Summer Project: Linux OS/distro Testing.

Obviously, I enjoy messing around with various Linux operating systems and programs, seeing what they are capable of, and blogging about it.  Well, I have decided to take this to the next level.  Recently, we replaced the hard drive in the family computer, because it was several years old, and appeared to be crashing.  The computer is pretty decent (1.8GHz, 1GB RAM), so we reinstalled Wimpdows, and got it a good video card, and designated it the gaming computer of the family, because we recently got a new computer that ran Vista, and we did not want to run our games on it for obvious reasons.  well, anyway, back on the original topic, we ended up tossing the old 80GB HDD in the garage, and leaving it there.  However, I thought that it might work better as a freshly-formatted EXT3 HDD, instead of a several-year-old NTFS one.  But, since we have had problems in the past with it, it would most likely not be a good HDD to use as my main one.  So, I decided I would use it to test different Linux OSes, so I would not have to use a virtual machine, since that makes it slower (harder to accurately judge it’s speed), and less compatible, and you are not able to test it’s hardware compatibility.  To that end, I formatted it into 4 partitions, 1 swap, and 3 EXT3 OS partitions.  Throughout the rest of the Summer, I will be testing different Linux distros and OSes.  Currently I am testing Famelix, next on the list is Mint, and after that is Debian.

I installed Famelix a couple of days ago. however, I will not give a review until some time next week, as I will be out of town this weekend.

Stay Tuned!

KDE 4.00

A couple of days ago, I impulse-installed KDE4 on my main Ubuntu machine. After hearing a lot of hype about it, I decided to see what it was like, and if it was worth all the attention. I had, a while back, impulse-installed KDE3. I uninstalled it within a few hours. Because of that, I cannot give a fully accurate review of it, which is why you have never seen one. However, from what I saw, in that little amount of time, i was not very impressed, to say the least. the applications bar was very windows-ish, and I just got this general feeling of Windows-ness. It also did not look any better than gnome, and I just did not see the appeal. However, that is NOT the case with KDE4. After using it for a couple days, I am simply amazed! The interface is more intuitive than anything I have ever seen, it’s usability is just incredible, it logs in faster than GNOME, and the graphics are incredible(not special effects). I have not had to use a terminal for anything so far, except for an error I had when I tried to soup up the graphical effects. This is the perfect Windows alternative. The graphics appear to be much better on it than on GNOME, although I do not see how that is possible. I watched a DVD a few minutes ago, and it actually looked better than DVDs normally do under GNOME, even though I was using the same player, Gxine.

As I said at the beginning of the post, the interface is amazingly intuitive. The file manager that comes installed with it, Dolphin, has so many features in it that the default GNOME file browser does not have. It has an optional file tree on the side, it has an optional terminal at the bottom, and the window can be halved, allowing you to browse two separate locations simultaneously, in the same window. The launcher bar, known to you Windows users as the Start Bar, is amazingly designed. You have your Favorites on the front, and then there are the applications, divided by categories, then there is the Computer tab, the equivalent to My Computer in Windows, but it is in the “Start” bar itself. Then there is Recently Used, which (obviously) lists your most recently used applications. Lastly, there is a tab where you can log off, restart, shutdown, etc. Also, another thing that I thought was cool, was the alternating wallpapers.  It comes with a wonderful selection of default wallpapers, one of which you can set as the default desktop wallpaper, or you can set them as a slideshow, along with any other pictures you wish.

However, after all of that, I have decided to switch back to GNOME. If you are looking for an alternative to Windows, I would suggest KDE, because it would most likely be easier to get used to. But, if you are a fluent computer person, who is willing to accept some change, I would suggest GNOME. Gnome may be a little more complicated, but in my case, and in the case of most computer geeks/engineers, complicated is better. KDE is simple, and easy to use, GNOME comes packed with as many advanced features as you could ever want, and has incredible graphical effects that KDE cannot even attempt to match. KDE’s package manager is not nearly as good as GNOME’s. You can only select packages to install one-by one. GNOME’s Synaptic Package Manager is very good at installing large amounts of packages simultaneously. Also, GNOME is very customizable, and that is very important to me. I did not get the impression from KDE that it’s look was meant to be changed very much. However, I did keep Dolphin. I really, really like dolphin as a file manager, and I will recommend it to anyone. Also, I will be keeping Konqueror, since not only is it a web browser, it is a file manager, and an application manager, with all the features of Dolphin, too.

So, in conclusion, I would say that neither KDE or GNOME is better than the other. It depends on your wants, needs, and preferences. If you

want simple, easy to use, and a good alternative to Windows, use KDE. If you want advance functionality, and extreme customization, as well as better graphical effects, I would recommend GNOME.

(edited at 2:57:  Added screenshots and wallpaper feature description)

Waiting…

According to Cnet, FF3’s final version should come out next month (June)!!!

Here is the link.

(I should have be KDE post up in a few minutes)

KDE

I am currently working on a post for KDE4.  However, I am trying to pay more attention to my posts than I normally do, and improve them.  So, bear with me.

-just to let you know I’m not dead or anything(you wish) ;P

New blog.

I am now officially releasing a project I and a couple friends have been working on for the past two days, inconspicuously.  As I mentioned a few posts ago, I do not publicly proclaim my faith on this blog, because that is not what this blog is for, but I have been wanting to do so another way.  A few days ago, I posted a blog post on Myspace, about teenage responsibility. It appeared to have a good response, so I decided to move it over to a real blog.  It is still very much in the development stage, so feel free to offer advice.  I fully admit and recognize my problem in the very areas I am discussing in the blog, and I belive that makes me more suited to speak in that area, as I am taking the time to study this, work on it, and pray about it.  This is not a public blogging effort for myself, this is a ministry opportunity that God has presented me, and I hope to have other people writing in it soon.

http://www.youthofeternity.blogspot.com

As I just said, it is still in the development stage.  Please give ideas and feedback on the following items:

Different title (already used it for an old blog)

Different url.  (I am terrible at naming things)

More authors. (If you are a friend/relative, do you know of any mutual friends that would be able/willing to do this?  I want to keep it confined to people I currently know, for now.)

Better format.  (need ideas to improve the blog look and layout.  I will NEVER post any third-party ads, but I will post links to good sites that I support, enjoy (theologically), and agree with.

Other.  (any ideas/feedback will be accepted)

The Project.

Sorry I have not been posting recently.  I have been working on a project, and doing some other home-based activities.  So, here are some Cnet highlights of the day that caught my eye, to keep you interested.
GTA IV nets Guinness record
First Look: AVG Anti-Virus Free 8
Video Exclusive: Asus Eee PC 900
Google extends online video lead
HBO to Apple: Bada Bing
The password that calls you
Review: Shuttle’s K-4500 Linux PC

rear-view mirror that does it all

First Look: AVG Anti-Virus Free 8

And …they… do it again.

Them.  Those People.  The Others.  The Evil Ones. The Dark Side.  The Sith. The Goa’ould. The Nazis.

The RIAA is know by many names.  These are just a few. How this …affiliation.. still exists, I have no idea.  Time after time, after TIME, I have seen articles in the news where the RIAA has sued people that had no idea what they were doing, hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars, for slight copyright infringement.

Don’t get me wrong, though.  I support the idea of bringing to justice people who break the law by stealing music, but that is NOT what the RIAA is.  The RIAA is a bunch of greedy politicians who want as much money as they can get, and are using their power to sue a bunch of innocent people, and steal their entire livelihoods, for a crime, that, if they committed, warrants a $500 fee, not a $500,000.  Cnet recently posted an article about one of the RIAA’s latest …exploits…, in which they are picking on a site known by probably everyone reading this.  Project Playlist.  What Project Playlist does, is merely search the Internet (automated, most likely), and gather all .mp3 files they can find, and link them on their site, and allow you to organize them into a playlist, and put it on any site.  That is not illegal.  It is only illegal when they are purposely and maliciously finding sites they know to be illegal, and putting their music on the site.  Admittedly, it is a fine line, but I am confident that they will win the current legal battle, because they do not actually host any music on their site (btw, I am listening to PP right now).

Now, this is TYPICAL RIAA.  They go after the unknowing distributor. Again.  Now, what they SHOULD do, is make an agreement with PP, and use their database to locate illegal music sites, and take them down.

Here are the articles: (link)(link)

What do you think Do you disagree?  agree? why?

(My Project Playlist)

(edit: stupid non-paid version of WordPress won’t let me do custom HTML/CSS. use the stand-alone link to view my playlist)

Happy Mother’s Day!

I’d just like to wish a happy Mom’s day to all the moms out there(like any of them actually read techno-geek blogs)!

With my mom and dad having adopted eight teenagers from foreign countries, and had three biological kids, and homeschooled them all, my Mom definitely out-rocks yours!  (but yours is still cool, too).

With my Grandma having been the cook at the cafeteria at Oklahoma University for a long time, and now cooks for five adults and 8 kids, she also out-rocks yours!  (and again, yours is cool too, no doubt.  Mine is just more cool.)

FOSS Triumphs again!

Sun Microsystems just released a beta version of Open Office 3!  Yes, you heard me!  The best free office suite in existence is coming out with a new version!  I have been using Open Office for the past year or two, which, at my age, means my entire career as a geek.  In my humble opinion, it is vastly superior in every way possible to Microsoft Office/Works/Word.  It has direct PDF exporting, which is convienient, and a feature that Microsoft Office lacks.  It recently came out with a new version, 2.4, which was improved in several ways, but apparently that was a prelude to an even larger release.  2.4’s biggest new feature was incredibly improved start-up times.  After the initial upload, another windows was opened instantaneously.  I was opening additional pages just for the heck of it, it was so fast.  Plus, the initial start-up time has improved, also.  Apparently, version 3 will include better Microsoft compatibilty, better integration with the Apple systems, and a sleeker interface.  I’d try the beta, but, unfortunately, it is released only for Windows and Mac, although I might try it on my Virtual Windows machine on my main Linux system.

Read the Cnet post here.

Possible Second Blog.

You probably can’t tell it from this blog, and that is deliberate, but I am a rather blatant christian, who enjoys occasional exposititional thinking/writing.  I do not proclaim my faith openly on this blog, because it is a technogeek blog, not an exspositional theology blog.  However, I would still like to pursue this, and to that point I have begun thinking about beginning another blog.  However, I am not willing to do a lot of work to make this happen if it will not work out, so I am now hosting it on my Myspace blog.  If it goes well, I will move it over to WordPress or Blogger.

Enjoy!