in my mind's zen garden

List No. 1

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” —Gandhi

The photo above is my current desktop on my Meerkat Nettop. I’m in love with this wallpaper right now. And you can get it here.

Lists

I’m at a point where I might be beyond titles for blog posts. Have I exhausted all my creative ideas regarding titles?

Well, it sure feels like it.

Lists, on the other hand, are doable. It can be numbered, or un-numbered. I personally prefer the bullet variety.

One can easily create a list. And, easily create many lists. It’s the perfect medium for organizing one’s thoughts. Lists can be done in a particular order, sequentially, randomly, sporadically…

Thoughts For Today

• 1. Still suffering from a long-term bout with writer’s block.
• 2. Why do I know this? I used to write frequently and daily a few years back, maybe not so far back, but several long months ago.
• 3. I’ve written 4 blog posts in the past month.
• 4. My Meerkat Nettop is an affordable CPU that is built specifically to handle Ubuntu Linux. It is a 100% Linux-driven machine.
• 5. Anyway, I haven’t felt very prolific in my writings as I have in the past.
• 6. I’m constantly thinking in my mind, of more creative ways for me to write, here in this space.
• 7. At least, creating a daily list of thoughts and feelings, is a way…
• 8. Back to Ubuntu… it is the people’s operating system!
• 9. Ubuntu is entirely free to download. It’s suite of office, audio, video, internet and utility software are FREE as well.
• 10. Sure, you have to buy a machine to house Ubuntu, but you can have a cheap computer running it with less processing speed and less memory, because Ubuntu is quite efficient and fast, and takes up less space on your hard drive.
• 11. I had a long journey with Apple. And an even longer relationship with Microsoft.
• 12. I’m anti-Microsoft because it created one of the richest billionaires in the world through a monopoly of computer software that is laden with security holes and a less-than-ideal operating system.
• 13. I’m anti-Apple because they are even worse at creating proprietary software AND machines that are over-priced, frequently upgrading both software and machines in order to gain substantial profits from a population of newbies who become seduced by the elegant designs.
• 14. Both Apple and Microsoft are multi-billion dollar companies, intent on getting as much money from the typical computer user as possible. Nothing really wrong with that, but to me it was becoming more and more difficult to keep up with the latest software, upgrades and computers, for a frugal-minded, meager individual like myself.
• 15. Enter the Ubuntu, Linux and Open Source movements.
• 16. By the way, the Linux operating system 1) doesn’t need anti-virus software, and 2) doesn’t need a monthly defragmenting schedule for the hard drive. Linux is such a superior OS that defragmenting and anti-virus-ing are a thing of the past.
• 17. It is very easy nowadays to download Ubuntu from the Internet, burn the ISO onto disc, and install it. And very practical to create a dual-boot system with both Windows AND Linux.
• 18. I am a 100% Ubuntu user.
• 19. Although, I still have the old Apple powerbook G4 (with the dark, broken computer display). I still use that computer by controlling it via VNC “Virtual Network Computing”, from my Ubuntu Linux-driven computer.
• 20. Anyway, creating these types of lists are kind of fun. I could divide these into specific categories, and organize them further, but it’s more fun and creative to just jot don’t random thoughts. Hopefully, I’ll steer away from the geeky, linux-type posts and focus on other things.
• 21. Microsoft = Galactic Empire. Linux and the Open Source movement = Rebel Alliance. Apple = elegant machines designed to seduce the masses (i.e. iPhone, iPod) for big profits.

The photo above is another screenshot of my Ubuntu desktop. Here, I am controlling my powerbook G4 (the window with the Wizard of Oz desktop) from my “linux box”. Right now I can control 3 computers with 1.

Posted by Randomguru | Comments (View Comments)

Tags: apple, Linux, microsoft, operating systems, Ubuntu, vnc