Rant No. 1
Hopefully as time goes on, you will find that I have became big fan of Linux. There are some things you should be aware of.I will never claim to be an expert, but I can proudly say that I have found my way though all of the hurdles on my own so far. Of course, this has meant a lot of time on Google and trolling forums. So in that scene I had everyone's help. I seldom jump in and give advice unless I am pretty sure I know what I am talking about, not because I am unwilling to share. There are enough people who are ready to give bad advice already. I tend to learn and do things my own way that works for me, but would get "experts" in a tissy. If some one asks me for help, I give the best help I can. If I make a mistake, I try to fix it on my own. I will never claim to know or understand some thing I don't unless I give a LARGE disclaimer of "as best that I know".
That said, I have went down more that one wrong path trying to solve problems by listening to others.
Linux for me has been a great way to keep learning and keep my mind full of new ideas.
My first passion of electronic design has gotten a bit stale with the progression of technology. Not because I don't find it cool any more, but because the cool stuff is getting out of reach. I started with boxes of parts salvaged form old TV's and started figuring out what they do. The resistor, capacitor, and diode. Then moved up to transistors and started with the basics of digital design till I started to acquire my first IC gates. I loved stacking stuff together getting more and more complicated as I went on. Some times it worked, most times it didn't. There are a lot of neat things you can do with good discreet design. I built my first oscilloscope with plans from a magazine that hooked up to a TV. Worked great for discovering simple audio and digital stuff. The problem is some of the chips I learned with are not even available now. Go on line and search for a timer circuit and I bet you will find several that use micro controllers!
This is fine, but now you need the development tools just to work with them. The other problem I see you don't need to know anything about basic electronics.
Back to my main point. Linux has opened up a whole new playground for me, and not one that I just sit in by myself. Unlike electronic design were all the basic concepts are known and most of the major developments are now on the "quantum" level, Linux keeps evolving on many levels.
There is the kernel itself, constantly changing and adding. Some times good, some times bad. As they say, NASA didn't make it to the moon with out a few scorched monkeys. It keeps getting rewritten from the ground up, refined and added to. If something is missing, it can be put in anywhere along the way. If something breaks, drop back to an older version and start over.
There are the many different languages to program in. C, C++, TCL/TK, gtk, PERL, Python, and good old BASH and BASIC just to get started. You could write a program in each one to do the same thing and find good points for each. If you don't like them, write your own! Genny/Vala are some of the newest examples. While I have only dabbled in most of these, they give me reasons to learn more.
I have found the ability to do things I always wanted to try, but didn't have the resources to do:
I now can edit video, burn custom DVD's, record and watch programs on my PC
Run a web server from my house and develop web pages (like this one)
Run as many operating systems as I want all at the same time
Write controls for my games with great sound effects and even video if I wanted and bring old hardware back to life
Have a secure network (Smooth Wall)
Use fancy databases
Develop software for those for mentioned micro processors.
More and more each day!
All with out giving one penny to a big company!!
Back to my main, main point. My growing love of Linux.
One reason for this site is I will hopefully be adding information to start to give back some of what I have gotten. Information I use, problems I've solved, ways I do things, and things NOT to do. I don't like admitting my mistakes any more than the next guy, but for most, that is how we learn. I will try to bring myself to share them with others so we can all learn together.
Hopefully some of my interest will rub off on you.
Comments - Edit - Delete
New Site, New Problems
So I just set up my site with a brand new domain, on a new server, and went live!I tried to "Contact" myself from the contact page and hit my first snag -
It is currently forwarding to another email address with AT&T and they bounced it for being sent from a possible Spam server!! I just registered the domain today!!
I can email to it using the webmail client on the site just fine, but using the "sendmail" program inside the site bounces.
I have just jumped though AT&T's hoops to try to get it unblocked, checked Spamhaus(sp?), etc. where it was NOT blocked, and sent AT&T a request to fix it.
Now to sit and wait for a reply. (24-48hrs)
Comments - Edit - Delete
Any one want an Engine?
For sale:Ford 3.8L V6 for mid-90's rear wheel drive.
Been trying to sell it for a while.
Any takers?
Edit: SOLD!! Used money to landscape front yard. See latter post.
Comments - Edit - Delete