What other operating system should I use?
 

Due to needing a specific program for my statistics class this semester, I've installed Parallels. XP isn't cooperating. So, what flavor of Linux should I be using instead? Should I try Windows 7? The idea is that I need to run the Windows version of SPSS, so keep that in mind.

I kind of want to toss you towards Kubuntu, since Ubuntu and the KDE Desktop are a winning combination.

on the other hand, it's too bad you lack a Mac. They get to do everything.

www.kubuntu.org Is where I think you might have some fun. Livedisks etc.

Yeah those Macs are sluts.

*whistles innocently*

That reminds me I need to separate some space on my HD and get Ubuntu.

Er, I'm running Tiger right now. Macs don't get jack except for media editing software. The reason I need another OS is to run Windows stuff and Darwine sucks and has no support.

So, would Kubuntu fill that need (after installing Wine, I guess)? Is KDE better than Gnome or Xfce4 for that purpose? Is it obvious that I know nothing about Linux past "it's an operating system" and "Wine runs on it?"

I'm testing the Linux waters with Ubuntu right now, actually (See my other thread for my coincidental woes), and despite losing 800 GB of data I still have to say Ubuntu is great for beginners. I can't say anything about KDE vs Gnome, having only used the latter, but Ubuntu is solid.

As for Windows 7; while it seems good enough for a beta, it's a beta. Never trust a beta OS for anything but tinkering.

@Mirai; back-up the stuff on that hard drive and physically disconnect the drives you aren't using to install Ubuntu. I still don't know what happened to my drive, but I have the sneaking suspicion that disconnecting it would have saved it.

As to what I've heard about Wine, you'll still have compatibility issues. Check for specific program compatibility before you go to the trouble of fiddling with Linux.

EDIT: Oh, know what else is good? That 800GB of data? I still have the torrents for all of it. Beginning recovery as we speak. I still need to RMA that drive, but I have enough free space to hold some of it.

Since I've only got one hard drive that's crazy huge maybe I'll just wait until I get a second hard drive and try it then.

But it sounds like you said "format all partitions" to me.

Bummer though.

Hold up. I took a drive that was initially 500 GB with about 150 GB of data on it and split it into a 200 GB Primary NTFS drive, a 80 GB Logical ext3 drive, a 4 GB Logical Swap drive, and a 130 GB Logical FAT32 drive, without losing any data. For some reason, one of my other hard drives bought the farm at the same time. I mean, this thing has screwed the pooch big time.

But the partitioned drive is perfectly fine.

Don't get the wrong impression; neither Synk nor I had even the slightest idea that what happened to me was even possible. If you make a small Linux partition, defragment your drive, and repartition intelligently I don't foresee a big risk. I'm just blowing off some steam because I'm still pissed that the computer gods decided to show me some humility.

EDIT: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann just finished re-downloading. Happy days.

Take a high powered magnet and rub it against your hard drive in a northward direction. The magnetic field should realign the data on the hard drive into parallel blocks, which, as we all know, is necessary to run the parallel's program.

Be careful, though, running it in an eastward or westward direction will cause the blocks of data to become perpendicular, and that's just no good.

It just wouldn't be a proper computer help thread without your obligatory magnets suggestion would it? :3nod:

If someone ever asked Krylo how to masturbate, he'd tell them the friction-rub fire-starting technique.