Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I’ve been playing around with Linux for probably close to 15 years and am still far from comfortable using it. I keep hold tightly to my security blanket of Windows.

The first time I tried to put Linux on a computer, I bought a set of disks, CD’s in fact and tried to put it on a spare computer I had. It was a version of Slackware Linux and featured the latest installer to automate the job. That meant feeding it disc after disc and watching as screen after screen of text scrolled by, periodically stopping to prompt you for some arcane information that I usually had no idea how to answer. I gave my best guesses and it worked, sort of. I got it to run and create a root account. I even had a graphical interface (X-windows) running on it and it recognized the mouse. But I could never get the GUI to match the screen size, no matter what I did. Continue Reading…

I’m sharing these with you, not just for your sake, but so I can remember them when I forget the name of “that program I used to …” as I often do. I like how once I write something here I can refer back to it later. Even if it’s not so useful to you, I can use it!

Some of these programs I have mentioned here and there before. So I’m not losing it, I’m just consolidating.

PC Decrapifier Did you ever get a new computer and it had all these programs you didn’t want and never used? Trial programs that expire after thirty days then demand you buy them every 30 seconds? Stripped-down versions of the real programs you are going to install anyway? Offers to connect you to the internet through some ISP you wouldn’t be caught dead using? Of course, we all have had this experience. Some manufacturers are worse than others, but they all seem to load up your brand-new computer with a bunch of extra junk. PC Decrapifier to the rescue. Written by someone who experienced the same frustration, no doubt, it allows you to pick and choose what you want on your new computer. It’s free and safe, it only removes what you tell it to, and helps locate and identify those annoying freebies they stick on new computers.

There’s a lot more in this post so click here and Continue Reading…

In amongst all the self-congratulatory baloney at the Oscars last night, an award was given for Best Short Film. They showed clips of past winners and the films their makers went on to do after they had won this endorsement. It seem that the short film Oscar is the touch of gold for a budding director. Let’s hope so, because I’d like to see more of this…

Logorama

Well, I picked up a new vehicle today. New to me, 2005 model. It cost me just about what the insurance is paying for the poor Envoy that was totaled.

The vehicle I bought is an Isuzu Ascender, which almost nobody has even heard of. I hadn’t. Isuzu doesn’t even sell vehicles in the U.S. anymore. So why would I take a chance on a lame-duck used vehicle?

Simple. It’s just a rebranded Chevy Trailblazer/GMC Envoy. If you don’t look at the badging on the truck, you’d swear it was an Envoy. Inside, it’s almost identical to the 2003 Envoy I had and the trim details on the outside, that I think are “different,” I’m not so sure they’re not just due to the 2005 model year as much as the different name. Continue Reading…