Holidays over, back to normal

Apologies for the lengthy gap in posting. This is largely down to the holidays, but also to my playing with two new operating systems. I’ve just upgraded my main desktop PC to SUSE Linux 10.0 – if you’ve never tried Linux (or even tried it more than a couple of years ago), I’d seriously recommend giving it a try. You can download LiveCDs and LiveDVDs, which will run linux on your Windows PC without having to install anything so that you can dip your toes in the water (although CD-based running will be slower than an installed system).

But the other new OS was Mac OS X. Just before Christmas, my work was selling off some old laptops and I picked up a 3-year-old iBook for £130, which wasn’t bad. A quick installation of OS X 10.3 (not the most recent version, because that could use a bit more grunt than this old laptop can muster) and I’ve got a very usable system. I’ve not used a Mac much since the old days of OS7, 8 and 9, so X was interesting. And, seriously, it’s excellent. For anyone needing a new computer, give a Mac a try. They knock the pants off WindowsXP for usability and safety. The family-friendly features are stunning (including being able to control the websites your child views and who they can email or chat with, very easily indeed). And the interface is much less ugly :-)

Anyhow, normal service should now be resumed. And, as you will soon see, I’ve quite a backlog of chat to get off my chest.

pax et bonum

Article posted at 8:33pm on 05 January 2006
Category: Computers, Life, Struggling, General

I have thought a lot recently about going to Linux, just as I am slowly migrating to Open Source. However the fun and games I’ve been having trying to get Mandrake or Ubuntu to work on my (admittedly tired) laptop is leaving me rather cautious about doing anything on either my “work” or “play” machine.

drmoose () (URL)
4:48pm on 13 January 2006