Just go vertical and call it a flag pole :P
Hmm... My wife once commented that my parents were mad for letting me
put an 18' vertical on the side of their house when I was a teenager. Something tells me that's not going to "fly" :)
Given that, I'm not about to throw a couple of grand at a radio, tuner, test kit, etc. just to see if I get on with it - especially since a lot
of HF work just seems to be hello, swap call sign / location / signal strength, maybe kit list, then goodbye. Everyone is entitled to enjoy radio in their own way but that's not my kind of fun.
Given that, I'm not about to throw a couple of grand at a radio, tuner, te kit, etc. just to see if I get on with it - especially since a lot of HF w just seems to be hello, swap call sign / location / signal strength, maybe list, then goodbye. Everyone is entitled to enjoy radio in their own way b that's not my kind of fun.
MIKE POWELL wrote to MHANSEL739 <=-
I disagree. I have been using Linux (usually Debian) for ~24 years now
as my primary desktop OS. I have not had a Windows machine since the
XP days and I am able to do just about everything I want to with linux.
It emulates DOS quite well, too.
I disagree. I have been using Linux (usually Debian) for ~24 years now
my primary desktop OS. I have not had a Windows machine since the XP d
and I am able to do just about everything I want to with linux.
take the chance or lack the discipline to learn something "different"? Or has Linux gotten a reputation for being "overly technical"?
Re: Re: Computers By: Mhansel739 to MIKE POWELL on Tue Aug 13
2024 07:42 am
take the chance or lack the discipline to learn something
"different"? Or has Linux gotten a reputation for being "overly technical"?
I feel like Linux has always been fairly technical, but I think it
has gotten better in recent years with the various GUI window
managers and desktop environments. Depending on the Linux distro, I
think the user experience can be somewhat similar to Mac OS now,
where you can use GUI applications for many things, but also go to
the command line to do some tasks if you want to.
These days, my favorite Linux distro is Linux Mint. I've been using
it on a secondary PC (my BBS PC) since about 2015, and it has always
been fairly easy to maintain and update, and has been very stable.
Linux Mint is available in editions with Cinnamon, Xfce, and I think
one or two other GUI environments. I like the Cinnamon and Xfce environments; I've been using the one with Xfce on my BBS PC, and my
main PC is set up to dual-boot between Windows and Linux Mint with Cinnamon.
Nightfox --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
I have just setup Linux Mint (Xfce) on one of my laptops to start playing with it. I really like it so far. When I retire in the next couple of years, I want to completely remove myself from Micro$oft systems and go elsewhere (if I can). Due to work requirements, I can't do it right now but I am definitely thinking about it already...
That is fair. But are we the execptions to the "rule" - as we are more technical than others? I have a Linux distro on one of my laptops, but do not use it. The majority of the things I do are MS based. I know you can
do almost everything with some alternate software on Linux.
Lost my train of thought. I suppose, is it that many of the consumers are unwilling to take the chance or lack the discipline to learn something "different"? Or has Linux gotten a reputation for being "overly
technical"?
--Matt
I am not so certain it has as much to do with linux software being different or even more technical as it does with linux being less likel
be pre-installed.
Microsoft may no longer have the monopolistic deals with PC makers regarding preinstallation of their software (or maybe they do?), but I think the damage was long done before that was stopped.
Microsoft may no longer have the monopolistic deals with PC makers
regarding preinstallation of their software (or maybe they do?), but I
think the damage was long done before that was stopped.
Mike, I think that you hit the nail on the head. When you go to a store (or Amazon for that matter), the computers that you find to buy all have Windows installed or are MacOS. Those are the 2 most likely choices a user has. And their purchase is based on a need - a need to get a computer that is working right now, and taking the time to install a new OS is not a top priority.
Yes, the damage has been done. The end users are going to buy what they buy and use it as is (aside from maybe adding some additional software). They want easy and convenient.
Mike, I think that you hit the nail on the head. When you go to a store (or Amazon for that matter), the computers that you find to buy all have Windows installed or are MacOS. Those are the 2 most likely choices a
user has. And their purchase is based on a need - a need to get a
computer that is working right now, and taking the time to install a new OS is not a top priority.
The other thing is, for better or worse Windoze remains the lowest common denominator, so its more than likely going to do what some 95% of consumers are going to ask of it, and they won't look any further.
These days, I think another factor is that there are a lot of people us tablets and smartphones for a lot of tasks, and retailers selling compu might just be putting less effort into the desktop/laptop computers the sell, because those aren't selling as much as they did years ago.
Nightfox
I don't know why but, in comparison to today's internet and sociali agree! :D
media, I feel now that we are a lot less likely to be exposed to rampant misinformation back then.
SQZ, SqueezeIt gave exactly the same file size as ARJ a -jm but I just used it to be contrary and had all the BBS archives converted to it :)
It was never popular anywhere else in my memory...
Nightfox wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-
I don't know why but, in comparison to today's internet and social media, I feel now that we are a lot less likely to be exposed to rampant misinformation back then.
I've heard people say that misinformation has multiplied as more and
more people have gotten internet access. Even though many people have access to factual information online, it's also very easy for people to spread misinformation to a lot of people online.
MIKE POWELL wrote to NIGHTFOX <=-
I feel like that has to do with people gravitating to social media
sites, especially those that echo their own beliefs, for social interaction that they don't get on news sites.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to StormTrooper <=-
I know I've told this story before, but I worked in a company with a mixture of Mac and Windows PCs back in the '90s. We used a LAN-based
email system called Quickmail and needed 3 or 4 servers to support 70 clients.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Utopian Galt <=-
Utopian Galt wrote to Bob Worm <=-
Yeah, amatuer radio has more of a potential to grow than bbsing.
I'm surprised CB radio isn't hanging on more with the truckers. I took
a long trip up I-80 and was expecting to see CB antennas on trucks like
I did when I was a kid - only the odd truck had a visible CB antenna.
It seems like such a great way to pass time with whoever's around you
when you're on the road - especially when trying to get traffic and
road conditions.
Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
I'm surprised CB radio isn't hanging on more with the truckers. I took a long trip up I-80 and was expecting to see CB antennas on trucks like I did when I was a kid - only the odd truck had a visible CB antenna.
It seems like such a great way to pass time with whoever's around you when you're on the road - especially when trying to get traffic and road conditions.
Maybe truckers have other things now with smartphones. I wonder if there's a smartphone app that provides something similar to CB radio,
with different voice chat channels on some central server(s).. Also, I imagine there are smartphone apps that could provide voice-controlled games you could play (trivia games, Q&A guessing games, etc.).
tenser wrote to Bob Worm <=-
Hear, hear. Also, the emphasis on HF as the end-all, be-all
of the hobby. "Why aren't people upgrading?!" When I suggest
that people ask new hams why they don't upgrade, they just
look at me funny. It's like a completely foreign concept to
them or something.
Bob Worm wrote to tenser <=-
Given that, I'm not about to throw a couple of grand at a radio, tuner, test kit, etc. just to see if I get on with it - especially since a lot
of HF work just seems to be hello, swap call sign / location / signal strength, maybe kit list, then goodbye. Everyone is entitled to enjoy radio in their own way but that's not my kind of fun.
halian wrote to Bob Worm <=-
This is the boat I'm in. I think ham radio is pretty neat, and got the Amateur Radio badge when I was in the Boy Scouts, but I don't have the money or brain space to actually get into amateur radio.
JIMMY ANDERSON (21:2/127) wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-I try my best not to push people away, but still try to be authentic without censoring myself too much.
People like echo chambers... I like to talk to like minded people
too, but we never learn or grow if we aren't challenged.
That is one way MS Windows got to be so popular. Most PC makers pretty much had to include it on their machines.
It seems like such a great way to pass time with
whoever's around you when you're on the road...
Utopian Galt wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-
JIMMY ANDERSON (21:2/127) wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-
People like echo chambers... I like to talk to like minded people
too, but we never learn or grow if we aren't challenged.
I try my best not to push people away, but still try to be authentic without censoring myself too much.
MIKE POWELL wrote to JIMMY ANDERSON <=-
`-[JA=>M]
That is one way MS Windows got to be so popular. Most PC makers pretty much had to include it on their machines.
Mortar M. wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
Re: Re: Computers
By: Jimmy Anderson to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat May 03 2025 23:43:00
It seems like such a great way to pass time with
whoever's around you when you're on the road...
10-4 on that! As a teen back in the '70s, I used a moble rig hooked up
to an external power supply as my "base" setup, with the antennae up in the attic. I'd have it sitting by my bed so I could be comfy and talk into the wee hours. I was even licened, which didn't mean anything but
I liked having it. I went by the handle, Red Five ("Red Five standing by.")
In the '80s I took a road trip with my Sister and Bro-inlaw down to
Myrtle Beach, SC. We brought along a CB my Bro-inlaw had and he and I would chat with whomever was around. Sometimes, I pretended to be CB Savage (a novelty song) which got some hilarious reactions from the truckers. That was a fun trip. --- SBBSecho 3.24-Linux
I've heard people say that misinformation has multiplied as more and more people have gotten internet access. Even though many people have
Jimmy Anderson wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-
That is one way MS Windows got to be so popular. Most PC makers pretty much had to include it on their machines.
Or else they could't be competitive with their prices. Yep.
Jimmy Anderson wrote to Mortar M. <=-
Ah - those were some good ole days for sure! And I seem to remember
more (better?) traffic at night. Might be for the conditions, or maybe just more people on. But even traveling - if you were driving at night there seemed to be more people to talk to. :-)
I'm not sure if CB bounces off the atmosphere like AM, but if I were a long-haul truck driver, at night is when I'd want to reach out to a
voice on the air.
Alonzo wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-have
I've heard people say that misinformation has multiplied as more and more people have gotten internet access. Even though many people
It just makes sense that the more information you have, the more
likely a lot of it will be misinformation. We are exposed to
so much info now, there is a lot of misinformation. It just goes
along with the good information.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-
Then, Windows got so big that they required makers to purchase a
license per system or they wouldn't sell you any license at all.
Let's not forget people who went through the hoops of trying to get a refund on a shrinkwrap license of Windows when they installed another
OS.
It was the same rationale that the RIAA used to get the courts to order makers of blank CDs to pay into a fund for the recording industry
because users could possibly use blank CDs to copy music (which was
legal under copyright, but details...)
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-
Jimmy Anderson wrote to Mortar M. <=-
Ah - those were some good ole days for sure! And I seem to remember
more (better?) traffic at night. Might be for the conditions, or maybe just more people on. But even traveling - if you were driving at night there seemed to be more people to talk to. :-)
I'm not sure if CB bounces off the atmosphere like AM, but if I were a long-haul truck driver, at night is when I'd want to reach out to a
voice on the air.
I'm not sure if CB bounces off the atmosphere like AM, but if I were a
long-haul truck driver, at night is when I'd want to reach out to a voice
on the air.
Yeah it does, it's called "Skip".
Yeah it does, it's called "Skip".
I still have a SSB radio in my truck. . . just in case.
That is one way MS Windows got to be so popular. Most PC makers pretty much had to include it on their machines.
I heard that Microsoft would charge PC makers a Windows license for each PC they sold, even if they installed a different OS on a PC. Seems a bit sketchy
to me.. But I've heard some people say that was volume licensing, which may b
a somewhat different thing.
Pretty sure it does... We called
it 'skip' back in the day.
CB is AM :). Well, in the U, S, and A, that is.AM, FM, and SSB are all approved on CB these days, with different power restrictions.
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