Five operating system alternatives to Windows 8 and XP

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  1. Posts : 5,941
    Linux CENTOS 7 / various Windows OS'es and servers
       #70

    FuturDreamz said:
    I don't know if I can settle for "Just as good" because eventually I always have to do something where "Just as good" is "Not good enough."
    Hi there
    Agree with you -- perhaps I should have said BETTER than what's available -- that is going to be even MORE unlikely.

    For the foreseeable future Photoshop and Office aren't going to be knocked of their perches -- and by the time they are I will either have long since passed away or won't be caring about computers anyway.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  2. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #71

    All these major apps appear to support Macs which is Unix based. Most photo pros apparently use Macs. So in principle Adobe Photo products could be ported to a linux platform with little effort depending on the user base. Although MS provide Office to Macs I doubt they would cannibalize Office to a low cost linux OS.

    I doubt that I'd move to linux mainstream. I have 3 PCs running W7 and 2 copies sitting on the shelf and I am quite happy with the W7 OS. But the wind can change.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #72

    jimbo45 said:
    Hi there
    an even BETTER solution is to use GRUB on the external USB drive and then mount and boot a Windows VHD (note NOT a Virtual machine) and boot from it. then you can run a Full PORTABLE NATIVE windows OS from your USB device. You can also boot any Linux distro you want.

    Seems to me a bit pointless to run Windows as a VM from Linux if most of the time you are using Windows applications such as Photoshop, Office etc.

    Don't get me wrong -- I LIKE Linux - but for me I only use it as a file and internet Database server.

    For what I need and do Linux as a DESKTOP OS doesn't cut it for me -- but absolutely NO problems as a Server.

    BTW another interesting idea is to try running ESXi (free version) from VMware -- it's a TINY Hypervisor -- and then run a Windows VM from the USB device. The disadvantage is that you would need a separate client machine to access the VM but the overhead of the hypervisor is so tiny that the VM runs at 99.9% native speed and you can use some real hardware too (Esxi allows things like Pci passthru to access real hardware). However setting this up is quite tricky so it's not for beginners. If you don't have a spare client machine then this isn't an option -- I mention this because if you DO have a spare machine it's quite a fun exercise to have a go with it. Installing Esxi takes around 2 mins !! it's such a small kernel -- but be warned some of its hardware requirements are quite picky.

    Virtualising the Esxi itself could also be an interesting idea -- the overhead of a second level of virtualisation (a Windows VM under a Virtual esxi) might be LESS than running a windows VM under a full Linux distro - and in this case you wouldn't need a separate physical client machine --you could access the Windows VM from the Host machine.

    Cheers
    jimbo
    One thing I found out when first trying to custom install ubuntu onto a 2gb flash drive was not only did the 10.04 release actually need 2.25gb instead but how to repair the 7 mbr when Grub trashed that before finding out that it wasn't the root you pointed Grub at leaving it to go after the first drive available but pointing at the flash drive knowing what was the sda, sde, or whatever drive by identification! There were the fun times for sure! "7 mbr trashed? On no! " You learn fast!

    Now speaking of seeing 7 running off of a flash drive someone wrote up a guide for that using the Portable VirtualBox back while 7 was in RC form I gave a try to see results. There should a way similar to how that is done with 8 as well using the win image file as one guide at 8F explains. Another older eHow guide explains how you can also do the same with Vista by following a certain proceedure since all three versions still use the same boot loader Vista brought in with it. How to Run Windows From a USB Flash Drive

    The key for creating a partitioning scheme on a flash drive is a bit different then simply running DiskPart and only seeing one OS partition created. While booted live from either a GParted Live cd or flash drive prepared with that drive program if the distro's options for the one included are limited which has been found at times wanting the entire drive only! or with a better release's own GParted you create the major NTFS primary up front to act as the data partition while reserving a good 3-4gb at the back end for the root.

    There won't be any need for a swap partition if the root is large enough since Linux has it's own form of paging file but different there of course. But this method reserves the bulk of the drive's capacity for any data rescues while still having enough OS space to work with.

    Cr00zng said:
    Night Hawk said:
    Now for the RT7 Lite there's one biggie problem you apparently ran into. If you bought 7 when first out or at least prior to the SP1 release slipsteaming the service pack in poses another problem of not being able to activate Windows! The same goes for downloading from Digital Rivers any iso with SP1 included. You have to have a post SP1 key to start with if not having any paid MSDN or TechNet subscription where a key per download is provided. So that left seeing SP1 wrapped up with all those updates out!
    I have not ran into the "pre-SP1 key" issue yet, but thanks for the heads up. It'll come handy for older keys in the case of reinstalling Windows 7...
    That was disappointing when running into this and only finding out you could slip in the individual collection of separate updates like security fixed but the service pack for any version makes other changes as well as the "date stamps"! And that was the main problem for the key since it was viewed as a "newer version of" which automatically invalidated the key.

    I had to tell Shawn about that problem coming up when the guide for replacing an OEM preinstall without the original recovery media available brought everyone to the DR site's liinks for Home and Pro with SP1 there. Now for someone who had bought a new 7 laptop after SP1 came out that have already seen SP1 and immediately work which is good for those who need to use the other guide gregrocker wrote uo for that. Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

    The unfortunate side of course was for those who went right after 7 when first out... know anyone? and the key was too old for that! " I want my 7!" So it's SP1 separate install time for any clean install.
      My Computers


 
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