Posted February 22nd, 2009
by Josh
My eldest daughter has started developing an interest in using computers and the Internet. She quite often asks to play games on one of her favorite websites on my laptop.
This has started becoming a more regular occurence, so I decided that I would re-instate an old laptop that I had lying around and set it up for the kids.
The machine is quite old so wouldn’t be particularly speedy running Windows, so an idea struck me, I could install may favorite linux distro of choice, Ubuntu; not only would this run better on the old laptop but would also give my kids a different view of computers than most of their friends will get just using Windows.
I’m hoping that giving my kids this different view of computers will help them have a better understanding of computers in the future.
One of my problems with computing in schools is thatfor example, kids arn’t taught how to Word Process, they are taught how to use Microsoft Word, this goes for using the OS itself as well.
I’m a realist enough to know that this is the way things are due to Microsofts Dominance of the market, but I’d like my kids to be able to have a different perspective on how computers can be used
I’m no Microsoft hater, I’d just like my kids to make their own decisions on these things and by giving them a choice, I hope enable them to do that.
Tags: Kids, laptop, Linux, Microsoft, Ubuntu, Windows, Word Posted in Cool Stuff!, Personal, Rantings, Technology
Posted October 30th, 2008
by Josh
The Ubuntu team have release their 9th version of their operating system today.
8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) will be supported until 2010 and includes a new default theme and a raft of other improvements.
Ive been using it for a while as a beta and I really like it.
Keep us the good work!
Tags: Linux, OS, Ubuntu Posted in Technology
Posted October 28th, 2008
by Josh
For those of you who dont know. Mark Shuttleworth is a South-African entrepreneur. He made his money during the dot com boom of the late 90′s, but was one of the very few people who was shrewed enough not to loose it all again when the bubble burst.
Shuttleworth instigated the Ubuntu Linux project and continues to fund it out of his own pocket to this day. Im quite a Ubuntu fan and as an extension of that, a fan of Shuttleworth himself. He has a great ethos in regards to operating systems and software, and stands by keeping Ubuntu free for everyone.
Anyway, he’s recently been interviewed abd I thought it was an interesting read.
You can find it here.
Tags: dot com, free, Linux, mark shuttleworth, operating system, OS, software, Ubuntu Posted in Uncategorized
Posted September 18th, 2008
by Josh
I recently discovered a new online storage solution thats just come out of beta and been fully released into the wild.
Dropbox is a highly user friendly storage solution designed with the ethos that little or no effort should be needed on the users behalf to keep their documents syncronised with the online storage system.
Dropbox achieves this very well. You download a small executable from their website, install it and signup. You then choose where you’d like to store your Dropbox folder on your local filesystem. Once setup this folder and anything inside it is automatically syncronised with Dropbox’s servers.
The brilliant thing about Dropbox is that you can install the client on any PC, login with your details and your Dropbox folder is automatically syncronised with this new computer.
Dropbox also has a web-interface if you dont want to install the client (if your using a public computer for example). From it you can upload and download files, aswell as manage existing files already in your Dropbox.
If you dont happen to have access to a computer at anytime, you can also access Dropbox via its iPhone portal (this is just a page styled to work better on mobile browsers, so will actually work with most smartphones and PDA’s).
Dropbox also allows you to share certain files publicly. A folder named ‘Public’ is created inside your Dropbox and any files placed in this folder can be made available. All you need to do is right click the file and select the ‘copy public link’ option, then paste this link in an email or IM chat.
You can also make groups with other Dropbox users in and share certain files to the group, making it a potentiall useful businessfile sharing tool.
There are Windows, Linux and Mac OSX clients available, allowing you to sync between these 3 platforms.
Currently, users can signup for free and get 2GB of online storage. Apparently these 2GB accounts will always be free, which is great for those of us who dont like paying for anything. They are currently working on implimenting larger storage space, but this will probably be a chargable extra. A price of $9.99 per month for 50GB is being bandied around at the moment, which sounds very reasonable to me.
Tags: browser, client, documents, Dropbox, filesystem, iphone, Linux, mac, online storage, OSX, syncronised, user friendly, web-interface, Windows Posted in Cool Stuff!, Technology
Posted May 20th, 2008
by Josh
I’ve finally decided to do something I’ve been planning o do for a long while now, move over to using Linux as my full time OS at work.
I’d class myself as a Linux ‘power user’ if there is such a thing. I’ve been using Linux in its various flavours since about 1998 (the days when one false move would obliterate your Windows partition), and I manage various Linux servers for clients at work.
Now firstly, If i could, I’d also be running Linux as my full time OS at home right now, but the machine is shared with my wife and kids who might find it a bit disconcerting and secondly Im sadly quite hooked on Vista Media Centre, but thats another story…
My work laptop is a fairly powerfull machine and has ben running Windows Vista. Now dont get me wrong, Im actually getting quite used to Vista and I’m no MS hater (Im actually MCP certified x 3), but I seem to find all the bugs and performance annoyances with it. Random application hangs, slow startup and shutdown speeds to name a few.
I installed Linux as a dual boot on the laptop last week and so far theres only a couple of minor issues. I chose Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) as Ubuntu has been my Distro of choice for the past couple of years. Its very straight forward to install. Stick in the CD and it boots live, from there you can play around with the system and see how it works etc. Theres an icon on the Desktop which you click to install Ubuntu to the harddisk, and after a couple of steps you can relax for 20 mins while it installs. (It will also detect any windows installations and add them to the boot loader).
Now, the only downside in the corporate environment is the lack of an email client that can talk MAPI to Exchange 2007. Evolution supports Exchange 2003, but we recently upgradded to 2007 in our office. At present im using IMAP to connect Evolution to Exchange 2007, but apparently there is an Exchange 2007 plugin on the way, I await it with baited breath…
Apart from that everything else is pretty sweet, I especially like the compiz composite desktop stuff. I have all the tools I need to manage remote machines, (ssh built in by default of course and Terminal Services client). I’ve also managed to join the laptop onto our windows domain using a new tool called likewise-open, this allows me to logon to the laptop using my domain credentials which then allows me to access server objects without having to enter my password a ton of times.
Looks like Linux is here to stay.
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Tags: 8.04, compiz, Evolution, Exchange, Exchange 2007, Hardy, Heron, IMAP, laptop, likewise-open, Linux, Live CD, MCP, Media Centre, Microsoft, MS, OS, ssh, terminal services, Ubuntu, Vista, Windows Posted in Cool Stuff!
Posted July 20th, 2007
by Josh
Im getting so bored with people saying how crap Linux and Unix are.
I use various forums on a regular basis, and everynow and then this topic pops up.
The problem is that people dont relize what Linux and Unix are and what they currently do in regards to the worlds IT infrastructure.
Linux is one of the most widely deployed and flexible server operating systems there is.
Between them, Linux and Unix power just over 50% of the worlds web servers, and between 60-70% of the worlds DNSÂ servers, FACT!
I’ll say it once tho, ITÂ ISN’T, ANDÂ NEVERÂ WILLÂ BE A DESKTOP OPERATING SYSTEM!
This is the reason people moan about it being shit, they are trying to use it as a freebie windows replacement, which is isnt!
Theres a reason why Windows is the worls number 1 desktop OS, and thats because Microsoft plow billions of dollars into it.
Stop being tight, buy a windows license and stop bloody moaning.
Use Linux for what its designed for and its a brilliant platform.
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Tags: DNS Server, IT, Linux, Microsoft, MS, OS, Unix, web server, Windows Posted in Rantings
