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The
Computer Zone is related to anything pertaining to computers except for
gaming and gaming is covered in its very own section The Gaming Zone.
Moving In A New Computing Direction
When It No Longer Works For You
Since 1985, I have been involved with computers, operating systems, and software. For the most part over the years the software, operating systems, and computers have done much of what I have asked them to do. Around late 2001, things started with some software becoming unfriendly and as each year came, it became harder and harder to handle the same tasks I did before. Back in 1995, I would install an operating system and it would stay on several years, or until a new operating system came out. Fast forward to 2003, where I installed my operating system four times that year. The breaking point was January 2004, a trusted software program went renegade and destroyed my operating system in the process.
No longer am I willing to support companies that incorporate, spy ware, adware ware, trojan ware, mal-ware, and self destructing ware in their products. I refuse to turn off my anti-virus software because a manufacturer has fixed their program not to run with anti-virus running in the background. As far as product scheme ware goes, I take the extra steps to insure that all software I purchase does not include scheme ware. Also my new policy is all software must come with a unrestricted trial period preferably 30 days, no unrestricted trial no sale. Would you buy a car without test driving it first?
The first decision was to downgrade from XP to ME to allow me to better play my games especially The SIM's and experience less black screens of death and more actual game play. The second decision was to install a current up-to-date version of Linux giving me a duel boot operating system. The only Linux problem I encountered was the operating system did not support my scanner or HDTV card but it is easy to log out of one operating system and boot into another to have access to these devices so I call this only a minor issue. Since the time I have been running Linux the scanner went out and was replace with one that supports both operating systems.
To simplify my system many of the applications installed were applications ported from Linux to WIN. Many of the program I currently use are free, some request a donation if you feel the program is worthy of a donation and some offer free versions but for advanced features a paid professional version are available. Listed below is a sample of the software I am currently using in the WIN environment and a brief list of software I am using in the Linux environment. One reason for using so many applications that have been ported to WIN from Linux is to make my transition over to Linux as painless as possible.
WIN
Internet
- Mozilla (Win/Linux) - Free Browser/ Email Program/Chat/ Newsgroup reader/and HTML Editor
- Adware (Win) - Free Adware checking program. Also offers a paid advanced version.
- Zone Alarm (Win) - Free firewall program. Offers a paid professional program called Zone Alarm Pro.
- F-Protect (Win/Linux) - Commercial paid anti-virus program
- Miranda IM (Win) - Free instant messenger program
- FileZilla (Win/Linux) - Free FTP program
- MailWasher (Win) - Free Spam Cleaner also offers a paid professional version called Mail Washer Pro.
- Hijack This (Win) - Free Hijack fixing tool. (Know what your computer is doing behind the scenes.)
- Open Office (Win/Linux) - Free Office Suite
- GNU Ghostscript (Win/Linux) - Free PDF program for converting files between postscript and PDF and printing postscript files on non-postscript printers.
- Ghostview (Win/Linux) - Free program for creating PDF files.
- Dia (Win/Linux) - Free diagram program for office graphic engineering.
- Xnview (Win/Linux) - Free for private use twain scanning program, also allows for graphic manipulation and conversion.
- The Gimp- (Win/Linux) - Free graphics program
- Blender (Win/Linux) - Free 3D graphic creation suite
- Image Magick (Win/Linux) - Free graphic conversion and enhancement program
- Infanviewer (Win) - Free graphic viewer, editor, and manipulator program.
- 7Zip (Win/Linux) - Free archiving program
- Lite Step Desktop Shell Replacement (Win) - Free desktop replacement shell.
- Multimedia
- Audacity (Win/LInux) - Free Audio Editor
- WinAmp (Win) - Free media type player and replacement. Works well with Lite Step Desktop Shell.
- Nero 5 (Win) - Commercial paid program media burning software, and cover designer.
Internet
- Mozilla - Free browser/Email/Newsgroup reader/HTML Editor
- F-Protect - Commercial paid anti-virus program
- File Zilla - Free FTP Program
- GIAM - Free instant messenger program
- Firewall - Built in Linux firewall from operating syystem
- The Gimp - Free graphic program
- Open Office - Free Office Suite
- Dia - Free diagram program
- Bender - Free 3 D graphics program
- GhostView - Free view postscript and PDF files plus ccreate PDF files
- Image Magick - Free graphic editor and conversion program
- Xnview - Free for private use graphic file viewer
- GNU Cash - Free financial program
- 7Zip - Free archiving program
- KDE - Free desktop environment
- Totum - Free Media Player
- Audacity - Free Audio Editor
- K3b CD Burner - Free media burning software.
At the time of installation and download all listed software listed free were free but please be aware authors change their policy from time to time so a program that is listed free may no longer be free. Also note that most Linux software that is free will also accept a donation usually through PayPals, while it is not required to donate it is encourage if you find the program useful.
A quick way to get your feet wet in a new operating system is checking for a Live CD version that runs completely from your CD-ROM drive without installing anything onto your hard drive. It is recommended but not required to have two cd-drives as this allows you to save your work files to CD-ROM media using in most cases a built in cd program within the operating system such as Linux usually offers K3B to do this with.
Another point with Live CD's are you can try a variety of them and find out which one works the best with your hardware and then if you take a chance to buy an operating system you already know what it offers and what hardware you have that it will support. This saves you from buying an operating system only to find it does not work with the hardware you have or worse will not even install.
While my focus has been in Linux there are other choices out there such as BSD, Unix, Solaris, and BEOS that I am aware of and of course many different flavors of WIN. Also not to mention the Macintosh computer and its operating system too. Your operating choices depends on your system and what the operating systems supports as minimum system requirements.
Since March of 2004 my system is up and running, and as the months go by the transition to Linux is slowly taking root. At this point I am not interested in having just one operating system because frankly neither operating system can fully accommodate my needs. I eventually see ME being used mainly for gaming and hdtv viewing while Linux will be used for business and interneting. What has been really remarkable is my system feels like it has gone back in time to where it is actually a joy to use, my work gets done quicker, easier to maintain, and the uptime has been totally amazing. It has been like install it, run it, and forget about it. While there has been some sacrifices such as learning new software, learning a new operating system, it has been a very worthwhile experience.
Article update April 8, 2005
After 13 months of my ME/Linux setup, it was the death of my hard drive that finished off my operating systems. Now that I am more familiar with Linux, I have rebuilt my system to have XP and Linux running as a dual boot configuration and taking full advantage of my processors hyper threading capabilities.
The main reason I upgraded back to XP is since I have upgraded to the SIM 2, the game runs very well on XP and takes advantage of my additional memory and now much larger hard drive configuration.
Currently I use XP to play games, and watch HDTV; while my Linux side takes care of my everyday computing needs including using the internet.
Article update June 16, 2007
After two years and two months my old machine has been retired after breaking down with a motherboard problem. My new machine I plan on another dual boot system, will have to find out if Vista Ultimate Edition will dual boot with Linux. If not I will return back to XP Professional with an updated Linux system. Or maybe try something totally new like Mac OS with a Linux system. Whatever I choose, I want to keep it simple install it, run it, and forget about it.
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