The message 200504081254.55693.bdi-emc@ntlworld.com from Paul bdi-emc@ntlworld.com contains these words:
On Thursday 07 April 2005 18:35, Bob Dove wrote:
I must say that installing Win is much MUCH easier than installing Linux!!!
Many times we see articles on how (allegedly) difficult it is to migrate from Windows to GNU/Linux - What is it like going the other way....
The first Windows install I did entailed swapping six 1.44Meg floppies in and out before having to hunt down the driver disk(s) for the graphics card..
Mine was on 5Œ" discs...
Moving up to Ver 95, things were a little easier as it all came on a single CD, but each time a new driver was installed, the whole system needed a reboot - This also applied when changing simple things like network settings. Version 98 was no better in this respect, and if you had any non Dos partitions, the dumb OS wouldn't see them.. I gave up on trying to install M$ after 98.
I missed out 95 until I really needed a 32-bit OS, and by that time 98 was out. My 98 installation showed Linux partitions. (And knew what they were.)
From the user perspective, I found Windows to be very limiting.. Only one virtual desktop, and no text consoles.
I've never worked out why you would need more than one 'desktop'.
Many a time, I would be punching Ctrl-Alt-Fn when an app went in to zombie mode.
Fn? And I seldom get zombie mood from any app - and when I do, it's often my own fault, and I've only ever managed completely to crash Windows of any flavour once, since v. 3.0
Then there were all those "General exception faults" that occurred that required a reboot to clear... And why, oh why, did Bill Gates have to implement a BSOD when an app did an illegal operation (and you thought *nix error messages were terse)..
Never had a 'general exception fault' AFAICR, and only the one BSOD mentioned above. That was after installing Eudora, and trying to run it, resulting in a big sheath of error messages, culminating in one which told me Windows was irrevocably borked, and I'd have to reinstall it. (This I ignored, and after a reboot all was back to normal.)
For what I do, a system that allows programs to terminate gracefully when a critical error occurs is a major
Lack of memory, perhaps? I just never seem to get that promble - but then, I seldom have more than 6 apps open at the same time...
plus - That and multiple virtual desktops, six (or more) text consoles (plus login sessions via ethernet or serial)..
Yes, I've already asked about that!
Could I go back to Windows ?
I don't intend to dump it entirely, Wine notwithstanding.
Not unless it supports multiple sessions,
Multiple sessions? What they? (And, why?)
allows me to have total control over hardware at the lowest level and can do hard realtime control.
Whatever that means.
If I identify a bug, can I have the source code to fix and recompile (some how, I think not).
Well, I can see Bill's point of view - how many Linux distros are there? Why, FFS?