Tag: ubuntu

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Reclaiming Your Technology

One of the biggest changes in technology in the last ten years is a shift from software being bought by end users to being leased by corporations. Almost everything has gone from “buying a copy” to a subscription-based model. Companies that have replaced licenses with subscriptions include:

  • Adobe
  • Microsoft
  • Apple
  • Autodesk (Fusion 360)
  • Avid Audio (ProTools)
  • etc.

Of course, there are many others. But simply put: the reason these companies have switched from purchase-based to subscription-based models is because they make more money that way.

And if companies are making more money with subscriptions, that means customers are spending more money. Continue reading “Reclaiming Your Technology”

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Macwards Compatible

I recently had a discussion about Apple products with a friend. As usual when I discuss Apple, it reminded me of how much control companies have over our overall technological experience.

I recently picked up a vintage Power Mac G4 (a Graphite G4 AGP, for those wondering), and the first thing I thought of was “what OS should I put on it?”

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you’d know that I’m a proponent of Linux, and I knew Ubuntu at one point had a distro made for PowerPC-based computers, so I started digging. And what I found kind of both disgusted me, and confirmed what I knew about Apple all along.

Time warp: I remember, back in the late 90’s, when they first introduced Mac OS X. It was a huge slap in the face of Microsoft at the time, because it signaled a transition to a “real” operating system, based on Unix. Which of course meant that it was stable, fast, and easily extended. And then of course, Apple took the very best things about Unix, locked them down, and made it into a proprietary platform that was (in some ways) worse than Microsoft Windows.

Continue reading “Macwards Compatible”

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Less Is More: Recycle An Old Computer

One of the ways I’ve been able to save money over the years is to not buy new computers, or software for my older computers.

Seriously. When you buy a new computer, you’re paying for the hardware, plus a license to use some version of Windows, but to get Microsoft Office, you have to dish out another few hundred bucks. And antivirus, of course, need that, so that’s another $60. CD burning software? It doesn’t come with that? Another $20. Games? $20-$50 a pop. And you need other stuff to go with it, of course.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just buy a computer, and then be able to use it? Man. Who wants to spend an extra $300 on software to use on a $400-$800 computer? I sure don’t. Did you know that there are thousands of perfectly usable programs out there, that work just as well as the Microsoft stuff, that you can download, legally, for free?

Yup. So fire up that shiny new computer, and immediately go find a free web browser, like Chrome or Firefox.

Need something to open and edit Office files? Spreadsheets, documents, and so on? OpenOffice, or Libre Office. Both are fully-functional office suites, but completely and legally free.

Antivirus? Did you know you can download AVG Antivirus for free?

There are tons and tons of more productive things you can put on your computer, for free. Can’t upgrade to Windows 7/8? Things like Evernote, Dropbox, or Winamp will work fine on older computers.

But if you want to build the ultimate cheap/free computer, you can pick them up (usually with wiped hard drives) at Goodwill or garage sales. Sometimes I find them in a dumpster! If you happen to find a working, functional computer- even if it’s old- you can usually bring it back to life by installing some version of Linux on it, probably Ubuntu.

And Ubuntu is completely, legally, free. It works very similar to OSX, but you don’t have to pay $300! Not even $30!! You get an awesome, virus-proof fast-running computer for absolutely nothing more than the cost of the used hardware. How can you beat that?

It comes with Audio/Video software… free. Word processing, internet, chat, webcam, graphics, you name it! All for free, legally. All it takes is some time to get used to it, and learn.

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Evernote with Autofill in Ubuntu

UPDATE: I no longer use Evernote. My account was compromised multiple times from overseas IPs, with no notifications from Evernote. It wasn’t until someone tried to sync a phone to my account that I was notified. I checked the logs, and discovered it had been accessed several times without my knowing. I cannot recommend using it any more. If you are interested in similar tools, check out NixNote instead. Plus, it runs in Linux or Windows. I’ve left this article up for reference only. Continue reading “Evernote with Autofill in Ubuntu”

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A Letter Of Complaint To Ubuntu 9.10

Okay, most of my readers know I’m a big proponent of Linux as an alternative to Windows. But lately, there’s been dissension among the ranks. And in a rare fit of frustration, I find myself dissatisfied. I suppose I should be more specific. I’m not installing Windows on my workstation, not getting rid of my MythTV box. I’m not talking suicide… just need to get a few gripes off of my chest about the best free OS ever made.

For years, I used Red Hat Linux. It was the de facto standard, and most servers ran it. Then along came SuSE Linux, which was a huge step in advancement. There are still times when I wish I ran a SuSE distribution, it’s that good… at least as of a year or two ago it was.

Then I discovered the phenomenon of Ubuntu, and all its flavors. For people like me who wanted to try out all the newest apps and have them work out of the box, Ubuntu was a Godsend. Everything worked for me right off the bat, it had all the apps I wanted already in the repositories, and you could get it with different desktops preinstalled.

However, in a surprising turn of events, I’ve discovered Ubuntu has utterly failed in several categories in the last year, specifically with version 9.10. I happily ran Ubuntu 8.10 for quite a while, and had no issues until I replaced my graphics card one day… all of a sudden it wouldn’t autodetect it, and I couldn’t get X to work right no matter how hard I tried. When I tried putting the original card back in, the system was rendered useless. So I backed up my stuff, made a note of apps I wanted to install, and did a fresh install of Ubuntu Studio 9.10. This is when the irritation set in. Continue reading “A Letter Of Complaint To Ubuntu 9.10”