[SLUG] Windows 7 Home Premium opinions after 5 months use. Only 1 BSD!

[Ross Kendall]

Hi Alex,

I have a desktop with an ATI Radeon card, which I use with openSUSE 
Linux and dual monitors. Unfortunately the open-source Radeon drivers 
don't handle multiple monitors or 3D very well. As a result I use the 
ATI Catalyst Proprietary Display Driver, which works very well for both 
3D performance and using dual monitors. While it's not ideal from a free 
software perspective, it sure beats using Microsoft Windows.

You can find the drivers here:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx
(one thing to note: you do have to re-install this after kernel upgrades)

Cheers,
Ross.


On 20/07/11 06:48, ALEX ARMANI wrote:
>
> I've been running 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium on a late 2o1o 3.2 
> GHz. Dual Core Athlon with 3 gigs of RAM, 32o gig hard drive. The Acer 
> Aspire 5551 {A crackin' li'l' laptop for the price!} since February 
> 2o11 having run Linux only mostly Ubuntu Studio but also Desktop dual 
> booting always 64 bit for 3 years, having run XP Pro prior to that 
> never XP Home or Vista. Now got Windows 7 Home Premium free with my 
> laptop. Bought and paid for. For home use. Mostly Facebook games, 
> java, flash and general web surfing. Running  Propriety ATI Radeon 
> drivers, and it's only BLUE SCREEN OF DEATHED on me once and that was 
> last Saturday all updated installed fine registry clear fast and 
> responsive. Running Google Chrome 12 with propriety Adobe Flash 
> driver. DVD and MP3 codecs installed. Libre Office. Defragged. And 
> it's brilliant. And I have a second crt screen plugged in so a window 
> which is 1280 * 1o24 on the right and 1366 * 768 on the widescreen. 
> And HDMI output for the 47" Panasonic LCD. Just need an HDMI lead. Two 
> different pictures on each screen both 32 bit colour. Now try whatever 
> I run on Linux. Ubuntu Linux that is, I cannot get the external 19" 
> CRT screen to display in bigger than 1o24 * 768 and that was with the 
> same image on both displays. And that is the reason I choose to run 
> Windows 7 Home Premium at home, but for work I recommend 64 bit Ubuntu 
> Studio always. Google Chromium is always faster on Linux. And that is 
> the reason why I choose to run Linux. Ubuntu for web browsing. I run 
> 64 bit Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium on my laptop and 64 bit 
> Canonical Ubuntu Studio 11.o4 Linux {The Natty Narwhal} on my tower. 
> And 32 bit Microsoft XP Pro on my 32 bit Celeron spare tower. Full 
> clean install last Saturday with all the correct drivers. Spend most 
> of my time using the laptop really. XP Pro only for my old webcam 
> (which is incompatible with Windows 7 for my security system and so 
> that I can see my animals on the web when I am away from home working. 
> Canonical Ubuntu Studio 64 for all audio / media work. And speedy 
> browsing. Microsoft Windows XP Pro for emergency use only when 
> resetting. To be honest if i was given 64 bit Windows 7 free I would 
> choose to install it, but if the option was a 64 bit Ubuntu Linux 
> 11.o4 or a pirated version of Windows XP that worked with no problems 
> or a 64 bit free trial of Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition that 
> would stop working after one month unless you paid money for a serial 
> number. , I'd choose any Linux distribution. 64 bit Ubuntu Studio is 
> what I ran for 3 years. From The Intrepid Ibex, through Jaunty 
> Jackalope, Karmic Kuala, Lucid Lynx, Maverick Meerkat I had no 
> problems. I chose to run proprietry drivers with NVidia drivers for 
> the half gig spec graphics card I had bought which had a 512Mb 84oo 
> graphics processor. System was always smooth, always responsive, 
> rarely crashed and was always available. WiFi straight into the router 
> which is hardwired into the tower. I need to buy a Ethenet came or go 
> see my parents cost I've got two there i lent my dad. Having said that 
> never had any problems using the wifi drivers on Ubuntu ever. The 
> question was about Windows 7 though because we all know how brilliant 
> Linux is! Especially Ubuntu or even KDE these days if you're moronic. 
> Morninc? Is that the right word in the UK? A morning person. ;) If it 
> was free, would i choose to run it? Well now, Microsoft have finally 
> released a free virus checker to keep your system clean and data safe, 
> and you can still get the Zone Labs ZoneAlarm firewall for free, and 
> even if you choose to pay, or trial a different security software 
> supplier every month it is still only £3o of so a year which is not a 
> lot of money. I just installed ZoneAlarm and the Microsoft Essential 
> Securty, and had no proplems or no issues after having run Kaspersky 
> and Eset Nod32 on month trials. If I had to pay I'd choose Eset Nod32 
> over all the others for complete protection but I got Microsft 
> Security Essentials for free for my Anti-Virus solution and ZoneLabs 
> oneAlarm for my firewire and that was free. So I had more money to buy 
> my friends beer. Free as in beer yes! And from freedome, came 
> elegance. LX OS 4:2o v12.12 The Pathist Psychotic Piranha has gone RC! 
> Release Candidate not Roman Catholic silly! Sorry where was I? For 
> networking I have also found it excellent. Never down. Fast, always 
> responsive. I chose to install Libre Office for all the other work. No 
> complaints brilliant and better than having Microsoft Office free 
> trial for a month! All in all, fully recommend it, for home use. And 
> enterprise? Well, that one is easy too. Any Linux distribution will 
> always win over a 32 bit XP Pro instalation.
>
> So, to conclude I rank them in order. In last place come Microsoft 
> with Vista, and they've also got second last place with XP Pro SP3. 
> Then we have Apple with MacOS. And then in a tie for first place for 
> home and work use we have 64 bit Ubuntu Studio with and 64 bit Windows 
> 7 Home Premium. Other OS exprimented with include a 32 Fedora 10 {Fine 
> for internet use but I could never manage to get it to play mp3's or 
> dvd's!} on a 32 bit AMD Athlon XP processor, and a 32 bit XP Home 
> briefly on a 32 bit Intel Celeron with 1 gig ram, For Enterprise 
> always choose / advise the latest Ubuntu over the latest Windows., and 
> you will always be sucessful and never be fired / unhappy! And 7 Home 
> Pemium for occasional home use. Jennifer also recommends a 64 bit 
> Linux Ubuntu Studio install too, and she is a rodent. So it must be 
> good! ;)
>
>
> -- 
>  Alex Armani - IT Consultant / Digital Musician
> +44 789 605 2084 - Www.Matrixism.Me.UK
>  www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513074140
> Add me to your Mafia Wars!
> www.myspace.com/alex.armani
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