Using Linux and how it affects Windows

[chessercizes]

Hi guys. (i hope this is the correct forum for this post)

So my older brother got me into ubuntu around last january, and i have been using it almost all the time (basically all the time).

I was thinking one night, and like how does this affect your windows knowledge? I haven't been using ubuntu that long compared to some of you guys, so i wanted your opinions.

Right now i don't think i could really give answers about windows problems (mind you, i don't have a computer knowledge really worth mentioning) without having to look them up or having to play with it for a while. I don't think i really know much about windows anymore.

Do you guys find this a problem? Because i'm really liking ubuntu and linux; they're really great. I dunno, im really confused on this front. Any opinions would be nice to hear.

cheers =)

-chessercizes

[Dr Small]

Compared to Linux problems, when I work on windows problems, they are usually a breeze, considering they are always minor on Windows.

But I haven't lost ALL of my knowledge about Windows, even though I rarely see a Windows Desktop anymore... :|

Dr Small

[K.Mandla]

I don't know. It's been two years since I used Windows regularly, and sometimes I find myself wondering what the heck to do when I have a problem. For example, when I need to restart the network on an Ubuntu machine, I just do this.


sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
I was using a Windows machine last week and wanted to do the same sort of thing and couldn't remember how. So I just rebooted. :|

But as an added point, I don't miss it.

[Dr Small]

I was using a Windows machine last week and wanted to do the same sort of thing and couldn't remember how. So I just rebooted.
There probably isn't any way to do it, without rebooting. lol.

Dr Small

[starcraft.man]

Still remember all my XP info (and to a lesser extent, 2k and Vista), been using it since it came out and my Windows knowledge is ingrained so much that I doubt I'll forget it any time soon. Not to mention I still have to use Windows the odd time. So no effect here.

[slimdog360]

There probably isn't any way to do it, without rebooting. lol.

Dr Small

pull the plug in and out

[nonewmsgs]

pull the plug in and out

oh my goodness and in the community cafe too.

some power supplies get cranky over that.

[Ultra Magnus]

I was forced to use my vista install for a bit while I tried to get my router to work with Ubuntu and it was an odd experience - Haven't used windows for more than 10 minutes since installing linux (~4 months - yup still a noob) and everything seemed strange - I could remember the only command that matters though <ctrl><alt><del> - the first thing I learnt to touch type!

[macogw]

My Windows knowledge is going downhill. After only a couple months with Ubuntu I felt like I knew more about Linux than 9 years of Windows taught me.

[Depressed Man]

My Windows knowledge hasn't changed that much. Since I like to switch OSes for fun. It's interesting to see how different they are and if I can get things to work the same way in both.

[@trophy]

I was using a Windows machine last week and wanted to do the same sort of thing and couldn't remember how. So I just rebooted. :|

I think you may be looking for:



ipconfig release
ipconfig renew

[Wharf Rat]

At least when you fix a problem in Linux, it stays fixed. Until the next big release.:-D

[qalimas]

There probably isn't any way to do it, without rebooting. lol.

Dr Small

What about ipconfig /release /renew? That's close to the same thing.

Anyway, I don't use Windows anymore, and I still support Windows computers for friends and such, I find I can still navigate my way through the entire system without sitting in front of it. XP is embedded in my mind, I can remember step by step how to do just about everything, without having seen or done it in years.

[smartboyathome]

My Windows knowledge is going downhill. After only a couple months with Ubuntu I felt like I knew more about Linux than 9 years of Windows taught me.

Same here. It seems that Ubuntu fits my poweruser-ish nature better than windows. :lolflag:

[Dimitriid]

Im still more experienced in supporting Windows cause its my job, but since I started using Linux I have realized just how many problems in windows are resolved by saying "ok well back up your data and format your hard drive". Its just sad that on top of all the stability issues and security issues you might run into, you have to deal with constant annoying tasks like defrag otherwise you run the risk of corrupting something critical and having to reinstall the whole thing. That just shouldn't be: I shouldn't have to think about installing large games or working with large files cause I will need to defrag soon. Thats just weak.

So I say as long as you know how to run a windows installation and how to recover a windows registry, you have about 80% of the troubleshooting steps that actually HELP you covered anyway.

[3rdalbum]

I've never properly administered Windows as I never used it much, and my Windows knowledge hasn't improved :-)

[brentoboy]

one thing is for sure, if you need help restoring your windows XP master boot record, you'll get better advice on a linux forum than on a "windows" forum (are there such things?).

Most Linux users (in my experience) are their family's tech guy. So, they do a lot of windows support / formatting / whatever.

I think it will be a long time before I can kiss windows goodbye and move on. But, admitedly, I dont know as much about vista as I would if I were a windows fanboy.

[DjBones]

well, im fairly confident in windows.. but nothing really goes all that wrong with windows because you rarely change important pieces of the system's code.. most problems can be solved with a spyware scan, hard-drive reformat, and a disk defrag haha
i still need to work on my registry codes though ;]

[misfitpierce]

Compared to Linux problems, when I work on windows problems, they are usually a breeze, considering they are always minor on Windows.

But I haven't lost ALL of my knowledge about Windows, even though I rarely see a Windows Desktop anymore... :|

Dr Small
I do concur and agree... :lolflag:

[K.Mandla]

What about ipconfig /release /renew? That's close to the same thing.


I think you may be looking for:



ipconfig release
ipconfig renew
Will that do the trick? I guess I think too much about Linux now. I keep thinking there's some sort of daemon or process that needs restarted. Release and renew sounds ... weird to me.

I guess I just proved the OPer's point. :|

[PartisanEntity]

Don't laugh, but a week or two ago after reinstalling Windows XP for our parents, I realised that the HP scanner software which we had just installed would not launch, so I tried to launch it from the Command Prompt hoping for some feedback, needless to say the Command Prompt didn't spit out any info at all. :)

[stuh84]

I do keep trying to do ls and ifconfig in a command prompt....

However I use Windows at work unfortunately (although running Ubuntu Server in a VM for the important parts), so I still use it enough to have to know my way round. Plus, I used to do Broadband Tech Support for Orange so I pretty much have virtually the whole way Vista and XP are laid out in my mind, cant get away from it.

I'm not sure which OS I'm most comfortable in yet though, I use OS X all the time but I don't feel like a power user yet, Linux I feel like I'm configuring a lot, but not a huge amount of retained knowledge, and Windows I've been using since 3.11 so I am quite well versed in it.

Oh well, its all fun and games :)

[@trophy]

Will that do the trick?

Probably. If the problem can be fixed by renewing your IP, then yes. If the problem has to do with the driver you're using not working with your hardware, you're still forked. For that you'd need to go into your devices screen and choose a different driver.

[toupeiro]

Probably one of my biggest fears since I've taken a job more exclusive to UNIX and Linux is losing all the years of windows support I've accumulated. Vista and longhorn are paradigm shifts for Microsoft (not arguing for the better or worse) and by job responsibility I'm not going to be at the foreground of its implementation in my company. Instead, I'm met by some mentalities like: "With 64-bit Windows Computing, linux can go away." And other mentalities like "Our technical computing platform will always be UNIX or Linux based."

If Linux doesn't pick up in the corporate world at the pace and depth I've predicted it will, then I'll be a little worried about being in a situation to support things like Active Directory (longhorn edition), NTFS (Longhorn edition) and Sharepoint (MS BigBloatedPig), and having to play catch-up. That being said, in 2001, I predicted amongst co-workers that its probably about 5 years out that linux would be ready to really compete with windows in the consumer world. The first time I installed Edgy Eft, I realised I was pretty accurate in that prediction. Maybe lightning will strike twice!

I don't miss using windows in any regard whatsoever. I'm nothing but frustrated any time I have to use it, waiting for it to stop "starting" so that I can actually use it. But the differences in using linux and windows are great enough that I'm pretty confident I'll lose what I dont use if I don't get the opportunities to stay fresh on it. If this wasn't the career I chose for myself, it wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I obviously still recognize the dominance of Windows in numbers installed and users familiar over linux. However, I see that as nothing more than the amount of exposure windows has had. I just put the options of a laptop with vista and a laptop with ubuntu and the cost savings involved in front of a teen preparing for college and after using both, he chose the ubuntu choice. I think anyone putting the two head to head like that would. Hopefully, user-based decisions like that will make life easier for IT people everywhere because between the two, linux is FAR easier to support.

[apjone]

I work supporting, building and maintaining Windows Desktops and Servers. Therefore my grasp of windows keeps growing due to my role.

I am getting quite good with Linux but my windows is still as good as ever. So i suppose this really depends on the individual

[Warren Watts]

...nothing really goes all that wrong with windows ... ]
But when something major does go wrong with windows, its often nearly impossible to diagnose and fix, short of reinstallation of the OS. If you turn your computer on one day and your windows boot screeches to a halt when it can't load driver.xyz or library.dll, there's generally no booting into safe mode to fix it....

[apjone]

But when something major does go wrong with windows, its often nearly impossible to diagnose and fix, short of reinstallation of the OS. If you turn your computer on one day and your windows boot screeches to a halt when it can't load driver.xyz or library.dll, there's generally no booting into safe mode to fix it....

chkdisk /P /R normally fixes a missing file from rec console off the windows cd

[RageOfOrder]

I've been running Gentoo Linux since last august, with little (and recently no) windows usage. I keep XP around for games and specific needs if they arise.

The only thing that's changed much is I no longer keep up with current software. My hard drive is no longer full of the most recent versions of desktop modding software, antivirus, spyware removers, and every other tool I could find to improve on windows.

Now, I don't know what to suggest for people to use when they have problems, and I don't have software to give them.

Also, my Vista knowledge is seriously lacking since I don't use it.

It's not that I know less, I'm just less current.

[Seisen]

I was using fluxbox for a while and was used to right-clicking to open up the menu. So when I would go into Windows I would try to right-click to open up the menu. Also the more I use Ubuntu the less I can remember on how to do things on Windows. Maybe its something in the water. :lolflag:

[blackhowling]

I go back and forth but still know a bit more about windows cuz its part of my job.

[WishingWell]

But when something major does go wrong with windows, its often nearly impossible to diagnose and fix, short of reinstallation of the OS. If you turn your computer on one day and your windows boot screeches to a halt when it can't load driver.xyz or library.dll, there's generally no booting into safe mode to fix it....

Not really, the easiest thing is usually to just hit F8 when rebooting and then go back to the latest restore-point that worked, if that doesn't work then boot off of the CD and use the recovery console to fix it from there.

Unfortunantly many people disable system restore because that the "1337" thing to do. It doesnt' take up much diskspace and it only runs once every 24 hours when the computer is idle so turning it off to save resources is just daft.

ipconfig /release /renew basically does the same thing as ifconfig ethX down && ifconfig ethX up.

To answer the original question, i much prefer the Linux way but since i work with both XP and Vista daily i won't forget how to do things in Windows, for the first few weeks of using Vista and XP it was confusing as heck though, it's similar but different.

[Depressed Man]

System Restore never worked that well for me. Or rather it never worked for me at all.

I tried using it to restore my XP install to a pre-game installation. But that just left more problems then it fixed and eventually after trying to remove the registry entries (as well as delete files) I just had to reinstall it.

[WishingWell]

System Restore never worked that well for me. Or rather it never worked for me at all.

I tried using it to restore my XP install to a pre-game installation. But that just left more problems then it fixed and eventually after trying to remove the registry entries (as well as delete files) I just had to reinstall it.

It's not a wonder system that will fix everything but in most cases, like after installing a beta driver and your system refuses to boot, all you'll have to do is to hit F8 and select last known good and it boots just fine. I've done it a few hundred times and it's never failed me.

Manually messing with the registry isn't really recommended though if you are not familiar with it and deleting files that are causing your system not to boot without replacing them is most definently a no-no.

You're not really clear on what it was you were trying to do though, it almost sounds like you were trying to use System Restore as an uninstall utility and thats not what it's for at all.

[Depressed Man]

What happened was I was installing Oblivion and something screwed up during the install. It wouldn't let me uninstall the program through add/remove programs and trying to use the disc itself to remove it would give it the appeareance of uninstalling but it would soon error out.

However the files it installed and the registry entries it made were still in there. I couldn't play the game (it didn't install correctly) and I couldn't remove it. So I figured I'd try a system restore (never tried it before).

Which really didn't do much but make problems worse for me somehow. So that eventually led to me trying to remove all Oblivion related registry entries in the registry and all of the game files it made.

Which still didn't fix the problem, so I gave up and reinstalled Windows just to get the game to install properly. :(

Though I keep my data seperated, so reinstalling wasn't a big deal since I have a list of programs I commonly use as well as their .exes laying in a folder for situations like this). Though it is a pain to have to keep updating that folder as new releases of programs like firefox, and such comes out.

[Salpiche]

isn't it Windows like a virus or something?...

my knowledge haven't change much since all of my friends and relatives still use it and I am their tech support, yet I only use Xp or Vista within VirtualBox and only as needed.