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| Goodbye Windows, Hello Linux [advice needed for a Linux workstation at home] |
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| Nominal Animal:
For new graphical user interface application without huge amounts of data processed through the UI, I do recommend a Python3 + Qt or GTK+ user interface, on top of (possibly proprietary) C libraries used via ctypes or gi. It allows easy modification of the user interface as necessary (and both Qt and GTK+ support theming, so with a little care you can make it pretty close to native, if desired), but keep the business "secret sauce" in clearly separate binaries. These proprietary libraries, although "proprietary blobs", are pretty much accepted as par for the course for proprietary applications. I do mean the UI code is provided in readable Python, not as python object code. The UI code should not contain anything business-sensitive, but allows end users to try and fix glitches themselves, rather than have to rely on the vendor to provide every little fix. (Look at your own internal bug database, and see what fraction of all fixes are UI/UX fixes. The main objection Linux users have to proprietary blobs is that they are a black box, take it or leave it -type deals; separating the user-facing, no-secrets-holding part into a form that allows users to suggest fixes is a big deal.) The downside in Python is that only one thread will execute Python code at any given time. (The default CPython interpreter does support multiple threads, it is just that for a thread to execute Python code, it must hold the Global Interpreter Lock.) For the user interface, this should not be a real drawback. A typical interface will have a couple of Python threads: the main UI one, plus one or more for data event handling between multithreaded library code and the main UI thread via Python Queues for example. (If you do have objections to this, or experiences where this has failed for you, do let me know, please.) |
| Mr. Scram:
This turned into another OS holy war. Who would have thought? |
| tggzzz:
--- Quote from: rstofer on January 21, 2019, 05:05:25 pm --- --- Quote from: nctnico on January 21, 2019, 02:56:21 pm ---Just my 2 cents: for over a decade it has been clear to me that you should develop an application cross-platform even if your primary target audience are Windows users. It is very likely a good business opportunity comes along which requires your software to run on Apple or Linux. Porting an application later on will be a costly nightmare or even impossible. --- End quote --- Which drove the interest in Java. I wonder how much interest there will be next year when the license terms change? I haven't read through all the details but it seems they want clients to buy the runtime. I'm sure it will be a nice revenue stream - if anybody cares enough to sign up. --- End quote --- There will be two options: use the open versions, or bend over and pay Oracle. I'm sure quite a few (but not enough for Oracle's liking!) will pay. Many won't. |
| edy:
Even just yesterday I installed Linux for someone.... A friend of ours had an old HP Pavilion a1324n (Pentium 4 machine with 1 GB RAM and 300 GB HD) running Windows XP. The machine is ancient! I popped in an Ubuntu Studio 16.04 LTS DVD and booted it. It asked if I wanted a dual-boot menu (WinXP, Ubuntu Studio). The machine had a Belkin WIFI USB dongle to connect to the internet. It worked no problem, that's how I got internet access to download the latest Chrome, LibreOffice and a few other packages I like to install. After Ubuntu Studio installed, it wanted to upgrade to 18.04 and proceeded to do so! All smooth and easy! So now the machine has options to boot WinXP and Ubuntu Studio. I can access WinXP partition from Ubuntu so all the Documents can still be found and worked on. The machine runs fast and on the latest software with more current security patches. Going this route with Windows would have been impossible... Win7 would not have run on this WinXP machine, and Win10 forget it. While most people would laugh at this old hardware, it is now saved from landfill and this family can enjoy new life out of this computer which they thought was otherwise useless. |
| Mr. Scram:
--- Quote from: edy on January 22, 2019, 01:00:49 am ---Even just yesterday I installed Linux for someone.... A friend of ours had an old HP Pavilion a1324n (Pentium 4 machine with 1 GB RAM and 300 GB HD) running Windows XP. The machine is ancient! I popped in an Ubuntu Studio 16.04 LTS DVD and booted it. It asked if I wanted a dual-boot menu (WinXP, Ubuntu Studio). The machine had a Belkin WIFI USB dongle to connect to the internet. It worked no problem, that's how I got internet access to download the latest Chrome, LibreOffice and a few other packages I like to install. After Ubuntu Studio installed, it wanted to upgrade to 18.04 and proceeded to do so! All smooth and easy! So now the machine has options to boot WinXP and Ubuntu Studio. I can access WinXP partition from Ubuntu so all the Documents can still be found and worked on. The machine runs fast and on the latest software with more current security patches. Going this route with Windows would have been impossible... Win7 would not have run on this WinXP machine, and Win10 forget it. While most people would laugh at this old hardware, it is now saved from landfill and this family can enjoy new life out of this computer which they thought was otherwise useless. --- End quote --- Windows XP is dead. Windows 10 requires less resources than 7. |
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