[Elecraft] WinXP - SP3 ... too late!

[Anthony Marriott]

I am very much the same way - I have an iMac and Macbook Air but recently built a dual boot Win7/Linux box.  Originally I went for Win7 since I had had enough of running some Ham aps under VMWare on the mac.  Now I find myself mostly in Linux mode for Ham use - I use Elementary OS as my Linux “distro” of choice because I can configure it more to look like OSX.  Linux has a lot of Ham support, more than OSX probably, and I can configure fldigi without issue to operate digital.  I still have not given up the mac since I am also a photographer, and Photoshop is not available under Linux, so the iMac is still my workhorse photo machine.

For an old machine, I’d most certainly try Linux - try eOS, or other Ubuntu distro like Mint.

Paul
AF5BV

On Mar 28, 2014, at 9:21 PM, Phil Wheeler <w7ox at socal.rr.com> wrote:

> I'm with Don on this one. I use two Macs, with OS X 10.9.x, for most of my work -- but both have Windows 7 installed in dual boot configuration, because Windows has better support for some needs -- like ham radio and managing my GPS map loads to name two. My workhorse ripping and burning machine is a 5-year old Dell running Win 7 (was XP) because I can use very fast optical drives with it and I prefer the software on that platform.  And my ham shack machine is a $280, 10.1" HP running Win 8.1; it does all the Elecraft support quite well, as well as digital modes.
> 
> But I do have a Raspberry Pi running Linux :-)
> 
> 73, Phil w7ox
> 
> On 3/28/14, 7:05 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
>> I have tried Linux.  It is just fine for those who have computers that are not networked to each other and do not need access to files on other computers on a network.  Yes, for Linux geeks, it can be made to work, but discovering just the right 'tweeks' for Samba can be frustrating.
>> 
>> If all one wants is a computer to do email and surfing the internet, Linux is an extremely good no cost solution, but if integration into a Windows Network is part of your operation, I suggest that you upgrade to Win 7 or Win 8, there are just too many hurdles to leap in that situation with Linux.  Besides, most ham applications are Windows based, and several do not run well under Wine.  Getting COM port assignments when using Wine has been an exercise in frustration for me, most recently with USB adapters.  Maybe I am just not "geek enough", but it was frustrating and not successful.
>> 
>> Linux may be good (and getting better), but it is not the cure for all ills.  As I indicated, it is a good, no cost solution for old Win XP computers that will be used primarily as standalone computers for email and internet surfing.  For that I like Linux Mint with the Mate desktop - it is quite "windows-like" and can be easily used by users who are transitioning from Windows.
>> 
>> I have 8 computers plus a file server on my network that talk to each other, all running Win 7, but 2 of them dual boot to Linux Mint for those occasional excursions for things that do not work on Windows - but those are not mainstream items, they are "sideshows". The workbench computer and the ham shack computer are the only 2 with that dual boot installation.
>> 
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>> 
>> On 3/28/2014 8:59 PM, JohnE wrote:
>>> Its just the Universe telling you its time to try Linux....
>>> 
>>> On 03/28/2014 05:27 PM, Edward R Cole wrote:
>>>> If you need upgrades to SP3 for win-XP, you may be too late.
>>> 
>> 
> 
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