Vista Ultimate is Brilliant !!!!!!

You should have kept the new PC and loaded WindowsXP and/or Linux on it. Sounds like a good deal on all that nice hardware for the timeframe it was purchased.

To install programs on Linux, you have to read a webpage or two. For whatever reason, this is too hard a task for some people. But whatev, can't argue with people who can't learn.

 

That machine ought to rock on Linux. You might try one of the "live" Ubuntu Linux distributions, it comes with Gparted which helps you shrink your Windows partition to make room for Linux, and the Synaptics tool makes it drop-dead easy to install and remove software (there's also an "Install/Remove" item in the menus, and the apt-get method Adderall mentioned). Mepis is also a good starter distribution of Linux, and ZenWalk just about installs itself. If you don't mind a little reading and want something that will teach you a lot about Linux as you use it, Arch is da bomb. I'm running Fluxbox window manager, xscreensaver,audacious (music player), and Firefox2 right now, and using less than 200 Mb RAM. Use Gnome instead of Fluxbox and you can add about 100 MB to that, but you have a friendly desktop, the compositing add-on has some neat effects if you like that sort of thing.

It's like going from a PC to a Mac, Linux does things a bit differently but it's really no more difficult. I put Windows XP back on a laptop for my wife to use temporarily, and it took longer than installing Ubuntu and the update was much slower. Finally got around to putting a more slimmed-down Linux on it (Arch) and she said the difference in speed was like getting a newer computer.

Read a bit on disk partitioning first, and then give Ubuntu a shot. A main difference is when installing, READ the stuff that pops up on your screen, don't just go clicking boxes.

It's so easy a caveman could ... naw, I won't go there.

You just have to back up your data and - bite the bullet.

 

I run 2gb 667mhz ram/1.6ghz dualcore AMD Turion, and it works fine for me. Also looks like the Nvidia graphics driver problem (the biggest problem for me) is slowly getting worked out, now I can play BF2 without a problem... (low graphics though, I only have a 128mb integrated card)

I still know Vista is just XP that looks better and has more problems, but I think it's a fair trade off now that the bugs are mostly fixed. I haven't had any bad problems, just that it wasn't running games that fast when I had 1gb ram.

 

Running Vista all depends if your operating 32bit or 64bit versions.
The more RAM you have the better, however if running 32bit you are subject to only having about 2GB of RAM being addressed and no more, so it's completely pointless installing more RAM on a 32bit system. All this applied before Vista SP1 but after this it can now read a tiny bit more. If running a 64bit version, this is not an issue, but is thwart with driver and software issues, but much better.

Most choose 32bit due to having old games and software they wish to continue with, but there is no point installing any more RAM than 4GB (plenty for most of us). Windows Vista will use around 1GB just on it's own and therefore you need 2 to 4GB of RAM, to safe-guard your PC for a few years ahead. Systems now come with 4GB as standard and up to 8GB (servers, etc). Only having 1GB with Vista is quite poor actually.

 

" Vista ultimate is brilliant"
Opinions are like assholes .. everyone has one.. and they mostly produce the same stuff.
I should know.. i'm full of opinions.

 

Vista is the most buggy OS since windows 98. They released it WAY to early. Any beta tester you talk to will say that.

The best performing, most versatile, and most stable operating system is a stripped down, optimized, Windows XP SP3.

Case closed.

 

Well I do agree that the OS you run on your computer is your preference. I personally gave up on winblows 6 yrs ago, got sick of it crashing all the time, all the viruses/spyware, no matter how often I updated my AV program, I still managed to get a few of those damn viruses and spybots. Just one headache after another.
I finally quit windows when I simply ADDED a cd burner to my system, I didnt swap my HDD or mobo or anything, just added a new cd burner..... booted it up, got a blue screen telling me to RE REGISTER just because I added a cheap lil rom burner!... I hit the reset button after that, selected linux whn my boot loader came up, DELETED my windows partition and never looked back.. not once. making me re register oner a damn cd burner is bad policy.. "sorry your not allowd to upgrade your hardware with windows!" I called up MS and gave them a major earfull over that. at that time I had been experimenting with linux, had a dual boot set up and found that I like linux a whole lot better, no viruses, no av program to slow you down, and the OS itself was about 4x faster, NEVER crashed.. total bliss.... I have been windows free for over 6 yrs now and couldnt be happier. Ubuntu is verry easy to install, as long as you know a lil bit about video drivers(I have nvidia) intel is no problem, its automatically set up, but nvidia is a lil more complicated. then theres the "compile it all from source" distros like gentoo, definately not for the noob... but ubuntu is easyer to install and set up than windows. besides.. linux does what I need and then some... I doubt ill ever use winhell again. last time I used it was abut 2 weeks ago when I bought my new laptop from a frind of mine, only used it once and I hated it, I haven used windows in so long I forgot how to use the damn thing.. LOL only thing I did in windows was check to see waht PCI adress the video card was at so I could set it up properly in linux. then shut it down, installed linux, and EVERYTHING, even the wireless card worked out of the box!!! I was sooo happy! not to mention the 5x speed boost over windows! that made me even happier. this thing boots in TEN SECONDS!!! took about 3 min with windows .

My current system is a dell c840 laptop
1.6Ghz p4m
512MB ram
160GB hard drive
DVD burner
wireless network
nViDIA geforce4 mx440 32MB video card(thats not shared memory)
OS: KUBUNTU 7.10
and the best thing: the LCD's native resolution is 1600x1200 SWEEEEEEEEET!!! thats a lot for a 15" LCD!
and it all works in linux without a single hiccup

Im not a big gamer so giving up windows was easy for me. I mainly use my computer for internet/jukebox so linux fits the bill perfectly. Only thing I dont like about this computer is the sound card has horrible dynamic range and weak outputs. but thats just my opinion (golden audiophile ears here.LOL) Ima invest in a SB xfi pcmcia card for this thing to fix that.

So thats my story of how I came to love linux and will never use another MS product again.

peace!

 

Im going to second that my freind,, VISTA<<<< SUCKS!!!!!

the OS should be called GOTCHA, cause its a mess.. I have never in my life had so many problems, Running XP on my desktop, but Im affraid to blow off this VAIO and reinstall a XP OS> not that versed in puters.

 

yes, downgrading to xp with newer laptops can prove to be quite trickey. mainly if you have a SATA hard drive. xp does not natively have SATA drivers in it, so windows wont recognize that you have a hard drive. you can either slip stream the manufacturers driver (if they even support xp drivers for that system) into the xp cd, or use F6 with a floppy drive. after that its just a matter of drivers and time, but most definately worth it.

 

I found this usefull in downgrading to XP.

http://www.zhangduo.com/udi.html

In linux I found out I could also type

lspci

which was really usefull because xp didn't natively support my ethernet card or my wireless card.

 

lspci is a great tool.

Vista needs something like lspci... but we prob wouldnt use it anyway.