Green Tech Girl

I’ve been using Ubuntu Linux for a while, but when two computers crashed in the same week, I thought I’d try a new distribution instead. I heard that Linux Mint was fantastic - it had the benefits of using Ubuntu’s vast repositories but some nice goodies as well as built-in media codecs.

Linux Mint comes in a LiveCD that doubles as an installer. It’s a lot more user-friendly than Ubuntu’s formidable installation menu. Click on the Install icon and Mint will do most of the work for you.

My main problem installing Mint is that it hosed my Vista boot record. (I had a new computer with Vista pre-installed and wanted to set up a dual boot on the same disk). After quite a bit of wrangling and googling, I discovered that the best way to set up a dual boot in Vista is through this terrific free utility called EasyBCD by NeoSmart. (You also have to tell Mint not to install a boot record under advanced options.) (more…)

Windows XP is officially dead. Microsoft will no longer offer XP on new computers as of June 29, 2008. Now, you can still get copies of XP if you really need them, but the operating system is pretty much dead.

As I’ve mentioned before, Windows Vista is an absolute resource hog, and will only work well on brand new computers with lots of processing speed and memory. If you have an old computer that needs a new operating system (for whatever the reason…perhaps a virus wiped out your hard drive), Vista is not an option.

If you’re not too keen on wrangling with Linux, another option may soon be available. ReactOS is an open source Windows clone that is being developed by a hardy group of volunteers hoping to provide a real alternative to Windows.

The great thing about ReactOS is not just that it will look and act like Windows. It will be able to run Windows programs. And that’s an important feature that may just put this baby ahead of Linux someday, if they can actually get a full release done soon.

I’m excited to see an open source alternative to Windows being developed. I love Linux, but I know from experience it’s just not for the average computer user at this time. An open source operating system that can run like Windows is exactly what we need.

ReactOS is still in the alpha stage, meaning it’s not really ready to be used on a daily basis. Right now, it’s at version 3, which does not even have support for USB. Alpha version 4, however, will start bringing ReactOS into reach for many. Assuming the development continues at a decent pace, you may expect to see some sort of usable version of ReactOS within a year. Right now, it seems the system requirements are more than reasonable, and the OS can be run on older machines.

At that point, you may have something to install on that old laptop, so you can give it to grandpa instead of just tossing it.

Don’t throw that old computer out: Install Linux on it instead!

In a previous article, I discussed how upgrading to Windows Vista could end up costing more in terms of upgraded hardware. Additionally, many older computers (even from a few years ago) won’t be able to handle the increased resource requirements of Vista. Linux, however, can run perfectly fine on older computers without needing to purchase more e-waste in the form of excess RAM if you just want something for web-browsing and word processing. In the least, consider keeping that older computer around to test out Linux instead of just throwing it out.

So if you are curious, here’s a look at how you might upgrade to the Linux operating system. (more…)

Linux may be the greener choice when choosing an operating system. Why? Because the latest version of Microsoft Windows is such a resource-hog, you’ll need double or triple the computer power to perform basic tasks with the same speed you might with Linux.

Program that used to require a few hundred megs of RAM on Windows XP now require 2 gigs or more on Windows Vista. Check out this chart on the Audacity download page. To use Audacity on Windows Vista Home Premium, you will need 4 gigs of RAM versus the 512 MB you needed on XP. A whopping 4 GIGS!! Talk about creating unnecessary e-waste! Why force people to buy more electronic chips when the old operating system did everything just as fast if not faster on less hardware? (more…)