Yeah, it was one of those.
The good news first.
The Wife and I managed to take in a baseball game Friday night. We drove over to Montgomery to watch the Biscuits and the Huntsville Stars play. Montgomery won ... and with that win claimed the Southern League title. I'll talk more about the Biscuits on another day.
Also this weekend, I got the Little Princess' computers working. Sort of. If you remember, she called me with computer problems last week. And I offered to swap with her ... my Gateway for her Dell ... while I got her Dell fixed. Instead of the one computer I expected, I got three.
Her primary computer, her Dell Notebook, was free of problems when I last saw it Thursday night. That's when I turned it over to SoldierBoy (her fellow, who's stationed temporarily at Ft. Benning) after it was repaired.
Her secondary computer, her Dell desktop, was also free of problems when I last saw it Friday afternoon. SoldierBoy got it to deliver this weekend, too, after I cleaned it up and updated the security files.
SoldierBoy was going to Athens to visit the Little Princess, was going to deliver the computers, and bring my Gateway laptop back Sunday. Perhaps I'll hear from him Monday. Or Tuesday.
Oh, I did say three computers, didn't I? Well, the third was her old Gateway laptop. A Solo 2150. Never heard of it? Good reason. It's ... got issues. Lots of incompatible hardware. That computer has been the hardest to fix. And that's what I spent much of the weekend doing. That and trying to figure out Linux. More about Linux in a minute.
Her Gateway Solo was a problem. Missing some operating system files. And it had Windows 98 SE on it.
Only, I don't have a Windows 98 SE disc. And the Little Princess couldn't find the ones that came with the computer. But, I did have a Windows ME disc that came with a computer that's since been retired (actually, used for parts).
So, I put Windows ME on it. I hate Windows ME. But, it's what I had.
Took lots of research to find a way to make the sound card work. But I did locate the information. So, her Gateway laptop is also ready.
What about Linux?
Oh, remember that the Little Princess has my Gateway laptop with her at school? Well, that computer is my primary computer. And my secondary computer is one that I put Linux on a while back.
I've been meaning to learn about that operating system for some time now. I wish I had taken the time to do just that.
You see, for the Wide Awakes Radio program I do on Sunday afternoon, my whole setup for broadcasting is on the Gateway. Using Windows apps.
So, this past week, while I was focusing on the Little Princess' computers, I didn't focus on my Linux very much. Until this weekend. Then I went into overdrive.
Someone did help me out with the name of a Linux program that will work. Which would have been extremely helpful ... if I knew how to install an application properly on Linux. Oh, well. I must not have explained my situation clearly. I felt like Uhuru and Checkov in Star Trek 4:
"Can you tell us where the naval base is in Alameda?"
"Ooh, I don't think I know the answer to that. I think it's across the bay. In Alameda!"
You see, Linux isn't exactly like Windows. Nor is it exactly like MS-DOS command line. For example, I can't find a COPY command. I'm trying to use the GUI interface along with the command line (Terminal) and install applications.
There's obviously something that I'm just not getting. Which surprises me a little. Since I'm usually pretty good at figuring this kind of stuff out. Or asking the right questions to get the information I need.
My main accomplishment was finally, tonight, figuring out how to install JRE. So now Java applets work. Still have more to do.
But it's late.
And tomorrow is another day.
