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Posted: **Mon Dec 26, 2011 11:30 pm**

I've been running Ubuntu for a few years and love it. I'm using an oder version because I don't like the new interface (called Unity). My son has Kubuntu on his laptop and I might switch to that. I'm also keeping an eye on Commodore OS which is currently in beta. It is built on Linux Mint.

Posted: **Tue Dec 27, 2011 3:43 am**

heathicus wrote:I've been running Ubuntu for a few years and love it. I'm using an oder version because I don't like the new interface (called Unity). My son has Kubuntu on his laptop and I might switch to that. I'm also keeping an eye on Commodore OS which is currently in beta. It is built on Linux Mint.

I didn't think I liked "unity" desktop either and was going to switch back to the regular (optional) Gnome desktop but being lazy I didn't get around to it right away. After running it a week or so it started feeling pretty natural and I have adjusted to it now.
I still keep playing with different Linux distros but so far I stick with Ubuntu and keep it fully updated. Then again it took me a while to give up on DOS.

I could go back in time and run all of the jobs on the old mid- 1960's mainframe (actually it was pre-mainframe) but couldn't do anything with DOS today. That knowledge has been pushed off of the back of the shelf.

One of the gifts I got from our son and his wife was a T-shirt that says: "NOTICE, procrastination day has been postponed".

.

Posted: **Tue Dec 27, 2011 11:16 am**

Well I guess if I have to use Windows programs I might as well stay with Windows rather than Linux.

Posted: **Tue Dec 27, 2011 11:43 am**

JPG40504 wrote:I can recall a 'temporary transplant' from FL coming to Lexington and attempting to use TSO here. At that time(and for years before and after) the 'system' resembled a yo-yo and a very slow one at that! Down time in hours was not unusual, and response time deplorable usually. Only during off hours was turnaround time 'reasonable'.

She tried for five minutes to do some simple task and inquired 'what was wrong with TSO'?. Us locals just sorta grinned and offered no answer. She then asked does 'so and so' know about this problem. Us locals did little more than raise our eyebrows slightly. At that point she stated she was going to call him and let him know about this problem. After about 5 min of weeping and wailing on her part, she hung up and left the terminal room. She was never seen again!:eek: And this took place in the development lab where things were much better than 'over there at the main plant'.

Now as a result of my experience in that environment, I rejoiced at the prospect of being able to do most(eventually) things independently of the Time Squandering Option. Granted backups etc. became MY responsibility and software installation and maintenance became MY responsibility as well as security, but I considered that an advantageous swap. I was fortunate that most of what I was using the main frame for was possible on a PC. I was using MY data with MY programs written and compiled by ME. For that no computer room or terminal room was needed. My office became my computer room/terminal room. I no longer had my 'stuff' lingering in 'queue'.

After conquering JCL, DOS was a snap!

Just a slightly different view from the other side of the main frame's residence.] is[/B] there even such a thing as a 'mainframe' any more?

Wow interesting story. All I know is I had to support mainframes and if they were down as long or as often as you say I would have been looking for a job.

Of course my world was steel production, automotive, banking and hospitals. The accounts that were colleges and research were different because they didn't care much about down time.

But tell someone that has 150 tons of molten steel the computer is down so you can't be sure what the carbon percentage is and they will offer you a swim, in the steel.

Or tell 8000 union workers their pay check is going to be a little late because the accounting computer is down, they would tear you limb from limb.

Or tell the doctor that you can't type blood right now because the mainframe connected to "blood sucker" the affectionate name given to the machine that did the test, was down and they threatened to sew you lower lip to your eyebrow.

Or tell a bank with hundreds of branches that the main frame was down, they never seemed to accept that answer.

I forget the specs but I know we had performance requirements. If the mainframe was down longer than x minutes or more often than x times. Huge fines were paid, and people were looking for jobs.

I once sat behind a computer in a bank holding a broken breaker on until the new one could be flown in (it flew in on a booked seat on the plane and was given exceptional passenger handling to expedite it on and off the plane) and installed live so the computer didn't go down.

Or the time we flew a oil drenched 2311 disk pak from Cleveland to San Jose where it was cleaned, rebuilt, data recovered and reloaded and flown back all in the same day so a car manufacture would not be down should their other disk pak went bad.

I use to get tickled when I stood in a tellers line and be told I would have to wait because the computer was down. However i was wearing a radio which was silent at the time that would alert me the instant computer did go down.

Posted: **Tue Dec 27, 2011 11:55 am**

bffulgham wrote:I've been tryin to avoid offering my 2-cents worth to this thread, but.....just gotta stir the fire a bit.

What is the best operating system?
What is the best anti-virus program?
What is the best application program?
------ Pretty much the same as asking -------
What is the best table saw?
What is the best scroll saw?
What is the best bench chisel?
What is the best pickup?
What is the best "whatever you want to add here"?

There is no pat answer to any of the above. Any answer is going to be contested by someone. And any answer should be prefixed with "It depends on what you are trying to accomplish."

There is no operating system, web browser, or application that is immune to viruses. I've seen viruses or programmer errors take out any system I've ever worked on. The only combination of any of the above that is immune is an isolated computer with nothing ever attached to it from the 'outside world'. I've been in the world of computing since the early 70's....my first computer ran on 3-phase electricity and it's operating system was IBM DOS Release 24 that ran a small university with 5,000 students (yeah, we used punched cards). We even had 'hackers' from the student side trying to hack the system even in those days.

Since that point in time, I've managed systems running multiple versions of Unix, IBM mainframes, DEC mainframes, mini-computers, and micro-computers from many different logos. I now sit at home and do remote support for customers within a 100 mile radius. I run Windows-7 Ultmate 64-bit. Why? Because it is the best solution to the tasks I have to accomplish. Do I know everything there is to know about computing? Absolutely not. I learn something new every day, and ask questions of others almost every day.

So much for my rant.....
My comments on Bill's original question in the thread.....

The best, free, anti-virus solution for a young person is adult supervision. I offer that piece of advice not only to help prevent computer 'infections' but as a safety option. I've also had the opportunity to support law enforcent in online harassment cases as well as child predator cases. Those things can keep you awake at night for a long time.

The other AV suggestions that have been made are good too. I have used or support other users that use those products as well. Keep in mind that any AV product is only as good as the updates that watch for the bad stuff. And, all of them are reactive rather than pro-active. The new updates are in response to the bad stuff seen in the outside world, so it is possible to get 'infected' with something that has not been seen before.
One other thing to keep in mind is the old adage, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". That one is very difficult to teach to lots of people, of all ages. I've made a lot of money from adults through the years, cleaning up their computers, and they still can't grasp that concept.

OK, off my soap box :-)
Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas Holiday!
Bud

I worked on Dos also and the only hacking I ever saw was one programmer had coded his employee number from the employee master file to customer acct's payable file. The idea was if he wasn't in the employee master file any longer, he had a little sub routine that would delete all the customer acct's payables and then had the operators mount the backup and clean it up also.

One day he got fired for something else and ...

He was caught when a sharp operator got the mount backup pak message on the console before he got some other normal messages. FBI was on site in 1 hour and the programmer was arrested within a day. Back then doing something like this was violation in interstate commerce laws and dealt with very seriously.

I had one college and a student hacked his test results. He was caught expelled along with some of his buddies and he served jail time. All his buddies that got expelled moved to the top of the draft list and soon got a trip to Vietnam. Again that was back in the early 70's and hacking was viewed totally differently than today. .

Posted: **Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:46 pm**

JPG40504 wrote:Semper Fi! Early Sixties!

Semper Fidelis right back atcha! '99 - '06

Posted: **Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:51 pm**

mgdesigns wrote:Some of the new viruses need more after attention. Find UNHIDE.exe from bleepingcomputers and keep it on a thumb drive. There viruses out there now that hide your desktop, task manager, start menu, and all of your programs and contents of folders. Nasty stuff. Sometimes incurable.
JMHO, YMMV

My wife got one of those a few months ago by clicking on a Facebook link on a friend's wall. Unhide.exe helped save the day. That and finding a hacked activation code online to make the scareware think I actually paid for their "services" so it would release enough control back to me so I could kill it.

Posted: **Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:09 pm**

Ed: I guess Lexington was like the cobbler's children going barefoot. Actually I think the loco L gurus were trying to do too much with too little. Possibly due to lack of sufficient funding.

I recall one instance of a 'programmer' that did not have enough sense to include Write Ring("no ring") on jobs that were simply reading scratch tapes(fishing expedition). He 'caught' the pay status of his peers and then complained to his boss. Eventually a manager in the computer room observed his not requesting a write ring on a scratch tape mount and 'the gimmick' was over.

Last I knew he was shipped off to Boulder!

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