New to Linux. I'm not impressed : 4135

On Sun, 15 May 2005 18:29:09 -0400, Mandy

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I have no idea about Mac benchmarks, but I find Linux slower than Windows for most things, except file transfers (copy-move). Web surfing is not an issue on my system, and I'm on a dialup. Konqueror is somewhat faster than Internet Explorer or Firefox. Epiphany seems faster, too.

It can be cranky once in awhile. If you're getting crashes, I'd be interested to know whether you've changed any settings. Using all the default options (except the skin), I've had no problems

Some here will tell you: overall, Linux here is better than Windows. I have no idea about Macs, but I suspect it's an issue there as well. It's the price we pay for a modular GUI.

I've had the same problem in both Windows and Linux. A reboot usually fixes things. Once recently, the only way I could get all boxes to find themselves was to cold boot all of them.

Hardware support is the big bugaboo with Linux. Interestingly, Linux is better than almost anything on old hardware. It has to be, because few vendors write Linux drivers, or release the specs on their hardware so others can write them.

If your graphics are part of your motherboard, and not on a separate card, that seems to gove Linux difficulties. I have some of the same issues.

Some things, yes. Some things, no. Not sure why you're having the surfing problems, but that seems likely fixable. Network browsing isn't. Launching any application to browse your network shares will take awhile (15-30 seconds or more) to find them. However, once Linux has loaded the network resource, file operations are faster. I can send files over the wire to a Linux box faster than I can copy them to another local HD.

XP Pro is a good OS. It is tweakable, and oftentimes is self-correcting.

Linux is not (yet) for everyone. I've found the learning curve steep in many areas, and have had difficulties often doing simple things. But, SuSE 9.2 has proven to be usable and stable. I'm keeping it, and plan to spend the next several years learning it.

The gains in ease of use that Linux has made vis-a-vis Windows over the past five years have been nothing short of amazing. If that trend continues, the next five years will be very interesting. Linux doesn't have enough clout to supplant Windows as the desktop of choice, but look for it to remain a viable alternative to Windows with a stable niche market very much like what the Mac has carved out.