You may or may not have heard of Linux before. Even if you have heard about it, most people don't know very much about it.  I didn't know much till about a year ago. So...

What is Linux?

It's an Operating System (OS). Windows is the operating system almost everyone (who isn't on a mac) uses. In the early 90's windodws was the best most user firendly OS, so it became popular. Linux has been around for a while in various forms, and has always been free. The problem was it was made by nerd for nerds, you had to have a good amount of technical abilities to run it. Fortunatly, in the last few years, a huge effort has been made to make it easier to use. There are a number of different versions of Linux (it's open source so anyone can make one), but the most popular and easiest is called Ubuntu.

So Who Should Use Linux?

The are a few good reasons to use it. It's 100% free, possibly even 120% free. It runs a lot faster than windows, and can run on older computers much better. You don't have to worry about viruses and spyware. Most importantly, people will asume that you are really smart and tech savvy just for saying, "I use Linux."
The biggest reasons not to use Linux are... if you already have windows, linux isn't so much better that it's worth switching. Windows programs don't run on linux. There are ways of running the most popular programs, but not all of them. Doing most things is really easy in Linux (well in Ubuntu anyway), there is even a program that will download and setup all the common programs for you. If soemthing doesn't work right it can be very difficult to fix, but that is true for Windows as well.

Two years ago, linux was a good option for uber-geeks. It has come a long way and now is a great option for a second computer or for people who don't mind learning a new way of doing tihngs. I really believe that in another two years, Linux will be flat out far and away better than Windows, but time will tell.

If you want to know more give me a jingle, I'd love to let you know if Linux is right for you and help you get setup!

Wow, it's almost been a month since we went off-line. Here's what happened (if you happen to care)...
I was graciously given some extra RAM from my good friend Kyle (and a video card too!). New RAM gets me so excited that I tend to make bad choices, I know some of you can relate (Dusty). Installing RAM is an easy process, but when I turned my computer on, it didn't recognize the new RAM, only the old one. A smart person would have immediately turned the computer off, I didn't. We had to go somewhere so I just left it running. When I got home a few hours later the computer was dead.
    OK, no huge problem, that's why I have a backup computer I can use as a server. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to resurrect my first computer I destroyed my other one as well. So I had two blown motherboards and one frustrated guy. I found out later that not only did my motherboards die, but my power supplies too, SUPPLIES,(to be said with Asian accent).
    So I ordered a new motherboard which came a few days later. The bad news was that it came two days before we moved. So I had no time to build a computer. After we moved in I found a little time to work on the computer. I got it running before long but for various reasons, I decided that I didn't want the web site on the main computer anymore. The only problem was that I didn't have another computer. The good news was that last Sunday, we dropped in on our friends Brad and Jenny. They had an old computer they hadn't used in some time that they donated to the cause. It turns out that slow computers make fine web servers. Thanks Brad!!
    All this week, when I haven't been working or running or sleeping or eating or playing with Dahlia, I've been getting the site set up again. I got it done on Friday, but we figured we should finish redesigning the homepage before we launch again, so check that out if you missed it. It's my favorite design yet.