Me and computers, and other topics.
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Wednesday, September 30, 2015
If I didn't have a camera....
If I didn't have a camera, this is how I'd show you what's outside the window. This is experimenting with a program called "My Paint" in Linux Mint, and it's fun. I'm not used to it yet. This is my first attempt, but it won't be my last.
One of the nice surprises while trying out this Linux Mint system has been that my old Wacom Pen Tablet that lets me use a pen in graphics programs (and their various brushes and etc.) was already pre-configured when I got the system up and running.
Windows not only doesn't do that, but makes it difficult to get that Wacom Tablet working in recent versions of Windows, because of the problems involved in getting drivers that will work with both my old tablet and their newer operating systems. So it's a pleasant surprise to be able to pick up the Wacom Pen, open the graphics program, and start doing something, without spending an hour before that trying to get the best available driver doing a half-assed job in the latest Windows.
This Linux stuff is proving to be an education in more ways than one. The more I play with it, the less I miss Microsoft. I still have Win-7 on one PC here, but that's my only Microsoft system at the moment. And I've only had it turned on for a few minutes a couple of times in the past several days, just to update its security, and make sure it's still OK. Everything else, I've been doing with one of these two different versions of Linux. I'm managing quite nicely without Microsoft.
Life without Microsoft. That's like saying that there is a life after retirement (sort of).
If I had the time and ambition I'd put that OS onto another hard drive to boot from. I'm not a very big fan of multi-boot systems. Things can get confusing. Of course there is the virtual PC option.
Yes, I hear you ..... I ended up wiping off Win-10 of the one computer because I couldn't get Linux to recognize that it was already there.
There's supposed to be a thing in the Linux install disc which can discover all that, and then ask if you want to install alongside it or wipe it and use the whole disc, but in this case, that didn't happen, and I couldn't get it to do that.
There's supposed to be a way to work around that, using a USB stick to do the install, but I haven't tried that yet, because now, I'd have to begin all over, wiping the disc, and installing Windows first, and then trying to install the other after - and it's a long process.
But on this machine, the version of Linux I used did see the Windows and did install alongside it in its own section of the drive, just like it is supposed to do. So there must be something different in Windows 10 that is stopping Linux from recognizing it and sharing the drive. And I think it's Microsoft's "Driver Certification" which doesn't allow things without Microsoft-signed drivers to be installed.
And that, of course, is exceeding their authority on a machine that they don't own and aren't operating. And it annoys me a whole bunch.
Pretty Kewl (as EO would say) there Ray.
ReplyDeleteHi, Tom...
ReplyDeleteOne of the nice surprises while trying out this Linux Mint system
has been that my old Wacom Pen Tablet that lets me use a pen in
graphics programs (and their various brushes and etc.) was already
pre-configured when I got the system up and running.
Windows not only doesn't do that, but makes it difficult to get that
Wacom Tablet working in recent versions of Windows, because of the
problems involved in getting drivers that will work with both my old
tablet and their newer operating systems. So it's a pleasant surprise
to be able to pick up the Wacom Pen, open the graphics program, and
start doing something, without spending an hour before that trying to
get the best available driver doing a half-assed job in the latest Windows.
This Linux stuff is proving to be an education in more ways than one.
The more I play with it, the less I miss Microsoft. I still have Win-7
on one PC here, but that's my only Microsoft system at the moment.
And I've only had it turned on for a few minutes a couple of times in
the past several days, just to update its security, and make sure it's
still OK. Everything else, I've been doing with one of these two different
versions of Linux. I'm managing quite nicely without Microsoft.
Life without Microsoft. That's like saying that there is a life after retirement (sort of).
ReplyDeleteIf I had the time and ambition I'd put that OS onto another hard drive to boot from. I'm not a very big fan of multi-boot systems. Things can get confusing. Of course there is the virtual PC option.
Yes, I hear you ..... I ended up wiping off Win-10 of the one computer
ReplyDeletebecause I couldn't get Linux to recognize that it was already there.
There's supposed to be a thing in the Linux install disc which can
discover all that, and then ask if you want to install alongside it
or wipe it and use the whole disc, but in this case, that didn't happen,
and I couldn't get it to do that.
There's supposed to be a way to work around that, using a USB stick to
do the install, but I haven't tried that yet, because now, I'd have to
begin all over, wiping the disc, and installing Windows first, and then
trying to install the other after - and it's a long process.
But on this machine, the version of Linux I used did see the Windows and
did install alongside it in its own section of the drive, just like it
is supposed to do. So there must be something different in Windows 10
that is stopping Linux from recognizing it and sharing the drive. And
I think it's Microsoft's "Driver Certification" which doesn't allow
things without Microsoft-signed drivers to be installed.
And that, of course, is exceeding their authority on a machine that
they don't own and aren't operating. And it annoys me a whole bunch.