Living at Random » Entries tagged with "Technology"
Switching to Macs
ch_client = "manojt"; ch_width = 300; ch_height = 250; ch_type = "mpu"; ch_sid = "Chitika Default"; ch_alternate_ad_url = "http://www.theunrealuniverse.com/ads/ads1.php?size=300x250&kwds="; ch_color_site_link = "#164675"; ch_color_title = "#164675"; ch_color_border = "#B0C9EB"; ch_color_text = "#333333"; ch_color_bg = "#FFFFFF"; Finally, after a few months of thinking of about it, my wife and I decided to switch to Macs from — no not Windows — but from Linux. We actually switched way back in April, but it’s only now that I’ve had time to write about it. We are a different breed in a sense as most switchers are coming off Windows. I had decided as early as 2003 that I have had enough of Windows. I started with DOS in 1987 (I was in second year high school at the time) and eventually moved up to Windows 95 in 1996, Windows 98 in 1999, and XP … Read entire article »
Filed under: Macs
Nearing the End….
ch_client = "manojt"; ch_width = 300; ch_height = 250; ch_type = "mpu"; ch_sid = "Chitika Default"; ch_alternate_ad_url = "http://www.theunrealuniverse.com/ads/ads1.php?size=300x250&kwds="; ch_color_site_link = "#164675"; ch_color_title = "#164675"; ch_color_border = "#B0C9EB"; ch_color_text = "#333333"; ch_color_bg = "#FFFFFF"; Our PC is nearing the end of it’s life. It has served me well for 5 years (and within those years, has served my wife and me for nearly 2). Hopefully, my wife and I can extract our data soon. The face is really starting to fade (monitor has lost brightness). There are times that it barely has enough strength to do anything (power supply doesn’t want to power up). The memory is going (memory module is acting up). The poor guy can’t even read it’s own handwriting (hard disk is failing). My wife and I are planning on getting a Mac for our next computer. It’s really … Read entire article »
Filed under: Macs
Acronyms 101, 102, … and growing
ch_client = "manojt"; ch_width = 300; ch_height = 250; ch_type = "mpu"; ch_sid = "Chitika Default"; ch_alternate_ad_url = "http://www.theunrealuniverse.com/ads/ads1.php?size=300x250&kwds="; ch_color_site_link = "#164675"; ch_color_title = "#164675"; ch_color_border = "#B0C9EB"; ch_color_text = "#333333"; ch_color_bg = "#FFFFFF"; Way (way, way, way) back when I was in elementary school, we had to remember all these acronyms for our social studies class. Most of these acronyms had to do with United Nations (UN) organizations. These included UNESCO, WHO, and IMF. I couldn’t really appreciate all that remembering. I thought elementary (and then high school) were the last time I’d see acronyms. But when I learned about computers, the terms CPU, RAM, ROM, and FDD were introduced to me. Of course there was also BASIC, COBOL, as well as EBCDIC, ASCII, and BCD. As I entered college for my BS in Computer Science a lot more acronyms came along … Read entire article »
Legal Computing
Looking back three years ago, I never thought I would be able to it. Microsoft products were an essential part of my software requirements. But of course except for operating system which came with the PC, the MS Office installation was something that I wasn’t really proud of. The same goes for bootleg copies of Photoshop and other software. I had thought of purchasing legit copies but the cost of software would have caused me to declare bankrupcy. I was already trying out different flavors of Linux even before. The only hindrance was those Linux versions apperently did not support my hardware. My first attempt was using Slackware. It won’t even boot up from the CD, so I junked that attempt. I then tried Mandrake 8.0 but eventually settled for Fedora … Read entire article »
Filed under: iSeries
Upgrading Skills
Many of my colleagues have asked me what they should learn in addition to their RPG/400 skills. I always tell them that they should take time to learn and practice ILE RPG particularly the new language features like /free. But if they are looking for a challenge, I always say that they should look to Java. It’s difficult to ignore that Java is everywhere today. The Web, desktops, and even mobile devices. Not learning it is a disadvantage. I know that Microsoft .NET people will react to this but the thing is, Java is a cross-platform language. It works on Linux, Windows, iSeries, Solaris, etc. You just can’t say the same for .NET. Of course, learning and getting to use it in a project are two different things. For my part I … Read entire article »
Filed under: iSeries