The Web has a lot to offer — from email and Web surfing, to shopping and bill-paying, to Web site creation and social networking.

But we all know that it also has several annoying features; things that aren’t bad enough to make you stop visiting the sites that you like, but are bad enough that you [more...]

Two days ago, I installed Debian Squeeze onto my new 64-bit PC, using ext4 partitions, KDE4 and grub2.

Two nights ago, I was up until 3:00 AM, thanks to Debian Squeeze’s version of KDE4.

My experience may surprise you. It certainly surprised me. [more...]

This short announcement is to let you know that I plan to replace this announcement with today’s Journal post some time this evening, after I’ve taken a little nap.

Yesterday, I installed Debian Squeeze onto my new PC, using ext4 partitions, KDE4 and grub2.

Last night, I was up until 3:00 AM, thanks to [more...]

I’ve told you about several of my Craigslist deals, but it’s been almost 4 months since I found my last one — a network laser printer that I’m still really happy about.

Since then, I’ve looked for a third computer to add to my network, to serve as an NFS file server for my wife’s and my computers.

Judging by the normal prices I’ve seen on Craigslist for the past several weeks, I figured that it was going to cost me around [more...]

About ten years ago, I became so disgusted with Windows’ opaque frailty that I started looking for an alternative. In 2002, I learned some of the main differences between Windows and Linux.

But back then — and on until November, 2005 — I was on a slow dial-up Internet connection that made it nearly impossible to [more...]

I’m always looking for a good analogy/metaphor to use when I’m explaining Linux to people.

Here’s my latest one. I haven’t given it a whole lot of thought yet, so this will be an incomplete first draft of my initial thoughts, off the top of my head. I may leave it as it stands now, or I may end up refining it later on. [more...]

Regular readers of this Journal may remember my June-July, 2008 series of Journal entries, in which I described — in sometimes agonizing detail — the many trials and tribulations that I went through when I converted this Journal from being straight XHTML code to using the WordPress publishing platform, with my own theme that matches the rest of this site.

Anyone who’s ever done their own Web design knows that [more...]

More than ten years ago, up in the Frostbite State, my wife and I used to shop at a Cub Foods store that had 22 double-length aisles filled with groceries.

The selection was tremendous and the prices were great, but the store was so huge that it always took a long time to find everything that we were looking for.

So, way back then, I created a [more...]

Here’s another Do-It-Yourself story, like last month’s Some Like It Hot and Working Hard To Make It Soft, as well as My $135 Gamble last Christmas.

A few nights ago, I went into the garage to do some laundry. After a few minutes, I heard a loud buzzing noise that sounded like [more...]

Many years ago, I used to buy PC parts and supplies at my local Best Buy store. Their selection was good and their prices beat every other local store. Their name described their store.

But it’s been a long time since I bought anything at Best Buy because, over the years, they changed. Their once diverse inventory shifted [more...]