Entries Tagged 'Software' ↓

Much as expected when I started my weight loss crusade, my clothes no longer fit me right. More specifically, Large shirts look a little big on me, I had to add a new notch in my belt and my jeans hang loose and shapeless off my hips. So, instead of looking trim and attractive, I look like I don’t know how to dress myself, which of course, wasn’t my goal. I’m currently 175 pounds, 20 pound lighter than when I started all this, and it’s very noticeable; I still continue to get comments on my size from people I know.

Anyway, I was planning to stave off buying new clothes (specifically jeans) until I got even close to my target weight. Let’s face it, I’ve still got 15 pounds to go, and if 20 pounds caused such a huge change in my figure, another 15 was sure to do the same. Still, it sucks to have lost all this weight and look scrubby as a result, and since I had some clothes to return from Christmas to return to Kohl’s and Old Navy, I figured I would splurge on at least one pair of new jeans. And there in lies the reason for this post.
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So, I recently bought a Nokia N800, partly because of all the N810 news I’ve seen recently and partly because I wanted a cool new toy. My roommate recently bought an iPhone, which for all of the hype, is kind of lame. Don’t get me wrong, the interface is really slick and using the ‘net anywhere is kind of cool, but it’s a closed system that people keep hacking to add functionality. It also has a really low resolution and doesn’t support Flash, which is pretty lame.

The N800 on the other hand is based on Maemo Linux, is totally open, already has full VoIP functionality, fully supports Flash (meaning YouTube and all-Flash sites work just fine), has about twice the resolution of the iPhone (so I don’t have to keep zooming and scrolling websites) and has a ton of really cool apps. GPS? Check! USB OTG? Check! Expandable memory? Check! True multitasking? Check! Mozilla browser? Check! VNC, SSH and VPN access? Check! Video chat? Check! It even has Skype and Gizmo clients and a port of Pidgin, the greatest chat client ever. Sure I don’t have Internet access anywhere my phone works, but WiFi is so easy to come by that it’s hardly a factor for me. If I really need to I can pair it with a Bluetooth phone and use it that way.
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Well, trying to post consistently on here isn’t working either I guess, as it’s been like 6 weeks since I last put something up. So, the new goal is to post quick and small things.

First, Xubuntu! The main drive on my desktop crapped out on me, so I was forced into reinstalling Linux. I had been runnign Ubuntu 6.10 for a while and it was in dire need of a refresh anyway since I botched the nVidia drivers on day 1 and never cared enough to start over. I’ve been reading a lot about how great Ubuntu 7.10 is and I got used to using Gnome, but it always just felt so slow and I also read that Xubuntu (which runs Xfce) was a lot faster. So, that’s what I decided to install. Continue reading →

I’ve always had free versions of certain file recovery programs but I never had a chance to use them. Well, I had plenty of chances I guess, but no real reason, until today. See, I had moved some images off of my camera and onto a computer. I was writing a script to rename and move those files to another machine, but the script was wrong and I ended up deleting all the new pictures I had. I had also removed them from the camera, so I was screwed….. until I remembered my file recovery tools.
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First, let me say that Ubuntu is pretty awesome. Those of you new to Linux should look into it, it’s pretty easy to figure things out and get everything working. Those of you who have been using Linux for a while will find it very easy to use and will have no problem setting up and configuring it. It’ll save you a ton of time getting things up, and you still get the stability and usability of Debian, so you’re all set.

One thing it is lacking, like almost all distros are lacking, is the ability to play proprietary audio and video formats. This includes a lot of really common formats, like MP3s, WMA, DVD, and WMV to name a few. The simple reason is licensing; in order to play these formats in Linux, you may need to break some laws…. kinda. It’s all fair use though, so it should be legal; but there’s that annoying DMCA issue. Anyway, long explanation short, the distros can’t include the means to play these types of files.
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Well, I’ve tried a good amount of CMS/Blogging engines here, and I have finally settled on WordPress…… for now.

So far, I’ve tried GeekLog, Mambo, LifeType, Loudblog and Drupal.
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