It is very easy to install ENDLESS OS [an easy to use version of Linux] to dual boot with Windows. When you don't need Windows specific programs you can enjoy 100% free apps and OS with much fewer intrusions. It also runs Chrome and the defanged Chromium.

LOL

While I am happy with my M4/3 zooms, I do enjoy the faster aperture of my fixed 25mm f/1.7.

People can chide others for dreams, but having known people with some ESP and other unexpected experiences, I cannot dispel the idea that there is more out there to be experienced than most of us know.

In 1987 I was a morning radio "news host" on a 50 thousand watt clear channel radio station in San Antonio. As the station was the big kid on the block, we were asked to be the ONLY station with a mic to broadcast and relay to other stations a huge outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II. It was "all hands on deck" and I was there to provide a bit of commentary as needed.

I was not Catholic, never seen a Mass and was not all that interested. I did major in "Comparative Religion" years earlier at UCSB, but mostly focused on Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. before I dropped out. Never got to an in depth look at Christianity.

So I was simply a disinterested observer, with no great need to see the Pope, etc. Just doing my job.

Oddly, when the Popemobile drove by, a wave of refreshment washed over me. I just felt really good, relaxed, happy. Imagine a jump cut in a video of you on a boring, rough day and then you relaxed, enjoying a vacation. It was that big a switch.

The only other time this happened to me was when I was still a UCSB student and was walking into an open-air mall to my part time job. The new cars of that year were on display and the minute I rounded a corner something odd washed over me. There, looking at cars (!) with an entourage from the university, was the Dali Lama of Tibet! The feeling hit me before I saw him or even found out who was there. But the Pope one was really more significant. I do think most people have remarkable things happen to them if they are the least bit open to them.

"I had to go in for a pap smear, so the night before I wrote on the inside of my thigh 'We've been trying to reach you about your extended car warranty.'

The doctor did not think it was funny."

I just picked a "vintage" early 70's Sears [Chinon] M42 Mechanical 35mm SLR.

Manual focus, you set the shutter speed and aperture. You got feedback about whether the exposure combination was correct by STOPPING DOWN the lens to the taking aperture and noting if the needle in the finder was centered.

That's it. Oh, there was a self-timer.

To me, who started out with a similar camera, this was beautiful simplicity. But to a person who grew up on "programmed" exposure and never dealt with the basic relationships of shutter speeds/metering/apertures/ISO, this camera might be a mystery.

And you hand me a high end mirrorless with 100 settings and I would also have some trouble.

It all depends on what you learned.

I've written several "how-to" books/audiobooks/multimedia products for techno beginners over the years. These started with "The DOS Tape" and moved on to "What Is Windows? ," "What's A Modem?" "How To Buy Your First Digital Camera" and more. All did well.

One thing I learned is that we are living in a "plop, plop, fizz, fizz...oh what a relief it is" society.

For example, starting with "The DOS Tape" an continuing through Window 3.1 and beyond, I stressed FILE MANAGEMENT as in knowing where your files go.

Meanwhile Microsoft kept trying to hide real file management concepts under layers of "simplification." How many different way do you need to copy a file? Anyone remember "BOB?"

Glossing over technical complexity with a veneer of simplicity does not let the user off the hook when something more challenging come up.

I cannot tell you how many folks in my basic digital camera class could not understand WHY shots taken with their digital point and shoot or DSLR with "kit" lens of indoor sports came out "blurry." NO understanding of basic physics.

This lack of thinking or lwillingness to learn seems to be spreading.

These ads post absurd photos (spoons against ears, etc.) just to get you to click. They have NOTHING to do with the ad pitch.

Anything that goes through the St. Paul USPS hub is a nightmare. You can track it as it bounces from bin to bin. Day after day. The local PO can actually SEE the item sitting there but cannot do anything to move it along.

I'm not sure, but I think they had a few hits in the 60's.

[Now that I've shown my ignorance, I did look at the Wiki on it and have saved it.]

I give up. What's "the attic?'

First, I do not use a camera that only has a screen on back.

There MUST be some kind of EVF or optical finder.

IMHO, if you can't even see your subject on the screen, any composition is impossible.

https://www.cnn.com/style/shengsheng-chinese-photographer-intl-hnk/index.html

The example shots are quite good.

I'm waiting for the 21st century to reach my small town.

Repair costs were too high also.