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Thread ID: 36835	2003-08-21 12:03:00	If you cant do without Microsoft....	Chilling_Silently (228)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
169331	2003-08-23 09:35:00	For those that don't know there is a grand little os called OS/2 and its deriviative eComstation.-http://www.ecomstation.com/	mark.p (383)
169332	2003-08-23 11:32:00	I have nothing against any of the posts in this thread. However, I just have to say what's on my mind. If you are buying a computer for the first time then I suggest that you decide FIRST which applications you want to run. Now for compatibility you may want to run MSWord as that would be the application lots of people have. You may want to run MSWorks as quite a few people have that. Think about whether you want to run the latest games. Think about whether you are going to get into CAD, Photo editing, Scanners, digital cameras etc. After that you can think about what hardware you need to run whatever applications you want. You have to next ensure that the O/S whether Linux, BeOS, PCDos, MSDOS, Unix, O/S X ( for Mac ), O/S 2 will work on the hardware and that the O/S will support whatever Apps and Hardware you have worked out. For example:- If you don't need the Internet then you don't need a Modem. If you only want to write the odd letter, do a mail merge and a budget on a spreadsheet then MSWorks does fine. Costs a lot less than Office and will run on Win95. Hardware would of course need a printer as you would need to post a letter rather than Email. If you want to try different operating systems then try this:- Rather than dual boot one hard drive with multiple partitions use a removable tray. Set up your current hard drive into a tray. Go get another hard disk and set it up in another tray which can go in the same hole. Use your usual tray in the hole when you want to do some actual work. Use the new tray when you want to play with another O/S and apps. Oh.... And by the way.... I suggest everyone even thinking about this idea goes and gets an External Modem which you won't have trouble connecting to the Internet. Plug it into Com2. You will almost certainly want to connect to the Internet these days if only to get drivers. :-) You can buy several trays and a few second hand hard drives. For linux you probably won't need any more than 4 Gigs and even less than that. Your first 5 1/4 holer plus tray shouldn't cost any more than $35.00 which is going to hold your current system. Extra trays about 25.00 each. When you finally work out which O/S and Apps you want then the other trays and hard drives can be used for backing up the really important stuff. Don't want Microsoft??? You just don't have to have it if you don't want it. Experiment if you will. I think it is a good idea to do that. I certainly have. I'm just about to try and get a wireless broadband Internet connection to work under RedHat. I don't need any help with that yet as I want to do my own playing. Have fun!! I am!!! :-) If I don't get it going then I just plug the REAL drive in.	Elephant (599)
169333	2003-08-23 20:46:00	Elephant, you've just said something I haven't heard said for ages. "Decide on the apps you want to run first". When we were were fundraising, back in the '80's to buy a computer for our small rural school, that's just the advice we were given. Ended up with an Apple 2E from memory.	jcr1 (893)
169334	2003-08-23 23:52:00	Excellent and very wise advice Elephant. As a matter of interest though, if one uses removable hard drives in caddies then how is one to access the data created or stored on those HDDs from the other OS? It would be a perfect setup if one only wishes to "play" with Linux as documents and files created will not be able to be shared. It would not be so ideal if one wishes to do some "work" though. For example one could not create a Word document with Office from within, say, Windows XP and then later on switch to Linux and edit that document using OpenOffice like one could if those two OS were on the same hard drive. (I am assuming that one could do the latter, please correct me if I am wrong.) It does not make sense to me to have and "use" Linux just for browsing the internet and playing with it. Personally I would be wanting to use it as a tool and not having access to all of my documents and files from either OS whenever I wanted would be quite a deterent to using removable caddies. Would appreciate your comments on this if you could.	Fire-and-Ice (3910)
169335	2003-08-24 00:06:00	Well you could use another hard drive in the system that just stays there and use that for data storage... Docs etc... Drives in trays just contain the O/S and Apps. Works for me!!! :-)	Elephant (599)
169336	2003-08-24 00:10:00	Just put your docs on a partition that can been seen by "any" OS- FAT for example or FAT32 as all major OS have drivers for it now , even OS/2-eCS. I too agree with what Elepant said.	mark.p (383)
169337	2003-08-24 00:26:00	Now we are talking about three hard drives!! :O :D It makes sense though. Thanks Elephant.	Fire-and-Ice (3910)
169338	2003-08-24 00:39:00	yeah but if the HDD with the OS crashes and burns-as ms windows does quite freqently your data is safe...............	mark.p (383)
169339	2003-08-24 04:19:00	> If you are buying a computer for the first time then > I suggest that you decide FIRST which applications > you want to run. Now for compatibility you may want > to run MSWord as that would be the application lots > of people have. You may want to run MSWorks as quite > a few people have that. OpenOffice dude ;-) Works on Doze and Linux Or.. CrossOver Office :D > Think about whether you want to run the latest > games. http://www.transgaming.com will do most, or you can buy the Linux ports ;-) Admittedly, doze rules the roost for games with native support, and that's hard to beat! > Think about whether you are going to get into CAD, > Photo editing, Scanners, digital cameras etc. GIMP is Free, but Photoshop is more widely used.. Ive run Photoshop on RH thou. > After that you can think about what hardware you need > to run whatever applications you want. > Rather than dual boot one hard drive with multiple > partitions use a removable tray. Set up your current > hard drive into a tray. Why not just Dual-Boot? Its easy enough! > Oh.... And by the way.... I suggest everyone even > thinking about this idea goes and gets an External > Modem which you won't have trouble connecting to the > Internet. Plug it into Com2. You will almost > certainly want to connect to the Internet these days > if only to get drivers. :-) I connect fine with my Internal WinModem in doze and Linux! > Don't want Microsoft??? You just don't have to have > it if you don't want it. > > Experiment if you will. I think it is a good idea to > do that. > > I certainly have. Ahh... Somebody after my own heart.. ;-) > > I'm just about to try and get a wireless broadband > Internet connection to work under RedHat. I don't > need any help with that yet as I want to do my own > playing. > > Have fun!! I am!!! :-) > > If I don't get it going then I just plug the REAL > drive in. So many HDD's...?!	Chilling_Silently (228)
169340	2003-08-24 04:38:00	And so many left over Hard drives I have here between 2.1 Gig and 8.4 Gig that people have upgraded. I have no shortage of drives to plug into a Linux or DOS box.	Elephant (599)
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