Due to the manifold ways in which Microsoft sucks, not the least of which is that they designed XP Home where it was impossible to log into a server domain, thus making it impossible for the couple thousand freshmen at my university with new computers to log on to the wireless, I will be removing Windows from my laptop system this weekend and switching to Mandrake Linux. I figure that a) it's free, b) it's got free software superior to the commercial windows equivalent, c) it's absurdly stable, and d) with a little know-how, it can do everything Windows can. Thus, death to XP! Any advice/suggestions/prayers are appreciated. Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
couple thousand freshmen at my university
That's a hell of a lot of people all stuffed in one living room.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
STUDENTS. Couple thousand STUDENTS.
Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
Either way, can your mom talk loud enough so that they all hear?
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Mandrake is, of course, but one of many Linux distributions available for download (and purchase, if you can't be arsed to download the whopping 1200 megabytes it weighs in at). Wether it's the best variant for a beginner (I assume no previous experience) to play around with I can't say, as I have never strayed from the path that is Debian. To quote a certain P. Mullen:
quote:"If I had a nickel for every time I was asked "Which is the best Linux distribution?," I'm sure Id be just as wealthy as our friend Bill Gates. It's not that I dont like helping a prospective Linux user, but there are difficulties to answering a question like that, which almost seems to be rhetoric these days. No single distribution is right for everyone, and that might just be one of the things that makes Linux so great.
That aside, let's go over the basics. Mandrake is easy to install, and comes with a GUI similar to Windows. Since I don't foresee any problems here, I'll skip this part and jump straight to informative mode.
Now, if you don't want to dive straight into the deep end of things I suggest you thoroughly explore this site first, to avoid any... embarrassment.
I won't discuss advanced topics (such as IP masquerading, SSH, configuring servers, access permissions, runlevels, you get the farking point), but fire away if you run into any trouble (and you WILL).
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Really, Gnome looks pretty similar to Windows, too, and I like it better than KDE. It doesn't have that awful horizontally-scrolling "taskbar", for one thing.
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
I'm not too fond of it either, but I guess it's a matter of personal preference. Anyway, he has the option of trying both. Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I will worry about that later, thank you very much. I need to figure out how this stuff WORKS before worrying about how it LOOKS.
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
You want to learn how it works, read FAQs, tutorials, howto's, that post of mine which I didn't write for the cat's behind, the works.
You're welcome, too. Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
And thank YOU very much. Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
Can't these Freshmen just buy XP Pro from the University Bookstore for dirt cheap?
Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
Where would the bookstore be? Across from the Kitchen?
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Apart from the adult section, which is under Omey's mattress.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
XP Pro is...marvelous. I love it! Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
2600 students buying XP Pro for $85 dollars each. That's nearly a quarter-million straight into Microsoft's pocket, just because they SPECIFICALLY crippled XP Home for this purpose. I prefer not to play that game.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Free market capitalism? Do not leave your home, Citizen! Help is on the way!
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
XP Pro is $85 at a college bookstore? Shouldn't it be more like $15?
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Um... no. $85 is the academic price for the upgrade. Where the frell could you get it for $15?
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
quote:Where the frell could you get it for $15?
Yes please send me a copy, I will pay you double.
Posted by Vice-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
At least you only pay $85 dollars for the XP Pro upgrade... I paid $99 for mine at my university.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
$15 ought to pay for shipping to the US... Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Good god... I'm admittedly very ignorant of certain details regarding Windows systems (I've used them often enough, but never had to administrate a computer myself), so I've never really understood the difference between the "Home" and "Pro" versions of Windows...
So basically, "Home" is a crippled version of the OS that forces people who really want to "go places" with their computer to shell out an extra hundred bucks or so? How typical of Mr. Gates's operation...
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Thus I screw 'im over and get Linux. Of course, having already bought a laptop with Windows on it, he's already got his cut. Sucks. But c'est la vie...
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Yes, well, I recently read an article that said that Dell is planning to ship Windows-less computers. It seems that Microsoft recently set up new licensing terms that require Dell to sell its computers with an OS already installed. (I don't know how Gates can force Dell to do this, but that's what I read...) Anyway, Dell is getting around this little requirement by including a copy of FreeDOS in the box, but not installed on the computer.
Glad to see that even Wintel companies can still stick it to Mr. Gates! Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Well, they don't HAVE to, strictly speaking. Just if they want to be able to sell Windows.
Posted by Vice-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
I want LCARS on my next laptop... LCARS for all, who's with me?
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Get LiteStep and a TNG-era theme, then try hard to convince yourself an LCARS interface doesn't suck the color from billiard balls.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:Originally posted by Omega: Well, they don't HAVE to, strictly speaking. Just if they want to be able to sell Windows.
Ah, so THAT'S the rub. Very nice, very nice...
Of course, the other way to stick it to Mr. Gates is to get a Mac. Yesterday, the new version of OS X (10.2) came from FedEx. Aside from a compatibility problem with Norton Utilities (which will be fixed within a week, I'm told), I haven't had any problems. Built-in "intelligent" spam filters, an all-in-one internet search application, and finally, Windows File Sharing. Not to mention all sorts of other OS X-specific improvements that you probably wouldn't care about if you didn't use Mac.
Those old gasoline commercials talked about putting "a tiger in your tank" -- well, now I've got a Jaguar on my hard drive!
PS: It's not my intention to start another Windows/Mac debate here. I just went off on this tangent because of the "sticking it to Mr. Gates" topic. This is NOT a hijacking. Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
To tell you the honest truth, I have no idea what the difference between XP Pro and XP Home is. Maybe it's the IIS, I'm not sure. I do know that XP is the only version to do this. Win9x was always the same for everyone, with NT for business-types. Win2K was only available in Professional or Advanced Server, IIRC.
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
...To be overly meticulous, Win2K comes in four not-so-distinct flavors: Professional, Server, Advanced Server, and DataCenter. Kinda like Wal-Marts with around 19 billion types of bread.
As for the difference between XP Pro and XP Home, the Pro edition offers some nifty additional features (remote access, domain managing, encryption file system, IIS, multiple CPU support) and tons of other superfluous crap you aren't very likely to use. :-]
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
But it doesn't require product activation, which is very good. Yes.
Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
For me to Pirate!
Oh. Right.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Well, screw Linux. Less stable on my laptop than XP Home was. And guess what? My unopened restore CDs didn't work. SO, now I'm running a pirated XP Pro. I figure that if they're not going to actuallly give me a working copy like they said they would when I bought the computer, I have no problem with it.
Now if anyone could tell me why both IE and Mozilla are refreshing absurdly choppily when I scroll...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Linux was unstable? What did you do to it? The only time I had Linux crash on me was when I was running it w/ an unsupported sound card and tried playing MP3s.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Well, the first two times it froze in the middle of install. Didn't like my wireless card being in the slot. Then I was setting up a simple network between my desktop and laptop so I could restore my documents, and after that, Gnome didn't work any more. Then I couldn't create new users. During all this, after every reboot it hung on the "COMPAQ" screen while it's reading the BIOS, and it had a nasty habit of shutting down at random.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Omega...? God no longer sends plagues of frogs. Now it's unstable operating systems.
Perhaps an atonement is in the cards.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Like I said, the only times I've personally seen Linux have problems is w/ hardware. I'm sure you haven't used it long enough to somehow screw up the software. Are you sure all your hardware is supported?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Although to be fair, XP is pretty hard to crash. I've got PSP 7 to crash on it, but I was doing about 50,000 things at once, and set it doing a large image processing thing, and blah blah blah.
Isn't running a pirated copy of XP, y'know, stealing? And isn't that, like, anti-Christian?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
So is OmegaLust, but that doesn't stop him.
Posted by Eric Cartman (Member # 256) on :
...from turning the other cheek. To himself.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
It's probably pirating from a strict legal perspective. BUT, MS does owe me an XP OS, seeing as my restore CDs were frelled, so it all comes out about even. Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Wow. I hope God buys your reasoning, even if no-one else does.
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