What is your OS -- windows, mac, linux?

[aprilpaxton]

Well, windows, although i've always had this hankering to use mac...

[masalai]

April, go half way using your existing box, download ubuntu or my preference Linux Mint which is basically ubuntu with all the plugins and codecs (not supposedly "legal" in USA?) see here http://distrowatch.com/ or http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php - - the "main" or "x64" has all the good bits and the "lite" is the "legal version" for US.

The CD's are self booting and whilst running from CD will not interfere with your hard disk - once you iniyiate the install you have a choice of dual boot or overwrite and use the linux filesystem and OS (you can still read and write to most windows filesystems and applications....

[zorton01]

Very happy to use Ubuntu from 3 months now. I had enough of Windows, updates messages everyday, antivirus updates, alerts, trial versions and so on. Everything stopped from that day. Need a CAD program? Just upload one from the linux program list. General thinking is that traditional software cannot be installed in Linux. FALSE!! I had my emule, skype, could have messenger but have better linux version (Pidgin). Installation were not so complicated, just take the time to learn a bit and try it! Everything is free

[Stumble]

I made the switch over to Macs about three years ago when my brand new Dell crashed and between them and Microsoft noone could figure out who was to blame (read pay for) it. Since then I have never been happier, everything works, I have never had either a hardware or software problem that wasn't user caused, and now with 3 machines running 24/7 networked everything still is flawless.

Not bad for the guy who used to think IM was cool, but to flakey to keep up and running.

[CGN]

Win XP for 2D/3D work, non connected to internet

second PC (used P4 PC) dual booting Linux Ubuntu/winxp for internet use and media. 80% ubuntu use

USB stick with a lot of PC utilities so i don't install those on my machines

[masalai]

CGN, just get rid of windows XP et al, - - whatever you want will run in "wine" and does not rely on regular updates to keep running and will keep those "windows specific" games and "SPECIAL" applications up and running long after XP ceases to be supported.... Wine, codecs and plugins are included in Linux Mint which is derived from ubuntu... I use Mint and everything works and then personalise it....

[Fanie]

XP - too many different types of softwares used, I doubt other opp syst can interface them. If there was a replacement, probably 50% of all windows users will switch over tonight.

[masalai]

Fanie, stop talking "chicken".... download and try it and I guarantee you will be pleased and there is NO CHARGE for non-commercial use.... read some reviews here http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint then read about your fellow countryman /billionare who was the first civilian into space - his baby is Ubuntu, from which mint is derived but does not make it so easy to install all the propriety plugins and codecs for flash and all the myriad other sound and video players / drivers and pdf reader/writer stuff - I can watch DVD's from any region and rip and burn almost anything without those stupid American copyright laws and no cia/fbi access portals....

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=3

[Fanie]

Hi Mas, will look wen I can. I have 300 plastic boxes that has to be milled. I would much rather spend time on the boat eh.

[masalai]

Think of it this way, you are one of the few making money which can be spent on your boat build project - don't waste it on making Bill Gates richer than necessary....

[Mychael]

Masalai. I've sent you a pm. Re: Linux mint.

Mychael

[CGN]

Can you run prosurf? or maxsurf? without crashes? or solidworks?

[marshmat]

Is Mint the way to go, do you think?

I have Debian Etch on the other side of my dual-boot machine... but it doesn't see much use. Getting it set up is a pain- the second monitor doesn't work properly, I have a printer driver but it won't install properly, actually getting to my files partition is a pain.... I know all of that should work in theory, but actually getting it to work as it should requires a lot more patience, time and technical knowledge than I have at present.

Something a little easier to get working would be wonderful. (We have some machines in one of the labs on campus that dual-boot Fedora and XP, and are somehow set up so that your browser settings, emails, etc. and even your desktop are shared between the OSes. I have no idea how that is set up but I would love to find out.)

[masalai]

What is your video card - if nvidia then Mint is the go and the driver must be installed- set up whilst you are in "administrator mode" - find a local Linux (debian/ubuntu/mint) usergroup to help you through... uninstall the dual-boot and debian etch first or have a clean windows install if you insist on retaining windows original and mint should auto set up a dual boot during the install process.. Some applications make direct calls to the cpu. this is not allowed in Linux so may not work....

If you have enough RAM and installed the driver for your graphics chipset and the above run in win 97 / XP then wine should do it - I run http://freeship-plus.pisem.su/indexEN.html, then click <support> then <downloads> button on left of screen, I use 2.95+ which is a 3.9Mb self extracting *.exe file... make a directory under /Program Files/ called Freeship , copy the file to that then execute to extract then to run execute the Freeship executable by using the C: drive browser in the meny folder under "wine" then go to the directory... - it can be done with a link but I have forgotten the sequence to call wine then the executable - uses a tild "~" in the sequence....

[marshmat]

find a local Linux (debian/ubuntu/mint) usergroup to help you through

That's the easy part I think The hard part is finding the patience and the time to actually work through it and get things running.