Well, let me start from the beginning. My main desktop is a Compaq, running Windows XP, 2gb ram and a AMD 3.0Ghz X2 processor. But, lately, it’s been running very slow. So I decided to start fresh. I backed all my files up, and did a clean install using the Compaq Recovery Disc’s I burned when I first got that PC.

But, after doing the install from the disc’s, when it came to setting up Windows, It was telling me the configuration has changed, and to ring HP.

Now, all I have changed is:

    * Added 1gb of ram
    * Added a new DVD drive
    * Added a new processor

I didn’t change all of these at the same time; I changed them with a few months in between. But, even though I’m installing Windows XP from the Compaq disc’s, onto the correct computer, it won’t let me.

Now, I know I could go out and buy Windows XP or Windows Vista, but why should I when I have a perfectly fine, legit copy sitting right on my desk.

So, now, I’m running Linux, Ubuntu to be exact. Which is great, I have a great system, with a great operating system on it. I’m running at faster speeds than ever and even been able to get my printer to work.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very angry with HP/Compaq, because their DVD drive failed on me, and because I upgraded to use the latest software smoothly, HP/Compaq thinks that I shouldn’t be able to install the copy of Windows XP I bought with the computer.

But, I’m also very happy. I’ve always wanted to use Ubuntu. I’ve dual booted in the past, but now I can use it as my main operating system. Throughout this transition, I will keep on updating you on my experience, and maybe some other people will choose this route as well.

Also, I forgot to add, that I do have a Windows 7 disc, with a legit serial number. But, if I used that as my main operating system, after August 1st, my main operating system wouldn’t work. That the main reason I choose to use Ubuntu instead.

I use the Apple iPod 120gb, and used it before this happened. Can someone recommend a good program for Ubuntu that will sync my iPod, and hopefully add video’s, Cover art and podcasts.

Thanks,

Danny

Design

The iPod Classic has a simple, classic design that it has always had. This design hasn’t always looked like this, but it has kept the same overall look, shape and feel. They come in a silver, and a black colour. The black colour seems more of a graphite look instead though. This design also includes a silver back. While Apple has kept this design, it attracts a lot of fingerprints. I personally think Apple should have moved to a full metal case, keeping the same shape of the iPod Classic, but updating the downfalls of the designs. If not, they should at least include some kind of case like they used to do with the old iPod Videos.

when people talk about design, they usually only focus on the design on the item, not the operating system in it. For a lot of people, a good operating system in a mp3/mp4 player is more important than the looks.

The iPod has a beautiful operating system, with the menu on half the screen and album art on the other half. This is good, but when the album art it is showing is enlarged to fill the screen, it becomes quite pixilated. I would prefer it if it showed album art like the iPod Nano, underneath it in a smaller preview. Although I know this wont happen because of the size of the iPod Classics screen.

iTunes

The iTune’s program is a ok program to use to synchronise your computer. But, on a Windows machine, this isn’t very good, and is lacking a few features. For example, when you import a cd, it doesn’t find the appropriate cd cover.

Anyway, lets not stroll off the review. To use the iPod, most people will use iTunes. It makes it very easy to transfer music, videos, photos, games, contacts, calendar information, to-do lists and finally, TV series.

Speed

So far, using this, I haven’t noticed much wrong with the speed of the iPod. the only speed problem I have noticed is when I’m in coverflow, browsing through hundreds of album covers, which can take a second or two, which is acceptable.

My first sync, was around 4.5 thousand songs and about 10 videos, which didn’t take long at all over USB 2.0. It would have been better if it also came with FireWire, to speed the process up. But, USB 2.0 is acceptable, and its quite quick synchronising everything.

Good Things

• It has a huge amount of space, the most of any iPod out at the moment.
• The genius feature
• Its huge podcast support
• Good format support
• Good audio quality

Bad  Things

• Screen and back of the case can easily get scratched
• Older iPod accessories may not be fully compatible
• Bit big for some peoples liking
• Needs a better interface in  some areas

Conclusion

So, overall, this is a good mp4 player. Its kept with the classic design of the iPod’s, with a huge capacity for all your media needs. Some users may want other features, like wifi and Bluetooth, but its a classic iPod.

If you want any more details, then comment below and I will answer.

• Ubuntu
• Kubuntu
• OpenSuse
• DSL (Damn Small Linux)
• Knoppix

And more.

As you can see, by my old posts, showing shots of my Ubuntu Desktop, I have tried to use Linux as my main operating system. Yes, for some people, it does work. But, there are a few bugs that make it not ready. The one bug I’m relating too is playing songs while on the web. With a webpage loaded like Youtube, using flash and sound. It just wont play the sound. I’m guessing that there is a simple solution to this, by going into the terminal, sudo your way to files. And then editing a text file, maybe just changing a 0 to a 1. I’m a power user, but all I want to do is what I do. I don’t want to have to research into this problem, and them fix it. I want it to just work.

Also, as I’m going into sixth form and I have took I.C.T., I will be using Microsoft Access at school. As I will be making databases. Now, yes I Could use OpenOffice.Org Bases (I think its called that). But, it wont open Microsoft Access Files. And I have to use that file format so that my teacher can go through it at school, and at home to review and mark it.

I know that this is because its not a open file format. But I don’t care. Most databases use this format, and so must I.

Other than that, Ubuntu is a great operating system. I love it. If them two problems could be fixed. I wouldn’t think twice as using that as my main operating system. I really want to.

Conclusion

But, for now. I will only be using this either in a virtual box. Or dual boot. I don’t have it installed at the moment, as I have been having another problem with Firefox, which will be in another blog post.

Do you use Linux. Why do you use it. How do you use it, in a virtual machine, dual boot. Or as your only operating system. Comment below, I would love to know what every one else’s views are on this topic.

EDIT – I have now installed Ubuntu, and I have fixed the problem with Firefox. I now use it around 80% of the time.

1. Remember The Milk Addon for Gmail – This addon gives users the usability of both Gmail and RTM (Remember The Milk). All you have to do is go onto Gmail, and you see all your RTM Lists side by side. A must have for users of Gmail and RTM.
2. Google Redesigned – If you use Gmail and Google Calendar. Give yours a new look. It looks very nice. Try it for yourself.
3. Google Gears – This is becoming a must have, like Adobe Flash. This, makes it easy for you to use web applications while your offline. Great for when you are travelling. Only a few websites work with this, but these include RTM, Google Reader. There are rumours that Gmail and Google Calendar are also getting this.
4. Foxmarks – Do you use Firefox on multiple machines? If you do, you will have trouble keeping your bookmarks on all the machines. A easy way to keep them synchronised is using Foxmarks. Even if you only use one computer, you can use Foxmarks as a backup. Also, if you are using a public PC, e.g. at a Internet cafe, you can login to the site, and see your bookmarks, edit them, and add more. And whey you start Firefox at home, all you new/edited bookmarks will be changed, just like you did on the website.
5. ForecastFox – If you don’t get away from your computer allot. But want to see what the weather is like, or going to be like in the next few days. Then ForecastFox is a great extension. You can see upcoming weather, and see a radar view of the weather. Its very good.

One specifically for windows vista

Glasser – If you like how Internet Explorer gives you the Aero effect. But, miss it in Firefox. Well if you use this extention, then you can get the same aero effect.

So, if you use Firefox, What extensions do you use.

Thanks,

Danny

Why a mac?

Mac’s are built from the base, by Apple. Apple put everything together, the hardware, and the software. So there isn’t any issues, or shouldn’t be.

Design

I, will most likely get the Apple iMac, as it is a all in one PC. I’m sick and tired of going to the back of my computer desk to see lots of wires. All you need for the iMac is one cable, the power cable. Everything else, can be done wirelessly.

It comes with Bluetooth integrated. So the Apple wireless keyboard and wireless Mighty Mouse works perfectly out the box. Apple even configures them before you buy the iMac, so as soon as you turn it on, it just works.

The iMac is a very clean system, which Apple has took a lot of care, thought and attention in when making.

The Operating System

Apples OS X Leopard is an amazing operating system. It comes with nearly everything you need straight out the box. A very good mail application, calendar application etc. It also comes with iLife, a suite of tools. A good photo management/ editing suite. A movie program. A music program. You can also create brilliantly designed websites with it, easily.

iWorks seems to be also quite good from the reviews I have heard. This has a word processing application, spreadsheets program, and a presentation program. The templates for these programs are amazing. The detail in these templates are a lot like Apple product’s, simple, but elegant.

Also, all the applications I use on my computers can work on Mac’s.

What do you use? Windows Vista, Windows XP, A Linux distribution (e.g. Ubuntu), or a Mac. What are your views on a Mac. Do you think my next PC should be a Mac? Comment below.

I use a lot of web applications in my daily life, including Google Mail, Google Reader, Remember The Milk, Skype and Windows Live Messenger. These are just a few of the applications I use. As I am nearly always on the phone or on VOIP using Skype, I use these for my Job.

I have been without the Internet nearly all day now, and I am expecting a lot of emails, and a very late night tomorrow for myself catching up.

I use Remember The Milk to create tasks for each project, each with their own due date, and priority. Now, I’m going to have to do two days worth of tasks in a day.

But, its not all bad. As I couldn’t do my work, I took this time to do some other things, so not wasting any time.

A few things to do when you cant get on the Internet that I have done is the following:

• Clean up the house
• Clean up / Organise your computer(s).
• If it’s a nice day, go out with friends, take a day off.
• Do some things that don’t need the Internet, in my case. Creating things offline for a website I am building, e.g. Planning things, creating graphics.

What can you do?

To stop being as reliant on the Internet. I had set up my Google Mail account to, on one computer, download all the mail using POP3, and on my laptop, use IMAP.

If you use Google Doc’s. Use Google Gear’s. For now, you cannot create new documents using it. But, if you find yourself without a Internet connection, at least you can view your documents.  There is also rumours of Google Mail getting Google Gears.

Remember The Milk, can also use Google Gears.

Are you reliant on the Internet? Comment below on your views, and if you are reliant on the Internet, and if so, how?

So, after reading this, I decided to check it out. I decided to search for “Techy Dan”. And, while looking at the results, I did find some relevant things, like some blog posts from Lockergnome. But what I didn’t find was my domain – which I am very surprised about.

I was pleased about the layout of the search results; it was a better interface than others like Google and Yahoo.

But, comparing results. When i did the same search, but on Google, I got this.

Google’s interface is a lot more plain and simple, in my opinion. It had my domain at the top of the results, with the Lockergnome blog second.

Cuil has been getting a lot of hype lately, being a “Google Rival”. Lately, though, some people reviewing this have said other things about it.

Here are other people’s opinions on Cuil. Make your own mind up about what you think of it.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2326741,00.asp

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cuil_good_but_not_good_enough.php

http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2008/07/28/cuil-not-so-cool/

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/search/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209901028

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/08/04/in_retrospect_the_pr_strategy_for_cuilcoms_launch_wasnt_so_cool/

So, what do you think of Cuil. Can you see yourself changing your default search engine to Cuil. Comment below, with your own views on this.

Thanks,

Danny

Also, I forgot to mention that when searching Cuil, it was very slow and I had to refresh the page to get my results.

Now i know most people find the easiest operating system the first one they use, well, not for me. When i first tried linux, i used knoppix, and liked the difference from the same old boring Windows XP i was used to, but i did not like KDE 3.5

I just installed Kubuntu 8.04 on my system, dual booting with Ubuntu (no i did not install the packages on my ubuntu partition, i didnt want to) and  to be quite honest, only messed around with it for the simple reason that i wanted to run kontact. As i have a gmail account, and when trying with evolution, it will not prompt for a password, and i dont like thunderbird (that can be expressed in another post)

So, how long did i spend on the system……..15 minutes maximum. Yes, im being serious. I couldnt stand it. I kept finding bugs, and i didnt like it.

I was first prompted by the hardware drivers program to install the nvidia driver, so i did, expecting to have to restart my computer, but that didnt prompt me too. So i unchecked and rechecked the box to install, to find it download the drivers again, and then prompt to restart, so i did.

Then i tried installing compiz, i installed, no hitch there, i was quite pleased with the install, but then, i clicked custom, which said another window would pop up for me….which never happened. So i installed the compiz settings manager, and that wouldnt work. Then, i got onto kontact, while chatting to my friends on the kde IM client kopete,  which i really liked, it has alot more features than pidgeon has, like webcam support. But, by this time, i was too busy looking around kontact, and i really liked it.

But…it was 3am and i gave up on KDE, it was too buggy, and didnt appeal to me. I know people love and hate kde, same with gnome and all the other ones, but for myself, i shall not be moving off gnome. Even though amarok doesnt function right, and this is the same for KDE and gnome, it plays a song with a given name, then as soon as it starts playing, changes the name of it. I gave up.

So, i shall stick with my ubuntu machine for now, i may go back to xp, maybe even vista, but i know, i wont go to kde for a long time yet.

I was browsing the web and went onto the blog site weebly.com using firefox 3. If you click onto Try Live Demo it tells you on there in the “oops” message when firefox 3 is going to be lauched. Take a look for yourself. JUNE 17th!

Thanks,

Danny