Linux vs. Windows

[CottonTexas]

Click-baity title, yeah?

So let me start off by saying how much I hate, Hate, HATE ( x ∞ ) windoze tin. Never mind the built-in spyware, or that it seems like whenever immediate work needs to be done, I have to wait 20min. for an update to load before boot. Win10 does not care whether or not you're recording or 3D editing when update time comes, and for those that are on cellular internet, #10 can eat through a monthly plan and put you on pay-per-gig in a single update. Sorry tin fans, these faults are undeniable. Win7 was the last decent OS that MS came up with, and it is now going the way of the dodo

However, when I picked the hardware for my build, I chose these items based on efficiency above all else. The only things I lack now are a heatsink and SSD. The SSD I have picked is a 1TB M.2 970PRO because it is the most efficient and reliable SSD available. However, after re-reading everything about my hardware specs, all of these were optimized for Win10.

So now to the nitty-gritty: Is Linux (Pop!_OS or Mint specifically) going to be able to utilize the hardware that I've chosen with maximum efficiency? I'd like to know this specifically in order to decide if the 970PRO is actually worth the $300 price-tag. I mean, if Linux can't work the 970PRO more efficiently than any other SSD, then that's something to consider; the outcome of this consideration to determine if I have to change either my choice of SSD or OS, so... no pressure, right?

 

[Lone]

I think to answer your question, we'd need to know what specific features you're talking about. I'm using the Samsung 970 PRO M.2 with Arch Linux and Windows 10 without any issues.

 

[Kilrah]

This sounds so much like a troll post...
An SSD works the same regardless of the OS.
Win10 has had a "limited connection" mode where neither it nor programs aware of it will download unnecessary stuff for years.
Win10 updates have been able to be set to be postponed for quite a while too.

One more of these guys who refer to 4 year old subjects as if nothing had evolved...

 

[Stevo_]

There's also a bunch SSD related parameters in Linux that you can really finely tune like swappiness down to about 1. Limiting your brand of browser write wear thru disk cache limits another example. There's much more that can easily be looked up, best done shortly after install(number 1 though unrelated , sudo ufw enable get that firewall up and reboot).

 

[CottonTexas]

This sounds so much like a troll post...

Maybe, but it's a legit question.

Win10 has had a "limited connection" mode where neither it nor programs aware of it will download unnecessary stuff for years.
Win10 updates have been able to be set to be postponed for quite a while too.

Not true. I've enabled these features, and apps will still bounce info to & from the ether like it's cool, and updates still happen outside of designated times - this is just fact.

One more of these guys who refer to 4 year old subjects as if nothing had evolved...

Am I being trolled for a "deeze" joke right now?

An SSD works the same regardless of the OS.

I would thank you for the one helpful line in your post, though it's surrounded by disdain and misinformation, thus based on the evidence you've provided, I can't confidently conclude that you know any more about SSD controllers than I do.

 

[CottonTexas]

There's also a bunch SSD related parameters in Linux that you can really finely tune like swappiness down to about 1. Limiting your brand of browser write wear thru disk cache limits another example. There's much more that can easily be looked up, best done shortly after install(number 1 though unrelated , sudo ufw enable get that firewall up and reboot).

Swap space was something I hadn't considered, but I'll be running 32G od RAM, so hopefully this will increase the life of the SSD.

As much as I like to complain about Win10, I'm a script-kiddie. I've played around with Mint a bit a few years ago, but the Linux terminal might as well function by magic as far as I'm concerned, so researching this stuff is particularly difficult for me. Yes, I've been told that it's easy, and maybe it is (if you're magic ), but I really just want to be sure that I'd be getting the efficiency I'd be paying for with the 970PRO.

 

[Stevo_]

Swap space was something I hadn't considered, but I'll be running 32G od RAM, so hopefully this will increase the life of the SSD.

As much as I like to complain about Win10, I'm a script-kiddie. I've played around with Mint a bit a few years ago, but the Linux terminal might as well function by magic as far as I'm concerned, so researching this stuff is particularly difficult for me. Yes, I've been told that it's easy, and maybe it is (if you're magic ), but I really just want to be sure that I'd be getting the efficiency I'd be paying for with the 970PRO.

Yeah most of these HDD/RAM swap/cache ideas came about when RAM was pretty expensive and systems had sparse amounts. I use Windows10 at work and anymore it seems like the Powershell pretty much looks and feels like a linux terminal window to me. When I setup a VNC server on a linux server from powershell it's all the same commands. And now that you can enable a Linux subsystem under windows and install your distro of choice it's a complete path to terminal goodness.

 

[zugok]

Hot topic, for sure.

Never the less I am considering switching to Linux for my main OS when I finish my Ryzen build. Still reading into possible bumps in the road.

Cheers

 

[Stevo_]

Hot topic, for sure.

Never the less I am considering switching to Linux for my main OS when I finish my Ryzen build. Still reading into possible bumps in the road.

Cheers

It's gotten a lot better over the last year, the only remaining sticking point for me is that compared to Intel iGPUs, the Raven Ridge iGPU hardware acceleration support is still a bit lacking on things like VLC. On the plus side, even Mint has turned into a semi rolling release and will move you quickly up to kernel v5.3. I'm not sure about install right now but it was originally like Nvidia GPUs where you had to edit grub to "nomodeset" or you'd get a black screen. Took about a couple of updates and reboots for the amdgpu driver to get used instead of software rendering. I imagine AMD GPU cards are the same way unless the nouveau driver covers them now.

 

[CottonTexas]

Hot topic, for sure.

Never the less I am considering switching to Linux for my main OS when I finish my Ryzen build. Still reading into possible bumps in the road.

Cheers

From what I've seen / heard, the biggest hurdles are MS Suite, Adobe products, and online FPS-type games.

Most everything I need to do has Linux support (Libre, OBS, ShotCut, Gimp, etc.), and for gaming I'll be using Lutris. FPS games aren't really my style, but a lot of the modding software is windoze-dependant, and there will be a LOT of learning to do there, I'm sure.

From what I've been researching, the Samung Magician DC (<---told you Linux runs on magic) doesn't support the Phoenix controller, but it doesn't look like it comes with a GUI anyway - thus requiring a magician to use it, so... No dice.

I'm now trying to learn about the efficiency tweaks that Samsung made, what it is that seems to be MS-addicted, and check to see if the Linux counter-parts are available (pref. w/ GUI). ?

EDIT: Linux has come a LONG way since I first picked it up years ago. Gone are the days of using NDISwrapper for WiFi drivers, and having to mod your graphics driver to get things to work. I learned these things in the Vista-era, and was before I learned how to install XP as a downgrade - just to give you a time-frame.

 

[i2Lo]

Windows 10 LTSC might suit you better.

 

[CottonTexas]

Thanks @Lone who lead me in the right direction in post #2 when you said to focus on what exactly I was looking for. So I started to research what it is that makes the Samsung 970PRO so efficient, and from what I can tell, the greatest contributor towards the efficiency of the SSD has less to do with the software, but is mainly based on the hardware. Apparently "optimization" from the Samsung software handles stuff like trim & trash, which can be handled like so on Mint. A firmware update might prove to be difficult, if not impossible, but se la vi.

So please excuse my ignorance of how all this stuff comes together, but I'm glad to have learned ...and perhaps vent some of my frustrations with my current OS as well.

Windows 10 LTSC might suit you better.

Not a bad suggestion! It's a bit pricey, as it needs to be either purchased in a commercial pack of 5 licenses, or acquired elsewhere on the grey-market, but it does sound closer to the Win10 that maybe MS should have released to begin with without all the bloatware.

 

[Stevo_]

Thanks @Lone who lead me in the right direction in post #2 when you said to focus on what exactly I was looking for. So I started to research what it is that makes the Samsung 970PRO so efficient, and from what I can tell, the greatest contributor towards the efficiency of the SSD has less to do with the software, but is mainly based on the hardware. Apparently "optimization" from the Samsung software handles stuff like trim & trash, which can be handled like so on Mint. A firmware update might prove to be difficult, if not impossible, but se la vi.

So please excuse my ignorance of how all this stuff comes together, but I'm glad to have learned ...and perhaps vent some of my frustrations with my current OS as well.

Actually I think you can run Samsung disk stuff off of a FreeDOS bootable USB drive and do SSD firmware updates. Still doesn't work for OEM 961/981 etc versions though. Mint has a USB stick formatter tool built-in that can install a FreeDOS image downloaded from FreeDOS.org.


Edit: I tried but the present magician stuff will not run in command line mode in freedos

 

[CottonTexas]

Actually I think you can run Samsung disk stuff off of a FreeDOS bootable USB drive and do SSD firmware updates. Still doesn't work for OEM 961/981 etc versions though. Mint has a USB stick formatter tool built-in that can install a FreeDOS image downloaded from FreeDOS.org.

FreeDOS looks a lot like a terminal - lol. I guess I'll just have to learn to script-kiddie that one once I need a firmware update.

 

[CottonTexas]

Alright, I think I've come up with a solid game-plan here. I'll start out with Mint, and hope that all goes well, and if it turns out that I just can't live without, then I'll punish myself with a ~$300 Win10 LTSC (that's right, I'll pay an exponential amount more for a stripped-down version of windoze ). Seriously though, thanks @i2Lo for the recommendation, because I had no idea that you could get Win10 without Cortana, CandyCrush, and forced updates, and I'm betting I'm not the only one that thinks the price just might be worth it if you gotta have it.

 

[Lone]

Just an idea. You could spend $110 on Windows 10 Home OEM and run it as a virtual machine (or dual boot) whenever you need. It's really not that bad. If your goal is to run Linux, then Windows doesn't need to be perfect.

 

[CottonTexas]

Just an idea. You could spend $110 on Windows 10 Home OEM and run it as a virtual machine (or dual boot) whenever you need. It's really not that bad. If your goal is to run Linux, then Windows doesn't need to be perfect.

I'm afraid of sounding silly because you run Arch, which means that you are a Linux master-magician, and I am more like Mickey Mouse The short version is that I've never been good at guessing allocation space, so I've gotten away from dual-booting, because I've broken stuff moving partitions around after the OS's have been loaded. I'm sure there's a better way, but the learning curve is pretty unforgiving.

 

[Lone]

Windows 10 runs good as a VirtualBox guest OS.

FWIW, I think every time I install Arch I have to refer to the install guide.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

Windows 10 LTSC might suit you better.

Didn't know about that one. I'll look into it for the missus's parents who "want" to move to Win10 because ... dah big frightening W7EndOfSupport pop-up ... Le sight

I'm afraid of sounding silly because you run Arch, which means that you are a Linux master-magician, and I am more like Mickey Mouse

The right term is Arch-Magician, sir !

The short version is that I've never been good at guessing allocation space, so I've gotten away from dual-booting, because I've broken stuff moving partitions around after the OS's have been loaded. I'm sure there's a better way, but the learning curve is pretty unforgiving.

I'm an Arch user too and had the same problem in the past. Solved the issue by running a single partition on all my rigs. I don't even use a partition for swap as I'm using swapfiles.

 

[Stevo_]

Alright, I think I've come up with a solid game-plan here. I'll start out with Mint, and hope that all goes well, and if it turns out that I just can't live without, then I'll punish myself with a ~$300 Win10 LTSC (that's right, I'll pay an exponential amount more for a stripped-down version of windoze ). Seriously though, thanks @i2Lo for the recommendation, because I had no idea that you could get Win10 without Cortana, CandyCrush, and forced updates, and I'm betting I'm not the only one that thinks the price just might be worth it if you gotta have it.

Another option, I recently bought an HP Prodesk 600 w/8500T with intention of Windows & CPU donor(I posted a sort of review in the Hardwre forum), anyway whole thing with brick, keyboard and mouse $350 shipped but the other factor was it was a business model which came with the 2016 LTSB Win10. There are some downsides as the Powershell is not the Pro version with ssh built-in need to go thru a process there and some updates are not yet available but this Windows version. Also had to do a side-install of MS Store to get access there. The upside is it is very non-needy. I also loaded a Linux Mint 19.3 on a SATA SSD for that option but normally boots to Windows on NMVE drive, just using BIOS to select. Just need another M.2 NVME drive for sharing and backup. Best of all 1.2L. But you just pull the Windows and throw a Linux distro on and re-sell to recoup some bucks.