operating system - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: abdullahseba
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 04:10:38 pm
content: just curious to know how popular the operating systems are

author: at2marty
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 04:37:50 pm
content: Last I knew, Ubuntu is Linux.

author: Towger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 04:39:55 pm
content: I prefer MS-DOS 3.3 my self.

author: steve30
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 04:46:29 pm
content: I use a variety, but I use Linux (Debian 7) most of the time, so I selected Linux. I do have a Windows XP partition but I don't use that very often.I also have some machines running MacOS 8.6 and 9.2, and Windows 98 and 2000.

author: ecat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 04:49:26 pm
content: Give this web page a look:http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=combinedThe field names in the lower table are clickable expanding into a full list showing popularity.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 05:14:52 pm
content: Quote from: ecat on May 08, 2014, 04:49:26 pmOnly interesting if you want to know what operating systems are used for playing games.

author: ecat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 05:24:02 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on May 08, 2014, 05:14:52 pmAnd a poll posted on a electronics community forum... Or perhaps conducted by 'The Times' or a hardware review site or...The distribution of Windows systems appears close enough to industry published figures iirc. For these systems and all other information I would hope the OP is checking more than a single source.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 05:41:23 pm
content: operating systems are for pussies. real computer users run on bare metal.

author: rexxar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 05:48:08 pm
content: I mostly use Windows 7, but I do have a Xubuntu install on my laptop that I use now and again.

author: electronics man
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 05:51:20 pm
content: We just replaced a windows XP computer and replacement it with one with windows 7

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 06:57:48 pm
content: Gentoo Linux on my main work computer, Windows 7 on a different LAN for email and Office apps and all that. Gentoo / Win7 dual-boot on my laptop. Gentoo on my DIY router and NAS. Win XP on my home desktop. Mac OS X on my audio rack computer.Every tool has its strengths.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 07:03:26 pm
content: I use Gentoo on all my PCs. For running apps that only work on Windows (haven't had to in a long time), there's VirtualBox.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 07:56:17 pm
content: XP.Darn, should've booted up my Pentium and voted '95.Then again, I doubt IE3 even knew of the existence of 80% of the code used on this website, so it would be rather difficult to vote!Tim

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 09:29:16 pm
content: i don't see any real operating systems in that list..things like VMS, iRMX, CoS (Cray operating system)it's not a real operating system unless it can run an endless loop process in just under 4 hours.

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 09:55:46 pm
content: Quote from: SirNick on May 08, 2014, 06:57:48 pmStopped reading at "Gentoo."

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 09:56:54 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on May 08, 2014, 09:29:16 pmGood one

author: Dongulus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 10:03:00 pm
content: Win7. I have Ubuntu on my workbench laptop, but I don't really use it. I gave it a trial but I couldn't really see the value in it. Maybe I'll convince myself sometime to give it another go.

author: Tinkerer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2014, 11:46:32 pm
content: Win8. Would be unusable for me, had I not wrangled it into having a start menu and basically everything a proper computer should have. I just essentially ignore most of the "features" as they are mostly tucked out of the way.

author: Vgkid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 12:37:53 am
content: I'm the lone Windows Vista vote so far.

author: fluxcapacitor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 01:05:12 am
content: Another vista user ,plus xp,win 7 and win 2000 on different laptops.PCLinuxOS is my favourite linux distro ,along with RIP linux .I use dos boot disks too,if that counts

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 01:36:11 am
content: Win XP, for curmudgeonly reasons.Mainly that it keeps me motivated to follow developments of non-MS alternatives (which are not Linux or Apple-Linux either.)I don't switch to Linux because a. I can see it would be 'good enough' despite the many things I dislike in 'Nix, and b. wasting time learning whole different set of tools, and c. imo each subsequent version of Windows after XP gets WORSE, in terms of data hiding, obfuscation, DRM-shit, untrustability, and pointless visual frills.Incidentally:http://wiki.osdev.org/ProjectsHa ha... There are _many_ people that dabble in OS-design to pass the time.

author: echen1024
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:32:08 am
content: Um... I prefer OS/360, and use that newfangled OS/370 stuff only if I need to.

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:39:03 am
content: Quote from: scientist on May 08, 2014, 09:55:46 pmHang on, I'm compiling a reply... well, after I fix some dependency conflicts.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:39:48 am
content: no risc/ultrix?I'm taking my scsi cable and going home, then!

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:42:50 am
content: if you want to be a bit more complete, you should include the bsd's too (freebsd, netbsd, openbsd).

author: liquibyte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:45:27 am
content: If he wanted to be complete, he'd have put in the top ten distros off of distrowatch plus the three main BSD's not including mac.

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:45:40 am
content: Quote from: free_electron on May 08, 2014, 09:29:16 pmDoes it accidentally execute a HCF and have a memory cell burst into flames in 4 hours?

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:49:08 am
content: Quote from: Towger on May 08, 2014, 04:39:55 pm3.3 was good. 5.0 after they fixed the initial bugs was rock solid. I used that one the longest in some old coal fired systems.

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:51:37 am
content: such a vague question, does it include non-PC equipment like router/utm/whateverelseyoucallfirstlinedefence, switches, test equipment, servers etc?you're also missing a category: unix-like. linux is a subset of unix-like so not an equivalent, but BSDs do fall under the unix-like category.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 02:57:56 am
content: my trs-80 and atari ST are crying in the corner....8 and 16bit cpus need love, too, you know.

author: TVman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 03:44:47 am
content: Quote from: linux-works on May 09, 2014, 02:57:56 amIt's ok dear, I will put Ubuntu on you if you want. don't cry.....

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 04:03:23 am
content: ubuntu on a z80 would be most entertaining.(not!)

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 01:24:48 pm
content: Quote from: calexanian on May 09, 2014, 02:49:08 amAre you using a hamster wheel powered fan to vent the carbon monoxide out of the cave?I think I still have a copy of PC-DOS 6.0 around here somewhere.

author: blackice504
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 03:14:15 pm
content: I mainly work in I.T in many Fields, its really hard to say what O.S is the best as it all comes down to what you are doing, for example if your running a Server then really you should have Linux OS of some soft in pure CLI, vmware is the best choice if your running multiple servers sure there are others out there that offer the similar things for Virtualization, KVM,Xen, Windows Server "last choice really", ect.For everyday Windows 7 64bit realistically most people want to do everything and Windows 7 64bit can do that for the most part stable and fairly quick depending on your hardware.Why do i believe in these choices?Simple.Single SERVERLinux is fast even on a P.O.S its efficient if you know how to use it, when it comes to running a server because you can use it Headless "no GUI" aka Command Line Interface, makes it less intensive on the hardware you got, and believe it or not running cost is cheaper for 24/7 on your power bill, its also better at handling more connections to it then Windows Server can true Microsoft do limit this for there reasons, but even with out that limit Linux just wins.Fact most servers around the globe are Linux....of some distribution.Multiple-servers aka VirtualizationVmware for virtualization, again vmware is mostly run in Headless through web-gui or client, but not only that it does not take a computer expert to set it up plus it deploys really quick and is very stable, oldest vmware install i had running with only major updates, 10 years on my personal server 24/7 try that on anything else, sure Xen is just as stable and quick but takes some time to setup, KVM is really but a little buggy from time to time, all of these are based on Linux.Data-CenterFreeNAS if you have more then 10TB+ worth of storage and need it online FreeNAS is the only way to go, simply because it uses a very good file system ZFS, you can wiki that, its fast reliable, fast to deploy and has some built in data protection and duplication with the OS, and yeah its FREEEEEEEE. keep in mind you can never have too many backups."cheap option for backups is offline drives, meaning hard drives that you store data on and remove them, please note USB drives not as good as the Internal drives that's a little fun fact, Also cheaper ones you got your self a nice little hot-swap system."Many people think Windows 7 64 is the best OS in terms of features and stability since XP that statement is true for the most part but has some underlying bugs and some crap that it got from vista that is my reason for saying for the most part, the other fact is compatibility you can game, learn, video edit, or what ever on Windows 7 64bit where other O.S can match this.The other every day OS could be Ubuntu the reasons i am not raving on about it even tho its Linux is because sure its easy to do things with even for the non-elite but its not very stable even doing some simple things like there software center, true most linux people use CLI to install stuff but i think Ubuntu really need to pull up there shorts for that one, this is why i personally use Debian for my Everyday other pc... yes i know i have too many pc's.....If anyone needs any help or would like some Advice about anything in I.T you may contact me on this forum.before anyone asks i doubt it will happen judging from the Polls, no i do not use MAC OS, there is simply no reason to, and Apple products is nothing to write home about especially in what hardware they use, for me there just another HP, or DELL re badged low end parts.Windows 8+ i do not support at all, simple reasons if it takes longer to do something then its a mistake.....sure it might have better under the hood goodies, and might be faster "none of my testing has shown improvements based on testing with many different configurations" like newer DirectX, Horrible GUI, sorry fans of that but as stated, its faster the older way, yes i know its better on mobiles ect but i seen GUI that have better GUI that suits both, so yep no support from me, but it is your choice.I know that was maybe too much info and sure grammar issues but i am Tech not an English professor, but i hope this might help some people choosing an OS for what your doing.PS, if there are any Programmers or I.T people that are interested in Joining Me and my humble team to build a Linux OS for everyone, that's easy to use, Stable, runs under Windows networks out of the box, can run windows programs out of the box, you may also contact me. "based on Debian"

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 03:22:19 pm
content: I used to run zfs on freebsd but I got burned by one upgrade that scared me and I never went back.one upgrade forced the reformat (to some level) of the filesystem and that was a one-way trip. when I had to reboot to a previous version of freebsd, the filesystem was 'too new' and could not be mounted. not sure I EVER ran into that on linux. ever. its rude, its crude and totally uncalled for. zfs is a complex friggin beast that eats cpu and memory. sure, it has tons of features, but really only shines when you run on very high end hardware AND you have the patience to learn its mgmt interface and are willing to do rebuilds and backups/restores if an upgrade fails or hoses you. its just too brittle for what I want.good old linux md-raid (software raid), while much more primitive, is more stable, performs better (less zfs overhead) and has been pretty much the same for the last 10+ yrs. stability matters to me! and I just don't trust sun^H^H^Horacle these days (I used to work for sun, btw).

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 08:31:40 pm
content: Quote from: blackice504 on May 09, 2014, 03:14:15 pmTL;DR nobody really cares. VMware is a joke and so is the state of modern IT.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 08:52:25 pm
content: Ubuntu on my laptop for engineering work.Windows on my dual monitor desktop for programming (uVision, MPLAB, Visual Studio etc.) and gaming. Plus some CAD on Eagle.

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2014, 10:10:11 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on May 09, 2014, 03:22:19 pmAgreed on all counts. My brief tenure with Solaris taught me that, while it has a couple of key features that are nice in certain applications, it's usually not worth the trouble. Now that it's an Oracle product, any appeal it had before has completely gone out the window. (At last check, it appears you have to have a support contract to download patches. Great... so the OS is free, provided you don't mind bugs and security vulnerabilities. What a bargain.)Linux mdraid has been pretty good to me over the years. I would choose it over hardware RAID except when raw performance is more important than stability. (Stability in this case refers to bugs, fault resilience, and long-term availability.) Best of all, it's not Oracle.Quote from: scientist on May 09, 2014, 08:31:40 pmHmm... I don't get the punch-line then. What's wrong w/ VMware? It ain't cheap (if you want to do much with it), but then, in the datacenter, the typical pricing model foreverythingis: 1) free; 2) a small fortune; and 3) a large fortune. Not much in between.

author: Andrea :)
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 12:00:07 am
content: After many problems with my desktop i switched from Win7 to Ubuntu and now I'm still wondering why i didn't do it sooner.(I still have a laptop with Win7 just for university stuff)

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 12:48:13 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on May 09, 2014, 11:58:13 pmI've thought about this before (as I'm sure any Linux fan has...) and yeah, it's kind of anti-Linux to turn it into a turn-key system. There could certainly be a market for a Linux kernel-based distro that standardizes the environment, but it'll be scorned by many Linux users for not being Linux-y enough anymore, and/or it'll still be too foreign for potential converts who just want a Windows that isn't Windows.IMO, beating Windows at its own game is a lost cause. (Just look at OS/2.) It's an elusive goal that, at best, will make it a mediocre clone of Windows. Instead, an interesting project would be a full-fledged open-source Active Directory replacement, with central account management, a permissions framework, client policy framework, and tight integration with Samba, LDAP, an email system of your choice, etc. With a full platform like that, you could enter the small business market where a shop is big enough to have IT needs, but small enough that Windows Server, Exchange, and per-seat licenses for all of the above is still a cost of consequence. With an office suite and a web browser, you're good to go for a fair share of applications needs. It wouldn't change large corporations over night, but your neighborhood mechanic and real-estate office would probably be fine.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 12:48:27 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on May 09, 2014, 11:45:13 pmmy point is that it has NEVER happened to me in the nearly 20 yrs of using linux, in my experience, at least. I used linux software raid (md-raid), various hardware raids (mylex, mostly), ext*fs, you name it. even on bsd, the FFS filesystems never caused me this kind of grief. so, what I'm saying is that in a well thought out fs, you should NOT have to put up with this kind of nonsense.Quotesorry, but that's not true in my experience. I started admin'ing linux boxes since the 1.1 kernel (yes, seriously). this is NOT normal for linux or even bsd, but the sun guys keep changing formats and I got tired of that BS.zfs has a lot of nice ideas. on paper. but it does not make sense to run it at home, imho.

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 03:35:11 am
content: Quote from: GreyWoolfe on May 09, 2014, 01:24:48 pmThe hamster died many years ago. I rely on differential air temperature in a up shaft in the cave for ventilation nowadays.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 01:55:10 pm
content: Seymour Cray's Only Surviving Talk: "Cray-1 Introduction" (1976, LANL)The audio is terrible at the start, but improves after a while.Relevance to this thread: somewhere near the end someone asks him what he thinks about state of Operating Systems.Mr Cray says something like "I don't understand why operating systems are so complicated."Heh. In 1976.

author: blackice504
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 02:04:07 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on May 09, 2014, 03:22:19 pmi know many people might have said it and i think i stated it, you can never have toooooooo many backups on any OS, especially Windows, but with that been said any upgrade should be planed or tested in vmbox if possible.I personally have not had many Issues with ZFS, true ZFS has a high overhead but if you want your data safe "relatively" i found it does not degrade the data as much especially with massive storage of movies ect and its fast on a good system but then again most people would not want to put there precious data on cheap and nasty rig.I just don't trust sun^H^H^Horacle these days (I used to work for sun, btw). << yeah some of the stuff they are doing now is crazy then some stuff is good like VMbox i use that on my workstation never had any issues with it.Thats cool another IT / EE i shall add ya to my friends list.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 02:13:36 pm
content: I simply could not backup terabytes; it was not easy to afford the first instance of the full filesystem; its not practical for home users to fully duplicate their media collection.it might be acceptable for businesses to dupe their entire filesystems (in fact, its the normal way of doing things for those that care about their critical data) but its just not realistic to expect that from home users.zfs burned me and I'm not going back again. zfs on linux is a huge hack and I won't even bother with it; and I stopped caring about freebsd several years ago.on the very large scale, zfs is justifyable. at home, MY view is that its extreme overkill and a pain in the ass when things go south.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 02:13:46 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on May 08, 2014, 09:29:16 pmStill got a nice SparcStation 20 (two ROSS CPU modules installed) with Solaris 2.6.

author: blackice504
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 02:27:49 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on May 10, 2014, 02:13:36 pmYes i have often had this problem at home i use many many many tapes, and off line hard drives, compressed to the point of implosion lol.btw mate how big is your storage at home? << wait that sounds wrong and greasy......I am up to 30+TB, i tell people i making a backup of the Internet lol.. starting from the most useful stuff, then the rest.

author: baljemmett
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 06:10:53 pm
content: Quote from: madires on May 10, 2014, 02:13:46 pmJust remember to keep an eye on the health of the HostID NVRAM - I turned one of my pair on the other day to find it had lost its clock, HostID and MAC address. Whoops!

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 06:19:45 pm
content: Quote from: baljemmett on May 10, 2014, 06:10:53 pmYep, had to replace one a few years ago. I dumped the data from the NVRAM to a text file in case I have to program a new NVRAM. Next time I'll try to hack the NVRAM to run with an external lithium battery since the ICs are quite expensive.

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 06:56:43 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on May 08, 2014, 09:29:16 pmStrange argument to make, 95% of the TOP500 run Linux.

author: lapm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 07:15:18 pm
content: So you have gone throw trouble to listing various windows versions as separate systems, but just one option for Linux systems? Little one sided dont you think...

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 08:04:09 pm
content: To be fair the consumer side is mostly taken up by a flavour of NT or MSDOS from Microsoft, just in various pretty screens. Lot more variety available in Unix and Linux, and you can literally choose everything from the kernel to the shape of any screen item. But, as most do not see this it only appears as 2 choices.

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2014, 11:31:58 pm
content: Quote from: Marco on May 10, 2014, 06:56:43 pmHe was trolling.

author: abdullahseba
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2014, 08:22:55 am
content: Quote from: steve30 on May 08, 2014, 04:46:29 pmis Windows 95/98 still supported

author: Legit-Design
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2014, 11:29:05 pm
content: Quote from: abdullahseba on May 11, 2014, 08:22:55 amhttp://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycleNo operating system older than what is listed is supported. Also note you might not need support for computer that is not connected to internet or any kind of network for that matter. It's not likely that a malicious word document of PDF will magically develop working internet connection. But anything is possiblehttp://threatpost.com/acoustical-mesh-network-used-to-infect-air-gapped-computers/103079