Back from a Computer-Enforced Layoff

Since my last entry, I've been busy on the computer front. At home, I have two computers: a "frankendesktop" and a Compaq laptop. The frankendesktop was running Windows 2000, which didn't like my high-speed router. And it was hopelessly out of date. Time for a new operating system, I thought.

But rather than meekly shuffling off to plunk down for a full Windows XP install, I decided to stick it to the man: I decided to go Linux.

(A brief interlude for the non-tech geeks: Linux is an open-source operating system. Programmers have greated many different versions suited to different needs. These are called "distributions," or "distros". Popular distros include Ubuntu, Red Hat, PCLinuxOS, Open SUSE and Mandriva. If you have the skills, you can easily hack into these and modify them to your needs. Like Windows and Mac operating systems, they now have graphic user interfaces, so you don't need to communicate in code. Plus, they come with oodles of free and effective software. The more-popular distros are also very stable. You can download most flavors for free.)

Now, everything in that interlude sounds like a computer fool's paradise, does it not? Free. Customizable. Stable. Not Windows.

But there's a rub. A particular distro may hate your computer. Or just your soundcard. Or your video card. Or your ... aw, you get it already, right? I flirted with several of the above. OpenSUSE rejected me like a supermodel shooting down a Tolkien fan hitting on her in Elvish. PCLinuxOS seemed awesome - then I found out it had multiple personality disorder. Ubuntu ... well, we tried a few dates and decided to be friends.

I almost took Mandriva home to meet my parents. The office and graphics suites (AbiWord and GIMP) were terrrific. Mozilla Firefox was okay, but sometimes pooped out for no discernible reason. The audio editor met with mixed results. It would occassionally play a CD without fuss, but the audio editor (a must for anyone who enjoys writing and recording music) was horrible.

So I tried. I ultimately learned a few things. But it looks like it's dutifully back to Windows with me.

In our next episode, I'll answer the question you're certainly asking right now: But Justin, why not a Mac?