Warning about HP Laptops - incompatibility with Win 10 Creators Update

[Straf]

I think johnvanvliet had Wilbur working under Linux. The difficulty is that Wilbur requires a Microsoft runtime environment or something to work, and getting it to do so under Linux takes a bit of extra work.

[Non Serviam]

Hm. Wilbur would be useful. I used to use it a fair bit back in my Windows days.

[Mouse]

Loosing stuff like that, and all the Windows apps I've bought is why I aimed for dual boot, rather than completely getting rid of Windows.

I hear you can run windows itself in Linux. Would you be able to run Wilbur in Windows in Linux?

[Straf]

In a virtual machine? Possibly. Of course you'd need a licence to do so, although Windows 10 seems to be available as a trial these days.

[Mouse]

Since I already have a Windows licence, that kind of appeals to me. A sort of small revenge - to capture the OS that nearly ruined mapping for me, in a Linux cage where it can't get its nasty little tentacles on my RAM

[acrosome]

Ok, what had I said about companies that like to do their own 'special' thing? Well, and of course the machinations of the Evil Empire (tm), Microsoft. (Not that Apple is much better, nowadays.) Standards are a good thing, not something to be hunted down and exterminated to increase market share.

At least now I know to avoid HP like the plague.

Congratulations, Mouse!

[Mouse]

Thanks Acrosome

I couldn't have done any of this without yours and everyone else's help in this thread. I'm really quite stupid when it comes to computers. Girls weren't allowed near the only one in school when I was that age. It was a 'boys club' - to be allowed to produce lots of tape with holes punched in it. If only I'd known back then that it would all explode into what we have today! I might have been more persistent about wanting to be involved with it.

HP used to be a really reputable company, and still are as far as hardware quality goes. I've had loads of computers in my time. Some of them have simply stopped working, and one even caught fire. The only ones that have never ever broken down and been passed on to friends each time I bought a new one were the HP laptops. This is my fourth HP laptop. I really regret having to say this, but now that MS have become such control freaks about how much control they impose on the user through the OS, and now that HP architecture has proven to be so uniquely difficult about playing ball with the user, it does look like my next machine will be neither HP, nor Windows. I'm going to have to do a lot of research on quality and save up enough to not only get a new machine, but also to re-purchase all my Windows software in suitable format for Linux. The only stuff I don't have to buy all over again is all my Profantasy software - CC3+ and its add ons. I've had that confirmed over at Profantasy. Its all cool as far as they are concerned - one licence fits all

Apparently my Profantasy apps will run adequately in WINE. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet, and while I still have Windows I might as well leave it there for the time being.

I can't make head nor tail of WINE right now, but I'll look at it again when I've finished my City map

[waldronate]

Well, and of course the machinations of the Evil Empire (tm), Microsoft. (Not that Apple is much better, nowadays.) At least now I know to avoid HP like the plague.

I got a chuckle out of that one. Microsoft has always desperately wanted to be Apple. If you choose to be in a position and it makes you happy, does it really matter that you're a slave?

[Straf]

HP took over Compaq and back in the day I always saw Compaq as being cheap, flimsy machines that had proprietary parts so upgrading them would cost whatever they said they'd cost and not free-market prices. I just assumed that HP would be the same but I never really cared about laptops because they're never really that upgradeable anyway. Unless they're really higher end.

[acrosome]

I got a chuckle out of that one. Microsoft has always desperately wanted to be Apple.

Really? I always thought that historically it was the inverse, that Apple desperately wanted to be Microsoft. Or, at least they wanted their market share so that everyone would be doing computing the "correct" way (i.e. the Jobs way). Granted, that's probably an antiquated impression that gives away my age. Apple had a massive paradigm shift after Microsoft bailed them out and they started emphasizing markets other than home computers. So now, yes, Microsoft wants to be Apple in that they want to take over the smartphone market, develop "Microsoft TV", "Microsoft Carplay", etc. But otherwise? Meh. Microsoft are really just sore winners. They own the world. What are they bitching about?

And Apple machines have always been incredibly locked down so that users couldn't monkey with them. Because, y'know, the lusers would just mess up Jobs' perfection. That's what I mean when I say that they aren't much better, among other reasons. I do respect the way that they flushed backward compatibility and just started over with OS X, though. That took guts, and it worked out for them, and it's a better system for it- none of the cruft that everyone is bitching about re: Windows.

If you choose to be in a position and it makes you happy, does it really matter that you're a slave?

The key phrase here is, "If you choose..." The problem is that so many people have no realistic choice. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you...

Damn. That dude could sure turn a phrase, eh?

And beer, of course. After all beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (But not really- Old Ben actually was talking about wine.)

And for that matter Adams wasn't a brewer. He was a maltser.

I'll stop now...