I spent a good bit of the weekend trying to get Red Hat to work with my wireless USB network adapter. At the moment, only a handful of wireless chipsets are supported under Linux at the moment and this is one of them but I was only able to achieve limited success and that was with Titus’s help. At best, it would work for about five minutes before the system would kernel panic and freeze. I’m already sorry that I bought the thing and this experience only reinforces my negative sentiment.
I was prompted to install Red Hat after seeing Knoppix, a live distribution that Titus showed me. The entire distribution fits on a CD and you can boot the OS directly from the CD. This means that would-be Linux converts can get in and muck around with Linux without having to modify their systems at all. This isn’t a bare distribution either. It’s got a full set of applications, several window managers to choose from, and the X window system. It’s an impressive feat and it works surprisingly well. I was already planning on trying Linux again this summer but I moved my schedule forward after seeing Knoppix.
The latest version (9.0) of Red Hat is impressive in itself. Red Hat introduced a new interface called Bluecurve in the previous version (8.0) which represents a significant step foward in terms of aesthetic appeal, usability, and overall polish. Red Hat also uses anti-aliased fonts to great effect out of the box. This is a fairly new feature for Linux and even Windows has only limited support for anti-aliased font rendering at this point. Other highlights include a slick graphical installer, a very nice package management interface that is reminiscent of Add/Remove Programs in windows, and graphical frontends for changing system settings that were previously only accessible through the console.
After the wireless fiasco, I don’t think Linux is ready for mainstream consumption just yet but Linux has made enormous strides even since the last time I used it. At the current rate of improvement, it will become a very relevant OS much sooner than the folks at Redmond will likely be comfortable with.
In other news, it’s finals week at Georgia Tech. I hate how so much of your grade comes down to one test but that’s the established system and I have to work with it. My last final will be Friday and after that I’ll be heading home to get ready for work. I’ll be working at the nuclear plant as an intern again, starting Monday. I’m ready for the change of pace.
Description
It’s a trippy Shirow wall. Think Ghost in the Shell if you don’t know who Masamune Shirow is.
Credits
- Wallpaper - shirow2003 by br3
- Visual Style - Classix Brown by gigatexel and [saint-dark]
- Trillian Pro - Classix Brown by Raq
- Winamp - Classix Brown by art
Description
The visual style was one of those where you see the screenshot and you just think wow. This screenshot doesn’t really do the theme justice. I believe it’s based on the designs by Everaldo, graphical mastermind behind the popular Crystal theme for KDE. The wallpaper was similarly striking and the two just came together. I usually use much larger icons but the small start menu icons went particularly well with this theme.
Credits
Another update coincides with another visit from my parents. I guess it goes to show that I need external forces to do things outside of the normal routine. My parents were in town starting Tuesday but I didn’t see them until Wednesday afternoon due to schoolwork constraints.
The beginning of the week was one of the most toilsome yet this semester as I had a test, paper, and homework due within the first few class days. After extended hours, much cursing and telling myself how much I hate this class or that class, it’s done and I can take a breather for a few days.
This visit was again accompanied by several outing to some nice restaurants. Wednesday night we dined at Chin-Chin on the Perimeter, a continual favorite. My dad was the only one who experimented this time around. He had an interesting shrimp dish, the name of which escapes me. Mom had walnut chicken and I had sesami chicken.
Thursday night we dined at Daily’s in downtown, which came with high recommendations from Dad’s co-workers. It was a very nice place, albeit with a rather limited menu. I had the New York Strip and caramel-apple pie for dessert. Both were excellent.
My parents left of Friday after we had lunch at the Varsity, a legend in its own right. We had chili dogs, onion rings, and french fries. The chili dog and onion rings were good but the french fries weren’t. It was a new experience for all of us at least.
Today was a day for much experimentation with software. I found an excellent resource for useful information on the Phoenix browser that I highly recommend to anyone who uses Phoenix or is simply interested in trying out. Winamp 2.9 final also arrived recently and I upgraded accordingly. It features a new, if subtle, default skin and some other neat new features for those of use who have held off on 3.x. Finally, I purchased a license for Trillian Pro, the upscale version of the popular messaging software. I had tried a semi-illegitimate version a little while back and I was impressed with the cleaner, more polished interface. You can see it in action in my latest desktop.
Linkin Park’s new CD, Meteora, came out last week. Rubesh tipped me off that Best Buy would have the CD for only $9.99. Naturally, I jumped on the deal and picked up a copy for myself and Nicky. So far I’m very pleased with the CD and I can safely recommend it to anyone who likes any of the band’s other work.
Also, while I was at Best Buy, I threw in a copy of “Love Hina” Vol. 6 for good measure. It’s a comedy-romance anime about a prep-school student who seems to end up taking physical and verbal abuse from the opposite sex in one misunderstanding after another. All in all, highly recommended.
The bastards! They got Titus. It was about 9:30 AM and I had just gotten out of the shower. I heard this knock on the door and about 30 seconds later I heard Nicky answer it. I heard a brief exchange and then nothing. Ah well, about my business I went. Then, all of a sudden, there was this loud noise that sounded something like a door being kicked in. I heard a meek scream that sounded vaguely Indian. I rushed out to see what mischief my roommates were up to and I saw Nicky being held down by some strange looking men in black with the letters F-B-I written on their backs. Well, I don’t remember a lot after that and my head hurts now. Titus is gone and I don’t know when he’ll be back. I’m told that 1-800-DAMN-THE-MAN is the missing persons hotline though.
Update: It’s past midnight now so I’ll spare any confusion to those that haven’t figured it out. My mischievous roomies and I were up to April Fool’s. Hope no one took it too seriously!
Edit: Removed stale links.
