I bought a Dell Dimension 9200 with a Quad Core processor. It hasn’t helped a lot but I’m reserving judgment on that until I get a second hard drive into the box. I’m suspecting that things are more I/O bound. Anyway, I didn’t want to pay what Dell wanted for a DVD R/W drive instead of a DVD drive so I got the box with just a DVD drive. I tried buying a DVD R/W drive at Target but the connections are wrong for my box. ...
I’ve been waiting for people to start getting and reviewing their Dell machines with Ubuntu before ordering mine. There’s a nice article on the Ubuntu Forums:Review of Dell XPS 410n with Ubuntu Feisty preinstalled. Also good coverage of the Dell E1505n laptop. I’m not ready to convert my 4-year-old Inspiron laptop over to Ubuntu because of suspend/hibernate and wireless issues but it sounds better with more modern machines. Maybe if Dell or HP or Lenovo comes out with a backlit LED screen like Apple’s I’ll be ready to switch. Also liked the tips on wireless with Ubuntu here.
I’m still trying to figure out whether I’m going to try and keep running XP on my laptop or try to run XP under Ubuntu. Big problem with running Ubuntu is that hibernate does not work and I’ve spent several hours on it. Enough time that I’m not willing to spend more without confidence that the time will be well-spent. I may just wait for Dell or someone else to come out with Ubuntu on their machines officially and then buy one of those. Hopefully WiFi and hibernate will work without the kind of work I’m having to do. ...
Really liked this article. Linux Audio Players, Tested and Graded. I’m working my way through the Linux equivalents of Windows apps. I’ve used iTunes under Windows because it would talk easily to my iPod. I tried Rhythmbox but it was out immediately. I want to keep my songs on a network-attached storage drive. Basically, the SimpleShare is a hard drive with an ethernet port. I don’t expect it to be as vulnerable to attacks as Windows XP. I don’t have to punch holes in its firewall that might allow people to get control of my Linux box or my wife’s Mac. Rhythmbox wants import all my music to one local location. No. ...
Was reading Deep Jive Interests about Dell’s Crowdsourcing More Than Hype: Tells Microsoft to “Suck It!” I’ve spent some time the past 10 days or so putting Ubuntu 7.04 on 3 PCs, all of them dual-booting some flavor of Windows. Obviously there’s a lot of interest in doing this on Dell’s site but it’s not clear at all that Dell is going to reduce the price just because they don’t install Microsoft. I still don’t have hibernation working properly on my desktop - haven’t tried on the kids’ or my laptop yet - so I’m a lot more interested in paying the same price as a Windows box just to have hibernate and wireless work without a glitch. ...
Yesterday, I referenced what it was like living with Vista Today I ran across an [Apple ad](https://images.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple-getamac-security_480x376.mov mocking Vista). Unfortunately, they pretty much got it right. I’m hoping for an update that fixes this. Please, Microsoft?
OK, I’ve had Windows Vista installed for 9 days now and my verdict is … it’s not worth upgrading. Vista is supposed to be more secure than XP but this manifests itself in really annoying ways. The screen flashes black and a box pops up that must be dealt with. That’d be great if it were only for important things but it happens all the time! I’ve had it happen when I want to change the smallest system setting. I’ve had it happen while downloading files. C’mon, get out of my way. ...
I installed Vista on my home desktop machine on Friday. I’ve already been bitten twice by the new (off( button with Vista. I’m going to have to figure out how to change its default behavior. I enjoy reading Joel Spolsky’s articles. In Choices = Headaches he talks about the problems with Vista: Every time you want to leave your computer, you have to choose between nine, count them, nine options: two icons and seven menu items. ...
I installed Vista on my home desktop machine. I say “installed” rather than upgraded because Microsoft’s installation routine refused to let me upgrade. I spent a couple of hours on trying to figure out how to get around that and, in the end, decided that I’d rather install FireFox, Acrobat Reader, iTunes and the other programs that I want or need. It so happens that Thunderbird 2 beta 2 was released recently. I tried “nightlies” or alphas and it was a little too experimental for me. No lost mail but just some inconsistencies in how things worked. Fair enough, they’re alphas. And beta 1 had issues with message filters. So I dropped back to 1.5 In the meantime, I’ve started using IMAP and procmail and message filters are less important. ...
In their article Want an iPhone? Beware the iHandcuffs published today, the Times makes a number of good points. Probably the best one is: As some wags have said, the initials D.R.M. should really stand for “Digital Restrictions Management.” One of the reasons I’m reluctant to switch to an Apple computer is because of the apparent lack of alternatives on the Mac. I don’t use Microsoft’s software or formats for music, I use AudioGrabber to rip to MP3 format and then listen to those in iTunes. ...