Edit: Unfortunately, the images originally included in this post are gone, because of hosting problems in late 2009. My apologies.
I know it’s not a record of any stretch, but in another hour or so, my machine will have been up for seven days straight.
That’s a solid week of streaming music throughout the house, downloading ISOs, burning CDs and DVDs, modifying themes, swapping wallpaper, moderating, surfing, tinkering with web design, coding a little bit, chatting, gaming, blogging, auctioning hardware, mailing and labeling packages … and a lot more.
And no reboots. You can’t do that with Windows. (Edit: I can’t do that with Windows. 😉 ) I used to reboot my old XPS M170 two or three times a day, because I installed something, changed something, rearranged something, moved the mouse …
(Just a note: Yesterday I went to work and our crappy proprietary software crashed two MS Windows 2003 servers, which meant six servers had to be rebooted in sequence, which meant the network was inaccessible for about thirty minutes and a techie had to be called in on a Saturday.)
Now it’s more unusual for me to restart the machine. Of course, I should think about power draw, but it’s a 60W laptop power supply. Unless I’m mistaken, that’s like leaving your porch light on overnight.
This Ubuntu thing is almost too easy.
P.S.: My apologies if this post comes across too much as a Linux fanboy. I think the idea I was trying to convey was just that I have a machine that has been up continually for a week (almost eight days now) without a reboot. I’d never had that happen with a Windows machine.
“You can’t do that with Windows”
My uptime in XP used to average 4-5 days, with a personal best of 16 days. No crashes, but noticeable slowdown when it’s been running over a week. And all the while running four or more torrents, running a file-server and chanbot in IRC, watching movies and playing mp3s, playing games, and the usual web surfing and email-checking. I do agree with you on one thing, Windows needs to reboot when you fiddle around with the programs. I had the misfortune of updating ZoneAlarm during my 16-day binge. Goodbye streak~~~
BTW, congrats on your streak. Depending on your PC habits, you’ll find the second week a bit easier than the first.
“And no reboots. You can’t do that with Windows” – yeah you can quite easily, i used to leave my XP machine on days with no glitches and that was coding, downloading stuff, installing stuff etc etc.
Hi Paul. If you have a Windows machine that was up for seven days straight after installing software, working as a music server, gaming, etc., etc., that’s great.
I honestly could never get through one day without a reboot on a Windows machine.
Even our XP desktops at work have to be rebooted daily — our crack IT team endorses the practice — and they only run the same six or seven programs constantly, with no new network connections or new installed software.
I’m sure you’re right; I would gree with you if you say a seven-day streak for a Windows machine is possible. I’ve never seen one, though.
Hi Paul and Mandla,
I’ll second Paul’s input. I also had my (on the old days) Windows machines running for several days without a reboot.
I understand and agree with your post Mandla. The way Linux works make it extremely easy to have such uptime.
I just wanted to share my view on the whole thing. Uptimes like that are possible with Windows.
On a different matter, I had a Windows server (HTTP + FTP) up for 6 months and 21 days. (=
Hi K.Mandla,
While I appreciate that you cleared stated you could not get windows to run for many days on end without a reboot that’s not to say that a competent computer person (I can’t think of a better phrase) can’t.
My personal record stands at 237days 11hours, brought only to a close my the inadvertent pushing of the power button by my brother *facepalm*. In this time, it was a file server, print server, CD burner, movie player, music player and all the usual simpler PC user functions.
I know your aim was not to come across as a linux fanboy and I’m sure you know far greater then the little I know but still, it can be done, it just takes time and fiddling (much like linux).
That all been said, I aim to move over to Linux for everything but my PC gaming requirements and your site above most others has been the catalytic inspiration for this transition 🙂
Thanks
.harisma.