New Categories about Open Source operating systems and software/hardware

[lltfdaniel1]

Ubuntu is not my cup of tea,well depending on what you want hopefully you come across a good linux energy application,

[Tink]

Ubuntu is not my cup of tea,well depending on what you want hopefully you come across a good linux energy application,

Ubuntu is Debian based Linux with a Gnome interface and I think the Gnome interface is what is troubling people when they first try Linux (it troubled me at first to be honest).
Oroshay said in an other thread that he liked PCLinuxOS best of all distro's and from what I have read so far it seems a good and fast (faster than Ubuntu and 20 times faster than XP at least,... they say) distro.
http://www.pclinuxos.com/
I haven't tried it yet so can't say much more than what I have read on the net about PCLinuxOS

[wattsup]

Windows XP is still a good operating system, but if you want to remove the fat, see here;

http://www.litepc.com/

Never format NTFS cause you can't see it under dos. Always FAT32. Works just as well. NTFS is a dead end for critical support issues involving access to the hardrive under dos to fix things. So you are always forced to re-install. Never us partition magic. Always format the hard drive and make the drives first.

My drives go from C to W.

C holds windows and windows programs only.
D holds all other programs plus all browsers and email clients.
E holds all my water related documents.
F holds all Overunity documents
H holds all websites, apache, Perl (another hobby)  before they are deployed on the net.
J holds all downloaded programs before they are installed (500+)
K holds all cache folders, pagefile.sys, internet caches, all caches is here.
L holds a mirror copy of my C drive, this is possible with one command because the pagefile.sys is on another drive.
M holds Song
N holds Videos, Google downloads.
etc, etc.

This keeps the C drive clean and rarely grows in size.

As for Linux, can't say. I tried it years ago. Didn't like it then. Maybe today it's better, for sure.

You can have a very secure Windows XP if you do not install Outlook Express and alot of the other endless windows bloating crap.

All the best.

[hartiberlin]

Windows XP is still a good operating system, but if you want to remove the fat, see here;

http://www.litepc.com/

Never format NTFS cause you can't see it under dos. Always FAT32. Works just as well. NTFS is a dead end for critical support issues involving access to the hardrive under dos to fix things. So you are always forced to re-install. Never us partition magic. Always format the hard drive and make the drives first.

My drives go from C to W.

C holds windows and windows programs only.
D holds all other programs plus all browsers and email clients.
E holds all my water related documents.
F holds all Overunity documents
H holds all websites, apache, Perl (another hobby)  before they are deployed on the net.
J holds all downloaded programs before they are installed (500+)
K holds all cache folders, pagefile.sys, internet caches, all caches is here.
L holds a mirror copy of my C drive, this is possible with one command because the pagefile.sys is on another drive.
M holds Song
N holds Videos, Google downloads.
etc, etc.

This keeps the C drive clean and rarely grows in size.

As for Linux, can't say. I tried it years ago. Didn't like it then. Maybe today it's better, for sure.

You can have a very secure Windows XP if you do not install Outlook Express and alot of the other endless windows bloating crap.

All the best.

Good ideas to do it this way,
but when working with video you need files bigger than 4 GB, so
FAT 32 is a no go !
What is wrong with partition magic ?

How big is your drice C: ?
Can you save it to a DVD-R for backup reasons ?
What is the best method to move all the caches and pagefile.sys , etc. ,
onto a different drive than C: ?

Many thanks.

Regards, Stefan.

P.S: How can you change best and easily your hardisk into multiple partitions
when you already have only 1 or 2 partitions ?
Is there a good freeware program to do this ?
Or should one only do this Partition Magic ?

[wattsup]

Hi Stefan;

Here are the answers to your questions.

Q: Good ideas to do it this way, but when working with video you need files bigger than 4 GB, so FAT 32 is a no go !

A: If you have large files such as video, when you partition the drive into several drives, make one or two drives with NTFS but keep the C and D drive Fat32.

Q: What is wrong with partition magic ?

A: The problem with PM is that  you are partition a hard drive that is already in use, so all the sectors are already used or designated. When you add another partition, it will take space from here and there and everywhere it can to make a new drive letter. This fragments the data on your drive even more. Also, if PM crashes while you do this, you could lose all you data. Risky.

When you parition your drive when it is empty, or completely formatted, when you then partition the drive this is called low level partitions and the segments are more sectorial. Less fragmented sections so you maintian a quicker working drive. Much safer also.

Q: How big is your drive C: ?

A: My C drive is 10 gig only. That's all I need because I only have windows progams like Windows XP, MS Office. Since it is small, when I do a Defrag, it does it much more quickly then if I had a 200 gig C drive. Quickly means less time for anything to wrong during the defrag process.

All the rest of my programs are on the D: drive under a folder I created  called Program Files. So when I install a program and it asks if putting it under C:\Profram Files\New Program Name all you have to do is change the C for a D and bingo it's installed on the D drive.

Q: Can you save it to a DVD-R for backup reasons ?

Y: Yes, as long as the pagefile.sys in on another drive, you won't get the copy error.

Q: What is the best method to move all the caches and pagefile.sys , etc., onto a different drive than C: ?

A: For Pagefile.sys

Go to Control Panel and open the System, choose Advanced and choose Performance and choose Advanced. Under Virtual Memory choose Change.

Highlight the C drive and choose No Paging File. You will see a promot choose Yes.

Highlight the drive letter you want to use for the pagefile.sys. Click on Custom Size and put 20 in the Initial Size and 25 in the Maximum Size. Click Set. You will get a promot to re-boot the computer. Do it now or later.
******************

For Temporary Internet Files
used by Internet Explorer

Open IE, go to Tools, Internet options. Withthe General Tab open choose under Temporary Internet Files - Settings.

Click Move Folder and browse until you identify the Drive and folder to store the files. Click OK.
********************

For Firefox

Type "about:cache" in the url field and hit enter.

Find the line
browser.cache.disk.parent_directory

and modify the value to where your drive/folder and/or sub-folder it located.

Q: How can you change best and easily your hardisk into multiple partitions when you already have only 1 or 2 partitions ?
Is there a good freeware program to do this ?
Or should one only do this Partition Magic ?

A: If the hard drive is already partitioned, PM is the only one I know of that will do, but again it is always risky. It's like defragmenting your hard drive during a thunder storm. If power cuts, information on your drive could be lost.

General

Usually, these things are best done when the hard drive is new and not formatted yet. Best drives I like are Maxtor and they have a great progran that partitions at low level called MaxBlast. Otherwise you can use Windows Installation Disk for a new install and it will prompt you to partition and format the drive before it installs windows.

Hope this is helpful.