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My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

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Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#231

Post by hammyhavoc »

kuschku wrote: post #222
ihateolives wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just needed to enable e.g. Nouveau with the appropriate kernel module parameters? And that's why Linux will stay in the server for majority of people, not on their desktop. "You just need to enable something with some parameters and you're all set!" Seriously?

We're talking about a 21 year old OS as alternative. Back then, Windows would also require significant manual configuration to get it running. Windows may have become more "automagic" these days, but at least in the Windows XP era a common part of installing Windows was going to the local library to look at guides and manuals for setting up less common hardware. Even something as simple as setting up a sound card wit…

I never once went to the library or struggled to install XP, nor have I ever encountered anyone who did. It quite literally pretty much just worked. Maybe it comes down to hardware choice?

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#232

Post by 2b3a51 »

javchz wrote: post #74
extr0pian wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author said that their experiences with Linux was slow (Debian and Lubuntu were examples) and had no intention of using Linux because of these experiences. Personally, I don't know what they're talking about, but I've always had a smoother/faster (albeit a bit clunky/glitchy sometimes) with Linux than Windows. Even when I dual booted Win7 and Ubuntu, Linux was always faster. Currently, I'm using XFCE w/ Arch on a…

I would bet on GPU driver issues. Some cards without the right driver can force CPU rendering making it extremely slow

Just seen this one on my ancient Thinkpad. Mesa-21.3.5 is fine, mesa-23.0.1 fails to pick up the graphics card and drops to llvmpipe software rendering.

It has to be said that llvmpipe seems usable even with Firefox, but not as good as reverting to mesa-21.3.5 so accelerated graphics actually works.

(17 years is a good run and I have my eye on a nice clean X201)

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#233

Post by bzzzt »

extr0pian wrote: post #73
branon wrote: post #57

This is not a sensible or technically sound thing to do. It is purely irrational. Win7 is already stuck on Chrome 110/111(?). You are not gaining much by doing this, and are assuming significant risk. Even if specific portions can be quantified away, it's the unknown unknowns that should scare you. Try a Linux distro again maybe? With some non-default themes and Wine, it really should make a better WinXP than WinXP.…

The author said that their experiences with Linux was slow (Debian and Lubuntu were examples) and had no intention of using Linux because of these experiences. Personally, I don't know what they're talking about, but I've always had a smoother/faster (albeit a bit clunky/glitchy sometimes) with Linux than Windows. Even when I dual booted Win7 and Ubuntu, Linux was always faster. Currently, I'm using XFCE w/ Arch on a…

I think he's talking about perceived UI speed. Things like moving the mouse, starting an application or dragging a window respond fast on Windows because of how the system is set up (mouse cursor practically has top priority and graphics are hardware accelerated). This is especially noticeable on slower hardware and can cause a machine to feel 'snappier'.

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#234

Post by qbasic_forever »

They should really try XFCE, it feels extremely similar to old-school windows (95/XP). You can even theme it to look unbelievably similar to old windows. I feel like them installing the latest Xubuntu with XFCE and Firefox with an ad blocker would let that old laptop run for many more years of service. Heck, the latest version of Wine probably runs all their old XP software just fine as-is too.

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#235

Post by rejectfinite »

sph wrote: post #169
ihateolives wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just needed to enable e.g. Nouveau with the appropriate kernel module parameters? And that's why Linux will stay in the server for majority of people, not on their desktop. "You just need to enable something with some parameters and you're all set!" Seriously?

Do we need this comment parroted every single time someone mentions Linux on this forum? I get it, it's too complicated for you, can we move on instead of rehashing this point over and over again? The past week we have had two major Linux discussions and in each thread there is a semi flame war that starts because some had to voice yet another "this is why Linux is so hard for nan to use", as if it was a novel or con…

>I get it, it's too complicated for you

If it is too complicated for a HN reader it is going to be too complicated for 99% of people in the world. Get off your high horse.

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#236

Post by rejectfinite »

LightHugger wrote: post #163
bullen wrote: post #161

There is no bigger security risk with using old OS over time as hackers stop focusing on the old stuff because the attack surface is reduced simply by the number of victims being so low. As for why the mouse is fast in Windows the interrupts are handled by the kernel in a very special way to perform almost mind reading levels of speed even over the bloated USB stack. I suspect it to be a nightmare to maintain as USB…

a lot of samsung drives have firmware self-destruct degradation bugs lately for some reason, so absolutely avoid those. People miss how much of a security risk using w10/11 is because microsoft is constantly pushing updates that break your install like an xp era virus used to, or just straight up doing malicious things adware and other malware used to do. these are not "security minded" operating systems. You are not…

Compared to 7 yes you are

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#238

Post by can16358p »

Why not a fresh start with Windows 11? Not that I'm a fan of it or anything, but at least it's the latest and the greatest (in terms of Windows) and will be well supported moving forward, especially compared to ancient versions of Windows.

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#239

Post by smashed »

ihateolives wrote: post #126
nextos wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the OP just needed to enable e.g. Nouveau with the appropriate kernel module parameters? I am regularly using a 14 year-old MacBook on plain X and it is surprisingly fast.

> just needed to enable e.g. Nouveau with the appropriate kernel module parameters? And that's why Linux will stay in the server for majority of people, not on their desktop. "You just need to enable something with some parameters and you're all set!" Seriously?

Once I tried to use a newish nvidia GPU on an old cpu. It was the pandemic and parts were hard to come by.

The minute windows update would automatically load the Nvidia driver in the background, the screen would go fully black with no going around.

Searching online, the combination was unsupported by Nvidia and there was nothing you could do.

Linux with nouveau worked flawlessly. No kernel parameter, just boot using a live usb and everything works.

Yes, sometimes you can hit a weird hardware issue and need to revert a firmware blob or add a kernel parameter to disable something. These are rare occurrences, not the norm.

Every platform has its quirks. It's just not true that windows or macos is perfect, you are simply used to all the weird quirks.

Re: My long goodbye to Windows XP (2022)

#240

Post by modo_mario »

codedokode wrote: post #204

I switched to Linux from Windows XP. Linux is great in almost every aspect except for memory usage and lots of tiny bugs and things getting constantly broken. If you are not fine with running commands in terminal, it might not work for you. Recent example: in Fedora the firewall in default configuration blocks DHCP packets when you try to share Internet via bluetooth. In Windows traditions no message is displayed on…

I find it more of an issue that with Linux you have to specify the distro or DE/WM every time because it's ecosystems fractured nature is both a strength and a flaw.

Lots of people laud Mint but I found Cinnamon to be ugly under the hood when going of the beaten path. I've enjoyed Plasma a lot more but found Kubuntu to have it with a myriad of bad configurations and defaults whilst my experience with manjaro KDE has been great.

On one I often had to rely on command to deal with stuff or use the commandline to get rare packages and to get em working. On the other there's UI for everything and I flip some checkboxes to have access to the default repositories, the AUR, snap store, flatpaks, etc so that i'm rarely lacking if i'm not opinionated about the source.

Someone can come up with a washlist of complaints and someone else will have experienced none due to different hardware, distro or wm and this becomes evident when discussing with opponents and detractors.

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