With Microsoft putting out less-and-less usable software and better-and-better options becoming available online, there is no reason to shell out hard earned money for Microsoft Office. If you aren’t quite ready to move your data and applications online (search our site for Web 2.0), then OpenOffice.org’s free office software is a wonderful option.
I’m helping another client with an Ubuntu setup. This time it is an Xubuntu setup on an almost 10 year old Gateway computer that has just a 350mhz processor (less than a fifth of the speed of modern processors). Xubuntu was designed for just such machines…it is leaner and requires less resources than the other flavors of Ubuntu Linux.
The install worked pretty well and the Internet works fine on a wired Ethernet connection, but the customer needs the wireless card to work instead. Unfortunately, wireless is a weakness in the current releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives. And because Xubuntu is slightly different than Ubuntu, I’m pretty much starting over with figuring out a solution.
I have written much about Ubuntu over the past six months, but today was my first public presentation of this fantastic operating system. Because it is different, many computer users tend to look upon it with eyes of confusion, but after discussing the possibilities and the opportunities with Ubuntu, those confused eyes turn to eyes of intrigue.
Getting people to think about an alternative to Windows and computing as we know it today were My only goals for today’s user group presentation. If you missed it, or you attended, here are some links to Ubuntu articles here at HelpMeRick.com and elsewhere:
If I was independently wealthy, I would give discounts to customers with Windows Vista. Alas, I am not independently wealthy and my business supports my family, so I charge for time I spend in a client’s office or home. One customer , today, could have saved 30-40% off their bill had they bought one of the few remaining laptops with Windows XP.
I ran across this site today while searching for alternative screen magnification programs. Whether you use Mac, Linux or Windows, this site lists screen magnifiers for every platform. While you are here, click on the HOME link. This site is full of great information and product reviews for all computer users with impaired vision.
As I wrote about on Friday, this was a busy work weekend for me. I think three of the computers I worked on offer an interesting comparison in operating systems.
One laptop was a brand new HP with 2 GB of RAM and Windows Vista, but the owner wanted me to install Windows XP and take off Windows Vista. He uses it primarily for traveling and downloading his digital photos while traveling and just didn’t like the lack of speed with Vista. The install of Windows XP went smoothly, but finding some of the XP drivers for it took quite a bit of looking around. All is running well now, and the with 2GB of RAM and a dual-core processor, the little laptop is very fast. Bootup time is under 70 seconds.
The next laptop was another Vista machine with 1 GB of RAM that a client bought for her mom who is a first time computer user and is 83 years old I believe. She will take the laptop with her to Connecticut next week. I took off all the pre-installed junk and installed AVG anti-virus and configured a Gmail account to work with Windows Mail (Vista’s version of Outlook Express). Because her mom has some sight problems, I bumped up the text size and DPI setting to make it easier to work with for her. Also, I disabled all of Vista’s fancy eye candy and effects. Despite all these tweaks, the computer still
My work week isn’t over. I have five computers/hard drives that I’m working on this weekend. My most exciting task is to setup an older XP HP machine with Ubuntu Linux. My customer had a huge XP problem and couldn’t use her restore CD’s to get it going. After some discussion of her options, costs, and time involved, she decided to give Ubuntu a try. This customer is retired, but is writing a book, uses a digital camera, is an AOL user, and emails a bunch. However, she loves here computer and has been using one for many years and has no qualms about trying something new.
I can’t believe it has been two weeks already that I’ve used Ubuntu Linux exclusively. If I had to sum up the experience in one word, that word would be “satisfying.” And my regular readers/listeners know that I can’t sum anything up in one word, so I will use this format to provide a complete synopsis of my Ubuntu thoughts.
This week’s tip addresses a rough area with Ubuntu Linux…using wi-fi (wireless) Internet. I have had some of the same problems utilizing wireless Internet as other people, so I set out to learn more about it and find as straight forward a solution as I could. What I found was called WiFi Radar. I wrote about it in Day 3 of my 14 day Ubuntu only series. In today’s tip, I submit to you the video version of that tip.
After using this laptop for a solid week plus, I see pluses and minuses in laptop use. The Ubuntu continues to roll along perfectly. With Ubuntu, for the moment anyway, there is no need to install anti-virus or anti-spyware software because there are very few problems with Linux being hammered on like Windows. I’m running the base install of Ubuntu with no extra security software at all…definitely one reason that it is so fast compared to Windows Vista and XP. I did download and install the new Google Earth for Linux last night, and it works flawlessly in Ubuntu. I don’t use Google Earth often, but it is nice to have it and to see Google make a Linux version speaks volumes…in my opinion.