Making Linux Mint 7 work even better!

[Tinker]

Just remembered another question...

Anybody know how to tell the boot loader that linux is NOT the preferred choice?

When I wake my machine up from hibernation, I have to watch for it & choose Windows.  This is a little annoying first thing in the morning as I like to go pour my coffee while it's coming to life.

[Darren]

Maybe you had a bad install, I did on my second old laptop but another go sorted it out

[Darren]

Linux left Windows as first choice for boot-up on both my machines, it's really annoying  


The thing is with Linux there is no need to shut the computer down overnight, in fact I believe it can be left running for years with no ill effects.
It's hard to explain, but it runs nothing like windows and goes into an auto sleep when left.

Things I have noticed, my laptop was always noisy, mainly the HD ran full pelt constantly, now I can't remember the last time I heard it? It must be running?
Or maybe it's the fan I used to hear? Dunno.

Secondly with Vista if I put my hand over the fan vent the air coming out was hot, and I mean hot, certainly hot enough to keep your cuppa warm on a cold day. On a hot summers day I used to get worried about just how hot my laptop was getting, even the keys were warm.

Now the air vent temp is barely noticeable above room temp....

If I look in System monitor I find the memory used is 22% (Vista 90-100) swap file 0% (can't remember?) CPU1 34% CPU2 27% (70-100 for both almost all the time)

This laptop has now been on for 3 days con't, if I were running Vista I would have forced at least one if not two re-boots per day to clear the memory as the machine got slower and slower.

One thing for sure, my laptop will last a lot longer under Linux, no doubt about that.
And my electric bill will also thank me...

[Tinker]

Maybe you had a bad install, I did on my second old laptop but another go sorted it out

A good possibility...Maybe later I'll try re-installing.

[sorveltaja]

Just remembered another question...

Anybody know how to tell the boot loader that linux is NOT the preferred choice?

When I wake my machine up from hibernation, I have to watch for it & choose Windows.  This is a little annoying first thing in the morning as I like to go pour my coffee while it's coming to life.

Answer to the question might be, if my memory serves, that there is an option in Linux to choose primary booting OS.  

In my case, hibernation is definitely no-no. Just haven't got it to work properly in Windows anyway.  

[sorveltaja]

Linux left Windows as first choice for boot-up on both my machines, it's really annoying  


The thing is with Linux there is no need to shut the computer down overnight, in fact I believe it can be left running for years with no ill effects.
It's hard to explain, but it runs nothing like windows and goes into an auto sleep when left.

Things I have noticed, my laptop was always noisy, mainly the HD ran full pelt constantly, now I can't remember the last time I heard it? It must be running?
Or maybe it's the fan I used to hear? Dunno.

Secondly with Vista if I put my hand over the fan vent the air coming out was hot, and I mean hot, certainly hot enough to keep your cuppa warm on a cold day. On a hot summers day I used to get worried about just how hot my laptop was getting, even the keys were warm.

Now the air vent temp is barely noticeable above room temp....

If I look in System monitor I find the memory used is 22% (Vista 90-100) swap file 0% (can't remember?) CPU1 34% CPU2 27% (70-100 for both almost all the time)

This laptop has now been on for 3 days con't, if I were running Vista I would have forced at least one if not two re-boots per day to clear the memory as the machine got slower and slower.

One thing for sure, my laptop will last a lot longer under Linux, no doubt about that.
And my electric bill will also thank me...

Is there a task manager in Vista? Or some other system tool, that shows you, how many processes you have on background? I'll bet there are dozens of useless processes there...

[Darren]

Yes Vista has one, and there are usually hundreds of processes active all taking some memory space and CPU resources. Windows never shuts them down when they are no longer needed and that is where the main problem lays. Eventually the system just bogs down and refuses to run. Then comes the forced re-boot I mentioned.

With Linux as I look now only 2 processes using any resources Firefox being one because I'm writing this.

There are plenty of others open, but all are using zero memory or CPU because Linux properly puts them to sleep when not being used. This is something Vista can't seem to do?

[sorveltaja]

Hundreds of processes in Vista??? No wonder, that it requires regular re-booting. 30-50 processes would be more than enough, depending on the antivirus and firewall softwares.

[Tinker]

Linux left Windows as first choice for boot-up on both my machines, it's really annoying  

And yet it went the other way around here. 

The thing is with Linux there is no need to shut the computer down overnight, in fact I believe it can be left running for years with no ill effects.
It's hard to explain, but it runs nothing like windows and goes into an auto sleep when left.

I need to shut this one down on a regular basis simply because I tend to use it on battery a fair bit.  If it were a desktop machine, I'd generally leave it running.

[Darren]

I think the same applies, when sleeping it consumes no power. I went out all day yesterday (bumbling around the stores duty) without switching mine off. When I go out all day I unplug mine and stick in a cupboard due to teenagers in the house (just in case)

When I came back I expected it to be dead, it wasn't ..... I was quite surprised because it had been 8hrs and my bat only lasts about 2.


I hope you get yours running, I've always poo'ed Linux, this install has changed the way I think about it now.

[John Hill]

We run Winderz for months and months on our airport jobs without rebooting. It is not Winderz but the crappy applications that eventually kill the machine and no doubt Linux is vulernable to the same thing it just depends on what you have running. 

Of course any Winderz system has a very short life expectancy if it is connected to the Internet with so much out there to distract it, so to speak.

[Darren]

Starting to find a few little annoying quirks, it seemed at first the Linux guys had sorted the OS out to a good usable level. Now I'm not so enthusiastic.

eg today I'm trying to upload jpgs to my Photobucket acc, it just can't do it in Linux. I can see the jpg's on my computer, but when I try to upload them they become invisible for selection.  

Spent two days searching for a resolution on the sound problem, forums are littered with solutions ... all different btw, and most of them I haven't a clue what they are on about or how to implement the "simple" instructions. I never thought of myself as dumb, but some of these instructions are making me have a re-think.  

Also I have downloaded several image editing packages and all of them won't allow me to crop an image, the icon is always greyed out. Another annoying thing I found is that image programs by different names are in fact the same thing. What a waste of time downloading and installing then all.

becoming a little less impressed as time goes on.

The OS is great, if all you do is browse the net and send a few emails. (without sound)

[dsquire]

Starting to find a few little annoying quirks, it seemed at first the Linux guys had sorted the OS out to a good usable level. Now I'm not so enthusiastic.

eg today I'm trying to upload jpgs to my Photobucket acc, it just can't do it in Linux. I can see the jpg's on my computer, but when I try to upload them they become invisible for selection.  

Spent two days searching for a resolution on the sound problem, forums are littered with solutions ... all different btw, and most of them I haven't a clue what they are on about or how to implement the "simple" instructions. I never thought of myself as dumb, but some of these instructions are making me have a re-think.  

Also I have downloaded several image editing packages and all of them won't allow me to crop an image, the icon is always greyed out. Another annoying thing I found is that image programs by different names are in fact the same thing. What a waste of time downloading and installing then all.

becoming a little less impressed as time goes on.

The OS is great, if all you do is browse the net and send a few emails. (without sound)

Darren

Are you still using the Linux Mint 7 system and if so how is it working for you?

Cheers 

Don

[Darren]

Hi Don,

I had to stop using it as I couldn't get the sound to work on my machine.

I could also not upload photos to my PhotoBucket account.

Those two things alone were enough to put me off. I'm afraid that as much as I don't like Vista I have had to go back to it for now.
Windows 7 may be my only option out of this as Vista also presents a few problems.

Sadly I can't put XP on this machine as the manufactures didn't write the device drivers for XP.

[Darren]

Anyone here using Windows 7?

If so how are you getting on with it?

[Darren]

Hi, a question for you teccy types   

My comp is x86 type with an AMD Turion 64x2 CPU with 2gb of RAM.

Originally it had Vista 32bit installed from the manufacturers.

My question is, what bit should it have, 32 or 64 

[Russel]

Windows 7 works very well for me. I downloaded and installed the release candidate and ran it for a while. I was impressed.

As far as Vista 64 bit or 32 bit, with 2 Gb of RAM 32 bit would be fine. The biggest difference between the two versions is that 64 bit can access more RAM than 32 bit. Vista 32 will use about 3 to 3.5 Gb of RAM maximum, depending on your video display adapter memory etc. Vista 64 bit can access 128 Gb of RAM.

There are other differences, but If I were you I would use Vista 32 bit. You are less likely to have trouble with device drivers.

If you would like to read about some of the other differences, follow this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

[Darren]

Thanks Russel,

I have been playing with 7 today, first installed 32bit and the OS fell apart in about two hours. So many problems that I had to format the drive and start again.

I then installed 64bit and "touch wood" it seems to be fine all evening.

I've no idea if the first install failure was just one of those "things" or if my comp really needed 64bit?

I've spent some time reading about the subject tonight and getting the picture that the 32bit should be fine (windows would just run a tad slower "possibly")
But 64bit can give some problems depending on other hardware issues, but if they cope you should see quite a difference in performance. Just depends if the various hardware device software was designed for 64bit and it seems that many are not, even today.

And they talk about 128bit coming, jeeze, get 64 sorted first