Comments for Tech

Comment on Using Gnome Shell – Day 6 by Danuta

Danuta — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:07:16 +0000

Hej! Vad härligt att höra att de fnukar för dej! Själv e ja som så extrem atopiker så ja ser ju ut som en prikkikorv mest hela tiden, så ja noo ganska osäker på hur de sku gå. Man sku ju måst börja med en liten tatuering för att prova, men då alla motiv ja vill ha e som så stora

Comment on Opinion: Android – The ONE Killer Feature Desktop Linux Needs To Get Ahead of the Curve by Derek

Derek — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:20:21 +0000

Its heading for a year later and I still do not see anything available for sync/backup of contacts and SMS’es on a Linux desktop – very sad, really.

Comment on Review: Linux Mint 10 Julia Gnome – With Screenshots by 11 Day Diet

11 Day Diet — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:23:25 +0000

The Paleo Diet…

[...]these are several web links to sites we link to seeing as we think there’re definitely worth checking out[...]…

Comment on Welcome to the scam that is Windows by Al

Al — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:08:13 +0000

Hey Quintin.

My current hardware would not let me benefit from Win7. I feel fine on WinXP, there are too many things that [censored] me off on Win7. That being said I will update to Win7 with the buying of new gear, and I do need Windows for gaming.

Also I have never actually installed Win7 (only work on it on my company pc, posting using it right now) so I can not compare the hardware issues. I have installed WinXP a lot of times and I agree that it is not without sin in the drivers department, and Linux is generally better here, with the centralised repos that you mention, but as you can see my old laptop works fine with XP (after a bit of searching for the right drivers and installing them manually one by one) but I can not get Ubuntu to work right no matter how much time I spend searching and trying new drivers for my graphics card.

I don’t really mind searching for specific drivers for my hardware, I could usually find them and I always know that I am using the best ones out there. With Linux I have a feeling that sometimes I am getting some general drivers instead, and when I try to switch to the “official” ones from the manufacturer I get problems.

Funny that in fact there’s more work to get the drivers working properly on Windows than on Linux, one would have thought that Linux is the platform where you have to sudo apt get everything manually. Even funnier that I actually prefer the Windows way. I would not have guessed this before.
I am probably biased here by the fact that I can’t get my hardware set up the way I would like on Linux, and that this has never happened to me on Windows.

Comment on Welcome to the scam that is Windows by Quintin

Quintin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:05:45 +0000

Hi Al, thanks for commenting. I am on holiday at the moment, hence my delayed response.

You are correct, I am stretching it a bit by blaming Windows for third party applications that charge money. I hoped this came through in the blog post, but I founded my blame on this: Those applications do something that Windows should be doing already.

Desktop, and server, Linux have had centralised software repositories for many years now. Apple with their shiny new App stores for everything that runs iOS are only following the trend that Linux has set years ago.

(Of course Apple have the added advantage that they do not need to cater for drivers for a whole lot of architectures and hardware like Linux and Windows has to.)

Why did/does Microsoft not have something like Linux has? A centralised driver repository where you can get vetted and tested drivers for your hardware? (I do realise that there are failures on the Linux front, not Operating system is perfect)

Your using of Windows XP as a reference is telling, is Windows Vista/7 not enough of an improvement that it could lure you to install?

(Of course you might be using older hardware…)

Regards.

Quintin

Comment on Welcome to the scam that is Windows by Al

Al — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:18:22 +0000

Just a quick info from a desktop Linux user – Ubuntu 11.10. I have an old HP laptop, circa 4 years, with an ATI card, old one. Some issues I have:
- graphic drivers, moving windows around is slow, in previous Ubuntu versions I could not get transparency to work, now it works but everything is pretty slow
- Ubuntu will not save the settings for screen brightness, keeps getting back to 100% every reboot
- Ubuntu will not save the settings for sound volume, keeps getting back to 100% every reboot (Imagine booting up in a quiet place, e.g. library with 100% volume and a nice log in sound. I do not always remember that my system is desktop ‘ready’…)
- I am using Rainlendar. Sometimes it gets misplaced on boot and I need to move it back to where I want it and set “Lock windows in place” again
- The Pidgin client does not connect after the system boots. Somehow it detects no internet connection before I can type my passkey and log in to wifi and after I do it, it refuses to detect that the connection is up. It needs to be turned off and on every time I boot.
- Unity toolbar – rearranging icons did not work, they kept going back to their default location each reboot, now this seems to be fixed

I could rant about Unity all day here, many things do not work as they should or hamper usability. That said the idea itself is great which is why I am sticking with it and hoping for it to get better.

In short Ubuntu does have its issues, out of which the graphics drivers and 100% sound and brightness are the ones that [censored] me off the most.
I imagine the sound and brightness issues are not terribly difficult to fix. How hard can it be to save these settings in some file and load it up at start up? Well I guess it is pretty hard as I had loads of updates recently and this is still not fixed. I could probably fix it myself, but that’s not how it’s supposed to work.

Some of the problems you are describing with Windows are bizarre. Mouse wheel not working? Never had this issue in ~20 years of using mouse controllers.

Drivers – I have a laptop which was not designed to be used with Win XP. I had no problems in finding the right drivers for all the devices. You just need to know the device you are searching drivers for. Not just search for drivers fitting your system using some third party scam tools. You seem to have this backwards.
You blame Microsoft/Windows for THIRD PARTY scam tools? Not fair here.

Comment on Sysadmin Trick: Custom Bash Prompt and Shortened Path Display by Links 14/12/2011: KahelOS, Fujitsu Linux Phones | Techrights

Links 14/12/2011: KahelOS, Fujitsu Linux Phones | Techrights — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:52:13 +0000

[...] Sysadmin Trick: Custom Bash Prompt and Shortened Path Display [...]

Comment on RANT – I Dislike Working on IIS – RewriteModule Adventure by Tienie de Coning

Tienie de Coning — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:06:56 +0000

You have my sympathy…

Comment on Opinion: Android – The ONE Killer Feature Desktop Linux Needs To Get Ahead of the Curve by helpful dentist

helpful dentist — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:41:43 +0000

Let’s face it. Android is a killer for any applications (even MAC is dying because of them). The brain behind Android is brilliant! Just my two cents! :)

Comment on Using Unity – Day 5 How Does It Compare to Gnome Shell? by Brian.Christiansen

Brian.Christiansen — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 07:11:43 +0000

Wow! so great and so excellent very knowledgeable.Thanks for creating this site.So nice information content.I think this well help a lot to me.I honestly enjoy most of the posts and your different point of view.Im so interesting of this.Thanks

Comment on Google Engage – Morning Session by Alex

Alex — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:20:21 +0000

Very interesting. No privacy issues as of yet – let’s hope it stays that way.

Comment on 7 FREE Killer Android Apps Every Ubuntu User Should Have by Param

Param — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:31:41 +0000

Dropbox is cool and I use it everdyay.

Comment on Google Engage – Morning Session by Param

Param — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:26:41 +0000

Its appealing but I hope there is no privacy issues like was with buzz.

Comment on Some FNB App News. by Param

Param — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:25:09 +0000

I would be happy to test the FNB app.

Comment on The SaGeek Mag – June 2010 by Param

Param — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:23:13 +0000

I just downloaded the magazine. Thanks for your share. Keep writing.

Comment on Review: Linux Mint 10 Julia Gnome – With Screenshots by grasscloth wallpaper usa

grasscloth wallpaper usa — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:07:21 +0000

A token of the authority blog…

I’ve learned some new things about this subject….

Comment on Some FNB App News. by Cody Hemby

Cody Hemby — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:06:31 +0000

It’s a good news for FNB app fans, including me.

Comment on Using Gnome Shell – Day 6 by Dale Kashmir

Dale Kashmir — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:27:57 +0000

Nice, many people are looking for this and that includes me. Thanks pal

Comment on Review: Apple iPad 64GB by Joel

Joel — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:20:32 +0000

Do you have any reviews for the Galaxy Tab you mentioned? I am on the fence between one of those and a Xoom.

Comment on Lightweight Distro Roundup – Seven Days Seven Distros by Anthony I. Davis

Anthony I. Davis — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:43:33 +0000

Hi Quintin, I was browsing over linux operating systems and came on your site. Well I think right now, there’s no problem with hardware compatibilities as most businesses and companies have embraced high end machines to accommodate their needs. The bigger the hardware, the better return it has for the company.