03-29-2014, 07:30 AM | #31 |
Color me gone
Posts: 2,089
Karma: 1445295
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Central Oregon Coast
Device: PRS-300
|
I switched over to Win 7 too, and run the very old program I use for accounting in a virtual machine. But virtual machines are on the order of Linux in difficulty.
But if Gregg's machine is old enough, it may not be able to run Win7. My laptop won't because of the lack of a Win7 video driver. Gregg, have you run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor, a free download from Microsoft? It would tell you if your machine could even use it in the first place and what problems you would encounter. It would have to be a clean install which is both an opportunity and a pain in the %^*(. With the machine no longer weighed down by years of junk, it might go faster. Windows7 can be made to mostly act like XP with a program called Classic Shell. It is on both my machines. No reason to change my workflow to please the techies who have to have a new OS every year or they get bored. FWIW, I have a machine in shop that will continue to run XP, it doesn't need anything else. On it I do not do general web browsing or email. That eliminates about 95% of the opportunity to pick up viruses or malware. |
03-29-2014, 08:03 AM | #32 | |
Wizard
Posts: 4,520
Karma: 121692313
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Heemskerk, NL
Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura
|
Quote:
I personally use VirtualBox, which is free to use. You just say how big it must be (memory/diskspace) and usually what OS will be on there and you are good to go. Of course you need to install our OS, but Greg already has a licensekey. It is really not difficult. Now, if you want to use VMware ESX, that is a different story but also aimed for another market (business). For 'normal' people Virtualbox will suffice. |
|
03-29-2014, 08:58 AM | #33 |
Color me gone
Posts: 2,089
Karma: 1445295
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Central Oregon Coast
Device: PRS-300
|
I use Virtualbox. But on some machines it can be quite slow, if the machine doesn't support the necessary extensions in the BIOS.
It took me some doing to install XP, too and the ancient program I use, a DOS based Alpha4 took me several days to settle down so it was usable. Printer support in the virtual machine has had some issues as well. Network drives are interesting too if he has another computer networked to this one. Since Gregg has had troubles where a number of us would not think it to be much of a problem, I hesitate to tangle him up any further. For him, it is a tool to do his main job, unlike for others where it is a hobby in itself. For me it is both, since I also just want the &%&^ thing to work when I want to ship an item or look up information. With Sigil it will no doubt be better, but it still can be slow depending on the machine. |
03-29-2014, 02:22 PM | #34 |
Well trained by Cats
Posts: 29,809
Karma: 54830978
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The Central Coast of California
Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A
|
W7 puts lots more demands on/of hardware than XP.
RAM (sweet spot): ~3G old MoBo's may not support more (size/qty) Processor may be missing features (my old AMD Athelon has no SSE2) Only has PATA/SATA 1.5 (slow) Drivers (as mentioned) and replacement Hardware to keep it going. (AGP and PCI (not PCI-E) boards are getting hard to find. (I just sent my ISA collection to the recyclers). FWIW I just did a fresh install of XP pro (I accidentally dropped a new menu tobe item onto the Start button. It was so bad, I could not even run regedit The bad part: OMG HOURS. Install XP from the Mfgrs disk, apply SP3, Apply updates. The start putting back programs (and using saved settings). I did find overall visual differences (probably, minor errors crept in over 7 years of use) that are not user setting related. Oh, did I say it runs faster, too. |
03-29-2014, 08:09 PM | #35 | |||||||
Gregg Bell
Posts: 2,264
Karma: 3917588
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Itasca, Illinois
Device: Kindle Touch 7, Sony PRS300, Fire HD8 Tablet
|
Quote:
Quote:
How about this theory? (And this is all on Linux now.) I've got Sigil. LO is decent (and I still have Word 2003 on a couple of laptops if I need them). So that takes care of the epubs. I'm still missing two things from my work process: Kindle Previewer and Sony Reader Library. Now (I've still got my original XP computer) can I download the updated .exe files for KP and SRL and update KP and SRL on my old computer? That way I could work on it off-line and not have to worry about viruses. (But it is getting a little complicated because I could just update Sigil too and do everything (except uploading and downloading) off-line on my old computer. lol) Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
|||||||
03-29-2014, 08:43 PM | #36 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,608
Karma: 3000161
Join Date: Jan 2009
Device: Kindle PW3 (wifi)
|
I followed this thread with some interest, wondering how long you would follow this tricky path.
I have been a Linux user for some years now (2006) and I keep using it (I also use Virtualbox from my Linux to host an XP using FineReader11). I cannot imagine coming back to Windows as my main system. You have tried to learn Linux quickly with a professional pressure. I think this is the worst-case scenario. I would have hated -and feared- to do it this way. I am quite satisfied with odt format, OpenOffice or LibreOffice, and now the calibre Editor (to replace Sigil) not to speak of many other tools you may find. Don't throw it away now. Keep one Linux on the side, like a hobby, tweaking it gently, solving questions, one by one. Breathe. Take your time. Learn first how to save (or clone) a partition. Ultimately, because you are just asking for very simple tasks, I'm sure you'll be rewarded. Last edited by roger64; 03-29-2014 at 09:04 PM. |
03-30-2014, 06:55 PM | #37 | |
Gregg Bell
Posts: 2,264
Karma: 3917588
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Itasca, Illinois
Device: Kindle Touch 7, Sony PRS300, Fire HD8 Tablet
|
Quote:
|
|
03-30-2014, 08:01 PM | #38 | |
Guru
Posts: 878
Karma: 2457540
Join Date: Nov 2011
Device: none
|
Quote:
But have you seen the price of a new computer these days? A workhorse Windows 8 machine costs about the same as half-a-dozen tankfulls of petrol here in the UK. It really isn't worth keeping old equipment limping along. |
|
03-30-2014, 09:54 PM | #39 | |
temp. out of service
Posts: 2,792
Karma: 24285242
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Duisburg (DE)
Device: PB 623
|
Quote:
Because there are loads of improvements you will find compared to a windows box. Frustration arises only if you need a very specific feat you had on your windows PC and you need it now or yesterday - because that makes you highspeed STFW and RTFM. So much of NOT fun. |
|
03-31-2014, 06:51 AM | #40 |
Color me gone
Posts: 2,089
Karma: 1445295
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Central Oregon Coast
Device: PRS-300
|
(I had to Google Dalek.)
Dr. Whom????? (grin) There are an awful lot of people who run Linux here, Gregg. If you run into a problem, help is not far away. Once you get it going right, it should just continue to work, since you are not trying to stretch your boundaries but just get the job done. Viruses don't come out of the blue. They travel on on a web page you browse or on email, so so long as you have a good firewall and antivirus installed on the xp computer and only go to a computer of yours just to get a file and to the antivirus/firewall company to get updates, I don't see how you get infected. This is especially true since the rest of the world will continue to keep up their software. Just Microsoft is ending support. But you have to treat this computer differently than any other, if you are like most people. No cute cat videos, no getting a cute screensaver, no fetching email just once. I would disable all the accounts on email and get rid of your favorites on the browser. |
04-01-2014, 01:17 AM | #41 | |||
Gregg Bell
Posts: 2,264
Karma: 3917588
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Itasca, Illinois
Device: Kindle Touch 7, Sony PRS300, Fire HD8 Tablet
|
Thanks wombat, And I agree with you but only up to a point. The thing is these Linux boxes I've got aren't limping along--they're humming. And I have three now and I'll soon have three more. Not using them would make me feel like the conspicuous consumption Ugly American.
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
And I'm calming down on the Linux issue. Right now I'm a little concerned about LO having more cruft in it than MS Office Word 2003, but I can live with that. If I can get Kindlegen to work on the command line I won't need Kindle Previewer, but the one thing I feel I would still "need" is something you turned me onto a long time ago--editing in Sony Reader Library. It's just perfect. And it's just Windows and Mac! LOL A very knowledgeable friend said my computer barely was able to run XP it's not going to be able to run XP in a virtual box. Any ideas? It's kinda your fault! |
|||
04-01-2014, 05:32 AM | #42 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,520
Karma: 121692313
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Heemskerk, NL
Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura
|
|
04-01-2014, 06:08 AM | #43 |
Guru
Posts: 878
Karma: 2457540
Join Date: Nov 2011
Device: none
|
Anyone seriously interested in converting, creating and manipulating eBooks will need Word, Calibre, Acrobat, Sigil, MobiPocket Creator, Adobe Digital Editions, Abbyy FineReader, Kindle Previewer....(what have I missed out?) or functional equivalents.
Pick a platform that does the job. |
04-01-2014, 12:58 PM | #44 | |
Born to be wild
Posts: 206
Karma: 1010067
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: North Carolina, USA
Device: Kindle K3 wi-fi, Nexus 7 + Aldiko
|
Quote:
Sorry to get off-topic, but do you mind sharing what's causing you to wait on the Surface Pro 2? I just started to look at that as a possible platform to use for Windows 8 development. Thanks! |
|
04-01-2014, 02:14 PM | #45 | |
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
Posts: 11,462
Karma: 158448243
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2
|
Quote:
Hitch |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
cannot start sigil | weedfreak | Sigil | 3 | 10-16-2012 05:19 AM |
Calibre won't start - KeyError: <type 'tuple'> | anthonyliu | Calibre | 2 | 10-08-2012 03:26 AM |
Sigil will not start | menders | Sigil | 16 | 04-17-2012 12:14 AM |
Sigil type program for mobi | mr ploppy | Kindle Formats | 7 | 10-22-2010 12:45 PM |
Display File Type and Sort by Type | pragmortal | Calibre | 7 | 09-21-2009 08:07 PM |