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Thread ID: 54706	2005-02-20 00:12:00	Linux Now Easier To Use Than Windows?	vinref (6194)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
326623	2005-02-21 20:40:00	Has anybody here used LitePC in recent times? Not me, Chill did a home butchery job last year, there was some discussion on the old forum where Lite (and others) was discussed . Unfortunately, some app's will have difficulty working to their full capabilitys if all of IE and to a lessor extent OE is stripped out . I believe Lite addresses this to an extent by having the ability of leaving some bits in, however it's more often than not the bit's required for functionality in the OS and other app's that causes the issues . Making it smaller (ME, 2k & XP), snappier, more secure and less prone to crash can't be bad though, I suggest you test it Billy and report back your experiences for the benefit of those that don't wish to change their OS (and why should they if they're otherwise satisfied?) . I see there is a no nag trial version for win2k/XP ( . litepc . com/download . html" target="_blank">www . litepc . com), I haven't checked what it can and can't do, may warrent investigation . Another benefit could be the extension of the time your hardware remains useful .	Murray P (44)
326624	2005-02-21 20:44:00	snip Unfortunately, some app's will have difficulty working to their full capabilitys if all of IE and to a lessor extent OE is stripped out. I believe Lite addresses this to an extent by having the ability of leaving some bits in, however it's more often than not the bit's required for functionality in the OS and other app's that causes the issues. snip If a heap of stuff is stripped out, and IE goes, how does Windoze Update work to get all of those patches, security fixes etc etc?	John H (8)
326625	2005-02-21 20:56:00	Nah, I don't don't think your trolling for flamer bait, besides we'd all know it was a put on if you failed ;) HA. I failed. It burns, it burns.... Muhahahahahaa. Anyhow, Downloaded that ubanti, burnt it to cd, Installed a slave drive in my comp, booted from the install cd.....All looking good, The first part of the install took about 6 minutes (made a coffee,came back,she was ready to boot),Removed the cd as instucted,rebooted her,all good,its now askin me the usual round of crap that an OS insists upon that I think would be more useful done from the desktop... Anyhow, It automagicly detecs Net access via my router and asks if i want to auto-update, I go sure, No issue at all. It then decides it wants 108mb of updates. This was at 11pm last night, Spewin. Anyhow I give it the go ahead then head of too bed, Get up around 3am and have a nosy, Text is running down the screen at a couple hundred miles an hour, error getting headers or some such rot. So, I gave it a hard reset, As expected it refused to boot back into Linux, no worries i reckon, still have XP, so I reboot it again,hit esc to access the boot menu, there are 4 instances of Ubantu, None of XP. Nice. So I unplug the slave drive, Start looking for my xp cd so i can fix the boot files,Look at the clock and realise its now 4.30am......Start muttering and head off back to bed.	Metla (12)
326626	2005-02-21 21:02:00	Well.....The greif directed at what i consider the major flaw in Windows was more in relation to the issues many of my customers have, My system is already a lean mean, asskicking machine. As for the Lite thingywhatsit, I have encountered a couple of machines running it, They still booted up slowly, mucked around launching programs, and had 3 minute long freezes when you tried to do 3 things at once.And the Windows folder was bloated to huge proportions The issue is bad user habits, No tweak in the world no matter how severe will help if the user doesn't preform maitenence on the comp,	Metla (12)
326627	2005-02-21 21:17:00	If a heap of stuff is stripped out, and IE goes, how does Windoze Update work to get all of those patches, security fixes etc etc? Ideally one would have stripped out the main security problems John . However, having now read the user manual on line, if Windows needs something you have removed, it is easy to put it back . In essence, if the security or patch issue affects something you still have installed, and you actually need it, it should work, but didn't I read something here recently about MS Security updates not working with alternative browsers? If that is true, you could always put IE back, install the update then remove IE again . If I recall correctly, the whole LitePC saga started after MS said that IE was too deeply integrated into W98 to be removed, and the developer of LitePC set out to prove them wrong . And succeeded . The manual gives full information relating to service pack issues & updates so they seem to have thought through and overcome almost everything we might think of here . Proof will be in the trying I guess . Cheers Billy 8-{) Edit: BTW, their site is worth a quick visit, they have ME running with as little as a 9MB footprint, and a 13MB version running off a 16MB flashcard . For the User manual, click <More> below the initial XP Lite blurb on the opening page .	Billy T (70)
326628	2005-02-21 21:20:00	Thanks Billy - interesting background as well. I didn't take the time to go looking for a manual :o	John H (8)
326629	2005-02-22 01:22:00	Text is running down the screen at a couple hundred miles an hour, error getting headers or some such rot. You sure they were fatal errors? Linux can be kinda chatty when it's doing things, like looking for files or hardware even if they ain't there to find and/or not wanted it will say so: "File not found no such......." when you know you don't have it but allways insists on checking just in case you do something silly like add hardware to your system or, updating - Urlwhatsamacallit - hit failed - hit failed - hit failed - hit bingo! fetching file. It's just being friendly, no dougt Windows does much the same thing but isn't so gregarious. Anyway, it would have tried the updates so & so times before giving up (do you connect through a proxy or server?). So, I gave it a hard reset, As expected it refused to boot back into Linux, no worries i reckon, still have XP, so I reboot it again,hit esc to access the boot menu, there are 4 instances of Ubantu, None of XP. The errors, if there were nasty ones, are probably recoverable, no need to toast your MBR and/or partition table over it laddy (BTW where did you install the MBR and boot files). Do you have a live nix CD at hand? If you can get into Ubuntu you can edit your fstab and Lilo/Grub.conf depending on which boot loader Ubuntu uses. I was thinking of writing a book, 1001 ways to have endless fun with multi booting, and subtitled, how to trash your data without raising a sweat. Looks like I'll have some contributers :D	Murray P (44)
326630	2005-02-22 01:43:00	hmmm . . . . . It was actually only 16% through the download and install updates procedure . Now . . . . . as to fatal errors . HD I installed it on was making loud ticking noises,and was having issues being detected on reboot . Did I mention I grabbed the HD out of my pile of hardware that was known to be ruined and awaiting disposiel? Lmao . Anyhow, Currently building new system to run Linux, Can't have it effecting my main comp	Metla (12)
326631	2005-02-22 01:52:00	HD I installed it on was making loud ticking noises,and was having issues being detected on reboot . Did I mention I grabbed the HD out of my pile of hardware that was known to be ruined and awaiting disposiel?Tsk Tsk :rolleyes: . Ubuntu had little chance then . :p Why not just use a removable HDD caddy? That way you don't even need to dual boot and trash your MBR . Mind you, then Murray will be less one contributor to his new book . :D	Jen (38)
326632	2005-02-22 01:54:00	um....Because I have have the parts to build another entire system......and the deskspace to place it. And Then when I kill it, I can still use my XP machine to troll about Linux.....Uh, I mean seek advice.	Metla (12)
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