Skip to main content

New laptop

Image
By
A couple of weeks ago, I turned on my System76 Meerkat NetTop (which I'd bought back in December of 2010 for $400) and heard the SNAP of some kind of electrical/power discharge. Dead. Although System76 is a great company, and the hardware seems generally reliable for most people (judging by online reviews), it marked the THIRD problem I'd had with my unit, and this one was out of warranty. Sometimes you get a lemon, no matter who the manufacturer is. So I unplugged and recycled it.

The good news: I back up my home computer every week in several places. I didn't really lose anything but a few emails.

At about that time, I got an electronic ad from the local Micro Center. So I wandered over, and picked up an Acer Aspire (5733/5733Z/5333 Series) series laptop for $300. Oddly enough, this morning I read an article by a librarian about why this is totally the wrong time to buy a laptop. Maybe ... if you really want the latest and greatest.

The truth is, my needs are simple. My old Netbook is just a LITTLE too slow these days for me, and seems a tad underpowered for the modern software suites. But this new laptop just flies. It also has a big bright screen, and a comfy, well-laid out keyboard. I'm gearing up to write a book, and I wanted something that I could count on, and wouldn't get in my way.

The new Acer came with some subset of Windows 7. It happens that Windows 7 isn't that bad. I slapped a couple of Open Source programs on it (the Chrome browser, the Abiword word processor, the Xmind mind mapper) and Notecase Pro (an outliner I use a lot and for which I have paid for a multi-platform license). Then I went over to the Ubuntu web site and downloaded the Windows Ubuntu installer (wubi for short). It's a program you run that lets you put Ubuntu on your Windows machine from inside Windows. Then you reboot, and choose one platform or the other. If you decide you don't like Ubuntu, you just uninstall it like any other Windows program.

In some ways, it almost doesn't matter which platform I use these days: Windows, iOS, or Linux. I use pretty much the same tools on all of them, mostly open source. Ubuntu takes a little more time to set up than Linux Mint. Just search for "Ubuntu post-installation" to get the steps. Mainly, the issue is installing various codecs for media. It took about 45 minutes, mostly waiting for the commands to fetch and install things. Not hard, just a little tedious. It's worth it: Ubuntu also comes with so much good and free software that a little time is a reasonable trade-off.

I've been spending most of my time in Ubuntu. I don't have to worry about viruses or Trojan Horses. It's speedy, attractive, and works well with my brain and work flow. And I like the fact that I can tote it around with me if I need to.

Meanwhile, I have a compact set of data that I can move pretty much wherever and whenever I need it, all as reasonably well-protected (encrypted) as I can make it. Life in 2012, living on the edge of the cloud.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uncle Bobby's Wedding

By
Recently, a library patron challenged (urged a reconsideration of the ownership or placement of) a book called "Uncle Bobby's Wedding." Honestly, I hadn't even heard of it until that complaint. But I did read the book, and responded to the patron, who challenged the item through email and requested that I respond online (not via snail-mail) about her concerns. I suspect the book will get a lot of challenges in 2008-2009. So I offer my response, purging the patron's name, for other librarians. Uncle Bobby's wedding June 27, 2008 Dear Ms. Patron: Thank you for working with my assistant to allow me to fit your concerns about “Uncle Bobby's Wedding,” by Sarah S. Brannen, into our “reconsideration” process. I have been assured that you have received and viewed our relevant policies: the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read, Free Access to Libraries for Minors, the Freedom to View, and our Reconsideration Policy. The intent of providing all tha...
455 comments
Read more

Installing Linux on a 2011 Macbook Pro

By
I had two MacBook Pros, both 13" models from late 2011. One had 4 gigs of RAM, and the other 8. Both of them were intolerably slow. In the first case, I wound up installing CleanMyMac , which did arcane things to various files, and put up alerts to warn me about disappearing memory. But it made the machine useable again, albeit not exactly speedy. I changed some habits: Safari as browser rather than Firefox or Chrome. I tried to keep tabs down to four or five. The second Mac had bigger problems. Its charger was shot, but even with that replaced, the battery tapped out at 75%. More importantly, the whole disk had been wiped, which meant that it wouldn't boot. Recently, I had downloaded a couple of Linux distributions ("distros") on USB drives. Elementary OS 5.1 (Hera) was reputed to be a lightweight, beautiful distro that shared some aesthetics with the Mac OS. So I thought I'd give it a try. Ahead of time, I tried to read up on how difficult it might be to...
6 comments
Read more

What Is Leadership?

By
My partner and I just finished co-teaching a leadership institute for librarians in the Western States. But I keep thinking about it. Some people, I know, think leadership is all about power. But I always wonder: power to do what? To make or to break? Over my 40-odd years of administrative experience — and some of them have been very odd indeed — I’ve boiled my idea of leadership down to three things. Know thyself . That is, have a relatively clear-eyed assessment of your strengths. Build on those strengths. But also learn how to recognize in other people the strengths that you do not have. Play well with others . Leadership begins with listening and paying attention. Then it moves into emotional intelligence — the ability to read and respond appropriately to human communication. The good news is that emotional intelligence is a skill set. It can be learned. The bad news is that a lot of people don’t bother. Make it better . There’s no point in leadership that makes things worse. Good ...
Post a Comment
Read more