crane

System Changes

John's updating all the Windows machines (yes, we have non-Windows machines, too) to Vista, now that it's proven to be pretty stable. We've moved from Comcast cable to DSL with Qwest, and now we've got the bemusing side effect of having caller id on our phones, now. *laughs* I'm moving browsers to Chrome and am bemused by the fact that the Google browser can not (at least in a readily discernible way) show me my Google bookmarks, which I had created in order to not have a different set of bookmarks on all the machines we have. That makes me just shake my head.

It's all smooth, all working, and the only things I've lost are the software apps I'd left on my lappy from work. I thought it funny that amberley said that we had enough machines and a foosball table so we could be a startup! He's probably right.

And is it just me, or is the fact that Victoria's Secret now sells underwear that says "I ♥ Geeks" just too funny? I had to buy two pairs just because they had 'em. *laughs and laughs*
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    xshelaghx
    Vista is working ok for me for the most part. It's crashed a couple of times but then so did XP occasionally. It doesn't always come back properly after I SLEEP or HIBERNATE my laptop and I'm still having a LAN issue but I'm pretty sure it's due to router incompatibility.

    How many machines do you have and what do you do with them?
    yes I think I need some of that underwear XD

    Edited at 2008-09-09 09:31 pm (UTC)
    liralen
    Mmm... yeah. Sometimes our wireless connection from the Vista machine goes away when I sleep it a few times, but that happened on my old Windows machine, too.

    We have... hm... two HP desktops, the IBM laptop, and Jet's XO laptop (that can use our wireless as well). One of the desktops we have as a duel boot machine for Redhat as well as Vista, just for me to play with sometimes, but we're not booting it that often anymore as Jet's laptop actually has a Linux based machine under the kids' interface. Too much regular writing for me to do to need to do much code anymore.

    The desktops are John's and my play/volunteer helpdesk for the church's website and computer system machines, the laptop is for trips and when I'm at appointments and bored. Jet's XO is for playing with Python and Pippi and for Jet to play with a nigh on indestructible machine and interface.
    way too much hardware
    tallcedars
    We packed "light" for the temporary rental while our house is being finished. That somehow ended up being 2 desktops and 3 laptops (one of each for each of us plus the "yoga laptop"). Scary.

    There are more laptops in storage, but I can't say just how many. I think that Carla still has every laptop she's ever owned. Perhaps we'll open up a museum here (don't tell her that I suggested that).

    At least I managed to recycle the other desktops and find homes for my old laptops before we left. Yes - it was once worse.

    I'm planning to build some kayaks for us once we move in. Let's hope that we don't have the same problem there. I worry...

    Re: way too much hardware
    liralen
    Amusing, really. Given where the two of you came from it makes waaaaay too much sense. I, at least, sold my first laptop, with the two hard floppies as the only memory it had. It ran Windows 3.1 and that was good enough.

    I still remember being on a ferry in Scotland, writing an entry for my old journal, and having a man stop me and go, "Are you working?!" I shook my head, "It's just my own laptop, I'm writing my journal." He looked at me like I was an alien.

    Now I wish I'd kept that critter. I can see why Carla keeps hers.

    Hee about the kayaks.
    Ack!
    tallcedars
    I suppose that I need to think about doing that as well. My sole remaining Windows system still runs Windows 2000. I haven't managed to wean myself from it completely. Games are a problem there. Now I can't get hardware drivers for it anymore - much less any recent software. Besides, every time Carla goes to Microsoft they dump another copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Enslavement Edition (or something like that) on her, so it's not a huge investment. Well, not financially.

    Hmm... I'll need an outlet to complain. I could use the comment fields in your journal, but perhaps it's time for one of my own. Perhaps I'll use it for a change. Perhaps not.

    The house back in North Carolina had more subnets that most CS departments. I wish the new owners luck figuring out what we left behind.

    That underwear is certainly remarkable. Gotta love the sentiment...

    rick
    Re: Ack!
    liralen
    Hee. Yes. It would be hard to find new games for Windows 2000.

    Cool that you can get it for no money... the investments of time and attention are something else.

    You could use my comment fields! *laughs* But feel free to use your own, too, I've friended you, so I'll be able to watch you complain. *laughs more* WOohoo!! And Welcome!!

    Hopefully the new owners will figure it out. *laughs*

    And, yes, the underwear certainly amused me, and I have to agree with the sentiment. Hee.
    ross_teneyck
    I've been using Vista for... I don't remember, quite some time now, and it's been very stable for me. The problems I see with Vista are not stability-related; they are:

    1) It's a serious hardware hog.
    2) The UAC popups annoy some people no end.
    3) It can be hard to get Vista drivers for old hardware, where "old" is "anything that existed before Vista was released."

    I've told most people who have asked (and who aren't serious computer geeks themselves) that they probably don't want to upgrade an existing machine to Vista because of issues (1) and (3), but when they buy their next machine they should seriously consider getting a Vista box.

    I ignored my own advice and upgraded both my home desktop and laptop to Vista. I had to futz around a bit to get my scanner to work, and I actually had to buy a new sound card for my desktop -- fortunately they're cheap -- but other than that I haven't had any problems. Running Vista at work, of course, is pretty much mandatory :)
    liralen
    UAC?

    Yeah, I'd imagine it was mandatory for you at work.

    Good points!! We haven't had any problems as we've got fairly recent machines on the most part. It's a good thing.
    ross_teneyck
    User account control. Those little popups you get whenever you try to do something that requires admin privileges. I think they're a good idea and don't mind 'em, but they drive some people totally spare.
    liralen
    Oh! Yeah.

    *laughs*

    I know what I want to do, so I get kind of impatient with 'em, but it's easy for me to answer. I know my neighbor just panics at them and never get anything on their machine if someone wasn't there to hold their hand through the trauma.

    So, yeah, I get that.
    nosferatu_blue
    I'm still avoiding Vista as long as I can. (I don't think my machine could handle it anyways. Oh, and I fear change XD)

    *raises eyebrow* I ♥ geeks underwear? Reeeeaaaaly? (My sweetie *is* a big geek...)
    liralen
    As Ross says, if you have an old machine that's working for you, I might not recommend doing it either. *laughs* And it's a fearworthy change given how other people have had problems with it.

    Yeah! It's so cute! And my hubby just laughed and laughed when he saw 'em in the laundry today and then gave me a big hug, so I think it was worth buying just for that. Okay, and the fact that he can get our whole network of machines to play nice is a nice bonus.
    annieroo2
    To bad VS doesn't carry panties in fat ass size.. I'd love a few pairs of those. XD Roarke would get such a kick out of them too. ;)

    Vista *shudders* Hope it's all okay for you. We've had nothing be pain in the ass bad luck, although Roarke admits there some features he figures makes it worth it. I'm still not convinced. It's made me so mad a few times I was threatening to buy a MAC. LOL!!
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