I ran Ubuntu Linux on my desktop for quite a while and I noticed that for Multimedia purposes it still really cannot beat the more recent Windows-versions. It's not criticism, it's just a fact. Microsoft's been at it for at least 20+ years so one may expect them to get it right eventually...
So I decided to revert the desktop back to Windows. For the record; I still have a dual boot laptop that runs Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.4 so I can still investigate and use Linux.
I scratch-installed Windows XP Professional on my desktop and gave the hardware a proper check-up. This took the better part of the Friday night. Late that evening I also installed the drivers, the WindowsXP updates as well as AntiVir, Firefox, Thunderbird and Chrome.
Installing Thunderbird turned out to be a bit of a mistake, as there is a know bug in the latest version that prevents you from sending email under certain circumstances. There is a workaround but as an ICT-man myself I don't like workarounds at all.
'Fortunately' (and I use the word loosely here) the next morning I rebooted the PC and immediately got a disk error message. After a lot of work I decided to switch the master and the slave disk(they are both identical and could both be formatted) and then try again. The disk I used for this second install however, was older and much much slower, so the new installation seemed to take forever. After the installation had completed the system was still much much slower than before. To solve this problem I downloaded a freeware software package called Easeus Todo Backup and cloned my C:-disk to the faster D:-disk(including a format to get rid of the disk-errors I mentioned before). Obviously I let this run at night as it is as much fun to watch a clone-operation as it is to watch paint dry...
The next morning I swapped the two disks back again, so the new and faster(cloned) hard disk became the C:-disk again and Lo and Behold! Speed!! I then disconnected the D:-drive because it may interfere with the operation of my PC and make it slow down, and I will only use that drive if my C:-drive fails to recover the system. As I have external USB-disks I am not short for disk space anyway. My C:-disk NEVER holds user-data.
As a part of the rebuild of the PC I also removed everything that was/is not completely necessary for the PC to work properly. I now have my sound back. The SoundBlaster Live! turned out to be defective so I'm now running the audio over the on-board sound chip(a standard Realtek AC97). To my big surprise I have absolutely no complaints about the audio-quality. I installed the Realtek driver-suite though, instead of just the driver, and that makes all the difference. For such a simple on-board chip it has very extensive settings, including an effects section and most importantly; a 16-band equalizer.
I can also play video properly again, something that I could not do for about one and a half years when it ran Ubuntu 10.4. And yes, to all you Linux-lovers out there; I did install ALL the codecs I could find.
On top of that I found that one of the disks was getting really old and therefore terribly slow. This may have cause sluggishness in the old configuration because I suspect that Linux checks all disks frequently and writes a control record to each disk. As the write operations on the slow/old disk really took a long time to complete, I experienced 'hick-ups' when using the system. Especially Firefox would just 'hang' for 5 to 10 seconds and then continue as if nothing had happened.
My PC is now really really fast. As a properly tuned 2.4Ghz PC should be...
Configuration :
Hardware :
- Processor : 2.4Ghz Intel
- Memory : 1024MB
- Motherboard : Intel PB4GL(82845G chipset)
- Internal disks : 1x 40GB(I do not keep data on my internal disks)
- External disks : 1 x 160GB USB and 1 x 460GB USB
- Audio/Video : Onboard chips, no additional cards.
- Sound system : Soundblaster 5x Sensurround Set with subwoofer
Software :
- OS : WindowsXP Professional
- Virus checker : AntiVir
- Browsers : Firefox 3.x, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 8.x
- Email : Outlook 2007
- Office software: Microsoft Office 2007
- Audio Software : Virtual DJ 6.0
- Utilities : ToDo Backup-/cloning-software, WinRAR, uTorrent
8 comments:
It isn't a fact, try running mkv in media center.
Ubuntu and linux just have rules, just like Windows has. Just because you don't get the rules, doesn't mean it doesn't work.
I disagree. After spending over a year and a half trying to get it to work I say that it is way too complicated under Ubuntu Linux. Those 'rules' you speak of are very hard to find. Unless you live and breathe Linux.
People do not want to spend their lives configuring PCs, they want to USE them. Ubuntu was made especially for those people and under Ubuntu I have spent too much time trying to get it to work.
I may not be a Linux-geek, neither am I an ICT-retard. Linux does not allow you to get this up and running unless you know a hell of a lot about the technical details of the OS. Again; Ubuntu was supposed to be the solution to this tweaking. In a lot of way it isn't(yet).
For me multimedia work much easier under Windows. And VLC runs just as well as under Linux.
Linux(or rather Ubuntu) is getting there rapidly but it has not quite reached the point of user-experience perfection yet.
NB : Let no one think that this is Linux-bashing because that is not my intention at all. I have great fun with Ubuntu, just not when I'm using multimedia.
Oh, for an encore ; VirtualDJ does not work under Ubuntu at all. That would not be a problem if there were alternatives.
Unfortunately there are no comparable packages under Ubuntu, not even close.
That's another reason why I said what I said in my entry. It's not just about Windows, all the applications are much more evolved and perfected under that stupid OS.
My point was that running something as 'modern' as mkv isn't native for Windows, not even in 7. Probably an anti-priracy thing.
Yes you have to install some extra stuff in Ubuntu, but they actually care about rules.
But please please and I implore this, please please please please use any software that fits your needs, not what 'works' or what is nice or hippy or cool.
Like you said, ppl want to use PC's.
I'm doing just that; using the software I want. It was one of the reasons why I installed Ubuntu in the first place!
I learned a lot about Linux, or at least about Ubuntu, and as soon as I have a new PC I will install Ubuntu on the old one. Ubuntu will probably be version 13(Massive Mogul?) or 14(Naughty Nickers?) by then so I bet that life will get easier and easier.
And perhaps someone has had a brilliant idea and made something better the VirtualDJ. For Linux.
BTW: What IS weird is that Virtual DJ used to work fine in a VirtualBox partition in Ubuntu. The newer versions don't. No idea if it's because of Ubuntu 10.x or VirtualDJ. I suspect the latter.
XP, vista or 7? Virtual DJ might not work correctly with the the native OS? And try the OSE one or if you are using that, the other one, the Sun, uhm Oracle one. :)
They have some key differences.
Tried it with Ubuntu 9.x and 10.x versions plus VirtualBox(two versions) and VirtualDJ 5.5 and 6.0. And all(!) combinations possible! It took me quite a while.
VirtualDJ(in this case version 6.0) works fine under XP, Vista and 7.
I think VirtualDJ now wants to do something that is not allowed under Linux. Like directly controlling the soundcard using Windows technology.
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