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So, I've been using Windows for about 20 years on various PCs and laptops. Finally, after this morning's 1 hour 40 minute update (missed my train to work, etc, etc) and the only things it has done are lose my network shares, add a store icon to the taskbar, and start prompting me to use their f*****g one drive cloud that I've tried a million times to remove. I have had apple TV boxes, and currently have a Fire TV box that works great, but I imagine like a lot of people I run scared of messing with the pre-installed operating system. So, it takes a f**k-up of monumental proportions to get me to ask:
Can anyone "impartially" recommend an operating system that is not massively over-bloated with sh*t I don't need or want (recipes, stock prices, etc), will operate a browser without crashing every third page it visits, will connect to my Synology NAS and won't forget how to do each it each time I log-in (my Fire TV can do it - why can't Windows?), and of course be able to play my media with Kodi. I already use things like Libre0ffice so I'm in no way hooked into microsoft, other than their handcuff relationship with the laptop manufacturers.
Secondly, and more importantly could you recommend a site that takes the non-programming lay-person through how to install a new operating system safely without completely killing my laptop and preferably without losing documents, music, photos, or spending 3 days backing up to CDs and re-loading. I know this is really dumb, but I don't even know if I can load an android operating system onto this laptop or if that is very hardware dependent.
Oh, and by the way - I don't want to try f*****g Office for 30 days !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks (can't find an emoji with steam coming out of ears) and sorry if this is the wrong place to post.
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2016-09-14, 10:50
(This post was last modified: 2016-09-14, 10:52 by DarrenHill.)
Thread moved to off-topic, as it's not about Kodi support directly.
Personally I'd recommend trying out a few Linux distributions via LiveCD/LiveDVD or LiveUSB (running them from such media without installing anything on your HD, so you can get a feel for them).
Generally Linux Mint is the normal recommendation for people coming from Windows, but it's a matter of personal taste of course (some prefer Debian, Ubuntu or other distros).
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Thanks Darren, but as I said I'm not a programmer and everything I read about Linux is that it's not for the novice.
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That's really helpful Darren, thank you.
Just for interest though, I do find it a bit odd that you have a whole section devoted to hardware to run Kodi on, but asking about operating systems is off-topic. But I am really grateful for your advice and relieved to know I can try things out without uninstalling existing settings. I'll give it a go.
BTW - the thing that worries me about Linux is the Linux UK webpages still refer to things like "no more defragging your system", which suggests to me they haven't been updated in quite a long time and still comes over as an alternative to Windows 98.
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2016-09-14, 12:34
(This post was last modified: 2016-09-14, 12:34 by DarrenHill.)
Your overall question is a little to generic to be "on-topic" here. The support forums are for the Kodi program/app itself (the various versions for the different OS's), whereas you're asking about an OS recommendation in general (not specifically for Kodi), or at least so it appeared. Hence why it's a little off-topic as you seem to be looking for a new OS to replace Windows generally, not specifically for Kodi. It's a valid question generally, but as you want it for more wide usage it is more appropriate here. People asking for recommendations on general PC hardware (rather than as a media box) would end up here too.
Concerning your other question - Linux natively uses a different file system method of storing stuff (ext4, although as with Windows there are older/different options) on the hard disk to the NTFS that Windows does. One aspect of that is how it keeps files, a side effect/advantage being that fragmentation doesn't happen and so defrag is unnecessary (Windows 10 still has NTFS and defrag, it's just done automatically, at least on my PC it does).
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Well, I get your point, but my main issue is that Windows seems unable to stream media from my NAS to play on Kodi, without me having each time to go through logging into my Syno through a browser (which crashes half the time) and then adding a network share again. However, I was using the opportunity to vent my frustration that they've just done an interminable auto-update that has undone all of the work I'd done to try and overcome this problem and added back all the useless gumphh I'd taken so long to remove - so I understand the off-topicness.
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Just to save anyone else wasting another few hours of their time - LinuxLiveUSB doesn't work on windows 10. You just get an oracle splashscreen followed by "Exit Portable Virtualbox" and nothing whatsoever then happens.
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Honestly, just stick with windows. Back all of your stuff up(Yeah, CD-Rs suck ass, but you said you have a nas so try to offload some of that onto there) and do a clean install from latest windows install(Anniversary Update). Once install is done, remove all metro apps/store, remove onedrive and apply all windows settings that you like. Install drivers, then install some sort of backup software and make an image of your hard drive. Reading your first post SCREAMS fresh install of Windows. Until Windows 10 is "complete" I would recommend a fresh install at every milestone (TH2 Update / Anniversary Update / etc etc etc). Yes, we shouldn't have to do a fresh install, but I don't how many problems I have fixed for others, just by doing a clean install. If you upgraded from a previous windows without a fresh install, I would bet every dollar in my bank account that's your problem.
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Thanks for your recommendations guys. This update has bugged me a lot more than normal. The automatic logging into Skype, and re-imposing the store and OneDrive in our faces, etc. I think Fail$tyle you're sadly probably right in the end, but I would just love to have an OS that did the basics really well - primarily being to play media through Kodi, but also a bit of browsing and office work but without all the bloat. I was just hoping that there may be things like Google's OS that would work for more than simple browsing now, but I really don't fancy having to install each one to try it out.
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Thanks Fail$tyle. The thing is I've removed OneDrive, etc, previously. I've got CCleaner and used it before. The point is though that the latest update has brought them all back. I know the answer from Micro$oft is to turn off auto-update, but that's using a crappy solution to fix a crappy software. It's like a car salesman saying "it's got everything - DAB radio, carpet on the roof, bobble-head Jesus - but whatever you do DON'T PUT IT IN REVERSE." I was hoping that by 2016 something better would have come along, but it seems we're still stuck with choosing one of the hundred versions of Linux. There are people winning gold medals at the Olympics who weren't born when Windows, Apple, or Linux were the only options, and they still are.
