LOL at people saying windows is easier, how would you know you probably never used BAMT/SMOS/PIMP etc.
IF you have a supported configuration. If you have it will literally plug and play. If not you're on your own, and for the average user it can be a bit daunting without the necessary knowledge.
I've not said Windows is easier, just that I've got identical hardware that I have both Linux and Windows on. And for me, there has been very little difference.
That said, for no apparent reason my 750Ti's in the Linux rig suddenly dropped to around 50Khash per card last week and seemed to be stuck at that level. I've set it up from scratch again and it's back to normal, but still puzzled as to why it happened.
Also, in response to an earlier comment -
SSH isn't already running on most standard distributions. It's in the repositories, but still needs installing. It's just as quick as putting my usb drive in and running the VNC installer.
Virus scanner? I don't use them on the Windows rig, because well, it's unneeded. Never had a problem. Never access anything other than the pool I'm running on.
Linux also stores temporary files and logs that add space - no more than a Windows machine. If you're not running much (Cudaminer and the driver) then nothing builds up.
No wasting time installing drivers as everything is already included - not strictly true. The standard driver that 8.1 installed for my 750Ti turns out to be the best one available - the nVidia driver broke it when I updated.
Windows 8 reorders your GPU's? I've never had a problem - my GPUs have always stayed in the correct order, and as I run different kernel settings for each card I'd notice quite quickly if this was happening.
Dummy plugs? It's not a Windows problem, it's how the driver has been written. Some AMD cards need them, but it's down to the driver. All of my running rigs, 1 Windows and 2 Linux have never needed them.
The comment about unnecessary peripherals - how is the OS relevant when you're running headless? All my machines have power and network only connected.
Not sure of the relevance of the hard drive comment. Linux will also run on a hard drive. All of my rigs run on SSDs - the power draw is minimal.
Resource usage? Linux also has background processes running. Try running top when your miner is supposedly idle... Both my miners run at around 30% CPU usage on average - both OS's have to manage themselves on an ongoing basis.
...and yes, I get much better hash with similar hardware on Linux at home compared to my rigs at work on WIndows.
It may be similar, but not the same? One of my Linux rigs and the Windows rig is identical, and on the same network. Couldn't get a better comparison.
As I said earlier, I'm not for a fanboi war as I'm on both sides. Believe it or not, I used to be almost as much of a Linux advocate than Richard Stallman, but in my later years I've become more open minded. I'm a fan of running the best OS for the job. I'm just not convinced that either edges it for me when mining as I've not seen compelling evidence either way. Bear in mind that for me, the comparison is between Linux and Windows 8.1, I can't comment on earlier versions of Windows as I've not used them for mining.
One of the problems of comparing Linux with Windows is that a lot of FUD about both OS's is brought up. Things like resource usage, viruses and temp files for instance. The experience most people have with Windows is either that they have a family PC running it or use a Windows PC at work. And for most, it's got a lot of software installed, an anti virus and utility programs that the manufacturer probably installed. Compare that with a Linux PC that you build yourself and it's no surprise that Linux runs far better.
