Goodbye Linux... Mac Or Windows based? (take 2)
 

What better time to learn more about Linux, intensively, than when you are at college, immersed with a bunch of fellow nerds with whom you can learn the ins and outs.

You can run a web browser, write a paper, use a spreadsheet... you can use gcc, g++, python, java (or whatever) for programming... Common Lisp, Snobol(?)... :-)

I was just at my 25th college reunion, and I asked an undergrad graduating in CS what he was working on these days.... without missing a beat, he said, Linux.


As for the Macs... Everybody I've heard make mention of them says that they really do "just work".

I'm having Windows Vista issues right now on a Dell notebook that I bought in 4/2007, and I am running as fast as I can away from Microsoft.

Good luck.

Let us know how it goes.


//moderator.note: these poses got pruned off of http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-based-571455/, which was a 2007 thread. Please do not revive stale threads.

if you are going to major in any science area i would suggest dual booting. for me especially with engineering software (matlab, vhdl) and computer science software (gcc) it is helpful. my electrical engineering labs were dual boot and the computer science department had unix and windows labs.

trust me you will be ahead of the curve if you are not binded to the university's equipment and will be versitile if you can compile/ assemble on different platforms. (dont limit yourself)

I recommend that you buy Windows Vista.

Go to a local electronics or office-supply, and obligingly bend-over and present your hindquarters :rolleyes: when they offer you "Geek Squad." Sign up for the next umpty-leven years. They'll take good care of you...

Be sure to run your machine as an Administrator when you are surfing the Internet, and pay lots of money to McAfee and Peter Norton. (This will also be a good use of your "Geek Squad" subscription, as they reset your computer for you every few weeks...)

This will be the true beginning of your "college education."

Basically, the consumer-computer marketplace has been split into one of two camps:

1. Those who (care to...) understand the technology
2. Those (like you?) who don't, or who don't care to.

In that case, it's simple: you pay. Folks who know better will place you in the most vulnerable position possible so that they can then charge you as much as possible to fix the problems that you time-and-time-again will certainly encounter.

As you complete your education, you will learn more. And you will discover why your educated friends are using Linux and Macintoshes. But you need to spend some time in the pig-sty first, before you acquire a taste for applewood-smoked bacon...

...resist the temptation to comment - this thread was almost a year old until it got (accidentally) revived ;)

The main reason for considering any computer/OS at all is: will it have the tools to get your job done well and done conveniently?

For example, if you write a lot of documents you'll want software that's easy to work with to get things looking just the way you want. So you probably don't want to use 'troff' to produce formatted PostScript files as many students at good universities did circa 1984. You'll probably want something like OpenOffice. If you really care about the way your work looks, you may persist with TeX/LaTeX (many people still do, and I always use it for work of publication quality), or you may choose to use something like 'LyX' which is friendlier to new users but is shunned by TeX/LaTeX purists.

Since laptops already come with WinDuhs, you may want to make that phone call to customer support, pay your $30, and get your installed CD. You can still install Linux and install WinDuhs via 'virtualbox' - and if you want more functionality (like working USB devices under WinDuhs), you can pay for the comercial version of virtualbox. If you plan to run WinDuhs anyway, I can guarantee you'll need that installer disc. What a ripoff - they used to come with the machines but now you have to ring up and pay extra. The whole MS tax is a phenomenal criminal scam anyway.

I don't know what you're talking about when you say there are problems with wireless gizmos. Do a little homework with 'google' and find out what built-in wireless devices work well. The Intel chips work, although the FSF recommends supporting AMD instead since Intel is still pretty hostile on some fronts. Then again, I still see no reason to recommend an AMD chip for laptops.

I just wonder when the double edge sword effect takes place? I mean I don't really see a huge use in it to begin with but when does it become time not to revive a old thread? sometimes I think it is better to revive a old thread (even if useless) to save on storage? And from time to time you might get that person that says "this has been asked why did you not ask on one of the old threads"?

Just wondering?

if you are going to major in any science area i would suggest dual booting. for me especially with engineering software (matlab, vhdl) and computer science software (gcc) it is helpful. my electrical engineering labs were dual boot and the computer science department had unix and windows labs.

trust me you will be ahead of the curve if you are not binded to the university's equipment and will be versitile if you can compile/ assemble on different platforms. (dont limit yourself)

if you are majoring in an art i would suggest mac simply because that is what the school will be using.