Tag: Technology

I think I finally came to a solution for my restlestness regarding my computer setup at home. One reason why I found myself frequently switching operating systems on my machines was because I simply didn’t have enough machines.

I love running and playing with Linux. But I also need a Windows machine that is pretty much full-time Windows. I need that for the rare thing that Linux can’t do, as well as to run a few daemons that are Windows-only.

And unfortunately I just added to the reasons why I can’t get along without Windows by buying another iPod. I got it mainly for the purpose of listening to podcasts. Podcasts certainly work best if iTunes is left running so that it can download them automatically in the background. And it would rather suck to have to re-boot a dual-boot machine back into Windows every day or two just to update the podcasts and sync with my iPod.

So if I need a dedicated always-on Windows machine, my Dell all-in-one is by far the best answer. First, a desktop machine is way better to have up 24/7 than a laptop. And the Dell has never been happy dual-booting thanks to the UEFI mess. Unfortunately that leaves only my laptop for running Linux on.

The laptop will run with the lid closed while allowing the use of two external monitors plus keyboard/mouse. But that’s not a very good solution for what is supposed to be my main machine. I really want my main desktop machine to be… well, a desktop machine.

And even if I wanted to dual-boot Linux and Windows with my Dell all-in-one, it’s really problematic thanks to it’s goofy UEFI “bios”. It was really meant to run Windows 8. Although it is too bad that Linux doesn’t handle that better.

So the answer??… well… build a new machine of course! So today I ordered the parts for a fairly bare-bones desktop machine. I already have two monitors and a 1TB hard drive. So it wasn’t horribly painful. It will be an Intel i5 with 8GB of RAM. Although it’s not a high-end machine, it will easily out-perform anything we have now.

I could double the RAM down the road. But really, Linux is pretty darn happy with just 8GB. I even have a spare SSD that I could use for the operating system.

I came up with a new strategy for my computer configuration(s). I do this a lot. And it’s not necessarily because what I’m doing isn’t working. I often change things around just due to boredom.

I’d already decided that I don’t really like dual-booting. So each of the machines will have only one bootable operating system. No virtual machine wussiness. Just bare metal booting.

1. My first machine is a Core-i5 laptop with 8GB RAM and a 750GB HD. This will run Windows 8.1. It has enough room for all my data. It will mostly be unused, but will come in handy when I need to do something that Linux or Chrome OS won’t do. So far, photo printing is the only thing I care about that is on that list. And that need is so rare, not a big deal.
2. My second machine is an Acer C720 Chromebook. This will be a good on-the-go laptop with 8+ hours of battery life and zero maintenance. Typically I’d grab this when going somewhere over my Windows laptop due to those factors.
3. My third machine is an ASUS Chromebox with a 23″ monitor. It will sit in the kitchen/front room. This will be a spare computer with zero maintenance. Great for looking up recipes, browsing, or being near my wife while she’s out there doing something.
4. My fourth and main machine is a 23″ all-in-one with a 23″ second monitor. This will be my geek machine. It will run the Linux “flavor of the week”.

One nice thing about the geek machine. I don’t need it. If I mess it up and it’s not operational I can just hop on another. That’s one advantage to having all my data in the cloud.

So last night I bit the bullet and installed Arch Linux on my geek machine. This was exciting for several reasons.

• Arch Linux is known to be challenging. That means I’m not as likely to get bored with it. And the fact that this will help me learn stuff is a bonus.
• I wanted to replace my current Linux Mint installation on LVM with Arch Linux without losing my data on other LVM volumes. That made a tricky install even more tricky.
• Of course the main reason it was exciting is because I was successful at installing it last night, without losing data. And by this morning it’s all mostly functional.

For those of you not familiar with Arch Linux… this is a totally do-it-yourself version of Linux. It comes with no GUI or anything installed. You have to roll your own. For example, I had to download, install, and configure a program just to set the desktop background image! There are a zillion little single-purpose programs that are required to do all sorts of things that most computer users take for granted.

This may be more work to set up… but the opportunities for customization are endless. There are typically no two Arch Linux systems that are setup the same. And of course the tinkering is at least half the fun.

I’m not sure if anyone actually reads this blog. But you may notice in past entries… my relationship with Linux is a bit of a love/hate thing. It’s fun. I love setting it up and playing with it. But there is no doubt that it’s really not a good replacement for Windows. Unless of course you lower your expectations to where Linux will actually meet them.

This is sort of what I did when buying my two Chrome OS devices. With all my data in the Google cloud… I can survive in Chrome OS. And if I can survive in Chrome OS, I can definitely survive with Linux.

I’ve finally realized something about the various operating systems that I have been playing around with for the past few months.

People keep saying that Windows is on it’s way out. And the desktop is dead. But there are currently no suitable replacements (except for Mac OS X).

I consider the ability to print photos to be basic functionality. This is not new technology. People have been printing photos for years. I have a Canon all-in-one printer. It prints great photos… if you’re using Windows or OS X. But if you’re using Chrome OS or any flavor of Linux… forget it.

Chrome OS just isn’t mature enough to have that functionality. And the Linux driver for my printer is so buggy that if I specify any paper type other than “plain paper”, it just doesn’t print. No really.

This is 2014 right? It is absurd that people think an operating system that doesn’t support mainstream printers is actually usable. I could probably hunt down a different printer that has better Linux support. But it’s not like Canon is some obscure brand.

I’ve deliberately scaled-back my requirements for operating systems that I mess with so as to be as tolerant and undemanding as possible. That allows me more room to play. However, one has to draw the line somewhere. And “can’t print photos” is a bit of a show-stopper.

But here is the punchline. The first hit that comes up when searching for a list of printers with good Linux support is a list of recommended printers from the free software foundation. Great! Unfortunately it also states that the list is “currently unmaintained”. And that… is the story of Linux in a nutshell.

Not long ago I bought an ASUS Chromebox. And not long before that, I bought an Acer Chromebook. Around the time of my Chromebox purchase… I decided that Chrome OS would be the environment of choice for my personal computing needs.

As a result of that decision I moved all my personal data onto Google Drive. I still have large stash of MP3s. I also have a fair number of TV shows and movies that I bought from the Apple iTunes store.

I’ve already uploaded all my MP3s to Google Play Music. So I don’t need access to those. And I can stream any of the shows I bought from the Apple iTunes store directly from Apple via my Apple TV. So that means I’m done. My life is in the cloud.

After some exposure to the community and the various ideas about Chrome OS, I’ve been very excited about the whole concept. But here’s the thing. Sure a Chromebox is simple, nice and convenient. It boots quickly and updates seamlessly. And they’re typically inexpensive when compared to a full-blown PC or Mac.

But the nicest thing about choosing to live within the boundaries of Chrome OS is that the operating system and hardware that I use is no longer important. Any machine that has Google Chrome installed will give me the same functionality as a Chrome OS device. It actually makes no difference at all what hardware or operating system is running under the Chrome browser.

Our household has three Windows 8.1 machines. I also like to play with various distributions of Linux. But none of that matters. Because now, to me they are all Chrome devices. That is now the only functionality of these machines that I need or depend on.

A new version of Ubuntu came out yesterday, and I had previously been anxious for it’s release. But I figured my days of playing with Linux distributions were over now that I had moved to Chrome OS. Then I realized, not only could I slap the latest Ubuntu on my machine, but I could largely skip the painful and tedious configuration process that always follows. Because all I need it to do is run Google Chrome!

I have to say that it’s pretty liberating to wipe a drive and install a new OS and not worry one little bit about my data or configuration. My computers now only have one operating requirement. As long as they run Google Chrome, the rest is gravy.

I’ve been thinking more about the Chrome OS thing. See here’s the sweet thing… if a person can do the Chrome OS thing and live with it… they’ve just become the ultimate tech nomad. They use any computer anywhere, login to their Google account and walla. Everything is there. Everything. No configuration. No set up. No installing anything. No compatibility issues.

Ok, does one give up a thing or two? Sure. I am assuming I’ll need occasional access to a real PC. I have a 160GB iPod. It’s needs to be synced. Honestly… that’s probably about the only reason.

Part of what will make this easier for me is that I’ve been working toward it for over a decade. In all my playing with Linux, Windows, and Macs… the holy grail has been trying to put my data in a format that was independent of the platform. Otherwise it would be very cumbersome and painful to switch from one OS to another. And yes… I used to do it anyway. But I like the idea of what amounts to zero impact.

I have played with Linux a lot over the years (and in the last 12 months). Been running Windows 8.1 on a few computers since it came out. I’ve used Macs exclusively for about a 10-year stretch.

It used to be about the technology. It was fun. I liked trying different things. But anymore… how much energy and time do I really want to spend so that I can do things that pretty much any $299 computer will do out of the box? I mean really?

At some point it should no longer be about the technology, but about what one can do with the technology. Short of setting up computers with different operating systems and playing with all kinds of different configurations… I don’t actually DO that much with computers.

Maybe it’s time to focus more on doing things and less on the means involved. Rather than continuing to go through the endless number of ways I can setup a computer to do the basic stuff I normally do, I’ve decided to dumb down.

The fact is, I just don’t do that much on a computer anymore that is outside my browser. So I’m going to try an experiment. Yesterday I pre-ordered the new ASUS Chromebox. This will go nicely with the Acer Chromebook I bought a few months ago. And Google just announced a huge price cut for their Google Drive cloud storage options. I think my life is about to get a lot simpler.

My plan is to put pretty much all my data into the cloud on Google Drive. And because I will be running Chrome OS, I will essentially be doing without anything that won’t run in a Chrome browser. I think I can do this. There are a few loose ends and known concerns.

1. I’ll give up Quicken. Not really a big deal. It’s been messing up my transaction downloads for the last few months anyway. My custom-designed spreadsheet (in Google Docs) is better.

2. I’ll need a different backup solution. I’m thinking about using something called “Spanning Backup”. It’s essentially a cloud-to-cloud backup solution designed to backup one’s Google data. It will backup all my Google stuff for me (gmail, calendar, contacts, and Google Drive stuff) to some other location in the cloud.

3. I’ll need to think about no longer using iTunes. I could leave it running on a spare Windows machine just so I can use it from my Apple TV. Might do that, might not. All my music is already available on Google Play. So no compelling reason to stick with iTunes except for the movies and TV shows I own and never watch that are DRM-locked to only play in iTunes (yay).

4. I need to figure out printing and scanning. There is something called Google “cloud printing” which would be perfect except that my printer won’t natively do it. New printers will. I might be able to get mine to work. Or I might just pop for a new printer.

I have no need to do this. I have a Windows desktop machine and a Windows laptop. Both are happily running Windows 8.1. My wife also has a Windows 8.1 desktop machine. But I like the idea of an experiment. I want to give Chrome OS a whirl to see if it might be enough. Honestly we’re talking about less than a $400 total investment in the equipment necessary (Chromebook and Chromebox).

I do understand the irony of setting up yet another computer configuration while at the same time saying that I’m doing it because I’m tired of playing with all the different computer configurations. We’ll have to see about that. Will this be the final iteration? Probably not.

Technology hobbies are a funny thing. We might be talking about computers, operating systems, ham radio, cell phones, tablets… you name it.

Let’s take Linux as an example. When I install a Linux on my computer, what do I use it for? Honestly, the first thing I do is join forums, chat channels, and mailing lists so I can talk to other people who are using whatever flavor of Linux I’ve just installed. And for the next number of weeks I spend a lot of time using Linux to talk to people regarding the use of Linux.

Is there something wrong with this picture? Ham radio is no different. People get their ham license. They set up a radio station. When they get on the air the main thing they talk about is ham radio. So they are using the technology they’re interested in primarily for the purpose of talking to others about that technology.

Of course I use my computer and my cell phone for a few other things. But my main use of technology in general is to learn about and keep up on what’s happening with that very technology.

That just seems a little funny to me. I wonder how much I would use technology if I only used it things not related to the technology itself. Honestly, probably not much. But it might be a fun experiment.

I’ve been curious about Google’s Chrome OS for awhile. And recently I’ve been reading that the new Acer C720 Chromebook finally nailed the sweet spot between price, quality, battery life, and performance. At $199 it was supposed to be a pretty good value. Finally, a Chromebook that lives up to the promise.

So I decided to give it a go. One free offer that comes with the Chromebook purchase is 100GB of extra Google Drive space for two years. Nice. That means I can downgrade my $99 per year Dropbox account to the free level of service and save… $198. Hmm… that would make this a $1 laptop.

The Acer C720 has an Intel haswell processor. Battery life is supposed to be 8+ hours. Not sure what to expect as far as performance goes. But pretty much all the OS has to do is run the Chrome browser.

That’s really the Chrome OS in a nutshell. It’s the Google Chrome browser with all it’s various extensions and plugins. And of course there is whatever level of hardware support to make it all work. With the standard Google Chrome browser you go into “Settings” and you get the browser settings. In the Google Chrome OS… if you go into “Settings” in the browser you get the browser settings and various hardware and operating system settings. There seems to be very little else to it.

I’ve been arguing for several years that anymore all one really needs is a good browser with a few choice plugins. Obviously Google has been thinking the same thing. And in 2013 it seems that Chromebooks have captured a pretty significant chunk of the notebook market.

Back on July 21st of this year I started playing around with Linux again after about a 12-year break. The first distribution I chose to try was Linux Mint 15 MATE edition. Linux Mint had/has the distinction of being the most popular distribution out there (neck and neck with Ubuntu). I’ve installed and reinstalled many different Linux distributions since then. Playing around with just about all the more popular ones.

But not long ago, Linux Mint 16 MATE was released. So I’ve come back around to where I began and installed that to give it a whirl. It’s pretty nice.

This reminds me of when I started using Macs. When I made that choice, it was because the new Mac OS was unix-based. And I had been playing with Linux and FreeBSD a lot. While the Mac had always had a reputation of being “easier” than Windows. I insisted that I was not chosing the Mac for that reason. Because I truly did not need computers to be easier. I was perfectly fine running Windows or whatever. I was not after easier, I was after “better”.

Linux Mint has a very similar reputation for being easier. Only maybe now I’m not so adamant about not using that as a reason for running an OS. After trying so many different distributions, it is rather refreshing to run one where things work without a great deal of effort. And when it comes to Linux, it’s not so much a matter of easier or harder. It’s a matter of things working or not working. I don’t mind doing my homework to figure out how to do something. But I’m still an end-user, not a Linux developer. If I can choose a distribution where things work without having to spend days and weeks getting them to do so, then great!