How Does the MAC and Linux Compare?

A pretty good multi-part blog/webpage I found is Mike Salsbury's Web Site found Here:

http://mikesalsbury.com/mambo/content/view/235/

It's a little dated, since it's talking about Fedora Core 4 and Fedora is up to 7 (I use Fedora Core 6). But basically. the comparisons still apply. All in all, a good read for those on the edge trying to decide if they want to try Linux.

More later, Wingman.

I also found a good explanation by John C. Dvorak about blogging. I think it was called, "How to Read A Blog.", I'll try and grab and post the link.

And Yes, I've joined the communities of myspace and facebook and I've been on Twitter and Flickr for some time now. What can I say about that???

Not Much, Leo and John C. pushed me over the edge.

Links to ELO's Digital Story Blog on the Kindle...

Books from fullbooks.com I'm currently reading on the PSP:
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Trinity (Atomic Test) Site by the National Atomic Museum
http://www.fullbooks.com/Trinity-Atomic-Test-Site.html

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) (3 parts)
http://www.fullbooks.com/Through-the-Looking-Glass.html

The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (15 parts)
http://www.fullbooks.com/The-History-of-The-Decline-and-Fall-of-the.html

Twelfth Night; or, What You Will by William Shakespeare
(Collins edition) (3 parts)
http://www.fullbooks.com/Twelfth-Night-or-What-You-Will.html

How to Live 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett
http://www.fullbooks.com/How-to-Live-on-24-Hours-a-Day.html

The Hounds of The Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle (4 parts)
http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Hound-of-the-Baskervilles.html

Moby Dick; or The Whale by Herman Melville (12 parts)
(Great Movie Screenplay by Ray Bradbury)
http://www.fullbooks.com/Moby-Dick-or-The-Whalex8185.html
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Note: www.fullbooks.com was a "web site of the day" Pick by refdesk.com, and so is

Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate
http://aldaily.com/
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As for podcasts (internet radio talk/information shows) my favorite is done by
the Head TWIT himself, Leo Laporte. This xml link, Radio Leo, lets me tune in to the various TWiT.tv shows Leo podcasts on my Sony PSP. They are All good, but MacBreak Weekly, FLOSS Weekly, and especially TWiT are Top Notch, Must Hear podcasts, if you want to stay informed about Open Source, The Mac, and The PC.
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How Beagle and RSS Works.

Kerry, the KDE Beagle is the Desktop Searcher similar to the MAC's Spotlight. (Top Screensave)
You type in a search phrase and the beagle goes a-searching your desktop, Files, Emails, Pictures, Online History sources and RSS Feeds snagged by RSSOwl. A setup file lets you pick how Deep you want the rabbit hole to go. Selecting "ALL" looks everywhere, which can take some time.
Screenshot 2 shows the Beagle Search results by location: Desktop, Files, Pictures etc.
The Beagle called "Kerry", works pretty much as advertised. So you don't need MAC's Spotlight.

RSS is Real Simple Syndication, which up to minute webpage INFO provided in RSS Format which is usually a Headline and a paragraph or less of TEXT information. Most RSS feed readers (like RSSOwl which is available for Windows, the MAC and Linux) display this a three-pane window. The left being a tree structure showing search categories and subcategories and a number showing how many offerings the reader picked up.
In the sample, I clicked on category BOOKS and Sub-category "Variety". In the top right panel, the reader displays the snagged "One-Liners" picked up from the subcategory. Clicking one of these one-liners and more description (as much as a paragraph or MORE) is displayed on the lower right panel.
Reading this more detailed paragraph usually tells you if you need or want to visit the "source" of the information. There are usually a few highlighted terms in this detail window that will link you to the souce.

See Screen Capture 3 and 4.

RSS was initially used to detail the web sites more changable or up-to-date information the site has to offer. But now, even more archiveal information from that site is is accessable.
Such as the "Bambi vs Goliath" article, which appeared in Variety a few months back, which was pretty good explaination about why movies have gotten So Bad.
The link to That page is Here:

Removing Totem Player from FC6

For some unknown reason Totem Player is the Default video/media Player in Gnome Desktop. The fact that it chokes on most online media makes me wonder why?

The Quick-Fix is to remove it, and most explainations on how to do this is quite Funny.

Do the following (as root): yum -y remove totem

And your headaches are over.

Install GXINE Player for web content, and you're good to go.

Later.

Really get Hard Posting Pictures to Weblog...

They don't make it EZ do they.

Working with Synaptic and Yum...

The NEW ability to easily install New Open Source Software in Linux sometimes makes people think it's done with Mirrors.

Well, it is. Mirrors and Repositories.

What are Mirrors and Repositories?

Mirrors are the web servers that hold the various Repositories (which are pre-packaged RPMs built for unique Distros like Ubuntu or FC6 or OpenSuSE).

Debian users use command-line Apt-Get, as do dirivatives like FC and Ubuntu.

To use just type in: apt-get -y install .

But it's easier to use a graphical frontend called: Synaptic.

Red Hat, the originators of RPM's (Redhat Package Managers) in one form or other is used by most up-to-date distributions. Open SuSE and Fedora Core 4, 5 and 6 use RPM's and most-likely the upcoming FC7 will too.

Fedora also has a front-end and it's called YUM, which came from Yellow Dog Linux, the former Apple Linux OS.

Yellow Dog Linux is now the "New" OS for Sony's PS3.

Yum stands for Yellow-Dog Update Managers, and it's what I use on my copy of FC6.

Sure you can download tarred files from SourceForge or Freshmeat, but doing so sometimes leads you into the "PIT" of dependency HELL. Yum and Synaptic checks for dependecies first, downloads them to along with the needy programs and installs them easily.

Prime example is Videolan (VLC) video player that requires over 30-plus libraries to be installed before it will compile. Make sure the necessary repositories are listed in Yum or Synaptic's look-up list and the install is just a click of the Apply.

Neat... Sweet.

*****
New on My FC6 Machine.

A new install of a program called: Alexandria, gives you a way to keep track of your personal library.

A program I have on my Applications Accessories tab is Buoh Online Comics Reader, that gives you daily comics from the daily online newspapers to you Desktop. You pick the comics you want from a list and each day you read that day's comic by clicking on the name in you favorites List. Andy Capp, BC, The Fifth Wave, and Doonesbury are my favorites, but I still have access to 26 others.

Bleeding EDGE Moonlight Shining

A few months ago, Microsoft showed us "Surface", the table-top computer interface system. Priced at $10,000, and aimed at corporate and casino venues, it was "nice" but a bit much for regular folks.

The software that took care of the fancy graphics was based on Microsoft's Desktop engine called: "Silverlight", a .NET, C# application.

Though not proprietary, it too was out of reach of regular folks

Enter the Desktop Gnome and .NET/Mono wizard Miguel de Acaza.

Miguel was invited to the MIX Conference in France. The Microsoft/France Conference wanted Miguel to replay the Mix event he did in Vegas.

They suggested Miguel speak during the conference keynote and show a preview of moonlight if he already had something to show.

Well, Miguel didn't. So he invited fellow Mono programmers to a Hack-a-Thon to get something to show in Paris in 20+ days.

A quick Youtube of where Moonlight is now.

Moonlight is a perfect example of what can be accomplished in Open Source.

What Mono does for .NET, Moonlight does for Silverlight. An Open Source implementation of the wizardtry of Silverlight.

The Sources ARE downloadable here, if you would like a taste for the "Bleeding Edge".

Take note: Moonlight is still a work in progress.

Also see the Mono web Page.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this important implementation.

Open SUSE should have an easy test/install soon. And I've heard of progress being made in my OS of choice Ubuntu.