One from Jake this week.
—–
And sorry there hasn’t been more from me! It felt good to take a couple of days off for house projects and artwork. But when I went to return to the real world, my computer had gone all wonky. While I was dealing with that, the main email servers I use went down.
Email is back up now. New used ThinkPad is on its way from eBay. And the brain is cranking. More soon …
We’ll just be all the more grateful and pleased by your return! Hope the wonks all square away and leave you in peace.
Awwwww, Karen. You’re such a sweetie.
Computer wonks continue, but the workarounds are working and eBay is doing its thing to get another ThinkPad to me.
Off-topic: My laptop is worn out. What’s so good about ThinkPad? And you have Linux on it, right? — does it come that way, or do you have to add it?
Pat, never mind that it’s off-topic. It’s a good question.
ThinkPads (originally by IBM, now by Lenovo) have a reputation for two things: 1) they are boring, boxy, undramatic business computers utterly without sex appeal, gamer-appeal, or any form of pizzazz; and 2) they’re tough as nails. The “T” series — which is what I always buy — has a titanium case. This is a wonderful thing if you have dogs who occasionally tangle themselves in the power cord and send the laptop crashing to the floor. Or if you’re clumsy and occasionally knock the thing to the floor yourself.
Trust me on this; I know from experience that a “T” series ThinkPad will take this completely in stride. Over and over again.
I always get my ThinkPads used, usually on eBay, and when possible without an installed operating system (it’s cheaper and I can add my own OS).
Way back when I first started buying these things, I chose them because IBM was the first manufacturer to create a completely Linux-friendly laptop. I’ve kept on buying them because they’re rough, tough, and reliable. (Even now I’m pretty sure the troubles I’m having are actually software problems; I just buy a new-used ThinkPad every two years so I’ll never be caught flatfooted, since I depend on them for my living.)
I’ve never bought one new so I don’t know whether you can get them from Lenovo with Linux installed. But some eBay vendors (and others) do sell them either with Linux installed or with Linux as an option.
Thanks for the info. I’ll be looking into ThinkPad. With Linux.
Pat — That’s great; I hope it works out for you. You might want to be researching the latest most user-friendly versions of Linux. I’ve been happy with Mint (a derivative of Ubuntu Linux, which in turn derives from Debian) for the last so-many years. My current version (11) has all the great media features of the earlier Mints, but it has a few annoying aspects, too.