Re: Was OT--Win7 and disk partitions; now using Linux

[Raphael Tennenbaum rtennenbaum@xxxxxxxx]

Robert Holmgren wrote:
** Reply to message from "William H. TeBrake"
 on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:28:32 -0400
have either of
you tried to run NotaBene using one of the Windows emulators under
Linux?

Not I. It would never occur to me. NB is written for Windows,
so I use it with Windows. In my opinion, it is an improper use
of Linux to try to create a multi-purpose computer -- a Windows
replacement. Because (money aside) Windows will do that better,
with a lot less geeky effort on user's part, and with an
unmatched range of out-of-the-box capabilities and choices. The
WHOLE POINT of a Unix-class operating system is to
compile/optimize the kernel to perform very specific tasks, as
efficiently as possible. Why are there so many different Linux
distros? Because they're targeted at particular uses (except in
the case of, say, a pop distro like Ubuntu, which does a lot but
isn't best in any class). For example, there is a REASON that
nearly every serious server in the world runs on a Unix box,
usually one of four or five flavors (FreeBSD, RHEL, CentOS, etc).

May I suggest: Buy a desk (you need one anyway). Buy a router
and some Ethernet cables. Place a Windows machine and a Linux
machine side-by-side (on the desk), and connect them with
NetBIOS/Samba so they talk to each other. Why is it always an
implied either/or? Truth is, you need two computers (minimum).

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------
you're describing my system, plus I have a netbook. but my "either" is
95% Linux. the single most valuable thing about Linux to me is the
simplicity of backing up the system -- I don't have to create a disk
image or contort myself in order to back up a registry -- I can use
Remastersys to put everything on a flash drive in case my system blows
up, stick a new HD in, partition it, press a few keys, and in half an
hour again everything will be just fine.
as a consequence, I can keep the important things here, and use the XP
box for toys and proprietary applications, which are generally
hardware-specific. if the disk drive on the XP box, I'll just replace
it, reinstall XP from scratch, add the two or three apps I use, and be
done.
as far as using sw that's written for an OS, well, as you point out in a
subsequent message Microsoft is now forcing users of Xywrite to use
emulation software, so what's the harm of someone running NB under
VMWare or Wine?
I suppose I wouldn't rely on Ubuntu as my primary OS if I were a graphic
artist or photographer, since those sorts generally prefer Macs.
however what appeals to me about Linux is that the (super)user can
change anything by accessing a text file. in a strange way it is very
much a writer's operating system. leaving aside the built-in advantages
of open source -- eg I don't need Ghostscript or Adobe anything to turn
any file, whether it's text or html, into a postscript file, that's
built-in (three different ways in fact, from OpenOffice, the printing
system, and the browsers) -- I would also mention three things about
Ubuntu make it a viable end-user OS: 1) the software packages are
tightly controlled as far as I can tell, so they're not just held to a
reasonably high standard. but installation and maintenance are stable
and clean, far more so than any other brand of Linux I've seen; 2) the
cooperation with manufacturers allows them to incorporate proprietary
drivers and codecs smoothly, and 3) they've slicked up the way superuser
works, which takes a big, confusing step out of installation, and also
makes day-to-day sudo-ing easier. call it a pop distro if you want, but
it happens to be the best pop distro I've seen, better than Red Hat or Suse.

-rafe t.