My Computer

Wow!  My computer is kicking ass.  Finally got sound to work.  It was disabled on the motherboard.  Sometimes it's hard to figure those things out when you get your computer from trash!

Now that my computer has sound I can watch YouTube.  I've discovered a wealth of tutorials on using open source software.    Much of open source runs on Mac, Windows, and of course Linux.

What I've been doing lately is discovering just how powerful free software can be.  My computer runs on Ubuntu a free alternative to either Mac or Windows.  I type this in a free web editor.  I manage my pictures in a free photo organizer.  I create 3 dimensional models for fun with free software.  I even learn how to use them on the web.  Right now I'm using YouTube for tutorials.

MY computer is a free pc, meaning I paid nothing for it and that I have complete use of it. I've decided to make my own top ten list of Open Source software.  Many of them run under windoze but they all run under #10 Ubuntu.  Check out Darren's Top Ten Open Source Products.



Firefox is a web browser descended from Netscape.  It features tabs and skins.  Internet Explorer 7 is just now adding tabs, a function Firefox has had for years.  Best of all there is an add-on called IE tab that lets you run Internet Explorer inside of a tab.


GIMP stands for Graphical Image Manipulation Program, but what's important is that it gives you Photo Shop style power with pictures.  The Gimp can open and save photos in nearly every format including Adobe Photo Shop.






Open Office is suite of applications much like Microsoft Office. Open Office includes a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation software and more. It can also open and save in Word and Excel Formats and best of all it's free. Definitely better than Microsoft Works if that's all you have.





Kompozer is an HTML editor.   I used to use Nvu, this is the unofficial bug fix release.  It is virtually the same as Nvu but much more stable.






Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems.  What that means is you can create your own computer animated effects.  See what you can create here then see how to start here.





Ubuntu is what I run.  I'm using it right now.  MY computer does not have Windows.  MY computer is completely free.  I do not have pirated software on it.  I run Linux and it is awesome. At work when I use Windows I miss Ubuntu.  I feel like everything is at my fingertips with Ubuntu.  I can run all of the programs above at the same time.  In fact I am usually running dozens of programs at one time.  It is incredibly liberating to use this technology for free.  My meager contribution is this page.  I hope at least one person becomes an open source convert from my page.

I have crashed Windows and Macs.  Linux I can attest is stable.  Anyone who knows me knows I can crash a computer.  Yet I only reboot my Linux computer every few weeks.  Typically I only reboot for an upgrade.

Currently I'm rendering a 3d animation, watching an .avi file, editing a document, browsing the web and of course updating this site.  :)  Watch this demo to see what the best operating system you've never heard of looks like.