April 23, 2007

Once more into the breach...

I'm passing on my old laptop to my brother and I have to install Windows on it. It's what he wants, so...

I had forgotten how awful the installation experience of Windows on a laptop was.

When you install Linux, you can expect a few problems, missing drivers etc. But, you can usually get your internet connection working and start downloading / upgrading from the net straight away.

Importantly, this is the same laptop that I installed Linux on and was able to start surfing /uploading within the first few minutes (would have been quicker but I always forget to enter some aspect of the DNS / Gateway configuration...).

I have just 'completed' the Windows installation. The Horror. THE HORROR!

A quick overview of the problems (using the hardware manager) - no drivers for graphics card, no drivers for ethernet, no drivers for WiFi (Broadcom), no drivers for audio, no drivers for modem, and no drivers for some 'base system device'. There is no indication what these items might be.

There is no way for me to get on the net and start upgrading the system. Unless I can burn some CD's with drivers downloaded on a net capable computer, I'm shit out of luck. Alternately, using the Linux Live CD which, on the same computer,would allow me to access the internet and burn CD's.

Ridiculous.

Posted by dottie at 11:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 19, 2006

Windows Server 2003 and Cygwin

Windows. God Damn WIndows.

The latest update to Windows has broken Cygwin.

It has also broken me.

I have just ordered a new hard-drive and I will be installing Linux on that. Then I will be installing Server 2003 as a Virtual Machine on that.

Linux gives me all the Rsync and SSH goodness that I need and I can still connect to the Windows Server to do my ASP, ASP.NET development as required.

Posted by dottie at 4:08 PM | Comments (0)