What Is An Operating System?

[bukitpanjang]

differences between operating systems

ok... this is not meant to be an exhaustive writeup on what makes an operating system. rather like what sundevil mentioned here, http://bw2.9.forumer.com/index.php?showtop...indpost&p=46593 --- it is just me sharing some thoughts and experience on what i've used before.

- Mac OS X.4.9 (PowerPC/PPC - mac hardware)

- Fedora 7 (PPC distribution/distro)

- Ubuntu 7.04 (PPC distro)

- Windowx XP

- Windows Vista Business 32bit

my powerbook has a 1.5GHz + 512mb ram.

my pc is a 3Ghz + 1gb ram.

starting it up

the most apparent difference when i turn on my pc and powerbook is that the powerbook starts the entire OSX.4.9 Operating System (OS) within a minute from booting up. (my friend's macbook pro starts almost instantly.)

The pc with vista, after the initial loading of essential files and logging into my account, takes a good 5 minutes just to get useable. because of how windows manage softwares that loads during startup, this eats up a lot of precious ram and processing power, leading to a slower bootup. same goes for windows XP.

using my softwares

on a typical day, i would be using adobe dreamweaver, microsoft office, msn, livejournal, firefox, bittorrents. on the pc.

over at vista, once i have firefox up surfing some webmails, i can start to see that dreamweaver gets sluggish, and msn would crash/takes a while to respond. it can be due to many reasons,

1.) my background antivirus scanning

2.) my ram is not sufficient

3.) software needs to access my hard disk more often

4.) vista is a system hog, period.

in other words, i would curse and swear a little on wtf is taking so long just to load a html page for editing.

on OSX however, even with adobe photoshop/dreamweaver/illustrater cs3 running, 2 word documents (ms office for mac), leaving msn online, running camino + firefox to access several different online pages/tools, bittorrent running. everything seems to chug along smoothly.

and i can still pop in a dvd and watch it without that stuttering thing, which happens when my pc is bogged down.

the feeling is wtf, to be honest.

oh, i did not have any antivirus running in background for the mac btw.

the alternative operating systems

i've tinkered with linux for a while. but has never made them a primary operating system.

since fedora core until the latest fedora 7, this has been my preferred OS for linux for a newbie. and it has relatively good support for PPC hardware. its not much different from ubuntu. although i feel more at ease installing Fedora 7.

ubuntu is great for someone to give a new lease of life to their Pentium3 or Pentium2 systems and let their kids use it. personally, yes ubuntu is great for a basic computer. perfect for the mums and dads who uses the computer occasionally, and its great for kids doing school projects and stuffs, since it comes with a comprehensive office suite that are free.

1.) one downside is unless someone in the linux community has created a software that serves a function, you're pretty much left with a basic computer and thats it.

2.) you can't run any .exe files or software from your windows cd. duh.

3.) you are left wondering if you have set up the linux correctly or not.

4.) adobe publishing tools are the standard tools, you don't have it in the linux world. yet.

5.) you'd feel like you're putting in more effort just to use ur computer.

- the plus side however, it runs fast/smooth.

ok thats all for now till i can think of wat to add...

[IkuTube]

Interesting write-up, bukitpanjang :clap: Do continue to share

Anyway, just a little sharing here:

The pc with vista, after the initial loading of essential files and logging into my account, takes a good 5 minutes just to get useable. because of how windows manage softwares that loads during startup, this eats up a lot of precious ram and processing power, leading to a slower bootup. same goes for windows XP.

Many Windows users are not familiar to finetune their system. I am not sure about Mac but with Windows, we need to tweak a little to improve performance.

Slow boot-up

- you need to disable unused hardware configuration either via device manager or the BIOS.

Slow Logon

- you need to uncheck/disable all the un-necessary 'Automatically run XXXX when log on to Windows'. [XXXX = programs that you install]

- configure the settings via msconfig > Startup

- configure the settings via services.msc

2.) my ram is not sufficient

3.) software needs to access my hard disk more often

2) What's your memory?

3) Perhaps, to 'tweak' the configuration

- in your System Properties > Advanced > Performance / Setting > Advanced may help. Click on 'Adjust for best performance of:' to Programs.

- in your Folder Options > View and check on 'Launch folder windows in a separate process'.

- download Tweak UI. In General, uncheck everything except "Optimize hard disk when idle"

[sotong_sg]

starting it up

the most apparent difference when i turn on my pc and powerbook is that the powerbook starts the entire OSX.4.9 Operating System (OS) within a minute from booting up. (my friend's macbook pro starts almost instantly.)

The pc with vista, after the initial loading of essential files and logging into my account, takes a good 5 minutes just to get useable. because of how windows manage softwares that loads during startup, this eats up a lot of precious ram and processing power, leading to a slower bootup. same goes for windows XP.

Ok, I am not sure if that is the case for your comparison.

I highly suspect that most Mac notebooks are designed to go to sleep instead of actual shut down..

I have seen a Mac desktop boot up.. it does take at least a minute or 2..

If you are using Vista on your PC, try the power options, and enable "Hybrid Sleep".

After that.. instead of the usual shutdown, turn it to sleep mode..(You can configure your "power" button on your start menu to be "sleep" instead of "shut down")

I am using my notebook like this now.. I just let it sleep it uses not a lot of battery..

I let it sleep overnight, starting from 12midnight without power supply while I go to sleep, wake up, bring it to work.. and only use it after lunch time, the battery consumption is about 8% to 12% only. In total, my laptop has been sleeping for like 12 to 16 hours.

I let it sleep with my files and application open (like outlook, firefox, excel, etc).. of course I save everything first..

I know.. once every week or so, I still shut down and reboot my laptop when one of the software goes a bit haywire.. no big deal, just a bit of lag, something...

Alternatively, you can try hibernate instead..

[bukitpanjang]

Many Windows users are not familiar to finetune their system.  I am not sure about Mac but with Windows, we need to tweak a little to improve performance.

Slow boot-up

- you need to disable unused hardware configuration either via device manager or the BIOS.

Slow Logon

- you need to uncheck/disable all the un-necessary 'Automatically run XXXX when log on to Windows'.  [XXXX = programs that you install]

- configure the settings via msconfig > Startup

-  configure the settings via services.msc

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2110600,00.asp

a more visual guide on how to tune up using msconfig, for vista users

[SunDevil]

Here's my take on Ubuntu 7.04 code-named Feisty Fawn:

1. Easy and simple installation of the OS. It took me around 30 minutes to get the OS up and running.

2. I didn't have any problems with it recognizing all my hardware, with the exception of my Linksys Wireless USB adapter that's like 3 years old. Then again, I managed to do some tweaks to fix it pronto.

3. BP's right when he said that it'd take more time to get the Linux to function the way you want it. Well...I'm a control freak anyway....so I like to tweak my OS here and there to get it work the way I want it. So, be prepared to spend some valuable hours on getting it souped up with all the free programs that you can download for free online. That said, Ubuntu, as a Linus OS, has come such a long way from the times of early Redhat etc.(I remember getting into a massive fit just to get Linux to recognize my internal CD burner!)

4. Ubuntu has got some of the coolest GUIs that I've seen in any Linux distros. The effects are pretty good too. There are some tweaks you can do to get the "Aero" effect like Vista. The controls and icons are intuitive, too. Thus, making this one of the most user-friendly Linux distros I've tinkered around with.

5. It runs fast...definitely faster than Windows. It's only running on a Sempron chip with only 512 DDR ram and it's faster than my XP on an Intel Core Duo with 1Gb DDR2 ram. So if you have an old computer lying around collecting dust, it's time to bring it back to life with Linux.

6. If you need a PC to do your basic word-processing, spreadsheets, emails, web-surfing, IRC, IM, video-watching, music-playing etc etc but don't wanna pay a single cent for softwares, then Linux is for you. But if you want more than that, like what BP mentioned earlier, you're better off running Windows or Mac.

Contrary to popular belief, I really don't think you need to be a computer nerd to use Linux. Though it helps if you know some Unix commands, it's definitely not a pre-requisite.

I foresee the popularity of Linux to gain momentum in the next few years. Already MS is feeling the pinch now and that's why they've filed the patent infringement lawsuit on Linux recently.

Again, the times ahead can only be exciting!

[bukitpanjang]

Contrary to popular belief, I really don't think you need to be a computer nerd to use Linux. Though it helps if you know some Unix commands, it's definitely not a pre-requisite.

I foresee the popularity of Linux to gain momentum in the next few years. Already MS is feeling the pinch now and that's why they've filed the patent infringement lawsuit on Linux recently.

Again, the times ahead can only be exciting!

the problem about popularity is... you need someone who already use it... to share with you the benefits of using linux, or in this instance, ubuntu/fedora 7.

what are the chances a typical man on the street is gonna say, "hey i think i'm gonna install ubuntu/fedora 7 today and use it as THE ONLY operating system."

that will take a lot of blind faith...

so unless you have a fren whom you've used their linux box and played around a little, it wll be very unlikely that you'd install this. even though it really have a lot to offer for those adventurous enuff to find out.

on another hand.

its very unlikely that an average person will run 2, or 3 or more operating systems for his own use. there are, but they're not ur average bloke.

so this is like and apple to orange to banana to pineapple kind of discussion.

fyi, that popularity statement has been around for years but the number of people actually picking it up is not substantial. everyone's worried that they may not get wat they want.