Showing posts with label DOS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DOS. Show all posts

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Throw The Gaunlet . . .



Well, as good friends go, there are times when it's necessary to ruffle feathers. It is the time to replace complacency with resolve.

Complacency is not all that bad in a long term relationship, but it should experience a bit of conflict once in a while to churn the waters of emotion, enthusiasm and invention.

Being a long-time Linux convert and proponent has actually isolated me from my fellow computer/network associates who have decided to devote themselves to the M$ World. Being an 'Old Guy' who knows DOS and UNIX in the old style, my younger compatriots see me as a traitor toward the computing world – Microsoft is the only way to do computing, so they say.

Sorry, it ain't so. Hey, I'm all for the GUI; but GUI isn't all Microsoft. Actually, if you get down to it, GUI is Apple. Those guys were sortta the first that came up with a real ,viable Graphical User Interface system. Of course, at the time, in real early history, IBM and Xerox came up with a lot of those ideas but failed to implement them. Apple did , but Microsoft marketed and enabled it – under their brand names, of course – one guy stole from another and the other guy stole from another and on and on and on . . .

Anyway, I digress. What I'm trying to say is that no matter what system you wish to implement, keep your mind open to other ways to access your hardware. 

There are now so many ways that one can use a piece of hardware that's called a computer, to do and accomplish just about anything.  Basically, that  term, computer, is now so flexible as to define almost any type of interface associated within public life today.

A desktop; a laptop; a cellphone; a PDA; an automotive vehicle; an assembly robot on the line at a factory; a microwave oven; a refrigerator; a DVD player and the list can go on and on. They're all computers!

The point is that whatever the unit is, whatever the underlying OS is, computing is here to stay and it's gonna need people to service them.

Now, Geeks are a weird bunch. We can be as bitchy as a bunch of 'Flame Queens' on Friday the 13th, but when it comes down to nitty-gritty, you will see that bunch of unrelated characters get together and perform as such a close knitted team as you will have never seen before, ever – perfection personified, personified perfection. I state this as a fact because I was a part of that incredible team which had done an enormous task at the time,  of which you are all experiencing, enjoying and taking for granted today - networking, at least here in Canada in Southeastern Ontario.

It was an invigorating and strange encounter that I wish to do again!  Truly, a most ultimately, satisfying experience in my Life and one I wish to repeat, or at least come close to before I die.

But again, I digress – I do that a lot lately, since I'm an old guy 'n all. My esteemed and learned colleague likes to make fun of me in that way, but that's OK because he's mere kid, of course. 

He's actually pretty good and I sometimes have to defer to him a bit because I really can't see so well anymore nor handle those real small objects .

Now, if you folks want your laptops and other small items fixed, then by all means go to the Kid. If you want the big stuff and networking and all the other important stuff done, then come to the ME . . .  AND da Kid.

We're sortta part of the Main Team from above – the core, if you will – we make things happen!

~A~
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Friday, September 18, 2009

Why It's Nice To Have An Alternate OS




This graphic symbolizes that Linux isn't just a hobbyist's pursuit anymore. It's a serious OS & even Uncle Bill has offered some code - gratis - to be included into the newest kernel package. It has to do with various drivers & other such M$ mysterioso stuff so that Linux will have an easier time in dealing with upcoming "improvements" planned by the Big 'M'.

Thanks Bill, but although the offer is appreciated, you do understand that the code will be ripped to pieces, analyzed to death and then reassembled to fit the Linux scheme, doncha?
 

After my frustrating sojourn with my recent XP re-install, I retreated to my Linux partition to rest my mind & play with an OS that does what I want it to do, when I want it and how I want it without annoying error messages. If something goes wrong - rarely - the app either freezes which is simply killed by a basic command or it simply disappears. I then check out a system log which tells me - in Plain English! - what went wrong and then fix it. Or if I need a new app, I just fire up my Synaptic Software Manager - the graphical version of Debian's vaunted software retrieval system that takes care of any dependencies automatically - smooth! - & retrieve & install what I want in a relatively short time - no Vendors or nag ads to worry about.

Right now, there isn't much that isn't available in apps that Windoze has that doesn't have its equivalent in Linux. With Ultra-GUI distros like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Linux Mint & a host of others, it's easy for a Windows person to convert to the Legion of The Penguin. The aformentioned are all designed for Windows people who are helpless when in comes to handling the Command Line - Typing? Ugh! Syntax? Ugh!

  Being an old fart who was brought up on DOS - Do some of you even remember DOS? - and having my first computer experience with UNIX, I obviously favour the CLI (Command Line Interface) which is a lot more powerful in getting what you want. Hey! Even when I was in MCSE school, much of the administration of the various WinServers was done via CLI, much to the chagrin of my classmates.

Anyway, that's my rant on why I prefer Linux over 'doze. I just find it so much easier to deal with. 


~A~
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