I ran into that video-posting librarian again July 25, 2007
Posted by Carthik in Other sites, ubuntu.210 comments
You guys must remember Jessamyn, the librarian who posted a video about installing Ubuntu at, where else, the library.
Well, by some strange coincidence, which cannot be explained rationally, I ran into her again on the tubes. I followed the user profile link at this comment on Ask MetaFilter to end up at her profile page.
Of the billions of unknown users of the internet, we are two.
What are the chances?, I ask you!! The mind blows. 🙂
In other news, there is no news – I’m on the slow track to the Ph.D.
Daylight Savings Time & Linux Boxes March 10, 2007
Posted by Carthik in calendar, Other sites, ubuntu.10 comments
Sort of late, but since its never too late, head over to Daniel’s blog for the lowdown on how to make sure your linux box knows that we humans have decided to change the length of days.
Daniel’s Blog is a must-read for me. He’s also one of the leading motors behind the fridge – he seems to sniff out Ubuntu-related news much better than anyone else.
When you are at his blog, make sure you whine a little about Ubuntu/Linux. I wonder if Daniel intends to produce a summary of all the whines. If he is, then he better be prepared to spend some time on it. I remember creating the List of Ubuntu Blogs – especially how freaking long it took. 🙂
Gimparoo – Converting Photoshop Tutorials to Gimp February 13, 2007
Posted by Carthik in Friends Etc., guides, Other sites, reviews.20 comments
It’s not everyday that I get stoked enough by a website/blog that I decide to write about it. I happened upon gimparoo today, and the first thought I had was, “The world so badly needs this blog – what a great idea.” Though I don’t muck around with the GIMP as much as I used to a few years ago, I still appreciate a good, useful resource.
Gimparoo converts photoshop tutorials for the Gimp. Linux users rejoice!
To whoever the author of gimparoo is – please keep updating the blog once a day 🙂
About the Ubuntu Installer for Windows January 17, 2007
Posted by Carthik in microsoft, Other sites, ubuntu.23 comments
Lifehacker featured a post about the Ubuntu Installer for Windows, with the headline:
Install and run Ubuntu without disturbing Windows
This is disturbing, since the installer is not yet finished and tested. Lifehacker’s readers belong to a variety of “categories” but I worry about the users who expect everything to work ship-shape and start bad mouthing if it does not at first try. It is not clear where one would file bugs with this installer, for one. I hope this does not end up creating a “Ubuntu does not work properly” image in the minds of these readers. The installer prototype features ntfs-3g, which itself is experimental, and since Ubuntu will “reside” within windows, auto-detection and automatic configuration of hardware might not work the same as it does with native Ubuntu installs.
Background:
There is a prototype of the Install.exe installer for Windows. In layman’s terms, this installer is just like any other software application installer for Windows. It works by copying an image of Ubuntu to your Windows partition and using that to “drive” Ubuntu. So it does not repartition your hard drive, or install Ubuntu independent of Windows. In C:\Ubuntu an image will reside and be complemented by the auto-detected settings for Ubuntu, the home directory for the users etc. So Ubuntu will end up borrowing space from Windows, without repartitioning. For more details, read the specification. Don’t be scared by the word specification – Ubuntu specs are a pleasure to read, with the rationale,use cases, to-do items etc written in simple English.
I love the idea of the Ubuntu installer, and it sure makes it easy for folks to try Ubuntu out. I expect problems when these users finally want to switch completely to Ubuntu while preserving their Ubuntu installation, settings, files and permissions. Now that would be difficult since uninstalling windows will wipe out Ubuntu(which lives “within” Windows).
So, the approach will solve a problem but might end up inventing some more problems for its users.
All you need to try out Ubuntu without risking data loss is the Live CD – that really can’t be beat for simplicity and ease-of-use!
Ubuntu Screencasts from the Doc Team January 12, 2007
Posted by Carthik in guides, Other sites, ubuntu.11 comments
I had written earlier about a way to create screencasts in Ubuntu. Well, it looks like we have come a long way from there.
I was glad to find the documentation team’s collection of screencasts and also the details on how the screencasts were created. Awesome work!
There are a whole lot of screencast, including how to set up a dual-booting system with Windows and Ubuntu and how to install Flashplayer.
That’s all for now, folks.
Ubuntu Blogs Round-up December 23, 2006
Posted by Carthik in about, Other sites, planet ubuntu, ubuntu, Ubuntu Sites.comments closed
The response to my request for Ubuntu Bloggers to put their hands up has been tremendous.
So much so that I felt obliged to round them all up and create a page listing all the little known Ubuntu Blogs 🙂
The listings are sorted by language. There’s even one video blog (vlog.gwallgofi.com/) where the author/presenter intends to communicate with hearing challenged folks using sign language. Very cool!
Of course, the request brought forth a couple of strange responses: a scientologist and someone who writes about AIDS. I haven’t included your blogs in the list for the simple reason that a search for Ubuntu on your blogs turned up zip. If you start writing, I will include you later.
Erythro points out that there is a list of blogs at the forums. Thanks – I have added links to the two forums threads at the page.
Daniel floated the idea of an extra-solar(?) planet of Ubuntu Blogs by Ubuntu Users:
I wonder what would be a good way to tap into that well of online knowledge about Ubuntu and present way in an useful and friendly way to the world? Maybe what we need is an userplanet.ubuntu.com or community.ubuntu.com to complement the more official planet.ubuntu.com that would aggregate these Non-Ubuntu-Member blogs.
I think it is a great idea, and even thought about setting it up on my own server. However, Gouki expressed interest in implementing it first, and since I don’t like stepping on toes, I will wait for a while for him to do it. Gouki, would you mind terribly if I did it myself? Or better still, would the higher-ups at Canonical/Ubuntu want to do this (semi-)officially?
Thank you for sending in links to your blogs – I have added them to my feedreader and look forward to reading about your experiences. Now you have a guaranteed audience of at least one interested soul 🙂
Coming up with the list was really time consuming – have been doing nothing else for the past three hours. I visited each blog, checked it out(when I could understand the language), and had a good time overall. It’s a good thing its the holidays. But unfortunately, because of this, I will have to cut back a little on working on this blog over the next couple of days. It is the holidays and I will be off on a little holiday myself, in a day or two.
Ubuntu Blog 