Getting Back Into Linux

Several years back a friend was getting ready to leave on a long journey when his Macbook died. He was able to purchase a new one in time for his trip and left the broken one in my hands to fix if I could. If I was able to repair it, it would be mine. A hard drive later, and some fun installing and upgrading, I was using a Mac.

I spent many years using Kubuntu as my sole operating system and have grown accustomed to OSX. I still yearn for the fun of really digging into the operating system and have recently journeyed back into Linux.

Mike

[I find it funny to dislike Microsoft while in certain circles. The automatic assumption is that you are a Mac fanboy. I really enjoy stating that I really prefer Linux. Most people don’t know where to go with that...]

Open Source vs Proprietary

I had the thought today after playing with digiKam. What was I playing with? I was using the fuzzy finder function. It allows you to draw a little sketch and it will find photos in your collection that somewhat resemble that sketch. A simple circle will bring up pictures of faces and other photos with similar colors. Change the color and it will bring up different photos. I tried to sketch a racecar and the first photo to come up was Denny Hamlin's 11 car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Sweet.

What does that have to do with open source vs proprietary software? I remember several years back a friend of mine was playing with a similar function on linux. It was early in the development phase, so it wasn't ready for everyday use. It had a certain cool factor to it though. Now this function is available in digiKam.

With open source software when someone stops working on a program others can pick it up and continue on. With proprietary software it would have to be taken on by someone within the organization that owned the source code. It would not be freely available for anyone to continue with development.

Some of these cool factors are not economically beneficial to the organization. However, when passion is the main source of fuel, the sky and the developer's imagination are the only limits. The baton can also be passed or picked up as necessary.

Mike

Kubuntu Karmic Fun

In just a few days the next version of Kubuntu will be released. This last weekend I decided to install the release candidate. I planned a fresh install to take advantage of both ext4 and grub2. So, before starting the install I backed up my /home to an external hard drive. I then started the install.

At first I tried installing without booting into a live session. I liked the installer screen. It's the same whether installing from a live session or installing directly from boot. Everything was good, until my laptop shutdown. I was not carefully watching it, so I figured there was an error and attempted to install a second time. This time I was watching it when it shutdown. It was then I realized the problem. My laptop was really warm and shut itself down.

I decided to try a live session to see if the fan was working. It started running when I powered on the laptop, but stopped running as soon the splash screen came up. I managed to complete the install, using a battery powered fan to keep everything cool.

I then began searching for similar issues and found many with Acer laptops having CPU fan issues. There were a few scripts to run that would jump start the fan, those did not work for me. The one fix I did find was updating the BIOS.

I don't want go into any methods of creating a bootable cd/usb to update the BIOS since I wasn't able to get any of them to work. I did however have a beta version of windows (shhhh... don't tell). I was then able to update the BIOS.

Finally I installed kubuntu karmic and the fan issue is fixed. Now to restore the important files from my external hard drive.

Mike

References:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3107212.0

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1295391

Why do they call it a desktop?

I just recently tested the ablility of KDE 4 to have different settings for each virtual desktop when it occured to me. I can use of my desktops as a simulated desktop, file cabinet and all. Open the file cabinet and drop a working folder onto the desktop, just like a real desktop, to work with the files. When the work is done it gets replaced. The advantage of KDE 4's 'Folder View' is that folders do not have to be opened to view or open contents within.

Mike

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A New Start?

Well, here we go again. I am testing out kblogger for KDE4. I haven't posted here in a long time. Being gone for most of last year and being busy working has minimized the free time I could expend to add stuff here.

Additionally, I have discovered that I can sync my iPhone calendar with my google account. This is a very wonderful tool, since I don't use windows and can't afford a mac. I even have to use my wife's laptop to update my phone.

Hopefully kblogger will allow me to keep this blog updated.

test

testing kblogger in KDE 4

Budweiser Shootout

Wow. That was an exciting race. I am happy for Dale Jr and Hendrick Motorsports. I can't belive it. 

Mike