Stop Microsoft

All Things Microsoft => Microsoft Software => Topic started by: dmcfarland on 14 November 2005, 02:03

Title: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 14 November 2005, 02:03: Microsoft is Satan's operating system. However I have to use it for now until I can find some user friendly alternatives or learn Linux and become more proficient. :mad:

I tried running FC4, and mandriva linux. FC4 had problems with my sound. Mandriva locked up on me when it was looking for the display. Linux as a whole has come a long way, but its still not ready for prime time. I absolutely hate Windows with my soul but I am unfortunetly I am stuck with it. I might install FC4 on the second hard drive so I can get more proficient with it.

I wouldnt recomend Linux for the average computer user at this point in time. I would recomend people buy a MAC if they are looking to upgrade, or have the money to buy a new computer outright.

I am trying some different OS alternatives like Solaris and FreeBSD and maybe some others. I am happy that I ran into this sight. I always new Microsoft sucked. I didnt know how much they sucked. I am a former systems analyst and I learn computers, and networking on MSDOS, and netware. Netware is the best networking software Ive seen out their. Unfortunety MS did a better job at marketing its product. I have enough knowledge of Linux to make me dangerous. I used Netware for a long time.

We were running Linux at my last IT job and worked without a hitch. We ran our file servers, database and website on it and it never crashed even during the christmas rush. That company shot itself in the foot when they decided to switch from Linux to NT (Neanderthal Technologies.) Things began to go to hell in a handbasket real fast. The servers crashed, the exchange server always went down etc.

That company ended up going out of business, because of that and many other poor business practices as most dot bombs did. The company was eToys.com

I would love to see Apple port OSX to Intel IBM pc's. I gaurantee that would put a huge dent into microsoft. I have yet to find a linux distro that is user friendly enough for the average computer user to use. I have a problems with it, and I was a proffessional in the industry.

I saw many different OS's on this sight, but most of them are not ready for prime time. I am going to learn more about some of them like FreeBSD and solaris. I have a extra 30 gig hard drive so why not.:thumbup:
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: cymon on 14 November 2005, 03:05: Apple already did port OSX to the x86 platform. It's been on nearly every geek news site in the Internet. But still, it's not likely that it'll run on just any PC. Why? Because Apple can't afford that. OSX is pretty cheap for an OS, only 120$. The only way that they can keep it that cheap is if people buy the Macintosh computers as well. It wasn't an issue until now, because people don't have a spare G5 in their garage. But now, they can't compete with companies like Dell and eMachines, that can sell pc's really cheap. The price of the OS will have to go up, because they can't afford to lose money on sales. Just my thoughts though.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 14 November 2005, 05:13: Well I dont have a spare g4 in my closet and cant afford a mini. My next PC will be a Mac once I am able to afford one. I work with what I got. I already know about Darwin. If your talking about something else then please point the way.

I dont read a lot of geek stuff. So you'll have to pardon me.

BTW thanks for the heads up.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: Jack2000 on 14 November 2005, 17:18: Was not there a project os to fuse
ms+open-source os
in one what happened to it ?
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: pofnlice on 14 November 2005, 17:30: Lindows
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 14 November 2005, 18:33: I went to the lindows-now Linspire website. They are very greedy about distributing their software. I dont want to pay for a linux distro when I can get another one for free on the net.

I ended breaking down anyway and wiped windows off of my system.I just cant do it anymore. It doesnt feel right.(I sound like a junkie. ;) I plan to install Fedora Core 4. I tried solaris and that was just confusing and it looked like it didnt have the drivers I needed for my NIC. So Im using FC4 for now. I doubt I have enough no-how to install slackware, Debian had 10 install disks on its website. Suse is owned by Novell and therefore a corporate hack distro I cant afford. I tried installing Mandriva linux LE2005, and I got-ERROR LOADING SYSTEM, and it wouldnt boot.

Im not angry, but I am going with a distro that I know will install. Im a relative newbie, and I am not a programmer or super geek when it comes to windows. Learning Linux is much more difficult than learning netware 3.5/3.6 or whatever version I learned on (It was before the GUI version of netware,) but I love a challenge. So to qoute others who have posted in these forums

FUCK MICROSOFT!!!!!
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: noob on 14 November 2005, 18:34: Linspire now, M$hite tryed to sue them over th "indows" bit. I tryed it and I wasnt too impressed with it, thit was when it had just shanged the name so it may have come along since then.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: Jack2000 on 14 November 2005, 18:38: Why The Heck Is Every One Talking How Much An Os Costs !
As If You Could Not Just Pirate It Anyway! God Damn It !
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 14 November 2005, 18:39: I couldnt get it off of a bitorrent. I am going with FC4 for now. Im probably going to invest in some books about linux. If I ever go back into the IT industry I want to be proficient in linux, so I dont get pigeon holed into being a Desktop Support person. I hated that the first time around. I would like to learn about computer telephony at some point. Im getting off topic.

I heard Linspire was slower than fc4.

FUCK MICROSOFT
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 14 November 2005, 18:42: Thats what I was doing before. There are not of pirated copies of Linspire around on p2p. I get tired of doing that after a while.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: WMD on 14 November 2005, 18:45: Quote from: Jack2000
Was not there a project os to fuse
ms+open-source os
in one what happened to it ?

ReactOS. In alpha.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: xyle_one on 14 November 2005, 18:47: Fedora. Whats wrong with fedora? Did you even check to make sure your hardware was compatible before deciding linux wasn't ready for the "prime time"?

I don't think Linux is that hard to use at all. It's more fun than anything. Perhaps we should figure out why your sound isn't working correctly before you start jumping from distro to distro. The BSDs are a whole new level IMO. I would recommend getting your feet wet with a nice easy distro like Fedora before taking the plunge.

What are the specs for your machine? What exactly was wrong with the sound?
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: pofnlice on 14 November 2005, 19:28: The cost even on Distro's like SuSE is nominal. I paid $32.00 (USD) at a Post Exchange for my copy of 9.1 Pro. So getting an entire operating system costs the same...less even than picking up Tiger Woods 2006 for whatever game system you have. Fedora and SuSE are what everyone seems to say are perfect for fresh immigrants. They were right in my case. I tried SuSE and loved it. Afterwards I hardly ever touched a Win box...Until now. My missus doesn't want any of that Linux stuff on her hard drive :D
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: cymon on 14 November 2005, 20:16: You only need disc number one to install Debian, the others are just more packages for your system.

You can get SuSE for free by going to opensuse.com.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: Lead Head on 14 November 2005, 20:42: react0S is pretty cool, i tried the live CD
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 14 November 2005, 20:45: I agree with you. Thats why Im going to be using FC4 till I can get more proficient. I apologize for stepping on anyones toes if I did. My hardware comes up fine in FC4. I was having problems with the sound card wich is ensoniq. I couldnt get my headset going. Im sure I contributed the problem. Fortunetly I have all my data files backed up. I can always reinstall my OS if I mess up.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: hm_murdock on 14 November 2005, 22:31: Mac OS X will not run on generic x86 hardware. It'll still be $129, and will require Apple-branded hardware. They aren't "dropping the mac" and going to a software-based business model, they're changing processors from the PPC series to the IA32/IA64 series.

Also, I believe it's against forum rules to discuss piracy of software. Go OSS if you want free. If you're going to get commercial software, then do the right thing and freaking pay for it. Don't break the law.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: MarathoN on 14 November 2005, 23:30: Quote from: dmcfarland
I agree with you. Thats why Im going to be using FC4 till I can get more proficient. I apologize for stepping on anyones toes if I did. My hardware comes up fine in FC4. I was having problems with the sound card wich is ensoniq. I couldnt get my headset going. Im sure I contributed the problem. Fortunetly I have all my data files backed up. I can always reinstall my OS if I mess up.

Surprise surprise!

I have an Ensoniq AudioPCI as well in my machine, what is the model number, mine is ES1371 and I have no problems in Slackware 10.2 or any other distro I've tried in the past. :p
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: H_TeXMeX_H on 15 November 2005, 01:06: There's actually a coupon to get Linspire for free legally, but Linspire is the last OS I would recommend ... (I would never recommend Window$ ... not even to my worst enemy .. I'm evil, but not that evil :D)
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 15 November 2005, 01:14: I apologize for discussing that. I was unaware of that. Piracy will continue as long as companies continue to charge ridiculous prices for software. Im not advocating anyone do that, but I am just pointing out the laws of supply and demand. Thats another reason why I like Linux and open source concept. BTW whats OSS?

Quote from: hm_murdock
Mac OS X will not run on generic x86 hardware. It'll still be $129, and will require Apple-branded hardware. They aren't "dropping the mac" and going to a software-based business model, they're changing processors from the PPC series to the IA32/IA64 series.

Also, I believe it's against forum rules to discuss piracy of software. Go OSS if you want free. If you're going to get commercial software, then do the right thing and freaking pay for it. Don't break the law.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 15 November 2005, 01:31: I have an ensoniq 1373. I ran into problems when I installed skype. I couldnt get the microphone to work to mention the distortiong I was getting as well, and then it went to hell from there. So if someone can remedie that I would be very grateful.

I am a relative newbie to Linux. So you'll have to pardon me if I am not as knowlegable as the rest of you. I can see how certain attitudes among the experienced members of the Linux communtiy could turn off people who are trying to switch. I think its important to remeber that we were all at one time newbies, inexperienced, and junior. :nothappy:

Quote from: MarathoN
Surprise surprise!

I have an Ensoniq AudioPCI as well in my machine, what is the model number, mine is ES1371 and I have no problems in Slackware 10.2 or any other distro I've tried in the past. :p

BTW I dont feel that I have enough kowneldge of Linux to run Slackware. I heard that distro is meant for experts.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 15 November 2005, 01:34: BTW I am going to stick with FC 4. I need to cut my teeth on something. So I have decided to go with that distro for the time being. Its user friendly enough for me to get started. I might play with some others if I am able to come by another pc or perhaps get an old G-3 or G-4.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: MarathoN on 15 November 2005, 03:32: Nope, I know hardly anything about Linux and even I find Slackware easy to install. :)
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 15 November 2005, 03:46: Different people different distro's. Thanks god.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: WMD on 15 November 2005, 07:51: Quote from: dmcfarland
I might play with some others if I am able to come by another pc or perhaps get an old G-3 or G-4.

Thanks to the Mac Mini, G3 and G4 towers are mad cheap. G4 466/256MB/30GB for $299 (http://www.macofalltrades.com/product_p/g4466da1.htm). That site doesn't have any G3 towers in stock, but I hear they've gone for $150 or even less. Although, with OS X, I'd stick to G4 (even slower ones) - for example, I've seen G3/700 vs. G4/450 on OS X, and the G4 won.

Oh, and they have a G3/500 iMac for $199 right now.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: MarathoN on 15 November 2005, 18:17: Quote from: dmcfarland
Different people different distro's. Thanks god.

You know you want Slackware. :D
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 15 November 2005, 18:32: Actaully I dont.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: themacuser on 15 November 2005, 23:08: Flying Chair... you'll love it :P
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: H_TeXMeX_H on 16 November 2005, 00:58: Quote from: MarathoN
You know you want Slackware. :D

I might try it ... say what is the fastest distro ? (yeah I know Fedora is slow, but what is fast ?)
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: piratePenguin on 16 November 2005, 18:17: Quote from: H_TeXMeX_H
I might try it ... say what is the fastest distro ? (yeah I know Fedora is slow, but what is fast ?)
I don't see how anyone could possibly measure which is the fastest distro... Some of the packages they use are common to most other distros and some aren't. You can always disable (and uninstall) services/stuff you don't want.

Slackware with GNOME and a few extra bells could end up as slow as Fedora.

A system with all/most of the binaries compiled with optimizations for speed (-Os) for that CPU would be the fastest possible.
Should you be crazy enough to try it, this (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/) will help.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: MarathoN on 17 November 2005, 00:27: Hmmm, I use XFCE and it's fine for me. :D
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: H_TeXMeX_H on 17 November 2005, 03:57: Quote from: piratePenguin
I don't see how anyone could possibly measure which is the fastest distro... Some of the packages they use are common to most other distros and some aren't. You can always disable (and uninstall) services/stuff you don't want.

Slackware with GNOME and a few extra bells could end up as slow as Fedora.

A system with all/most of the binaries compiled with optimizations for speed (-Os) for that CPU would be the fastest possible.
Should you be crazy enough to try it, this (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/) will help.

Ahhh ... I see, so I think I'll stick with FC for now, it works great on my machine :thumbup: .. I've heard about optimizations for speed, but I think stability is more important than speed (I dare not try it even though it sounds tempting)
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 18 November 2005, 03:04: Im having problems installing fc4 (Fucking Crap 4,) and somehow I ended up frying my dvd player. Im working on getting my pc up.

I kept getting install media corrupt errors, depsite getting no burn errors or crc bad checksum. It might be my cd burner which is old and a piece of shit. Its a 4 x x4 x16, and philips. I didnt have any problem burning all the other cd's I made with it, nor a problem with burning solaris 10 on it which I am currently installing. I dont like it, but I might be able to dl and burn suse or debian (If I feel like dl'ing 10 disk and burning them,) or some other distro-"sigh" slackware.

Anyway there is something wrong with the fc (fucking crap 4) images. I might just buy a dvd burner, bc I am sick of burning a million cd's.

Whips me, beat, humiliate me, mistreat me, and fc4 me.

PS: From here on out fc4 will always mean fucking crap 4:fu:
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: piratePenguin on 18 November 2005, 03:19: Quote from: dmcfarland
Im having problems installing fc4 (Fucking Crap 4,) and somehow I ended up frying my dvd player. Im working on getting my pc up.

I kept getting install media corrupt errors, depsite getting no burn errors or crc bad checksum. It might be my cd burner which is old and a piece of shit. Its a 4 x x4 x16, and philips. I didnt have any problem burning all the other cd's I made with it, nor a problem with burning solaris 10 on it which I am currently installing. I dont like it, but I might be able to dl and burn suse or debian (If I feel like dl'ing 10 disk and burning them,) or some other distro-"sigh" slackware.

Anyway there is something wrong with the fc (fucking crap 4) images. I might just buy a dvd burner, bc I am sick of burning a million cd's.

Whips me, beat, humiliate me, mistreat me, and fc4 me.

PS: From here on out fc4 will always mean fucking crap 4:fu:
I think them media errors are either something to do with DMA or else you need an 80-pin IDE cable for the CD/DVD-drive you're reading from. I had problems with both them before. For the DMA errors, I had to pass some option to the kernel at boot time to disable DMA, IIRC. Can't remember what it was exactly. Google might tell you.

Also, http://www.google.com/search?q=media+error+dma&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial (http://www.google.com/search?q=media+error+dma&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial)Looks like some people are having trouble with GNU/Linux and their burners. Something there might help you out.
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: H_TeXMeX_H on 18 November 2005, 06:10: I've had some trouble burning suse, it kept saying the disks were corrupt even though all hashes / checksum were good (md5 and others)
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 18 November 2005, 20:48: My cd burner is a working burner. Its old and it only seems to read disk at burned at its speed. I can put in another disk and it wont read. Ill probably be looking into a new dvd burner next month anyway.

I did find an command line option to run and Ill give that a try.:scared:
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 19 November 2005, 19:22: Ill take me crow with tobbasco sauce on it. I got FC4 (not fucking crap 4,) it turns out that one of my memory sticks was shot. It took me a bit to figure that out, but Im on linux, no windows partitions, or anything else ms related.

Thanks all. Ill be posting more. I am learning slowly. Take care
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: dmcfarland on 19 November 2005, 19:29: I tried that when I had windows on my machine and sure enough it crashed. ;)
Title: Re: Alternatives to the Borg AKA Microsoft
Post by: 187nimd4 on 21 November 2005, 20:09: Quote from: dmcfarland
I dont want to pay for a linux distro when I can get another one for free on the net.
.. and of course I also never, ever will :D some people just don't get it ..