The easiest installation would be from a hidden restore partition because that lets you reinstall everything that the system originally came with and usually without much intervention.
The next easiest method would be one using a CDRom drive, just pop the CD in and reboot the laptop and follow the onscreen instructions.
A floppy drive installation can be a long and the most tedious process.
If your system has a bootable USB port, it would be pretty easy to install a small OS like Puppy on the laptop, just set the bios to boot from the USB and then run the installation after the OS boots from the USB drive.
Unfortunately, you can't legally install the Windows from your emachines on the laptop. Microsoft is very strict about stuff like that so the product key would only work on the equipment that it was originally installed upon. And it's doubtful that using the emachines disc would work anyways because name brand systems usually come with a restore disc instead of the actual Windows OS disc.
I currently am doing the same sort of project myself - trying to install an OS on a very old laptop. The old laptop doesn't have a CDRom drive or USB ports but it does have a floppy drive. To reinstall Windows via floppies on this old laptop would take hours and I'd have to use more than 45 floppy disks! So I opted for purchasing a laptop hard drive adapter so that I can remove the hard drive from the laptop, connect it to a desktop system and do the installation from it.
Apple security updates
Apple released two security updates last week. One for OSX and another for Apple TV. Read more about the updates here and here, respectively.
Net buzzz
* Apple's iPhone makes its debut in stores on Friday. The iPhone combines three products into one - a mobile phone, a widescreen touch-controlled iPod, and Internet communications. The iPhone is available in a 4GB or 8GB configuration for $499 and $599 respectively, both with a two-year cellular contract. Read more about the iPhone at www.apple.com/iphone.
Free online courses
CNET's Online courses will offer a "Fix Your Flat Screen: LCD TV Calibration" class beginning Monday. This free course will teach you how to optimize your LCD TV for better quality viewing. You will learn how to create proper room lighting, dim the TV's backlight, control both the brightness and contrast, and how to set up your color correctly. You also will learn how to fine-tune your TV settings and how to go about getting your TV professionally calibrated. Learn more or sign up here.
E-mail me at sheila@amnews.com; fax me at (859) 236-9566; or write me snail-mail at The Advocate-Messenger, P.O. Box 149, Danville, KY 40423-0149.
