Rad note » The text in this entry originally came from another entry. It was lifted and moved here because the subject drifted far enough to warrant its own, separate entry-page.
(Search engines like it better when different topics get their own separate page.)
At the end of this entry (that you are now reading) I have provided a link to return you to the exact spot from where this entry originated. Here ya go ...
» New 17-inch Toshiba Laptop with AMD & Radeon
But before I get too deeply into that .. I should first mention that I got a new laptop. After 10 years with the old one.
Which I bought when the Bug was a newborn. (He is now 10.)
There was a mix up with the rent and I could see that I would be living out of my car (Porsche in Laguna) for a while ..
.. and FOR THAT I would need a laptop ..
.. which I could then use at either the coffee shop or the library. That was the impetus for the purchase.
(Doncha just love those little side-excursion detours down memory lane?)
I doubt you know many people who have been able to keep a computer running for as long as I have .. using it hard nearly every day.
I got a (black) 17-inch Toshiba Satellite ($399, bro bought it for me) .. with an AMD A8 CPU (quad-core) and 6 gigs of memory and a 750 GB hard drive.
I have never had an AMD chip before. The good thing about AMD is that .. it comes with Radeon R5 hardware graphics acceleration .. because AMD bought ATI, who made the Radeon gfx chips.
My old laptop has an Intel chip (Celeron) and uses software (CPU) gfx acceleration. But Intel also has its own version of hardware gfx acceleration.
So I feel like I died and went to laptop heaven. I am using it right now to write this entry.
» Switching to (free) MS Expression Web from Dreamweaver
Tho I am using Microsoft's (free) Expression Web 4, which is pretty similar to Dreamweaver, which I have been using for years. And which I know well.
But I cannot get my old copy of Dreamweaver to even install on this new operating system (Windows 8.1). {My old laptop ran Windows XP.)
So I totally bypassed both Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Dreamweaver now runs on a subscription-only basis for $20/month .. if you sign up for a whole year.
<ignore this intentional body-text marker>
••• today's entry continues here below •••
The annual plan costs $240. If you just go month-to-month, that will cost you $30/month.
Too rich for me. This freebie version of Expression Web is close enough to Dreamweaver that it is considered a Dreamweaver competitor.
Tho I will admit that Dreamweaver is clearly a superior product. Spit-n-polish. Well thought-out defaults. User-friendly interface. Like it is thinking for you .. and not making you figure things out. You know what I'm saying.
But Expression Web comes with a black/dark background, which I particularly enjoy. It seems to bring out a more creative part of me. Or at least, it feels that way.
I was also looking at KompoZer, but decided to go with Expression Web 4 instead. Because KompoZer is only at version 0.7.10. Not even a 1.0 release. (I actually downloaded and installed a copy of KompoZer.)
So I have been setting up this new laptop .. which is a fairly involved process.
I first got Windows set up right .. then installed a handful of browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Opera).
Setting up all my various email accounts with Thunderbird took a while ..
.. even after importing the old address book.
Thunderbird supports both IMAP and POP. But IMAP is considered superior to POP ..
.. which is what (POP) I was using with Outlook Express.
With Thunderbird, I now use IMAP, which seems to take a little more configuring.
But it is particularly nice to configure when you have your own VPS web server. (And therefore your own mail server .. like Hillary. Lots of control. More.)
WinSCP for secure file transfers. Notepad++ for text editing.
I am also gonna look at GIMP for my image editing needs because I cant get my old copy of Fireworks to install on Windows 8.1, which was released August, 2013.
Update, GIMP is a bear to use. I'm gonna try paint.net instead.
Actually, I am still editing images on the old laptop with Fireworks. Takes a little more coordination and synchronization to edit the same document on two different machines. Have to watch you dont overwrite a newer file with an older one.
So, when I use the old machine, I try to do all the gfx in one shot.
Finding & selecting the right graphic to (artistically?) characterize the topic of a given section of text .. that's the fun part that comes after you get done wordsmith'ing the text.
Only about 10% of Windows users are using Windows 8.1. Most still use Windows 7. Hardly anybody uses Vista, which was problematic.
Anyway, if you can read this okay .. that means that I've figured out Microsoft's Expression Web 4 and properly configured WinSCP to upload the file.
» Adobe Dreamweaver CC & Enabling Maximum Creativity with the Creative Cloud
Update .. my curiosity got the best of me ..
.. so I downloaded and installed a trial copy of the new Dreamweaver (called "CC") ..
.. and took it for a creative spin around the new 64-bit block .. to see what it's like.
Wow. What a piece of software. What a well designed piece of software.
Elegant. Smooth. Rock stable. My first 64-bit Dreamweaver experience. Beautiful. I'm definitely impressed.
Rad note » the subject-drift here with demo'ing Dreamweaver CC was severe enough to warrant its own entry ..
.. see here » Taking Dreamweaver CC for a Creative Spin Around Adobe's 64-bit Block.
At the end of that page on Dreamweaver CC, I have included a link that will return you here.
The end. ■
You can return to the exact spot from which the entire text in this entry originated .. see » here.
<ignore this intentional text spacer>
<ignore this intentional bottom text spacer, too>
