ubergnome Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 Yeah, I know Linux is probably the right answer to this one. Just would like to know what am I getting into if I decide to switch from 2000 Pro, which I consider to be pretty s****y, to XP. Criteria are, ease of use, stability, software compatibility, you know, practical stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 Why do you consider win2000pro so bad? In my opinion it's the best version they ever churned out (or the least bad ) It is without a doubt the most stable, I have one PC running for almost a year under win2000pro and it has yet to crash the first time! I do agree WinXP is more user friendly, it's got drivers for most hardware built in allready, has some neat extra's such copy and paste to an empty cd in your cd-burner etc... Forget NT, this was the version both 2000 and XP are based on, mainly designed purely for a networking environment. I would advice win2000 for anybody who is reasonably computer savy and WinXP for people who just want to use the darned thing and are not interested at what's inside... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProThaiExpat Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 Monty! Right on! I am of the latter category of user and find my XP very agreeable, was delighted when the last worm was invading all that my XP has a firewall built in and was on. There are also many wizards that allow for installation of anything, and when I downloaded a virus protector to add to the firewall, which has an update feature, it was a piece of cake. Likewise, Microsoft has an automatic update feature and much support for the XP, which makes we "feet up" users happy. Your advice is so right. Thanks for an intelligent post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthai98 Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 ubergnome, I recently set up Mandrake 10.0 on some machines at work. Much to the confused and frightened looks fo some of my staff. I've used a few flavours of Linux though have to stuck to Mandrake (with kde front end) for a few years now. Would be nice to change the entire office over though as most clients puters are still MS we kinda need to be running MS for compatibilty etc. My only quibble is that I have yet to get my ipaq PDA to communicate properly with Evolution or Kontact. There are a few projects going on Sourceforge etc though nothing concrete yet. Back to Windows I would have to agree with Monty. 2000 is by far the most stable of the lot. To the average pattaya expat (60+ male with too much money) I would recommend the ease of use and connectabilty (sp?) of XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yohan Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 Forget WindowsNT4. it is outdated.... I am using windows 2000 pro and Linux Mandrake9. Both has some pro and contra. There is not so much difference between windows 2000Pro and windows XP technically. Not really necessary to upgrade to XP. Windows 2000Pro is running remarkable stable, not much to complain about. Johann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubergnome Posted May 30, 2004 Author Share Posted May 30, 2004 Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I have to admit this thing has yet to crash much to my amazement. I have only had some problems with Outlook (2002) hanging and I find the window behaviour irritating, ie not remembering prior settings, but these are pretty minor. The major problem I have had has been security as some of you already know, and have spent far too many hours dealing with this, hours downloading patches and updates, looking for software helpers...ad nauseum. I am hopefully close to a tight system. But if all else fails I'll put in a new HD and OS. I have heard that XPs security is better and I sort of like the look and feel better. At the end of the day I just want to get on to getting my work done and not spending so much time tending this machine. Will XP do this? Will I sacrifice stability? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthai98 Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 I don't think you'll sacrifice stability as such, you'll just require a much beefier system. I beleive the basic RAM requirements for XP are something like 256mb. That being said, you should really have about 512 to really handle all the 'other stuff' like visual candy and sub-level security processing etc. If you have a nice machine, with specs that can handle XP properly, then I believe you should be able to have an equally stable experience. Plug and play support on XP is better and newer than 2000 so I spose your comment on being able to get on with your work as opposed to looking after your machine is probably going to be better answered with XP. If you want to go for Xp for security reasons then I suggest you look for XP professional running Service Pack 2. Also make sure you get a good virus protector (norton, avg etc) and actually UPDATE and RUN it... This is important. Virus software is no good to you if you don't update the virus definitions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubergnome Posted May 30, 2004 Author Share Posted May 30, 2004 Thanks, Benthai. I'm running about 256k now. If I do go that route, where do I find the specs on the RAM that's installed now? and how much should I pay for more RAM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 True Benthai, XP eats memory, 512Mb makes it run very smooth... Do note that servicepack 2 is not officially released! The versions found in Panthip are beta releases, which will only work for 6 months to allow testing and cleaning out the bugs!!! Ubergnome, Xp will work with 256 but more is better! Download a small utility called cpuid from following link http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php#download Only 230Kb large this program will tell you what processor and what memory is in your PC. Then you just go out and buy some more! Current prices are around 1000 Baht per 128Mb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darknight Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I have to admit this thing has yet to crash much to my amazement. I have only had some problems with Outlook (2002) hanging and I find the window behaviour irritating, ie not remembering prior settings, but these are pretty minor. The major problem I have had has been security as some of you already know, and have spent far too many hours dealing with this, hours downloading patches and updates, looking for software helpers...ad nauseum. I am hopefully close to a tight system. But if all else fails I'll put in a new HD and OS. I have heard that XPs security is better and I sort of like the look and feel better. At the end of the day I just want to get on to getting my work done and not spending so much time tending this machine. Will XP do this? Will I sacrifice stability? Win 2000 pro and XP are pretty much the same. The only difference is that win XP has a heavier shell to accomodate new graphics and pretty pictures for home user (new start menu ect...) The underlying technologies is exaclty the same. Win2000 pro was targeted to the business market. If you worry about hacking or security put a firewall (installed well) on your internet connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumonster Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 I have been happy with win2kpro for the month and a half I have been using it, no crashes at all.. a question to the linux users here(out there) . what versions and GUIs are prefered and why? pros and cons? and those of you who do dual boot , do you use grub or lilo?one hard drive or two? I noticed two of you have said mandrake, though another poster has talked about gentoo.. do most people use the kde GUI? I did start to install redhat on a pc a couple of years ago, but ran out of time, but not before I realised that to run a gui on linux you do need a bit of processing and ram power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yohan Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 I have been happy with win2kpro for the month and a half I have been using it, no crashes at all.. a question to the linux users here(out there) . what versions and GUIs are prefered and why? pros and cons? and those of you who do dual boot , do you use grub or lilo?one hard drive or two? I noticed two of you have said mandrake, though another poster has talked about gentoo.. do most people use the kde GUI? I did start to install redhat on a pc a couple of years ago, but ran out of time, but not before I realised that to run a gui on linux you do need a bit of processing and ram power. I was using some time ago Corel Linux, Corel Paintshop for Linux and Corel Officesuite 2000 for Linux.... However Corel was bought by Microsoft, and all Linux was gone next day... XandrosLinux and Lindows are both sold now by Microsoft related friendly companies, but testing them, I found nothing worth to buy it. They are not totally compatible to the former Corel Linux Applications. ----- I am using now Linux Mandrake 9, GIMP, Open Office Org 1.1.1, Acrobat Reader for Linux, Opera Internet browser Java installed for Linux, this is all free and works remarkable good, windows compatible on the network, no problem with any of these nasty virus attacks. Linux is also a good machine for backup, or file server, or print server, however it is not easy, due to lack of programs to replace totally a Microsoft workstation. You need some knowledge about Linux, as many contributions of Linux are not totally compatible to each other. Linux is cheap, if legally bought and correctly installed, licence fees of Microsoft might cost you 20 x more than running Linux. ------ My Linux Mandrake 9 machine is a separate computer, no dual boot....modern linux applications need also a good processor and enough memory or they are running slow. The other computer is running on windows 2000 pro... Please post here again if any more question about Linux or send me an email. Johann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yohan Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Win 2000 pro and XP are pretty much the same. ........menu The underlying technologies is exaclty the same. Win2000 pro was targeted to the business market. If you worry about hacking or security put a firewall (installed well) on your internet connection. Win2000Pro and XP are indeed very similar, XP are updated Win2000Pro, not much else, with a bit different user interface. If you are only user, without running any server, stay on dynamic IP. This alone makes the computer rather safe against hackers. Some port filtering, firewall software helps also to keep trouble out of your workstation. You need a very good Antivirus software, which must be updated automatically every day with the newest dat-files (something like norton antivirus 2004) This keeps incoming mail clean, and will prevent outgoing spam mail, should the computer really be infected. You should also check regularly for spyware, trackers...(like Adaware) For your browser some popup stopper is useful (Panicware) The most important point of data-security is backup....in case of breakdown, regardless if virus or hardware-failure, you should know, how to re-install the OS and you should have your data like DOC files, JPG or whatever on a backup (MO disk, CD-Rom, DAT) and be able to restore them. Johann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthai98 Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 I'm running Mandrake 10 by itself. If you really want to give linux a go you need to install it by itself and bugger of windows altogether. Otherwise you'll find yourself jumping back out into MS whenever needed. I run KDE 3 which is very nice. For those that don't know exactly how nice looking various linux GUIs can be; go have a look at kde-look.org If you give it the time then you can accompolish everything (and a lot more) on your new linux machine. And, the best thing, is that you can set up a business for free (software wise) without the hassles of license breaches etc. If you have questions, drop us a line. Me, like most linux users, are pretty eager to help out others who are interested in the change over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
translator Posted June 1, 2004 Share Posted June 1, 2004 Take a look around Linuxquestions .org for your needs ubergnome. Compare the OS requirements for your venture. besides - with that name you should be an expert already.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubergnome Posted June 1, 2004 Author Share Posted June 1, 2004 Take a look around Linuxquestions .org for your needs ubergnome. Compare the OS requirements for your venture.besides - with that name you should be an expert already.... Thanks for that info. BTW the name refers to my physical, not technical prowess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDN Posted June 1, 2004 Share Posted June 1, 2004 Win 2000 pro and XP are pretty much the same. The only difference is that win XP has a heavier shell to accomodate new graphics and pretty pictures for home user (new start menu ect...) I upgraded from W98 to XP, turned on the firewall and used "Windows Update" to get all updates (except 3 non-critical ones that are very big and I don't need). I also have Norton System Works which includes the antivirus. And I've configured my desktop appearance and the start menu appearance so it looks like Windows 98 - by selecting the Windows "classic" style. Looks like 98 but runs much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
translator Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 XP can be a pain when it comes to using software that does not have a digital signature comparable for Mr gates....likes to shut it down with a nice blue error message and send reports back to base..... Well at least he gave the choice this time to send or not send.....every bloody day it appears on both machines.... i.e freeware stuff.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yohan Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 XP can be a pain when it comes to using software that does not have a digital signature comparable for Mr gates....likes to shut it down with a nice blue error message and send reports back to base.....Well at least he gave the choice this time to send or not send.....every bloody day it appears on both machines.... i.e freeware stuff.. I cannot complain...never had an experience like that.... And why do you run XP on both machines.... Maybe this is very OLD freeware, best running on win98..... install a double-boot, win98 and win2000, and keep only one computer running on XP Johann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francois Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 hi' what versions and GUIs are prefered and why? pros and cons?and those of you who do dual boot , do you use grub or lilo?one hard drive or two? I noticed two of you have said mandrake, though another poster has talked about gentoo.. do most people use the kde GUI? I did start to install redhat on a pc a couple of years ago, but ran out of time, but not before I realised that to run a gui on linux you do need a bit of processing and ram power. I use Suse Linux 9.0 on a machine and winXp on another, but anytime I have both, linux and ms in the same machine, no dual boot, one OS one disc and linux starts from a floppy. I had to do this a few time, and like this, no interference of any kind in the boot process. I still use LILO ... never got on Grub. the choice of GUI, kde gnome is personnal, use both and choose yourself, this is the best. I like both and enlightment is nice too, clean straight! any GUI requires some RAM ... and so linux is no exeption, like XP a 512mb is far to be too much these days. cheers francois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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