Oct
29
2005

Why Girlfriends Are Great

A.K.A "A typical conversation in these typical times"

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, October 29, 2005 - 07:41:27 pm
(Posted Under: No Category)
Just a quote recently that I thought was great!

But yeah, I would certainly get us houses in Tempe and Melbourne and other giiiifts and hookers and stuff.
A way to a guys heart is certainly with hookers. [wink] But seriously, the greatest comment.

Funny also that Def Leppard is on, given the subtitle I stole. Blatently! [smile]
Now Playing: Def Leppard - Stand Up
Oct
29
2005

A Year Of Gentoo

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, October 29, 2005 - 02:56:54 pm
(Posted Under: Linux Linux, Gentoo Linux Gentoo Linux)
Given that the Melbourne Cup is just around the corner (next Tuesday - roll on the public holiday baaaaaaaby [wink] ), it's almost a year that I've been running Gentoo Linux.

I've actually been using Gentoo for longer than that, probably since around April 2004. Funniest thing is how much I initially hated it. At the time Debian was my Linux distro of choice. I'd used UN*X type systems since 1996, but it wasn't until Feb 2004 that I took the plunge and installed my own Linux system. Not through lack of desire I don't think, mainly through lack of a spare machine. However in Feb 2004 when I got wireless broadband internet. I'd been using a Windows 98SE machine to host and share my dialup connection, and on expirencing MTU problems it was 3 days before typing format c:\ and installing Debian. Not that fixed the MTU problems per se, but certainly was good to get away from ICS, and have proper NAT and a firewall. And was so much better, (duh!), for a server. So, anyways, what am I talking about...oh yeah, Gentoo! [smile]

So yeah, the company I was with at the time moved from Debian to Gentoo, much to my dismay. My first Gentoo install, which was a mail scanning server was such a headache. It took about a week (admitadly it was running on a 233MHz PII which didn't help none) and several attempts, and I recall proclaiming once it was all said and done (after constant bitching) that Gentoo was absolutely ridiculous and I'd never personally use Gentoo! Pretty funny, given that 7 months later, with more experience with Gentoo, and growing frustration with Debian being in the dark ages, I installed Gentoo on my new beefy server in November. The new server was a result of getting sick of the aforementioned MTU problem, which ironically fixed itself (it must have been upstream) a week after ordering the new server, a week before it arrived.

At the time I did consider briefly sticking with Debian, but went with Gentoo, and haven't looked back. By November I was fairly sold on Gentoo as it was, but the past year dealing with it day in and day out is such a pleasure. Also highlights how fast time goes, I can remember doing the installation like it was yesterday!
Now Playing: Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers - Americano!
Oct
29
2005

Get Firefox!

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, October 29, 2005 - 01:24:44 pm
(Posted Under: Geek, Firefox Firefox, Thunderbird Thunderbird)
Get Firefox!
Hold the press! After 9 years of exclusive Netscape support, I've migrated to Firefox.

I've actually been using Firefox at work for the last 3 months. And have conceptually supportive of the whole Mozilla thing for quite a while. Certainly I've been much more interested in the direction and philosphy of Mozilla / Firefox for quite a while, it's just been a case taking the plunge of leaving a browser I've used for near on 10 years.

Largely, and humourously, it's been largely influence by look and feel. Humurous both because of it being not a great reason, and because everything else Mozilla is sexy. The website is the sexiest website on the internet (by far - I love the Mozilla website of today), the Mozilla icons are sexy - it's just damn Firefox's GUI. [wink] I've never been able to take the look of Firefox seriously, and visually "feels" as lightweight as Internet Explorer. Maybe not as, but certainly feels (in it's look) less solid than I've always found Netscape to be. I'm yet to find a theme that really does it for me, but I've decided I just had to suck it up.

Otherwise, the change isn't a huge one, both Netscape and Firefox being from the same codebase. Other than the main UI look, the perferences dialog has been a pet peeve of mine with Firefox. Yes, I'm a fickle and picky son of a bitch, there is no doubt about it! I'm sure it's just an issue of change and being set in your ways. I had the same issues with Winamp 3 and Winamp 5, and while.....I still do not like the Winamp 3 look (and never fully embraced the player), Winamp 5 has become a favorite. I figure it'll be true with my few pet peeves with Firefox, because I've known for a while that it's a better browser, just hesitant to make the change from the warm and fuzzy Netscape browser I've always known.

Jumping to the Google search box, rather that typing "?term" in the location bar, may take some getting used to, though I've certainly had enough time to get used to that at work.

Why finally take the plunge? The whole Mozilla movement over the past year has been pretty exciting, and while I've not taken the plunge until now, it has been something I've wanted to be part of. I had some sort of interest back in the days of the Mozilla / Netscape split, however there wasn't too much to be excited about back then. The browser (back then) was bloated (at least felt bloated on a 550Mhz P3 with 64MB RAM, in comparison to Netscape 4.x), and the mail client at least was buggy. Those were the early days. The past year, for me has seen the whole Mozilla movement really come to life, and step up. I even recall the pre Firefox browser (Phoenix?), which didn't seem like a big deal. However, Firefox was really Mozilla taking that big step up. I can think back to it's release (last year?) and while I wasn't jumping ship on Netscape, I knew Mozilla had finally stepped up to the big time.

A big contributing factor also is the open source culture of Mozilla vs. Netscapes commercial culture. I definately feel better using Firefox for that reason. Being able to know exactly what's going on with Firefox, it's a good thing. Something I've missed since Netscape 4.x days (at least pre 4.8), where there were actual changelogs, vs. bullshit commercial spins on "latest features". (See blog from around this time last year). Not only because of the culture, but it means Firefox is going to have more features I'm interested in. As a geek that is. [wink] Similarly, one of the scale tippers, is extentions for Firefox. There are some really cool ones out there, which make the browsing experience better. To be honest, I've not sure where Netscape is in terms of Extensions (I never moved past 7.1, but know that a lot of extensions weren't friendly to it), and maybe Netscape 8 is better (and I know it has things like Live Bookmarks, which was another draw card), but I'd rather move to Firefox than dick around upgrading to Netscape 8.

Also, I used to, in the 4.x days, like the whole bunded package thing (browser + mail). Yet these days, not so much. Well, not at all. I like that Firefox is a 4MB download. That Thunderbird is a 4MB download. Verses downloading 20+ MB (god knows what Netscape 8 is at these days. I shudder to think. [wink] ). Having two products from the same family, but as seperate entities is a nice thing.

Speaking of which, moving to Firefox means I've completely migrated to the Mozilla suite of products. I've been using Thunderbird for mail since - well, a couple of months - ever since I instated my new mail / mail server setup. This was not really a conscious decision. Once I finally moved out of the Netscape 4.x browsing dark ages (last year), I had no intention to move away from Netscape 4.x for mail. Then I instated my new mail setup / mail server, and used Thunderbird for testing IMAP, with the intention to continue using Netscape 4.x with the new IMAP setup. However, it seemed kinda flakey in comparison to Thunderbird, and I kinda just started using Thunderbird. I didn't even notice until a week or so later that I had unconsciously moved to Thunderbird. Dropping Netscape for Firefox completes the switch to Mozilla.

Sure, it took me a while, but I've been converted! Take back the web, reclaim your inbox, and all of that! [wink]
Now Playing: The Clarks - Shimmy Low

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