So far so good...

Its been about a week since I've put Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat on my laptop. So far so good. I have not run into any serious problems, but I have had minor issues with the updating system. It seems that it has since worked itself out, but I was having some weird problem downloading packages from a repository. It seems to have been something that was not a problem I caused since it ironed itself before I posted this. My only other issue has been that my power button goes wonky, but it seems that it was part of the problem that has worked itself out. It wasn't the actual hardware button on my laptop- I just mean the power icon in the corner of the screen... The section where i can look at the calendar and the sound options and such were blending together over the power icon and i couldn't click on it or anything like that. My small project at the moment now is trying to get my computer to play nice with my systems at work (secured Windows servers) so I can work from home if I have to. Citrix is being a bit of a pain. Earlier in the year I managed to get everything to work in Karmic but I did not bother to document the process I went to to get it to a working state. Other than those minor issues... things have been going very well with this distribution.

In other news, I sat in on a panel to discuss video game culture. If you have an interest in Linux as well as video games check out the website at GameEnthus.com. The podcast returns every week to discuss video game news, interesting technology, and life in general. I went on to talk up Ubuntu a bit as well. There were some technical issues dealing with microphones and quality and such but Audacity and Skype did pretty well on Ubuntu during crunch time. My wife is still enjoying Linux Mint 9 on her Dell Mini 10, so far no real issues or achievements to write about this time around. I am still kicking around the ideas for my android app and i know that time is of the essence, so once i get the android app inventor back up and running in this machine ill be able to get back to working on it.

Thats it for this post, but I do want to pimp some links for your amusement.

Games:

Here I am on the gameenthus podcast.

Enjoy Mommy Best Games.

Linux folks are gamers too.

Music:

Music to blog to... enjoying it right now.

Check out Anjibee, this week full of free tracks... support those artists.

Follow me on twitter.

Enjoy.

New Ubuntu, First Impressions and Ramblings

Just a quick update – I've upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. I am using the release client, as the official build is not out yet. If you have been keeping up, you know that I was on Linux Mint. It was a tough decision but after playing with the live cd I was convinced to go back to Ubuntu.

With the upgraded installer it was a very quick and painless process. I enjoyed Jolicloud 1.0 for what it was but I honestly just got tired of playing around with it. I will definitely reinstall it when they have another upgrade but for now I am putting that hard drive space to good use. The new installer allows you to connect to the internet and download your updates and packages during the install process. I saw the little wifi icon come up during the process and it was a nice surprise. Its a pretty nice touch, very handy.

The difference between Mint and Stock Ubuntu is all in the included packages and some creature comforts. It did take me about forty-five minutes to get everything the way I like it but its well worth the effort. (dvd playback, flash, java, ubuntu-tweak, play-on and of course setting up gwibber, browser tweaking, screensavers and power consumption options... fun stuff) The upgrade from Lynx to Meerkat definitely shows they took at lot of that setup process into consideration. The better featured Ubuntu Software Center is a lot easier to use. When downloading .deb packaged from the web Maverick will automatically open the center for your install. Another thought - I have gone full into chrome/chromium and have found that the Google Sync option is great. After tweaking out the system specs its good to know that all the browser settings and bookmarks are saved on the web and are easily synced up once connected to the net.

Overall I am very impressed with the newest Ubuntu, and I think it is a pretty nice alternative to Linux Mint in its current state. With all of these upgrades I am curious to see what the next build of Mint will do to improve. I can say that going back to stock Ubuntu from Mint I do miss the Mint Menu. I can see everything in one area and not have to scroll all over the screen for one app; I had all my favorites within reach as well. The panel is nice and customizable, but not the same. I know I can install it in Ubuntu but I like the top and bottom panel view that is classic Ubuntu.

In other news, my wife is quite happy with her Isadora install, she hasn't used her Windows 7 for the time that she has had it installed. The only hiccup so far is that the Netflix compatibility issue. That remains my hangup as well – if I could easily update my Zune and play Netflix on my Linux builds I would have zero use for windows. Oh well, it wont be long for those features to come. I am contemplating replacing it with Ubuntu 10.10 regular or netbook remix but Mint's update scheduler is awesome for noobs... set it and forget it, it does all the important updates in the background – no muss no fuss.

I am still a bit distracted by the newest Halo game but this time I do have a couple links:

Follow me on twitter @bigrob029 http://twitter.com/bigrob029

Check out these guys here http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/

Consume some news here http://lxer.com/

Enjoy.