Moving from Linux Mint 19.2 to Windows 10-1909

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Well, I did it! I finally went over to “the dark side” (my wife’s words!). I went from Linux Mint to Windows 10 on one of my computers!

I have a computer that is connected to my big-screen TV, so I can stream videos on the TV. It has 8 GB of RAM and a 1 GB video card. Dell Vostro 430. Nice machine.

I initially set it up with Linux Mint 19.2. For the most part, it worked great, except that I never could watch Amazon Prime videos.

I got tired of not being able to watch Amazon Prime videos, so I decided to go over to the Dark Side – I installed Windows 10-1909 on the computer!

Actually, the install went very well. I made a bootable flash drive with the 1909 ISO, then booted the Vostro with it. I deleted the Linux partition so I could start clean with Windows. My wireless keyboard and mouse worked for the entire process, which made the process very simple.

I read that Windows 10 would activate using a Windows 7 activation key. Sure enough, I input the W7 key from the sticker on the computer case, and Windows 10 activated with it!

Along the way I created a local (non-Microsoft) account. After doing so, I plugged in my Netgear wifi adapter and installed the driver, and I was online.

At first, the video quality was low-resolution. But after a few minutes, an Nvidia program installed itself (literally), and I then had high-resolution video!

With high-resolution, you would expect text to be very small; that’s how it was with Linux. But not with Windows 10. The text showed at 150% of normal size, which made it very readable! This was an automatic setting; I did nothing to make it happen.

I edited Group Policy to delay updates for 7 days, and I also turned off auto-sleep and auto-hibernate. And the screen never goes blank automatically (that wouldn’t be a good thing with a TV).

I can now watch Amazon Prime videos! And I am very pleased with the entire Windows 10 experience.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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WildBill, doriel

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MrJimPhelps,

How did you connect your PC to TV?

• Wifi connection to internet and you are streaming from amazon
• HDMI connections to TV?
• What settings did you use on PC?

Thanks

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My video card has an HDMI output, and my TV has an HDMI input, so I used an HDMI cable. In my situation, the TV is the computer’s monitor. It’s as simple as that. In other words, I didn’t use any of the “smarts” that were built in to the TV, so I didn’t have to do any configuration on the TV.

Someone gave me this computer, and so I looked on the Dell website and found that there were four possible video cards that you could have gotten from Dell when it was purchased new. Two of the video cards listed had 1 GB of RAM, and the other two had less memory, so I went on Ebay and looked for either of the two that had 1 GB of RAM. (Also, I wanted one with an HDMI port, so I could connect the the TV to the computer as an external monitor.) I found one of the 1 GB video cards for $18, so I bought it!

I also needed memory (the computer had none), so I bought 8 GB of RAM on Ebay for around $25!

As for the keyboard and mouse, I am using a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse that I picked up at Walmart for around $20.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Logitech-MK270-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse-Combo/28540111

I had a Netgear wireless N-300 USB wifi adapter in my junkpile, so I connected it to the computer, which means that I didn’t need to run an Ethernet cable from the router to the computer. I like this adapter, because it has a USB cable and stand, allowing me to set the adapter on top of the computer, so that it gets a better signal than if I plugged it in one of the USB ports in the back of the computer.

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N300-Wi-Fi-Adapter-WNA3100/dp/B003G2Z1M6/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2T24PEJA7QX51&keywords=netgear+wna3100+n300+wireless+usb+adapter&qid=1577894724&sprefix=netgear+WNA3100%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-3

When you refer to “settings on the computer”, I assume you mean video settings. I set the video to the highest available resolution. (Actually, that was the default; I didn’t have to set anything.)

Setting up the computer was extremely easy, because Windows 10 basically did all of the settings for me automatically. It even found the correct video driver and installed it, without my having to tell it anything! The only driver I needed to install was for the wifi adapter, which makes sense, because without that, the computer was offline and therefore couldn’t search for any drivers.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

2 users thanked author for this post.

WildBill, jburk07

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Thanks for the info, I was assuming that you were using the TV as a monitor with direct hdmi input.  I just wanted to verify that you were not using chromecast or miracast adapter.

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[wavy]

With high-resolution, you would expect text to be very small; that’s how it was with Linux. But not with Windows 10. The text showed at 150% of normal size, which made it very readable! This was an automatic setting; I did nothing to make it happen.

Was that auto change in font size with the TV or a monitor? I always have to set that manually. When I do the final install of W10 on my new box I will be on my new hi res monitor not the spare low res one I did the test install on.
OK I see that was already covered, Just another instance where the forum format is yucky, IMHO

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by wavy.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by wavy.

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I don’t have Windows 10 on any other computer at my house. So I can’t say whether or not the font size change would have happened on a monitor. But if you think about it, a big-screen TV is a huge monitor in this situation, and so it needs to make that change if you are going to be able to read any text on the screen. When I had Linux Mint on that computer, the text on the screen was so small, it was extremely difficult to read any text on the screen, for example, when typing in a web address, or when reading the text that accompanies a Youtube video. But with Windows 10-1909 (not sure about previous versions of Windows 10), the text is automatically made larger, in fact, it auto-enlarges to the exact right size. I can read all text while sitting on my sofa; I don’t have to move close to the TV like I did with Linux Mint. This is a fantastic feature of Windows 10-1909!

(Perhaps I could have manually changed the text size in Mint; but it never occurred to me to try to do that, until I saw that Windows 10-1909 automatically did it.)

One of my customers has about 16 Windows 10 computers. All but three are on 1909. They have also been on 1809, 1803, and 1709. I have never noticed that any of them have auto-enlarged the text on the screen. Perhaps it happened, but I don’t think so, because even big monitors aren’t extremely big, not like a big-screen TV — in other words, the text doesn’t need to be enlarged on a monitor like it does on a big-screen TV. But I can’t honestly say for sure if auto-enlarge of the text has happened, because I’m not sure.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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stanhutchings, WildBill

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Maybe a function of the Extended Display Identification Data that gets passed to the display drivers, and maybe not for older versions of Windows.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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For me, the auto-enlarging of text to the precise size you need is the most spectacular feature of Windows 10-1909. This is the feature you might not realize you need, but when it happens, you are blown away with the quality of Windows 10-1909.

I didn’t find one flaw with Windows 10-1909, even though my computer is about 10 years old. It has a solid and polished feel throughout.

Icing on the cake is that you can activate it with your Windows 7 OEM activation key.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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WildBill

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Glad you’re pleasantly surprised with Win10 1909! I could jump over & convert my Win8.1 machine to 1909, but there’s no big rush. I’m waiting for Woody’s blessing on 1909, but I might also wait to see what happens with Win10 2004. With 3 years extended support left on 8.1, there’s no rush. BTW, if I finally get fed up with Windows & M$, Linux Mint is my 1st choice so far for a conversion.

Bought a refurbished Windows 10 64-bit, currently updated to 22H2. Have broke the AC adapter cord going to the 8.1 machine, but before that, coaxed it into charging. Need to buy new adapter if wish to continue using it.
Wild Bill Rides Again...

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I did an update to 1903 that turned out to be 1909 via iso (10.0.18362.418), I am still not entirely sure HOW that happened. Some sites said the MCT ISO was 1903 but whether via not killing autoupdate soon enough or what ever. I will see what happens when I get around to reinstalling W10.

(Still need to know just what to do to save my XP VM )

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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The same thing happened to me from an “1809 ISO”. I am guessing Microsoft changed all ISO downloads to be 1909 ISO some time in December. I used an 1809 ISO, downloaded in November and I am on 1809.

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Responding to several messages from MrJimPhelps here:

MrJimPhelps wrote:

I got tired of not being able to watch Amazon Prime videos,

Amazon Prime videos use Widevine, same as Netflix.  Netflix works fine on Linux, so I don’t know why it wouldn’t work with Prime.  I’d bet we could get it to work.

MrJimPhelps wrote:

When I had Linux Mint on that computer, the text on the screen was so small, it was extremely difficult to read any text on the screen, for example, when typing in a web address, or when reading the text that accompanies a Youtube video.

You just need to go to fonts in the settings menu and adjust the font DPI, and they will all be scaled up accordingly. It’s one of the first things I do when I set up a new PC with any OS… fine-tune the icon sizes, font sizes, UI scaling (if available), icon spacing, etc.

MrJimPhelps wrote:

And I am very pleased with the entire Windows 10 experience.

Well, if it works for you, that’s good.  Personally, I couldn’t even stomach using it for long enough to be able to get a real-world web browsing comparison between Linux and Win 10 on battery on my Swift.  It’s one thing to start a video playing and monitor it until it reaches 90% battery, as in my previous tests, but using it is something else.  I’d have to set up Waterfox, get it all set up and dialed in, and that’s before the test could even start.  I gave up before I even got to the point of downloading Waterfox.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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WildBill

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Two points:

(1) I second Ascaris on the “too small letters” issue. Scaling up the fonts solves that problem.

(2) I have not tried this with Linux Mint, yet, but Waterfox does not work with Amazon Prime on either my Mac or my Windows PC. It seems to be working, at first, showing the customary window with tiles displaying pictures of various shows, with one large tile at the top, usually animated, to tempt one to watch some recent addition to Netflix’s “Originals”. But when one selects a show and clicks on its tile or link to get it going, one gets that “I’m trying to load it” circle turning for some seconds and then this message pops up: “Oops! The item is not available for streaming!”, where the robot in charge of running videos at Prime is clearly lying through it cybernetic teeth. I use Chrome, instead of WF, to see Prime’s videos. It works just fine, but then again, I am a lowly enough creature not to mind using Chrome when I know it will do the job that WF (my default browser) couldn’t or wouldn’t do…

So now here I am, waiting to hear from Ascaris that he has actually solved this annoying WF problem, at least for Mint. And, incidentally, maybe provided us also with some useful clues about what to do to fix it in WF’s Mac and Win versions too!

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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[Ascaris]

I am pretty sure I described this in the previous thread about Netflix.  Once you are certain that Widevine is working, which the current Waterfox Classic should do out of the box, just use a useragent string that is from one of the “supported” browser/OS combinations.  The version of Chromium I tested needed a little more configuration, but I got it working too.  Both Chromium and Waterfox needed their useragents spoofed (to Firefox and Chrome, respectively) to work.

There are several useragent switcher addons in the Firefox addon library that work with Waterfox, and there may be some in the Classic Addon Archive as well.  Just get one of them and set the useragent to something the server likes.  Firefox (latest version at that time, whatever that may be) on Linux is my first go-to, but if that also fails, Firefox on Windows, Chrome on Linux, or the nuclear option, Chrome on Windows, may work better.  I want to be counted as among the non-Chrome and non-Windows users in a site’s analytics, so I use the least level of spoof I can get away with.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Ascaris.

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I had Widevine loaded and ready on my TV computer when it had Linux Mint, but I never could get Amazon Prime videos to run. I tried both Firefox and Chromium, but no luck.

As for increasing the font DPI, I eventually would have gotten to it; but I didn’t have to with Windows 10, because W10 simply knew that it needed to be done, and did it. I was highly impressed with that.

I have no idea how much power Windows 10 consumes (as compared to Linux Mint). But to me it’s no big deal, because it is installed on a desktop computer which is always plugged in.

One of my customers has about 16 W10 computers, and so I have become accustomed to W10. I have come to like it a lot.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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MrJimPhelps wrote:

One of my customers has about 16 W10 computers, and so I have become accustomed to W10. I have come to like it a lot.

The lack of full control over updates is a big deal for me, and setting deferrals, active hours, and metered connection settings are not good enough.  I can have some minor level of control over my PC’s updates, but they all come within the framework of MS deciding when I get the updates aside from the few exceptions that they allow (which they can and will override if they want to).  All of those things just reinforce that Microsoft is in control of my computer, not me.

As Oscar mentioned, it’s an issue of trust.  An OS has access to everything on my PC, every bit of data that is stored there or that passes through.  If the OS was a person and the PC was a country, that person would have to have the very highest level of security clearance in order to have access to every secret the government has.  I’m not sure that level even exists in real life, but it does in the computing world.

If a person requested this level of clearance, he’d be subjected to a rigorous background check, and if there was any hint at all of the potential for divided loyalty, he’d be denied that clearance, and would therefore not be able to take the job.  Any hint of divided loyalty at all, even just a bare suspicion, is not worth the risk when the individual has the keys to the store.

With Windows 10, divided loyalty is not just a bare suspicion, but is a documented fact.  That renders it unworthy of the trust required by an OS, and an OS that can’t be trusted to be an OS is not fit for purpose.

Other than the lack of trust issue, Windows 10 offers me no usable color scheme.  White on white with a side of white hurts my eyes on LCDs, and I don’t like dark themes either.  I like a light theme, but with no fields of white. I use #E1E1E1 for backgrounds, which translates to 225/225/225 in R/G/B (255 is full white).  For window elements, I use #D2D2D2 (210/210/210 in decimal).

In KDE, I just set all the colors to what I want, much the same as used to be possible in Windows XP and earlier, and in 7 and Vista if a basic theme is used.  In Cinnamon, there’s a GNOME color picker that mostly works, and it’s easy to edit the theme file (any of the ones they offer) or .gtkrc and change the colors to be as I want.

With Windows 10, I’d have to find a patcher compatible with my Windows version to hack the files so that aftermarket themes can be used.  Microsoft requires a Microsoft signature on all themes, and they don’t offer signing as a service.  Even kernel mode drivers only have to be signed by a recognized CA, but the harmless theme files have to have the specific MS one.  They can’t have any individual’s Windows not looking the way that their designers intended, can they now?  It has to “look like Windows,” whatever that may mean at a given moment, in case anyone looks over the shoulder of the user and wants to know what OS that is, apparently.  Can’t have anyone saying, “Wow, that’s really ugly, and it’s Windows 10.  I guess I will have to avoid Windows 10!”

I did this with 7 and 8.1, but I have less tolerance for hacking the OS files (it can also be done with a system service from a third-party, but I don’t know that it is updated as often as Windows 10 is, among other things) just to make it not burn my retinas than I used to.  It shouldn’t be necessary.

I’d have to try to find a custom theme, and that’s not as easy as it should be.  I had a custom theme in 10 that I liked… it was my own Windows 8.1 theme ported to 10, and then when one of the feature updates landed, it stopped working completely, even after I patched the three files to get the theme enabled.  You don’t just have to find a Windows 10 theme you like, but one that is compatible with the version you’re using.  Windows 10 is a moving target when it comes to customization, which is what led to the developer of Classic Shell giving up on it.

In addition to that, I’d also want to install the descendant of Classic Shell, now known as Open Shell, if it is still working with the version of 10 I have.  In addition, I’d use Old New Explorer to get rid of the ribbon in File Explorer and replace it with the classic menu bar.

All of these things are things that should be possible just by changing settings within Windows 10.

I’d have to do that just to be able to use 10 at all, and I really don’t feel like jumping through so many hoops, so I don’t even get to the stage where I would download Waterfox.

Windows has typically had longer battery run times than Linux, but the gap in battery performance I had when I first tested it (when Ubuntu 18.04 was just released) has narrowed to zero while continuously looping a video (1920×1080, 24 fps).  That suggests that perhaps general web browsing may be on par with Windows first, but I don’t really know.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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GreatAndPowerfulTech, wavy

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You could post this in the Linux forum under “Why I prefer Linux over Windows 10”!

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Ascaris wrote:

It has to “look like Windows,” whatever that may mean at a given moment, in case anyone looks over the shoulder of the user and wants to know what OS that is, apparently. Can’t have anyone saying, “Wow, that’s really ugly, and it’s Windows 10. I guess I will have to avoid Windows 10!”

But the default version of W10 IS VERY UGLY. They must have very bad taste, which is a value judgement on my part, but it is evil ethics to force ones taste on another!

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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To me not using Linux as my main replacement of Windows 7 and adopting instead Windows 10 is out of the question, regardless of how well it might work for some here, right now. Because it is not just a matter of software engineering and whether there is going to be contractually agreed technical support of the OS installed in my computer, but above all, a matter of trust, going into the future, on the company behind the software. A trust that is conditioned by the way this company has been dealing with Windows until now and what are their demonstrable intentions concerning this product, judging by what they are known to have done, are seen to be doing and the way of doing things they are likely to follow in the future, and not by their fantastic plans declared to the rolling of drums and the blare of trumpets.

In short: those determining policy at MS have already given me sufficient reason not to trust them with my own ability to use my own computer in the longer run, without interruptions caused by frequent unnecessary ‘upgrades’, too many bugs and problematic patches due to iffi quality control practices and to the general lack of focus, or even interest, on Windows demonstrated repeatedly by MS top management. I need and intend to do whatever is required to remain able to use my computer, not just now, but for years to come, in a way both convenient to me and necessary for my work. That is my plan, to me it stands to reason and I have no place in it for using another MS operating system.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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WildBill, Ascaris, DrBonzo

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Yep, that pretty much sums it up for me, too. I just don’t trust MS anymore. And, if I’m going to spend time on computing, I’d rather spend it learning an OS that, so far, is meeting my needs very well, as opposed to keeping track of patches being issued, then retracted, then perhaps being reissued and perhaps being re-retracted, wondering whether my computer will be bricked, etc., etc., etc.

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Ascaris

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A little while back I was surfing the web with Firefox, with NoScript running; and it hit me: I never saw Microsoft scripts running anywhere, except on Microsoft’s own websites. However, I saw Google scripts running on almost every website except on Microsoft’s websites.

In other words, Microsoft isn’t spying on you everywhere you go and then monetizing the information they gather, but Google is.

I came to the conclusion that I can trust Microsoft a whole lot more than Google; and in general, I can trust Microsoft, whereas in general I have absolutely no trust in Google.

I could be wrong, but I honestly don’t think there is much, if any, trust issue with Microsoft.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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WildBill

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@MrJimPhelps – I agree with you, but I would go a step or two further. I trust MS more than I trust Google as far as snooping is concerned. But I don’t trust MS when it comes to issuing reliable patches. Having walked into my office one morning to see my Win 7 machine busily downloading and installing Win 10 without my permission, I don’t trust MS to leave my computer alone or, bluntly, ‘to do the right thing’

In short I don’t put much trust in either company, it’s just that the mistrust comes in different forms.

BTW, if you like Windows 10, that’s fine by me. Different people have different needs and different criteria for meeting those needs (different strokes for different folks). And in the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit to having a Win 8.1 computer since it still is a Windows world out there.

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Microsoft bricked my father-in-law’s computer. He had an old Windows 7 computer on which I had installed blocking software, to prevent it from updating to Windows 10. It wasn’t long after that that Microsoft pushed Windows 10 down to his computer and bricked it in the process.

The whole GWX fiasco greatly damaged Microsoft’s reputation in my eyes. But when I compare them to the absolute universality of Google spying, Microsoft comes out looking like a children’s choir.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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wavy wrote:

Maybe a function of the Extended Display Identification Data that gets passed to the display drivers, and maybe not for older versions of Windows.

Oh yes, the EDID data… that thing that never could be trusted to be correct.

Linux has had EDID parsing for decades. It’s just, the screen dimensions reported via EDID have been incorrect more often than correct. It’s like screen manufacturers reuse the chips between models and only update the model number, not dimensions or sometimes even allowed timings for analog signals…

There’s a way to override them manually but that’s sort of incompatible with X11 and autoconfiguration.

(Yes, the timings issue is just as much of a problem with Windows, or even more… well, fortunately that’s more a “was” for most by now, unless you ran into the rare edge case… or a HDMI or DP version mismatch not being detected correctly.)

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Ascaris

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But could that be the mechanism W10 used to change Jim’s setting automagically ?

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Wavy, my point in bringing up the screen auto-adjust was to say that it seems clear to me that Microsoft has put a lot of time and effort into making sure this detail was correctly implemented.

Add to that the fact that the Nvidia graphics driver and control program automatically installed (without my initiating the process in any way) confirms my belief that they put a lot of time and effort to much if not all of Windows.

It was a thing of beauty to see those two things happen automatically, with perfect results (from my perspective).

Of course, this was only with one computer and one TV. I wonder if the above always works that well?

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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MrJimPhelps wrote:

it seems clear to me that Microsoft has put a lot of time and effort into making sure this detail was correctly implemented.

What’s more, I expect they have a list of screen model numbers somewhere and use that to determine effective DPI instead of using the screen’s reported dimensions and resolution, because…

Ascaris wrote:

a 1920×1080 display on a 5″ phone, an 8″ tablet, a 13.3″ compact notebook, a 15.6″ large notebook, a 23″ desktop monitor, or a 50″ HDTV.  Those all would have the same resolution, but wildly varying DPI numbers, and a font scaling setting that works on one may be terrible for another.

Oh yes. And using the straight DPI figure from a wall-mounted HDTV may well be less useful as you really need to use viewing distance too to figure out the correct scaling.

Microsoft is exactly the kind of organization that could have a fairly comprehensive list of reported model numbers with screen dimensions and expected viewing distances.

wavy wrote:

But could that be the mechanism W10 used to change Jim’s setting automagically ?

I’d say this might be the most likely explanation exactly.

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[Ascaris]

That could be why Linux distros (or at least the one MrJimPhelps used) didn’t set the UI scaling automatically.  It would be really easy to do, programmatically.

The resolution alone is not enough info as far as determining scaling… you can have a 1920×1080 display on a 5″ phone, an 8″ tablet, a 13.3″ compact notebook, a 15.6″ large notebook, a 23″ desktop monitor, or a 50″ HDTV.  Those all would have the same resolution, but wildly varying DPI numbers, and a font scaling setting that works on one may be terrible for another.

I have three of the displays in that list above, the 13.3″, 15.6, and 23″, and I use different font scaling on each of them.  The 23″ I leave at its default setting (which is 96 dpi… I just calculated it out, and that is the actual DPI), while the 15.6 is scaled up a little, and the 13.3 is scaled up more.  The text is about the same size (in inches, not pixels) on all three.  I can’t fit as much stuff on the 13.3 inch screen as the 23 inch, even though both are the same resolution, but on the other hand, I can read the 13.3 inch without having to always wear reading glasses.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Ascaris.

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This discussion, as I understand it and, please, correct me if I am wrong, is not about who is worse at disrespecting their users privacy, MS or Google, but about whether MS Windows is an OS one can trust any longer to be developed with the user’s best interest primarily in mind, whether it is installed in a computer dedicated to share cute pictures of children and grandchildren, or to do some intensive number crushing of scientific data. Or whether MS policy regarding Windows these days, instead, is really to serve, for as long as possible, the interests of the wealthy fanboy investors that will follow Satya Nadella to the Cloud and wherever he might point the way beyond it, and who are eager to prop with their investments MS extremely high speculative market value, their own dividends as its big shareholders, its CEO’s strong hold of his position within the company and, along with all that, to ensure the total annual pocketing by him and his top associates of their multi-millionaire wages plus bonuses and shares.

If I were to bet, I would not bet on MS developing Windows, either these days or in a foreseeable future, primarily to serve the best interests of proud parents and grandparents, or of those engineers, scientists and artists who use their PCs to do some heavy and often sophisticated computing on a regular basis.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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doriel

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…actually, this discussion is about a Linux guy who has become pleasantly surprised with Windows 10.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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wavy

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MrJimPhelps, You are quite right about your own intent in opening this thread for consideration, but:

I was concentrating on the turn the comments had taken towards a discussion of which company, MS or Google, was a worse disrepecter of user’s privacy, which, in my opinion, has nothing much to do with what I had understood this thread to be about. That original post had open, perhaps unwittingly, the floor to the subsidiary discussion of whether moving from Mint to Win 10 is a good thing worth imitating or not. Which was, all along, perhaps, the one point worth discussing. One person’s satisfaction cannot be the sole topic to be discussed in a thread. If that was all it was about, then there would be nothing left to be said, other than “good on you!”

If it is to be of any interest beyond that to others, it can only be as an opening to a wider discussion.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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DriftyDonN

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wavy wrote:

Still need to know just what to do to save my XP VM

Open a new thread and ask there.

cheers, Paul

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MrJimPhelps

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Interesting discussion with, obvious, biased points of view.  Regardless, the discussion is largely about usability by a typical consumer of content.  In this case, the consumer was happily surprised with the comparable ease in which an installation went and ultimately with the outcome gained.  Not sure that merits much political and/or sociological discussion.  Be happy it worked for him. No one is making any one else usw something they don’t want to use.  BTW, the viability of certain technological devices will often be less than its functional operation.  That may account for some problems with updates.  Happens……

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Frankly, I would have simply bought a ROKU stick and used it rather than move to Windows 10 from Linux Mint simply to play Prime videos. It would have been a whole lot less work and offer you a very wide range of streaming services to use for free, such as Pluto TV. Why provide Microsoft with advertising data points?

Just my two cents.

Cheers.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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wavy

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Windows 10 was free, because I was able to use my Windows 7 activation key to activate it. And with 8 GB of RAM and a really good video card, I figured, what the heck. If it doesn’t work out, I can always either go back to Linux or try something else. It took less than an hour from start to finish (not counting the time it took to make the install flash drive), and it was an effortless process.

Part of my motivation for going to Windows 10 was to see how effortlessly I could pull it off; I was not disappointed.

Just another perspective that you don’t often hear these days.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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