...I'm (trying) to migrate to a new computer. The 2002, 2.8GHz, half-GigaByte RAM engine that has been chugging away for lo these many years is...chugging...ever....slower. Every software update makes it slog worse, poor thing. It's time for a new brainbox and I have two choices -- one NIB, smallish, recent, and the other a massive (and still fairly recent) ex-graphics machine from the scrap-pile, total overkill for what I need but undoubtedly on hyperdrive if I can shut down the zillion things on it that I don't need..
I'll start with the smaller, simpler one. Gonna need some luck and some time.
Might I recommend http://ninite.com/?
ReplyDeleteIt is a one step installer for the popular freeware programs, and it installs them answering 'no' to all the add-ons, etc. A really nice utility.
Linux (Ubuntu) I tell you!
ReplyDeleteThis was typed (two fingered) on a steam-powered 2.7 GHz relic that can still outdo my 'friends' super-duper-it-cost-more-than-my-car gizmos (but then they to a man/woman all run super-expensive W*****s. Sheep I tell you. Oh OK, so I'm cheap but at least I'm consistent - don't ask why I'm wearing 20 yr old scrubs at the moment [they're less expensive, the faded grey/blue matches my complexion and the cut flatters my figure ;-p ])
Remember what I said about Tam's recently-departed machine: "It could handle the gaming, but not the snark."
ReplyDeleteAnd one of these days I'm gonna take a deep breath and throw Ubuntu into one of my wood-burning magick-lantern Internets machines.
I plan to install very, very little -- Firefox and Q10 and the driver for my scanner (if I have to) and possibly the wireless router; I dunno, that thing seemed to have a lot of unavoidable flabware.
ReplyDeleteNot doing anything fancy with the operating system for much the same reason I file the simplest tax return applicable to my circumstances and don't look fancy deductions: been bit once already. I'll just run whatever horrible idiotgram-interface thing they installed at the factory until they bring CP/M back. (CP/M did everything I really needed and did it very well, without much fuss, bother or memory. No word-processing program since PerfectWriter has been as useful or simple.)
For the massive machine, if it's just full of stuff, my approach would be to reinstall from scratch. Maybe that's not an available option for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know, there are CP/M emulators around. Sorta looks like there's binaries too, so maybe it'll run in a VM? I dunno. Lot of trouble, but hey, at least it's retro!
Sometimes, I wish for an RSX emulator, and real VT-100 keyboard.
It's full of a lot of stuff I want to keep
ReplyDelete