Alternative to Vista

Dangermouse

Dangermouse

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I am running Vista home premium and having nothing but problems on a daily basis, I did try Windows 7 and wasnt impressed at that so does anyone run any of the Linux OS and which one would suit me best for graphics also can I get PS to work on it(y)
 
Windows XP? :) Otherwise, Ubuntu is a good linux distribution (if you've got no experience with Linux). Can you run PS on it? Kind of. With something like VMWare (which basically lets you run Windows in a window under linux) or Wine/Crossover Office. To be honest, running PS using Wine or Crossover Office doesn't work great in my experience.

Edit: Or OS X.
 
So what problems are you having under Vista?

I have been running a vista network for 2 years with no problems at all.
 
To be honest if you are having daily problems with vista, then there is a problem either with your hardware or a buggy install. We've got six computers at home, all now run Vista for a range of applications from games to serious 3d design work, the two laptops that run it are a bit underspec'ed for vista but still make a decent fist of it.
You can run photoshop "ish" on a linus platform by running a windows emulator but that seems a bit daft!
 
It constantly freezes or crashes completely and my system is fine as I have had memory and HDDs checked at local PC shop the mobo is fine also the fx55x2 amd cpu and as for my graphics card ..its spot on and never overclocked nvidia 8850GT so the hardware is ok and its a genuine oem version of vista but it is so unreliable and I had a major issue last night as it locked me out of all my websites (via ie7)
 
Much as I'm not a fan of Vista, I would say that might be a memory problem.

Have you more than 1 stick of RAM fitted?
 
welly said:
Windows XP?
Click to expand...
Exactly my thoughts.

If Vista isn't working, and it sounds like your hardware is at fault rather than the OS, give XP Pro a whirl.

And if that doesn't work you might as well buy a new PC.
 
I'm all Linux.
As for running PS on Linux it is possible but not necessary.
Graphics, there are any number of programs available for raster and vector.
 
Ok I am Dr MacOS now but if Vista was that bad normally it would never have got to its release!

There is likely to be some fundamental problem with your computer such as dodgy HD and Ram, overheating processor, PSU incapable of supplying CLEAN power at the required level etc etc

OR

Really bad install - have you tried re-installing Vista?? Did the computer originally run XP?? if so did you have problems with that??

Vista is poor but it is not that poor, XP is better and I like Windows 7

Alternatively I am selling an iBook in the for sale section :)
 
XPPRO sp2 runs spot on on this PC and the memory is 4x 1gb Corsair and its all been tested and works 100% so its definately not a hardware fault its just Vista
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
XPPRO sp2 runs spot on on this PC and the memory is 4x 1gb Corsair and its all been tested and works 100% so its definately not a hardware fault its just Vista
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Good that narrows it down well!

Have you tried a FULL re-install on a newly formatted HD ???
 
cowasaki said:
Ok I am Dr MacOS now but if Vista was that bad normally it would never have got to its release!

There is likely to be some fundamental problem with your computer such as dodgy HD and Ram, overheating processor, PSU incapable of supplying CLEAN power at the required level etc etc

OR

Really bad install - have you tried re-installing Vista?? Did the computer originally run XP?? if so did you have problems with that??

Vista is poor but it is not that poor, XP is better and I like Windows 7

Alternatively I am selling an iBook in the for sale section :)
Click to expand...


The system is a home build by myself and I was a PC engineer so I do know how to build em so no probs there its definately a Windows prob as all the usual suspects like memory and HDDs have been into the PC shop for testing and have a clean bill of health it boots normal so the psu is fine and runs for about 1hr before any probs arise (memory dump is also fine) so yes the system is fine and capable of running Vista so either I have the one and only dodgy Vista dvd or my pc has another problem that is in something unchecked like erm ...............????
 
cowasaki said:
Good that narrows it down well!

Have you tried a FULL re-install on a newly formatted HD ???
Click to expand...

Done this a few times with same results

Done standard format and a low level format (48hrs) to make sure HDD is in superb condition and its only 8 month old and has been checked at the shop for errors also so unless I am missing something so simple a blind man can see ...it has got to be either a problem with my original dvd software or a bug on windows????
 
The reason I said memory is that I had a dodgy stick of RAM once that passed all the Microsoft testing.

It might also just be an overheating thing, run it with the sides off your tower.

Now then, you say "XPPRO sp2 runs spot on on this PC", does that mean you have a dual-boot setup?

If not, why not stick your XP back on? I rather think you will have the same problem.


Anyway, as far as I am concerned, XP Pro beats Vista for speed and ease of use.
 
All drivers up to date and certified?

does the event viewer show any interesting messages?
 
Mikesphotaes said:
The reason I said memory is that I had a dodgy stick of RAM once that passed all the Microsoft testing.

It might also just be an overheating thing, run it with the sides off your tower.

Now then, you say "XPPRO sp2 runs spot on on this PC", does that mean you have a dual-boot setup?

If not, why not stick your XP back on? I rather think you will have the same problem.


Anyway, as far as I am concerned, XP Pro beats Vista for speed and ease of use.
Click to expand...

No havent dual booted since win 98 and NT LOL but have re-installed XPPro a couple of time and vista again only to find out vista dont like my PC :shrug:
 
anyway back to what I originally wanted DOM you run Linux ...which version and can I run it on my system and will my network work
 
Elsewhere I have posted that I have a laptop coming (tomorrow) with Vista, and its coming with just 1G of memory. If this OS syestem needs more memory how do laptop manufacturers get away without fitting enough, or why sell with less and not warn you it might not work properly?
 
KelV6 said:
Elsewhere I have posted that I have a laptop coming (tomorrow) with Vista, and its coming with just 1G of memory.
Click to expand...
The L300-1FN?

KelV6 said:
If this OS syestem needs more memory how do laptop manufacturers get away without fitting enough, or why sell with less and not warn you it might not work properly?
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Who said Vista needs more memory?

Minimum system specs for Vista (i.e. for Home Basic) are 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, DX9 GPU with 32MB of graphics memory and a 20GB HD with 15GB of space.

For everything else (Premium, Business and Ultimate) it rises to 1GB RAM, DX9 GPU with 128MB RAM (and other criteria) and a 40GB HD with 15GB of space.
 
I really wouldn't count Linux as a viable alternative to Vista. If you're having that many problems with Vista and are convinced its not your hardware, consider moving to Mac. At least theres more support than there is for Linux.

Could always go down the "Hackintosh" route like Chillimonster?
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
anyway back to what I originally wanted DOM you run Linux ...which version and can I run it on my system and will my network work
Click to expand...

Do you mean network sharing or something else?

Be ready for the fact that things are done differently there and the comfort zone for a Windows user might be rather smallish. If you'll run into trouble, you'll almost certainly need to google quite a bit and use a shell (command line) as well.


As for the distribution, SUSE, Ubuntu (preferably LTS), Mint, Fedora, Mandriva or CentOS (for long support, 5 or 7 years) should be kind of OK for someone coming from Windows.

To get familiar with them, try using them in a virtual machine first if you can.

By the way, I used to run Arch Linux until the need for more disk space made me nuke the Linux and Solaris partitions on my second hard drive. So now I run XP only and I'm setting up Arch in VirtualBox for some testing purposes.
Do not try Arch Linux until you're fed up with the 'user friendly' distributions.

Any other questions? ;)
 
Effjay said:
Mac osX on any mac hardware.
Click to expand...

not entirely true. You can run OSX on non mac hardware OSx86? there is a lot of variations of installations depending on your hardware. there is several forums dedicated to it. Insanleymac is one which is for mac users and OSX users on other hardware.

I am a mac user myself so would always suggest OSX :)
 
the only problem i have had is installing sp1 for vista which knackered MSN and caused 2 blue screens, otherwise its been fine
 
Unless you have jumped though a few hoops then 32bit Vista will only address 3 gb of ram, so swop out a stick at a time and see if that is the root of your problems, Or go here and download this little goodie
http://www.memtest86.com/download.html
and burn it and run the tests, this will tell you if the problem is memory related. Don't forget Vista loads a lot more into memory as a matter of course to make full use of the resource, where as XP will use far less so if your memory problem is situated further along in the static memory addresses Xp may never get to use it, and so never/rarely encounter a problem.
If on the other hand you are running 64 bit Vista, then there could be a whole slew of reasons for your problems, unless all your drivers are up to date, and still there are configs that give 64 bit a real hard time.
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
anyway back to what I originally wanted DOM you run Linux ...which version and can I run it on my system and will my network work
Click to expand...

I use fedora 10 on my laptop and fedora 10 x64 on my town.
As running on your system, almost certainly. Linux has a far greater hardware compatibility than any windows OS.

As for your network, to give a definitive answer I'd need to know what card your running but again almost certainly.

As Slapo pointed out *nix does thing differently but there is a very big and very helpful community on the net.
 
The L300-1FN?
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Yes, Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-1FN Celeron M 585, 2.16GHz, 120GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 15.4" TFT, DVD±RW, Vista Business


Who said Vista needs more memory?
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I keep seeing people, in various place, saying that 2GB in a minimum and 4GB is best option. I WILL give Vista a go, the Toshiba is coming with Vista Business, but first sign of any problem then I'm going to get someone to put XP on it!
 
Most of the probelsm I had with Vista (had loads like you when it first came out, was to do with drivers, sometimes it took the installation of several versions of drivers to find one which didn't make Vista freeze or blue screen, but seems fine now.
 
If it runs for a hour ok and then plays up this would indicate a temperature related fault. As suggested run it with the case sides off and also give it a good vacuum clean inside.

I have installed Ubuntu on a number of machines over the past 12 months. These range from a 8 year old laptop to a modern desk top PC. All have worked flawlessly and installation has been easy. I added a wireless network card to a laptop on Friday and Ubuntu picked it up and worked straight away with no prompting for drivers etc. However, you may find that advanced graphics drivers are a bit more fiddly and there are applications (Photoshop for example) which do not have Linux versions. Gimp is a good alternative to Photoshop but still needs further development to be a strong alternative (16 bit processing and colour management is weak/non-existent).

For a base machine that largely runs email, internet browser and office type applications (OpenOffice) then Linux (Ubuntu) is a good choice for the desk top. Where your application needs are a bit more specialised then you need to do a fair bit of research before committing to Linux. It could be worth your while finding a cheap second hand PC to run a test of Ubuntu and see how you get on or install it on a separate Linux drive in your current machine and physically swap drives over to swap between OS's. As you are having problems I would not recommend a dual boot scenario as this could significantly complicate identifying the source of the underlying problem.

John
 
What did the PC shop use to test it? I've seen some use memtest86 and chkdsk and think thats enough. I work with Vista machines every day, its a fixed OS since SP1. You've either installed something thats messing with it, or have a hardware problem.
 
I installed some canon camera software.. the 'camera window' does not open, I have to use the vista option. The canon zoombrower appears to work
as does the digital photo pro viewer. From what I read on the canon site more drivers/fixes for Vista are on the way.
 
You might have tried this already, but if you are running AMD FX, you know that there is a cool and quiet driver that you SHOULD NOT install in vista right? (it makes the system unstable). Also if you have all the dims populated on your motherboard, it can cause instability with some chipsets, especially Nvidia ones.

As for operating system, I think Vista 64 is quite stable for graphics, but you could also try OsX.
 
One way of checking if it is a hardware problem is to get hold of one of the 'live' linux distros (run straight from DVD) and boot that up. If it crashes after an hour then it is Hardware. if it runs stable for hours on end then it could be your vista install thats at fault.

I find this an invaluable way of testing if hardware is stable as the live distros very rarely (if ever) crash.
 
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