General Updates (Corrected)
Here are updates to previous posts I would have made had my former web host's servers not been down so much over the past three weeks. These are in no particular order.
As a result of my Ubuntu 7.10 experience I tried PCLinuxOS and the install was very simple, the machine worked well with the operating system, however Synaptic continually returned errors when trying to install various software. Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and PC-BSD all had a shot. None of these met my needs as far as browser add-ons and available well running software. I did not want to spend hours configuring this particular machine, I could have made any of those listed eventually work, but I wanted stable, free, easy and secure. I installed Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support) which continues until 2009. I may just leave this version of Ubuntu on this machine for the remainder of its life. The install ran flawlessly the display worked great and the machine was not encumbered with doing whatever it is that version 7.10 is doing with its CPU cycles. I installed the educational software for the kids and Cartoon Network's flash games worked fine, all relatively painless.
This year I took part in NaNoWriMo for the fourth year in a row. I found that now that I have completed this challenge twice, and actually have a published book sitting on the book shelf that this goal is not driving me as it once did. I outlined my story idea as I had in other successful years and I could not motivate myself as I did in other years. By day four the "I have been there and done that" realization kicked in and I found I just was not interested this year. Perhaps the novel bug will bite me again one day but I think I have scratched this itch enough. I am unsure if I will bother next year, perhaps if the next great idea jumps into my head I might. On to another of the goals I want to accomplish before I die.
My Leopard experience has continued to be a good one. I did find two applications so far that I had to reinstall after the upgrading from Tiger. The open source image editor, the GIMP returned errors and did not start. Skype stopped working after the first Leopard update. I just removed the applications and reinstalled the latest version and all is working again.
As a result of my Ubuntu 7.10 experience I tried PCLinuxOS and the install was very simple, the machine worked well with the operating system, however Synaptic continually returned errors when trying to install various software. Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and PC-BSD all had a shot. None of these met my needs as far as browser add-ons and available well running software. I did not want to spend hours configuring this particular machine, I could have made any of those listed eventually work, but I wanted stable, free, easy and secure. I installed Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support) which continues until 2009. I may just leave this version of Ubuntu on this machine for the remainder of its life. The install ran flawlessly the display worked great and the machine was not encumbered with doing whatever it is that version 7.10 is doing with its CPU cycles. I installed the educational software for the kids and Cartoon Network's flash games worked fine, all relatively painless.
This year I took part in NaNoWriMo for the fourth year in a row. I found that now that I have completed this challenge twice, and actually have a published book sitting on the book shelf that this goal is not driving me as it once did. I outlined my story idea as I had in other successful years and I could not motivate myself as I did in other years. By day four the "I have been there and done that" realization kicked in and I found I just was not interested this year. Perhaps the novel bug will bite me again one day but I think I have scratched this itch enough. I am unsure if I will bother next year, perhaps if the next great idea jumps into my head I might. On to another of the goals I want to accomplish before I die.
My Leopard experience has continued to be a good one. I did find two applications so far that I had to reinstall after the upgrading from Tiger. The open source image editor, the GIMP returned errors and did not start. Skype stopped working after the first Leopard update. I just removed the applications and reinstalled the latest version and all is working again.
