…or how I learned to stop Microsofting and love the Linux
The CNET review was prompted by Dell’s inclusion of Ubuntu on some of it’s systems. It isn’t entirely complimentary — it complains about missing wireless and webcam drivers, and that the timekeeping wasn’t accurate, but I haven’t seen any of those problems myself. It also complains that the system isn’t always able to recover from …
My Linux-using friend tosses around phrases like “free as in beer” or “free as in speech” a lot. He’s tried to explain what they mean several times, but I seem to have some kind of mental block about them because I could never figure out what he was talking about… talk is cheap, and beer …
I’m apparently not the only one that feels like he’s being railroaded into using Vista, and is looking for alternatives.
Linniks, line-iks, leeniks… all three seem to have their adherents. I use the third pronunciation myself, because long ago (and long before I started using the OS), a friend of mine said that that was how Linux Torvalds pronounced it (and he was right, as you can hear for yourself). I figured that if anyone …
I love encryption. As a kid, the occasional “secret decoder ring” I’d get out of a box of cereal or Cracker Jacks was a treasure worthy of King Tut himself. In my high-school years I studied how to make (and break) ciphers on paper, and I went on to study computer encryption as well — …
Continue reading ‘The OS Wars II: Paranoia for the Masses’ »
‘Tis the only comfort of the miserable to have partners in their woes. — Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra When last we left our intrepid Linux explorer, he had just tamed the Beast with the Blue Tooth to win through, at long last, the dread Jungle of Double Vision. Tired but satisfied, basking in the twitters …
Continue reading ‘The OS Wars II: Modem Malfeasance and Wireless Woes’ »
During a chess competition a chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk. — Alexander Alekhine I’m well known for being stubborn. Very stubborn. When I run into a problem, I pound my head against it until either my head breaks or the problem does. So far, it has almost …
Continue reading ‘The OS Wars II: Bitten by Bluetooth, Seeing Double, and Talking To The Palm’ »
Microsoft has really been spinning it’s wheels for the last six or seven years. With the exception of improving security, nearly everything it has done since Windows 2000 has been focused on sizzle rather than steak. The same operating system with prettier pictures. You can see it in the whole user interface, and you can …
I’ve hired you to help me start a war. It’s an prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition. — Vizzini, from The Princess Bride VMware is a great program, and I like it a lot. But there are some things you just can’t do in it… full 3D graphics in Linux, for …
As described earlier, I’ve been trying to come up with a way to make the automatically-mounted TrueCrypt-encrypted home directory, on my Ubuntu Linux machine, also automatically unmount when I log off. I’ve finally done so, and I’ve learned some fascinating things about Linux in the process.