Re: [tlug] Newbie buying a computer and installing Linux on it

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

Joseph Essertier wrote:

> Windows 98 runs on the same computer as Mandrake, and it runs faster 
> than i've seen XP running on much faster, brand-new computers.  I mean 
> how long it takes to start up, for applications to open up, whether 
> Word can keep up with my typing speed in Japanese, etc.


But if you plan on accessing the Internet with Windows 98 running, I 
think you are far more at risk than with W2K or XP.  The last few used 
computers I and some friends bought (one at a time I mean, not a 
collective effort!) had J-W2K in them.  I haven't seen anything running 
W-98 in several years though and I think that - unless you plan to only 
use it off-line - you would be better off using W2K, which will also run 
faster than XP... I think.

> I've also heard from a Japanese colleague that file sharing between 
> Windows 98 computers is smoother than with XP computers.  (Another 
> reason why my colleagues should switch to Linux).


But easy file sharing with W-98 also means that it's less protected!  I 
have a couple of old computers running W-98, but they're strictly 
off-line machines.  Even off-line though, 98 is unstable.  When I use it 
(for an old scanner that I haven't been able to get to work with newer 
OS's), I watch the clock.  If more than three or four hours pass, I 
start to get nervous, as 98 needs to be rebooted often or it crashes.  
W2K on the other hand, while not overly secure by Linux standards, is at 
least vastly more stable than 98 for off-line operation.

>   Which makes me think i should try to get a Windows 98 CD, along with 
> the computer.


My advice is to avoid W-98 like the plague for any Internet computer.

>   In that case, a used laptop bought in Japan might be ideal, but i'd 
> want to have some kind of service, where if the hard drive burnt out 
> on it or something, i could return it or they'd put in a new drive for 
> me.  At least like a one-year warrantee.  Do Japanese used computer 
> stores even offer warrantees like that on used computers?


The used shop I'd recommend (Otto) has warranties on most (not all) of 
their stuff, but usually only 30 days, not one year.  I've bought 
several computers there, and only had trouble with two.  One a laptop 
that they let me exchange for another one when I demonstrated the 
problem, and the other a desktop that burned out (it shuts itself down 
before even the BIOS can start up....) at day 40.  That was my only bad 
experience with computers acquired there.  (I'm writing this on a Y2,000 
yen computer that I stumbled upon in a different shop - bought with no 
guarantee at all, but luckily it worked/works fine - after I put in a 
hard drive and more memory that is.)

Lyle