Biography
Blog
Linux vs. Windows Metrics -- Nothing Is Quite What It Seems To Be
May 01 2008
10 days ago the Linux Loop blog had a post titled "Linux Eee PC Far Faster Than Windows Version". I'm sure many Linux users nodded and had assumed as much. The author compared the times of three tasks: boot up,... read moreIs Linux Really Outgrowing Its Stereotypes? Does It Matter?
April 22 2008
Last month distro-review ran an article titled 10 ways that Linux is outgrowing the stereotype and becoming the best OS. While I agreed with all 10 points in the article something just didn't sit right with me. I bookmarked the... read moreTaking A Good Long Look At Vector Linux 5.9 Standard
March 25 2008
Over the past 14 months I've reviewed two previous releases of Vector Linux: Vector Linux 5.8 Standard and Vector Linux 5.8 SOHO. Anyone who has run those versions of Vector Linux would find the new version quite familiar. In reality... read moreWhere Did the Courier and Helvetica Fonts Go?
February 10 2008
I've been running Vector Linux 5.9 Standard since it was released about six weeks ago. I've mostly been satisfied with it. I ran into a problem, though, when I first tried to install the Culmus fonts, a popular font set... read moreSupporting The Latest and Greatest; Supporting the Oldest and Slowest
January 26 2008
Like most people who do tech work of some sort or another for a living I love my toys. I’d love to have the latest and greatest gee whiz system and if I won the lottery I probably always would. Today’s best full-featured distros all have native 64-bit versions. One… read moreAliXe 0.11b -- Linux Bilingue Québecois
January 07 2008
Over the past year or two I’ve been drifting away from Fedora, Ubuntu, and Mandriva towards distros derived from Slackware for desktop use. The reason is simple: these distributions tend to have the best performance I’ve found, particularly on older or limited hardware. Slackware itself lacks some graphical tools and… read moreNovember 11 2007
A while back the good folks behind Freespire, the free version of Linspire, sent me a CD with version 2.0 for me to review. I was very happy to look at it as Linspire has been a leader in getting preloaded Linux systems into retail and online outlets, something I… read moreHow Can Linux Market Share Be Accurately Measured?
October 26 2007
eWeek ran an article yesterday titled Linux Losing Market Share to Windows Server. The article quoted IDC sales figures. There is a real problem counting this way. Quoting from the article: IDC analyst Al Gillen pointed out that the number of servers shipped does not perfectly equal the number of operating… read moreA Death Threat From A Puppy Linux Supporter
October 08 2007
I’ve just been informed by e-mail that not only are some defenders of Puppy Linux flaming me on the new DistroWatch Weekly comments but one actually issued a death threat against me for being “negative” about his or her favorite distribution in a recent post here on O’ReillyNet. It’s one… read moreLinux Journal's Offensive Sexist Content: The Whole Story
October 02 2007
Since her posts here on O’ReillyNet, Carla Schroder has tried in vain to get some sort of response from Linux Journal after offensive ads were run and articles were published. The same is true for Linux Journal’s sister magazine, Tux Magazine. Carla has gone ahead and chronicled the whole sordid… read moreWhy I Haven't Reviewed Puppy Linux
September 24 2007
Every time I write a review I get comments and e-mails asking me to review Puppy Linux. Puppy has lots of people who really seem to love and zealously support the distro. I invariably download a copy (most recently 2.17) and try and run it. I invariably give up on… read moreWolvix 1.1.0 - A Very Flexible Animal
September 17 2007
Back in my January review of Vector Linux 5.8 Standard, the version with the Xfce desktop, I touted Vector Linux as the fastest distro with a reasonable feature set and selection of software that I had used at the time. It took a while but I finally found a distribution… read moreSeptember 17 2007
Lately I’ve been looking to pick up a new contract or even possibly move back into a long term corporate position. My resume (CV for those outside the United States) is, I think, fairly impressive. I am a competent systems administrator and security geek with over 27 years of experience… read moreVector Linux 5.9-Pseudo64-0.1 -- Finally, 64-bit Vector
September 11 2007
The first public Pseudo (alpha) release of Vector Linux 5.9 is now available. Normally a release like this wouldn’t be worth blogging about. It’s early development code. If you’re used to Ubuntu then think Tribe 1. It’s at that level. OK, it seems to be usable at this point but… read moreAugust 28 2007
In the comments to the article I wrote about running the 64-bit version of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn on a Gateway MX7626, I added that my friend who owns the laptop had “upgraded” to Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 4 to try and fix a problem with intermittent sound under Feisty. The initial… read more
