Thursday, December 10, 2009
Another update
The source engine is now up to date so there is nothing to worry and I finished downloading Super gamer so I will be uploading it soon.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
A notice and a distro
This is just to say that while there is an exploit in the source engine we will be keeping the server up. Also for a side note I came across a distro that come with tons of games native to Linux. I would suggest you check it out its called Super Gamer heres a link. One problem though is the torrent for the distros ISO is extremely slow and vary's between 100Kb to 10Kb. Once I complete downloading it i'll zip it into 100Mb files with 7zip and reupload it to MediaFire so that you can download it quicker.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Garrys mod
For any of our readers who plays Garrys mod we have a 2 player server which will be up for a month on a trial. Currently me and Mekapedia are the only admins of the server. Ill try and be on it as much as possible. If any issues arise or you want to suggest an addon send us an email.
Server ip: 205.234.159.101
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Lessons of Plan 9
In 1969, two researchers in AT&T Bell Labs came up with an operating system that would influence the entire computer industry for years to come - this was called Unics, in spite of Multics. It was shortly after changed to Unix.
Unix has influenced every major operating system to date, and indeed, every major one except Windows is based off of it. It's combination of portability and usability has enabled it to flourish in many areas. Indeed, in the 1980s and thought the early 90s it was the most dominant operating system, but ultimately Windows succeeded due to the "Unix Wars".
But this is not about Unix specifically.
It is about Plan 9.
Plan 9 was conceived in the mid 1980s as a successor to Unix, from the same people who developed Unix. It was the epitome of the Unix philosophy - everything was represented as a file, every program did one thing, and did it well. It introduced "9P", a unified communication standard that allowed access to everything in the same way, and across the entire network. It was a fantastic system, far outpacing Unix and Unix-like systems in design.
But it had one folly, one flaw that could not be corrected by any amount of operating system design.
Unix.
It was inferior - Plan 9 was by far a greater system. The issue was that everyone used Unix - and no one thought that it was worth their time to upgrade, because Unix did the job well enough. Eric Raymond eloquently describes this in his book, The Art of Unix Programming:
"Plan 9 failed simply because it fell short of being a compelling enough improvement on Unix to displace its ancestor. Compared to Plan 9, Unix creaks and clanks and has obvious rust spots, but it gets the job done well enough to hold its position. There is a lesson here for ambitious system architects: the most dangerous enemy of a better solution is an existing codebase that is just good enough."
And thus, another great advancement in computers was turned down, something that repeats itself it history many, many times, as we can see from Macintosh: it fails capture most of the market share for the very same reason.
It wasn't all useless, of course. From Plan 9 we got both the /proc filesystem (even though this was introduced in Version 8 Unix, is was expanded upon in implemented to a greater extent in Plan 9, and this is the version of /proc that most Unix-like systems use, or base their implementations off of) and we got UTF-8, which was made specifically for Plan 9.
But these are but the basic Milk Chocolate bar and Nutty Chocolate bar if Cadbury's were to go out of business.
And what can we take away from this?
Systems where the advantages cannot outweigh the cost of implementation will not succeed.
And this, of course, applies to Linux. And Macintosh.
Cost is not just monetary, it is in time as well. People do not take time if they can avoid it. Indeed, most people never change the operating system that comes with the computers that they purchase, and never will. Linux is at a major disadvantage here - it's market penetration preinstalled on computers is small, though the growing netbook sector is a huge boost, most people still opt for Windows.
Why?
It's because Windows works for them, and they have no need to change what they are doing.
Linux is undoubtedly better then Windows as an Operating System, and so is Macintosh. The issue is, no one cares. This is truth.
And indeed, for people that do switch, Linux is inferior for 90% or the population 90% of the time to Macintosh. Why? Macintosh is easier to use, it's more stable, and likely, faster (compared to Ubuntu, do to drivers). It also has a superior support network.
And that is why Linux will likely never be anything but the pet of Google - because even the mighty Canonical cannot implement the system to an extent that people will use it. Google will - the penetration of netbooks, coupled with Google vast resources and propaganda machine - will allow it be successful. Linux will still have the niche market of geeks, but for the majority, it will be something that relates to Google Chrome OS.
And indeed we can learn from Plan 9 that likely this hierarchy will change only rarely, and only because large companies are major supporters. Chrome OS will dominate for a long time to come, and Linuxes such as Ubuntu and Fedora and Gentoo will all stay in relative obscurity.
Why am I saying this? Do I detest this order?
No, not at all. It simply is. We should embrace our niche - not go around complaining that it is not big enough, as it likely will never be.
Unix has influenced every major operating system to date, and indeed, every major one except Windows is based off of it. It's combination of portability and usability has enabled it to flourish in many areas. Indeed, in the 1980s and thought the early 90s it was the most dominant operating system, but ultimately Windows succeeded due to the "Unix Wars".
But this is not about Unix specifically.
It is about Plan 9.
Plan 9 was conceived in the mid 1980s as a successor to Unix, from the same people who developed Unix. It was the epitome of the Unix philosophy - everything was represented as a file, every program did one thing, and did it well. It introduced "9P", a unified communication standard that allowed access to everything in the same way, and across the entire network. It was a fantastic system, far outpacing Unix and Unix-like systems in design.
But it had one folly, one flaw that could not be corrected by any amount of operating system design.
Unix.
It was inferior - Plan 9 was by far a greater system. The issue was that everyone used Unix - and no one thought that it was worth their time to upgrade, because Unix did the job well enough. Eric Raymond eloquently describes this in his book, The Art of Unix Programming:
"Plan 9 failed simply because it fell short of being a compelling enough improvement on Unix to displace its ancestor. Compared to Plan 9, Unix creaks and clanks and has obvious rust spots, but it gets the job done well enough to hold its position. There is a lesson here for ambitious system architects: the most dangerous enemy of a better solution is an existing codebase that is just good enough."
And thus, another great advancement in computers was turned down, something that repeats itself it history many, many times, as we can see from Macintosh: it fails capture most of the market share for the very same reason.
It wasn't all useless, of course. From Plan 9 we got both the /proc filesystem (even though this was introduced in Version 8 Unix, is was expanded upon in implemented to a greater extent in Plan 9, and this is the version of /proc that most Unix-like systems use, or base their implementations off of) and we got UTF-8, which was made specifically for Plan 9.
But these are but the basic Milk Chocolate bar and Nutty Chocolate bar if Cadbury's were to go out of business.
And what can we take away from this?
Systems where the advantages cannot outweigh the cost of implementation will not succeed.
And this, of course, applies to Linux. And Macintosh.
Cost is not just monetary, it is in time as well. People do not take time if they can avoid it. Indeed, most people never change the operating system that comes with the computers that they purchase, and never will. Linux is at a major disadvantage here - it's market penetration preinstalled on computers is small, though the growing netbook sector is a huge boost, most people still opt for Windows.
Why?
It's because Windows works for them, and they have no need to change what they are doing.
Linux is undoubtedly better then Windows as an Operating System, and so is Macintosh. The issue is, no one cares. This is truth.
And indeed, for people that do switch, Linux is inferior for 90% or the population 90% of the time to Macintosh. Why? Macintosh is easier to use, it's more stable, and likely, faster (compared to Ubuntu, do to drivers). It also has a superior support network.
And that is why Linux will likely never be anything but the pet of Google - because even the mighty Canonical cannot implement the system to an extent that people will use it. Google will - the penetration of netbooks, coupled with Google vast resources and propaganda machine - will allow it be successful. Linux will still have the niche market of geeks, but for the majority, it will be something that relates to Google Chrome OS.
And indeed we can learn from Plan 9 that likely this hierarchy will change only rarely, and only because large companies are major supporters. Chrome OS will dominate for a long time to come, and Linuxes such as Ubuntu and Fedora and Gentoo will all stay in relative obscurity.
Why am I saying this? Do I detest this order?
No, not at all. It simply is. We should embrace our niche - not go around complaining that it is not big enough, as it likely will never be.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Google Wave
Hello blog readers!
As promised, this is a review of Google Wave, and yes, after this review I will be giving out one free invite to a lucky reader. Alright now without further ado; I present to you; My Google Wave review.
When I received my Wave invite I was ecstatic. There is a certain prestige that comes with having Google Wave, especially if your friends are as geeky as mine. So when I logged on the guy part of my brain wanted to click everything. After doing this for a while I thought to myself, "This is cool, but who is going to use this?" Initially it is very hard to imagine one using this is ones everyday life. One thing that I couldn't get over was the cluttered nature of the thing. Anyone can edit any part of the wave and that can get messy pretty quickly.
As I used it for a while I started to come around. I could see how people would use this. Google describes it as "Email-2.0" but I don't think that this will replace email. I had an opportunity to work on a project with a friend who also had Wave. Google wave is a great tool for collaborating on projects, but thats it. The difference between this and something like Google Docs is that when you use Google Docs you are left with something finished that you could hand in to a teacher or boss. Wave works more like a brainstorming session or a meeting. It's really good for planning and discussing, but it won't produce a document. In ots of cases all that one is looking for is an easy way to collaborate over the Internet.
Wave gets easier to use the more you use it, it is actually quite intuitive. One nice feature for users with Google gears installed is that you can actually drag and drop files from your desktop into the Wave. I also like how Google incorporated bots into the system. There are loads of bots you can use, all with a different but useful function. These range from a phycatrist bot, to a Twitter bot, to a blogger bot , and even a bot that translates your message to a different language as you type. There is lots of potential for Google wave to grow through bots and through extensions, which are rather limited right now. On thing that I'm not fond of is the live typing feature. I haven't found a way to disable this yet but it is really irritating. As the name implies it lets all other editors of a wave see exactly what you type, as you type it. At first this seems like a great idea, but for a terrible speller like myself it can be rather embarrassing. I can recall a conversation on wave I had with my friend where he typed "Half naked" instead of "Half baked". He corrected his error but not before the other editors of the wave had seen it. This is a really negative for me, but I'm sure in the future there will be a way to turn it off. Another useful feature is "playback". This lets you go through the wave in chronological order and see how it has progressed.
In conclusion I'd have to say that this is a great product from Google. Its still a little halfnaked baked but keep in mind that it is still in the preview stage. I think that people will use this service and it will be quite successful. Good Job Google, keep up the great work!
Finally, we come to the part of the post where I give away an invite to a lucky reader. If you havn't read the post yet and you just skipped down here to get the invite, go back and read the post then come back. Done? Ok, here is the deal;first person to email the Guys On FOSS email account (guysonfoss@gmail.com) gets it, please include the email address you'd like me to send the invite to in your email. I'd also appreciate it if you left us some feedback on this review.
If anyone would like to converse with us on Google wave and you have an account already you can do so by adding us to your contact list with this address: guysonfoss@googlewave.com
-The Thoth-
As promised, this is a review of Google Wave, and yes, after this review I will be giving out one free invite to a lucky reader. Alright now without further ado; I present to you; My Google Wave review.
When I received my Wave invite I was ecstatic. There is a certain prestige that comes with having Google Wave, especially if your friends are as geeky as mine. So when I logged on the guy part of my brain wanted to click everything. After doing this for a while I thought to myself, "This is cool, but who is going to use this?" Initially it is very hard to imagine one using this is ones everyday life. One thing that I couldn't get over was the cluttered nature of the thing. Anyone can edit any part of the wave and that can get messy pretty quickly.
As I used it for a while I started to come around. I could see how people would use this. Google describes it as "Email-2.0" but I don't think that this will replace email. I had an opportunity to work on a project with a friend who also had Wave. Google wave is a great tool for collaborating on projects, but thats it. The difference between this and something like Google Docs is that when you use Google Docs you are left with something finished that you could hand in to a teacher or boss. Wave works more like a brainstorming session or a meeting. It's really good for planning and discussing, but it won't produce a document. In ots of cases all that one is looking for is an easy way to collaborate over the Internet.
Wave gets easier to use the more you use it, it is actually quite intuitive. One nice feature for users with Google gears installed is that you can actually drag and drop files from your desktop into the Wave. I also like how Google incorporated bots into the system. There are loads of bots you can use, all with a different but useful function. These range from a phycatrist bot, to a Twitter bot, to a blogger bot , and even a bot that translates your message to a different language as you type. There is lots of potential for Google wave to grow through bots and through extensions, which are rather limited right now. On thing that I'm not fond of is the live typing feature. I haven't found a way to disable this yet but it is really irritating. As the name implies it lets all other editors of a wave see exactly what you type, as you type it. At first this seems like a great idea, but for a terrible speller like myself it can be rather embarrassing. I can recall a conversation on wave I had with my friend where he typed "Half naked" instead of "Half baked". He corrected his error but not before the other editors of the wave had seen it. This is a really negative for me, but I'm sure in the future there will be a way to turn it off. Another useful feature is "playback". This lets you go through the wave in chronological order and see how it has progressed.
In conclusion I'd have to say that this is a great product from Google. Its still a little half
Finally, we come to the part of the post where I give away an invite to a lucky reader. If you havn't read the post yet and you just skipped down here to get the invite, go back and read the post then come back. Done? Ok, here is the deal;
If anyone would like to converse with us on Google wave and you have an account already you can do so by adding us to your contact list with this address: guysonfoss@googlewave.com
-The Thoth-
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Short post today!
Stay tuned to the blog over the next week, because with my google wave review I will be giving one lucky reader an invite to... Google Wave!
-The Thoth-
-The Thoth-
Friday, November 6, 2009
New logo
I hope you like the new logo to the blog. If you want to download the Gimp source file here's a link to it. If you dont know what Gimp is, its a advanced image editing tool that has similar tools Photoshop. Here's a link to download Gimp for Windows. If you want to download it for a certain Linux distro here's a link to all the different commands for different Linux distros. Finally here's a link for if you use a Mac.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Google Wave... Guess who's got it?
You've read about it, you've heard about it, you've dreamed about it. Now one of the Guys has been invited to test it. I am of course referring to the new Google Wave.
Its true, I've been invited by a good friend to try out Google Wave. I've only had it for about a day now, so I'm going to play with it for a while and then write up a little review for the blog. Stay tuned to this blog to read my review.
-The Thoth-
Its true, I've been invited by a good friend to try out Google Wave. I've only had it for about a day now, so I'm going to play with it for a while and then write up a little review for the blog. Stay tuned to this blog to read my review.
-The Thoth-
Monday, October 26, 2009
The not so evils of Ubuntu
I hope I'm not starting something here but I thought I'd share my own point of view. If you have been following the blog for a while you will know that there is a slight difference in opinions. On a related note, I apologize for the "you suck" comment I posted after Mekapaedia's post. I can appreciate what my learned friend is trying to convey about Ubuntu. Yes, it is "bloated" compared to other distros; fine, it isn't as customizable as other distros, and the learning curve of switching to Ubuntu from windows or mac is defiantly not as steep on Ubuntu. Here is my view on Ubuntu:
The fish argument is often made when talking about computers: give a man a fish he eats for a day teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime. And it make sense to an extent. Keep in mind though that Ubuntu has one of the largest on-line communities for a Linux distribution. If you have a problem in Ubuntu the first place you would turn is to the forums. You don't ship away your computer to some foreign repair agency to get it repaired, you receive help in fixing it yourself, and I believe that is one of the points often used against Ubuntu.
Barley anyone jumps into Linux head first with a complicated distro. Almost everyone at least starts with "easier" distributions including but not limited to Ubuntu. It is just too much knowledge to absorb at once. It is more practical to wrap your head around how Linux works first by using a distribution that doesn't require compiling and so much configuring and then if you so desire move to something more technical.
A point has been made about how the computer should be an extension of one's self. I agree with this philosophy to an extent. Lets imagine a scenario. I am big time movie maker man. I want to edit my latest blockbuster movie. Now I could reinvent all of the software I need and spend hours and hours just getting it to work OR I could jump right into editing with out really understanding how the applications do what they do. Now both videos would probably come out the same but one of them will have taken much longer to do. Was it necessary to do all that extra work for the average film editor? Probably not. Which brings me to my final point.
Don't reinvent the wheel every single time. Ubuntu works. I know Mekapaedia will have something to say about that statement. People says Macs work. Therefore Macs = Ubuntu right? Not quite. Ubuntu comes with a lot of pre-tested applications (just as mac does) that work. But if something goes wrong since Ubuntu is Linux you also have the means to FIX it yourself. Most people don't have hours and hours to get it to work, sometimes it needs to work now. Ubuntu is a nice medium between lets say Mac and Gentoo. It gives you everything to get it up and running but with a lot more freedom.
Those who find computers interesting and feel the need to know how they work, pretty much anyone reading or writing this blog, use Linux to learn because they feel a gap between what they're computer can do and what they want it to do. The reason the computer geek will never go extinct is because there is a demand for a computer that are easier to use, faster, and more versatile. We are never going to quench our thirst for the ultimate machine. As computers get better the demand for better machines will only increase. The computer geek is not a dying species, it is thriving. Ubuntu is not a distribution that you would use if you want complete control. It is good if you want a nice blend between usability out of the box (like windows and mac) with the potential for customization. Take me for example, I like to mess around with distros and have plans to (try) to install Gentoo on my sparc box, but I keep my laptop that I use for work running Ubuntu, because I need it to work without too much fuss, and I still have the advantages that come with running Linux.
-The Thoth-
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Evils of Ubuntu
Finished it. Yup, I espouse the evils surrounding Ubuntu (and Mac). Curious to why anyone would dislike either? All will be reveled.
Enjoy.
And the world turns...
Some interesting stuff: we have visitors from New Charlotte University in the US, somewhere in Belgium, and from the capital of Slovenia (I know that's you, BigWhale).
My next video is most definitely going to be on the Evils of Ubuntu. Though I can't really hate it as it is a Linux distro, I don't really like using it and there is something even worse about it (to be revealed!).
I was going to do it tonight, but I am unfortunately far too tired. I will try for tomorrow, but that's my homework panic day. We'll see.
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Evils of Software Licencing.
I indeed did do it - eventually. It is rather dry, and I apologize, but it really is true, in my mind.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Waiting On Pins and Needles
Remember, in 15 days from now Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala will be released. I intend on upgrading my lappy to 9.10 pretty soon after the release date so I'll try to give you guys a review of what I like and dislike. Of course if you can't wait for the official release you can get the beta right now. If you haven't checked out Ubuntu yet, I'd recommend a visit to their site.
-The Thoth-
-The Thoth-
Its the new guy
Hello to every one on the blog. Basically most of my post's will focus on open source video games although every once in awhile I'll post about a game that isn't open source. If any of you are interested I'll be making a steam group soon for Guys on FOSS. Here is the steam group.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Back After a Great Period of Time.
I apologize greatly for my absence... it culminates in school work, various social occurrences, and mainly the fact I've had no real interesting Open Source things to blog about - the most interesting thing I did was install Funtoo - and that was easy...
I do wish to post more, and indeed, I will try. Maybe something will come up - maybe I will go along with my plan to create a distro.
Ideally, I post a splurge on Software licensing next. That'll be cool.
Till next time.
I do wish to post more, and indeed, I will try. Maybe something will come up - maybe I will go along with my plan to create a distro.
Ideally, I post a splurge on Software licensing next. That'll be cool.
Till next time.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Introducing our newest blogger
Greeting friends. I'm sorry there has been a lack of posts for a while, but unfortunately that is a consequence of getting an education. I am makinig this post to introduce a brand new blogger. So without further ado please allow me to introduce you to... inerg! Welcome aboard inerg. Now back to the FOSS!
Monday, September 7, 2009
A note to our readers
Here at the head offices of Guysonfoss we are pretty cheap. That's why we are using ".tk" You may have already noticed that the page can be accessed by going to guysonfoss.tk. We'd really appreciate it if you accessed the blog by using that URL. It helps allot with advertising. .tk is free as long as you have a certain amount of visitors a month. An advantage to using .tk is that we get a small banner put up on the top of other peoples website, thus directing more traffic this way.
Thanks for reading the blog!
-The Thoth-
Thanks for reading the blog!
-The Thoth-
Sunday, September 6, 2009
So far, not much progress.
So far, I have all the programs downloaded. I just haven't started the installation, as I thought it was telling my to make "/" a simlink to an empty directory. I just realized they meant the other way around...
Oh well, I'll be trying that. It might not go to well, as I'm not using any of the required patches...
----------------
Now playing on Winamp: Supertramp - 04 - Asylum
via FoxyTunes
Oh well, I'll be trying that. It might not go to well, as I'm not using any of the required patches...
----------------
Now playing on Winamp: Supertramp - 04 - Asylum
via FoxyTunes
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Linux - A poem
Here is a neat poem I found on linuxweb.com. Its called "The Linux" and it is based off of Dr. Suess's popular story "The Lorax" Please enjoy!
The Linux
-The Thoth-
Monday, August 31, 2009
Well that went well...
Well, I'm not longer using puppy linux. I can't ever get git in the package manager, so it's not quite a dev platform. Oh ya, and I screwed up my save file permanently because I made it too big. So I said screw that and tryed Ubuntu mini remix. Nothing. Worked.
Well, I'm back to my old standby, Arch Linux. Ah, like a breath of fresh air Arch Linix is by far the easiest distro I've ever dealt with. More compliant then Gentoo, not Debian-based (I now declare my hate for Debian), small and with a massive supply of packages (if you install a AUR installer such as yaourt).
So I've installed it on my usb stick and after fixing grub (grub works weird-ish on USB drives) I quickly have got the nvidia driver and wireless drivers installed, have a window manager (Fluxbox!) and a wireless connection mananger (wicd!).
Yay! So ideally this'll work well. Shoulda done it in the first place, really.
*Raises Glass* To Arch Linux!
----------------
Now playing on Winamp: american woman
via FoxyTunes
Well, I'm back to my old standby, Arch Linux. Ah, like a breath of fresh air Arch Linix is by far the easiest distro I've ever dealt with. More compliant then Gentoo, not Debian-based (I now declare my hate for Debian), small and with a massive supply of packages (if you install a AUR installer such as yaourt).
So I've installed it on my usb stick and after fixing grub (grub works weird-ish on USB drives) I quickly have got the nvidia driver and wireless drivers installed, have a window manager (Fluxbox!) and a wireless connection mananger (wicd!).
Yay! So ideally this'll work well. Shoulda done it in the first place, really.
*Raises Glass* To Arch Linux!
----------------
Now playing on Winamp: american woman
via FoxyTunes
Sorry for the lack of post.
The great disease of laziness took a very strong hold of me and yesterday I mostly used Omegle. Here is one of the more amusing conversation I partook in: http://paste2.org/p/407132 (warning: much foul language).
At this point currently I have set up Puppy Linux to be my install platform. I am at this moment cloning the Zen kernel so I can start... Oh, it's done. Better go.
At this point currently I have set up Puppy Linux to be my install platform. I am at this moment cloning the Zen kernel so I can start... Oh, it's done. Better go.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Scribe Fire
I am a firefox guy, as most of our readers probably are. I have firefox on my linux box and on both my windows PCs. One thing that I really like about using firefox is the amount of add-ons that are available, its like bling for your browser. I thought I'd bring this one to your attention. Its called Scribe Fire and I'm using it right now to compose this blog entry. It allows me to blog from what ever website I happen to be on at that time, without having to navigate to guysonfoss.blogspot.com. It actually open s in a split screen so I can still view web pages while I compose. As for formating its fairly basic. You can change font, size, colour, etc. Plus you can add your own html if there is something specific you want to do. If you blog in firefox, I'd recommend this add-on.
-The Thoth-
-The Thoth-
Friday, August 28, 2009
Book Review - Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner
In a world full of technical books its sometimes hard to decide which one to buy. I’ve decided to do a review of a technical book i've recently read, but I'm going to keep it short and sweet. The book that I will be reviewing is called Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner and Michael Dawson wrote it.
Now I’d like to make clear that I am an absolute beginner when it comes to python or any other programming language, I’m barely competent at shell scripting in bash! So if you already know something about python, this may be a little basic for you. I’m not saying that you won’t learn anything from this book; you just might find it a little easy for you.
The book starts by explaining why one might want to use python. It gives some of the benefits and will tell you why the author believes that it is a good programming language to learn first. This section also includes some history. It was this introduction that made me want to read on.
The book starts with the very basic “game over” program, which is really a cleverly disguised “hello world” program. Each exercise in the book builds on what comes before it and lays the foundation for the next exercise. The exercises are entertaining and fun to complete and the author organized them in a logical manner. He also keeps the reader entertained by adding his own style of humor without getting in the way of the technical stuff. Perhaps a couple of concepts could have been better explained but if you stick with it, you’ll soon figure it out.
I’d recommend Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner to anyone who would like to learn about Python and have little or no experience with python. I gave the book to a friend, who is extremely competent in awk, to read through and he told me that the syntax was similar between the two, so if you have other programming experience, you may want something a little more advanced. This book was perfect for me and I am currently attempting to purchase the book (which I never do) because the library is going to stop me from renewing it sooner or later. If I had one criticism it would be that the book is quite expensive, but if you buy second hand you should be able to get it for under $40. Overall, its 2 thumbs up from me.
-The Thoth-
Thursday, August 27, 2009
State of affairs.
It's been 2 days since the blog had a post, so I figured I should keep it fresh.
Well, let's start with the Gobolinux project:
No real change. The kernel I needed to compile I've delorted, so I could clone the git repo again to make sure there are no errors there, but every hour or so the internet cuts out, and git won't start downloading again. So I'll just wait until I get home on Saturday.
As for Xusbtu (the OS I'm currently running off my usb stick, Xubuntu) it still has the VESA driver, because the NVIDIA one caused the login not to work. So I'm stuck with 1024x768. Funfun. It also locks up every few minutes, depending on load. I cannot wait for USB 3.0, it'll be soooooooo much better.
In other news:
I'll try and make a video when I get back on Saturday. Likely, it will involve the GPL. Look forward to that...
School is starting soon! I do have to attend, thus the pace of update may slow. It may also get faster, if I'm bored in class. All of our current writers will also have to attend. Expect possible long droughts.
Just something awesome: The Always Innovting Touch Book. I. Love. This. Computer. It is fricking awesome. Small, well designed, and it comes with Linux! It is also based in Open Source principles, and it based on an Open Source platform. It is the sex. Go look at it. Screw you Apple Tablet!
LinuxCon 2009 is happening September 19th and 20th. I want to go. I very likely can't.
The Linux Kernel Archives have gotten a small makeover! Um, ya. That site is cool.
Heroes comes back this September. I still love the show. Many do not. GO SYLAR!
Sarah Conner Chronicles was canceled recently. Hopefully one of the fan campaigns will actually work (a la Family Guy).
Top Gear returns in November. Yay!
Family Guy also returns this September.
As does The Simpsons. This is the Simpson's 21st Season, making it the longest running American primetime television series ever. 21 years. Wow.
Ubuntu 9.10 is set for release this October.
The second batch of Pandora handheld consoles should be available for pre-order this December. I also really want one of these. They are so cool!
Well, there's a generic blob of news. 'Till next time.
Well, let's start with the Gobolinux project:
No real change. The kernel I needed to compile I've delorted, so I could clone the git repo again to make sure there are no errors there, but every hour or so the internet cuts out, and git won't start downloading again. So I'll just wait until I get home on Saturday.
As for Xusbtu (the OS I'm currently running off my usb stick, Xubuntu) it still has the VESA driver, because the NVIDIA one caused the login not to work. So I'm stuck with 1024x768. Funfun. It also locks up every few minutes, depending on load. I cannot wait for USB 3.0, it'll be soooooooo much better.
In other news:
I'll try and make a video when I get back on Saturday. Likely, it will involve the GPL. Look forward to that...
School is starting soon! I do have to attend, thus the pace of update may slow. It may also get faster, if I'm bored in class. All of our current writers will also have to attend. Expect possible long droughts.
Just something awesome: The Always Innovting Touch Book. I. Love. This. Computer. It is fricking awesome. Small, well designed, and it comes with Linux! It is also based in Open Source principles, and it based on an Open Source platform. It is the sex. Go look at it. Screw you Apple Tablet!
LinuxCon 2009 is happening September 19th and 20th. I want to go. I very likely can't.
The Linux Kernel Archives have gotten a small makeover! Um, ya. That site is cool.
Heroes comes back this September. I still love the show. Many do not. GO SYLAR!
Sarah Conner Chronicles was canceled recently. Hopefully one of the fan campaigns will actually work (a la Family Guy).
Top Gear returns in November. Yay!
Family Guy also returns this September.
As does The Simpsons. This is the Simpson's 21st Season, making it the longest running American primetime television series ever. 21 years. Wow.
Ubuntu 9.10 is set for release this October.
The second batch of Pandora handheld consoles should be available for pre-order this December. I also really want one of these. They are so cool!
Well, there's a generic blob of news. 'Till next time.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Nerd's Creed
This is my computer. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My computer is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My computer, without me, is useless. Without my computer, I am useless. I must install my computer true. I must install straighter than any bug who is trying to kill me. I must patch him before he kernel panics me. I will....
My computer and myself know that what counts in this war is not the files we compile, the noise of our MIDIs, nor the programs we make. We know that it is the Linux that counts. We will use Linux...
My computer is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its keyboard and its screen. I will keep my computer clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...
Before Linus I swear this creed. My computer and myself are the defenders of my sanity. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is mine and there is no enemy, but Stability.
My computer and myself know that what counts in this war is not the files we compile, the noise of our MIDIs, nor the programs we make. We know that it is the Linux that counts. We will use Linux...
My computer is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its keyboard and its screen. I will keep my computer clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...
Before Linus I swear this creed. My computer and myself are the defenders of my sanity. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is mine and there is no enemy, but Stability.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Not fair...
Well, I found the cause of my problems. The b43 driver for my wireless card causes everything to screw up. Why? I dunno. It's weird.
So to try and get wireless on my Zen kernel, I bought a cheap D-link wireless USB dongle. Unfortunately, the only driver that works with it is ndiswrapper. Supposedly, you just ndiswrapper -i tehinffile.inf and voila, it works.
Not so.
So neither wireless option works. Ethernet seems fine.
Oh right, I also did try the Broadcom-wl driver. Did that work? On the normal Ubuntu kernel, yes. Zen? No. It doesn't have the old wireless stack that the driver requires to compile. Brilliant.
So I haven't really progressed. It's infuritating. It's like level 22 in Donkey Kong.
Well, I'll try and post again tomorrow. Hope I have some progress then.
So to try and get wireless on my Zen kernel, I bought a cheap D-link wireless USB dongle. Unfortunately, the only driver that works with it is ndiswrapper. Supposedly, you just ndiswrapper -i tehinffile.inf and voila, it works.
Not so.
So neither wireless option works. Ethernet seems fine.
Oh right, I also did try the Broadcom-wl driver. Did that work? On the normal Ubuntu kernel, yes. Zen? No. It doesn't have the old wireless stack that the driver requires to compile. Brilliant.
So I haven't really progressed. It's infuritating. It's like level 22 in Donkey Kong.
Well, I'll try and post again tomorrow. Hope I have some progress then.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
As the Frustration mounds...
As I have mentioned before, I am currently in Salmon Arm. I have my laptop, which isn't fixed yet. I am using it though, as I installed Xubuntu on a usb stick (full install) and have made it bootable. There are problems though, that have caused me to become quite irate and frustrated.
First of all, running off a USB drive is SLOW. Especially when you're multitasking. Firefox is not good on this. USB 1.1 is probably unusable.
Second, the Nvidia driver causes the Desktop Enviroment to screw up, so when it boots the cursor and a blue background appear, but nothing else. So I'm stuck with the 1024x768 vesa driver. *grumble*
And thirdly, my kernel I'm compiling tends not to work with the terminals. Specifically, if you use a terminal the keyboard doesn't work. The mouse does though. I am currently trying to fix this, will update if it works.
I need this kernel because I need to access my Reiser4 partitions. Very few Distros support Reiser4. Ubuntu is not one of them.
So thus, there is an outline of the Gobolinux project so far. Frustration.
First of all, running off a USB drive is SLOW. Especially when you're multitasking. Firefox is not good on this. USB 1.1 is probably unusable.
Second, the Nvidia driver causes the Desktop Enviroment to screw up, so when it boots the cursor and a blue background appear, but nothing else. So I'm stuck with the 1024x768 vesa driver. *grumble*
And thirdly, my kernel I'm compiling tends not to work with the terminals. Specifically, if you use a terminal the keyboard doesn't work. The mouse does though. I am currently trying to fix this, will update if it works.
I need this kernel because I need to access my Reiser4 partitions. Very few Distros support Reiser4. Ubuntu is not one of them.
So thus, there is an outline of the Gobolinux project so far. Frustration.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Reflection on the third video
It's becoming a habit to do these. I must had excess creativity I haven't burned off after those videos.
Anyways, I had real troubling think of what to do and how to execute it. Hopefully in the future I can do more Linux tutorials: I'm probably better at those then at software politics... OOOOH! I should do software licenses next! Look forward to that.
To conclude, I think that was mildly amusing, but I'm likely wrong. Try to enjoy it regardless!
On another note, I am leaving for Salmon Arm this Saturday for a week, so I'll try to blog but videos are out (hopefully my laptop works by then...).
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Now playing on Winamp: Blizzard - Protoss 3
via FoxyTunes
Anyways, I had real troubling think of what to do and how to execute it. Hopefully in the future I can do more Linux tutorials: I'm probably better at those then at software politics... OOOOH! I should do software licenses next! Look forward to that.
To conclude, I think that was mildly amusing, but I'm likely wrong. Try to enjoy it regardless!
On another note, I am leaving for Salmon Arm this Saturday for a week, so I'll try to blog but videos are out (hopefully my laptop works by then...).
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Now playing on Winamp: Blizzard - Protoss 3
via FoxyTunes
Third Video!
Finally I have released my third video. This one is about the 3 major nations of computing: Mac, Linux and Windows. Oh ya, BSD's in there somewhere too.
Enjoy!
I LOVE THIS COMIC
IT'S JUST SO AWESOME I HAVE TO SHARE.
http://fatpita.net/images/image%20(1036).jpg
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Now playing on Winamp: Santana - 04 - Africa Bamba
via FoxyTunes
http://fatpita.net/images/image%20(1036).jpg
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Now playing on Winamp: Santana - 04 - Africa Bamba
via FoxyTunes
Some updates
These are mostly under the hood but it is important to note a few:
When there is a post on the blog, within 30 minutes there will be a post on out twitter account, guysonfoss, and a post on our Facebook Page.
If you want to email us, the email is guysonfoss@gmail.com.
Thanks for your support!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Last but not least...
Our Forth Blogger has joined us! The only one here who can really program, we hope we can bring something to the table none of us can.
Welcome crazy2be, best of luck.
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Now playing on Winamp: gary numan - are friends electric
via FoxyTunes
Welcome crazy2be, best of luck.
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Now playing on Winamp: gary numan - are friends electric
via FoxyTunes
Greetings and Hallo!
O hai! I'm the Wafflemonster, self proclaimed mac-fanboy and mac-gamer (I didn't know they existed either).
Lil' bit about me, I aspire to dabble in both Private Business Ownership, or professional writing. I have a bad addiction to drum kits, and diet Ginger ale. This may attributed to my Diabeetus.
For my first post, I'm doing a review of QUAKE ENGINE GAMES IN GENERAL.
For the most part, most Quake-based games are fast paced, deathmatchy frag fests with shiny guns and sci-fi characters. Exactly on the mark is Nexuiz, a multi-platform game who's sole purpose is to continue the abuse of anyone with a reaction time under 0.05 seconds. Flashy energy bolts, rockets, and an ineffective grenade launcher. The graphics aren't anything all that incredible, and are trumped by anything with twice the graphics of AssaultCube, which is the same sort of deal except more counter-strike and it's only 40MB, meaning it could be run on a browser. However, these games are fun and for the most part are intuitive and easy to learn, hard to master.
Urban Terror decided to take this idea, make it more tactical, and give you the stellar ability to leap off walls and climb up ledges. While just as fast, it provides a more versatile equipment choice, seeing as you can customize your set up. The shotgun and grenades, however, are extremely inneffective and should really have their core damage upped.
The Cube and Cube 2 (Saurubraten, I don't care if I got it wrong) focused on easy level customization and dynamic lighting with decent graphics, but to achieve this you need quite the machine. Otherwise, you're playing Quake III except everyone looks like Goblins. It's a great deal more balanced than Nexuiz and it's knock offs, as the explosive weapons will actually kill a fellow with one hit if shot well, and splash damage is moderate. You're starting weapon is actually useful and you can have a great deal of fun.
While I realize that there are a great many other open-source quake-based games out there, I feel like these offer the most originality out of all of them and thus, should count as the infinite betters.
-WM
I'm sorry
I know it sounds like a cop out, but I think I'm canceling the Gobolinux special. It's just too hard to film and too boring to watch. I'll do blog posts about it though - don't you worry!
No rant today either, haven't had the time. Hopefully we'll get Stig and Waffle's Youtube channels up soon, so there will be a larger income of videos.
I'll be going to Salmon Arm Saturday until the next Sunday, so there is a possibility I'll be out of contact. Supposedly there is WiFi though, so hopefully it'll be all right.
Now, on to Gobolinux!
State of Affairs on the Gobolinux Mutilib project:
Paritioned.
/dev/sda1 /boot ext4 258.83MB
/dev/sda2 -Extended Partition- 148.80GB
/dev/sda5 / reiser4 10GB
/dev/sda6 /var reiser4 2GB
/dev/sda7 /Files/Compile reiser4 2GB
/dev/sda8 swap swap 4GB
/dev/sda9 /home reiser4 130.80GB
On Gobolinux, /boot is actually /System/Kernel/Boot, /var is /Variable, and /home is /Users.
Now, I've set this up this way for three reasons:
Well, th-th-th-th-that's all folks.
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Now playing on Winamp: asvu 2006 - 10 - surfin usa
via FoxyTunes
No rant today either, haven't had the time. Hopefully we'll get Stig and Waffle's Youtube channels up soon, so there will be a larger income of videos.
I'll be going to Salmon Arm Saturday until the next Sunday, so there is a possibility I'll be out of contact. Supposedly there is WiFi though, so hopefully it'll be all right.
Now, on to Gobolinux!
State of Affairs on the Gobolinux Mutilib project:
Paritioned.
/dev/sda1 /boot ext4 258.83MB
/dev/sda2 -Extended Partition- 148.80GB
/dev/sda5 / reiser4 10GB
/dev/sda6 /var reiser4 2GB
/dev/sda7 /Files/Compile reiser4 2GB
/dev/sda8 swap swap 4GB
/dev/sda9 /home reiser4 130.80GB
On Gobolinux, /boot is actually /System/Kernel/Boot, /var is /Variable, and /home is /Users.
Now, I've set this up this way for three reasons:
- Having a dedicated boot partition is good practice, and I've also found it tends to boot faster.
- Moving the files that change often to a new partition is something I've seen done in Gentoo a lot (typically with /var/portage). It reduces the impact of fragmentation, as creating and deleting many files causes (though the Reiser4 filesystem negates this a fair bit).
- Redundancy: a separate home partition means I can reinstall without losing my files if the main partition screws up (this is also good partitioning practice).
Well, th-th-th-th-that's all folks.
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Now playing on Winamp: asvu 2006 - 10 - surfin usa
via FoxyTunes
Another new blogger...
I welcome our new writer: Waffle Monster!
He is our charismatic Mac-fanboy.
I wish him the best of luck.
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Now playing: Pink Floyd - 07 - Goodbye Blue Sky
via FoxyTunes
He is our charismatic Mac-fanboy.
I wish him the best of luck.
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Now playing: Pink Floyd - 07 - Goodbye Blue Sky
via FoxyTunes
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Upcoming Special...
Since I needed to install Linux anyways, I decided to record it. I'm not finished today, nor will I be. I'll pick it up tomorrow.
So far, I've set up the partitions and directories. Since this is a "Linux From Scratch"-like install, it is necessary.
Hopefully it'll all turn out good... we'll see tomorrow!
I also welcome our new Blogger - The Stig!
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Now playing: Blizzard - Zerg 1
via FoxyTunes
So far, I've set up the partitions and directories. Since this is a "Linux From Scratch"-like install, it is necessary.
Hopefully it'll all turn out good... we'll see tomorrow!
I also welcome our new Blogger - The Stig!
----------------
Now playing: Blizzard - Zerg 1
via FoxyTunes
Monday, August 17, 2009
Reflection on the second video
Just 'cause I can, I'll talk about this.
I mentioned it the video a bit: I started filming another video like the first one: I did an introduction and then cut to be showing you how install a CPU, and how to install a heatsink. It was boring as hell. So when I was doing the usual outro, I somehow got around to ranting on passwords. Which I found more amusing then the video itself. I then deleted the first one and refilmed, focusing on the password rant. I think it is better for it.
Comments if anyone read this, please.
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Now playing: the beatles - i want you (she's so heavy)
via FoxyTunes
I mentioned it the video a bit: I started filming another video like the first one: I did an introduction and then cut to be showing you how install a CPU, and how to install a heatsink. It was boring as hell. So when I was doing the usual outro, I somehow got around to ranting on passwords. Which I found more amusing then the video itself. I then deleted the first one and refilmed, focusing on the password rant. I think it is better for it.
Comments if anyone read this, please.
----------------
Now playing: the beatles - i want you (she's so heavy)
via FoxyTunes
Second Video!
Here we go! I enjoyed watching this far more then the first one - I enjoy ranting more too... thus, I have decided this is the new format.
Well... ya. Enjoy.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
LIKE A BAWS
Unfortunately, I was not able to complete another video today, so I will leave you with one of my favorite music videos ever.
LIKE A BAWS!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Reflection of the first video
Well, that's the first video done. Do I think it's that good? No. Is it a start? Indeed.
Hopefully as we venture closer to what I am the most comfortable in (Linux) it'll get better. So in a few videos, as there isn't a great lot to explain about the hardware. Electrically, immense topic. Practically, not so much.
What should I do next? If anyone reads this, comments plox. If not, I'll probably do the CPU.
Hopefully as we venture closer to what I am the most comfortable in (Linux) it'll get better. So in a few videos, as there isn't a great lot to explain about the hardware. Electrically, immense topic. Practically, not so much.
What should I do next? If anyone reads this, comments plox. If not, I'll probably do the CPU.
The First Video
This is a fairly short video on one of the most important hardware devices, the Power Supply! Enjoy (ideally)!
Friday, August 14, 2009
The engimatic first post.
Ah, the first post. What exactly should I be putting here, anyways? My goals? Explanations?
How about this:
As Linus Torvalds said: "Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small trivial project, and you should never expect it to get large."
Thus, this is my trivial project: To explain what I know of computing, starting with something common to all current Personal Computer OS's, x86 hardware.
Hopefully, this will eventually become a blog that is enjoyable to read.
Shooting to release the first video tomorrow. Ideally it'll be short and sweet.
How about this:
As Linus Torvalds said: "Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small trivial project, and you should never expect it to get large."
Thus, this is my trivial project: To explain what I know of computing, starting with something common to all current Personal Computer OS's, x86 hardware.
Hopefully, this will eventually become a blog that is enjoyable to read.
Shooting to release the first video tomorrow. Ideally it'll be short and sweet.
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