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.