ITE221 - Fall 2011 - Chapter 2

            For this week’s website review, I decided to look at an alternate operating system, something other than one of the “Big Two” for PCs (the “Big Two” being a variant of Windows for PCs and Mac OS for Macintoshes).  I ended up going to Ubuntu, one of the most popular alternative operating systems for personal computers today.  As has been noted before, getting information from a manufacturer’s website opens one up to the possibility of bias, which must be kept in mind.  The manufacturer bills Ubuntu being fast, easy to use, and free, which I can personally attest to, based on a trial run I did several months ago on one of my own computers.  In addition to more-standard downloads where it will replace your current O/S, one can acquire a variant download which can fit on and be run from a CD or USB stick, or which can be configured to “dual-boot” on your system – you choose at system start up whether you’d like to run on Windows or Ubuntu, depending on your needs.  There is a wide variety of free application software designed to run with Ubuntu, much of it mostly or completely compatible with standard equivalents (audio players running standard MP3 formatted music, a word-processing application which is largely compatible with Microsoft Office Word, etc.), and the desktop layout is highly configurable based on the user’s own preferences.  You may or may not like it – but you’ll never know if you don’t take a look, and it costs nothing to try it.

The main website address is http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu.

ITE221 - Fall 2011 - Chapter 1

                For my website review, I chose to take a look at Tom’s Hardware, a popular website talking about various computer-related issues with a heavy emphasis (obviously) on hardware.  It has article categories on the major components of the average PC – CPUs, motherboards, graphics cards, cases, power supplies, and more, along with a “Build Your Own” section dedicated to exploration of various possibilities in building your own computer.  They also post news articles dealing with major technological advances in computer-related areas, such as smartphones, tablets, computer games, technologically-oriented companies such as Samsung and Microsoft, as well as “sponsored” articles and white-papers from various vendors (this is an ad-supported site, so as noted in our Ch 1 reading, the viewer is advised to bear the possibility of  manufacturer bias in mind if using this site for research purposes) and a forum where readers can share ideas and ask questions amongst themselves.  All in all, Tom’s Hardware is an excellent resource for those looking into new hardware for personal or business use.

The main website address is http://www.tomshardware.com/.