Windows 7

Post by **spot** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:15 am

Right, I might as well spread a little joy since that's what I'm so good at.

I've had Windows 7 Release Candidate on my machine since it came out. The launch is October 22nd, the Release Candidate expires next February.

Thank you Microsoft, you've made a great operating system and I've enjoyed getting to know it. There's a lot in there which is new and I've not found anything to dislike, it's a wonderful system. It's sleeker and slimmer than Vista, thank goodness. I know the label said 1GB minimum memory but I've got by on 768MB and felt quite comfortable, Vista could never have managed that. I'd have preferred more but I don't have it, avoiding the occasional bout of thrashing needed restraint on my part but I managed successfully.

There are three superb tutorials at Windows 7 Training at The Register which I'd recommend to anyone with a spare half day. Work through them and you'll get a lot more out of what's available.

I put AVG on and it ran fine, if anyone uses a non-Microsoft antivirus package don't forget to manually disable Defender or the system will slow noticeably.

Now I'm going to put it to bed and get back to Slackware where I belong.

farmer giles · Post by **farmer giles** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:56 am

great post spot

Post by **spot** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:01 am

Has nobody else given it a try? I'm surprised there's not more interest, given the headache Vista caused the world.

I didn't reconfigure to Slackware, I thought I'd see what Ubuntu's been doing over the last couple of years. I put the alternate CD installer in so I could apply LVM and dmcrypt to the main partition. The package management is undoubtedly quicker applying new software than Slackware's approach - the convenience outweighs (for me, anyway) the notional advantage of knowing exactly what's going onto the drive in terms of dependencies and without pre-built scripts Slackware's not at all an easy environment to put fresh packages into the conventional directories, I often ended up with two versions after a manual Slackware update.

I've brought KDE 4.2 on alongside Gnome, it looks like I might mostly stick with Gnome though.

All in all Canonical's doing a great job. I'll keep it running for a few months and get a better feel for it.

Post by **Betty Boop** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:09 am

spot;1215325 wrote: Has nobody else given it a try? I'm surprised there's not more interest, given the headache Vista caused the world.

I didn't reconfigure to Slackware, I thought I'd see what Ubuntu's been doing over the last couple of years. I put the alternate CD installer in so I could apply LVM and dmcrypt to the main partition. The package management is undoubtedly quicker applying new software than Slackware's approach - the convenience outweighs (for me, anyway) the notional advantage of knowing exactly what's going onto the drive in terms of dependencies and without pre-built scripts Slackware's not at all an easy environment to put fresh packages into the conventional directories, I often ended up with two versions after a manual Slackware update.

I've brought KDE 4.2 on alongside Gnome, it looks like I might mostly stick with Gnome though.

All in all Canonical's doing a great job. I'll keep it running for a few months and get a better feel for it.

Some people are too scared to change their systems! I would be, although I guess if I found Vista was being a real pain I would get rid with the help of someone who knows what they're doing. Most of what you said up there is double dutch to me :wah:

If everything is running perfectly well is there any point in changing?

Post by **spot** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:31 am

Betty Boop;1215327 wrote: Some people are too scared to change their systems! I would be, although I guess if I found Vista was being a real pain I would get rid with the help of someone who knows what they're doing. Most of what you said up there is double dutch to me :wah:

It's not meant to be double dutch - anything you don't recognize is checkable...

Vista

Slackware

Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

dm-crypt

KDE

GNOME

dependencies in Slackware

Canonical

If everything is running perfectly well is there any point in changing?I think a lot of people would get a deeper understanding of their computer if they

kept an off-computer notepad with all their passwords and Internet connection settingsoccasionally backed up all their own files to DVDchecked they could return their own files to their hard drive successfullynow and again reset the computer to its factory default stategot a feel for what their computer's like running a different operating systemThat last one doesn't even need to involve changing the content of the hard drive, there are plenty of Live CD operating systems any of which would be eye-opening given a day or two of getting used to. They can run with a memory stick to remember changes from one day to the next and they can most of them install onto the hard drive if you want to make them more permanent.

Ubuntu is the obvious contender, Linux Mint is quite tasty too. Either will run from your DVD if you download the ISO image and burn it.

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:02 am

My son has been running Windows 7 now for some weeks and tells me he's very impressed. A huge improvement over Vista

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:15 pm

Snowfire;1215526 wrote: My son has been running Windows 7 now for some weeks and tells me he's very impressed. A huge improvement over Vista

Thank God! I LOATHE Vista! :-5:-5:-5:-5:-5

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:46 pm

I love it Spot what can I say best thing MICROSOFT has done in a very long time.

Post by **Betty Boop** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:54 pm

spot;1215332 wrote: It's not meant to be double dutch - anything you don't recognize is checkable...

Vista

Slackware

Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

dm-crypt

KDE

GNOME

dependencies in Slackware

Canonical

I think a lot of people would get a deeper understanding of their computer if they

kept an off-computer notepad with all their passwords and Internet connection settings

occasionally backed up all their own files to DVD

checked they could return their own files to their hard drive successfully

now and again reset the computer to its factory default state

got a feel for what their computer's like running a different operating system

That last one doesn't even need to involve changing the content of the hard drive, there are plenty of Live CD operating systems any of which would be eye-opening given a day or two of getting used to. They can run with a memory stick to remember changes from one day to the next and they can most of them install onto the hard drive if you want to make them more permanent.

Ubuntu is the obvious contender, Linux Mint is quite tasty too. Either will run from your DVD if you download the ISO image and burn it.

Ok, so I need to educate myself on all this and give it a try then. Wish me luck! :-3

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:05 pm

Betty Boop;1215327 wrote: Some people are too scared to change their systems! I would be, although I guess if I found Vista was being a real pain I would get rid with the help of someone who knows what they're doing. Most of what you said up there is double dutch to me :wah:

If everything is running perfectly well is there any point in changing?

Then there are other people who dont even know what they have now and are surprised and feel blessed when they merely remember their passwords or dont delete some foreign yet vital aspect of their pc more than twice a year.

The Gods giveth and they taketh away with one wrong keystroke.

Poor bastards.