Window 7 End Of Life - Should I Migrate To Win10 or Learn Linux?

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Originally Posted by Voicecoil

Might an easy solution be to fit a second HDD (ideally a SSD) in the machine and then copy everything across to it (as an image) using say XXCOPY - then if your primary HDD fails, just swap them over?

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Something something RAID 1 something something.

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Originally Posted by Voicecoil

Might an easy solution be to fit a second HDD (ideally a SSD) in the machine and then copy everything across to it (as an image) using say XXCOPY - then if your primary HDD fails, just swap them over?

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Done that! The only trouble is that Win XP still needs activation if the OS decides that too much change has occured, and I don't know how long Microshit will keep the activation line going for XP. I suppose it would not be a bad idea to activate the copy system then it is only a matter of specifying the boot drive in the BIOS.

BTW Pixielab closed in 2017 (Owner, operator and director died) and XXCopy is difficult to get. There are other disk imagers, but I have a full copy of Acronis anyway.

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

I'm with Jazz on this, don't upgrade when you don't really need to. It'll cause more problems than its worth.

You don't have to airgap it. Personally, I'd take a half-way house approach; I'd firewall it at the router, completely blocking internet traffic in and out to that specific machine. This way, you can still transfer things to it within the network. Its not as secure as total air gap, but honestly its more than effective enough if you're not hiding sensitive documents.

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The reason I’m thinking of airgapping is because I actually got hacked by some IS hackers who went through an exploit of my old Router. That was approximately 3 years ago so you can tell how much it affected me. Luckily I was gaming when it happened and caught it pretty quickly.

Now I use two-factor Authentication on everything I can. Problem is that I’ve not been doing much computer stuff over the last few years so I’m badly out of practice.

My job (before I had to early retire due to disability) was a programmer/analyst for a security company, responsible for some cutting edge tech at the time.

But nowadays I freaked out over setting up my gaming pc to dual boot win7 and win10. Went through the easiest I’ve EVER installed an OS so I don’t know why I’m freaking out. My friend thinks the nerve pain meds are making me be this way.

I think I might just get a refurbed gaming PC that will let me use Fusion as well as run my CNC. A pc that will run Win10 without slowing down. You can pick up some really nice (and cheap) ones if you look around.

You're clearly very IT capable then! Go try a VM with Linux on and follow some tutorials. You'll pick it up in no time.

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Originally Posted by AndyUK

You're clearly very IT capable then! Go try a VM with Linux on and follow some tutorials. You'll pick it up in no time.

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My problem is I USED to be IT capeable. Unfortunately I have to take strong painkillers (namely morphine) which really messed with my memory. I had to pack up working because I was mixing language syntax and couldn’t figure out why the computer didn’t compile.

I’ve adapted to the morphine somewhat but learning new stuff is still hard now. I took up CNC as it wasn’t like anything I had previously learned so my brain wouldn’t confuse syntax again. But I really should try before whining. Linux has been on my to-do list for decades.

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Originally Posted by routerdriver

While you contemplate changes,or not,could I suggest you answer your question about Linux by giving it a try?There are lots of distros out there and a quick look at www.distrowatch.com might amaze you.The obvious candidate to run a CNC is LinuxCNC ,which is a complete package containing the operating system and the CNC control app.The useful thing is that you can download it to your computer and then create a bootable DVD or usb memory stick and from this newly created medium you can boot a computer to run from it without an actual installation.In Linux circles it is known as a live install and goes away when you shut down the computer.If you like it and the computer gives a sensible result on the latency test you can do a permanent installation if you wish.

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Now THIS idea I really LIKE. I never even knew that LinuxCNC was a dual OS and CNC program. Will have to dig out a thumb drive and try it today. Sounds like just the idea I need. Then I need to figure out the control panel interface and it should be doable.

Oh nuts... I forgot to ask. Does Linux support touch screen monitors as well?

Edit: just did a bit of googling and came across this... https://youtu.be/RFFg09kyLVA

Looks pretty bad for touch response. Laggy too. Maybe he was running it on a stone circle computer or something? 😂. Will have to try though.

Thanks for all the advice people. What’s nice is there are no put downs like I’ve seen in other places. Yes, I’m slow now, but I’m like the turtle who wins the race... keep plodding on.

You have to be especially naughty to get a put-down on this forum.
LinuxCNC shouldn't give you too much trouble. As stated above it's the OS and the CNC machine controller software rolled into one. May I humbly suggest a thread I started a while back which explains how to install the beta version (it's been a very stable beta for several years now!) which allows for the automatic squaring of a dual motor machine. There's also an excellent support forum.

www.linuxcnc.org

http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/12687...LinuxCNC-v-2-8

My CNC runs Win XP.
It works so no point changing it.
If the pc is dedicated to the CNC as mine is and not on the lan network then it can't get any viruses or anything.

So. if the pc is basically set up like mine and works fine, then what's the poinrt in changing it?

I hate win10 tbf, I think it's horrible.

I bought a refurb laptop this week because my 10 year old machine seemed to be dying.It came with Windows 10 and I spent an hour or so learning how intrusive and how slow it was.It amazed me just how hard it was to prevent Microsoft and everybody else from hoovering up my data.So within three hours I had a dual boot machine running Linux.I don't think there is anything to make me run Windows again,but I could if I had to.It would take a lot to get me back there though.