RE: [COMP] Re: system crashes (was: state of...)

>How are crashes  differentiated  from  the monitor/system freezing?

The monitor or system freezes usually as a result of a program crashing.

>And what is the correlation of the  os "bugs" to  Buggy software.

I agree with John here.  Linux is much more stable than Windows 98, but I
don't recommend someone reading this reformatting their hard drive and
making the switch today without researching the idea first. Linux can be
difficult to get used to.  Software programs can cause crashes just as
easily as an operating system crash.  Crashes can also be caused by faulty
or incorrect drivers being installed for you soundcard, modem, etc.  I have
found that crashes can be resolved best in two ways.

When you get an "illegal operation", check and see which module its in.
Excel.exe, Kernel32.dll, etc  If it occurs in a file that belongs to the
program you are running (Excel.exe) then you can either find a solution on
the software vendors website (if there is one) or reistall the program.
This will not always work, but sometimes it will.  If you go to Microsoft's
Knowledge base, you'll find that there are about a million of these things.

If the crash is a result of something like Kernel32.dll ( a program that
belongs to the operating system) it is best to reformat you hard drive and
start from scratch.

Most of the time, this will solve your problems, but even after a reformat,
you can still get the same errors.  I have come to the conclusion that
"illegal operations" are a "feature" not a bug in Windows.  Sometimes you
just have to make the best of it.

I have found that Windows NT is just as stable as Linux and is a good choice
for those who wish to get away from system crashes.  Windows 2000 even
appears to be more stable even with its 63,000 bugs.  Some hardware cannot
be used with NT and 2000, however, because no drivers are available for it.
It that case, you are either stuck or you can try Linux.  Linux has an
outstanding kernel and is much more efficient on resources than Windows, but
it is a major pain in the butt to learn and get used to.

Mike

 -----Original Message-----
From:   root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]  On Behalf Of John
Madden
Sent:   Sunday, February 27, 2000 3:52 PM
To:     computers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:        [COMP] Re: system crashes (was: state of...)

>  Thanks!   I have lots of guestions .  Will ask soon. Thanks for the
positive
> feedback and i agree completely. Here's a shot: i understand  the windows
> platforms are prone to crashes. Read:  buggy performances   whatever.  How
> are crashes  differentiated  from  the monitor/system freezing?  And what
is
> the correlation of the  os "bugs" to  Buggy software. Running "98 with
> 400mhrz celeron - 64mgb Ram and just a bit over 6gigs on hard drive.

I dunno- if the entire machine is locking up, it's a system crash, and
if it's just a regular program crash, then it's just a regular program
crash.:)  Note though, that programs themselves do crash under OS's
other than Windows, just not as frequently, and when they do, they don't
take down the entire system (speaking from my experience with Linux).

As for the "correlation of the OS bugs to buggy software," I'm not sure
there really is one.  The OS is pretty independent of the software that
runs on it, with the exception of shared libraries, the OS controlling
the memory the program uses, etc.  I guess you could formulate a theory
that the poor programming in Windows leads to other programmers not
putting the effort in too, but that's a stretch.  However, I do find
that most software I run under Linux is of a much higher standard than
the things I come across under Windows.

This isn't Linux's doing, really, it's the difference in programming
paradigms: open source software is generally better written because the
source, and the programmers' reputations are stuck right out for
everyone to see, and the process of peer review causes the code to
constantly improve and evolve.  Then again, with a lot of Linux software
these days, you're dealing with an "unfinished product," that's at
version 0.5.1 or something, so features and functionality are often
missing.

John




--
# John Madden  weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ICQ: 2EB9EA
# Sys-Admin / Webmaster, Avenir Web: http://avenir.dhs.org
# LANdb: Network Admin Database - http://avenir.dhs.org/landb/
# "A kernel compile a day keeps the blue screens away."
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