24 replies to this topic

[WhiteIce89]

Or you could switch over to a Linux distro like Ubuntu (which has gained a lot of attention lately). It's pretty much better for everything but games. If you don't play games then I would try out Ubuntu. You can burn it to a CD and run the OS off the CD without ever installing a thing on your hard drive (although very soon, you probably will want to). And of course it's free and has some of the best driver support out there, for almost every architecture out there (x86, x64, PPC, etc.). You can use an app in Ubuntu called Wine to run many Windows programs (although most have Linux alternatives in the first place). If you use a window manager called Beryl in Ubuntu, you can make Ubuntu look exactly like Vista or exactly like OSX. In fact, Beryl has a lot of fancy eye candy that neither of the other two operating systems has (just type in Beryl in YouTube). All of this for a lot less computer resources used, and as mentioned before, free.

I thought Vista was OK. Although it is a resource hog, for me most of those resources were never in any use in the first place. Game performance is untouched because when you play a full-screen game Vista switches over to a less graphic-intensive version of the Aero theme. I kinda got bored with the eye candy though. Plus HP decided they're not gonna create Vista drivers for older printers any longer, so my only alternative, according to HP, is to buy a new printer. Instead I use Ubuntu which prints perfectly fine.

[z2z007]

Ubuntu is wonderful. I use it on occasion when I'm working in tech support at my college especially when trying to recover stuff off of a failing hard drive. Once you comfortable with it (which doesn't take long), you can really customize it to your needs.

It isn't the only linux distribution out there. There is kubuntu, edubuntu, xunbuntu, knoppix, and some others. It doesn't hurt to download them and take it for a test drive whenever you are bored.

[azntechguy]

Linux is indeed a great alternative to Windows and dare I say it, Mac too. To me, I consider the real fun is when you master the command-line terminal (usually the BASH), which then, the graphical desktop feels obsolete . But after college, I haven't had the time to touch my Debian Linux (which Ubuntu is based on, might I add) in a long time.

Here are a list of major Linux distributions (or call them "flavors" if you will):
Distrowatch.com

[Transparent Reality]

Ubuntu is great, but it was built with consumers in mind, and I was driven insane by how differently stuff is done compared to other distros. I say stuff because I'm only mildly familiar with linux, but it's kinda insane to try to get SWAT running since it's in a whole different place after installing from Ubuntu's rpms.

[HockeyInJune]

WhiteIce89, on Mar 14 2007, 10:06 PM, said:

Or you could switch over to a Linux distro like Ubuntu (which has gained a lot of attention lately). It's pretty much better for everything but games. If you don't play games then I would try out Ubuntu. You can burn it to a CD and run the OS off the CD without ever installing a thing on your hard drive (although very soon, you probably will want to). And of course it's free and has some of the best driver support out there, for almost every architecture out there (x86, x64, PPC, etc.). You can use an app in Ubuntu called Wine to run many Windows programs (although most have Linux alternatives in the first place). If you use a window manager called Beryl in Ubuntu, you can make Ubuntu look exactly like Vista or exactly like OSX. In fact, Beryl has a lot of fancy eye candy that neither of the other two operating systems has (just type in Beryl in YouTube). All of this for a lot less computer resources used, and as mentioned before, free.

I thought Vista was OK. Although it is a resource hog, for me most of those resources were never in any use in the first place. Game performance is untouched because when you play a full-screen game Vista switches over to a less graphic-intensive version of the Aero theme. I kinda got bored with the eye candy though. Plus HP decided they're not gonna create Vista drivers for older printers any longer, so my only alternative, according to HP, is to buy a new printer. Instead I use Ubuntu which prints perfectly fine.

Duly noted.

Ubuntu was written for the Windows User, keep that in mind

As azntechguy said http://distrowatch.com/ is an excelence source for choosing a distrobution

As for Windows Vista... I, being a huge Microsoft fan, sadly suggest you not get it, at least untill you buy a new computer (with supercomputer-like specifications) or unless you really need it, for such as DirectX 10. Windows 2000 is still the most stable version of Windows yet.