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Am in the process of downloading Redhat Linux. Lots of small files, lots ... Would be much easier if my FTP program didn't hang every now and then ... Tried to set it to go overnight, but of course it only got part of the way ... So here I am now, watching it like a hawk to minimize time lost to crashes :-) ... It's currently going through documentation files, good to know there are lots of them about anyway ... Can't help but think the download would be one hell of a lot faster if they'd zipped down a few thousand of those files into bigger archives ... Suppose there's a good reason not to ...

Don't dare do anything else at the same time either, don't want any reasons at all for crashing again if I can avoid them ... Not now when it seems to be doing so well ...

Okay, maybe it didn't, there it went again ... Going to check those settings ... Ok, proceeding download again ... This'll take all week, dammit ... I really, really hope there isn't a bunch of convenient zipfiles hiding away somewhere nearby :-) ...

More howto:s, lots and lots of them! Going to brush my teeth, don't die on me! Will have reading for a lifetime once this is finished ... Wonder if things would be better if I was downloading from the other computer? Nah, think it's the program more than the network's fault ... Won't say it's going well now, that would just be asking for trouble :-) ...

Today it's raining again, or at least it's completely grey and wet-looking outside the window. Maybe it'll improve later on, haven't checked the newspaper at all yet. Yesterday was wonderfully summerlike, warm and sunny. In the evening the whole house felt like it was in June or something. Don't know exactly how to describe the feeling, but I guess it's connected with warmth and brightness ... Someone out there should know what I mean, go ask that person for a better description :-) ...

So, what's my reason for finally getting around to downloading Linux? A wish to become a better person? Not sure why I got around to it this time really, it's not much different from other times I've felt like it, but the igniting spark of inspiration came from surfing into a site about a desktop environment for Linux/Unix. From there I went on to Redhat, found my way to their mirror on Sunet and began the first download attempt ...

Think the Redhat site was a bit devious in design, if you missed the download button it appeared that all their distributions cost money to get. For the Linux beginner they recommended the "Deluxe Workstation" version for $79,95 ... No thanks ...

A related thought that added to my download motivation is my recent thinking about having an apartment of my own. One thing I'd like to have in there is a network of some sort, and on that network it would definitely be fun to have a computer running Linux to play around with :-) ... Geek daydreaming, eh? Some people want fast, expensive cars, I'm happy with an apartment and a nice little network. From that point of view it really looks modest and sensible, right?

It's now 17:47, and I'm here again, still downloading Linux :-) ... Updating my FTP program seems to have helped a great deal, it's been going on in the background all the time while I've been writing this. Three modest cheers for software updates! A good thing with lots of small files is at least that the crashes only meant reloading one little file for each crash before proceeding with new ones ...

And crash goes the FTP program! Mumble ...

Aha! A buffer setting! Increasing ... That might do the trick! It's not over yet though, to be continued ...

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