Billy G finally did it. I am, through circumstances that really make no difference, forced to find a cheaper alternative to the Windows squeeze. Up until now I've been piggy-backing on another person's cheap licensing deal, but it has gone away. Went to the local Office Bigbox and browsed the prices of Vista stuff.

Holy mackerel!

I can buy pretty high-end hardware for that. And then I hear I need two gig of memory and big gigs of hertz, and I says to myself, "Linux is cheaper."

So I'm converting. Put up the MEPIS distribution, which works like Debian but downloads quicker (1 versus 15 ISO images) and is basically slicker, being very XP-like. And I know a thing or two about Unix flavors like Solaris and AIX, so directory trees aren't very hard to pick up or the scripts and other Unix quirks.

Plus my current work process is done mostly with basic Word 2003 docs, which the OpenOffice word processor supports. My other stuff is done on the Web, which of course the Konqurer browser supports. Have a little problem with Webster's dictionary, but that got solved by going with a year+ subscription on the Web, about $30 and it has constant updates. USB zooms, the kernel zooms, the whole shebang is like getting rid of the 1940 semi truck and jumping into the 2008 Porche.

I might be restricting myself on certain kinds of freelance writing gigs that require things like FrameMaker, but maybe not. Seems like there's plenty of open source out there to accomplish the same results. Eh, maybe not. Don't know yet. Still converting.

There's no point to this conversation other than to bash Windows and promote Linux. I've been resentful about the intrusion of Windows on the desktop since, oh, the beginning, having weened on green screen thin clients, aka dumb terminals. There's enough to be concerned about regarding the actual computers that do real work than the freaking desktop. Grumble grumble, snort. Nothing like being in the middle of a mission-critical problem than to have Windows insist on a reboot or whatever numb-nuts thing it does.

And don't talk to me about the network! Mine's down to a single switch with DSL, which is also a switch. Two switches. That's enough. Someday virtually all that I need will be through the Web. Well, I suppose USB is also a network. Okay, well, don't talk to me about it. I just want to get work done.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen -- time to swap machines from Winnypoo to Linny X!

I dont like the Linux dist myself. Most of them became very "Windows Like" in the early years, and the problem was that these "window bashers" seemed to want Windows, but not Windows. That is, all its features, but none of the names. A bit ironic.

I would recommend Solaris, i really enjoyed it and consider it very well done. I liked FreeBSD but did not consider it practical (but darn stable). But now, yes, now, im using WINDOWS *stay away i say, WINDOWS !!!!!!! Run run nooooaaaaawwwwhhhhh*..


Yes, when NT "6" came (2000), i started using the Admin version of it, i was happy, Its stable, its lovely, and its supported. This comes from a Unix/Linux user mind you, I LIKE WINDOWS. I think its good. Yes, good.




AND I WILL DEFEND MYSELF, DEFEND MYSELF I SAY *holding the Windows box close.. no one will take it away from me*.

An update on the Windows to Linux conversion:

We got a used computer (real cheap, 3 G Intel and 512 M memory) for my test box, and it came with an extra XP license for Lydia's use. She still has to run Windows due to her work flow that depends on certain Windows features. Mine isn't that dependent, just need to write .doc files and convert .docx to .doc sometimes.

So while using my old Windows installation (due to expire in less than a year for production work), I put up a Linux distribution called MEPIS on the used machine, my test box. After a few false starts, the test machine became production with all my historical and working data on it, backed up to a USB drive with live working files also backed up to the Web at box.net.

After working on the Linux machine for a week and not encountering any serious problems, other than my own learning curves, I blew away the old production box Windows and installed another image of MEPIS there.

Now my data has five places it can live: the production box and its USB drive, the old production box and its USB drive, and the Web at box.net. I will no longer have to spend a penny on my operating systems or software products.

Next: Figure out how to cluster the production box and old production box, just to do it for live fail-over. Automate backups with a shell script (easy as pie, just need to take the time to do it). The boxes already share a DSL line through a LinkSys switch, plus that line is Lydia's backup if cable goes down, which it sometimes does.

You can take the aging systems administrator out of the data center, but you can't stop a sys admin from building his or her own. Something like that

Just curious, have you used Writery--or whatever Google may be calling it now. As someone who wants to pay nothing ever to anyone I have tried to find ways to get quality for free.
I am also seeking OS freedom as well and want something that works on any box regardless of the brand
There is a lot of new "Web 2.0" stuff out there that is open sorce and requires only a web connection to use. There are also neato 'Tings like GIMP and Inkscape which are quickly encroaching on Adobe in many respects. Coming up from behind ya corporate bastagees!

I am trying to create and Education resource inspired by the One Laptop per Child and spend much time trying to find resources for anything and everything creative. It is amazing what IS out there-- for free!

I am planning a very sweet little laptop for myself where my only expenses is the hardware
- -

yes I suffer from

Geek Madness

Yep, I've tried the Google word processor and will probably give it another try. I like gmail and the whole idea of Web apps.

Downloading the ISO file for MEPIS did cost $15 for a month's subscription to the distribution site. I'm okay with paying nominal fees if that also means a decent package, and I bet the entire market will eventually be like this. It's interesting that open source communities are also supported by corporations sick of paying out the nose to Microsoft. What looks like free software really isn't, but that doesn't matter to Geek Madmen. Seems free to us.

BTW, I tried a Debian install without much success. The Fedora ISO was for DVD, and I don't have a burner. So MEPIS won because it takes up just one CD ISO file and installed seamlessly, much quicker than XP. Comes with all the bells & whistles I need, like an HP photo printer driver that actually works. Don't know if there's good support for other brands of printers yet.

Networking was automatic and looks to be easy to customize, which is another project for later.

AM, congratulations on your Linux Install. Beforehand, I would have recommended Slackware Linux, but I'm sure you'll be happy with the Linux distribtution you have.

For the wordprocessor, I know that there's K-Word. I used it during my college years doing Computer Science reports down in the basement, but the pages never quite turned out right. There's another text-processing program called LaTex, although it's rarely used outside the Academic Research community. Its a real pain in the neck but if you know how to write your input files just right, the printouts will turn out exactly the way you want them to. And there's the commandline utility to convert the output postscript files to Acrobat Reader format.

Hey skeeterses,

MEPIS comes with OpenOffice, which also has a Windows version and replaces MS Office. The word processor reminds me of AmiPro, which back in its day beat Word by country miles. Seems to support .doc well enough for my uses. It'll do PDF too, which will likely come in handy at some point.

Used to like Slim Browser a lot, but Firefox has several very nice features, like opening a set of tabs all at once. I use a certain number of Web sites every day. The browser makes starting the day a snap from that angle.

Thanks for the tips!