Hi,
It's been a little while since I've posted. I've got some new stuff cooking, so stay tuned.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Why didn't I see this before?
Hello all,
I have been fooling around with vmware alot lately. I must say that running Kubuntu on a virtual appliance under XP is incredible! I get to have my Streamtuner, my bash prompt, Anjuta, and all the other things I like about Linux run natively. Now that computers are getting faster, memory is getting cheaper, screens are getting bigger, and virtualization is maturing, we can finally use more than one OS at a time. It is finally becoming a reality, this virtualization thing! I've waited for years, and now it's here. The next thing is to have the guest OS run as a service and load its programs into a sub-menu on the start menu. I saw reference to that in an article this weekend, but I won't write about it until I've explored it and gotten it to work (or not).
Here is one of several good pages explaining how to run XP under Linux, using your XP partition! Talk about ambitious!
VentureCake » Blog Archive » 15 minutes to using your existing Windows install & apps in Ubuntu
It really does work, but beware(!) that it may trigger the activation gadget in XP. It did it to me. Besides that, it works quite well. They can share files, sense each other on the network, and do remote desktop control (but why would you want to?). The only thing that isn't working yet is OpenGL on the client. Well, it "works" but it's way to slow to use. The next step, it seems to me, is to make vmware run in an OpenGL window. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but someone's gonna' figure that thing out, and I can't wait for it to happen.
The only reason for windows to be on my computer at this point is for my games. If those ever run correctly on Linux, Windows is out!
I have been fooling around with vmware alot lately. I must say that running Kubuntu on a virtual appliance under XP is incredible! I get to have my Streamtuner, my bash prompt, Anjuta, and all the other things I like about Linux run natively. Now that computers are getting faster, memory is getting cheaper, screens are getting bigger, and virtualization is maturing, we can finally use more than one OS at a time. It is finally becoming a reality, this virtualization thing! I've waited for years, and now it's here. The next thing is to have the guest OS run as a service and load its programs into a sub-menu on the start menu. I saw reference to that in an article this weekend, but I won't write about it until I've explored it and gotten it to work (or not).
Here is one of several good pages explaining how to run XP under Linux, using your XP partition! Talk about ambitious!
VentureCake » Blog Archive » 15 minutes to using your existing Windows install & apps in Ubuntu
It really does work, but beware(!) that it may trigger the activation gadget in XP. It did it to me. Besides that, it works quite well. They can share files, sense each other on the network, and do remote desktop control (but why would you want to?). The only thing that isn't working yet is OpenGL on the client. Well, it "works" but it's way to slow to use. The next step, it seems to me, is to make vmware run in an OpenGL window. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but someone's gonna' figure that thing out, and I can't wait for it to happen.
The only reason for windows to be on my computer at this point is for my games. If those ever run correctly on Linux, Windows is out!
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Monday, April 2, 2007
Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) Musings
Hey readers!
I've spent the last week using Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy exclusively. I have to say that 6.10 is the best one so far. It was a much simpler install than any other Linux so far. I'm going to make some posts about how to fix some things to make it work a little better, but let's get back on task.
The install is fast and smooth and everything pretty much works out of the box. I like that even my HP multimedia keyboard worked right out of the box! Usually, to get anything working on Linux that was made since 1995 you have to download a source pkg plus fifty library packages it depends on and build it. Ubuntu seems to have most things up and running on the first boot.
My network enabled Brother HL-5250DN (a VERY impressive network-enabled duplexing ) printer required a download from Brother, but they had great instructions with the manuals. My BlueTooth dongle (who made up that word?) activated immediately and found my phone and Palm devices right at plugin. A small amount of command-line tweaking had to be done to enable file transfer, though.
The mouse worked correctly - and with the correct acceleration I might add. That's a first! The software selection was pretty good, and with synaptic a plethora of other things can be added. One nice idea is the so-called "Meta packages." There are a handful of these, such as Kubuntu, Edubuntu (both desktop and classroom server), Xubuntu, etc. These will add all the stuff to your installation for each flavor of Ubuntu. I will say that there should be more meta packages, but I'll elaborate more on that in my rants below. The KDE desktop has a bit better package manager than synaptic, so I use that.
The color schemes are pleasing and the community support is amazing! One more point... the boot process is lightning fast! This is due to Ubuntu's new boot system "upstart." It's replacing init. It's condition based and not sequential. Very impressive!
Now for my list of things that need work...
All this business about restricted codecs is annoying to no end. Fortunately, there is Automatix2. Install that before you do any updates. There is also Easy Ubuntu, but I like Automatix2 better, because it's more complete. Follow their link for all the particulars, but it adds all the codecs you need, plus a whole bunch of other goodies like NTFS read-write (right on target for readers of this blog) and a Ctrl-Alt-Del taskmanager. Maybe I shouldn't fault Ubuntu for not putting some of this stuff in, but anything you have to add for basic funtionality is going to get listed.
Next is the package management. I am starting to think deb may be superior to rpm. Apt-get almost never seems to have a problem. I LOVE the 'apt-cache search' command to look for packages from the command-line. Synaptic also has a good search feature. It still seems to me that some of the package rolling is done haphazardly, because I just can't imagine why installing Java 1.4 requires me to uninstall democracy! I can have multiple instances of Java, but just not 1.4! I would like to see a way to install meta-packages and then remove components I don't like without removing the whole thing. We need to progress to that end. Also, meta-packages should be structured not to interfere with one another. That seems to be the case with some of them.
The nVidia drivers! I'm sure every blog on the web has had something to say about this. Automatix2, EasyUbuntu, and I think, Ubuntu CE all install a commercial nVidia driver set. It always crashes the computer. YOU MUST DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE NVIDIA DRIVER FROM THEIR SITE AND LET IT BUILD to get the right one. This reinforces my point at the beginning about having to download a bunch of other stuff, so it can build. If you're limited on HDD real estate, forget it. Fortunately, I'm not.
I have gotten a number of games to work on Ubuntu. I'll make posts about each of them, with relevant links. Whew! That's a taste of what's inside Ubuntu 6.10. Version 7.04 Feisty is in beta right now, with a release expected 19 Apr 2007. From all the feedback, it's looking pretty good. If you arent' using Ubuntu yet, give it a try.
Later,
Xiz
I've spent the last week using Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy exclusively. I have to say that 6.10 is the best one so far. It was a much simpler install than any other Linux so far. I'm going to make some posts about how to fix some things to make it work a little better, but let's get back on task.
The install is fast and smooth and everything pretty much works out of the box. I like that even my HP multimedia keyboard worked right out of the box! Usually, to get anything working on Linux that was made since 1995 you have to download a source pkg plus fifty library packages it depends on and build it. Ubuntu seems to have most things up and running on the first boot.
My network enabled Brother HL-5250DN (a VERY impressive network-enabled duplexing ) printer required a download from Brother, but they had great instructions with the manuals. My BlueTooth dongle (who made up that word?) activated immediately and found my phone and Palm devices right at plugin. A small amount of command-line tweaking had to be done to enable file transfer, though.
The mouse worked correctly - and with the correct acceleration I might add. That's a first! The software selection was pretty good, and with synaptic a plethora of other things can be added. One nice idea is the so-called "Meta packages." There are a handful of these, such as Kubuntu, Edubuntu (both desktop and classroom server), Xubuntu, etc. These will add all the stuff to your installation for each flavor of Ubuntu. I will say that there should be more meta packages, but I'll elaborate more on that in my rants below. The KDE desktop has a bit better package manager than synaptic, so I use that.
The color schemes are pleasing and the community support is amazing! One more point... the boot process is lightning fast! This is due to Ubuntu's new boot system "upstart." It's replacing init. It's condition based and not sequential. Very impressive!
Now for my list of things that need work...
All this business about restricted codecs is annoying to no end. Fortunately, there is Automatix2. Install that before you do any updates. There is also Easy Ubuntu, but I like Automatix2 better, because it's more complete. Follow their link for all the particulars, but it adds all the codecs you need, plus a whole bunch of other goodies like NTFS read-write (right on target for readers of this blog) and a Ctrl-Alt-Del taskmanager. Maybe I shouldn't fault Ubuntu for not putting some of this stuff in, but anything you have to add for basic funtionality is going to get listed.
Next is the package management. I am starting to think deb may be superior to rpm. Apt-get almost never seems to have a problem. I LOVE the 'apt-cache search' command to look for packages from the command-line. Synaptic also has a good search feature. It still seems to me that some of the package rolling is done haphazardly, because I just can't imagine why installing Java 1.4 requires me to uninstall democracy! I can have multiple instances of Java, but just not 1.4! I would like to see a way to install meta-packages and then remove components I don't like without removing the whole thing. We need to progress to that end. Also, meta-packages should be structured not to interfere with one another. That seems to be the case with some of them.
The nVidia drivers! I'm sure every blog on the web has had something to say about this. Automatix2, EasyUbuntu, and I think, Ubuntu CE all install a commercial nVidia driver set. It always crashes the computer. YOU MUST DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE NVIDIA DRIVER FROM THEIR SITE AND LET IT BUILD to get the right one. This reinforces my point at the beginning about having to download a bunch of other stuff, so it can build. If you're limited on HDD real estate, forget it. Fortunately, I'm not.
I have gotten a number of games to work on Ubuntu. I'll make posts about each of them, with relevant links. Whew! That's a taste of what's inside Ubuntu 6.10. Version 7.04 Feisty is in beta right now, with a release expected 19 Apr 2007. From all the feedback, it's looking pretty good. If you arent' using Ubuntu yet, give it a try.
Later,
Xiz
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Inaugural Message
Welcome all!
Welcome to my space to bark on the web. This will be the beginning of something exciting, I hope. I'm going to start out a little blurry and try to gain some focus as time goes on. Linux and Open Source is the name of this game. I'll have links to other good blogs, news on new things, and editorials shedding light on my opinions of them.
I like Linux. I like porting it to Windows even more! I boot into Linux regularly, but I use Windows more. Some are offended by that; that's okay. I'm not the only one who wants this kind of functionality. We have GNUWin32, CygWin, unixutils, VMWare Player, Qemu, Bochs, and XMing to prove it. Linux is faster, more reliable (for some things), scales better, is more secure, and we have the sources. But, Windows dominates the desktop. Denying that doesn't change the reality of it. As much as OpenOffice.org claims, it is NOT totally compatible with Microsoft Office. Games (which occupy quite a bit of my computing time) do not run as well on Linux. GAIM sucks as an IM. It is getting better, but I want Miranda to have a Linux port.
One day, Linux will match Windows and run all of it's software. I cannot wait until that day. Until then, I'm going to pimp all the interconnectivity and interoperability of the two - for the others out there like me. The ones who can't drop one for the other.
More to come. Let me know if you have anything great that I have missed as we go along.
Regards,
Xiz
Welcome to my space to bark on the web. This will be the beginning of something exciting, I hope. I'm going to start out a little blurry and try to gain some focus as time goes on. Linux and Open Source is the name of this game. I'll have links to other good blogs, news on new things, and editorials shedding light on my opinions of them.
I like Linux. I like porting it to Windows even more! I boot into Linux regularly, but I use Windows more. Some are offended by that; that's okay. I'm not the only one who wants this kind of functionality. We have GNUWin32, CygWin, unixutils, VMWare Player, Qemu, Bochs, and XMing to prove it. Linux is faster, more reliable (for some things), scales better, is more secure, and we have the sources. But, Windows dominates the desktop. Denying that doesn't change the reality of it. As much as OpenOffice.org claims, it is NOT totally compatible with Microsoft Office. Games (which occupy quite a bit of my computing time) do not run as well on Linux. GAIM sucks as an IM. It is getting better, but I want Miranda to have a Linux port.
One day, Linux will match Windows and run all of it's software. I cannot wait until that day. Until then, I'm going to pimp all the interconnectivity and interoperability of the two - for the others out there like me. The ones who can't drop one for the other.
More to come. Let me know if you have anything great that I have missed as we go along.
Regards,
Xiz
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