Xandros 'Presto: No rabbit in this hat

29.05.2009
I a useful utility for your toolbox, , a BASIC compiler that is very good and, as the name implies, free.

FreeBASIC is so good I awarded it 4.5 out of 5. I concluded: "The only drawbacks are that it is Windows-only, sometimes produces diagnostic messages on programming errors that make little sense, and some of the documentation is incomplete." I was right about the last two issues but, as reader Rod Larse (Spokane, Wash.) pointed out, compilers for DOS and Linux are also available. I herewith revise FreeBASIC's rating to 4.75.

As I've broached the subject of *nix I think it timely to discuss a new operating system that I just got my hands on:  published by .

Quick digression: prestomypc.com has a big banner on the home page that does something that I hate -- it immediately starts playing video with sound when the page loads. To all companies that insist on doing the same egregiously irritating, indulgent nonsense, please, please stop it. When I am working I usually have music playing and when I have my groove on I do not need your soundtrack harshing my mellow.

Anyway, Presto, in common with the other , is a derivative and it has an interesting goal: Presto aims to boot your PC into full operation within 10 seconds.

Having Windows XP or Vista installed is a prerequisite and when Presto is running you can access all of your Windows files (as long as you're using NTFS without encryption and not using SCSI drives or a RAID configuration). Other than that all you need is a moderately powerful processor, 3.5GB of disk space and 512MB of RAM.