The hard working team behind the Fedora project announced yesterday the first alpha release of Fedora 10, which brings many new improvements, features and fixes over previous versions. Dubbed Cambridge, Fedora 10 Alpha introduces better support for webcams, a revamped boot environment, upstream improvements, RPM 4.6, GNOME 2.23.5 and KDE 4.1. The development cycle of Fedora 10 will continue with the beta edition (due for release on September 2nd), the preview release on 10 October, and it will conclude with the final release sometime at the end of October 2008. Below are some of the highlights of Fedora 10 Alpha:
Source
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Why KDE 4x sucks
I have used Linux for quite a number of years. For most of them I always used KDE, always found it functional, reliable. stylish and down right fantastic.
Before I begin my rant, I must point out I know KDE 4 is still a long way for general use. However so far I have found it down right worthless piece of bloated code. (Why Fedora 9 chose to use it and not KDE 3.5.9 is beyond me)
1) It looks like a toy, the default size for desktop icons and the bottom panel is far too large. Lets be serious here, imagine using that on a screen resolution of 800 by 600 pixels. Please developers we do not need icons the size of Godzilla.
2) Rotating Icons, is this a joke. Instead of porting more applications over to QT4, we have developers designing icons that can rotate. Right that is going to be useful how? Gee mom, take a look, my "home folder" is upside down.
3) Widgets are unstable, try dragging a widget especially to a menu panel, that usually results in an instant crash. So far that makes them useless.
4) Being able to zoom in and out, seriously what is the point of this? Can anybody please explain to me why this feature would be of importance?
5) Right clicking options are too limited, perhaps this is a curse from the Windows way of doing things. If I right click on something I expect there to be quite a few options, not here at the moment their seems to be add/remove widgets. I do hope more options are added soon.
6) GTK applications look ugly, some of you might ask why is this a problem. My main reason, Firefox is GTK based and as a result looks terrible. Developers please improve GTK rendering, so it can at least be berable to look at.
7) Bloated, lacks features and I get that "lets copy Vista" feeling. KDE guys, please try to make it look original and do not just copy another os.
Until KDE 4 improves on these, I shall be sticking with Gnome.
Before I begin my rant, I must point out I know KDE 4 is still a long way for general use. However so far I have found it down right worthless piece of bloated code. (Why Fedora 9 chose to use it and not KDE 3.5.9 is beyond me)
1) It looks like a toy, the default size for desktop icons and the bottom panel is far too large. Lets be serious here, imagine using that on a screen resolution of 800 by 600 pixels. Please developers we do not need icons the size of Godzilla.
2) Rotating Icons, is this a joke. Instead of porting more applications over to QT4, we have developers designing icons that can rotate. Right that is going to be useful how? Gee mom, take a look, my "home folder" is upside down.
3) Widgets are unstable, try dragging a widget especially to a menu panel, that usually results in an instant crash. So far that makes them useless.
4) Being able to zoom in and out, seriously what is the point of this? Can anybody please explain to me why this feature would be of importance?
5) Right clicking options are too limited, perhaps this is a curse from the Windows way of doing things. If I right click on something I expect there to be quite a few options, not here at the moment their seems to be add/remove widgets. I do hope more options are added soon.
6) GTK applications look ugly, some of you might ask why is this a problem. My main reason, Firefox is GTK based and as a result looks terrible. Developers please improve GTK rendering, so it can at least be berable to look at.
7) Bloated, lacks features and I get that "lets copy Vista" feeling. KDE guys, please try to make it look original and do not just copy another os.
Until KDE 4 improves on these, I shall be sticking with Gnome.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Should I use Ubuntu Linux or Mint Linux?
Ubuntu Linux has really changed a lot of peoples perceptions of what Linux has to offer. Especially for the everyday person who just wants to surf the net, listen to music etc.
For a newbie often it is recommended to use Ubuntu (however some other fantastic distros' exist)
Ubuntu of cause can be installed easily, basically pop the cd in, try out the live cd etc.However there are people who feel it might be somewhat unfinished.
Common complaints are often (note it is usually easy to adjust these but it still takes time)
a) Certain media is not installed by default (mp3's, wma etc)
b) DVD playback is a mission to get working.
c) Struggle to install graphic drivers and configure them.
d) Pulse audio control panel is missing.
e) Gnome menu looks old not as appealing as the "Gnome Slab"
I could go on, however it should be noted with a bit of reading these issues can be resolved. Usually Ubuntu install will help you do it.
Now if you wish there was a disto that took all the best from Ubuntu but added some of the above listed features.
Mint Linux 5 (Elyssa) does all of that.
Out of the box media support (for mp3's; DVD's etc)
Pulse audio control panel automatically installed etc.
Gnome Slab Menu is installed which is quite useful
(old traditional style menu can also be used)
Mint Linux 5 can be run from a live cd and if you like it, just install it. After install Mint gives you the option to setup a default root account or use "sudo" command that Ubuntu uses by default.
You can use Ubuntu repositories in Mint, and if the software runs on Ubuntu then it will run on Mint without a problem.
Just so you all know, Ubuntu uses Gnome as the desktop solution and from Mint 5, Gnome is there default install choice.
The only down fall is that Mint does not have a 64bit version of their distro yet unlike Ubuntu.
If you want Ubuntu but want a few added specials to it, try Mint Linux 5.
Many people say "It is what Ubuntu should be"
For a newbie often it is recommended to use Ubuntu (however some other fantastic distros' exist)
Ubuntu of cause can be installed easily, basically pop the cd in, try out the live cd etc.However there are people who feel it might be somewhat unfinished.
Common complaints are often (note it is usually easy to adjust these but it still takes time)
a) Certain media is not installed by default (mp3's, wma etc)
b) DVD playback is a mission to get working.
c) Struggle to install graphic drivers and configure them.
d) Pulse audio control panel is missing.
e) Gnome menu looks old not as appealing as the "Gnome Slab"
I could go on, however it should be noted with a bit of reading these issues can be resolved. Usually Ubuntu install will help you do it.
Now if you wish there was a disto that took all the best from Ubuntu but added some of the above listed features.
Mint Linux 5 (Elyssa) does all of that.
Out of the box media support (for mp3's; DVD's etc)
Pulse audio control panel automatically installed etc.
Gnome Slab Menu is installed which is quite useful
(old traditional style menu can also be used)
Mint Linux 5 can be run from a live cd and if you like it, just install it. After install Mint gives you the option to setup a default root account or use "sudo" command that Ubuntu uses by default.
You can use Ubuntu repositories in Mint, and if the software runs on Ubuntu then it will run on Mint without a problem.
Just so you all know, Ubuntu uses Gnome as the desktop solution and from Mint 5, Gnome is there default install choice.
The only down fall is that Mint does not have a 64bit version of their distro yet unlike Ubuntu.
If you want Ubuntu but want a few added specials to it, try Mint Linux 5.
Many people say "It is what Ubuntu should be"
Enabling Stereo to Surround Sound in Linux using Pulse Audio and Alsa Enabling Stereo to Surround Sound in Linux using Pulse Audio and Alsa
Now this has happened to a lot of people. They have a 5.1 sound setup etc and what happens their music only comes out of their front two.
Why, well it is because the music files that are being played are stereo and not 5.1. Unlike in Windows where you can use your soundcards software (Creative control panel anyone)
In Linux it is more complicated. It took me ages to figure it out for various distros including Ubuntu, Fedora and Suse
This should work for Audigy soundcards and maybe a few others. Remember it is not guaranteed.
(For 5.1 Speaker setup)
1) Go to a terminal and type the following Excluding the inverted commas: (Please ensure you have a root session in terminal)
"gedit .asoundc"
Enter your password. A document will come up. Paste the following into it: (Excluding the inverted commas)
"pcm.!dmix {
type plug
slave {
pcm surround51
channels 6
}
}
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmix"
slave.channels 6
route_policy duplicate
}"
Save and exit.
2) Go to a terminal and type the following Excluding the inverted commas:
"gedit /etc/pulse/daemon.conf"
Go down to the line that says " ;default-sample-channels = 2"
Change it so it looks like the following:
"default-sample-channels = 6"
Save and exit.
Now you should be getting audio from all of your speakers.
If you are using KDE replace gedit with Kwrite
Why, well it is because the music files that are being played are stereo and not 5.1. Unlike in Windows where you can use your soundcards software (Creative control panel anyone)
In Linux it is more complicated. It took me ages to figure it out for various distros including Ubuntu, Fedora and Suse
This should work for Audigy soundcards and maybe a few others. Remember it is not guaranteed.
(For 5.1 Speaker setup)
1) Go to a terminal and type the following Excluding the inverted commas: (Please ensure you have a root session in terminal)
"gedit .asoundc"
Enter your password. A document will come up. Paste the following into it: (Excluding the inverted commas)
"pcm.!dmix {
type plug
slave {
pcm surround51
channels 6
}
}
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmix"
slave.channels 6
route_policy duplicate
}"
Save and exit.
2) Go to a terminal and type the following Excluding the inverted commas:
"gedit /etc/pulse/daemon.conf"
Go down to the line that says " ;default-sample-channels = 2"
Change it so it looks like the following:
"default-sample-channels = 6"
Save and exit.
Now you should be getting audio from all of your speakers.
If you are using KDE replace gedit with Kwrite
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