where to get windows 7 from?

[Mr Haematocrit]

I don't mind Unity, but maybe I'm a bit weird. As for media, I use VLC, which I believe is able to play anything and everything.
Maybe we should start an 'Anything but Microsoft and Apple' thread where we can discuss all this stuff.

VLC is great and plays pretty much anything, but Unity makes my skin crawl its like a mobile phone interface and I object greatly to the suggestion that I need the same interface on my phone, tablet, laptop, desktop and 50 inch TV.
I quite like minimalist environments myself like Flux box, I prefer my processing power being used to do things of value rather than being used to power a shiny desktop.

 

[Acyclo]

Mr Haematocrit up there is correct, Mint is the best GNU/Linux 'distro' currently. However, they are shooting themselves in the foot by offering several 'flavours'. I've tried them all and I'm using the default Cinnamon version. Issues with Microsoft compatibility are gradually going away one way or another. Try it, you never now you might like it.

 

[MontyVeda]

I'd stick with XP if i was you @cyberknight unless you're dead set on an upgrade, why bother... will XP simply cease to exist from April?... Ignore the geeks above, they can talk for decades about the superiority of their shoddy OS because they haven't got any decent software to play with

 

[martint235]

Mr Haematocrit up there is correct, Mint is the best GNU/Linux 'distro' currently. However, they are shooting themselves in the foot by offering several 'flavours'. I've tried them all and I'm using the default Cinnamon version. Issues with Microsoft compatibility are gradually going away one way or another. Try it, you never now you might like it.

The Cinammon version gave me all sorts of issues. It's very easy to corrupt the gui and if you're not technically minded this will cause you untold grief.

You can get the 64 bit version of W7 Home Premium for £70 at Dabs here. There's a bit of a grey area around using OEM software but iirc if you only install it on your own PC you're fine.

 

[swee'pea99]

The OEM discs for sale on ebay are worth a punt. You normally activate via an automated phone system rather than online and most sellers guarantee the code has not been used. What normally happens and I've done it myself, is that a company gets a bunch of new pc's and the operating system discs get flung in a cupboard as a standard build with an enterprise license is dropped on each pc, hence the oem discs you find on ebay.

I did exactly that, with XP. I think I paid about £17 or something. The going rate for 7 seems to be somewhere north of 50. I'd check descriptions and feedback quite carefully, to find one that' 'feels right'...a brief look at some listings just now has included at least two or three that I personally wouldn't touch with a bargepole. It's obviously an area ripe with opportunity for dodgy peeps.

 

[Acyclo]

@martint235 - sorry that Mint Cinnamon didn't work out for you. Try it again soon, they're making rapid progress.
@ MontyVeda - Haha, I laughed out loud. Old-skool trolling. How retro.

 

[Crackle]

You can get the 64 bit version of W7 Home Premium for £70 at Dabs here. There's a bit of a grey area around using OEM software but iirc if you only install it on your own PC you're fine.

Kind of, it's normally registered against the motherboard of the PC it's installed on. If you want to re-install it on a new pc, you may have to convince Microsoft that what you are in fact doing is fixing your broken pc or upgrading it. if it's never been installed then that doesn't apply. OEM software comes without Microsoft support, the idea is support comes from the vendor. If you're happy with that it's fine. Exactly the same criteria applies to so called system builder versions, they too come without Microsoft support.

 

[Schneil]

My two pence worth on Ubuntu.
I think it's a great system for an older computer, as you need quite a bit more grunt to run 7 than XP.
However i've found 13.10 a bit of a PITA. Some things don't work that used to work (like my webcam). I might go back to 12.04 (which is now on revision 2) or I might even try Debian.

 

[martint235]

@martint235 - sorry that Mint Cinnamon didn't work out for you. Try it again soon, they're making rapid progress.
@ MontyVeda - Haha, I laughed out loud. Old-skool trolling. How retro.

I'm going to buy a new hard drive as I think that may have been the cause of some of the issues I had with Cinnamon. I've already got a 1Tb drive running Windows and that's been ok so will match it for a Linux one. Been looking into Lubuntu this morning (although to be honest I must have about 20 different distros burnt onto CDs at the mo right back to Breezy Badger), on the other hand may try Debian again. Ah the joy of having time on my hands

 

[Acyclo]

I'm going to buy a new hard drive as I think that may have been the cause of some of the issues I had with Cinnamon. I've already got a 1Tb drive running Windows and that's been ok so will match it for a Linux one. Been looking into Lubuntu this morning (although to be honest I must have about 20 different distros burnt onto CDs at the mo right back to Breezy Badger), on the other hand may try Debian again. Ah the joy of having time on my hands

In my view Canonical have lost the plot. If you want a low resources distro try Mint XFCE. I've got it on an old laptop. Change the wallpaper to a plain colour and change the icon set to the 'high contrast' set and you're good. It's not as nice as Cinnamon though.

 

[martint235]

In my view Canonical have lost the plot. If you want a low resources distro try Mint XFCE. I've got it on an old laptop. Change the wallpaper to a plain colour and change the icon set to the 'high contrast' set and you're good. It's not as nice as Cinnamon though.

Lightest one I've found is antiX which I've got running on a 14 year old PC. It is very light though although with resources available I guess you could build it up.

 

[swee'pea99]

I tried linux once but I couldn't get it to run the wifi, so that was that.

 

[Schneil]

I tried linux once but I couldn't get it to run the wifi, so that was that.

Ubuntu 12.04s been pretty good with wifi IMHO. I've had a few issues with 13.10 and wifi. My atheros card works much better in 12.04 than 13.10.