Bompf Bompf Baby!

So I know some of you are thinking “this guy doesn’t post enough”. I would though, if I thought that there was more for me to tell you or to say but since I haven’t even being keeping up with the current news, there isn’t really much that I could say that you don’t know already. However, at this moment I have a lot of updating to do so here goes.

Firstly, I have changed my operating system to a different distribution of Linux. Kubuntu was good and it was a great way of getting into Linux, however I found that it lacked some of the things that I was looking for in an operating system. It was much to basic for what I required out of a computer, so I am now running openSUSE 10.2 which instead of just one disk, took six to install and came with all the features that I wanted, such as GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), Firefox, more media software and then the other things that Linux needs to run other programs that I haven’t quite figured out yet. The other thing that I’m liking about Suse is that it recognizes my wireless card. Kubuntu did not, and although I haven’t been able to make a wireless connection as of yet, I’m sure that with some tinkering here, and the help of my father, I will be able to do this eventually.

And speaking of my father, this past week was my March Break from school and I have spent it here in Orangeville with my Dad. I’ve enjoyed my time here so far, and I will elaborate to that later. I’ve spent much of it however working on some simple stuff where what I would be being paid, is going straight to the drum-kit fund. We also went into Brampton to the Long & Mquade to check out a kit that they had in stock. Recently, I’ve been looking into a drum company called Pacific Drums & Percussion (PDP for short). Well, I found out that PDP is owned by the rather large drum company, DW. Although many of you may not know that you’ve heard or seen a DW kit, I can assure you that you have if you have listened to the great super-group Rush. Neil Peart is a DW endorser. After finding all this out, I decided to check out these PDP kits, to see if they lived up to and played like a DW kit. When I first saw the kit, my reaction was “WHOA! That bass drum is huge.” And it is. The kick drum is a massive 24″. Then I pulled the toms of the shelf and all it took was a tap of my finger on the heads to hear that this kit (100% maple) sounded great. Surprisingly as well, this kit is less than half the cost of the high end DW sets, which can cost upwards of $5000. Retail on the PDP kit: Approximately $1400. For the price there isn’t a better sounding kit. So I think that I’ve settled on my decision as far as the drum kit I plan to get. I’ll link to it here, and you can let me know what you think (although you’ll only be able to judge them on visual appearance for now, and on sound later).

On a completely different note, the weather has been awesome. With most of the days this past week above 0 degrees, the snow is melting and I just keep on getting more and more excited about summer time, and outdoor concerts, and running around with friends… the thought even makes me smile. It is very exciting and in many ways, refreshing.

I also sometimes wish that I could come up with clever ways to end my posts, as it seems to me they usually end up as “well, that’s all for now” and I’m bored of that so, BOMPF BOMPF BABY!

Would you choose an untruthful corporate business to rely on for your own personal business, or for anything else? Pick “yes” or “no”. If you’ve answered “no”, then I have this question for you:

Why on earth are you still running Windows?

I recently discovered the Microsoft “Get the Facts” webpage, and found a number of humorous “case studies”, where corporations state problems they had with Linux, and why they switched to Windows. The funny part about it, is that I’m pretty sure that all the experienced/claimed issues with Linux, had solutions. Maybe they’d have to come up with their own software (which I believe is the main method used in creating Linux programs) or find alternative ways around the issues, that would be more cost effective in the end, then going to a Windows system.

One company claimed that Linux was more expensive to maintain, and also claimed ongoing crashes and system failures on a weekly basis. Personally I think these claims are complete garbage, as my computer has been running for over a week, and has not crashed yet. I’ve also experienced a smooth running, and excellent user interface.

Check out that site. And you’ll be able to laugh along with me at the stupidity of these “facts” that Windows is claiming, as a desperate attempt to win back the people that have realized how superior Linux is to Windows.

So I’ve finally been able to get my own computer. The computer itself is at the moment not the greatest quality, but it is conveniently a laptop, and therefore all my work, and everything else goes with me wherever I go.

When I first received the computer, the first thing I wanted to do was just to get it up and running. So I decided that since I didn’t want to be playing around at first, I thought to myself, “Well, I’ll just quickly load Windows on to it, and do the Linux thing later”. Boy was I ever misleading myself.

The set up alone for Windows Home Edition took me over an hour, and then right afterwords, none of the hardware seemed to work. It wasn’t reading my USB ports, and CDs and DVDs weren’t working. Not to mention the headphone output, the LAN input and the wireless weren’t working. Then I realized, Windows didn’t even recognize that the computer was a laptop.

So, trying not to give up hope, I called my Dad.

“Alex, I have no idea about Windows, but Linux I can work with”, were the first words out of his mouth.

“Alright”, I replied, “I’ll try that Kubuntu disk that you gave me”. So I did just that. Within 25 minutes, I had Kubuntu up and running on my laptop. And it recognized that the computer was a laptop. The next test would be to test the LAN input. Once the cable was plugged in, I opened up Konqueror and typed in the URL for Google, and there it was. By the point of me writting this, I know for a fact that the DVD player works, that the speakers can be connected to it and work, I can play my music trouble-free, and my USB ports work. The only thing that I haven’t figured out is the wireless as of yet.

So, to anybody running Windows because they don’t want to take the time to learn a new operating system, that doesn’t fly with me. After spending a little bit of time on Linux, you get the hang of it. Not to mention that I can guarantee you’ll have less problems as far as your computer freezing goes, and it looks great. There are distributions of Linux (like Ubuntu, which I am running a version of) that are extremely user friendly, and more customizable than Windows.

Officially, I’ve decided to leave Windows for good, and spend the extra time learning to use Linux, and finding the programs that I need instead of resorting back to Windows. Now I’m not saying that I’m a Linux genius (as of yet), and I’m sure there will be times I am annoyed with it, but that’s basically the same with anything.