I know what I’m doing tonight! I’ve been a long time Gnome fan but KDE has always intrigued me. When I did my latest Ubuntu update I was going to switch but then I found out v4 was just around the corner so decided to wait. Today they officially released KDE4 and it looks good.
Tonight I think I’ll backup my /home directory and give it a shot.
My kid’s PC is REALLY old. I decided for Xmas I’d get them a new PC and ordered one of the $199 Wal-Mart Linux PCs.
Tonight I started to tinker with it in preparation of sticking it under the tree. The hardware seems decent. The OS it ships with ‘gOS‘ is not so hot. Out of the box the UI is really horrible and I found it completely unintuitive. I couldn’t figure out how to easily change the resolution, then I accidentally blew away the dock menu and couldn’t figure out how to restore it. Apparently this is based on the Enlightenment window manager. Why they picked this over something like Gnome or XFCE I have no idea. It is REALLY unfriendly. After about 10 minutes I finally said screw it and am downloading Edubuntu. This should provide a more ‘Windows’ like UI which they are familiar with while providing me a familiar interface.
I’m into application launchers.
At work (on Windows) I use Find And Run Robot and have gotten really used to launching applications (and a lot of other neat functionality) with the keyboard. I’ve been missing the same thing on Gnome at home but tonight stumbled upon Gnome Do it’s still fairly immature but so far I’ve not had any issues with it and it will launch apps, find my bookmarks, and with a few plugins will search my Tomboy notes as well as skim though my MP3 collection in Rhythmbox. Very slick!!! Installation was just a matter of adding a new repository and doing an apt-get install. The author has a blog where you can read a bit more about the project.
Ubuntu 7.10 is available today. I’ve been running the betas for a few weeks now with just a few issues but I update frequently and things have been really smooth lately.
If you haven’t tried Ubuntu yet give it a shot! I’ve been using Ubuntu now for more than a year now and could never go back to Windows. I would switch at work as well but I’m stuck with running Powerbuilder though I could probably get by with a VM install for that.
Gutsy Gibbon is certainly easier to install and set up than Windows Vista, and it’s very close to matching Mac OS X when it comes to making things “just work” out of the box. Wi-Fi, printing, my digital camera and even my iPod all worked immediately after installation — no drivers or other software required. ~Wired
No Microsoft headaches and no Apple ‘upgrade fee’ every year or so… it’s free!
On the web:
Tonight I updated my Ubuntu install to the latest Gutsy beta (7.10). So far so good. This is the first upgrade I’ve done where it correctly set my widescreen monitor resolution so that was nice (no manually editing config files!).
I’ve also enabled the new flashy Compiz window effects but am not that impressed. And it doesn’t appear the help works so I have no idea how to do anything with it – I have to dig around a bit and see if I can find some docs. Performance seems about the same – my CPU meter barely moves :)
Some of the preferences are a bit improved – but some things like the Deskbar applet seem to have taken a step back. I’ve always been a Gnome fan but am looking forward to KDE4.0 as well – might switch for awhile and try out the alternatives. I love Linux :)
Tonight I’m installing ColdFusion 8 at home. So far the install has gone very smoothly. Installed Apache 2 first and then ran the installer for CF8.
One place I got stuck was during the CF install it asked me the location for my Apache binaries. I had no idea and the examples the installer suggested were all for Red Hat related systems.
A quick Google turned up this handy reference: Distros Default Layout on the Apache wiki.
Debian, Ubuntu (Apache 2):
ServerRoot :: /etc/apache2
DocumentRoot :: /var/www
Apache Config Files :: /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
Default VHost Config :: /etc/apache2/sites-available/default, /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default
Module Locations :: /etc/apache2/mods-available, /etc/apache2/mods-enabled
ErrorLog :: /var/log/apache2/error.log
AccessLog :: /var/log/apache2/access.log
cgi-bin :: /usr/lib/cgi-bin
binaries (apachectl) :: /usr/sbin
start/stop :: /etc/init.d/apache2 (start|stop|graceful|configtest)
What was really funny is before starting I did a quick Google on “ubuntu coldfusion” and one of the top links was a post here I had made some time ago called ColdFusion Install on Ubuntu which had some useful links – though most of those dealt with ColdFusion 7.
Update: Great ColdFusion 8 / Ubuntu installation guide on Adrian J. Moreno iknowkungfoo site.
http://www.iknowkungfoo.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/6/6/The-ACME-Guide-64bit-Ubuntu-804-Edition-Part-1
I was catching up on news and just noticed this tidbit – yesterday Google released the new Docs interface – and they also released Google Desktop – for Linux! The Google Desktop blog says:
…it includes almost all the features from the first Windows version of Google Desktop Search plus the Quick Search Box…
So it is missing some features (no Sidebar) but it’s a start. I need to dig around more and see if it’s running on top of Wine or what… would also be nice if it integrated in the Gnome Deskbar.
If you have ever done any system administration – go read this now. When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow. Winner of the 2007 Locus Award for best novelette.
He opened a chat:
> Stop probing my server
He expected bluster, guilt, denial. He was surprised.
> Are you in the Front Street data-center?
> Yes
> Christ I thought I was the last one alive. I’m on the fourth floor. I think there’s a bioweapon attack outside. I don’t want to leave the clean room.
