danblog

Jaunty Jackalope & Fallout

// April 28th, 2009 // View Comments // Entertainment, Technology, Thoughts

Ubuntu 9.04 was offcially released last week.  I’d been running the beta for a week or so prior, and so far it hasn’t disappointed.  The new features aren’t anything to write home about, but one thing I’ve noticed is the boot-time has dropped from 45 seconds to about 20.  I was able to upgrade the BIOS as well, adding a few features missing from the Mini, namely F11 and F12 key functionality and improved power management.  The new notification system is. . .an interesting choice.  Notifications pop up in the right corner to notify you of various things, such as Volume, Brightness, new Pidgin messages, etc.  When you mouse over one of those, it turns transparent, so you can see what’s below them.  Clicking the notification doesn’t do anything; many people believe it should bring the subject of the notification into focus, myself inlcuded.  I’m really looking forward to Octobers [Ubuntu has a 6-month development cycle] release of Karmic Koala, which claims to be very netbook-friendly, with even faster boot times.  In addition, my Runcore 64GB SSD shipped and should arrive on Wednesday; looking forward to the increased space.  May even hackintosh it, as I have very little experience with Macs and it would be fun to learn another operating system.

In other computer-related news, I recently purchased the Fallout Collection from Good Old Games, an online distributor of old or out of publication games.  DRM-Free and packed with bonus extras, GOG.com manages to keep the price low and permits me to do whatever I want with the game; no tracking down patches, no dubious hacks to get it running.  A simple install and it’s up and running.  Fallout is a game I’ve been meaning to play with earnest for years now, but never sat down long enough to get into it.  The groundbreaking post-apocalyptic tale that set the standard for many post-apocalypses to come has an antiquated charm about it.  The controls are clunky and a bit obtuse, the inventory system is atrocious; and yet, I find myself enamored with the dilemma of choosing between carring that extra few clips of ammo or that spare shotgun.  Combat is slow going and enemy and ally AI aren’t the sharpest shivs on the cellblock, as likely to hit friendly targets as they are foes.  Altogether, though, the game is fun in spite of it’s dated controls and graphics.  Nothing is more satisfying that targeting an enemy’s eyes and blowing them to gooey, bloody chunks with a burst of semiautomatic pistol fire.

The Fisher-Price ‘Baby’s First Laptop’ a.k.a. The Dell Mini 9

// April 8th, 2009 // View Comments // Technology, Thoughts

Last month I finally bit the bullet and purchased a portable computer.  Specifically, the Dell Mini 9 netbook.  The Mini 9 isn’t the most powerful creature in the computing jungle, but it’s what I’ve been looking for:

• small – 9″ screen, ~9″x7″x3/4″
• light  - less than 2lbs, easily carried in one hand

I can throw this little guy into my bag and take it damn near anywhere.  Upgraded to 2GB of RAM, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 8GB SSD (small, I know, but the Mini 9 includes a card reader, so I can expand, and there’s always the option of installing a larger one), even a tiny integrated webcam for Skype. All of this for the modest price of $260. [mine was a refurbished model, though there have been numerous sales on new ones as of late to clear out stock to make way for the Mini 10, Mini 11, and Mini 12 models]

Currently I’m running Ubuntu 8.10, or ‘Intrepid Ibex’ as the cool kids say. One of the most popular flavors of Linux currently out there, it worked right out of the box, aside from a few kinks that were easily straightened out thanks to the active Ubuntu Community and fansite UbuntuMini.  Boot-up averages around 45 seconds to just under a minute, which isn’t too shabby.  Many of the programs I used on my Windows desktop PC exist within the Linux environment, such as Firefox, VLC, GIMP, and Pidgin .  Using Mozilla’s Prism extension, I’ve created a number of SSB (single-site browser) applications (GMail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader, music-streaming service Lala.com, financial management site Mint.com, and other web-apps)  all of which are only a few context-sensitive keystrokes away thanks to the absolutely fantastic application launcher, GNOME-Do.

Getting used to the Mini 9 takes a little while.  The keyboard is significantly smaller than a full-sized one, and some of Dell’s choices in key placement are little unusual, to say the least.  I’ve often accidentally included semi-colons where they were not welcome, as well as unintentional taps on the Enter key.  The trackpad can be overly-sensitive at times,  but that’s just a matter of adjusting the settings.  After about a week or so of regular use I get by fairly well typing thing out messages and emails, but don’t expect to write the Great American Novel on it; maybe a few pages here and there, but leave the heavy workload for the desktop and a full-sized keyboard.

The Mini 9 is a great little machine, for a decent price.  If you’ve been considering a second (or third, in some cases) computer, good for couch-surfing, hotel stays, and general internet use, you could do a lot worse than the Mini 9.