Ubuntu NVIDIA Graphics Driver: Windows Competitive, But Only With KDE 306
An anonymous reader writes "The NVIDIA Linux driver across multiple GeForce graphics cards can compete with Microsoft Windows 7 on Ubuntu, but only when using the KDE desktop and not the default Unity/Compiz. It turns out based upon recent desktop environment benchmarking, Ubuntu's Unity desktop is now noticeably slower than GNOME/KDE/Xfce/LXDE with multiple GPUs/drivers. Sam Spilsbury of Canonical/Compiz acknowledges the problem but it may take longer than one Ubuntu cycle to correct."
Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:4, Insightful)
... about problems with Linux on the desktop? [slashdot.org] Yeah. Here you go.
(I'm not saying it's Linux's fault, but it is undeniably a problem with Linux. If some guy drives into you while you're stopped at a red light, the result is still that you have a broken car.)
Two statements: (Score:4, Insightful)
Linux advocate:
"It may be slower, but you're not stuck with anything Windows-like and you can fix the code yourself!"
Prospective user:
"Wait... It's slower, AND it doesn't work like Windows, AND you want me to fix the code myself?!"
Ubuntu Unity (Score:4, Insightful)
Im sorry, but can we finally admit that Unity is a mistake. I tried (REALLY TRIED) to like unity. Its not that bad after all, but it was a step BACKWARDS. Couple that with all of the GNOME devs going Batsh**t crazy and creating GNOME3 and we have a problem. KDE is where I live now, but I miss my GNOME2. For me this is just one more nail in the coffin of Unity. Dont get me wrong though, I can see myself going to Unity in a few years, but that is a LOOOONG time as far as Linux is concerned. There are just too many issues with it right now.
how to correct it immediately (Score:2, Insightful)
may take longer than one Ubuntu cycle to correct.
Actually you can correct it immediately, by using the KDE desktop. Plus, you get a richly featured desktop that isn't trying to cater to the Facebook crowd.
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:5, Insightful)
Who likes Unity ? (Score:3, Insightful)
I hate Unity.
Everyone on Slashdot seems to hate Unity.
The rest of the Internet seems to hate Unity too.
Is there anyone that actually likes Unity? Or are Canonical just trying to piss everyone off?
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a problem with Ubuntu on the desktop, not Linux. Install Debian and whatever window manager you want and you have a perfectly useable Linux desktop.
Re:Ubuntu Unity (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't worry, by the time Unity's stability begins to materialize, they'll have lost interest and moved on to something else. Such is the way of the Linux desktop.
Re:Two statements: (Score:5, Insightful)
Hell I set up Ubuntu 12.04 + Cairo-Dock + VMWare Workstation 9.0 on a computer illiterate friends computer with a Win7 Guest in about an hour on a quad core with a decent HDD. Then I showed her the dock and some wobbly windows and she basically taught her self she was so into it.
Funny thing is I don't even make close to your pay grade. You should start to wonder if you are really worth it.
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:5, Insightful)
ubuntu is fine one you rip out unity. Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu with mate desktop, all work great just because unity and gnome are a flaming pile doesn't make the rest bad. apt-get purge unity && apt-get install anything-else(except gnome3) problem solved.
Desktop linux, not linux (Score:4, Insightful)
You keep saying "linux" when you really mean "desktop linux". Two points on that:
1. Linux is an entire world of computing, and desktop linux is actually a small part of that world. Linux is first a multi-user unix-like OS, and second everything else. Since when has a multi-user unix-like OS excelled at being a consumer-oriented desktop system? Never. They excell at being workstations and servers, and require a competant admin. That's just the reality of it, so why do you think it needs to be changed?
2. You (and others) keep implying that desktop linux is worthless ("period"), when people like me have been using it for 15 years and wouldn't even consider switching to a consumer OS. What you really mean is that it doesn't hold up as a consumer-oriented OS, and I'll be the first to admit that you're right. CONGRATULATIONS.
Re:Two statements: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:4, Insightful)
All are perfectly happy with Gnome-shell (I am not, but that is different story).
*The essential problem is that hierarchical text menu structures work. Unrecognisable icons are completely unintelligeable and non-intuitive. Things like the Ubuntu Software Centre take huge amounts of screen space - making it very difficult to find anything - worse (horrifically worse) this particular evil beast has masses of animated crap at the top, needlessly eating your bandwidth and processing power.
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is exactly right. So many people are bitching about Unity and Gnome3, all this would be moot if they'd just dump that crap and make KDE the default desktop, and different distros customize the many configuration options in it to their liking. KDE can be made to look and act very different with the config options and themes (and of course users can use that as a starting point and make further tweaks easily in "System Settings"). People who want something lighterweight can use XFCE or whatever, so that can be offered as an alternative to KDE in some distros.
Why all the distros are so in love with Gnome, I have no idea.
Re:Two statements: (Score:3, Insightful)
Ubuntu is productive within 40 minutes of deciding to install, if you have a CD to hand, even on a six year old laptop (provided you avoid Unity).
As for drivers - a new Windows machine probably comes with drivers (which you can preserve by creating the recovery disks), but with older machines, in all probability, the network drivers won't be there, and without them, you can't access the Internet to download them!
There is just no way Windows is ready for the average user - unless he is completely unconcerned about stability and security. Oh, wait ...
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah but this is still relevant to that other thread. Somebody at canonical decided it was a good idea to take over the GPU and RAM with their useless "unity" interface because that's their "vision for the future" and they have to force it on everyone. This is the problem that Linus and the rest of the kernel people are pointing out.
Re:Two statements: (Score:5, Insightful)
You're pretty well paid. If you applied that logic to everything in your life, you'd struggle to get much done. "Making a coffee takes 10 minutes, which is $20 of my time. Coffee from a shop costs less than $20, so I better not make myself a coffee- it'd be a waste of my time!".
No wonder really rich people need to pay servants to do things for them; their own self-worth must be crippling.
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:4, Insightful)
Once you rip out the stock DE, what's the advantage of Ubuntu over Debian and a dozen other distros? It's no longer just right out of the box, and the amount of knowledge you need to replace the DE is about equivalent to what you need to install Debian with your DE of choice...
Re:Remember that thread from the other day... (Score:2, Insightful)
Android manufacturers DO have to pay for the OS. They pay to Microsoft for several patents. Android, and by extension, Linux, are successful in the mobile space because there is a proven, simple, and reliable way to enter the market-place for the average developer and to get paid for their work. It's hard enough to develop software, but developing successful new business models is no trivial task.
Desktop Linux is unsuccessful because most developers are not attracted to the platform.
How do Apple and Microsoft attract developers? By providing (mostly) stable, reliable, and easy to use platforms for developers to create their own BUSINESSES, not just software. These enticements are not just limited to software like the Win32 API, .NET, Objective-C, C#, driver testing and signing, OEM integration, and other software frameworks and solutions. It also includes operational infrastructure like databases, management software, published de-facto 'standards' (but standards none the less), 'the cloud', etc.
In other words, they recognise that their primary customer is the developer and they take great pains to help developers make money from the platform that they try to sell to their secondary customer, the user. They create a market where developers can make money, and they in turn make money, too.
Do you see anyone at all in the desktop Linux space trying to approach things from this perspective? I don't. Canonical? Nope. Debian? Nope. Suse? Nope. ArchLinux? Nope. RedHat? Nope. Not a single one of the major desktop Linux vendors has managed to do this. They are all concerned with providing a computing platform for the user and have all bowed down at the altar of Open Source in prayer, hoping that this magical property of their software will somehow spontaneously suffice for their own business to be successful. Don't get me wrong, I love Open Source, GNU, GPL, MIT licenses, whatever. Great stuff. But those don't in and of themselves attract the developers that will create an active and vibrant eco-system for the desktop.
What do you think Microsoft mean when they harp their "ecosystem" idea? Why do you think they're sitting on a chest of patents they claim are violated in the Linux kernel, but have not sued anyone... except mobile vendors who have created a business ecosystem that is modeled after (and compete with) their own? Vendors who create platforms that attracts developers?
Microsoft and Apple laugh at and ignore desktop Linux because there is no one in the market worth competing against. And there's no one in the market because no one is engaging developers in any meaningful way to work on desktop Linux.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)