I tried Fedora Core 4 shortly after it was released (which was not very long ago). It seems like a nice distro, but the multimedia support is horrid! With Ubuntu I was able to get my multimedia working 100% after a few minutes with the excellent Ubuntu Guide. With Fedora, I literally spent hours trying to find the right RPM repositories with the multimedia codecs I needed. Even after all that effort the video playback just simply wasn't as smooth as in Ubuntu.
Bottom line: for the average desktop user I would have to recommend Ubuntu 5.04 over Fedora Core 4.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Twisted by the dark side, StoneWolf has become...
I just picked up one of those Force FX Lightsabers made by Master Replicas. As you can see, I chose the Darth Vader model. It definitely has to be the coolest lightsaber toy ever created. This is the lightsaber every Star Wars fan has been wishing for since they were a kid. Now if only I could find myself a Jedi to duel with...
Before I even took it out of the box this thing was getting all sorts of attention. People of all ages were asking me all sorts of questions about it. And when I say "people of all ages," I mean it! Kids, parents, and even grandparents were asking about it. I guess I was fortunate to get the last one!
Now I just need a replica Ghostbusters Proton Pack and I'm set.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
What to do with an old computer?
I have an old computer which has not seen much use in the past year-and-a-half. I want to get some kind of value out of it, but not sure how. The specs are as follows:
Pentium III 800Mhz Coppermine
384 MB RAM
30 GB HD
GeForce 2 GTS 32 MB
Other than that the hardware is very typical. It has a couple of generic network cards, a 56k modem, and a very old 24x CD-ROM drive. The monitor on it is not functioning properly (Acer, go figure). I haven't been using this computer because my Thinkpad T42 out-performs it in every way.
Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with it? I do NOT want people outside the network to be able to access it, so a web or FTP server is out of the question.
One idea I have been kicking around is to have it as a Linux-only box. However, I don't think that will be terribly useful because I already have a WinXP Pro/Ubuntu Linux dual boot on my laptop. Another idea would be to just have it as a Windows printer/file server for everyone on my network to use. Then again, I can't see much value coming out of that.
The computer may be "obsolete" depending on your perception of how fast a computer needs to be, but I know this machine is far from useless. I am open to any creative suggestions anyone out there may have!
Pentium III 800Mhz Coppermine
384 MB RAM
30 GB HD
GeForce 2 GTS 32 MB
Other than that the hardware is very typical. It has a couple of generic network cards, a 56k modem, and a very old 24x CD-ROM drive. The monitor on it is not functioning properly (Acer, go figure). I haven't been using this computer because my Thinkpad T42 out-performs it in every way.
Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with it? I do NOT want people outside the network to be able to access it, so a web or FTP server is out of the question.
One idea I have been kicking around is to have it as a Linux-only box. However, I don't think that will be terribly useful because I already have a WinXP Pro/Ubuntu Linux dual boot on my laptop. Another idea would be to just have it as a Windows printer/file server for everyone on my network to use. Then again, I can't see much value coming out of that.
The computer may be "obsolete" depending on your perception of how fast a computer needs to be, but I know this machine is far from useless. I am open to any creative suggestions anyone out there may have!
Saturday, May 14, 2005
New Job (Co-Op Term)
Rather than go to school during my summer semester, I decided to do an 8 month co-operative education term. What that means is that I learn in a real workplace and get paid for it. It sounds like a pretty good arrangement to me! Some of the stuff has been kind of interesting so far, but it has been a little slow thus far. I am sure the pace will quicken later, though.
I won't go into any specifics about where exactly I am working. What I will say is that the people have been nice, and we get free refreshments! Plus there is another co-op student learning the same things I am. Since her and I are going through all the same stuff we help each other out and keep each other company during any downtime. So far, so good!
I won't go into any specifics about where exactly I am working. What I will say is that the people have been nice, and we get free refreshments! Plus there is another co-op student learning the same things I am. Since her and I are going through all the same stuff we help each other out and keep each other company during any downtime. So far, so good!
Saturday, May 07, 2005
New Lappy!
To replace that stupid Acer that doesn't work anymore, I got myself a new IBM Thinkpad T42! Thanks to Prolepsis for the hookup!
Pentium M 1.8
1gb RAM
15" SXGA+ screen (1400x1050)
ATI 9600 64mb
60GB 7200rpm driveDVD-RW
802.11b/g
Windows XP Pro
Office 2k3 Basic
10/100/1000 ethernet
Fingerprint reader
3 year warranty
Very nice machine. To be honest, it's probably more power than I need right now. But I got a good deal, and it has a 3 year warranty. Plus Ubuntu linux works very well with it "out of the box"!
Pentium M 1.8
1gb RAM
15" SXGA+ screen (1400x1050)
ATI 9600 64mb
60GB 7200rpm driveDVD-RW
802.11b/g
Windows XP Pro
Office 2k3 Basic
10/100/1000 ethernet
Fingerprint reader
3 year warranty
Very nice machine. To be honest, it's probably more power than I need right now. But I got a good deal, and it has a 3 year warranty. Plus Ubuntu linux works very well with it "out of the box"!
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Never Buy Acer
Many, many years ago, my dad, the bargain hunter, found a sale on some shiny new 15" Acer monitors. After around three years both stopped functioning properly. One of them would suddenly turn all blue, while the other would lose its picture altogether. I should have learned my lesson from that. If I had I wouldn't be making this blog entry today.
Approximately last January I went on the market for a laptop. My criteria were quite strict. It had to have a Pentium M (aka Centrino) CPU, 512 MB of RAM, at least 30 GB of hard drive space, and a Radeon 9000 or higher video chipset with dedicated memory. On Ebay I found a fantastic deal on an Acer Travelmate 800 which met (and exceeded) some of my criteria. Six-to-eight weeks later it arrived and I couldn't have been happier. It was an excellent laptop in all respects. Key word: was.
Today the nice SXGA+ LCD screen decided to pack it in. Now, after just over a year of ownership, I find myself needing to use a bulky, old, CRT monitor in order to use my modestly small laptop. Conveniently, the laptop is no longer under warranty.
It is still a fine machine to use as a desktop replacement for now. But unfortunately, I just can't picture myself carrying a CRT monitor with me into lectures to take notes. I think it is safe to say that I will NEVER, e-e-eeever buy another Acer product again.
Approximately last January I went on the market for a laptop. My criteria were quite strict. It had to have a Pentium M (aka Centrino) CPU, 512 MB of RAM, at least 30 GB of hard drive space, and a Radeon 9000 or higher video chipset with dedicated memory. On Ebay I found a fantastic deal on an Acer Travelmate 800 which met (and exceeded) some of my criteria. Six-to-eight weeks later it arrived and I couldn't have been happier. It was an excellent laptop in all respects. Key word: was.
Today the nice SXGA+ LCD screen decided to pack it in. Now, after just over a year of ownership, I find myself needing to use a bulky, old, CRT monitor in order to use my modestly small laptop. Conveniently, the laptop is no longer under warranty.
It is still a fine machine to use as a desktop replacement for now. But unfortunately, I just can't picture myself carrying a CRT monitor with me into lectures to take notes. I think it is safe to say that I will NEVER, e-e-eeever buy another Acer product again.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Gran Turismo 4
After only about a month and a half with Gran Turismo 3 (and already getting 75%), I began to crave more variety. I ended up breaking down and buying Gran Turismo 4 only hours after my last exam of the semester was over.
Gran Turismo 4 has almost everything from Gran Turismo 3, plus a whole bunch of extra goodies. Plus the cars just seem to feel more realistic when driving them. Crashes seem to have more impact to them (but still no damage model, sadly). The two games might be from the same series, but they play very differently. Gran Turismo 4's driving model makes Gran Turismo 3 seem like Ridge Racer.
Gran Turismo 4 has almost everything from Gran Turismo 3, plus a whole bunch of extra goodies. Plus the cars just seem to feel more realistic when driving them. Crashes seem to have more impact to them (but still no damage model, sadly). The two games might be from the same series, but they play very differently. Gran Turismo 4's driving model makes Gran Turismo 3 seem like Ridge Racer.
Another Linux Post
When Mepis 3.3 was released I was ecstatic. I was waiting for that version to be released so I could use it as my Linux distribution of choice on my Acer Travelmate 800 laptop. It was just too bad the Intel Pro Wireless 2100 drivers included with it were apparently compiled for a different version. As a result the bootup would halt every time it tried to initialize my wireless connection. I went back to the 2004.06 version and all was well, but I could not help but loose faith in the SimplyMepis QA process.
Those who follow Linux will have heard of Ubuntu. Previously I gave Ubuntu 4.10 a bad review, but to be fair I probably did not give it a fair chance. Ubuntu 5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog" was released earlier this month so I decided to give it another try.
First impressions are important, and Ubuntu 5.04 gave me a pleasant initial surprise. It is, so far, the only Linux distribution I have tried that has been able to initialize and connect my wireless on initial boot up. In all other distributions the wireless would not connect during boot up and would need to be re-activated manually once in the desktop environment.
While Ubuntu does not give a complete multimedia experience "out-of-the-box" like Mepis does, I found that once the proper packages are installed the video and audio playback surpasses Mepis in every respect. The audio quality is much clearer, the video is smoother, and it even plays videos that would not display under Mepis. I was confused by this because these two distributions are supposed to be using similar Debian repositories to get these packages.
I am starting to wish that I had given Ubunto 4.10 a bit more of a chance back then. I think that one of the reasons I came down so hard on it initially was because I was expecting a KDE-like experience and was unprepared for some of GNOME's interface differences. I also expected apt-get to work properly from the command prompt right away and was unaware that I would have to edit a text file before that would work.
I hereby retract my previous Ubuntu rant and give "Hoary Hedgehog" two thumbs up.
Those who follow Linux will have heard of Ubuntu. Previously I gave Ubuntu 4.10 a bad review, but to be fair I probably did not give it a fair chance. Ubuntu 5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog" was released earlier this month so I decided to give it another try.
First impressions are important, and Ubuntu 5.04 gave me a pleasant initial surprise. It is, so far, the only Linux distribution I have tried that has been able to initialize and connect my wireless on initial boot up. In all other distributions the wireless would not connect during boot up and would need to be re-activated manually once in the desktop environment.
While Ubuntu does not give a complete multimedia experience "out-of-the-box" like Mepis does, I found that once the proper packages are installed the video and audio playback surpasses Mepis in every respect. The audio quality is much clearer, the video is smoother, and it even plays videos that would not display under Mepis. I was confused by this because these two distributions are supposed to be using similar Debian repositories to get these packages.
I am starting to wish that I had given Ubunto 4.10 a bit more of a chance back then. I think that one of the reasons I came down so hard on it initially was because I was expecting a KDE-like experience and was unprepared for some of GNOME's interface differences. I also expected apt-get to work properly from the command prompt right away and was unaware that I would have to edit a text file before that would work.
I hereby retract my previous Ubuntu rant and give "Hoary Hedgehog" two thumbs up.
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