ral

Ramfree17: Actually, the P800 is a better phone feature wise, but I would have to get a higher plan... it is probably good though since it is also out of stock :( Altough I think that if you were getting at that range I would go for the Nokia 3650. Have to disagree on the speed though, the P800 they had for demo was really slow. The Nokia 3650 is pretty fast and has great features. Have not found it slow so far... booting takes a few seconds (less than 10) after that it works pretty much like me older phones. Navigating through the menu's is instantaneous. If you use a Palm though, I would not get one of these. I don't think the two will interface too well (different OS). It was designed to interface with MS Outlook. A copy of Outlook 2000 is included with the phone... but I need to run it on Linux. Personally, I also would not get another Ericsson. The R310 left a bad taste in the mouth. Put it in my pocket and somehow manage to break it. Got a Siemen's i35 after that. Take a look at the Mokia 3650 though, workd great and supports bluetooth and the 6100 if you want a smaller package. All three are available at the $39 a month plan. Not sure what OD the 3650 uses. We got one two weeks ago and it hanged on us once but otheriwse been perfect. Still keepin my fingers crossed with the HTC... worried it might bluecreen... lol Paul: Its an HTC unit. My one major reservation is that these things look fragile. The good thing is that thy give them for free imagine that, free MS software...lol) Now what we really need is a Linux Smart phone. Being practical I am sure that would have an armored water resistant case (sorry I am on the filed a lot so I am particular about this). Imagine what we have to carry around these days. A cel phone, laptop and a Palm. What bother me most is that they are not durable. You need a cary case for each one :( Me I am happy enough with a Celphone, an old fashioned calendar and a notebook since I don't want to carry to many fragile things around. At least I can dump the calendar now. Celphones should be built like my Swiss knife. Eight years in my pocket and nto a scratch on its silver finish.

Dragonmage is right, you need to have one ghost per configuration, but there are ways around that. Basically, you can go to system and device manager and remove the devices not applicable to the current configuration and reboot. Actually my current 98SE install went to an SiS746 mainboard to a KT400, using this technique. One other thing that you can also do is ghost after you install all the programs, but before the drivers... windows plug and play gets rid of most of the junk. "Newer XP already have SP1 built in, because well.. without SP1, XP just don't plain work, too buggy." Yup, we got some of those lately, it came out just before the price icnrease :( Alotugh I think its normal for them to do this. Our Wn2K's have SP2 on the installer. I think SP1 was released a very short time after XP was released. But if you have an XP without SP1 (older copies), installing SP1 is a nightmare and a half. There are horror stories out there of people having problems with XP with NForce2 MB because they don't install SP1 and patches in the right way or what.." I don't know install the patch is a simple double click, but I guess some people have problems with it. I did notice though that it is best to install SP1 in a new install rather than to upgrade an old one. Ramfree17: No problems on the MBR. EPoX boards are not the stablest platforms in the world though. Plenty of overclocking options but sometimes very hard to please.

Thanks for the tip but the check in all language option is unchecked. :(

Basically, its with the spell checker. When I spell a word wrong and right click it to correct it, my hard drive start running like crazy and it takes 10-20 seconds before it stops. While its doing this it feels like the PC is about to hang and everything on screen is unresponsive. Any idea why?

I picked up one of those Microsoft Smart Phones today (well, they had it on promo so I got the Phone free with a $26 a month plan). The Phone came with a copy of Microsoft Active Sync and Outlook 2000. I would have preferred a Linux Smart phone, but anyway... This Phone can sync its calendar with MS Outlooks calendar. Any chance that I could sync it with Evolution instead? Not a phone person myself... so basically I keep them till they die so I have not gotten one in several years. Never thought I would see MS software bundled with a cel phone. There is even a COE sticker with it.

"Maybe we will have some up2date clone in the making provided by 3rd party or community as low cost solutions." It exists, AptGet+Synaptic, well almost. The problem here is more of accpetance. No one get fired for buying Microsoft. No get fired when you put in an MS patch and it messes things up (altough you should test any patch pefore deploying it). Testing could take a few days to a month. Now getting stuff from somewhere that has no accoutability to you. Me I know it works, the Linux community is made up of reponsible group of persons. The hard part is convincing a CEO that its safe. Deployment thorugh a network is also an issue, but that I am pretty sure can be fixed. "unlike on desktop where you simply downgrade or find another app when the one you are using is not working" You will take several months of testing before deploying a new desktop OS. Lets say 2-6 months. By the time that you do, you got 6-10 months left of RH support and 10-16 months of Mandrake support. Than you go through the cycle again. Hhhhmmm... who want to do that. If you deployed Windows 2000 back in 2000 (or even late in 1999), you would not have ot worry about replacing it till 2007 or 2008. After all, XP does not really work better. Also Deploying it to the 150 or so machines at the University is time consuming. "It's more crucial when you have to support server operations which needs constant maintenance" Its problematic when the OS your using is about to be EOL'ed and the hardware companies have not release drivers for the newer distro yet. Come on Promise, release some RH8 drivers (actually found a third party fix for this... but Raid 0/1 only), but its hard to convince even IT people that it works when you go to the official site and they say it does not. Besides, RAID 5 is what people want these days. Maybe Mandrake is reading in on this, I am not asking for a freebie: Price: $40 to $100. EOL should be 3 to 5 years. No need to provide email and telephone support. This who want that can pay extra. The great thing about Linux is that you probably never have to reinstall.... so you can deploy it once and have it running for 3-5 years till it EOL's, but if you EOL it in 12-18 months thats a problem... than it becomes a bit like Windows (which properly used should last more than a year... altough in a public environment, reisntall need ot be done more often).

"ral, do I understand correctly that the highpoint drivers only work for standard (stock) RH versions? What if RH users recompile their kernel for some reason? If you can't recompile the highpoint drivers, I don't see the point to have them at all. Stay clear of HPT. If you can, you can use them on Mdk too. " I am not really sure. We have one motherboard with built in highpoint raid controllers... lemme try it out. "I think you tried to convert things very fast, understandable it didn't go smoothly, but still a pain that you didn't get what you wanted from linux in the end..." In the Univesity, yes, way too fast. But, now deployment is starting again but in a phased manner. The new RedHat support policies are a problem so we may have to consider deploying the Linux Enterprise products on the servers, but this is unlikely. Why, becuase the move was being made to save money. Most likely, the "free" version will continue to be used even past there end of life, which could lead to security issues. In the shop we did tests we too on a few machines. I would deploy a few now and see how it goes if we could get our timekeeping software (locks the machines and keeps track of usage) to work on it. ---------------- I guess my fear is that we will invest a lot of time and effort in making the move, and in the end using Linux will not be free anymore. Of course we could move on to some other distro... but if have to do all that, well in the ends Windows does not cost that much either. But like I said, the problem is the consumers and matbe the disto makers too. Most consumers move to lower cost, distro makers need to earn a living. I know a lot say costs savings is not a "good" reason to move to Linux. In the Univesity and the Shop it would be the only reason to move to Linux. On my desktop, cost has nothig to do with it. I enjey learning new things, so Windows got boring after awhile. I think another reason why costs is different here and lets say in the US, is the US is that in the US, Microsoft pushes Licesing 6 and Open Value. Here Microsoft is liberal with cheap OEM licenses (can be bought with any hardware nto necesarily a new PC)and now launched Open License (equivalent to OEM pricing). In the end, Microsoft is more sensitive to local conditions (i.e. we earn less) than Linux distros. The cost of 10 RedHat enterprise Workstation is twice the cost of a Windows 2000 server with 10 client access license, here at least. Over three years its seven times the cost. Now MS support costs a lot (and OEM copies dont have any), but after 7 years in business we never really had need for it. It just works. With Linux, some things dont work and we don't have the ability to fix them ourselves, hence we would need support. If all you need are patches and updates, MS does not charge you for that. Pay thel ciene fee and you get patches for 5 years. Linux gives the software for free and is now tryign to charge for the "patches".

Cool, Highpoint has RedHat 8 raid drivers (0/1). Wonder who the Highpoint distributor is over here. No Mandrake drivers though... but Highpoint never releases Mandrake drivers :(

We use Norton Ghost to back up the install for our Win95/98/2K machines. Installation can be had in less than an hour. Comes bundles with theEpox boards so no additional cost :)

Well, we install Windows regulary were kind of used to it (1.5 hours with all the apps we use). Install XP w/ updates (well SP1 anyway ) is insalled automatically (I think the term is slipstream)... XP than updates itself on the net. Drivers... Office.. Mozilla... a few other apps are insalled. All settings are kept in a zip file (including Mozilla's settings, Windows settings...etc) Than were done. Linux is easy too install too.

Did we jump the gun too quickly... yes and no. We began looking at Linux only 3rd and 4th quarter of last year. This year the trend seems to be Linux will cost more. Less will be given free. So we were actually a little "late". RedHat is going that route. Decapitate the lower end products by cutting their life and offer higher ticket items ("Linux Enterpirse"). Mandrake, I am not sure yet. So when you are nto sure... well you maintain the status quo. I love Linux guys, but business is business. Some products (relevant to us are raid controllers)... only run on RedHat 7.2 or 7.3. &.2 support is now over. 7.3 end at the end of this year (and so does 9). By the time support for 9 is out... well its near EOL too. RedHat solution: Linux Enterprise Servers Ours: Software Raid or Win2K. But like I said, the fault is the consumer. For my personal box I left Windows for reasons other than cost, I liked it better though I still have a Win98 partition for my games). For the shop, I am only going Linux if it will save money. I will wait and see what RedHat and Mandrake do next. Microsft launched as very friendly Open License scheme here. "BTW I disagree that you have to pay more and more. You don't. At least, I don't." For myself, the shop, well I bought a copy of RH8 personal... I should spend some money on Mandrake too... when 9.1 gets here... I owe them that much. But I keep wondering if the freebies are going to end soon...

Very funny RAMFREE17. Well, like Ramfree17 said, we are committed. Its just not been recieved well by the students. I don' know how the other Colleges are doing. But Mandrake won out over RedHat for the desktop.

Mandrakeclub no. Thats fine. More like RedHat $178 a year Advance Workstation. "I just got here thinking: hey, RAL is back" Was just busy in a few overclocking forums the past few weeks.

Sounds like a good idea: http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=3431 Especailly cleaning up the file systems and installation routine.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-257518.html?...=cnet&tag=mn_hd While reading this... I was wondering was he only talking about MS or some Linux companies too. Sorry about all those posts today, been catching up on linux news :)

Because its free. I think for the home user Linux is really pretty much free. Like you said, a little time and effort. While updates are increasignle becoming a paid for commodity, going around this is pretty easy. In the corporate environment, it not since your nto going to be allowed to deploy anything w/o "official support" and automation is more important.

Just read this article: "Will companies make wholesale moves to other platforms? It is still early to make that judgment, according to Park. "I haven't seen any mass defections yet," he said. But Microsoft's licensing gaffe has caused enterprises to begin looking at the competition and performing cost analyses on whether it would be beneficial to move to alternate products, Park said. "That type of movement, if it occurs, is just now beginning," he noted. "It will be important to watch in the next two years how many [companies] move to alternative-source or open-source platforms." x x x "Ultimately, Microsoft's best friend is corporate inertia. IT departments that want to ditch Microsoft will have to make a strong case to executives that replacement costs will be recouped in a timely manner. If they fail to do so, companies are likely to pay the extra licensing charges and stay the course with Microsoft." http://linuxtoday.com/it_management/200304...042902526NWMSLL Watching our painful Linux migration process at the UP College of Law where the decision has been to deploy RedHat 7.3 on servers/workstations and Mandrake 9 or 9.1 on desktops, I think some Linux developers jumped the gun too quickly. Migration costs money and now Linux is starting to costs more too (i.e RedHat). When looking at Unix options, Linux is clearly cheaper. When looking at Windows options, it would take several years to recoup the cost. With Windows you pay for the software and support. With RedHat Linux you pay for the updates and support. If not for Mandrake, this whole migration might be in jeopardy. Anyway 50% of the machines had Linux installed by February 2003. But all the desktops are now back to Windows with a slower migration process on desktops planned (to Mandrake 9 or 9.1). Looking at things as a whole, I think a Linux, MS Windows and StarOffice combination might be the most cost effective approach. At our Internet Cafe, we just opted to invest in WinXP and use OpenOffice. Our time keeping software does not run on Linux and the cost of porting it was too high. Retraining staff would consume time. Also with the trend appearing that Linux will cost more over time. And frankly :( the clients don't like it (can't blame them... born on MS...). On the MS side, they have intorduced new scheme like Open Value and Open license which make things cheaper (or at least spread otu the costs). Still we are derving great benefits from OpenSource. RedHat 9 still powers my desktop PC, Mandrake 9 resides in our ECS Desknote (kind of like a lap top) and RedHat 7.3 in our one of our servers. Switching to the Mozilla browser made our Windows PC's more resistant to malware and OpenOffice is now used in 70% of our PC's. I than came to realize, the problem was not really Linux, but the consumers. Going to Linux for many of us is a cost reduction process. So we are willing to pay very little for Linux. On the other had Linux companies have employees who do need to earn a living too so how long can they keep giving things for free. It may be ironic, but Linux best contribtuion may not be to replace MS but to keep MS in check. And that might not be a bad thing at all.

Thanks for the info DOlson. Someone has been asking to trade his RTCW GOTY with my tin box RTCW. Gonna make the trade now :) Sorry for the post... I missed the part on free downloadable games. No need to download. Its on the CD's. TUX RACER RULZ

Return to Castle Wolfenstien You need to buy the Windows version and get the Linux Installer at idSoftware. Drawback is you need to copy some files from a Windows install.

Save money on Windows but pay for MS Office + Codeweavers...hhhmmmm. I have been using OpenOffice for some time. If you use Linux I think might as well just stick it out with OOo too, unless you really use Powerpoint a lot.

Using an EPoX 8K9A myself. Pretty happy with it and it is pretty cheap at $70.

Makes me wonder if the change in RH numbering (no moe .1's .2's .3's) is a signal that they may just be releasing a single version per year... I really would not mind. After having gone from ML8.2 to ML9 to RH8 to RH9 (and trying to find a copy of ML9.1 so I have one more to go this year)... I owuld not mind sticking with one (RH9 or ML9.1) for at lest one year.

I don't know. Is it just mandrake. RedHat 9 has 38 updates so far. Maybe the six month release cycle is just too short to do proper testing.

"The annoying thing is that when I do a search for it on google - ther seem to be mostly german sites with porn popups - there are only so many times I can tell my wife that I'm only looking for game cheats before she starts to disbelieve me..." I was searching for software once and when I went to the site, a advertisement pictue of a half-naked Asian girl displayed on the right side of the page. Just at this time, my girlfriend came up behind me (I think to give me a hug)... she saw the pic... left the room and slammed the door. :shock: I took some convincing to get her to look at the site and show that I was there for legitimate purposes. :roll:

'but then what about dolphin, a lot can be said about a dolphin but cummon, who wants their linux distro named after a 'fish'" ...the ones that use a distro symobolized by a Penguin? :D Cannon: Well RedHat tends to be more conservative in its packaging and features. Mandrake tends to give you the latest and has more innovative features. But I really think it all boils down to support.