Stop Microsoft

All Things Microsoft => Microsoft Software => Topic started by: creativedisco on 4 March 2005, 00:45

Title: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: creativedisco on 4 March 2005, 00:45
...and alas, I don't really know much about what I'm doing and would appreciate some help from those who do.
 
I know Microsoft is crap.  I'm pretty sure that Bill Gates is the antichrist (or a reasonable facsimile).  I want it gone.  I want an OS that works well, is cheap (free or > $10 ), and will still allow me to run two programs (Concourse and Resource Mate--they're programs designed for use in libraries for record keeping, I believe) and a new HP printer.
 
Here's the thing:  the actual computer is an IBM Aptiva that's old as the freaking hills.  It had Windows 95 on it, but in order to get the printer to work, it needs Windows 98, which won't install :nothappy:.  I'd like to think I'm better off with something other than that, but I'm not much good unless I get some better information on how to do this.
 
So first, what would you all recommend as a good OS?  Second, how do I clean out the bad stuff and how do I put in the good stuff?  Are there any websites or anything that would tell me how to do this?
 
CD
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: MrX on 4 March 2005, 02:47
beos works fine. i dont know about that finance program, but beos max comes with a finance program called Be Financial. i havent used it.

try out beos. its like a mac os blended with unix.

Mr X
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: adiment on 4 March 2005, 11:05
Try Linux. Has more software than BeOS and has many distro's.

To "clean the bad stuff, and put in the good stuff" you will just need to delete the windows partition and make one for Linux. It's not hard. You can always dual boot too... it's not hard, you will figure it out easily.

Don't know what programs you're talking about, but if they are only designed for windows, you may be able to run them through WINE on linux. I would explain more but I'm not very familiar with linux, my linux box isn't working for now.
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: Aloone_Jonez on 4 March 2005, 16:06
What specification is your computer?
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: MrX on 4 March 2005, 16:22
linux is actually really hard to install and use. unless you like bloatware like mandrake.
BeOS :beos:  is the easiest to install, and use.

Mr X
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: Calum on 4 March 2005, 17:45
i can see this will turn into a quagmire of "yes it is", "no it isn't" posts if we're not careful.

linux does have a lot more software available than beos, purely because it has a much wider user, and therefore developer, base.

your windows only programs will not run natively under linux. there are two problems with this, the graphical environment in linux is totally different from the one in windows, so any programs using a graphical user interface need the graphical parts of them rewritten if they want to run on the other, the second problem is that this is totally impossible to do with closed source programs. most programs for windows are closed source, for a number of reasons, largely historical, while probably a majority of linux programs are open source (meaning anybody can edit the program code, recompile it on their machine and run it again, eg to get it to work better, or with your hardware or whatever).

BUT there are a couple of projects, most notably one called "wine" and a derivative called "winex" that attempt to translate all communication between your windows program and your linux system so the program thinks it is running under windows and your system thinks it's running a linux program. your mileage may vary here, i have always found this method to be slow, buggy, unreliable and pointless. i would *strongly* recommend finding alternatives to your programs that run natively under linux, or keeping windows on your computer to reboot back into when you need to use those programs. and if your computer is that old, i suggest you make it windows 95 on that partition right enough (or 98 if you are really insistent).

There's a lot to decide when installing linux, first which linux vendor to get a distribution from (a distribution is a complete system plus applications packaged up in a hopefully nice way). There are many. All are hugely configurable, and most have unique ideas about how the default configuration should go, so depending on what you want, and what they think you should want you could spend a lot of time, or not much time, configuring your system to your comfort. the internet will help you with this, trust me.

I would recommend red hat (recent versions known as fedora) or suse as your linux version, close runners up include mandrake, or if you don't mind using a slightly off the normal track linux then i might suggest slackware or xandros. it's a good idea to get a knoppix disk too, this is a bootable linux system on a CD, which you do not need to install but can run right off the CD. this has its advantages and disadvantages. i have never really needed one, but as a new user you might get use from it to familiarise yourself with the system and its gui.

you also need to think about partitioning. this is usually easy with the installers of distros such as fedora, suse and xandros etc, but you do need to know, generally speaking, what you are actually doing before you go ahead and have a go. also, back up your stuff first. honestly, back it all up. yes all of it. i mean it.

now, you are going to have to put in some time figuring out how to customise your new system. i am still learning after several years. everything (more or less) is customisable in a linux system, so be prepared for it to be a lot more involved than using windows. i usually recommend this enormous tome for people unused to a unix environment. it contains information on everything you need to know about unix systems: http://docs.rinet.ru:8083/UNIXy/

your questions about windows emulation, and others about windows filesharing are not covered there, but they tend to be the sort of thing you'll get answers about on forums.

good luck, post again if req'd and have a nice linux!
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: Kintaro on 4 March 2005, 20:17
Uhm, Crossover Office will probably run the applications you need to run, if they run on 95, I doubt that it would have a problem running them.

Linux supports most HP Printers.

Please reply.

Please post the following information about your machine in your reply...
* Processor Speed
* Amount of Memory (Right click your "My Computer" icon and click "Properties" for more information on this)
* Type of Graphics Card (Goto your device manager, uhm, I cannot remember exact directions to it, I will VMware later and get them if needed).
* Size of Harddisk (Open "My Computer", right click icon for your C drive and tell us how much Total Space there is (not free space)).
* Any other hardware information (Modems, Network Cards, Sound Cards, SCSI Controllers, anything).

Linux will be your best option, it has better hardware support then any other alternative out there, more hardware support then Windows 95 by far. Linux is in my opinion the most secure operating system in the world (for arguers, keep in mind I run SELinux, snort, apt-get nightly updates, and other things), Linux also cannot get Viruses, they simpily cannot get into the system without major user error.
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: creativedisco on 4 March 2005, 21:56
Ok, lessee here...

MrX. et al:  Duly noted...I'll do a little digging around and a little more research and see which one will be best for my purposes, but many thanks nonetheless.

e7ement:  Me no speakie computerie.  At one time, I thought there was an article on here that walked one through, step by step, how to do such things as deleting a Windows partition, making a dual boot, etc.  Perhaps I'm mistaken.  But, as you can see (if I my own idiocy hasn't already made that apparent), I'm not that skilled when it comes to the inner workings of a computer.  IOW, how do I do these things?

Calum:  I certainly hope it doesn't come down to that.  I've considered Fedora and some other things...as with Mr.X, more research is required.  Yes, I shall back up everything first as per your orders *salutes*.  
 
kintaro and Aloone:  Let me get back to you on that.  Perhaps it would have been a good idea for me to make note of those BEFORE posting here.  Oh well, live and learn.
 
All:  I appreciate greatly your input/advice.  I'll get back with the specs as soon as I'm able to.  As a temporary measure, I'm going to go ahead and put in 98 since he has the disk and he wants to have something going pretty soon...definitely sooner than it will take me to get all this stuff together.  And since that poor computer's already corrupted with 95, I don't think that it'll be that big of a deal.  It'll buy me some time until I can figure out something decent to put in there.
 
A note on the programs...like I said, those programs are designed for libraries.  One of them, I believe, is a program designed for keeping track of what books a library has in stock (check in, check out, etc).  I'm not sure what the other is for.  I can always ask, though.
 
CD
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: Kintaro on 4 March 2005, 23:13
Have fun with 98, it is just like 95 however redmond managed to integrate their wonderful webbrowser into every aspect of the Operating System.
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: creativedisco on 5 March 2005, 00:23
"redmond managed to integrate their wonderful webbrowser into every aspect of the Operating System."  :nothappy:

Psht.  Actually I went back today (forgot to get the specs again ) and it wouldn't read the Windows CD that they had.  In fact, the computer didn't even seem to recognize that it had a CD-ROM drive.  Under My Computer, all that it had was the A:/ drive and the C:/ drive.  Then, I remembered that the folks who actually own the thing that I'm working with had taken it down to get the motherboard replaced....soooo, I'm thinking that whoever replaced that motherboard probably neglected to hook up the CD-ROM drive or something.
 
But I pretty much told them that they're really better off just getting a new computer, and they seemed to agree, so for now, problem solved.  But, I'd still like to salvage it if I could and put something decent on there, so I'm not giving up quite yet.  But at least it means I don't have to fool with 98.  :thumbup:
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: Calum on 6 March 2005, 23:49
re: articles, there used to be some community contributed articles that were kindly hosted by TheQuirk123. He no longer hosts these and the only way to get them is using the service at archive.org, see here: http://web.archive.org/web/20031210234328/http://www.belg88.com/faqman/

i don't know if anybody will pick up the gauntlet but i suppose this stuff needs to be archived somewhere else, and then linked to from this site.

Maybe the content could be incorporated into the main site somehow, i mean it's pretty sparse on content as it is.
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: E-61993 on 9 March 2005, 22:43
Try SuSE 9.1 it is free. it is a little hard to find but it is very stable. I even managed to get it running on my uncles computer. AMD K6 233MHz,4 Gig HD,Ancient sound card,trident 9860 video card,84 MB Ram,1997 Mother Board.It ran pretty good.It even managed to get the soundcard working without having to install drivers.when he had windows on it i had to search hi and lo for a driver for the soundcard. www.suse.com (http://www.suse.com) It takes up alot of space about 1.2 GB and it is very easy to insall all you need is a highspedd internet connection and a burner.
 (http://www.suse.com)
Title: Re: Getting Microsoft Out of a comp...
Post by: Calum on 10 March 2005, 16:11
you can download an install CD ISO image now for SuSE from http://linuxiso.org FYI