Vista Aiding Linux Desktop, Strategist Says (eWeek) [LWN.net]

Vista Aiding Linux Desktop, Strategist Says (eWeek)

Posted Aug 10, 2007 16:36 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: Vista Aiding Linux Desktop, Strategist Says (eWeek) by zooko
Parent article: Vista Aiding Linux Desktop, Strategist Says (eWeek)

Just yesterday I tried to create bspatch fropm one 300Mb file to another 300Mb file. Both Windows and Linux went to heavy swap. On Linux I switched to text console and easily killed process, on Windows I spent ~10minutes to kill the task: it needed more then minute to just show task manager window!

So as usual with Linux you have simple solution while Windows is trying (and failing) to do everything in "user-friendly way"...

In the end I've just used xdelta :-)

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Vista Aiding Linux Desktop, Strategist Says (eWeek)

Posted Aug 10, 2007 16:44 UTC (Fri) by zooko (subscriber, #2589) [Link]

That's interesting since it is the opposite of my experience. The fact that your Linux system was responsive when mine aren't suggests that you were using a different kernel version/patchset/configuration than I use. (In particular, when my system is in that state, it takes a few minutes at least to "switch to a text console", which you apparently were able to do with ease.)

The fact that Windows didn't work as easily for you as it does for me is a bit of mystery. What version of Windows was it? Did you use Ctrl-Alt-Del or a different command?

Thanks!

Vista Aiding Linux Desktop, Strategist Says (eWeek)

Posted Aug 10, 2007 17:32 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link]

It was Gentoo system vs Windows XP SP2. Both systems were in use for ~2 years. I've used Ctrl-Alt-Del to call the Task Manager, of course (how else I was supposed to do this when I've clicked on taskbar, got nothing in response and five "clock" windows by the time Task Manager finally opened after pressing Alt-Ctrl-Del?).

Switch to text console was not fast at all (minute or two), but at least after that everything went smoth. Of course the big plus was that I had shell prompt on text console readily available.

P.S. The really strange case is that usually I can easily switch to FAR window to kill offending process (kind of switch to text console in Linux LOL) - and I was able to do it this time as well, but then FAR was unable to show the list of processes for ~10 minutes (by this time I've clicked by process name in Task Manager and decided to just go further in Task Manager). Not know why - usually when Windows gods are angry at me and Firefox/OOo/whatever are frozen FAR is ready to help, but not this time.

P.P.S. The biggest difference I know in responsiveness of system comes from device drivers. If you don't have support for your IDE chipset, for example, your Linux system will work (by using generic driver), but even Windows 3.1 will be faster in this case. Binary NVidia/ATI drivers often hurt (but not always - they just don't play nice with some other drivers), NDISwrapper can be problematic, etc. ACPI is especially bad: on some systems it's a must, but some older system will be crippled if ACPI is enabled... Too bad there are no easy way to catch the offending driver...