SGI

I forgot to tell you. SGI machines are my favorite computers. Fast, efficient, mips-based IRIX workstations. My particular favorite is the O2, but the Indigo, Octane, Iris, Onyx, Tezro and Origin are also cool. Unlike beige i386-based PCs, like my Gateway, SGIs are blue and magenta and purple and turquoise.
Here are some photos:
The Origin

The O2

NetBSD

My favorite type of Unix is NetBSD. It is extremely portable and efficient. For more info about it, go to http://www.netbsd.org. Here you can learn more about it and find out what you need to install it and what you can do with it.

Why Unix? Why Open Source?

Okay, I have to admit, from now, that I am starkly for open source, and that means GNU and FSF and Linux and every other open source organization. Not freeware, not free trials of shareware which last 45 hours, not shareware............open source. GNU. Linux. NetBSD. That penguin guy. (Tux.) I strongly try to keep away from Windows, unless I need to send e-mails or update this blog. Oh...and that also means keeping away from a GUI. I only use my favorite shell - bash. Well, still I often use csh and ksh. This keeps me focused on programming, typing, scripting, thinking, and not games, wasting time surfing the web, and doing careless stuff. In addition, GUIs are slow, "point-and-click" (aaaarrrgh.....that's what people think computing is now), unreliable, buggy (you do not want to see how often I have to press ctrl+alt+del), and involves lots of hard work to write applications on. Not that its easy in Unix, but, you know, I don't like VB, and, in addition, I hate trying to use all those windowSize(), etc. functions in C programs. You could guess why my NetBSD box starts up in about 10 to 20 seconds (from fresh boot to dmesg to login), while a brand new Dell machine takes over a minute to get working. Just makes me wonder why we need so much faster processors when we can go faster with an efficient operating system (you know, efficient in Latin means they will bring about). Also, interestingly, due to my experience with Unix, Windows seems so slllllooooooowww in comparison. However, the most important aspect of Unix, to me, is its programming compatibility. No operating system is more easy to learn to program with and to program with in general. Why do you think the open source programming community is one of the largest ones that exist.

Next, I support open source for several reasons. First, I am on a budget. I can't afford a new computer. That's why I bought a $12 dollar garage sale Gateway 2000 and put NetBSD on it. Second, open source promotes spontaneous improvement. For example, say I was a programmer and recently downloaded some miscellaneous package for my workstation. However, it has some fatal bugs. Well, thanks to the handy source code included, I can fix it and give it to others. Third, I love free software :) .

If you disagree with my opinions, I will not argue with you. You are entitled to your own opinion.

Command of the week: grep

I have decided to post a short article each week on a particular Unix command. This will be helpful to you readers out there, as you may review on your Unix scripting and shell commands (maybe for those of you users out there who stick to X and KDE for most of your work;) ), and it may also teach you new things that you didn't know about the command. It will also teach me new commands (I am not that "well versed", but I can get by pretty easily when I use the shell) and Unix techniques. Usually there will be a description of the command, but for today you can refer to my grep post.