Avoid Microsoft Brain 100% 4

Posted by JD 01/31/2011 at 16:00

An article on Microsoft Trained Brain Syndrome that spells out some interesting points.

Still Need MS-Windows – Probably

Sadly, even if you do change to Linux for your daily use system, you’ll still probably need a Windows machine to run some software like TurboTax or the latest games. That’s just fine. If you don’t game, run Windows inside a virtual machine. If you do game, partition your drive with 60GB for Windows games – buy you’ll want to plan on 15 minutes and a reboot before playing so you can patch the system.

You’ll Prefer Linux

More and more you’ll find yourself in Linux and being happy about it. Trust me.

  • You’ll be happy with the central OS and Application patching that Linux distros manage for you.
  • You’ll like the added security because malware and spyware isn’t written for Linux.
  • You’ll love all the free software that just works – 30K titles the last time I looked.
  • You’ll love the really easy backup software that just works for either local or remote backups. Taking hourly snapshots is extremely easy.

Start Small – 10GB Partition For Linux

If you like, start with just a 20GB Linux partition that you dual boot into. I actually use a 10GB partition for my Linux needs and have for about 2 years. There is still 2.5GB free, but I only have programs and non-media data stored there. Large files get placed elsewhere. With 500GB disks here today, what does giving 10-20GB to try another OS really mean? Almost nothing.

Mostly Linux Partitioning

If you’ve already decided to jump to Linux from Windows, but know that you’ll still need to run some Windows programs, I’d recommend this partitioning setup:

  • 60GB for Windows main partition – OS and Apps only – NTFS
  • 10GB for Linux main partition – OS and Apps only – perhaps a HOME directory – EXT4
  • 250GB – or more for Data. This partition is shared for both Windows and Linux and stores data. NTFS. You may wish to encrypt it. If you have a 1TB disk, this is a bunch of room for “data” since you only really use 70GB for apps and operating systems.

There you have it, a way to jump into Linux, but not leave Windows completely behind. In the beginning, you may want/need to go back to Windows and even years later, you’ll probably need to use it 20 minutes every month.

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  1. JJ 02/06/2011 at 23:11

    I’m planning on switching to Linux soon and was wondering if you knew of any “software installation monitoring” software?

    I’m a bit anal on what’s on my system and for Windows there are several apps that will scan your system before and after you install software so that if you want to remove it, then it will delete all traces of the software.

    I know that Linux doesn’t have a registry so deleting things should be easier but some programs might still leave traces of it around (like preferences, right?).

    Any tips on this would be appreciated :)

    Thanks!

  2. JD 02/06/2011 at 23:38

    If you stay with the distro’s package manager, then having a list of everything on your box is pretty easy. You can automatically create a list every day (which is good practice for system recovery anyway) and then compare that list of packages using any diff tool that you like. I like tkdiff myself.

    To make a list of all packages on your system use this command:

    sudo dpkg —get-selections > ~/list-o-software-on-system-{date}

    Simple. I do this everyday just before my daily backups are pushed to another machine. Here’s how I do backups . If you are new to Linux, Back-In-Time is an efficient, easy-to-use backup solution that will impress.

    If you use an APT-based distro like Debian or Ubuntu or, my favorite, Lubuntu, removing all traces of a program from your system is built into the package manager. There are 2 remove options for all programs in Synaptic – Mark for removal or Mark for complete removal. Guess which one leave settings around for the next time you install it? This is NOT a trick question.

    I’m certain that RPM-based distros have a way to accomplish the same thing – I just don’t use those enough to put the exact text/method here.

    Also, there are other ways to accomplish the same outcomes, so don’t be surprised if you find another way. These are just the ways that I would do it if I had to do it tonight.

  3. JD 02/17/2011 at 10:46

    Another bullet shot from MS against Free, Libre, Open Source Software – No FLOSS Apps Allowed in either their Xbox or Win7-Phone app-stores. I won’t be buying any Nokia devices anymore either.

    Another link to this story.

    Nice. Apple and Microsoft banning FLOSS. That must mean FLOSS is good stuff, which it is.

  4. JJ 02/28/2011 at 01:51

    Thanks John!

    And I would assume that “Mark for removal” is the one that just leaves the settings behind right? Ha :)