It Takes a Village…
Village of clay huts by the students in my after school clay class
to forgive my kiln over-firing debacle from last Monday – the kids took it well. It may have helped that I promised to make them each a special “I’m sorry” cup to make amends. It was a good learning moment for them – firing a kiln is still a mystery for them – how hot is 1800ºF anyway? They don’t quite understand the whole concept of turning wet clay into permanent fired pottery since all they see is that I take their creations home with me and bring them back fired like magic! The repairs to fix some of the over firing issues with Jean’s jewelry box didn’t work. Jean took it well and I’m ready to try again. But, that will be a job for another day….
Meanwhile, I spent all day reading lazily on the sofa – the newspaper, back issues of magazines, books and yes, even a bit of internet reading. We have three lap tops in our home and all of them are starting to show their age. I’ve been reading up on other operating systems and have decided to install Ubuntu, a FREE Linux open source operating system on one of the oldest computers, and will delete Windows XP completely. If it doesn’t work, then no big deal – but if it does, it will extend the life of our computers and hopefully make them faster.
Open source software and hardware is a really cool turn of advents. Now, it’s nothing new – Linux is released under GNU or General Public License since 1994. GNU is an interesting business model – people are able to modify and even benefit financially from someone else’s intellectual work as long as attribution is defined. Wired Magazine (one of my new faves) touches on open source in quite a few issues. Companies that are closed and proprietary, like Microsoft, have quite a market share and frankly are afraid of open source because it is a threat to their long term viability. Reading about companies, such as Arduino, an Italian group that manufactures open source electronics platforms for a variety of uses. Pretty cool, don’t you think?
Anyway, it’s a little more work on my part to do the research and homework to install a Linux based system – after all Windows has @ 88% of market share. On the other hand, there are a number of free software applications that can replace everything that I currently have installed on my computer such as Open Office (replaces Microsoft Office Suite), Gimp (Photoshop), Archimedes (AutoCad) – along with a slew of any other kind of free software programming anyone could ever need. I was reading about how many open source contributers consider their efforts to be good old fashioned community barn raising. I like to think of my humble little pottery blog in the same light – I share what I learn, good bad and down right ugly because I enjoy learning from others in the field and I love receiving emails from folks who try making some of the techniques I have posted, including improvements or alternatives.
So, thanks for humoring me and for continuing to read & comment on my blog! 
~Cynthia
Linda Starr
February 26, 2009 at 10:44 pm //
Great idea for the kids – clay huts, and so thoughtful of you to give them a mug. Way above my head on computer stuff, I am just glad to have dial up and that it works.
ang
February 27, 2009 at 5:32 am //
happy researching..firing my gas baby tomorrow, long day but a good one- hoping to vid some i’ll keep ya posted…cheers ang
Jean Levert Hood
February 27, 2009 at 8:43 am //
Ahhhh, I wonder if the kids knew they’d all nab one of your treasures!!
The range of your talents amazes me, Cynthia. I simply want my computer to start when I press the button!
Undaunted
February 27, 2009 at 9:07 am //
“thanks for humoring me and for continuing to read & comment on my blog!”
You’re kidding! I learn tons of stuff from reading your blog! I agree that it’s a nice idea to share what you know and learn from others too, but so many people don’t, so I really appreciate your generosity in this way. Maybe I should share my methods more? I suppose I’ve always sort of thought I haven’t got much to share since I’m a learner, but maybe another learner will stumble across my blog one day? Thank you, you’ve given me food for thought.
I sort of know about the open source thing because Scott has explained it to me before. He writes things for the computer and gives them away too. I know such lovely people!
Undaunted
February 27, 2009 at 9:15 am //
ps. You know what? I love the fact that you were willing to admit your mistake to the class, apologise, and make amends. When I asked my previous tutor what happened to my ruined pieces, he just said “They probably got too hot”. And that’s it!
Mary T.
February 27, 2009 at 4:03 pm //
Whatever works as I hear nothing good about the newest windows stuff. Nothing. best of luck in your finding out about it and using the system.
Brian
February 27, 2009 at 6:17 pm //
Good luck with the Ubuntu. I think you’ll like it. You should notice an improvement in performance.
carter gillies
March 1, 2009 at 7:58 am //
Your generosity leaves me in awe! In today’s troubled times we need all the examples we can get of selfless community oriented endeavor. Your barn raising is not just appreciated, it is vital. Thank you so very much….
Cynthia
March 1, 2009 at 4:05 pm //
Thanks for the comments everyone! I’ve been away from my blog for the weekend – fighting with daughter’s laptop…. I have the new OS up and running, but banging my head getting wireless back up. Maybe I should have studied computer programming in school???
W. J. St. Christopher
March 3, 2009 at 1:14 am //
So sorry about the jewelry box, Cynthia. What a shame . . .
I look forward to watching your progress with the Linux switchover. I’ve played with it, over the years, but am just too addicted to my multitudes of Windows-based software to consider actually switching. As an ex-software trainer, I know how very steep the (re)learning curve can be!
I’ve tried Gimp, but didn’t like the interface. I’m already using OpenOffice, though.
Here’s a potentially usefull link (which you probably already have) for open source software:
http://sourceforget.net/
Good luck!