OMG! Ubuntu (a blog you should certainly be reading if you don’t already have it in your reader) has the complete guide to tricking out XSplash, the new bootscreen manager in Ubuntu 9.10.
One of the great things about XSplash is that it starts XServer, what displays good graphics on your screen in Linux, BSD, and OS X systems, a few seconds into the boot instead of near the end. This means that you no longer have to really know your stuff to change the bootscreen; all you need to do is follow some very simple instructions.
First off, if you just want to change your bootscreen, play with the files in /usr/share/images/xsplash
But I’m not here to talk about that: I’m talking about a seamless boot experience that changes your login window and XSplash background to be your normal wallpaper. Continue reading
The latest release of Ubuntu has hit the streets. The much-acclaimed “Karmic Koala” (Ubuntu 9.10’s codename) is now out in earnest, bringing many usability enhancements as well as technical ones.
Make sure to use the torrents if you can, just to relieve server tension.
Because I can’t update incredibly often, I’ll use this post to point you to OMG! UBUNTU!, probably the best Ubuntu blog I’ve seen out there. Regularly updated, OMG! UBUNTU! gives you the low-down on everything Ubuntu-related, including upcoming plans.
So I was thinking about one particular thing that I wrote about in my review of the GNOME shell, when I said that you should drop the ideas you have about how a desktop should look. This was how artificial the “desktop” concept is. Back in the Stone Age we came from the desktop paradigm: it’s what we understood in terms of productivity. However, a computer is much different, much more powerful than a desk. On a desk you have a finite space which contains only the information and objects you put on it. It doesn’t fetch data, tell you anything, give you opinions or options. It’s a tool. A computer is different in that it has the power to fetch information, to move it, and to bring it all together and present it to the user. It can handle any type of media: where a desk could only handle text and photos (unless you put a boom-box on it) the computer can do text and photos and sound and video and social interaction through Twitter and other feed-based services. We need to embrace a paradigm that suits the computer. Continue reading
For starters, throw away all your conceptions about desktops. They no longer apply.
Also remember that I am reviewing a highly experimental piece of software. It may look unwieldy but that’s because it has no customization options yet (or at least, no GUI).
And lastly, remember that because there is a whole new paradigm introduced here it may seem that GNOME Shell’s whole concept is flawed. However, after playing with it I can safely say that I can’t wait for it to arrive and believe it will increase my productivity.
So what am I talking about? This (click for full view).
This is assuming that the government of North Korea *is* behind the attacks against South Korea and the USA. The question implied in the Wired article is whether such a cyber-attack should be considered an act of war (for the record, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance is starting to shift towards considering it one, based on experience in a 2007 attack by a Russian botnet against the entire country of Estonia). Personally, I believe that a government-sponsored attack against cybernetic infrastructure should be considered an act of aggression, no different than bombing hydroelectric dams or poisoning the water system. In the West – especially in the West – so much is done over internal, national networks that to take those down would be *more* dangerous than poisoning the water main of a major city (think about it: if Canada’s internet went down East-West-North communications would be severely curtailed, and that’s the least of it: Provincial health authorities would be unable to relay important information, traffic would stop flowing in many urban centres, news services would be down as well as cellular networks (upon which Canada relies heavily), the Canadian Banks would be down, the RCMP and Provincial Police Forces would have to enforce order, and so forth. A state the size and population density (or lack thereof) of Canada can not function without its communications networks. America has a more modular political system – each state could assume responsibility for their own wellbeing; as I understand it, each state has their own military force of some kind (state troopers?) and has an executive which has wide-ranging powers. Canada has one military, one executive. The only way a provincial authority can exert force is through its municipal and provincial police.
So yes, a government-sponsored cyber-attack should be grounds for war or at least very very very strong sanctions and a retaliatory cyber-attack (which I’m sure Canada could mount much more effectively than North Korea and the US even more effectively)
Getting involved in cyber-warfare is one of the career possibilities I am possibilitiatizing right now with the Canadian Forces, so this is particularly interesting.
On a lighter note, Wired has a list of 100 *basic* skills for Geeks. I do #44 and I should show #77-79 to my Computer Science/Engineering teacher who runs KCVI’s robotics club (and is very good).
This is a reference to Ubuntu’s famed Bug 1: Microsoft has majority market share (“Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace. This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.”)
The writer references another writer who identifies (correctly) Linux to be at GhandiCon3 (from the famous Ghandi quote promoting non-violent revolution: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”). Linux has certainly been ignored. Then laughed at (“Linux? Nothing runs on Linux!”). When Microsoft is issuing Get the “Facts” campaigns and trying to sue Linux supporters into submission (like TomTom GPS), we’re definitely at GhandiCon3 (Then they fight you). Whether we will win, well, that’s to be determind. I am hopeful, however, that the Google Chrome OS will go far to helping us win.
Do I think Microsoft will lose majority market share (Note, this is not wiped out) by June 2011? Not really. Do I hope they do? Yes. Remember, it’s not just Linux that needs to make the dent, but Apple’s OS X (which poses little threat to Linux as long as it stays bound to the Apple Macintosh). As far as crises that would percipitate this go I see US Antitrust breaking up Microsoft, Microsoft flopping with Windows7, or computer manufacturers refusing to put up with the grief that Microsoft gives them (like defining what a “netbook” is despite not actually making computers, Per-Processor Licensing Fees, and the like). Microsoft’s market share is dependent on its stranglehold of the manufacturers and if that collapses, Microsoft would collapse (in relative terms, of course).
Until then, the open source community can just keep making the best software they can and wait for GhandiCon4.
Google, the big little company we all know and love, has decided that a logical extension of their vision for Google Chrome is the Chrome Operating System. While the original Chrome was marketed as being similar to an OS in how it handled the web, Google decided that the desktop OS is built for an age where people are tied to desktop applications. Google says that ChromeOS will be a lightweight, fast-to-boot-fast-to-run OS that focuses on getting people to the web. While aimed at netbooks, it will also be available for desktops and laptops (so presumably not a Moblin-like interface).
While it will be Linux-based (like Android but seperate), ChromeOS will build many things from the ground up. Now, I probably won’t wind up using ChromeOS (this is purely speculatory with no screenshots or anything) as I like the full-fledged Desktop OS provided by Ubuntu, but because the project is open source and builds on open source projects there will be a lot of new material coming in to the FLOSS ecosystem which will inevitably be picked up by the mainstream Linuxes.
I incorrectly reported on Twitter (based on a misunderstanding of Gizmodo) that it would be able to run Windows and OS X apps. As far as I can tell, there won’t be apps per say but rather web-based applications which can be run on any operating system from any modern browser. This, needless to say, makes more sense, though I am dissappointed because geting Win/Mac compatibility in an open source project would mean Win/Mac compatibility for the Linux universe.
So yes, I’m excited. Can’t wait to see where this goes. I am a fan of Chrome as a browser (if it only did Flash it’d be my default on Linux – it’s alpha is great) and I’m sure Google will do a great job on ChromeOS
This evening I was going to sit down and play Age of Empires III with my mom. We have it installed on two computers and just trade discs. Then my little brother said he wanted to play. That’s great, but the problem is that neither his nor my mom’s laptop runs fast enough to play it well and my laptop runs Ubuntu. I checked and it wasn’t supported by Crossover Games, my beloved commercial WINE software, but after googling on a way to play AOE on my Ubuntu laptop, I found Play On Linux.
http://www.playonlinux.com/en/
Play On Linux is an application that supplements the WINE translation software that allows some Windows applications to run on Linux. It contains and applies scripts that provide the best configuration for a game.
One of the things that I love about Linux is that there’s always a community, open-source project that makes things work even when an upstream project like WINE doesn’t work by default. It’s by no means perfect – WINE is just a stepping stone to building Linux market share so applications like games would be native – but it’s encouraging when you look at all the junk that’s available for Windows to do a little thing (I looked over programs to encode video to/from OGG in Windows and it was a nightmare of shareware and spyware and uggggg!)
So as I wait for Age of Empires III to install, good luck to the people at PlayOnLinux!
CNet has discovered that Microsoft has taken to changing the default search engines of some Windows users with the Google Toolbar. It’s not like it’s anything new (Microsoft also slipped in an almost-impossible-to-remove-without-breaking-everything Firefox add-on without permission), but it’s disturbing nonetheless. What is perhaps more disturbing is that people take this lying down. When a company is able to step into your computer, change a personal setting for its own benefit, and barely anyone notices, isn’t there a problem? Are people letting their digital rights fall by the wayside?
People ask me why I don’t use Windows. I have all sorts of answers from Open Source to this prime example of Microsoft’s lack of respect for its consumers. Then I ask them why they use Windows. They usually didn’t know there was anything else than Windows or OS X. It’s this illusion of duopoly that keeps Microsoft in business. In what way is Windows more advanced than, say, Linux? It’s not. It’s insecure, runs an ancient file system, doesn’t even have theme support, has a bloated compositor, the list goes on. Microsoft relies on the perception of duopoly and that software only works on Windows to keep the consumer afraid of switching, and that’s really sad because a company like Microsoft surely could be innovative in its OS products. It’s shown that it can be with their Office and gaming divisions (Whether it suffers from Microsoft’s usual launch problems or not, Natal is certainly ambitious). Bring that to the OS and stop scaring people. In the console race Microsoft is not the big dog and so we see them being more innovative, but Microsoft has let innovation fall by the wayside and instead of improving their products has stooped to fear and false advertising.
Aaaand it’s 12:15 in the morning and I need to sleep. Sorry about posting so late, I won’t miss tommorow.
Aaaand Firefox 3.5 drops today. This post is a Three-In-One. Part One is a Firefox Overview, Part Two is how to give Firefox some (more) serious speed, and Part Three is how to stop wasting your time on the web.
Here’s your overview. I was going to write one all by myself but the Mozilla team’s great quick tour really defeats the purpose:
It’s interesting how “buying gifts” has become a universal euphamism when it comes to Private Browsing…
There are also all the usability features which are great but don’t really *innovate* as much as they follow Google’s (amazing) Chrome browser.
As someone who designs and builds websites, however, what I’m really excited about is Open Video. Open Video uses the OpenSource OGG-Theora video codec (which is included by default in Linux, BSD, and Solaris systems and available for Windows and OS X) to do some really neat stuff: Continue reading
OMG! Ubuntu (a blog you should certainly be reading if you don’t already have it in your reader) has the complete guide to tricking out XSplash, the new bootscreen manager in Ubuntu 9.10.
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