posted
I run signlab, photoshop, quickbooks word and a few other "standard" progs. Will LINDOWS work for this on my PC? Does anyone know another option. Is anyone USING another OS besides windows to make signs? (NOT COUNTING THE MACS)
I am running XP Pro and it leaves a lot to be desired.
posted
My Dad is getting into Linux. From what I saw it looks pretty nice. He still uses a 56k modem and dial up and it loaded web pages 5x faster than windows. I thought that was interesting. I don't know much about Linux, but it only cost my Dad $10 dollars and it is a pretty nice looking OS. He bought it at Barnes and Nobles. It came in a book on Linux by Redhat. (if that helps anyone.)
-Charles
-------------------- Charles Borges de Oliveira Borges Lettering & Design Snohomish WA Posts: 352 | From: Snohomish WA | Registered: Mar 2003
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You guys haven't really answered Barry's question. If you get a Mac forget using Signlab and all the other programs, (photoshop, buy another one to run on the Mac). A Mac is not Linux but Unix based. Lindows is a poor compromise, and basically when you want to run windows programs, you are entering a Microsoft environment. No real change for you there.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2786 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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That's a page where you can search for your hardware and software to see if what you already have is compatible with Lindows. Photoshop is NOT so that's a strike against it. Who knows if sign software and sign hardware will ever work with it, you'll have to just experiment to find out.
Linux is a nice stable option but there's a few drawbacks, the main one being device drivers, specifically for sign hardware. Now, I know people who run Windows inside of Linux in a virtual machine so they can run windows programs, and most of their device drivers (regular computer hardware) work OK, but it may have taken them some tweaking to get things right, and your machine needs some grunt behind it to run the virtual machine otherwise it may be sluggish. Still, there may be quirks to getting sign software and hardware to function properly and it's going to be tough finding support that can actually help you.
Unless you want to switch to MACs the only way you're going to run Windows programs *cough* smoothly and *cough* reliably (at least as reliable as windows can run them) is to run Windows.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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ok this is the 2nd time iam typing this...DUE TO A LACK OF WINDOWS SYSTEM RESOURES!!!! this is you bigest problem with windows 98SE. to check your SR, find MY COMPUTER, RIGHT CLICK, THEN LEFT CLICK ON PROPERTIES, THEN OPEN TAB THAT SAYS PERFORMANCE. if you like most people you will be 65- 75% of SR AVAILABLE. anything below 62-63% and your gona get a reboot, lockup or weird stuff going on. look at your SR before you make these changes....and then look after you have done changes....you will see a big improvment. you need to load only the programs you need on a work computer and this will help limit the use of SR(SYSTEMS RESOURCES). 1. start in the lower right corner of the start bar. all those little icons are a PROGRAM RUINNING IN THE BACKGROUND. these start up when windows boots up. these are things other then windows that you have loaded on the computer. now you right click on these, END, CLOSE, OR PAUSE all of them. closing these will get you 10-15% of your SR back, plus make you machine run faster. 2. CTRL, ALT, DEL now this opens up a window with MORE RUNNING PROGRAMS.this is for the GURU'S mostly but if you are careful and END most of the stuff in here you will gain another 10-20% of your SR. now with all these ENDED/CLOSED you should have a SR OF NEAR 90% to run THE PROGRAMS YOU WANT!!! on my computer the only ones in that window i leave running are EXPLORER,SYSTRAY, SITMON, RENAPP,POPROXY now i dont know what all these are, but if you close these you will REBOOT. EXPLORER is a primary windows app, as is SYSTRAY & SITMON. the other 2 i think have something to do with internet conection, you can close these but you will have to reboot to get on the internet. with a SR OF 85-90% you can work happily away for hours without the constant worry about the blue screen of death, or a lockup or a reboot... sounds like a lot of work to get this done but it will SET YOU FREE!!!!!hehehehehhe
[ April 20, 2004, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Barry, many of times I have tried newer versions of Linux I was still unable to run my programs. Linux is great for workstation and server applications, but forget photoshop and probablly most others.. (Linux users will swear by a 'equivalent' called Gimp, but I have never seen it come close to Photoshop).
Lindows, or 'Linspire' (thanks to Microsoft fighting them over the name) should get you closer.. I havent tried it - check the compatibility list that was posted.
On the third hand, I am surprised you do not like Windows XP. My dayjob is administering about 700 pc's and XP has been a Godsend. Instead of previous operating systems crashing every time the wind would blow to the south on a full moon, the main threats around here to XP machines are just spyware, virii and cheap hardware.
If you are having problems with your XP installation let us know what they are. This operating system runs great, dont see any reason why we cant help you get it running great as well.
Good luck!
quote:Originally posted by Tasmus: I run signlab, photoshop, quickbooks word and a few other "standard" progs. Will LINDOWS work for this on my PC? Does anyone know another option. Is anyone USING another OS besides windows to make signs? (NOT COUNTING THE MACS)
I am running XP Pro and it leaves a lot to be desired.
-------------------- John Milleker Baltimore, MD Posts: 42 | From: Baltimore, MD | Registered: Mar 2004
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Unless you're on a network with more than 5 nodes, I'd advise XP Home Edition. Way friendlier than Pro (IMHO) especially with plug-and-play peripherals.
I even use Home Edition at the office, where we have MANY nodes. Maybe it's just me. But XP/HE seems much easier and more stable. For me, that beats being able to search every hard drive on the company network.
Jim
-------------------- Jim Doggett General Manager, USA Yellotools, Ltd www.yellotools.com Posts: 500 | From: Sherman, TX USA | Registered: Mar 2000
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That was a good explanation Joe....BUT....Barry is running Win XP pro...NOT Win 98 SE.
I am running 2000 on the desktop and XP home on the laptop. Both network nicely together. Both are as stable as a rock (since I found the latest Windows printer driver a couple of years ago.)
In fact, the 2000 machine has been running smooth without a format for over 3 years and the XP machine is still running as it came from the factory about 2 years ago. (except for uninstalling some of the useless garbage they load onto laptops)
I wouldn't go back to Win 98SE for anything!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
So why is everyone picking on Windows 98se as a bad operating system? I think it works great and is quite stable. But, in order to get it tuned properly, you MUST partition it. You'll need at least three (more would be better) partitions to set things right. I know a lot of you believe otherwise, that partitioning aint necessary, but it's really the only way to go. Upgrading to newer platforms isn't necessary either, unless you're running software made exclusively for the "latest/greatest?" OS. I wouldn't be at all surprised if an xp installation included at least one hidden partition. (I don't run it - so that's just a guess)
Why do I know this? (that's a long story - too long for here) Was experiencing problems with this "refurbished?" Dell laptop, acquired a few months ago. Screen fluttered inconsistently. Replaced some hardware which didn't solve anything. Was told I probably had a bad lcd or flex-cable or MB. It was none of the above.
What solved the problem was moving the virtual memory (swap file) & the temporary internet files OFF of drive c. These are options available to anyone using this system. Yes, they warn you not to move the virtual memory, but I get that warning if I click (as if I was going to move from new location) on the option to move button; as shown as grayed-out location not on drive c. It now resides in its own partition and shares it with nothing else.
Occasionally you will have to defrag, but see if moving these two items helps keep the SR's free. Also, by moving the TIF's off of c, you can add as many megs as you want to keep your usual hangouts opening faster; without messing up the OS. I probably have about 20 megs of Letterville files in there and it recycles them whenever it wants to without any help from me.
There are other options to make W98se run smoother, but not getting into that here. OP, you might want to open "msconfig.exe", located in windows\system directory.
Sorry if this seems to be slightly off-topic, but these adjustments could probably be made in the newer OS's also.
-------------------- Bill Cosharek Bill Cosharek Signs N.Huntingdon,Pa
bcosharek@juno.com Posts: 703 | From: N.Huntingdon, Pa, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
you can do the same things i discribed in XP as per the icons. the way to limit crap in the background(and XP RUNS A LOT OF IT) is thru the services.msc! go to run and then type this in. then go down thur the list, you can right click on a line and it will tell you what it does, you can then stop it or leave it run.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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