Archive for the 'Linux' Tag

On Thursday evening, we had a bad thunderstorm here that blew out the fuse in the power supply of my (inadequately protected) computer. I’ve been wanting to get a new computer for some time now, and I just got a job (yay!), so I decided to go shopping. I wish I could say that this [...]

Not one but two major software releases to get excited about today, folks!
Firefox 3.0 and Wine 1.0! Yes, that’s right, you heard me… WINE 1.0. It’s finally been released!
I’m writing this in Firefox 3.0 right now. I haven’t installed my add-ons yet, but this all looks very shiny. Mozilla is trying to set a world [...]

Okay, so it’s actually “Hardy Heron”, but “Hungry Hungry Hippo” is obviously a superior code name.
Ubuntu.com: Ubuntu 8.04 Beta Release
Among teh shiny:
Xorg 7.3
The latest Xorg, Xorg 7.3, is available in Hardy, with an emphasis on better autoconfiguration with a minimal configuration file. This Beta brings a new Screen Resolution utility that allows users to dynamically [...]

For the confused, this is a screenshot of World of Warcraft running in Linux under Wine, which I have only been able to do after acquiring a new video card and then beating the Intel video drivers into submission. (In the process of doing this I, um, broke Windows. But who cares! WoW on Linux!!)

Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon” is due out next month and I’ve been reading the release notes for the alpha versions (called “Tribes” for this release) of Xubuntu, which is the flavor I use. I haven’t tested Gutsy for myself yet, but some of this stuff looks really, really cool!

“Gutsy Gibbon“.
You know, I think I may have passed the point where I’m capable of being surprised by Ubuntu’s code names.

I keep hearing people complain that “Grandma” or “Aunt Tilly” can’t use Linux because it’s a command-based OS (let’s just ignore the misconception that Linux has no GUI for the time being…) and they would have to learn a bunch of commands to do anything.
I like the command line, actually. It makes me feel l33t, [...]

Getting a Windows Refund in California Small Claims Court
Getting a Microsoft Windows refund from a manufacturer is seldom easy to do. In this article, I describe some techniques you can use to get your refund, including how to deal with the manufacturers (and all their excuses) and going to small claims court.
The first step to [...]

This is the second Ubuntu upgrade in a row that has fixed a problem for me (and that’s despite the hairiness of the Edgy upgrade!). Four months ago when I dist-upgraded to Dapper, I found that my DVD and video codecs were suddenly working. Thank you, Ubuntu!

Apparently there’s a major, show-stopping bug with Xubuntu’s upgrade manager:
Upgrading from Xubuntu 6.06
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NOTE: There is a recently discovered bug which makes upgrading via the graphical update-manager crash and leave the upgrade process in a state that can only be recovered from by dropping to the command line.
Therefore, it is recommended that instead of upgrade-manager, the [...]