Embracing the Penguin

The moment of critical discount having arrived, I have plunged for a netbook loaded with Ubuntu Linux. This is a moment that satisfies my inner geek as well as my self-respect. The idea has been to have at least one machine in this household running Linux for about three years now, and it's happened at last. Goes to prove that eventually I can do this shit. I switched from Microsoft Office to Open Office some months ago, with nary a hiccup in functionality or interoperability. I have a Puppy Linux bootable CD for the desktop machine, but bootable CDs hardly signify. When life gets difficult, you can reboot, pull out the CD and run back to Uncle Bill. Still, Puppy is cool. If you have a reasonably modern machine that lets you boot from a flash drive, you can boot it from your flash drive and operate the whole damn thing from the flash.

I love Linux already. The netbook will take some adjustment, chiefly because there's not a lot of real estate on the keyboard. I keep putting the heels of my hands on the wrong places. The screen resolution is fine; about anything I need by way of peripherals I can plug in, it's a damn sight easier to carry around than a laptop and much easier to operate than a smart phone (at least, if you're digitally challenged).

For the moment, these thoughts still come to you from the desktop, but I'll be moving its Firefox bookmarks to the netbook shortly, and so be able to carry on my mockery from anywhere.

Oh, and why penguins anyway? I refer you to this pair of quotes from Linus Torvalds, initiator of the Linux kernel. And you thought developers weren't funny.