Before the weekend, I brought back from the office an old laptop of mine which I set set up some time ago to provide me with a reference filing system for looking up things while working on my regular computer. It hasn't proved its usefulness - there are some things that would be easier to look up from a hard copy print out than having to switch keyboards and focus of a different screen temporarily screens in mid-operation. After half an hour trying to recall the combination for the security tether lock, I finally succeeded in liberating it, took it home and ran the necessary updates to the operating system.
Not having used it much recently, I'd forgotten just how spritely this seven year old machine could be on all basic tasks, with 512k of memory, 40gb hard drive, and early Celeron 486 processor. It had become so desperately sluggish running Windows XP with anti-virus that I installed a dual booting Linux system before finally wiping XP and settling for Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop environment, tailored to run on old machines with less hardware resources. It works a treat, deploying the decent wifi card without need for more than a prompt for router i/d and password. I settled on using the Chrome internet browser, as it's quick all round, and it works unfailingly.
I get teased about my investment and interest in technology. Grandpa and his computers is a family joke, but this didn't stop Kath bringing her laptop for wi-fi troubleshooting (too many helpful wi-fi assistant programs clashing while trying to compensate for the obtuse but far from ineffective Windows XP wi-fi set up routine). I've had several goes at this on visits to Kenilworth, with no success. This time, with more free time to focus and experiment - success! What followed was a shy request from Rhiannon (sent by text from her mother's iPhone). Did Grandpa have a spare laptop for her?
Well, she's seven now and starting computer use in school. All Microsoft Windows machines, of course, so I wouldn't want her to have problems as a result of working on two different systems. But then, hopefully, she's mentally agile enough to take this in her stride. So with this in mind, I set up the Lubuntu laptop with her user name, and a password she wouldn't forget (even if she had to be reminded how to spell it). Then, we tried websites she'd been accessing on her mother's laptop - the horrid if brilliantly designed Barbie website, the Mini-bugs website (linked to homework on garden insects), and the 'Sing Up' website, designed to teach singing together to primary school kids. Chrome under Lubuntu simply delivered these with no glitches - a nice clean simple reliable interface. All that's necesssary for an easy introduction to computer use.
When they returned to Kenilworth, the laptop went with them. Today Kath emailed me a photo of Rhiannon and her friend, happily installed with her new acquisition. That laptop came into my life the year she was born, and it's still working well. You don't have to upgrade every other year if you claim the benefit of using Open Source software. Just don't expect anyone in the shops to tell you that.
No comments:
Post a Comment