Choosing an operating system (aka calling all computer gurus)

[NAD]

Alright so I'm in the process of building a PC, and I've pretty much decided what I want except for the OS. Athlon 2200+ processor w/ 512MB RAM, other typical accessories.

The crux: I FUCKING HATE WINDOWS!!!

I've been running Windows XP at work for over a month now and I cannot believe how stinking slow it is!!! My work computer is a Pentium 4 1.80GHz w/ 512MB RAM and it is sooooo sloooooooooooooowwww with this stupid OS. I used to have a Pentium 3 800mHz w/ 128MB RAM running Windows 2000 and it was so much faster than this. Plus Outlook sucks ass anyhow, just ask JayKeeley and Haddsie, every time I send a review in there is some sort of problem.

So what are my options? I don't want to deal with any code and I don't want to deal with Microsoft bullshit. I know some of yous are computer gurus, and I've been out of the game too long to know what is decent anymore.

Thanks!

 

[Shakermaker]

buy a mac

 

[Erik]

Oooh... You're ASKING for it.

Windows sucks and you know it. To be perfectly honest Windows 2000 sucks a bit less than XP, but to keep your computer free from suckage I'd really, really suggest a Linux distribution -- a distribution is a set of software that together forms the actual operating system; Linux is just the kernel. All distributions vary in how they deal with installing/uninstalling software, what software is included, etc... Now, you have a lot of choices...

* I run Slackware Linux, I have used it since 1997 and I will probably never change permanently. Slackware is one of the oldest distributions still active but as it is a very "clean," "do-it-yourself" kind of distro I would perhaps not recommend it to you as a first distro, even though it fucking rules because you have absolute control over everything that happens to your system. So if you DO decide to start with Slackware I'd gladly help you, but be aware it will mean a lot more trouble than for example...

* ...RedHat Linux, which is popular with businesses etc because it's so polished. It looks pretty, installing software is easy, but it can be a bit more tricky solving any problems that arise because you don't get to know the underlying system as well as Slackware. Anyway, RedHat 9.x should be a fine first choice.

* Mandrake Linux is based on RedHat but somewhat more geared towards home users perhaps. Mandrake includes _A LOT_ of software etc, is very easy to install. Should also be a decent first choice, but personally I find it too cluttered with unnecessary programs.

* SuSE Linux... Well... RedHat's main competitor... I haven't used it in a long time so I dunno really, but it should be at least as good/easy as RedHat. Try it if you don't like the two above.

Then there's stuff like Debian and Gentoo that will only complicate stuff for a first-time user... Any Linux distribution will be better than any Windows though

When you have a Linux distro installed you need software, I'd suggest Galeon or Mozilla Firebird for web browsing (Firebird happens to be the SUPERIOR browser for MS Windows as well -- http://www.mozilla.org/) and when you need an e-mail client, use Evolution if you want something like Outlook, or Sylpheed (which I personally use) for a very light-weight client. For writing shit i.e. Royal Carnage articles, use AbiWord (light-weight word processor, I use it) or OpenOffice (like MS Office, heavyweight but good)

If you don't want to use Linux, you could use FreeBSD or BeOS perhaps, but your most realistic choice atm is definitely Linux.

 

[Erik]

Oh. And there's this big fucking deal with desktop environments/window managers as well. See, the graphical environment under UNIX-based systems such as Linux is client/server based, meaning that you have an "X server" communicating with the actual hardware (gfx card, monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc) and you have a "window manager" which communicates with the X server to bring you the actual user interface with stuff you can click on etc. There are many choices:

* GNOME -- a complete "desktop environment" with many apps. It is one of the "big two" today. It's quite nice. It looks kind of like THIS although you can customize it A LOT:
http://vhost.dulug.duke.edu/~louie/screenshots/2.2/9.jpg

* KDE -- the other of the big two desktop environments. It is more similar to GNOME than it is different, it's really a matter of taste which you choose. All major distributions include both. KDE looks kind of like this:
http://www.kde.org/screenshots/images/3.1/fullsize/1.png

* XFCE -- lightweight, somewhat more minimalistic alternative to the above two. Isn't usually included with the distros so you'll have to install it yourself which shouldn't be a problem
http://www.xfce.org/images/screenshots/default_plus_settings_manager.png

These are the desktop environments which come with a load of apps and stuff, then there are plain window managers which only manage windows without coming with a lot of stuff, such as Blackbox (what I use,) Fluxbox, Sawfish, Metacity, Enlightenment, WindowMaker, basically A LOT. I'm not going to go through them all but WindowMaker is popular and easy to use, Blackbox is my personal fav.

Anyway. If you do decide to install Linux and have problems, let me know.

 

[Russell]

And are all of these good for laptops as well?

I should have a new one arriving within the next few weeks with XP on it, and I'm interested in using Linus, but I'm in a similar position to NAD, that I've never used Linux before..

What sort of programs can you use for writing CD's/DVD's etc? And playing and ripping music? Are these options with Linux?

 

[Erik]

For playing music, use XMMS (http://www.xmms.org/) which looks, feels and works like WinAmp, only better. For ripping & encoding music, use grip (http://nostatic.org/grip/) together with cdparanoia (http://www.xiph.org/paranoia/) and LAME/oggenc. These should be included or very easy to install with most decent distros. For CD burning, use for example X-CD-Roast (http://www.xcdroast.org/)

The past problems with Linux on laptops you might've heard about are long since gone for the most part. Works just like on regular PC's.

 

[Lutz]

So what are my options? I don't want to deal with any code and I don't want to deal with Microsoft bullshit. I know some of yous are computer gurus, and I've been out of the game too long to know what is decent anymore.

It is quite clear your best choice would be either Suse, Mandrake or Redhat GNU/Linux then. I guess it is possible to use these distributions without having to mess around with configuration files, or code when installing software. And installing the OS is really easy using these.

My 2 cents.

 

[bloodfiredeath]

Personally, I find XP to be grand. If it's running slow for you, I question what processes you have running. I honestly don't know much about the whole Linux thing, so I'm really out of my league with alot of this conversation. I will ask though, doesn't it really limit you on what programs you can run? I like to play alot of games.


What I notice more than anything in your original post, is that you're giong AMD. I wouldn't touch those with a ten foot pole. I've firsthand seen two of them overheat and two more blow power supplies because they suck up too much power. I'm waiting for the P5s to come out so then the price will drop substantially on P4. I'll then upgrade my P3 1.1 with a P4 2.whatever.

 

[Erik]

Use quality power supplies, use quality CPU fans. Problem solved.

 

[NAD]

Oooh... You're ASKING for it.

Well you do know this was aimed at you anyhow, I knew you would give some thorough insight. :Spin: Thanks for all the advice and links, I have some guided research to accomplish now. Oh yeah, back when I was a computer science major (first year of college, but writing code drove me nuts so I quit!) I used UNIX on Sun computers and loved it, I always assumed Linux was based on UNIX.

I would love a Mac, but they are just too expensive. I doesn't seem one is able to piece one together for under $500.

From what I understand about AMD is that yes, with a proper cooling and power supply and you're good to go. Something to mull over though, thanks.

With XP I run Excel, Explorer, and Norton antivirus, the same programs I ran with Win 2000. I shut off most of the fancy hand-holding BS programs, but the speed is still slow as hell. Plus the bare minimum memory is 128MB!?!? That's 4 times the size of my first computer's harddrive!

Thanks to all, hopefully in a month or two I can be rid of Windows on at least one computer.

 

[Erik]

Hihi. You won't need a replacement for Norton Antivirus on GNU/Linux at least...

 

[Russell]

Plus the bare minimum memory is 128MB!?!? That's 4 times the size of my first computer's harddrive!

Amateur! My first computer had 625KB!! Along with a 33mhz processor I seem to recall :Smug:

 

[NAD]

Amateur! My first computer had 625KB!! Along with a 33mhz processor I seem to recall :Smug:

I meant 40MB harddrive, my first computer had 625k RAM and was an 88 (or maybe 286, I do'nt recall) Processor @ 10mHz. My lord... that was slow.

 

[Erik]

8088's are clocked at 4.77 MHz, so it must've been a 286... Also, it probably had 640 Kbytes of RAM, 625 doesn't make any sense... </geeky-nitpicking>

 

[Russell]

I meant 40MB harddrive, my first computer had 625k RAM and was an 88 (or maybe 286, I do'nt recall) Processor @ 10mHz. My lord... that was slow.

I was talking about the hard drive :Smug:

I may be lying of course, but I'm pretty sure our first computer (Acorn I think ) didn't have over a 10Mb harddrive..

 

[NAD]

Either way Russell, one of us wins the Shit Computer Award, either by memory or processor speed.

 

[Russell]

'tis true

You shoulda seen some of the games that thing had tho!

 

[JayKeeley]

Hang on - I once owned a Sinclair ZX81 !!

It had 1K RAM (yes, that's right, 1K) and if you were lucky, you got yourself a 16K RAM Pack that bolted into the back. 'Touch sensitive' flat keyboard that required 300lb of pressure per square inch just to get the key pressed.

I've still got it, and my Spectrum 48K, both probably worth something to a museum no doubt, har har!

 

[NAD]

U R teh win!

 

[JayKeeley]

I was 11 when that came out. A couple of years later, Clive Sinclair launched the C5 vehicle:

I did NOT own one of those. (I had a lawnmower instead).