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Why not try Linux?

My Linux Shop

Click here for my Linux t-shirts, mugs, etc...

Random Wisdom

He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts - for support rather than for illumination. - Andre Lang

Experience

Mid 1980's - The Atari 130XE is the computer that I started out with. Back then the BASIC prompt came up when you booted. I spent many the day sitting in absolute wonder and amazement that I could type instructions into a machine and have it do what I wanted. This was the beginning of my love of programming. This machine had 128K of RAM and ran at about 1.7MHz and could do a resolution of 320x192 (256 colors). It had no harddrive, everything done from 5.25" floppies. I had a XM301 300 baud modem with which I would connect to local BBS's. Late 1980's - Next came the Amiga 2000. I really loved this computer, it took my computing to a new level. I was heavily into programming with a language called "AMOS". This system had 1M of RAM and ran at about 8MHz and could do a resolution of 640x480 (4096 colors in special HAM mode). I now had a 14400 baud modem and a 30Meg harddrive. The pirated games for this system flowed like a mountain stream, and that was ok for me as I didn't have money and Amiga software was hard to come by where I lived. Early 1990's - During my time at university I finally gave up on the dying Amiga and got a 386 running MSDOS which I absolutely hated. It felt like downgrading from a Porche to a Lada. Anyway, much of the 1990's was spent waiting for the next new and improved PC. Next I had a 486, which I hated a little less, then a Pentium 133 running Win95, upgraded later to 200MHz. Close to the end of the century I was using a Celeron 366 running Win98. 2000 to 2003 - Had a 1.4GHz PC running Linux and my computer had become fun again. Adjusting to Linux on the desktop had been a bit of battle sometimes but it's worth it. Open-source is the future. 2004 and onward - Now using a 2.0GHz AMD PC running Linux and my computer is still fun. Comment [Go to top of page]

Linux

I am an advocate of the Linux operating system. It used to be that there really was no viable desktop alternative for the Windows OS unless you could afford to buy a Mac. Although Linux has been around since the earlyish 90's and has gained a reputation for being an excellent server platform, it has not had a good enough GUI and office/home apps to be a system for the average home user. With distributions like Ubuntu Linux, Mandriva Linux and SuSe Linux, this is changing. Although not yet completely perfected, Linux on the desktop is very usable and in many ways preferable desktop system for any computer user. Click here for my info on switching to Linux! Comment [Go to top of page]

Projects

Here are some of the things I am currently working on (or have worked on) in my spare time. Websites DesktopLinuxAtHome.com Site for promoting Linux usage on the desktop for home users. [VISIT SITE] SouthernOntarioDayTrips.com Search and submit day trips in Souther Ontario. [VISIT SITE] CroppingNews.com Scrapbooking news and stuff (kept updated by my wife). [VISIT SITE] OfficialReg.com Custom online registration form service. [VISIT SITE] Miscellaneous Web Control Icons Have a look at the icons I had created for anybody to use as they wish. I dedicated them to the public domain. Wallpapers (1600x1200, click to see enlarged image) Since acquiring a digital camera, I've taken a lot of scenery pictures. Below are just a few of the many hundreds I've taken. To use them as a desktop background, just click on the thumbnail image and right-click on the full image to save it to your harddrive... and you probably already know how to specify a desktop background on your computer so I don't need to explain it here. Close-up of the tree in my backyard. A spot somewhere along the trail that runs behind my house. View of the Grand River from Mill Race Park in Cambridge. Linux/Nerd T-Shirts Here are two graphics that I've made which can be used with t-shirt iron-on paper. The images are reversed so when you iron them on they come out the correct way. Image: s/windows/linux/g shirt image Image: 'my parents are geeks' binary baby shirt image The shirts can be seen (and purchased) from my cafepress site. [Go to top of page]

Current Setup

Here is some quick information about my home computer network setup. NETWORK: [Picture] INTERNET - DSL Modem INTRANET - Cisco Syslink Wireless Router SYSTEM 1: Woogie (my main system) [Picture] CPU - AMD 2.0GHz RAM - 2 Gig HD - 320 Gig OS - Arch Linux SYSTEM 2: Venus (spare computer) [Picture] CPU - AMD 1.8GHz RAM - 1 Gig HD - 160 Gig OS - Windows XP Pro SYSTEM 3: Pingu (basement computer) CPU - AMD 1.4GHz RAM - 256 Meg HD - 80 Gig OS - Windows XP Home SYSTEM 4: Linen (media center) CPU - AMD 1.4GHz RAM - 128 Meg HD - 80 Gig OS - Geexbox Linux SYSTEM 5: Reactor (file server) CPU - Pentium 4 1.4GHz RAM - 128 Meg HD - 40 Gig OS - currently dead SYSTEM 6: Evo (laptop) CPU - Pentium 4 1.8GHz RAM - 256 Meg HD - 30 Gig OS - Windows XP Pro SYSTEM 7: Armada (laptop) CPU - Pentium II 400 RAM - 128 Meg HD - 6 Gig OS - Vector Linux [Go to top of page]