A drunken penguin, looking through a window, at an apple...
Which would you prefer to use and which do you use, Windows, Linux, or a Mac.
On a different subject, I recently switched to Linux (yipee, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS) which suits my needs perfectly, except running Windows programs under Wine+Winetricks. It's always whining on about some error, or just doing nothing at all. I do know that not all Windows programs will work under Wine, but is there a (free) alternative to get my programs to run under Wine (switching to Windows/Dual Boot Windows not included)?
On a different subject, I recently switched to Linux (yipee, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS) which suits my needs perfectly, except running Windows programs under Wine+Winetricks. It's always whining on about some error, or just doing nothing at all. I do know that not all Windows programs will work under Wine, but is there a (free) alternative to get my programs to run under Wine (switching to Windows/Dual Boot Windows not included)?
ok blackguard, WTF WAS THAT ALL ABOUT!!
He uses Windows 
I use Win XP and I like it. Not that I've ever seen any of the others, though I may take a look at Linux one day. Mac and Linux users tend to annoy me by (often illogically, and usually needlessly) insulting Windows at every opportunity, which kind of puts me off.
I use Win XP and I like it. Not that I've ever seen any of the others, though I may take a look at Linux one day. Mac and Linux users tend to annoy me by (often illogically, and usually needlessly) insulting Windows at every opportunity, which kind of puts me off.
Winetricks can get you the farthest when it comes to compatibility with applications. A lot of applications actually run fine for me under Wine (except some stuff that's supposed to be heavily integrated in Windows, like IE and Office).
Try to experiment with installing only some of the winetricks, mainly the ones that you think the regular Wine libs have problems with (for example, ODBC applications won't run with Wine's internal libs, only with the winetricks). Also try copying over any and all extra DLLs from your Windows\system32 to ~/.wine/drive_c/WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/ without overwriting any files, this should give Wine access to most of the installed-by-other-apps libraries, which makes them run more often.
Also, Wine experience tends to be different on different PCs. Wine runs fairly decent for me, even being able to handle some games (Steam: Audiosurf but not Portal for some reason. Used to, for a while, though). Since the code in Wine changes continuously it's also a good idea to wait for the next release and see if that helps.
...By the way, I use Windows/XUbuntu in a 50/50 fashion. They're both systems I have no trouble working with, though I have access to a bunch of more utilities and under Linux, the mighty useful console, and some applications that work faster than their Windows equivalents (especially immensely slow crap like Netbeans).
Try to experiment with installing only some of the winetricks, mainly the ones that you think the regular Wine libs have problems with (for example, ODBC applications won't run with Wine's internal libs, only with the winetricks). Also try copying over any and all extra DLLs from your Windows\system32 to ~/.wine/drive_c/WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/ without overwriting any files, this should give Wine access to most of the installed-by-other-apps libraries, which makes them run more often.
Also, Wine experience tends to be different on different PCs. Wine runs fairly decent for me, even being able to handle some games (Steam: Audiosurf but not Portal for some reason. Used to, for a while, though). Since the code in Wine changes continuously it's also a good idea to wait for the next release and see if that helps.
...By the way, I use Windows/XUbuntu in a 50/50 fashion. They're both systems I have no trouble working with, though I have access to a bunch of more utilities and under Linux, the mighty useful console, and some applications that work faster than their Windows equivalents (especially immensely slow crap like Netbeans).
Well, I use Windows, and have never even had a reason to toy with the idea to switch to a different OS.
Thanks, I got (a few) more programs to work, but still not enough, so I reinstalled Windows to dual boot with Ubuntu. Upon installation of Windows (XP) it has replaced GRUB with the Windows Bootloader (NTLDR?), what is the easiest way to restore GRUB?
You can't easily do it with Ubuntu because it lacks the feature on the install CD to "repair the bootloader" (or at least, it used to. You might want to check for the feature on the CD anyway). Otherwise I don't really know, there IS a CD-ROM available for (G)Parted, a partitioner, but I don't know if it can reinstall GRUB too.
It's pretty much common sense by regular Linux users to install Windows before Linux by now (unless you're more experienced and know how to fix the stuff).
It's pretty much common sense by regular Linux users to install Windows before Linux by now (unless you're more experienced and know how to fix the stuff).
Which particular distro's have the ability to reinstall GRUB, because I have lot's of linux distro's.
Edit: Nevermind, Fixed it myself, thanks though...
Edit: Nevermind, Fixed it myself, thanks though...
I'm planning to reinstall Windows myself soon, care to explain how you did it?
Kiwi is your solution. It has an application on the Live CD, that automatically restores GRUB. If you don't want to download it, you may use this tutorial:
1. Boot from a Live CD, like Ubuntu Live, Knoppix, Mepis, or similar.
2. Open a Terminal. Go SuperUser (that is, type "su"). Enter root passwords as necessary.
3. Type "grub" which makes a GRUB prompt appear.
4. Type "find /boot/grub/stage1". You'll get a response like "(hd0)" or in my case "(hd0,3)". Use whatever your computer spits out for the following lines.
5. Type "root (hd0,3)".
6. Type "setup (hd0,3)". This is key. Other instructions say to use "(hd0)", and that's fine if you want to write GRUB to the MBR. If you want to write it to your linux root partition, then you want the number after the comma, such as "(hd0,3)".
7. Type "quit".
8. Restart the system. Remove the bootable CD.
1. Boot from a Live CD, like Ubuntu Live, Knoppix, Mepis, or similar.
2. Open a Terminal. Go SuperUser (that is, type "su"). Enter root passwords as necessary.
3. Type "grub" which makes a GRUB prompt appear.
4. Type "find /boot/grub/stage1". You'll get a response like "(hd0)" or in my case "(hd0,3)". Use whatever your computer spits out for the following lines.
5. Type "root (hd0,3)".
6. Type "setup (hd0,3)". This is key. Other instructions say to use "(hd0)", and that's fine if you want to write GRUB to the MBR. If you want to write it to your linux root partition, then you want the number after the comma, such as "(hd0,3)".
7. Type "quit".
8. Restart the system. Remove the bootable CD.
