About the podcast

Welcome!

Are you tired of Windows crashes, spyware, viruses, and vendor lock-in? Are you frustrated with licensing fees and software activation demands? Are you dreading the arrival of Windows Vista, with its increased hardware requirements? Are you willing to try something different?

Linux is a free and open-source operating system that has seen tremendous growth in the past several years. Linux is stable, secure, and very powerful. It is also has tremendous capabilities, far beyond those available with other operating systems. We believe that Linux has arrived as a viable option for most people. That is the Linux reality.

Linux Reality is a podcast aimed at the new Linux user. Our intent is to start from the beginning, and to take it slowly. We will help Windows and Macintosh users learn about the history of Linux, the importance of the principles of free and open-source software, and the exciting Linux community. We will help users understand the differences between Linux distributions and help people with choosing the right distribution with which to experiment. We will demonstrate how users can try Linux without disturbing their Windows operating system at all, and will also walk people through a Linux distribution installation for those that choose to take a more permanent step. In short, we will explain how it works — in plain, simple, and non-geek terminology.

This podcast is for you and so we welcome listener particpation through email and audio feedback at linuxreality@gmail.com. Join us on the adventure to a new computer reality — the Linux Reality.

You can download and listen to a short promo here (1:09).

About the Host

The host of Linux Reality is Chess Griffin, a computer hobbyist and enthusiast whose first computer was an Apple II he received as a gift in the late 1970’s. In between playing Olympic Decathlon, Choplifter, and LodeRunner, he learned to code in assembly language on an Apple II+ and Apple IIe. During high school, he learned to program (?) in Pascal while taking an AP computer science class, and wrote a teacher gradebook program, which was never actually used by anybody. Other computers he has owned include the amazing Sinclair, the legendary Commodore 64, the precocious Atari 400, and the monochromatic first-generation 1984 Macintosh. During college and graduate school, he moved away from computers and now works in an unrelated field, although he maintains his passion for computers and technology by spending too much time on geek stuff such as web design, learning php, Python, and bash scripting, and working with his Linux boxes. He first discovered Linux in late 2001 and early 2002, when testing Mandrake Linux 8.1 and Red Hat Linux 7.3, the latter of which he still considers one of the best Linux distributions ever made, except for the one he uses today. Linux is now his primary operating system at home. He lives with his wife and two young children in North Carolina, where they pay no attention to ACC men’s basketball (ok, not really).