Re: Off topic: Windows

On Wed, 6 Sep 2006 10:03:59 +0100, "The Todal" <deadmailbox@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:


Thanks. The problem seems to be solved for now and I am grateful to everyone
for their comments and suggestions. I hesitate to continue the discussion
since it's off topic but I will just add that the laptop was working fine
until about a week ago when it repeatedly failed to start, showing a message
"windows/system32/config/system file is missing". Looking on Google I find
that this seems to happen quite a lot with Windows, the solution is
extremely complex (for a novice anyway) and there seems to be no explanation
for why such a fault should develop. I hope that the mistaken reinstall of
Windows might perhaps have cured that aspect at any rate, and one of these
days I'd like to try Linux but probably on my own computer rather than on a
family member's computer because I don't want said family member blaming me
for any adverse consequences!

I have found Linux is great for server applications and when a
computer is to be used for a limited and specific set of tasks (web
browsing and Usenet posting, for example).

I have attempted to install a workable version for my home PC on
several occasions, and I have a (removable) Linux boot drive for this
PC right now. The main problem is that I have not found a way to get
all my computer harware working by a long margin. My current Linux
install will not recognise that my motherboard has any USB ports, but
even if it did, I doubt there are drivers available for most of my USB
devices. It also does not recognise my wireless card, my audio card,
my RAID card or my firewire card. The basic functions of my mouse
work, but the scroll wheel and extra two buttons are non-functional.
It drives my graphics card in VGA mode, but I cannot switch to a
higher resolution.

I expect I could get a few cards working by scouring the net for
drivers and spending hours working out how to install and configure
them, but I think the chance of ever getting a Linux system with which
I could load and edit videos decently from my camcorder is about zero.

Searching for Linux software on the Internet is a nightmare of broken
links and ambiguous descriptions, instructions and advice. When you
finally find the driver or whatever that you need, it often requires
you to download and install some application or other to access the
non-stndard download format, and then go searching for an application
to uncompress the file which is compressed using a fringe compression
format.

--
Cynic

.

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