> I run Linux, consider it hugely superior to Windows for > almost everything, and it is free. However, one place where > it seems to be weak is photo processing. >
Linux seems to be a bit short on out-of-the-box support for some drivers too. I've been considering converting this machine (a Dell Precision M50 running XP Pro) to run Linux, but each time I've tried it from a live CD it has not been able to connect to my router/wap. I can't be arsed faffing around getting a driver to work, so I'm sticking with XP to turn this box into a file and print server with the rest of the machines. [...] > > The difference you may need to watch for is Home vs Pro vs > Server version. Often PCs. especially laptops, come with the > cheaper Home version. Fine for some purposes, but if you want > to use it on a network with network log in, say at the > office, then you find that the Home version does not handle > network authentication; you need to "upgrade" to the > Professional version to do that. > As far as I can tell, with Home your network must consist only of Win 7 boxes and nothing else. The machine that was delivered on Friday, and another I'm due to receive on Monday, are running Win 7 Pro. I'm not at all whelmed by the networking capability. Although I can get Win 7 to see the Precision M50, after a lot of mucking about, and even managed to map the hard drive and copy some files, it very quickly seems to lose sight of it. I haven't fathomed that out yet. But W7 seems to want to network only with other Win 7 boxes. If it can't network efficiently and easily with XP Pro, God knows what it must be like with non-MS OSes. I'm having trouble getting it to see my NAS drive, which runs Linux. The drive shows up as a media server on the network, and sometimes even shows up as a file server on the network, but so far I haven't been able to connect to it and use any of the files. > Then if you want to use network logins on your own network, > you need at least one machine running the Server version. > Pro can use network authentication, but only Server can > provide it to other machines. > One of the tricks using the Pro version seems to be to set the network up as a workgroup, not a homegroup, and not require network logins. This should be safe for me because only one other person uses my network, and she hasn't a clue about computers. Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
