picture of a Windows logo on the screen. It can then only be switched off the hard way at the mains switch. Just another piece of MS garbage, basically.

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Reply to
Cursitor Doom

YES!!! Almost always wants to put a file in an obscure folder, and sometimes doing that without ANY indication as to WTF it went.

Reply to
Robert Baer

I had a Sprite and, after that was crushed, an MG Midget. My wife had a Midget when I met her. They weren't bad, for a car of that time. They were a lot of fun to drive.

They were fairly easy to repair. Some big Detroit iron was a nightmare to do simple stuff like changing plugs or an oil filter. Don't get me started on fuel-injected Alfas.

Cars today are really hard to work on, which is why most people don't even try. I let the dealer work on mine.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
Reply to
John Larkin

A friend had a Midget. It might have been easy to work on but it needed to be. He was always doing something to it (or having someone else do it). I remember the fuel pump and voltage regulator were regular repairs. He finally designed his own VR - problem solved.

Me too. Fortunately, repairs are a rare occurrence on modern cars.

I even have the dealer do oil changes. For $30, I can't buy the oil and filter, not to mention be bothered doing the work, then getting rid of the oil and mess.

Reply to
krw

Mine weren't bad, and always got me where I was going. I did once drive over Mt Tam and the GG bridge, all the way home without a clutch.

I met Mo at a gay bar, Hamburger Mary's, and she mentioned that she had an MG Midget that was running badly. Actually, it was idling at

3200 RPM. I whipped out my Swiss Army Knife and turned down the idle to 1200, and then she married me.

Yeah, for all the complexity, they are amazingly reliable. And flat tires are almost unknown now.

Ditto. I'd rather design stuff and write checks for car maintenance.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
Reply to
John Larkin

The main reason why you found the MG easy to work on was because you had so much practice.

You can still do many repairs yourself, but as I get older I have less tolerance for getting that level of dirty.

Rick C.

Reply to
gnuarm.deletethisbit

That's annoying, but not what I meant. I meant your data was being stolen by malware, including as-built by Microsoft.

Reply to
Clifford Heath

The Spica system was awful. Thankfully few came to Australia. The Bosch Motronic ML4.1 used in the 75 is the opposite, well-behaved and bullet proof. It's what I have running my '69 GTV (originally a 1750).

Reply to
Clifford Heath

It was my first car. It didn't need an extraordinary amount of maintenance. In those days, all cars needed points and plugs cleaned or replaced often, and lots of oil changes. I did eventually replace the clutch and the synchronizers in the transmission, but neither was terribly difficult.

It was a lot of fun.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
Reply to
John Larkin

What I remember was a cage of rigid fuel injection pipes that made it impossible to get at the distributor or the oil filter.

But when it ran, it was beautiful.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
Reply to
John Larkin

Then you're just the guy I've been looking for! I just posted this to a different newsgroup on classic cars, but you may know the answer:

"I took out this 1972 e-type yesterday and something was wrong. This is one of those models with the awful in-boarded & caged-in rear brakes which are impossible to get at without dropping the rear axle out. Anyway, in this particular case I'd had all the brakes done anyway: new disks, pads, refurbed calipers etc etc and thought it timely to take it out for a road test. Seemed a bit hesitant when flicking between forward and reverse; something inertial like the brakes were binding a bit (that's how it felt anyway). Didn't seem to want to free-wheel much on slight gradients. On speeding up, there was this pronounced clonk, clonk, clonk noise from the n/s rear which I immediately thought was due to loose wheel nuts so I anchored up promptly and checked, but they turned out to be fine. At 2mph this sounds like more of a grating than a clonking and seems to be in sync with the speed of the road wheels. Any ideas what this might be? It's done 60k miles."

Well?

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This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via  
the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other  
protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of  
GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet  
protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.
Reply to
Cursitor Doom

The Brat called me yesterday. Her jeep wouldn't start. I got a bag full of tools and a DVM and jumper cables.

Her battery is OK. The presumed starter solenoid clicks, and the battery voltage drops to 11, but nothing spins. Tried jumper cables just for fun, no help: 13 volts won't start it. There could be a loose cable or something on the starter, maybe, but I looked everywhere, and I couldn't find the starter.

She has AAA insurance, so she can have it towed to a shop on Monday.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
Reply to
John Larkin

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