computers: aren't scary

For a long time I thought I would write, in a single web page, an outline introduction to computers. Yes, that plan turned out to be more than a little overly optimistic. I tried a few times, but the inevitably incomplete results were less than satisfying.

Like a cookbook, though, I realized I could provide a recipe or two without trying to teach people entirely to cook. This page is the result: I won't try to explain computers, but I will at least give an indication of how I use my own, what software I use, etc. This will show my own preferences and choices, not as recommendations, but illustrations — a starting point, after which there are more links on The Jumping-off Place to browse, after which you might feel more inclined to go off on your own, learn through your own experience. To finish up, I'll say a few more detailed words about computer security & privacy.

Please remember my disclaimer, and feel free to disagree, but I hope you may find this page informative, at least. Finally, let me add that there are many ways to learn about computers, but the best way is ultimately to use them: read the documentation, be curious and experiment. No matter what, always have backups of irreplaceable data, in formats you know you'll be able to read later!

Principles

Among my principles of computing are these:

• Security, privacy, reliability, and good usability should be expected from a computer, even at the cost of increased complexity.
• The cost or popularity of software is not a measure of its quality; free and/or open source software is often better than commercial software.
• Given what computers are, they require effort. Those who insist that use of computers should not require any learning or work on the part of a user probably needn't bother reading the rest of this page: you need to spend time in the kitchen to learn how to cook.

Caveat

I tend not to shy away from things that need a little work, nor from taking the path of more resistance if I think it's better. Not everyone, however, has the time or interest to do this. If you consider yourself in this group, this does not mean succumbing to Microsoft's Windows.

My recommendation, without hesitation, to those who resist tinkering: get a Mac. It costs more than what I use (possibly quite a bit more), but it's easier to set up and use, and far more accessible to those who just want a computer to use, without having to do much work; besides, MacOS X is a truly wonderful thing. Think of it this way: you can get a delicious meal at a restaurant, or, after some learning and practice, you can make it for yourself at home — but you'll pay more at the restaurant. My way is the home-cooked meal; the Mac is the restaurant. And, the best part is, most of the Linux software I mention below will run on OS X; for a relatively easy way to do this, see DarwinPorts or the Fink project, and Apple's X11.

Now, on with the story.

Hardware & OS

The best hardware for you will be determined by the software you want to run, and mainly the operating system (OS). Rule of thumb: if you don't know what you need, scrimp on the CPU, but not on the RAM (e.g., 256 MB isn't overkill, and a good working minimum these days, for both Mac & Windows). Other rules of thumb: most new hard disks are big enough for anyone, and a CD-RW is definitely a good idea. Beyond that, just try to avoid cutting corners. Mac users, of course, get good hardware by default, but if you're looking for non-Mac hardware, you should do a bit more research. Getting a good case and quality power supply, for example, as well as parts from reputable brands, will go a long way towards making a computer reliable. In general, look at a few reviews (such as at www.tomshardware.com) to see what some good brands are. Hint: they aren't necessarily the cheapest.

Of course, recent and/or sophisticated applications need more and more disk space and RAM, but RAM is cheap, and a Pentium II class machine (G3/PPC750 in the PowerPC world) with 256 MB of RAM and 6 GB of disk space should be plenty for a multipurpose machine. Linux will run happily with less, though, and the slowest Pentium (or early PowerPC) with 32 or even or even 16 MB of RAM will run Linux or OpenBSD very happily, suitable for single tasks (like a digital music jukebox or a firewall), or for a 'lightweight' installation (using, for example, icewm, or no GUI at all). For an interesting take on a minimalist interface, see the Antidesktop.

For a 'desktop' OS, my preference is Linux, which will run on just about anything; There are many distributions of Linux; my favorites, Debian Linux and Gentoo Linux are not the easiest to install, but one or the other should be enjoyed (a lot!) by anyone who already has some Linux experience. Beginners can try Lycoris, Linspire, or Knoppix.

For a server, or a machine for which security and stability are paramount, Debian is also an excellent choice, but the best in this category is OpenBSD, which, incidentally, makes an excellent destkop OS for a dedicated tinkerer.

My boxen

There are a few machines I use regularly at home:

breeze

Apple iBook, rev. 2.2: 800 MHz G3 (PPC 750FX), 640 MB RAM, 40 GB disk, dual-boot MacOS X and Gentoo Linux

cirrus

Apple PowerMac G3 233 (sometimes overclocked to 266), 160 MB RAM, 4 GB disk, dual-boot MacOS and Debian Linux

cumulus

Self-built PC, Duron 1200, 256 MB RAM, 40+120 GB disk, Gentoo Linux

nimbus

IBM ThinkPad 560e, Pentium MMX 166 MHz, 16 MB RAM, 2 GB disk, OpenBSD

stratus

Sun SPARCstation 4, 110 MHz microSPARC II, 128 MB RAM, 9 GB disk, OpenBSD

Among those, I'm easily able to check e-mail and have it sorted, surf the web, prepare documents, import and edit photos from a scanner and digital camera, prepare and serve web pages, etc. etc. etc. Some of the machines and their parts have come from friends and clients, who wanted newer machines but didn't know what to do with their old ones; though I've given a lot of that away to other good homes, I'm happy to help reduce, reuse, and recycle by keeping some of it myself!

Software

All the software listed below is free.

E-mail

• mutt: completely flexible and configurable, mutt is the most efficient tool for handling e-mail I've found. By design, it doesn't do more than e-mail (vim for typing messages, w3m for HTML mail, lbdb to link with jpilot, procmail with spamassassin for filtering). Mutt can be tricky to set up at first, but there's a lot of information out there that will help, as well as many sample configuration files. It's worth the effort.
• For those who prefer to point-and-click: Evolution.
• GnuPG: for encryption and digital signatures.

Web browsing

• Mozilla: simply terrific, and eminently useful, including good cookie management and pop-up ad blocking, integrated mail client (now with spam filtering), tabbed browsing, etc. etc. etc. There are now several projects based on Mozilla code that have reached maturity, e.g., stand-alone browsers and a mail client; see the Mozilla site for details.

Text

• vim: for, well, just about everything that involves text, from e-mail to web documents to LaTeX source. If you can't bear the thought of <ESC>:wq<return> and such, try nedit.
• For the point-and-click crowd, Bluefish: makes a good web site editor.
• WPP is my HTML preprocessor of choice.
• Word processing with GUI: Abiword for simple documents; OpenOffice for full MS Office replacement; LyX for the more adventurous.
• LaTeX: by far the best for long (multi-section) documents, and also great for letters and shorter documents.

Other

• Screen.
• XMMS, Rhythmbox, and mp3blaster for music, mainly ogg files.
• GKrellM, a superb system monitor.
• GAIM, an excellent IM client.
• gnumeric, my favourite spreadsheet.
• GnuCash, for personal finances
• jpilot for my PalmOS device.
• The GIMP is a superb graphics/photo editor.
• GPhoto 2 for my digital camera.
• SANE for my scanner.
• ROX, especially ROX-Filer.

Security and Privacy

To finish the page, I want to give a bit of extra space to computer security and privacy. Why bother? First, to protect the privacy of your information. This applies not just to typical private things, like credit card or banking information, but also to many other personal items, which could, for example, be desired by someone who might wish to steal your identity. A networked computer has the potential to give away an unprecedented amount of information about you, with an unprecedented level of detail. All information passing through a network can be 'sniffed' or otherwise hijacked, and logged in part or in full; any of this can occur without the user being aware that it's happening. Also, intruders may wish to access your machine, not necessarily to steal your information, but to use your computer to intrude on other machines.

Solution: If you don't want any unauthorized person to see your information, encrypt it. If you don't want anyone unauthorized to track you, take steps to anonymize your activities. If you want to keep out intruders, protect your machine and/or network. And, be sure to keep your software patched with the latest security patches (see the web site of your operating system for links to patches). If you think this is being unnecessarily paranoid, see sections 1.2-1.12 (particularly 1.11) of the NIDS FAQ. Then, if you're still not convinced, read some more of that document, and maybe the Sniffing FAQ. At least be aware of the risks.

For regular internet traffic, SSH is an excellent tool for encrypting transmissions. OpenSSH is free, and ideal for any Linux/BSD/Unix; it's also included in MacOS X, for which there's also a nice graphical front end to sftp. MacOS 9.x (or earlier) users have MacSSH. Windows users have PuTTY or the commercial SSH client (free for personal use). There is also a Java-based client, MindTerm, which should run on any operating system for which there is a JVM.

SSH facilitates secure shell access (think telnet, but encrypted) and file transfer (scp or sftp). It also allows port forwarding (sometimes called tunneling) so that other traffic, otherwise unencrypted, can be secured.

For e-mail and documents, GnuPG and PGP are excellent tools. They can be used to encrypt and/or digitally sign e-mail and files, among other things; see How PGP Works for an overview.

Finally, it is a good idea to use general security software on a computer system. A firewall, for example: Many OSes have one 'built in,' needing only configuration; Linux has netfilter/iptables, BSD has pf or ipfw or IP Filter, and MacOS X has a built-in firewall. In Windows, insecurity abounds, so get and use a personal firewall, such as ZoneAlarm, or use the firewall built into XP. MacOS 9 or earlier doesn't really need a firewall, though there is firewall software available for those versions of the MacOS. In addition to a firewall, anti-virus software is absolutely essential for Windows, and important for the MacOS; the commercial Norton AntiVirus (available from Symantec) is excellent, and available for both. For Linux/BSD/Unix/MacOS X, the urgency to keep an up-to-date virus checker is much less than it is in Windows; these systems aren't immune from viruses, but they're designed in such a way that a virus can do much less damage, not to mention that viruses are extremely rare in these OSes (remember: don't run any suspicious software, and never do it as root/administrator). Last, you may want to use some form of Intrusion detection; for information, see the NIDS FAQ.