linux

Curious about Linux? Give it a spin.

~ Ron Walker ~ 18 Comments

If you are familiar with booting from a CD or flash drive, as you did when you installed windows, this is the same. If you’re not familiar, or don’t remember. Then, the best instructions I have found, are on “Lifewire”. Step by step, with the links to the download of the Linux Mint version. I recommend the Cinnamon 32 or 64 bit edition located there.

After downloading the Linux mint .iso, follow the three steps on the instructional. Upon completion, you will have a bootable usb drive to boot your computer with. Please consider, this “live” version of Linux is on a thumb drive, it will not be as fast as a regular install on a hard drive would be. So don’t judge it by its speed from the usb.

  • I started using Linux 4 years ago. No regrets. It was easier than I ever dreamed, and I have truly enjoyed using it.
  • There’s not one paid for program, on my computers.
  • I replaced Microsoft Office, with Libre Office which contains the same components as Office.
  • I use GIMP for graphics, which rivals Photoshop.
  • Kdenlive is my free video editing software. Better than some commercial programs costing hundreds.
  • No more fragmentation of the hard drive.
  • Updates are sent out immediately when a problem or security issue is discovered.
  • I can update when I wish.
  • No antivirus subscriptions anymore. Linux has free programs if needed.
  • No advertisements on “my” desktop.
  • Only what “I” want on or in my computer.
  • Simple backup and restore when needed.
  • Best of all, it’s FREE!!
  • I can choose, Chrome, Firefox, or other browsers as I wish.
  • Complete control over what is on my machine. True freedom.
  • I can’t think of anything negative, that I have run into.
Tux, Linux Mascot

Give it a try, see if its something you might like. If you have questions, ask. I’ll do my best to answer them. I will always have fond memories of Windows 7, but this is where I will stay. Linux may not be for everyone, but I love it.

Microsoft gave us Windows.
Linux, gave us the whole house!

Comments always welcome,

Windows7: Goodbye old friend.

~ Ron Walker ~ 17 Comments

I would like to state right away, that I am in no way, presenting myself as a computer expert. So please, constructive comments, or corrections, are welcome. This is a post to hopefully answer questions posed friends, family and users, about the end of Windows 7. I am grateful to Pete, after seeing his post this morning on his Blog, It reminded me that I needed to do a post for my forum members that have questions.

 Can you still use Windows 7? 

January 14, 2020, we will have to say goodbye to an old friend, Windows 7. Considered the best version of the Microsoft OS by many, and still used by people and businesses alike, will no longer be supported. Many of us have resisted the update to Windows 10. If you’re still a hold-out, you will eventually have to make plans to change. Upgrade to Windows 10, or learn something new. Can you still use Windows 7? Yes, but eventually it will become a security risk. It may take months, or it could be only days. Antivirus, and malware detectors, will buy some time. However, as new vulnerabilities in the code itself are discovered, there will be no patches coming. Eventually, there will be many vulnerabilities found, for which there will be no defense.

For those not familiar with the terms, a virus/worm/trojan/ or malware is a program/code written by someone to cause harm or steal information from your computer. Those items can be detected and often times stopped, by software you utilize on your computer. A vulnerability, is a problem found by someone, in the OS code itself. Something that can be used for leverage against a computer. These problems are normally taken care of by Microsoft via patches and updates. Any vulnerabilities, discovered after the end-of-life for Windows 7, will be a serious security risk.

What are our options? Upgrade, or Change. Simplest is upgrade. Windows 10 is loved by many, and disliked by many, just as Windows 7 was. Someone asked me if the free upgrade to Windows 10 was over. Technically, yes. However, as of last year, there were still ways to get upgrades to Windows 10. That’s the simplest. It may require a new computer, as the software needs more horse power, than most Win 7 computers did. Some have enough power, some don’t.

Apple/Mac

You could move to something like, Apple/Mac. While very expensive and proprietary, it is a good brand. Way out of my league, fixed income won’t allow that for me. You’ll have to learn some new terminology and how to do things a little different, but it is well-spoken of. My daughter worked support for Apple for 3 years. She loves using Apple products.

Linux

Linux. It’s totally free. I moved to it five years ago. More secure, and never tries to sell you something. Linux is now as easy to install, as Windows. Except it’s faster, and very secure. Linux is free, I can afford that on a fixed income. It runs on older machines, no need for upgrades when the OS updates versions. It has free Open Office suites that rival and look a lot like MS Office. Maintained by people who love choice and freedom.

Questions/Comments always welcome.

Two for Thursday: Tech Support, and too much energy.

~ Ron Walker ~ 10 Comments

Those who work tech support by phone, have a rough job at times. Our daughter, has worked top tier phone support, for Best Buy and Apple in the past. So I always try to be compassionate and cooperative when working with phone support persons.

My desk while trouble shooting the problem this morning.

My Internet connection has been sporadic the last few days. I decided to call the cable company Tech support to see if they could help me find the problem. The young gentleman on the phone, was very polite and patient. Sadly, I don’t think he was as experienced as he tried to portray. I gave him the various steps that I had tried, which should have tipped him off that I was a fairly experienced user. However, he was mostly reading from his troubleshooting script.

He tried, and was courteous, and to me that goes a long way. Right at the start, he took a wrong turn, and I couldn’t get him back on track. So I played along as best I could, and listened to his instructions and applied them to my situation. This is how the first part went, which set me to chuckling to myself.

Linux, is just another brand of Computer

Support: Yes, sir. I need to send a signal to your equipment to see if it will reset and clear the problem. We are not showing any problems in your area at this time.
Me: Okay, thanks. (The modem resets but still no sites will load, error says unable to lookup address.
Me: It acts like a DNS issue not resolving the addresses, so that would be out more on your end I think.
Support: No sir, it wouldn’t be a DNS issue.
Me: Okay
Support: Let’s troubleshoot your network settings. Do you see the Windows key on your keyboard.
Me: Yes, but it doesn’t work on Linux, I’m using Linux OS.
Support: No, just look for the windows key, it has 4 small squares on it and press it, then type CMD.
Me: I’m sorry, that key won’t work, I’m using Linux.
Support: Yes, it will work. Linux, is just another brand of computer.
Me: Tell me what we are trying to do or see, and I will get there. (So as he calls off the instructions for windows, I play along and just do the same thing in Linux, it’s obvious that it is not registering what I am telling him, I don’t have Windows. From his instructions, I ping NBC, Yahoo, and a couple others. He then had me check my IP settings, and tell him what IP address is listed. I read back to him the address he said to look for.)
Support: Right, that is the address assigned to you from us.
Me: It looks like my computer address on my network, that I set as a static IP for my network computer.
Support: No sir. That is the assigned IP address from us.
We did a little more trouble shooting of all sorts, and he determined I needed a service call tomorrow. That was fine by me, as we started to end our call I asked if he had a higher tier of support that I could chat with, to bounce some ideas off of.
Support: No sir. I have been doing this for 5 years, I don’t think they could help you more than I have.
We ended our call shortly thereafter.

I don’t mean to laugh, but 5 years, and he can’t tell my internal IP “that I assigned my computer” from the cable company issued IP. He thinks Linux is another brand of computer, and the Windows key will work on it.

Too much energy?

What to do when you have extra energy? Take your keyboard apart and clean it. I wouldn’t recommend this activity to burn extra energy. It came apart easy enough, and cleaned well, but getting 100+ keys back where they belong, is more of a challenge than you think.

Have a super day, Comments always welcome.

Lost in the land of Programming/Coding.

~ Ron Walker ~ 31 Comments

Sorry for the absence of late. I have been working on a computer project here at home. My mind has been mushy trying to learn new things like coding, scripts and various other elements of complicated operation. I switched from Windows to Linux over a year ago. While Linux is much easier to install and use than years past, high quality programs at times can be more complex to install. I love a challenge though. Solving problems, or managing to install something that is difficult, is like a video game is to the younger crowd. The sense of solving a difficulty gives me satisfaction.

I finally managed to figure out how to install the camera software to monitor all my cameras for security. It has taken about 3 days of research, trial and error.

After 3 days of staring at lines of code and typing commands, I am ready for a break. Here is a small “snippet” of code I had to dig through at times.

sub moveConUpRight
{
my $self = shift;
my $params = shift;
Debug( “Move Diagonally Up Right” );
my $cmd = “decoder_control.cgi?command=90&”;
$self->sendCmd( $cmd );
my $autostop = $self->getParam( $params, ‘autostop’, 0 );
if ( $autostop && $self->{Monitor}->{AutoStopTimeout} )
{
usleep( $self->{Monitor}->{AutoStopTimeout} );
$self->moveStop( $params );
}
}

sub moveConDownRight
{
my $self = shift;
my $params = shift;
Debug( “Move Diagonally Down Right” );
my $cmd = “decoder_control.cgi?command=92&”;
$self->sendCmd( $cmd );
my $autostop = $self->getParam( $params, ‘autostop’, 0 );
if ( $autostop && $self->{Monitor}->{AutoStopTimeout} )
{
usleep( $self->{Monitor}->{AutoStopTimeout} );
$self->moveStop( $params );
}

My finished project with 5 of the 8 cameras up and running. 🙂

Zoneminder software.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully I can get back in my routine of posting again now. There’s not much going on in the park, maybe I should go stir something up.

Comments welcome,