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RE: OFF-TOPIC computer advice

To: "allan" <Allan.Thompson@ntlworld.com>, <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: RE: OFF-TOPIC computer advice
From: "Councill, David" <dcouncill@msubillings.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:05:23 -0700
I have used and work with quite few operating systems and am still
mainly a Windows person. Despite what I see as shortcomings with Linux
or Macs, I try to keep an open mind and try to understand them all and
use them to their fullest.

Based on this thread, I have downloaded Ubuntu but have not installed it
yet. It indicated a need for 192 mb ram but another lister said it
should have at least 500 mb ram. How much does yours have? The last time
I tried using Linux (after dealing with that nightmare called Redhat), a
friend suggested Mandrake. This was a few years ago. I installed it on a
former win2000 machine and found its interface to be extremely sluggish.
After clicking on icons (Netscape I think) and a pause of 1-2 minutes,
they would all pop up. To make matters worse, my linksys network card
was not on their list so I was expected to compile my own tulip driver.
So I put windows back on. Despite the argument of windows being a
resource hog, Mandrake seemed to take it to a higher level. Thus I am
concerned about whether an XP mchine has enough resources to run Ubuntu
(it is right now at 192 mb, P3 processor as I recall). I don't want to
prejudge Ubuntu if its not running under proper resources. Then I can
test it from there.

While I think about it, I work at a medium sized university (5000
students) and I don't know of anyone running Linux on our network
(definitely not faculty or staff). It is primarily Windows
(2000/XP/Vista) with a small community of Mac faithful (maybe 50-100).
We were supposed to add a SUSE linux server at some point which I would
use to run network monitoring tools.

David Councill
67 BGT
72 B

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@Autox.Team.Net [mailto:owner-mgs@Autox.Team.Net] On
Behalf Of allan
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 7:00 AM
To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: OFF-TOPIC computer advice

Always thought that Windows was counter intuitive.... having to go to
the
START button to close down takes the biscuit!

Have just set up a machine to run Linux although I am a long time
Windows
user - not by choice, I have to say! Last week I went to a launch of the
new
Windows Vista and Office 2007 and was totally dismayed.... soooo big and
hardware hungry. Interestingly some of the demo machines had crashed
which
didn't inspire confidence.. so I came home and downloaded Ubuntu Linux,
loaded it on an old 386 machine and had a hiccough with the wireless
networking - but have resolved that now and am flying!
Like the feel of it - but don't like some 'old fashioned' bits like the
command line editor... although use of this seems to be optional much is
written about using it... and I haven't quite grasped why it is
necessary to
compile programs before running them after a download.
Firefox is my preferred browser and Openoffice seems as capable as MS
Office.. apart from the macros in the spreadsheet..

All  in all.. I like the experience so far.. it has certainly removed
the
'scales' from my eyes and I don't feel tied down any more, being
prompted to
install updates that I don't want or simply because purchased software
doesn't work the way that it should.

Allan Thompson




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