Kiowa Ease of Use

As I take this new Kiowa Linux through its paces, I'm delighted to see features that make the overall computing experience a pleasure and ease to use. One of these features is quite simple, but oh so necessary if you're moving over from Windows.

When I first moved to Linux, the biggest question I had was, "How much of my hard drive is being used?" Linux gave me the information, but graphically, it fell a bit short in giving me a familiar interface. But, thank goodness this has improved ten fold. And Kiowa has it! In the above screen shot, you can see how easy it is to get this information. Simply right click on your drive, select properties and new window comes up displaying a pie chart showing drive usage and available space.this is brilliant! It's easy to find, pleasant to view, clear and informative!

I was on deadline last night and used the new Kiowa Linux to get my comic strip completed. I'm happy to report that Gimp 2.4 and Xsane (scanning utility) worked wonderfully well! (both are included in Kiowa.) Things went so well, that I not only completed my comic strips, but got wrapped up in using and exploring Kiowa. Which is why there was no blog post yesterday.

A Linux Eclipse

Last night, the lunar eclipse was visible here in the northeast Ohio area. I was able to get outside and enjoyed a terrific view of it. Conditions for star-gazing were simply spectacular! The skies were clear, but the temperatures were near zero degrees! So, my viewing time was only limited to five or ten minutes. After the dogs and I had had our fill (and our toes were sufficiently frozen), it was back inside to the warmth of the house.

Luckily, my brother Jim is an astronomer. He emailed me a link where I could view the eclipse online.

so, I comfortably sat back and booted my Kiowa Linux Laptop. I opened Firefox and enjoyed a clear, warm view of the lunar eclipse. I also "grabbed" a couple of shots from the website. I did this in Firefox by right clicking the image and selecting "Save Image As." Firefox did the rest by automatically downloading the jpeg image to my desktop.

Firefox is a terrific web browser! It's fast, lightweight and can be customized in any number of ways through additional add-ons and themes. It's the default web browser found in almost all Linux distributions. It's also available for Windows and Mac users in many different languages.

Once you use Firefox, you'll quickly say goodbye to Internet Explorer. And I hope that, simply from using Firefox and seeing how great it is, you'll make the next move and get Linux.

BTW, if you want to get a great view of the next astronomical event, check out Sky Window. Our family business manufactures this item under the direction and watchful eye of Jim. Sky Window really does a wonderful job of enhancing the world of binocular astronomy. An in-depth review can be found here.

You're using Linux!

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Right now, you're using Linux. That's right. At this very moment, because you're reading this blog, you are running a Linux machine and experiencing the full power of Linux. How do I know? Well, it's because this blog (OneClickLinux) is powered by Google. And Google is powered by Linux. Don't believe me? Read this article.

Every time you use Google, you're using a Linux machine. Whether it be Gmail, the Google search engine, Blogger, Google Earth, or any other of the many Google services...you're using Linux.

If you use Google on the web, you're using Linux.

Now, if Linux is good enough, secure enough and stable enough for Google, it ought to be good enough for your own home machine.

Get Linux!

Better yet, get a computer pre-installed with Linux. My favorite is Kiowa Linux. I run Kiowa Linux on my laptop.

The clear choice is Linux. Google made the Linux choice. So should you.