apt-get autoremove, LIES!!

BigglesPiP · 01-24-2009, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlinkels

This was not trying to find a rant on Windows, I am seriously convinced that the slowness of Windows is caused by the filling up of the registry. I think we agree that a Windows machine get slower over time, especially if more software is installed, and that it feels like new when we do a clean install.

If I use regedit to search for some key, it takes *seconds* on a fast machine to search thru a registry of a few megabytes. That fits in the assumption that the registry is slow to use. If it is just a bad implementation of the regedit search function, I wonder why MS has not been abale to fix it since 1995.

In Linux, no matter how many packages I have installed (and on some machines that is QUITE a lot) it stays fast as ever.

If I can find an good and true explanation for Windows' degradation over time other than the registry, I will use it in the future. I like a good rant too, but dislike telling untruth.

jlinkels

THe reason it takes a long time to search the registry is exactly that, you're "searching" for that string in every key.

When a Program wants to look up a setting it says "The Key I want is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\Drive_letters", or something like that, the registry finds it in the index, and plucks it out in a jiffi.

On linux, the program says "My settings are in /home/yourname/.vimrc", the OS looks for it in the file-system index (bigger than a registry index), and gives the program its filehandle.

The reason windows slows down is because of all the crap that ends up running on it at boot, I have gotten very good at removing this stuff. And my Windows box boots in almost the same time as my linux box, even though the Windows box is running an FTP server, a media server, A file server, an ssh server in cygwin, and an HTTP server. The linux laptop runs a samba file server and no more. I've had this XP install for 3 years now, through 2 different RAID controllers.

I still prefer Linux though, and if my games worked on it, my PC would run a nice Linux Distro.

jlinkels · 01-24-2009, 10:12 AM

I should have left the W-word out.

Do we agree that Linux boxes do not get slower if you have [too] many packages installed? I mean mainly regular packages, not all that stuff that fills up the space next to the clock at the taskbar.

jlinkels

BigglesPiP · 01-24-2009, 10:59 AM

Yes linux doesn't slow down. Yes, Windows does.

But the registry has nothing to do with it. I'm a multi-platform guy and I recognise the merits of all my OSs. I won't stand for bad science.

craigevil · 01-24-2009, 11:22 AM

Linux does not get slower with many packages installed. I have had as few as 800 packages and as many as 2500 installed. There was absolutely no difference in how the system and apps ran.

The slow down come from having tons of processes running. Just look at a default Ubuntu or Suse install they typically have around 140+ processes that start at boot, While distros like Arch or Debian that are known to be faster typically only have around 60 or so, I have seen a Debian install running openbox only have 48 processes running.