Tech and life

I usually try and go for a walk in nearby woods at the weekend for some exercise. We had some snow here a few days back and the main track through the wood (at the bottom of the picture above) was quite slushy today with footprints everywhere. But what I noticed was that, in quite a few places, people had obviously ventured off on unmarked narrow tracks here and there. It was only because of the tracks in the snow that I realized people had been trailblazing and discovering new routes through the woods. I took a mental note and decided to try some of these tracks on future walks.

But this got me thinking. Some people are trailblazers in tech too. Boldly going were no man has gone before, so to speak. By a coincidence, the podcast I was listening to as I walked through the woods was Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott. It struck me that he is one of the trailblazers in tech, constantly working with and writing about new developments in Windows, and currently focusing on Windows 7. I find he always talks with great authority on Windows and imparts great advice and tips in this podcast. Well worth subscribing to. I always take careful note of his advice and try to follow as best I can. Incidentally, he has been talking about ‘doing more with less’  lately. His tip in WW94 is simplify, simplify, simplify and I really must follow his advice. I confess, I am a bit of a packrat, and have finally made a decision to ‘let go’ a lot of the ‘baggage’ I’ve carried from years gone by. And clear a lot of software from my PC that I never use. It’s time for a big clear out.

So who are my other tech trailblazers?  People I sit up and listen to when they speak and whose advice I try and follow. Well I can think of two others. The first would be Carey Holzman from Computer America. I’ve talked about Carey before in an earlier post. The second would be Knightwise; again I’ve mentioned him before – been listening to his podcasts for a couple of years now and his trailblazing in Linux has got me started with this OS. Knightwise tells you ‘how to tune technology into your everyday life and let tech work for you’. Hopefully with his advice, over this year I’ll be able to take my Linux Ubuntu install up to and beyond what I currently have with Windows XP. I’ve been on the Windows trail for about 20 years now and I’m looking forward to exploring further along the Linux trail.

So who are your tech trailblazers, or indeed life trailblazers? Whose at the cutting edge of tech? Whose words do you eagerly listen to and whose advice do you gladly follow because you know it’s sound advice. I’d love to know. Drop me a comment below.

I’ve blogged earlier about how I tried Ubuntu 7.04 last year. It installed fine but I couldn’t get online as it was only configured for WEP protocol and my wireless router is set to WPA. Yes I know I could have probably solved it given time by searching and asking online but I figured that just shouldn’t be necessary. If Linux is to be a viable alternative to Windows, it should install without a hitch – indeed, it should be easier than a Windows install.

So with that in mind, a few days after Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex was released, I downloaded it to try again with some trepidation and not a little excitement. Was this to be the release where for me, Linux becomes a real alternative? Again I was determined that the install should be intuitive and I shouldn’t have to resort to online forums to sort out any problems.

Downloading from a UK mirror was fine on my slow (1MB) broadband connection. Took 1h 50 min. But that was okay. I let it work away during my lunch break and then into the afternoon. I burned the iso file to a CD using CDBurnerXP – that took 4 minutes.

I have a couple of removable hard drives on my old (back-up) PC. Windows XP on one drive and Ubuntu 7.04 on another. So I’ll just wipe away my old Ubuntu 7.04 install. No problem, I’ll just boot off the Linux CD and then reformat. Booted up fine to the GNOME desktop. I wondered if I could get online from the Live CD. Gave it a try. I clicked the Connect icon at the top right. As before, Ubuntu recognized my wireless Zoom router but this time gave me the option to enter my WPA passphrase. Yes I thought. We’re away this time. Sure enough after entering the passphrase I was connected. I fired up Firefox and confirmed that I was indeed online.

So far so good. Now to install Ubuntu on the hard disk. I booted up again from the Live CD and picked the option to ‘Install Ubuntu‘. When I got to the repartition menu, the choice for me was either keep the 7.04 install and add 8.10 in two partitions or to create a new single partition with 8.10. I couldn’t see an option to wipe 7.04 and install 8.10 in two partitions. So I went for the single partition. Anyway it’s only a test install. If I’ve messed up I’ll just reinstall again.

So I went ahead with the option Guided – Use entire disk, and Ubuntu installed flawlessly in 50 minutes. Again, I entered my WPA passphrase and I was online without a hitch. I grabbed the latest Ubuntu updates and that’s where I am at the moment. Quite painless really and having been through it, I know I can easily reinstall in less than an hour if I’ve messed up. In fact, all in all, it was easier than a Windows install so I urge anyone out there interested in switching to Linux to give Intrepid Ibex a try.

I hope to blog about Ubuntu now and again and let you know how I’m getting on. The burning question really is do I move eventually to Windows 7 from XP or can I take the fork in the road which says Linux?

Feel free to comment if you think I could have done things differently with this install.

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Well 12 posts down and no mention of Apple or Mac or Linux. Not good. Doubtless there are people surfing over here and who are dismayed (or stronger) to discover yet another PC oriented tech blog. I’m genuinely sorry. I better give a word of explanation and justification.

I really first came into contact with computers in the mid-80s when in college in the UK. I used the VAX mainframe there to produce some maps, diagrams and for word processing. In 1988, I wanted to get a computer to do the same things at work and by now Macs and PCs were really hitting the marketplace. The major factor in my decision to buy a PC and not a Mac at that time was the off-the-shelf third party map making software available for it which I needed for working with spatial data. So I bought a PC, learned how to use it, rescue it, upgrade it, and stuck with it. I’ve really nothing against Macs believe me. It’s just the Mac’s price and the PCs range of applications and upgradability which have been major factors for me through the years. Macs are perfectly adequate platforms, particularly for creative and graphical work. Indeed they’re probably a better choice for many people and are probably more reliable. Problem is they are premium products at premium prices. I’d really like to own one and perhaps one day I will. In fact, it would be nice to chart cross-platform computing on this blog.

Yes the observant readers will be saying but you haven’t mentioned Linux either. Well I tried Ubuntu last year. It installed fine but I just couldn’t get online. Seemed it wanted a WEP encrypted wireless network and I had WPA. There was a workaround mentioned on various forums but I just hadn’t the time to sort it out and it didn’t seem like an easy fix to me. I’ll try again with the new Ubuntu 8.10 release at the end of October (Intrepid Ibex) and hopefully document how I get on.

I wonder if the whole PC-Mac-Linux polarity is just becoming less important these days. Seems to me that computing is increasingly just about getting online to work in the cloud or communicate on social networks – and you can do that from any platform. They’re all increasingly just platforms getting you to a goal.

Photo credit: redjar