What Operating System?

[Block G Raptor]

Right Lad's need some advice.
My Home PC(in me Ma's) is displaying the blue screen of death I've backed up my data and am ready to re-build. BUT I'm undecided whether to go with Window's XP or to try something a little different ie ubuntu or Linux or whatever
bearing in mind that my ma uses the PC for hotmail, mainly Office apps and uses Firefox as web browser. She wouldn't be very technically apt so would a non-windows platform be suitable or would she be lost?
thanks in advance

[Mr A]

I wouldn't see in real point leaving Windows in this case if it's what the lady is used to.

[Block G Raptor]

I wouldn't see in real point leaving Windows in this case if it's what the lady is used to.

I spend a fair bit of the time on the PC aswell and have heard of all the advantages of getting away from Windows and want to try something new. I'm pretty sure if the OS is very different from windows I'd be able to adapt not sure the auld one would though (old dog's and new tricks etc.)
oh and the PC is a pretty basic Packard Bell. P4 with Half a Gig of ram and an 80Gig HDD

[tricky_colour]

Right Lad's need some advice.
My Home PC(in me Ma's) is displaying the blue screen of death I've backed up my data and am ready to re-build. BUT I'm undecided whether to go with Window's XP or to try something a little different ie ubuntu or Linux or whatever
bearing in mind that my ma uses the PC for hotmail, mainly Office apps and uses Firefox as web browser. She wouldn't be very technically apt so would a non-windows platform be suitable or would she be lost?
thanks in advance

I assume she was using windows98 ??
I used to get the BSOD of death with that a lot but I never get it with XP.
XP is much better in that respect it is very stable, it has never really froze or
locked up on me at all.
I would say Linux and ubuntu is for more 'geeky' computer literate people
and not suitable for computer 'novices'.
I once considered Linux but I can't see any benefit in switching now especially as some
applications ('stuff') may not work on it, so I don't see what I would
be gaining by switching.

[Bald Student]

If all she uses it for is internet, email and office she'll be fine. Ubuntu and open-office are both easy to use. I put open-office onto my sisters new computer and she didn't even notice that it was a different program to what she's used to.

The problems arise if there's anything else to be done. Most games and other programs are designed for windows only or sometimes windows and mac.

[dahamsta]

As BS says, if it's just for the basics, get her away from Windows if only for the sake of security. I'd strongly recommend Fedora 8, or failing that Ubuntu.

If you do decide to stick with Windows, make it XP. Anything before that is rubbish at this stage, and Vista still needs work.

adam

[pete]

As said above bsod virtually unheard of on XP. Fairly solid OS now as been around for years & lots of hot fixes. Used Vista a little bit & aside from some security enhancements seems very little reason to go with unless comes with PC.

[GavinZac]

Ubuntu isn't geeky, in fact, its probably more newbie-friendly than a fresh-out-of-the-box Windows XP.

Firewalls? Windows AntiVirus Protection? Automatic Security Updates? Drivers? Patches? Install ActiveX control? Search for codec via webservice? Download Adobe Macromedia Shockwave Flash 9? The version of MSN Messenger you are using is out of date. Please upgrade?

With Ubuntu, the very most you'll have to do is say "yeah ok install flash" or "yeah ok install the thing that'll let me watch my movie"

Or, even better, avoid those 2 little questions with Linux Mint which is based on Ubuntu and orientated toward working effortlessly "out-of-the-(metaphorical)-box" http://linuxmint.com/download.php

[dahamsta]

Must have a go off Mint sometime. Apparently it's maintained by someone in Ireland.

[Block G Raptor]

Lad's It was on XP. also I work as a deskside support engineer for a company using windows xp (albeit a company specific build) and BSOD's are not that rare I'd get at least one a month out of a user base of maybee 200. I've a free copy of Kubuntu on CD here in work and thats what gave me the Idea of switching OS. [MOD EDIT: Don't ask for "freely downloadable" commercial software please.]

[Block G Raptor]

Sorry Adam. Left my common sense at home the other day

[tricky_colour]

Lad's It was on XP. also I work as a deskside support engineer for a company using windows xp (albeit a company specific build) and BSOD's are not that rare I'd get at least one a month out of a user base of maybee 200. I've a free copy of Kubuntu on CD here in work and thats what gave me the Idea of switching OS. [MOD EDIT: Don't ask for "freely downloadable" commercial software please.]

Well once a month out of 200 is, I think, once evey 17 years pre user?
Which is pretty stable and those problems could be due to hardware as well
as software.
Anyway I guess you can have a system with dual boot.

[SÓC]

Currently reading up alot on Xandros as I'm buying an EEE PC next week.

Only have two concerns. 1st for what ever reason tg4.tv does not work with linux (or so they claim anyway... which is strange because a lot of Irish language software and apps have been developed in Linux) and secondly I know some of the internet banking providers try to block access on linux machines too

[tetsujin1979]

I've had problems before sending text messages on o2.ie from Linux boxes as well.

Back on topic, Puppy Linux is good for getting to know Linux in general, and it can be run from a USB key, so no worrying about dual boots and whatnot.
Still recommend moving to Ubuntu eventually though.

[GavinZac]

Lads, if a site will work in Firefox on windows, it'll work in Firefox on Linux. its the same program.

Any problems certainly won't be down to the content being in some unintelligible backwards language used by the isolated and the hobbyist. ;)

[SÓC]

Lads, if a site will work in Firefox on windows, it'll work in Firefox on Linux. its the same program.

Any problems certainly won't be down to the content being in some unintelligible backwards language used by the isolated and the hobbyist. ;)


And to think I sent ye a happy anniversary text in Irish!

Does www.tg4.tv work for you in Linux Gav? A few of my students have had trouble getting it but not sure what distro they're using

[Block G Raptor]

Well lads thanks for the advice. I'm logged in now on my new Kubuntu machine and have to say so far I'm lovin' it

[GavinZac]

Well lads thanks for the advice. I'm logged in now on my new Kubuntu machine and have to say so far I'm lovin' it

Make sure you update in a few weeks when the new version comes out; there are some changes to KDE (the desktop environment, the equivalently in windows would be "the bit you can see") which supposedly are a great step forward :)

[Block G Raptor]

I've actually decided to go back to windows as. My ipod won't work in Kubuntu and also I've no sound from speakers and can't find linux drivers anywhere online for it

[GavinZac]

I've actually decided to go back to windows as. My ipod won't work in Kubuntu and also I've no sound from speakers and can't find linux drivers anywhere online for it

www.ubuntuforums.org

start a thread there and usually you're good to go in a couple of hours. For starters, Amarok (which i thought came installed in Kubuntu :/ ) works perfectly with iPods, and for your sound card, one of the main points with linux is not having to search the internet for drivers - usually its just tweaking some setting or at most, installing something from the official downloads list. Thats probably the reason you didn't find any by searching; the process you'd be used to as a windows user is "buy something, install using the cd, or search online". with linux its either built into the OS itself and just needs to be "turned on" or it can be downloaded from the repositories.

[OneRedArmy]

Gavin, on a previous thread you rubbished user of MacOS and recommended that Ubuntu would fit most users needs.

Now that BGR has found conflicts in some of the most common apps/peripherals can you not realise that open source is not the answer for everyone.

Plug and play has a certain attraction for those of us who don't have the time or know how to surf the web every time we run into a conflict.

[GavinZac]

Gavin, on a previous thread you rubbished user of MacOS and recommended that Ubuntu would fit most users needs.

Now that BGR has found conflicts in some of the most common apps/peripherals can you not realise that open source is not the answer for everyone.

Plug and play has a certain attraction for those of us who don't have the time or know how to surf the web every time we run into a conflict.

Err, I'd ask BGR to try installing OSX on his computer and see what happens. It won't work. It doesn't work, because OSX is so limited that it will only work with the select hardware that Apple chooses to support and produce; therefore the users are forced into buying the
overpriced crap that Apple come out with.

iPods are supported á la "Plug and Play" (strange that a Mac users would demand a Windows slogon of a Linux distro). His sound card, well, if it was a "common peripheral" it would be supported straight away. Every sound card, from basic laptop one to 7.1 surround sound, that I've installed Linux over has worked perfectly and I'd imagine I'm into the double figures on that count now. Having seen pretty much nothing of the issue I can't comment very much as the issue could be anything from him having an obscure sound card, to just having muted it and not knowing where to look. That is what www.ubuntuforums.org is for. I'd imagine as a long time Foot.ie user he'd be well able for that forum, from a technical point of view :S