Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Getting There Slowly!

Some may recall that I had to buy a new computer last summer thinking that my old one was about to kick the bucket. Well, it kept hanging on so I kept using it and putting off setting up the new one....until this past weekend when the old one just refused to boot up. So I spent the last three days getting used to the new machine and rebuilding my business files and everything else. Luckily I had backed up most of my important files so very little was lost. What a pain but at least I'm through the worst of it and almost all back to normal. Taking a bit to get used to a new keyboard, Vista, etc.

Will be getting back to work in the shop tomorrow. Lot of new stuff is in the early stages right now. More news coming soon.

24 comments:

Rick said...

Yay, rulers! hahaha :)

Thanks for the update!

Hannibal said...

Buy a Mac, it will save your time.

phoenix stu said...

Sorry to hear about your computer but even more, Ouch...Vista. Good luck with that :)

Look to hear from you soon.

Anonymous said...

I sympathize with you. I just got Vista also. I prefer XP but progress is progress I suppose. Enough of the amenities--now get back in there and crank out those goodies :)

Judge said...

I've had my computer crash on me a few times, and it's a huge hassle. Glad to hear you were smarter than I was and had good backups. Too bad you had to switch to Vista though =). Best of luck with all that.

Peter Atwood said...

To be honest, once you shut off all the bullshit Vista seems perfectly fine and really not much different than XP. You just have to be a little smart about it and get rid of their nonsense they have piled on.

phoenix stu said...

Yeah, that's one thing that I never did like to much about windows. You always have to get rid of tons of crapware before it becomes a decent system to run.

I finally broke free a few yrs back and got a mac and have never had one single crash or freeze :)

Peter Atwood said...

I'm glad some people are happy with Macs. I'll never own one though.

phoenix stu said...

I still have a windows device. I have two dell mini 9's one with xp pro and one with OS X on it. I have to have one windows around because it does offer some flexibility in software ;)

Peter Atwood said...

eeeexxxaccctly! Stu, how do you like the mini 9? I've been thinking of getting one but thought I might wait until they came out with the next generation.

phoenix stu said...

Actually, I like it a lot. It is completely upgradeable, from ram to ssd. Memory supports up to 2gb and you can get a bit faster ssd for little bit more from an third party maker. IF that is what you wanted to do, I would say get one of the cheapest versions and upgrade from there. Upgrades are VERY simple, just pop off the back two screws and a couple screws on the inside and replace.
Very convenient. I use it every time I am outside. Almost a 4hr battery life makes it perfect when I am out running my errands.
They have the mini 12 and now 10 out however, you are stuck with a machine that is not near as customizable or versatile as the mini 9. They made the right one with the 9 and started going downhill with the brothers.
I am afraid that IF they made a "next generation" mini 9 they would lean more towards the way they produce the 10 and 12, so IMO if you want a great running machine and the ability to upgrade I would go with the makes that they have now.
Best part if you are on the computer much and you check forums you can go to mydellmini forum and it is loaded with support. You can also see other users opinions on the other makes as well.

Peter Atwood said...

Thanks, I will give it some thought.

Unknown said...

I've been very happy with my Mini 9 running Ubuntu... also run crossover linux on it which lets me run MS Office as well. It's a great travel laptop... I find I am leaving my Dell Latitude 620 at home now because it's just too heavy! :-)

32194 said...

Vista isn't so bad! Once you get over all the interface, hardware, and software issues; it is very tolerable.

HighSpeedTROUBLE said...

Stu, are you sure about the 2GB RAM capability? Every website I've seen says it's limited to just 1GB.

Might go for it if it could take 2GB...

Peter Atwood said...

He must have upgraded the RAM to 2Gb which is something I keep reading about folks doing.

HighSpeedTROUBLE said...

No, what I meant is everywhere I've read says it can only take 1GB. Cannot be expanded to 2GB (won't recognize it).

Anxious to have that verified before I splurge for one. I'm thinking about getting one, but everything says it can only have 1GB. Not that it comes with just 1GB -- that it cannot take *more* than 1GB at all. (Something to do with some mandate by MS from what I understand...)

Judge said...

My issue with Vista is that it crashes a lot, especially compared to XP and Linux.

Don't know much about the Dell Mini and the ram issue, but I do know that other netbooks like the Asus EEE PCs can be upgraded to 2gb of ram with their one slot. The Asus seems to be very upgrade friendly, for those interested in that sort of thing.

HighSpeedTROUBLE said...

I have a Dell XPS and do not like Asus due to problems friends have had with theirs (regular laptops).

I'm running Vista on my Dell and it doesn't crash. I don't recall it ever crashing and I've had it for about a year now. I mainly use it for Office 2007 and internet though. Not much of a gamer...

Unknown said...

HighSpeedTROUBLE: The mandate from Microsoft states that a netbook can't be sold with XP installed and more than 1gb of ram. It states nothing about installation after sale.

phoenix stu said...

HighSpeedTROUBLE - Yes it will recognize 2GB ram. xp home "says" that for some reason however, it does recognize it no problems. There "was" an issue with Ubuntu not recognizing it however, with the latest BIOS update(already at # 4 now) it recognizes it fine. Other OS's never been a problem. Crucial has good deals on 2GB sticks. :)

HighSpeedTROUBLE said...

Ok, that's great! Thanks for the clarification. Glad to know 2GB is ok.

Now I need to figure out how to purchase a copy of XP Pro to install on it.

Thanks again...

Unknown said...

The issue with not recognizing 2GB of RAM was with the version of the Linux kernel shipped with Ubuntu versions. This has, I believe, been fixed in the latest releases. Only an issue if you are going with the Linux version.

phoenix stu said...

@Adam. Yeah, what you said. I catch posts every now and then regarding ubuntu. I usually, only follow the os x and windows sections. I am just not ready to jump boat to linux yet. Thanks for the more clarified answer.