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Ubuntu on Everything!
Thursday, January 07, 2010

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy at work and a couple of side projects.

On a techie side note, I managed to successfully install Ubuntu on an "old world" beige PowermacG3 at work. It took me two weeks of tinkering to get it to work, but I actually did something that everyone around me said was a lost cause or a waste of time. I guess those people don't know how determined I can get when I have my mind set on something. So, what was essentially just a doorstop, is now a fully functional and useful Linux box.

That little adventure inspired me to put Linux on a couple of older machines that I keep for sentimental reasons. One of the laptops already had a different type of Linux on it but it didn't have a lot of applications that worked with it leaving me mostly frustrated with it. The other old laptop that ran Windows XP. It was having some major performance issue because the hard drive was starting to get really full from all updates that Microsoft keeps pumping out to correct their sloppy programming. Both laptops are doing pretty well under Ubuntu. In fact, I'm writing this post on the former WinXP box.

Using Linux, especially Ubuntu, is not scary or hard. In fact, it's insanely easy and it's very similar to what you're already familiar with. It's not some kind of "matrix" screen that some non-computer literate people think.

For me, running Ubuntu is like having all the protection and flexibility that Mac people brag about but without having to become a pretentious, tech-bling toting, douche-bag. Plus, I'm saving the environment by preventing these computers from ending up in some landfill. Can you say the same thing when you buy a computer? How many trees died to make the box, manuals, and advertising inserts? How much pollutants were released into the environment when you made all that new shiny parts of your new fancy computer?

Just because your computer is not the latest or greatest, or whether it has significantly slowed down from all the crapware you unknowingly picked up along the way, it doesn't mean that you have to chunk it and get a brand-new one. Do yourself a favor. Consider using Linux/Ubuntu to bring your computer back from a state of being obsolete and unlock it's true potential. Trust me. Your wallet and the environment will thank you.

Save a tree. Learn Linux.

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Geeking Out On-the-Road
Sunday, September 20, 2009

Well, I know I promised that I would post a lot more than what I've been doing, but life keeps getting in the way.

Most of my free time has been eaten up by my whoring myself into doing in-house computer repairs and 1-on-1 computer training sessions for people who want to learn more about their computers. Sure, it's not the glamorous work you'd expect a 13-year web development veteran to be doing, but to be honest, I really need the money. Good web projects are starting to get hard to come by and these days I'm taking anything that comes my way.

Lately, I've been finding myself on the road a lot more. As a result, I convinced myself to get a decent detachable WiFi antenna rig mounted on my car. Aside from war-driving, it allows me to get a stronger and more stable connection to any public hot-spots in the area. Last night was my first field test of my rig and it worked out pretty well. The rig consists of a Hawking USB wireless network adapter (the kind of that has a removable antenna) and a generic magnet mounted WiFi antenna that I found on eBay. So far, the whole thing is working as expected. I'm using my Asus netbook for this project since it is small enough to carry around. There is one drawback. My car now screams "geek-inside" whenever I'm parked somewhere looking for wifi.

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Apple Bluetooth Mouse by Rocketfish
Saturday, August 23, 2008

I wanted to free up the usb ports on my Asus Eee PC 901XP, so I decided to go shopping for a bluetooth mouse.

There wasn't much to choose from at the local BestBuy and neither Circuit City and Walmart carried any bluetooth mice locally in their stores. All of the bluetooth mice at BestBuy were about the same price of $50, give or take a dollar and a couple of pennies. Among the selections were some offerings from Microsoft, Targus, Apple, and Rocketfish.

After considering form factor, style, and price, I decided to go with the Rocketfish Apple Bluetooth Mouse. It was the cheapest of the bunch coming in at $47 plus the white color of the mouse matches the Eee PC. Despite being designed to be used with Mac products, the standard HID bluetooth protocls made this mouse work seamlessly with my system.

Now, I have more open usb ports to plug my flash drives into. For anyone who owns an Eee PC, having free usb ports is a blessing if you're one who has started to run out of hard drive space.

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EEE PC 901 ordered! Let the Waiting Begin...
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

For a few months now, I’ve been fighting with myself on whether I should buy an ASUS EEE PC. Well after much internal debating, my inner-geek has won and I have just ordered the little computer. I’m excited and I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Mobile post sent by ByteMonkey using Utterz. reply-count Replies.

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Success! Vector Linux Install Complete
Thursday, June 12, 2008


Here's another laptop that has been resurected from the trash heap and turned into a light web surfing and wordprocessing machine through the miracle of Elvis and Vector Linux.

A long time ago, I was afraid of Linux because I wasn under the misconception that the installation would be ultra complicated. It turns out that I just need to find the right flavor of Linux that would work for me. Vector Linux from http://vectorlinux.com/ was the one that has worked out for me. So, now I have another computer to add to my personal computer lab. Maybe, I'll use this machine for company events to use as a kiosk for people to surf my company's website. Maybe, I'll use it just for blogging.

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