Vista OS users - your $.02

[kommissar]

Vista, XP, and Linux

I would say avoid Vista like the plague. Out of curiosity I have been running Vista in a virtual machine (a self-contained environment that behaves as if it is a separate computer - like a computer in your computer) and I do not like Vista at all. The nice thing about the virtual machine is that I was able to test Vista out before actually installing the OS. Now that I know that it sucks, I can just delete it as if it never existed. The reasons why I dislike Vista so much have already been mentioned in this thread, but I reiterate, why upgrade to Vista when XP is finally becoming stable?

If anyone else is interested in doing this, VMware virtualization software is free (download link).

As far as I know, Xandros is the most familiar for Windows users (other than Linspire, which is essentially a box of aids.) Xandros can read and write to NTFS also, which not many distro's can do right now.

I recommend Ubuntu Linux for the absolute beginner - really simple to use with TONS of documentation.

Ubuntu Linux can also read/write to NTFS file systems with little configuration as well. I have been using the same ntfs-3g driver that all Linux distributions use to support NTFS reading/writing and it has been working correctly for a month or two now.

[HST]

It f'ing sucks!!! I worked on a person's new laptop, HP, and it was freaking slow as crap. DO NOT GET IT.

[Tvan]

I recommend Ubuntu Linux for the absolute beginner - really simple to use with TONS of documentation.

Ubuntu Linux can also read/write to NTFS file systems with little configuration as well. I have been using the same ntfs-3g driver that all Linux distributions use to support NTFS reading/writing and it has been working correctly for a month or two now.

Ubuntu is starting to get pretty limited. I'm also going with PCLinuxOS for my install because I'm not a big fan of Gnome, and the apps for KDE are a lot better anyways. I don't really need to read/write to NTFS because I'm doing this on a separate computer, so I won't need to access files from other partitions.

[kommissar]

Ubuntu is starting to get pretty limited. I'm also going with PCLinuxOS for my install because I'm not a big fan of Gnome, and the apps for KDE are a lot better anyways. I don't really need to read/write to NTFS because I'm doing this on a separate computer, so I won't need to access files from other partitions.

Don't waste your time re-formatting your hard drive and installing a whole new distribution just to get KDE and its applications!

Simply go to a terminal window and enter the following to install the KDE desktop:

 sudo aptitude install kubuntu-desktop

Kubuntu-desktop is a meta package that will drag in KDE and all its dependencies and install them for you. You can choose at the login screen whether to log into KDE or Gnome. You can even completely uninstall Gnome later if you want.

Ubuntu may seem restricted when you first install it, but one of the nice things about Linux in general is that software can be compiled to run using any distribution because they are all really the same thing, just configured slightly differently. Furthermore, in most cases, the packages are already built and you don't have to compile anything yourself. Perhaps you don't see some of the software because you did not yet add the extra repositories?

[Tvan]

Don't waste your time re-formatting your hard drive and installing a whole new distribution just to get KDE and its applications!

Simply go to a terminal window and enter the following to install the KDE desktop:

 sudo aptitude install kubuntu-desktop

Kubuntu-desktop is a meta package that will drag in KDE and all its dependencies and install them for you. You can choose at the login screen whether to log into KDE or Gnome. You can even completely uninstall Gnome later if you want.

Ubuntu may seem restricted when you first install it, but one of the nice things about Linux in general is that software can be compiled to run using any distribution because they are all really the same thing, just configured slightly differently. Furthermore, in most cases, the packages are already built and you don't have to compile anything yourself. Perhaps you don't see some of the software because you did not yet add the extra repositories?

If I had ubuntu installed already, I would do this. Since I don't have anything installed yet, I'm just checking out all of my options.

[Axxe]

The only thing I own that says Vista on it (or said) is my Samsung 226BW, said it's "vista ready" on the box ;). 22" of 2ms 3000:1 splendor :D

[Addissimo]

fuck vista in the diseased waffleswaffleswaffleswaffles.

I'm back to xp for sure.

I wish i had a spare copy for my girlfriend to use on her hp that came pre-loaded with vista. It causes more problems than it is worth.