I am probably not the first to make this observation, but its worthy of a mention since the single biggest reason why I use Ubuntu is the strength of the community.
More often than not, you are going to find the information that is exactly relevant to what you are looking for in the Ubuntu forums or on another discussion through a simple Google search. That gives me enough confidence to try out anything that I am curious about and that remotely sounds of use to me. That makes the experience of using Ubuntu a very nice one and in turn the feedback the community developers receive of those new features improves them and in general the overall experience.
Since I have been having trouble enabling desktop effects (more on that in a later post), I have been trying out more than a few things including installing and removing packages (without completely understanding/reading the information). After one of such experiments, I ended up getting a "The X system keyboard settings differ from your current GNOME keyboard settings" message each time X server started. The fix, described with a brief explanation of the possible reason was found, where else, but on a Ubuntu forums thread.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
upgrading to 7.10
The feature list for Gusty Gibbon (Ubuntu 7.10) never provided me reason(s) enough to upgrade from my fairly satisfactory 7.04. So, it was ironic that it was on the day when the 8.04 release candidate was announced, I decided to finally move up.
Some of the lessons learned in the upgrade process:
- You can upgrade only to the next release up. So 7.04 -> 7.10 -> 8.04 -> and so on.
- The Live CD is great for a new install. However, to upgrade from your current version, you need a alternate CD (make sure to check on the selection button that says "Check here if you need the alternate desktop CD".
- The best way to upgrade would have been to use the Network Upgrade method, but I have a slow wireless Internet connection and the (clever?) Update Manager never shows me that option.
- The entire upgrade process is fairly hands-off, prompts the users about 3 or 4 times, but does the bluk of the work without any inputs......the way it should be.
Some of the lessons learned in the upgrade process:
- You can upgrade only to the next release up. So 7.04 -> 7.10 -> 8.04 -> and so on.
- The Live CD is great for a new install. However, to upgrade from your current version, you need a alternate CD (make sure to check on the selection button that says "Check here if you need the alternate desktop CD".
- The best way to upgrade would have been to use the Network Upgrade method, but I have a slow wireless Internet connection and the (clever?) Update Manager never shows me that option.
- The entire upgrade process is fairly hands-off, prompts the users about 3 or 4 times, but does the bluk of the work without any inputs......the way it should be.
update - on Online Television and Ubuntu
A few days ago, I wrote about watching television online. Looks like my concern about having a common interface to be able to watch good quality shows from various networks on any platform (more specifically on my Ubuntu laptop) without having to install a different player is being address by a startup called Hulu.
All you need is a fairly recent version of Flash Player (probably Flash player 9 and higher). The quality seems great and they host content from a lot of networks including ABC and NBC. Of course television shows (new and old) isn't the only option available. There are full length movies and NBA network clips also available.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Linux marketing
I know I have been slacking (hey...it was tax season, and I also need to make a living), but have enough posts drafted out that I will publish over the next few days. Meanwhile, some Linux marketing that could cater to the consumer markets rather than enterprise vendors and customers:
Friday, April 4, 2008
top firefox extensions
One more along the line of "slacker" posts....
Some/all of my favorite Firefox extensions (not in any particular order)
ScrapBook - save web pages, notes.
Download Helper - Save YouTube and other Flash (.flv videos).
Yahoo and Gmail Notifier - Notifies you when new messages arrive. Though, it can be distracting if you are an email-addict.
CustomizeGoogle Options - I wonder how people who do not use this option ever have a clean Internet experience.
ScribeFire - Its a blog editor that pops up that makes it easy to post to your blog. Can be great if you think of something worth while and do not wish you spend a few clicks to log into your blog.
Google Notebook - It used to be useful for taking notes and putting links, etc that you can access from other machines. I use it most as a bookmarks tab that I can open in any place. Scrapbook is a better option.
There are a few extensions that are very useful, even for the minimal web-development work I do for non-profits:
Source Chart
Firebug
Web Developer
YSlow
Some/all of my favorite Firefox extensions (not in any particular order)
ScrapBook - save web pages, notes.
Download Helper - Save YouTube and other Flash (.flv videos).
Yahoo and Gmail Notifier - Notifies you when new messages arrive. Though, it can be distracting if you are an email-addict.
CustomizeGoogle Options - I wonder how people who do not use this option ever have a clean Internet experience.
ScribeFire - Its a blog editor that pops up that makes it easy to post to your blog. Can be great if you think of something worth while and do not wish you spend a few clicks to log into your blog.
Google Notebook - It used to be useful for taking notes and putting links, etc that you can access from other machines. I use it most as a bookmarks tab that I can open in any place. Scrapbook is a better option.
There are a few extensions that are very useful, even for the minimal web-development work I do for non-profits:
Source Chart
Firebug
Web Developer
YSlow
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Online Television programming and Ubuntu
Have had this in the "drafts" section since a while.....
Even though I have a 46" LCD TV, I am not too keen on paying my cable distributor an exorbitant amount of money each month to receive HD, keep a DVR and then watch the few TV shows of interest on my own time which is generally between 12:30am and 2:30am in the night. So, the most convenient way for me is to watch them on my laptop which has a decent 15.4" screen and the Toshiba TruBrite (c) technology.
Obviously the convenience of not being tied to the television schedule helps, but even the commercials are fewer for the online versions and you can run some scripts while watching without having to look up from your screen!
As a simple desire, The Daily Show is available the next day in flash which plays in Firefox, so thats a start.
As for network stations, here is the breakup for the big three stations (non-cable)
ABC - This has probably the best quality HD programming which looks great on a large LCD if you try it. The catch is however, that even though it works great it Firefox, it needs Windows. I haven't checked recently, but I doubt there is a Ubuntu port for that flash player/codec?
NBC - They have some of their best shows (which is not many) available in flash and the player/interface is not bad. Plays in Firefox.
Fox - Their flash player also needs an installer for Windows, but probably runs in Firefox. Can't get it to play in Ubuntu...than again, I don't want to spend any effort figuring this out to be able to watch How I Met Your Mother!
I had read an article in Business Week a few months ago talking about this thing in particular; Online TV (as opposed to IPTV, which is a little different). Its an interesting read, and things are constantly changing it seems and moving in the right direction.....as far as the consumers are concerned.
Even though I have a 46" LCD TV, I am not too keen on paying my cable distributor an exorbitant amount of money each month to receive HD, keep a DVR and then watch the few TV shows of interest on my own time which is generally between 12:30am and 2:30am in the night. So, the most convenient way for me is to watch them on my laptop which has a decent 15.4" screen and the Toshiba TruBrite (c) technology.
Obviously the convenience of not being tied to the television schedule helps, but even the commercials are fewer for the online versions and you can run some scripts while watching without having to look up from your screen!
As a simple desire, The Daily Show is available the next day in flash which plays in Firefox, so thats a start.
As for network stations, here is the breakup for the big three stations (non-cable)
ABC - This has probably the best quality HD programming which looks great on a large LCD if you try it. The catch is however, that even though it works great it Firefox, it needs Windows. I haven't checked recently, but I doubt there is a Ubuntu port for that flash player/codec?
NBC - They have some of their best shows (which is not many) available in flash and the player/interface is not bad. Plays in Firefox.
Fox - Their flash player also needs an installer for Windows, but probably runs in Firefox. Can't get it to play in Ubuntu...than again, I don't want to spend any effort figuring this out to be able to watch How I Met Your Mother!
I had read an article in Business Week a few months ago talking about this thing in particular; Online TV (as opposed to IPTV, which is a little different). Its an interesting read, and things are constantly changing it seems and moving in the right direction.....as far as the consumers are concerned.
trying out some apps
Over the last few weeks I have been lazy and distracted from doing actual work (as in something that pays) in the evenings. Thats why I have been doing searches like Top 10 Ubuntu applications.
Some of what I have installed and started using (not in any particular order):
Katapult (sudo apt-get install katapult)
Application launcher that matches the application name as soon as you start typing the first few letters. Launch it using Alt-Space.
Kopete (sudo apt-get install kopete)
Enhanced multi-protocol chat client, webcam and voice(?). Like the interface on first impressions, but it will take a lot more to move away from Pidgin.
GParted (sudo apt-get install gparted)
Gnome Partition Editor, utility for disk partitions that reformats hard drives into many formats including FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS. Will need to try it out soon since I am running out of disk space in my Ubuntu partition if I keep installing applications at this rate!
Some that I have installed and then un-installed (of course in that order):
Gayachi
Tried it as an enhanced chat client that does webcam and voice, but the interface is crappy at best.
Some that I would soon try (probably in that particular order)
Amarok
music player with last.fm plugin and some other features (I will find out).
Liferea
Desktop RSS feed reader (sudo apt-get install liferea)
Some of what I have installed and started using (not in any particular order):
Katapult (sudo apt-get install katapult)
Application launcher that matches the application name as soon as you start typing the first few letters. Launch it using Alt-Space.
Kopete (sudo apt-get install kopete)
Enhanced multi-protocol chat client, webcam and voice(?). Like the interface on first impressions, but it will take a lot more to move away from Pidgin.
GParted (sudo apt-get install gparted)
Gnome Partition Editor, utility for disk partitions that reformats hard drives into many formats including FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS. Will need to try it out soon since I am running out of disk space in my Ubuntu partition if I keep installing applications at this rate!
Some that I have installed and then un-installed (of course in that order):
Gayachi
Tried it as an enhanced chat client that does webcam and voice, but the interface is crappy at best.
Some that I would soon try (probably in that particular order)
Amarok
music player with last.fm plugin and some other features (I will find out).
Liferea
Desktop RSS feed reader (sudo apt-get install liferea)
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