January 2007 archive

Windows Baggage: Failing to comprehend ‘network drives’ in GNU/Linux

Update! I figured some things out. See related posts below.

A big challenge for me in moving to GNU/Linux from Windows is not only migrating all the data that I rely on and finding free software replacements, but figuring out how to do the equivalent of all the administrative things I need to do.

When I started using Windows PCs back in 1994, I didn’t have anything. No data, no maintenance requirements. My computing world was a blank slate. I started using my cousin’s Gateway 486 to play Doom (in DOS), and then started going in to Windows to see what games were in there.

Gradually over time I started doing more, and in twelve years I’ve accumulated a lot of habits …

Techdirt doesn’t get the Children’s Machine (aka the $100 laptop)

I’ve been reading Techdirt for a few months and usually find the entries there to be thoughtful and insightful, but I wouldn’t use those words to describe this post about the Children’s Machine. The post and many of the comments make me sad.

If you’re not familiar with it, you can read about the Children’s Machine at Wikipedia and at the One Laptop per Child homepage. The goal is to make a rugged laptop, suitable for use in remote environments, and to get the cost down in the $100 per laptop range. OLPC is a charitable organization and is raising money to manufacture and give these laptops to poor children.

One line of disagreement in the Techdirt post and …