Gear Diary » Linux

Arch Linux: Only the Hardcore Need Apply

Joel McLaughlin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:35 +0000

In search of a different distro (term of endearment for Linux distributions) to try, I decided to try installing probably one of the harder distros to install, Arch Linux over the weekend. I thought I would gather some thoughts into a post and share what I think of this interesting distro that doesn't get the press that Ubuntu does.

Arch Linux is a bit different than most Linux distributions out there. For example, it doesn't have a default graphical interface. It boots directly into a Linux command prompt from the CD. You get into the install by typing in: /arch/setup in the command Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ubuntu’s HUD: A New Way to Use Your Linux Computer

Joel McLaughlin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:00:40 +0000

Yesterday Ubuntu's community manager, Jono Bacon put up a post calling for people to test their brand new idea for the Unity interface they currently use. They call it HUD. HUD will be included in the next relse of Ubuntu, version 12.04, code named "Precise Pangolin".

Click here to view the embedded video.

With HUD, you can do many different things like post to Twitter, Search your web history or find a drop down menu in Firefox or any other app. You can do some of this even if you don't have that app loaded. Above is a video that shows you just what you can do with the HUD. To try the HUD, you have to install Ubuntu Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

CES 2012: Ubuntu to Unveil Ubuntu TV

Joel McLaughlin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:40:04 +0000

When the rumors came across last week of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu coming to CES, I thought 'Why?'. What could they be introducing that could be worthy of a booth at CES? Well all across the internet today Canonical has introduced their new Ubuntu TV product. Ubuntu TV, based on the new Unity interface is what Canonical wants TV makers and content providers to consider for integration in their TV's.

Click here to view the embedded video.

They also promise apps for Android, iOS and Ubuntu itself for interfacing with your Ubuntu TV.

While it really looks nice, I am not so sure how this will go for them. First, companies who make TVs like

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

10 Important Desktop Open Source Projects for 2012

Joel McLaughlin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:15:26 +0000

In the spirit of Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier's post over on Linux.com, I thought I would craft my list of 10 important open source desktop applications of the last year. Now I know that not every Gear Diary reader is a huge Open Source fan or follower, but these are projects to watch in the coming year. Some of this software works on Windows and Mac OS X as well so you may want to check them out if going full bore into Linux isn't in the cards right now. Most of this software is software I use on Linux every day. Some of them are not just applications, but whole desktop environments or Linux distributions as well. Note: These aren't ranked in any order. These are just Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Book Review: Tweeting Linux

Joel McLaughlin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:00:41 +0000

It's not often I do book reviews. In fact, I've only done one other book review, and that was for Cooking for Geeks which wrapped my love of tech with my love of food. In that book, there was a chef who shared recipes via Twitter. In this book, by Don R. Crawley, we take sharing on Twitter to a new subject: Linux. The full title of the book is Tweeting Linux: 140 Linux Configuration Commands Explained in 140 Characters or less. This book explores one of the things that, once you go beyond just installing Linux, you come to realize is invaluable -- and that is the command line. Yes I said the command line. What is Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Cheap or Standard: When Is an Android Device Not an Android Device?

Gary Bunker — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:00:05 +0000

When the Grid 10 was announced by the ever-reliable Chandra Rathakrishnan last month, it was said to run Android apps but not be an Android device. This was later clarified to mean that it is actually an Android kernel running the show, but thoroughly skinned and possibly even forked to a version of Android incompatible with future Google-backed updates. We'll see someday, maybe. Now TechCrunch is reporting that Amazon's long-rumored tablet will be hitting the market in a couple months, running a completely forked Android kernel. This one is apparently pre-2.2 (how far pre is undefined) and has been so modified that it in no way resembles Android at all Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Linux Netbook Review: ZaReason Teo Pro Netbook

Joel McLaughlin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:00:31 +0000

It has been a while since I looked at ZaReason's Terra HD Netbook. I liked that one, but the integrated Intel graphics still held it back from those netbooks that are now shipping Nvidia Ion or Ion 2 cards for graphics. Today I am checking out one of ZaReason's smaller netbooks, the Teo Pro. The Teo Pro is yet another netbook running Ubuntu Linux and equipped with the venerable Atom N450. In fact, spec wise the Teo Pro is almost identical to the Terra HD except that the Teo Pro has a 10.1 inch 1024x600 LCD and one less USB port. Everything else in the loaner they sent me is equivalent to the Terra HD Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: System 76 Gazelle Professional Ubuntu Laptop

Joel McLaughlin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:00:39 +0000

Even though I work in a technology field, not often do I get a chance to look at brand new technology right after it comes out. It is even rarer that companies choose to ship laptops with only Linux on them. Companies like Zareason and System 76 are making it easier and easier to get a system that runs Linux 100 percent with every single piece of the hardware working from day one. When System 76 offered to send a loaner of their brand new Gazelle Professional based on Intel's new Sandy Bridge chipset, well I jumped at the chance! The Gazelle Professional is one of the first laptops I have ever tried that has a Core Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: MeeGo 1.1

Joel McLaughlin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:00:25 +0000

It's been a little while since Intel and Nokia came together to merge Moblin and Maemo together to create the MeeGo project. Moblin started out as a project by Intel and the Linux Foundation to produce a Linux-based OS, interface and application stack for mobile internet devices. In February of 2009, they merged with the Maemo project that was used by Nokia in the Nseries tablets like the N770, N800, N810 and the N900 smartphone. Intel was nice enough to send me a Lenovo S10-3t convertible netbook with MeeGo preloaded so I could get a look at the state of MeeGo in version 1.1. MeeGo has

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: The Wikireader

Joel McLaughlin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:00:39 +0000

A while back the OpenMoko project created the goal of bringing out a Linux based smartphone called the Freerunner. Then Google brought out what became the most successful Linux based operating system of all time, Android. Well, needless to say, the writing was on the wall. The clunky OpenMoko OS, with the behind the times hardware, was enough to make OpenMoko irrelevant in the smartphone arena. Well, it seemed to be such a waste to throw out the work they did on the OS, so the next choice was to bring out another device. This time, they didn't even try to look at bringing out another smartphone. They, instead, brought out the Wikireader Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Wikireader: Now You Can Carry 33,000 Books Too!

Joel McLaughlin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:00:38 +0000

OpenMoko's Wikireader project has let you carry the entire contents of Wikipedia in the palm of your hand for about a year now. While the device's design isn't as awe inspiring as the NookColor or Kindle, it still is an interesting idea. Thankfully the developers have been hard at work and now have released a great update to the Wikireader that is sure to get some people excited. This update now let's you carry Wikipedia and all 33,000 books from Project Gutenberg all in the palm of your hand. While you've been able to read the classics on Project Gutenberg on your Kindle, the Kindle would not have the storage to carry all of them at the same Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 reveals more of the future of Ubuntu

Joel McLaughlin — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:00:28 +0000

Late on the December 2nd, Ubuntu released the first Alpha quality code of their next version, 11.04, due out in April. An alpha release is code that isn't ready to be used for production work. This release is designed more to get people testing and looking for bugs that cna be fixed before the beta, release candidate and final release. Today I downloaded the iso so I could share a little of the future of Ubuntu. Those like myself already know a lot about this upcoming release as Mark Shuttleworth had announced in November that the new default desktop will be in 11.04. The new desktop takes queues off of the desktop in the Netbook Edition Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Black Friday Special: Ultra Quiet Neuros Link – “Phantom”

Joel McLaughlin — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:18:34 +0000

Just getting ready to do a review of a upcoming product that Neuros is targeting for the Neuros Link and I spied a deal! TODAY only in the Neuros store you can get the ultra quiet Neuros Link "Phantom" for $249.99 with a free upgrade to a 320 GB hard drive. You will have to add a controller to your order or provide your own controller. The specs of this machine are: PC, it is customizable and expandable:

Dual Core 2.5Ghz CPU
1GB DDR SDRAM memory (expandable up to 8GB)
Up to 1080p H.264 video playback
Support an extensive list of video and audio formats: MPEG2, MPEG4, .vob, .mp4

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Linux Netbook Review: ZaReason Terra HD Netbook

Joel McLaughlin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:00:26 +0000

It's been a couple of years since I reviewed a laptop from ZaReason, the UltraLap SR. Now I'm reviewing something a bit smaller -- the ZaReason Terra HD. ZaReason is a different type computer company; every single computer they sell runs Linux, and they only ship Linux (or no operating system at all) on all of their machines. They care about this to the point where they even include a screwdriver in the box of every machine they sell. That is because any system you buy is your system, and they feel that you have every right to look at what makes it tick. That's one of the Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Neuros Control Pad 1002 is an Android Tablet With an Idea

Joel McLaughlin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:20:20 +0000

I've been watching Joe Born's Neuros Technology for quite a while. From the mp3 players to the Neuros OSD to the Neuros Link, Joe's products have all had open source and technology in mind. What if that idea was applied to remote controls? That's where Joe's bright idea comes up. Joe has worked on procuring some Android tablets with the idea of using them for controlling the Neuros Link without wires. The Neuros Link is a computer that comes with what I like to call a couch interface. That is a full screen interface that will allow you to watch content on your TV using Boxee, Hulu or even your own local content on your network or on

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Maker of the Tuxdroid, Kysoh S.A. is Bankrupt

Joel McLaughlin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:00:33 +0000

I love my Tuxdroid, the little robotic open source penguin that could read e-mail, weather and the time to you. I decided to revive my Tuxdroid as I had not played with him for a while. I hit up the website for Kysoh, the makers of the Tuxdroid and the site appeared up, but the software was not available for download at their site. I searched around the site and was unable to find the software, but did find this bug in their tracker. At the bottom of it is a note from one of the founders, Sebastian. Apparently, Kysoh S.A., the maker of the Tuxdroid is bankrupt. There are lots of Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ohio Linuxfest 2010: Here’s to the Hall Track

Joel McLaughlin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:00:39 +0000

Another Ohio LinuxFest has come and gone. The friends of the penguin gathered at the Greater Columbus Convention Center for yet another year of great sessions, networking and lots of fun and merriment as friends meet to discuss what is new and interesting in Free and Open Source Software. This is my second year working the booth with fellow members of the Linux Link Tech Show, and this year was a special one as we celebrated the relaunch of our website and the recording of Episode 366 which marks the start of season two. In this show, we talked to a few of the speakers at OLF, including Kelly West of Lanville.org Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Backups and Recovery Are Your Friends…A Cautionary Tale!

Carly Z — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:00:17 +0000

A few weeks ago I made a really dumb mistake. One of those, “I have been a geek for far too long to forget this” kind of mistakes. The easy to avoid, harder to fix kind...what happened? Read on and find out. It all started during a discussion in the “back room” here at Gear Diary, regarding Linux on netbooks and whether the OS really matters anymore. Joel and Doug were arguing OS is less important these days, while Michael and I were of the opinion the learning curve and unfamiliar quirks would drive users into the loving arms of Windows 7 (and Mac OS X). Being the adventurous sort, I figured I’d install Ubuntu on my Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Callpod Releases Keeper Data Vault for Almost Every Platform and Why I won’t Use It.

Joel McLaughlin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:15:15 +0000

Callpod who is the maker of the Chargepod, fueltank and other products for mobile phones has branched out into software now with the release of Keeper and Keeper Mobile. These programs are password data vaults that run on pretty much every smartphone including iPhone, Android and Blackberry based phones. The free version let's you store your passwords on your mobile phone only. With a $29.99 subscription, you are also able to use Keeper on your Windows, Mac or Linux Desktop. I will say I have not tried the software yet, but I am afraid to say I really don't feel safe using it. Why is that? Well Keeper's paid Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Droid X Gets the Lockdown: Does it Matter?

Joel McLaughlin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:00:10 +0000

There's been a bunch of stuff going around the web about the Droid X and the fact that it likely will not be able to run custom ROMS and may even be hard to root. I'll try to describe, in layman's terms, what this may mean to a prospective Droid X buyer. What is this root and custom rom thing? First, having root is like having the Administrator user password on a Windows machine or the root password on a Mac OS X machine or Linux machine. It essentially gives you the right to modify anything on the phone. You could, for example, enable tethering without having to pay for it on Verizon (Note: Gear Diary Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Southeast Linuxfest 2010: Building Strong and Lasting Connections

Joel McLaughlin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:00:09 +0000

Friends gathered once again in South Carolina to learn about Linux and check out what is new in the Linux community. It is a time of learning as well as time of camaraderie and a over all great time if you are a fan of Linux and Open Source technologies.

My trip to SELF started on Thursday as my new found friend, Ed Liddle and I headed down to my Mom's house for a pitstop. Mom and Dad put together a great dinner of Smoked Pork Roast and Chicken and all the fixens and we rested up for the rest of the trip to South Carolina. After we woke up, we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Preview: Southeast LinuxFest 2010

Joel McLaughlin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:30:37 +0000

Picture Taken at SELF 2009 by Allan Metzler of tllts.org

Up until this year, I had only attended the Ohio LinuxFest being lucky enough to live in its host city of Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio LinuxFest is an awesome community driven event that amazes me every year it's run. However, in 2010, I will be attending both the Ohio LinuxFest and the second year of the Southeast LinuxFest. I am totally excited to see what the committee behind the show is planning for this coming weekend. Southeast LinuxFest is in a new location this year in the Marriot at Renaissance Park in Spartanburg, SC. The previous location at Clemson was not available so they had Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Steam for OS X? Old News! Now We Hear About … Steam for Linux!

Michael Anderson — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:30:06 +0000

There has been considerable excitement in the Mac gaming community leading up to next week's anticipated release of the OS X Steam Client (and the associated games). Now thanks to Phonorix we have pretty definitely looking information that Valve is working hard on a Steam client for Linux. According to the site:

Less than two weeks ago we reported on the Mac OS X Steam client confirming the existence of a Linux client and then found more Linux references too. We then found the unreleased Steam Linux binaries that were under active development. Some still didn't believe the existence of a Steam client for Linux with Source Engine support, but it's something we

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: SpiderOak Cloud Backup

Joel McLaughlin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 21:00:41 +0000

Backing your data up to the cloud and living out of the cloud is all the rage. SpiderOak cloud backup has a lot of features that I have been looking for in an online backup solution. First, to get started with SpiderOak, you need to download the software for Windows, Mac or Linux and install it. The version delivered for Ubuntu works on pretty much any version of Ubuntu. You can install it with standard dpkg commands or double-click on it and us the graphical package manager, GDebi package installer. Click on install, enter your system password and it installs. Once the package is installed, you just start the SpiderOak client and sign up Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ubuntu One Music Store Now in Public Beta

Joel McLaughlin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:32:45 +0000

For a long long time, Linux users never really had a built in music store like Mac and Windows users do. That all changed today IF you use Ubuntu, specifically the 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" Beta 1. The service is run by 7digital in the US and pretty much everywhere. Songs are 320 Kbps MP3's with no DRM. The store is access directly through Rhythmbox, Ubuntu's default music player. I did not see a per track price higher than 99 cents so they aren't going the same route as iTunes with most tracks.

I was able to purchase my song Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS “Lucid Lynx” Preview

Joel McLaughlin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:00:16 +0000

Image from http://anotherubuntu.blogspot.com/2009/11/lucid-lynx-timeline.html

Spring is in the air! The trees are budding and the flowers are starting to come out of their slumber. It also means that it is time for another release of the desktop oriented Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu will frequently produce what is called a LTS or a Long Term Support release. That means unlike non LTS releases, this version is meant to be stable and to also have security updates and fixes for the next three years. A release like this is meant for those who want to install something that will be somewhat guaranteed to work for the next 3 years. The previous LTS, Ubuntu 8.04 codenamed "Hardy Heron" was released in 2008. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Qi Hardware’s Ben NanoNote: A Completely Open Source Pocket Computer

Joel McLaughlin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:30:03 +0000

Image Provided by Sharism.cc

Imagine not only building your own computer, but making the boards yourself. Yeah, it's not something the common person would do, but Qi Hardware's Ben NanoNote is open in a way most hardware isn't. This is a similar model to the OpenMoko Freerunner and has been started by former members of the OpenMoko team. Not only can you download the Linux operating system it runs, but you can also download the Creative Commons licensed schematics for having your own version made for you if you have those kinds of resources. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Maemo to Merge with Moblin to Create MeeGo

Joel McLaughlin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:04:39 +0000

Maemo, the Linux that runs on the N Series Internet Tablets and more recently the N900 will merge with Moblin, to create MeeGo according to information coming out of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Moblin was a Linux desktop that was started by Intel and targeted at Tablet devices.

This is what Moblin 2.1 looks like.

PC Mag reports that the new OS will be based on some of the same technology that the KDE Desktop Environment uses today, called Qt. Nokia also will be laying off 285 people in Finland that may be due Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Bug Labs Introduces Bug 2.0

Joel McLaughlin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:20:38 +0000

I was reading Engadget this morning and found out about Bug Labs new Bug 2.0 platform of their hacker friendly do it yourself device. They have upgraded the processor in the BugBASE to a Cortex A8 Processor, plus they have added Android support to Bug 2.0. Now you can build your dream Android device.

In case you don't know what the BugBASE and the Bug Labs kit is, it is a modular system for creating new devices. The kit comes with some modules you can plug into it that add features like a GPS, Wifi and more. Check out my earlier post on the original Bug Labs kit.

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Netbook OS showcase, linux options priced right

Francis Scardino — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:45:16 +0000

The open source community has been hard at work releasing a wide assortment of free linux based operating systems for almost anything. Linus Torvalds is known as the father of Linux after writing the first kernel in 1991, everything afterward is a result of his quest to be free. In fact, all these (linux) operating systems are free, and easily obtainable from sites all over. Netbooks are nearly in every household these days, most of which are running Windows XP or the newly famed Windows 7. If your tired of Windows or ready to venture out into the world of Linux, you have quite a bit of options. I put together a list of some of the more popular versions of Linux specifically designed for Netbooks. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...