Why 2k?

[vakkotaur]

I've been using Linux as my primary desktop OS at home for a couple years now and a few days ago when I fired up the Win2K machine for something (which the Linux machine can now do) I looked at the log that the UPS monitor keeps. I'd used the Windows machine in 2002, but only once or twice in 2003 and 2004. If I hadn't had trouble with the CPU fan on the Linux machine, it would have been the first time in 2005 I'd started the Windows machine.

I've also been pondering a Linux distribution that might not be the one I'm currently running (Mandrake) but I'd like to test things on a real full install first - without taking down my primary machine. The only machine I have that would be considered reasonably new enough to test most modern full featured Linux distributions is the Windows machine. I've been trying to think what reason I could have to keep Windows on it, since a re-install of Windows would be an unwelcome task. The UPS monitor logs show that I certainly don't need Windows regularly. The last thing I needed it for was to make mp3 files and Linux can do that. About the only thing I can think of might be playing games but I don't play games. And the only game I do have is on a CD with a Mac version, so if the bug did bite I could play that on the iMac.

I know this. I've thought it over. And yet I keep having this nagging feeling that I'm overlooking something, and it might even be important. But if it was, wouldn't I have used Windows (at home) more than twice a year?

---

Addendum: jmaynard pointed out that I could swap hard drives and not really lose the Windows install. It would be a bit awkward to put back, but not too big a deal. And we do have a couple "small" 20 G drives that would do for what I want. That seems to be the way to go.

Comments

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Reasons I still have to keep a Windows partition that gets booted a couple of times a month:

• I own and use an Audible Otis player for digital audiobooks. Audible's digital rights management system is unsupported and (so far) uncracked on Linux. Yes, I've repeatedly urged them to do something about this, but they don't respond.


• Cheap digital camera that has no Linux drivers. Our good camera uses SmartMedia that can be read just fine by Linux, though.


• Substantial investment in genealogy reference materials on CD that require Windows-based drivers in order to be readable.


• Occasional urge or need to view something on the web that uses a silly format such as Quicktime for which I have no working Linux referent.

I certainly could forgo these things, but I don't particularly want to. So I keep windows in a small partition (with today's hard disk sizes, who misses a gigabyte or two?) and boot it when I must.

[foolscap001.livejournal.com]

For the QT et al., give mplayer a try--it's worked for me.

For the others...have you tried WINE?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried WINE in several years. Last time I looked, it seemed to have more bugs and yahbuts than it had working features. I'd not be surprised, though, to find that Audible's file manager software doesn't work under WINE. Rather than go through the whole process of installing and setting up WINE only to find it won't work, I can just as well keep Windows around in its own limited little sandbox.