Post Your Computer

[megabenman]

Welcome to the first topic of Tech Talk with a point (haha).

So basically, post your computer specs. I'll just do a little here.

iMac G5 Second Generation
20"
2.0 GHz
512 mb RAM (will upgrade one day....)
OS X 10.4.7
250 GB HDD
Apple Wireless Mouse+Keyboard
Terribly Buggy HP Printer
No iSight :(

Ok I'm done post yours.

[MSG]

this one is just a stock DELL thing

512 ram, 2.8 ghz, 128 generic video card, bah
its running UBUNTU because I'm too lazy to look for a stupid onboard ethernet driver for this thing

my other is like 1g ram, 3.2ghz processor, 128 generic video card with windows XP

[Waite]

intel celeron 533 mhz
256 ram
sapphire 128 vid dual out
seagate 120gig hd

[Tsen]

Cruddy PC right now...

2.98 GHz Intel
256 MB RAM
80 GB HD
Integrated Intel Graphics (which BITES because it doesn't include a slot to upgrade it)

Add to that a horribly inefficient cooling system and a measly 250 W power supply and you've got a real junker.
Eventually I'll get off my arse and build myself a new computer.

[LeonardtheDog]

AMD Athlon 64bit 3.4 GHz Processor (SSE3 3DNOW! All that good junk)
1600Mhz Bus Speed

Gigabyte K8M800 Motherboard with AC 97 Onboard Sound (Up to 7.1 Dolby Digital)
-3 PCI Slots
-1 AGP 8x
-Hyperthreading Support
-2 DIMM Slots with support for up to 4 Gb of 533mhz DDR SDRAM
-Onboard VIA RHINE 2 Ethernet Controller 10/100Mbit Ehternet
-2 SATA Raid Controllers
-2 IDE controllers
-1 Floppy Controller (Woo hOo! Old School)
-6 USB 2.0 Ports
-Dual BIOS System With Integrated System Backup Program and BIOS Flashing Utility

RADEON 9800 Pro (Second Series) 256bit
-256 Megs of DDR2 SDRAM
-DVI, CRT, SVIDEO outs
-Shader Model 3 Support
-All kinds of other goodies. http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9800/rad...ro/compare.html (http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9800/radeon9800pro/compare.html)

Memorex DVD RW+-
Atapi 52x CD RW
60Gb Hard Disk
256MB ULTRA DDR SDRAM (I have more on the way the original stick sent to me via New Egg was bad, system will have 1 GiG when it comes in)

OS - Gentoo Linux, Kernel 2.6.17-r7

I also have a Dell Latitude D620 With 512MB DDR2 and a Centrino Dual Core 64bit processor and an Nvideo Quatro NVS 110M PCI Express Card Thanks to my School

[Kaniaz]

OS: Windows XP (Home Edition).
The only operating system that allows you to run your sound card without typing in afget -a -l /home/etc/usd.config! Hooray for that!

[Ne-yo]

Sony VAIO VGC
Intel 5 Series P4
RAM: 1024 MB
250 GB
nVidia GeForce FX 5700 Graphics Card
Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
20" LCD Widescreen
O.S. XP/home

It came with some third-party freeware PSP conversion software so I can transfer my photos, video, and music to my PSP. I like the transistion and intergration between the image convertor and the PSP. its Soooooo Smoooooth!! basically to the point where the system becomes a media server for my PSP My wife has a Vaio Laptop so when it comes to media streaming between the two... Forget about it. Soooo Sweeettt. I Love it.

[Leixor]

I made this post a while back. If you wanna see my specs then read it here (http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=36257&hl=). Meh I'll copy paste it:
My main box:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 2
AS-ROCK 939 Dual SATA2
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
1 GB DDR400 PC3200 RAM
80GB Maxtor Diamond Max HDD SATA 300 Gbits/sec [It's a piece of crap... it's trying to fail I think]
Sapphire Radeon X850XT 256MB 256 bit PCI Express [aftermarket ATI silencer cooling]
Realtek AC'97 Onboard 7.1 Audio
NEC All-format DVD writer[including dual layer]/CD writer

[andorf]

intel 3.40 Ghz cpu
2 gb RAM
300 GB HDD
HP wireless keyboard/mouse
Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
Windows XP Media Centre (Vista ready)
Graphics 512MB GF7500LE

[TweaK]

Welcome to the first topic of Tech Talk with a point (haha).

So basically, post your computer specs. I'll just do a little here.
...
[/b]
You fail for having a mac.
Oh and don't hold grudges against the first topic here.. WITHOUT a point. >:]
Anyways...

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2.2 GHz
1024 MB DDR RAM (will be 2GB soon)
Windows XP Home
1x 150GB Internal Hard Drives, 1x 200GB External, 1x 500 GB external; making a total of 850GB hard disk space
Logitech G15 Keyboard (http://www.gadgetreview.com/uploaded_images/g15-700665.jpg)
Logitech Mediamouse (http://www.bestwaycomputer.ca/images/Logitech%20MediaPlay.jpg)
HP Photosmart 7450 Photoprinter.
2x USB2.0 Hub, 8 ports ea.
GeForce 7800GTX (proud of that)
Neon Lights :P
Dolby 5.1 Surround system.
17" HP Pavilion (f1703).

[Leixor]

You fail for having a mac.
Oh and don't hold grudges against the first topic here.. WITHOUT a point. >:]
Anyways...

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2.2 GHz
1024 MB DDR RAM (will be 2GB soon)
Windows XP Home
1x 150GB Internal Hard Drives, 1x 200GB External, 1x 500 GB external; making a total of 850GB hard disk space
Logitech G15 Keyboard (http://www.gadgetreview.com/uploaded_images/g15-700665.jpg)
Logitech Mediamouse (http://www.bestwaycomputer.ca/images/Logitech%20MediaPlay.jpg)
HP Photosmart 7450 Photoprinter.
2x USB2.0 Hub, 8 ports ea.
GeForce 7800GTX (proud of that)
Neon Lights :P
Dolby 5.1 Surround system.
17" HP Pavilion (f1703).

[/b]
Did you build that or buy it pre-built? If you built it or added the GPU later how much did that 7800GTX set you back? I paid just under 200 for my x850xt and now like 5 months later it's down to $124. Oh well that's the way the PC world goes eh. Also I too am thinking about adding another gig of ram to my box. Most ram I've ever actually managed to use was like 1030MB which is 6 more MB than I've got. That was while playing F.E.A.R multiplayer with max setting @ 1024x768, 4x antialiasing 8x anisotropic filtering. Around 40FPS except when I'd turn a corner and it'd have to go to the page file for a texture it'd drop to like 8FPS for a couple seconds which sucked. My RAM is fast but my hard drive isn't.

[TweaK]

Did you build that or buy it pre-built? If you built it or added the GPU later how much did that 7800GTX set you back? I paid just under 200 for my x850xt and now like 5 months later it's down to $124. Oh well that's the way the PC world goes eh. [/b]
I built in some additional stuff, replaced the Graphics card (the original one was a GeForce 6200SE. That card is worse than the 3800), bought external hard disks, the printer, the hubs, etc.
What was already in?
The processor, the RAM, the OS (I insta formatted it as soon as I had it in my place though. It had Norton and other system resource hogging apps preinstalled), 2x 150 GB (though one got permanent hardware failures and I had to remove it), and the Neon Lights.

The 7800GTX cost me about €500,-.. Which comes down to a $635ish. By now, it's only like €200. >__>
Still, I don't really care. It plays the latest games on the highest graphical intense settings without framerate loss.

Indeed, that is how the PC world goes around. I don't mind, it's for all the better. Now, 1Gig of RAM in one chip is only €35 here. 1-2 years ago when I wanted another Gig of RAM (DDR) in one chip (so 1x 1024 rather than 2x 512) it was going to cost me over €300. I decided not to get that additional gig, and I didn't. One of these days, I'm going to get it for only 10% of the price it was back then.

[Artie]

I fail for not having a mac.
[/b]

Fixed. :wink:

MacBook Pro
15.4" Screen w/ 22" Monitor
2.16 Ghz
2 MB Ram
OS 10.4.7/10.5
100GB HDD
Apple Wireless Mouse & Keyboard
Built-in iSight

[TweaK]

Fixed. :wink:

MacBook Pro
15.4" Screen w/ 22" Monitor
2.16 Ghz
2 MB Ram
OS 10.4.7/10.5
100GB HDD
Apple Wireless Mouse & Keyboard
Built-in iSight
[/b]
So tell me, what's so great about Mac that tops off Windows?
The massive amount of virusses that are on Windows and not on Mac? That's what antivirus applications are for.
The massive amount of games and applications that do not support Mac? Oh wait, that's a big plus for windows there!

Please convince me.

[Ne-yo]

I like Tech Talk :goodjob:

[TweaK]

I dislike spam. :(

[Artie]

So tell me, what's so great about Mac that tops off Windows?
The massive amount of virusses that are on Windows and not on Mac? That's what antivirus applications are for.
The massive amount of games and applications that do not support Mac? Oh wait, that's a big plus for windows there!

Please convince me.
[/b]

These days, I can run both Windows and Mac OS X simultaneously, or if I want to I can even boot directly into Windows. If I want to play games, I can.

Overall, I rarely use the Windows operating system. I have come to love UNIX for its ease of use, its security, and its stability.

I definitely wasn't a big Macintosh fan back in the days of pre-Mac OS X, but things have changed.

Antivirus applications are great. So is constantly downloading Microsoft security patches. In fact, it is so great that I hate not even worrying about viruses altogether.

Often times, these Mac vs. Windows arguments can get heated but I hope that we can remain as civil as we have been thus far. :bigteeth:

Thanks,
Chris

[MSG]

The massive amount of virusses that are on Windows and not on Mac? That's what antivirus applications are for.[/b]
Mmm... there AREN'T alot of viruses for windows. And plus, as long as you're not Warezing and crap, you're not likely to get anything.

These days, I can run both Windows and Mac OS X simultaneously, or if I want to I can even boot directly into Windows. If I want to play games, I can.
[/b]

You're kidding, right?

[TheNocturnalGent]

Hp notebook dv6000z
Windows XP Home ed
AMD Turion 64 X2 mobile
1.61ghz
1 gig ram
false 80 gig HD (more like 70)
15.4" screen
Nvidia 7600

[Kaniaz]

UNIX for its ease of use[/b]
Please be joking. Please be joking, you meat popsicle.

[Ne-yo]

But they have the most hilarious Shell Commands. Soooo Funny! :chuckle:

> Title: UNIX
> csh/sh commands:
> ===========================
> % cat "food in cans"
> cat: can't open food in cans
>
> % nice man woman
> No manual entry for woman.
>
> % rm God
> rm: God nonexistent
>
> % ar t God
> ar: God does not exist
>
> % ar r God
> ar: creating God
>
> % "How would you rate Quayle's incompetence?
> Unmatched ".
>
> % [Where is Jimmy Hoffa?
> Missing ].
>
> % ^How did the sex change operation go?
> ^ Modifier failed.
>
> % If I had a ( for every $ the Congress spent, what
> would I have?
> Too many ('s.
>
> % make love
> Make: Don't know how to make love. Stop.
>
> % sleep with me
> bad character
>
> % got a light?
> No match.
>
> % man: why did you get a divorce?
> man:: Too many arguments.
>
> % !:say, what is saccharine?
> Bad substitute.
>
> % %blow
> %blow: No such job.

[Leixor]

But they have the most hilarious Shell Commands. Soooo Funny! :chuckle:

> Title: UNIX
> csh/sh commands:
> ===========================
> % cat "food in cans"
> cat: can't open food in cans
>
> % nice man woman
> No manual entry for woman.
>
> % rm God
> rm: God nonexistent
>
> % ar t God
> ar: God does not exist
>
> % ar r God
> ar: creating God
>
> % "How would you rate Quayle's incompetence?
> Unmatched ".
>
> % [Where is Jimmy Hoffa?
> Missing ].
>
> % ^How did the sex change operation go?
> ^ Modifier failed.
>
> % If I had a ( for every $ the Congress spent, what
> would I have?
> Too many ('s.
>
> % make love
> Make: Don't know how to make love. Stop.
>
> % sleep with me
> bad character
>
> % got a light?
> No match.
>
> % man: why did you get a divorce?
> man:: Too many arguments.
>
> % !:say, what is saccharine?
> Bad substitute.
>
> % %blow
> %blow: No such job.
[/b]

lmao awesome!

I agree that not having viruses is a pretty silly reason to stay away from Windows. It's really quite easy to protect yourself. That being said there are a few cases in which I could see a Mac having a greater benefit ratio than Windows. Some people like Macs for the ease of use and the powerful video/photo/what have you editing features. I guess I can see that. I can do all of that on Windows too though. I also agree that OS X is pretty slick. Still though, I'm a Windows guy. And yeah you can run Windows on Macs nowadays since Apple shifted to the Intel based processors. Seems kind of silly to me, but I suppose it has its place.

[MSG]

Yeah, they say that Mac's do better with video/photo editing and stuff but in reality video editing on the mac is crap compared to PC.

I tried FCP... its a joke, seems like the program was designed for little kids.

Photoshop is alot slower on the Mac too, I hear.

[Kaniaz]

I keep hearing that Apple is a hardware company, not so much an operating system/software/any other kind of company company. Like with the iPods.

There's a lot of stirring around about how the music shop isn't actually working out as successfully as it might (9 out of 10 iPod users have never downloaded music from iTunes, or some scary figure like that) and it makes some sense because Apple doesn't really care or gain a whole lot from whether or not the artists get money. They want to sell you their iPods, that's where the market ends for them. You can put music on it if you like, but what does that matter to Apple? When the battery goes or whatever, heck, come buy another iPod!

Same goes for Boot Camp. A lot of people working in Redmond - that's the Microsoft Campus of Evil for all you good fellows out there - now, with Boot Camp, actually run Windows on a Powerbook or whatever Apple hardware they like. Now you could just say "ha ha they like Apple's stuff more", but, well, why? Because Apple make very good looking and not half bad hardware. 99% of them probably don't give a crap about Mac OS X and the wonderful "flashback" feature coming out soon* (and I know I don't), or, say, the amazingly "intitutive" object dock. Whatever. The hardware is cool.

Just a thought. I'm not saying it's necessarially the whole truth and nothing but. Was that too deep for Tech Talk? Perhaps move to Philosphy?

If you like reading this sort of stuff, Nicholas Carr (http://www.roughtype.com/) has a fun old blog on Web 2.0, Wikipedia, Apple, Software and a Service and all that other crap that's always 'perpetually in beta'. Good times.

* Have you seen how Apple pimps out "flashback", the apparently new ability to restore files from any time you like? I mean it's great how the crowd goes wild despite the fact we've had Volume Shadow Copy on Windows since what might as well be the dawn of time. That Steve Jobs really knows how to work a crowd.

[Artie]

Please be joking. Please be joking, you meat popsicle.
[/b]

No, I am not joking. I would easily use Mac OS X or Linux before I would think of going back to Windows. Are you trying to tell me that Windows actually runs better? I knew your kind existed, I just thought that none of them were literate. Just kidding. :content:


* Have you seen how Apple pimps out "flashback", the apparently new ability to restore files from any time you like? I mean it's great how the crowd goes wild despite the fact we've had Volume Shadow Copy on Windows since what might as well be the dawn of time. That Steve Jobs really knows how to work a crowd.
[/b]

I will pretend you haven't noticed how much Windows Vista steals from Mac OS X.

[Casualtie]

Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)

Memory: 1022MB RAM

Hard Drive: 119 GB

Video Card: 128MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor

Sound Card: Creative SB Live! Series

Speakers/Headphones: Three Piece Standard Dell Speakers

Keyboard: USB Root Hub

Mouse: USB Root Hub

Mouse Surface: Mouse Pad

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)

thats straight off xfire (i need a new video card)

[TheNocturnalGent]

http://anekdota.dyndns.org/jotd17/att-0244/01-virus_protection.jpg

Protect yourself from viruses

[Artie]

http://anekdota.dyndns.org/jotd17/att-0244/01-virus_protection.jpg

Protect yourself from viruses
[/b]

Haha! That is hilarious!!!

[TweaK]

Mmm... there AREN'T alot of viruses for windows. And plus, as long as you're not Warezing and crap, you're not likely to get anything.[/b]
I know. If you havn't noticed, I was "countering" my own argument. :P
Originally posted by 'MSG'
You're kidding, right?
No, you can now dual boot Mac OSX and Windows on an Intel Mac.

[really]

Ne-yo that post is mad! :content:

I've got a computer which has the following properties:

3.2GHz Dual Processor
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 6800
1 GB RAM
200 GB Hard Disk Space
Awsome 19" (very thin) Flat screen LCD :bowdown:

[MSG]

Keyboard: USB Root Hub

Mouse: USB Root Hub

Mouse Surface: Mouse Pad

[/b]

quoted for emphasis


No, you can now dual boot Mac OSX and Windows on an Intel Mac.
[/b]

Ack. Last time I remember going into an Apple store, the laptops had no right mouse button. Bad? Yes. Enough reason to not dual boot Windows and OSX on a Mac? Pretty much.

[megabenman]

No, new macs come with the mighty mouse. It looks like it's one button, but its actually more. The left and right side of the mouse are different buttons, the 360 degree scroll wheel in the middle is clickable, and 2 buttons on the side do programmable things. And yes, it works in windows.

Problem solved :)

[MSG]

No, new macs come with the mighty mouse. It looks like it's one button, but its actually more. The left and right side of the mouse are different buttons, the 360 degree scroll wheel in the middle is clickable, and 2 buttons on the side do programmable things. And yes, it works in windows.

Problem solved :)
[/b]
the laptops had no right mouse button
[/b]

[celestrion]

So tell me, what's so great about Mac that tops off Windows?
The massive amount of virusses that are on Windows and not on Mac? That's what antivirus applications are for.
The massive amount of games and applications that do not support Mac?
Please convince me.
[/b]
Wow, that's rather a large chip on your shoulder. I've never really quite understood why Macintosh users are so frequently accosted for using something that works well for them for whatever reason.

Are Macs running MacOS (remember, they can run Linux or BSD quite well, and the Intel-based ones can run Windows, as well) better than PCs running Windows in some grand, overreaching, cosmic, good-versus-evil sense? I don't think I'm qualified to answer that, but I'd like to think they are. I do know that they make a better working environment for me, and I don't consider myself to be a stereotypical (or even typical) Mac user.

I came to using the Macintosh by means of SGI workstations (running IRIX, a truly user-friendly Unix). When it became apparent that SGI was getting out of that market just about the time I needed a workstation upgrade around five years ago, I switched from an Octane running IRIX 6.5 to a Macintosh running OS X 10.1. You see, I write software for Unix and Windows computers and do IT contracting work predominantly for Windows and IBM minicomputer shops.

That's right. I write Windows software and do Windows system administration on a Macintosh (a PowerPC Macintosh, no less). Of course, the final builds and the tests for the Windows-specific portions (user interface, COM+ components, etc.) of any code I write have to happen on a PC running Visual Studio, but a very large portion of the code I write runs just fine and gets unit-tested on Solaris or MacOS. The bits that run as web applications are portable by default.

So why would I go through so many hoops to get my job done? The Mac makes me more productive, and here's how:
The Windows user interface monotonically approaches a perfectly passive-aggressive interaction environment with each passing upgrade. Whether it's second guessing me ("You asked to do something. Are you sure you want to something?"), pestering me ("I just loaded some updates! Want to reboot?" "How about now?" "Doesn't a reboot sound really nice right about now?" "Hey, how about that reboot?"), interrupting me for no good reason at all (maybe I don't care that there are "unused" icons on my desktop) or treating me like a child with silly animations or stupid speech bubbles coddling me, Windows is forever getting in my way. In creative work (programming, HTML layout, graphics work), an interruption consumes far more time than the interruption itself; it takes a not insignificant amount of time to "context switch" back to the previous task.
Speaking of getting in my way, my typical uses for the computer involve typing code, typing documentation, typing HTML, and typing correspondence. It's safe to say that if I'm at the keyboard, I'm using the keyboard. I cannot recall how many times some Windows application running in the background has popped-up a system-wide dialog box, stolen focus from whatever I was typing in, caught a space or some other character as a button shortcut, and did something I didn't want just because I had the nerve to think I should be providing input to my computer. The Mac way (bouncing the Dock icon in 10.x, or flashing the application menu in older versions) is distracting and irritating, but not destructive.

When I got my first PowerBook (a G3 "Pismo"), I was amazed that I could actually put it to sleep just by closing the lid, and wake it just by opening the lid--reliably. This has really only gotten somewhat universal in Windows XP SP2; before then, it was anyone's guess what would happen. Would the laptop turn off? Would it stay awake and overheat and then turn off permanently? Would it go to sleep like you told it to in the power control panel? The suspense was thrilling! I had fun terrifying the people around me using Windows ME and Windows 2000 by closing my laptop in the middle of something ("You can't do that! It'll burn up!"). My neighbor's Dell laptop running XP SP2 still doesn't do what he wants in that regard. Whereas, my Mac has Just Worked, whether I was plugging my Canon camera (which needs drivers under XP), a V-Cast wireless broadband card (which needs drivers and a dialer program under XP), a USB serial adapter (which needs drivers under XP), or a USB MIDI interface (which needs drivers under XP). Plug and play, every time, because the OS and hardware were made for each other. You can't get that level of smooth integration in the every-varying sea of PC peripherals, their myriad drivers, and the relatively stagnant Windows codebase. I see it on IBM systems running AIX, Sun servers running Solaris, and SGIs running IRIX: when the hardware and software teams can talk to each other, the end user spends a lot less time fighting with both.
I can write and test software written for Unix in one window and use Microsoft Office in another window, without rebooting between Windows and BSD (or Linux). This is a less of an issue now that VMware Server is free, but having both hosted in the same OS is a much more elegant solution.

I don't know how I worked with multiple applications on the Macintosh before Exposé in 10.4. I don't know how I'd work efficiently without it now. I tend to have a lot of windows open: editing windows, preview windows, debuggers, documentation, email, etc. That feature alone was worth the last upgrade.

"Print to PDF" means I can share documents (bids, contracts, statements) with clients in such a way that they're not editable, and I don't have to pay Abode as much money as I paid for my last OS upgrade.
The Registry, component registration, BHOs, and all that other nonsense on Windows are abominations. Most of my really serious consulting calls involve hand-hacking the Windows Registry either because some malware hitched a ride through IE or some COM+ registration went awry and left the shell in some sort of confused state (I'm not immune from this--do a Google-groups search for: eudora "unhappy shell"). Fixing these sorts of problems is far removed from the skill set of the typical computer user, as well it should be, since these things should be robust enough and transparent enough as to not cause problems!
In light of all that, having to break my workflow apart into portable and non-portable pieces is little effort. It also has the added bonus of a more robust finished product, which earns me repeat business.

You see, as I see it, just because Windows works better for my customers doesn't mean that it will work well for me or that I have to be less productive at my workstation by using it. Windows apparently works well for some people, and, yeah, I've run a whole lot of it since the late eighties, but it's a lot further from an optimal working environment than I'd like, so I keep that to a minimum these days. I'm much happier in MacOS or Unix because I feel like I'm driving the computer, not along for the ride: unexpected things very rarely happen, my computer doesn't find reasons to interrupt me, and it does what it is told without whining about automatic updates, unused desktop icons, or whatever else might not even be tangentally-related to what I'm trying to do.

I do have to admit, though, my Mac customers don't call me over nearly as often as my Windows customers do, so I suppose Windows is useful for me in an entirely unintentional sort of way.

As far as application availability goes, quality is more important to me than quantity. There is nothing I'd like to do on my Mac that is impossible for lack of software. I have all the software I need to get my work done and piddle around with fun stuff, and everything but Photoshop and Office either came with the OS or was available for free. On the other hand, there's a lot of software for Windows that I don't need on my Macintosh (antivirus software, anti-spyware software, third-party firewall, registry cleaner, decent web browser). I guess if I used my computer to play video games, I'd probably spend more time on my PC, but I don't have time for that sort of thing these days.

As far as antivirus software goes, viruses are only half the problem with malware on Windows. The fun part about running the platform for which everyone develops is that everyone develops for it, even the bad guys and the incompetent. Today I had the joy of working on a Windows XP system with anti-virus software installed and running with up-to-date definitions that a customer handed me because it was being "weird". Between the constant popups, the unkillable processes (programs run as services marked as too critical to stop), the background spyware programs that guarded their Registry keys from manipulation, and the fake "virus alert" widgets running in the system tray, the machine was completely unusuable. None of these programs was technically a virus--they were all properly-registered in the Registry, properly bound to the shell and Internet Explorer, and otherwise operating completely within the rules for that platform. Most-likely they came onboard when the hapless user downloaded some piece of shareware and didn't read every letter of the license agreement to know he was getting more than he wanted.

That's not to say Windows isn't better at some things than Mac OS is. For example, I like Windows Explorer (with all the candy and interference turned off) for file-management a lot better than I like the Finder, even taking Finder's spring-loaded folders into account. However, in terms of raw speed of being able to move and sort files by name, I'm still faster at the command-line on either OS.

Anyhow, back to the topic of this thread, my desktop computer is:
<blockquote>Power Macintosh G4 "QuickSilver"
Two 1GHz PowerPC 7455 "G4" processors
1.25GB memory
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card
Superdrive
SIIG SATA controller
160GB WD ATA hard drive
300GB WD SATA hard drive
Apple Pro Keyboard
Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical
Wacom Graphire4 tablet
Two Dell UltraSharp 2001FP displays
OS X 10.4.8 / 9.2.2</blockquote>
My laptop is:
<blockquote>17-inch PowerBook "Dual Layer"
1.67GHz PowerPC 7447A "G4" processor
2GB memory
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600
Dual-layer Superdrive
120GB hard drive
OS X 10.4.8 / 9.2.2</blockquote>
Sorry about the sermon, but, to turn the tables, why do you use Windows, and why is it better than a Macintosh running MacOS? More to the point, why does it matter which is better, so long as the user is happy?

[Ne-yo]

The Windows user interface monotonically approaches a perfectly passive-aggressive interaction environment with each passing upgrade. Whether it's second guessing me ("You asked to do something. Are you sure you want to something?"), pestering me ("I just loaded some updates! Want to reboot?" "How about now?" "Doesn't a reboot sound really nice right about now?" "Hey, how about that reboot?"), interrupting me for no good reason at all (maybe I don't care that there are "unused" icons on my desktop) or treating me like a child with silly animations or stupid speech bubbles coddling me, Windows is forever getting in my way. Speaking of getting in my way, my typical uses for the computer involve typing code, typing documentation, typing HTML, and typing correspondence. It's safe to say that if I'm at the keyboard, I'm using the keyboard. I cannot recall how many times some Windows application running in the background has popped-up a system-wide dialog box, stolen focus from whatever I was typing in, caught a space or some other character as a button shortcut, and did something I didn't want just because I had the nerve to think I should be providing input to my computer. [/b]
Cracking up :chuckle: That is Hilarious!


Awesome Celestrion, now this is Tech Talk at it's finest. You are the MAN. :bowdown:

Kanaiz do you have a general feeling of Satisfaction? Because I'm gonna tell you something when I read things like what Celestrion just posted it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside Hell, I'm not gonna lie I loved it, I almost got hard-on.

***excuses himself to enjoy the pleasure of a cigarette***

[Kaniaz]

I stopped reading atsilly animations[/b]
I mean, says the Mac user who has bouncing icons, wibbly wobbly Exposé window switching, genie minimising effects, glowing buttons and a UI engine that has practically every effect available on the planet. Windows? It can manage a stuttering, half-hearted fade. Sort of.

[Ynot]

what on earth is all this ?!?

real summary

windows - good client OS
*nix - good server OS
Mac - used to be good at specialised operations (DTP, music production, etc.) but PC's are just as equal today

[Ne-yo]

what on earth is all this ?!?[/b]

What is all this? :wtf: All of what? Well it looks like he was making a point! You didn't get it? :huh2:

[celestrion]

I mean, says the Mac user who has bouncing icons, wibbly wobbly Exposé window switching, genie minimising effects, glowing buttons and a UI engine that has practically every effect available on the planet.
[/b]
Bouncing icons, sure. An icon bounces while a program starts (much less irritating to me than changing the mouse cursor) and when it needs attention. I'd much rather have an icon bounce than a program pop up a message box or dialog unannouned. If you have the Dock set to auto-hide, you only see the bounce when the progrram needs attention.

Exposé uses simple scaling effects, and they're only active when you call up that particular feature. The wobbly stuff, which I'll grant is largely superfluous, is mostly in Dashboard.

Genie is a bit over the top, so I switch to "Scale Effect". I'd choose "none", if it were an option, so I guess Windows wins there.

The glowing buttons are there to provide UI clues. If it pulsates, it's "Important". If it's solid blue, it's the default action. If it has a halo around it, it's the default way back.

The Quartz drawing engine on the Mac has effects, yes, but my point is that none of these gets in my way or is overly childish. Windows has: an animated dog when you try to search for files (until you turn it off), cartoon files blowing in the wind when you copy or delete files, a waving Windows flag in the corner of each window while you bounce around the filesystem, more animations when you turn NTFS file compression on a folder hierarchy. What in the world is all that doing in a "Professional" operating system? Then there's the Microsoft Agent control (which, thankfully, very few developers use) which is in a class of nonsense by itself.

[Artie]

what on earth is all this ?!?

real summary

windows - good client OS
*nix - good server OS
Mac - used to be good at specialised operations (DTP, music production, etc.) but PC's are just as equal today
[/b]

Well, it seems the authority has spoken. :bowdown: :content:

[Leixor]

More to the point, why does it matter which is better, so long as the user is happy?
[/b]

Exactly.
I'm happy with Windows.
You're happy with Mac.
Some dudes are happy with Unix.

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!

[Kaniaz]

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?![/b]
Definitely not. This is religion, and religion is war!

[Kazahel]

I've been building my new PC over the last few months..

So far I've just got a

AMD2 4200+ set at 2.4GHz
2GB Corsair DDR2 800 C4 Pro RAM
7950 GX2 Video card
X-Fi Fatalitly Sound card
Sitting on a nice Asus mainboard
With a Raptor 10,000rpm HD
All in a Armor Jr case
And viewed on a 24" Dell Monitor at 1920/1200
With a Logitech 5.1 setup.

And I'm in the middle of buying some more RAM, hopefully soon I'll get 2GB DDR2 800 Corsair Dominator C3DF(with fan). Which should be pretty sweet hopefully. :D

[TheUnknown]

I look at Mac and Windows as fairly the same nowadays, I've drifted away from both for good (I hope).

In any case.

My laptop box (uberflugen/firenflugen):

IBM/Lenovo T60
2.33ghz Intel Core Duo T2700
2gb DDRII-667
128mb ATI Radeon Mobility X1400
14.1" 1400x1050 display
Fingerprint Scanner, Bluetooth, IR
DUAL BOOTS: Gentoo Linux and OpenBSD (used to do Vista, but I got bored of it)

Desktop Rig (redefine):

Dell Optiplex GX240 wired like a christmas tree
2.4ghz Pentium 4 Nortwood (upped from 1.7ghz Willamette)
512mb pc133 ram (upped from 256mb)
160gb WD 7200rpm and 40gb Maxtor 7200rpm PATA drives (maxtor is disabled atm)
Geforce FX 5700 Ultra (original GDDR/II edition)
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 hooked up to 5.1 altec lansig speakers
USB 2.0 card (haha, box didn't have 2.0 originally and front USB got ripped out)
Too many wire splitters inside and a great deal of stuff is broken.
Runs Gentoo Linux, but I'm lookin to decomission as it only runs as print server ATM.

Dump Server (thor)

-500mhz Katmai Pentium 3
-apprx. 450gb linear RAID array spanning maxtor 250gb and maxtor 200gb PATA drives
-2x 10/100 NIC
-Gentoo Linux, heavilly stripped down and rock stable, 54-1/2 days of uptime at the time of this writing.
-Serves movies, music, etc around LAN and wifi through Samba and NFS allowing access by Windows, *Nix, and Mac computers.

New Servers:

3x IBM eServer Xseries 330
Dual Pentium III-S 1.4ghz Tualatin (one is single)
768mb ram in two, 512mb in one, 1gb yet to be decided on placement. (ECC, sync)
2x 18.2gb 10,000RPM USCSI in each server

External Raid Array:
Case handles 16 SCSI drives
12x 18gb 10,000rpm SCSI drives soon to be arranged in RAID5

I probably missed some things but you get the idea. I JUST bought the new eServers and RAID array, so I upped a few *crappy* pics to http://joecool.ftfuchs.com/servers/

Servers are not named yet, T60 is called uberflugen in Linux, firenflugen in OpenBSD, and used to be wasserflugen in Vista (but vista sucks).

In any case.. that's my setup locally, I have access to many more servers on the outside though that I'd rather not go into speccing out atm.

[Slogan]

My (current) Desktop: Old lady Dez

Frankensteined- make unknown
CPU 486DX 33mHz (with a seperate numeric processor)
7168 KB RAM
41 MB HDD
Supports VGA/PGA/EGA displays
OS MS-DOS 6.22 but has pre-intalled shell (access 5)

I can't help but smile when i see the cryptic yet familiar command prompt flashing at me on my monochrome monitor... *dreamy smile...*
What is thyne bidding?>

My laptop: Moulder

Alienware Sentia
Intel Pentium M 2.00 GHz
1008 GB RAM
80 GB HDD
12.1 inch widescreen display (1280x800px)
Dual boots XP Pro and has a seperate partition for linux (but is currently unformatted)

A sexy little one, thought I need a more powerful processor.
I used to have a desktop running Solaris 9 but I reformatted it and gave it away. I would be using unix on my laptop but a few of my programs work best in a windows eviroment, in my experience (like VS.NET), so I stick with Windows.

[TheUnknown]

Alienware Sentia
Intel Pentium M 2.00 GHz
1008 GB RAM
80 GB HDD
12.1 inch widescreen display (1280x800px)
Dual boots XP Pro and has a seperate partition for linux (but is currently unformatted)[/b]

Good God, 1008GB of ram... WHY DO YOU HAVE A HARD DRIVE?!?!?!

[Alucinor Architecton]

Good God, 1008GB of ram... WHY DO YOU HAVE A HARD DRIVE?!?!?!
[/b]
lol you ass.

[really]

1008 GB RAM
[/b]

:shock: Um... don't you mean 1.008 GB RAM? Seriously, I don't think anyone on this planet has a terabyte of ram. That's over a thousand gigabytes!

[Slogan]

Lol sorry, I was in a bit of a rush typing :oops:
Of course I mean 1.008 GB, not that I'd mind having over a terabyte...
But the problem would be finding a computer that could run it....

[FreshBrains]

Hey, there's a Tech forum. How about that?

Dell Dimension 4600
Monitor: 17" LCD
Processer: 2.8 Ghz
2.7 GB RAM
OS: Windows XP Professional
111 GB HDD
Video card: ATI Radeon X850 XT
Windows wireless optical mouse + wireless keyboard
HP Inkjet G5 Printer

[arby]

Good God, 1008GB of ram... WHY DO YOU HAVE A HARD DRIVE?!?!?!
[/b]

He needs somewhere to store the RAM. Duh....

[jacobo]

costco.

2004.

toshiba.

$1400.

widescreen.

mouse pad thing in the middle near my thumbs.

speaker things on the outside.

it's kind of the coolest computer ever... and if you say otherwise you obviously don't know shit about costco toshibas... ya i said it.

[blade5x]

Ok here we go, I built this recently:

Computer: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4Ghz overclocked to 3.2Ghz (400x8)
Motherboard: Gigabyte 965P-Ds3
RAM: 2048Mb DDR2 667Mhz overclocked to 800Mhz 4-4-4-x
Graphics Card: x1900xt overclocked to 675/765
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
Hard Drive: 250Gb SATA II 16Mb
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2

Using this on a 19'' LCD, optical mouse/keyboard, along with 5.1 speakers :)

Everything in total (not including the monitor, keyboard, and mouse) ended up costing me $1500, that includes the case, cooling, powersupply, extra cables, speakers, and etc. So I think I did pretty good.

[Chatter-Box]

Here is mine!

Name = Crash :content:

Microsoft Vista 32 bit (sytem rating of 4.8 )
19" monitor
AMD Athlon™ 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 4600+
2.41 GHz
2046 mb RAM
233 GB Serial Drive
512 MB Nvidia Card
Microsoft Intelli Wireless Mouse+Keyboard Explorer 2.0

[TweaK]

He needs somewhere to store the RAM. Duh....
[/b]
Uh, no. RAM is not stored on the hard drive. That's the entire thought behind it. It's like a small little hard drive used for caching and stuff.

[bradybaker]

Desktop: Got it 2 and a half years ago. (CDN$1200 new)

Dell Dimension 2400
15'' LCD Flat Panel
Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz
512 MB Ram
160 GB Hard Drive
CD-RW
DVD-ROM
5.1 Channel Surround
Windows XP Home
Standard Sound and Video cards....

Laptop: Got it 6 months ago. (CDN$900 new)

Dell Inspiron 1300
15.1'' display
Intel Celeron M 1.8 GHz
512 MB Ram
60 GB Hard drive
CD/DVD-RW
Windows XP Home
Standard Sound and Video cards...

[Pyrofan1]

Uh, no. RAM is not stored on the hard drive. That's the entire thought behind it. It's like a small little hard drive used for caching and stuff.
[/b]
RAM is stored on the HD when you hibernate and when you use virtual memory.
My stats
Intel centrino duo
100 GB HD
1 GB RAM
Windows XP
I installed: Firefox
Dev-cpp
C#
Visual Basic
The sims 2
XNA
Game maker
Apache
PHP 5.2.0
Mysql 5
Winzip
Itunes
I think that's pretty good for a laptop.

[Kaniaz]

You know, if you had 1008GB, and were at all sensible, you'd choose something that wasn't Windows. Windows will always have a pagefile whether you like it or not, and that's slow and a waste of space. (Actually I think you can disable the pagefile to an extent, so maybe it would be fine). Even so, I don't think Windows - at least not your normal versions - were built to handle that kind of memory at all sensibly. So it wouldn't work, or would work very bad. 1.08TB of memory? I mean, Moore's Law isn't quite that fast.

As for hibernation, who uses that (hint: fools). And as for virtual memory, uhhh, guys, like you'd be needing that with so much memory. Dur. Seriously. You could store your entire internet cache right in RAM.

C#[/b]
C# what? One of Microsoft's various IDEs or just a compiler?

[Ynot]

C# (Sea Sharp) is an MS proprietary language based on C++
it's used for .NET apps

[Ne-yo]

As for hibernation, who uses that (hint: fools). And as for virtual memory, uhhh, guys, like you'd be needing that with so much memory. Dur. Seriously. You could store your entire internet cache right in RAM.
C# what? One of Microsoft's various IDEs or just a compiler?
[/b]


I'm actually in hibernation mode right now. I mean right at this very moment while I'm typing this post. :chuckle:

[Kaniaz]

C# (Sea Sharp) is an MS proprietary language based on C++
it's used for .NET apps[/b]
Well yeah, but I mean he said he "downloaded C#". Which is kind of like saying "I downloaded Python" or "I downloaded the Nihilist Ideology". What related to C# did he download?

[Ynot]

Well yeah, but I mean he said he "downloaded C#". Which is kind of like saying "I downloaded Python" or "I downloaded the Nihilist Ideology". What related to C# did he download?
[/b]
ah, case of not reading posts properly
my apologies :wink:

[Kaniaz]

ah, case of not reading posts properly
my apologies[/b]
No worries, no love has been lost. (But you are now secretly on my hit list for people I'd like to hit <strike>on</strike>).

[Gogogo111]

Name: teh_suck

I'm trying to learn how to program...know very little of python....but idk, I think I wanna learn something else.

OS:Windows XP SP1 (Or, at least until Windows stops bugging me after installing the next batch of updates. I hate that about windows. Why can't I get all the updates at once?)
GPU:eVGA Geforce 6600GT 128MB VRAM
RAM:1.5GB
HD:80GB
Processor:Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHts /w HT
Keyboard:Standard 104Key Logitech keyboard. Works good.
Mouse:Logitech MX518. This mouse is god. I couldn't go on with out this.
Monitor: Hanns-G 19' Wide screen monitor /w 1440x900 resolution. Best monitor I've ever owned.


That's pretty much it. I'll probably wait till the next batch of Macs come out and grab one of them. I bought that video card about a year and a half ago, and its worthless now. Hate it. :(

[TweaK]

Well yeah, but I mean he said he "downloaded C#". Which is kind of like saying "I downloaded Python" or "I downloaded the Nihilist Ideology". What related to C# did he download?
[/b]
I DOWNLOADED TEH INTERNETS

Oh, and my RAM just doubled, you pile of geeks. 2047 divine MBs of RAM!

[Kaniaz]

Oh, and my RAM just doubled, you pile of geeks. 2047 divine MBs of RAM![/b]
TO THE RAM STORE~

[RetepNamenots]

I thought my computer couldn't be upgraded any more - I've opened it up a number of times but last time was the first that I'd seen - a hidden ram slot covered in dust!

[TweaK]

TO THE RAM STORE~
[/b]
AKFJSALKFGJLKDFJGKFDJGK!


I thought my computer couldn't be upgraded any more - I've opened it up a number of times but last time was the first that I'd seen - a hidden ram slot covered in dust!
[/b]
Woo-yay! Be sure to first look at sites like crucial.com to see how many MB your mobo holds max, becuase you wouldn't want to buy RAM for nothing, would you? Thought not.

[M-Cat]

Woo-yay! Be sure to first look at sites like crucial.com to see how many MB your mobo holds max, becuase you wouldn't want to buy RAM for nothing, would you? Thought not.
[/b]

Well you can always eat it.

Oh yeh and I got 500 mbs of RAM. Yes I know its not a lot, cause I ate most of it :( I miss my RAM!!1

[Identity X]

Dell Optiplex GX280

3GHz Pentium 4
512MB RAM
Onboard Intel Graphics with 128MB video RAM; not that bad actually.
150GB HDD
17" TFT
512K/bit ADSL
Epson Stylus C66 Printer
Windows XP Home SP2

I'm also considering setting up a Mandriva 2007 partition but (a) I have a Speedtouch 330 modem and I don't think Linux cope and (b) Kaniaz thinks I'd be a fool to, and I (suprisingly) respect his opinion. I like KDE a lot though, and Konqueror

My computer has a cryptic default name now but if I were to install Mandriva I'd have to think of a decent name.

[MSG]

Identity X please don't waste a perfectly good system like that on Linux

Please

[King and God]

AMD Athlon 3.2 ghz
Nvidia GeForce 6600
1024 RAM
186GB Harddrive

[QwinsepiaSquared]

You know, if you had 1008GB, and were at all sensible, you'd choose something that wasn't Windows. Windows will always have a pagefile whether you like it or not, and that's slow and a waste of space. (Actually I think you can disable the pagefile to an extent, so maybe it would be fine). Even so, I don't think Windows - at least not your normal versions - were built to handle that kind of memory at all sensibly.
[/b]

I believe the most RAM WinXP can run is 4 GB. Vista's supposed to support up to 128 GB.

Anywho, my computer:

Gateway 820 GM
-Intel P4 530 w/ HTT, 3 GHz
-Radeon X300 SE video card 128 MB (actually works really good, I can run all my games at the highest settings)
-250 GB SATA HD
-1 GB RAM
-1x DVD burner, 1x DVD drives
-more crap installed on it than I can count
-$2500 to buy including extra cords, printer, etc. (our printer sucks though, the 9 year old printer we have actually runs faster and prints in higher quality than the new one)
-I'm guessing something close to $500 spent on games
-and I named it Billy

:content:

[TweaK]

I believe the most RAM WinXP can run is 4 GB. Vista's supposed to support up to 128 GB.
[/b]
Somewhat correct. Vista's lesser 3 versions can only run up to 4/8, but Ultimate can run up to 128. Yes.

Anyway, my PC right now:

PC
AMD Athlon64 3500+ 2.2Ghz
2048MB DDR400 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT
Internal 1x 150GB HDD
External 2x 500GB HDD
DVD Burner, DVD Reader, etc - the usual
Internal card readers (support for 6 types)
8 USB Ports (2 front, 6 back)
Running Windows Vista Ultimate RC2 & Windows XP Home (Dual-boot, mostly using Vista)
Other hardware
17" HP Pavilion f1703 LCD Monitor
D-Link DGL-4300 Gaming (GameFuel) Router, supporting speeds up until 25 Mbit
HP Photosmart printer
Logitech G15 Keyboard
Logitech MediaPlay Mouse
Dolby 5.1 Surround Set + Huge SubWoofer
1x 4-Port USB2 Hub
1x 4-Port USB1 Hub
Trust Joystick

[Demerzel]

------------------
System Information
------------------

Time of this report: 12/24/2006, 13:13:16
****** Machine name: MARKPC2
** Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 5744) (5744.vista_rtm_edw.061003-1945)
********** Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: FUJITSU SIEMENS
****** System Model: P5GD1-FM
************** BIOS: BIOS Date: 11/28/05 10:37:03 Ver: 08.00.10
**********Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
************ Memory: 2046MB RAM
**********Page File: 1441MB used, 2876MB available
********Windows Dir: C:\Windows
****DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found

**** DxDiag Version: 6.00.5744.16384 32bit Unicode

~dxdiag

[Ynot]

Identity X please don't waste a perfectly good system like that on Linux

Please
[/b]

:? :?

Please don't waste all our precious oil on economical cars
buy a 4 ton behemoth that runs out of petrol 'soon as you start the engine

Please

[MSG]

Please don't waste all our precious oil on economical cars
buy a 4 ton behemoth that runs out of petrol 'soon as you start the engine

Please
[/b]

Please don't contribute to global warming by releasing heat from your anger that you will get by putting yourself through the misery that is setting up Linux and getting it to work properly with what little programs are actually offered for it

Please

[Ynot]

http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41246

I rest my case :wink:

[Tsen]

Haha, it's sad, but true. Ubuntu, despite being free and open source, is more user friendly and easy to use than XP in my experience.

Anyway, to teh compy:

Name: Kicksey-Winsey (Anybody who gets that reference is automatically my best friend.)
OS: Dual Booting between Windows XP Home Edition and Ubuntu Linux 6.06
GPU: Intel Integrated 82845 G, 64 MB
RAM:512 MB
HD:80GB, 50 in NTFS for XP, ~30 in Ext3 for Linux, plus a 250GB external with my music and other files on it that I share between both.
Processor:Intel Celeron 2.9 Ghz
Keyboard:Compaq somethingorother. Dunno, but the keys are all thin and funky. I like it.
Mouse:Some no-name wireless optical thingamajig.. Got it bundled with a wireless keyboard for $15. Stopped using the keyboard 'cuz it's keys got stuck sometimes. Mouse works okay, but it bugs me sometimes.
Monitor: Compaq FS7600. 19". Bulky. Good picture quality and refresh rate, though. Still want something thinner.

[Ynot]

Ubuntu, despite being free and open source, is more user friendly and easy to use than XP in my experience.[/b]
and it's assumtions like this that I think is the current problem with linux adoption

It's because it's open source (and, as such, as a blossoming community of developers and testers) that it is more user-friendly

developers develop the OS
testers test it
feedback is fed back
developers develop the OS
.....
..

there does seem to be a general feeling (and I've seen this with my own eyes with SWAT)
that open source does scare people off
they see it as a DIY, hodge-potch solution
where in fact
it's often the complete reverse

anyway, I'm getting bow-legged on my high horse
so I'll leave it there

[TweaK]

and it's assumtions like this that I think is the current problem with linux adoption

It's because it's open source (and, as such, as a blossoming community of developers and testers) that it is more user-friendly

developers develop the OS
testers test it
feedback is fed back
developers develop the OS
.....
..
[/b]
That's what I thought when I read Tsen's post. Because it's open source and free, it tends to be more user friendly. :rolleyes:

Also, shall we keep the Linux vs Windows debate somewhere else?

[MSG]

Linux in the nerd world is okay, and when somebody who is experienced in computing says that they're using Linux, I don't necessarily have a problem with it. The part that I'm kinda confused about is why Linux is trying to make it's way onto the average user's desktop.

Server market = fishbowl
Desktop computer market = sidewalk

Linux is a fish on a leash. You're not a dog, get back in the bowl

You see what happen's with Linux, is that it will never be able to make it big until laws change. It's unable to work with the DRM and the copyright protection that companies have in place for their products. The open source nature is viral (and it depends on itself), so Linux would only work in a utopian world in which everybody shares and they all trust each other. As cool as that would be, that's not the kind of world we live in.

Why do I get so mad when people bring up linux? I don't know. It's probably because I feel betrayed. I was told many times that Linux is the way, all your computing problems will go away, blah blah blah, it's open it's free and it's just great ... and then I go to use it

Installation and general first usage is great, but the problem with Linux I found was that it was fine at first, but then when I want to do other things with it it starts to break and die. In terms of stability, I'd say Windows is far more stable than Linux (I'm not talking about uptime, I mean how easy it is to break).

And then when you do break it, help online is a bitch to find. The forumgoers ignore problems that aren't fun to solve (go open source!) and the IRC room basically said I was fucked when I got "Segmentation fault" every time I tried to run a program and suggested I reinstall (no, not reboot, reinstall.

I might give Linux another shot in a year or two, but as for right now, I'll wait until they've improved on it a lot more. In it's current state it seems like even the simplest of things means doing it in a much more complicated way than you would have to if you were using Windows.

Installing and maintaining a web server in Linux was great, though, I give it that.

[Oz91]

Here's mine

Asus P5W HD Delux i975x chipset motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4Ghz
2GB (2 x 1024 DDR2 SDRAM)
ATI Radeon X1950XTX 512MB Graphics card
1.2TB Storage (Under 4 HDD)

WinXP MCE 2005 (Upgrading to Vista on launch)

My setup consists of 2x17 inch 8ms LCD screens, a logitech MX Revolution mouse and an Mx1000 mouse.

A G15 Keyboard, Logitech Z-680 speaker system 5.1 500 watt RMS / 1000 watt MAX.

[TweaK]

Linux in the nerd world is okay, and when somebody who is experienced in computing says that they're using Linux, I don't necessarily have a problem with it. The part that I'm kinda confused about is why Linux is trying to make it's way onto the average user's desktop.

Server market = fishbowl
Desktop computer market = sidewalk

Linux is a fish on a leash. You're not a dog, get back in the bowl[/b]
You love that phrase don't you? I recall you saying it on IRC once or twice as well, haha.
Anyway, I must admit, I've been using Linux on two dedicated servers I maintain now, and whilst I did have some problems with one, while managing the other no problems have arisen - And it's super easy to install packages and all too. I must hand it to Linux - Installing servers has never been so much fun.

[MSG]

Yeah exactly, when it comes to servers, Linux kicks ass.

My experience using Linux as an actual home computer, though, was not so kick ass.

[Kaniaz]

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Which one do you think most people who use open source or have open source peddled to them care about more: Free as in speech. "I can edit the program and contribute something to the open source model. This quite possibly requires me to know a programming language, have a lot of time on my hands to develop and also happen to be one of the (relatively few) people in the world who are able to code without making a mess of it." Free as in free beer. "I can get this for free? Yeehaw, adios Windows!"While the Free Software Foundation insists it's only the first one that open source actually is, the second one seems to come hand-in-hand a lot. But I wonder if Linux uptake would be as it is if they were making people pay for it?

[Ne-yo]

THOUGHT OF THE DAY[/b]

Excellent thought of the day. :goodjob2: You're gonna make me use my brain on this one huh? lol..

I choose: Free as in speech.

With less dependence on vendors and the availability of the source code and the right to modify it is extremely important. Also having the right to redistribute modifications and improvements to the code, and to reuse other open source code, permits all the advantages due to the modifiability of the software to be shared by large communities. One of my favorite implemtations is that there is no one with the power to restrict in a unilateral way how the software is used, even in a retroactive way with no single entity on which the future of the software depends.

[ElessarMasukami]

My computers

Custom:
case:thermaltake tsunami
power: thermaltake 700W
Motherboard: Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 re2.0
CPU: Intel core 2 6600 2.4GHz
Graphics: BFG tech NVIDIA 8800 gts
sound: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
Storage: 500GB 3.0 GBs
RAM: 2GB g-skil
keyboard/mouse: logitech G15/ logitech G5
WIN XP pro

IBM thinkpad T41:
CPU: intel Pentium M 1.5 GHz
Motherboard: IBM 23734JU
Graphics: ATI mobility radeon 7500
Storage: 24 GB
Network: 10/100/1000
RAM: 512mb

HP media center PC m7077c:
CPU:intel pent 4 3.2 GHZ
Motherboard: ASUSTek Puffer 2
graphics:dual radeon x300/x550
Storage: 179 GB and 111GB
RAM: 1 gig

Network:Linksys WRT54GX4 uplinked to 3 MB/s cable modem
Various swiches

Spares:
HP pavilion 732c
Win XP pro
HP pavilion a465c (x2)
Win XP home
eMachine t2042 (x2)
Win XP home

Several spare monitors, cabling, ect.
Lots of manuals

[Burns]

Intel Pentium D dual core 2.8 GHZ processor
2 GB dual channel RAM
160 GB hard drive
Windows Vista

[Replicon]

- Toaster
- dual bread slots
- 5 darkness settings
- power cord

[Ynot]

Media Centre
2.4 GHz Pentium 4
1 Gb Ram
Win XP Prof.
200 Gb System Disk
3 Tb Raid array

Personal Machine
2.8 GHz dual core
4 Gb Ram
Win XP Prof. / Debian Linux
Various hardware cast-offs from media centre

[Pyrofan1]

when I got "Segmentation fault" every time I tried to run a program

that's usually caused by a badly written program.

[ninja9578]

that's usually caused by a badly written program.

It's true, you have a pointer referencing something that it shouldn't be. There are a number of things that might be going wrong. You accidentally store a long in your pointer. You store your pointer in an int instead of ptr or long. Or you have an iterator that doesn't check for the null terminator. You are using an out-of-date compiler on a modern machine (32 bit on 64 bit.)

My computers:

Acer Laptop
Pentium 4 Processor
Ubuntu 7.04
512 MB RAM
60GB Hard Drive

Apple iBook
Power PC G4 Processor
Tiger 10.4.9
1GB RAM
40GB Hard Drive

Getting an Apple TV soon too :-)

[Cammy]

Core2DUO E2160 @ 2.62ghz
2gigs of RAM
ATI X1800XT 256mb PCI-E Graphics Card
160gig SATA Hard Drive
80gig IDE Hard Drive
CD/DVD Lightscribe writer
Win XP Home
19" Widescreen Monitor

[Adam]

Not the best, but works for me :)

AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ 2GHz
1023MB RAM
Windows Vista Home Premium
19" IT Works Monitor
ATI Radeon 9600 256 Graphics
2x120BG HDD

Comes with all the usual bells and whistles or Office 2007 pro DVD Burner etc :)