[Ryedale] Good Evening all!!!!!

[Al Girling]

Paul wrote:
> Hi Al,

--%<-- 

> Well I'm not the Paul you mentioned, so I guess I must be. I could
> change my name if that'd make things easier ;-)

I don't think you need to change your name on our account, though with
the number of Pauls we seem to be attracting a certain Pythonesk 'so
your name's Algernon.  That's goin' ta cause a little confusion!  Mind
if we call you Paul?' did cross my mind. ;)

While on the subject of names.  Melchizedek is a goodun.  Is that an Old
Testament reference, Drunvalo Melchizedek, The Alchemist or simply your
real name?

> >Hmm, for most people this would be one of the primary attractions of
> >using Linux.  Maybe I've miss-understood you.
> 
> Actually, and perhaps I'm in the minority, but I've never had much of
> a problem with windows and I've been using it since the 3.1 days. I
> find XP the best of the bunch and since I've been using it I don't
> think it's crashed on me once.

Well done.  I suspect much of that is down to careful updates etc.

>                                My reason for using Linux is simply a
> matter of firstly cash...I'm skint...and secondly because I miss the
> days when computers were actually computers. You had to work them like
> computers, mess about with code...and such like.

...and nothing wrong with that either.  Alison became dissolusioned
with the introduction of Win95 and has only really shown any interest
since XP came along.  She certainly misses being able to head for the CL
and whip up a batch file or other wise do things that now involves
inordinate amounts of mouse clicking.

While I tried to encourage her to look at FOSS I think she's lost the
will through dealing with helldesk requests of a 'the worlds going to
end my icons have moved three inches across the screen' nature.

--%<-- 

> >I'm possibly the only one here who doesn't use a Microsoft machine
> >and my use probably differs only in my not playing games.  Oh yeah!
> >I don't have a scanner set up as the scanner we have here simply
> >isn't properly supported under Linux.  When the cash becomes
> >available I'll sort that out but it's not really a high priority.
> 
> Yeah, I do play games, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm
> always going to need a small partition for Windows somewhere on my
> machine for that purpose.

Fair enough, I hope I've reinforced the idea that this group doesn't
punish those who use Windows. :)

> >Let's just say that despite it being an AMD64 based system the
> >install was pretty straight forward.
> 
> I was toying with the idea of buying a new 64 bit proc and board, but
> was put off slightly by the seeming lack of software support for both
> Windows and Linux. Most of the people I know who've made the upgrade
> are still running 32 bit software...which seems to make the whole
> thing a bit pointless to me. So I'm holding off for the time being at
> least.

I took the opposite approach.  I too have bugger all money, so when my
trusty old P166 became less than trusty and time to get another machine
loomed I thought I'd go with best CPU/MB I could afford and upgrade
other bits as and when.  Debian offers a 64bit OS and I use a chroot to
run those apps not yet available as native 64bit.  Works pretty
seamlessly, although there are some annoying things such as Firefox
works but there's no Flash for 64bit.  Well, not the last time I looked
anyway.

> >Can little bugs be ironed out?  I'd say within limits yes.  Bare in
> >mind though that not every Windows install is as smooth as some would
> >like you to believe.  Alison who works in IT support at York Council
> >says they buy new machines specifying the components to ensure
> >minimal hoop jumping too.  This using MS, if you see what I'm getting
> >at.
> 
> I do indeed. The main problems I have are with sound. I'm only running
> generic drivers for my Soundblaster card, so perhaps a driver update
> would help. But the information on how or whether I should do this
> differs so widely it's sometimes hard to know what to try first since
> some supposed solutions leave your system in one hell of a mess.

Perhaps you'd like to start a thread giving the details of your sound
problem and the specifics of your card model.

You never know, the answers you need may well be here.

Toodle pip,

Al

-- 
Al Girling

Home page:                  <http://al.sdf-eu.org>
Linux User: #290080         <http://counter.li.org>
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