Advice On Buying A New Computer Please

trevskoda said:
hi wint things have changed a lot dead easy to load 20 min and will work out of box,mite save him paying ms .
not as geekey as was about 5 years back,have looked at seven,not as easy to use as i thought,it a overlay of vista
but better than win 8,
now ill get of my soap box.
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I fell for that line too, tried several free distros but mainly Ubuntu (12.04 was the last I used). Easy install, especially if dual-booting, looks good, comes with all sorts of additional goodies built in (and free) like a full office suite etc., (unlike Microsoft's Windows - any version), but it still requires one to 'open a shell' from time to time and do things 'under the hood' to install various other bits of software, which is still complicated for non-geeks to do. Furthermore, not all of the additional programmes (mainly screen-writing ones) I use run under Linux and the two which do (Celtx and Trelby) are inferior to my preferred (Final Draft, Movie Magic Screenwriter, and Sophocles), so I can't read or edit scripts in Linux, which is another strike against it. For any non-geek who wants to remain a non-geek, I'm afraid that Windows or Mac (if you've more money than sense) is still the way to go, IMHO. ;)
 
[SUP][/SUP]
trevskoda said:
hi wint things have changed a lot dead easy to load 20 min and will work out of box,mite save him paying ms .
not as geekey as was about 5 years back,have looked at seven,not as easy to use as i thought,it a overlay of vista
but better than win 8,
now ill get of my soap box.
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No disrespect but is this some sort of spy message ? The microfilm is obviously going to be hidden at 7 o'clock under a carpet by a window (at seven...overlay..., vista...??). (but not beside window No 8 ?).
 
ivecotrucker said:
[SUP][/SUP]

No disrespect but is this some sort of spy message ? The microfilm is obviously going to be hidden at 7 o'clock under a carpet by a window (at seven...overlay..., vista...??). (but not beside window No 8 ?).
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Shh, Don't mention 'spy message' or the flags will fly in Cheltenham and Memworth Hill and you won't need to worry about a new computer when the boys in blue come knocking at 3:00 AM. Better sleep in clean pyjamas tonight!

:lol-053:
 
Seannachie said:
I fell for that line too, tried several free distros but mainly Ubuntu (12.04 was the last I used). Easy install, especially if dual-booting, looks good, comes with all sorts of additional goodies built in (and free) like a full office suite etc., (unlike Microsoft's Windows - any version), but it still requires one to 'open a shell' from time to time and do things 'under the hood' to install various other bits of software, which is still complicated for non-geeks to do. Furthermore, not all of the additional programmes (mainly screen-writing ones) I use run under Linux and the two which do (Celtx and Trelby) are inferior to my preferred (Final Draft, Movie Magic Screenwriter, and Sophocles), so I can't read or edit scripts in Linux, which is another strike against it. For any non-geek who wants to remain a non-geek, I'm afraid that Windows or Mac (if you've more money than sense) is still the way to go, IMHO. ;)
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?????????????????? (but thanks for your time in replying !).

I'm going to lie down in a dark room now with a few Aspirins.
 
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ivecotrucker said:
?????????????????? (but thanks for your time in replying !).
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Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you, or take your thread off topic. In a nutshell what I was trying to do was point out that for non-geeks (me and probably you too but forgive me if I'm wrong) Linux in any distro (it's what they call 'distributions', basically slightly different versions of the underlying operating system) is not for them. My advice is stick with Windows, preferably Windows 7 (which will be simple for an XP user to adapt to) unless you want to fiddle around with Windows 8 to make it look and behave more like what you are used to with Windows XP.
 
Seannachie said:
I fell for that line too, tried several free distros but mainly Ubuntu (12.04 was the last I used). Easy install, especially if dual-booting, looks good, comes with all sorts of additional goodies built in (and free) like a full office suite etc., (unlike Microsoft's Windows - any version), but it still requires one to 'open a shell' from time to time and do things 'under the hood' to install various other bits of software, which is still complicated for non-geeks to do. Furthermore, not all of the additional programmes (mainly screen-writing ones) I use run under Linux and the two which do (Celtx and Trelby) are inferior to my preferred (Final Draft, Movie Magic Screenwriter, and Sophocles), so I can't read or edit scripts in Linux, which is another strike against it. For any non-geek who wants to remain a non-geek, I'm afraid that Windows or Mac (if you've more money than sense) is still the way to go, IMHO. ;)
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you right ubuntu dont have all the drivers,but they now give you a button to hit and there installed,mint have them on distro.
however most people dont do the things you or i might do,they just want the net ,email ebay skip etc ,all simple and free in linux.
any way the guy only wanted some help ,not a trip to the bug house,and after all this he will be glade to sine in.
 
Seannachie said:
Instead of removing the hard-drive (and then wondering what to do with it), what's wrong with simply completely destroying all the information on it using Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)?

For anyone interested, DBAN is free and can be downloaded here: Darik's Boot and Nuke | Free System Administration software downloads at SourceForge.net but it can be read about here: Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing
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Because the OP explained he is techincally challenged! I assume he can use a screwdriver more easily than download and run your suggestion (which is a very good one by the way) on a knackered PC.

I suspect he will just put it in his shed with the rest of the junk us blokes refuse to throw out! ;)
 
barryd said:
Because the OP explained he is techincally challenged! I assume he can use a screwdriver more easily than download and run your suggestion (which is a very good one by the way) on a knackered PC.

I suspect he will just put it in his shed with the rest of the junk us blokes refuse to throw out! ;)
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Or in my case, Barry, the loft, guffaw!
 
Seannachie said:
Instead of removing the hard-drive (and then wondering what to do with it), what's wrong with simply completely destroying all the information on it using Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)?

For anyone interested, DBAN is free and can be downloaded here: Darik's Boot and Nuke | Free System Administration software downloads at SourceForge.net but it can be read about here: Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing
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Or alternatively remove the hdd undo the screws and remove the platters or just put a hammer through them, as most of them seem to be glass.
 
barryd said:
Because the OP explained he is techincally challenged! I assume he can use a screwdriver more easily than download and run your suggestion (which is a very good one by the way) on a knackered PC.

I suspect he will just put it in his shed with the rest of the junk us blokes refuse to throw out! ;)
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just bookmarked motorhomefruitcakes forum,fantastic.
 
ivecotrucker said:
Thank you all for your help so far - I've been off doing other things & just returned to the 'office'.

My screen is flat (Compaq 5315, lovely big pikkies), not an old X ray type machine.
All I really want is:

- space for several 000's photos & increasing - no photoshop or anything, I don't bugger about changing sunsets or people's hair colour etc (I wouldn't know how & life's too short)

- a good word/typing system

- room for several hundreds text/info/report files, each about = 2-3 A4 typed pages

-ability to play/read/write CD's & I suppose DVD's these days; also ability to read/play music CD's that have been recorded in MP3 format (my Balkan ethno stuff - works Ok on my current Compaq)

-good Internet/GoogleEarth search speed.

That's about it I think. Thanks to All so far.
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linux mint will do all that you want for free,im doing it like you all day every day.
 
oldish hippy said:
before you do anything make a list of what u want it to do ie photo editing runn office or what ever you need to do and internet which is standard these days well as for the 2.8 cpu mine fly along it runns no probelm on this site think your problem is xp home try a different web browser try chrome as that zips along quiet nicely on mine and treat yourself to a flatscreen monitor of decent size as for key board it might not plug in if it running the round pin need a converter



ignor below this if for the techies
why i run a old machine because i run ide raid on here with a lot of hdd and two psu as idont have enough welly to run two raid setups onboard and seperate pcie card
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What type of raid are you running? seems like rather ancient tech - ide
 
Well asked I-Trucker, I'm the original PC Confused .com! get in a head spin when the knowlegdeable get going!! There's been some useful (to me) feed back, thanks for that Guys, I think it will be a S/H lap top (nothing to advanced) so I can cart it around in the motor.
 
barryd said:
Because the OP explained he is techincally challenged! I assume he can use a screwdriver more easily than download and run your suggestion (which is a very good one by the way) on a knackered PC.

I suspect he will just put it in his shed with the rest of the junk us blokes refuse to throw out! ;)
Click to expand...

When I finally get a new computrickery box I thought I'd take this one down the workshop & shove 150A DC through it from my stick welder - it'd either gee it up a bit or maybe ***k it up altogether.
 
I run a big risk here of getting my wrists slapped but I will agree with trevskoda and install a lightweight Linux on the machine. It depends on what you use your computer for, if just for internet and a bit of word processing then why spend 100's on a new computer when the one you have will do the job.

I don't want to get techie but installing Linux is like setting up a digital box the first time, it looks complicated but really isn't. i have talked people through this process without problems, even people that are less tech savvy than yourself.
 
No-one has mentioned a very important part in all of this:

Doesn't matter what system you use, how much you spend or what software you have got. If you want to use the internet this day and age you need a good reliable and fast internet supplier. The old copper non enhanced BT telephone lines are useless and if you live in a area not covered by Fibre optic cable or Openreach high speed trickery your computer will run slow and give you massive hangups and problems with download speed. Get a free download/upload speed check on your Telephone line first.
 
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