Because Shiny Things Are Fun - The New New Windows v Linux Thread

Can someone explain this snippet from AMD chipset PCI Device Driver Readme?

Windows thinks PCI as a device and require a driver for it. Therefore, we provide a null driver package, a .inf file without .sys file, to satisfy OS requirements.

Seems kinda funny at first, but now that I think about it seems like a WONTFIX bug which AMD worked around.
I don't know, does linux also treat a PCI bus as a driverless device?

Originally Posted by elcore Can someone explain this snippet from AMD chipset PCI Device Driver Readme? Seems kinda funny at first, but now that I think about it seems like a WONTFIX bug which AMD worked around. I don't know, does linux also treat a PCI bus as a driverless device?

Maybe windoze needs some inf file to park in it's registry, but actual content and a sys file is not needed?

I believe it's a dummy platform driver, not really the "PCI Bus" as such. This is not the only usage of such "drivers". I remember reading somewhere that it's for compatibilty with old games, to disable/enable something specific.

Historically AMD and Nvidia did this more than you would imagine (often going as far as optimisations specific to certain games or knobs that temporarily disable problematic processor features, while the specific game is running).

Statistics are now available and they look odd. Some seem to indicate that Win-11 upgrades in some zones are going BACKWARDS! Does that mean some people are regressing systems from Win-11 back to Win-10?
Linux numbers are up and Windows numbers down in about half of the first world nations and nearly all third world nations. Worldwide it appears Linux (without Android) has broken 4% of the total desktop space. That does not surprise me, as I think it has been underestimated for over a decade at least, but is a shock to some of the people from the "Evil Empire" and little fruit machine companies. ;-)

Originally Posted by wpeckham Statistics are now available and they look odd. Some seem to indicate that Win-11 upgrades in some zones are going BACKWARDS! Does that mean some people are regressing systems from Win-11 back to Win-10? Linux numbers are up and Windows numbers down in about half of the first world nations and nearly all third world nations. Worldwide it appears Linux (without Android) has broken 4% of the total desktop space. That does not surprise me, as I think it has been underestimated for over a decade at least, but is a shock to some of the people from the "Evil Empire" and little fruit machine companies. ;-)

Maybe Copilot confused itself, and as such the stats are all goofy?
The meaning of "stats" is rapidly becoming diluted due to strange computing algorithms and those who control them.

Goole literally has a digital eraser and a big robust sed program.

Windoze vs Linux, is best explained with "those who know, know". Closed systems like doze and crapple, are for the "don't know" campground.

Another way, "Linux, the more you know, the better" , , "Windoze, the less you know, the better".

I've asked some people who I thought might even understand my question, "is Micrudsoft an Inslaw in modern times?". They didn't understand my question.

Originally Posted by Linux_Kidd I've asked some people who I thought might even understand my question, "is Micrudsoft an Inslaw in modern times?". They didn't understand my question.

Maybe you should have asked in English.

@wpeckham, that doesn't surprise me actually but there could be a few factors involved and it may actually be the norm.

I bit the bullet and did a Windows 11 upgrade on my workstation at work last Friday. It lasted maybe 24 hours before I downgraded back to Windows 10.

I hate to use the term, but Windows 11 just "feels" crippled. While it's not a wholly accurate comparison, with 10 it was like running KDE Plasma, whereas 11 was a bit like moving to gnome.

Right the way through 10's development, they have been moving configuration UI elements out of traditional "control panel" dialogues and into the new "web 2.0" style full screen things with oversimplification and those slider button things replacing everything. This gets advanced considerably with the 11 UI and I feel it's just change for the sake of change, for marketing reasons, for shareholders, etc.

But I would say this happens for every Windows release. I remember the dissatisfaction with XP, with many clinging to 98SE and 2k. Then Vista was another infamous one. No one needs reminding about Windows 8, etc. I would say 10 has been different because it was an improvement over 8.0/8.1 and offered an escape (even though it's loaded out witg surveillance tech - but no different to Android there) - but many were reluctant to move from 7.

In 99% of cases it's just about the UI - and Windows users get that foisted on them.

Originally Posted by _blackhole_ But I would say this happens for every Windows release. I remember the dissatisfaction with XP, with many clinging to 98SE and 2k. Then Vista was another infamous one. No one needs reminding about Windows 8, etc. I would say 10 has been different because it was an improvement over 8.0/8.1 and offered an escape (even though it's loaded out with surveillance tech - but no different to Android there) - but many were reluctant to move from 7. In 99% of cases it's just about the UI - and Windows users get that foisted on them.

It isn't just a Windows thing. Most people don't like radical changes in their desktop, whichever one they use. It's like having to learn a whole new language. Linux users didn't like it when gnome2 changed to gnome3 or when gnome shell came in. So now we have mate and cinnamon. The difference with Windows is that you aren't allowed to fork the old versions.

Originally Posted by _blackhole_ I bit the bullet and did a Windows 11 upgrade on my workstation at work last Friday. It lasted maybe 24 hours before I downgraded back to Windows 10.

So many people did that that I did web search and found how to do stuff. Right click on the Start menu gets you a lot of useful stuff. To be sure, it sucks, but not as bad as Windows 8. These's also the annoying fact that the UEFI key has been leaked/hacked, and there are UEFI viruses possible. M$ are patching that in stages. But there's a looming EOL for Win 10, and I have yet to see M$ roll one of those back.

The best I can suggest is - do the bare minimum in Windows, which I imagine we all do.

@hazel: gnome project is a good example. They provide a "proprietary like" UI/UX, which deliberately aims to reduce/remove the facility to customise.

@business_kid: Yes It's EoL next year, but we may be in LTSC here (I haven't checked and don't care to be honest). I do what has to be done in Windows (at work), but have FreeBSD and Linux boxes for a lot of other work.

An techrights article of interest on this subject. https://techrights.org/n/2024/03/07/...is_Month.shtml illustrating how some countries have adopted Linux to a much greater degree than others. For those interested.

Originally Posted by wpeckham Worldwide it appears Linux (without Android) has broken 4% of the total desktop space.

So, only 80 years left until it becomes relevant.

Originally Posted by YesItsMe So, only 80 years left until it becomes relevant.

It's not only relevant already, it's essential. Try running the internet without it.

Originally Posted by YesItsMe So, only 80 years left until it becomes relevant.

To those nations with over 40% saturation and running their entire governments using FOSS software and operating systems it is more than relevant. NASA has been running on Linux for YEARS! Most of our Tech (including all kinds of medical research), HA computing, LLM (that they are calling AI although it is nothing like intelligence), and half of our military depends upon Linux. I think it is pretty relevant already.

That it is 4.2% of the desktop space and growing at an accelerating rate is interesting. That it has already saturated some of the non-desktop space (including Supercomputer space) is probably more significant.

Originally Posted by wpeckham To those nations with over 40% saturation and running their entire governments using FOSS software and operating systems it is more than relevant. NASA has been running on Linux for YEARS! Most of our Tech (including all kinds of medical research), HA computing, LLM (that they are calling AI although it is nothing like intelligence), and half of our military depends upon Linux. I think it is pretty relevant already. That it is 4.2% of the desktop space and growing at an accelerating rate is interesting. That it has already saturated some of the non-desktop space (including Supercomputer space) is probably more significant.

I think this type of debate we need to carve it up into critical and non-critical systems.

If NASA could engineer with windoze, or windoze be used in spacecraft, they'd use windoze, but they don't.

critical systems - likely very close to 100% nix
non-critical systems - lots of everything in that pot, windoze probably represents large %