Do you still use Windows, and if so, what are your reasons?

[bark_bark_bark]

Even if the ones that could run, it would be very buggy and slow compared to running it on Windows.

I found the opposite oddly, I was actually able to achieve better performance in Wine than in Windows while gaming. I'm pretty sure that slight edge was because my dad's Windows 7 laptop had windows updates and AV junk running in the background taking up CPU. I guess they don't call it "WINE is not an emulator" for nothing? Heh. I agree with you about Virtual Machines.

Well what kind of games your running? The games I'm talking about are games that Depend on DirectX and it is a proven fact that games that depend on it will run slower in Wine because it requires DirectX to be translated to OpenGL.

Another issue I've had with linux is the inability to do offline updates. There are two computers I use at home; Only one of the computers is connected to the internet and has to be used by my brother and my dad. There is no way my family would use linux, so I would have to use it on my own PC. Sadly though, like I said earlier, my own computer has no internet connection (we have no wifi) so I can't really run linux on it; in order to really use linux, you need an internet connection so you can download software you want, it's dependencies, and any updates.

[LazY Puppy]

At home I'm a 100% Puppy Linux User.

In my Rehearsal Room I'm still using Windows XP on my Music machine to make 16-track simultaneously Audio Recordings using Cubase. You can't do such kind of recordings on Linux and Cubase doesn't run/install under wine.

Even with the FFADO drivers I couldn't find a solution to record 16 tracks simultaneously.

We plan to buy a 2nd Phonic Helix 24 MKII Mixer to be able to record 32 tracks simultaneously - so, Linux is definitely out of any use here.

Cubase is UNBEATABLE and it was so already on the Ataris ST platform, when it was just a MIDI-Sequencer Music program.

[6502coder]

To invert Colonel Panic's original premise, I use Windows because nothing is compelling me to ONLY use Linux. Both are useful to me, so I use both. Why not? I'd guess I spend slightly more time on Windows than Linux, on average.

A couple of years ago I had to replace my main desktop machine because (a) it ran XP, which was on the verge of hitting EOL; and (b) the hardware was ancient, way too slow for modern video, and likely to fail at any moment. The easiest acceptable solution was to buy a new desktop machine with Win7 Pro, so I did. (BTW I didn't have Linux on the old machine because I had no need to: I've got 3 old laptops that serve just fine as Puppy hosts. Once I got the new Win7 machine, I did convert the old XP machine to dual-boot WinXP and LXLE -- a respin of Lubuntu -- which is now the main OS on that machine).

Why didn't I go full time Linux on the new machine?

(a) Because I have a couple of legacy Windows apps I use a lot. Yes. there are decent Linux substitutes for them, but I have no desire to go through the hassle of learning another way to do something I already know how to do.

(b) One of my other hobbies is chess, and in this case the legacy Windows apps I use have NO acceptable Linux substitutes.

(c) Could I get my Windows apps running in Wine? Maybe. But why should I go to that hassle when I've got 3 Windows machines in the house?

And most fundamentally,

(d) It's simply not a religious matter to me. I detest Windows and think it is a piece of c**p, but I feel no obligation to run out and make other people stop using it. I like Linux, but I feel no obligation to run out and covert all Windows users to the One True OS*. I'm perfectly happy to recommend Linux to somebody if they come to me with a problem and Linux is a good solution. Otherwise, I leave other people alone and let them use whatever they want to use. (Heck, I use both vi and emacs -- if that doesn't prove I'm non-sectarian, I don't know what would!)

------
*Besides, Linux is not the One True OS anyway, UNIX is. Just don't confuse me by asking me which flavor of UNIX.

[Colonel Panic]

Thanks to everyone who's replied. Just quickly for now; that mention of Hiren Boot CD was very welcome as I've got a copy of it lying around somewhere although I didn't know it could be installed to one's hard drive. I must find it soon and have another look.

[Sailor Enceladus]

And most fundamentally,

(d) It's simply not a religious matter to me. I detest Windows and think it is a piece of c**p, but I feel no obligation to run out and make other people stop using it. I like Linux, but I feel no obligation to run out and covert all Windows users to the One True OS*. I'm perfectly happy to recommend Linux to somebody if they come to me with a problem and Linux is a good solution. Otherwise, I leave other people alone and let them use whatever they want to use. (Heck, I use both vi and emacs -- if that doesn't prove I'm non-sectarian, I don't know what would!)

------
*Besides, Linux is not the One True OS anyway, UNIX is. Just don't confuse me by asking me which flavor of UNIX.

It's not right to push any OS onto others, in my opinion, so I don't think this comment is "most fundamentally" or even relevant.

[Pelo]

With Puppy Linux, i can improve my english and try to understand what you say about Windows. Should i misunderstood 6502coder comments, which seem to me very smart to Windows users ? Please use words we learn at school, Windows was not bad, it was slow at my office and at home. What i like in Windows are millions of devs make . exe, and i see that new apps are not even translated in Linux Language (MAc and windows only) . Ubuntu has transfered his technical staff to smartphones and servers. All stuff in PPM now is Debian. And Debian is not the top, often late, quite vintage.
This morning, QTos did not succeed do blank my 4GB pendrive less than one hour.. Really Linux make live difficult common people. Ubuntu, then Linux Mint tried to change that. Puppy Linux was the more efficient.
Pls don't go backwards to Debian ..

[Mike Walsh]

...the bigger problem though is that since I've had fast broadband, I've had to concede that the Windows drivers are better at starting the router up in the morning than those of pretty much any Linux distro I've seen. Puppy is one of the best in this regard as it's reasonably straightforward to reconfigure the network manually, but it still often takes two or three tries to get online if I power up the machine (and the router) first thing in the morning.

Can't agree with that. I'm not saying Puppy's necessarily any better than Windows at connecting.....but it's at least Window's equal.

My old Compaq desktop is permanently on a Gigabit ethernet connection. My old Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop (14 yrs old, and still going strong.....they don't 'make 'em like they used to' ) never came with a wireless card (unlike its 'big brother', the 5100). She has a PCMCIA 'slot' under the hard drive caddy, so I've equipped her with a 'period' NetGear 'RangeMax' WPN-511 wireless PC card.....which has the added advantage, over a USB 'dongle', of leaving both USB ports free for use. Configured with 'Dougal's' Network Wizard, she's always connected and ready to go by the time Puppy's at the desktop...

Can't ask for any more than that.


Mike.

[poorguy]

Hey Everyone,

Yes I still have a bad ass Windows XP game tower running Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X Linux don't have a good Flight Simulator .
Yes I could and eventually will buy X-Plane Fight Simulator and it does run on Linux however Microsoft Flight Simulator is way cool and works great.

And no Wine doesn't cut it and doesn't even support any Flight Simulator and even if it did it would be very very limited.

The other reason I still use Window XP is I have Microsoft Office and Microsoft Visio Professional installed and want to be able to use both if needed.

I keep this Desktop disconnected as there isn't anything I need to use from the internet.so no worries.

The PoorGuy

[Sailor Enceladus]

And no Wine doesn't cut it and doesn't even support any Flight Simulator and even if it did it would be very very limited.

Haha looks the only one with a Gold rating is Flight Simulator 2004. Windows 95, 2002 and X are next up with Silvers though:
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=278

edit: Oh 98 shows up as Platinum. Missed that.

[8Geee]

No, no Windows here since 2008. Last used was W98-2. Nothing with admin ever got loaded into any of my computers. Puppy works just fine, and has an iso about 10 times smaller, and occupies less than 512Mb of RAM. For that price a few extra seconds of load-time is a good trade-off.

/MHO
8Geee

[poorguy]

And no Wine doesn't cut it and doesn't even support any Flight Simulator and even if it did it would be very very limited.

Haha looks the only one with a Gold rating is Flight Simulator 2004. Windows 95, 2002 and X are next up with Silvers though:
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=278

edit: Oh 98 shows up as Platinum. Missed that.

Flight Simulator running in Wine is only half ass and I'm not willing to settle for half ass.
I know someone who runs it through Wine and it is a joke.

Thats why I still have my Windows XP box because there are some things that Windows will always be more Superior at over Linux and that is Flight Simulator bar none.

[Colonel Panic]

...the bigger problem though is that since I've had fast broadband, I've had to concede that the Windows drivers are better at starting the router up in the morning than those of pretty much any Linux distro I've seen. Puppy is one of the best in this regard as it's reasonably straightforward to reconfigure the network manually, but it still often takes two or three tries to get online if I power up the machine (and the router) first thing in the morning.

Can't agree with that. I'm not saying Puppy's necessarily any better than Windows at connecting.....but it's at least Window's equal.

My old Compaq desktop is permanently on a Gigabit ethernet connection. My old Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop (14 yrs old, and still going strong.....they don't 'make 'em like they used to' ) never came with a wireless card (unlike its 'big brother', the 5100). She has a PCMCIA 'slot' under the hard drive caddy, so I've equipped her with a 'period' NetGear 'RangeMax' WPN-511 wireless PC card.....which has the added advantage, over a USB 'dongle', of leaving both USB ports free for use. Configured with 'Dougal's' Network Wizard, she's always connected and ready to go by the time Puppy's at the desktop...

Can't ask for any more than that.

Mike.

That's great, but it's why I say "your mileage may vary"; everyone's experience of Linux (and Puppy in particular) isn't the same. When I ran Puppy 4 series circa 2009, I had a lot of trouble getting the distro to recognise, never mind read, all the partitions on my hard drive; the 2 series Pups didn't have that problem in my experience, and nor as far I can recall did the 3 series.

I posted about it a lot, but no one else reported the same problem on their own machines so it went unfixed. To this day I don't really know what the problem was.

(The 5 series Pups have been fine in this regard btw.)

[rufwoof]

My old Compaq desktop is permanently on a Gigabit ethernet connection. My old Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop (14 yrs old, and still going strong.....they don't 'make 'em like they used to' )

Out of my area of comfort, but doesn't a lan segment slow to the speed of the slowest device, so if you ran a 100T device on a 1000T segment all 'traffic' on that lan segment slows down to that 100T speed ???

I have two routers, the main (Virgin) cable modem and a netgear. With slower devices running off the netgear segment and faster devices running off the cable modem. The slower devices are more secure being behind two firewalls (routers) and on a separate segment to the joint wired/wireless router. i.e. older slower desktop hard wired (ethernet) 100T type devices.

Currently we have a 50Mb service so download speeds aren't different, apparently however we're being freely upgraded to 70Mb soon, so getting close to where the cable feed is near as quick as the slower lan segment speed.

[poorguy]

In my experience my wired Lan 100Mbs always smokes my wireless N 108Mbs .