So there I was...

...logging onto my Apple iBook, when all of a sudden...nothing! Then something (squishy). Then nothing, again. Now, I have determined that my iBook has fallen prey to the infamous iBook Logic Board problem. So, I called Apple Care and gave them all that they asked for. And they gave me...nothing.

To say the least, I am very disappointed. My belief is that if you know that one of your products has an issue, fix it. Especially if the problem has been going on for years. They told me that I can send it in and they will charge me for the repairs. No thank you. I'm glad that I bought the iBook on ebay (which means that I saved money!) or I might really be ticked off. So, I don't think that I will be buying any more Apple products for quite some time. Grrr...

Now to complicate things a bit, I have been told by my generous Uncle Sam that he wants me to go on vacation, again, to the Middle East. No problem, says I. Well, except for the fact that I no longer have a portable multimedia powerhouse to take with me. This means that not only will I be vacationing at an austere location (think three hots, a cot, and an office to work from), I won't be able to play games, listen to music, watch DVDs, email my family, etc. So, I need a new laptop! And soon! Toward that end...

...I have been doing a lot of research on laptops that will fit my peculiar way of thinking. What I want is generous RAM, a huge hard drive, reasonably fast processor, a minimum CDRW/DVD drive, wireless built-in, etc. Oh, yeah, and it must be a processor that offers something unique to the table. I'm sort of a processor whore (excuse my language, please). I've owned Cyrix processors, Intel processors, VIA processors, PPC processors, DEC Alpha processors, etc. So, I want something "yummy"...like dual core or x86-64 or both. Oh yeah, I don't want to spend a bunch of cash on the lappy, either. I know, I know, it's a tall order.

Well, I will keep this blog updated as to whether or not I have found my "perfect" iBook replacement.

Cheers

This Stinks!

This stinks! Well, it would if I could smell, I suppose. I caught something, a cold, a viral infection, something that only rest and fluids can take care of. I was supposed to go on a date with my wife today. Due to my illness, I was unable to see X3! Hopefully I can be well enough tomorrow that I will be able to go to the movies with her then.

Here's to hoping.

Cheers

Multimedia Still A Disappointment

Why is it that multimedia is still such a disappointment under Linux? We have several really awesome programs that will do so many great things. I don't want this to be a diatribe against using Linux as a multimedia-capable OS. I am just venting my frustrations.

Goobox is a really good CD player and ripper. It is easily configured. It even allows you to download a picture of the CD cover. Great stuff. What makes me shake my head is that it doesn't play the files it is capable of ripping to. Want to play a FLAC, OGG, MP3 or other file? You won't be able to do so with Goobox. Now, I will say that I am quite capable of being wrong on this subject. Also, it likes to tag everything with Blues. And, I can't seem to get the cddb to work properly.

Rhythmbox is another awesome CD player/multi-format jukebox. It just won't rip files. I would, generally speaking, put it up against iTunes any day. I have used iTunes under Mac OS X and Windows and I have to say that Rhythmbox is very nearly identical. The best part is that with the right gstreamer plug-ins, you can play just about any format out there. All for free. You just can't say that about iTunes (or even Windows Media Player). One other shortfall...I retagged several mp3's with EasyTag and it won't show the new taggings. Not certain why not but it prefers to keep the old tags created when Goobox tagged the files.

Ripper X is a good CD ripper but I don't like the id3 tags that it gets from the cddb. I am really particular about how things are written and the one used by Ripper X isn't exactly to my liking. Of course, since I use EasyTag, changing the tags is no big deal. The config box that pops up when you press the config button has just about every possible encoder option available yet is not overwhelming. Spot on.

Of course, I would love to see a multimedia jukebox that has the id3 tag editing capabilities of EasyTag, the Goobox simplicity of selecting an encoder and it's bitrate (using a simple graphical slide), the advanced config options of RipperX, the ability to download cover art (and embed them within the mp3 like some other proprietary players can), with the overall iTunes kicking ability of Rhythmbox. Maybe one of the KDE-based jukeboxes has all of the features that I would love to have. Maybe I'll try them out next.

Here's to Linux, to Freedom, and to Choice!

Sleep Works!

What a surprise! I closed the cover on my Ubuntu (Dapper) powered iBook. It went to sleep and when I opened the cover it woke up! This has been an issue in past releases of Linux and I am both pleased and pleasantly surprised that it actually works.

This Linux thing is really working! Yeah for open source volunteers who don't say no!

Rock on!

LinuxJunior

I know that it has been some time since cloverm turned LinuxJunior over to peter. My biggest two reasons for waiting to post something are:

1. I wanted to wait until I had a better (emotional) handle on the change.
2. I wanted to wait and see how peter would handle things.

Well, I am done waiting and I now feel free to comment. I was (and am, to a degree) disappointed that cloverm turned over control of LinuxJunior. Several of us would have preferred that he ask one of us to take it over instead of peter (who is/was a stranger to us). People do not like change and this was a huge change. While I can't speak about why cloverm did it the way he did I have to believe that he had a good reason for doing so. It's much easier being the critic than it is being the criticized.

We are now using OpenFree.org instead of LinuxJunior.org. The interface is different and we don't quite have the same friendly banter that we used to have. Most of this can be attributed to the sudden demise of our beloved website. The character of it is definitely different, though only in subtle ways. Overall, it just feels different (hard to explain). It can be difficult to feel comfortable when you aren't used to something.

Emotions have caused several people to either stop using ljr/ofo or severely cut back on our usage. I, for one, visit as often as possible though that hasn't been nearly as often as before the change (due more to family/work reasons than anything else). Hopefully, as time goes on, the original ljr folks will migrate to ofo and make it better. In the mean time, we need to make sure that we are providing the same level of newbie-friendly advise and help that we gave to ljr. This will ensure that we can continue to be one of the best places on this planet to go to for Linux help.

To end this little post, I will say that ofo will likely continue on for quite sometime. It doesn't have the character of ljr but could if the right people get (re)involved. It has a lot of room to grow just like every other website that tries to be helpful and useful. Not an easy job in my mind, but one that is doable.

Here is to continued success, peter.

Cheers

The New MacBook

For over a year and a half I've owned a 12" iBook G3 600mhz computer. It's been my "home entertainment" PC while I was on vacation for four months to the Middle East. It has been a great, though not very attractive, companion on several of my other adventures. I say all of this so that you can understand that I really love small, powerful computers. Apple, in their infinite loop wisdom, has seen fit to end the consumer iBook model and come up with a much better product to replace it. So, now, Apple has added yet another thorn in my flesh by introducing the MacBook.

The MacBook is available in one size (13.3" wide-screen) instead of the iBook's 12.1" and 14" models. With the gorgeous Intel CoreDuo (instead of the much anticipated CoreSolo) chip running at some decent speeds (2ghz range), built-in Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, Firewire, and wireless internet. Not bad. Better yet, the top of the line MacBook now comes in a beautiful "Grand Piano" black color! It has got to be seen to be believed. So, go to Apple and check it out. You, too, may need to go confess a little sin called lust!

Cheers

Ubuntu Linux

If you haven't tried Ubuntu Linux, let me encourage you to surf on over to Ubuntu.com and sign up for a free copy. Ubuntu, with a little tweaking, is the best version of Linux that I've tried. After playing around with a few extra repositories, I've got Gnome 2.14 running and it is awesome.

I'm not a huge fan of flame-war material but I've got to admit that I'm starting to really enjoy Gnome over KDE. Now my buddy, David, would tell you that it's easy to explain why I've fallen for Gnome. I can only say that while I love the beauty that is KDE, Gnome just works the most naturally to me. That isn't to say that KDE doesn't work, per se, just that my natural cognitive abilities favor Gnome over KDE. Of course, I have several KDE-based apps installed. With a little tinkering I've been able to get my Gnome install to look quite nice (which puts to rest the notion that Gnome is inherently butt ugly).

At any rate, this will be my first (successful, I hope) post from an embedded panel app that will allow me to post from the panel.

Here's to hoping!

Cheers

Chronicles of Narnia Movie

Okay, I think that I might be the only person in Christendom who isn't impressed with the movie. I think it was well enough made, but it wasn't "all that"! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie (I saw it twice in the theater) but I walked away disappointed by the CGI during the combat sequences. Unfortunately, as one of only two really good epic Christian fiction/fantasy stories, we have to compare it to it's contemporary...Lord of The Rings. Oops!

While I felt that most of the CGI was well done, I can't help but feel that the combat scenes at the end were rushed and not very believable. The combat scenes from LoTR were fairly believable (understanding of course that Orcs and such don't really exist) and well integrated into the real world. The computer generated and the living world were messed so well in LoTR that it really raised the bar for all future CGI enhanced films. We have a higher standard and it will be hard to break if you are on a budget.

I understand, of course, that the producer of the movie isn't flush with money like Peter Jackson's production company is. Hopefully, the second Narnia movie will benefit from increased media exposure, that there will be sufficient money brought in from the profits from the first Narnia movie, and that Disney will infuse the production with lots of money and technical expertise. That should help it be a much better movie on par with the LoTR movies.

One can only hope. Until then, I will enjoy the DVD that my wife bought last night and continue treasuring the books and my overactive imagination.

Cheers

Wireless Networking

Well, I have just ordered a 512mb RAM module for my Apple iBook G3/600 (with 16 vram). That will max it out (640mb of RAM is going to be sweet!). I also ordered a usb wireless networking device (802.11g)...it doesn't have drivers for Unix-type OSes but the chipset maker does. I am really excited about being able to 'finally' connect to my wireless network (my wife's Dell has had that capability for seven or eight months!).

Speaking of wireless networks...I just secured the Netgear wireless router last week. What a pain. Well, setting it up wasn't the pain. The string that you have to add to a computer that connects wirelessly is the pain. I had a Microtel computer wired into the router and used it to set the system up. So, the string was visible when I set my wife's Dell up. No big deal, except that you have to add the string twice. Since it is obscured by ****, you can't verify that you've correctly inputted the string. Loads of fun. I then installed a wireless PCI card to the Microtel and had to log onto the router via the Dell. That took longer than I anticipated. After entering the security string about six or seven times, I as able to connect, wirelessly, to the internet...what joy! Of course, after I installed the drivers from the CD, I found out that the drivers conflict with Windows XP Service Pack 2. Nice. So, I tried downloading the drivers from the Netgear website...only, the computer kept rebooting automagically after about five minutes. Since the drivers weren't correct, the network connection speeds were miserable and the signal strength was pathetic (low strength and the computer was literally less than three feet away from the router!). So, using my brain, I booted the Dell, downloaded the drivers and transferred them to a 1 gig USB drive. After waiting for the Microtel to reboot (again), I transferred the drivers and unzipped them. Now I have to admit, Netgear has their stuff together. When you click on the install program, it asks you if you want to uninstall the drivers. Once it does that you have to click on the install program again to install the fresh drivers. That is a good idea. You don't have to worry about the old drivers hanging around somewhere causing conflicts with the new drivers. Well done, Netgear. Now the system is stable and the connection is fast. Sweet!

Well, that is it for now.

Cheers