Shanktified!Ubuntu

Windows 7: What happens if I just keep the trial?

Ron Shank — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:45:02 +0000

For those of us with a full cup of Windows Vista hate, the answer is to run to Windows 7. The release candidate (RC) is out and I too plan to overwrite Vista with this as soon as I can get my head above water. But this article from Lifehacker made me laugh this morning. What will happen when you get the Windows 7 RC and fail to upgrade to the paid version? At first (in March 2010) you’ll get a nag/pop up. I’d expect that. Then in June, you’d expect to be locked out, right. But no, even funnier. You can use it for 30 minutes. Then it auto-reboots – without warning. Maybe it’s just me, but that’s funny and worse than a total lockout. Like what you see? Too ba(reboot).

It’s all fine. They don’t have to give you a nag-free year to begin with. If you don’t want to pay for your operating system, then get Ubuntu (or some other flavor of Linux).

Amarok2: The Weekend at Bernie’s 2 of Software

Ron Shank — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:13:48 +0000

Amarok 1.4 WAS by far the best music player I had ever seen. So many options, a great functional layout with nearly everything you wanted no more than a single click away… I did say was. My recent upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 automagically left me with Amarok 2. Not only was it not playing out of the box, I seem to have lost all ability to customize it or control it. They say it’s the future of media players. Of course they do because, it’s sure not the present. I haven’t seen a sequel this bad since Weekend at Bernie’s 2.

Okay, enough ranting. What’s the answer, Ron? Right now, I’m extremely impressed with Exaile. It has all the features I use the most and sounds great. It lacks a way to sync my mp3 player with it (at least I haven’t found one yet) but I can still drag and drop. There is a plug-in for Ipod, but I’m not using an Ipod so I am not sure how well that works. Feel free to leave your thoughts/comments/rants below.

Only 2 minor hickups after upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04

Ron Shank — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:08:42 +0000

I’m up and running with the latest Ubuntu release. It’s an upgrade from 8.10 which was an upgrade from 8.04.. you get the idea.

Only two hick-ups so far. The first, compiz boogered up on my leaving my Panels (or menu bars as some call them) not displaying properly. I finally had to reset them back to square one. Which is really easy to do, thanks to this post: How to Reset Ubuntu/Gnome Settings to Defaults without Re-installing.

My next minor problem was even easier to fix: Hide the drive and partition icons from my desktop. Ubuntu question #2625: “removing icons from the desktop”.

I also had to reconfigure my compiz settings manually. Everytime I restored from the back up profile, it boogered up something again making me reset my gnome defaults.

If you are a Ubuntu newbie and don’t understand half of what I just said, please feel free to post a comment or check in the Ubuntu Forums. We were all new once.

Don’t have Ubuntu or even know what it is?

Check out their website: www.ubuntu.com or nag me to put up a screencast of my own desktop.

Was this a problem?

Ron Shank — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:09:01 +0000

Really?? This was a problem? You were accidentally hitting Ctrl-Alt-Backspace? Personally I loved the combo and found it very handy during extreme (albeit rare) lockups.

The Ctrl-Alt-Backspace key combination to force a restart of X is now disabled b default, to eliminate the problem of accidentally triggering the key combination. Users who do want this function can enable it in their xorg.conf, or by running the command dontzap –disable.
via 9.04 Release Notes | Ubuntu.

The Perfect Vista Wallpaper.

Ron Shank — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:43:34 +0000

Broken Vista

No wallpaper sums up my feelings about vista as much as this one. Sweet.

Well.. maybe this mod of it

Dvorak Likes Linux – Columns by PC Magazine

Ron Shank — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:01:01 +0000

Dvorak nails it on this column. But a couple points: I look forward to the day when I read an install review without any minor glitches (yes, they are far and few between – but there’s still work to be done). Secondly, when you take his advice and you hit a snag. Don’t give up.. Buzz me or ask in the Ubuntu forums. You’ll find the answer.. now back to Dvorak’s comments.

I’m tired of dealing with Windows malware, patch Tuesday, and the never-ending deterioration of the OS as it clogs up like a drain in a greasy-spoon restaurant. I can’t take it anymore.
And there’s something else that always bugs me about Windows. I have an iMac that I use at the office, and a few times every month Apple has some patch that it sends out. With few exceptions, each time a patch is installed with the Mac OS, the performance of the machine improves. With Windows, the performance always declines.
I don’t think Microsoft has ever sent out a patch that improved the performance of the machine. Ever.

read the whole column here > Dvorak Likes Linux – PC Magazine.

10 things Linux does better than OS X

Ron Shank — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:18:32 +0000

To my mac lovin’ pals: Read with an open mind.

It may sound strange, seeing as how OS X is based on a Linux variant and is widely considered to be the most user-friendly operating system available, but Linux does a number of things better than everyone’s favorite iOperatingSystem. Before you shun the thought, read on. You might be surprised at your resulting opinion.

10 things Linux does better than OS X

Ubuntu 8.10: The Fastest-Most-Just-Worksiest Version Yet!

Ron Shank — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:32:40 +0000

I installed (upgraded to be exact) the Beta of Ubuntu 8.10 and it’s by far faster and “just works.”

Yeah! My video in Skype (still waiting for Skype to get serious about Linux, or find an alternative) now works (so I can see that my cam is not showing my head) Also working without extra effort: NVidia drivers and Broadband Wireless.

More updates when I have a little more time. If you have played around with it and find it better (or worse) than a previous version post away… oh and the new “DarkRoom” theme is McAwesome!

The New Microsoft Seinfeld Ad

Ron Shank — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:32:18 +0000

I imagine when the news that Microsoft first signed Jerry Seinfeld for 10 Million dollars to push Vista, that Steve Jobs and Co. at Mac had this “oh, this can’t be good” feeling in theirlower intestinal regions. Well the ad is out.. and it is just bizarre.

Ad-man-super-genius, Roy Williams, has often said, “know what to leave out.” But in this case It’s almost like an admission that Vista does suck.

That wind ablowin’ is a collective sigh of releif from Mac.

Cup of Ubuntu anyone?

Top 4 Alternatives to Ubuntu Linux

Ron Shank — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:59:01 +0000

If you stop by here often or get my feed, it is probably no secret, I like Ubuntu. One of the great things about Linux is that it comes in other flavors and even people using the same distribution (“distro”) as you may have loaded a theme or customized it (see my last post) so that it look very little like your own.

If Ubuntu is not your thing, that’s fine. But don’t give up on Linux because of one experience with one distro. E-Linux.it has some (4) good Ubuntu alternatives they like along with the pros and cons they saw.