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)

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron review

Okay, as i mentioned earlier, I installed the new version of Ubuntu Linux, named Hardy Heron. I have been using this on my main desktop for a while, now, so I thought I might give it a review.

Given one sentence to describe it, I would say: “Stay Away.”

Having used Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon for a long time, and having seen reviews and articles about various other versions, I have come to the conclusion that this is the worst Ubuntu version to come out. Basically, just looking at it, there is no visible difference, except a slightly different wallpaper. My first point of contention was the graphics. It was a PAIN to get my Nvidia graphics card installed, I had to manually download and install the driver. In addition, the Screens And Grahpics manager that I had gotten so fond of no longer exists. I have yet to find a GUI that lets you manage your graphics cards and monitors. There is one simple window in which you can change your screen resolution and refresh rate, but that is all. To change my graphics properties, I have to boot into Recovery Mode. However, Recovery mode has been improved. When booting into it, a blue screen comes up with three options: Boot into normal mode, repair graphics, and boot into command line. This is a big bonus, whenever I had to repair the graphics via Recovery Mode in Gutsy, it was a PAIN, with my limited UNIX knowledge. However, as I mentioned earlier, I got Windows and Hardy Heron running simultaneously. However, this might also be possible on Gutsy, I do not know. Also, I have had some compatibility issues. VMware got trashed, and FF3b5 crashes more often. Also, that is another bone of contention. They installed a beta version of a browser in a full public release of the OS. No offense to them, but that is a …dumb… idea.

Other than that, I have not had any major problems, at least that I can think of. If you are a normal home user, looking for a more stable OS than Windows, you would not have a problem. However, for the more hardcore users, I would suggest you stick to Gutsy 7.10

Here is a link to Ubuntu, if you are interested in it, and do not yet use it (if that is possible).

Hardy Heron, HERE I COME!!!!

I was very reluctant about upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, and was running it in a VM, to test it. However, I then ran into this. Needless to say, once I read it, I immediately opened my Upgrade Manager, and told it to upgrade to Hardy. 21 minutes left. More to come, once I get it up and working. Meantime, here is a screenshot from the article above, to whet your appetite:

(credit: Lifehacker)

How to: Listen to music online. Your way.

I have mentioned Pandora and Last.fm before, and have highlighted the pros and cons of both of these online radio stations.  Today, I would like to introduce you to another alternative.

Both Pandora and Last.fm allow you to select an artist or genre, and it will display similar music.  However, haven’t you ever wanted to listen to just one particular artist, or some popular song that you really like, but just cannot get it to play on Pandora/Last.fm?   Well, I have a solution for you, my friend.

Myspace.

I know what you are thinking, you know about Myspace Music, but do not like to use it for listening to music on a regular  basis, because you first have to locate the artist’s page, and, when you do, you have to load this HUGE page, with tons of artwork, youtube/myspace videos, a heck of a lot of flash applications, and then the media player on the page.  Well, in case you do not know this yet, Myspace, several months ago, added an option to pop-out the media player in a seperate window.  Great.  That’s no good, you still have to load the page, right?

Wrong.

This is what I do:  I go to my favorite artist’s page, and open the pop-up media player.  Then, I expand the window so it is no longer the size of the flash app. Then, I click on the white space between the app and the window border, to deselect the app (note: This step is not always necessary).  Then, I press CTR+D.  That bookmarks the page.  I do this to all of my favorite bands.  Then, I simply click the approproate bookmark whenever I want to listen to that band, and it brings up just the media player on the page.  Here is an example (Linkin Park)

These flash apps are relatively light on your rescources, so, if you have an older computer, or a slow internet connection, this is a much more practical solution to listening to online music, than Pandora or Last.fm.

Also, if you have Opera, then you can also add these online MP3 players onto your side bar, and play them on there as a page, and continue playing them while you are browsing the internet.

Charlie.

I think I am going to name my “new” lappy “Charlie.” Charlie is the name of one our dogs. He showed up on our doorstep one day, skinny, and injured. I thought that fit well with the laptop. It showed up in the garage one day, it was old, and slow, and lacks a power cord. Oh, on that topic, I purchased a power cord for it, for about $30. it should arrive next Monday-Wednesday. Plus, a RAM slot in another, barely-working laptop that we have, was damaged, and the card would not stay in, so I put it in Charlie, since it was compatible. Also, Dad found a compatible 108.11 G 54Mbs PCI wireless card, and I will use that. I just hope the power cord finally gets here, and I don’t figure out that the laptop does not actually work.

Oh, and, next week is our last week of school! Yay!