OT: way to make windows less obnoxious?

[O. Sinclair]

That was a whole bunch of issues so I will top-post a few hints;
for changing Windows look go find Windowblinds or Object Desktop (just 
google). You should find just about every issue you raised there, 
taskbars, look/feel etc. And there is a free version of Windowblinds

As for "not messing up XP install" in my experience it is pretty 
riskfree, I never had a problem. But do burn the recovery CDs, they 
should assist you to reinstall XP but will likely overwrite Kubuntu.

As for the rest, battery etc etc, either go through 
ubuntuforums/kubuntuforums or simply give it a go. The LiveCD might 
help. And btw - I would go Dapper, not Edgy... even if Edgy is supposed 
to be better with laptops.

Sinclair

D. Michael McIntyre wrote:
> I got a laptop for Christmas.  To my disdain, there are a few reasons why I'm 
> going to leave Windows on this thing and set it up to dual boot.  It makes me 
> a little nauseous, but there it is.  I've sure given Linux more than a fair 
> shake, and there are a couple of things I just never have been able to do.  
> Sigh.  I would never go buy a copy of Windows, but since I have it....
> 
> I'm coming at this as somebody who has been running KDE since 2001.  I've 
> never used XP for any length of time, and I like it that way.  The most 
> amusing thing to me is seeing how a lot of the things that have happened to 
> KDE in the last while look just like Windows XP.  HAL/whatever and that 
> little hardware detection "Removeable Dongle Detected, what do you want to do 
> with it?" dialog box came right out of Windows, didn't they?
> 
> That actually makes it seem a little more homey from my perspective, even 
> though I'm doing it all backwards.
> 
> I could make it more homey if I could solve any of these problems:
> 
> 1) Can XP have more than one desktop?
> 2) Can XP have a real taskbar?
> 3) Can I PLEASE give this hideous looking pile of crap some window decorations 
> that look more like Glow or Plastik or even Keramik?  PLEASE?  OMG the window 
> decorations that come out of the box are HIDEOUS!! and the only choice out of 
> the box is to pick a more Windows 95 looking set, which are only mildly less 
> disturbing to behold.  (If I want to install more using the provided 
> mechanism, I need to break out my wallet and pay money for more window 
> decorations.  What bullshit.  I'm sure there are free window decorations out 
> there, and 90-100% of them probably come bundled with some kind of spyware or 
> something.  Ugh.  I've seen lots of spam emails with .EXE files that want me 
> to install some cool emoticons or what have you.  Suuuuuure.  I have been 
> grateful that .EXE files didn't work on Linux, because of all the damage my 
> stupid users could do with that power, and I suspect for good reason.)
> 
> I actually started looking into running KDE on Windows, but the projects I 
> found all look old and out of date, and I figure that's a futile avenue to 
> pursue.  I did outfit this pile of monkey giblets with Cygwin, the GIMP, and 
> OO.o.  If I could put KMail and Konqueror on there it would *almost* be 
> usable, but I guess that's too much to hope for.
> 
> While I'm at it, how do I put Kubuntu on this bucket of pus without screwing 
> up the factory install of XP for which I have no CDs?  I was prompted to burn 
> a recovery DVD when I turned it on for the first time, but I have no idea if 
> I can reinstall with that or not.  I imagine not.  As much as it pains me to 
> need Windows, I really do.  I've been sitting here looking at a $250 
> Mindstorms NXT kit for six months that I haven't been able to do anything 
> with yet, for example.  (I bought it because the NQC guy made it sound like 
> NQC would work with NXT before NXT even came out.  So much for that.  It 
> still doesn't work as of a month ago or so, the last time I looked.)
> 
> I know all of this is totally off-topic, so please reply off-list.  I'm coming 
> here because I'm already here.  I sure as hell don't want to go find some 
> Windows-oriented mailing list and ask for help trying to manage using the 
> putrid reeking mass of rotten gopher intestines as though it were a real 
> desktop environment running on a real OS.  They'd just start yelling at me, 
> and telling me how stupid I am for not loving the Teletubby interface, or the 
> broken taskbar, or the single why the hell doesn't Windows have more than one 
> desktop.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> And ON topic...  How do I deal with the wireless on this thing and all the 
> battery management stuff if and when I do put Kubuntu on here?  It's a crappy 
> laptop from Wal-Mart.  Everex.  VIA C7 1.5 GHz, 512 MB.  I figure it's going 
> to be hell when I try to boot Kubuntu on here, but I guess I will try it in 
> six hours, when this virus scan finally finishes.
> 
> Virus scan.
> 
> Barf.
> 
> I'm expecting the wireless won't work without much pain.  That's my impression 
> from investigating the possibility of moving my all-Linux network wireless.
> 
> So maybe I should get one of those external radio repeater dongles that hooks 
> to the machine with a good ol' cat-5 cable, and forget about trying to get 
> its 802.11/g thingie to work?
> 
> I guess we'll boot it and find out.  I currently don't have wireless working 
> under Windows either, since I don't have a wireless broadcaster thingie.  But 
> I really don't want to have to keep dragging this thing around tied to a 
> wall, and want to get that working on at least one of the operating systems.
> 
> Ramble ramble ramble, I could go STFW and try to do my own digging, but I've 
> answered a lot more than I've asked over the years, and I feel like being a 
> lazy bastard, and asking people to please give me some free answers.
> 
> Happy new year.
>