The Best O/S?????Could be DOS???

[Oldbugger]

Here's an interesting article I think we can all associate with.....why is our operating system so obtrusive....why isn't like it says...an operating system which by defacto is in the background.....it a good article and takes a swipe at all the OS's....including Linux despite the link

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/articles/osbattle.html

[Mr. C]

Hey, lets face it!
When things get really tough for Windows - you always end up in DOS to fix it.

[Oldbugger]

The same with Linux...(well command line anyway)....and I usually end there more often than not because I tinkered a bit too much......generally easy enough to get X-Windows up again......

[Mr. C]

I must say I do have a great appreciation for a GUI.
But just this last weekend I was in DOS to trim out the fat that Win 98 couldn't digest/regurgitate.

LOL - I had to stress my brainpan a bit but I got it done.
There are just times that there are no substitutes for the power contained within the command line interface.

[Darthtanion]

I'm in the very early learning stages of UNIX myself. It goes much further than DOS ever dreamed of... but then, DOS is an offshoot of UNIX.

[Oldbugger]

I'm still totally novice at linux but its got the windows facility when you want it with the flexibilty of the command line .......you have total control....(like me you can overstep the mark...but easily recoverable)....isn't that what we need.....and its totally invisible IF YOU WANT IT TO BE...its up to you...

We seem to have lost sight of what an O/S is supposed to be...its to let you run other software...it IS NOT THE END IN ITSELF.....

M$ would like you to believe otherwise cause they can't offer anything NEW....thats their problem....soon you'll be subscribing to their stuff that you THINK you own....

no no ...look at your LICENSING agreement (notice its has nothing to do with your ownership)...they can pull the plug anytime THEY like..... that's what the registration of winXP and office XP is all about.....software lasts forever unless you (M$) can turn it off.....like they have with win95 and the poor buggers that wanted to give old licences, legit ones, to the poor .....M$ stopped them cause THEY own the software not the licensee.......

I help rebuild old PCs for poor kids and we give them to the kids for nothing just so they aren't that much more disadvantaged....I mean really poor kids.......we can't use all the old MS licenses we have gathered.......f%$#'em....I'm now installing LINUX on them so the kids can at least have a machine....that's a good start for them anyway....and I've found a linux distro that leaves window$ for dead anyway.....

[Oldbugger seen leaving the arena all battered and bloody]

PS sorry bout the language (a bit of red and the passion about having to take facilities from poor kids so Mr Gates can make a bit more money....like it would make diddly squat difference to M$$$$)...I am an old bugger and I can remeber the time when we here in Oz used the term "fair go" with real meaning....and we supported the underdog....you can't get any more underdog than these kids I can tell you....

[Ewen]

Oldbugger I agree totally with your post and your comments... can't say I like the language much, maybe (if you are indeed an 'oldbugger') you should know better.

[Mr. C]

Windows 95 is alive and well on my old machine (P200).
Furthermore all Bugs, Glitches and Security Holes appear to be fully functional and in "near mint" condition.

They may well own it -- but it is I who possess the disc:D

[Darthtanion]

You may possess the disk, but if you'll notice, this OS is no longer formally supported by Microsoft. Even their Windows Update page will more times than not take you to another webpage where you can ORDER a disk with the updates.

[Mr. C]

Point taken!
however what I was able to do before, I can still do.
And actually that was quite a bit. So I keep the old machine around - not used much, but gives me a good deal of comfort to have a backup just in case.

It still can handle all the basics of everyday tasks of computing quite well. I have no desire to throw it out just because something new came along (what 6 or 7 times now:?: ).
Here's a secret for you - I got tired of patching up that P.O.S. long before MicroSoft anyway, they were about 2 years behind me when it came to refusing to update it. :laugh:

[Oldbugger]

As I said in the last post....and its true....software last forever if it allowed to and will perform just as good as the day you got it....I actually have a small Win partition for the Camera ....and that will NEVER see the net at all....nor any updates....no need to....the best camera software I've ever had....and that's the way it will stay......Linux does everything I want and more securely...I know it does have security issues but no where near as many as Windows.....and best of all.....its FREE and no-one is gunna tell me I can't use it anymore.....or I have to get another one to use on another machine...etc etc etc etc

Ps Soap box for sale or lease

[Mr. C]

There you have it.
As long as you can do what you need to do it can't truly be called outdated - old maybe but not outdated.
When it comes to Operating Systems I guess I'm just not a dedicated follower of fashion. (or anything else for that matter:laugh: )
On the matter of security issues - wonder what the "hole of the day" will be tomorrow:?:
Back in October '98 I patched IE 4 times in less than 2 weeks. What's the point?
The only way to get security is to rework the entire architecture of computing from the ground up. We seem to be beating a dead horse with the current system of dog-chasing-his-tail hourly fixes.

[Frost]

Back in the early days of DOS, like around 3.1, I had come up with an idea, and a good friend of mine worked on it, but to no avail.. remember.. this is back in the 80's. Make the OS main part, the kernel and all things that are NOT changed, part of a READ ONLY MEMORY, ROM/ intertlaced with fast RAM. The OS would be harware installed to boot by plugging a device into your computer that had the OS. after the initialization of the BIOS, it would search for this device, and if found, would boot from it, else boot from whatever.

By keeping the Operating System main part in ROM, the system would boot up extremely fast. It would work with other parts and pieces of the operating system, located on the hard drive. To change operating systems, you simply unplugged and plugged in the new OS (while the computer was off of course) and next time you booted, then THAT OS would be the one of choice. This part (in part) is now attainable, but only by sofware design, not hardware design.

After all DOS 4.11 and others "DO" referr to "D isk O perating System". All any OS does is initialize and handshake the different componets with various drivers wakes everyone up and says.. ok.. were all here at this meeting, any work needed to be done! LOL

I remember when you booted to DOS and you could run Windows as an option, like it was just another DOS program.. then 95 came out and it WAS the OS.. so to speak.

Oldbugger, if you contact Microsoft on your idea for kids computers, it might (using that word loosly here) pan out for some support for them. Here in the states, MS has donated millions of dollars in setting up schools and libraries with computers. Microsoft donates Millions each year to different worthy causes.

Love ya guys!!
...as always....

[Mr. C]

hey Frost you might be onto something there.
With todays USB capability, if you incorprated USB into the BIOS you could switch OS's without rebooting:D

When you consider Windows is a 32 bit application that is interfacing with an 8 bit OS, it's a wonder anything ever works:laugh:

[DigitalDD]

When you consider Windows is a 32 bit application that is interfacing with an 8 bit OS, it's a wonder anything ever works:laugh:

The same could be said for Novell NetWare [another clown suit that relies on DOS], and go figure its a server OS...:laugh: