RichRock : Running Free

I’ll admit, I am a fan of Linux, most notably Ubuntu. I started my Linux fascination when I saw the magazine, Linux Format in a newsagents. I picked it up, it had two CD-ROMs, one of which had KDE 2rc, and the other contained Storm Linux. I installed it on my shiny new £1,500 pc, an old Pentium 75 with 16mb ram. It was a strange experience, and although not lasting long, created a lasting impression on me about Linux.

Fast forward a few years, I have a Pentium 4, 1.8ghz with 512mb ram, and I spy the Linux Format magazine again, with an article on the desktop experience. Now I know that Linux has tried to evangelize a ‘desktop experience’ and that Linux as an OS is ready for the desktop. I downloaded and installed Ubuntu 5.10 (aka Breezy Badger), and ran it happily alongside my Windows 2000 install for some time. I lasted long enough to survive an upgrade to Dapper Drake. Then it fell apart again.

After this flirtation with the freedom (as in beer) that Open Source software provides, I went back to Windows XP Pro for a while. My job changed, now I am a web dev, but at home I reverted back to Ubuntu on my desktop. Granted, I still run XP Pro as a separate option for gaming, but it’s used less and less. If Halo worked on Ubuntu via wine, I would be happy. UT2003 and UT2004 work natively in Linux, why can’t other games be dev’d for it?

Ubuntu’s great. I’ve got my email, web, I can view PDF’s, watch DVD’s, check out my mp3 collection (huge!) edit my Nikon D40 pics (all my photos on the Photography page are edited with GIMP, even my Palm T|X pda syncs with Evolution…

What more do I need?

Well, access to my Minidisc player, Printer and mobile phone. But my Ipod syncs. And if I stick with Linux, I’ll probably never get another reminder to upgrade Itunes again.

And don’t talk to me about iPlayer on the BBC….

Well, I’ve tried. To dual-boot my PC. Grub is a fantastic boot management program, and can certainly display a lot of potential in managing multi-boot systems. However, my Grub install won’t boot windows. I’ll be looking into this.
Oh and I’m ill. Mahoosive stomach probs.

I just took delivery of a spanking new 27″ widescreen monitor at work, so my web development took an excellent turn today. It’s mahoosive, just like working on a screen like on Minority Report. Without the touchscreen. Or the blue tinge.
Anyhoo, I just re-wired my PC, tidied it up a bit. Put the cold cathodes in, it’s now a vibrant blue inside. Why? Because I’m a geek. And a gamer. Halo was great last night, getting cheeky with nice and rice, but some scumbag calling themselves opm002 kept getting me a lot. It got a little frustrating… But it was still fun.
Where next for my PC? Maybe a nice new motherboard with Core 2 Quad capabilities, and maybe a Core 2 Quad processor… Oh and the board must have SLI, so I can get another of my graphics cards. I currently use an MSI Geforce 8600 GTS Overclocked, and it’s pretty good. I bet in SLI mode it would be very good, especially by my standards.
Right, onto looking at some game demos, get the latest goss.

Last night was a laugh. Played Halo online, the 1AV server, met a few players, the banter flowed pretty thick until I quit. Must say respect to nice for killing me so often, and his buddy, rice. Alphabud was a riot, his moves were smooth, just made my evening online fun. And that’s the way it should be. Nothing offensive, just banter about the game, the fun of competing and being a team with players from around the world. I won’t meet them in person, but that’s not a problem.
Online gaming can be a scary place full of l337 gamers who will pwn you and the first chance if they smell n00b. However, we introduced a friend to Halo online, and he did ok. Not brilliant, but he enjoyed himself. So, the Halo online community, pat yourself on the back for making the evening fun.
Thnx, gg all.

Agent Bob

Well, all the best intentions in the world never always get fulfilled… In many respects, being busy at work as a Web Dev has taken it’s toll. All the pressures of life seem to have weighed against me. I will continue the Joomla documentation at some point. I’ve been taking advantage of the system in the latest site build, reducing the chances of the end user borking it and making it so simple it will make people wonder why they paid us in the first place. Also, got the go-ahead on the first e-commerce site! Yay!

My babe’s ill at the mo, so that’s been pretty tough, just learning to deal with all the stuff around caring for someone else, even though you’re not physically there. I feel good in the respect of the information passed between us, but I still have that feeling I could have done more.

I’ve ordered a new PC case, plus a luxury of a fan controller. The case is an Antec 900, and the fan controller is a Zalman MFC-2. Both are awesome bits of kit, and I can’t wait to get them. I did receive some Akasa SATA cables, and also an Akasa cable management kit. That’ll take care of the 3 hard drives I have in my PC.

Now, to fix the recurrent boot issue…

Here’s a question for you geeks out there. Why doesn’t Microsoft has a rolling development on Windows? In Linux, the OS is constantly upgraded. Even after installation, you can upgrade the OS without having to use a new disk, re-format, etc. Just chance the sources.list and hey presto! Upgrade the OS. Incremental updates and major updates all in one package, no loss to your data (95% of the time

Windows - new OS - new install. Migrate your data? Pah! Don’t make me laugh. I’ve now spent two days trying to migrate data on 2 pc’s. I’m still doing it.

Windows will never have an easy upgrade policy because it’s a bad business model. The upgrade options of Linux doesn’t make anyone money, so Microsoft will never allow such an easy, user-friendly OS upgrade path. Plus, Microsoft has to restructure the filesystems each time because they’re flawed. They don’t separate the root and /home partitions, something Linux and Unix have done since the dawn of decent computing.

Sorry, just a little annoyed at Microsoft. Please don’t send the cyborgs to kill me, Mr Gates.