I've been trying to send an update to my web site for the last two weeks. This is an on-going problem because I don't have an internet connection at home so I do all of my browsing on my laptop from a coffee shop. But when it comes to updating my web site, the problem is my laptop is running Ubuntu Linux and it won't let me do file transfers.
I replaced my Windows OS with Ubunut Linux six months ago, but I haven't been able to find a file transfer program (FTP) on Ubuntu since then. At first I tried to use the Firefox web browser, but it turns out Firefox can't do FTP (MS Internet Explorer can). I couldn't find an FTP function in Ubuntu, so I spent a week trying to find a free FTP program that I could download from the web, but with no luck. Then I eventually found that Ubuntu does have an FTP utility called Connect to Server, but I couldn't get it to work. It seemed to connect to my web site but wouldn't show me the files on the site nor transfer files to the site. I spent another two weeks surfing the web for more info and experimenting, trying to get this to work but with no luck.
Two weeks ago I went to Frys to see what alternate operating systems they had, and picked up a copy of FreeBSD, a version of Unix from Berkeley. But I couldn't get it to install on my laptop. I tried to install it several times and each time the installer would loop back on its self and not let me finish. When I finally got it to fully install (and I don't know how), I started it up and it asked me for a user name and password, but I didn't use a password when I installed it and I had no idea what to tell it. So I had to rerun the install yet again, and it failed to install yet again. I threw it out as I left the coffeeshop.
I tinkered with Ubuntu for another week before giving up yet again, then went back to Frys and picked up a copy of Slackware Linux. But again, this one wouldn't run. It seemed to install correctly but the program wouldn't boot. I tried several times and all it said was Error-15, what ever that is.
My desktop is running Windows 7, so I tried installing that on the laptop. The laptop originally had Vista on it but as it got more and more unreliable I had to remove it and for a while I was running a bootleg copy of W-7. I wasn't happy with W-7, so when the trial period ran out earlier this year I installed Ubuntu. So I thought I'd try W-7 again as a last resort. It installed easily enough, but when I tried to run it I had to enter the product code from the CD, and it wouldn't recognize it. I tried the code over and over but it just wasn't happening.
So the next day I went back to Frys and picked up a copy of Red Hat Linux. The CD was included with a 1000 page book for only $4! It sounded like a good deal so I grabbed it. It installed and ran easily enough but when I tried it out in the coffee shop it turns out the reason why it was only $4 is because it was four years old, and this older version didn't have built in wireless! So this was even more useless than before.
So now I'm back to Ubuntu. It's the only OS of this group that actually works, but it looks like I'm going to have to get internet at home if I want to send files to my web site.
Mike Dec 1, 2010
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A little bridge at the Botanic Garden.
A little house at the Botanic Garden.
Some kind of Lilly.
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Flowers on a tree.
Flowers on a bush.
Trunk and roots of a Banyon Fig.
The rocky coast at Rancho Palos Verde.
The light house at Rancho Palos Verde.