I am posting this from an Ubuntu Desktop box I duct-taped together a couple of days ago. I am a long time Linux dweeb, but I gave it up as a desktop solution years ago after becoming hooked on Mac OS X.
While I’ve been advocating that everyone I know switch to Mac OS X, I have secretly been courting Ubuntu Desktop 7.10. The verdict so far is good, maybe great… for me. I am loving it. Ubuntu has an amazing level of polish and is over all very usable after you install. The install itself isn’t particulary challenging, which is also good news. Some of the visual FX features are very pretty (and some are cool, but totally dumb).
Adding applications is as easy as clicking on Applications -> Add/Remove… and selecting what you want to install. Most of the officially supported apps (under Ubuntu) will then be added to the Applications menu. There is a bit of a gotcha in that you sometimes need to know what you’re looking for before you install it. Like for example installing a DVD Player is non-trivial in my opinion, because of some of the restrictions on how DVD software works (the encoding and decoding of DVDs).
The traditional method for installing 3rd party software on your PC is that you either pop in a disk that you have, or you download it from the Internet after searching via your web browser. The Add/Remove utility takes care of pretty much that entire process. You have access to, without exaggeration, hundreds of Open Source applications. An additional cool feature is that the apps are rated, so you can avoid the technically dodgy ones.
There have been problems though. I’ve had to wipe out my xorg.conf a couple of times now to get it to re-generate after something munged my settings and left my display totally unusable. To do this I had to log in blind so that the Wireless connection would activate, and ssh in (and luckily I had SSHd running) because my screen isn’t usable from the command line at all. I’ve also found that adding a second monitor is difficult enough for me that I’ve actually backed off and am sticking to just the one. This is a big deal beacuse I’m a dual-monitor junkie.
The above sounds like total gibberish to 99% of the people on this planet, and that’s exactly why I can’t reccomend Ubuntu to my friends and family yet as a replacement for systems like Windows (or a much cheaper alternative to Mac OS X). This would have been a total show stopper for almost everyone I know save for my fellow sysadmins and propeller-heads.
Overall though, if you’re feeling brave, and you want to try something new, Ubuntu 7.10 could win you over. It won’t replace my Powerbook yet, but I’m perfectly happy using it as my Desktop until I can afford that iMac I want (h0h0).
Arr! Dukes Cycle and Suspect Video have both fallen victim to the massive fire that broke out in Toronto’s Queen West district.
I was a huge fan of both Dukes Cycle and Suspect Video and it’s a real shame to see them both go.
With Dukes I had finally found a decent and reputable bike shop to frequent, and it’s where I picked up my BadBoy.
Suspect had an amazing collection of rare and weird vids. Back in my rental days I was a frequent visitor. Some of the stuff in the Suspect library are most likely now lost forever (including tapes me and my Jerk friends added “supplimental material” to.. h0h0).
It’s 10:20pm, and I am browsing the Internet because I am bored and I can not sleep. I was planning on hitting the sack in a couple of minutes from now, but just before I was about to sign off I clicked on this one last link. For some reason I sat through all 5 minutes and 18 seconds of it. I now have a splitting headache and an incurable fear of clowns.
Say goodnight to all those expensive and clunky VR helmets. Johnny Lee has come up with an amazing head-tracking hack using a WiiMote and an inexpensive pair of industrial safety glasses. Crazy stuff.
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learn in typing. asdf is free. asdf is
what
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green?
There’s no reason for this post, other than to remind you why this is the best television program to hit cable… ever. If only because they will kill ANYBODY.
Will Smith is “Legendary” (ooh, see what I did there?), but the CG zombies (or “infected” for the politically correct), weren’t very good.
I’m going to go on the record and state that I did like this film, and I’m going to add it to both my post-apocalyptic AND zombie collections when it’s out on DVD. Will Smith is really good as usual, and he managed to push this film over into the green zone for me. The depiction of zombified New York is really great also, and with the animal life I kinda got a Twelve Monkeys feel from it. Good stuff.
But what the hell was with the CG zombies? I don’t quite get it. Zombies shouldn’t be fully computer generated, ever. If you remove the psychological horror of “meat puppetry” that Zombies imply, they just cease to be scary. That being said, your introduction to the infected in I Am Legend is awesome. Not as good as the intro you’ll find in 28 Days Later (the church scene…), but up there. They’re terrifying when you don’t see very much detail of the CG models.
I’ll have to see it again to be totally sure but I think my primary complaint is with the depiction of the zombies. Not the movement, or the audio, but the models themselves. Weirdly, their eyes are too big and too defined. They actually added too much emotion to the zombies to make them seem truly threatening. By the end of the film they have degraded to almost a cartoony state. You have to see it and compare it to another A level zombie flick to really get it.
If you like zombie films see it anyway, it’s well worth it, and there is a good layer of tension until you become accustomed to the style of the zombies and then most of the tension goes away.
The performance of the dog was also outstanding. Better than Turner and Hooch!
I can’t take credit for the picture below, I found it on the Intertrons, but yeah in a post-apocalyptic setting a medium sized dog is a requirement. Leather optional.
