Now this is a surprise for me writing this!

I used to hate emesene, I didn’t like the way it functioned, I hated the constant updating (it’s still a little bit annoying, but at least the updates aren’t even half as slow as a certain other OS’s updates (read: Windows <All Versions> ;))) and I just generally preferred aMsn, maybe I preferred that slightly because I compiled it from source, whereas emesene was a simple “sudo apt-get install emesene” - who knows (or cares).

But I’m now using it, and I’m just in the middle of editing my .conkyrc file (any excuse to use Vim…) And I’ve got another couple of posts in the works which should appear in the next day or so.

Good to be back!

Yes that’s right - I had a fiddle with the power settings on my Ubuntu installation earlier

I’m pleased to say that suspend works great with my laptop Which I’m sure will come in useful while moving between lectures at Uni when I go back.

Not much else to say really, I’m just glad it works! Holiday next week, so no posts for around 2 weeks

I’ve posted my thoughts of Ubuntu 8.04 Beta up on http://blog.joeb454.com

If you want more precision, click here I hope you enjoy reading it.

I’m writing this from the Live CD of the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) Beta.

I’m REALLY impressed, more than I was with Gutsy (7.10)! I’ll most likely be installing this later on tonight, and I’ll put up the results on my other blog (blog.joeb454.com) afterwards. I’m out til later tonight, and most of tomorrow, but the results will definitely be up at some point Everything seems to be working out the box which is nice.

Also this mark’s the first time I’ve used a Linux disc-burning app…I’m using Windows less and less now-a-days, though despite that, I’ll keep it on my laptop, just because I’d find it hard to delete something I’ve paid for

Currently, RAM (Random Access Memory) is coming in sizes of ~4 Gigabytes, that’s the kind of maximum you would expect to see in a modern (albeit high end) PC. However this will most likely increase in the next few years, as it has in the past.

For example 2.5 years ago, my family bought a PC that had 256Mb of RAM, which we upgraded to 512Mb, and that was quite a lot back then, but a year later, most PC’s were coming with a minimum of 512Mb, the majority with 1Gb.

So I think in 5 years time, we’ll easily be looking at what we consider stupid amounts of RAM, though most likely for servers, not desktop machines. In fact I was just reading an article on Slashdot about “How To Use a Terabyte of RAM”, it was more specifically for the Linux Kernel, however it provokes some interesting thoughts on what could possibly be done with that much RAM.

As I mentioned in an earlier post of mine, I recently upgraded my Windows Vista install, to Windows Vista Ultimate, as I managed to get a copy for nothing

Anyway, I reinstalled GRUB as I said I would, but only got round to doing it 6 days later, and when I finally booted back into Ubuntu, I realised just how much I’d missed Ubuntu/Linux during those last 6 days, it was a strange feeling, though it leads me to believe that I’m beginning to prefer using Linux over Windows, and my usage habit shows this as well

Still, it can only be a good thing

I just updated the programs page to include a little bit of information about Sabre, the bluetooth AmaroK plugin that a couple of the UF Beginners Team members put together

Check it out here

Some of you will like this one

I emailed Nokia Customer Support the other day, following my reading of a thread on the Ubuntu Forums which made me realise that nobody has managed to successfully get Nokia PC Suite running on Linux. However there are client’s out for Windows & Mac OS , and you are asked what Operating System you use when you fill in the support request, where Linux is in fact an option.

Great! I thought, I might actually get directed to a Linux version, it’s more than most websites to even list it.
Oh how wrong I was… Below you’ll find the exact email reply I received (with the persons name removed):

Dear Joe,

Thank you for emailing Nokia Care.

With regard to your email, please note that Nokia PC Suite is designed to facilitate connectivity between your Nokia phones and Windows operating system. Your best option at this point in time would be to get in touch with Linux to see if they have any software that will enable the synchronization between the Nokia mobile phones and your Linux system.

Kind regards,

Nokia Care

How I laughed when I read that my “best option at this point in time would be to get in touch with Linux“. I’m wondering exactly how I’d go about doing this? Am I just supposed to send an email off to Linus Torvalds and moan at him that my phone isn’t properly supported?

Anyway, I just wanted to moan at the somewhat disappointing response I received, although I did receive it in less than 24 hours, which isn’t to be complained about

I’m doing a bit of Shameless promoting now

Sabre is a plugin for the AmaroK music player (it’s a KDE application, but I still use it anyway), which will ping a Bluetooth Device (I use my mobile phone for this). If the device moves out of range, it will pause your music, and invoke the screensaver.

Currently it is in the early stages, but we are working on support for KDE distributions right now (currently works for Gnome only, though it is a key feature for v1.5). Feel free to download it from here, and report any bugs etc. here.

I hope you enjoy it!

//Also from the Sabre-Dev Team//

It’s not as geeky as it sounds. Purely because it isn’t Wikipedia

Instead it’s on http://wiki.ubuntu.com as I figured it’d be an easy way to get a little bit more involved in the Ubuntu community, without knowing how to get the program code and contribute through development.

I added a wiki page for myself, which can be found here.

On another note - I will be posting up my Pro’s & Con’s of Blu-Ray Vs HD DVD in the coming days.