Kudos to KDE!

Feeling abit jealous of Macs with their shiny interface, I decided to try something other than the basic, (but very efficient) xfce.  I decided to try kde, an interface actually meant *for computers* (cough Windows 8, Gnome 3 cough) something I haven't touched in at least 4 years.  I was blown away!   It is absolutely gorgeous, and it runs pretty well, complete with 3D effects, even on my humble netbook (Intel atom N550 and 2 GB RAM)...The startup time is slower, but not bad...Kudos to KDE for getting it right!

Introducing...Arch Linux!

I've been a linux user for a little while now. I fondly remember my first distro, Ubuntu Drapper...ah the good ol' days.  But shortly after using Ubuntu, I switched to Debian, as back then Ubuntu was still young and was frequently quite buggy... And I have pretty much stuck with debian.  But still I wanted more.  I wanted a system with the latest versions of everything, something that wasn't bloated to windows proportions, and something that gave me control without having to compile everything...such a distro, I thought, existed only in my dreams.  That is, until I found Arch Linux! Arch is the distribution with everything I have been looking for!  They have the absolute latest stable versions of everything,  and give you choice and control without you having to compile everything.  (Its not that I'm afraid of compiling everything, but the fastest computer I have is an atom-based netbook...).  And Arch is a rolling-distribution, meaning there are no "versions" or "releases", you simply upgrade your system to the latest and greatest!  The packages delivered by the arch team are as close to upstream as  possible.  Finally, a distro which doesn't mess with everything, and throw in the kitchen sink!  (*cough cough Iceweasel* Debian's politics made me sick!)  My computer feels like a completely different machine!  The speed difference is tremedous!  You would think that this machine was running some ultra-optimized gentoo install, but no, its all precompiled!   I wish I had done this a long time ago, but perhaps like some of you, I have always been afraid to try different distributions because of the fear that they would end up as vaporware...(several do).  But Arch has been around since 2002, and doesn't look to be going anywhere soon...Arch is not for everyone, there is a lot of manual configuration involved for the initial setup, but the install guide is very straightforward.  If you are a beginner, I would recommend Ubuntu, because they are the most user friendly.  But if you have been using Linux for awhile, and are not afraid to get your hands dirty, then Arch is for you!

"Secure-boot"...

Microsoft has mandated that computer manufacturers who ship their computers with Windows 8 configure them with secure-boot enabled.  This technology prevents the computer from booting anything that is not signed by Microsoft.  Allegedly, this is to prevent malware from infecting the boot loader of the system.
However, this also prevents computers from loading legitimate software, such as Linux or FreeBSD.  While it can be disabled on x86 systems (PCs), it cannot be disabled on ARM-based systems, like tablets.  It would appear that Microsoft is trying to squeeze Linux out of the tablet market by forcing companies to restrict what users can load on their systems.  What gives Microsoft the right to choose what operating systems people run on their hardware?  They're not even the ones who make it!    This is nothing short of monopolistic, anticompetitive behavior.
The Free Software Foundation has a started a petition to get Microsoft to change the way this "feature" is implemented, so that systems like Linux and FreeBSD are not relegated to PCs, but have a place on tablets as well...

Computer Chronicles

If I say the words Stewart Cheifet and Gary Kildall, does a super 80s jingle come to mind?  What about big hair and bad style?  No, I'm not talking about Footloose, I am talking about the Computer Chronicles!  For those who don't know, (or who were too young to remember), the Computer Chronicles was a wonderful series hosted by PBS, talking about "new" personal computers.  The series is now fully available (almost in its entirety) at the Internet Archives.  In this particular episode, they are talking about the "low-end" computers.