Is the PC "Dying"?

Quote: Nareed

I've made a Xubuntu (who the hell is responsible for these ridiculous names and what hasn't he been brought up with charges anyway?) boot "CD" (it's actually a DVD), and am researching for alternatives. Over the course of my vacation, I'll be experimenting with at least two other Linux flavors.

It looks like I will probably be attending WoVCon, at least on the second day. I might be able to help.

If you are bringing your laptop, how recently was it manufactured?

Does the Xubuntu DVD boot?

Quote: tupp

It looks like I will probably be attending WoVCon, at least on the second day. I might be able to help.

The second day, assuming you mean May 25th, is the WoVCon :)

I am bringing my laptop and the DVD did boot. But I'm not going to let you waste your vacation time playing tech support to a bitter, young me ;) But it was very kind of you to bring it up.

Ubuntu is a word from South African philosophy : "which can be translated as "humanity towards others" or "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity".

Quote: TheCesspit

Ubuntu is a word from South African philosophy : "which can be translated as "humanity towards others" or "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity".

Thanks.

Anyway, I've burned 3 DVDs with Xubuntu, Mint and Zorin. Now i need to see whether they all boot and how they handle. I think I'll do that in Vegas, as I've no place to put the laptop on. In the meantime I'm updating pretty much all the Windows side of it. You see,w hen you don't use a computer at all for a year and some days, updates to everything pile up. I need to install and antivirus program, too.

Thus far mint is the front runner. Zorin is a big disappointment...

On the other hand, just before leaving for Vegas I found a tutorial to make Ubuntu look like win7. We'll see.

My inernet access will expire shortly. I may check in again next week (it turns out life is perfectly feasible without the internet) Until then, windows 8 must be destroyed

Good advice from tupp in this thread on the last few pages. Thanks for taking the torch, man. I was out of touch for a bit.

Quote: tupp

More amazingly, during all of this turmoil, Ubuntu (the most popular Linux distro at the time) decided to push its Unity desktop (which many think is geared for touch-screens, just like Metro).

Yeah, it's like everyone collectively decided to put their heads up their asses. The "upgrade" to Unity is what caused me to switch to Xubuntu which uses XFCE for the window manager. Back in the day I used to use Fluxbox (totally bare-bones WM), and probably still would, but I had trouble getting a decent Wireless Networking applet/GUI to work. XFCE is basic enough to stay out of the way but gives me the features I need. Usually.

Nareed, I hate to say it, but I still think for your specific use case, getting a copy of Windows 7 might be a good idea. Based solely on your usage of Windows-only applications. If your computer usage was 95% web browsing and casual games, I wouldn't have any reservations, but it sounds like you play enough games and use enough non-Office Windows programs to make using Linux a pain.

However, there is a convenient edge case if you have access to Windows at work (and have some latitude in using your work computer for personal needs). I have a work laptop that dual-boots Xubuntu and Windows 7. The Windows partition comes in handy. For example, running the qfit.com blackjack software in Vegas :).

I totally forgot to bring this up at WovCon ///, oh well.

Quote: AcesAndEights

Nareed, I hate to say it, but I still think for your specific use case, getting a copy of Windows 7 might be a good idea. Based solely on your usage of Windows-only applications.

There are some problems with that:

1) My current PC can't run Win7. I'd need to buy a new one, which I'm willing to do. But lack the money for just now (I'd have taken a shorter Vegas trip if I'd bought a PC; I'd have shopped less in Vegas, too)

2) While Win7 may last a long time, and I mean support-wise from MS, there are no guarantees. Microsoft seems to determined to force-feed Win8 at any cost. This may include trashing Win7 if need be.

3) Win 8.1 will be out in a few weeks. Of course that won't solve any of the major Win8 problems, nor address any of my issues with Win8. This means we'll see win 8.2 and 8.3 in short order, too, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Win9 in 2014 (more likely 2015). And while I expect Win9 to be more of the same garbage as Win8, that's not certain by any means. If they fix a few things it might be a usable OS after all. Then what do I do?

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However, there is a convenient edge case if you have access to Windows at work (and have some latitude in using your work computer for personal needs). I have a work laptop that dual-boots Xubuntu and Windows 7.

I've an old XP desktop at work. I do have a Toshiba running Vista Home Premium, which I could easily partition for some Linux, and it might even be upgradeable to Win7. But there are problems with that, too. Namely that you can't run a laptop 18 hours a day and expect it to last long. I run my home desktop that long on weekends. Pretty much I turn it on when I wake up and off when I go to bed.

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I totally forgot to bring this up at WovCon ///, oh well.

That's because you were at WoVCon ]I[ :P

On a different topic, Windows 8 must be destroyed.

Quote: Nareed

2) While Win7 may last a long time, and I mean support-wise from MS, there are no guarantees. Microsoft seems to determined to force-feed Win8 at any cost. This may include trashing Win7 if need be.

I was about to say to not worry too much about this. MS is generally pretty good about providing support until their promised dates.

But the Win7 end-of-support date is coming up pretty soon...less than 2 years!

So yeah, I dunno. I still think you're capable of learning Linux. But only you can decide how much you can live without Windows :).

Quote: AcesAndEights

I was about to say to not worry too much about this. MS is generally pretty good about providing support until their promised dates.

How about that?

Of course it's easy for me: never underestimate stupidity.

In particular when a company comes up with a revolutionary but massively stupid idea, like, say, Windows 8, it tends to fall in love with it. But in a teenage kind of way, meaning there's no imbecility it won't try to keep the bad idea alive.

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So yeah, I dunno. I still think you're capable of learning Linux. But only you can decide how much you can live without Windows :).

If I wanted to live without Windows, I'd get a PC with Win8 ;)