Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
My first computer was a used Fujitsu-Siemens with 128 MB of RAM, loaded with Windows XP. It was 6 years old when I got it in 2005. Up to that point I had used machines at work using Windows 95 on a company network, using Lotus Notes. I had a bit of fun with this machine, which eventually died giving me a nice blank blue screen. I searched the support sites but eventually checked the hardware for faults and, lo and behold, poor contact of the RAM modules was rectified and I was back on the air. Up to this point I was working with dial-up, and then I got broadband. I then got a desktop built by the local shop based on an ASRock board with 1 GB of RAM and Windows XP. This was followed by a wireless router from my ISP which I used to set up a network with a Toshiba laptop with Win XP, which both my wife and I could use downstairs while my router and desktop were kept upstairs with the printer. So I got my wife using email! An ability to run iPlayer, and show photos from the laptop on TV, was also well received. There was no way she would allow the living or dining room to be permanently cluttered up with a desktop computer and printer. To improve performance, I successfully upgraded the RAM in the machines.
So, now I had a home network, wireless, powerline ethernet, broadband, printing and laptop. My son’s Fujitsu of the same vintage had by this time also died, so for the fun of it I brought it back from the dead with a new hard drive, which I successfully fitted. But what about the operating system? It was then I discovered that to get the machine back on, I had to buy a Windows XP CD at what I thought was a high price, and had things called product codes which are a pain. As luck would have it, I found a magazine which offered a free CD with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I tentatively installed this, not knowing a thing about live CDs or Linux, and, with fingers crossed, got Ubuntu up and running. It took a while to get a printer working with a suitable driver from the Internet; and then, eventually, I successfully added the machine to the network.
The AsRock desktop started crashing, so I loaded this with Ubuntu 10.04, but the problem persisted and was solved only when I replaced the hard drive and reloaded Ubuntu. This worked very well and was added to the network. I then decided to build up an up-to-date machine based on a Asus motherboard package from Maplin with a SATA hard drive. (The local computer shop gave me a case free of charge.) This I also loaded with Ubuntu 10.04, and, when 12.04 was offered as an upgrade, I managed to get that running. I am now pretty familiar with the new desktop, and can switch from one machine to another without too much trouble. When I ran into troubles with the scanner, partitions, antivirus, and others, the help of Launchpad support with Ubuntu was invaluable.
So what to do next? The TV to computer interface looked interesting. I already had a basic Sky system, so, using a device called Neuros OSD, available from Amazon, I could record TV onto a USB stick or network. In addition, this is an open system which allowed access via telnet from a networked PC. I thought SSH looked interesting, but it was not installed. This has been a lot of fun to play with, but my wife did not agree and thought upgrading to Sky+, which allowed recording, was a lot more user friendly. I had to agree, but Neuros remains connected to the TV because it plays movies from USB sticks and is a good backup to Sky.
By this time I was struggling up think up another feasible but interesting project, and started reading various Linux magazines. A lot of the content initially seemed beyond me, so I thought I would investigate C programming. It seemed a bit more academic than the projects I had already tried, and it was a job I could fit in at spare moments. A netbook seemed the answer, so I got a Toshiba unit – because my old Toshiba laptop still worked after 5 years of continuous use, although I had recently upgraded to a newer unit which runs Windows 7, which my wife was happy with. The Netbook came preloaded with Windows 7, so I dual loaded it with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I got most of my Windows programs running on it with the current exceptions of the chess program Fritz 8, which I use on the Netbook Windows 7 operating system, and Active sync for my pda, which I use on my old Win XP laptop. The difficulty which I have not solved is that I cannot get Wi-Fi to work on Ubuntu 12.04. I have made do with a Netgear USB wireless dongle to date. I am coming to grips with the terminal and using the command line, and am gradually trying out some of the ideas in magazines such as Full Circle and Linux Format. I am studying the Cloud, Virtual Box, and LXC containers to see what I am best able to make use of.
As far as hardware is concerned, I have faulty sectors on my Asus desktop hard drive, so the immediate task is to decide what to do regarding a backup and a new hard disk. I am very disappointed with this 1 TB Samsung hard disk. I have looked at tablets and phones, but apart from perhaps Android based devices, I see no real advantage for me at low cost. I am continuing with the programming tutorial and reading magazines, so perhaps some ideas will emerge from that work. I considered building a router on an old PC but the existing router supplied by my ISP is likely to be far more reliable than one based on a hard drive in an old PC. In fact, I have never bought a new desktop, only revived old ones or built custom units.
In conclusion, I now have a total of 7 machines available to me: 2 running Win 7, 2 running Win XP, 2 running Ubuntu 10.04 and 2 running Ubuntu 12.04. I have one dual booted and one XP virtual machine, one is dedicated to printing and one I use for backup. I am reluctant to install other distros without long term support. I mainly use Linux, but my wife uses Windows 7, which was preloaded in the new Laptop at purchase. The jury is out as to where to go next, but the journey has been great fun.