Mint 12 RC – Dig it!

November 12 2011 by linc in Hardware, Linux Mint |1 Comment

Mint 12

Mint 12


I just couldn’t wait any longer so I grabbed a copy of the gnome 64 bit cd iso image from http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/. Well, I also grabbed the DVD image as well, but I actually used the cd image to install. It’s a live cd/dvd so I set about checking out the live version first, of course, just to make sure things looked ok.
I figured I would just go for it and started installing to disk on my new laptop. I should mention here that while I like Mint 11, there are certain things on my new laptop that just do not work well with it. It has a new i5 sandybridge processor and the associated graphics which didn’t do well with acceleration and suspend and my trackpad only registered as a mouse, which was usable but a pain in my behind. Needless to say I have been chomping at the bit for a try at the next release to see which, if any, of these issues might have been addressed.
The installer was quick and efficient and I don’t recall anything in particular standing out from what has come to be a normal mint install. That being said, everything after that was fascinating and exciting.
On your first login you are greeted by the new desktop environment, a sort-of Gnome 3 mashup. It’s Gnome 3 but has some of the niceties that *I* believe are needed to make Gnome 3 usable and all the UI goodness that I have come to expect from Linux Mint (and why I keep returning to them). You have 2 taskbars (one would probably be enough though), icons on the desktop and a pretty looking new menu system, not to mention the interesting Gnome 3 new UI things. Previously I tried Gnome 3 on Fedora and absolutely hated it, but in this configuration, it is quite pleasant and completely comfortable and usable.
After the install you will see that Mint welcome screen, which, at the bottom, gives you the opportunity to ad all the multimedia codecs and also to upgrade to the DVD version. Nop matter what I did, those links did bupkis. Undaunted, I looked at the code behind this to see that the packages that should be installing are meta packages, so I popped open synaptic and after a quick search I found and installed mint-meta-codecs, mint-meta-gnome-dvd and mint-meta-mate, which, after installation seemed to get the welcome screen not to display those links anymore, so I am assuming that’s what was needed. I am sure this is something that’ll be fixed as days go along. After all, this isn’t even really an official RC at this point yet, really.
After doing all my software updates and installing the few packages I just have to have in order to function (sshfs smbfs irssi vpnc screen vlc mencoder vim moc openssh-server subversion git twinkle curl php5-cli mutt clusterssh) I set about checking things out thoroughly.
To my surprise, ALL MY LAPTOP ISSUES have been fixed, or at least seemingly. I now have nice screen acceleration, my laptop suspend works flawlessly, my trackpad has actually been detected as a trackpad and I even have 2 finger scrolling working now. WOOT!!! Of course the rest works too. I have sound, wireless internet, usb support, etc., etc..
This is very exciting for me and I, for one, cannot wait to see the full release coming in the future, but if you think I am uninstalling this in favor of something else while I wait, boy are you wrong. I am hooked! Go Mint!

And then there was 1

October 19 2011 by linc in Friends, Home Life, Pets |No Comments

Almost everybody knows I have ferrets, and many of you have heard me talk about the phenomena of ferret math. The downside of this is when you have to say goodbye to one of your fuzzy friends. Today was just such a day for me.

Ferrets, for those of you not in the know, are not really a creature of nature. Having been bread in captivity for eons, they do not survive on their own. Their survival traits have been almost completely bread from them and they are not much like their ancestors any longer except in appearance. This also brings with it a horrible genetic disposition to certain cancers and diseases witch are all too common in modern day fuzzies.

Today, my friend Teddy was put to sleep. Teddy mysteriously contracted something resembling cancer in his mouth, which rapidly spread into his sinuses and eyes. I am glad to see him go only in the sense that I hated to see him suffering. Teddy came into our home about 3 years ago and was a little fluffy snuggler. He was literally a little teddy bear, which is how he got his name. It was only weeks later that we found his mischievous side that he also really enjoyed pinching my wife 🙂 Hey, I do too!

Teddy is survived by his life long friend Puff, our only remaining ferret, and, of course, 2 cats, a dog, 2 rats and his beloved humans.

I am gonna miss you friend. Safe journey. I promise to keep pinching my wife for you until we meet again.

FAIL!

October 6 2011 by linc in Customer Service, Friends, LinuxPlanet |No Comments

Fail

Fail


OOOF!

So today Dann sent me a message telling me that the LinuxPlanet.org sites hadn’t updated in like 20 days. Apparently he’s the only one that noticed.. :/

I fixed the feeds and we are all up and running now. At any rate, if you *do* actually use the service, whether ti is down or not, feel free to drop me a note and let me know how it’s doing now and again at linc dot fessenden at gmail dot com! 🙂

We’ll miss ya, Steve.

October 6 2011 by linc in Apple/Mac, F/OSS, Friends, Hardware |No Comments

RIP Steve

RIP Steve


I saw the news mere minutes after I got my newest mac. I just picked up a nicely used 17″ iMac. I may even have to name it “jobs”…

Much as many of my opensource cohorts are occasionally at odds with Apple, the company, I believe whole heartedly that we have lost a real visionary. He had a big hand in not only making personal computing a reality, but also beautiful. Apple has always pushed the idea that not only should functionality be a consideration but aesthetics as well. I can only hope that Apple can keep up with his legacy.

My aching butt? No more!

October 2 2011 by linc in Gear, System Administration |No Comments

Knoll Generation

Knoll Generation


I have long held the opinion that you should not skimp on the things that you use professionally and frequently. For instance I often tell my peers to make sure they buy decent computers and not just bargain basement models. For some reason it never occurred to me to apply this reasoning to my posterior. That is, until recently.

I have been using a most uncomfortable office chair for the longest time, in fact, for the last 5 years. It’s one of those “conference room” models, which, although built plenty rugged, are not necessarily built for comfort. The real problem with this is I sit in the thing almost 8 hours a day. I even had to buy a pillow for it because I have what I like to refer to as “sysadmin’s butt”, which is essentially the lack of a posterior portion of your anatomy, due mostly to parking it in a chair 8 hours a day for many years.

A few days ago, a friend of mine who just happens to work for a great company called Knoll, got me hooked up with a review unit of the Knoll Generation chair. Let me just say I don’t know why I waited so long for a good chair!

This chair is the epitome of office comfort and has so many options to aid you in that regard it’s difficult to mention them all. Of course it offers the standard amenities such as height adjustment and a reclining back, but wait, there is more! It has these cool adjustable arms that not only raise and lower but they also have arm pads that adjust in depth, width and pivot. The back of the seat has this comfort type netting which is flexible, cool and very comfortable. The top of the back flexes almost over backwards and it a great place to rest your arm while sitting sideways in high comfort. I think the feature that threw me the most is the flex seat. Unlike most chairs with a solid unyielding seat, this seat has some degree of movement or side to side pivot. I almost thought that my chair was broken until I realized that this was intentional! This pivot to the seat allows comfort and support for how people sit. What I mean by that is people sit different ways and on different angles with their feet up, legs crossed and what have you, and this seat allows some motion in that regard to keep even support and pressure where it should be, fully on your posterior instead of on your legs when you are not seated “flat”. In addition to that, the seat depth adjusts as well.

Although this chair may be on the expensive side, I believe it’s well worth it, especially for people who are confined to such devices for much of their day. I wish they had a travel version available, I would buy it in a minute 😉 I think the best testimony is that every person in my office has now sampled the chair and ALL of them want one! If you are in need, you can’t go wrong with one of these. It’d most likely be the last office chair you would ever need to buy.

My only hope and wish is that the Knoll folks see this review and decide to send me one of their other products to test as well! Other than that, I’ll be happy to hang out in my own Genertion!

HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers

September 7 2011 by linc in Books, html |No Comments

HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers

HTML5 Guidelines for Web Developers


The last time I relearned HTML was in the HTML 4.01 Transitional days, so I was excited to get my hands on some information to help me play with HTML 5. Let me first say that this book assumes that you have some frame of reference for HTML and is probably better suited for someone with a little familiarity, rather than a complete noob. With that in mind, I thought the book did a great job of covering not only the things that have fallen away from HTML, but the new things in HTML 5 as well. There are *plenty* of examples posted throughout the book to help not only keep you interested, but provide practical code snippets for you to use s well. I think the topic itself is fascinating and this book has quickly become a dog-eared reference for my exploration. In fact, the only real negative that I found is there is a lot of javascript in the book, which probably deserves it’s own book, or at lest it’s own chapter. Either way, I feel this book is well worth the price. It certainly has come in handy for me!

Gateway NV57H26U

September 1 2011 by linc in Uncategorized |2 Comments

Gateway NV57H26U

Gateway NV57H26U


It has been 6 years or more since I got a really decent Linux laptop, and, after giving my macbook to my daughter for college, it was high time to do so.

I set out browsing the web for the perfect Linux laptop from places like System76 and ZaReason, who have absolutely lovely and brilliant laptops to offer, and then I checked my checkbook. Ugh. So, I decided to go to BestBuy where I have a line of credit and 18 month financing. Thanks economy.

It’s quite possible to buy a really expensive laptop at BestBuy too, but, trying to avoid that I searched around for the best (ie cheapest) decent deal I could find. That happened to be the Gateway NV57H26U. This 15.6″ core i5, 4gb ram, 500gb hdd machine looked to be quite a winner for the paltry sum of $450, especially since any comparable machine was at LEAST $100 more anywhere you looked (even online).

Of course *I* will not run windows, which the machine comes with, so I took it home, held my breath (hey, I can return it right) and stuffed in a Linux Mint 11 dvd. Within 30 minutes I was completely installed and running – AND FAST. Did I mention fast? You wouldn’t believe how fast this laptop feels to me, especially since the last one is sporting a celeron at 1.6ghz. This machine is a quad core 2.3-2.9ghz machine and it absolutely screams. What a nice change of pace. Why, I bet that if it were legal to use handbrake to copy your DVDs you could rip one in about 5 minutes 🙂

This thing has a glossy black lid which collects fingerprints just as you would imagine it would. The screen is absolutely HUGE to me at 1366×768, and it is SO BRIGHT that when I am sitting in a dim room, the brightness of the screen drowns out the keyboard lettering so much that I find it hard to type. No I am not a touch typist. Yes, I wish I were. Speaking of the keyboard, it has keys sort of like macbook keys. They are flat, squarish and separated nicely. I find it a pleasure to type on, when I can see it that is. It also sports not only a full size kb, but has enough room to include a full number pad as well. The machine has hdmi out, 3 usb, vga, gigabit ethernet, BGN wireless, webcam, and an sd card reader. It sounds pretty nice as far as laptops go as well. I have tested everything on here and verified it to work with the exception of the hdmi out, the sd card reader and the microphone.

Now on to the problems… Every machine has its quirks and this one is no exception. First up is the keyboard. While it’s nice to use and type on, they made it so that in order to use the function keys as actual function keys, you need to hold down the (Fn) button. If you do not, the keys are mapped to things like media controls, brightness controls, hardware controls and the like. It’s not that big of a deal but I just found it odd that it wasn’t the other way around. The next annoyance is the trackpad. Now it’s a nice looking and feeling trackpad, however, no matter what I do it’s detected as a ps/2 mouse. From my research, this appears to be a current kernel bug, so I am hoping that it’ll be addressed in the near future. I just hate to waste a multitouch trackpad like that. Lastly is the video. The video works fine for the most part. it’s one of those Sandybridge Intel HD 3000 video hardware and I believe support is not entirely all there yet. It does not seem that I have accelerated video, although I am not a gamer and don’t use it anyhow. Other than that it looks clean, crisp and sharp and has no problems keeping up with full motion video that I can see.

What’s Good;
FAST, good looking, FAST, nice kb feel, big bright screen, number pad, inexpensive, FAST.

What’s Not:
The way the function keys are laid out, support for the trackpad and accelerated video, Microsoft tax.

Verdict:
I really like this and you just can’t go wrong for the money, Microsoft tax or not.



Roku 2 XD

September 1 2011 by linc in Gear, Home Life, Movies, Music |No Comments

Roku 2 XD

Roku 2 XD


Long have I wanted to have a device that would easily tie my Netflix subscription and other streaming internet media to my tv. I have tried lots of nice things, but they all left me wanting something more, that is, until I got a Roku.

I picked up a Roku 2 XD at BestBuy for $79 and figured I would try it out and return it if it wasn’t what I really wanted. To my surprise I really like it!

My first impressions are that it is REALLY small. It literally fits, in its entirety, into the palm of my hand. It’s pretty slick looking for a little black box with a fabric tag sticking out the side. It has the normal input/output ports that you would expect for a device that connects to your tv to have, and, really, nothing else but the remote, which is also quite small.

Once you hook it all up and plug it in, you are greeted by the Roku logo while the system loads, and then you are taken through a series of steps to register your box and your account (free). After that you can start adding channels and enjoying your streaming web content on your tv!

Now the channels on Roku are different than I expected. Each channel is a service. For example, Netflix is a channel and Hulu is a channel and Crackle and Pandora, etc. and the list goes on. I am sure there is something in there for almost everybody. The ones I really enjoy, outside of Netflix, are Crackle, which somehow provides FREE streaming (recent) movies and tv content, Pandora, and Pub-D-Hub, which has all kinds of old movies, shows and cartoons (and even commercials).

The only thing I really do not like is it’s difficult to actually locate the kind of content you are looking for. This is primarily because there is so much available, and, I will have to admit that sometimes it’s fun just searching around.

What’s Good:
Small, Good looking, Quick, Inexpensive, easy to set up and easy to use.

What’s Bad:
Hard to sort through all the content to find exactly what you want.



Hell month

September 1 2011 by linc in Home Life |No Comments

sad face

sad face


For those of you who were wondering why you haven’t heard a lot from me in August….

I had just gotten a promotion, which, on the outset sounds good, except it comes with four times the work and responsibilities (maybe 5 times, I haven’t decided yet). The month started out with my 2 cats being sick and everyone trying to get my daughter ready to start college. Shortly thereafter my daughter had a car accident where she was injured and her car was totaled. In amongst going to various doctors and dealing with insurance people, both my wife’s and daughter’s birthdays occurred. Then, while taking my daughter to a doctors appointment I decided that I should finally get off my butt and do my blood work that my doctor has been bugging me for for months/years. The next afternoon I got a call saying I had diabetes. As soon as I settled into the idea of jabbing my fingers several times a day, hurricane Irene slammed into the east coast of the USA, causing torrential rain, wind, tornadoes, power loss and flooding out the area around my apartment complex yet again. Yes, you guessed it, I am ready for September to be a much better month 🙂



Lost your Mint password?

August 22 2011 by linc in Linux, Linux Mint, Security, System Administration, Ubuntu |No Comments

First time this happened! A coworker asked me today how to get into his Linux Mint box after he forgot his password. Of course I rattled off the old GRUB way to get things done, but, what?? This is GRUB 2! No so fast there! Turns out it’s quite different.

You hold down the shift key while booting to get to the grub menu.
You hit ‘e’ to edit your boot options.
You change the kernel line options on the very end of the kernel line to read “rw init=/bin/bash”.
You press F10 to boot.

Once booted you are dropped immediately into a shell prompt where you can change your password with the “passwd username” command. Reboot and you’re home free!

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