For the nerds - Windows 7 (1 Viewer)

[Beowulf]

Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing and corporate keys have been given to companies with support agreements. Upgrades will be much smoother than prior MS products and driver and third party app support will be excellent. I recommend the upgrade without waiting for SP1.

-Mike-

 

[Source3]

Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing and corporate keys have been given to companies with support agreements. Upgrades will be much smoother than prior MS products and driver and third party app support will be excellent. I recommend the upgrade without waiting for SP1.

-Mike-

Forget proprietary software...GO LINUX!! I will bring some Live CDs of Ubuntu that people can play with to the wrench party today. You can run the operating system from the CD. Connect to the internet, use OpenOffice, etc. If your hard drive crashes, just pop in the CD and run your computer and most likely you will be able to recover your files.

I dual boot with my laptop. Upon startup I can either boot into Linux or Windows. And if I am in Windows, I use a virtual machine to run Linux and vice versa; in summary I can run two operating systems at the same time.

FYI: Linux is compatible with Mac.

 

[pappy]

Windoz.

 

[Rudical]

Windoz.

Isn't that for sissies (sp?) and old men?

anyone run UNIX? I liked that years ago. Still looking for a OS on that.

 

[Source3]

Isn't that for sissies (sp?) and old men?

anyone run UNIX? I liked that years ago. Still looking for a OS on that.

I use Linux as my OS. Here is a little more info on *nix that I wrote during for my Masters in GIS. I will also bring some Live CDs of Ubuntu Linux to Monday's gathering. They will be yours to keep or pass on.

 

[juane]

I use Linux as my OS. Here is a little more info on *nix that I wrote during for my Masters in GIS. I will also bring some Live CDs of Ubuntu Linux to Monday's gathering. They will be yours to keep or pass on.

Andrew,

Masters in GIS?

What kind of work do you do and for who?

juane

 

[juane]

I meant to say: "whom."

 

[Source3]

Andrew,

Masters in GIS?

GIS = Geographical Information System. This is where web mapping (ie. Google Earth/Maps, Yahoo Maps, MS Earth Explorer, etc) originated from.

What kind of work do you do and for who?

I work for myself, Source3 Computing, as a spatial analyst and web map developer. I contract with private environmental consulting firms, research groups, and governmental departments.

For example, a map I am currently developing is located at pitrule.source3.com. Although it is for the oil and gas industry in New Mexico, hunters, backpackers, cruiserheads, etc can use it to scope out places to go as it shows topographic maps and aerial photography. Color aerial photography is limited to NM. I do not use Google Earth photography because of their license restrictions and who knows, Google might disappear just like Enron (then say goodbye to your data base layers).

 

[pappy]

GIS = Geographical Information System. This is where web mapping (ie. Google Earth/Maps, Yahoo Maps, MS Earth Explorer, etc) originated from.

pssssst, Andrew .... Juane does GIS for PNM.

 

[Source3]

Andrew,

Masters in GIS?

What kind of work do you do and for who?

juane

pssssst, Andrew .... Juane does GIS for PNM.

ok...i will not tell anyone!

 

[juane]

Cool work, Andrew. I admire your dedication to open source GIS.
I'm an ArcSlave myself.
I don't think you have to worry about Google Earth going away. Different business model than Enron.
If you want to worry about something worry about Google taking over the world.

In the meantime GE does make a nice lightweight and free GIS client.

juane

 

[SteveLCetc]

Definitely nice work. Juane, by lightweight do you mean low bandwidth? That would be good for those of us considering an air card...

 

[Beowulf]

Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing

The launch date is Oct 22nd and those of you that are students with .edu e-mail addresses will be able to buy Home Premium or Win7 Pro for $30.

Windows 7 Cheap For Students | Windows 7 News

There are other ways to get this limited time student pricing if anyone is interested and not currently a college student. For those of us that have to run Windows for one reason or another, Windows 7 is an excellent upgrade from XP or Vista.

-Mike-

 

[SteveLCetc]

The launch date is Oct 22nd and those of you that are students with .edu e-mail addresses will be able to buy Home Premium or Win7 Pro for $30.

Windows 7 Cheap For Students | Windows 7 News

There are other ways to get this limited time student pricing if anyone is interested and not currently a college student. For those of us that have to run Windows for one reason or another, Windows 7 is an excellent upgrade from XP or Vista.

-Mike-

How about for those of us using ancient laptops for GPS - how much RAM do we need?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

B--Since you're a computer smart guy.

Will W-7 run Delorme Topo better than Vista? The program runs great on XP, but crashes about every 20 minutes on Vista. If it isn't predictable, then I'm sticking with my remaining XP machine for awhile longer.

I think with 2 kids in college, I'll be able to come up with a $30 copy of W-7.

 

[Beowulf]

How about for those of us using ancient laptops for GPS - how much RAM do we need?

Its probably time to upgrade your laptop Steve. I think the requirements are the same for Vista and Windows7. The user experience will be unsatisfactory if you have really old junk and too little RAM. I wouldn't try to run either OS on anything less than 1GB RAM and a laptop that is over 2 years old unless you have a high-end laptop.

We have it running quite well on a 1GB Lenovo netbook. I think we're buying those devices for <$300.

Memory is cheap. You can get 2G sticks for around $30.

-Mike-

 

[SteveLCetc]

Unfortunately my Laptop is maxxed out at 1GB - it's a hand-me-back-up from my daughters who got real ones for college

Got a link to that Lenovo?

 

[pappy]

7 Is A Pesticide

[curmudgeon = on]

Aside from having the "latest and greatest," why would I want to upgrade? What I have now works. It does what I want. I know how to use it.

The thought of having to spend the next year learning a new program or OS just doesn't sound appealing. The thought of having to spend big bucks on a new computer because my 4 year old junk is too old to run the latest razzmatazz doesn't sound appealing. The thought of spending a weekend reinstalling all my old software, some old enough to be on floppy disks, then having to spend the next month trouble-shooting the issues, doesn't sound appealing.

Then there will be the hardware incompatibilities, the non-existent drivers, and my programs that won't run for whatever reason (i.e. Microsoft didn't write them and like hell are they going to support Open Office, or Lotus, or Adobe, or even my Garmin GPS). It seems every time I "upgrade" I end up with issues, and either have to abandon hardware and software, or spend bucks to "upgrade" those too (the upgrade to Win98 wouldn't read my Nikon slide scanner. The upgrade to XP wouldn't read my floppy drive ... how stupid is that?). Even the periodic SP upgrades to my Windoz XP would crash this or that.

And don't even try to tell me I can call the friendly folks at Microsoft for tech support ... at least without cracking open my wallet. BTDT.

I'm sticking with the old saying ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[curmudgeon = off]

 

[Beowulf]

The upgrade to XP wouldn't read my floppy drive ... how stupid is that?).

Could you post a pic of a floppy drive. I haven't seen one in 10 years and forgot what they look like.


Thread title=For the nerds - Windows 7
Interpretation: Jon, this thread and gated communities are not for you. If Windows 95 still does what you need then don't upgrade. Windows 7 is for those of us living in this century and moving on to the year 2010.

-Mike-

 

[Beowulf]

Got a link to that Lenovo?

http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=9871347

$340 with free shipping. I am pretty sure we're getting one configured like this for under $300 but we buy in quantity. Right now they ship with XP home but we've loaded Win7 on one. You should know that these are quite small at 10.2" and they have a smaller one. I do not recommend these for serious work. The version with a 3-cell battery is under $300 but you'll get ~3hrs of battery life compared to ~6hrs with the 6-cell battery. We brought in about 6 different brands and sizes and let the staff do an evaluation. The netbooks with a smaller screen & kbd were not received well.

What OS is running on that 1GB laptop? I did a trouble free upgrade-in-place from Vista to Win7 on my Dell laptop and my work desktop. If you have XP then you'll need to do a clean install.

-Mike-