Tips on moving to Linux?

[Kuya Marc]

Hello World!

This thread is something I could not avoid posting in...

In regards to the Linux operating system... I have been working Linux since July 1997. It started off as a profession, now it's just a hobby of mine.

As for OS wars, like Windows vs. Linux, I no longer do those.

My focus is productivity, however, I'm retired due to medical disabilities, and since 2014 has started, I'm focusing on simplicity for a less stressful computing environment.

My primary computer, the ailing Compaq Presario M2000 laptop, has been running Windows 7 Starter Edition since last May 2013, as a financial birthday gift from my parents in USA. I used to dual-boot Linux on it, but had to recent stop doing it because my laptop is now on death row.

I have two netbooks running Debian 8 "Jessie" Linux: The ASUS Eee PC 2G Surf (700MHz Intel) and the Neo eXplore II (900MHz Intel). Both netbooks are configured with FS-UAE & FS-UAE-LAUNCHER, as I'm porting all systems from Amiga Forever Plus Edition into them, to "substitute" use of the Amiga Forever Player in Windows. I'm manually decoding RP9 files for use with FS-UAE-LAUNCHER.

I have two System-on-a-Chip (SoC) computers running Linux: BeagleBone Black (headless, Debian 8 "Jessie") and Raspberry Pi (LXDE, Raspbian 7 "Wheezy").

My Android Tablet PC is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. Yes, it has Amiga Forever Essentials installed. It also has JuiceSSH Pro installed for servicing my Linux computers via the command-line interface.

In July 1997, when I first learned Red Hat & Slackware Linux, I learned Linux strictly via the command-line interface (CLI). At that time, I was used to using Sun Solaris (UNIX) and I was a MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional).

Since 1989, the C programming language has been my preferred programming language. Back then, I was porting C source code from IBM PCs & Apple Macs into Amiga 500. Last year, I re-discovered how to compile C source code in an emulated Amiga 500.

In 2010, I entered embedded systems development and my veteran experience with the C programming language has proved extremely useful. I've programmed Atmel 8051/AVR/ARM, Microchip PIC, or others. When it comes to Amiga via emulation, I plan on working my embedded projects.

Because of the Say speech synthesizer of the Amiga 500 I had 25 years ago, one of my extraordinary hobbies became phoneme-to-speech speech synthesis. Now, I work SpeakJet speech synthesis as a specialized hobby. When I have noticed the Serial Port panel in Amiga's system's folder, I do have some ideas for Amiga speech synthesis via SpeakJet.

Now it is 2014 and my medical disabilities are severely affecting all of my computer work. I do not know how much longer I can keep my "supergeek" status, but retirement is just around the corner for me. I can no longer repair computers. Arthritis is now in my hands and fingers.

My statement is, "It does not matter what operating system you use, just as long as you make something from it. Because, when your human body becomes weak and/or disabled, you have accomplishments to talk about."

[gertsy]

Hello World!

.....
My statement is, "It does not matter what operating system you use, just as long as you make something from it. Because, when your human body becomes weak and/or disabled, you have accomplishments to talk about."

So sorry to hear about your condition. I agree with you 100%. For me productivity is the most important thing. Delivering / creating / accomplishing something is why we use a tool. Understanding why the Amiga was such a big hit for me is because it allowed me to do stuff I couldn't on any other machine as well at the time.

Learning about an OS is fun, and having it to "live with" or consume content is fun too, but you can do that on a tablet more portably and elegantly.

Your response is moving and poignant.

All the best.

[Ral-Clan]

Okay, one more question.

One of the thing that bugs me about Windows, is that if your motherboard dies, you cannot just take the hard drive out and put in in a different computer and keep going.  The Windows XP installation is dependent on certain drivers set up to match the motherboard and related hardware it was running on (or so I've read).  Migrating a whole hard-disc to a new computer is difficult and a re-install is usually a better choice (besides the whole registration/authentication thing).

Is Linux any better in this regard?  Is migration to a new base set of hardware simple?  I assume it is better since the whole "Live CD" and "Live USB stick" installation seems to be very base hardware independent.

This would be a very important attraction for me to Linux, as I had a motherboard die on me once and had to re-install my whole Windows XP system from scratch on a new XP.  Simply moving the hard drive over would have been so much nicer!

[CritAnime]

Okay, one more question.

One of the thing that bugs me about Windows, is that if your motherboard dies, you cannot just take the hard drive out and put in in a different computer and keep going.  The Windows XP installation is dependent on certain drivers set up to match the motherboard and related hardware it was running on (or so I've read).  Migrating a whole hard-disc to a new computer is difficult and a re-install is usually a better choice (besides the whole registration/authentication thing).

Is Linux any better in this regard?  Is migration to a new base set of hardware simple?  I assume it is better since the whole "Live CD" and "Live USB stick" installation seems to be very base hardware independent.

This would be a very important attraction for me to Linux, as I had a motherboard die on me once and had to re-install my whole Windows XP system from scratch on a new XP.  Simply moving the hard drive over would have been so much nicer!

From my own experiences I had no issues transplanting a HDD from one system to another as they were both x64 systems, AMD to Intel. The initial start was slower while the OS reconfigured some drivers and such for the new system but otherwise it worked. If you migrate from a X86 to x64 (32bit to 64bit) it will still work but be aware you will be working to 32bit limitations with RAM sizes. If your system dies while it's on a x64 install then it won't work on a x86 setup.

Basically if you're planning on installing onto a USb stick and sticking to roughly the same architecure (32bit in your case) then install the 32bit version of the OS onto the stick and it will work no matter what.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

One of the thing that bugs me about Windows, is that if your motherboard dies, you cannot just take the hard drive out and put in in a different computer and keep going.

Not that this helps your question at all, but when I have a motherboard failure in any of our systems, I just go on ebay or amazon and purchase an identical replacement motherboard.  Just my .02 cents from someone who's replaced hundreds of motherboards over the years.  

Glad you're enjoying Linux so far!  

[Duce]

All depends on which version (not XP / Vista / 7, so much, etc. - but home, business, oem, vlk, ultimate) of windows you are running.

Some won't allow what Ral-Clan said.

[gertsy]

Depends on whether you want to use any of the new MB features  or not. Most MBs will run in a backwards compatible state but I think you're missing the point of technology upgrades: New features, not backwards compatibility.  Yes your IDE drive and raid chipset will work but what are you missing out on?  In the world of Linux it's not such a big issue. But try running Windows 8.1... Sorry best I leave it there.

[Ral-Clan]

Not that this helps your question at all, but when I have a motherboard failure in any of our systems, I just go on ebay or amazon and purchase an identical replacement motherboard.  Just my .02 cents from someone who's replaced hundreds of motherboards over the years.  

Glad you're enjoying Linux so far!  

Yeah, I thought of this, but the reason my motherboard died was because of swollen capacitors.  I checked out an identical computer for sale locally (good price) but it was also suffering from swollen capacitors (just hadn't failed yet).  So I was very wary of sticking with the same motherboard, even though I was very happy with the computer while it had functioned.

[psxphill]

And...that's just silly.
Kind of like defending an OS that uses a flat database like the Windows Registry.

Registry is just another file system. /etc is much much worse.
 

The Windows XP installation is dependent on certain drivers set up to match the motherboard and related hardware it was running on (or so I've read). Migrating a whole hard-disc to a new computer is difficult and a re-install is usually a better choice (besides the whole registration/authentication thing).

The AHCI / IDE setting in the bios has to match, although you can boot in IDE mode and then change it to expect AHCI mode on the next boot (google for change sata mode after windows installation).
 
You can also have problems if it needs to use a different hal, but I believe you can force it to redetect that too on the next boot (google for bcdedit /detecthal )
 
I've not used Linux recently, but back when I did you had to relink the kernel depending on the hardware in the machine. That might have changed and even if it hasn't there will be guides on how to do it. You also have to pray that there are actually Linux drivers for your hardware, people who like Linux are prepared to go through a lot of pain to use it.
 
 
I don't mind reinstalling windows, it usually gives you the opportunity to discard stuff that you can't be bothered to track down and delete but you won't miss if you never bother to install again.
 
I wouldn't stay with XP, I have been running 8 for ages now & it's much nicer. Now that they have fixed android fastboot for flashing my phone in 8.1, I am going to reinstall soon. #notmissingstartmenu

[polyp2000]

I've not used Linux recently, but back when I did you had to relink the kernel depending on the hardware in the machine.

Thats probably a while back now and probably a throwback to the days when you might have needed to recompile a kernel or patch it to get some obscure hardware to work. Most distributions use kernel modules loaded at boot time. Im not entirely sure how the hardware detection part works. But the chances are if you swap your hard drives over two machines and the architecture isnt radically different (eg different CPU Arch) itll just load a different bunch of kernel modules.

Special cases would be using binary drivers for graphics cards - that said you would probably drop back to a framebuffer mode. And nowadays there are open source versions of the NVidia and AMD GPU's (performance not as good as the binary ones though).

The other situation that would cause this is if you were rolling your own distro ala Gentoo or Slackware and compiled your modules into the kernel binary. (Unlikely in this case!)

Sometimes i forget what a faff it used to be! Stuff just works (tm) nowadays!

Nick

[Fats]

Is Linux any better in this regard?  Is migration to a new base set of hardware simple?  I assume it is better since the whole "Live CD" and "Live USB stick" installation seems to be very base hardware independent.

Most things will just work except for the X configuration if there is a config file that selects a certain card that is not in the system anymore. You will likely boot in command line mode then and have to reconfigure the X server manually.
The latest Linux distros don't use a xorg.conf file anymore and will adapt to even a changed graphics card. If you install the proprietary AMD or NVidia drivers this likely won't be the case anymore.

[QuikSanz]

Yeah, I thought of this, but the reason my motherboard died was because of swollen capacitors.  I checked out an identical computer for sale locally (good price) but it was also suffering from swollen capacitors (just hadn't failed yet).  So I was very wary of sticking with the same motherboard, even though I was very happy with the computer while it had functioned.

Have a look at one of those Re-Cap services, may cost you $50 but will be like new.

Chris

[TeamBlackFox]

Congrats on enjoying Linux, its a great OS despite its flaws. I've used IRIX, Solaris, SunOS, OS X, Windows, AmigaOS, BeOS/ZETA/Haiku, FreeBSD and Linux itself is by far one of the better ones around.

[Megamig]

I love Windows 7 (hate Windows 8, but that's a different story)

I see Windows 7 as the next XP. Windows Vista and Windows 8 are crap. The only thing they got right on Windows 8 is the copy/moving feature. Using Windows XP today is a bit like using Windows 3.1 in 2000. If it serves your needs then fine, but it's time to let go and move on to something more modern!

[TeamBlackFox]

Well MegaMig, we're on a vintage computer site. AmigaOS isn't modern by any standard, and yet I doubt 10% or less of the population here would consider it obsolete. Its just that in hindsight, XP is crap. It was good back then, but its filth now.

[Thorham]

Using Windows XP today is a bit like using Windows 3.1 in 2000.

Not really. The two are completely and utterly incomparable.

it's time to let go and move on to something more modern!

That's true, and I would if I could, but I'm strapped for cash at the moment.

It was good back then, but its filth now.

:laughing: