"Nuke it for Morbid"

In working on my Data Destruction presentation, I wanted to use that quote from Aliens. On looking it up, I learned the real dialog is;
"...take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

I liked it better as "Nuke it for Morbid". Much more poetic.

Security Presentations

In an inevitable twist of academic logic, I'm taking Introduction to Network Security and Advanced Network Security in the same semester. Evidently, the school will not be able to offer Advanced Network Security till next year, so they allowed some of us to take both classes. Luckily, Advanced Network Security was only slighty more advanced than the Introductory class. Both classes have presented new material for me, and tickled my interest. I can watch movies like Hackers or Live Free or Die Hard, and know what they're talking about, or being slightly inaccurate about. I now know just how much a problem home users of Windows XP have to deal with, and also how much they unknowingly contribute to the problems.

Next week, I have to do a presentation in both classes. It can't be the same presentation either. I'm keeping my presentations simple, and on things I'm interested in.

In the Introductory class, I'm doing my presentation on Data Destruction. Specifically, I'm presenting Darik's Boot and Nuke -Dban. Organizations like Free Geek have to present their Data Destruction Policy up front, so people can feel safe about turning over their hard drives to us. I've created a Virtual Machine to show the actual program, a slide presentation to present specific information, and I'll probably show this video at the end:

If I don't need to show the video, at least you got to see how Dban works. Dban is also helpful if you want to reinstall an operating system. Simply reformatting your hard drive isn't always good enough. If you had an infection from a virus, or got spyware, or hacked through a vulnerability, your system can no longer be trusted. Dban it, reinstall and rebuild the system. As they said in Aliens, "Nuke it for morbid."

In my Advanced class, I'm presenting Truecrypt - an open source data encryption program. Steve Gibson discussed details about Truecrypt in Episode 41 of Security Now Podcast. I highly recommend Security Now for anyone interested in Network Security. I don't understand about half of what they say at the time, but as I learn more I think to myself, "Oh yeah. I heard that on Security Now." I'm learning how to use Truecrypt, but with my complete openness philosophy, I don't really have a need for it. There is a Truecrypt for Linux, but I'll learn that over the holidays. Maybe you have some files you'd like to keep from prying eyes. My presentation will look something like this:

Through these Security Classes, I've learned the most from listening to podcasts. Here are the main ones I listen to:

• Network Security Podcast
• Mostly current events and news. My favorite segment is "C-Level"- used to be called, "Dealing with the Suits" - how to deal with management.
  
• Security Now
• Very detailed explanations of specific security topics. I think the first 50 or so should be mandatory listening for the Intro class.
  
• Pauldotcom
• News and current events with commentary and analysis. Authors of Wireless hacking books. These guys are pretty funny too.
  
• Security Round Table
• Martin McKay from Network Security Podcast host a discussion with people in the business. This is a really good podcast if your interested in working in the Network Security field.
  

I can't say any one of them is better than the other. I've learned something from each show and each episode I listened to.

Throughout these classes, I've had an occasional thought: I wonder what an Operating System designed by Smith and Wesson would look like.

Cooler

After all this time working on computers, I have yet to replace a CPU cooling system. I've taken a few CPU's out, and have a few extra laying around, but I'd never replaced a CPU cooling system. Until this week.

We got in a nice 1.8 GHz Intel P4 machine. Each time I tried to wipe the hard drive, it froze. I replaced the memory, still the freeze happened. When I examined the machine again, I notice the CPU heat sink was loose. Not good. The heat couldn't conduct from the CPU to the sink. That was causing the freeze. I got out my thermal paste, and went for my first try at fixing it. I used the instructions from this video:

All went well till I tried to put the fan on the sink. The fan was what locked the sink to the motherboard. The fan and the sink just wouldn't stay seated. I looked again, and found the fan connector attached to the motherboard was broken. Luckily, I had a few of the same model in the Free Geek CPU/Heat sink and fan collection. I replaced the connector, and tried again. This time, it worked perfectly. Booted the computer up, and it was ready to go. Dbaned the hard drive, installed Ubuntu as OEM, and it's ready for it's new home.

Machines that we get in over 1 GHz go to volunteers. Volunteers basically get the best of the equipment. They can use use best of what comes in to upgrade their hardware. Machines under 1 GHz are absolutely free for FreekBox recipients. An 800 MHz machine with 256 mb ram and Xubuntu installed runs just fine. With 512 mb ram installed, it feels like a new machine. As long as the user has no mission-critical Windows applications they need to use, the machine is as good as anything on the shelf today. It might be a bit slower if you try to do any deep level photo work or video editing, but other than that, it's more than fast enough.

As a bonus for my efforts this week: I finally figured out how to network our printers. It was much easier than I though it would be. No more USB thumbdrive to print things.

Another Wireless Booster

I found another site about creating a wireless antenna booster. I'm not sure if it's actually any better than the Windsurfer. It may be, but it looks harder to make. I can knock out a good Windsurfer in 5 minutes, and really boosts the signal strength. This one take a bit longer. Here's the link to the template:
http://www.techanvil.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/TechAnvil_WiFi_Booster.pdf

And here's the video of how to actually make the TechAnvil WiFi Booster:

My Fully-Installed gOS Review

So I loaded gOS on a test machine:

• 1.0 GHz AMD
• 768 ram
• 20 GB HD
• 32 mb graphics card

The machine had trouble at first booting. I kept getting "Grub Error 15". I may have finally learned how to fix that issue. I checked the jumpers on the hard drive and sure enough they were set to "slave". After putting the jumper in the right place, it booted right up.

gOS is no faster than Ubuntu, but it's prettier. I found gOS to be about the same speed as Ubuntu, but a bit slower than Xubuntu on the same equipment. If speed is an issue, I'd recommend Xubuntu.

It uses Enlightenment e17 window manager. I'm not sure if I really like Enlightenment just yet. I'd have to use it a bit more. After looking over the Enlightenment home page, and the Download page, I see that Enlightenment has a connection to the Darwin project. Now I see why gOS seems close to Mac OSX.

gOS uses Ubuntu as it's underbelly, so everything was familiar for me. The little leaf in the lower left corner is the applications button - not unlike the Windows Start button on XP, or the Window button on Vista. But, the icons at the bottom of the desktop respond like Mac OSX dock icons. they can be resized to be smaller -which I did. Looked much better. Most of the Ubuntu programs are there, maybe in a few different application menu places. The settings and system menu took some getting use to. The close, minimize, and maximize buttons are in the same place as OSX in the window manager, and program windows. OpenOffice.org, GIMP, and the regularly installed Ubuntu apps are there along with the links to the Web 2.0 apps on the 'dock'.

If I were setting up a box for someone between 16-22, I'd probably use gOS. It's OSX like interface (thanks Darwin) will be familiar for some of them. The Web 2.0 links on the 'dock' are an extra bonus -Google, Blogger, FaceBook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Gmail, Skype, and others are just what most people in that age group uses. The people at gOS looked at 'what do people use' as the factor for what goes in the system. I'd add a link to Flickr myself.

If you're a kid putting together used computers, or putting a used computer together for a kid, gOS is probably the way to go. Personally, I'd wait till gOS 2.0 -If that's how they're going with their numbering scheme.

I really like the green them, though. Good touch.

The Wrong Direction?

Wal Mart is now selling an Everex gPC. This computer is made with a mini ITX motherboard, much like what's found in a Mac Mini, but Everex put it in a bigger box. Seems people like big better. And, they use a specific version of Ubuntu called gOS.

I decided to download the gOS LiveCD and give it a try. After rebooting my computer, the "Start or Install gOS" options menu appeared. Same as ED/K/X/Ubuntu, including an OEM installation. I use the OEM installations for Free Geek Central Florida.

If you look close, the desktop seems to be Google-centric, and a bit OSX-like in the interface. The green leaf at the lower left is like a 'start' button on Windows, but the rest of the icons across the bottom work like the OSX doc. Checking out the menus, it seems gOS kept most of the programs that came with Ubuntu, so things like Pidgin and OpenOffice.org are there.

gOS is a pretty desktop. Simple to use, and has most of the stuff teens and college age kids use. It would be a excellent OS for a one of them.

Even though I was using the LiveCD version, and not installed to the hard drive, gOS seemed slower than Ubuntu on the LiveCD. I'll eventually install it to a hard drive to see what it's like, and I'll report back.

Overall, I like the look and feel of gOS and may even use it in some Free Geek Central Florida installations.

gOS has come to the forefront as it's the installed system on an Everex gPC sold at Wal Mart for under $200. From what I understand, the Everex gPC is only sold on the Wal Mart online store, and not in the Supercenters quite yet. ZaReason sells the Everex gPC too. Looking over the specifications of the gPC, it's not bad for the price.

The major advantage of the gPC is energy use. Supposed the machine averages just 2 watts of power consumption. I'm not sure what they mean by averages. It's possible that if I kept my computer off when I'm not using it, I might average 2 watts.

I'm glad to see another Linux distribution -especially a pretty one- and especially glad it's based on Ubuntu/Debian since I'm use to those. I'm glad they included the OEM installation in the options.

What I'm concerned about is what seems like a step backwards as far as hardware goes. I'm probably wrong on this, if their claims of energy consumption are correct. The VIA processor the gPC uses is a 1.5 GHz C7-D. The processor seems to really focus on performance per watt, and have a max of 20 watts of usage. With Linux, you don't need the latest superfast hardware to get your computer working well. And 512 MB ram is enough for most machines, and most people, so a computer like this is excellent.

What I'm concerned about is why I'm working on Free Geek here:

• There are thousands of perfectly good computers pushed aside for upgrades.
• Those computers are often just sitting in a closet, or worse, in a landfill.
• There are computers that get discarded simply because one part stops working. It's sometimes cheaper to get a new computer, so people don't get repairs done.
• In Florida alone, there is about 3-5 workable computers available for every man, woman and child living here.

Maybe having a computer like this, along with a restoration program like Free Geek is ideal, but I don't see it just yet. It seems we should focus on getting usable hardware into people's hands first, and use those for their lifecycle.

Everex is suppose to be coming out with a low cost, low power laptop with gOS installed pretty soon. That would be something that might be a good idea.

Flights of Nancy

Nancy's book is AVAILABLE NOW!

Switch

In the matter of 4 hours, I switched out Nancy's computer for a recent donation.

The old computer:

• Compaq Presario 5004US
• 1.1 GHz AMD Athlon (I think)
• 1024 mb RAM
• 16 mb AGP graphics card

The New Computer

• 1.6 GHz AMD AthlonXP
• 1034 mb RAM
• 64 mb AGP Graphics card

I was using the Newer computer for 'access' at the other house, with the super wireless setup I did. The problem was the computer came with only 354 mb DDR memory. I finally got some more DDR memory, and could boost Nancy's computer up.

Now, the thing Linux can do that Windows simply can't is; take the hard drive out of a computer, put it in another computer, and work. With Windows, that just don't happen. At least, I've never seen it happen. When this happens to a hard drive with Windows on it, Window says, "Oh my G-d! What happened? Where am I? I don't know what to do. I'll just freak out now." If this happens to Linux, Linux says, "Oh, how interesting. I'm in a new place. Let's look around a bit. Different processor, we can use that. Different memory, no problem. Different graphics card, we'll get that to work after we've moved in." In the matter of 2 minutes, Ubuntu Linux had moved to another computer with no problem. I was even able to move the hard drive in the New computer to the Older computer with only a minor adjustment.

Yesterday, I helped a friend with his laptop. He had a Toshiba, Intel Celeron, 512 mb RAM, with Microsoft Vista installed. I asked myself, "Why would any company sell a computer with Vista with only 512 mb ram?" The thing ran like a slug. We could barely rescue his data, as Vista wouldn't burn a CD, or recognize the USB jumpdrive he had. After emailing himself the data to his gmail, we installed Ubuntu. Major difference. Much faster. Wireless works, and everything he needed installed automatically. The only problem I have to work on is an issue getting his sound to work.

I've come to the conclusion that Microsoft is paying major money to Adobe and Intuit to NOT produce any prominent Adobe program (Photoshop) or Intuit to produce Quickbooks for Linux. If that happen, Windows would have some serious problems.

If GIMP and GNUCash can get to the level of Photoshop and Quickbooks, small companies might be willing to make the switch.

Not Much

I haven't posted much lately, mostly because I haven't had much worth writing about. You already heard I dropped my HTML class. I have A's in all my other classes though. School is much less stressful now. I'm still learning HTML, though. I use the books I have, and some of the online tutorials I found.

We took the dogs to the Fleet Peeples Dog Park yesterday. They were so glad to get back there. Wore themselves completely out.

My Stepson is going to be a papa soon. Life comes at you fast. No parachute here.

The Free Geek Central Florida team is working hard to get the by-laws, articles of incorporation, and application for 501c3 status going. Lots of work. This is going to be my only volunteer organization I'll be working with for a few years. After all, I started it.

Oh, and Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard? Wait a bit. Some security issues to iron out. Cool functionality and effects, but some vulnerabilities. All systems have vulnerabities; Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix. Doesn't matter. If a hacker really wants in, they'll get in. That is, if there's something worth getting in for. And no, your personal bank account number isn't really worth it. Your banks bank account number? That's worth getting. Your bank's database? Yep. The database where you work? Probably.

Funny thing is; your biggest security problem is not your computer.

It's your garbage.

Dropped

The HTML class got to me. Go figure. Not Advanced Security, or Windows Server, but HTML.

The problem for me was threefold:

1. The delivery of the material - The Thomson Course Technology books aren't the best, even though they are way too expensive. The delivery of the material in the HTML and XHTML course book isn't very well thought out.
2. The amount of the content - The amount of work the html class has to do is not really that bad, as long as you're not taking any other classes. Or working.
   
3. Transitions - The content literally goes from here's a header tag, here's a body tag, this is a paragraph tag. Now make a website with a floating image map. No exaggeration.

Basically, the class is okay, if you already know html. I'll take the class again next semester, but after I've already learned html. Then I won't have to learn AND do the work.

So, I dropped the class. Yeah, it bothers me. I can honestly say I gave it my all. Ask Nancy. It still bothers me. I wish I'd been able to keep up.

I can accept my limitations, but they still suck.

Gutsy So Far

So, I'm liking Gutsy:

• Wireless stuff just works. In Fiesty, five of the wireless gadgets I have wouldn't work. In Gutsy, they all work, but on the newer model Belkin PCI card, it works for about a minute, then you get the 'server not responding' messege in Firefox for every website. The card appears to be working, but no longer connecting. I intend on trying it again, in a different machine.
• My Laptop fan spins much less. I'm guessing this has to do with power control
• Laptop battery goes the distance, out-of-the-box! One hour is about the best this computer ever did with WindowsXP, and 1 hour 20 minutes is the best Feisty did with some CPU throttling. With Edgy, I only got 5 minutes, if that. With Gutsy, I still get one hour, but I don't have to do any funky throttling.
• Screen fonts look better. I have no idea why. Others have noticed it too.
• OpenOffice.org starts up way faster out-of-the-box. Sure, I can do somethings to get it to start faster on any distro, but why bother?
• Pages seem to load faster in Firefox. I don't know if that's Ubuntu or Firefox's doing. I suspect Firefox.

Those are the primary things I've noticed.

Other things of note:
Openproj

Openproj is a Microsoft Project-like application, but for far less money. Free is far less money. They have a new .deb package installer on their download page, for Debian based Linux distros - which Ubuntu is one of. I installed it, and it works perfect.

Project Management is a skill I'll need to acquire. In fact, many people will need to acquire it in the future. One piece of software will not make you a good project manager, but having a free one to use will help. I highly recommend doing an iTunes -or other podcast client- search for project management, and learning as much as you can about it.

I have found a site I wish every computer user would view: Securitycartoon.com
Security cartoon teaches the average user why you need to do certain things to protect yourself and your information. The how will change over time, but the why is very important. Here's a sample about anti virus software:

Reproduced with permission. Please visit www.SecurityCartoon.com for more material

My Gutsy Laptop Power

Earlier today, I gave the battery a test run with a pure install of Gutsy -no throttling adjustments. I unplugged the cord, lowered the screen brightness, and surfed wireless. Other than the wireless adapter, nothing else pulled power. My laptop lasted one hour. Not almost one hour. It leasted one hour exactly! Down to the second. Who'da thunk?

Towards the end of the hour, I could tell the machine was getting slower, so some automatic throttling must have been going on. I could also tell the surfing was slower, but that could be lots of reasons.

My laptop lasted an 1 hour 20 minutes after doing some throttling adjustments with Feisty. I never tried Feisty straight-up on the battery, so I don't know how it would have worked. Edgy lasted all of 10 minutes.

I don't see any reason to hack at the power settings right now.

Suspend still doesn't work. I put the machine in suspend, and turn it back on to a blank screen, and responseless keyboard and touchpad. Hibernate works, but isn't any faster than shutting the machine completely down, and powering it back on. In fact, I think a full powerup is faster. The suspend functions may work on new laptops, though.

So far, Gutsy's got a thumbs up from me.

Gutsy Review

So far, I've set up 4 different Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon installations. Here's my thoughts;

Desktop Setup

To save the servers, I used BitTorrent to download the Gutsy Desktop LiveCD. It actually came in really fast. I burned the disk, then tested it on a FreekBox Installation.

• 1.6 GHz AMD Athlon XP
• 384 mb ram - I'd like to have much more
• 20 GB 7200 rpm hard drive
• 32 mb Graphics Card
  

This was a good system to test. To my surprise, the Desktop version now includes an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) installation option, so I went that route. The disk booted to the desktop, and I thought, "I guess that part isn't working yet." But, when I clicked on the Install icon, within a few clicks I saw that I was indeed creating an OEM installation. I was really glad to see this. Now, setting up a new FreekBox for Free Geek is a little easier. It's much more graphical from the Desktop CD.

The installation when fine. But, it didn't recognize the Wireless Network Adapter I'd installed. Well, it recognized it, but it wasn't working. I plugged in the wired adapter, did the updates and added a few programs, and when I restarted, the system asked if I wanted to download the 'restricted drivers' to enable the wireless adapter. Duh! Within a few seconds it was working.

From this initial test, I was really happy with Gutsy. A few new tools I've yet to try out, but I'll report on those later.

My Laptop

• 2.8 GHz
• 964 mb ram
• 60 GB hd 4800 rpm
• 64 mb shared graphics memory

I was a bit apprehensive about installing Gutsy on my laptop, as it's my primary computer. I'd tested IE for Linux on the above system, and it worked fine, so I took the plunge.

First, I tried the "Upgrade Now" prompt from the Upgrade Manager. That didn't go too well, but I expected such. I'd made too many specific changes, and added too many independent repository sources.

Next, I followed the same installation method as the above Desktop, with disastrous results. The installation took almost 2 hours -not a good sign at all. When I finally booted up; the boot screen never showed, the graphics driver wasn't the right one, no sound, and the computer wouldn't shut down. Not Acceptable!

I downloaded, burned, and installed Gutsy again (after a good Dban on the machine) with an Alternate Install CD. This time - Gutsy Excellence! The installation was actually faster than before - less than 10 minutes to desktop.

I've yet to try out battery life, but I'm expecting that I'll still have to make the power adjustments on it. Bonus if I don't have to fiddle with that. The computer does seem much quieter than before. The fan only comes on occasionally now. Another bonus.

Xubuntu Installation

• 600 MHz Celeron
• 256 mb ram
• 15 gb hd - probably 4800 or less rpm
• no clue on graphics

I used the Alternate Install CD. On old equipment, I don't bother with the LiveCD. Once again, everything worked perfectly. This version of Xubuntu actually looks more professional -less like a comic book. Not that I minded the comic book look before.

Evaluation

While the Live CD is good for trying out Ubuntu, I still highly recommend using the Alternate Install CD if you know for sure you want to use Ubuntu, either as the sole OS, or for dual boot. Maybe the LiveCD problems only applied to my specific laptop. Maybe not. Either way, I still recommend the Alternate Install CD. It way faster to install it that way, too.

From the end user perspective, Gutsy is simply an upgrade of some desktop things, and program updates. If I was an end user, I'd be a little upset. Couldn't these things simply be upgraded by the Update Manager, like they do throughout the life-cycle? Why should I risk a broken upgrade -like on my laptop- for newer programs?

Now, to answer my own questions, I know that each Ubuntu version is an entire newly created distribution, and not just an 'upgrade'. Things that are needed are added, and things that aren't needed are dropped. The latest kernel, the newest Gnome (or KDE, or XFCE), the newest file manager, and finally, the newest programs. And, of course, new artwork. For an average geek, the newest version is a must. The the average user, it's not. The average user will be just fine with Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake. After all, it's only a 1 year, 4 months older! Then again, things progress way fast in the Open Source world.

My conclusion: Use the Alternate Install CD.

Again on Education

In this morning's Orlando Sentinel, I read an article on the success of Florida Virtual School. FLVS is a prime example of what I've been talking about; the future of education. "Any Time, Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace" is their motto. Click here to read the article in the Orlando Sentinel, and Click here to see the main page of Florida Virtual School.

I looked through their site, and noticed the system does not currently support Linux. I hope they will be able to support Linux soon. I'd love to work with this school to help bring hardware to kids and families who need it.

Attack of the Gibbons

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon is release tomorrow. It's probably released somewhere in the world already.

I'm tempted to upgrade immediately. But, I have some school work on here that I can't afford to get mangled in the process. I could backup those files on a seperate drive, do a fresh install, and reload the files. The big problem is that I need IE for linux (Internet Explorer for Linux) to work. My Windows Server 2003 coursework is through Course Technology, and it only works with Internet Explorer. I have it working on Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, but I can't afford for it to 'break' in an upgrade. I'll have to wait and see.

I still recommend holding off on upgrading for a few weeks. Wait for the servers to calm down from the rush of requests. Watch the forum and see what the complaints are. If there are few, or you can live with the ones that do happen, slam the upgrade in. If you do decide to download the latest and greatest Ubuntu version, do the servers a favor and use BitTorrent to download it. It will probably be way faster anyway.

Audible Denied Me!

I joined Audible.com a few months ago. The produce audiobooks for popular books. The audiobook sometimes makes it to Audible before the print edition makes it to the bookstores or Amazon.

Earlier this week, I applied to be an Audible Affiliate. They denied me. From the response, they denied me because my site is a blog, not a 'real site'. I sort-of understand. Audible has no control over what is put on a blog, and they might not want to be associated with some blog content. Understandable, but.....they still denied ME! Emperor Danny! ME!

I'm almost inclined to cancel my Audible membership. Almost.

Since they denied me affiliation, I put the Podiobook.com widget on the right side of the entries. My readers will remember that I'm a Podiobook fan. You can download Podiobooks for free, listen, and pay what you feel they're worth. When I actually make some money, I'll pay some to the authors I've listened to.

I make no money off the Podiobooks you download. No benefits, other than the links to some good, kinda-sorta free content. So, checkout the Podiobook links, or go to Podiobooks.com and look through the library. You can even listen to a preview on each audiobook's site. If you like it, you can use iTunes to subscribe, or if you're a Linux user, Rhythmbox, Amarok, or Songbird to subscribe.

Enjoy!

Too Many Versions?

One of the complaints I read about Linux is how many different versions/distributions there are. There are currently 12 or more versions of Windows (including XP, all the versions of Vista, Server2003, media center, Server2008), about 5 currently used versions of Mac OSX (10.x), but with Linux, there are untold, vast numbers of versions. If you're really into it, you can even throw your own version together.

Now, Mac OSX is build on FreeBSD, but a slightly older version of FreeBSD. So should I count Mac in with all the BSD versions out there? PCBSD (based on FreeBSD), NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD. Most BSD's are text base, but you can put a desktop environment on any of them. Like Linux, Gnome and KDE are popular. Oh, wait, there's that whole Sun Solaris thing (Unix/BSD type of thing). Should I include that in the BSD's?

Then there's Linux.

While they like to tell us there's hundreds, if not thousands of version, I really only see four:

1. Gnome - Mac-like desktop, Windows-like in use. Easier to use, simple.
   


2. KDE - Windows-like desktop, Mac-like in use. Lots of options, and very flexible.
   


3. Lean Desktops; XFCE, Fluxbox, OpenBox, IceWM, and others - simply and sometimes familiar layouts


4. Pure text base - Sys Admin favorite. Very frugal, but very powerful

All the Linux distros fall into those categories. And for the most part, all the the BSD's fall in those categories too, except Mac OSX. Sun Solaris uses their customized version of Gnome.


So far, I've used most of the above. If you read this blog much, or just look around on it a bit, you'll know what I like to use. My current 'other favorite' is Damn Small Linux. Puppy Linux would run neck and neck with it -the two trading leads for my second favorite. I guess you could count Fedora as my third, but I haven't used it in awhile, so I'm sure there are better things out there now.

I think this is something Apple really got right - one OS. While I like having choices and options, Apple made it really easy by sticking to one OS. No matter what Mac you get, it's still the current version of Mac OSX.

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

How good is the Windsurfer?

Here's how well it works:

Nuff said. Download the template, and build a few.

Don't forget to checkout MY STORE.

My Stores

If you've seen my main CoachDANNY.net site lately, you may have noticed more changes. Beside my CafePress.com apparel store, I now have an Amazon aStore.

I've always liked Amazon.com. I go to Borders, Barnes and Noble, or the library to see what new books are available. If I want one to keep, I buy it on Amazon. I bought the Head First HTML book on Amazon for far less than the store. I choose the Super Saver Shipping option -a good idea since I don't have much money- but the book came in only 4 days anyway. Bonus.

My aStore contains things I already have, or would like to have. There's a Tech section, Fitness and Lifestyle section, and SciFi section so far. As you can imagine, my Tech section has a bunch of Linux related stuff. I'll add more sections and stuff as I go. If you usually use Amazon, check and see if I have it on my site first. That way, I might make a buck or two. If you're into something I'm into, like home fitness training, check my fitness section. I'll grow the aStore more over time. My main focus here is really to give voice to things I like, recommend them, and possible make some money for tuition and such.

Since I really like Audible, I'm going to join their affiliate program too. I post audiobooks I have, and one's I'd like to have. If you have an audible account, or thinking about getting one, you might like the audiobooks I like.

Okay, personal commercial over. Yoga time.