So Far So Good

I recently purchased an Asus netbook with an atom processor and 160GB HD and installed a Windows 7 ultimate OS on the HD. I found that the processor was bogging down and the netbook itself was getting very hot after about an hour of use. I did some research and discovered Zorin OS6. It seemed like it was designed just for me. This is my first experience with Linux and so far I am very impressed. I loaded the OS6 core onto a flash drive and installed it on a clean HD. It installed in no time (actually it took 20 minutes to complete) and I was up and exploring the world of Linux. The OS is very familiar to me coming from a windows environment and I find it very easy to navigate. I'm still finding my way but every day brings a new 'kernel' (sorry I couldn't help myself) of knowledge. I tested the new OS out on an older friend who is very intimidated by his own computer and he was surfing the web like a pro in no time; but I digress... anyway back to the netbook. I am very happy to report that the netbook now boots completely to the homepage in 40 seconds. I thought it was an anomaly so I tried it again twice and got the same result. I am happy to report that the bogging and overheating issues have been overcome and my once sluggish little netbook is now lightening fast. Can't wait to get my copy of Ultimate and install it on my desktop.....Mr. Gates you aren't getting any more of my hard earned money.

Hi papsmurf,

glad to hear its working for you, please read these guides which will help you somewhat with getting started:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2054

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Regards Wolfman

Well I am now downloading Zorin OS6 and hope it is all it seems to be. I do run Ubuntu on one of my desktops and the other one was running winxp up until about 2 days ago when missing ntldr came calling. I need to have windows running somewhere on one of my machines in order to use a windows program I need to run for changing vr mode dvd disks to normal video dvd disks. I want to see this OS work well for other windows users and get them over to linux. I wish they would all move over to linux and save me all the pain of trying to fix all their windows systems all the time, mine included. My last mishap might actually not be the fault of windows but a failing hard drive and I will rectify that shortly.
I am wondering, Wolfman, do you post on UseNext ever? Just curious if you are the same person. If you are, thank you for all you do.

Hi and welcome,

no!, I am not the one you seek, I am busy (mostly) just here on Zorin and Pinguy OS forums, thats about it really, I was on other forums but don't have the time for more than 2 forums really.

I hope it all goes well for you, what exactly are you doing with the DVD's??, there are several video conversion apps for Linux!!.

Regards Wolfman

If you have been burning dvd's on a stand-alone dvd burner you will have noticed that about 5 years ago you were able to burn them in VR mode which you were able to edit and change the content on the disk be it dvd-r or dvd-rw. This was a nice feature but not necessarily one I needed to have and I only wanted to do a copy of TCM for about 6 hrs at a time for a set of shows he wanted to see. I wished to keep a backup of each disk in case he would wreck one by scratching it etc so it was necessary to make a copy of the disk I burned on the standalone burner. In those days you could record in VR mode as I said above or in Video mode (which was the exact format of most all dvds and easily copied) which I did most of the time. At one point in time I accidentally made the copy in VR mode and was totally unable to copy it with any program I tried. I put the disk aside and went on with others burning in Video mode until that burner died. As they all seem to do someday! After that point I was unable to buy any standalone burner which would allow me to burn in Video mode. I was told this was so I could always be able to edit my video copies. I was not impressed by that and tried in vain to get a standalone burner which would burn in video mode, so I was stuck with burning in VR mode from then on. In my efforts of searching I finally came upon a program called Magic Dvd Copier which would transform a VR mode disk to Video mode. I was saved. Now if I get rid of windows, I will not be able to run Magic Dvd Copier on Wine I believe as there is probably no way to enter a serial number etc to authenticate my program and make it legal to use. Not sure it will now maybe work on linux and I will ask the author of the program again if it is possible. God knows I run a lot of illegal programs on windows by necessity and Linux is my way to become totally legal again and I love that a lot.
I do use Ubuntu as I said and also Mint on one of my laptops. So I do appreciate what it can do.
There are a few issues though with linux in just using the gui to manipulate files and directories. There are a lot of nice things that are routine in windows which are not there in linux such as hovering the cursor over a folder name and seeing the contents underneath or being able to see the size of files etc just by hovering over the name in a directory. Those kinds of things I have learned to use and rely on in windows make my break harder to do and to convince others to do also.
Another instance is the ease of use of a program such as Hard Disk Manager in windows which will incidentally show linux partitions etc and make editing partitions and resizing them easy. i clone a lot of disks from that program and no of no other with the same graphic display and ease of use in linux. I am going to try g-parted soon though so i am not giving up.
There needs to be more things done to make linux as easy to use from the Gui as in windows. I know that most of the movers and
shakers in linux are geeks who live on the command line most of the time, but they need to pander to us dummies who have forgotten most of those commands from Dos 6 and from using an Amiga. I am getting too old to learn another set of instructions over a 10 year period as i am now 73 yrs old.
Oh well. I will report back on this OS when I can. I am getting the ultimate version in 32 bit first as it is most compatible with older systems and then I will move on to the 64 bit version after my social security check gets here.

Hi,

VLC has a direct copy function, if you start a DVD in normal play mode then once all the crappy ads etc are done, click on record and it will copy in 1:1 time and save it to your HDD.

VLC Player > View > Advanced Controls and then you will see more buttons appear at the bottom so you can record!!.

Regards Wolfman

Hi swarfendor437 and wolfman. I will have to try that function with VLC player and see if it will do what I want to have it do with my recording. If it works that will be one last program I need to be running XP to be able to run.
I sure do recall getting to be fairly good at the Amiga. I was up to speed enough to be able to mount hard drives and map out sectors where necessary and was using at least one of the data flyer enclosures for my hard drives. I think they might have been almost 1 gig - one of them was a full height 5-1/4" and I still have it here I think. Then it was more necessary to get into the windows machines and my time on the Amiga and my other commodores lagged until they lay gathering dust.
I still have a C64 hooked up and it may even run. It had 2 1541 drives attached and connected by a parallel cable copy setup. I have switches on the drives to prohibit write or allow it no matter what. It was sure a lot of interesting stuff and sorry to see it fall off in popularity. Ahhh the days of finally obtaining a 1200 baud modem, of maybe that was a 2400 baud? What a time.
Thanks for the comments.

Hi,

you don't have to buy the 64 Bit version if you cannot afford it, just use the free version and add your own software afterwards:

http://www.zorin-os.com/free.html

Regards Wolfman