You just can't beat Linux for the desktop - more applications, utilities, and control than you will ever know what to do with.
And, with Open Source if you don't like it, you at least have a shot at making it better by either writing it yourself or posting a request for a change at the host site.
You are probably running Linux on some of your hardware and don't even know it - many routers, NAS systems, and other hardware run small versions of Linux.
Microsoft may have the market right now, but if people really gave Linux a shot then M$ would soon be gone.
Try Ubuntu if you think Fedora is a little to big or you want to try a Live CD (Linux versions which boot and run off the CD.)
Lastly, you don't need anything close to the hardware that is required to make a Windows system function. Buy that a new $300 or used $150 system and give it a try, you may never turn the Windows machine back on.
Discussion on:
View:
Show:
Priority is a nice thing to control, but the kill command that just shoot down a bad process is great.
In any case, it's a lot better than Windows asking you if you want to stop an unresponsive process... it takes ages, and clicking "yes" seems to be a placebo more than anything else.
In any case, it's a lot better than Windows asking you if you want to stop an unresponsive process... it takes ages, and clicking "yes" seems to be a placebo more than anything else.
i tend to use killall over kill simply because i don't have to look up the PID first. so "killall -9 firefox-bin" is better than going "ps aux|grep firefox" and then "kill PID".
few computer users are going to bother with prioritizing their processes. Maybe a few will try and kill a process. Windows is written for average users not for geeks. I like Linux and the abilities it gives me, but I am programmer not an office admin or an accountant.
Being able to fine-tune how you tweak a system does not appeal to a majority of the computer users out there. What will win the common users is making the OS easy to work with. Linux has made a lot of progress in becoming more user-friendly for non-geeks; however, it needs to work on marketing its product to non-geeks.
Marketing was what Microsoft Windows successful. There were other GUIs for PC machines before Windows became dominant. GeoWorks is a good example. In fact GeoWorks provided more builtin apps than Win 3.0; however, it failed to market its GUI.
Being able to fine-tune how you tweak a system does not appeal to a majority of the computer users out there. What will win the common users is making the OS easy to work with. Linux has made a lot of progress in becoming more user-friendly for non-geeks; however, it needs to work on marketing its product to non-geeks.
Marketing was what Microsoft Windows successful. There were other GUIs for PC machines before Windows became dominant. GeoWorks is a good example. In fact GeoWorks provided more builtin apps than Win 3.0; however, it failed to market its GUI.
This is one of those awesome little features that linux has hidden among it that you'd never know about until you read something like this. Working with servers, this would be a great way to ensure that processes are prioritized properly to reduce server load. And at home, maybe I can squeeze a little more performance out of CS:S when I run it in Ubuntu. Ahhh, linux...
Nice tip..
another way to tuen performance on a linux desktop is to adjust swapiness.
Also, for those that like ubuntu on the desktop, you should really also take a look at PCLinuxOS.. it is also debian based, but requires less configuration out of the box, and also has all the great gui's for system configuration task from Mandiriva / Mandrake. It is a great OS for those you may be trying to convert!
another way to tuen performance on a linux desktop is to adjust swapiness.
Also, for those that like ubuntu on the desktop, you should really also take a look at PCLinuxOS.. it is also debian based, but requires less configuration out of the box, and also has all the great gui's for system configuration task from Mandiriva / Mandrake. It is a great OS for those you may be trying to convert!
I have found nice to be one of those things that sound useful, but aren't, like "digital rights management" and
the CANSPAM act. On a single user system you could do some good, maybe. My experience with many *ix flavors is that too many things niced low and other stuff stops working, and on a busy system stuff niced high never gets run. I believe it is better to leave things at the default nice and let the system handle it, at least in a production environment. On a desktop, where you are the only one there, by all means, play with it, but don't be surprised if the system turns around and bites you on the bottom for doing so.
the CANSPAM act. On a single user system you could do some good, maybe. My experience with many *ix flavors is that too many things niced low and other stuff stops working, and on a busy system stuff niced high never gets run. I believe it is better to leave things at the default nice and let the system handle it, at least in a production environment. On a desktop, where you are the only one there, by all means, play with it, but don't be surprised if the system turns around and bites you on the bottom for doing so.
- Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Prev
- Next
- Toggle
