My home on the web!
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Greetings from the (not so) White North!!
Well, I'm in Washington D.C. now - last night (friday) we left and drove the twenty-one hours from home to here all at once. Let me tell you, that is one looooonnnnnngggg drive!! Fortunately, there were two of us, so we split it up: I took the first 6 hours, my girlfriend took the next 6, then I drove 8 or so overnight while she slept and I woke her up in the morning a little after sunrise so she could drive again.
We stopped in a small town in southwest Virginia for breakfast.. that was an experience. My first time ever to eat in a Cracker Barrel, and also my first time to eat at a Cracker Barrel in a small town in apallachia (sp?). Interesting, very interesting indeed. When everyone has more teeth than IQ, things start getting fun... I jest, of course, because their IQ really was higher than the number of teeth in their mouth - but only because none of them had teeth!! Ok, ok.. I'm joking again, and it's not nice.
So, sometime this early afternoon, we pulled into the hotel parking lot in Fairfax, Virginia and got checked in. First things first, I hooked up my laptop and got connected to the internet!! :) Had to check the email, right? Next priority was to find somewhere to eat and shower - not necessarily in that order.
So, we're here. Safe and sound. It's very different up here. If you've never made a trip to D.C. (or the surrounding area), I highly recommend it. You'll have lots of fun exploring (read: getting lost on the one way roads that you can't find your way back from) and viewing the sights. ¶ 5:43:00 PM 0 comments
We stopped in a small town in southwest Virginia for breakfast.. that was an experience. My first time ever to eat in a Cracker Barrel, and also my first time to eat at a Cracker Barrel in a small town in apallachia (sp?). Interesting, very interesting indeed. When everyone has more teeth than IQ, things start getting fun... I jest, of course, because their IQ really was higher than the number of teeth in their mouth - but only because none of them had teeth!! Ok, ok.. I'm joking again, and it's not nice.
So, sometime this early afternoon, we pulled into the hotel parking lot in Fairfax, Virginia and got checked in. First things first, I hooked up my laptop and got connected to the internet!! :) Had to check the email, right? Next priority was to find somewhere to eat and shower - not necessarily in that order.
So, we're here. Safe and sound. It's very different up here. If you've never made a trip to D.C. (or the surrounding area), I highly recommend it. You'll have lots of fun exploring (read: getting lost on the one way roads that you can't find your way back from) and viewing the sights. ¶ 5:43:00 PM 0 comments
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Massachusetts Moves to Open Source
News link on PR Newswire
CAGW Criticizes Open Source Mandate in Massachusetts
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens Against Government Waste
(CAGW) today criticized a plan in Massachusetts to force all state computer
networks to move to an open source format. The Massachusetts Information
Technology Division is proposing the Enterprise Information Technology
Architecture technology policy, which would mandate that state agencies use
only open source and open standard software by January 1, 2007.
"It is bad procurement policy for any state to unilaterally lock itself
into one set of technologies," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "Agencies
should be able to accept bids from any company that can provide the desired
product or service. Government earns the best value for taxpayer dollars
through a competitive, transparent, and accountable bidding process."
The policy of standardizing OpenDocument Format for state agencies is
aimed at avoiding the patents and licensing of proprietary software like Word
Perfect, Lotus Notes and Microsoft Office. However, the switch could incur
additional costs: Converting more than one million current files to the open
source format; teaching and training a new technical support staff to provide
state workers with assistance on the new systems; and re-training the entire
state's workforce to use the new software. Furthermore, private sector
businesses and average citizens could face compatibility problems in
exchanging documents with the state agencies.
"The proposed shift in software will be paid for by the taxpayers,
businesses, and regular citizens of Massachusetts," Schatz continued.
In July, 2004 the Office of Management and Budget stated that the federal
government should keep its options open and assess the total cost of ownership
when determining the best software to use. An objective look at the merits of
software considers maintenance, functionality, performance, and security --
factors not always considered in procurement decisions based solely on a
licensing or development model.
"By rushing to establish an arbitrary preference for open source,
Massachusetts is undermining free market competition and driving up costs.
This will limit choice and access to whatever proprietary technologies may
emerge in the coming years and could adversely affect the day-to-day
operations of Massachusetts state government. Gov. Romney should take steps
to keep the state from making the wrong decision about the future of its use
of technology," Schatz added.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization
dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.
________________________________________________
So, because the government is working to establish an open standard and avoid the licensing fees and closed systems established by those such as Microsoft, Lotus, and Wordperfect, they are now abusing government funds? Since when is moving to something free abusing funds? Ohhh.. because other people might have to change as well. "Oh no!! We might not be able to use our proprietary software anymore!" Cry me a river.
"It is bad procurement policy for any state to unilaterally lock itself
into one set of technologies,"
This is the best line of all, in my opinion.. by accepting and establishing a Free standard, the government in MA is finally ridding itself of the technological shackles that once bound it. Can't they see how stupid this sounds?
And about the supposed compatability issues: OpenOffice, which is what I presume they will be moving to, will open almost any text document on the face of the earth - MSOffice, Wordperfect, StarWriter, RichText, PlainText, AportisDoc, PalmDoc, hell, even PocketWord is supported. So compatability on the incoming end should not be an issue.
On the outbound end, if Microsoft (the most prevalent office suite to be replaced) had not refused to play hardball and had released it's standards as OpenSource, this problem would not exist. As it stands now, Massachusetts is accepting both OpenDocument and Portable Document Format (PDF) as open standards, so all outgoing documents could be in either of those formats. Most everyone can open a .pdf file with acrobat reader, which is available free from the Adobe web site.
The move to OpenSource is not as dramatic as people would like to make it seem. In fact, I have been more than happy with my open-source alternatives to Microsoft and other products. They have worked wonderfully, I have required no additional training (especially for the office products, which are so similar to MSOffice as to be a non-issue), and I have gotten along just fine. I think people are over reacting to a phenomenon that will soon be ubiquitous throughout the country and the world.
Relax, and enjoy the change! ¶ 11:28:00 AM 0 comments
CAGW Criticizes Open Source Mandate in Massachusetts
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens Against Government Waste
(CAGW) today criticized a plan in Massachusetts to force all state computer
networks to move to an open source format. The Massachusetts Information
Technology Division is proposing the Enterprise Information Technology
Architecture technology policy, which would mandate that state agencies use
only open source and open standard software by January 1, 2007.
"It is bad procurement policy for any state to unilaterally lock itself
into one set of technologies," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "Agencies
should be able to accept bids from any company that can provide the desired
product or service. Government earns the best value for taxpayer dollars
through a competitive, transparent, and accountable bidding process."
The policy of standardizing OpenDocument Format for state agencies is
aimed at avoiding the patents and licensing of proprietary software like Word
Perfect, Lotus Notes and Microsoft Office. However, the switch could incur
additional costs: Converting more than one million current files to the open
source format; teaching and training a new technical support staff to provide
state workers with assistance on the new systems; and re-training the entire
state's workforce to use the new software. Furthermore, private sector
businesses and average citizens could face compatibility problems in
exchanging documents with the state agencies.
"The proposed shift in software will be paid for by the taxpayers,
businesses, and regular citizens of Massachusetts," Schatz continued.
In July, 2004 the Office of Management and Budget stated that the federal
government should keep its options open and assess the total cost of ownership
when determining the best software to use. An objective look at the merits of
software considers maintenance, functionality, performance, and security --
factors not always considered in procurement decisions based solely on a
licensing or development model.
"By rushing to establish an arbitrary preference for open source,
Massachusetts is undermining free market competition and driving up costs.
This will limit choice and access to whatever proprietary technologies may
emerge in the coming years and could adversely affect the day-to-day
operations of Massachusetts state government. Gov. Romney should take steps
to keep the state from making the wrong decision about the future of its use
of technology," Schatz added.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization
dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.
________________________________________________
So, because the government is working to establish an open standard and avoid the licensing fees and closed systems established by those such as Microsoft, Lotus, and Wordperfect, they are now abusing government funds? Since when is moving to something free abusing funds? Ohhh.. because other people might have to change as well. "Oh no!! We might not be able to use our proprietary software anymore!" Cry me a river.
"It is bad procurement policy for any state to unilaterally lock itself
into one set of technologies,"
This is the best line of all, in my opinion.. by accepting and establishing a Free standard, the government in MA is finally ridding itself of the technological shackles that once bound it. Can't they see how stupid this sounds?
And about the supposed compatability issues: OpenOffice, which is what I presume they will be moving to, will open almost any text document on the face of the earth - MSOffice, Wordperfect, StarWriter, RichText, PlainText, AportisDoc, PalmDoc, hell, even PocketWord is supported. So compatability on the incoming end should not be an issue.
On the outbound end, if Microsoft (the most prevalent office suite to be replaced) had not refused to play hardball and had released it's standards as OpenSource, this problem would not exist. As it stands now, Massachusetts is accepting both OpenDocument and Portable Document Format (PDF) as open standards, so all outgoing documents could be in either of those formats. Most everyone can open a .pdf file with acrobat reader, which is available free from the Adobe web site.
The move to OpenSource is not as dramatic as people would like to make it seem. In fact, I have been more than happy with my open-source alternatives to Microsoft and other products. They have worked wonderfully, I have required no additional training (especially for the office products, which are so similar to MSOffice as to be a non-issue), and I have gotten along just fine. I think people are over reacting to a phenomenon that will soon be ubiquitous throughout the country and the world.
Relax, and enjoy the change! ¶ 11:28:00 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Three days in
Well, Toto has been living with me for 3 days now (this is day 3), and aside from only getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night because she cries, things are going well. She is settling in, and last night I actually got 3 hours of sleep instead of 1 the night before. I can tell you, lack of sleep really sucks.
She spends a lot of her time in the closet in my room - she has found a place she can hide, so she'll come out from time to time to see what is going on, but mostly she stays in the closet. Last night around 4am was the first time she had been out of my room - she went for a quick tour of the apartment, after which she ran straight back to my room and lost herself in the closet again. I figure she will get used to it soon enough.
My main concern is that she doesn't seem to be eating much. Before she moved, she would eat at least twice a day. Since she moved, she only seems to pick at her food maybe once daily. She is still drinking water, so that is a good sign - but her not eating is worrisome to me. I think it is probably just the stress of the move and having to acclimatize herself to a new and scary enviroment. I've tried to be here as much as possible and pet her and try to make her as comfortable as I possibly can so she will settle into a "rhythm" here in my apartment and not be so frightened. I would really like to see her eat a nice bowl of food, just once.
I'm sure it will just take time. ¶ 12:12:00 PM 0 comments
She spends a lot of her time in the closet in my room - she has found a place she can hide, so she'll come out from time to time to see what is going on, but mostly she stays in the closet. Last night around 4am was the first time she had been out of my room - she went for a quick tour of the apartment, after which she ran straight back to my room and lost herself in the closet again. I figure she will get used to it soon enough.
My main concern is that she doesn't seem to be eating much. Before she moved, she would eat at least twice a day. Since she moved, she only seems to pick at her food maybe once daily. She is still drinking water, so that is a good sign - but her not eating is worrisome to me. I think it is probably just the stress of the move and having to acclimatize herself to a new and scary enviroment. I've tried to be here as much as possible and pet her and try to make her as comfortable as I possibly can so she will settle into a "rhythm" here in my apartment and not be so frightened. I would really like to see her eat a nice bowl of food, just once.
I'm sure it will just take time. ¶ 12:12:00 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Clean bill of health
A couple of days ago, I mentioned we were trying to tame an outside not-so-stray cat that has been living around my girlfriend's house for several years. Well, we caught it and it has been living in her room for the past 6 days. Each day, I've spent a little more time with her, petting her and getting her used to hanging around inside and with people, as well as having people touch her.
Well, today was the day she went to the veterinarian's office for her "checkup." We put her in a crate (which she was not happy about) and carted her off to the vet. What happened next is truly a miracle.
When we talked about taking her to the vet, I must admit I was a little nervous. The cat was just getting used to being inside and around us - I didn't know what would happen if she were transplanted out of that "safe" environment and into a veterinary office with people she had never seen before. I was worried there would be a biting or a scratching.
I was dead wrong. We got there, and aside from her being nervous and crying, she did wonderfully. She was very tame - there was no problems at all. She tested negative for FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus - kitty-AIDS, basically) and feline leukemia virus, which was a relief. Since we knew she had spent a long time outside, we were concerned she may be infected with one of those, which is basically a death sentence. But she was negative.
We did get one shock during the visit, though; apparently, the cat is nearly 10 years old. The doctor said based on the cat's teeth and eyes, he would guesstimate her age between 9 and 10 years old! That is pretty amazing, since most outside cats live only 6-7 years. This went to confirm our suspicion that she had lived indoors at least at some point in her life, to be able to survive to 10 years old.
Other than being a little thin (and showing signs of previous malnutrition), the doctor gave the cat a clean bill of health. What a relief!
Anyway, we got her vaccinations, got her a collar and a name-tag. Now she is just like a regular cat... domesticated and everything (mostly). ¶ 9:37:00 PM 0 comments
Well, today was the day she went to the veterinarian's office for her "checkup." We put her in a crate (which she was not happy about) and carted her off to the vet. What happened next is truly a miracle.
When we talked about taking her to the vet, I must admit I was a little nervous. The cat was just getting used to being inside and around us - I didn't know what would happen if she were transplanted out of that "safe" environment and into a veterinary office with people she had never seen before. I was worried there would be a biting or a scratching.
I was dead wrong. We got there, and aside from her being nervous and crying, she did wonderfully. She was very tame - there was no problems at all. She tested negative for FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus - kitty-AIDS, basically) and feline leukemia virus, which was a relief. Since we knew she had spent a long time outside, we were concerned she may be infected with one of those, which is basically a death sentence. But she was negative.
We did get one shock during the visit, though; apparently, the cat is nearly 10 years old. The doctor said based on the cat's teeth and eyes, he would guesstimate her age between 9 and 10 years old! That is pretty amazing, since most outside cats live only 6-7 years. This went to confirm our suspicion that she had lived indoors at least at some point in her life, to be able to survive to 10 years old.
Other than being a little thin (and showing signs of previous malnutrition), the doctor gave the cat a clean bill of health. What a relief!
Anyway, we got her vaccinations, got her a collar and a name-tag. Now she is just like a regular cat... domesticated and everything (mostly). ¶ 9:37:00 PM 0 comments
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Happy 4th anniversary
Since I'm sure it has been (or will be) all over the news today, and I'm sure the El Prezidento himself will interrupt all the football games today to talk about it (probably in the most crucial final 2 minutes), I thought I'd pay my official respects to this country's lost from 4 years ago. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those still suffering their loss.
My wishes for them to let the past go and move on also go out to the same. It's been 4 years. If you're not over your grief yet, see a counsellor. You have a psychiatric illness, seek treatment.
My greatest prayers go out to all those soldiers who were duped by the president into going to war based on a lie. I don't agree with fighting another man's fights for him. If the president wants to take over the middle-east, let him do it himself.
And now, a moment of silence for all the above... ¶ 4:31:00 AM 0 comments
My wishes for them to let the past go and move on also go out to the same. It's been 4 years. If you're not over your grief yet, see a counsellor. You have a psychiatric illness, seek treatment.
My greatest prayers go out to all those soldiers who were duped by the president into going to war based on a lie. I don't agree with fighting another man's fights for him. If the president wants to take over the middle-east, let him do it himself.
And now, a moment of silence for all the above... ¶ 4:31:00 AM 0 comments
Finished
Finally and at long last (and long hours of toil) all the entries from my former blog are moved here. Visit my MSIII and MSIV sites (see sidebar) to purview them and enjoy the stories of horror, deceit and drama.
Ok, not really. But I worked hard on getting them all moved over (complete with original links) goddammit! Show some respect for my work!
I gotta go to sleep! I work at 9pm tonite. ¶ 4:29:00 AM 0 comments
Ok, not really. But I worked hard on getting them all moved over (complete with original links) goddammit! Show some respect for my work!
I gotta go to sleep! I work at 9pm tonite. ¶ 4:29:00 AM 0 comments
Taming the Shrew
Well, not really a shrew - more like a cat. For the past 2-3 years, my girlfriend and I have been "taking care of" a stray cat that has lived in her neighborhood for at least 4 years (we know that because the lady that used to live next door took care of her before my girlfriend moved in). We have been feeding her, petting her, and giving her her pet control medicine when she would stick around long enough to let us. However, since my girlfriend is moving, we had to make a decision on the cat: should we leave her or try to tame her and take her with us.
It seems pretty obvious to us that at one point or another, this cat was tame - she will walk right up to you (if she knows you) and let you pet her and she is incredibly affectionate. I've never seen a true "stray" that is like that. Usually, they are so wary of people they won't even let you near them.
We decided a couple of months ago that we were going to try to take her away from the house when my girlfriend moves. The trick then became to get the cat to come inside and become "tame." This proved harder than we expected. Before we actually decided to "tame" her, she would come inside my girlfriend's house, look around, eat inside, etc. Once we made that decision, however, she wanted nothing to do with that. She started becoming more skittish, less personable, and less likely to let you come near her. I don't get it.
Finally, after about 6 weeks of trying it the nice way, my girlfriend decided to take things into her own hands the other day: when the cat came up to the house in the morning to eat (we feed her soft food, so we only put it out when she is there to keep the other cats and the neighborhood dogs from feeding themselves), my girlfriend grabbed the cat and threw her inside the house. She was so proud of herself, she called me at 5am to tell me she'd done it. :)
Anyway, ever since then (the last 2 days) Toto has been an inside cat - mostly living in my girlfriend's room under her bed. Today, we moved most of her furniture out of the house, so Toto no longer has anywhere to hide. I sat in the room with her for about 30 minutes today and pet her - she seemed to eat it up! She was purring and snuggling up against me. After a couple of tries, she even let me hold her on my lap! Not too bad for a first try...
Anyway, so now we have the cat inside. She will again be "domesticated," whatever that means for a cat... and we won't have to worry about her starving to death after my girlfriend leaves. Problem solved. ¶ 2:03:00 AM 0 comments
It seems pretty obvious to us that at one point or another, this cat was tame - she will walk right up to you (if she knows you) and let you pet her and she is incredibly affectionate. I've never seen a true "stray" that is like that. Usually, they are so wary of people they won't even let you near them.
We decided a couple of months ago that we were going to try to take her away from the house when my girlfriend moves. The trick then became to get the cat to come inside and become "tame." This proved harder than we expected. Before we actually decided to "tame" her, she would come inside my girlfriend's house, look around, eat inside, etc. Once we made that decision, however, she wanted nothing to do with that. She started becoming more skittish, less personable, and less likely to let you come near her. I don't get it.
Finally, after about 6 weeks of trying it the nice way, my girlfriend decided to take things into her own hands the other day: when the cat came up to the house in the morning to eat (we feed her soft food, so we only put it out when she is there to keep the other cats and the neighborhood dogs from feeding themselves), my girlfriend grabbed the cat and threw her inside the house. She was so proud of herself, she called me at 5am to tell me she'd done it. :)
Anyway, ever since then (the last 2 days) Toto has been an inside cat - mostly living in my girlfriend's room under her bed. Today, we moved most of her furniture out of the house, so Toto no longer has anywhere to hide. I sat in the room with her for about 30 minutes today and pet her - she seemed to eat it up! She was purring and snuggling up against me. After a couple of tries, she even let me hold her on my lap! Not too bad for a first try...
Anyway, so now we have the cat inside. She will again be "domesticated," whatever that means for a cat... and we won't have to worry about her starving to death after my girlfriend leaves. Problem solved. ¶ 2:03:00 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 09, 2005
Moving, moving, moving...
My girlfriend's cats are very upset. Since we're in our 4th years now, she is moving her stuff out of her house and back to her parents' house in anticipation of not spending much time here, and her cats are not happy at all. They are sulking around and crying alot. She's been spending the last 4-6 weeks moving things she doesn't immediately need out to a storage facility in her parent's hometown - this weekend is going to be most of the big move. Tomorrow, she's getting all the big furniture out in anticipation of the huge cleaning-fest that is to happen over the next week or so.
Today, I moved all the stuff I had collected over the past 3 years at her house back to mine so it will be out of her way when she moves. Now , I have all my stuff back at my house - plus all the books and things I had over at hers. My house is now full!! and hers is getting more empty by the minute.
¶ 6:13:00 PM 0 comments
Today, I moved all the stuff I had collected over the past 3 years at her house back to mine so it will be out of her way when she moves. Now , I have all my stuff back at my house - plus all the books and things I had over at hers. My house is now full!! and hers is getting more empty by the minute.
¶ 6:13:00 PM 0 comments
New Window Manager
Well, after I spent all that time (not really that long, in actuality) updating KDE to the new version (3.4.2), I've just installed the Enlightenment Window Manager to try out. I've heard a lot of good things about E (as it's called), so I had to take a look. In fact, I'm using it as we speak. I'm still poking around, trying to see what I can do with it or if I'll keep it on my computer.
That's the great thing about Linux - you have choices for everything you do. Window manager? You have KDE, Gnome, Xfce, Enlightenment, Fluxbox and more! Office software? There's OpenOffice, AbiWord, StarOffice, Koffice, GnomeOffice. Internet browsers? Here we go: Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Konqueror, Galeon.. the list goes on. Of course, with this variety comes the difficulty of actually making a choice of what works for you - which can be overwhelming when you come from the Windows world where the choice is simple - whatever Microsoft feeds you is what you use: Internet Explorer, MS Office, and the MS windowing system.
Choice is what you make of it. ¶ 7:08:00 AM 0 comments
That's the great thing about Linux - you have choices for everything you do. Window manager? You have KDE, Gnome, Xfce, Enlightenment, Fluxbox and more! Office software? There's OpenOffice, AbiWord, StarOffice, Koffice, GnomeOffice. Internet browsers? Here we go: Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Konqueror, Galeon.. the list goes on. Of course, with this variety comes the difficulty of actually making a choice of what works for you - which can be overwhelming when you come from the Windows world where the choice is simple - whatever Microsoft feeds you is what you use: Internet Explorer, MS Office, and the MS windowing system.
Choice is what you make of it. ¶ 7:08:00 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Updated KDE
Well, Debian finally managed to get the new version of KDE out for installation - and I've spent the past few hours updating from KDE 3.3.2 to 3.4.2. There are actually a lot of improvements. The whole environment is faster, more responsive, and easier on the eyes. I've spent the past hour or so trying out my "must-have" applications to make sure none of them are broken.
Ok, ok.. I know most of you have no idea what KDE is. KDE is a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows a user to interact with his/her computer via pretty windows, rather than command-line. It depends on the X windowing system to provide the interface between the KDE programs and the operating system. Confusing? Yeah, well. If you haven't worked with Unix/Linux, then it can be. I'll put it another way: X/KDE is to Linux what Windows 3.1 was to DOS, okay? Make more sense now? It is basically a pretty covering on top of a not so pretty interface. Visit the KDE Website for more information.
So far, so good. My next upgrade will probably be from X-free86 to X.org's X windowing server. I've heard a lot of good things about it; again, more responsive, more up-to-date, and takes advantage of more hardware capabilities natively. I'll need to go to bed soon so I can get up and work later tonight, so I won't upgrade right now. ¶ 6:58:00 AM 0 comments
Ok, ok.. I know most of you have no idea what KDE is. KDE is a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows a user to interact with his/her computer via pretty windows, rather than command-line. It depends on the X windowing system to provide the interface between the KDE programs and the operating system. Confusing? Yeah, well. If you haven't worked with Unix/Linux, then it can be. I'll put it another way: X/KDE is to Linux what Windows 3.1 was to DOS, okay? Make more sense now? It is basically a pretty covering on top of a not so pretty interface. Visit the KDE Website for more information.
So far, so good. My next upgrade will probably be from X-free86 to X.org's X windowing server. I've heard a lot of good things about it; again, more responsive, more up-to-date, and takes advantage of more hardware capabilities natively. I'll need to go to bed soon so I can get up and work later tonight, so I won't upgrade right now. ¶ 6:58:00 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 02, 2005
Linux and me
I"ve had a long-standing love affair with GNU/Linux. Ever since high school (about 1994) I've been enamored with the open-source operating system. Since that time, I've tried many of the more popular distributions, but I never found one that was quite ready for me to use. None of them had that "feel." So, I would always play with it for a few days and end up re-installing that "other" operating system - Windows. Nevermind that the Micro$oft operating system didn't have that "feel" either, but at least I knew that around the Blue Screens of Death and at least twice daily re-booting I could get my work done. I never lost that longing for something different and better, though.
When I first started, I chose Debian. I really liked the idea of a community developed and maintained operating system that is Free (as in speech, not necessarily as in beer - but it just so happens that debian is both). See Debian's web site for more information about this linux distribution. As I said, I really liked the idea, but unfortunately this distribution is a little too involved for a beginner to use, and the documentation is somewhat scarce. So, after playing around a bit I ended up back with Micro$oft's OS.
Over time, I tried other versions of linux - Redhat was not good for the desktop, SuSe was nice, just not what I was looking for, same with Mandrake (now Mandriva). Nothing fit right. Last time I tried them, they were getting very close, very close indeed, and I was getting excited about finally getting rid of the Micro$oft tax once and for all - however, the time was just not right. I could see how linux had changed, matured, over the years. It was nearly ready for general desktop use (at least among those interested in computers and who know a bit about installing operating systems).
Finally, about a year later, I think the time has come. I found an offshoot distribution of Debian called Mepis. Mepis, as I said, is an offshoot distribution based on Debian (the one who's ideals I really agreed with) that prides itself on "just working." It comes as a liveCD to download from various servers around the world (making it both free as in speech and as in beer) that you can try before you install it - just to make sure all your hardware works and it does what you want it to do. The best part is that it actually does work. My DSL works, my sound works, I can burn CDs, I can use word processors, I can code programs. Everything I need to do on a day to day basis. Even more, there are thousands of programs available, for free, to download from the debian repositories, since Mepis is compatible with all debian software releases. That means if I ever need new software or an upgrade to sofware I already have (or even just a complete upgrade of my operating system) I will never have to pay for it. Try that with Windows XP or M$ Office! I've also been running my computer for over a week, never turning it off, and have had no blue-screens-of-death, no system crashes or hang-ups. Just a reliable system that works. No worries about viruses, spyware, adware or any of those other hassles you get with Windows. And no twice weekly patches to fix the viruses, spyware and adware holes!
If you can't tell, I'm pretty happy that I"ve finally been able to rid myself of the Micro$oft shackles and I've finally set my computer Free! ¶ 10:10:00 AM 0 comments
When I first started, I chose Debian. I really liked the idea of a community developed and maintained operating system that is Free (as in speech, not necessarily as in beer - but it just so happens that debian is both). See Debian's web site for more information about this linux distribution. As I said, I really liked the idea, but unfortunately this distribution is a little too involved for a beginner to use, and the documentation is somewhat scarce. So, after playing around a bit I ended up back with Micro$oft's OS.
Over time, I tried other versions of linux - Redhat was not good for the desktop, SuSe was nice, just not what I was looking for, same with Mandrake (now Mandriva). Nothing fit right. Last time I tried them, they were getting very close, very close indeed, and I was getting excited about finally getting rid of the Micro$oft tax once and for all - however, the time was just not right. I could see how linux had changed, matured, over the years. It was nearly ready for general desktop use (at least among those interested in computers and who know a bit about installing operating systems).
Finally, about a year later, I think the time has come. I found an offshoot distribution of Debian called Mepis. Mepis, as I said, is an offshoot distribution based on Debian (the one who's ideals I really agreed with) that prides itself on "just working." It comes as a liveCD to download from various servers around the world (making it both free as in speech and as in beer) that you can try before you install it - just to make sure all your hardware works and it does what you want it to do. The best part is that it actually does work. My DSL works, my sound works, I can burn CDs, I can use word processors, I can code programs. Everything I need to do on a day to day basis. Even more, there are thousands of programs available, for free, to download from the debian repositories, since Mepis is compatible with all debian software releases. That means if I ever need new software or an upgrade to sofware I already have (or even just a complete upgrade of my operating system) I will never have to pay for it. Try that with Windows XP or M$ Office! I've also been running my computer for over a week, never turning it off, and have had no blue-screens-of-death, no system crashes or hang-ups. Just a reliable system that works. No worries about viruses, spyware, adware or any of those other hassles you get with Windows. And no twice weekly patches to fix the viruses, spyware and adware holes!
If you can't tell, I'm pretty happy that I"ve finally been able to rid myself of the Micro$oft shackles and I've finally set my computer Free! ¶ 10:10:00 AM 0 comments
