The smartphone is mis-named; pocket computer would be better, but also incomplete.
The notion of a telephone, a device that permits two-way voice communication, is hopelessly outdated. So is the more recent development of SMS text messaging.
Continue reading
Opening the tight Nexus 7 box was a minor challenge, as others had reported. But once open, the device set up easily. It found the wireless network instantly and all I had to do was provide the WEP key. Of course my gmail account was key to many features, like my library ebooks, which was right there.
In general, the whole thing was seamless and intuitive. I’ll note a few items that took me a few extra seconds. Enabling landscape display (so the screen orients itself automatically when you turn it) required me to hold and drag down the top navigation bar/panel. As with any touch screen device, it’s all about the drag-and-drop and the pinch-to-zoom. In the top nav bar is an obvious icon to toggle screen rotation on and off. Other commenters also wondered why this was not enabled by default.
Google Play is the app store on the Nexus 7. You can search for any app you want. Removing unwanted default apps or other apps requires you to press and hold the app icon, then drag it up to the Remove “X” at the top of the screen. Moving apps around, between the five home screens calls for the same motion.
When I set up a Yahoo mail account, I unchecked a ‘Send by Default’ box. Don’t do that. Because then you can’t send out mail from that account at all.
There are lots and lots of apps. Right now, I am composing this post on the WordPress app.
There are several features of WordPress that work fine, if your blog is installed on WordPress.com, or perhaps other large platforms. But if you are using your own dedicated server, some things might need adjustment. Here’s what I found, on my CentOS server, with WHM cPanel.
Continue reading
Beyond the Triple- Triple.
If you already know enough about Words with Friends (WWF) to not set up your opponent to play a Triple Letter – Triple Word combination, this strategy guide is for you. Let’s get beyond the basic defensive strategy tips that abound on the internet.
Continue reading
Don’t miss the video of the Backyard Star Wars photonic fence in action.
If you’re the kind of sicko that pulls wings off flies, or at least likes to see mosquito wings go up in puffs of smoke. Incredible!
Via
Perhaps no surprise, but KDE, billed as a fully-featured desktop environment, comes out on top in my comparison with XFCE. My test was not intentional, but just happened.
Experimenting with the seriously “not-for-noobs” Arch Linux distro, when I first installed it, I chose XFCE, since I am using Gnome (Ubuntu & Mint) on other PCs, and wanted to try something different. The notion that XFCE was “lightweight” also seemed to be interesting.
Continue reading
My old Dell laptop, an Inspiron B130, is running Linux Mint 7, all set up with my Firefox bookmarks and passwords. The desktop (i.e. the ‘desktop’ appearance of the laptop, not to be confused with the larger PC workstation of the same name) is customized just to my liking, and I can share files with the other PC. I need this one, and don’t want to change it all the time.
Continue reading
In playing around with different Linux distros, many forums recommended keeping the /home folder in its own partition, so that, as one installed different distros or OS’s, the /home folder, with all of its data would remain intact.
So I tried that. And, of course, there was learning involved.
I had set up a 32GB /home partition, leaving 8GB for / (root) and swap areas. Then I installed Debian, which worked just fine. The only hiccup was that it required a specific, non-FOSS, driver for my wireless card. But when installed, it had crammed itself into the 8GB, leaving the 32GB unmounted, and unavailable.
A helpful tech on ##Linux IRC channel gave me these commands to run, which made the /home partition available:
mount -t ext3 /dev/hda3 /mnt (This mounts the /home folder to /mnt.)
umount /mnt (Releases the filesystem.)
/dev/hda3 /home ext3 defaults 0 2 (This is the proper entry for the /etc/fstab file. Edit and add this line to the file.)
shutdown -rF (Performs an important check on reboot.)
But not all was well.
While Linux/Debian still worked, the Gnome desktop was totally blank. Apparently, when I installed Debian, it had its own ‘new’ /home folder (somewhere in the 8GB). While I had not saved any user documents or files to it, it apparently did contain some settings, preferences, set ups, etc.
It was fairly easy, and interesting, as a learning exercise to rebuild the Gnome desktop, which, since I had to add everything myself, was the bare minimum of stuff, and exactly those items I wanted. “GUI without the cute.”
Not necessarily an easy way to go about this, but useful learning.
Just a few notes, to go along with my previous Linux/Ubuntu posts.
The PC in question, a Dell Inspiron 530S is a 2006 desktop with 3GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive, good enough to hold a whole lot of BitTorrent movies. I’m running Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) on an older, less powerful Dell laptop, and it works fine. I’m anxious to try out 9.10 (Karmic Koala) because its IM client, Empathy, supports voice over Gtalk. As 9.10 is still in Alpha, I don’t want to install it on this laptop, my primary computer at the moment. But the 530S is unclaimed for now.
With two Ubuntu installs behind me, I’ve found out that not all hardware is compatible and not all installs are seamless. I love Linux, but that’s been my experience. While the 530S is not being used, it seemed better to try a dual boot first, dedicating just 30GB to Linux. If that worked out well, then I could re-install right over the Windows OS.
Once again, the wireless network card was an issue. I’ve learned to install Linux while connected via an ethernet cable; if it has that internet connection, it can find drivers, etc. So, I installed Ubuntu fairly easily, but it couldn’t find the wireless network card, nor, of course, any wireless network connection (a requirement, in my view). Some Ubuntu Forum contributors said to try System –> Admin –> Hardware Drivers, to find a driver for the Broadcom 802.11g card. (BCM43xx). It found a driver, but repeatedly hung when trying to activate/install it. I even began the ndiswrapper process. But when I tried to install the driver again, it worked (unrelated, I think, to Windows driver tar.gz I had downloaded to my desktop). Not sure if a re-boot or two made the difference.
But, in short, eventually the System –> Admin –> Hardware Drivers process found a driver and activated it. Then the machine could see the wireless card and all the networks in the neighborhood, too. I clicked on my own wireless network, provided the WEP key, and was all set. I removed the ethernet cable, re-booted and, of course, the wireless connection was still present.
Now, I have to re-install, using the entire 250 GB and nuking Windows. Apparently to reformat the disk entirely is easier than trying to fiddle with the two partitions.
Update:
When I re-installed, using the entire HD, Ubuntu found the needed BCM43xx driver much more easily. I don’t know if the dual-boot installation contributed to the earlier difficulties, or not.
One thing seems clear: Installation with a live ethernet connection is a good idea. Not always necessary, but can make life a lot easier, if “Linux-unfriendly” wireless cards or other hardware are involved.
