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rentz wrote:.....
I've been thinking of getting one to make into an ipvoice box to filter out some of these spam phone calls

You could use Google Voice to filter spam calls. It works verywell for me and international rates are veryt low.
The Google voice number will cost you a one time fee, you can port your existing number to google voice and route inbound calls to multible phones, e. g. home phone and cell phone. If you use Gmail and Chrome it evrn allows you to answer calls on a PC or tablet.
I use it for inbouns and outbound calls to mask my real cell phone number, it provides web based access to voicemails, SMS messages, call logs and the routing features. Be aware that Google is trying to market Google Fi right now but there are/ were some issues.
More details can be found at https://voice.google.com

LDB415 wrote:

bmwrdr wrote:

LDB415 wrote:Linux on a Macbook? I've often thought about playing with Linux just for the heck of it but never have gotten around to it. Is there a Linux that is 100% safe to run on an every day computer? I'd like to have one do dedicate to it so if I wreck it somehow it won't matter but I don't have a spare.

Macbooks boot a Linux kernel befor the MaqcOS starts, you can look at it as a boot loader to get Apple going

You could run Linux on your Mac as a virtual machine. Some information about that can be founde at this link http://virtualbox-mac.en.softonic.com/mac.

Thanks for the link. If I ever finish the edit job I'm doing I may get brave and try it out.

There is no bravery required. If you run Linux as a virtual machine on any platform it is just like a piece of software running on a host OS. In case something goes wrong, which happened to all of us more than once, you just start over without even rebooting yor PC. It is a virtual machine and once you get to know how it works you'll see also the security aspect, benefits and robustness of this particular technology. That same concept is the advantage of MacOS, Linux and even Android over Windows in its mainstream version. Check it out and you'll see what I am talking about.

koine2002 wrote:I have a box that I run Ubuntu on. I'm going to be wiping it and converting it to Ubuntu Server to run my website and email from it.

As a fun note, if you have an Android phone, you're running Linux.

Also, while more flashy, I run Unix, the inspiration for Linux, in the form of OSX on my MacBook Air. I do a lot from the command line. It's a whole lot easier to move files around using the command line. Also, iOS devices are Unix as well.

Right, the Linux kernel on Android phones are actually very sophisticated and the architecture is similar to the iPhone and Mac worls. They all take a Linux kernel to address the hardware and talk to the subsequent booted OS via a bridging module. Microsoft is kind of limbing behind and still does the ring model all in one kinda thing.

LDB415 wrote:Linux on a Macbook? I've often thought about playing with Linux just for the heck of it but never have gotten around to it. Is there a Linux that is 100% safe to run on an every day computer? I'd like to have one do dedicate to it so if I wreck it somehow it won't matter but I don't have a spare.

Macbooks boot a Linux kernel befor the MaqcOS starts, you can look at it as a boot loader to get Apple going

You could run Linux on your Mac as a virtual machine. Some information about that can be founde at this link http://virtualbox-mac.en.softonic.com/mac.

BobCat wrote:Thanks! I'm actually ready to install Linux on my laptop as a dual-boot with windows 8.1, just 1) wondering about how "politics" relates to Ubuntu, and 2) not sure whether to manually re-partition the disc or go along with (trust) the Ubuntu installer.

I have run Ubuntu from the pen drive and it seemed fine and workable, but I have a lot to learn.

1. Politics are useless if you deal with a Linux distro.
2. The idea of running it in a virtual machine eliminates the requirement for repartitioning your hard drive. If you do so make sure you know how to recover Windows. I run OpenSUSE on my private PC and I have a Windows Server 2008 in a VM un case I have to run a program which wouldn't run on Linux. On my Work PC I have Windows 10 now and I am not complaining about it but it is there only because I have to. I had dual boot installations in the past but at this point in time it is senseless because I can run both OS's at the same time with Virtual Box. Should you still try to opt for dual boot I'd suggest tu use GRUB because it is better documented than the MS bootloader shipped with Windows 8 and later.

I hope this helps making a decision.

BobCat wrote:Curious about your political problems with Ubuntu.

I'm still stuck with Windows but have Ubuntu on a pen drive and can boot it on my laptop.

Haven't installed it alongside windows yet, mostly because I'm not well-versed enough to be confident the Ubuntu installer will partition the drive and install without wiping windows entirely. This is my problem (ignorance - I know it is curable by study, different story).

But I'm real interested to know more about the "politics" issues with Ubuntu.

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.

You could download "Virtual Box" from the Oracle website and run any Linux version in a virtual machine on your Windows PC. Virtual Box is stable and for free. Documentation and the download link is herehttps://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads .

Gaidheal wrote:At the risk of being a Necromancer ... I am a sometime user and very familiar with it. :)

I mostly use Windows 7, though, for various reasons.

You are not alone. Most of us are more or less forced to use a Windows system

LDB415 wrote:I've thought about that but always figure if there's a one in 17.49 million chance of screwing things up Murphy would bring that to me and my pc would become an expensive paperweight.

Well, Virtual Box is a software only solution to emulate an OS on an existing platform. I haven't been able to crash a host OS with it and I don't think you will

LDB415 wrote:I'd like to try it out but I don't have an extra computer to run it on and wouldn't know which version to try out.

You don't really need an extra spare PC. If you already have a Windows machine you can download Virtual Box from Oracle and use it to install a virtual PC on your existing machine.
To pick a Linux derivate is up to you, Ubuntu is a great choice. The link for virtual box is below and it is for free.

https://www.virtualbox.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ubuntu is here http://www.ubuntu.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OpenSUSE 13.2 is released, I run it for 3 weeks now on a Toshiba laptop with Intel Core i7, 8 gb ram. It is rock solid and faster than anything I have seen before.

http://software.opensuse.org/132/en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I understand that :-) Try following if you get a chance. In Windows 8.x, create 2 administrative users with a MS Skydrive account and than delete one. Let me know what you find out.

Well, if you use Linux you won't be able to install it like on a Windows platform :-))
But envelope printing should not be an issue at all. I use Libre office version: 4.1.4.2
Build ID: 410m0(Build:2). Which one did you have problems with.
I do remember having issues with some printing formats but that was related to the printer setup and drivers.

Dito. I have one Windows 8.1 Laptop, transferred all my business apps I may need to it and turned it off. It took me a week to get everything working I had on running on XP.
But my main OS I'm using is Linux and I'd say 95% of my tools are running just fine. All it took was to restructure and those 5% missing are just REXX scripts I used with a special com application. Most important for me was to get the functionality of MS Excel but with Libre Office I have not missed a single feature so far.
But looking around at different discount outlets I could not find anything cheaper than a laptop or PC with Windows 8.x installed.

One more reason to stick with Linux. MS really pulls the plug on Windows XP now.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57618 ... ndows-8.1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A nice WYSYWIG? Look at Apache and all the modules written for it. There is no lack of features compared to IIS anymore.