Mini-Vna / Operating systems

  • Last friday we had our usual clubmeeting at KTKand this time one of our fellow members, Luc ON7KZ came to present his most recent ‘toy’, the Mini VNA. Yes for those of you who have read the rest of this site, Luc is the specialist we all turn to if we need to have some technical assistance. In this era of plug and play ham-radio, Luc succeeds in surprising us again and again with his new measuring equipment and with the in-depth knowledge he has of it. Luc seems to never stop experimenting and learning. Moreover he is a
    great ‘elmer’ to us who sometimes lack the necessary technical knowledge to finish our projects.
  • At the same meeting we sat together with some friends and, of course, the discussion turned to the new play “To Vista or not to Vista” written by William Gatespeare.
    But what was anounced as a romantic play turns more into a drama. To be honest, the first critics don’t seem positive at all. One of the guys who sat at our table sells computers for a living and the first 2 machines his technicians had to go and install were a complete disaster. Both technicians returned from their customers after about 4 hours of work with the same conclusion: “we cannot get one application to run correctly…”
    I guess I’ll stay with XP for now. But on the other hand, some of our club members are starting to experiment with Linux. Their arguments might eventually also make me turn to Linus Torvalds’ creation.
    What do I mainly use the pc for in the shack?
    • email using Thunderbird => also exists under Linux
    • browser with Firefox => also exists under Linux
    • making this website => also exists under Linux
    • making spreadsheets and textdocuments using OpenOffice.org => also exists under Linux

    So what’s stopping me? Maybe the fact that I have a business to run? Maybe the fact that I want to finish that K2 and get on the air again? Maybe the fact that I still have to finish decorating my house? Or maybe it is the fact that my father would like to have grandchildren before he turns 90?
    Yes you understand, as for everyone my time is limited and as learning to use a new operating system takes some time (well a lot I guess), I’d better not get yet another project started…