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Vista - Arrrgggghhh


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After giving this piece of sh**e operating system a fair crack of the whip - 6 months at least - I have finally thrown the towel in.

 

It really got up my nose last night when trying to change a keyboard - after all, that must be a really difficult task for a 64 bit OS running on 4 processors with 8gb of RAM. After an hour and a half of trouble with keyboard/mouse etc... (and 6 months of trouble with everything else - printers, scanners etc...) I did the only decent thing a person can do to their machine.

 

I installed Linux (Ubuntu), and Wow! What a difference.

 

Things actually work again - the soundcard, for which there were never going to be 64bit Vista drivers for, just started working - just like that.

 

The graphics card (Dual output) just started working.

 

In fact, everything apart from my printer - which is what I am about to ask about - started working!

 

The printer is found when I go to printers and make it search - it's a network printer so it finds it easily. When I print, it just sits in the queue for about 1 min and then it's status changes to "print paused pending user input", and that's as far as it goes.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

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You don't 'have' to have it - in fact if it comes pre installed you can have it uninstalled and get your money back, then install Linux.

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Well i am getting a new desktop when my latest claim comes through, I was considering not having Vista and just having Windows XP, not being a complete anorak regarding computers, what is the difference between Linux and Windows and is everything (Openoffice, Skype etc) compatible with it? also, how much does it cost?

 

As for the printer, I know that this may sound daft, but have you tried downloading any new drivers for it?, as I say, i am not an expert and fully expect to get laughed at for this piece of advice lol

Lula

 

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Hi Lula - there are no Linux drivers for the printer, as it's a network printer, Linux usually just finds them and prints to them.

 

Linux is free - as is OpenOffice (made for Linux first I believe).

 

 

Here is a comparison of Vista and Ubuntu.

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thanks for that dave, it looks really good, so I can go and buy a desktop and run Linux on it, so do i just install it and leave Windows in the background or do i need to get all techy and take it off?

 

Actually, it looks alot sexier than Windows in any way shape or form

Lula

 

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You can leave Windows there if you want - I have for the moment. I have a slightly buggered HDD that is going to go bang soon, and have put Linux on another drive, so there is dual boot.

 

I am also running WinXP in a window so that I can access windows very quickly without rebooting if I ever need to.

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hmmm thats something to ponder, my desktop is absolutely buggered at the moment and i havnt a clue why, but it is still functioning enough to run the print server and the router, I cant even get a screen up to see if I could do anything to help it, so i need to wait to be able to afford a new one before I do anything. But thank for the advice, I hate being caught up in Mr Gates attempt at global domination.

 

One more question, if i am running ubuntu, can I access all my old documents? especially the ones that i have migrated over to open office or do I need to have a new edition of Oo and cut and paste them in?

Lula

 

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Nope - you should be able to open them straight away, especially if they are on another drive (NTFS).

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ahhhhhh

 

NTFS ("New Technology File System") is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista.[5]

NTFS replaced Microsoft's previous FAT file system, used in MS-DOS and early versions of Windows. NTFS has several improvements over FAT such as improved support for metadata and the use of advanced data structures to improve performance, reliability, and disk space utilization plus additional extensions such as security access control lists and file system journaling. The exact specification is a trade secret, although (since NTFS v3.00) it can be licensed commercially from Microsoft through their Intellectual Property Licensing program.

Lula

 

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Yep - that's the bugger.

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Dont you have to install the drivers for the network printer onto each pc that it is networked ? I know i had to install the drivers for my printer onto hubbies pc and visa versa not running linux tho but xp pro :)

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Not in Linux you don't.

 

It's a bit cleverer than Windows.

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If you are lucky it does. I had the business edition - Enterprise, and I have to be honest, it didn't do that for me - not even the onboard soundcard (on a 64bit board, so it's likely I would be installing Vista 64 or XP 64).

 

Installed Ubuntu, and it found everything - just like that, no sodding about having to even install drivers. It has even found the printer - it just doesn't print to it (yet!).

 

It's only been on there a week, and I don't think I'll be going back to Windows - it's just so much faster.

 

Last night I had Windows running in a window, music playing (cos the soundcard now works - did I mention that?), Firefox open with about 10-12 tabs on it, GAIM (MSN) running, all the fancy visual effects (wobbly windows, cube destops etc...), PhotoGIMP, Limewire, a bit torrent program running and some weird browsing software - and the processor usage was.........2%.

 

If I just dragged a window from one screen to another using Vista the proc. usage would jump up to about 35-40%.

 

If I plug my USB key in, by the time my head has risen back to desk level, it's opened a window and is browsing the contents of the key.

 

In Vista, I could very well have put the kettle on and probably have finished drinking the tea before that would happen.

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Have to agree folks, I've got XP on the desktop with Ubuntu dual booting and it's like chalk and cheese .... Windows thinks, asks, stuffs up .... Ubuntu .... just do it, no probs.

 

Just bought lappy with winnings from Abbey and it's come pre-loaded with Vista Ultimate .... gonna give it a whirl, seems fine at moe .... but you never know.

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I have a desktop with XP thats shuts the pc down every time i open n internet window, a laptop with XP PRO which works perfectly, apart from the laptop being a bit used and battered, also got a brand new lappy with vista basic which i am rapidly growing to dislike.

OH also has new lappy with vista basic and an older more battered one with XP home edition and with us both we use the old ones with XP rather than the new ones with Pista

:madgrin:

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Hmmm...can't answer your query Dave, although like Lula I would have suggested seeing if there is a driver update. However, if the document is just hanging in the print queue have you tried asking here?

 

For all the rest, I used to do a lot of dual-booting on my old Win 98 machine, and found that Linux (usually SuSe or mandrake) worked 50-100% faster on the machine. My new PB machine is configured in such a way that the BIOS gets buggered when trying to partition and dual boot, so I have finally given up trying. It took a long time, but I must confess to being reasonably happy with WinXP now.

 

So...if I ever get a spare couple of hours I will pump up the RAM and chips on my old machine, and get the old Win98/Linux combinations up and running again.

 

As for Open Office (like all open source software) it runs on all platforms, including Mac, and the beauty of open source is the open document standards it employs. No more proprietory software for me...in fact the only time I use any Microsoft stuff (other that WinXP) is for work...everything else is completely free.

 

If anyone wants a list of everything (practical) that you can run for nothing on a Win machine just ask...

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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To be honest, Ubuntu has been on there for a week now, I deliberatly had a dual boot as I thought I wouldn't be able to do without Windows.

 

I was so wrong - this does everything you could ever want, and I'm not your average casual user.

 

I haven't booted into Windows since I installed it - it's just so much easier to use (and considerably faster) than Vista. You want to look at the equiv. of Disk(sic) Administrator and it's right there under the System menu - in Vista it took me 20 mins to find it, then I had to reboot when I'd done what I wanted to do, and took me another 20 mins to find it again to check that it had done what it was told - which it hadn't.

 

I think M$ have done the Linux community a favour. I resisted moving to Linux as I (wrongly) thought there would be no drivers, hardware support, and would be a steep learning curve after many years of Windows.

 

If that last sentence sounds like using Vista, then you would be right - no drivers, no hardware support and everything that used to be in a logical place has been moved.

 

I figured that I had nothing to lose by going 'open source' - and so far I'm really glad I did.

 

Sorry about the rant, but it really feels so much nicer and cleaner using Ubuntu.

If you feel that we have helped you, or you would like to help keep this web site running so that others can continue to get their money back, please click the donate button at the top of the forum.

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Use your own judgment. Seek advice of a qualified insured professional if you have any doubts.

 

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ICY, I'm really chuffed with it - some things are a bit tricky, but I don't think it's any more difficult or easy (although the hardware and installation of most software was certainly easier) to use than Windows - just different.

 

It's just my printer problem - in Windows, due to experience, I would know where to start looking, but in Linux when the same problem occurs I haven't a clue where to look first.

 

Still, that's how you learn I suppose - the deep end syndrome!

If you feel that we have helped you, or you would like to help keep this web site running so that others can continue to get their money back, please click the donate button at the top of the forum.

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Use your own judgment. Seek advice of a qualified insured professional if you have any doubts.

 

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ICY - Linux is great. TBH my preferred distro was always Mandrake (now called Mandriva) but that was a couple of years ago. Now there are literally hundreds of flavours, and you can get one tailored to your usage type.

 

For example, if you only browse the net and do "officey" stuff, you can get distros with all multimedia elements stripped out. Perhaps you are more into gaming, in which case you can get multimedia heavy flavours, but without all the networking gubbins...

 

Dave - regarding printer support - did you try the Ubuntu forums yet?

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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Not yet, although I have a friend coming round later - and he's a bit handy with Linux, and so I will ask him to have a look at it later ;-)

If you feel that we have helped you, or you would like to help keep this web site running so that others can continue to get their money back, please click the donate button at the top of the forum.

Advice & opinions of Dave, The Bank Action Group and The Consumer Action Group are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability.

Use your own judgment. Seek advice of a qualified insured professional if you have any doubts.

 

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Add me as your friend on FaceBook - I need all the friends I can get :-(

 

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