Recycling and self education.

Some people have at times called me a hoarder. To some extent I am. I started recycling old computers, but not in the way some people would think. What I do is clean them up, dust them out and install what is called open source software. This is tedious at times. As a matter of fact all the desktop computers in our house are recycled, including the one I'm using now. Some have been passed on to me, others were rescued from the trash. My wife is using the first one I every recycled it's a mid size case that only needed a power supply, hard drive and software. I am using 2 at the moment, one is a regular size desktop (which I traded for) and the other is a server size which I was asked to haul to the trash. I have already posted that in a previous blog. These 2 computer are tied together with hardware I rescued.
2 computers, 1 keyboard, 1 monitor, and 1 mouse, all I do is hit scroll lock twice to swap between them. I haven't taken the time to network all our computers together yet.  This is another phase of my continuing education to explore.

My favorite blend is from Ireland called Linux Mint. My preferred desktop environment is the lightweight XFCE.  I am following my father's steps when it comes to continuing my education, I seek out information and read about what I want to know. I have the desire to learn more about computers, I started by cleaning them up, then installing the hardware I have acquired, then the software is the final step. Since I have discovered Linux software, it has proven to be very reliable and stable. My fondness is to explore it more, to the point of using it to built websites, possibly even selling recycled computers with open source software and maybe even installing it for those who have computers that have software compatibility issues. It can and does work as well, if not better than the #1 installed software Windows by Microsoft. There are free courses online available to help one prepare for certification.  

I guess one would need to have a passion for wanting to learn, but also to understand their limits and accept the pace of which they have the ability to learn. You can't really rush this process I think. So we all have to be fairly open minded on the subject of what an acceptable education is. 

Practice what you learn, because practice makes perfect.
Be practical in your goals.
And above all else be patient with yourself.