I embarked with Mandrakelinux 7, which came in the back of Sam's Teach Yourself
Linux in 24 Hours book.
It installed itself OK, but then it wouldn't recognize my on-board modem, my LG CD
Burner files, nor my Canon scanner,
and although it could tell me what model of Canon printer I have, attempts to
print did not work.
Escape from the swampy Winduck (ie short legs) archipelago was looking like a long
expedition.
But then I found the website where one can download Mandrakelinux 10.0 Beta for
AMD64 .
Perfect ! Thinks I.
Latest version might have the missing hardware patches, and is optimized for my
Athlon 1.2GHz cpu as well.
Certainly big enough to contain a kitchen sink for every room in a large hotel.
So I barter with a friend to download the mind-boggling 2.5GB of executable files
via their broadband connection.
And tonight we sit down to run these 3 CD ROMs full of arcane code with an ISO
file extension (never heard of it).
The file manager recognizes the files on the CDs as executable, but they cannot be
induced to execute.
What I need is a stable, efficient operating system that uses the hardware that I
already have,
and does not have the self-destructive file-corrupting monotheistic personality
attributes of Winduck,
and preferably without being susceptible to the anonymous malice of demented
hackers and their poxy proxy viruses.
It is unlikely that I will ever do any programming or systems development.
Just a nice, reliable, obedient machine will do me fine.
I am prepared to put in the time and endure the pain that it takes to start again
in a foreign cyberscape,
but be aware that last time I worked directly with an operating system,
it was 1985 and my Morrow MD11 cp/m machine with its 32kB operating system
would blow the doors off an IBM XT,
so be gentle with me.
Peter Mann
Self-trust is the essence of heroism. It is the state of the soul at war, and its
ultimate objects are the last defiance of falsehood wrong, and the power to bear
all that can be inflicted by evil agents. It is generous, hospitable, temperate,
scornful of petty calculations and scornful of being scorned. It persists ... its
jest is the littleness of common life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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