From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,89226195d95fba21 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: skip@taygeta.com (Skip Carter) Subject: Re: Operating Systems Date: 1997/07/28 Message-ID: <5rhg4g$5ja$1@kelp.mbay.net>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 259677994 Distribution: world References: <33D541EF.17B6@digiscape.com> Organization: Taygeta Scientific Inc. Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-07-28T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , John Howard writes: |> On Tue, 22 Jul 1997, Robert D. Yexley wrote: |> > Looking for some objective opinions. I am a new programmer and am going |> > to be doing it for a living and will be buying a new computer soon. I |> > am trying to find out what will be the best and most practical operating |> > system to run on a home computer that will be used for programming a |> > lot. I have heard very good things about Windows NT, but dont know much |> > about it. Are there any good books that could help me with this? Can |> > somebody help me with what would be best for these purposes? Thanks for |> > the help. |> |> I am letting these chips fly and fall wherever. |> |> A comical paraphrase from the Unix Haters Handbook site: "Linux is free if |> your time is worthless." Otherwise opt for a commercialized operating |> system that has proven itself reliable and that will not suddenly ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ My experience with Linux is that it is EXTREMELY reliable. All my current Linux machines have uptimes that are measure in MONTHS. In contrast I have seen NT systems sitting idle in a corner, running nothing but their internal system stuff, crash after running on the order of 1 DAY. Another cost consideration is the minimum hardware requirements to run a practical system. Linux is considerably less demanding (it won't be the fastest machine around, but you can run Linux with a 386 with as little as 4MB of RAM -- the first machine that I installed Linux on was exactly that). |> disappear to force you to upgrade your computer systems. (Some ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It seems to me that MS OS's do this all the time (OS/2 which you recommended, does not have this same fault of course). Even if Linux disappeared, I wouldn't be at a loss since I have the source code to all of it and can maintain it myself if necessary. |>I recommend OS/2 Warp 4 with built-in WIN-OS2 support for Microsoft |>Windows v3.1 programs. WIN-OS2 is provably more reliable than MS Windows |>v3.1. And OS/2 can coexist with many other PC operating systems such as This is the real key. The amount of commercial software out there that is available for Linux is a growing, but small amount. If you have such applications that you need to run, then that requirement can pretty much dictate your choice for you. -- Everett (Skip) Carter Phone: 408-641-0645 FAX: 408-641-0647 Taygeta Scientific Inc. INTERNET: skip@taygeta.com 1340 Munras Ave., Suite 314 WWW: http://www.taygeta.com/ Monterey, CA. 93940