Reinstalling Windows - Again

[Arkhalis]

Well, I will have to come back and reply again later. I logged in, typed out a reply and had a bunch of information all typed in. Clicked post reply and it said I don't have permission because I'm not logged in. So, I log in again and it redirects me to a blank form. I hate when that happens and it frustrated me a little. Now I don't feel like replying again right now so I'll post back later when I'm less annoyed...

 

[mooreted]

I've been using Linux for 12 years. I have now switched to PC-BSD.

I work in a computer shop. I know the technical level of average users.

Linux is great until you get some hardware it doesn't recognize.


Sent from my easy chair using brainwaves.

 

[CraigHB]

Arghh, Windows reloads. I have an unattended installation set up so I can just relax and vape during the installation of Windows itself, but reloading all the software after that is a RPITA. Windows is the easy part. I've thought about using a disk image, but that only works if your hardware and software never changes. I figure it would be just as much work to keep the image updated as it is to reload the whole disk when I have to.

I like Linux a lot and have used it off and on. The problem I find with it as a full time OS is that I just need too much software only available for Windows. There's lots of arguments about that reasoning and I don't want to start a debate. Basically, I'm just too lazy. I don't want to deal with a VM or dual boot scenario.

I have an automated Debian install set up that can do the whole job in just few minutes, programs and all. It's totally painless. If software makers would start offering Linux versions across the board, I'd have no problem using it full time. Linux is pretty bulletproof in my experience. Though Linux makes hardware a ...... I had to jump through some hoops to include the drivers for my video card in the install. In general, the way Linux handles drivers is complex and kludgey. That's something transparent for Windows.

 

[yvilla]

I've had the EP 121 for about a year now, and I'm still IN LOVE with it! As for vaping while doing anything, I'm pretty boring - stick to one menthol liquid all the time.

 

[Demo]

Windows 7 backup is as good as any other image software. Save the backup on a remote drive and you are good to go. Make incremental backups when a software or hardware change requires. Easy, effective and free.

 

[mooreted]

With the advent of Unity and the weird new menu system Shuttleworth is working on, and the mess that is Gnome3, I've found PC-BSD with Kde to be one very nice, stable OS. You guys should try it sometime.

Sent from my easy chair using brainwaves.

 

[Retriever]

I used linux for awhile, but ran into some hardware problems, but it is the best at keeping the nasty viruses and trojans at bay. When I have a boring task, some nice RY4 is good as a vape.

 

[bigtiime]

With the advent of Unity and the weird new menu system Shuttleworth is working on, and the mess that is Gnome3, I've found PC-BSD with Kde to be one very nice, stable OS. You guys should try it sometime.

Sent from my easy chair using brainwaves.

I currently have Ubuntu and Win7 but I'm going to take your advice mooreted. I'm downloading BSD as I type this. We'll see how this goes.

 

[jmanning]

With the advent of Unity and the weird new menu system Shuttleworth is working on, and the mess that is Gnome3, I've found PC-BSD with Kde to be one very nice, stable OS. You guys should try it sometime.

I agree with you on Unity and Gnome3. KDE was nice, although a real resource hog. After 4.0, I just don't get kde at all. I just use Debian and tweaked fluxbox.

 

[DaveP]

One warning about ghosting: don't make your job look too easy. A few years ago I was working for a small private school. They had a total of only about 40 PCs so I was the only technology guy. I handled the network, hardware, servers, I did everything. After setting up ghosting procedures I made the mistake of talking someone through it one day when I was out of town. Next thing I know they don't need me anymore. The network and servers were fixed from the mess they were when I started, and anytime a machine went down they just reloaded the image. Moral of the story: If it's your job to fix stuff, don't fix everything.

Good point. Keep the magic to yourself! Look at the DIY construction industry and how it has killed the handyman occupation. Give away too many trade secrets and the trade will disappear.

On the plus side, keep yourself in the forefront by maintaining contact. When they get themselves into a mess, they can call you and pay $125 an hour for your talents. I had one car dealership try to do their own DBASE/CLIPPER/FOXPRO programming back in the 80's on my custom program to add features. I ended up making big bucks to fix the mess they created! I almost hated it when I started compiling the output to prevent finangling by "educated" users. At least they had to call me after that when they wanted modifications.

 

[cerver7]

Good point. Keep the magic to yourself! Look at the DIY construction industry and how it has killed the handyman occupation. Give away too many trade secrets and the trade will disappear.

On the plus side, keep yourself in the forefront by maintaining contact. When they get themselves into a mess, they can call you and pay $125 an hour for your talents. I had one car dealership try to do their own DBASE/CLIPPER/FOXPRO programming back in the 80's on my custom program to add features. I ended up making big bucks to fix the mess they created! I almost hated it when I started compiling the output to prevent finangling by "educated" users. At least they had to call me after that when they wanted modifications.

All true story comments. In certain businesses Ghosting is 100% needed. I work for a video game company and we QA so many titles across many different configs....ghosting makes the productivity that much better.

 

[mooreted]

OpenBox is pretty awesome too.

 

[LibertariaNate]

..................

 

[heavyMGS]

I've been working on getting Linux on my Toshiba laptop for about a week now to no resolve. I think it's my AMD Radeon graphics card giving me problems. I can get it to boot up off a flash drive or a CD but the screen is completely black. I've tried Ubuntu, Mint, Kbuntu, Fedora.... um, can't remember what else. I can't seem to figure it out. I'm no command line whiz but I've ran Linux on my old dell for quite some time with no issues. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[mooreted]

There are issues with AMD cards. I have had success with nomodeset and acpi=off. I think you have to press F6 at the menu when you first boot the CD and that will give you some boot options. Here is a post about it:

Ubuntu Forums - View Single Post - [SOLVED] How to set NOMODESET and other kernel boot options in grub2

 

[DaveP]

All true story comments. In certain businesses Ghosting is 100% needed. I work for a video game company and we QA so many titles across many different configs....ghosting makes the productivity that much better.

You have to make it look harder than it is. Pull up the config files and go over them when the customer is around. Take notes like you need to refer to them later. Do some math on a scratch pad. Load the disk and reboot. Once it's done, play with some cryptic files and pretend to check them and take some more notes. Talk about how this part has to be right it won't perform correctly.

It's called job security. And, never, ever, ever leave the user an image disk!

 

[mooreted]

Yeah, if I'm getting paid to work on customer's systems, I don't see the point in helping them over the phone for free or giving them the tools to do it themselves. If they wanted to do that, they wouldn't have called a tech in the first place. Call a mechanic or plumber sometime and see what they say when you ask them to walk you through a repair over the phone. You have the skills and your time is worth something, don't give it away.

 

[LibertariaNate]

Yeah, if I'm getting paid to work on customer's systems, I don't see the point in helping them over the phone for free or giving them the tools to do it themselves. If they wanted to do that, they wouldn't have called a tech in the first place. Call a mechanic or plumber sometime and see what they say when you ask them to walk you through a repair over the phone. You have the skills and your time is worth something, don't give it away.

It's amazing how many people out there expect free service when it comes computers...

 

[VaporPhreak]

Personally, I loathe windows. I have it on one system which I use for a couple of MMO's i play that dislike wine, but aside from that I stick with my "Ubuntu" box. Granted, its no longer really Ubuntu after all the changes I've made, but Ubuntu was a nice base to work from and saved me a lot of time vs building the same thing out of base Debian build. I agree with you guys Unity is crap... Personally I stick to Ecomorph for the UI... light weight, intuitive, and highly customizable. But for vaping at the PC, I tend to stick to my own mentholated double-mint mix on my 5v box with a 2.5ohm boge carto. Though occasionally I break out the RY4 on 7.4v box with a 3.2ohm Smoketek carto for pondering the more obscure issues. It puts me in mind of a good sweet pipe tobacco then.

 

[cerver7]

You have to make it look harder than it is. Pull up the config files and go over them when the customer is around. Take notes like you need to refer to them later. Do some math on a scratch pad. Load the disk and reboot. Once it's done, play with some cryptic files and pretend to check them and take some more notes. Talk about how this part has to be right it won't perform correctly.

It's called job security. And, never, ever, ever leave the user an image disk!

Depends on the user. Mostly I do personal friends or family on the side so leaving the boot disk with a small HD partition with the image is needed in these cases. But at work you are correct.