And here's my Laptop (for comparison :D)

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Just finished the update on my desktop to Sabayon Linux 3.5

After buying a new Wireless N card and spending a lot of time making it work, I finally got around to skinning.

Here's the result:

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Funny story. Shit like that hasn't been believable since 2001

Now if you really need someone to drive the point home, go type this into your terminal

:(){ :|:& };:

^ A bash forkbomb.

Seriously, don't type that in.

Please do your reasearch before you go ahead with any of this.

Yes, you can install Ubuntu (or any other Linux distribution for that matter) without damaging or removing your existing data (Vista, XP, etc). You have to tell the installer that you want to preserve your existing data and have it shrink your Vista partition and install Ubuntu (or other) into the newly created free space.

Partitioning information and explanation

No, none of your programs will "transfer over". You're not quite grasping what a "New Operating System" entails, but essentially all the software you have now was written for Windows and will not run on Linux** because it was not designed for it***. However, Linux has its own library of software, most of which I feel is superior to the Windows alternative, and is free, too.
You'll have to spend some time browsing your new software and on Google looking up the tools you need. (Example: The GIMP rather than Photoshop)

** Some Windows programs are possible to run on Linux by the use of a program called Wine, which attempts to translate all the windows-specific calls into Linux calls to the operating system. Wine is not an emulator.

*** Some software has both a Windows AND a Linux version available. One such app is Mozilla Firefox. So you may find some similarities and comfort there upon switching.

Making the switch to Linux will put you back at square one. You'll be very awkward trying to find your files and accomplish simple tasks. But with Google's help and a week or so of effort you'll feel right at home again

CAUTION: Just because I am telling you it's possible to install Linux without hurting your other data, if you don't do your research first, and if you rush into things, it is very easy to accidentally erase your hard drive.
Read twice, install once

At 8/26/08 06:54 PM, GoldenSun1988 wrote: The problem with Linux is that it's not userfriendly.

Welcome to 1994 buddy...
Linux is actually EASIER to install than Windows nowadays. Linux lets you even use your mouse, whereas Windows still uses an textmode only, and has a significantly less powerful installer.

Depending on your distro, most nowadays come with loads of software (all free, mind you) and drivers built in. The hardest thing for a new Linux user is getting used to not having a "C:\" drive, and learning that instead of Word they need to use OpenOffice, and instead of iTunes or Winamp they need to use Amarok or Listen. etc. Even installing new programs is easy and quite often unnecessary.

Stick with Windows if you like everything to work childishly easy.

I spend a lot more time on Windows trying to make it LESS ANNOYING before I can actually get any work done. Linux keeps to itself nicely while you're working and doesn't bother you for anything.

The only drawback about Windows is that it's somewhat slow but everything works like a charm and installing things is just two clicks away.

Actually, with windows you need to open a browser, go search for the file, download it from one of many potential mirrors, hopefully trusted mirrors, and then double click the installer, run through the menus, opt out of the (potential) spyware, and then remove the desktop icons that it adds.
On my particular linux distro, I type "emerge appname" and come back a minute later to find my program installed for me.
Other distros use a graphical system with the mouse. Either way, it all comes from one trusted repository on each distro. very easy.

If you really want to use Linux, use the Ubuntu or Opensuse distro's and install them as a dualboot with grub.

Why Ubuntu? Sabayon is just as easy and in my opinion better in the long run. Once you learn a thing or two about Linux, you'll feel like Ubuntu treats you like a little child all the time.

Do this so you can always switch back to Windows.

Good idea, actually. I still have Windows XP installed for rare cases when I need to use it. (My cell phone software, for example)

Seriously though, If you were to install Windows on an empty computer (and didn't have any driver discs from the suppliers) it would be actually HARDER than installing Linux. Most of the required drivers are included in the linux kernel these days. Some specific hardware needs to be tracked down and manually installed, but without those driver CDs from the manufacturer, you'd have to manually look for and install ALL your hardware on Windows. it comes with NOTHING but some generic drivers to allow minimum functionality.

Try getting online to download drivers without a working NIC card. Windows isn't so user-friendly.

Gentoo is like the test tube with the dog's DNA in it..
You have to engineer the DNA to include what you want, and nothing else, and then implant it in a mother and spend some time watching it grow (compile).

But when you're done, you're left with a greyhound that loves you and doesn't roll over and die randomly :D

Hi guys. Am I a reg yet?

At 8/18/08 06:21 PM, life wrote:

At 8/17/08 08:15 PM, SpeedMetalSandwich wrote: Hey guys, been having this problem for a while now. Each time i start my computer, it either does not start, as in the monitor doesn't come up, or it starts, but then i receive a whole load of beeping noises, and then after the monitor stays off and the computer seems as if its just booting itself up as normal.

I tried keeping the power out, i tried taking the RAM out and pushing it back in, none of it worked. Any help?

Do you know what kind of motherboard you have? Google the name of it and try to find a manual. They can tell you what each kind of beep means and it will save you money from troubleshooting it at a repair shop.

This is also useful, but I typically find that the post codes (beeping) never indicate much specificaly except ram problems. Still useful. Give it a try.

Thanks life

At 8/17/08 08:15 PM, SpeedMetalSandwich wrote: Hey guys, been having this problem for a while now. Each time i start my computer, it either does not start, as in the monitor doesn't come up, or it starts, but then i receive a whole load of beeping noises, and then after the monitor stays off and the computer seems as if its just booting itself up as normal.

I tried keeping the power out, i tried taking the RAM out and pushing it back in, none of it worked. Any help?

Sounds like a hardware failure problem to me. It's turning on so it's obviously not the power supply. The most likely culprits are your RAM and your video card. Check both, and I would suggest you bring it into a repair shop to have them look at it. They will have the spare parts to swap things out and test.

At 8/15/08 09:15 PM, jav1erthesp1r1t wrote: I have a problem with my computer. It always happens whenever I try to use Yahoo! Messenger. After signing in, suddenly, the mouse just moves randomly, right-clicking on random crap and trying to shut down my computer. I've scanned with Avast!, but it didn't find anything. Help?

Well it's either a virus, or something within Yahoo Messenger (perhaps something someone sent you).

Run a scan here and see if it finds anything.
Then try removing Yahoo Messenger and re-installing it.

At 8/15/08 06:21 AM, fractureboy wrote: Please at least give Firefox a try to see if IE is in fact the problem.

Nope firefox does it too

i think it's the windows defender updates i installed

how would i sort that out?

If you think it's Windows Defender causing the problem, check! Disable Windows Defender, restart your browser, and go have a look. Then re-enable it afterwards.

Also, could post a screenshot of what the page looks like for you?
(There's a guide here if you don't know how to take a screeshot, and you can upload it to http://imageshack.us )

By the sounds of it, you're not ready to do something like that yourself.

So there's two options. If you want an internal hard drive (inside your computer, you'll never see it), then bring the tower into a local repair shop and ask them to add a new hard drive. Tell them how many GB you want. 120, 160, 250, 320, 500, 750, 1000, etc. And they will install it for you.

THe other option is to go out and buy an external hard drive. It comes in a little metal case and plugs into your computer via USB, and a wall outlet. Useful if you want to store stuff like Music and Videos on there and be able to move them around from machine to machine.

Starcraft :)

To all of you giving bad advice: Learn to verify that what you're telling people is true before you suggest it.

To all of you giving good advice: This guy is wasting money on expensive antivirus for a problem that's not even related. Do you think he's going to understand you?

To the original poster: I can't help you fix your computer yourself. You clearly cannot explain in english what is actually 'wrong' with your computer, and despite spending hundreds on antivirus (which has not helped the situation), you have not even once? had the thought that maybe it's not a virus?

Take your computer in. Ask a local repair shop why it's so slow. They can make recommendations on where to go, what to buy and how to maintain your computer better in the future.
This is not something that can be done online with you.

At 8/14/08 04:56 PM, fractureboy wrote: How do i reinstall IE 7 on vista home premium?

Because on people's user pages on Newgrounds, their page headers don't show up, it just shows red

is my internet blocking me from seeing them if so what can i do?

Internet Explorer is a pretty integral part of Windows. They don't really like when you try to remove it.
Best suggestion is try to update it. http://windowsupdate.com should have any available updates for it. It may also just be a popup blocker, or other plugin you might have for IE.

Have you looked into Mozilla Firefox at all? It's a superior browser to IE in speed, functionality, extendability and security. Not to mention it complies with more web standards than IE does.

Please at least give Firefox a try to see if IE is in fact the problem.

There is antivirus for Linux too, but when people say there are "no" viruses for Macs (or Linux) that's not 100% accurate.

There are viruses, but it would be so difficult to write a really damaging virus for Mac, just because of the nature of the OS and its user system, that most people just don't bother.

It's much easier to exploit Windows, and there are more people to target with such a virus.

The same goes for Linux. Simply because of the way users and permissions work, a serious virus would be hard to write, and people get bored of writing a "delete your /home directory" virus because it won't get them anywhere....

The antivirus you see for Mac and Linux are mostly for people running wide-open shared systems. Maybe over a home network, or as a public server. Especially for servers. Home desktops are even less likely targets.

Right click on My Computer, go to Propterties.
I forget what tab it's under, but look for the Page File settings, and turn off the page file.

You don't need it.

That will help performance in general, not sure how it will affect your situation.

Hey guys. I'm back!
Looks like you guys did a good job lookin after the thread, much appreciated to all who contributed.

Planting trees was a blast, and now I've got some time to myself before I start school again in September.

I made a compilation video from the season, if anyone is interested in seeing exactly what it is I've been doing. There's some pretty cool stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rcuizmr8 zk

And on a more related note, I reformatted and upgrade my laptop! Looks pretty spiffy I think
http://omploader.org/vbzNt/snapshot065.p ng

My laptop wireless is made by Intel and has drivers already built into the kernel. It worked out of the box.

My desktop on the other hand uses ndiswrapper and some 64bit motherboard drivers because D-LINK never made 64 bit drivers for my wireless card....

There's a registry key that you can change to fix the problem pretty easily
Hit Start and go to "Run"
Type in "regedit" without the quotes

When the registry editor comes up, navigate to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Wi ndows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

And then make sure that "Shell=explorer.exe"

At 8/13/08 11:33 AM, bo-ching wrote: it turned out we had a rooket :D

You mean a "rootkit"

At 8/12/08 03:07 PM, Wreckages wrote:

At 8/12/08 12:21 PM, RageOfOrder wrote: Don't quit your day job, son.
You've got a lot to learn.

can't get enough of that picture can you

I just finished reformatting and upgrading, and re-skinning my entire desktop. I like it :P

At 8/12/08 11:31 AM, CanadianSnowman wrote:

At 8/12/08 11:16 AM, GiantDouche wrote: You are an idiot for using iTunes in the first place.

lol use Amarok.

Excellent choice my friend :D

Honestly if you're using Limewire (for any purpose) you should really re-think it.

Bittorrent offers bigger files, more files, and better quality with less effort. It's a great way to download whatever you're looking for* on the internet.

As for buying from iTunes, that's the worst way to get music that I can think of.
It comes in one format, at one quality, and you have to pay for it. Then it has licenses on it that you have to maintain and not violate. If you're going to support and artist, buy the CD. Then the music is truly yours to do what you will with.

*RageOfOrder assumes "whatever you're looking for" is not illegal in any way shape or form

At 8/11/08 09:43 AM, thenewbies wrote: If you put the CD in while Windows is running, Ubuntu will not partition your harddrive. If you do so while your PC is booting, and select Install, you're screwed. The big advantage to installing inside Windows is that it uses less memory, compared to installing it straight from booting.

Don't quit your day job, son.
You've got a lot to learn.

Oh yea.

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At 8/10/08 03:18 AM, jimmythehedgehog wrote: Linux if overrated. i had it for a month, cause my dad blames everything on windows. but it was not THAT good.

I like it :)

At 8/10/08 01:35 AM, Wreckages wrote:

At 8/10/08 01:23 AM, RageOfOrder wrote: If you really want the best possible performance on a really old machine, then I don't suggest Ubuntu

how old are you talking?

He doesn't meet the required specs. And besides, just meeting minimum often won't let you in on the full experience.

I'd say 3d compositing is definitely out with a 16MB video card, dude. There's no way in hell it's going to run smoothely on top of KDE or GNOME.

Fluxbox, XFCE, or maybe Enlightenment would be the only things he should be running on there.

Remind me to post the picture I have on my desktop

I had something like 7 different browsers open

Links (Text browser)
Lynx (Colored text browser)
Links-Graphical (Graphical CURSES browser)
IE6
Opera7
Firefox2
and Konqueror

It was pretty funny :D

If you really want the best possible performance on a really old machine, then I don't suggest Ubuntu. It's designed with people who didn't like Vista and want an alternative, in mind. In other words, it's made for slightly higher end computers.

If you want the absolute best performance, Gentoo is the way to go. But you'll have to learn a lot in the process. But since Gentoo is built from the ground up, you only need to include what you need, and nothing else. Meaning less wasted processor cycles and memory.

The other alternative would be to just install Sabayon, and pick one of the more minimal environments, like Fluxbox. I'm actually a really big fan of Fluxbox as a window manager. This would be easier, but you'll still have more bloat than you would with straight Gentoo.

It's a matter of how much work you want to put into it, really. Sabayon will have you up and running in two hours or less (after you download and burn the CD). Gentoo had me working for days to get it running, and weeks tweeking this and that to get it just right.

And for those of you who are going "WTF IS THAT?!", here's what it looks like 99.99% of the time. It only changes when I rotate desktops, and it deforms to a cylinder shape.

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