With the synergy (ugh manager talk, sorry) of media and television I often find myself wanting to consume laying down or on the couch. Currently I slap a laptop on the HDMI or something similar and stream hulu for a few minutes. It works, but so does driving with your eyes closed. The geek in me wants to run Linux on my media center so I began looking for a low powered Nvidia Ion based platform. Bestbuy had one: ...
At work I often get asked what UNIX/Linux I use. Truth of the matter is I am an OS harlot :) I run NeXTStep and Rhapsody for fun. When I buy systems I force myself to use them for at least 3 days online to learn them better. Anyways, below is the questionnaire on how I pick a distro/OS Do you want to use learn Linux for work? CentOS or RHEL Do you want to actually learn the innards of Linux? Gentoo or Arch Do you want to use Linux for day-to-day usage? Ubuntu, Debian, or OpenSuSE Do you want to use UNIX for day-to-day usage? Buy a Mac and install macports Do you want to use linux for development of bleeding edge packages? Fedora or Foresight Do you want to learn UNIX, but hear a lot about Linux? FreeBSD is a better SysV learning platform Are you a paranoid security type? OpenBSD Did you buy a lot of old equipment on eBay or Craigslist and can’t stand the vendor OS? NetBSD Are the type of person that has flashing lights and fans on your computer? Do you want matching bling in software? Linux Mint RC Are you building a server for home? Debian Stable Are you building a file server to run NetApp out of town? OpenSolaris ZFS builds Are you building that same file server but Solaris packages make you want to poke your eyes out? Nexenta Are you doing embedded systems for a special project? NetBSD Building a wireless mesh network with captive portals? OpenBSD Or in the end you are as geeky as Nick and change OS like you change clothes Build a Vmware/Xen server and run them all
One of my favorite features with GNOME/KDE is the show desktop button. Expose is great, but I am always clicking around on the dock. This morning the RSS feeds answered my greivance and provided this tip from MacOSX Hints: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20091109075034143 I wrapped the script and put an icon to the file. Here is the file if you’d like to download it for 10.5: Show Desktop.app
I was up answering emails last night well into the night and before turning in I upgraded to Vmware Fusion 3. Thought I would pro’s and con’s it here for the group: Spiffy: Runs MUCH better on Snow Leopard and utilizes 64bit fully. Memory utilization on my macpro was much better than with 2 Ran a few games (HL, Quake3, DoD) and they seem to have less graphic artifacts. I can’t think of a game I play that isn’t native or run in WINE, but a neat option. I see this as a big boom for those doing 3d modeling and the software not able to run any other way. Also supports Aero and Windows 7 flip. I usually turn these off by default, but someone must like them. VNC! I missed this feature most from Workstation on Linux. You can make a vncserver so that when you start your VM you can then hookup @ the BIOS level from another machine. Great for hosting a VM as a sudo-server I haven’t had a chance to test, but the migration tool looks to be a killer option for those moving from Windows machines. It works over a network and requires a little program install on your windows machines. I am wondering if this is based on P2V they offer for Enterprise work. I wonder how many of these little converter apps will be finding their way to corporate images :) The end result being install a little program, start the mac, and convert your whole machine to a VM with your apps and settings. Lame: ...
Wanted to share a quick “how does it work” about PGP WDE for Mac. http://www.pgp.com/mac/ This is the only solution that does pre-boot and true WDE for the Mac. The software is 189 for a yearly license or 239 for perpetual. The software itself is very “apple-ish” with great wizards and walk through for those not familiar with key based authentication and encryption. Some of the features are: WDE for Intel based Mac running 10.4/10.5, no SL due to the 64bit kernel from the debug trace on my Mac Pro :) ...