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Welcome to My Place to talk Computers!I did not grow up with computers like many younger people. When I was in college, computers were a huge machine in the basement that they fed heavy cards with holes in them! I first became interested in computers about the time I went to seminary. I visited a friend who was a writer and he had gotten a Kaypro computer. He used a word processor called 'WordStar.' I was facinated by his ability to move paragraphs around and instert text without having to retype anything. I was hooked! However, I was not able to do more than read about computers for many years. In 1988, I did finally get a laptop and WordPerfect 5.0. As a Pastor I used it to write sermons, classes, buletins, take notes at seminars etc. However, I was driven to find out how to make that computer do more and more. That is how I began to learn computers. Eventually I began to build my own computers, but my real love was the software. As Windows came on the scene, I certainly tried it out, but I was a DOS guy. The command prompt and the clean interface of WordPerfect was far more efficient if not quite as user friendly. Eventually it became obvous that Windows was the wave of the future. However, I was never impressed with Microsoft software. I had learned there was better stuff out there. I used D(igital)R(esearch) DOS which I found to be much better than MS DOS. I latter became a fan of OS/2, which was a superior OS, but suffered from the fatal desease of no native software and poor marketing. Don't misunderstand me, it's not that I do not know the Microsoft/Windows world, I make a living in it now that I am no longer Pastoring a Church. I just know there is better stuff out there. As OS/2 was dying, I became intrigued with the up and coming Linux. However, I found Linux to be impossible to install, let alone work with, as a non-technical user. I decided that I would not approach Linux as a computer guy, but as a user. I was and am a user of computers. Linux was more stable, more powreful and more secure, but I understood that if Linux was to become a real option it would have to make a lot of progress, so I continued as a Windows guy, even at home. I did keep checking up on Linux and trying out different distributions from time to time. However, it was years before I found one that I thought could compete with Windows on the desktop -- that is for everyday users. When SuSE Linux 8.0 came out, I tried it and thought, 'this is really close!' I began to 'play' with each new version and by 9.0, I set up a dual boot of SuSE and Windows. In 2004 Novell bought SuSE and committed its considerable resources to developing it. By version 9.3 I got rid of my Windows partition and booted only into SUSE Linux at home. I, and a few others, also got the IT department where I worked at that time to start using it on a limited basis. I think it was about version 10.0 that Novell opened development up to the open source community and it became "openSUSE." The current version is 10.3 (but, as you can see below, version 11 will be out soon!) and is such a pleasure to work on, that it is hard to see why anyone still uses that other OS! The people I know who do not switch, do not do so because they like Windows but because of inertia. That is all they know. It is what came with the computer. It would be a lot of work to learn something new. It is for such people that I wrote my "Windows to Linux Guide." This guide will be my first, and for now, the only posted work under the Technical area: Windows to Linux Guide you need a PDF reader to view this file. If you are using Linux, then you already have this. If you are using windows, it may have been included by the manufacturer of the computer. If you do not have it, you can click this link to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. This link will automatically detect your Operating System and give you the lastest version for your OS. As of this update, the site is just beginning so be patient and come back now and then to see what's new! This site is best viewed with: The best browser on the best Operating SystemReport broken links or other issues to webmaster@schutzonline.net |
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