Why I keep thinking about switching back to Windows
Posted by RichDec 31
I’ve been using Linux powered servers since 1995. About 18 months ago I decided to try using Linux on the desktop. I’m mostly happy with it but there are a number of things that annoy me and at least once per month I seriously think about switching back to Windows.
Some things are my fault:
- Buying a laptop with an NVIDIA card (I’m never going to buy another NVIDIA product)
Some things are out of my control:
- Needing to test applications using IE
- The Australian Tax Office only supports Windows
- Being unable to sync the contacts/calendars between my phone and Evolution
Some things aren’t important but still frustrate:
- The built-in webcam and microphone don’t work
- The external microphone worked with Kubuntu (which killed the audio after a kernel upgrade) but not Ubuntu (which I use)
- I’ve never been able to use the digital TV tuner that came with the computer
While I can do 100% of my day-to-day tasks that only covers 95% of what I do each the month. Being unable able to do the other 5% has become very frustrating and is almost enough to make me switch back to Windows. I just keep feeling that if I hold off long enough that I’ll be able to do the last 5% with Linux (or Reactos will become a viable option).
Update: I’ve made some progress on syncing contacts between my phone and Horde Groupware Webmail Edition using SyncML which I then hope to sync with Evolution.
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Two things:
Have you tried the official Nvidia binary drivers? I’ve always had very good experiences with them in the past, although only on desktop machines.
Needing to test applications using IE: I use the excellent “ies4linux” tool which together with Wine downloads and configures whichever versions of IE you want (all the way from 3 to 7). I find this more useful than Windows, as it can be tricky to run IE 6 and 7 on the one Windows install anyway.
@Ycros: I’m currently using the official Nvidia binary drivers but never found the installation particularly easy. With Ubuntu 7.10 I had just about given up all hope of getting them installed properly when I stumbled across Envy which did the job perfectly. Of course now I’ll need to repeat the process every time there is a kernel patch which gets back to my list of “annoying” things.
For the record, I blame Nvidia not Linux or Ubuntu.
I’m a VMware nut myself. Wine just never got the right video resolution for me.
VMware will allow you to start a virtual partition on your drive without even allocating all of the room you tell it to take, and starts a Windows install the minute you start a virtual machine. It reads directly from a mounted CD or ISO mounted as a CD, and installs windows. Very smooth.
Without the correct NVIDIA drivers for your computer though, the experience may vary.
If you use Acronis for backup with Universal Restore, you can take your virtual machines and start a fresh computer with that same install.
I blame NVIDIA for your problems too.