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Just recently, I came to a realisation. I'm never going to be a proper geek. This flash of self knowledge came to me when, after spending an evening trying to find out about how to get my wireless card working under Linux, I just gave up in despair. Every website I came to engendered a fresh set of Google queries as I tried to find out exactly how you could perform each of the steps. I had to get Archie to install Linux on the laptop in the first place because I couldn't get the display to work. He set up the network card and if I physically plug in I can use it for email and so on but I never physically plug in any more and a computer is practically useless if it's not connected.
In the end, I don't have the time or the patience to struggle up from being a new user to being a power user again, particularly as even to get into the user position I need my wireless card to work, which means that I need to be a power user and be able to install it. In the end, Debian is too difficult for me. I'm sure that Windows is a much inferior operating system, but I've been using it for years and I quite like it these days. Most problems that come up in Windows (except that of getting my home computers to talk to each other) I can solve or find a livable workaround. To proper geeks, I probably sound like a prisoner who's forgotton what it feels like to be free and so doesn't miss it but there you are. Sure there are things about it that bug me, but that's par for the course with computers - there are no systems which don't have their irritating quirks. They're all designed by people, that's what you get.
I still consider the idea of buying a Mac one of these days, but I'm shy of that too. What if I find MacOS as difficult to come to grips with? It would have the advantage I suppose of being widely supported at the non-geek level, which Debian, in my opinion, isn't but still. What I really want is to be able to have a trial period on a Mac to see if I could get used to it but I don't think that's exactly feasible. I like the idea of moving but only if I don't have to re-learn. I just don't have time.
Yikes! That gave me a shock! I just ran Windows update and got a new display driver. Which reset my screen res to 800 * 600 from 1600 * 1200. Still, once switched back, all seems fine.
In the end, I don't have the time or the patience to struggle up from being a new user to being a power user again, particularly as even to get into the user position I need my wireless card to work, which means that I need to be a power user and be able to install it. In the end, Debian is too difficult for me. I'm sure that Windows is a much inferior operating system, but I've been using it for years and I quite like it these days. Most problems that come up in Windows (except that of getting my home computers to talk to each other) I can solve or find a livable workaround. To proper geeks, I probably sound like a prisoner who's forgotton what it feels like to be free and so doesn't miss it but there you are. Sure there are things about it that bug me, but that's par for the course with computers - there are no systems which don't have their irritating quirks. They're all designed by people, that's what you get.
I still consider the idea of buying a Mac one of these days, but I'm shy of that too. What if I find MacOS as difficult to come to grips with? It would have the advantage I suppose of being widely supported at the non-geek level, which Debian, in my opinion, isn't but still. What I really want is to be able to have a trial period on a Mac to see if I could get used to it but I don't think that's exactly feasible. I like the idea of moving but only if I don't have to re-learn. I just don't have time.
Yikes! That gave me a shock! I just ran Windows update and got a new display driver. Which reset my screen res to 800 * 600 from 1600 * 1200. Still, once switched back, all seems fine.
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Macs
Date: July 30th, 2004 10:54 am (UTC)From:Some things: I don't have the newest macs. My desktop machine is a 2001 G4, and I still do fairly high-end graphics on it. Sure, I can't really handle 1200 dpi files at large sizes, but I don't need to. It is a good, reliable machine. I've never had a serious crash on a mac, never lost data.
Even my 2001 G3 laptop handles everything I throw at it. (Which is all my internet stuff, as well as watching .avi and divx files on a very regular basis.)
Any program built by Apple for the Mac integrates absolutely -seamlessly- with the OS and any other programs you might have.
And hey - you can still access the command line. Chouette.
Some cons: Certain things are less well developed for mac. Macs don't handle flash animation very well - it's always just a little choppy for me, although that may partially be processor speed. Yes, they're expensive, but they tend to hold up their end of the deal - they last, and hold their value. Thus, buying a used mac, you're still getting a very nice computer. You can't get as many games, if that's your thing.
I'm sure I've got more stuffed up in my skull, if you're interested.