computoman

Quote from an unnamed blog: Quote: Probably going to get lambasted for this, but it is something to think about when judging a potential employee. Can a potential employee use what they have or do they need thousands of dollars just to do the simplest thing to get going. Here we will pit a confirmed Microsoft software only advocate versus someone who has at least some familiarity with linux or is willing to try something new and use the systems alloted to them. In each of two separate rooms on the desk is a Pentium II computer with 128 megs of ram, minimal graphics card, network connection, floppy drive and a 4 gig hard drive. This system will have access to the internet. Also on the desk, are two items. A brand new MSWindows 7 dvd install disk and a gpxe based floppy setup to install linux remotely via the network. The two potential techs are sent to each of the separate rooms to get their computer up and running plus send an email to predefined email address left on a piece o...

# Santa 's workshop is putting another old pc back to work with # openbsd or # tinycore linux for someone. Installed Tinycore linux. Many networking systems such as firewalls and routers run some type of Bsd. Even the mac osx traditionally has been run on bsd underneath. Rumor has it though ios will replace the current format. Installed Openbsd on a system I call a Pentium 1.5. It was the AMD Socket 7 upgrade to the traditional Pentium 1.

“The Night Before Christmas” (with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore , whose “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” is now in the public domain) ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and in my home office Not a creature was stirring, not even my mouse; The code strings were hung by the mind’s eye with care, In hopes that St. Linux soon would be there; My staff were all snuggled quite still in their beds, And visions of run-times danced in their heads; While my wife’s RSS reader, and I done with News, Had just settled down for a long winter’s snooze, When back of my screensaver there arose such a clatter, I ran to the office to see what was the matter. Re-booting my old slow PC from c: drive, I waited for Windows’ trusty home screen to arrive. The glow from my screen on my new-woken eyes Gave a sparkle of mid-day to icons, any size, When, what to my wondering ears should appear, But the sound of a server, now wasn’t that queer? And a man lounged behind, whom I knew would be kind to us I ...

Was watching The Today Show and they had a segment where Microsoft was going to help out some schools and their computer educational programs with a free gifts of MSWindows 8. With articles like http://www.zdnet.com/mit-professor-windows-8-is-a-Christmas-gift-for-someone-you-hate-7000008479/ makes me wonder what MSFT is really up to. After a year, the school systems will probably have to start paying for licensing (also known as the Microsoft tax). So the MSWindows 8 will put the school systems possibly even in a worse situation.  To add insult to injury, if the school system can not pay for software, they probably have not updated their equipment recently. So to run the so-called free MSWindows 8, the school system already stretched for money will have to spend a whole lot of money to upgrade their computer equipment just to install and run MSWindows 8.  So how is that a bargain? Enter open source....  In fact, one such free operating system that predates linux by abo...

What a banner year for Linux and it's derivatives. The computer landscape has changed. And in other news... Linux Torvalds the creator of linux dropped linux support for the old i386. Not a big deal. Probably use free dos and opengem if I had to use one of those units anyway. People sometimes ask me what linux distro I use. Underneath the hood they are all basically the same. Thought I do use Debian the most as it is uniform over different hardware platforms. I.E. Arm, X86, X86_64 and etc.

You can now play the on-line games from Valve on linux according to: http://techgage.com/news/valve-beginning-to-list-linux-system-requirements-for-select-titles-on-steam/ See http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/ for more information. Note: Requires an up to date well annointed machine. Check out: http://www.valvesoftware.com/linuxsurvey.php

Several media entities are exclaiming the Microsoft server and Cals are going up in price. Linux vendors must be happy about that. Should be easier to sell Linux instead of Microsoft to current and future clients.  Traditionally with Microsoft, you just can not get one product to act as a server. You really have to buy several packages to have working servers. That means if you use Microsoft, you will feel the price increase several times. http://paritynews.com/business/item/502-microsoft-goes-after-enterprise-customers-raises-licensing-prices What really bugs me is Cals or customer access licenses, you are charged extra to access your own server for each client system you have. Why are you paying additional costs to access your own server. It's not their server. Should that not be included in the server costs. With the new server software, you will probably have to buy all new hardware to be able to use the new software to boot. If you use Non-microsoft products to also access the...

There is a new way of wifi networking that will allow you to have wireless nodes as a network backbone to replace a repeater network.The mesh networking has become popular in Austin, Texas and is spreading like wildfire. Another way people can become their own isp.  For example ,say you have several houses or homes that you want to connect. You will not have to run any cabling between the units. All you need is a router that can run the Hsmm-mesh (tm) firmware. The network is a variation on ham packet radio. The original intention was to have a free network where anyone can become a node. You can do a little specialization if you want it to be at least a little bit private via the ssid. Several homes or locations do not have to be next to each other, but the participating units have to have standard routers that have the hsmm-mesh software installed.  You can tie the routers together, by using traditional repeaters, but if the main router goes down, so does the network. ...

According to sources, Microsoft Windows 8 is not selling like they would prefer. Everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else. Mr. Sinofsky who was allegedly in charge of the project at Microsoft said he left of his own accord. In any respect, it seems as if Mr. Ballmer is using Mr. Sinofsky as a scapegoat per various articles on the internet. http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112730520/microsoft-management-steve-sinofsky-windows-111312/ . Definitely hardware manufacturers are refusing to be the scape goat also. Personally, I think there are other reasons for the slack sales of MSWindows 8. With a restricted economy, many people and companies are using existing equipment and software. Linux has also allowed the continued use of existing equipment thereby lessening the need for purchasing new equipment with a newer operating system.  The price of MSWindows 8 equipment and operating system is not price compatible with the economy. The systems may be worth the proud price ...

The new Linux mint Nadia  (14.1) allegedly now supports the EFI or secure boot of the latest Intel motherboards. Great for linux users who have been reluctant to upgrade equipment per: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2234 The latest update also should resolve the major issues of 14.0.