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posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the Year-of-Linux-on-the-Desktop dept.

With the XP end of life, radio show presenter and Windoze-only stalwart Kim Komando has deviated from her longstanding position.

you can find refurbished office PCs online and in local thrift stores for around $100. These usually have hardware from the early 2000s.

There's a catch, though. They mostly run Windows XP, and XP isn't a safe operating system to be running anymore.

[...]you could try an operating system based on Linux. These are free, come with everything you need for basic computing, and will run great on older hardware. If you're going to give this a whirl, check out Linux Mint. The MATE edition should run better than XP, in fact.

For those unfamiliar, Kim's radio audience is largely less-technical than those who would usually be dabbling in Linux.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by jackb_guppy on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:33PM

    by jackb_guppy (3560) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:33PM (#43201)

    Generally, this is good news. I hope the LUGs are prepared.

    But on another note:

    If the system is post 2004 time frame, finding a distro would not be hard.

    If the system is pre-2004 time frame, it becomes harder:
    . . Retro and i486 versions may not run because of PAE Cx8 CMOV are still compiled into code.
    . . Memory limited hardware 256MB make it hard to load, since a lot use RAM drives to speed up processing.
    . . Booting issues are also problem with USB or DVD sized are the normal. So CD-ROM version or mini install would be required.

    The options are many and will make Linux in generally, less likely to be a choice.

    • (Score: 2) by gallondr00nk on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:19PM

      by gallondr00nk (392) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:19PM (#43235)

      . . Booting issues are also problem with USB or DVD sized are the normal. So CD-ROM version or mini install would be required.

      One of the best tools I've ever found for older hardware is the Plop Boot Manager [www.plop.at]. If you put it on a floppy, it'll allow you to boot from CD/USB even when there isn't BIOS support.

      For old laptops I usually combine it with a USB FDD (that BIOS nearly always treats as a conventional FDD). It means you can boot practically anything off USB.

      But then, I suspect that Kim Komando isn't advocating installing Linux on hardware like a ThinkPad 600 [thinkwiki.org]. That would be far too much fun :P

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:28PM

      by VLM (445) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:28PM (#43241)

      I wonder about this "hundred bucks" for early 2000s when late 2000s is free for the taking locally. Maybe its the bathtub where early 00s is starting to get antique therefore more valuable. Like an original apple I or a pdp-8 or an Altair S100 box.

      One interesting aspect is hardware that was value engineered to require rapid replacement from a decade ago is not likely to work today, or not likely to work for very long after you power it up. So you're looking at, supposedly, $100 for this ancient hardware, plus perhaps $100 for ram and $100 for a new large reliable drive and maybe $100 a replacement external DVD player (assuming the bios will boot off an external USB DVD) and this is all starting to get expensive.

      Or you could get a "free, just haul away" late 2000s machine, which probably has enough memory and probably doesn't need a DVD to boot (use a flash drive boot or even netboot at my house on my network...) and maybe spend $100 on a new hard drive. So you get a newer, higher performance machine, for about a third the price of an early 00s machine.

      Also a new rasp-pi has better stats than a early 00s machine. Especially with a $100 budget. Just sayin.

      • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:37PM

        by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:37PM (#43270) Homepage Journal

        Also a new rasp-pi has better stats than a early 00s machine. Especially with a $100 budget. Just sayin.

        True, but you surely don't expect normals to play with a Pi. I wouldn't even expect one to install Linux (let alone Windows, which was always a pain in the ass to install).

        However, as the FP noted, ten year old machines are free. I often fix them up (sometimes it takes two broken computers to make a functional one), install kubuntu (Mandrake and Mandriva in the past) and give them to friends and acquaintances who are too poor to buy a new one.

        --
        We not only don't have all the answers, we don't even have all of the questions.
      • (Score: 1) by SlackStone on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:50PM

        by SlackStone (815) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:50PM (#43278) Homepage
        On Ebay, I'm seeing a good selection of mid-2000 Dell optiplex, with 2GB ram and DVD R/W, no HD for around 50$, 20$ shipping. I see new 32G SSD drives for 40$ at my local MicroCenter. So for about 110$ I could have a pretty nice Mint box. Raspberry Pi are supper fun, but you can't easily use cheap LCD monitors with them and no DVD for Netflix. I'd recommend against the Pi unless power consumption is a factor.

        I also saw a bunch of 486DX machines at over 200$. What the hell's up with that?
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:23PM

          by VLM (445) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:23PM (#43305)

          "I also saw a bunch of 486DX machines at over 200$. What the hell's up with that?"

          That's the bathtub curve I was talking about. Someone made the mistake of using commodity PC hardware as part of a CNC milling machine, medical laser, brick n mortar cash register system, NMR machine, FTIR machine, whatever, and it cost $100K in 2004 and a new one costs $150K in 2014, and the only available replacement part is on ebay for only $200, what a steal...

          Also note "decade old hardware" is just a couple years away from being late 00's not early 00's

      • (Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:44PM

        by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:44PM (#43342)

        She does talk a little bit about the pi

        DIY computers are great basic systems if you like tinkering. They don’t run Windows and you don’t get a monitor, keyboard or mouse. Some don’t even have a case! But don’t let that put you off.

        The flagship computer for this category is the $35 Raspberry Pi. It was designed for students to practice programming, but it was a huge hit with the DIY crowd. ...

        --
        SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
    • (Score: 1) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:25PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:25PM (#43265) Journal

      I had Ubuntu 8.04 running on a 400MHz Pentium II with 128MB RAM. I used IceWM and could easily browse the web using Firefox. It was slow but it wasn't that bad. Granted 8.04 is now 6 years old and unsupported.

      Correct me if I am wrong, but even 3.x kernels support older 486, 586 (Pentium), and 686 (Pentium 2/3) systems. As far I can tell the only x86 support recently removed was for ancient ia32 systems from big proprietary vendors like IBM and SGI. And back in 2012 they removed 386 support.

      So even really old hardware from the turn of the millennium should still work.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @07:47PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @07:47PM (#43379)

        He discussed what he was trying to do in an earlier article [soylentnews.org] (and--with less detail--in a comment to a thread before that). [soylentnews.org]

        He has an iOpener that he's trying to rejuvenate (came with QNX; he installed LoseME later).
        That product was different from a standard IBM-PC architecture in at least 1 way:
        they purposely installed the ISA connector backwards.
        Perhaps there is something else abnormal with the hardware that he is using (though I don't think that is the problem).

        My intuition is that he grabbed a new beta of Damn Small Linux and a bleeding-edge version of Puppy Linux[1]--specifically, spins of those which don't support i486 or even i586.
        I note that his failures are curious because, as you alluded to, anything after a Pentium 1 should support CMOV and PAE.
        (I also previously mentioned my Pentium 2 which also did just fine with i586 builds and *should* reflect what he has.)
        So, there's something occult about his hardware or (more likely, it seems) he just grabbed incompatible builds.

        The best advice he has gotten IMO is to build his own, starting with a Debian kernel.

        [1] "Puppy" and "bleeding-edge" in the same sentence seems really weird.

        -- gewg_

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by jackb_guppy on Thursday May 15 2014, @12:43AM

          by jackb_guppy (3560) on Thursday May 15 2014, @12:43AM (#43508)

          Please use facts that you know.

          First I-OPENER does not have ISA. I wish it did, because I still have cards ISA cards. No, the "laptop" IDE header is reversed, also with a second "drive" (16MB flash) on the same bus. So, I am unable to hook a cd-rom to same header.

          The processor is winchp-C6, more lined to K2 but slower. CMOV came out with Pentium-Pro, not Pentium. Pentium II had it has it came after the Pro.

          An I-Opener is basically equivalent to a tablet of today when compared to full blown desktop. No Diskette, No CD-Rom, No Ethernet Port, No Wireless, a Built-in Win Modem and a single USB1. No BIOS support to boot anything but 1 of 2 "disks", except has option for an IDE CD-Rom or old style cabled Floppy, that cannot be installed - no headers.

          I have gone though multiple distros: PUPPY, DSL and other distros going back to 2004 era and tested each one. PUPPY: I have tested 431 through 571, both regular and retro/i486. Finding the the error reporting PAE, Cx8, and CMOV or just plain kernel panic (hard lockup). Only so far only #! has worked. The newest version that I have tested is crunchbang-11-20130506-i486, works well, but is "heavy" using 80MB+ of the 128MB main memory. That heavyness also shows up in the high swap usage.

          FreeDOS1 also works, but 1.1 gives the PAE Cx9 CMOV errors. GRUB4DOS is little better than newer GRUB2. Easier to work WinME and FreeDOS. GRUB2 tries to boot the other two but fails. Most likely is issue with partition mapping, GRUB4DOS I feel I have better control. Also runs well on FreeDOS partition, so booting to FreeDOS and making menu.lst changes is quick.

          I have also tried PLOP and currently have it loaded, using GRUB4DOS to call it (one of the options in PLOP). So far I found PLOP is "OK" but still cannot use it boot to USB memory stick. It loads the boot of USB, but then that kernel is "lost" trying to find it's drive. Still doing testing though.

          Future testing BSD versions and Gentoo.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:57AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:57AM (#43538)

            use facts that you know
            [...]does not have ISA

            Apologies for my lousy memory.
            That article was actually my first encounter with the other site.
            Folks scrambling to Fry's(?) to pick up the devices that were being sold based on a subscription model. Heh, good times.
            It's been a long time and I should have reviewed the particulars.

            winchp-C6
            There's the part I glossed over in my reading.

            more lined to K2 but slower
            I think "aligned with" might be the phraseology you were going for.
            Yeah, the AMD K5 and K6 claimed to be i686-compliant but that was marketing hype.
            Your chip suffers from the same sort of dishonest specsmanship.

            Gentoo
            It did sound like you were going to end up compiling your own.
            Getting the pre-packaged stuff to work would be nice but...

            -- gewg_

      • (Score: 2) by jackb_guppy on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:58PM

        by jackb_guppy (3560) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:58PM (#43461)

        Not all distros are the same. Also the getting a new batch of users with old hardware and not knowing the differences will make people frustrated.

        Take Ubuntu, you know that 8.04 will work on that machine. But a general user will start with 14.04 and get errors. Then should they try again? Throw hands in air say "Linux sucks, you get what you paid for!".

        I hqad a older machine that I wanted to run Ubuntu on. I had to start with 7.04 because of an old clock bios issue. Then upgrade though each release to until finally getting it to run on 10.04. Would a new suer do that?

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Thursday May 15 2014, @12:25AM

      by frojack (1554) on Thursday May 15 2014, @12:25AM (#43497) Journal

      If the system is pre-2004 time frame, it becomes harder:

      But who would care to run a 10 year old machine when government and companies are surplussing and replacing 5 year old ones for under $50 bucks?

      You literally can't give away 486s these days. (I admit to using one as a remote backup device, but its running headless in a locked cabinet running FreeBSD).

      I actually don't recommend people try linux on hardware that old. Its easier to find newer surplus machines, and getting them started on something that is unsuitable just gives them a bad impression of linux.

      Yeah, you might have to go buy another hard drive if you glom onto a surplus machine, because lots of companies that surplus computers are smart enough to keep and destroy those.

      You'd be surprised what people sell at garage sales too. Horrified at what they leave on these machines.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 2) by jackb_guppy on Thursday May 15 2014, @02:21AM

        by jackb_guppy (3560) on Thursday May 15 2014, @02:21AM (#43547)

        Actually, my mother-in-law. She does not want the new or newest or mear new, she is sure someone will break-in and steal it. Also she does not want something expensive she can break. So a old 2002 vinage IBM Laptop with 70GB hard drive to hold more grand-kids pictures.

        Also old equipment is good way to test your skills and understand what is actually going on. I in the past collect old computer from clients - 45 from just one - and give them to a non-profit that was starting a computer training classes. Allowed for "breaking" and "fixing" computers to get certifications. Tha same group I also got them AIX, HP, Sun and Solaris systems all with media, so they could help others get certifications on each of machines to improve employment options.

        Lastly, I have 486sx20, mem12MB and disk273MB w/ dual ISA Ethernet cards. It is loaded with IPCOP 1.4 and is full working firewall. Was my firewall for many years, not is the backup. Also have RPi that does the same thing with IPFire and 4G card.

        People are Garage Sales... hell sitting on the street.

  • (Score: 2) by fliptop on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:38PM

    by fliptop (1666) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:38PM (#43205) Journal

    ...who's hawked free security products from AOL and Comcast at times. No one that I know in "the biz" takes anything she says seriously. As far as I can tell, from the few times I've listened to her, she only promotes stuff she's paid to promote. My Dad used to listen to her but confided in me it was only because he thought she was hot.

    --
    Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
    • (Score: 2) by Angry Jesus on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:56PM

      by Angry Jesus (182) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:56PM (#43225)

      > As far as I can tell, from the few times I've listened to her, she only promotes stuff she's paid to promote.

      Which raises the question - who is paying her to promote linux? Is it more about hurting microsoft than it is about helping linux?

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:18PM

        by VLM (445) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:18PM (#43234)

        My extremely limited personal direct observation of her show is she follows the "Paul Harvey / Leo Laporte" style of deeply embedding advertisements. Apparently this can really confuse people who don't pay much attention. In between the deeply embedded advertisements she says whatever comes to mind. So its unlikely anyone is paying her to talk about linux.

        There is probably an online advertising lesson here that not turning the host into a total shill for an hour long infomercial while also not being jarring and annoying is quite effective. I really don't mind Leo Laporte's ads, at least partially because they're highly targetted and partially because what he advertises is actually pretty good stuff. I would predict the Kommando implementation of the same style is similar.

        • (Score: 4, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:28PM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:28PM (#43240) Homepage

          This is the first time I've heard of Kim Kommando, and decided to have a look.

          Bwahahaha -- "Kommando?!" She looks more like a kind-of-attractive single mother, with a fashion sense stuck in the early '80s, who flirts and likes to tease but refuses to date because she lives with her 25 year-old son and doesn't want to make him jealous -- make him think she's a filthy whore in bringing men over or staying the night at somebody else's place.

          Because Momma is, after all, the only woman who knows best for baby. Most single mothers would wait impatiently for their kids to get the fuck out of the house already, but if her son left, who would she talk to? Who would she come home to and cook dinner for every night? Her son's all she's known for the past fifteen years, and everyone else out there seems so unfamiliar and frightening!

          Wait, what were we talking about again?

          • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:39PM

            by VLM (445) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:39PM (#43243)

            Well, whatever floats your boat, but like I said, she looks like I'd imagine Taylor Swifts mom would look so if I had to daydream, I don't think "25 year old son" would be one of the three involved.

            Anyway, she's married and one of those late breeder types so her kid is only like eight, per about 10 seconds with google. She's older than me and her kids are younger and I thought I was a late breeder type...

            • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:58PM

              by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:58PM (#43285) Homepage Journal

              Wikipedia says her son is 14. Her web site, though, MY EYES!! IT BURNS!!!

              Apparently she's never heard of the K.I.S.S. principle, but few web designers seem to have heard of it these days, either. When did they stop teaching that in colleges?

              --
              We not only don't have all the answers, we don't even have all of the questions.
          • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:51PM

            by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:51PM (#43279) Homepage Journal

            Wait, what were we talking about again?

            Her really poorly designed, user-hostile web site? No, wait... shilly rabbits. Wikipedia says [wikipedia.org] incredibly humorously, "This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (February 2012)" followed by "This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2009)"

            It also says "She is married to Barry Young, host of The Nearly Famous Barry Young Show, a local radio show on KFYI in Phoenix. Their son Ian was born in 2000.[8]".

            --
            We not only don't have all the answers, we don't even have all of the questions.
          • (Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:07PM

            by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:07PM (#43321) Journal

            Wait, what were we talking about again?

             
            Your Mommy issues, apparently.

    • (Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:51PM

      by Lunix Nutcase (3913) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:51PM (#43249)

      I seriously doubt even 1 in 10,000 people have even heard of this person. Let alone cares what she says.

      • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:00PM

        by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:00PM (#43286) Homepage Journal

        I've never heard of her, but Wikipedia says she's on 450 radio stations in the US and Canada, has a column in USA Toady, and has been on all the major news networks so she must be pretty well known.

        --
        We not only don't have all the answers, we don't even have all of the questions.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:18PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:18PM (#43261)

      Not to mention her statement is mostly bullshit. You can buy refurbed comouters from Newegg for $100 or less with Windows 7. And they aren't the only ones.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:29PM (#43266)

      But the snakeoil salesman is now hawking our snakeoil!! *wank* *wank* *wank*

      • (Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday May 14 2014, @08:58PM

        by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 14 2014, @08:58PM (#43409)
        That post really shouldn't be modded as troll. If you're going to use terms like 'Windoze' in the submission, expect a little criticism, even if it does strike at point-blank-range.
        --
        🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @02:39PM (#43206)

    I don't know who she is, but her names sounds like a Westernized version of an anime hero. I pretty much now have constructed an image of what she must look like...

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:10PM

      by VLM (445) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:10PM (#43231)

      You're a quick google away from being very surprised.

      She actually looks a lot like a modern lip sync-ing country western star. If you know who Taylor Swift is, she totally looks like she could be Taylor Swift's mom, no kidding or exaggeration. Maybe not a clone, but definitely a family ancestor. It also works out mathematically WRT age. She is a very late baby boomer.

      Hard to say if its surprising you've never heard of her. She's a rather popular host talking about computers, although her target market is total noobs. I would not be in her market, but "general public total noobs" naturally assume I learned everything I know about computers from memorizing everything she's ever said, therefore they ask me questions about her opinions WRT windows hardware and software (which is doubly comical because I don't use either).

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:20PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:20PM (#43236)

        She's been at it for years too. I remember when I was a teenager some 14-15 years ago, my dad would listen to her on car trips for the LOL factor.

        My favorite (unless it was some other computer radio show, doubtful though) was the guy who called in asking if a 3d accelerator would improve the quality of his porn.

        • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:45PM

          by VLM (445) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:45PM (#43244)

          Let me guess, $host said a $30 monster brand ethernet cable would help more?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:13PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:13PM (#43259)

        Hard to say if its surprising you've never heard of her. She's a rather popular host talking about computers, although her target market is total noobs.

        She's only "rather popular" if you actually believe bogus Arbitron ratings which are well-known to be highly inaccurate. And even if they were accurate her audience would only make up 3/4 of 1% of the US population. So even if her entire audience followed her advice it would be an imperceptible blip in OS marketshare.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:14PM (#43296)

      How bout Kim DotKomando, now that'd be a name!

      • (Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:14PM

        by EvilJim (2501) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:14PM (#43442) Journal

        no-one wants to see Kimble Dot go commando!! oh the imagery, I'm going to go bleach my brain now.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:03PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:03PM (#43227) Journal
    She obviously missed PC-BSD [wikipedia.org] which is an easy to install by using a graphical installation and ready-to-use. And FreeBSD [wikipedia.org] for those that wants to customize. Features BSD lack are major kernel rewrites at lunch break, cool features that stop your desktop dead or design of the day in system layout.
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by RobotLove on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:27PM

    by RobotLove (3304) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:27PM (#43239)

    Bastardizing Microsoft's "Windows" to "Windoze" adds nothing to the discussion. It lowers the level of discourse, and I expect better from Soylent editors.

    Normally I hate posts that complain about editors or story content and I swear this is the first time I've ever complained. I do not promise never to do it again.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by romlok on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:52PM

      by romlok (1241) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:52PM (#43252)

      I've not got mod points, so I'm replying with my concurrence.

      Using terms like "Windoze", "M$", "Microshaft", or anything else along similar lines, just makes the submitter, the editor, and the site, look immature at best.

      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:31PM

        by kaszz (4211) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:31PM (#43267) Journal

        But it does feel good to bash the company that constantly tries to make computing hard for everyone else. If they behave, the name calling would lessen.

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:34PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:34PM (#43268)

          Are you a manchild?

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:41PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:41PM (#43273)

          Your life sounds extraordinarily pathetic. Is bashing "Windoze" supposed to make up for being a sexless, morbidly obese virgin with a dead-end job and no friends?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:29PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:29PM (#43333)

          I try to give the editors something to edit when I submit.
          "Windoze" is my usual "slip" when I find an item in this genre.

          I note that I was using "M$" and "Windoze" even back when I had an install of Redmond's OS.
          MSFT's completely inability to come up with original ideas is further apparent in the naming of their products and I take every opportunity to point out that they have less imagination than a 2 year old.

          -- gewg_

        • (Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday May 14 2014, @09:01PM

          by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 14 2014, @09:01PM (#43413)
          One's lack of professionalism is not Microsoft's fault.
          --
          🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
          • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:00AM

            by kaszz (4211) on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:00AM (#43516) Journal

            Microsofts lack of ethical manners carries some side effects. It's the elephant bully in the room and we will point it out.

            • (Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:23AM

              by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:23AM (#43525)
              So you want to make your point you just don't give a shit about your credibility. Okily dokily
              --
              🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
              • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:43AM

                by kaszz (4211) on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:43AM (#43531) Journal

                Real credibility doesn't come from being unable to express oneself. Perceived credibility may be induced by behaving in a certain way that make others to read things into other people that just ain't there.

                • (Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:51AM

                  by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:51AM (#43534)
                  So if I say you're a booger-eating moron, the credibility I have with a few like-minded people who do not like you is 'real credibility', but those who are put off by the name-calling and prefer to articulate their description of you in a sense that better represents what they understand of your culinary preferences are simply perceived credibility and as such carry less weight.

                  I should let you know that I've tried your approach and it doesn't work outside of a group of like-minded people.
                  --
                  🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @02:08AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @02:08AM (#43545)

                > So you want to make your point you just don't give a shit about your credibility. Okily dokily
                > --
                > Slashdolt logic: You didn't state your opinion so I'll assign one to you.

                This post contains dangerous levels of irony.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @02:32AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @02:32AM (#43552)
                  You should read the posts again.  Your ironometer is pointing in the wrong direction.
      • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:55PM

        by urza9814 (3954) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:55PM (#43282) Journal

        Using terms like "Windoze", "M$", "Microshaft", or anything else along similar lines, just makes the submitter, the editor, and the site, look immature at best.

        Some might consider that a feature, particularly given the way "the other site" has declined ;)

    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:17PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday May 14 2014, @05:17PM (#43297) Homepage Journal

      In this case I think it's fitting, considering that there will soon be little electronic monsters sleeping in XP computers (and users of others' OSes know how much Windows will slow a computer down).

      M$ would be fitting if you were talking about software used by those researching a cure for MS, [wikipedia.org] as well as searching Google, since the first page of a google search for MS is 100% about the disease, while the first result for M$ is the Urban Dictionary and the second is Microsoft's "Devices and Services" pages.

      Best is simply to spell it out. Acronyms in print is simply laziness.

      --
      We not only don't have all the answers, we don't even have all of the questions.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:25PM (#43444)

      ...And is basically now Slashdot all over again, I'm just going to give up and play the game.

      So, on topic: Let's equal things out:

      Linneckbeardspendsthreeweeksrecompilinghiskernelbe causehissoundcardwontworkux.

      There. I have brought balance to the fanboi force. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go off some Jedi and prop up a crusty ol' senator.

  • (Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:35PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:35PM (#43242)

    GoboLinux [wikipedia.org] is worth a look if you have been a die-hard Windows user for most of your computing life.
     
    It has a filesytem heirarchy which may be more familiar to your way of seeing things. GoboLinux uses its own initialization procedure, unlike most Linux distributions which use a 'BSD' or a 'System V' procedure.
     
    You can download a Boot CD and take it for a test run.
     

    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:50PM

      by Bot (3902) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:50PM (#43247) Journal

      Rootless gobolinux is a very interesting idea too, using your own usual distro and having some software that doesn't integrate well with it installed the gobolinux way. Did not try it yet.

      For old hardware I'd go antix or similar over mint.

      --
      Account abandoned.
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:51PM

      by VLM (445) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:51PM (#43250)

      I like the idea of abandoning the legacy linux filesystem hierarchy. Its about time. Sooner it happens the better.

      The problem is this radio host is talking to people who are unhappy about their OS being abandoned WRT security updates and you're suggesting a replacement apparently made by two dudes with no updates between 2010 and early 2014. So, uh, yeah. Maybe Debian might have slightly quicker security updates, what with the whole one kilodevelopers vs "2" and about one K of world wide mirrors and ...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:43PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @06:43PM (#43340)

      Some folks migrating from Windoze may find its directory names more intuitive than other distros (its main "selling" point).

      GoboLinux just had a release after a long dormant period.
      The Wikipedia article notes that but doesn't go into much detail about recent changes and the burden those carry.
      Before recommending it, you should look at the resources it requires.
      In the context of extremely old boxes, it may not be such a good candidate.

      -- gewg_

    • (Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:16PM

      by EvilJim (2501) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:16PM (#43443) Journal

      I thought that was designed for Fraggles rather than noobs?

    • (Score: 1) by trimtab on Thursday May 15 2014, @06:45PM

      by trimtab (2194) on Thursday May 15 2014, @06:45PM (#43868)

      Umm. You would just be hobbling the user who could not use all the wonderful apps freely available in the larger communities. Or does GoboLinux have a huge team porting apps? The more mainline the Linux Distribution the better for the less technical users that will need support.

      "Mindshare" is more important than legacy to ongoing use unless you want to roll your own fixes.

      I use Gentoo, but that doesn't mean I'd recommend it to a new user. Ubuntu and Debian are far, far better choices with large communities of knowledgeable people who freely share info.

      You can always use soft-links to re-create a lot of the Windows file tree in a more popular distribution.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @03:47PM (#43245)

    I'm sure all 3 people who listen to this nobody will get right on that!!

  • (Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:01PM

    by Lunix Nutcase (3913) on Wednesday May 14 2014, @04:01PM (#43257)

    With the XP end of life, radio show presenter and Windoze-only stalwart Kim Komando has deviated from her longstanding position.

    Other than some pathetically desperate validation seeking for your choice of OS, so what? Kim Kommando's advice is almost universally shit. It's doubtful that any significant group of people will actually do this.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 14 2014, @10:39PM (#43454)

    Holy hell, this is news!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 15 2014, @01:12PM (#43700)

    Attention all Kim Kommando fans and XP die-hards ....

    Q4OS [q4os.org] is a Linux distribution which is an almost perfect clone of Windows XP !!!

    Install WINE into it and you can run your much-loved Windows software in the same interface you always had !!!!

    And then ..... lift you middle finger towards a map of Seattle USA while saying "Goodbye Microsoft, kiss my ass, and don't forget go suck your NSA and MAFIAA buddies cocks".