Ubuntu 8.04 has been released... I am planning on upgrading my system in the next few weeks. There are a couple of things I need to address first before I make the move:

• Backup My Files
• Inventory Applications (mainly how did I install them)
• AWN
• Wine
• etc...
  
• Inventory system changes/upgrades (I have a D630 so I need to address the issues with this laptop
• WiFi (my laptop needs upgraded wireless drivers)
  
• Audio (this does not work out of the box with a new install)
• Video (it's been a while, but to get AWN & Desktop effects working correctly, I needed to update the system and the xorg.conf)

I am planning on doing an upgrade to my system, all though in the past I have always ran into issues and wound up wiping everything and performing a clean install. So, if anyone is really reading this (which I'm sure they are not) check back soon and check on my progress.

How about a Burrito

So I've found this crazy website (http://chipotlog.com) where you can find songs about Chipolte and Burritos. Chipoltle even used one of the songs for a radio ad, at least in the Windy City!

Google OS - gOS 2.0 (beta)

So a co-worker showed me this new 'Google OS' that you can download or purchase on on Everex PC from Wally-World (Walmart). So I thought man that would be pretty cool, especially since gOS is derived from Ubuntu. I grabbed a copy of the .iso and dropped it into VirtualBox; which BTW was purchased by Sun Microsystems, but I'll get into that a little later.

Yeah, so Virtual Box gOS 2.0... I had some problems mounting the Guest Additions and it seems to be an issue for everyone... other than that I liked what I saw for the most part. I mean you can get a laptop or a Desktop for under $500 and run an 'eye-candy' ready fully functional system pretty much out of the box. I don't think gOS is ready for the mainstream by any stretch of the imagination (which is probably why Wally-World, pulled the systems from their stores) but I think it's a major step in the right direction. Ubuntu has made some unbelievable headway in the Linux for the everyday person arena, and gOS 2.0 is a low cost alternative to say buying a 2K Mac.



It should be noted that Google is not really attached to this product at least not overtly, they might have some developers behind the scenes, who knows...

Learn more here: gOS

NEW WALLPAPER!!! I decided to change some of the aesthetics of my laptop. I think I spent about 6 hours on gnome-art and gnome-look browsing wallpapers, icons, sounds etc...

In one of the Sounds files I saw a screen shot of the users desktop and he had this wallpaper, which I thought was pretty badass... there is a widescreen & full screen version which I uploaded to my Photobucket account. (the version here is the widescreen version)

Here is an additional link to the file - Blue Grid

Quick Update, I am in the process of compiling a 'how-to' or more accurately 'a how I did it'...

A couple things to note, I have once again reloaded my laptop and I think finally have it in a working/final state. So for this most recent 'release' if you will I decided to for-go installing Automatix and install everything myself. I have a ton of websites bookmarked that I will hopefully put into a synchronized list on how to install Ubuntu.

Please stay tuned...

Ubuntu Desktop pt. 1

Testing 1, 2, 4...

I installed Ubuntu on an IBM z61t laptop, 1.86Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, 14.4in widescreen monitor, internal wifi, SD card reader. Pretty decent machine, basic intel 945 on board graphics. My biggest complaint with this setup was the graphics, the default resolution was 144ox900 but I'm pretty sure that after installing the i915 graphics package I just did not care for the laptop, straining your eyes at a clear desktop or packing the screen with large icons and windows, there was just middle ground.

After I setup the i915 graphics package, I needed to kick start some of the software. If your going replace windows there are some apps that I just cannot live without

Audio - iTunes compatible for my Nano
DVD Decoding & Ripping
Media Player & Codecs
Graphics Editing
Torrent
Web Development
GUI based FTP Client
Eye Candy (Vista Replacement 101)

So basically I focused on the Eye Candy & Audio stuff for my iPod. I installed Beryl which was a pain in the ass, not to install but I had to turn off the cube desktop thing since everytime my hand barely touched the mouse pad or if I was moving a window the cube began to rotate, and once I got it locked on the beryl diamond logo and could not get it back to my desktop (needless to say I had to reload the system).

That reminds me... Beryl & video palyback don't like to play together very well. I searched the internet for a few days and the only solution I could come up with was to turn off the beryl video manager when watching movies, kind of a pain

Then I installed AWN which gives you an OSX like application bar. I'm not the biggest fan of this, but I prefer small quick launch icons for my apps. For my torrent client I installed Azureus and Deluge I have never been a huge fan of Azureus but I liked Deluge, these were pretty basic.

I liked Ubuntu a lot... I was able to browse the web, download torrent files, connect via wireless, even download my 2GB mini SD card during my sister in-laws wedding and show everyone. My biggest issue was with the hardware not the software, once I was able to get Beryl working to my liking.

So I gave up the IBM laptop and now have a Dell Latitude D620, I have some high hopes for this laptop since Dell is now pushing the Ubuntu desktop... I'll let you know!!!

I have my answer...

So it's been like 2 months since my last post and now I have my answer... LIFE takes precedence over posting in the Blog -O- Sphere... Anyway so since my last post I've been hard at work testing various installations of the Ubuntu Fiesty 7.04 (I have even convinced my wife that it's a good idea to switch instead of using Vista, cause we all know it doesn't matter how cool, cheap and identical Linux is, if the wife can't browse Email, The Knot/Nest, pictures and tax stuff then Windows will be King always and forever...)