Posted on 10/25/2019 10:00:18 AM PDT by Carriage Hill
Windows 10 could be better if only Microsoft got rid of its layers of made-men, according to a former Microsoft distinguished engineer.
Tired of boring, buggy Windows 10 updates? You can blame them on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's failure to eliminate the company's legacy of appointing "made-men".
(Excerpt) Read more at zdnet.com ...
“Are you certain of that? I am trying to decide between Win 10 or going with Linux (for Internet access) for my Win 7 Pro PC and laptop.”
May I highly suggest Linux Mint > 18.3 < “Cinnamon” and then update the kernel. The newest 19.2 is having some small issues on some machines. 18.3 is Ubuntu/Debian and Debian has been time proven as stable. The 19.2 is Ubuntu 18.04 and another whole critter yet to be ironed out with some hardware.
I installed mine at first alongside Win 7 as dual boot and it worked great. The Linux install will do it all for you slick as snot. It will make Linux the primary OS and windows the secondary option, but this can be changed if you want windows to boot primary and Linux as secondary boot option.
But the Mint Cinnamon is THE best bundled package available for new Linux users coming from windows. :)
Well said friend. And that is the problem, the average user should not need to be techy to keep windows 10 working properly. That is Microsoft’s job, for the average user it should just work and be stable.
“On Mint - I have it installed on one PC, but the thing I’ve always been curious about is the software-system update. I have no idea what Mint considers a “safe setting” - that is, won’t install updates that might break the OS.
With other Linux distros a distinction is made so you can easily choose what’s safe. Mint uses “levels” which isn’t as exact or intuitive for my use, at least. That’s the reason I don’t set newbies up with it - the update level settings aren’t very helpful.”
I have yet to have a Linux update from the repository break anything. that is the whole concept, everything in the repository is tested and approved as safe and stable. Unlike Windows they change only small needed things, no more, no less. They load a lot of add on software “options” in the list but just clear the list and check only the updates for the software programs you are using or have installed.
So, don't use Windows 10 unless you are a professional?
“But the Mint Cinnamon is THE best bundled package available for new Linux users coming from windows. :)”
I run my other OSs in Oracle VirtualBox VMs. I’m upgrading Mint 17.3 to 19.2. I’ll soon see how that goes.
You can use Gparted to format and the create partitions to install the ISO on and make storage. But the easiest way I found so far is to download a mint ISO package and create a bootable live OS CD/DVD. Then set the boot order to look for the DVD drive first. The Mint comes boxed with it’s own auto install program that works slick as snot. You can unmount your internal drive which will force it to install on the only mounted drive it sees which would be the stick.
But I did not trust that “I” might make a mistake of some sort with the drive mounting, so just to be safe I pulled the internal drive out of my laptop. I then booted from the live Linux DVD and did a normal full auto format and install as normal for an internal drive. Because the USB was the only drive it could find, it did the install to that treating it as the internal.
It created the needed partitions and formatted each as needed, the system and boot as NTSF and the home storage as ext4 so that there was no limit on the storage that was available for the remainder of the stick. I did the same with this 2TB USB drive and it worked slick as snot. After reinstalling the internal I went and reset my BIOS boot order to look for and boot from USB first so that when it is plugged in it boots from it and bypasses the internal.
It gave me a full portable drive of the whole mint cinnamon package with all the software. And it also gives me read and write access to all the files on the internal drive. And everything is persistent and can be updated or downloaded to just as it would be for an internal. :)
“So, don’t use Windows 10 unless you are a professional?”
Yeah, a professional and you have the latitude to install a whole slew of customization apps and settings from unapproved and unlicensed software providers just to get it to work for customers. Any respectable (doesn’t want to be hacked) organization requires STIG-d computers which requires the OS and core components be MS-only to get the SECPOL integration with the OS.
Now, server 2019 is sweet. Really just a polished Server 2016. What I mean by that is it shortens the mouse movements and clicking needed to do common administrative tasks and has better PS support. But 2019 only adds 5 .admx/.adml files to the policy store so it’s really just improving the GUI environment and PS commands. Still, Pity the W10 users.
I highly suggest 18.3 and then just update the kernel and the software included. The 19.2 has a few issues they need to fix still.
I have a spare PC that my kid is no longer using (has been sitting pretty much unused for 3 years). It's a Dell Inspiron 3847 Core i5-4440 Quad-Core 3.1GHz with 8GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive, and 1 GB Ethernet. The hard drive has been completely wiped, so I can start from scratch. Hopefully this is a sufficient PC to run Linux on.
So in 17.3 I selected ‘upgrades’ and it’s doing a kernel update now. Right way, wrong way? It’s all being done from the Update Manager.
That was my first addition to windows 8. It made it marginally usable. The mouse function is quite slow and unreliable. Pages usually load twice no matter what I have done. Windows 8.1 possibly patched the huge security hole. I run norton at least once a day.
I rate windows poor on a good day and unsatisfactory mostly.
Ditto to that!
So Mint upgraded itself to the 4.4.0-148 Kernel. It lacks a video hardware driver tho.
Lol, Sorry about that, We never know what knowledge database someone has under their belt when discussing these things. Knowing this have you tried the newest Linux versions? They have come a long way and some like the Mint Cinnamon is a full point and click GUI environment that looks and functions just like Win 7. I like the Win 7 desktop environment also, and the mint cinnamon emulates this very well. So techy or not, it is just a good bundled package out of the box as a base to work on and customize as you like.
Since you can install a full linux on a Raspberry Pi, I think the Dell might work fine... lol :)
But again, I really do highly suggest the 18.3 cinnamon rather than the newest 19.2. Made a live DVD and check it out on the dell, slow as heck running from the CD drive until you install it, but it will give you an idea of what it comes with and feels like. The bundled auto-installer works slick as snot if you decide to go ahead and install it.
That is the right way, Have you rebooted it yet? Drivers and kernels require a reboot. let me go look at why the video might be having issues. This can be reversed if needed. This newer kernel might want 18.3 or better.
Rebooted twice. Not a big deal tho as I don’t do graphics intensive stuff. I have an Intel i7 950 quad-core so no CPU load I can see using Mint’s software video driver.
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