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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2025
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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 Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2025 6:19 pm Post subject: FINALLY got my hardware fixed! |
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Wonder of wonders, thanks to my former next door neighbor, Mark McSweeney, who is much more of a hardware handyman than I am, the DVD R/W drive that I've had a couple of years now for my nearly decade old Dell Dimension 4100 desktop is now installed, so in the near future I will be able to install lightweight distros on that system. I tested KDE 4.3 on it with sidux today and it works, but it is starting to get really slow when using large software, due to a modest amount of RAM - 256 MB (modest by today's standards, that was GREAT ten years ago)! 
Mark also installed the replacement fan and disk drive for my Dell Latitude D600, which has been out of service for most of 2025. I quadrupled my disk space from 40 GB to 160 GB, just by replacing a disk that was going bad because of heat issues. Now it works great.
I am using my Gateway portable right now, but I have been installing easy distros on the D600 with the intention of giving to my son as a birthday present. A few weeks ago he said, Daddy, if you really mean it and you are giving me this computer, I won't ask for ANYTHING else! (Well, we'll see about that, but I can tell he would LOVE to have it).
Today I put Qimo on the D600 and I am installing SimplyMEPIS now, followed by PCLinuxOS, to give him THREE easy OS to choose from! |
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Germ
Keeper of the BIG STICK
Joined: 30 Apr 2025
Posts: 12452
Location: Planet Earth
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2025
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2025 7:40 pm Post subject: I am a bit excited about it |
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| Germ wrote: | Sweet.  |
Yeah, I am almost as excited as my son will be (and looking forward to a LOT of eight year old hugs) when he sees and gets a hold of this system. He can do his Youtube stuff to his heart's content, research volcanos, hurricanes, tornadoes, Star Wars, Terminator, Rould Dahl books, such as The Incredible Mister Fox, the BFG, (Big Friendly Giant), and other stuff.
My son is smart. He has used any and every system that I've happened to have on at the time he has been with me. His school district, as of this year, uses the Linux Terminal Server Project, so he is already familiar with - and likes - Open Office, Firefox, and similar tools, and I've had him use TuxPaint and other programs like that too. Mostly though, he is on the Web, and he is SMART! He figured out how to connect a PSP (Playstation Portable) to the Internet by finding an open wireless access point, then he created himself a Skype account - nobody told him, he just searched and stumbled on it. Could not TALK on calls because he did not have a microphone headset, but wouldn't you know it, he called Daddy, and laughed when I answered and he heard me on his PSP speakers! What a kid! |
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Xeroid
Site Admin
Joined: 19 Apr 2025
Posts: 6456
Location: Georgia
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2025
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2025 11:54 pm Post subject: Yeah, he's a well enabled user |
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| Xeroid wrote: | | Never did get Aaron to take to Linux but Caleb (my 13 year old) prefers Linux to winders. He likes the fact that he doesn't have to worry about malware. |
If Aaron could see what my eight year old son can do with his SimplyMEPIS (or antiX, or PCLinuxOS, or sidux) system, he'd be pretty impressed. My son used Open Office at school, but he wrote a few of his own "books", such as his own interpretation of the Roald Dawl children's classics "Fantastic Mister Fox" and "The BFG" (Big Friendly Giant). He's written things from Henny Penny, Gingerbread Man, and others in the past - he's been a computer user for about two years now. In fact, he's watching a Youtube movie on SimplyMEPIS in Firefox right now, and he and I have watched DVDs using Media Players in various Linux distros too. |
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