Okay, this is the third of fourth time I've tried to write this post. (I'm trying not to be aggressive towards the other ideas, but I'm still trying to minmax.)

Bottomline is that most of the other ideas/suggestions are unreasonable and unfavourable when you put the situation into perspective. Unless your parents are both stingy and totally do not care about your future, just go with my plan and save yourself from:
-ruining perfectly fine hardware
-figuratively cutting your wrists with an aged computer
-risking bad relationships with your family
-risk throwing away your family's assets, which you should be fortunate to have at all
-getting a job (though this is one of the more reasonable methods with really good long-term benefits, but your mileage may vary with this one too).

Still, your mileage may vary, even with my plan. (And, seriously, getting a job isn't a bad idea; YMMV.)

EDIT:
Having extra computers in your family is a good thing. Period. I suggest a family_size:#_machines ratios of 3:2 (=1.50), 5:3 (=1.67), 2:1 (=2.00), 5:2 (=2.50). YMMV.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 12 2010, 4:36 am by Sand Wraith.

This works, that's what I did (not purposely)

David, you make me sick. Don't break a computer just because your teenage angst makes you think you deserve it.

Have Seto Kaiba write programs for your computer! ... Or, for that matter, just have him touch your computer. It will spontaneously explode, no problem!

I have several joke programs I made that sit in the background slowly eating RAM or CPU cycles. Though they have obvious names like MuffinCrumb.exe ...

Just get ubuntu, it runs really fast on older computer. (From my experience) I had an old computer running on Windows XP and it would take forever to do anything. I would lag like crazy even when I was playing starcraft. Now Starcraft doesn't lag and it's even faster than my new computer running under Windows XP.

If you can get Seto Kaiba, it's probably your best option.

Apos, I am not sure how a operating system running an emulator of another operating system running an application will be faster than just running that application in the native environment. Could you please elaborate on how Ubuntu + Wine is superior to Windows?

First of all, wine is not an emulator. Source

Also, you will find a free alternative for most of the windows programs. Here is a small list I found searching really fast on google.

If you ask for starcraft 2 : Here you go. (I haven't tested it myself but the person that wrote it said it worked.)

For starcraft 2, I'm don't think his computer will be able to run it anyway.

If anyone starts using Ubuntu, make sure to check this site. What I like about Ubuntu is that the community is so big, if you ever get a problem, you will most of the time fix it.

Edit: If you say that you want photoshop, look at this: Gimpshop It is a little old so it says there are no version for Windows, but now there is.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 12 2010, 9:45 pm by Apos.

I knew I was going to get this BS about how Wine Is Not an Emulator. Fine, my mistake .

I know how wine is implemented and its functionality, but I do not believe that an application run through it can be faster than one run within the native Windows OS. A good number of applications don't work in wine because of its architecture.

Yes, okay, it's free, it's open source, it sounds all nice but why use a Linux distribution to run a Windows application when you have a perfectly good copy of windows that you optimized for performance?

Your right, there are lots of programs that won't work when you use wine. For my computer, the programs that do work under wine seems to run faster under Ubuntu than under Windows. I think it is because my computer was getting very slow. (I heard that Windows XP starts getting slower and slower over time.)

I just brought the Ubuntu idea because that's what I use. I'm not sure if it's the best thing for him though. All I know is that Ubuntu has taken a good start in 2010 with Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx and it's on it's way for becoming one of the major OS.

Unrelated thing: You don't really have any virus when you are on Ubuntu. The only way a virus can infect your computer is if you give it access yourself. When you first start using Ubuntu, you are not the computer administrator. In order to make any change to the computer, you need to run as the root. For any program to get those privileges, you need to give them your root password. If you make sure the programs you install are from a safe source, you will not get any virus. (AFAIK)

This is pretty much the reason programs run faster under wine than windows. If you had a brand new windows install with only that one program on it, it would run at the same speed as on wine, if not a bit faster. Because of the way linux is run, it doesn't have the same problem with getting clogged up and getting lower and slower as time goes on. Even if it did have that problem, with a new major distro every 6 months, you basically won't give it time to slow down.

Basically you have to regularly reinstall windows to keep it running at top speed, but you don't with wine + linux.

Wait, what? I'm not the OP, dude.

Don't encourage breaking a computer and don't say family is a stupid idea. You wouldn't have made it without one, buddy.

I wasn't encouraging it, I was just stating that I could assist with the task. And I don't think that "a group of people to assist, protect, and care for you while you develop" is a stupid idea; I just think that the current implementation of that idea is so extremely flawed and error-prone as to be ridiculous.

1) Go into your bios, reduce the shutdown temp limit to above the average temperature of where you live.
2) Install ram intensive crap; maybe like 5 antiviruses (macafee, avast, microsoft security essentials, kepersky, etc.)
3) Put small amounts of water in some parts of the motherboard.
4) Occasionally switch the voltage switch; the computer will not turn on when it is on the incorrect voltage.
5) Finally Reroute the voltage wiring (make sure it's unplugged when you do this) to make it appear as if it is normal, but really, changing that switch does nothing.

If your parents are anything like mine, sucker them for everything they've got; simply because you can, and it will make your life A LOT easier.

Agreed. So many see only the good side of families; if you come from a bad family, you can see how truly horrible it can be, especially for a child.

But really; half you idiots don't even know what life is like as an Indian american. For Christmas, my family leased my YOUNGER sister a $30,000 car + insurance, my mother a $2,500 pair of earing, my dad a $1,700 HD tv. I was promised $300 (also 18th birthday money for me). I received $260 THREE MONTHS LATER; I never got that $40. Why? Because they overspent and couldn't pay off the debt for the next 3 months.
It varies, but it is generally that Indian parents have a ton of money, and waste it on superficial things, sometimes giving little to their children because they had little as children living in Asia.

You guys cry "teenage angst" and "family is good." We do things that are unethical BECAUSE WE CAN. We don't care about things that won't or will hardly effect us in the long run. Slandering the idea of family and wasting money isn't good or bad, it just is. Eventually things will change for better or worse in the long run, but we don't care simply because we have that option.
Because we can, some of us will, which puts the consequences on everyone with minor repercussions on the individual.

you fat flying capitalist pig you, think you're more important than the community

FAT
FLYING
CAPITALIST
PIG for '10

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 24 2010, 5:59 am by Sand Wraith. Reason: CRUSH AND SLAY THE TYPOS

to fat_flying_pigs

I have no idea what your situation has to do with being an Indian-American. I just see your at least a middle class family and your feeling left out. If anything it's not about the money, but the family. Maybe your lacking attention which is making you feeling bitter about families but try not to generalize every family and groups of people just because of your own experience.

Stop being a whiny, egotistical, self-centered bitch and do what's right for your family. I bet you've never even had a job. Guess what? YOU ARE ENTITLED TO NOTHING. You are alive. You are fed. They can do whatever they want with whatever money they have.

This is not flaming, it's a reality check. Get a job if you feel like you need a new computer.

Obviously, he isn't entitled to anything, as demonstrated by the fact that he's received exactly as much. But the question is: are his parents doing the right thing by spending money on themselves but not on the computer that he needs for schoolwork? Are they being fair?

And don't even make the "life isn't fair" argument, just because things currently are some way doesn't mean that they should be that way.

There's a difference between being entitled to something and simply deserving it, and our OP appears to be in the latter category.

I don't. I know many family which work VERY well; they are ideal to a point where most can hardly believe it. I'm just saying that we should not look at the idea of families (currently) as such a great thing. It's good, and it has much potential, but it still has many flaws, many which are overlooked because people have not hear of, were affected by, or have experienced them.

THIS. Combined with what I so cynically referred to as "the world's most effective propaganda"... Ignorance, plus having the greatness and infallibility of the family drilled into our heads... It's why so many people truly believe that family trumps all else.