The Energon Pub

Man I know the place I work for(aparently I data distribute my field photography, OK?), where to find boobs, and here.

Before I got a job working with a laptop, I never gave a crap about the internet, and truth be told, outside of my paycheck, I still don't.

You guys are crazy with these here do-dads and whosie-whats-its, I leave you to them!

TheMuffin wrote:I'm just happy to see another quad user on here.

I wasn't until a couple weeks ago. I am now though.

http://www.shadoweb.net/enigma/3717.jpg

I've never used a Mac before, and this is the first time I've really used a computer OS thats not Windows, so I'm still trying to get used to how a Linux based OS works, I'm loving the command line though, its great just to copy and paste commands into it from the net and just sit back as the program you want installs

And its nice not to worry bout virus's and stuff like that too much, though i do believe there are some Linux virus's out there.

Powersurge wrote:And its nice not to worry bout virus's and stuff like that too much, though i do believe there are some Linux virus's out there.

Viruses.. not so much. There are a lot of vulnerabilities that give people root access though, keep everything locked down from the outside world except what you need and make sure that is completely updated.

I'm a SANS trained security coordinator in my current job, most of what we see are Windows infections, but the Linux boxen and Macs that get hit... well they get hit HARD.

http://www.sans.org/top20/#s3

I use Mac OS X 10.4

Shadow Dragon wrote:

Powersurge wrote:And its nice not to worry bout virus's and stuff like that too much, though i do believe there are some Linux virus's out there.

Viruses.. not so much. There are a lot of vulnerabilities that give people root access though, keep everything locked down from the outside world except what you need and make sure that is completely updated.

I'm a SANS trained security coordinator in my current job, most of what we see are Windows infections, but the Linux boxen and Macs that get hit... well they get hit HARD.

http://www.sans.org/top20/#s3

Yeah I've heard about some "back door" weaknesses, but I've got a Linux firewall installed, and have done many tests using shieldsup.com, and have followed instructions to close the back doors, so i hope I'm all ok for now!

I have a Dell Dimension 4100, eMachine 566i2 and Toshiba Satellite A215-S5808 all running XP.

The Dell and the e both had ME (which is 110% unstable and unreliable) and XP made them operate like they were given a new start.

The Toshiba came with Vista Home Premium (with Media Center, which rocks hardcore.) and I tried it. There were quite a few things I liked about it (such as the wireless connectivity management, the private/public networking settings and the security. Not to mention...Aero. I loved the whole 3-D effect and window flipping...sooo sweet.)

However, it just bogged the laptop down and I couldn't uninstall anything (I did try and it just wouldn't work.) and too many things I couldn't figure out. (I admit, I could've studied it a bit more, but I was in over my head. Waaaay over my head.) Then, to top it all off...Vista would shut programs down, minimize windows and crash. (I counted about seven crashes...which surprised me.)

Plus with Vista's battery saving feature, the screen will shut down without warning. (Hadn't happened to me, thankfully, but to many others it did. Fortunately it was a software thing, not a hardware thing.)

I downgraded to XP and the machine flies like a rocket. Just moves like crazy and not a single crash. The screen works as it should and I love the crap out of it.

Maybe in time I'll give Vista another chance (Sooner or later we're all going to have to upgrade as XP will become obsolete and unsupported...) but for right now, I'm going to stick with XP.

I will say this...Vista shows a lot of promise. If they could just fix all the crashes and little quirks here and there...I think it could be a great OS.

The only problem is, my MCE remote won't work in XP because the HP Media Buddy Blaster USB IR sensor won't run in XP at all. It won't even find drivers because Microsoft includes them in XP Pro and MCE editions and if your's doesn't work with their INFs....you're screwed.

Fortunately, the wireless mouse and keyboard I bought does the same thing as the remote, so I find it to be no big loss. (It was nice to have in one self contained unit though...)

I also tried Linspire (Linux made to look and feel like Windows) and while I liked it, it was over my head too and I couldn't get it figured out either. I will say it was super stable and easily configured to my wireless router. Ran like a dream.

I'm not normally a fan of Gibson as he is a good talker but that's about it. But as long as you have the services mentioned in the SANS vulnerability report blocked you'll be fairly safe.

Autobot032 wrote:The Dell and the e both had ME (which is 110% unstable and unreliable)

You're being far too generous with that POS OS.

Shadow Dragon wrote:I'm not normally a fan of Gibson as he is a good talker but that's about it. But as long as you have the services mentioned in the SANS vulnerability report blocked you'll be fairly safe.

Well i do as much as i can to keep my comp safe, i use common sense, I keep all my programs updated etc, but its really impossible to keep your comp 100% safe, threats are increasing and changing all the time, and new ones are coming out every day!

Its pretty much a given if you own a comp your going to have a problem somewhere along the line, be it from outside threats, or cause of internal conflicts among programs.

Autobot032 wrote:I have a Dell Dimension 4100, eMachine 566i2 and Toshiba Satellite A215-S5808 all running XP.

The Dell and the e both had ME (which is 110% unstable and unreliable) and XP made them operate like they were given a new start.

The Toshiba came with Vista Home Premium (with Media Center, which rocks hardcore.) and I tried it. There were quite a few things I liked about it (such as the wireless connectivity management, the private/public networking settings and the security. Not to mention...Aero. I loved the whole 3-D effect and window flipping...sooo sweet.)

However, it just bogged the laptop down and I couldn't uninstall anything (I did try and it just wouldn't work.) and too many things I couldn't figure out. (I admit, I could've studied it a bit more, but I was in over my head. Waaaay over my head.) Then, to top it all off...Vista would shut programs down, minimize windows and crash. (I counted about seven crashes...which surprised me.)

Plus with Vista's battery saving feature, the screen will shut down without warning. (Hadn't happened to me, thankfully, but to many others it did. Fortunately it was a software thing, not a hardware thing.)

I downgraded to XP and the machine flies like a rocket. Just moves like crazy and not a single crash. The screen works as it should and I love the crap out of it.

Maybe in time I'll give Vista another chance (Sooner or later we're all going to have to upgrade as XP will become obsolete and unsupported...) but for right now, I'm going to stick with XP.

I will say this...Vista shows a lot of promise. If they could just fix all the crashes and little quirks here and there...I think it could be a great OS.

The only problem is, my MCE remote won't work in XP because the HP Media Buddy Blaster USB IR sensor won't run in XP at all. It won't even find drivers because Microsoft includes them in XP Pro and MCE editions and if your's doesn't work with their INFs....you're screwed.

Fortunately, the wireless mouse and keyboard I bought does the same thing as the remote, so I find it to be no big loss. (It was nice to have in one self contained unit though...)

I also tried Linspire (Linux made to look and feel like Windows) and while I liked it, it was over my head too and I couldn't get it figured out either. I will say it was super stable and easily configured to my wireless router. Ran like a dream.

Really? I have Vista Home Basic on my desktop, and it runs like a dream. 1.5GB RAM, 3.2GHz Pentium 4, etc.

The screen thing does happen...it's called "Sleep Mode." My computer does it. Actually, in the Power Settings menu, there's an option to turn that off.

But I've never had any random crashes...

I'll ask Tweezy if he's had the same thing. He runs Vista Home Basic on his Mac. (The Ultimate Battle of Good Versus Evil)

Right now my home-built PC is running WinXP SP2.

Shadowman wrote:.....I'll ask Tweezy if he's had the same thing. He runs Vista Home Basic on his Mac. (The Ultimate Battle of Good Versus Evil)

I didn't even know you could do that, though it just sounds...wrong

Burn wrote:

***Galvatron*** wrote:I'm getting a new computer system in a few months and was still thinking Dell and it looks like there is no choice but to have Vista on it but what don't you like about Vista ?
Thanks Burn.

There isn't really anything I don't like about Vista, except for User Account Control which should be turned off IMMEDIATELY.

The major problems with Vista seems to stem mostly from people using machines too old to run them. And you need to be careful, just because you're getting a new machine doesn't mean it'll have the guts to run it.

Cool, thanks Burn for the advice and to everyone else too!
I'm planning on getting at least a Terabyte of hard drive space, it's the other specs that I'm a little fuzzy on but I think I have most of it understood but I also have my "Borg Queen" friend as I call her in real life as she knows and understands computers inside and out and also uses both Macs and regular PC's. I have another friend who has Vista on his laptop but personally I don't travel too much anymore so I'm getting a desktop model, besides, I got a new desk recently so I need a new pc to go with it lol.
Thanks again for all the advice everyone!

Powersurge wrote:

Shadowman wrote:.....I'll ask Tweezy if he's had the same thing. He runs Vista Home Basic on his Mac. (The Ultimate Battle of Good Versus Evil)

I didn't even know you could do that, though it just sounds...wrong

It's possible, yeah. Macs are now equipped to be able to run Windows. We like to call it "An over-priced Windows PC."

You need a big enough harddrive to be able to hold the OS information for both OS's, then partition it. (Basically turning one big hard drive into two smaller ones, normally used for backups) On the second partition, install whatever OS suits you. I lent Tweezy my Vista disc for that particular task. (Might as well put it to good use, right? When I got my PC, it already had Vista on it)

Shadowman wrote:You need a big enough harddrive to be able to hold the OS information for both OS's, then partition it. (Basically turning one big hard drive into two smaller ones, normally used for backups) On the second partition, install whatever OS suits you. I lent Tweezy my Vista disc for that particular task. (Might as well put it to good use, right? When I got my PC, it already had Vista on it)

Yeah I know about partitions (sorta ), tried it before with XP and Ubuntu, didn't really work though, as i ended up just sticking with Ubuntu as i couldn't be buggered to sort two OS's out at once (I should mention i tried this after my comp crashed and was..stuffed, so i had to reload XP and thought I would give Ubuntu another go)!

I've got Vista Ultimate. I was in no rush to upgrade from XP but I got a really good deal on the OS so I figured I'd take a shot.

I'm on Windows XP...

Powersurge wrote:

Shadowman wrote:.....I'll ask Tweezy if he's had the same thing. He runs Vista Home Basic on his Mac. (The Ultimate Battle of Good Versus Evil)

I didn't even know you could do that, though it just sounds...wrong

It's true! The only real problem I have is that I could only make the partition 32 gb. and still keep it FAT 32. Other than that it works damn fine. I can play games and everything!

I have 2 machines right now. One with XP SP2 and the other Mandriva Linux. When I build my next machine, it's gonna be dualboot.

I might take a look at other Linux distributions sometime, but Ubuntu is working fine for me, though i haven't tried running WINE yet (I have a few old games i would like to play (Dino crisis 2, Resident Evil 3 and Rayman 2), but i didn't think bout that when i went to Linux only!), has anyone had any problems with using WINE, I've heard its the only way a Windows Virus could run on a linux system, but would they even do anything?

If you haven't started using WINE to run your games yet, start doing it now. WINE has made huge advances in recent years and is so close to being oh-so-amazing. It is already pretty amazing considering I can even get Crysis functioning under it to a degree.

And if you're worried about WINE and viruses, my advice is to stop worrying. Not only do a lot of windows viruses not even run under WINE the ones that do run cannot function properly let alone propagate themselves. At the end of the day, WINE is not windows.

Short of downloading some viruses and running them under WINE as root you are not in much danger. Even as root windows viruses will have no end of trouble affecting linux.

I think you'd be hard pressed finding a linux distro with better hardware compatibility than the Ubuntu series. I went off Mandrake a long time ago and Fedora would be my next choice after Kubuntu.

Vista.

well I installed Wine a while ago, and installed Resident Evil 3, but it doesn't run that well, way too slow, but at least i know what to do to install under Wine.

All in all i reckon I'm getting the hang of Ubuntu, still try to do things the way i would of in Windows, still I'm glad i made the full move over.

Making sure you have all the correct drivers for your graphics card can help with the performance of games under WINE.

Of course, having a good graphics card helps too.