On Fri, Nov 30, 2001 at 03:39:20AM -0500, Alec wrote: > I'm wondering what everyone's motivation is for using Linux on a laptop > instead of Cygwin + Windows. The way I see it, a laptop is basically a giant > PDA. People usually use them for typing down stuff during classes, seminars, > conferences, in the library, for presenting (powerpoint) material, or for > keeping all their mail and personal archives in one place, etc. Laptops don't > get used much as servers or development workstations, are they?
I use Linux on my laptop because user environments in Linux are more powerful and useful. There's nothing I can do in Windows on my laptop (work requires me to dual boot...this week I'm dual booting with WinXP) that I can't do with Linux, and Linux provides me with a more useful work environment. It also allows me more power to structure the environment in a way that is best suited for getting real work done. Another thing is that Linux handles the mobile aspect of laptop computing significantly better than any version of Windows I've used. Moving between different types of networks (i.e. wireless, wired w/DHCP, wired w/static IP) and adjusting my IPSEC configuration accordingly is all easily done in Linux. It is not so easy in Windows, where it's even possible, and it often requires pointless and time consuming reboots. (Windows XP claims to be better at supporting mobile networking, but its drivers for my wireless card are so buggy that I'm unable to see for myself.) So the way I see it, why run Windows on a laptop? It's clunky, harder to get work done in, less efficient, and unstable. noah -- _______________________________________________________ | Web: http://web.morgul.net/~frodo/ | PGP Public Key: http://web.morgul.net/~frodo/mail.html
msg05588/pgp00000.pgp
Description: PGP signature
