Owner: The tech and other cents URL:www.thetechandcents.com Join Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:27:41 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: It is a blog with opinions and reviews on almost anything Site statistics:Click here
That Which we call free 2007-12-17 12:45:00 I just read a reference to RMS' post to OpenBSD maillist. It is very him in the nature and the language, and I will not post anything here.But I started thinking then, how important nowadays the "openness" of the products? How the fact, that the product I use has a non-free parts impact its use?I'm not sure anymore it does. I see more tendencies in many market niches to move to open systems, open protocols and open implementations. And Linux is, of course, a part of that. Open architectures allow changing in a very convenient ways. For example, I worked in a company which created a NAS solutions. We took standard harware and put a Linux-based software on it. Then, it is connected to a network, and here you go - you have a network storage.There are 2 ways of creating such a product. A first one, is to create everything from the scratch - the operating system, the services, the protocols implementations, etc. The second one - the one many vendors choose these days - is to take some ope
RSSHugger 2007-12-17 02:45:00 OK, this post is about RSShugger.I'm trying to drive more traffic here to this blog, so I try to list myself in all sorts of blog listing directories. This is one of them.I do not yet know how well it works :-) only time will tell.
The way of a bully 2007-12-16 10:10:00 Hi readersAs I have stumbled through my stories with Blogger and blogging, I got to thinking about 2 things that I believe are important. Both of them have relation to technology and software. These are those issues:What impact have large vendors on open source projects?Why my is browser slow?This time I will talk about the first issue.It came to me after I read an article, about Sun being bully to a developers of CIFS server in Java. The project was open source, and its main developers were all Sun's employees. But then, in weird series of events, all developers were fired from Sun, and Sun forced its control over the project. All that while the project is still open source!!So, what is the purpose of such a project? If a large company forces its own rule on an open source project - what is the point for the project to be an open source one? I can understand the business targets of any vendor. Its purpose it to make money, and the company would do almost anything to reach that goal.
Linux Blogging Sucks no more 2007-12-13 09:06:00 I want to apologize to you all.I know I hurt some people with my post about how Linux
blogging sucks. I apologize for that. At the time of writing that post, this was exactly how I felt, and all I could think of was letting things out. I was bitter that there's no good application for Linux that I could use for blogging in offline mode using the New Blogger platform.But now its gone, I feel better and more objective (or even more subjective? You decide). I started to look around on what supports Blogger as a blogging platform, and then it had actually got me.There are no good offline tools for posting on Blogger! At least I haven't found one. Even BlogJet (which is probably my favorite application now) does not support all the features.Why is it so? Is it so hard to implement a simple feature? I'm sure the API is completely open, isn't it?Fine, I thought, I would go the way of samurai open source, and create something of my own for a change. I would at least answer my own goals for Read more:Blogging
What is blog? 2007-12-11 02:24:00 Amazing clip which explains what the blog is:
Better Than Kindle? 2007-12-09 01:56:00 OK, so by now I think there are no people left who didn't hear about the Amazon Kindle. Or read about it. Or written something. Or something.I just listened to a podcast by Leo Laporte (it's on Twit network - go check out), where he and his guests in the studio are talking about the kindle device and are not really thrilled by it. These are the sort of people who jump on all the newest and the greatest in the gadgetry, but they don't jump on this one.Why?I could probably take a guess, and to be correct as much as anyone. But here are few things that pop into my head when I'm thinking about any eBook:It has to be sorta cheapIt has to have a great screen - quality is importantThe screen size should be convenient (I know, this one is very subjective)It should be lightweightThe power should have a long life for thisWhile I'm thinking about all the things I'd do with it, this is what comes to my mind: this thing cost around $400. There are few other devices that cost that much these d
KDE4 vs. Gnome: where the passion is 2007-12-03 03:47:00 OK, so I'm not here to judge anyone, or bash anyone. I just speak my mind. And this is what I think:First, please let me announce that I'm currently a Gnome
user. I so say at the beginning, so everyone would know where I come from. Now, it's been awhile since I read first about the upcoming release of KDE4. I've read and followed the process since it was announced to the public.About the same time, I started digging into the state of Gnome and KDE in sort of a comparative fashion, and I found the one thing and one thing only - the passion has long been lost in Gnome, and in fact in KDE as well.Then I rechecked myself, on what should I use. I compared visual and resource-taking aspects of both KDE and GNOME at the time(say, about a 1.5 years ago), and have decided to stick with Gnome.Here are my reasons:I like the simplistic approach of Gnome. Everything is simple, and not more complicated that it needs to beCustomizations are not that important to me. I prefer usability over eye-ca
Accounting Web 2.0 2007-11-30 10:19:00 I have another blog of mine, where I express more targeted opinions. I said there once, that I intend to find a way for additional income, such as from blogging. While the bloggins thing is not going that well as I would like it to be, I have few friends which I help with their projects, and for that I'm getting some money. It is a sort of system consulting and integration help. I help them specifically with creating a little customized Linux distribution. But this doesn't come easy. To save on the taxes, I've opened my own business, so I'm independent now :-). Now, the only thing I have to deal with, is of course taxation authorities.According to the law, I have to prepay the income tax and insurance tax on a regular (bi-monthly) basis. But, well, I tend to forget. Besides, will all the receipts and invoices, I can loose myself. I was trying to find all sorts of different reminders, to-do lists, apps and what not.In this post I review a web app from LessAccounting - LessAccounting
Mobile likes Linux 2007-11-29 10:10:00 I've read an article today about a school in US that equipped its students with a new Asus eeePC 701 laptops. Aside the pedagogical issues, I find that very interesting from technological and social points of view.As a social effect, I think that using a computer in the classroom have long halted to surprise anyone. The fact that schools are now doing this on their own, show that technology is moving forward, making other sides and areas to consider its impact on how things are done. I'm not saying that teaching has to be accompanied by a computing systems, but I believe that it definitely can benefit from it. For similar purpose an OLPC project was created, and I have written an essay on that.Many of today's newly created small-sized computers are run with Linux
. It is well done business decision, as at that price grades, the price of an operating system can reach up to 50% of the final consumer products' cost. That's really outrageous - if I only would like to use a browser and Read more:Mobile
Installing Mac OS X on HP pavillion laptop 2007-11-24 03:58:00 Hi folksBeing affected by all "Hackintosh" series posts in Lifehacker and other places (such as installing it on eeePC 701), I've decided to get and install it on my aging laptop, HP Pavillion, model ze4508ea.Here's the laptop's specs:CPU: AMD Mobile XP 1.8GMemory: 750MB (can be expanded to 1G)HD: 20GGraphics: ATI Mobile 320M integrated up to 64MBCDRW/DVDScreen: 14"Wireless: PCMCIA RTLink 2500 series cardPlease let me know what my expectations can be regarding the functionality of the Mac OS X 10.4.8 on such a laptop.Thanks a bunch!
Zoundry Writer in Linux review 2007-11-20 11:04:00 For a few days, I've been testing different blog editors and trying to find which one I would prefer to use. My requirements are simple at the moment. You can go over them in my previous post on the matter - BlogJet editor in Linux
Review.I've written 2 articles, in which I told that Linux Editors sucks (and that was my personal feeling after I tried more than 5 different editors and found all of them either not working or sucking big time on features), and also that I've decided to try running a Windows blog editors (yes!) using WINE and I have written another post on that.So, I've found couple of editors that I succeeded to run in Linux. Here, I will talk about the second one, Zoundry. First, here's the screenshot of using this editor (click on the image to see in full size):So, as you can see, I'm writing this post in ZoundrySo here's my good feelings about this editor:Setting accounts is very easy and very good.Writing is very easy. All the regular features work (Italic, Bol Read more:review
, Writer
How much time do you spend on Digg? 2007-11-20 09:49:00 Hi allI'm having a research so I need your help first. I would like to ask you all a simple question:How much time do you spend on Digg
?Any answer is the good answer, but please be honest and true to yourself. The poll is at the top right sidebar.Thanks
BlogJet editor in Linux review 2007-11-19 07:39:00 For a few days, I've been testing different blog editors and trying to find which one I would prefer to use. My requirements are simple at the moment:Being able to publish to a blog platform I use at the moment. That's being Blogger (with a New Blogger [Google] API)Being able to publish in draft first. I don't mind to "touch" an entry before publishing, and doing so from Blogger's own web-based editor helps to "preview
" the entry how will it really look like.Adding tags to the post. Labels, categories, tags - I don't care how would you call this, I want it working if my platform supports them (and it does).as a subset, pinging to Technorati and/or other services and including their links in the posts is welcome albeit unnecessary requirement.Convenient linking to other things. For example, suggesting to use what I have at the moment in the clipboard cache is convenient, as it allows me to copy something in the browser, and then directly paste it in the editor. I would also welcome Read more:Linux
Home Theater Modeled After Enterprise Bridge 2007-11-19 02:55:00 Someone thought it would be a good idea to model their home theater after the Enterprise NCC-1701D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The result is super geeky, but actually rather cool. The system also features "one of the largest Kaleidescape hard-drive based storage systems" ever created, amassing eight servers with 3,816 DVDs.read more | digg story Technorati : Star Trek, tech
Read more:Home Theater
Get Things Done - Things First Looks 2007-11-19 02:49:00 Cultured Code recently posted to their site about a new app they are working on called Things, it is a GTD application, but is very different then the rest.I'm saving this in my bookmarks, to keep this with me ....read more | digg story Technorati : GTD
Read more:First
, Looks
Always Use Protection 2007-11-19 02:46:00 Firefox can always protect you....like a charm :-)Take a look :-)read more | digg story Technorati : Firefox
Read more:Protection
Running Zoundry and BlogJet blog editors under Wine 2007-11-18 06:36:00 Hi all !After I've written the Linux Sucks article, I started to think how can I still run any of the "good" (read Windows based) editors on Linux. And to tell you the truth, I've tried to run each and every one of those I found on different lists under WINE but to no avail.But no more. I've successfully installed and can run in Zoundry Blog Editor, from which I post this entry.Here's an install procedure (I use Gentoo, so I presume anyone who doesn't can adapt this to his/her own needs):Install IES4Linux on my machine (it installs WINE as well, so I don't have to).Run an Internet Explorer and try to browse. If you do so, then go over to Zoundry and download the Zoundry Blog Writer.In the same Internet Explorer window, go to File->Open and open the file you've downloaded.Install should start and install the application.Install mfc42.dll - get it from any Windows XP installation or here (legality of this action is beyond this post. Check with your lawer just in case). Copy it
Linux Blogging Sucks 2007-11-16 12:52:00 I want to tell you a story of a blogger who uses Linux
as his main (and quite the only) operating system.I started "blogging" about 2 years ago. I started using a Blogger as my platform, and I wasn't a massive writer - just a couple of articles here and there. But for the last year it happened that I manage more than one blog, and I do keep notes with me all the time and I write much more. Offline blogging became more important to me. As I know that "blogging" is widely used in Open Source community I recently started looking for a blog editor that would allow me to keep my notes offline (meaning without publishing) and post them when I'm ready.As to my greatest surprise I haven't found even one that would be on par with my expectations (on that - later on).Next, I realized that I'm not all that comfortable with web-based editors. Yes, they are almost the best editors there are (each one for its corresponding platform), but I would like better the normal editor, that I would write Read more:Blogging
Samsung's 64GB SSD: better, faster, stronger ! 2007-11-11 08:52:00 We've been fooling around with Samsung
's 64GB SSD for the past couple of days and guess what, it turns out the thing is both completely silent and really fast. Who knew? Without getting all chartngraph up in this piece, we pitted it against a couple of stock Seagate Momentus 5400RPM SATA 2.5-inch laptop drives and see what happened."read more | digg storyPowered by ScribeFire.
Read more:better
, stronger
Coverflow for Quicksliver - Way Cool 2007-11-11 08:49:00 This is pretty darn cool. Coverflow put into Quicksliver would not only be cool but productive. It's just an idea for now though.Cool graphics anywaysread more | digg story
Are linux distribution names should be locked? 2007-12-24 14:58:00 I just read a post by Lucas Nussbaum, where he complains about the fact, that there are some Ubuntu deviations, which have different names. I find this irrational. There were times, when we only had sort of one Linux operating environment. Then, as the time passed, it became the GNU/Linux OS, and then, as it is regarded today, it is a base for many different flavors of Linux Operating systems.There are many people who ask the question: is there too many Linux distribution
s? But the answer to that question is bordering with the definition of Open itself: as long as one allows openness and provides means, there always will be someone who will customize the product to his/her own needs. And that includes the name change.Why the author has no complains to Linux Mint distribution, which is largely based on Ubuntu? Who should decide when to provide new distribution name? I don't think it really matters.What matters is that people use Linux, in any form and shape, and under any name they lik
New Domain name 2007-12-24 11:32:00 Hi allIt is starting!! I have a new domain now, The Tech And Cents, which will be hosting my blog from now on.Bought at GoDaddyNext investment - hosting purchase. Need something cheap and stable :-)
Moving to Wordpress 2007-12-24 10:24:00 Well, lads, its happening. As I'm really interested in blogging, and actually and possibly making something out of it, I've decided to move to a Wordpress
world. It means, that my blog will probably change a lot in coming weeks, but I hope you'll love it at the end.I will start with a question of course - did anyone successfully moved from Blogger to the own-hosted blog? How was it done? How all the data is preserved? Is it hard?I would be very appreciative for any information.Thanks a bunch.Alex.
Read more:Moving
Mobile really likes Linux (supported by ArsTechnica) 2007-12-22 13:15:00 As a prove for what I've been preaching for a while: The Eee PC will likely have a noticeable influence on future mobile computing development. Companies are increasingly adopting Linux
in the mobile space, and Linux developers and distributors are embracing this trend and accommodating rapid development. Intel is also pushing forward Linux-based budget mobile computing with the Silverthorne architecture.It is becoming increasingly obvious to hardware makers that Windows simply isn't flexible enough to meet the requirements of the rapidly-evolving mobile market and that open-source software provides a clear path forward. The Eee PC is a stunning example of what a hardware maker can accomplish when mixing a highly compact form factor with a custom open-source Linux platform. With the Eee PC, consumers can get a taste of the future today.Read on ArsTechnica, in Asus Eee701 PC review
Read more:Mobile
Top Best 50 Ubuntu Opensource Applications For Design 2007-12-20 09:56:00 I just seen this post on digg, List of the 50 best opensource applications for Ubuntu
, Xubuntu, Kubuntu and Fluxbuntu.It got hundreds of diggs, but I wonder, why is it the Ubuntu list? I run almost all of these in Gentoo as well.So I wonder, why is it the author defines it with some distro name?I'm afraid that Linux might go the pass of podcasting, when people believe that they need an iPod to listen to one. It may happen with Ubuntification of Linux.The future will tell.
Read more:Applications
, Opensource
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