Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremy
I recently mentioned that LQ will be sponsoring a number of upcoming Linux and Open Source related conferences. I'm extremely happy to report that we are now able to give away a completely free conference pass to some of them. The first one is the 2008 MySQL Conference & Expo, which is a $1,199.00 value. To be eligible, simply post in this thread explaining how you work with MySQL or how you're involved in the MySQL community along with why you'd like to attend the event. We'll randomly select a winner from the eligible entries. We only have a single pass to give away, so please make sure you are able to attend the event before entering. Thanks, and good luck.
--jeremy |
Pardon if I am butting in here, barging in, and/or starting a new thread unnecessarily - Hopefully I'll learn ... Anyway -
I'm presently looking forward to the imminent delivery of the diddy Asus Eee to help me make the ‘quantum’ transition from the wretched Windoze I have been shackled to for too long, to a 'new dawn' with Linux ... I have some fairly straightforward questions to which I would be eternally grateful for an answer whilst I struggle here 'in the dark' ...
The hardware of the Eee puzzles me a little, as storage seems to be an issue here - It is suggested that SD cards are the present and only answer but the Asus apparently only has one slot and it is for SD cards only not SDHC cards with obviously more capacity? ... I'm only going on what I have read in PCW, so this may or may not be the case? I have plenty of higher capacity flash memory too of course, which seems the more logical solution to me, and is also useable. Perhaps The Eee indeed cannot read SDHC? I have already read with interest that others have had difficulty reading from and writing to SD cards, presumably with PCs running Windoze, so this doesn’t altogether surprise me? Whilst conducting some ‘research’ of my own, I tried copying some ‘.doc’, ‘.jpg’, and ‘.mp3’ files onto a 1GB SD card connected to my PC via a Sandisk Micromate plugged into a spare USB port. It sort of worked ok with the ‘.doc’ files, but there were immediately problems with the image and music files. I did manage to copy them across eventually after several attempts, but this immediately struck me as wrong when I was only trying to do something very straightforward. All of this was as part of an exercise to see how I would get my Windoze PC and my Linux Eee to ‘liaise’ with each other and if files would be interchangeable between the two. Surely this is something all other users would do too? As I don’t yet have the hardware of the Eee, I don’t know how I will get on with my flash memory … In an ideal world, I would hope too to be able to use my external hard drives with the Eee, connected via the spare USB ports. Would Linux recognise the hardware, and files on it, or is this another deluded fantasy of mine?
Whilst I await delivery of the Eee I’ve been avidly reading up about how it works with Linux, and via PCW I understand that it comes pre-loaded with a Xandros ‘suite’ of software applications, but many tech-savvy users are already opting to load Ubuntu which “has better facilities online”? Presumably both run in a similar way to Microsoft Office under Windoze 2000/XP? Meanwhile, I have ordered a CD version of Ubuntu online, for future trial, but am already puzzling how I will be able to load it onto my Eee. Would it be feasible to copy the software from the CD, via my PC to a suitably sized flash memory which I could then plug into the Eee and install the suite? Perhaps those that have already done so used an external CD drive?
As I mostly use computers for the image processing of files from my digital cameras, I earnestly need to know what applications will be available on Linux too. I Currently photograph in RAW producing images which obviously need to be subsequently processed in a digital darkroom. Are any such applications currently available? I presently use ‘Silkypix’ to process RAW files from my Panasonic, and a piece of software called ‘Digital Image Professional’ supplied by Canon to run on Windoze or Mac for files from my Canon 400D. I understand of course that many professionals already use Adobe Photoshop CS3 with appropriate plug-ins to convert the RAW files before going on to process them, all in the same suite too, in Windoze or Mac OS. So, an equivalent to Photoshop that ran in Linux would be 7th heaven for me and I suspect many others too, if such a thing existed? I’m told that there is already a version of Google’s acceptable Picasa which will run on Linux, so perhaps Google will eventually kindly provide RAW converting plug-ins too? (Am I a sadly deluded optimist here too I wonder?)
Eventually, I'm hoping also to re-configure my PC to Dual-Boot either Windoze or Linux (perhaps both running 'side by side' too if the hardware is powerful enough?). I imagine that for those that know, this is a realistic, and sensible option they already take for granted? I'm sure most 'gladly' leave Windoze in the dimly remembered past once they can, but surely even then it is sometimes necessary to briefly go back to Windoze for whatever reason?
I’m certain that these issues which trouble me so much have already occurred to others and doubtless they have also found solutions of their own too, of which I am presently ignorant?! If Linux is indeed Open Source and will hopefully in future remain so, can I be allowed to ‘join the party’? Phew! I’m counting on some philanthropic soul to look down kindly on little old me, and drag me into the 21st century, ironically though perfectly willingly!
As you can see (?) I'm a very naive 'newbie' here which must be of some amusement to many of you, however, I would dearly love to join the Linux community and escape the clutches of Bill Gates, Microsoft and wretched Windoze to which I have been shackled for far too long? The longer my unhappy 'relationship' with Windoze continues, the harder it seems to become to make a transition towards 'the light'. Help! As you can probably gather, I am actually putting this into motion at long last, but I will rely on the patience and goodwill of long-term Linux devotees to assist this painful process. Fortunately (?), I am not a complete idiot or totally ignorant of IT - once upon a time I worked as an Operator for IBM at their Research & Development Laboratory at Hursley, near Winchester, so I can usually understand the CONCEPTS of subsequent innovations in IT ... I also gained two degrees at the University of London in the 1990s in Art History, so my visual/graphical skills are 'reasonable' too - hence my interest in photography etc.
Perhaps I would be an unusual delegate at this conference, but if I were lucky enough to win a place, I would take full advantage to play an active part! Needless to say I would give it my full and undivided attention, without the distractions of other family or commercial commitments (I am single and unemployed). In my current circumstances, I would relish the opportunity to play an active role in the avant garde of 21st century Information Technology! Please give me a break lads & lasses?! I know you want to?!
(as I'm totally new to this forum, and so I don't 'get lost' and/or ignored too, I'm adding my email address, which regrettably will annoy many of you too ... reactiv8@hotmail@hotmail.co.uk)
- I'm presently a Hillbilly living in rural North-West Herefordshire, so most of my current peers have four legs and answer to Moo or Baa!
