Apple – Auxiliary Memory

Are We Witnessing a New Age of Computing?

by James Wallace Harris, 6/2/26

When I first took computer classes in 1971, the school’s main computer was an IBM 360. That represented The Age of the Mainframe. At the time, The Age of the Minicomputer was coming into being. But what I fondly remember is The Age of the Personal Computer developing at the end of the 1970s. Back then, they were called Microcomputers, but that’s a weird term to use now, considering how small computers have gotten with smartphones and smartwatches.

I remember the Internet coming to my university in the 1980s and the World Wide Web in the 1990s. Each new technology ushered in a new age for society. Sometimes it’s not new technology, but how it’s used, such as social media and cloud computing. The web has been transformed several times by new coding languages and techniques.

We’re now a few years into The Age of Artificial Intelligence, but I’d say it’s only at the stage of 8-bit computers back in the late 1970s. Yesterday, Nvidia announced a new line of laptops using the RTX Spark chips. They will run Windows. In some ways, this is just Microsoft catching up to Apple when it dropped Intel and switched to the M1 chips.

Windows and all its apps will have to be rewritten and recompiled for the new Nvidia chips. Apple and its app developers had to do the same thing. But how many people will buy these machines? Apple transformed itself and the industry by moving to RISC chips. Is this what Microsoft plans to do, too?

How many people will buy these new Nvidia machines? The current DGX Spark machines run $3,600 – $5,000. That kind of money is reasonable if you’re trying to set up local AI compared to custom-building a PC with high-end graphics cards. And configuring a Mac with 128 GB of memory runs as much.

Are we looking at a new age of personal computers with 128 GB to 1 TB of memory? How many people will spend $5,000 to $10,000 or more on such machines? Especially now that Apple has created a growing market for $599 computers?

Is computer technology evolving past personal computing? I’m typing this on a Mac Mini M4, which I paid $549 at Amazon. It does everything I want. It’s completely quiet and so fast that I no longer worry about speed.

How many individuals are willing to spend $5,000 to have a private AI? Currently, most people use the online frontier model AIs for free or $20 a month. At $20 a month, you can use the latest frontier model AI for 250 months for $5,000. Open source AI models that can run on 128 GB are getting pretty damn good, but still not as good as the frontier models.

I can understand businesses wanting to keep their data private and using local AI. But what do individuals have that they need to keep secret? Generating porn? Running internet scams? Does that great American novel you’re writing need to be hidden from AIs?

When Apple came out with the MacBook Neo, I wondered if they were killing their own market for MacBook Airs? I’d say 90% of their users would be happy enough with the $600 machine instead of springing for the $1200 machine. Hell, there are a lot of people buying the more expensive MacBooks that don’t need anything more powerful than the Neo.

I have an M1 MacBook Air and feel no need to upgrade.

Computers became fast enough years ago for the average user. Most families gave up desktops, and unless you’re a student or need a computer for work, you don’t even need a laptop. Many of my friends do all their computing on a phone or tablet. And most of my friends who do use AI use it from their phones.

Many economic pundits talk about an AI bubble. Already, corporations are pulling back from building all those billion-dollar data centers they had planned last year. There are countless scientific, medical, and business tasks for those new RTX Spark chip computers. But do we need that power for personal computing? Especially when the average Joe is better off spending $20 a month for Gemini.

No one needs an Nvidia computer to run Microsoft Office. And only a small percentage of users subscribing to Adobe’s Creative Suite will need one. There are high-end applications for such computers, but how many are used in people’s homes?

How many Apple users really need the Pro, Max, and Ultra versions of the M chips? How many M4 users really need to upgrade to the M5?

There might be two new ages of computing dawning. The Age of Its Fast Enough Computing, and The Age of Its Never Fast Enough Computing.

And with every year, the percentage of Its Fast Enough users will grow ever closer to 100%.

If data centers weren’t jacking up the price of memory and storage, we’d be seeing fantastic $300 computers for sale everywhere. Ones that were more than good enough for most people.

JWH

What Computer OS Do I Recommend To Friends in 2026?

by James Wallace Harris, 3/15/26

I’ve been helping friends and family with their computers for decades. I managed hundreds of computers at work. I’ve set up thousands of computers since 1978. In the old days, it was easy, just recommend Windows to the average computer user, and Mac OS to Apple fanatics. But in 2026, Windows is annoying many people, Apple computers are becoming affordable, and Linux use is spreading. Plus, there are options like Chrome OS for minimalists. It’s much harder to help someone pick a new computer today, with prices spiking, AI, and all the new chips.

I’m not even sure what computer OS I want for myself anymore. I was a faithful Windows user for decades. Yet, I’m writing this post on a Linux machine, running the Mint distro, an operating system suitable only for the nerdiest of computer geeks. However, my main machine is a Mac Mini M4 since I packed away my Windows machines.

Since retiring, far fewer people ask me for help buying a new computer. And I have much less experience shopping online and visiting Best Buy. But a couple of my friends, whom I picked out their current laptop, are talking about needing a new computer. Their main concern is price. Both spent $600 for Windows laptops about six years ago.

Several decent laptops in the $500-650 range are currently for sale from Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Samsung. Any of these machines would be superior to what they had before. All are configured with an i5, 16GB of memory, and between 256GB and 1TB SSD drives. Each model has a 15.6-inch screen. Recommending them would cause them the least amount of transition pain for my two friends

However, Apple’s new MacBook Neo for $599 is an excellent deal. The Mac Mini M4 at $599 is what got me to switch to MacOS last year. And both of my friends use iPhones and iPads. If they were willing to suffer learning MacOS, they might be happier with the MacBook Neo if they could handle a 13-inch screen.

The Neo has only 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD. For their use, that’s no problem. However, for $100 more, they could get a 512GB drive and Touch ID. The real problem with the Neo’s small screen. I have the MacBook Air M1 with the 13-inch screen, and it’s really too small for my liking. The cheapest MacBook with a 15-inch screen is the Air, at $1,299. They won’t spend that kind of money.

There’s another factor. Windows machines typically last 5-6 years, while the latest Apple computers with the super-efficient and powerful Apple Silicon chips might last years longer. None of my other machines matches the quality of the Mac Mini and Air. It’s not even close.

The 13-inch screen on the MacBook Neo and Air has a default resolution that makes the typeface tiny. Of course, Janis and Linda are used to 6-inch and 10-inch screens on their iPhones and iPads, so they might adjust. I set my MacBook Air to a lower resolution to make the typeface bigger and easier to read. But this sometimes causes a problem when a button I’m supposed to click is off-screen. I have to change the resolution, click the button, then change the resolution back.

There are Chromebooks with 15 to 16-inch screens within my friends’ price range. And these are a possibility. But I have to explain their limitations, and I’m not sure if my friends will understand. If everything you do is within a browser window, then Chromebooks are a good solution.

Since I’ve been migrating away from Office 365 to Google Drive, I could almost switch to a Chromebook myself. Most of my computer work is writing, browsing, and emailing. It’s only when I want to scan old magazines and create PDF and CBR files that I need programs that Chromebooks can’t install.

I use my MacBook Air M1 machine only to write when I’m sitting in a recliner, and it does the job fine. And I do that in a Chrome browser window while using Google Docs. I could have bought a Chromebook and saved half of what I spent on the Air.

But there are other things to consider. There is a synergy between my iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini. And since I’m subscribed to Google Gemini, their AI, there is a reason to use Google Chrome, Google Docs, and all the other Google services, which all work with Apple hardware. It helps that Google and Apple are becoming big buddies. Having tight integration between my hardware platforms and all my software has many synergistic benefits. Yet, I must admit, those benefits require a learning curve.

I admire Linux. I root for Linux. But I’d never recommend Linux to a casual computer user. Being a Linux user is like being Sisyphus – always having to roll a rock uphill. It’s fun if you can dig it, but painful if you can’t.

The easiest solution for my friends (and me) is for them to buy something like what they had before. But that pains me. Windows is suffering tremendous enshitification. And Apple is producing stunning hardware, hardware that’s becoming affordable.

Technologically, my Mac Mini M4 is by far the most advanced computer I’ve ever owned, and it only cost me $549. The MacBook Air M1 was $749, and it’s been the nicest laptop I’ve ever owned.

The last computer I helped a friend buy was a tiny Mini PC. She had an HP laptop that was giving her trouble, but didn’t want to spend $600 for another one. She already owns an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse that she uses with the laptop. I asked her if she ever took her laptop on trips. She said no, that it always stayed on the desk. I said she could get a tiny Mini PC with an N95 chip for $190, which was more powerful than her laptop. She’s been happy with that solution.

Most people don’t need powerful computers. Only gamers and content creators need to get expensive machines. I know several people who only use their phones for functions they once used on computers. Sme other friends find that a tablet covers all their computing needs.

It’s gotten very hard to recommend computers for people. AI has the potential to shake things up even more. If people get used to talking to their computer and asking it to do the work, the whole human-computer interface might change. We could all end up talking to our watches.

Most of my friends are retired. A few still take courses that require a computer. But for the most part, without needing a computer for school or a job, the desire to own computers diminishes. Most of the fun functions that families bought home computers for have moved to smartphones, smart televisions, and smart home products.

I might tell my two friends to try buying a keyboard for their iPads and see if they can get by without laptops. MacOS and iPadOS are getting closer, so features and functions are crossing over to the other form factor.

If I gave up on digitizing old books and magazines, I could probably adapt to blogging on my MacBook Air. I’m amazed by how so many young people only have laptops. But I haven’t made that decision yet. If I only browsed the net, emailed, and needed a word processor and spreadsheet rarely, I could consider a tablet with a keyboard.

I think the trend is towards smaller computers, or even away from computers. I’m still stuck in the past. I love large high-resolution monitors. I gave up loving big tower computers years ago and switched to mini PCs. I haven’t paid close attention to what all my friends are using, but I think desktop computers are disappearing from homes.

Finally, I will say that learning to use AI might make people want a big monitor again. If you enjoy learning, researching, and writing, Google’s Gemini and Notebook LM are wonderful tools. Juggling lots of knowledge works great on 27 to 32-inch high-resolution monitors. If you think you’ll be into that, I highly recommend the latest Mac Mini with the most memory and the largest 4k to 6k monitor you can afford.

Gemini, my AI of choice, just told me it currently offers more features to Windows users, but it’s catching up quickly for Mac users. I was disappointed to discover that many Gemini and CoPilot features I enjoy on the Mac aren’t available on Linux. That’s pushing me towards the Mac and away from Linux. I wrote the first draft of this post on Linux, but moved to the Mac to finish it.

Most people will use AI on their phones for reference and chatting. AI could replace Googling. However, if you create any kind of content, AI could influence how much computer power you will want in the future. I’m not sure anyone knows how much they will use AI in the coming years. It could inspire hobbies and pursuits we can’t imagine now.

I’d say the Mac Mini ($599) with a 27″ 4K monitor ($300) offers the most bang for the buck if you want to get into content creation and play around with AI for under $1,000. It’s also good for programming. But it’s overkill if you just browse the web, do TurboTax once a year, and maybe write a few letters or create a spreadsheet of your expenses. Gamers will want to stick with Windows, although many are moving to Linux. Production content creators will want something faster.

JWH

Knowing When To Give Up Dreams

by James Wallace Harris, 1/25/25

I love computers and digital devices but I have too many of them. For some reason getting old is making me anxious about owning stuff. Like the instinct that makes birds fly south for the winter, aging has triggered an instinct to simplify my life. I’m still young enough to want all the junk I have, but I’m going through an in-between aging stage, where I want to keep stuff and get rid of it at the same time. That anxiety is gnawing at me more and more.

I will give an analogy that young people might not understand. On the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s, Ed would have these guys who could spin plates on the top of sticks. They could keep a row of plates spinning on sticks by running between them and jiggling each stick. Being young means you have the energy and dexterity to quickly run between lots of spinning plates, but when you get older, you slow down and can only keep a few spinning.

Being 73 isn’t that old, but it’s old enough to start feeling I need to spin fewer plates. Deciding what activities I love that I need to quit is stressful. At 73, I’m already old enough to let a bunch of spinning plates fall. That’s depressing, but I don’t have the energy to keep up. I’m starting to lose the energy to even care, which is scarier. I need to decide which activities I love the most that I can manage, and psychically let go of the other ones.

I realize I’ve already been doing this for years, but I’ve been letting activities go that didn’t matter much. What hurts is realizing which activities and ambitions I still hope to pursue that I need to stop thinking about.

When I retired in 2013, I thought I’d do many things with programming and computers. I thought about getting an M.S. in Computer Science even though I would never work as a programmer again. But none of that happened. I thought I would at least learn to program Python for fun. That didn’t happen. I had many ideas for programs I wanted to write but never did. I see that I only programmed when people were paying me.

For years, I’ve kept buying computers and piddling around with them. My most productive activity was scanning old pulp magazines and science fiction fanzines to put on the Internet Archive, but I’ve stopped because of diminishing energy. However, I’ve kept all these computers, scanners, and other devices for all my dream projects that need to be thinned out.

I don’t know if my Hamlet nature keeps me from committing to one computer operating system, or if I’m a child in a toyshop who screams he wants everything. However, mining three computer systems with three different operating systems has become a pain in my psyche.

Reality tells me to give up several dreams and the equipment that went with them. Why keep a Midi keyboard after I discovered I have no musical talent? Well, I kept it thinking someday I’d see how much I could do with Garage Band on the Mac with minimal talent. I’m sure that’s a delusion.

I need to jettison everything I plan to use that is obvious that I will never use. I’ve had this insight many times before but never could pull the trigger. The present reality is my energy reserves are getting so low that too much of them are being wasted on keeping impractical hopes alive. I must commit to the operating systems and computer equipment that will do the most for my aging future self.

If Microsoft wasn’t so heavy-handed in constantly adding features and monitoring my computer, I would make everything Windows. But there isn’t a Windows phone. If I didn’t dislike MacOS so much, I could settle on buying everything from Apple, because I love my iPhone and iPad. I do love Mac hardware, I just don’t like MacOS. And if I had my druthers, I’d go Linux and use all FOSS programs because I admire the concept of open source.

The idealistic computer geek in me wants to choose Linux. And I could realistically pick Linux if I knew I’d never wanted to scan magazines again. Picking Linux also means giving up Microsoft Office. Picking Linux also means living as a computer user minority.

I love my Mac Mini M4 machine because it’s quiet. I love my Mac Air M1 laptop because the hardware is deluxe. And I can use MacOS just fine. I just prefer how Windows, or even Linux works better. However, Linux and Macs aren’t compatible with all my hardware and software.

The most universally useful computer I have is my Windows machine. My favorite phone is my iPhone. My favorite tablet is my iPad Mini. I like Android because it allows for microSD cards and is more open, but it’s nowhere near as easy to use as iOS. I wish iOS devices allowed microSD cards. Buying extra storage for iPhones and iPads is so damn expensive.

I wish I had 2TB of storage on every device I owned to fully replicate my Dropbox filesystem to every device. Dropbox is fantastic as long as I have the space to replicate everything. Selective sync could work, but it seems to have disappeared as a feature on my Mac and Linux machines. I could get an iPad Pro with 2TB of memory, but it’s $2000, and even then I’m unsure if it would sync my Dropbox drive. Maybe I should give up needing 2 terabytes of old files.

I would simplify my life by keeping my Windows computer, Mac Air M1, iPhone, and iPad Mini. But wouldn’t it be more logical to keep my Mac Mini M4 and be compatible with my other Apple devices I don’t want to give up? As Mr. Spock would say, “That is the logical solution.” But damn, I don’t know if I could walk away from Windows.

I could test the logical solution by packing away my Windows and Linux machines for several months to see how I feel.

And maybe that’s an approach I could try with other things I own. Just pack them away, and see how long I can live without them. If I can, then get rid of them.

I wrote this essay to think things through. I realize now, that I’ve written myself into a decision. I’ll let you know if I can overcome my Hamlet complex and commit.

I have decided to pack two computer systems away. I just don’t know which two.

JWH

Switched From PC To Mac After Buying a Mac Mini M4

by James Wallace Harris, 12/12/24

I’ve wanted to own a Mac since 1984, but they were always too expensive. When Apple announced the Mac Mini M4 had 16GB of memory as the base memory for $599, I preordered one from Amazon. They had it for $579.

I love Windows. But my Intel NUC has been annoying the crap out of me with its fan noise. I even went into the BIOS and set the processor to its lowest performance level so it should overheat less, but the fan still whined, but not as much. And it got less hot to touch. I don’t know why, but even when I didn’t use it background processes were always running something. I checked for viruses and malware but didn’t find any. I opened the NUC and vacuumed the dust, making sure that wasn’t a problem. I don’t know why, but that fan whine just got to me.

I never hear the Mac Mini M4. Nor does it get warm. I added a 4TB external hard drive to handle my 2TB Dropbox drive and a folder of Plex movies and TV shows. The heavy-duty OWC enclosure with metal fins gets warm sometimes, but it’s quiet.

I love the quietness of the Mac Mini, but I’m worried about the OWC external drive. The light comes on when I’m not using the machine, and it’s sometimes warm when I haven’t used the Mac for hours. I’m worried that something is running in the background that I might not like.

Modern computers run dozens of processes in the background, and this is starting to annoy me. I was hoping the Mac ran fewer. It’s a major reason why I considered switching to Linux. I never know if those processes are essential, corporate spying, or malware activity.

The trick to switching to the Mac was finding software that served the same functions as all my Windows programs. Office 365 runs on both platforms. No problem there. I use Microsoft Edge browser on Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and Mac. Obsidian runs on PC, Mac, and Linux.

I was quite happy with Office 365 on the Mac. It even installs Microsoft Defender, which includes more than just anti-virus tools. However, I’ve taken all the Microsoft programs off the Mac Mini because Activity Monitor shows that Microsoft runs too many processes.

I’m testing to see if I want to standardize on pure Apple apps or pure Open Source programs. I mention this because switching to the Mac is like switching to Linux. You can try to make everything work like it did on Windows, or you can go native.

My first big hurdle was Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021. My copy came with a Mac version but wouldn’t load on the Mac Mini. I thought I’d switch to Gimp because it runs on PC, Mac, and Linux. But I just don’t like Gimp. I solved the problem by using the online app, Photopea. It works great on all three platforms. Photopea works like Photoshop Elements and Photoshop, so no learning curve.

Ripping disks with MKV works even better on the Mac. Plex works fine from the Mac. I took down the Intel NUC I used as a Plex server. Since I have so much space on the Mac Mini’s external drive, and because it is quiet and power-efficient enough to run all the time, I made it my Plex server. Even my favorite CBR reader, YACReader ran on the Mac (as well as Windows and Linux).

The Mac doesn’t work with my Plustek OptiBook flatbed scanner or my favorite program for scanning and mass manipulating images, IrfanView. I just can’t find a driver for the Plustek for either the Mac or Linux and no other program I’ve ever used even comes close to the utility of IrFanView.

Also, I can’t find a screenshot program that functions as well as Windows Snipping Tool, or ShareX.

I own a copy of Abbyy Fine Reader for Windows 15, but they’ve moved to a subscription program. I don’t know if I’m ready to subscribe to the Mac version, especially since I can’t use my scanner. I used to scan old science fiction magazines and fanzines to convert to CBR files and needed the Plustek, IrfanView, Abbyy Fine Reader, and Scan Tailor for the job. That task might have to stay on my Windows machine. But it might just retire from that hobby.

I’m not keen on how Mac OS does many things, but that might be because I’m used to doing it differently on Windows for decades. I’m adapting. I can go days without turning on my Windows machine.

One thing that has made migration easier is I keep all my files on Dropbox. I’ve always been annoyed when using one machine and remembering a file I created is stored locally on another machine. It’s so much easier to keep things on Dropbox and I can access the files from Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS, and Android.

There’s a lot I have left to learn about using a Mac, but it doesn’t seem to be too much trouble to do the Mac way of doing things. I am disappointed my PlusTek scanner doesn’t work.

I’ve wanted to switch to Linux for years, but never could because it didn’t have the programs I use to scan magazines or drivers for my scanner. So the Mac and Linux are equal in that.

Now that I’ve been using the Mac Mini M4 for a couple weeks, I love the hardware, but I still don’t like Apple’s operating system. It works, but it’s not what I’ve been using for decades. Using MacOS reveals just how much I love Windows 11. I wish Windows 11 ran on the Mac Mini M4.

I don’t like having an external SSD. The OWC housing and 4TB Crucial SSD work fine, but there’s something else on the desk. That bugs me. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t try switching to a Mac. I’m going to stick with it, at least for several months.

I write this in case you’re seduced by the Mac Mini M4 mania and haven’t bought one yet.

I love the high-tech of the M4 chip. I love having such a powerful machine. However, all I really needed was a new mini PC that was quiet.

JWH

The Challenge of Cross Platform Computing Life

by James Wallace Harris, 11/11/23

For the first twenty years of my life, I didn’t use computers. I started off using computers in 1971 at school, and bought my first one, an Atari 400 in 1980. Before the decade was over, I had standardized on MS-DOS computers at home, but used PCs and Macs at work. During the 1990s, Windows became the standard at work and home, although I also used a MacIntosh at work sometimes. I was a computer programmer and had to support both. I liked the Mac, but never owned one until recently when I bought a M1 Mac Air.

I bought the Mac laptop because I have back problems and can’t always sit at my desktop computer and the Air had the longest battery life. I can use the Mac Air in my La-Z-Boy when I can’t sit at my desk.

Because I use the iPhone the most daily of all my computers, and because I like to read on iPads, I should have standardized on MacOS and bought an iMac for my desktop computer. Apple is doing everything it can to make its hardware and software to synergistically work across all its devices. However, I haven’t done that. I’ve been a Windows guy for decades.

Life would be much easier if I owned a Windows computer, with a Windows tablet, a Windows smartphone, and a Windows laptop, and they all shared files from OneDrive. Windows offers the widest functionality because it supports most hardware and software. And Microsoft has done an excellent job of constantly improving Windows. However, since the early 1990s I’ve hankered after another operating system, UNIX. Back then, real computer guys used UNIX. Now real computer guys use Linux.

In the early 1990s, my friend Mike bought a copy of MINIX. It was a cheap imitation of UNIX for $89. I didn’t want to spend $89, so when I read about a free UNIX-like operating system called Linux I downloaded Slackware from USENET News messages onto several floppy disks and installed it on an extra machine. I thought it was neat, but I couldn’t run any program I was used to running. That was disappointing.

After that, I would check into Linux about once a year, always hoping it could do everything I did on my Windows machine. In recent years it’s gotten close. This week I bought a Minis Forum UM680 small form factor computer and installed LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) on it. This was a complete extravagance since I don’t need any more computing power. Unfortunately, when I started seeing videos about the UM680 I just lusted after it. The thing is tiny, but super cool. It has 32GB of memory, 1TB of SSD hard disk space, 3 USB-A ports, 2 USB-C ports, and a microSD card reader. I paid $433 for it. To configure a Mac Mini or iMac like this would cost three times as much.

I decided I would finally use Linux as much as possible. I’m writing this blog on my Linux machine (see photo). I don’t hate Windows, in fact, I think it’s the best OS to use. I bought the M1 Mac Air because as a piece of hardware it was impressive and had a long battery life. However, I’m not too keen on Mac OS, and I dislike using a laptop. I love big computer screens. My Windows machine has a 34″ widescreen monitor, and the Linux box has a 27″ 4K monitor. Using the 13.3″ screen on the Air is painful to me. But I practice using it every day. During those times when my back goes out, I hate being away from my computer and figure I need a lifeboat computer, and the Mac Air will be that lifeboat.

After using the M1 Mac Air I wished I had bought a Windows laptop even though I would have had to buy a machine that had much less battery life. The Mac Air is great, and I’ve always wanted a Mac, but life would have been so much easier with one less OS to support. I should have ignored my long desires to use both Macs and Linux machines. That didn’t happen, so I’m living with three operating systems. I’ll standardize on one in the future as I get older, but for now I need to be a cross platform user.

Dealing with five operating systems (Windows, MacOS, iOS, Linux, Android) is a pain in the butt. Doing word processing is a snap on all the operating systems. So is using a spreadsheet, web browser, and email. It really doesn’t matter what OS I use for common computer activities. A cheap Chromebook would have been all I needed. However, I pursue two activities which I’m having trouble doing on the Mac and Linux.

Most of my computer use involves blogging. If I had to, I could create a blog with text, photos, and videos just from my iPhone. But it’s tedious and I can’t manipulate images the way I can in Windows. I create my photo layouts using HTML first, and then using the Windows Snipping Tool to grab the layout I want and save it to .jpg. I know that’s a silly way to avoid learning a program like Photoshop or GIMP. I’ve been using Photoshop Elements for photo manipulation for years but have never learned to use it well. Since Photoshop Elements isn’t available for Linux, I need to learn to use GIMP, the standard free photo editor that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Blogging on the Mac and Linux will take a little time to learn, but it shouldn’t be too hard.

Because I write about science fiction and its history, I have a large library of digital scans of science fiction magazines. In fact, I have copies of most of the science fiction magazines that were published in the 20th century. They are in the .cbr format. I can read them on devices from all five operating systems. However, I currently can only create a scan with my Windows machine. It takes several programs to create a magazine scan, and a scanner. The scanner works best under Windows. Getting it to work under MacOS or Linux is a pain. And some of the software I need to process the scan pages is only available for Windows.

For me to be truly cross platform ready, I need to get magazine scanning going on the Mac and Linux machines. That will take much longer. I will need to find drivers for my scanner, and new software on each OS that does the work of the Windows software I use now.

Like I said, I should have just stuck with Windows. Life would have been easier, cheaper, and less cluttered. But when I look into the future, I wonder if I shouldn’t become a Mac person, even though I don’t like MacOS. I love my iPhone, and doubt I’ll ever switch from it. I love the iPad far better than my Android tablet. The logical thing would be to migrate to iPhone, iPad, iMac, and Mac Air as my only computer platform.

I guess years of being a PC guy makes me shy away from becoming a Mac guy. I’ve always wanted to be a complete computer nerd and use Linux. There are Linux phones and tablets, but they are so damn clunky. Theoretically, I could go total Linux. However, I would be out of step with everyone I know.

Logic says I should pick one platform and stick to it. But I’ve never been very logical, at least with computers and technology. I’ve aways been impulsive, wanting all the different kinds of gadgets. Now that I’m getting older, that impulse is coming home to roost, and I don’t think it’s viable for the last years of life when I should be minimizing possessions.

JWH