[NiceCans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Exactly. For what the OP needs his comp for I would get XP Pro, update it with all the SPs and then optimize it for performance over visuals. One would have a very nice and fast windows experience.

x2

XP Pro has been extremely stable for me on several machines. If you dumb-down the visuals it looks like W2k but runs better.

If you do stick with Vista turn off the user-protection crap and also dumb-down the visuals and it can run ok with 1gb ram, but not as well as XP.

And the sooner you reduce the eye-candy the less yoyu will miss it

 

[BushGuy]

Notice some posters here didn't seem to realize, off the bat, that install from CD or floppy boot. Clearly the easiest install/use sys. is mandated. Ergo - go for XP Pro w/SP1 (with more experience you should pick and choose the programming components in SP2, as some of them have long-proven not to be beneficial)..........if you want to further improve your speed - have a tendency to choose "classic" rather than the std XP goodies.
There is no way in hell I'd recommend to anyone they choose Vista for the present or foreseeable future. It will NOT be going into any of my present machines.

 

[Basil101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif The killer will be and always has been file format compatibility. If someone uses AutoCAD or Word or PPT, then they need those Windows apps and no other OS will suffice unless they can install those programs natively.

Just encase anyone is interested, I use AutoCAD on school Windows computers but BricsCAD at home which can open AutoCAD files and has a Linux version available.

 

[Zanth]

Basil101 thanks for the advice! There are a few engineers I work with that want linux but need to open CAD files. Does BricsCAD just open or can it manipulate and create objects?

 

[JML]

This very topic was just covered at WXPNews: WXPNews

 

[Basil101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Basil101 thanks for the advice! There are a few engineers I work with that want linux but need to open CAD files. Does BricsCAD just open or can it manipulate and create objects?

It can (nearly) everything that AutoCAD (more than LT) can and has the same layout/commands/etc takes all of two minutes to get the hang of if you are familiar with AutoCAD.

Bricsys

Did I mention that a full Linux licence is 225 euro (~$330), cheaper than AutoCAD.

EDIT; More Linux AutoCAD alternatives include these.

 

[klenk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans /img/forum/go_quote.gif x2 XP Pro has been extremely stable for me on several machines. If you dumb-down the visuals it looks like W2k but runs better. If you do stick with Vista turn off the user-protection crap and also dumb-down the visuals and it can run ok with 1gb ram, but not as well as XP. And the sooner you reduce the eye-candy the less yoyu will miss it

x3 I am still using centrino m 1.6 ghz with 1gb ram and xp pro sp2. doesn't look as pretty, but it better suits my needs

 

[porschemad911]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aevum /img/forum/go_quote.gif if you dont need direct X, and you can skip aero, XP SP2 is your OS, win2k is a bit old, and still very mainframe oriented,

Lol, if only. I cut mainframe code daily and I wish the TSO / ISPF operating system I'm working in was as user friendly as Win2K!

 

[tennisplyr3]

few things... 1. use xp pro. avoid vista.

2. always hibernate your computer, never standby. 3. if you're going for vista, get at least home. the basic one will severely cripple your functionality. 4. microsoft is going to roll out with sp3 for xp soon, and sp1 is supposed to be released for vista soon as well (rc1 is already released for download for vista). rumors say that you're supposed to get a 20% speed boost with vista.