Do you run Linux as your sole operating system?

[ElectricRider]

I came across this on a popular notebook forum and thought it would be interesting to share.

The title of the post is: Do you run Linux as your sole operating system?
found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/linux-c ... linux.html

It's a poll that asks if you solely use Linux or if you use other operating systems along with your Linux OS. Currently 34.75% of users polled say they Only use Linux as compared to a whopping 65.25% of Linux users who say they also run other operating systems.

Knowing this is only a small sampling of the Linux community, one user comments : "Interesting how 65% of users polled at this time do not use Linux exclusively. I wonder how that translates into the greater world around us." An interesting question.

As of today, 118 people have taken the poll. Perhaps some of you may like to pop over there and add to the poll or add some comments.

[rob2uk]

I have a Windows XP install on this PC, but it is very, very rare that I actually boot into it.

I actually use Linux Mint for gaming - I only play World Of Goo and Minecraft, and they both work much better on Linux than Windows.

[willie42]

I use mint as my main.......use windows only when repairing computers

[Aging Technogeek]

If you mean by Linux, Linux Mint, the answer is no. If you mean Linux in any form as opposed to Windows, BSD, Solaris, etc., the answer is still no. I run a small XP Pro partition because I use two 3G broadband modems (each has it's uses) and must have a Windows installation to run the device managers so I can keep the device firmware up to date. I also have a lightscribe based CD/DVD labeling program that I truly like that only runs in WIndows.

I also run Crunchbang Statler, Peppermint one, and I just downloaded Jolicloud 1.1 to test it on my netbook. Of course, as a confirmed distro hopper, I have about 35 - 40 .iso files on CD, DVD, flashdrive, or in my Data partition that I play with on occasion.

[richyrich]

AT, you are not a hopper, you are a connoisseur !

[Beerislife]

I used to use Linux as my main OS until just after summer when I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 7 and then a Mac Mini with Snow Leopard. I did replace Win 7 with Mint on the laptop but battery life seemed better with Win 7 so reinstalled it. Can't see the point of buying Apple hardware and replacing OS X with Linux so that won't change.

I consider dual-booting a waste of time so have one OS per machine! My main machine (this thing) runs Min 10 with both Gnome and KDE 4.5.4 Still can't decide which I prefer, hope to make up my mind around Mint 11

[willie42]

I used to use Linux as my main OS until just after summer when I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 7 and then a Mac Mini with Snow Leopard. I did replace Win 7 with Mint on the laptop but battery life seemed better with Win 7 so reinstalled it. Can't see the point of buying Apple hardware and replacing OS X with Linux so that won't change.

I consider dual-booting a waste of time so have one OS per machine! My main machine (this thing) runs Min 10 with both Gnome and KDE 4.5.4 Still can't decide which I prefer, hope to make up my mind around Mint 11

or 12,13, 14, maybe

[rivenathos]

Count me as someone running a distro of GNU/Linux as my sole operating system. In fact, a GNU/Linux distro is the only operating system I have used since 2000 (Windows 98SE). I spent some time with SUSE before breaking camp for Debian Etch.

Windows? Do people still use that?

[d00med]

I run Mint on my netbook, and Windows on my laptop. The only things holding me back from switching to Mint entirely are Blu-ray, and my Zune HD.

[sgosnell]

I use Windows XP at work, since that's what the company provides. On my computers, I use Linux almost exclusively, but I do have XP on one EEE-PC, since it came that way. It's basically a spare computer, and I rarely use it, but I occasionally run Line6 Pod software, which is Windows-only. I could get by without running Windows on my computers, but it's sometimes handy to have another OS available for special situations.

[MALsPa]

I run only Linux on my home computers.

[colyn]

For the most part I have been using Mint 9 KDE, LMDE, and Mint 10 Gnome but over the weekend I installed Fedora 14 KDE on another machine.

F14 is fast and stable but it takes a lot of work to get it set up the way I want.

[jokersloose]

Yep Linux "Mint" in fact is the only OS I run. But I"m not really a gamer or anything mostly web surfing and such so Mint is perfect.

James

[Beerislife]

For the most part I have been using Mint 9 KDE, LMDE, and Mint 10 Gnome but over the weekend I installed Fedora 14 KDE on another machine.

F14 is fast and stable but it takes a lot of work to get it set up the way I want.

I used Fedora from FC5 up to about Fedora 11. It is a great distro but I just could not be bothered to install Java, multimedia codecs and everything else needed any more so I switched to Mint. Yes, I know about Autoten but it has a habit of installing
things I don't want when selecting to install codecs and I'd need to prune stuff afterwards, so there'd be no time saving. With
Mint all I have to remove is Thunderbird (I use Evolution) and mono-runtime and it's done.

[andreaborman]

I have installed Linux mint 9 alongside Windows 7 on one of my laptops. But I would never advise replacing Windows with Linux as you only operating system. First of all you are running Linux on a Windows computer that is made for Windows with a Windows bootloader.Although you can install Linux alongside Windows. unless you buy a Linux computer,you cannot uninstall windows and replace it totally with Linux only.

but you can install Linux alongside of windows and if you do not want to use windows-don't. Just boot into Linux. But Linux has limited functions compared to Windows.

A lot of software is not compatible with Linux and only works on Windows and linux is more difficult to use than Windows in my experience.

Although Linux is all right for browsing the web,when you want to do more advanced things,you still need Windows to do them. My HP web camb settings can only be controlled and customized on windows,not Linux. Where the video quality is not so good.

And remember, you are after all ,using Linux on a computer built for Windows, so although you can install Linux beside it. It is still a Windows computer with Windows as it's main software,although when you install Linux,Linux software is added.

And why would you want to get rid of Windows anyway,when it is so user friendly and good,even a child can use it. Andrea Borman.

[Habitual]

...as a confirmed distro hopper...

I call you brother!

I only run *nix to answer the OP's inquiry.

[TBABill]

First of all you are running Linux on a Windows computer that is made for Windows with a Windows bootloader.Although you can install Linux alongside Windows. unless you buy a Linux computer,you cannot uninstall windows and replace it totally with Linux only.

but you can install Linux alongside of windows and if you do not want to use windows-don't. Just boot into Linux. But Linux has limited functions compared to Windows.

A lot of software is not compatible with Linux and only works on Windows and linux is more difficult to use than Windows in my experience.

Although Linux is all right for browsing the web,when you want to do more advanced things,you still need Windows to do them. My HP web camb settings can only be controlled and customized on windows,not Linux. Where the video quality is not so good.

I read this more than once because it is either uninformed or trolling. You can completely wipe Windows from a machine and only run Linux. The bootloader is installed on the machine by the OS. In most cases with Linux it's Grub, Grub2 or Lilo, although there are others. Windows has its own. But it is not a material piece of the machine itself and the Windows bootloader is not needed by Linux to operate.

A quick web search will take you to lists of hardware that is Linux supported. In fact Dell has more machines than any other company that are Ubuntu certified, meaning they are Windows based machines that have been thoroughly tested and certified for Linux.

As far as "a lot of software is not compatible with Linux".....well, of course. A lot of Windows software is not Mac, BSD or Unix compatible either. Otherwise we'd just need one OS. To think the software should be compatible begs the question of why the user would use another OS if the requirement or need is for the Windows specific software to be used.

And Windows is easier to use for most users because they already know it and they do not know Linux until they use it long enough to become familiar. I find Windows now to be more difficult to use, especially if you need to go into control panel and figure out which general category your specific function is in, or even deeper into the registry. Use them both for an equal amount of time and I think you'd find Linux to be easier to use and understand. I use Win XP, Win 7 and Linux on many different computers and have been a computer user since 1993 on Windows 3.0, but I still find it requires more work to get things done when you have to fix or change the OS itself than it is to do so in Linux.

Lastly, what "advanced things" require Windows over Linux? I'm not trying to come off like a Linux fan, but trying to be objective to all the OS's I've used and supported. I can do nearly everything in Linux that I do in Windows, with the exception of actually using iTunes to purchase music to add to my kids' iTunes accounts because that's what their gift cards usually are...iTunes. Oh yeah, and downloading and updating the Bios in my laptop is easier with the .exe file than it is via Linux but that's because of Dell, not the hardware. If it had a .deb I'd be very pleased.

[sgosnell]

I have installed Linux mint 9 alongside Windows 7 on one of my laptops. But I would never advise replacing Windows with Linux as you only operating system. First of all you are running Linux on a Windows computer that is made for Windows with a Windows bootloader.Although you can install Linux alongside Windows. unless you buy a Linux computer,you cannot uninstall windows and replace it totally with Linux only.

but you can install Linux alongside of windows and if you do not want to use windows-don't. Just boot into Linux. But Linux has limited functions compared to Windows.

A lot of software is not compatible with Linux and only works on Windows and linux is more difficult to use than Windows in my experience.

Although Linux is all right for browsing the web,when you want to do more advanced things,you still need Windows to do them. My HP web camb settings can only be controlled and customized on windows,not Linux. Where the video quality is not so good.

And remember, you are after all ,using Linux on a computer built for Windows, so although you can install Linux beside it. It is still a Windows computer with Windows as it's main software,although when you install Linux,Linux software is added.

And why would you want to get rid of Windows anyway,when it is so user friendly and good,even a child can use it. Andrea Borman.

This is one of the most ignorant posts I've seen in a long time. PCs are not made for any specific OS, Windows or Linux or anything else. It's very easy to remove Windows completely, and I've done it many times. Of course software is different, because software is written for, and compiled on, a specific OS. Windows software won't run on Linux except under Wine, and Linux software won't run on Windows. Nor will OSX software run under Windows or Linux. That argument is simply a red herring. I have just as much control over hardware with Linux as with Windows, if not more. It's true that manufacturers try harder to make their hardware compatible with Windows, because that's where the big market is, but I've had no problems. I got rid of Windows because I got tired of crashes, tired of having boxes pop up telling me stuff I already knew or didn't need to know. Tired of updates that took hours to download and install, and which broke the system. Windows is not easier to use, never has been, and never will be. It seems easier to people who have only used it, because that's all they know. If you've invested years in learning an OS, you may not want to invest more in learning another, even though the investment required may actually be small. What Microsoft does very well, better than anyone else, is marketing. They do nothing else well, but they do marketing better than just about any other company.

[randomizer]

Although Linux is all right for browsing the web,when you want to do more advanced things,you still need Windows to do them.

So that is why only 1 of the 500 fastest supercomputers runs Windows, and certainly not Windows 7.

[Murdock]

I haven't run anything but Linux since 2001.