Replacing Windows 2000 with something good...

[cosmicbrat]

Pullease!.. if long trivial posts from novices offends you, just skip this one please...
I really don't mean to offend the almighty computer wizards... I just feels it like I sees it, and says it like I sees it... If it offends you, just complain to the mods to have it deleted from the forum, without starting a flame war over it... I battle with a cosmic-sword, and dragons looking over my shoulders... If you surf "cosmicbrat", or cosmicb in femalefirst forum, you'll see that I'm "formidable"... I've heard all the insults before, a thousand times each, and I've already been informed that I'm this, and I'm that, and how bad and crazy I am, and I should go visit shrinks, and stop eating drugs, and this and that and such.. and I've made being "banned" an art... I've heard it all, enough to melt me... I'm just saying what I feel, what I want to say.. and wanting to slap microsoft a little too... They sure deserve it...

I'm tired of all the Internet flame wars, even though I always win... I do so enjoy a good battle, and the wins, but five years of internet war is just about enough... I need a breather from turning bullies insideout... I breathe life into one e-bully, and suddenly there are ten more wanting their basic life lessons that their mummies and daddies and schools couldn't teach them... It seems that's all there is on the Net, bullies, bullies, and more bullies, and a few mindless gorillas too.. all just big babies desperately in need of primal motherly guidance, and maybe a little breast-milk too..? All void of any respect, dignity, love, and any grasp of anything reality, acting like they live in "hell on earth"..

I'm totally fed-up with the microsoft bullying... I'm sure you all know it all...
We get a tower at a garage sale with a legit registered W2k or XP, and try to update it, and microsoft kills it like we are evil criminals against all humanity, Life, and their great "god of money and strife".... I've found towers at garage sales with legit OS's of W2k, and XP.. and microsoft updates kills them faster than I can blink... Enough is Enough!.. Surely microsoft has enough money now to relax some of its greed, but no, they must skaweeze and skaweeze every penny "legally" allowed to them... They forget who made microsoft a huge financial success, Our Money!.. the peasant's pennies... I bet microsoft spends ten-times the funds to maintain their policing efforts to bully and squeeze their pennies from the masses, than they recover... They should just let the little bit of piracy slide.. After all pirates are still with us, and they did save humanity from the first Inquisition, and they gotta live too...

Microsoft is such a Pig, they still even squeeze pennies on their ancient W98... One wonders if they've lost their souls and their humanity.?? or if they ever had any..?
It makes me wonder if some of the microsoft execs are actually soulmate bonded to hundred dollar-bills, and if they actually drink human blood, and eat our babies as veal, and theirs..? Me thinks microsoft's extreme rigid Glut will end up in them going suddenly bankrupt within ten years or so..? I'd put money on if I had any to spare... Right now all I can bet with is my old vacuum cleaner and an old mountain bike, and this old tower and monitor that got caught out in the rain, and this here ten bucks... Poor is the Pits! It gives the feel like someone has pushed my face down in a street gutter, on spring thaw, and is holding me down in it whilst the slush sludge of six months of winter flows by...

The kids in our little neighborhood computer group asked me to find them a free computer operating system which they can readily learn about computers on... We've taken it about as far as we can with Windows 98 and 98se... W98 is the Pits!.. Trying to find a W2000-pro CD at a garage sale is like trying to find that proverbial "needle in the haystack"... I've heard the terms "open source", and "Linux", and someone pointed me to "DC++", and "Source Forge.net"... Yikes!.. I can't understand any of it... All we want is an operating system closest to Windows 2000.. We've tried W2k a few times, and it's "the cat's bum"... It's simple, and not yuky and gaudy like XP and Vista, which are just down-right horrible... I doubt I would ever run XP or Vista, even if I won a mega-mil lotto... We seek an open source OS that will hopefully run all our preferred softwares: CCleaner, Cacheman Memory Restore, EasyCleaner, SeaMonkey, PhotoPlus8, Free Window Registry Repair, Irfanview, WinWall, Burn at Once, Tiny Personal FireWall, and Office 2000.. and Google Earth too, would be nice...

We've got antique desktops with 2 to 20 gig hd's, most are Pentium 2, they're slow like turtles trying to run while on their backs, but at least they are computers, and they get us on the Net... We get them from garage sales for 5 to 10 bucks each... We know they're "garbage", but it's all we've got... At least we've got something better than "apple green screens".. ooo shudder, choke!...

Is there a free computer operating system that potentially smart-kids can understand, that resembles Windows 2000, and runs the softwares that Windows 2000 does?..

If there is, please point us to the links on how to start from scratch, installing, and troubleshooting, and its software peripherals...

[Drunk_Mexican]

If you are looking for a "free" windows then you've come to the wrong place. Linux is nothing like Windows and to say that it is is sort of insulting to be honest with you.

If on the other hand you come to learn about a new way of doing things you have come to the right place.

You wouldnt expect a Mac to run Windows software ( I know it can do it somewhat)?
Why would expect Linux to?

I can tell you for what you are trying to do there is going to be free and open source alternatives.

Microsoft Office is basically OpenOffice in Linux.
GIMP is close to Photoshop.
You dont need a "registry cleaner" or any of that other malware removers because when you use Linux you're not going to get any of that crap. Linux for the most part is immune to that stuff.

You can run Google Earth in Linux.

Windows media Player can be replaced with VLC.
Amarok is like iTunes.
You can use K9Copy, Brasero, DVD:rip, and toVid for all your CD/DVD burning authroship and needs.


If you are willing to learn you will have a wonderful experience.


I would suggest you try Ubuntu 8.04. Its a great distro for Windows switchers and easy to use. All of these programs are 100% free and will always be 100% free. If you decide to get Ubuntu Linux, I suggest you download it off a torrent site and burn it onto CD. Just boot up with the CD and install it from there. It is free and open source so it is legal to get with a torrent.

[i92guboj]

Is there a free computer operating system that potentially smart-kids can understand, that resembles Windows 2000, and runs the softwares that Windows 2000 does?..

No.

There's one that aims to, though. It's called ReactOS:

http://www.reactos.org/es/index.html

But I don't know it's current status, and the degree of compatibility that it has achieved. Sincerely, I highly doubt that it can run the stuff you normally run in windows. And I doubt even more that you can get a good hardware support out of it. It aims to support even windows drivers, but for now this is just that: what it aims for.



Linux can be a good alternative though, but it's not similar to windows (in any way at all). You will have to learn, you will have to be willing to read manuals and get your hands dirty, and you will need to deal with some issues. Don't be scared, most distros can configure your hardware automatically nowadays.

Once you are running linux, you can use wine to run some windows programs.

[kostasan]

Ubuntu is great but it will need a slightly newer machine to run well. I am not referring to multicore cpu or many gigabytes of Ram. A Pentium 4 or an Athlon XP will do. But for a pentium 2 you should probably try a lightweight Linux distribution such as Vector Linux.
Check this link: http://vectorlinux.com/website2/
Other popoular distributions for old computers are AUSTRUMI and Puppy Linux.
Their links are: http://cyti.latgola.lv/ruuni/
http://www.puppylinux.org/

[elija]

You could also try XUbuntu which is a light weight version of Ubuntu. It has XFCE instead
of Gnome as it's desktop environment and Abiword for a word processor. It isn't as
light as Vector but it may be better as an intro.

But hey, they are free, try them all and see what works for you

Linky

[i92guboj]

You could also try XUbuntu which is a light weight version of Ubuntu. It has XFCE instead
of Gnome as it's desktop environment and Abiword for a word processor. It isn't as
light as Vector but it may be better as an intro.

But hey, they are free, try them all and see what works for you

Linky

Xubuntu is exactly *as* lightweight as ubuntu with xfce installed (which is not much at all).

[Manchunian]

Just to add my voice to the fray!
Great analysis of Microsoft greed there cosmicbrat! Loved every word of it! We are here because we believe the same thing. So why do you want your computer operating system to look and feel like Windows so much! Vive la différence! Linux is better than Windows. Why is it better? Because it doesn't work in the same crappy fashion? Don't think of Linux as being simply a free alternative. Linux is so much more than that. For the record, if Linux cost, I'd still use it, and leave Windows to gather dust on the shop shelves. If you're really serious about Linux, read this. If you like what you read, get yourself Xubuntu or something similar and join the Linux revolution! Don't forget to ask us when you encounter a problem. We're here to help.

[elija]

Xubuntu is exactly *as* lightweight as ubuntu with xfce installed (which is not much at all).

In that case I may have to try Vector on my eeepc

[Manchunian]

Yes, this is true. Techiemoe started a thread about this here. Another possibility is Zenwalk, which I think is easier to install than VectorLinux.

[elija]

Zenwalk! That's the one whose name I couldn't recall. I may have to try that on my eeepc