@ compintuit

[D-cat]

This is in response to a closed post.

First, with apologies to BigTomRodney:
I didn't read that as a troll. Compintuit makes valid points. We may not be devs and can't do much about it, but being able to improve any system requires acknowledging deficiencies, and possibly helping someone if there is any resolution.

I tried to respond to Compintuit in private post, but that wasn't possible, so I'm making my response public.

On to the original reply:

On your point 1, the speed balance is true. This has to do with the structural differences between the OS's. The posix model, where "everything is a file" will tend to have an access based performance hit when you first load things up, but after loaded, many things are self contained (unlike Windows, where nearly every task is delegated to another dll), thus the programs themselves do tend to run faster. I find overall productivity to be about the same.

Point 2: There is a touchpad configuration utility (tpconfig), but it's pretty minimalistic. As another user pointed out, Linux doesn't get much help from manufacturers.

Point 3: The key word is "virtual." This is likely a software rendering thus is not seen in Linux. If it is hardware, you'll probably see it in alsamixer in some cryptic switch name.

Point 4: Absolutely true 100%. Linux was an afterthought for Adobe (we never even got a flash version 8 ). It's still buggy as hell, but does at least function. Yell at Adobe, not Linux.

Point 5 was already answered, but I'll make note that Firefox is available as a Linux binary, and using your archiver as superuser, you can install it in say /usr/share/firefox, and make the appropriate symlinks to have it installed for all users.

And, since you brought it up, there are a couple of nearly direct replacements for notepad.
gtkedit and leafpad (most distros make available one of them) are light weight simple text editors that do just that.
If you're using KDE, you can also try KATE, which is a little heavier, but can open more than one file in the same window and has context highlighting.

[reed9]

Point 2: There is a touchpad configuration utility (tpconfig), but it's pretty minimalistic.

There is more than just tpconfig. GPointingDeviceSettings - GNOME Live!

As for things I lost switching to Linux from Windows...
1. Viruses
2. Hours of hunting for codecs and drivers.
3. Downloading said codecs and drivers from sketchy 3rd party sites.
4. Hours of defragging harddrives and cleaning up the registry.
5. Vendor lock-in
6. An empty wallet after buying all that software. Sorry, buying the licenses to use software, so long as I abide by the conditions in the EULA. Remember, don't use Itunes to run a nuclear reactor.

THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.

[bigtomrodney]

Guys, the previous thread was closed for a reason. If you disagree with that or you would like to have it reopened you can contact one of the moderators to discuss the matter. Please do not continue closed threads - it makes closing them pointless.