Coal Finger

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.

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