Ubuntu 9.10

Well, its been a while, hasn't it? Since I last talked on here, Ubuntu 9.10 has been released. As some of you may know, there were some problems early on with 9.04 that sort of turned me off to Ubuntu. I've been running OS X on my Aspire one, and Puppy Linux 4.1.2 on my Gateway Solo. My desktop has always had Ubuntu on it, but it's become my shop computer, just being used for listening to music and looking at radio schematics.

I hate to say it, but I was almost to the point of putting OS X on my desktop. :O

But, since 9.10 came out, Ubuntu is back in my heart for good. One of my main problems with 9.04 was that the Pidgin developers caused issues with Pidgin, so that after updates, it no longer worked.

9.10 has Empathy, which so far is beating Pidgin, hands down. I had a couple other issues that couldn't be resolved without compiling my own kernel, so they were left alone and lived with.

A couple days ago, I decided to give 9.10 a try on my desktop. 9.04 had gotten so buggy that it was almost unusable. I barely was able to save everything before it went down for good.

I'll just be honest about the initial boot of the LiveCD. I was completely amazed! I've never really been more that ok with any Linux Distro, let alone Ubuntu in stock for, but Canonical has outdone themselves. The look and feel of Ubuntu 9.10 is great! No more orange everything. Brown looks better, but as I always do, I'll be changing that soon on both my desktop and Aspire one.

So far, all I've done on either is install Skype. On the desktop, Compaq AMD Athlon 64, the install went without a hitch, but on the Aspire One, had to manually install libqt4-core package. No big deal though.

Well, that's all for now. Soon as I figure out some neat things to do with Ubuntu, I'll be sure to keep all of you updated.

See you soon!

RaLink RT2500

This thing is a POS. It's supposed to work out of the box, but it's yet to do much of anything for me in my Compaq Presario desktop. I'm going to try compiling the driver myself, but I doubt it will help much. In my HP Pavillion desktop it worked fine in the same spot, but I had Ubuntu 9.04 on it, which may be the difference. Who knows. I'll figure it out though. Just felt like ranting before the fiance got home.

Closed minded people

Why is it most Windows users act like they have their head stuck up their ass? A now ex-friend, had her head so far up there, she could smell dinner from 3 nights ago. I showed her an article about how Microsoft is admitting Linux is becoming a threat. Her response was "I'm not afraid of Linux. Why would anyone want Linux anyway? It doesn't ever work, and you need to be a tech geek to keep it working. I like being able to just get on my computer and it work without having to work for it."
She's obviously someone who has never touched Linux, and seems to think she can have an opinion about how bad it is. First of all, how is it even possible to have an opinion about something you know nothing about? That would be like me saying writing a program in C+ is hard. I've never tried, so I know I can't say anything.
Obviously Linux (Canonical and Redhat, to be specific) are becoming a threat to Microsoft. I may not be fond of Microsoft's practices, but I seriously don't think they would file a claim stating that, if they really didn't believe it to be so. To me, that's good and bad at the same time, but I'm not going to get into that right now. That's for another day.
Well, I'm done. I'm going to end this before I put her name and IM name on here for everyone to see. If someone wants it, feel free to message me, though. :D

    I don't really have much to say about Ubuntu today. I've been catching up with my Linux news all day, and there is a lot on my mind. I've seen a lot of Windows or Mac people talking trash about Linux. Also, Linux people talking trash right back. Notice I didn't group these "people" with their respective communities. 

    Let's start with the Windows people. I read on one site, someone (with 20+ years experience with a computer) saying with Windows it's click install, and go, but when they used Linux, it took hours to install a basic program. Because of that, Linux is a "geek toy". Ok, I have to somewhat agree there. Linux can be a geek toy. But for most it isn't. My fiance, who was an avid Windows user, and after installing Linux Mint on her laptop, she caught on rather fast. And she never really asked questions much different than she would using Windows. But why does the Linux community knowing it isn't that hard to do that, have to flame the fire? Just let it go.

    If someone who is determined to use Windows, and Windows only, tries to say something about Linux, ignore them people. I've seen the same thing a thousand times in forums too. A person new to Linux joins, has a decent question about running a Windows program in Linux, but the community says there's a Linux program that does the same thing. The newbie is determined to run the Windows app., and people start to flame them.

    How does this look for the community? I know of several people that have seen threads like that and thought the Linux community was like that if you weren't a Linux geek. I do mean that in a good way, BTW. I was one of those few in the beginning. When Vista crashed, I tried Ubuntu, but my Atheros wireless card wasn't supported then. I asked for help on the Ubuntu Forums, and got no help, was flamed for not understanding every word I was told. If I had the money at the time, I probably would have gone back to Vista. 

    But that's one of the many things that give Linux a bad vibe. I seriously believe that there would be more people using linux if it weren't for the bad things.

OSx86 & Ubuntu 8.10 on the Aspire One

Well, I finally did it. I'm running OSx86 and Ubuntu together on my Aspire One. It was actually rather hard, to be honest. There aren't any tutorials that really tell you much other than the software needed and to install the 2 systems. Anyway, it's much simpler than it sounds. Check out the Venera 7 tutorial for the software needed. Google "osx on aspire one" to find it.

I used the Kalyway 10.5.2 disc to do all this. Start by booting your disc, and select english, the go to the Disk Utility. You'll need to partition your HD with 2 partitions. 1 in Mac OS extended Journaled, and don't use the other. Reboot, remove the disc, and insert your Ubuntu disc.

Do your ubuntu install on the partition you left alone in the OSx86 installer. Do a 1GB Swap partition, and do the rest in EXT 3 and set it for "/". Let it do it's thing and then log into Ubuntu so we can get ready for OSx86. Once you are logged in, get the PC EFI you downloaded to your home directory. Open up Terminal and get ready to enter this:

$ sudo mkdir /boot/pc_efi
$ sudo cp ~/boot_v8 /boot/pc_efi

Ok. Now, press Alt+F2. Enter "gksudo nautilus". This let's you browse your computer as a super user. Go to System>Boot and put the "boot_v5" file there, and clost the window before anything gets messed with.

Next, open up a Terminal again. Enter "sudo gedit /etc/grub/menu.lst". Enter this at the bottom of the file:



title Mac OS X
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/pc_efi/boot_v8

Save it, and your done. Shut down, boot up the Kalyway disc, and go through the steps till you can click "Customize".

• Completely uncheck ‘Language Translations’.
• Expand ‘Kernels’ and select ONLY ‘kernel_9.2speedstep’.
• Expand ‘Graphics_Drivers’, expand ‘Intel_GMA’ and select ONLY ‘GMA950′.
• Completely uncheck ‘Audio_Drivers’.
• Expand ‘Networks_Drivers’. and select ONLY ‘RTL1000′.
• Completely uncheck ‘Mobo_Chipsets’.
• completely uncheck ‘Patches’.

You can select some of the Thirds Apps. Get Adium, and Transmission at a minimum.

Now click install, and skip the disc check so things will do faster. Now go grab a smoke, and find something to do for a while.

Now that is finished, we get to have some fun. Open up a Terminal and enter this:

sudo vi /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

It'll show the file, press "i" to edit it, and under kernel flags, enter cpus=1 between the ><. Press Esc, and then hold Shift and then press "Z Z". That's done. Now run the Kalyway 10.5.3 combo update. DO NOT restart after it finishes. open the other installer you got with it and run it. Select the vanilla kernel, and install it. Now restart When you reboot, press escape to see the grub menu. Select Mac OS X and after that, let it go through that menu, then press F8 when you can. Type "update -v" and hit enter. It will reboot, and do thqt aagain. Once your back in OSX, Google Mac 10.5.4 and 10.5.5 updates. ONLY get them from the Apple site! the combo updates will brick your system! For the other 2 updates, before you run them in Terminal enter :

$ sudo su -
$ while sleep 1 ; do rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext ; done

leave that in the terminal while doing the updates each time. Press Ctrl+C to exit it to be able to reboot. Do that for both. After you do that, just follow any of the tuts for OSX on the Aspire One. BTW, there is a kext for the left SD card slot. Just Google it. Hopefully that will help out since every other tut I tried kept bricking OSX. If you have a question, message me at my new e-mail: andy@thevintageattic.net . Good Luck !

I've got to rant a little...

Well I've finally gotten around to catching up with my Linux news, and I'm not liking what I've been reading. Several things have gotten to me. There was an article on Linux Insider.com about a guy attempting to explain why Linux sucks. While some points are well done, some of them have no basis to a real Linux user. The one point I completely agree with though, is that Linux as a whole needs to be simplified. I'll probably get hate mail from Windows people for this, but Windows and OSX people ARE a bit less intelligent than a typical Linux user. I don't mean this in a derogatory way, but in a constructive way. Windows and OSX users
have been given dumbed down operating systems, so they don't have much, if any, advanced computer skills. Linux users need these skills to run their OS of choice. I'm not saying that cammand line use is completely necessary, but on occassion it is needed.
Now, I've been using Ubuntu and various other Linux distros for around 3 years now exclusively. Before that, I used Windows 95, 98, Win2K, XP, Vista, and I learned computers back in the early days of Apple. Recently, I decided to try NOT using Terminal in Ubuntu and Console in Puppy. So far, I've been going about 2 months with out needing to type commands. I haven't even had the need to figure out how to do something with the GUI I would normally do in Terminal or Console. So when are these fanbois going to get a life and actually complain about something that is actually a problem in Linux?
One thing I have a problem with is Wine. While it is a Godsend for those who use certain Windows apps, it need major work in my opinion. From my experience with it, there are still a lot of apps that just don't work with it. I like World of Warcraft, but without a decent amount of work, I can't play it in Ubuntu. I know it's possible, so don't start ranting yet.
Next, software manufacturers need to get out of the grip of Microsoft and start porting software to Linux. If they could port to the major Linux distros, it could be made to work for nearly all of them. I have several friends that would be totally willing to switch away from Windows if they could get better software.
Another issue I read in the previously mentioned article was noobs don't want to do kernel updates. Are you freaking kidding me? I know with Ubuntu, updates are constant, and can get annoying sometimes, but kernel updates are in there. So where is the issue of kernel updates? I'm not really seeing it. Something else is the need of simplicity. Honestly, Linux is more simple that Windows and especially OSX. If you have a problem with something in a Linux distro, look in their forum. If not there, there's probably a Linux blog explaining how to fix it. With Windows....ugh. If you Google the problem, you normaly get something like 20 million links to look at. Usually, the forums have stuck up IT guys in them, so not much help there. OSX is something I'm not going to go into, because after trying it, and feeling like I had no control over anything hapening. Plus, the last time I used it was a couple years ago.
So when are Linux haters going to make true accusations instead of making up lies? I admit Linux may not be the better OS, but if you don't like it, go buy Windows. Noone is stopping you. But keep in mind, Windows has major downfalls too. I'm not going to go into them today. Maybe tomorrow.

GIMP

Ah, GIMP. How can one do any photo editing without it? Well, in my opinion it needs work. And a lot. I have heard that it is equal to or nearly equal to Photoshop, but the few times I've used Photoshop, it seemed much easier to use. I am trying to get a flyer made for my wood refinishing business so I can hopefully get some work. So far, I've used a picture I cropped of a sheet of veneer for the background, added my text, and left space for a picture of my work. I'm trying to make the background of an RCA Victor radio be transparent. It is far from easy. The closest I've gotten to doing that was a small border that was transparent. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I just can't seem to figure it out even with all the tutorials floating around the web. Well, I better get back to work on it. Wish me luck.

9.04

After writing about Windows, you know I'm going to write about Ubuntu. Well, I'm back to using Ubuntu 9.04 even though it does have some shortcomings. Well, as of right now, on my One, I am using Vista, 7, and Ubuntu 9.04. Vista for my Xbox connection, 7 because it's neat, and Ubuntu for nearly everything. I was browsing the web last night, and figured out some neat and interesting things for Ubuntu.

First of all, Guake.This is a great little app for Terminal access. Once it's up and running, instead of going to Applications/Accessories/Terminal to do command line work, just press F12. It slides down from the top of the screen, and your off and running. Just like the standard Terminal program, you can have multiple tabs, and all the commands work.

Next up is Espeak. I don't know of much real use for it, but it is a neat program. In terminal type: espeak: Hello. Ubuntu is a great operating system. If it is installed (preinstalled in 9.04), and your speakers are turned up, it should speak it to you. If not, enter  sudo apt-get install espeak, then try again. Like I said, not much real use that I can see, but neat anyway. 

Emacs. There have been articles written about it before so I won't go into much detail. Basically, it's a text editor with extras. To get it, type in Terminal or Guake: sudo apt-get install emacs. It can be used like gedit, or any other text editor, but it can do more. One neat thing is the sudo therapist. Once you start emacs, press escape, and type xdoctor, and press enter. In comes the doctor. The "doctors" answers and questions can be very generic, but interesting indeed.

I decided earlier to make a list of useful command line commands for everyone. 

sudo command                                 run command as root

lsb_release -a                                   get Ubuntu version

uname -r                                            get kernel version

uname -a                                           get all kernel information

apt-get update                                 refresh all update information

apt-get upgrade                               upgrade all packages

apt-get dist-upgrade                       upgrade Ubuntu distribution

gksudo nautilus                                super user window manager (be careful with this!)                    

Those were just a few commands off the top of my head. I know their may be some that are more useful, but these seem to me, to be a few useful commands anyone could use. Hopefully they'll help you out sometime.

It's been a while..

Well, it's been a while since I posted last. Life has been sooo busy. I've modded my Xbox recently to run xDSL. That was interesting. It needs a memory upgrade from 64MB ram to 128MB of ram to do a lot, but it does stream videos, though. If anyone from Ubuntu Forums is reading this, then you know I've been trying to use Ubuntu on my Aspire One to bridge my wireless connection to my ethernet port to connect my Xbox to the web. That is one thing Ubuntu needs work on. I ended up installing Windows Vista since I had an install disc with the drivers on it. I have to give credit to the Windows developers for that feature. Just select 2 connections and select brdge connections. Very nice feature. Well, after all that, I had finally decided to try out Windows 7 on my One. 

Well, I figured I'd Google it to find a torrent to download it, but the first thing that came up was a link to the Microsoft donwload page. Downloading it was abreeze since I have a 10MB connection, but I had an issue burning it to install. The first burn seemed to go ok, but when I booted from the disc, I had an error screen saying something about a usb device being unplugged improperly. Re-burned it, and booted no problem.

Before I go on, I just want to say, I obviously am an avid supporter of FOSS and Ubuntu. But, I do try to keep up with Windows and on ocassion Mac OSX. I just believe to say Ubuntu/FOSS is better in any way, you must know about the competition. Hence, the reason I am trying out Vista and 7.

Back to the subject. I, so far, am highly suprised with 7, even though it is still just RC1. Microsoft seems to have finally taken some good cues from FOSS/Linux. At first with 7, the installer is quite pleasant, and easy on the eyes, finally. Installing 7 is faster than previous Windows versions, but still needs work. 

After the installation, 7 has a look similar to Vista. Once I saw that, I lost a little hope in it. But, it's far from Vista. So far, it typically takes 10% of the CPU and around 50-60% of the ram on my One. Not bad compared to Vista or XP. Using GTK+ themes was a head turner for me. Well, more to come as I use it. Download it and try it out.

Leaving Ubuntu 9.04

It's fianl now. I'm leaving 9.04 and going back to 8.10. I've had too many issues to keep bothering with 9.04. My recomendation is to NOT use 9.04. Use 8.10 or 8.04 till 9.04 is better.

Ubuntu 9.04

Since I haven't posted in a while now, I thought I would tell my thoughts about 9.04. I downloaded it and installed it a few days ago on my AAO. I started out loving it, compared to the Beta version I originally tried, but then the issues started. At first, it was a buzzing when Pidgin would make a sound. That's something I can live with. No big deal. The problem I've seen was with Network Manager trying to connect to a Linksys wireless router.
My fiance works at a motel, and I was hanging out waiting for her to get off, so I was on my AAO at the motel. Well, with 8.04 and 8.10, no issues there. Network Manager say wireless connections, and would let me select them to try to connect. There were three that I could see, 2 of them wouldn't connect at all, and the motel wireless would connect, but no internet access at all, even though the girl at the front desk was connected without any problems. When she got off, and we got home, I had trouble connecting to my Netgear router. It would connect and disconnect randomly. To fix that, I downloaded Wicd to replace Network Manager. I replaced it, and so far, no problems. I guess I'll see when I go back to the motel tommorow.
If you've never heard of Wicd, Google it. Sorry for not posting a link, but I really don't feel like it right now. There's a Sourceforge page for it. I personally like it better than Network Manager, for several reasons. The major thing for me is that I have my home wireless set to auto connect, so when I boot up, it's already connected when I can use the desktop. Network Manager for 9.04 wouldn't seem to auto connet to anything for any reason. Why? I really don't know. Wicd seems to fix any problems I was having except sound issues, so it will stay, and I'll probably never worry about it. Like I said already, sorry for taking so long to post here again, life has been VERY hectic for me recently. Now, if I can find some work around here, everything will be back to normal. More to come when I find more problems with 9.04.

I'm hooked on Moblin and Puppy

Well, I've been using Puppy 4.1.2 on my Gateway, and Moblin on my AAO for a while now. Puppy on the Gateway has brought life back to a computer that should have been trashed. Not much else to say about it really. Moblin deserves a site of it's own for nearly everything about it. Moblin has the fastest boot time I've ever seen. 12 seconds flat. I like Ubuntu more, but I'd like to see Ubuntu do that. Ubuntu 9.04 is a lot faster booting, but nothing close to Moblin. So far, I haven't found much to complain about Moblin. The only problem so far is no flash downloads. At least I haven't been able to find any or make any work.
Nearly everything about Moblin is fast. Internet seems faster, programs launch faster, and the boot times make not having flash worth it. I'm thinking about trying it on my Acer Aspire 4720Z whenever I can fix it and when Moblin is no longer in Beta testing anymore. Oh, if anyone has a spare keyboard and/or battery that will work in it, e-mail me at my new e-mail, andy@thevintageattic.net. Anyway, I'm still learning commands for Puppy and Moblin so more later.

It's been a while...

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything here, so I figured I talk about whats new. Recently, I tried Ubuntu 9.04 Beta. Wow. Seems to me Ubuntu is getting better and better. I tried the 64 bit version, for those who care, with very few problems. The only issues I had were the Pidgin icon on the top bar kept disappearing, and I had some trouble installing codecs. Besides that, I liked it. Unfortunately, right after reinstalling 8.10, the keyboard on my Acer Aspire 4720Z quit working. I guess I need to add that to the list of parts I need for it now.

I also created a website since I last posted. It's The Vintage Attic. It's my first try at a web site, so I hope it lives up to everyones standards. It is mainly geared towards vintage tube radios and parts, but since I have unlimited bandwidth and space, I'll be hosting a couple different Linux OS that I try. Since I'm down to my trusty Gateway, it my take a while to upload everything, but feel free to check out the downloads section there.

I actually started the site because of my fascination with vintage tube radios. I'm starting to amass and restore a small collection of them. If you have or know of anyone that's going to throw away an old radio, please let me know. I probably will want it. I can't afford much, but I could pay for shipping.

Also, I got accepted to Tennessee Technology Center for Computer Networking and Repair. Unfortunately, with the economy the way it is, and me being jobless at the moment, I couldn't afford to take Linux classes elswhere, so I guess I'll be learning about windows again. Ugh. Oh, well. At least I have the opportunity to go to school for anything computer related.


.

Ubuntu...

I've been messing with Ubuntu for nearly two years now. It was my first step away from Windows, and with all the different distros I've tried, probably the best all around. But, I'm now getting sort of bored with Ubuntu. Not that anything is wrong with it, I just feel I need a change. I've been messing around with Puppy Linux lately, and I think, even though it's a very basic OS, I'm going to go with it for a while. My AAO and my desktop will keep Ubuntu and Ubuntu Server, but I think I'm going to learn about Puppy for a while. I honestly want to try a different OS because with all the customization that's possible with Ubuntu, I just don't feel comfortable with Ubuntu.
I just feel that since there are so many different Puplets of Puppy, I could, after learning Puppy, create my own Puplet to my taste. Who knows. I may come running back to Ubuntu very soon, but I may stay with Puppy too.

Ubuntu 6.10 on an Apple iMac G3

I got an Apple iMac G3 from a friend last night that couldn't get Ubuntu to install properly. Well, I tried last night, with no luck. If you booted from the disc (Ubuntu 6.10 alt. cd), the installer would go through the install, then ask to reboot. After rebooting, you would have the choice of booting from disc and Linux. It would choose linux automatically, and try booting, but never would get past loading the kernel.
Today, I decided to try again today. I connected it to my router, booted up the install disc and let it go. During the install, it went as smooth as it did last night. It never connected to anything during the install, which was odd, but it installed nicely. Well, it asked to reboot, and after the reboot, I thought it would do the same as last night. It booted up the kernel and Ubuntu started. So far the only problem with Ubuntu on the iMac is the resolution is off a litlle and the refresh rate seems slow. Hopefully, that'll be fixed soon.

Docks in Linux

I decided to re-install the Cairo Dock on my AAO, so I decided to talk about docks. There are several that can be used. First up is the Simdock. It's very basic, and from my experience, sorta user unfriendly. It doesn't need Compiz-Fusion, so it would possibly be good on lower end hardware. Next, is the Gdesklets Dock. Don't use this one. It has too many bugs to be usable at this time. Next is the Kiba Dock. I personally haven't used this one since it needs to be compiled from source. For most, it's not a problem though. Next is AWN. AWN is the Avant Window Navigator. I have used this before, with great success, but it seems to take up a lot of resources. It has several themes that are downloadable, and 2D and 3D looks. The next really isn't a dock, since you can't actually dock apps with it, but it's good none the less. This one is the Wbar. It is just a dock looking bar that has shortcuts to alot of different apps. goS has it preinstalled. I tried this one, but I was dissapointed with it after using goS. The Wbar in goS just seems more refined, like someone spent a LOT of time setting it up properly. I tried changing Wbar a bit, but it never had the feel of a good bar. So I deleted it almost as fast as I installed it. Lastly, is the Cairo Dock, my favorite. It needs Compiz-fusion to run, but doesn't take up a lot of resources, s it runs very well on my AAO. The Cairo Dock has a OS X feel to it, with many different themes that come with it. It has an autohide feature, which is very helpful with my limited screen space. In my opinion, I would recomend the Cairo Dock for most every one. Now, I know this isn't very in depth, but there is so much to talk about with all these, so I chose to keep it short. What I can say, is that if you have the time, try all of these. What I like, you may not. If you need help with any of these in Ubuntu, message me on Skype. My screen name is slammed87d21. Good luck!

RedFlag Linux

I don't know if anyone has heard about RedFlag Linux yet. It's the Chinese Government version of Linux they are focing on internet cafes. Just Google it, and you'll see what's going on. From what I've read was it's supposedly based off Red Hat Linux, and has an XP style and feel to it. I just went to the RedFlag page, and am downloading the ISO right now. The connection for the download sucks, because I'm only getting about 100 kb speed right now. Well, as soon as it finished, I'm gonna run it in Virtual Box, and let everyone know how it works.

Why do people think Linux (Ubuntu) is so hard?

I was reading a thread in the Ubuntu Forums just a little while ago talking about why people think Linux, or specifically Ubuntu, is hard. I think there were a lot of good explanations why. There are a lot of different reasons why Linux is considered hard. I have a few reasons for that but also a few reasons why Windows is a bit harder. I am excluding Mac OS from this, because I don't have enough experience with it to be able to give any information with and certanty.

Let's start with Linux. I got my first taste of Linux when a friend brought his laptop over to my house with Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon on it. I thought it was cool, and would like to try it, but since I had 2 good working computers, I would stick with Windows. I found the Ubuntu Forums, and started looking around. Seeing all the problems kinda scared me. I forgot about Linux for a while, till I started having problems with Windows Vista. Big suprise, right? Kinda pissed me off since I spent over $600 on a new laptop that now didn't work. I remembered Ubuntu, when I started thinking about how much Vista was to purchase. I then hopped onto my desktop, and downloaded the new Ubuntu 8.04 ISO. Then I realized you can't burn an ISO like a music file.

Damn. I spent a week or so trying to find a program to burn it. Got it burnt, and was ready to try Linux for the first time. Installation wasn't bad. I kinda got excited then. The install went smooth, and when I rebooted, Ubuntu loaded. Once loaded, I realized, why can't I connect to my router? At this point, I had forgotten about the forum. So, I connected my ethernet cord, and started Googling. Saw someones blog saying to talk to people on IRC. Got on IRC, and started asking for help.Well, to keep this from getting too long, I said a lot of wrong things, got no help for a while, but finally got the help from someone and got my wifi working after a week.

So far, Linux wasn't too bad. I had the bright idea at some point to try editing config files with no knoweledge first. To say the least, I screwed up my Ubuntu install. Tried the forums this time, and Google to fix my wifi again. Ended up finding a post to set up wifi Saved it as a text file, and was good to go. Linux at this point was irritating, but still not bad. On that laptop, the longer I had Ubuntu, the more I learned and got working. A couple lights didn't work, but I figured out how to get everything to work. All that without any real help, or computer knoweledge. At that time, I was just a basic computer user. Now with Ubuntu I can do most anything on any computer. Not bad for being self taught, I believe.

I just wanted to tell you that, so you could see part of my experience with Linux. I have tried several distros with nearly the same amout of success. There are several reasons why people would think Linux is hard. Like getting help if there's a problem. I honestly thought that the forums, and IRC channels were for computer tech geeks, so it made me nervous to try. Command line work scared the crap outta me. I heard stories that'd scare off noobs in a heartbeat. Also, there are rumors that Linux is still command line only, which is true for a few Linux distros, but not alot. I know people that won't try Linux for some of the most uneducated reasons. My games won't work, I can't put songs on my Ipod, nothing is plug and play, Linux is for tech geeks, I'm just used to Windows.

Not all the excuses are bad ones. Most people won't and probably never will try Linux just for the fact that they've gron up using Windows or Apple computers and are just used to how they work. That's fine, but please don't make excuses or say it's more complicated than it is. Linux isn't really that hard. I personally believe Windows is a bit more complicated.

My reasons for thinking Windows is the harder or more complicated OS is that even though I grew up with Windows, I never could figure out much about it. Like with my Compaq desktop, when I reinstalled XP on it, the Compaq page didn't have the drivers I needed at the time. It took me weeks to find the proper drivers. Never found all of them really. When there was a problem with Windows that was major, all I could find to fix it was to reinstall it. How many people do you know that can edit config files for Windows? More to the point, how many tutorials are there to modify files to get something working? What about customizing Windows to suit your style? There are ways, but those are if you have a really good processor and enough memory to do it. What do you do if you get a virus? Either download or buy more software to fix that problem, but then you have more software using the processor or ram.

Don't get me wrong. Each different OS has it's uses and users. On occasion I use Windows, even though I haven't used Windows in 6 months or more now. Linux, or Ubuntu, does everything I could ask of it. I personally like the fact I don't have to worry about getting viruses from web sites, or e-mails. Also, my Ubuntu install is completely customized to suit my taste, and I run Compiz-Fusion no problem with only 1 GB of ram. Windows has it free software, but with Ubuntu, theres more software that I can use than I know what to do with.

In conclusion, nearly any OS will be hard to someone that has never used it. That's only if people will just try something new. Until computer manufacturers start selling computers with any Linux distro on them, people will always be scared to try Linux. Schools need to offer more training in Linux, but until most Linux distros have compatable commands, I don't believe Linux will be anything more than a niche OS like Apple OS. People will keep using Windows just for the fact it's the major OS on new computers, and people are just used to it. But that's fine by me though. If there were more Linux users than Windows users, the possibility of Linux viruses would skyrocket.

Gimp Tutorial No. 1

Hopefully for the next while, I will be doing a few tutorials on GIMP. For those who don't know, GIMP is a GNU Image Manipulation Program. In Layman's terms, it's the equivalent to the Photoshop programs for Windows, but GIMP works on all platforms. I, myself, am learning GIMP at the moment, so if you see something I've done wrong, please let me know. Well, hopefully my first tutorial will be on here tomorow. Later.

New theme for Ubuntu on the AAO

I just finished installing the Jaunty Human Green theme from www.gnome-look.org. Kinda turned into a pain to get installed properly, but I almost have it set up. The only problem I'm having now, is that all text is white, so in browser windows, or app windows, unless the text is hilighted, you can't read anything. Hopefully I'll have that fixed sometime tomorow. Well, heres a screenshot.

This isn't about about Ubuntu, but it's BULL****!

Read this. That's BULLSHIT! Obama is a fascist! We, as Americans will soon be living in a fascist country if we let Obama do this. That just pisses me off.

Gateway Solo 2500

I found a dock for the Gateway earlier. Kinda cool. It uses the stock power cord, and gives it an ethernet connection. I'm still amazed that this thing didn't come with an ethernet connection. Oh, well. The dock I found is here. For only $9 , I plan on ordering it, since I just plan on blogging with it now. I guess tomorow, I'll explain a little more about installing Puppy Linux on a Solo 2500 and having everything work right.

Puppy Linux on the Aspire One

I finally got Puppy Linux on the One. The wireless is kinda quirky, to be honest. But, I am used to the ease of Ubuntus Network Manager too. So far, it's made my little A150 feel like it has a 4 Ghz processor in it, which is awesome. The version I installed has the Cairo Dock preinstalled and set up, so there's not much to do besides just use it really. It comes with most of the applications that need to be installed in most other distros. It's preinstalle web browser is Seamonkey, chat is Pidgin, several torrent programs, no OpenOffice though. To add applications is relatively easy and simple using Puppy package manager. Well, I'm gonna play with it some more and I'll let you kn ow when I learn more.

Puppy Linux

Well, I decided to try another flavor of Linux today. I just finished installing the PupFluxLite version of Puppy Linux. The install was a bit different since I'm not used to the text style installers, but it went rather smoothly. I installed it on my fiances old Gateway Solo 2500 laptop, which is  much faster now that Windows XP is off it. The GUI for the version of Puppy Linux installed wasn't bad, but I don't like the fact it didn't have a full taskbar. All it took was a right-click to access everything though. What was nice, andI didn't expect, was that the D-Link PCI wireless card worked out of the box.  Now, I just finished downloading Puppy Linux. I'm installing it since it has a taskbar that's actually useful. Anyway, Puppy Linux is a great OS for older computers to bring them back to life, istead of ending up in the landfill. I highly recomend trying out the live CD and see what you think.

I may have an Ubuntu convert

I finally got my fiance to try Ubuntu. I have let her use my Aspire 4720Z since I don't use it right now. So far she likes it. Later, I'll be showing her how to install Wine and get Myspace Karaoke working. I think once she see's most Windows software works in Wine, she may stay with Ubuntu. Hopefully :D

Ubuntu did something odd

Well, last night, I decided to dual-boot Ubuntu and Vista on my One. Unfortunately, I had to swap my Broadcom wireless card for the factory Atheros card since for some reason for the life of me I couldn't find the drivers for the broadcom card. Anyway, back to last night. I had set up the madwifi drivers and all the codecs I need without a problem. I've still not installed the Mac4Lin yet. I was using Ubuntu for a while to make sure everything was right, then I switched to Vista. 

There were the typical issues with it, but I was suprised. I previously had XP installed to use my phone as a modem, which worked fine. In Vista, it seemed like I had a faster connection through my phone. Awesome. My fiance had a problem with Ubuntu, which is another blog, so I switched back to Ubuntu to be able to help. Well, it booted up with out a problem. After booting, I noticed my Network Manager icon on the taskbar was showing up as a page with a red x. Hmm? It said it connected so whatever. I went on to help her, and came back to my One. I went to Applications>Internet to load Pidgin. Odd, no icons. Nothing seemed to have an icon. It was late so I figured I'd work on it in the morning.

Now, this morning. I first loaded Vista to browse the web while I smoked. When I switched to Ubuntu, that's odd. There are icons? Odd. I restarted a couple times, and its still working fine. Oh,well. at least its working.

Sprint Phone as Modem

I finally got my Sprint LG Rumor set up as my modem. Unfortunately, I had to reinstall Windows XP to do it. Don't know what else to say, but it works now.

3 new vintage radios

I got to purchase 3 new vintage radios today. 2 Zenith and a Farnsworth. The first today, was a Zenith Model 7H921. The second is a Farnsworth chassis. Don't know much about it. The third was another Zenith. Unsure on the model number right now, but hopefully a little research will tell me that. Earlier, I checked the tubes in all three radios. I got lucky since all the tubes were still good. The third may end up needing a couple tubes, but maybe not. Anyway, back to the first Zenith. After I checked the tubes, I tried it out. Took a bit for the tubes to warm up, but it powered on without any issues. Not picking up any stations at the moment, though. Unfortunately, while trying to tune a station in, the wire that connects the tuning knob to the tuner came loose. Hopefully get that fixed soon. The Farnsworth may be a while before I know what shape it is in. Since I don't know what model it is, I can't find a schematic for it, so I don't know which loose wires are for the speaker. The third, the Zenith, actually worked pretty decent after checking everything. It didn't take long for its tubes to get warm. At first, I thought the speaker was trashed, since it didn't have much volume to it no matter what the volume was adjusted to. Well, I guess it had just been so long since it had been used, it just needed to be on for a while. Well, I got it going pretty nicely, but I still think it needs a speaker. Maybe just needs the switches cleaned. Who knows. More later.

Rootkits

I've read several articles now about rootkits. If you don't know what a rootkit is, it is amalicious  trojan like program to allow an intruder to become a root user and therefore have complete administrative control over the system. From what I've read, there aren't too many rootkits out there, but the number is increasing. I decided to install and run Chkrootkit. Just run "sudo apt-get install chkrootkit". To run it, in Terminal enter " sudo chkrootkit". I came up clean, but who knows. I may not be so lucky one day.

Vintage Turntable

I know this has nothing to do with Ubuntu, but I bought a 1950 RCA Victor Victrola Model 45-J-2 turntable today. It's really in great shape, after a good polish. Ah, Bakelite. Too bad it isn't made anymore. This turntable, as far as I know, doesn't work. Possibly a bad switch, but I'll find out as soon as it's warm enough to go to the garage to work on it. Oh, something that suprised me, when I researched what would be good to polish the Bakelite, and everything I found said to use chrome polish! I bought some Turtle Wax Chrome Polish at Walmart, polished it, and wow. Looks almost new again. Used some Metal Armor on the emblem and the brass ring to shine them up a bit. Well, don't know what else to say so here's 2 pics of it.

Remastersys

I'm trying out Remastersys right now. It is a program to create a disc image of your complete system for backup or for creating a distributable copy. I installed it earlier this morning, and am creating a backup iso of my Ubuntu filesystem, since I cannot figure out at the moment how to use my cell phone as a modem. After it is finished, I will reinstall the factory XP and then dual boot it with Ubuntu. So far it is at 2% after running for about 5 minutes. Seems like it won't take too long. If you would like t try out Remastersys, you need to add a software source to your lists. 

Add    deb http://www.remastersys.klikit-linux.com/repository

After doing that, open up terminal, and enter

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get install remastersys

That will make sure you are updated completely, and install Remastersys. Newt, when you are ready to run the application, go  to System>Administration>Remastersys Backup. When the application opens, select OK in te first window. The next window gives you a list of what you can do. I selected Backup, which backs up all data. Let it run through everything, and you are done.

Burn the finished file to a disc, and now you have a complete backup of your system. I found this application before in hopes I wouldn't need to re-do all the codecs, extra applications, and my madwifi drivers for my Atheros wireless card. I've not yet tried using it for a dual boot setup yet, but I will post with how it works in that situation when I finish. 

Do people have no intelligence?

Why do people not actually try to compare and explain differences between OS instead of complaining and dissing them? On PC Worlds page  , this guy thinks XP is the best thing for computers since sliced bread. XP is now dated. I think that if you are a Windows fan, and you plan on staying with Windows, go ahead and upgrade to Vista. XP has a death date now, so no more security updates soon. When it comes to Linux as a whole or Apple, this guy says "Mac or Linux. Why Bother?" Not very open minded. He goes on to say "As for Linux, I've been hearing it's een ready for the desktop for years now. Well, it's not ready. It's getting better, but there are too many distros, packages, ISO's, Gnomes, Awks, greps, flavors, kernels, KDE's, licenses, and modules."

Ok. Too many distros. There are so many because there is more than one idea on what an OS should be. Too many packages. Obviously. Without packages, Linux would be useless. Too many ISO's. Not really. For each distro, you have a 32 and 64 bit ISO. Possibly more than one version, but most people want the newest, so that doesn't matter. Too many Gnomes. Well, if you download the newest version of a Linux OS, you will typically get the newest version of Gnome. He obviously hasn't looled into Linux as much as he says. Awks, I'm not sure about right now. Too many greps. So there's too many commands that most people won't ever use? Do you see a trend yet? Too many flavors? I see the trend ofignorance begining. Too many kernels? Are you serious? If you do updates regularly, you use the newest there is. Too may KDE's. Look back at what I wrote about Gnome. Too many licenses? Are you seriously kidding me? the only license I have seen in nearly two years of trying different OS is for Java. Is the trend of pure ignorance getting more clear yet? And lastly, too many modules. The same applie as to packages.

This seems to be the trend to people who do not like Linux. I don't like Windos, but do you see me writing aabout Windows having more security flaws than any other OS on the market? Or saying that the price for Windows is outrageous? Or even that Microsoft make their OS for the money and not for the ease of the user? No. Because I don'tbelieve in straight up bashing another OS just because of rumors, or plain ignorance about it. 

He also goes on to say "I recently installed Ubuntu Linux successfully, though I found the partitioning choices a bit confusing." Seriously? Please tell me what was confusing. Was it the THREE options in the partitioner? Or was it the colorful slider to decide how much space will be used by each OS? Or maybe it was the selection of using the whole hard disk? My fiance, who is not tech savy, said she could even install Ubuntu without a problem. If the partition editor was that confusing, I give congrats to your Mom for being able to get you dressed in the mornings for work.

"But to simply play MP3 files, I had to download and install a seperate package." Obviously. It doesn't come preinstalled with the codecs because of legal reasons. If having to do that was so scary, please point me to where I need to go to purchase Windows XP with any and all codecs I may ever need preinstalled on an install disc. There are too many types of machines on the market and in households for that to be feaseable. He also says "Wireless connectivity was a joke. Absolutely rediculous." Yes, on some machines, it is a little trouble. But is connecting your ethernet cable and using Google too much for you? My Acer Aspire 4720Z that came with Vista on it, took me a couple days to figure out at first. But the thing about it was... I had better signal with Ubuntu's Network Manager than I did with Vistas equal program. And the 4720Z was supposed to be designed for Vista too. Huh? That wasn't supposed to happen. 

"Like most people, I just want to do my work. I don't want to think about the operating system.  The operating system should be like a referee-- invisible and anonymous--and that's exactly what XP does. It provides all the features I need in an evironment that is completely familiar and easy to use." You don't want to think about the operating system? Do you really use Windows XP? Really? I guess you figured out how to eliminate all the pop up info boxes everytime you do an update or plug in something. XP is far from being "invisible and anonymous". What about the pop ups saying New device detected? Then saying Finding software for new device. And after that, sometimes saying after, Hardware installed, saying please restart to use new hardware properly. That's invisible and anonymous? If you really used XP, you wouldn't be spewing this garbage about an OS that will soon die out to Vista and Windows 7. When it come to XP being a familiar environment thats easy to use, you are actually right. But only for the fact your generation and mine have been using Windows since we were alowed to by our parents. That's all that makes it familiar. I personally feel that the Gnome desktop in Ubuntu was more familiar than Windows when comparing first uses.Even now that I have used both for years, I stll believe Ubuntu has a more familiar and organic feel to it. 

Lastly, this guy has the gumption to say "There will always be people who claim the losing technology is technically better than the winning technology, but lost out because of  inferior marketing, political clout, or some other reason. They view themselves as the enlightened few vainly railling against the ignorant masses. Meanwhile, the masses are getting their work done." You think Linux is the "losing technology"? Yes, we have inferior marketing. More like what marketing. Windows does better from the beginning because of being a corporation. You had near unlimited money and were the first on the market. That's why you are better for the moment. But don't think Linux is the losing technology just yet. Just like with the betamax(Microsoft Windows), and the VHS(Linux), newer technology nearly almost always wins. Except for Vista. 

So please don't bash an OS just because you are ignorant about it. That being said, there are probably Windows or Apple software I don't know of that have no Linux counterpart. I'm not trying to claim because one person is ignorant that Linux is the better all around OS. In some cases yes, and some cases no. But that's not to say, I don't believe that Linux will win in the long run. With Russia planning an open-source national OS, and the way the American economy the way it is, I seriously believe that Linux based desktops and laptops would and could out do Windows any day if there were more. Linux may possibly be the way of the computer future, but Windows could be too. Who's to say really?

Connecting LG Rumor in Ubuntu 8.10

I bought the USB cable for my LG Rumor today. Not as expensive as I thought it would be at only $20. Well, I have read somewhere online about adding extra applications with the USB cale. So far, I've had nothing but problems. First of all, with the USB cable connected, and the phone in mass data mode, I can't get it to mount. Then, I called Sprint and set up their service for using the phone as a modem. Went through hell to figure out what settings I need from Sprint, and I still can't get it to work in Network Manager. Starting to get irritated now.

Ubuntu Forums Moderators

Well, I'm not going to name any names, but I have noticed in more threads than I'd like to quote, it seems to me the uUbuntu forums staff and moderators have had their power over threads go to their heads. There are so many threads that are closed with posts stating the thread is to be closed "because it's been discussed before", or they "don't like the way the thread is going". Doesn't sound like proper use of power to me. In the time I've been part of the forums, nearly two years, it's never been this bad. I personally think the forums need NEW staff and NEW moderators. There isn't much that can be done, since if you speak up about them, they can just give you infractions, or have you removed from the forums.

Ubuntu Forums.

Arg. I know the Ubuntu Forum is probably the best Linux forum, but some of the moderators and staff are so closed minded. I've been trying to get an Acer Forum started for about a month now. I thought at first, as good as this forum is, I can get an Acer forum started or at least figure out why there isn't one already. All I have to say is wow. Some of the people that have replied to my thread are straight up smart-asses. I was trying to start a serious thread, since there are so many unsolved questions about Acer computers, and since most Acer questions go ignored. Dell and Apple users have their forum, so why can't we? I've been told that Dell sells laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed. Where? After I was told that, I actually searched the electronic stores here, and never found one with Ubuntu already on it. Just because, correct me if I'm wrong, they made a model or two with Ubuntu, doesn't mean they need a seperate forum for just that reason. Now to Apple computers. Why should they have a forum to themselves? With the newer Apples coming with Intel chipsets, and Ubuntu no longer supporting the PowerPC, there is no need for an Apple forum either. If you are an Acer owner, and have had any unsolved or unanswered threads on Ubuntu forums before, go here and tell them we need a forum. It looks like the only way toget a forum started is for us to unite and tell the staff and moderators we need a forum. I say this because I personally love helping out other Acer owners. But the problem is I know I miss a lot of questions. Searching doesn't help since 3/4 of the search results for Acer will bring up threads where people are bashing Acer or saying another brand is better, or that they once owned an Acer. What good does that do? Before someone thinks I just trying to bash the forums for not getting my way, I'm not. I've started a lot of threads there, but most of my knowledge has come from trial and error, and a lot of time with no computer because of problems noone would even bother to answer. A friend had an HP laptop, and that's the EXACT reason why he went to Apple. He had paid someone to do the basic install, and when he needed help, the forums did no good. I know HP isn't the topic right now, but it is a good example of the problem plaguing the forums right now, Most manufacturers have very nice support. Acer, unfortunately, does not.

Opera Internet Browser

Since I have Ubuntu looking like Apple OS X, I decided to install the Opera browser. Very simple really. Go here, click download. That button will take you to a new page so you can select what Ubuntu you have and where you want to download from. Click download, and a window will pop up. Use GDEBI Package Installer, and install. You're all done. I'm not sure if I really like it or not, but I've been using Firefox for years, so it'll be hard to transition over. With my OS X looking desktop, Opera looks at home. Maybe I can get used to it...

Wireless cards.

I just finished swapping wireless cards between my Compaq laptop, and my two Acer laptops. I realized there are major differences between Atheros and Broadcom cards. Both my Acer Aspire One and Acer Aspire 4720Z came with Atheros AR242x WiFi cards. Same model in both. The Compaq F500 laptop came with a Broadcom 4311 WiFi card. I decided to see what was the better card. I started by swapping the Broadcom card into my Acer Aspire 4720Z. Booted up 8.10, and it was jumpy between 90% and 100% signal. Awesome. All I had to do to get it working was select the Broadcom STA wireless driver. I was gonna leave it in that laptop, but I take my Aspire One with me more now, so out of the 4720Z it came. Well, about 10 minutes later is when the One was apart and I realized the two cards were identical. Then out came the Atheros card, and in went the Broadcom card. About 10 minutes later, I booted up 8.10 on the One, selected the STA driver, restarted, and awesome signal. As I write this, I'm sitting on my front porch, where I used to get about 20% to 40% signal. Right now, I have 100% signal. After this mod to my One, I plan on trying to find another Broadcom card for my 4720Z. Oh, and the best part about this card? No more Madwifi drivers to compile. They aren't hard to compile, but it's really unnecessary work. It was well worth the effort.

Nifty trick for watching Youtube Videos

Ever watch a video online (Youtube, Google, College Humor) abd want to watch it in fullscreen mode? And don't you hate it when you go to fullscreen mode and the video framerate gets choppy? Well, how about downloading a software program to magnify the screen? Or just using the already installed Orca Screen Reader and Magnifier? That may be fine if your on a desktop with oodles of hard drive space and ram, but what if you are on a laptop with limited space and memory? Use what Ubuntu can already do! That's what. All that need to be done is press your Windows key and scroll up or down. Now you ask, but what about the mouse arrow? Press the Windows key again with the L key. That unlocks the mouse arrow so you can move it out of the way. Have fun .

Well, I got caught...

Well, I got caught by Charter Communications downloading software. Here's what the letter said:

Charter Communications ("Charter") has been notified by a copyright owner that your internet account has been involved in the exchange of unauthorized copies of copyrighted material (music, movies, or software).

First off, this was my fault. I didn't check the torrents I was downloading. Ooops. Also, this could happen again,not by myself, since my router is not secured at the moment. Anyway, the letter goes on to explain the Charter Acceptable Use Policy, explaining what they can do if this continues for any reason. I think it is a bit entertaining that they think threatening people like this will get them to stop. Some will stop, but some like me will find ways around this slightly irritating dilema. I won't go into detail on how that can be done since Charter is more than likely monitoring everything I do now. Charter then asks me to remove the infringing material from my computer, and starts more threats.

Let them do their best. All I have else to say about this, is check your torrents before downloading. Or possibly use public WiFi spots and change your IP address occasionally.

Also, this isn't my first time in trouble with internet related issues. The first, was when I first got a laptop with wireless. Well, I went to the local grocery store to see if they had free internet to use, without luck. I saw on my wireless radar (on XP) that the pharmacy. I connected to it and was checking my e-mail. All was well. The next night, I went back to talk on Yahoo Messenger for a few before I went to Knoxville. I was talking fo about 15 minutes, and a cop pulled up behing me in the parking lot. Said the people in the pharmacy didn't like me sitting there for so long. The officer was nice about it, but said nothing about using their internet. Keep in mind they did not have the connection secured. I went back a couple nights later, to download a couple songs off Limewire. All was ok, finished my download, and the cops showed up again, even though I was not sitting in the pharmacy parking lot. The officer was very rude this tim. Said he warned me the last time about "stealing" internet. Told me if they caught me again they would have me arrested. I said whatever, and went home.

I thought everything was cool after that, but I was wrong. I lived at my parents, by the way. A couple days later, a detective from the Sevier County Sheriffs Department came to my parents house to say, he had been investigating my "activity" using the pharmacy internet. He was just spewing B.S. trying to scare me. He said that their "records" indicated that I had been trying to get into the pharmacy computer system to steal records. B.S.! Anyway, everything is fine now, since the Sheriffs Department can no longer watch what I do online.

OS X themed Ubuntu

I just installed Mac4Lin and the Cairo-Dock on my One. Turned out pretty nice. I have the OSX icons, windows, and a nearly identical OSX looking dock. The only thing about this setup is that the wireless applet only shows wireless signal, and won't let you select a network. It's very nice, since now I don't need my bottom bar. If it weren't for needing to select different networks, I would remove my top bar also. Well, not much else to say, so heres a screenshot.

Nothing to do with Ubuntu....I guess....Aspire One

I just finished reassembling my Aspire One. I tore it apart to see where I could put my Motorola Bluetooth dongle. While it was apart, I was trying to figure out a way to keep it cool since the Bios upgrade and installing Ubuntu, it's been getting very hot. Well, I was looking around the mobo, and notice what actually cooled the CPU and GPU. All it was is a sheet of stamped aluminum with that thermal "tape" to connect everything. Well, I knew that "tape" could peel off without damage if done carefully. Took it off, and since I didn't have much thermal paste left, I coated both sides with the Silver Thermal Paste from Radio Shack. After that, I got it back together and left it running with the lid closed. Mine is set to do nothing when the lid shuts, so I assumed that would be the fastes way to build up some heat. It ran for about 20 minutes before I checked it. Since I never could get the sensors applet to read anything, this is a guesstament. Before the paste, that scenario would get my Aspire One hot enough you didn't want to touch the bottom for long, and the fan rarely ever stopped. Now, it stays cool to the touch, and the fan actually goes off now! Woo! Soon as I can get to Radio Shack, I think I'll re do it to use just thermal paste. Sorry for not having pics at the moment, but soonas I can upload them, you'll get to see the work. I'm also thinking about getting rid of the monitor out plug to increase air flow from the cooler to try and get temperatures down even further. Later!

KDE Desktop Environment

I installed the KDE desktop environment today. I've run it on Simply Mepis 7 and 8 before so I thought I could give it a try in Ubuntu. So far it's not bad. Reminds me a lot of Windoze XP though. I do like everything being on the bottom bar, even though the launcher icons are too small for my taste. In no way would it be usefule on the small netbooks out now. I really don't know what else there is to say about it, besides I think it would be better for Windows users possibly transitioning over to Linux.

World of Warcraft in Wine

Well, after almost 2 months trying, I gave up. The pitfall of Linux, unfortunately. Now, I'm dual booting Ubuntu 8.10 and Windoze XP on my Aspire One. I would have dual booted Ubuntu and Windoze Vista on my Aspire 4720Z, but Vista just eats up way too much memory. My reasoning behind running WoW on the One is that it, and the 4720Z have the same spec graphic card chipset, and I just wanted to see if this little Atom processor could keep up with the 4720Z's Core 2 Duo processor. I'm in the process of downloading all the updates for WoW at the moment, so I'' do an update later on how well it runs on here.

Link

This link speaks for its self.

Ubuntu 8.10

Well, I think I'm going to re-upgrade my Ubuntu on my Aspire 4720Z to 8.10 again. I don't know if my iso file is bad or if it doesn't burn properly, but something is wrong with my install again. Hopefully it will fix some of my issues. Well, gonna try starting the upgrade now...

Awesome thermal paste.

I bought some thermal paste from Radio Shack today to try getting my laptop to no tun so hot. It was actually starting to melt the bottom of my case! Anyway, my CPU heatsink is connected to my GPU heatsink, so both got the new paste. It dropped my temps enough that my case is now cool to the touch. Now, if I can figure out why my hard drive gets hot enough to fry eggs on...

Compaq F500

Well I've got a Compaq F500 that is tore apart at the moment. It had milk poured on the keyboard at on point, hence it being apart. I already gave the keyboard an alcohol bath to try and clean it to get it working. It worked on my Aspire 4720Z keboard, but it just had a little bit of cigarette ash in it. Hopefully it'll work in the Compaq. It would be a good laptop if I can fix the Keyboard. It has the AMD Sempron, an nVidia PUREVIDEO graphics, 512 MB ram, and came with Vista. Anyway, I'm getting ready to put it back together here in a minute. My Aspire 4720Zs battery is almost fried from the heat the computer produces, so I'm possibly going to need a diff computer soon. Well, more after it goes back together soon.

Tried installing Flock earlier.

Flock so far is a great program. I can connect to my blog, my Yahoo mail, my Myspace, and Youtube accounts all at once. No major issues that I've found yet, but I've only usd it for about an hour as of writing this. There are a few problems though. The first was trying to install the application. It's doenloaded as a tar.gz file. Not a problem by itsself, just extract it into your home directory. After that, there isn't an installer or .deb file to install it since it is precompiled. Next, is figuring out how to start the program. There is an Ubuntu wiki on Flock that's pretty much worthless. Don't follow it, since you'll get nowhere with it. Before you go any further, you need to load up Synaptics Package Manager, and search for and install

libstdc++5

.After extracting the file in your Home directory, press Alt+F2 and run "flock-browser". I've not figured out how to create an icon to run Flock, but as soon as I can figure out how, I'll let everyone know. Besides that, have fu with Flock!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Different Distros on the A150

I've decided to possibly try a different distro on my A150. As of right now, I'm still unsure which I want right now. So far, I've run the Factory Installed XP, Vista Black, Ubuntu 8.04.1, Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu 8.10 Netbook Remix, Linpus Lite, and openSUSE. From the beggining. XP. It's Windows. Honestly, I just don't like the look or feel of Windows. Next, Vista Black. Pretty much the same as Xp, just a slightly different look for its GUI. Ubuntu 8.04.1 has probably been my favorite so far. Nice to look at, easy to use, and no problems. 8.10 was a bit of a different experience for me. After install, wifi was easy to setup with Madwifi drivers, everything was nice. Except the clicking. I couldn't pinpoint the cause, but it caused the hard drives to fail on my second and third A150. I know that was the problem because the first had Bios problems, and my final A150 is just fine. Anyway, 8.10 Netbook Remix was the same. Linpus Lite was actually very nice once you unlock its desktop and install a couple different applications. A little bright for me, but still a very user friendly OS. openSuse was a complete failure. The openSuse Wiki is a waste of server space, since none of the commands actually do anything.

The new Acer Aspire One

Well, theres word out of the new Acer Aspire One. It comes with a 10.1 inch screen, now with a max expansion of 2 gigs of ram, optional Bluetooth and 3G, and a different finish on and around the keyboard. From what I've read, no real word about the touchpad yet. So far, the new One sounds pretty good. I would have asked for a little bit smaler of a screen, since netbooks are supposedly for portability. I just hope Acer does betterwith their warranty than with the A150 about memory upgrades. I guess we will see about that one. So far, so good Acer.

Odd issues... Part 2

Well, I mat have unknowingly fixed my issue of Ubuntu freezing up randomly. I just did 25 updates, which took forever. I normally don't restart right after an update, and it was still freezing up. Well, I ended up restarting, and WTF? Everything is ok now? Well. Ok, then. I'm going to try to figure out what caused it so the problem is known. I believe it has something to do with how you get all the codecs for multimedia here. I don't know for sure though.

Odd issues...

Well, I have a ton of movies on my laptop. probably enough to fill up most hard drives in laptops. Anyway, I downloaded through my lovely Add/Remove Programs window, several programs to try burning the movies. I would have only downloaded one to do it, but since it's been a year from the last time I've burnt a movie, I couldn't remember which to get. The problem, I believe, is when I installed all the codecs previously, it set up some program dependencies that won't let me install DeVeDe through Terminal or Synaptic. Instead I downloaded 5 or 6 other programs that didn't do what I wanted (maybe subconsiously I just didn't like them :P). I do believe though, that installing those programs just because I couldn't get the program I wanted was the wrong idea. I just finished removing all the extra programs I downloaded, and others I didn't need. My laptop is much faster now. Excluding my movies, maybe using 22 gigs in my 160 gig hard drive. I love it! Another reason I left Windows, which is a story in itsself. Basically, what I'm saying is don't download multiple programs you don't need. You may end up with some odd issues like me...

How to compile Madwifi for Ath5k

Compiling drivers is easier than it sounds. Connect your ethernet cord and lets get started. First, open Terminal and enter:

wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6- r3875-20081105.tar.gz

This may be different depending on your card. Just Google it to figure out for sure.

Next, you need to unzip the file. Copy & paste this into Terminal:

tar -xvf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3875-20081105.tar.gz

Navigate to the file:

cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3875-20081105

Ok, we need the tools to compile this code. Enter this into Terminal:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Now we can compile the code.

sudo make && sudo make install

You've now compile your madwifi drivers. To load the driver enter this:

sudo modprobe ath_pci

Network Manager should now recognize any wireless connections in range. Before we finish, let set the driver to load at boot. Enter this:

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

That brings up the file of modules (drivers) that load at boot time. Enter this at the bottom of the file:

ath_pci

Save and close. Now you're finished!


Disclaimer:
If you don't think you are qualified to compile modules or are just afraid to risk it, please don't try this. Also, before you follow my direction run lspci in Terminal. Search to find what Atheros wireless card you have. This is what it should look like: 04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01). If it is different from mine search Google and make sure you can follow my directions or if you need a different module to compile. With That said, good luck!