I have decided to make this Windows Vista Problems a multi-part post.  In my last post, I talked about the GUI of Windows Vista and the problems with that.  Now, obviously there are more problems than just that.  One such problem exists with the file system used.  I haven’t done enough research to know if it is the same as XP, just upgraded, but whatever they did to it, it stinks.  Loading files is extremely slow, folders take ages to open, and this is on a fairly new, not top of the line now, but fairly new, machine.  It shouldn’t be happening.  I read somewhere that professionals are encouraging everyone to “make the switch to Vista”.  This means Businesses, Personal, most Schools, and possibly Government.  Why are we encouraging this?  If you search Windows Vista on the web, I can almost guarantee that the first result will not be a fan site.  The second will probably not be either.  Why is this?  Is Microsoft losing their touch?  Did they ever really have a touch?  I believe they did, before 1995, but those days are long gone with the releases of 98, XP, and now Vista.  I bet if we compared a graph, usership would be going down, and consumer happiness is going down with it.  However, Linux and Macintosh are slowly gaining on Microsoft in user friendliness, compatability, speed, and ease of use.  Will there ever be a Microsoft free world?  Is this a possible future?  I believe that someday Microsoft and WIndows OS will soon be a hushed discussion, talked about only by computer nerds, and seen at historic OS conventions.  We can make this happen.  If we keep developing Linux, perfect it, make it the best experience that you could have while using a computer.

I predict that in 50 years, Windows could be a thing of the past.  Maybe even 25 years.  If Microsoft keeps following in the path they are taking now, who knows what kind of computer we will have to buy in five, ten, twenty years.  Are we going to need computing beasts, just to run a few simple word processing and internet browsing programs?  Are we going to lower our computing power standards?  I think not.  It has always been the goal of Linux and BSD based distrobutions to create an awesome user experience at no cost (with the exception of a few) and keep the resource use at a minimal level.  If we continue to use the Windows, all we will find is closed doors.  Linux is a clear box, and if we continue to develop it to perfection and for the use of our kids and future generations, we will live in a secure, safer, faster computing world.  Imagine how much money a company could save if they switched to, say, Fedora, and quit using Windows completely.  They could use slower machines for longer, have less need for newer machines less often, not have to pay hundreds of dollars for Office, Windows, Antivirus/Spyware, Firewalls, and other enterprise applications for each computer, but they would have free open source software that would cost $0.  That’s it.  The software can be easily used, changed, and perfected to the exact needs of each department, or individual in the company.  Imagine the possibilities of a free, open source world.

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Windows Vista.  The latest operating system release from Microsoft.  Microsoft is supposedly planning to stop releasing Service Packs and stop supporting Windows XP sometime in the near future.  I don’t know when the full transition is expected to take place, but anyone using Windows XP better prepare to be forced to use Windows Vista very soon.  It’s very rare to find any new computer (with the exception of business computers) that come with Windows XP.  Some people absolutely love it, but there have been numerous, countless, problems with this “revolutionary” operating system.  I have one home computer that we bought new about a year ago, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD.  It is already outdated by Windows Vista.  I have my Intel Centrino Compaq HP that runs Fluxbuntu at just a slightly slower speed.  Why is this?  Because if you haven’t already figured it out, Windows Vista is a big, fat, eye-candy loaded resource hog.  I can run a game in Vista, it takes up almost all of the RAM because there is so much background stuff going on.

When I run a few programs, such as the now bloated Microsoft Office 12, and maybe Photoshop, along with the Aero window theme, the glass look, and the Windows Sidebar, my computer shows signs of aging and slows to an unbelievable pace!  Yet, all of my computers that run various Flavors of Ubuntu (Ubuntu, Fluxbuntu, Xubuntu) still go at an awesome pace for how old these machines are.  All of these machines are at least three years old, but they run just as fast as Windows Vista.  The only thing I can see in Windows Vista is Windows XP with a super bloated graphical theme.  Is this Revolutionary?  No.  Ubuntu and various other Linux Distros have been able to skin the window manager and have thousands of other ways to customize your box.  There are tons of Mac-like themes, Aero themes, and tons of other amazing themes.  All of this, and my Linux still runs faster, with the same look and similar programs.  Another bonus to Linux: It’s free.  That’s about two-hundred dollars cheaper then Vista.

If you think this is too late, I needed time to test Vista, and Ubuntu and find many of the disturbing realities of Vista.  It’s bloated and not worth your money.  I wouldn’t take it for free either.  There you go.  That’s my Windows Vista rant.

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What will come of this combination?  I have downloaded and made a bootable CD of Xubuntu 8.04 and I plan to install it on my Cardboard Computer when I get home from work today.  I hope it doesn’t take all night, but we’ll see I guess.  And yes, if you haven’t already figured it out, I am a fan of low resource Ubuntu flavors .  I hope that it will run it, and I’m pretty sure it has enough RAM to run Xubuntu.  More updates after I get it installed.

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Here are the specs and some better pictures of the CB-PC II.

It is still running Windows XP SP2, it has a Pentium 4 Processor, at 1.7 GHz, which runs at about 109F.

I have a 40 GB HDD, 248 RAM, two extra fans, and a bunch of duct tape and cardboard.  Both sides are open, it has network, six USB ports, and it runs pretty cool at a system temperature of 83F.

Here are some much better pictures, sorry about the old crappy ones.

It looks like I’ve got some cleaning up to do!

The CB-PC II code-name: “Puckulence”.

I am hoping to try Fedora on this, or maybe another Distro

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Well, it’s been about two weeks since I installed Fluxbuntu on my desktop, and now my laptop as well!  I’ve played games, downloaded themes, icon sets, pictures, installed programs, used word processors, and countless other things.  I absolutely love how fast and lightweight it is.  DO NOT INSTALL IF YOU DON’T LIKE USING THE TERMINAL A LOT!!  That is the one problem with it.  There are lots of strange and different things to n00bs and unexperienced users.  I had trouble finding things too, and I have used Ubuntu and other linux flavors.  Use the web browser, file explorer and Fluxbox on a Ubuntu machine before trying this, and make sure you have the Fluxbuntu community saved in your favorites, because you’ll need it. 

It is an amazing OS, although slightly harder to use, it is surprisingly user friendly in most aspects.  You can drag files to the program and open them, change any icon on all or one specific file, change themes, etc.  It is really nice, and on a 40 GB HDD, 512 RAM, Intel Celeron HP Compaq, it is amazingly fast at boot and while using, even while playing Globulation and changing themes, and installing new programs.  It is very useful for reviving that old desktop or laptop. 

Oh, and another note, there is no LiveCD, sorry guys.  It is text based install, keeping the ISO very small (307 MB).

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I have recently acquired an old HP Compaq from my work.  It has 256 MB RAM, 40.0 GB HDD, Intel Celeron Processor, and that’s about all I looked at to know when I got the thing home, I was going to put a low resource Linux install on it.  I had been researching one such install, called Fluxbuntu.  Well, I already burned the ISO, which is around 310 MB, very nice and waayyy smaller than a similar Ubuntu ISO, weighing in at about 696 MB (+/- 5%-ish).  Well, I brought the old thing home and tested out the Windows XPSP2 (I think).  The boot took about two minutes, log in another two minutes to set up everything that was installed from the company I work for.  This thing was sluggish like no other.  Now, I had previously tried Fluxbuntu on an old Tablet PC that I had lying around, and it would not install, so I just stuck Ubuntu on it, and it runs smoothly.  This made me slightly nervous to use partition the whole hard drive and get rid of everything.  I did it eventually, and the install started and ran very quickly.  It stopped however, nearly finished at 90% and sat for over an hour at 90%.  I restarted the install three times, before finally it worked!

Fluxbuntu Start Up

I was so excited to finally have the system run.  The computer restarted, and to my amazement the boot time was less then 30 seconds and I was totally logged in to my new Fluxbuntu system!  Amazing!  The graphics are really nice, and there is plenty of support for it, as it is based off the popular Ubuntu.  I even installed Globulation, a pretty awesome game, which runs pretty fast (unless you have more than five computer players!)  I like the browser, although it could use some more features, but it does have some unique things.  The tabs could use some work as well, as they seem slightly jumbled, and sometimes can be hard to use.  I have not looked at all the features of Fluxbuntu, but it seems to be a nice, extremely lightweight, mostly stable system.  I have used e-mail, Internet, games, and messed with desktop settings.  It uses Fluxbox (hence the name FLUXbuntu) as a window manager.  It is a little different, due to the fact that there is no start button, or application menu on a bar at the top/bottom of the screen.  You simply right click anywhere on the screen and BANG, there’s your menu, with all your programs.  You have Synaptic Package Manager to install programs, pretty much everything you can get in Ubuntu is there.  The only problems that I have found with it have already been reported as known bugs, and can be found and most likely solved here.

Fluxbuntu

This system is awesome, but I would recommend to experienced Linux users, and make sure you back up everything first.  Also, if you have another Linux flavor, I would recommend trying Fluxbox out first, to see if the interface is for you.  It is a little different, but is easy to get used to.  Anyone with an adventurous spirit, a low resource system, and some Linux and command line knowledge should definitely give Fluxbuntu a try.

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How to create Slax modules
Create new modules
There are many ways how to create Slax modules. All commands described here work directly in Slax, but can also work in your own distribution. For that case, download linux-live scripts and run ./install. Get Linux-Live scripts here.
The following command will convert Slackware’s TGZ package to Slax module:tgz2lzm software.tgz software.lzm
If you wish to modify your Slackware package before the module is created, use:installpkg -root /tmp/aaaa software.tgz
It will install your TGZ package in different root (/tmp/aaaa here). Modify the files you need and finally convert the directory tree to a module by using:dir2lzm /tmp/aaaa software.lzm

Modify existing modules
The following command will extract content of your Slax module to a directory in
/tmp/aaaa:mkdir /tmp/aaaa
lzm2dir software.lzm /tmp/aaaa
Make sure you have enough free space there. When the module is extracted, you can modify everything in /tmp/aaaa/, and when done, pack the module back to the .lzm format by using:dir2lzm /tmp/aaaa software.lzm
If you just wish to browse the content of a module (without extracting it to disk), you may mount it by using the following command:
mkdir /mnt/aaaa
mount -t squashfs -o loop /path/software.lzm /mnt/aaaa

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