Linuxchic » *Nix and Open Source

Ubuntu Fail

Christa — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:42:05 +0000

I disliked Ubuntu Gutsy when it was released and I have to say I dislike Hardy as well.

When I recently rebuilt my main machine, I installed Hardy hoping to give Ubuntu another chance. I used to be a huge Ubuntu fan unfortunately, the fandom stops with Feisty.

Bonus to Hardy, that annoying tracker does not install and hog my system by default. The most annoying thing? Lots of support for lots of hardware was dropped. Winfast & Hauppauge TV Tuner cards which have worked wonderfully in linux have all kinds of special issues in Ubuntu starting with Gutsy. MythBuntu equals a big pain in the neck.

I have heard from others who are leaving Ubuntu since the last few releases. Reading through the support forums and the bugtrackers, the community has reverted to the old standard of either not replying, treating people like they aren’t worth the effort to explain things to, or assuming their position on the issue is superior. This is why linux users have always been avoided, because they act like elitist.

Ubuntu is supposed to be user friendly and for new linux users. How can you possibly promote that if the community snubs the newbies.

One thread that struck me was about the fact that there was no GUI disk management installed by default. The very first response to this posting was “no one should need to manually manage disks…” WTF? Seriously?

There are several cases when you need to manually manage disks: 1) the LiveCD does not mount local disks, 2) If you add a new disk to the system. How many people who aren’t major geeks know how to manage their disks from the command line? I know several people I consider pretty geeky who don’t even know how to do it in Windows.

There are apps you can apt-get to enable a GUI access like gparted, but you have to know what it is called & how to install it ~or~ the right search terms to google to learn how. How many newbies are going to know how to do this or not reach maximum level of frustration with this? Ubuntu doesn’t have a utility that kicks off on boot if you have added new hardware either.

Ubuntu is really losing it’s way, and I have to say I cannot recommend it anymore. I am back to vanillla Debian and maybe dabble some more in Arch. Do you have a particular distro you absolutely adore? Let me know what you are using and why you love it and I will give it a whirl.

xkcd: Security Holes

Christa — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:33:40 +0000

NixNews – Interactive and Redesigned

Christa — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:56:44 +0000

I have owned NixNews.com for some time and until the last few days it has existed purely as a Linux news river. Originally built on WordPress with RSS aggregator plugins, NixNews grabbed Linux and open source from all over the internet and compiled the links in one place while linking back to the original posting site for reading. The downside to this form factor was that it was nearly impossible to moderate and duplicates appeared more often than not in the river with large streams of posts from one site or another resulting in an uneven mix of news.

After initial testing and tweaking, NixNews.com has been reborn into a user voted Linux news and article site. I have tagged it beta, and it just that, an early beta service that will still have bugs to be worked out. I have taken the testing as far as I can go on my own and am opening it up and announcing it’s release. Please take the time to visit, register, vote/bury the stories, and submit new posts. I would like to see NixNews grow in it’s niche as a valuable resource for information to the Linux community. I welcome your bug reports as well as any suggestions you might have for it’s function, interface, design, or feed aggregation.

Keeping Your Budget: Linux Friendly Financial Apps

Christa — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:05:06 +0000

As the tax deadline in the US draws near those rushing to meet the deadlines are probably well aware now of exactly what your financial status is from the last year. Tax time for me usually means that I reevaluate my spending and savings and look at revitalizing my budget. There are some excellent cross-platform apps that I think work even better than the clunky old standards. Here is a quick rundown (that is by all means not a comprehensive list) of a few apps you can use to manage your budget and your finances:

GnuCash - GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income, and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports. It is backed by an active development community and is blossoming into a full-fledged accounting system. GnuCash has also released a Windows binary. GnuCash is open source and free.
Buddi - Buddi is a personal finance and budgeting program, aimed at those who have little or no financial background. Buddi will run on almost any computer which has a Java virtual machine installed. This can include Windows, Macintosh OS X, Linux, and many other operating systems. Buddi is released as an open source application and is free (donations accepted).
PearBudget - Free while in beta, PearBudget is a simple system that helps you build a clear spending plan and track your spending record. It removes all the overkill in other financial apps and just helps you track a budget. A wizard interface and simple language takes the frustration out of planning (and sticking to) a budget. Multiplatform.

Image "Money Rose" from Flickr by distinguish

Nokia N800 & N810: How to install and use Skype

Christa — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:00:38 +0000

Linux Desktop Experience

Christa — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:02:37 +0000

Beauty :)

Wanted: Adobe AIR Linux Testers

Christa — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:45:37 +0000

Adobe AIR is a cross platform system runtime for delivering rich content from Internet applications to the desktop. Previously we have seen the most action on the Mac and Windows platforms but now Adobe is looking to really get their game on with Linux. The Adobe AIR team is now in the phase of development where they need a handful of additional testers to begin testing initial builds of AIR on Linux during pre-beta testing. Interested? Answer the following questions and send them to helptesterairlinux at adobe dot com:

1. Are you comfortable working with prerelease software that is not yet feature complete?

2. Will you be able to submit bug reports on issues that you find back to our development team?

3. How many hours a week can you spend testing on Linux?

4. What is the primary distribution of Linux that you’re using? If you are using more than one distribution, please list.

5. Will you be developing applications on your Linux machine (as opposed to writing on Windows and testing the applications on Linux)?

6. What other operating system are you using, if any (Mac, Windows)? Can you compare the behavior of AIR for Linux with AIR for Windows and AIR for Mac OS?

7. Are you working on an AIR application today? If so, please describe.

8. Are you primarily a Flash, Flex or JavaScript developer?

9. What is your name, company name and email address?

Sudo rm -rf /

Christa — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:28:55 +0000

Ever wonder what happens when you run “rm -rf /” on your box while it is running?

Ubuntu now bigger than Jesus

Christa — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:16:34 +0000

From VentureCake:
“Although Distrowatch may say your mate’s homemade Linux rules the world, we’ve always been Google Trends fans. When reconfirming that the big three – Ubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSuSE – are still the most popular Linux distros, we noticed that Ubuntu has reached another milestone entirely.”

“Ubuntu is the first Linux distribution to overtake Jesus in Google Trends, establishing a firm lead over the bearded one since the end of Q1 this year.”

You really should go to VentureCake and read the rest. Really, right now…

More Google Phone Rumors: Hello Linux Edition

Christa — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:17:48 +0000

From Mobile Magazine comes this tasty little tidbit:

I think that the Apple iPhone was garnering more attention and creating more rumors than the Google Phone, but interest in the latter is really start to ramp up now that the former is already out in the marketplace (with a price drop too). Five fresh rumors have arisen surrounding the secretive Google Phone, but unfortunately none point toward a potential release date.

Finish reading all about it…