Mr Whippy
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| posted on 9/2/08 at 08:18 PM |
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Alternatives to MS Windows
Hi,
I noticed from previous posts that some of you were not using windows are there operating system, it was a surprise as I didn’t think there was an
option and that the only way out was to buy a Mac…yes I know I am a computer numpty.
Now after pounding my poor keyboard into a rickety mess from all the crashes, lockups and evil viruses that seem determined to spoil my fun, I have
decided windows sucks to much and has to go.
Can anyone advise then a good cheap (preferably free  ) replacement for XP. Also how do I do this? are there any sites that tell you?? I
haven't a clue to be honest, I just want to get this sorted 
please help
Fame is when your old car is plastered all over the internet
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onzarob
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| posted on 9/2/08 at 08:23 PM |
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www.ubuntu.com
Its free, its a version of Linux but it works and it has usefull stuff like auto updates etc.
Download the CD and you can boot on it and try first, no need to install 
[Edited on 9-2-2008 by onzarob]
[Edited on 9-2-2008 by onzarob]
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 9/2/08 at 08:33 PM |
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thanks for that I'm off reading site now ohh scary stuff 
Fame is when your old car is plastered all over the internet
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onzarob
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| posted on 9/2/08 at 08:42 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
thanks for that I'm off reading site now ohh scary stuff
It will feel foreign, but the great thing is you can boot on the CD and run right away, it won't trash your windows install, so you can learn a
bit first.
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givemethebighammer
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| posted on 9/2/08 at 09:16 PM |
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I use pc-bsd (freebsd based OS) myself but use Linux at work. I can recommend Open SUSE 10 and Fedora 8, both written by big commercial LInux vendors,
so get regularly updated etc. CentOS (also from Redhat stable) is also worth a look. (all these are free too)
It will look and feel different at first, I'd suggest using KDE as a desktop to start with as it's as close as you are going to get to
Windows on Linux. Once you get used to it you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
Good Luck
[Edited on 9/2/08 by givemethebighammer]
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zilspeed
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| posted on 9/2/08 at 10:06 PM |
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Mint is another Linux distribution that is very easy to install and use.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 9/2/08 at 10:13 PM |
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Download a copy of Ubuntu or Mint as suggested above. Burn it onto a CD-ROM, put it in your drive and reboot the PC.
Hopefully it will load up from the CD and run as though it was installed - it won't affect your existing setup at all. The only major downside
is that it will run ultra-slow as it has to keep getting files off the CD. However, it will let you see how the system operates and whether you like
it.
I use Ubuntu and I now get cross when I have to use Windoze stuff at work - I keep looking for features that don't exist in Windoze, or have to
be paid for.
None of the Linux systems are perfect and sometimes they can be a PITA when they wrong - but when an application crashes you'll find that your
system stays up and running.
If you like the look of Linux you can install it as a dual-boot system, leaving your Windoze install alone. The install disk puts a program called
GRUB in the boot sector, which comes up when you start and gives you the option of booting into Windows or Linux. If it turns out that you hate
Linux, or don't see any benefits for yourself, then you can simply remove it and continue as before (not *quite* that easy, but not far off).
Forgot to mention - the Ubuntu disk (probably Mint as well) comes with a complete suite of office software, Firefox, a top-rate graphics program
(Gimp), and a host of other great utilities.
When you first install it's fairly sparse and simple - you can make it as complex as you see fit.
Oh - you may well find that your machine runs faster too - but I won't swear to that one!
[Edited on 9/2/08 by David Jenkins]
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RazMan
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| posted on 10/2/08 at 12:09 AM |
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The only problem I found with Linux was that most of my existing software wouldn't run on it (which happens to be MS stuff) and the emulators
just seem so clunky I gave up and bought Vista - best OS imo. You just need a fairly beefy system to run it properly and it is rock steady.
I like to run all sorts of software but Windows seems to be about the most versatile - try running graphics progs like Corel or Photoshop and then
switch to Midi music, then a Dyno prog and mapping the ECU ..... you get my drift?
[Edited on 10-2-08 by RazMan]
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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caber
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| posted on 10/2/08 at 01:13 AM |
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You could also be a Mac user, The OS is stable and based on Unix though you never need to get near to a command line. There are good PC emulators for
Mac now so you can always run Windows to remind you how crap it is Try finding someone with a Mac and take a look it is a lot better than windows
and easier to get on with once you get the idea!
Caber
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donut
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| posted on 10/2/08 at 09:20 AM |
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With linux are you able to use printers etc? Do you need to load the drivers in the same way and how is this done if booting off the cd?
Andy
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywest1/
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britishtrident
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| posted on 10/2/08 at 11:54 AM |
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Mint probably is probably the best for a noobie, Mepis or PClInuxOS a close second and third. With only one major release a year PCLinuxOS tends to be
more conservative than Mint and dosen't include the latest gizmos.
At the moment Mint and Mepis are both basically tailored versions of Ubuntu (which in turn is version of Debian) aimed at hassle free installation on
desktop PC.
Mint includes support for windows multimedia files and comes with graphics drivers for the two most popular brands of accelerated graphics cards.
Most printers are well supported with the drivers supplied in these distributions --- HP particularly have very good Linux drivers often better than
the Windows drivers.
Although Ubuntu based, Mint has better support for wireless network cards than Ubuntu but don't expect all wireless PCI and USB cards to be
supported.
The main problem with Ubuntu itself is that the 6 monthly new releases can sometimes cause hardware problems and regular updates aren't always
stable. Because of this the creators of both Mepis and Mint are planning to break away from Ubuntu.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 10/2/08 at 11:54 AM |
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You do need drivers for things like printers. Most of the common ones are built-in, and the more enlightened ones (like HP) provide their own
utilities and drivers for download (In HP's case, it's called HPLIP).
This is one of the weaker areas of Linux - the hardware manufacturers know that they have to interface with Windoze if they're going to make any
money, but some totally ignore Linux. All the big names are covered though - Epson, Canon, HP, and so on.
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donut
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| posted on 11/2/08 at 07:14 AM |
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Well i am at this very moment writing this via Firefox within Ubuntu. All looks ok so far. I downloaded the programme and copied the image onto disc,
popped it into my lappy and it asked what i wanted to boot too so i chose Ubuntu CD and here we are.
Not had a look round yet and will install onto my sons old PC so i can get to grips with it propper.
Very Intereting!
Andy
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywest1/
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donut
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| posted on 11/2/08 at 07:45 AM |
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All looks very good and much quicker than windows and it should be slow due to getting everything from the CD rather than the HDD. The internet is
blisteringly fast but i cant seem to print anything. It seems to see my printer but i get this message when trying to print:
CUPS server error
There was an error during the CUPS operation: 'client-error-document-format-not-supported'.
Any ideas? Is it because i'm running from CD?
[Edited on 11/2/08 by donut]
Andy
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywest1/
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britishtrident
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| posted on 11/2/08 at 08:04 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by RazMan
The only problem I found with Linux was that most of my existing software wouldn't run on it (which happens to be MS stuff) and the emulators
just seem so clunky I gave up and bought Vista - best OS imo. You just need a fairly beefy system to run it properly and it is rock steady.
I like to run all sorts of software but Windows seems to be about the most versatile - try running graphics progs like Corel or Photoshop and then
switch to Midi music, then a Dyno prog and mapping the ECU ..... you get my drift?
[Edited on 10-2-08 by RazMan]
Much more specialist software for handling music, video and photos avalable for Linux and it is nearly all free.
For Windows programs that are a must have running a Windows virtual machine within Linux is much better than running an emulator like Wine.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 11/2/08 at 08:12 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by donut
All looks very good and much quicker than windows and it should be slow due to getting everything from the CD rather than the HDD. The internet is
blisteringly fast but i cant seem to print anything. It seems to see my printer but i get this message when trying to print:
CUPS server error
There was an error during the CUPS operation: 'client-error-document-format-not-supported'.
Any ideas? Is it because i'm running from CD?
[Edited on 11/2/08 by donut]
Ubuntu and most other live CDs are just really demos. If you want to run from a live CD try Puppy Linux or Knoppix they are designed to run from cd.
Puppy in particular is very light on resources.
If Ubuntu running from CD is quicker than Windows I would suspect something far wrong with your Windows install unless are you running
Norton/Symmatec software ? Over time slows windows systems to a crawl.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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donut
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| posted on 11/2/08 at 12:35 PM |
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Well it just seems quicker...perhaps it isn't!
I have downloaded LinuxMint too to give that a try. If you hate windows and don't want to buy another PC (MAC) then Linux seems pretty damn good
if you understand that it is different to Windows and just takes a while to get used to. I'm deff going to install onto my son's old PC so
i can have a good play and get everything working so i understand it all.
It would be very hard to dump windows as there are programmes that are not available on Linux but for simple computing i.e surfing, mail, word
processor stuff and media it's pretty damn good and FREE!
[Edited on 11/2/08 by donut]
Andy
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywest1/
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 12/2/08 at 08:15 PM |
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BTW: I forgot to mention one very important command to remember
Ctrl - Alt - Backspace
No OS is perfect, and sometimes Linux will go screwy. This key combination will reboot the X-server, but leave the computer running. This will
untangle most screw-ups. All you'll have to do is log in again.
This is far better than Window's Ctrl - Alt - Del that reboots the whole machine.
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donut
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| posted on 12/2/08 at 09:21 PM |
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That's interesting to know, thanks. I'm quite enjoying Mint at the moment and can see this being a 'locost' Operating
system!! providing you don't want to do anything too strenuous
Andy
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywest1/
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 12/2/08 at 09:37 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
This is far better than Window's Ctrl - Alt - Del that reboots the whole machine.
Not since the days of Windows 95/98! Ctrl-Alt-Delete takes you to a log in dialog box under NT variants.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 06:58 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by donut
That's interesting to know, thanks. I'm quite enjoying Mint at the moment and can see this being a 'locost' Operating
system!! providing you don't want to do anything too strenuous
Nothing too strenuous ?
Because mint is set up as a desktop dosen't mean it can't run the heavy duty stuff.
Like Ubuntu Mint is pure Debian Linux --- most servers that power the internet are Linux either built on Red Hat or Debian. Running Synaptic on my
Mint install shows 23,254 packages available for download ! Everything from flight SIMS to Web servers all free at the click of a mouse button.
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onzarob
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 07:48 PM |
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If you really want some fun, get a terminal screen and login as root.
type rm * -r <press enter>
Hold on don't...It will delete all files and all folders and all files in those folders...untill there is nothing left!!!!
It deletes everything in the current directory and recurses all sub-directories
If you want to really understand Linux get a terminal window running and learn the commands and how it bolts together
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britishtrident
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 08:53 PM |
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the xkill command is very useful for killing off out of control apps.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 10:17 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
This is far better than Window's Ctrl - Alt - Del that reboots the whole machine.
Not since the days of Windows 95/98! Ctrl-Alt-Delete takes you to a log in dialog box under NT variants.
Oops! It's been a while... (he said, looking down)
My main point is still valid though... Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is a good way of giving the OS a kick without having to restart the box.
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