3 days on MS Visa... Dial up warning! Big Time!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Good and bad, but I am thinking I'm ready to switch to Mac.

It IS a Beta, so I will cut them some slack, but my main impression is that they have tried to copy the style of a Mac coupled with the rip-off of Firefox's look and tabbed browsing.

It seems as if there will be a lot of improvements in AV sorts as well as data transfer to CD's and DVD's...

Which means they are incorporating Nero type software into the OS.

They seem to have lost any sembalance of innovator and have turned into the Prince of Theives.

(I love the GUI compared to any of their earlier systems BTW... Just like Apple)

[sendero]

1. Microsoft..

... has never been an "innovator", that was nothing but media hype. I defy anyone to name one major personal computing innovation that came from Microsoft.

Spreadsheet - stole from Visicalc/Lotus123
Word Processor - stole from WordPerfect who stole it from Xerox
GUI - stole from Apple who stole from Xerox PARC
Networking - stole from Novell
Internet - Gates was YEARS late to the internet party, some "visionary" :)

All Windows is up to now is making sure nobody watches a movie or listens to music they didn't buy via the all-important Digital Rights Management.

[Solon]

2. Screw the Mac, get Linux...

Get a flavor of Ubuntu Linux, as easy to install as Windows, no worries about Spyware and shit, and it comes with a shitload of tools to burn CDs, DVDs, etc. Not to mention that with XGL and Compiz, its as pretty as a Mac or Vista could ever be, and it is less strain on resources.

[wakeme2008]

21. Screw Linux get a Mac....

Linux is still only good at work......

WakeMe2008 currently doing C/C++ programming for Tuxedo running on a Linux server.........

[Solon]

26. Actually, it seems to run fine for many different things...

Get Maya, and you got 3D rendering, with a program used for the movie Shrek. I can interface with the Ipod flawlessly, I can edit audio easily enough, and checking E-Mail, Web browsing is also not hard. Hell, I haven't even used the command line for much of anything, last time was for using "whois" for a website, actually posted the result here on this board. I don't even use CLI to install programs, literally a double click, type in password, and its done.

[Johnny Noshoes]

22. Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu was the first live CD version of linux that worked on my PC. I know the live cd is just a demo and not an install. Is it hard to get a dsl connection working? I'm on Verizon. I've always thought if I can get Linux to work with dsl I'd switch to linux even if just for my net connection. I'd just have a dual boot system and use windoze for most everything else.

[Solon]

25. Actually, if its the 6.06 version, the latest, then the Live CD IS The...

install CD. On the desktop on the Live CD boot, you should see an icon that says "Install Me" or something, sorry been a while since I booted that thing, anyways, it runs a nice graphical installer, put in the standard answers to questions, like Login name/password, which disk to install it, even uses Gparted for disk partitioning, a decent graphicall partitioning program. After the questions, it begins the install, after about 20 minutes(depending on speed of computer, CD/DVD drive), your done, remove the disk and reboot, after that, pretty much a no brainer.

[Johnny Noshoes]

30. Thanks

I guess when I get up the nerve to do a dual boot system I'll give it a try.

[Solon]

31. Couple of things to keep in mind on dual boot systems...

OK, Ubuntu 6.06 is actually very nice for this, but first thing first, backup ALL your important data, you do NOT want to lose what you can't lose. If you have a CD/DVD burner, use that, it would be perfect. Now, if you decide to do a clean install of both Windows and Linux, then make sure you install Windows first, I would recommend a setup of about 1/3 a drive dedicated to Windows XP, a blank partition that is formatted to Fat32, and then the Linux partition last, with a swap partition, about 500 megabytes or so, for Linux. OK, the easiest way to do this is to either use a partition resizer, like Partition Magic, after you backuped your data, of course, and resize the Windows XP partition down. Then use Windows partitioner on the install CD to make a Fat 32 partition next to the Windows XP partition. Make sure about 20 gigs or so is left over that is totally not partitioned. After you set those two up, then you can boot the live CD, the nice thing about Ubuntu is this, it will recognize the Windows XP and Fat32 partition, and set up the system to only read the Windows XP partition, but you can read and write to the fat32 partition, this means you can share info between the two OSes.

It also makes Linux setup easier, just tell it to use all unused space and it automatically partitions what is needed for you computer, then make sure its bootloader, Grub is put on the MBR, that way it brings up a nice list of all OSes on the computer for you to boot, with Linux at top.

[alcibiades_mystery]

40. My Verizon nDSL went right up on ALL my Linux installs

Ubuntu 5.10 had to mess around with sound a bit, and had to do quite a few package gets to get it right with DVD playback and browser plug-ins. Also had to do a bit of work to get latest firefox and thunderbird, but it was all spelled out for me in the ubuntu forums. you'll get dsl no problem.

[LeftCoast]

3. How stable was it? I've heard some real horror stories.

Might've been an earlier beta though. Also, what's nero? Haven't heard of that before.

[Solon]

5. Nero is CD burning software...

for burning audio and data CDs. usually you can get it free when you buy a CD/DVD burner.

[LeftCoast]

27. Thanks for the info!

:hi:

[Solon]

29. Its annoying as hell to run, on Windows XP at that...

OK, I got it for free with a damned near brand new Memorex CD burner, so I installed it, no biggie there, OK, then I installed a DVD burner, BIG fucking mistake there, the version of Nero I have throws up a warning about compatibility problems with Windows XP, this is a program that was RELEASED AFTER Windows XP. I ignore the warning, and it worked with my CD burner just fine. But, its supposed to be able to recognize blank DVDs, no such luck, for some reason, Windows XP doesn't recognize blank DVDs at all now, and that REALLY sucks, cause I was doing some archiving, and using 4-5 DVD-Rs is MUCH better than using like 20 CD-Rs. I'm just glad I dual boot with Linux, it recognizes both drives just fine, and I burned all my stuff on DVD, no problem. So much for Nero, crappy software, and they ported it to Linux recently, forget that shit, I'll stick with the open source stuff.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. It took me three days to get up and running after the install...

I'm no novice, either. Nero is software for creating CD's and DVD's.

This is not for the faint of heart. (Or folks without a good back up).

[LeftCoast]

24. Sounds like they've got a lot of work to do before they release it

:hi:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Ann Coulter as she sees herself???? Heh, heh, heh..... n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. Charlize......

Theron.

Plus, I liked the way it works as an artistic desktop. :)

[hobbit709]

7. Microshaft has always been

the Prince of Thieves. Gates stole DOS from CP/M, stole the first Windoze from Apple and has been at it ever since. They never innovated, just bought out or intimidated anyone that might have given them competition.

[evlbstrd]

9. That looks so much like OS X.

Others yell to get Linux or another UNIX variant. I go with Mac because of Adobe apps. And I'm just not that big a gear head.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. I've used Linux and it's great, but the prepondearnce of new software that

comes out is for Windows first and then Mac. I'd be willing to go to Mac at this time, but will keep the dual boot for great programs like Open Office,

[evlbstrd]

13. Dual boot has turned the heads of many of my Windoze using friends.

It's one of the best moves Apple has made in a long time. Well, since OS X itself.

[Solon]

15. The only thing that annoys the fuck out of me about Mac is this...

OK, they move to x86 architecture, that's great, sort of, then they have to put a damned firmware ROM on it, so that NO other x86 computer can run OSX86. This wouldn't be so bad if I could JUST buy a Mobo and CPU from Apple. People are like, "Buy a Mac", screw that, my budget is a little over 200 bucks, if that, and no, the Minimac doesn't count, its 500 bucks, a little less maybe, and that's for a computer that's LESS powerful than I have now. The x86 iMac is 1200 bucks, too damned expensive, and I don't need a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. all I need is a Mobo/CPU, and some Memory, that's it. I looked at the Apple store, and surprise, no Mobo/CPU that I can find that is MacOSX compatible.

[wakeme2008]

23. Me on the other hand will not be upgrading to any new Apple hardware

for a long time... I have a Power PC Powerbook and around 1,500 dollars of Power PC software... I am not going to switch....

[Solon]

28. My PC is beginning to show its age...

I have never bought a "new PC", my Mobo/CPU setup is about 4 years old now, so its beginning to struggle in keeping up with the latest and greatest in let's say "eye candy" and games, so I need a new Mobo/CPU. This current motherboard has on-board sound and video, I don't use either, but will most likely recycle it to be used for my nephew as a kids computer as a learning tool. I have a tendancy to recycle old computer parts, I have a diskette drive on this computer that dates back to 1991 or so, from a 386. My monitor is modern enough, not like plasma/LCD or anything, but I don't need that, I also have a DVD burner, which is an all in one, so no need for a new one of those. My soundcard and graphics card are also more modern than my mobo/CPU, so I figured those will be in the new setup as soon as I get the money for it. Once I'm done, then I'll have a modern computer for a little over 200 bucks, if that. I LIKE MacOSX, but it isn't worth 1200 bucks.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

33. That's my big rub as well. I've always built my own white boxes...

Which is now what is pissing me off about MS as well...

I hate someone telling me I don't have access to anything on it.

[Solon]

36. That's the reason why I switched to Linux, for most of my computer needs..

I keep Windows XP around, on a MUCH smaller hard drive, for some games, hell, my favorite games are ALSO available on Linux, so probably by the time that Windows XP support runs out, I won't need it anymore anyways, will have Linux with Wine, and many of my games are already native Linux games anyways.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

37. I have a Raid array with 100 gigs on it and two ISA drives with another

300 gigs so I'm fine at the moment. I do a lot of graphics an dsome video work on this box so I need a lot of space. I thonk I went overboard though because I only use a fraction of what I have.

[Solon]

38. Sounds like it...

My Linux Partitions, Root, /Home/ and swap are all on one 160 gig harddrive, and I have a old 30 gig hardrive divided up with 5 gigs for Windows 98/Fat32, and the rest for Windows XP/NTFS. Yes its freakin weird, I STILL use Win98, but ONLY because I have a few old games I LOVE that do NOT run under either Windows XP, even in compatibility mode, OR Wine. In fact, they get the EXACT same errors in both, how messed up is that?

So technically I have a triple boot system, usually the first thing that comes up is Grub, then I choose Windows, then that throws up ANOTHER menu to choose between Win98 or WinXP.

[RoyGBiv]

16. Open Office is cross-platform ...

Linux, Mac, Windoze ...

Most of your better open source projects are.

And, what software? If you mean games, then, yes. Of course you can get most games to run under Linux. Several companies, like ID, make it rather trivial.

Anyway...

[wakeme2008]

10. I like my desktop

I only do Windose and Linux at work... :)

[berni_mccoy]

14. cool background pic... what is that from?

Or is it a personal pic (looks like a movie scene).

[wakeme2008]

19. Two boys and a BIG dog in a dark woods...

Harry Potter..... :)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

35. OOps...

Not for me.

[RoyGBiv]

12. Ooohhh ... pretty

I can make my KDE desktop look like that too and actually was using a style very similar to that at one point.

BTW, I hear they've dumped WinFS, which pretty much leaves what in the way of innovation? (Not asking you specifically, just being sarcastic about Microshaft generally.)

[Kellanved]

17. "turning"?

No, Microsoft always was a "thieve". Little to no innovation ever; even the fonts are stolen ("arial", "Segoe", ...). For MS, it's just theft if someone else does it.

[Swamp Rat]

18. I'll stick with the Mac OS GUI, thanks.

:)

[The Revolution]

20. I can only boot to safe mode right now :)

I installed vista, but can only get it to boot to safe mode. If I try to boot to normal windows, the monitor turns off, then back on, but all I have is a black screen. Not sure what the problem is though...probably something with drivers. Display drivers would seem the likely culprit, but the video card is one of the few things I was able to find vista-specific x64 drivers for though :)

[The Revolution]

34. Nevermind

Just thought of something to check...and got it working.

I have an NVIDIA SLI setup, and for some reason when Vista starts up in normal mode, the output moves to the second video card.

Not sure if the cards are even running in SLI mode under vista though, as I can't find the NVIDIA settings.

My initial impression is that it's like trying to use any UNIX OS as a non-root user: Permission denied every time you want to do something :)

[kellenburger]

32. vista is not ready for prime time..

My prediction is OS disaster for Vista.


That being said WIN XP is faster (on a mac ) than OS X ,
plus I hate macs
(yes I dug out my DU password just to say that..I feel better)

[Neshanic]

39. As the biggest MS supporter here...DO NOT LOAD THIS THING!

Memories of Windows ME are abounding. This thing is AWFULL!

I loaded it on this computer, and it's like some nightmare from the Windows ME times.

It's not even a BETA, it's a crappa.