expriments in home computing

I've changed operating systems and installed the following with my computer:
--Ubuntu version 8.10 which I downloaded, burned to a CD and installed easily.
--Getting it to use wireless card was hard until I found a good tutorial specific for my card and it's chipset from the main ubuntu forum.
--I followed another tutorial from a forum to make restricted "codecs" available, and can now watch videos like on Youtube, quicktime, and video from Conferance. It can play CD's but can't copy very fast.
--wine runs windows programs which I'm hoping to use for Civilization and PrintShop where there aren't linux alternatives. It's slow and clunky.
--Dansguardian is a parental control program that was hard to install but seem to be working but blocks normal stuff too.

I think their business model is sound- give away the product and then offer paid customer support because it's a royal pain to get it going.

It took a lot of time. It's not not as versatile and is frustrating when I can't get something to work like I want.

I like being out from under Microsoft's thumb. It was a blast getting the old worthless computer going well. I don't have to worry about viruses. It seems to work fast for most basic things. I learned a lot from doing this.

Ubuntu- an "intuitive" way to embrace your innner geek

Seems like there is often competition in the house for who is going to be on the computer. I thought getting another computer would solve the problem. I paid $60 for a surplus computer from work 2 years ago that I thought was a fabulous deal until I figured out it crashed all the time and wasn't good for squat. I figured I didn't have much to loose, so I finally followed Carl and Ken's examples and tried a whole new operating system to which Ken introduced me. Ubuntu is an "intuitive" Debian-based distribution of GNU's GNOME GUI applications and environment using a Linux kernel. And dog-gone it if the thing doesn't work great! There were some challenge, like having to use the terminal program and relearning some unix commands in order to install an adobe flash player but a web site walked me through that OK.

For the next program I installed, I thought using the synaptic Package Manager might be easier, but I had to edit the sources.list file to add a couple of mirrors to install libraries for which there were dependencies before I could get all the packages installed. That was right at the edge of what I am capable of, so it was a gas when it worked. It's a kid-friendly paint program called Tuxpaint. Other things, like using a flash drive and printing, have gone super slick. It's definitely not Apple, but I'm thrilled to be peaking out from under Bill Gates' thumb. Next up: setting up a wireless connection instead of ethernet cable. And in April the next update of Ubuntu comes out.

Epiphany +1

Epiphany (Greek for "to manifest" or "to show"), January 6th, is a Christian feast day which celebrates the revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus Christ (thanks wikipedia). Also known as holy 3 kings day in Denmark, it also commemorates the visit of the magi, which incidentally are not specifically mentioned as holy, 3 in number, or kings. Apparently it is the official end of Christmas.


I remember it as the day they would take down the Christmas tree, which they set up on Christmas eve. I love Christmas lights, and having a Christmas tree. There's a Danish song about Christmas lasting until Easter. I don't go that far, but ours tree goes up as close to T-day as possible and comes down around now. But today, and throughout the year, wise men seek Him still. So the spirit of Christmas lives on at our house another day. And I'll get to the lights on the roof by spring.