Computer Woes

My last few weeks have been defined by computer woes.  Even this morning, it took several tries and a software update to create this post.  You may know this feeling.

computer-01-sick

The recent round of woes began when I started exploring the possibilities of a divorce.  (Not from my lovely wife–that would be incredibly stupid.  How could I live without her?)  I’d like to part ways with MS and Windows.

Many of us were unhappy with MS dropping support for XP.  We went to Win 7 because of the reports about Win 8.  We were just over the hump in the learning curve when Win 10 was announced.  Some of you opted for the free upgrade.  And you went back after myriad problems.

I’ve decided not to go there.  There must be a better way.  Right?

Linux has been around for some time, but is there software available?  Yes, there are programs for most of our needs.

Linux comes in various “flavors.”  Son, Scott, was also looking into the same possibility.  We decided that Manjaro was the Linux version to use.  I looked into computers that I had at hand to use for a test bed.  Sylvia’s former (XP) computer had the hardware that would play well with the new OS.

Seven times, I tried to download the disk image for Manjaro.  Seven times, the download was corrupt.  While this was going on, the test computer died.  Aargh!

It was time for a day (or so) off.  That helped.

My former XP computer is newer than the recently departed test machine.  The processor has a 64-bit instruction set.  (It’s much faster)  Should have started here.

The 64-bit version of Manjaro, is now installed.  This is the “xfce” version, which means that the web browser, e-mail client, office suite and more were installed with the operating system.  It is working well.  I’ve just begun to test, however.

Is that victory that I sense?  Here’s hoping.

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About Chuck

I am retired after a career in electronics and in publishing. Today, my wife of 50+ years, Sylvia, and I live in a house on a hill beside a dirt road in rural west Michigan. We enjoy living in this country environment where livestock and wild life out number the human population.

6 thoughts on “Computer Woes

  1. Here is an example of my friend Chuck and my sister Vee conversing in an unknown tongue.

    • Unknown to some, but still in widespread use. Most folks are not interested in this, but it has taken so many hours (days) that I felt the need to share. Did I include too much info (TMI)?

  2. Two years ago our son saved all of his data, scrubbed his PC, and downloaded Linux and some compatible programs. He is very happy with that choice and has not had any problems since with attacks and freezing. I understand that Linux is much like the system used by Mac (maybe the same one, I don’t really know).

    • Excellent choice by your son. I still have some hurdles to get over before making the move complete.

      Thirty years ago I had an Apple, but not a Mac.

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