Free Ubuntu CDs
I try out different Linux operating systems occasionally just to see how they are progressing in functionality and useability as compared to Windows operating systems. That's how I ran across "Damn Small Linux" as mentioned in my previous blog.

There are several excellent Linux operating systems now that will run from a CD or from you hard drive after you install it.

These are all free if you download them from the Internet. However, if you are on a dialup connection to the Internet, a download of a 650 megabyte file will take hours, if not days.

I was trying out a Linux operating system called Ubuntu and noticed that they offered to send Ubuntu to you at no cost. They would send the CDs free and even pay the shipping.

So, I ordered some Ubuntu CDs. About a month or so later a small package arrived that was full of Ubuntu CDs.

Included were Live and Install CDs in single cardboard folders for Windows(12), PowerPC(2), and AMD64(2) platforms.

Very nice, indeed. If you have been wanting to try out Linux, this is the cheapest and easiest way that I know of.

Browse the Internet without a hard drive....
Got a nice little computer here that I put Windows 98 on with the intention of running the United Devices cancer research program on it.

It has a 30gig Hard drive, a 200mmx Pentium processor, and 64 mb of EDO ram.

This little puter ran Windows 98 like a champ. At least it did until the hard drive failed. I tried everything to get it running again. It wouldn't fdisk. The Windows 98 cd would not recognize it. Spinrite didn't do any good. The Western Digital floppy said it had a fatal error number so-and-so and to contact Western Digital support at its website.

Well, just by coincidence, I had recently downloaded and burned to CD a Linux distro iso file called Damn Small Linux.

Damn Small LInux (DSL) is an Operating System ( you know: like windows 98, 2000, XP, etc) that you can run from a CD. I had tried it on my regular computer and it worked very well.

So, I got to thinking and wondered if it run from a CD without a Hard drive on the computer.

I went into the BIOS of the computer and set it to boot from a CD. Then I stuck the CD in the tray and booted the computer. It went into an install of the DSL, but would never complete it.

Next, I did what I should have done from the beginning. I read the DSL help files. It said that a computer needed 128 mb of ram before DSL would run completely in memory.

I hunted around and found 64 more mb ram to get that computer up to 128 mb total.

I booted again with DSL in the CD tray and DSL installed without a hitch. It recognized all the hardware and automatically configured the Internet connection and I was browsing the Internet without a hard drive.

Now, if you have several computers, this idea may not be of much use to you. However, if you only have one computer, and need to get on the Internet, then it might be useful to keep a copy of DSL around. Did I mention that it is free?

DSL is not a small download if you are on a dialup connection. It is about 50 mb and will take up to five hours to download.

If you can't wait that long or pay Internet by the minute or something, you can go here and order a CD delivered for $9 US.

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NOTE:
The download is an iso file. This iso file will have to be burned to a CD. The program that I use to burn the iso file to a CD is CDBurner XP Pro, which can be downloaded here. CDBurner XP Pro is Freeware (doesn't cost anything) and does an excellent job.

For those in the dark......
In the previous blog I went on and on about the things I had been doing and will do.

You might have understood all that if you knew that there is a website associated with this blog by the name of "Dubber's Computer Resources".

The site started out as a computer resource (hence the name) for those looking for information ordinarily scattered here and there. I tried to put on one site the information about computer topics that computer users (especially newbies) might need help with.

Interestingly, I began, lo those many years ago, with posting daily an idea, news, quotes, etc(sorta like a blog, you know?). It got to be too much to do every day, so I tried expanding some of the topics with the result of one page having more than 2,000 links.

And away we go.......
Yep, here we are a blogging away for sure.

I'll have some topics to wite about now and then.

Things are fixin to get real busy for ol' dubber real soon, so he's catching up a little on the grunt work around here.

The last couple of days were spent cleaning out the Freeware Links deadwood. You may have noticed the 299 deleted Freeware Links.

Other tasks aroud here include updating the severely outdated "Essential Freeware List", rewriting the "Send to" tip that never really made sense, adding another chapter to "How to Find 2,000 Freeware Links, and I'm gonna get real brave and redo the "Home" page from scratch.

Now, I hope your nap is over and you can read my plea for you to post entries here about whatever is on your mind. This blog IS moderated and I have to approve posts ahead of time.

Got to go now. Hope your week is exciting and fruitful. Yeah right.

Later.