Saturday, February 04, 2006

 System running: It's Called Xandros 3.0.1 - I think it must be some frre Edition, or the Standard ( understand: Basic) one, 'cause you got some advertisement to upgrade to the full breed stuff by sometimes. Obvious Limitations are: No DVD Writing, CD-Burn limited to 2x speed.

This Xandros Stuff is the perfect one to move from Commercial Software to Open Source: It just got most anything you need. That's why I bought it in the first place: The cover of the box just said that. Or talked about "migration companion" & the like.

Xandros is using KDE as desktop/management soft, seems to more or less comply with the Debian installation system (to install new softwares automatically) & is delivered with an outdated Open Office.org suite that works slow, but great.

Hey, you lost already ? So did I, so still am I. Do you want Linux ? Well, you can get Linux & nothing else: Think of yourself in some Mathematics Laboratory of Advanced This & That, in front of the end terminal of a decent SUV-Sized computer, and there is this _ thing blinking at the top letf cormer of a black screen. Waiting for your imput. That's more likely Unix, but ok, Linux about that: A Core, a Kernel (as the name it). The underneath DOS of Win3.11 1,000 years ago. What do you do with it ? Nothing if you are not a programmer.

So, you have Linux. Some branded computers come with Linux - and - nothing else (HP does that). Now, what do you need... You need windows. I mean, the real windows the sense Apple invented them 999 years ago. You desesperately need this interface which will replace an obscure set of command lines into a button to click. Two main competitors are KDE & GNOME: You know there are thousands of different "Linux" (what you though was Linux) out there, but actually, they all are Linux with either Gnome or KDE. AND I spare you the involvement of another layer, called the GNU. But, you have to know that even what I call Linux is actually GNU/Linux - Another Operating System layer on top of Linux, but check out www.gnu.org & report here if you understand anything.

To the next Layer now, my friends: The Distribution, or Distro. That's quite an accurate name, 'cause that's what they are: A box of stuff organized in a specific way, with Xandros putting an accent on Win-like stuff, while others are famous enough to rely on their image itself to convince people to buy them. The point in a distro is to offer a potential customer exactly what fit his/her needs: Networking, Graphics, Office "clerk" machines, even safe Browsing unit (Linux does not protect your privacy any better than the others - nobody is, privacy is your sole responsability but it is very harsh to handle that)... Yep, safe browsing because it is immune to virus.

So, my full tech Spec would be: Xandros 3, running KDE 3.3, on kernel (the linux soft) 2.6.9. All this is rather slow on a 512mb mem, 1.6ghz P4 with 32mb video.

I am using it mainly for work (I am a representative of a local NGO here in Cambodia) which means I do:
-Administate my Organization Mailboxes (volume in three monts is up to almost 5,000 mails now)
-Use myself a lot of Email & browsing in the best interest of my organization.
-Work on "clerk Jobs", writting project & reports up to 30 pages & 4megs, with pics & graphics. And, for sure, designing awfully detailled budgets for all this. And yes, I know I am communicating with Win People (The United Nations for instance ALL run WINStuff). It's mainly flawless, and if I got a compatibility problem, I just click on "Export to PDF" instead of "save as winStuff" and this fellow in Paris or New York will get a perfectly readable doc.

A bit more than Three Full Months of Xandros later, I just love KDE and the infinite possibility of twisting your computer, like I like the idea anybody can do the same with the code if they feel like. Excellent. For me, I got enough in twisting the looks, forget me about codes.

Cheerio - See you later