Edgy Eft, hope and linux...and of couse NetBeans

At the moment i am very, very excited for the release of ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft), Java 6 (Mustang), NetBeans 5.5 and NetBeans 6.0. Ubuntu 6.10 is going to be awesome because it will probably have xgl and compiz working out of the box (hopefully) and now that 8.26.18 ati propriatary fglrx beta driver is out and supports my card (the Radeon 200M) i will have 3D support :). Hopefully the new ati driver will be done for the new release of ubuntu. One thing ATI needs to do is to either open source their propriatary driver (which i know they will not do because it will give away too much about their cards) or put a distributor licence on it so it can be distributed freely by open source vendors like ubuntu and other linux distros. I am excited for java 6 (Mustang) because it is much faster and looks better on linux. I am also very excited for NetBeans 5.5 and am very much antisipating NetBeans 6.0. Before i start school again in the fall i am going to make a clean install of Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) with NetBeans 5.5 (Enterprise pack, C/C++ pack, Mobility pack and profiler) running on Java 6 Mustang. It will be awesome..anyway..i have to read up on driving in Canada (I have to write my drivers test).

To all i wish the best...thanks for reading.

Winning the Windows Vs. Linux Battle

Microsoft has been promising a lot of nice new features in Vista. You can check them out here. I am going to make a little comparison of the features and we'll see who you think will come out on top...

Look and Feel ["eye candy"]
Windows: Direct X 10 looks intersting...I like the thumbnail view when you go ever an item in the startbar...but really there LAF is not that great...it is just glass XP...not to mention it is very, very bulky, heavy wieght and slow.

Linux: First off XGL is open source, looks great and doesn't take a super-human machine to run...it is not to hard to install and is supose to be installed right off the bat in futute releases of ubuntu, SuSE and other distros. The only hinderance i have experianced is my fglrx drivers just won't work therefore i can not install XGL.

Sidebar
Windows: Looks pretty but i would not want it because it would just make windows even slower than it alread is...could be usefull though...lots of funtionality (see this for more info)

Linux: This can be done with gdesklets which are pretty nice...i noticed no preformace drops when using them and they are open source!! There could be more funtionality but it is basicly there (+ there is probably a plugin somewhere)

Performance
Windows: The slowest windows ever! Although it does have some cool features like sleep.

Linux: Has always been very, very fast but i wish there was a sleep option and a hibernate option that is not as flaky.

Backup
Windows: This is the only place i can see windows beating linux (and only by a little)...i really like the idea of "Volume Shadow Copy" and "System Restore".

Linux: You can do something like "system resote" with a opensource tool called "sbackup", but i wish it were more intigrated with the system. As i said above i really like the idea of "Volume Shadow Copy" and as i am aware there is no tool to do this in linux...an nice intigration into OpenOffice and the rest of the systemw would be great.

Networking
Windows: From what i have seen of Vista microsoft has spent a lot of time with the interface and it is pretty and has basicly said "screw performance". The network manager looks very nice and user friendly...

Linux: networking in linux is very nice if your hardware is supported...and now adays everything is...(wireless is soon going to be shiped by default) and iff not you can use ndiswrapper (that is what i use)...gnome network manager is very nice and simple to use...and the networking tools in linux are phenomenal.

Other:
I really like windows media center...on linux there is myth tv which is good as well...Gaming and family safe programs are also neat...linux needs to get these because as far as i know it doesn't. I think the "Windows slideshow" feature is interesting but basicly useless...once laptops with this new built in technology linux will adapt. Speech recognition in windows vista also looks very interesting...linux needs something like it...something integrated into the sysem.

What i am doing this Summer

This summer is going to be a very busy summer for me...I am working full time (10 hour days) at Elite Machine and Gear Inc. (EMG) and part time at Egar tool and Die. I wish i could be working coding but that is just not going to happen because it is basicly impossable to get imployed at my age for Computer Science. If anyone want to employ me give me a shout at my email address ;) Anyway...from July 4 to 14 i am going to summer school to prepare for Grade 11 University Math. Then during the last week of July i am taking holidays and going up north to Nipissing (a decent size lake). Then i am back to work until i start school.

Now on the technical side of my summer i would like to learn more about C/C++, C#, coding in linux, the linux kernel, gtk and netbeans platform and API's. I was thinking about writing some stuff on top of banshee (front end to encode video to ipods) and i would really like to write a program like Alcohol 120%. If anyone would like to join me or has any suggestions, feel free to comment. Thanks.

New Module Development Tutorials available

Some new Module Development tutorials are availble at netbeans.org regarding Nodes API. They are very usefull (i have already finished one and am on my way to reading the other). You can check them out here or can read more info about them here.

Anyone up for developing some linux Apps?

Lately i have been searching around for some good linux media players and have only found one that i really like but it was not tottaly up to my exspectations. I could not get the plugins working and i need the podcasting features. Plus it does not support syncing video onto ipods. I then proceeded to notice that there needs to be alot more apps for linux and more easier installs for new users. Due to the minimal software support in some areas (and software that is not up to standards) i have been wanted to make a development team that makes apps that make it easier to use linux and add functionality. I would perticularily like to see a music player that is extensible, easy to use, pretty, functional, full ipod support, video support, ect... It could be done by using the GStreamer API and the alike. I also noticed it is a pain to mount iso images (you have to do it from console [i could not find an app like alcohol 120%]). I did find an app called Bonfire that is very nice. You can check it out here. Anyways if anyone is interested in forming a development team to start making some nice apps that make life easier feel free to comment.

Vista Beta 2 released to the public

As you have probably noticed i am not a bug fan of Windows. Windows has recently released Vista Beta 2 for the publc to try and i have heard good and bad about it. It is suposably much faster but is made for the computer iliterate (it is a pain having a menu oriented system). It does look very pretty tho... I will maybe give it a a try but will definitly not abondon my ubuntu :) If anyone has tried Vista Beta 2 tell me what you think.

TTR-Linux

As some of you might know i have started a new blog with a friend of mine deticated to linux topics. You can check it out here. Anyway we haven't been getting many views so i decided to let some people know about it. I also found an interesting screen name on the ubuntu forums so i decided i would close with it:

"Microsoft gives you Windows, but Linux gives you the whole house!"

My new toy

Today i went to Future shop and found a hard drive enclosure for $44 CAD. Although i thaught it had a 80gb harddrive i was not very disapointed when i saw that it didn't. I then went to Sams club (similar to Cosco) and found 200gb 7200rpm Maxtor hard drives for $115 CAD. So i bought it ad put the two together and bang!! i now have a 200gb external hard drive that works great in linux. And to boot i got it for like $150 CAD!!

Bye Bye Windows :)

I have not posted for while a while beacuase i have been crazy busy getting rady for exams and finishing summatives (exam week/s starts next Thursday). Anyway yesterday i was resizing my ntfs partition because i wanted to make a clean install of ubuntu 6.06 dapper LTS (32 bit). I was using GParted on the ubuntu live install CD and it failed and screwed up my ntfs partion. I had all my school work, music and apps on it!! So i got myself a Windows XP cd and booted to the recovery console. Then i repared my mbs using the command 'fixboot' an then re-wrote the mbr by using the command 'fixboot'. Then i proceeded to reboot. Windows gave me a blue screen so i rebooted again and poped in the ubuntu live install CD. Once the live installer CD booted i edited /etc/fstab so i could mount my ntfs partition. (Note: before i 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr' nothing could read the filesystem of my damaged ntfs partion). Then I got my dad's portable harddrive and copyed my data from that. Resault: I have saved all my data and live without windows :) I still have not yet got my ATI propriatary drivers working (there is some issues with the driver for the Radeon 200M)...if anyone knows how to get them working it would be really nice if they could show me how because i am becoming very frustrated with it. Or if someone knows of any third party driver (that supports 3d acceleration) give me a shoot. Anyway...i have to get back to homework.

ATI and BCM3418 drivers are not working :(

Lately i have been working extremely hard doing school work and getting ready for exams. On my spare time i have been trying Ubuntu 6.06 (I have been using linux for over half a year). I apsolutely love it but have been having a hang of a time getting it to work. The ATI drivers are being very anoying (they don't install correctly no matter what tutorial i use...i have a Radeon 200M and have to use the older driver because ATI broke the new driver for my card). On the weekend i got wireless working (i have a Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02) wireless card) but it only worked for one connetion and i have not been able to get it running since (Note: i used this guide: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=185174). If anybody knows how to get ubuntu 6.06 dapper on the compaq R4000 with the ATI Radeon 200M and Broadcom BCM4318 wireless card feel free to link me to a tutorial or tell. Currently it is a pain in the but to get the wireless and ATI driver working so if i can find a way that works then i will make a shell script so it is easier for others to get it working. BTW, a friend and I have started a new blog about linux that will have many resources like i just specified...we also are working on how-to manuals. You can check it out at ttr-linux.blogspot.com.

Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper LTS released

Today Ubuntu 6.06 dapper LTS was released. I was running SuSE 10.1 with Gnome 2.14 because i was trying to get XGL and my ATI propriatary drivers working. I highly recomend Ubuntu 6.06 (i have been using the development releases since Flight 6). I am definitly going to be downloading and installing it tonight. You can go check out Ubuntu 6.06 dapper LTS here.

Damb ATI!!

Yesterday me and a friend spent the entire day trying to get the ATI drivers working on SuSE 10.1. We got it working on his computer in a couple of minuits but when we got to my laptop we just could not get it to work. We followed a coupe of wiki's including the official guide. We tried both 64 and 32 bit drivers and the week before i worked on getting it working on ubuntu 6.06 dapper RC. I was very angry because i wanted to get XGL working...we got it working on my buddies computer but when it came to mine we had no luck. I am just about to shoot ATI because they just can't get it right!!! I am using a Radeon XPress 200M...i am thinking it is a problem with the actual series of cards (the card works fine in windows). Anyway i spent the entire day in command line shich was interesting but after 6 hours of hacking away and troubleshooting i almost died. I can't leave windows XP until i get linux worki9ng well. Anyway that is my rave for a little while...I am swamped with work from school.