Getting Linux "there" on ppc

So today I managed to slap ubuntu 6.06 on my powerbook g3. For the record os x 10.3 Panther does not run well on a g3 400mhz. The one thing that runs well on it is OS 9 and I am not going there. Not that I have a problem with old stuff, I actually usually find myself intrigued with older systems. OS 9 just lack a certain polish that exists in the later versions of OS X. 10.1 and 10.2 were more old worldish in that they lacked the intuition that I think really went into 10.3 that of course was rolled furth with Tiger and of course Leopard which I run on my macbook and absolutely love. I should digress though.

Since OS X was too slow, I almost gave this one up for loss, but I remembered running an older Ubuntu (breezy I think) on and older snow ibook 600 mhz g3 and it ran pretty well. So I decided to try it here. Unfortunately I ran into a small bit of a problem. You see I do not have the removable DVD drive for this system, which means that cd-rom booting did not work to the external cd-rom drive.
I had to go through the Open Firmware. Which wasn't too bad, if you find yourself in that situation take this advice. Copy the Install folder off the CD-rom and also copy the yaboot file to the root of the drive. You can then boot it through Open Firmware off the hard drive, then the Installer will autodetect the cdrom drive.

Problem solved I moved along and used the default "use the whole disk" partition option. Normally I like to keep my partitions separate, but I'm not running a web server on this or anything so it should be ok. The install was an extremely long process. I chose the alternate install CD. I find the live boot install doesn't work quite as well on older hardware. The install did take a long time, like a good three hours to run but the end result is a very usable system. Apple has a history of making top quality hardware. Not just dime a dozen, but well thought out. The touchpad on this Pismo is very nice to use compared to alot of PC touchpads I have been chained to in the past.

So, 400 mhz g3 is not the most powerfull processor you can get these days. 256MB of RAM could be upgraded a bit. For simple stuff like Web browsing or office work like open office, it seems to work well. Although I have learned something. Using two programs at once is not bad, but three will start to lag a bit.

For the record if you find yourself running Ubuntu (either ppc, or x86), and your looking for a wireless card to run, the D-link DWL-G650 is a nice 802.11g card that just works right out of the box. That one took awhile to find.

So I find myself writing this note on a G3 Pismo laptop running Ubuntu. Not sure why. I do have a macbook with leopard on it that I use for most everything, but for some reason, this old Powerbook feels comfortable to write on. Get yourself one, they're nice.

New Director

We have gotten a new IT Director at work. the interesting thing is that he will not be based at Head Quarters, but rather n a different state.

At first I didn't think it would be a good idea. A director is someone who needs to be available to their employees to go to meetings and take care of director-like things.

I finally realized that in the IT world, we continually talk about how people can be connected from other locations through IT and the Internet. If any department could support a Director that telecommutes, it should be the IT department. We should be able to handle this no problem. I will post more here when we find out how it really works out.

A Little Phone Among Laptops

Recently, I found myself sitting at my in-laws house without my trusty macbook and feeling a little bored. Other people were talking, using Windows-based laptops etc and I found myself browsing on an iphone instead of a computer... and I couldn't have been happier.

It's no wonder that cellphone vendors are puzzled. With years of design experience under their belt, a computer company comes in and with their first cellphone, they receive huge response. It's become more of a normal thing to see iphones on the street when people walk around and according to Google Zeitgeist, It was the fastest growing search term in 2007 (http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2007/).

One thing is sure, other manufacturers are struggling to figure out why people like it so much. Personally, the one thing that drove me to buy one, was the web browser. After using Internet Explorer mobile, as well as many phone browsers that are lucky if they can display the entire alphabet, mobile Safari is a breath of fresh air. Finally I can carry around the REAL internet in my pocket. Not some watered down, half-working version. The real McCoy is onboard.

Perhaps other companies will follow suit, but Apple again has managed to build the future today.

RTFM no really, at least RTFScreen

     I recently read a News story on Cnet about Apple installing Safari through its software update on Windows. Apparently the CEO of Mozilla had real problems with this and called in Malware tactics.Now I can understand if Mozilla feels like Apple pissed in their cheerios by releaseing a Window version of Safari. The real issue here is NOT whether apple should install software via it's update program. The real issue here is that end users need to take the time to read the words that come up on their screen. People wonder why the Viagra and Russian Mail-Order bride advertisements are out there. It's because people know that most users just click at random. If you took the time to read the text, you would know what safari is and should have a good idea whether you wanted it or not. the real problem is that you cannot go to a department store and buy a computer with a non-IE web browser on it. At least Apple is trying to do something about that rather than sit tight like the Mozilla folks and bitch on IRC. The simple fact is that if you want to topple the web browser giant, you will have to use a few questionable tactics. not necesarrily bad tactics, but at least the SAME tactics that M$ used to distribute IE. You've got to do something. The claim that IE 8 will be standards compliant, but I cannot see that happening. We'll just hafta wait and see I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I like Firefox just as much as the next geek, but they don't have a method to distribute to millions like Apple does.

SideNote: Multi-Desktop... Done Right

For those of you who haven't done so yet, go to your local Apple store, and check out OS X Leopard. With all the other features set aside, Spaces alone is worth the upgrade.

I am not new to the multi-desktop interface which is standard in most linux window managers, but I have never seen it implemented as well as it is in Leopard's Spaces. With Spaces you can hotkey between desktops rather easily or you can bring it up with a "hot corner". Whe you bring up spaces it shows your multi desktops all on the screen at the same time (similar to how Expose shows your programs). The cool part is, you can drag your programs between the multiple desktops and Spaces remembers which spaces you want those programs on.

For everyday use, this isn't a big deal, but for power users it rocks!

n my setup for instance, when I use my Macbook, I usually have at least one VM running, and Citrix desktop from work at the same time. Now, when I open one VM and Citrix, they remember which desktop they were last parked on at stay out of my way until I hotkey to them.

The whole setup is great. I will try to get a video of this to post because once I researched how it works, I was sold.

Kudos to the Os X Development team, and Kudos to Apple.

What's your OS

Linux for those few who still don't know, is an alternative operating system for computers. I personally was a little bit late getting into the Linux realm mostly because of slow internet connections in the rural town I live in. My first linux install was a cpy of Mandrake in 2001. I remember thinking how cool it was to find an OS that I didn't already know how it worked. I started on Dos 3.2 and moved my way up the Windows ladder to 2kpro at that point in time, but this was a whole new ballgame. For the year following I followed linux excitedly. As a software developer I shouted the praises of Open Source software, and forecasted to everyone that their windows would be a piece of history in a few years.

Looking back, the topology of Information Systems has changed dramatically. For instance, in 2000, I had one PC with a dual boot windows/mandrake.

I currently have one Windows PC for my wife, one Linux workstation for the kids, One Linux server for file sharing, etc. and I am writing this from my Macbook running OS X 10.5.

Not only do my physical systems run the gamut, my Mac runs Vmware Fusion and has multiple Linux distro's installed ranging from Suse, Gentoo, Ubuntu, OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Linux, and even one Windows XP VM.

No longer is there any issue of what operating system you use, you no longer must commit to one. It seems that the enterprise has not realized this yet. I work as a programmer for the nations largest air-ambulance company and we are committed to one specific desktop. But even there I am starting to see a difference. When people mention they want a different OS, we in the IT department don't automatically cringe. It's much easier to make everyone's computer play nicely now than it was 7 years ago.

E-mailing-A-Blog

One of the handiest features anyone thought of......

Any service that let's you send it stuff through e-mail.

Blogspot -- E-mail-a-post to your blog.

Google Docs -- E-mail-a-doc to your account

I wonder if this integration will be happening more. I mean on the backside it cannot be that hard. There are code snippets out there to access an IMAP e-mail account in almost ANY language.

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