Linux - chapter 5

Some where the sun is shining.

Some where children shout.

I may not be mighty Casey but I am striking out.

An exchange between my friend Steve and me:

Ken,

I just read your entire blog on Tech Thoughts. You are spot on on so many things. It's really a laugh to read. I chuckled out loud a couple of times. Keep going.

Just one bit of info for you which you probably already know. An ISO image can be written to  CD with any of several programs (Nero is one) that detect that (or ask you if) the image is an ISO and write appropriate boot info on the CD. Just moving the ISO image does not create the boot data, so you can't boot it. I went thru this a while ago, also with Ubuntu as a matter of fact, to test their boot-only-from-CD-you-don't-need-to-write-anything-to-your-PC process. 

Steve

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Steve,

Now you tell me?

I downloaded Nero.  It took a LONG time.  Now I have the Ubuntu version of a DOS prompt.

Apparently, the boys wonders included Nero in the ISO file with a configuration that fails to boot.  Their Nero also expires New Year's Eve.  Nice touch.

So ... I again started Ubuntu from the CD onto which I extracted the ISO files using 7 zip.  Installation starts and always fails during partition.  When I restart Windows it runs chkdsk and fixes what it describes as a dirty drive.

Ken

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Windows is looking like a wonder despite the snide comments of the Linux over aged wonder boys.  Even the name Ubuntu.  From the web site:

What does Ubuntu mean?

Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

Could they be more condescending to black Africans whom I assume are their intended beneficiaries, not middle class people in developed countries like me.  I'm OK, you're OK in African.  Some snooty Latin phrase was unavailable?  Or an English word unused by more than a dozen people?

Notice when clicking through Ubuntu installation screens the button to continue is called Forward, not Next.  I guess Next is contaminated by Microsoft Windows.  Too many people are familiar with it.  That decision must have gotten an extra beer at Miller time.

I just debased myself and ordered Ubuntu on CD.  Hopefully by the time it arrives in "4 to 6 weeks to deliver, depending on the country of shipping", I will have become completely despondent and bought a MacBook, outrageously overpriced plus $300 by Apple.