Six weeks without Windows

 Personal, Tech  No Responses »
Dec 192011
 

Preface

Why do I do this to myself again? Now, the actual trigger for this was that my Win XP crashed after an update of Avast Antivirus. (After the restart, vsmon.exe(ZoneAlarm Firewall) was declared invalid and Avast itself produced blue-screens of death on every full scan)

However, I thought about a switch since a while. Windows 8 seems to develop towards an OS on which Microsoft decides what you are allowed to do on your system (greetings from Apple). You possibly won’t be able to switch the OS and purchased apps for Win8 can be deleted from your PC remotely without your consent, it seems!

Time to make the permanent move to Linux – the six weeks are the time I give myself to test, whether that works for me.

If you follow me on that journey, you’ll get some ideas about the software I find important or have dropped (and why). And you will hear from some of the REALLY sick problems Linux causes sometimes. I’m very determined to find solutions to problems, so you will see them here, too.

DAY 1

OK, what Linux distribution did I select?

  • The actual Ubuntu distribution (11.10) contains the Unity desktop.. if I would like to use things cause a company (Canonical) tells me that this unusable bullshit (<- in this case) is exactly what I really want, I would buy a Mac. (Apple seems to have a bit of a feeling for usibility at least – when we forget missing cursor keys..) ‘Nuff said!
  • Mint 11 LXDE was my choice, but after 3 installer crashes at different points of the install process, I decided to kick it – UNUSABLE in this form.
  • Some may remember that I tried Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick a year ago. Since I wasn’t too unhappy with that release and Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid LTS (Long Time Service) is still available, I decided to use this. (Should this fail I’ll go to OpenSuSE or Fedora)

Ubuntu Lucid was installed without any trouble. First I did after installation was an update, of course. A few hundred Megabyte, but it took under an hour (including installation).

I have 2 monitors and I did set them up side by side – bad mistake, but more on that later..

Chrome

Think, I don’t have to introduce Google’s browser. Best available. Simply go to Google Chrome’s Webpage, download the .deb package and it’s done. I had set up sync under Win XP earlier, so it could easily import all bookmarks, extensions.. Since Google doesn’t like YouTube-downloader (which it has banned from its Chrome store), this extension was silently dropped! FY, Google! So, I had to install it myself again.

Some notes..

At this point I opened Software-Sources and enabled the repositories “universe”, “restricted” & “multiverse”.

I did install AbobeAir, cause I wanted to use TweetDeck for Linux. But this version of TweetDeck is no longer available. Since AdobeAir is of no other use to me, I uninstalled it.

For now, I use the AWFUL TweetDeck app for Chrome.

End of Day 1 (to be continued..)

 Posted by at 10:08 PM

e-Reader – iRiver Story HD

 Personal, Tech  No Responses »
Oct 142011
 

Yesterday I got my newest gadget – an iRiver Story HD. Thought about buying an e-reader since the first Kindle came out, but always hesitated cause of DRM. The issue still exists, of course, but on the other hand there are so many free classics available that these alone would justify the buy. I just didn’t want to wait any longer. And since I don’t want to be married to Amazon, I looked for a Kindle alternative.

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First impression:

I’m in love with it! Of course I will miss to have a real book in my hands and to smell the book (when we reach a time when really all books are available as eBooks everywhere!), but still..

What I like..

It’s such a good feeling to have this lightweight (207 g) in your hands instead of a heavy book when you read a little bit longer.

The 6’’ eInk-display has a resolution of 768×1024 and is ultra sharp. It’s impossible to spot single pixels. It’s very eye friendly. Cant understand how people can read (for a longer time) on an iPad or some other device that has no eInk-display.

Turning a page takes nearly no time. A short flash and the page is turned.

I like the design and the device seems solid. I hope it will take some time before I’ll accidentally test HOW solid it is. ;)

It feels a bit like Star Trek to read that way.. And it became difficult to keep my status as a geek without one. ;)

It took around 30 seconds to get used to the way how you control the reader.

What I dislike..

In the actual firmware 1.13, it’s not possible to change the font. The integrated font is okay and causes no problem, but still I really would like to be able to chose my personal favorite. Such things should be self-evident anyway!

The iRiver doesn’t remember what size you’ve chosen for the font. That means that you’ve to do it again every time you open a book.

I was happy that the most actual firmware was already installed, cause downloading from iRiver’s website seems to be impossible. From server errors to interrupted downloads, everything but a successful download in 8 tries. Forum posts suggest that the support is also terrible.

As mentioned, it comes with more than 200 free books in epub format preinstalled. To get the iRiver extracting title and author from the files you’ve to open every single one of it once. Took me an hour, cause the iRiver interrupted me from time to time with “rescanning DB”. No big deal as it’s only needed when you add a book, but annoying!

Bottom Line:

So far, I like the device and I would buy it again. All points that I criticized could be corrected with a firmware update and a much more reliable website (so that we all can really get this update!). And now excuse me please – I have some hundred books to read.

 Posted by at 10:35 AM

What I’m reading – Non-fiction

 Personal  No Responses »
Oct 012011
 

latest update on 01/06/12

This is also work in progress! Especially at the moment as I’m also adding books I’ve read in the past as far as I recall them. These are anyway -till now- only the books I’ve read in English as I skipped the countless books I’ve read in German so far, since I’m still undecided how to list them here. 

At the top is what I’m just reading and the further you move down the longer ago it is. The following expresses MY opinion about it:

thumbsDown    Awful, what a waste of paper  
thumbsUpthumbsUp   Perhaps YOU may like it 
thumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUp  Nothing wrong with that  
thumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUp  You would miss something  
thumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUp  Must read!

  • Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson
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  • The Death & Life Of Monterey Bay – Stephen R. Palumbi & Carolyn Sotka
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  • Country Driving – Peter Hessler
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  • You’re Not A Gadget – Jaron Lanier
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  • The Female Brain – Louann Brizendine
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  • Googled – Ken Auletta
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  • Factory Girls – Leslie T. Chang
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  • Call Me Ted – Ted Turner
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  • Think Big & Kick Ass – Donald Trump
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  • Politically Incorrect Guide To Global Warming & Environmentalism – Christopher C. Horner
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 Posted by at 4:16 PM

What I’m reading – Fiction

 Personal  No Responses »
Aug 082011
 

latest update on 02/07/12

This is work in progress! Especially at the moment as I’m also adding books I’ve read in the past as far as I recall them. These are anyway -till now- only the books I’ve read in English as I skipped the countless books I’ve read in German so far, since I’m still undecided how to list them here. 

At the top is what I’m just reading and the further you move down the longer ago it is. The following expresses MY opinion about it:

thumbsDown   Awful, what a waste of paper
thumbsUpthumbsUp   Perhaps YOU may like it
thumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUp   Nothing wrong with that 
thumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUp   You would miss something 
thumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUpthumbsUp   Must read!

  • The Cat’s Table – Michael Ondaatje

  • Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
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  • The Postmortal – Drew Magary
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  • Swamplandia! – Karen Russell
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  • Luka And The Fire Of Life – Salman Rushdie
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  • Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami 
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  • South Of The Border, West Of The Sun – Haruki Murakami 
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  • After Dark – Haruki Murakami 
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  • Philip Roth – Nemesis
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  • Player One – Douglas Coupland
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  • Generation A – Douglas Coupland
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  • Equal Rites (Discworld Novel 3) – Terry Pratchett
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  • The Light Fantastic (Discworld Novel 2) – Terry Pratchett
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  • The Color Of Magic (Discworld Novel 1) – Terry Pratchett
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  • The Year Of The Flood – Margaret Atwood
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  • The Secret History – Donna Tartt
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  • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King
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  • The Deathly Hallows – J. K. Rowling
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  • The Half-Blood Prince – J. K. Rowling
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  • The Order Of The Phoenix – J. K. Rowling
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  • The Goblet Of Fire – J. K. Rowling
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  • The Prisoner Of Azkaban – J. K. Rowling
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  • The Chamber Of Secrets – J. K. Rowling
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  • The Philosopher’s Stone – J. K. Rowling
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 Posted by at 1:42 PM

My switch to Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10) – Part II

 Tech  No Responses »
Feb 102011
 

If you haven’t already done so, I would advise you to read Part I first: My switch to Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10) – Part I

First, it’s again software, software, software

  • Google Earth: Just go to the Google download page and download the .deb-package, click on it and install it via Software Center. When you try to run it from the Applications menu, it’s very likely that nothing will happen and when you try to run it from Terminal, it will tell you "exec: 50: ./googleearth-bin: not found". This is caused by a dependency that is not checked by the installer. The missing package is "lsb-core". Install it using Synaptic Package Manager and everything should work.
  • All Tray: It’s a handy tool that lets you minimize every program to the notification area instead of the task bar. You can install it using the Software Center. When you run it, just click on the program you want to change (Thunderbird e.g.) and it’s moved to the notification area. Left clicking the icon there opens/hides the program from now on. (has to be repeated after every reboot, though)
  • NTM: Stands for Network Traffic Monitor and allows you to keep track (and set limits, if you wish) for online Traffic&Time. Very useful when you’ve no ‘real’ flat or if you’re an online addict. ;) You can download it here. Download the deb.-package and install it using the Software Center after clicking the .deb-file. Configure it to cover the time-frame you need.
  • Microsoft Fonts: I love Arial! And so I had to install this package and would advise you to do so, too (though I know, that some "I hate MS"-trolls will deeply disagree ;) ). You can install it by installing the package "ttf-mscorefonts-installer" with Synaptic Package Manager.

Two important things were always missing in Ubuntu (Linux). And like many others (as I saw during my search) I googled and studied forums for LOTS of hours to find it: A replacement for Microsoft OneNote and Microsoft Live Writer. But I found them!! :) Both have not ALL the functions of their MS counterparts, but all I need!

  • Cherry Tree: That’s the OneNote like program. It lets me organize my Notes similar to OneNote and it’s still actively developed. You can download it here. Click the .deb-package and install it via Software Center.
  • Blogilo: By far the best blogging software for Linux and my posts are created using it. What makes it special is that you can import your WordPress blog design with one button click and get an exact preview how the post will look like after publishing! As far as I know it’s the only blogging software with this feature besides MS Live Writer. It is a KDE application (that only means that a lot of KDE libraries will be installed, too). You can install it using the Software Manager.

One annoying problem at the end of day two

Flash Player kept crashing in Google Chrome. Of course I searched the Web for answers, but the things proposed there didn’t help. Luckily I remembered roughly when the trouble had begun and that led to (a very easy) solution. You just have to deactivate the VLC-plugin in Chrome. Just open "about:plugins", search for VLC and disable it. No more crashes of Flash Player since then.

That was the end of day two. During the next days I tested the installed software and you’ll find short reviews during the next days right here. Stay tuned! :)

 Posted by at 11:41 AM

My switch to Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10) – Part I

 Tech  No Responses »
Feb 082011
 

The reason

After writing about my test run with Ubuntu 10.04, my inner geek was very unhappy about the outcome, since I really like the control a Linux system gives to me. So, I installed Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10) last week. After my system is now fully set up (with the basic stuff I need), I’ll go through the staple of notes I’ve produced during the last week to let you follow my first week with Ubuntu Maverick day by day. If you consider installing it too, you should read this series to see what you have to expect and even more, cause I solved some problems (googling for days…) that seem to be quite common.

The begin

  1. I downloaded the Ubuntu Maverick ISO image from here: www.ubuntu.com and used the Universal USB installer from the same site. – just follow the instructions there
  2. I partitioned my HDD, booted from USB and installed Ubuntu using "Specify partitions manually(advanced)". TIP: create an own partition for /home. – use advanced mode only if you know what you’re doing!
  3. Rebooting the system, logging into Ubuntu…

First troubles

I’m mostly using my netbook which is connected to an additional 19 Inch screen. Ubuntu greets you with cloned displays (same output on both screens – quite pointless for most people) in that case and the first task was to reconfigure them. But the Gnome desktop environment had a bug here. Though it allowed me to change the screens to their individual real resolution, Gnome didn’t let me configure them side by side. I could only place them above each other. At least, that was usable – updating the system later solved that problem.

Another problem was, that Ubuntu hadn’t recognized my HSDPA modem. Finally a reboot of the system solved that one (and it never reoccurred) and I updated Ubuntu via Update Manager (a few hundred MB).

Software, software, software…

Of course that is my list of preferred applications, so I don’t expect you to copy that 1:1, but most are very common.

  • Google Chrome: Use the preinstalled Firefox to go to Google Chrome’s download page and download the .deb-package. Click on it to install it via Software Center. Chrome has a TweetDeck Web-App. I couldn’t authorize it via web and so I decided to install the TweetDeck desktop client as a workaround.
  • Adobe Air: Just install it via Software Center. Adobe Air updates itself when you start it, since the version in the Ubuntu repository is (far) out-of-date.
  • TweetDeck Desktop: Click on install on TweetDeck’s homepage. Then you can log into the Desktop client and after doing this (keep it open), you can switch to TweetDeck Chrome and import your Desktop account. – the workaround! ;)
  • Thunderbird: Open Terminal, type "sudo apt-get install thunderbird", type in your password – done.
  • Mono-Development + Mono Documentation: Installed via Software Center – it’s a MS Visual Studio like IDE and most of you will probably don’t need it
  • FocusWriter: IMO the best tool for distraction free writing. Actual version is installed via Terminal with: "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa", "sudo apt-get update", "sudo apt-get install focuswriter" – Of course, you’ve to hit RETURN after each line. :) – TIP: CTRL-V doesn’t work in Terminal, but you can copy it from here and paste it via the menu of Terminal
  • VLC: Actual version is again installed via the Terminal: "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ferramroberto/vlc","sudo apt-get update","sudo apt-get install vlc mozilla-plugin-vlc"
  • Pinta: A lightweight picture editor like Paint.NET on Windows. Installed via Terminal: "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8", "sudo apt-get update", "sudo apt-get install pinta"

Fine tuning at the end of the day

If you use a custom .wav in Thunderbird for mail notifications, you’ll quite likely experience at least one of these two common problems.

  1. It is possible that you can’t play a .wav at all (in Thunderbird!). This can be solved by installing the eSound package via Synaptic Package Manager.
  2. VERY likely your .wav file will be cut off a few seconds before the end. For me that meant 3 hours of googling and Ubuntu forums again. I tried different solutions proposed there. (The problem seems to be around since 2006 at least!) None of them did change anything – though I discovered an useful extension for Thunderbird: Mailbox Alert. This add-on lets you set different alarm messages and sounds for different folders. Very handy, but the wav-files were still cut off.
    So far, I couldn’t solve this. I will let you know as soon as I have. Will even shout-out this via Twitter ;)

That was Day 1 of my migration to Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat. Day 2 will be posted here tomorrow. Stay tuned! ;)

Update: Part II is available: My switch to Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10) – Part II

 Posted by at 9:00 PM

Essential extensions for Google Chrome – Vanilla

 Tech  1 Response »
Nov 252010
 
Vanilla

By accident I discovered an extension I was looking for since I used Firefox 1.6. back then. A tool to get rid of unwanted cookies easily. (FF 1.6 had an option to block every VanillaBig2cookie you erased once – it was gone in FF 2.0 and I really never  understood why!) Vanilla handles it differently, but it’s also very simple to use. After you installed the extension, you should go to the options and whitelist the websites that you want to allow to store cookies on your computer. (Click on the picture to enlarge it)

As you can see it’s possible to whitelist the domain only or to include sub domains also. Since I have better things to do than to clear unwanted cookies manually, I’ve checked the two options at the bottom too. So, unwanted cookies willVanillaBig1 be erased at the startup of the browser and additionally every 30 minutes without bothering me. Beyond the options is a region where you can see some statistics about currently whilelisted cookies and which sites have stored unwanted cookies at the moment. You can even tell Vanilla to save a log of its activities.

The Vanilla icon in the toolbar of Chrome allows you additionally to change the whitelist status of the current webpage and to clear unwanted items manually. If you’re like me and usually clean up the cookie mess on your computer on a regular basis, you’ll love Vanilla like I do and should install it. It’s a great extension for Google Chrome!

You may be also interested in these posts:

Essential extensions for Google Chrome – Clip to Evernote

 Posted by at 10:01 PM

Essential extensions for Google Chrome – Clip to Evernote

 Tech  No Responses »
Nov 252010
 

Since I took the time to go through Google Chrome’s extension gallery for some hours searching for an extension to take parts of websites as notes, it was obvious to share some my findings with you.

There are thousands of extensions by now and the best-of lists that I’ve seen on the Web so far didn’t really convince me. So, here is the first part of my own – I hope it may help you to find some useful extensions.

Clip to Evernote

        I was looking for an extension that simply sends the chosen snippet to Microsoft OneNote 2007, but that does not exist. (Though obviously many people are waiting for it. – There is a way to send something to OneNote via "print", but it’s not editable then.)

I tried some tools to take parts of a website as a note, but in the end Evernote came closest to my requirements. (Actually Snippy would have been better since it can copy your snippets to Google Docs, but unfortunately it doesn’t work when a website doesn’t finish to load and the method to choose the parts to copy is a serious pain in the ass) I will have another look at it in some weeks though.

        Evernote works reliable and quite simple. You mark the part you want to copy, click on the button in the toolbar and can add tags or a comment. When you click "Done" the note is send to your Evernote account.

Since your notes are stored in the cloud it’s possible to access them from everywhere – even from a variety of different clients. If you use it on more than one system your notebooks are automatically synchronized.

The Evernote webpage though seems to have serious problems with Google Chrome. Most times I couldn’t log in or had to erase my cookies first. Accessing your files via browser is therefore no real option with Chrome, but the desktop client works without problems. One small disadvantage is that the free account has a 40MB/month limit. This limit is not about storage space, but limits the amount of data you send to Evernote.

You may be also interested in these posts:

Essential extensions for Google Chrome – Vanilla

 Posted by at 1:51 AM

One weekend with Ubuntu 10.04

 Tech  No Responses »
Nov 212010
 

After using Windows XP for too many years now and before buying Windows 7, I thought I give Linux another try. Starting with SuSE 5.3 I tried roughly a dozen different Linux distributions in the past, but always returned to Windows very fast. Reading the Ubuntu forums a bit, I got the impression that the latest version 10.10 is still too buggy, so I installed 10.04.

The installation of Ubuntu should be no problem for most people. (OK, I had created some unpartioned space on my HDD before). After the install I had a working system – even my 3G modem was usable right after just choosing my provider. Some programs were missing of cause, so I installed GIMP, FocusWriter, VLC, Medibuntu, GnomeCommander, Thunderbird, Chrome, Opera and some others. This is possible without any trouble in the package manager for most of them or after some research in the Ubuntu forum from the command line (VLC, Medibuntu). But then…

Problem 1: Flash crashes in Google Chrome every few minutes

OK, this one drove me crazy. I studied Ubuntu Forum, Chrome Help Forum and Google for 5 hours. That problem seems to be quite common and a handful of people said that some of the supposed solutions worked for them – not for me though. I solved it quite accidentally then as I deactivated unwanted plug-ins in Chrome. After deactivating the VLC, Quick Time and Java plug-in, Flash stopped crashing. Haven’t tested which of those caused it, but if you experience that problem, try them one by one.

Problem 2: VLC and all other media players play the sound of videos but show only a black screen

Another hour digging in the Ubuntu forums brought a solution for VLC, but not for the other media players. You can switch the video output in preferences of VLC to XBC, this gives your videos a picture in VLC at least. There seems to be no solution for the rest, but only some people are affected by that bug obviously.

Problem 3: Broken package (VLC) after KUBUNTU-package install and uninstall

There is a bug in Gnome that doesn’t allow a background picture to span over 2 monitors correctly (since version 2.3 as I read). OK, this is no big deal, but ugly and annoying! So, I decided to give KDE a try. The KUBUNTU-package was installed quickly, but KDE restarted every time I tried to tell it that it should show different pictures on both monitors (instead of the useless cloning).

Therefore KDE was no option, but uninstalling it caused serious trouble. I was already quite annoyed as some programs where accidentally uninstalled with it: GIMP, FocusWriter, Gnome-Commander(!) and VLC. The first 3 were re-installed fast, but VLC was no longer installable! The package had irresolvable dependencies now. Again I was not the only one who had that problem, but again nobody had found a working solution.

Another 2 hours of experimenting later I decided to end this test.

If you want to feed your inner geek (or prove it to others) then Linux is still a great choice on the desktop. (Though other distributions are of course much geekier than Ubuntu! ;) ). For day by day use I’ll stick (again) with Windows. I just enjoyed very much to double-click MS Word 2007, typing this article without any trouble, clicking publish and everything just worked fine.

 Posted by at 10:24 PM

My Tweets on Air

 Personal  No Responses »
Oct 212010
 

World News Asia 2009

 

The Brief 2010

 

World Report Hong Kong 2010

 Posted by at 9:13 PM
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