Yum Upgrading to Fedora 9
Ok, I noticed that most complaints on the Fedora mailing list seemed to have been solved and it has bene a few months since Fedora 9 came out. So I figure that it’s time to finally upgrade. Also, my biggest problems appear to have been resolved. Although X.org is still in beta, nvidia has released drivers that will work in the interim. And today KDE 4.1 was released! I expect it’ll be in Fedora any day now. I was going to wait until it was there so I wouldn’t have to download all the KDE packages twice, but I figure it’s not that big a deal.
Linux Mint 5.0 Light Review
This month’s Linux Format Magazine had Linux Mint as one of the Linux distros on the DVD. I’ve been hearing a lot of people talk about this Ubuntu-based distro. So Mint is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian. Why not just base Linux Mint off of Debian? Ok, so given that it’s based off of Ubuntu and Ubuntu is becoming synonymous with Linux because it’s so easy to use, why would you want to use Linux Mint? I check out tout the Linux Mint About Page and I’ll sum it up here. Basically they appear to be focused on making things even MORE user-friendly than Ubuntu. It appears that they intend to do this in in two ways - by having the media codecs and firmware available and by having some better user interfaces.
Puppy Linux 4.0
Back in May I reviewed Puppy Linux along with a bunch of other lightweight Linux distros. This month Linux Format Magazine included Puppy Linux 4.0 on their disc and I thought I’d check it out. I’m mainly focusing on how things have changed and improved or gotten worse since Puppy 3.01. I burned the disc and put it into my test rig computer.
The first time it Kernel Panicked. So I told it to go completely in RAM like last time. Then it had some kind of “bread failed” kernel error and paused for 60 seconds. It tried to use UnionFS and kernel panicked again. I gave it one more shot with loading completely into RAM and ACPI off since that can sometimes wreak havok with Linux. It finally worked! Interestingly, when I rebooted, I had a hard time making that work again. Sounds like something the Puppy devs need to fix. However, I guess it could be something wrong with my burned CD.
Trudging through Lord of the Rings Part 4
I am now done with the entire story of the hobbits. Overall, I have enjoyed the books more than the movie. Here’s what I have to say about The Return of the King:
I found the characters in the book seem a lot more hopeless than in the movie. I mean, the movie does a good job of showing the despair of the city Minis Tirith, but the book really shows it much better. I found myself at times forgetting that I already knew the ending and that most of the characters would be fine. Speaking of already knowing the story, I kept waiting for the part where Gollum tricks Frodo into thinking that The Fat Hobbit has eaten the bread. It’s not in the books - they added that for the movie.
A Short Story: Preventative Medicine
Wrote this over the course of a few days as a creative exercise.
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“¡Carajo Coño!” he muttered under his breath as he ran. His wife had just started to get into the mood when the call had come in. It was on the mobile that he never turned off, not even during moments of planned intimacy. He’d had no choice but to answer and, despite her threats of finding electromechanical means of satisfaction, he was forced to bolt out the door. “¡Coño!” he wagered to utter a little louder, he had left so quickly he only had the small pistol that was always in his right pocket. He hoped it wouldn’t matter.
Is it obsolete? TV Stations
Today I consider whether or not TV Stations as a distinct programming lineup have become obsolete. More or less since the beginning of commercial television there have been TV Stations to tune in to. (eg ABC, HBO, TNT) These stations create and broadcast original programming or buy the rights to broadcast programming created by others so that I can pick it up on my television. Every year they decide which television shows will play throughout the day for the next year. This show should play on Thursday at 2000 because that’s when such and such an age group will be watching. That show should be on at Monday at 2100 because otherwise it might have to compete with a show from another network. Some shows have nearly literally lived and died based on the timeslot they were shown in. Sometimes shows are moved around to follow other shows to benefit from the inertia of the viewers of the previous show to carry this one until it either proves itself or fails.