- May 18, 2001
- 2,215
- 6
- 81
So, last friday I came home, turned on my PC (Vista U 64-bit) and was welcomed with some user profile server can't load profile error, killing my profile and keeping me from logging in. Due to this and the fact that I have a laptop with Vista HP 32-bit, I decided to wipe out my Vista install on my desktop and replace it with Linux.
I started with PCLinuxOS Minime (wanted to play with all the built-in file/web server stuff, but the live cd wouldn't work), but my wireless card couldn't be configured by PCLinuxOS. I then tried PCLinuxOS 2007, but the live cd wouldn't load. So, I downloaded Ubuntu 8.10.
Well, I got everything installed quickly and easily and started installing various things (Nvidia drivers for my 9600GT, Flash, Wine, Virtualbox). Piece of cake. I know I still have to deal with the fact that I really do need Quicken, Lightroom and the Zune software, and I wanted my HD TV Tuner to be available, but I was willing to forgo that for a moment. I edited an Excel 2007 document with OpenOffice Spreadsheet, which I must say, OpenOffice has come far since I looked at it a while ago, and I got that file shared across my network fairly painlessly. At this point I'm loving the OpenGL desktop acceleration with Compiz and the various nice effects I'm getting. The included Evolution PIM is nice as well.
So at this point it's time to try and get access to those windows apps I need. My idea is to install Vista in a Virtual Machine via Virtualbox and see if I can get access to my apps. I dedicate 2 of 4GBs of memory from my PC to the virtual machine, along with 128mb of video memory. I get Vista installed and am able to get the networking setup so I can get online within the VM, but this is where I hit the wall.
Since there's no real connection to my physical graphics card or TV tuner from within the virtual machine, Vista's somewhat handicapped and I will not be able to use the Media Center application to watch HDTV within Vista. I'm also getting the feeling that even if I install Lightroom in the VM, the colors, the screen resolution and the speed of the application are all going to be a pain vs. using Lightroom on a physical install of Vista.
I briefly thought about setting up a dual boot with Vista and Linux, but I've done that before and eventually I just get rid of Linux because I never find myself wanting to boot into seperate systems. I also thought about using my laptop for these apps, but I'd still miss out on the TV Tuner and I had a problem relegating my expensive, powerful desktop to a fileserver for my laptop when I had to do any photo editing and the like. So, I'm effectively "stuck" with Vista.
I say, "stuck" because I don't see it as a punishment or a hindrence. I've been using Vista since it was in beta and have been perfectly satisfied with it. It hasn't given me any headaches and honestly this is the first time something like this happened to my system. I really just like trying something new and I guess I wanted to use this long post as a sort of kudos to Ubuntu for creating an OS that is painless to setup and would be easy for anybody to use.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
~Trevor
I started with PCLinuxOS Minime (wanted to play with all the built-in file/web server stuff, but the live cd wouldn't work), but my wireless card couldn't be configured by PCLinuxOS. I then tried PCLinuxOS 2007, but the live cd wouldn't load. So, I downloaded Ubuntu 8.10.
Well, I got everything installed quickly and easily and started installing various things (Nvidia drivers for my 9600GT, Flash, Wine, Virtualbox). Piece of cake. I know I still have to deal with the fact that I really do need Quicken, Lightroom and the Zune software, and I wanted my HD TV Tuner to be available, but I was willing to forgo that for a moment. I edited an Excel 2007 document with OpenOffice Spreadsheet, which I must say, OpenOffice has come far since I looked at it a while ago, and I got that file shared across my network fairly painlessly. At this point I'm loving the OpenGL desktop acceleration with Compiz and the various nice effects I'm getting. The included Evolution PIM is nice as well.
So at this point it's time to try and get access to those windows apps I need. My idea is to install Vista in a Virtual Machine via Virtualbox and see if I can get access to my apps. I dedicate 2 of 4GBs of memory from my PC to the virtual machine, along with 128mb of video memory. I get Vista installed and am able to get the networking setup so I can get online within the VM, but this is where I hit the wall.
Since there's no real connection to my physical graphics card or TV tuner from within the virtual machine, Vista's somewhat handicapped and I will not be able to use the Media Center application to watch HDTV within Vista. I'm also getting the feeling that even if I install Lightroom in the VM, the colors, the screen resolution and the speed of the application are all going to be a pain vs. using Lightroom on a physical install of Vista.I briefly thought about setting up a dual boot with Vista and Linux, but I've done that before and eventually I just get rid of Linux because I never find myself wanting to boot into seperate systems. I also thought about using my laptop for these apps, but I'd still miss out on the TV Tuner and I had a problem relegating my expensive, powerful desktop to a fileserver for my laptop when I had to do any photo editing and the like. So, I'm effectively "stuck" with Vista.
I say, "stuck" because I don't see it as a punishment or a hindrence. I've been using Vista since it was in beta and have been perfectly satisfied with it. It hasn't given me any headaches and honestly this is the first time something like this happened to my system. I really just like trying something new and I guess I wanted to use this long post as a sort of kudos to Ubuntu for creating an OS that is painless to setup and would be easy for anybody to use.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
~Trevor
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