Invariably, when talking about changing to a different operating system, the questions arise about various types of software that might be used, so first, let me say that there are still a few times when I have need of a Windows-cased machine. Those times, however, are few and far between these days - tax time each year and about once a month to do my business billing. Occasionally, I'll fire it up to check how a website looks in IE, but even that is a pretty rare occurrence as more folks seem to have migrated to Firefox from IE. I don't totally hate the Windows environment, but I really do like saving money, so I prefer finding alternatives.
If we all had as much money as we need these days, some of the benefits I talk wouldn't really matter, as we could all go out and buy all the toys we want, but, for many of us, right now, money is tight. There are, no doubt, some folks who have particular computing needs that can only be met through the Windows environment, but for many of us, there are lots of alternatives that could work out just as well, if not better.
One of the things to decide first is how you will be using the machine - what the application types that you absolutely need to have on it? Your answer to that question will help you decide if you really need Windows or if a Linux alternative would work instead.
Showing posts with label Linux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linux. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Tackling newer machines
Yesterday, I was talking about setting up Linux on a old laptop - today I'm using that laptop to write this, while updating the machine I was using yesterday. That probably says something about how much I like this new Linux distro. I also set up a newer laptop with Linux Mint yesterday, setting it up as a dual boot machine, since there was an existing older version of Mint on that machine that I wanted to keep.
Deciding how to make use of some of the various machines that I have here is always a bit entertaining. It becomes very easy to lose track of the various machines, since there are quite a few of them in the house - one of the side effects of working in the IT world for many years. Most of them are older Pentium class machines, none of which have much memory or a lot of disk space (at least in today's terms), so most of them are ideal candidates for being repurposed as Linux boxes (or boxen as some of us prefer).
Right now the machine that is being updated is grinding through the most challenging part of the installation - repartitioning the hard drive to make room for the new system. This one is a bit trickier than the others because, unlike the newer laptop I did yesterday, this machine has no free space in the partition table and so the install process has to actually resize the existing partition. So far, so good. The partitioning process has completed and now the the installer is copying files from the installation CD.
Ironically, sometimes the older machines are easier to deal with than the newer ones. That was certainly true in the case of the laptops yesterday. Two of them. this one and its virtual twin, were both 10 year old machines with P3 processors and less than 500Mb of RAM. The newer laptop is an AMD64 dual core machine with a high-end NVidia graphics system and a bunch of other bells and whistles. In order for the installer to work properly, I had to set a few options for the install process, since the NVidia card needs special drivers that are not included in the install CD. Not a big deal, as they can be installed very easily after the installation is complete.
The desktop that is currently being updated is another AMD64 dual core beast with an NVidia graphics system, but the installer didn't need to be altered in this case (probably because it's an older graphics system and the installer recognized it without a problem). I did, however, have to disconnect the external US hard-drive that is usually attached to that machine before the partitioning portion of the install could run properly. At this point, the update is wrapping up, so I'll take a break here and finish that install. Back soon!
Deciding how to make use of some of the various machines that I have here is always a bit entertaining. It becomes very easy to lose track of the various machines, since there are quite a few of them in the house - one of the side effects of working in the IT world for many years. Most of them are older Pentium class machines, none of which have much memory or a lot of disk space (at least in today's terms), so most of them are ideal candidates for being repurposed as Linux boxes (or boxen as some of us prefer).
Right now the machine that is being updated is grinding through the most challenging part of the installation - repartitioning the hard drive to make room for the new system. This one is a bit trickier than the others because, unlike the newer laptop I did yesterday, this machine has no free space in the partition table and so the install process has to actually resize the existing partition. So far, so good. The partitioning process has completed and now the the installer is copying files from the installation CD.
Ironically, sometimes the older machines are easier to deal with than the newer ones. That was certainly true in the case of the laptops yesterday. Two of them. this one and its virtual twin, were both 10 year old machines with P3 processors and less than 500Mb of RAM. The newer laptop is an AMD64 dual core machine with a high-end NVidia graphics system and a bunch of other bells and whistles. In order for the installer to work properly, I had to set a few options for the install process, since the NVidia card needs special drivers that are not included in the install CD. Not a big deal, as they can be installed very easily after the installation is complete.
The desktop that is currently being updated is another AMD64 dual core beast with an NVidia graphics system, but the installer didn't need to be altered in this case (probably because it's an older graphics system and the installer recognized it without a problem). I did, however, have to disconnect the external US hard-drive that is usually attached to that machine before the partitioning portion of the install could run properly. At this point, the update is wrapping up, so I'll take a break here and finish that install. Back soon!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Old Machines and New Operating Systems
One of the major differences that separates Micro$oft from many of its competitors is ever increasing resource requirements needed to run its operating systems. While many of the newer Linux distros also require large amounts of system resources, there are also quite a few distros that have been created to be run on older machines with smaller hard drives and lower memory capacities. In many cases, this will allow older machines that would never be able to run any variant of Windows to be used happily as Linux machines, more than capable of handling modern computing tasks.
As I write this, I am running a Linux Mint install on a decidedly older laptop - an HP Omnibook 500 that is at least 10 years old, with a 40 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM. After a bit of a glitch because the system didn't find the driver for the wireless card, it's now happily downloading updates. Luckily, the install process copies a bunch of wireless drivers to the disk, so that it's pretty simple to find the right one and get connected properly.
There's something quite satisfying about taking an old machine that most would simply send to a landfill and giving it a new purpose though turning it into a Linux box. Since Linux and the vast majority of the software written for it is open source, there is no huge investment in software, for either a home user or a company, so Linux solutions can be a huge money saver as well. What's not to love about that?
As I write this, I am running a Linux Mint install on a decidedly older laptop - an HP Omnibook 500 that is at least 10 years old, with a 40 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM. After a bit of a glitch because the system didn't find the driver for the wireless card, it's now happily downloading updates. Luckily, the install process copies a bunch of wireless drivers to the disk, so that it's pretty simple to find the right one and get connected properly.
There's something quite satisfying about taking an old machine that most would simply send to a landfill and giving it a new purpose though turning it into a Linux box. Since Linux and the vast majority of the software written for it is open source, there is no huge investment in software, for either a home user or a company, so Linux solutions can be a huge money saver as well. What's not to love about that?
Friday, August 20, 2010
Taking the Plunge
At some point, in the summer of 2007, I decided that I was ready to look at running a Linux distro again, especially since I just bought a new machine and was already learning to hate Vista. This was before I took over the guest room in our house to use as an office, so I had the new machine sitting on the coffee table in the living room while I started playing with it.
Because of its popularity, Ubuntu was the first distro I tried. Not exactly what I wanted, especially when it had real problems setting a decent resolution on my wide screen monitor. Since it's been a few years now, I don't recall which of the other distros I tried at the time, but I know it was three or four of them until I finally decided to try Sabayon. Not only did Sabayon find and configure all my hardware properly, it played nice music while it worked. Up and running!
I think I probably ran Sabayon for at least 6 months with no major issues, but eventually I decided to see what some of the other distros looked like, so it was playtime again!
Because of its popularity, Ubuntu was the first distro I tried. Not exactly what I wanted, especially when it had real problems setting a decent resolution on my wide screen monitor. Since it's been a few years now, I don't recall which of the other distros I tried at the time, but I know it was three or four of them until I finally decided to try Sabayon. Not only did Sabayon find and configure all my hardware properly, it played nice music while it worked. Up and running!
I think I probably ran Sabayon for at least 6 months with no major issues, but eventually I decided to see what some of the other distros looked like, so it was playtime again!
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