Last month while searching for some media player software for Linux, I came across a program called Elisa.   Elisa was a full screen media player similar to Apple’s Front Row.  It had an interface that looked a lot like Apple’s Front Row, with a twist.  I installed it on both my Eee PC 701 and initially on my 1000HE and would use it whenever I wanted some music playing in the background.

Flash forward to today.  The Elisa project has revamped itself and renamed itself into the media center called Moovida.  It is available for both Linux and WindowsXP/Vista with a Mac OS X version planned.  They totally changed it’s look and added some really cool features that I will use every day.

Above is the new Moovida interface.  This interface works well with a trackpad, mouse or the keyboard.  Continue Reading

I was reading through my feeds and came across a article on Linux Pro magazine where Intel Hacker, Sarah “The Geekess” Sharp, has announced on her blog that Linux will be the first OS to support USB 3.0.   When can you have this?  TODAY, if you can handle compiling a custom kernel.  Others will have to wait until the fall for new versions of Ubuntu and Fedora to come out.

From Linux Pro Magazine:

The basic specifications for USB 3.0 show it to have a transfer rate of 5.0 Gbps.

Think about that.  With 5.0 Gbps transfer rate, you can fill a USB 3.0 based MP3 player in seconds!  With that much transfer rate, it makes it possible to have HD webcams that support 1080p.  Backups to USB devices will take much less time then they do  now.

I am excited about the potential USB 3.0 holds.  I am already amazed at the speeds of USB 2 devices.  This is going to change everything, and Linux is going to have it before Microsoft and Apple!

Now in a closed beta  and currently only for Ubuntu(specifically, 9.04 “Jaunty Jackalope”), is a new service from Canonical called Ubuntu One.  Similar to Drop Box, Ubuntu One is a service that will sync files with multiple computers and also let you share a file with other Ubuntu One users.

Free accounts get 2 GB storage, and those who pay $10 per month get 10 GB of storage in the cloud.  Get in the queue if you’re running Ubuntu, so you can check it out.

I’m a Mac.  I’m a PC.  Of course the Linux Foundation had to get in the act and they sponsored a video contest.  The winner of which is an Israeli by the name of Amitay Tweeto produced this video which sums up my views of Linux quite nicely.

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I was listening to the Linux Cranks (NSFW), and heard about this absolutely cool netbook that is now available f0r preorder.

Taking a page from Open Moko, the Touch Book is completely open device.  You can go to the Always Innovating website and download everything you need to build your own Touch Book.

The Touch Book is similar to HP’s tc1100 tablet, in that the base unit detaches from the keyboard allowing it to be used like a tablet.  The back of the base unit is also magnetized.

Ever had a EVDO or other USB dongle you always wanted to keep connected?  Well the Touch Book has a internal USB port that let’s you keep a USB device permanently attached and secure.

The hardware is based on TI’s OMAP CPU, which means it’s ARM based.  Windows XP or Vista will not run on it, which leaves Linux.  It will use the Ã…ngström Linux Distribution.  I think this is the Linux community’s answer to keeping a netbook that only belongs to the community.

Still being very geeked about the announcement from Neuros, at lunch I was perusing the forums on the Neuros site and discovered just how hackable the Neuros Link will be.  The answer is: VERY

The Neuros Link is running Ubuntu 8.10 according to Joe Born’s post in the forum and the specs page.  That means that you can pretty much run any variant of Ubuntu on it.  Joe himself has installed Boxee on the Neuros Link, so it may even be possible to get Mythbuntu running on the box since you can probably add a USB Tuner to it as well.

UPDATE: Found more….the Neuros Link runs a Athlon CPU, so it’s x86 box!  This is VERY good news!

We’re nearing the release of the Intrepid Ibex, and I thought I would share some of my thoughts after having used both Ubuntu and Kubuntu versions of the venerable and popular Ubuntu Linux.

First, since there’s not a large Linux audience on Gear Diary, I will do a little explaining.  The Linux Kernel was first developed by Linus Torvalds in or around 1991.  He was designing it as a replacement for the Minix kernel.  It’s hard to say when it truly started to take off, but the most important thing Linus did was release the kernel under the GPL, which then lets anyone who wants to modify the kernel.  Since the kernel is GPL, anyone can download a copy, modify it if they wish and then redistribute it  – so long as there is credit and a copy of the GPL included with it.

Since it is GPL, many others have taken the Kernel, the GNU utilities and other GPL software and then distributed it.  First, was SLS.  Then Slackware, then Redhat and Debian.  So as the years have gone by, there’s been distribution after distribution…more distributions than I can count.  Some think this is a bad thing, but I think it is a very good thing, as it gives the user a choice of which tools they would like to use.

My choice (or choices) as of late have all been Debian based.  My top two favorite distributions of Linux are Ubuntu and Kubuntu.  The main difference between the two is that Ubuntu uses the Gnome Desktop as its interface, while Kubuntu uses KDE.

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For a while now, Google Desktop has been available for Linux, and it works really well.  Well, now they have FINALLY released some code to allow you to run Google Gadgets on your Linux desktop.

It’s not a click and run install.  There’s no deb you can download and install yet; you must compile it.  Just try and follow the instructions as well as you can.  Hopefully soon Google will make some debs or rpms available for making the installation a snap.

I was able to get it working though.  The screenshot is from my laptop!

Thank you Google!

It looks like all of you ASUS fanboys and girls may soon have even more reason to get excited; not only is there a 901 coming, but according to UMPC Fever, there is possibly a 1000 coming as well. Say Whaaa?

ASUS is looking forward to welcoming you during Computex 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan, for the ASUS’ 08 Computex Trilogy of launch events. We would also like to specially extend an invitation to you to attend the official global launch of the new Eee PCâ„¢ 901 and 1000 series.

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It was a tough choice, but it all came down to the fact that I was able to buy the machine yesterday from Micro Center – which is where I headed as soon as I had the cash.

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Today’s Open Source Podcast of the Week is no longer in production, but for newbie users it will still be a invaluable resource.  I am talking about none other than The Linux Link Tech Show’s guest this week, Chess Griffin and the Linux Reality Podcast.

Image Courtesy Chess Griffin

Chess has officially hung up his microphone on the Linux Reality podcast after 100 episodes, yet all of the episodes are currently available for download on the Linux Reality website. Continue Reading

Linux Podcaster Pat Davila of The Linux Link Tech Show (a former Gear Diary Linux/Open Source Podcast of the week) has gone off the deep end and converted the whole Tech Show to Mac OS X.  Whatever am I going to do??

Just surfed the ZaReason website and noticed they are now offering 100 dollars off any of their laptops.  Just use coupon code: LAPTOP631

Go on over to ZaReason.com and get a great laptop!

When I came across ZaReason, I was impressed. Selling machines that have Linux installed by default isn’t new, and many companies support only Linux now, but it’s ZaReason’s service and the communication I received all during the review process that impressed me the most. ZaReason cares about their customers and always puts them first, even over sending out review units, which is why it took about two months for ZaReason to finally get me a unit to review; I was not disappointed.

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A lot has been said this week about Walmart pulling the Everex gPC and Cloudbook from their stores. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has a interesting article on desktoplinux.com regarding his views.

What it boils down to is the people who typically shop at WalMart are probably not even capable of determining what OS their computer is running. All they know is they bought the computer and then bought Quicken and couldn’t get it to run on the gPC.

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