Jaguar Tonight!
Well, I'm hoping to, uhm, paws tonight to give Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar a try on my iMac. This is a moment of truth in several ways. First, and foremost, Jaguar has been known to kill iMacs. It seems for the most part this is caused by not upgrading the firmware before installing, but it still makes me a wee bit nervous. Secondly, it is a moment of truth in that I'll find out whether I made a big mistake not saving up some more to go for a faster Mac (I've heard mixed reviews about this system and Mac OS X). It is also a moment of truth in that I'll finally really be able to put Mac OS X head to head with Linux and see how the two stack up as *nix desktops.
All this truth and more… coming to soon to a blog near you. Stay tuned!
I'm Thinking Different Now...
I got it really for three reasons — (1) It'd be cool to spend some time playing around with a Mac. I do a lot of helpdesk work and I felt it was time I knew my way around a Mac, (2) I want to do a Linux vs. Mac OS X piece on Open for Business, (3) it should make a nice box to use in a previously uncomputerized room. Additionally, while not a priority, I will probably try LinuxPPC as an added bonus.
At any rate, as I said, right now it has Mac OS 9.0.4, but I plan to acquire a copy of OS X Jaguar soon (Amazon was selling it for $79.95, but I decided to wait until I had the system in my hands before I bought software for it, and now they are selling it for $109.95!). While I am more interested in Mac OS X than OS 9, one good thing about buying an older Mac is that it does still runs OS 9 so that I can try that out too.
Anyway, I'll post more experiences as I get them, especially once OS X arrives. My first glance opinion is that it's a very nice system with an elegant design (the Apple Pro mouse looks like a piece of art), although the way things are done in Mac OS 9 seems a bit awkward to this Linux (previously Windows (previously DOS)) user. For starters: gimme a shell!
Busy, Busy, Busy
In a way, my starting this project last week was a real blessing. I had been meaning o make SAFARI (Standardized Automated File Archiving and Retrieval Interface) more useful for some time for non-issue based content (that is stuff that isn't published in monthly, weekly, or other types of “issues”), and last week I decided to take that on as a fun project.
Right now, I'm running my variant of Ciaran's very cool blogging software which is an amazingly light piece of code (only a handful of kbytes for the whole thing!). It is great, but I realized some of the stuff I wanted to implement for it already existed in SAFARI (stuff like the ability to edit posts, delete them, etc.). Further, I wanted to replace the holey mess known as PHP-Nuke on Open for Business. I knew it had problems for the las [Rest of the post disappeared for some reason. See my comment below for the text of what it said.]
SCO Sues IBM
SCO, who was Caldera, who bought SCO (confused?), has decided that it has received over $1 billion in damages from IBM and now wants Big Blue to show the money. It seems to me that this is just a wild last ditched effort by a has-been Linux distributor (at one point, Caldera was the second largest distributor) to make some money. You can read my entire thoughts on this at Open for Business.
MandrakeSoft declares Bankruptcy
Well, they did what everyone expected them to do. My favorite GNU/Linux vendor has declared bankruptcy today. Besides the article I linked to in that sentence I also wrote a bit of commentary on it here. In the time since I started Open for Business, I've gotten to know some of the Mandrake people — such as co-founder Gaël Duval — so I almost feel like I've gotten news that an old friend is dying. I certainly hope they can emerge from this. What a shame.
In happier news: some of you might have noticed that there is a new blog in my blogroll. I'm rather picky about blogs, but I went to read GoodDogBadDog after Owen told me he had started linking to my journal, and it is really good. Go give him a read!
New Screenshots
I posted some new screenshots for those interested in seeing what my desktop with KDE 3.1 looks like (geekish to english translation: KDE is the most popular “desktop” for Linux… in other words, it provides a bunch of integrated apps, an OLE/ActiveX-like thing, window management, and so forth; a further simplification would be to say KDE is basically the entire GUI as far as a new Linux user would be concerned). I tried to show off some of KDE 3.1's best new visual features, such as Keramik, menu transparency, and Crystal SVG (which, oddly enough is png's of SVG's, the real SVG's will show up in KDE 3.2, IIRC). Take a look on my screenshot page.
Oh, as a side note, checkout this post I sent to ChristianSource. It shows a really exciting KDE-related move made by Apple Computer yesterday.
Linux and Internet Stuff
Certainly, Mac users aren't the only ones to do attacking — although, based on my experiences, and those Fred Langa has written about, I'll say they are the worst. Anyway, the more recent problem has come from GNU/Linux users. In my current on-going series of review of GNU/Linux distributions, I've heard flames from both the Xandros and Mandrake camps. While I prefer Mandrake, I decided my associate editor Eduardo Sanchez's take on release 9.0's flaws was definately fair, and so we published a very critical review. Of course, even though the review mentions that we thought 8.2 might have been the best version ever, we are still “biased against Mandrake.” Huh… interesting.
At PCLinuxOnline, there are a lot of attacks about our take on Mandrake. However, there is also a former, disgruntled PCLinuxOnline editor who keeps ranting at anyone who doesn't agree with him that LindowsOS is the best Linux distribution out there. When one of the other editors tried to calm him down (and, by the way, it was a mutual agreement that this guy left — most likely since he was so pro-Lindows anti-everything else), the guy just started attacking the other editor even more so.
This is sad. While I think what OS people use is critically important to the future freedom (or lack thereof) of data, it shouldn't mean we get nasty about it. On that note, I'll transition into my other note for today… that is, why we should be concerned with our choice of operating system. With legislation like the DMCA and how it has been used (including the prosecution of Mr. Skylov last year due to the fact that his tool might promote illegal activity and those involved with DeCSS since it might be used for piracy - ever wonder if they prosecuted politicians since they might abuse power or take bribes?), there are good reasons to worry what companies like Apple or Microsoft (or Lindows.com) might do. The fact is, any time you depend on a strictly licensed, proprietary product to control your data and information, you are giving that company partial ownership of you and your work.
I think this was summed up quite well by my friend Jens Benecke's signiture today:When they encrypted TV (Macrovision) I said nothing - I don't have a TV.It's something to think about as Microsoft's Palladium initiative is pushed forward and bills like Sen. Fritz “Eisner's Best Friend” Hollings's CBDTPA continue to be discussed.
When they encrypted DVD (CSS) I said nothing - I don't watch DVDs.
When they encrypted the OS (XP,XBOX) I said nothing - I don't use XP.
When they encrypted the internet I said nothing
- there was no one left to talk to.
Linux, Linux, Linux.
- Showdown: The Penguins Prepare for a Shootout - This is the first in a series of distribution reviews that I will be doing over the next few weeks. This week I look at Xandros, a much hyped distribution that includes Windows compatiblity courtesy of CrossOver Office and Plug-in.
- Duval Clears Up MNF Controversy - Mandrake has a nice new Firewall/Router/DHCP server that might do the trick if you want something more powerful than a router “appliance”… yet it comes with new “dual license.” I interviewed Mandrake co-founder Gaël Duval about MNF and its license, and this is the result.
- MandrakeSoft Faces Short-Term Cash Crunch - Unfortunately it seems that MDK has encountered another rough bit concerning funding. I encourage any one using MDK's free download ISO to consider joining MDK Club to support their Free Software endevours. Don't let another distribution be forced to move to a proprietary software model! (Note this article, unlike the others, is just a summary for a news release and not an original piece)
Geramik
So I would understand if you were out of patience And I would understand if I was out of chances
But your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn
And when the music is through, or so it seems to be
Let me sing s new song
—Nichole Nordeman, Mercies New
I haven't posted any screenshots on my screenshot page yet, but my GTK and KDE apps now look very nice together. How? With the ultra-amazing its-about-time-someone-did-this theme known as Geramik. Geramik is a GTK 1.x theme that looks almost the same as KDE's Keramik. But wait… there's more! In addition to looking like KDE's new default widgets, it also does color matching by basing its color on the .kderc's color settings. Thus, while it isn't a great theme for GNOME users, it is amazing for KDE users.
I did a write-up on it here on OfB.
Win(in)Modems Work pretty well in Linux....
…otherwise you wouldn't be hearing from me right now. My cable modem is
unavailable since I'm getting new carpeting atm, so I went and got the lucent
winmodem driver yesterday. Guess what? It took two minutes (including
download) to install. I got the Mandrake 9.0 Package, installed it, and
started using my modem. No fuss, no muss (I can't upgrade the modem since
this is a laptop, and I don't want to use a PC Card modem).
Anyway, everything is slow at 49kbps, but at least it works…
