Tag: unix

The new year has started off right with more dedication to this site, including having some links ready for everybody to check out each week.

Have a link you want to see here?  Feel free to drop us a line in the comments, on any of our social networking places (linked to the left), via phone (660-474-0345), or by e-mail (thomash2@thenixedreport.com).

Unix

• Fedora Project: Sponsored by Red Hat, version 20 of this Operating System is the first stop on this year’s Distro Journey.
• Is Microsoft Grasping at Straws? (FOSS Force): Ken “helios” Starks asks the question of whether Microsoft is on their last legs regarding competition against Free and Open Source Software.  From mentioning the aQuantive buyout to Rockstar, Starks paints a picture of a company that has grown desperate.
• Razer’s Project Christine (MaximumPC): Those who are seasoned veterans when it comes to upgrading PC’s may have had their fair share of nicks and cuts on their hands and fingers.  Razer is apparently wanting to change all of that by creating a modular gaming system that lends itself to easier upgrades.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• The British Punk Band that Fooled Reagan, Thatcher, and the CIA (The Daily Beast): Crass, a British Punk Band conducted a prank in which a fake phone call between then President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher caused quite a stir.  American intelligence blamed the soviets, while the British blamed Argentine spies.  The lead singer is disturbed to this day that governments were so easily fooled.
• On News Sources and Bias (Bonnie Kristian):  The argument is made that there is no way to get rid of bias in news or the media in general.  The blog post links to sources that they pursue on a regular basis.
• Decapitated Sex Toys Prompted Police Probe (The Smoking Gun): A Florida woman’s ex-girlfriend had apparently cut off the heads of a few dildos, prompting her to contact the police.  Due to lack of evidence, the case was eventually closed.  Of course it wouldn’t be Wednesday Weekly Links without something really weird like this.

Some people donate to the Red Cross or volunteer at soup kitchens around the holidays.  During the 2013 season, Ken “helios” Starks conducted an outreach called the “12 Geeks of Christmas.”

Twelve geeks were sent reconditioned notebook computers to give to a child whose family couldn’t afford one otherwise.  On his blog, he wrote:

We send said Geek a reconditioned laptop with Linux on it and they locate a school-aged child in their community that wouldn’t normally be able to afford a computer in the household.  Deliver the computer and spend some time showing the parents and the child how to use it, and support them when they need help.

Yeah, I know…that’s asking a lot.  But 12 of you did it.

Richard Kapler is credited as one of those geeks who gave a computer to a child who is doing everything they can to make it into college.  There are currently plans to tell the story of more of these geeks.  Well done, helios.  Well done.

The final issue of the magazine for 2013 is available for popular consumption.  Here’s what’s covered:

• Social Networking Ads and How they may backfire.
• Linux Mint Debian Edition
• Google Drive being used on the construction of this year’s final issue as well as a preview of things to come in 2014.

The magazine may be downloaded here.  The clouds on the cover page courtesy of Kamil Porembiński via Creative Commons.

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

I tried running Oracle Solaris on two of my machines, and was going to use it as the OS of choice for the next few weeks.  Unfortunately, the test was cut short, so the evaluation will be written here instead of in the next issue of the magazine.

The Live-DVD was used for installation.

The Interface and Included Apps

Gnome 2.3 is used for the desktop interface.  It comes with Firefox, Thunderbird, GIMP, Rythmbox, Brasero, and a handful of other applications.

What I Liked and What Needs Improvement

The live environment worked on the Breeze.  All the relevant hardware was detected and I was able to go online.  The Intel/Nvidia desktop on the other hand was a different story.

Either the driver was missing or was not loaded properly.  I was in no mood to either hunt down the driver or try some other fix to force the hardware to work correctly.  On the upside, the Nvidia drivers worked and I had 3D acceleration.

What was also perplexing was the fact that there was a category for Office in software management, but no word processing listed.  I know Solaris 11 is not supposed to be used on productivity machines, but why not have Abiword at the very least?

After all, GIMP 2.6 is included.

Then again, this is Oracle we’re talking about here.  This company is known more for their enterprise driven database products than operating systems and programming platforms.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, it seems that Oracle has ruined a potentially good product.  Even for developers, it can be a bit cumbersome to compile all the desired software from source just for the sole purpose of having the desired applications installed.

The online repositories are sparse.  The version of Firefox ESR is also out of date.  For that reason, this review will be on this site while the next stop on the Distro Journey for 2013 will be Linux Mint Debian Edition.