2009-06-01
Installed Slackware64, the x86_64 version, for fun and grins. But
keeping the Ubuntu 9.04 for daily use. As side note, I have been
using Virtualbox for virutalization for about 6 months now.
2009-05-01
Ditched Arch Linux at KDE4.2.2 when the the KDE developerss started
on KOffice2 updates and I read an article claiming it would be 2
years before it is usable again.
I move over to using Ubuntu 9.04 as Arch Linux has been a bit of
hell on earth so far this year.
2008-07-29
The Arch Developer who was working on KDE4.1 went ahead and moved
it into Extra, removing KDE3 from the repository. Caught me off
guard, so now I'm using KDE 4.1. It was rough for the first week
getting KDE4.1 set right for my NVidia card, but now it's all ok
and I'm not looking back (except to complain about missing features).
2008-01-17
Well, I've been a bit lax in keeping this up to date, so here goes:
Started hitting Yahoo Chat Room Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris:1 last year
and kinda forgot to keep updating this little page.
Been keeping up pretty much with the Slackware updates thru 10.2,
11.0, 11.1 and now on to 12.0 and following the current branch.
Only big glitch in this was the jump to 12.0 which was a big set of
changes including the move to modular-X. This resulted in some
breakage of things I was pretty accustomed to using so
experimentation with other distros has continued.
Once it settled out and playing with other distros led into compiz
desktop effects, I bit the bullet and went looking for how to get
compiz effects in Slackware. Currently Slackware seems to be
including a somewhat old version, so some of the effects are
missing and there is no ccsm effects manager included.
Ubuntu hit the scene and
caught on, so of course it had to be tried thru versions 6.06,
7.04, and 7.10 trying out mixes of Gnome and KDE-desktop and
finally settling in with
Kubuntu 7.10.
Compiz-fusion has been fun, but I fail to see much of this that
really leads to productivity improvements.
A few days ago, a means of co-installing the new KDE4.0 was
released so I've been giving that a go. I believe this should
have been called an RC release, but no. It's a fairly bare bones
KDE with a lot of the features missing we became used to in the
KDE3 series. The purpose of this seems to be just to get it out
there and get people trying it and giving some feedback about
what's new that they like and don't like and what they feel was
important and left out. Gives a good excuse to pare down on the
cruft at least and possibly help focus on a schedule based on
demanded features.
As for other distros, I've taken a turn towards
Arch Linux, beginning with
the 64-bit version (called Don't Panic). Finding out that though
you can make a quite good workable system, it takes adding alot of
32-bit libraries to get flash and wine installed. Flash for all
the video sites and wine to be able to run DVDDecryptor and
DVDShrink. But, alas, my new machine only has 2GB of ram
installed, so I miss out on the real reason to run 64-bit.
I'm finding out that I really like Arch Linux and it has become my
main distro for about 3 weeks now.
So, at this time here's what I have installed in the order of most
usuage:
Arch (Core Dump)
Slackware 12.0
Kubuntu 7.10 (including KDE4.0)
Windows XP-SP2 (for the family)
2005
Home PC errr "upgraded" to Gentoo 2004.3, then 2005.0 then back to
good old reliable Slackware-10.1-current with KDE desktop, Apache
and ProFTP
2004
Home PC upgraded to Slackware 10 current, KDE 3.3 desktop, running
Apache and ProFTP
Various Live-CD's, such as Knoppix,
SLAX and
Suse 9.2 Live-CD.
Knoppix and SLAX both work great on my PC. Suse is a problem
because it mis-identifies my SynMaster 955DF monitor. The Xorg
config file must be hand edited. After giving these a go, I've
decided to stay with Slackware-10-current.
Home PC upgraded to Fedora Core 3, never made it to a desktop,
*really* flakey install problems
Home PC upgraded to Slackware 10, KDE 3.3 desktop
Home PC upgraded to Fedora Core 2, KDE 3.2.2 desktop, some flakey
install problems, eventually gave it up when kernel updates quit
booting on my hardware
Home PC upgraded to Fedora
Core 1, KDE 3.1.4 desktop
2003
Home PC upgraded to Slackware 9.1, KDE 3.1.4 desktop
Home PC upgraded to RedHat 9, KDE 3.1-12 desktop
Home PC upgraded to RedHat 8.0, KDE 3.0.3 desktop
Home PC upgraded to Slackware
8.1, KDE 3.01 desktop
Home PC upgraded to Debian
3.0rc1, KDE 2.2 desktop
2002
Home PC upgraded to RedHat 7.3, KDE 3.0.0 desktop
Home PC upgraded to RedHat 7.2, KDE 2.2.12 desktop
2001
Home PC upgraded to RedHat 7.1, KDE 2.1.1 desktop
Used Windows NT at college
2000
Home PC upgraded to RedHat 6.1,
KDE 1.1.2 desktop, 1st dual-boot installation
3rd home computer, Cumetrix Data Systems (of California), AMD
850MHz, 30 GIG hard drive, Windows 98SE
1999
2nd home computer, white box AMD 350 MHz, Windows 98SE
Home PC upgraded to Windows 98SE (still in use today)
Home PC upgraded to Windows 98
1998 to 2001
IBM AS/400 Operator/Programmer Associate Degree, learned RPG-ILE,
RPG-IV, RPG-III, COBOL, CL, DB2, Query/400 and various utilities
1996
Home PC upgraded to Slackware 3.0? - experimented before
re-installing Windows 95, complete linux newbie
1995
Home PC upgraded to Windows 95
1993
1st IBM clone personal home computer, AST Research !Advantage,
486-DX2 66MHz, 4Gig hard drive, came with MSDos 5 & Windows
3.1
1990-93
Foxboro I/A at work, these were used as operator interfaces to an
Allen-Bradley PLC3 control system. Foxboro I/A was built upon Unix
1987
Cronos Operating System at work - used in Nematron operator
interfaces, basically just an IBM PC clone with CRT mounted in a
waterproof enclosure for use on a plant production floor.
Programming was done in GW basic.
These are no longer manufactured today, so following is a link to
their successors, the Nematron ICC Family
Nematron Family
1987?
Gateways on Ethernet LAN at work, could retrieve files off the
VAX 11/780 until it was decomissioned
1986?
DEC VAX 11/780 at work, thin clients on desktops, word processing
and spreadsheets
DEC VAX 11/780 website
1984-86
Allen-Bradley PLC3's at work, PLC stands for Programmable Logic
Controller
Not really an operating system, but they do provide the ability to
program in what is called "Ladder Logic", which is a very simple
and easy to understand programming language for industrial control
systems.
As an example: A very simple "rung" of logic might say "if the ON
pushbutton is pressed, turn on the motor, if the OFF pushbutton is
pressed, turn off the motor".
A PLC guru was hired who programmed something called a "sequencer".
Basically, a sequencer is a "state machine" used to put a machine
through its paces. Sequencers can be used to control anything from
a milling machine, to a lathe, to a weighing system, to a process
vessel, to a transfer pump station.
These became the building blocks for controlling entire production
processes; such as weighing grains, brewing beer, fermenting beer,
ageing beer, filtering beer, bottling or canning beer. So, next
time you rink a beer, toast Allen-Bradly.
PLC3's are now in their end-of-life cycle, so following is a link
to their successors, the PLC5
Allen-Bradly
PLC5
1982
Timex 1000, based on the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81
Timex TS1000 website
Sinclair ZX80, ZX81, 1st home computers, membrane keyboard, used a
TV for the monitor, 16K Expansion Ram, learned to program in
Sinclair Basic and used OS system calls, also learned Zilog Z80
machine code programming by hand without an assembler
Sinclair ZX80 website
Sinclair ZX81 website
1980
IBM System 360 at work, back to using punch cards and printouts
1974-79
IBM System 360 at college, 1st used punch cards, then
later moved up to remote terminals. Learned to program in FORTRAN
and JCL (Job Control Language)
IBM 360, 40th Anniversary on April 7, 1964
