I know this is off-topic, but this is important :-)
Violin-playing Goat
"Happiness isn't happiness unless there's a violin-playing goat."
--
Julia Roberts
Well there is no violin, but one goat has certainly made me happy, more specifically an ibex...
Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex Has Been Released!!
New Netbook (Yes Another !)
HP has just released the specs, pricing etc. of a new netbook on their site. Now HP's previous netbook the 'HP 2133 Mini-Note' was a bit of a disaster, is ran a very slow VIA processor, it was a lot more expensive than other notebooks of it's kind and to top it all off, it ran Windows Vista :-)
However, don't be put off, after looking at the news of this one, it seems HP have got their act together a bit. There shall be two base editions (an 8.9" and a 10") which will then have the choice of 3 designs applied to them.
- Vivienne Tam Edition - includes the designer’s personal artistic finish (image to the right), it comes in a 10.2-inch version only, has its own protective sleeve and 6 months of accidental damage coverage. This version, as you can see, is designed to be seen as a women’s ‘clutch’ handbag.
- Windows Version - This comes with XP this time, and features a black 'piano' finish, (pictured to the left)
- MIE Edition - MIE, standing for Mobile Internet Experience, is the (you guessed it :-]) Linux edition, no word to what distro will be included, but it sounds like an EeePC Style Xandros install.
All of the Netbooks will feature the Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, Intel GMA 950 video card, built-in WiFi b/g or Ethernet.
RAM will be at 1GB and hard drive size is available in an 8GB or 16GB SSD, or 60GB HDD. You can also choose between 3 different sized integrated thumb drives (2,4, and 8GB) that (apparently) fit into the body of the machine.
For more hours you can add an optional 6-cell battery. The keyboard that is 92% the size of a normal one, plus a webcam for Internet video.
Install Android SDK (and Emulator) in Ubuntu
As I explained in my previous post, you can run an emulated version of Android, on either your Windows, Linux or Mac system. The emulator comes with the SDK (Software Development Kit) from Google, and is very easy to setup and install. Here is a guide to install this in Ubuntu 8.04/8.10.
1) Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type in (entering your password when asked):sudo apt-get install sun-java6-bin
If you are running Ubuntu 64-bit edition, you will need to also run the following command after the one above has finished.sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
2) Once this is done, you can either go here, and download the SDK, or to streamline the process, run in the terminal:
(Sorry, below is all one line)wget http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk-linux_x86-1.0_r1.zip
3) Once that has finished downloading, run the following command (or if you downloaded it straight from the SDK page, unzip the SDK where you saved it):unzip android-sdk-linux_x86-1.0_r1.zip
4) Once that is done, you have successfully download the Android SDK.
To use the emulator, close the terminal window, open your File Manager, and go to your home folder, and navigate into 'android-sdk-linux_x86-1.0_r1'. Once in there, navigate to the tools directory and double click on the file 'emulator'
5) Once you have done that, the emulator will start, as this is the first time you have run it, it will ask if you want to submit statistical information to Google. Select the option you want (yes or no) and then the main emulator shall appear..png)
6) Once everything has appeared, a phone will come up, with the word 'ANDROID' on it, the emulator is now loading up, it may take a while, but once it is done, you should have a window like to the right.
7) You're finished! Do yourself a treat and have a mess around with it!
:-)
Android - 2 ; iPhone - 0
Whilst reading my feeds, I just found two things that made me laugh, and applaud Android.
Android - 1
Those of you who have an iPhone (not me :-]) will know how it took over a year for someone to bring Skype to the iPhone, and even then, it is still a bit crappy.
Well, iSkoot has just brought Skype to Android and what's that? 3 weeks after it's release on the T-Mobile G1? Hehe, and guess what, apparently it is quite good :-)
Android - 2
I just read a guide on how download & install the Android SDK (which includes an emulator) for Ubuntu. (Instructions in the next post!). Hmmm.. funny how the Android SDK was released with so little trouble, and yet the iPhone's has so much controversy surrounding it, and it still only has a Mac version available (when you sign up for a Dev account).
Firefox 3.1
I may be a bit late, but Firefox 3.1 (beta 1) was released last week, and since then I have been trying it out. With the new TraceMonkey enabled, JavaScript is super-fast now and I have also noticed a few UI improvements (shown in the picture).
Among the less noticeable features (well ones you won't encounter as much) are location awareness on WiFi networks and a built-in OGG player. If like me, you were itching to have a play around with 3.1, Tom of Tombuntu posts a very good guide here.
Test Drive Firefox 3.1 beta 1
Have Fun with It!
Advice - Dell Inspiron
Hi everyone, I was wondering if any of you could give me some advice.
I am thinking about buying a laptop, and I have finally decided to just buy a normal laptop instead of a netbook.
I am on a limited budget (around £350), and the best Ubuntu Laptop I have found so far is the Dell Inspiron 1525 (the only Ubuntu Laptop from Dell UK) however before I purchase it, I was wondering:
- If any of you have bought an Inspiron 1525 and your experience with it
- Or if any of you have found another great (but cheap) Ubuntu laptop and wish to recommend it
If you have time, could you either email me or post a comment about the above
Thanks Everyone!!
Graphics Update
* Gimp 2.6 has been released. The changes are mostly under-the-hood, (ie. moving form old GIMP core to shiny new GEGL Core), however there are a few UI changes. Release Notes: www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.6.html. Waiting desperately for a PPA as the screenies look like an SDI (single document interface) is onboard!!
EDIT: A ppa is available courtesy of Christoph Korn !! See https://launchpad.net/~c-korn/+archive
* Nathive, a new GTK image editor's alpha was just released, something funny is going on on the downloads page, however when it is all fixed, the website to go to is http://nathive.org
Happy Birthday GNU !
Mr. Stephen Fry introduces you to free software, and reminds you of a very special birthday.
Click on the image to play the video!
New Entry for the Browser Wars!
Google have just announced they are going to release a new (open source) internet browser tomorrow, called Google Chrome. It is based on both Mozilla Firefox and Webkit and incorporates Google Gears into the formula (well what did you expect :-] ).
The developers have presented the ideas behind it in a unique and effective way, a comic strip. You can read it here http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome.
When I first read the announcment, I was a bit sceptical, here comes another browser that will die of in the first few weeks, but having read the core ideas in the comic book, I am really looking forward to it.
It seems as though the engineers behind Chrome have sat down and really had a think about the good elements and shortcomings of current browsers, fixed the latter and then brought them all together.
There are very few details out at the moment, however I have read that the Windows version comes out tomorrow with other OS releases not specified. I do hope that Chrome comes to Linux (and not like Picassa did with wine) as I think it could really shake up our current thinking of modern internet browsing.
Dell E > Dell Inspiron 910 - Updates
This is an update to the previous post about Dell's new ULPC.
*It will be called the Dell Inspiron 910 (no deli jokes anymore ;-] )
*It will ship with Ubuntu 8.04 ! (Or that other proprietary operating system)...
The realease date is set to be around the 22nd of August for $300 (around £160!).
As soon as they are in the UK I am snagging one!
PowerMac + Ubuntu = Server Time!
While on holiday, I was helping my great-uncle out with his study room setup (I ended up saving him a switching of ISP!) and at the end he offered me a Mac that he bought in 2000, that he had replaced and therefore no longer used anymore. He was going to take it to the dump and so I gladly offered to take it back with me.
I took a look inside when back home, and found it was a PowerMac G4 with a 450Mhz PowerPC Processor and about 600mb of RAM (also with two 10GB hard drives). Just to make sure it all worked I fired up an Xubuntu LiveCD and was happy when I saw the familiar layout. Unfortunately, the Mac had just missed OSX and so when I booted from the HD was dissatisfied with the ugly UI that stood before me (I was expecting Aqua!).
After a lot of thought (and disappointment that Apple had made the case so it couldn't be used again) I decided to transform it into a server!
After a short while I had Ubuntu Server PowerPC installed and so I looked at trying to install OpenVZ (a virtualisation option for servers) so if anything went wrong, i still had my server, however after half a day of ploughing through poor PowerPC orientated documentation I took a step back and went to bed.
The next day I found out about an alternative to OpenVZ called VServer. This was much better documented and after about an hour I had it running perfectly :-)
Message of the Story?
If someone offers you an old Mac, kill two birds with one stone:
* Turn it into a server and gain a stylish shelf as well :-)
Big Buck Python
Big Buck Bunny Has been Tango-ized!
I have working on these for short while and so I decided to finally let them out. They are released under GPL, however Big Buck Bunny is (c) copyright Blender Foundation.
If anyone would like to do anything with them, the SVG source is available here:
http://www.web-note.co.uk/big-buck-bunny-tango.svg
On another note, I have been reading a Python book to help me get started coding better with Python. The book is called Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional. I would highly recommend it, as I gives a very comprehensive view of Python, but it is not too challenging to keep up with the book. The author (Magnus Lie Hetland) also includes quite a lot of Monty Python references which is also very entertaining. Hopefully this book will spur me on in my stalled coding state! :-)
Dell E
This one seems to have slipped through the Ubuntu Planet's Radars, however I thought I make it known that Dell has revealed more about their competitor (spotted under Michael Dell's arm a while ago) to the Asus EEEPC and the like, and they have decided (for now) to call it the Dell E.
A nice controversial and easily misunderstood name :-) as I see it.
Like the Other UltraPortables out there, it is shipped with Linux preinstalled (or a 7 years old version of some other operating system...)
Anyway, despite the name, I am pretty interested and excited about the Deli Dell E, because... :-
- The specs of of it's most basic model (see below) beat that of the EEEPC's 700 & 900 series (900Mhz CPU & 1Ggb RAM). It has a 1.6Ghz CPU with 512mb.
- Dell are to release 5 different versions!
- The normal 'Dell E' will come in E Classic, E Video & E Video+ (the next version in the series include webcams, bluetooth stuff, more memory & storage etc.
- Then Dell are to release an 'E Slim' series which will even seek to take on competitors such as the Macbook Air with it's ultra slimness (however the E SLim is slightly fatter). The E Slim's will come in Normal & '+' versions.
- Another mainstream PC with Linux on is always good :-)
- They are planned to ship in more colours like the EEEPC's
- I think the E's look better (more stylish) than the EEEPC's .. hehe :-)
Hello World!
The immortal words that come before any new blog's first post...
Hello World!
I am Andrew and this is my new blog! Some of you may know me already, those few who do might know me better by 'Rugby471' my username on most sites, however that aside, I shall be blogging here quite often, on subjects (related to Ubuntu & Linux) that I find interesting and I hope you will too.
And now a bit about me:
- Name : Andrew (rugby471)
- Age : In my Teens
- What Do I Do? : Artwork & a Bit of Python (pygtk) programming when I can
Any particular things you want to see on this blog? Please email me and tell me! (Otherwise you may to deal with the random posts that I conjure up occasionally :-] )
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