[Gllug] Err, if parted fails to resize an XP partition, can one do it within XP with some system tool?]

[M.Blackmore]

On Sat, 2008-05-17 at 16:01 +0100, James Holland wrote:

> 
> I don't know if its just later versions of diskpart, but if you type
> HELP there is an option called shrink.


I sidestepped the problem using a magazine Xandros trial disk - resized
without a hitch. 

Anyone any ideas why it should work - and not debianoids, suse,
mandriva....? Apart from a vague memory that it uses something else or
has some sort of ntfs cross licence with MS. 

I'll have a look and play with it over the next few weeks as never
looked at one of these distributions going for the MS market
substitution. Wasn't there another one called Lindows that had to change
its name doing the same thing some years back before I retired sick?
Can't remember what it became due to some ludicrous court case about
people getting confused between windows and lindows ferkrissake - as it
if wasn't crashingly obvious to even the most technologically illiterate
that it was a satirical and rather witty name and not any sort of intent
to mislead the public! Every untechnical customer I had before my
enforced retirement who'd ever heard of linux always gave a little smile
when I mentioned "Lindows" even 5 or 6 years back!

Anyone have any idea where I can get a dodgy licence number cracker from
for Xandros? It's been something like 13 years since I did anything of
that nature, no idea where to start looking nowadays. Off list please! 

This is due to that I doubt I will have time to play with this Xanrdos
within the month, what with school hols, going away for a bit on rather
sad family business, my limited energies taken up working with builder
on finishing off house foundation repairs from last year (I have a
neurodegenerative disorder which means I'm basically immobilised much of
the colder months of the year, alas). 

It looks on first glance ideal for my wife to use for home working, as
she uses XP at work and has had MS Office/Open Office spreadsheet
problems, but I refuse point blank to let her use XP connected to the
internet (and the kids for games too) having had so much grief with it
back in err 2002?? Just got around to installing a copy for my daughter
to run the Sims and Sim Cities Societies and Dogz... but disabled the
network card in XP and removed the driver from the disk so she can't put
it back into operation! 

My 5 year old is quite happy with an 866mhz Windows 98 box with a
staggering 512mb of ram it has inherited over the years, going strong
from 1998 with 90s era games (and a spare box in the loft in case the
old one flakes out)! What more does a 5 year old need?

Meanwhile I ought to find out what Lindows became and see if they do an
evaluation version - this sort of MS lookalike market niche might be the
way ahead to stop the wife whining about desktops changing all the time
between home and work and document incompatibilities, tho' she does
understand that's all MS's fault for fiddling with formats to lock in
people, it still doesn't solve the problem. They've just wasted
thousands at her (poverty-stricken kids pre school education social
change work) charity upgrading all the computers to a later version of
Office, putting in more ram, buying in new kit where old W98 stuff
didn't have a hope of upgrading to XP. 

Its heartbreaking but I'm getting nowhere with the director or trustees
on the open source front, some larcenous computer company has got them
well and truly by the genitals with a mole wrench and is selling this
and that upgrade - I'm waiting for the big Vista push replacing the
entire hardware inventory. 

Then I'm really thinking of raising things with the charity audit
commission, I really am. 

29 out of 30 would be doing fine on Windows 3.11 or New Deal - the
latter a tragically underestimated x86 operating system with a good gui
for its day and much better performance than windows 3.11 -  from '93 or
so. 

Much less "needing" Vista given the utter basics all of the do and need!
The one odd sod should be using a Mac for publishing work if the Gimp
won't do, at least she's got an excuse for an expensive bit of kit to
make life easier interchanging graphics works with illustrators and so
forth for publications. Err, whats the open source DTP beginning with
"S"'s name? Its just flipped out of my head. How advanced is it - is it
up to full colour and photo setting for publications that have to look
slick and professional? I can't remember what they are using on a PC,
but I gather they do still get grief interchanging with Mac using
outsiders.

Oh dear, opiate driven ramble again. I tend to do this twice a day
during the initial rush of the painkillers that keep me going :-(
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