SteamCat

Peer pressure. For years the IT guy at work bugged me about taking a look at Linux. Between him and a friend near home I was hearing and seeing more and more about Linux. I hadn't really planned on parting company with Windows, even in light of the peer pressure. I had every intention of buying XP when it was released. When XP's license schenanigans was announced I caved. Since my liberation I have learned a great deal about the Evil Empire and I am damn glad I parted company with that crap they peddle as software. :) The IT guy at work gave me a 7.1 CD and it installed pretty good. Had a few quirks. The guy near home gave me the 8.1 CD's and they installed even better. I've been a happy Linux camper ever since. I can no longer even imagine not using it. I cringe all day at work when I have to use Win2K. In fact, I ran into the local friend tonight at a meeting and he asked if I was enjoying immunity from all the garbage running around the internet screwing up computers. I certainly am! Actually, I have not yet used Mandrake 10. For the past few months I have been using Mepis. I love it every bit as much as I did Mandrake. :)

Yeah, PJ is awesome! I used to follow links and read all kinds of SCO stuff but I now read only Groklaw. I usually don't go the site to read the headlines. I just have Opera set up to periodically grab the rss feed. B)

VISI Progress. http://www.vero-software.com/ Apparently VISI is written in VB. Reportedly they are in the process of changing the whole thing to C++. At any rate, as of today VISI must first install VB on a system that does not already have it before VISI can be installed.

I ran the Crossover Office 30 day trial last month. Extremely impressive. Of course, the ONE peice of software that keeps me in Windows probably doesn't stand a chance on it. :( But, we'll see. i'm going to buy a Crossover office license anyway. :)

Well, well well, here's a lonely thread that could use some company. About 30 minutes or so is all MEPIS took to grab me hook, line and sinker. Last night (5/25) I booted into the live CD and it ran great. Then I got bold and launched the install routine. It was a beautiful sight! In less than 30 minutes my computer transmogrified from Mandrake to MEPIS. The MEPIS install is probably the most impressive thing I have seen in 15 or so years of using computers. Everything works out of the gate and it is damn fast. During the install MEPIS asked me what to do with each partition that it found. I kept all my partitions the same and told it to format and reinstall root & swap and to keep home. Once the install was done I booted into MEPIS/KDE and my entire /home along with all my KDE settings were completely unscathed. Damned impressive. ;) The first thing I did was installed Opera's deb package. Next up was Gaim. I didn't see a deb package on their download site and i'm not hip on compiling so I didn't want to take the time to step through it late last night. I just opened the shell and typed 'apt-get install gaim'. It was a beautiful sight. B) MEPIS

At work i've got VMWare running a Win2K VM in Mandrake and I have my design software installed. So, technically I can stay in Mandrake 24/7 at work. Unfortunately the performace is trash. :( I design with solids and the Win2K VM running in Mandrake slows to a crawl if I try to work in it. So, I am limited to booting into Mandrake during lunch to play. :( The IT dept guys use Mandrake and all of the servers are some form of *nix or another. Mostly Mandrake. They were talking about converting the whole company because very few people are trapped in Windows. Basically, us designers are the only people using software that can not be replaced with a *nix equivalent. But, a Windows loving corporate mentality won't let it happen. They are even starting to lean towards forcing him to replace all the *nix servers with Windows servers. He said if that happens he'll hit the road. He's said many times over the years that there's no way in hell he would ever be responsible for a network running Windows servers. Oh well. Maybe someday the right software will hit the market and I will be able to boot into Limux and stay there. :)

If the software I use at work offered a Linux version I would be totally Windows free forever. http://www.vero-software.com I use Mandrake exclusively at home. :) I've got a few native Linux games but have not played them in a long time. :( Just no time. I loooooove Heretic II. :woops: The same computer has a Win98SE partition that my kids use for all their kids programs; Reading Blaster, Math Blaster, Carmen Sandiego, etc. Sometimes before I reboot into Linux I sneak in a little Half Life or Delta Force. :unsure: Once the budget allows I am going to eliminate the dual boot. The Win98 machine will just sit in the corner for the kids use and i'll finally be able to start bragging about uptime. :) Edit; fixed the bad url.

hehe, one of these days I'll have to take a peek at that site. Looks very... amusing! Of course, the stories to the countrary are mounting daily. "On a slightly grander scale, Amazon.com switched much of its massive internal network to Linux in 2000. By the third quarter of 2001, the company reported saving $17 million, slashing nearly a quarter of its tech expenses." That is from: http://www.willametteweek.com/story.php?story=4764

That was an easy find. Thanks for the direction! :) http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID.../4494/4494.html

This is one of my favorite Windows rant sites: http://www.euronet.nl/users/frankvw/ Click on the 'Proud to be 100% Microsoft Free' button. :) I only use Windows for work. Should my work software ever get ported to Linux or made to run in Wine then I am off Windows completely. Still, on my Win2K box at work I use Opera, Gimp and OO.o. :)

Yes, like him! Thanks for the link. :)

Yup, there is a very powerful Linux think tank. Here's the link; http://www.mandrakeusers.org/ But, I know what you mean. We need an eccentric billionaire to become a Linux fanatic. :)

furious3

but but but.... Windows security IS better than Linux! Just ask Ballmer, he'll tell ya! It is amusing how all the FUD and rhetoric out of Redmond just doesn't seem to quite jive with what's actually happening in the field. B)

Seriously though... what is supposed to happen when the spell check button is pushed? I ask because I see nothing happening. :unsure: Yes, I baited it! :P

Much more intriguing that way. headbang

My title is still frequent. :lol:

Alright, I added an avatar. The Avatar's name appears to be 'frequent'. :D

*looks at the 'frequent' under his name. Of course! :P

I would be happy with my little row of pengiuns. :( Now I suppose I have to use a special rank. I know you will assign me an appropriate one Mystifed. B)

Gotta love Microsoft! It takes guts to tout the security of vaporware that is still two years away from release.

This thing is a hoot. :lol: And the games gap is narrowing. I thoroughly enjoy my Q3A and Heretic II from Loki. :) And that's barely scratching the surface. Haven't even begun to work with the ports for my older ID games.

My primary Linux box is at home. I have Mandrake running at work but until I can get my design software ( http://www.vero-software.com ) running at a decent speed (ie; as fast or faster than on the Win2K partition) in VMware or running in Wine I can not stay in Mandrake. Home; PIII/866 128 MB RAM 20GB Western Digital 32 MB Matrox Millenium Intel NIC CDR, USB and all that jazz. Some crappy old 14" monitor for which I paid $10. ;) Work; PIV/1.4 GHz 640 MB RAM 40 GB Disk Sound/nic on board USB ports all over the bloody thing. hehe CD-RW Nvidia GeForce2 :( And my pride and joy: A Spaceball! Labtec owned it when I bought mine. I have no idea who is making it now. http://www.cwonline.com/store/view_product...sp?Product=1185 It's a great desktop PC and would make any admin assistant happy. However it runs my design software like crap. Especially that god-forsaken Nvidia card. :x I suppose Nvidia is ok for games as long as you stay away from the GeForce2. :roll: I'm dying for a 3DLabs Wildcat adapter. 8) http://www.3dlabs.com/whatsnew/pressreleas...07-09-linux.htm But I digress. :wink:

Good grief what is wrong with these people? SCO is setting themselves up for a legal beat down like has never been seen before.

:shock: I'm going to patent roads. My patent will be retroactive to the earliest recorded history of their use. *starts thinking about how to spend his new found fortunes* I suppose this had to happen sooner or later. :roll: This patent crap, someone attempting to destroy Linux and Open Source software. My hope is that it will get nipped in the bud before significant damage is done. Crazy stuff. :( I mean... can you imagine having to pay more for Linux than a Windows license? WTF is that all about? Gee I wonder what company would like to see that happen? :roll: The sheer idiocy boggles my mind. How long do patents remain in effect? I just read in Linux Format that the patent on LZW compression expired on July 20th. I guess people can now legally create gif files in the US. Doesn't expire in Europe until next year. :roll: I ramble. 8)