Computing
My Computer and Audio-Video Equipment Network:
You can find out how my most important equipment is connected up by clicking here.
Operating systems I have used or currently use include:
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Linux is a FREE and OPEN-SOURCE "family of [...] Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel [...]. [It's] typically packaged as a Linux distribution (distro) [(a list here (click))], which includes the kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project."*
I've been using various Linux distros since the year 1999/2000, including (can't right now recall all of them), in roughly-chronological order: Linux-Mandrake 6.0—first Linux I ever used—then its re-named iterations (Mandrake Linux; mandrakelinux; Mandriva Linux); Red Hat; Puppy Linux; Ubuntu; Lubuntu; antiX. Around 2002, Linux became my main OS, and, very soon after that, my only operating system (I recently added Microsoft Windows to my PC, but read below for why I did so). Ubuntu is a very popular distro (a somewhat lighterweight version of it is Lubuntu).
Linux is installed on all sort of devices, from simple, tiny ones to household appliances to smartphones (Android is based on Linux) to supercomputers—for years now and counting, all of the top 500 most powerful supercomputers on the planet (we don't know about secret ones, such as secret military ones, of course) run exclusively on Linux. Here's a randomly-selected article about it, updated 2021: "Must Read: 25 Awesome Things Powered By Linux".
You don't have to install Linux on your hard drive/SSD; it can can be run from media, such as a USB stick, the OS and apps loaded into and confined to RAM. You can run it in a virtual machine running under Microsoft's Windows OS or install and run it under Window's Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL). You can build it from the ground up or go the ready-made, distro, route. Watered-down versions can run on really old hardware and make for an efficient, yet fully featured, computing environment. Highly customisable, it goes beyond the mere changing of background colours and themes; there's a multitude of widely differing graphical user interfaces (GUIs) (window managers (WMs) and graphical desktop environments (DEs)), and you can mix and match components of one WM/DE with another—say you like the lightweight ICEWM WM, but not so much the fact it doesn't display desktop icons, well, simply run DE Gnome's file manager component, Nautilus, and, voilà, desktop icons. There are thousands upon thousands of free and open-source, professional-quality apps for Linux, and it's possible to run a number of Microsoft Windows ones with the compatibility layer Wine, which, unlike a virtual machine, doesn't require a copy of the relevant operating system.
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OpenBSD, "is a security-focused, free and open-source, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by forking NetBSD 1.0.[...] The OpenBSD project emphasizes portability, standardization, correctness, proactive security, and integrated cryptography."*
It's been many years since I last installed and used OpenBSD (it was version 3.3) because Linux—and the native software available for it— has expanded at a more rapid pace.
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Microsoft Windows, "is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For instance, the family of desktop versions such as Windows 11 for consumers and corporate desktops, Windows Server for servers, and Windows IoT for embedded systems."*
When I bought my first PC, it came without an operating system installed but an installation and a re-installation Windows data CD, but it was a doddle to install and I was on the Internet within an hour. That was Windows 98. However, I wondered why it seemed there was only one operating system in the world—after all, it's not like there was only one manufacturer of cars, or one brand of supermarket chain. A little research revealed that there were other operating systems for PCs, the most developed for general use being Linux (see above). The other versions of Windows I've used, albeit briefly, include, in chronological order: Windows 2000; Windows XP; Windows Vista; and Windows 10. I recently added Windows 11 to my PC, partly out of idle curiosity and partly as I thought I should keep up-to-date with the Windows world; however, I'm only booting it occasionally, to download and install the latest software updates, but I do do a little Web browsing while it's running.