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Windows 7 May Run Better than You Think on Older Hardware [Operating Systems]

Posted on June 11, 2009
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Noting that Snow Leopard will support Intel Macs only—leaving out PowerPC computers built just over three years ago—PC World got curious about how their old hardware might stand up to Windows 7. To put it to the test, they installed Win7 on a 2001 computer that was just under spec for Windows 7′s 1GB RAM/1GHz processor requirements. The results:

All in all, the performance I was getting was better than the experiences I had using computers at internet cafés in developing counties. It was perfectly usable as long as your expectations are appropriately low.

So while not glowing, the point was, it still worked. That said, you’ve got all kinds of better options for breathing new life into an old laptop or computer with the likes of Damn Small Linux, gOS, or Puppy Linux. Photo by howcheng. [PC World]





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Windows 7 RC Available for Download Now [Windows 7]

Posted on May 4, 2009
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The official Windows 7 Release Candidate is now available for all users through Microsoft’s Customer Preview program.

Officially the folks at Redmond had said the release would be available tomorrow (May 5), and while it’s not May 5 anywhere in the US at the time of this writing—hey, it’s May 5 somewhere.

To download Windows 7 RC, you’ll need to hit up the link below, head to the bottom of the page to select which version of Windows 7 you want (32-bit or 64-bit), select your language, and then sign in with your Windows Live account (that means you’ll need to get one if you don’t have one already). After that, just grab yourself a cold drink and wait. So far the download is moving swiftly for me (around 450KB/s) and should be done in just over an hour and a half. Hopefully they can keep it up, but if not, remember: This download and product keys will be available through the end of June, so you’ve got plenty of time.

If you give it a go, let’s hear how the download goes for you in the comments. Maybe Microsoft won’t underestimate the web this time around. Thanks Travis!

Update: The download page—which worked just a few minutes ago and will very likely start working again in the next day (if not much sooner)—appears to have been pulled. I’m getting a “We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found” error message.” My download’s still going strong, but you may not have the same luck I did. Not a great start, Microsoft, but we won’t hold it against you until it’s officially May 5.

Update 2: Okay, it’s five minutes later and it’s working again. Let’s just hope that we’re just seeing a few getting-started hiccups. If you aren’t having luck at first, it might be worth trying again in a few minutes. We’re going to check out of the minute-to-minute updates at this point, but you can help us out by keeping your fellow readers up-to-speed on how it’s worked for you in the comments.

Update 3: The gHacks blog recommends signing in with a Windows Live ID at the TechNet or MSDN servers, even if you’re just a member of the RC-grabbin’ public, and grabbing your registration keys and downloads from those servers to avoid the release-day bum rush.

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Five Best Live CDs [Hive Five]

Posted on February 22, 2009
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Live CDs (and DVDs) are versatile tools, allowing you to boot into an operating system without installing anything to your hard drives. Let’s take a closer look at the five most popular live CDs.

Photo by bulinna.

Earlier this week we asked you to tell us which live CD was your favorite. After tallying the votes we’re back to share the top five contenders. The following tools are unique compared to many of our software Hive Fives in that they are entirely independent of the main operating system installed on the computer. Live CDs load into the memory and allow you to use operating systems and accompanying tools without having to perform a permanent installation on the machine.

Knoppix

Knoppix is a Debian-based Linux distribution and one of the first Linux live CDs that was available. While the Knoppix distribution is packed with open-source goodness, one of the most popular uses for Knoppix is recovering files from damaged drives. To that end Knoppix is packed with open-source applications for testing disk integrity, recovering files, reading corrupted drives, and more. There are a total of 2,000 programs packed into the disc covering everything from disc recovery to media playback.

Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows

The Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows has a familiar interface. If you’re a Windows user, booting into a copy of Linux to get work done could be disorienting. The Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows uses your Windows installation discs (only Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are officially supported) to create a bootable version of Windows contained on a disc. Tons of quality Windows-based tools are included in the custom disc covering everything from backing up and cloning your discs to running diagnostics to partitioning and recovering data. Many of the tools on the disc are tools you may already be somewhat acquainted with, like UltraVNC, Recuva, and CCleaner. If you’re looking for a well packed toolbox that keeps you firmly planted in a comfortable Windows environment, The Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows is an excellent choice.

Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux belongs to the family of ultra small linux distributions. Weighing in at under 100MB, it can easily be loaded on everything from a CD to a USB drive. The user interface is friendly even for a non-Linux user, and the basic tools you need for partitioning and file recovery are readily available—although it's just as great for web browsing and basic computing. Puppy Linux also has a rather handy feature: If you burn it to a re-writable CD, you can save your user settings for your next session.

BackTrack

BackTrack isn’t going to help you recover your lost vacation pictures, but it will make sure nobody can get into your network to steal them. Packed with 300 tools covering everything from packet sniffing to hot spot probing to brute force password attacks, BackTrack is live CD designed to facilitate penetration testing of computers and networks. Deployed by a skilled user, BackTrack will leave no corner of your computer and network security un-poked, scanned, prodded, and analyzed. If BackTrack was your friend, he’d be the friend who responded to you bragging about how secure your new house was by throwing a brick through the front window to prove otherwise. (You have weird friends.)

Ubuntu

Ubuntu's enormous popularity as the mainstream Linux distribution certainly helps bolster its rank among live CDs. Many a new user to Ubuntu has messed around with the operating system using a live CD before using that very same live CD to install the full operating system. Even if you don't intend to do a full install, just like Puppy Linux you can do all manner of computing tasks without leaving a trace on the computer you're using. The Ubuntu live CD comes packed with Open Office, Firefox, Pidgin, the BitTorrent client Transmission, and the open source image editor GIMP—a decent stable of tools for using Ubuntu as a portable computing platform.

Now that you’ve seen the top five, it’s time to vote on your favorite. Which live CD is the king of the bootable media?

Best Live CD?
( polls)

The following live CDs are worthy of honorary mention: Ophcrack is an extremely efficient rainbow-table based Windows password cracker (here’s how it works). Hiren’s Boot CD is a DOS-based boot disk that is absolutely packed with utilities like Partition Magic, Disk Director Suite, and Norton Ghost. A final nod goes to Gparted, a tool incorporated into many of the above live CDs. GParted is robust disk partitioning tool for creating, destroying, organizing and mirroring hard disks.

The five and accompanying honorable mentions merely reflect the most popular portion of the live CD based tools out there. If you have a tip, trick or tool to add to the heap, sound off in the comments below.





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Ubuntu Pocket Guide Available as a Free Download [Ubuntu]

Posted on January 26, 2009
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In the midst of the current financial crunch, the popular, free Linux distribution Ubuntu has never looked more attractive. If you’ve considered switching, a free copy of the Ubuntu Pocket Guide is the perfect place to start.

Written by Keir Thomas, author of Ubuntu Kung Fu, Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference covers all the beginner-to-expert knowledge you’ll need to make the move to Ubuntu.

We’ve featured excerpts from Thomas’ Ubuntu Kung Fu two times at Lifehacker, and the Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference offers the same level of Ubuntu expertise to anyone interested in or already living the Ubuntu life.

  • Focuses on core competencies and background knowledge needed to be an expert Ubuntu user;
  • Readable, accessible, and easy to understand—even if you’ve never used Linux before;
  • 100% new and original! Written from the ground-up to cover Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10.

Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is available from Amazon for $10, but—best of all—the book is also available as a free PDF download from the official web site. Can't go wrong with free.






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How to Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista [Windows 7]

Posted on January 9, 2009
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If you’re dying to try out Windows 7 but aren’t ready to give up your installation of XP or Vista, let’s take a look at how to dual boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista.

Step 0: Download the Windows 7 Beta and Burn It to a DVD

Assuming you’ve already downloaded a fresh copy of Windows 7, you’ll need to burn it to a DVD in order to do a fresh installation. To handle this task, grab a copy of the most popular CD and DVD burning tool ImgBurn, burn the ISO to a DVD, and move right along to step 1.

Step 1: Partition Your Hard Drive

Before you go installing Windows 7, the first thing you need to do is create a new partition on your hard drive to hold the new installation of Windows. Partitioning your hard drive will vary depending on whether you're running XP or Vista—namely because Vista has a partition tool baked in, XP does not.

Partition Your Hard Drive in XP

To partition your hard drive in Windows XP, you’ll need to download some sort of third-party partitioning software. There are a lot of options available, but I prefer to stick with the previously mentioned GParted live CD, a free, open source boot CD that can handle all kinds of partitioning duties.

To use it, just download the GParted Live CD, burn it to a CD, then reboot your computer (booting from the disc). You’ll boot right into the partitioning tool. HowtoForge’s previous guide to modifying partitions with GParted is a great place to start, but it’s a fairly basic procedure:

  1. Resize your current OS drive to free up enough space for a Windows 7 partition (the minimum system requirements ask for 16GB).
  2. Create a new partition from the newly freed space.
  3. Apply your changes.

Partition Your Hard Drive in Vista

The folks at Redmond were kind enough to include a disk partitioning tool in Vista if you know where to look. So go to Control Panel -> System and Maintainence (skip this one if you're in Classic view) -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Once you launch the Computer Management tool, click on Disk Management under the Storage heading in the sidebar. It's partitioning time.

Luckily we’ve already gone down this road before in step-by-step detail, complete with pictures, so check out our previous guide to creating a new partition in Vista. In a nutshell, you’ll need to shrink your current OS partition to free up at least 16GB of disk space (per the Windows 7 minimum system requirements), then create a “New Simple Volume” from the free space.

Step 2: Install Windows 7

Now that you’ve done all the heavy lifting, it’s time for the easy part: Installing Windows 7 on your new partition. So insert your Windows 7 disc and reboot your computer (you’ll need to have enabled booting from your DVD drive in your system BIOS, but most PCs will have this enabled by default).

Once the DVD boots up it’s a simple matter of following along with the fairly simple installation wizard. When you’re choosing installation type, be sure to select Custom (advanced) and choose the partition you set up above. (Be careful here. Choosing the wrong partition could mean wiping your other Windows installation altogether, so make sure you pick the new partition you just created.)

After you select the partition, go grab yourself a drink and let the installer do its work. Windows will run through some installation bits, restart a few times in the process. Eventually you’ll be prompted to set up your account, enter your license key, and set up Windows. Keep your eyes open for fun new Windows 7 features, like your new homegroup (and the accompanying password). When it’s finished, you’re up and rolling with your new Windows 7 installation.

Congratulations! You should now have a new entry for Windows 7 on your boot screen when you first start up your computer. You've now got all the tools necessary to dual-boot Windows 7 and XP or Vista—or even to triple-boot Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

This isn’t the only way to set up a multi-boot system by any means, but it’s how I pulled it off. If you’ve got a method of your own that you prefer, let’s hear it in the comments.






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