A few days ago, I decided to look into the open-source Radeon driver more, and found a way to check for it and install it.
I first tested it out with Sae-chan, since it was easier to do so, and found that one package out of three wasn't installed, and after installing, nothing happened (well, technically, I cleared up an error message for the driver).
I was thinking about using the 30GB hard drive to test Taiga out, but after running the check, Taiga wasn't any different from Sae-chan (missing that same package), so I decided to just do a blind install.
I shut Taiga off and spent a few minutes reconnecting the connector (the thing was annoying to try to plug back in), booted her up and tested out the power save after enabling the screen. Unfortunately, it changed nothing in that aspect, so I shut her down again to unplug the screen again.
It's kind of a shame it didn't make a difference, but I really prefer using the monitor since I get more screen space (although the monitor takes up that much more space). I'm not exactly sure what could possibly be wrong, but I don't care too much, since I still solved the problem in a different way.
31 October 2014
Raspi 2
A couple months or so ago, I decided to try openSUSE ARM on the Raspi, but only got to a command line, so I gave up on that.
The other thing that happened was that the fan controller no longer worked properly, and the fan was much too loud at full speed. I decided to use USB power instead of Firewire (5v instead of 12v) to slow the fan down, but the fan didn't want to spin after that, so I had to use a different fan and redo the mount.
I had to play around with a bit, but I got it to work, mounting the fan to two of the brackets, then using the other two brackets to keep one bracket from sliding around. While I could've properly mounted the fan, I didn't feel like doing any extra drilling, so this was the easier solution. I also used a zip-tie (blue) to secure the cord to the case where the fan controller used to be.
The other thing that happened was that the fan controller no longer worked properly, and the fan was much too loud at full speed. I decided to use USB power instead of Firewire (5v instead of 12v) to slow the fan down, but the fan didn't want to spin after that, so I had to use a different fan and redo the mount.
I had to play around with a bit, but I got it to work, mounting the fan to two of the brackets, then using the other two brackets to keep one bracket from sliding around. While I could've properly mounted the fan, I didn't feel like doing any extra drilling, so this was the easier solution. I also used a zip-tie (blue) to secure the cord to the case where the fan controller used to be.
Dell 2
About a week after putting the X1950 into the Dell, I noticed the X1950 was running quite hot - almost scalding hot - and decided to remove the cover to the heat-sink:
Yep, It was pretty much clogged with dust. I cleaned it out and put it back in, and it was running a lot cooler afterwards.
Recently, the Dell's been taking time to boot again, like when the X300 was in it, so maybe it is the power supply? Then again, I also did remove the PCI wireless card to put into the G5, so that my best friend can connect it to the internet to install stuff, and it's after that when it started doing it, so maybe that's it (as weird as it would be). I'll find out once I get the wireless card back.
One of the other things I've done is attached a couple of the tear-off 5.25" bay covers to the hard drive to elevate it, positioned the front stock fan at the back to blow onto the hard drive, and attached another fan (from the retired ASUS Triton 77) to the front to blow the air out. I haven't really checked the temperature, but I'm sure it keeps it under 60C.
Yep, It was pretty much clogged with dust. I cleaned it out and put it back in, and it was running a lot cooler afterwards.
Recently, the Dell's been taking time to boot again, like when the X300 was in it, so maybe it is the power supply? Then again, I also did remove the PCI wireless card to put into the G5, so that my best friend can connect it to the internet to install stuff, and it's after that when it started doing it, so maybe that's it (as weird as it would be). I'll find out once I get the wireless card back.
One of the other things I've done is attached a couple of the tear-off 5.25" bay covers to the hard drive to elevate it, positioned the front stock fan at the back to blow onto the hard drive, and attached another fan (from the retired ASUS Triton 77) to the front to blow the air out. I haven't really checked the temperature, but I'm sure it keeps it under 60C.
Articles 2 / Apple Products Poster
I suppose it would be less restricting if I find an article that allows me to share my thoughts and feelings, rather than just talking about something interesting.
The article I read today is a short article about an infographic: 534 Apple Products On One Giant Poster
About the article itself, there's nothing to talk about, but the article did remind me of my history with Apple computers.
The earliest Mac I used was some purple-cased Apple that had a 5.25-inch floppy drive (unfortunately, I can't remember what it was called, and I don't have enough info to search for it... maybe the case wasn't purple, but it's been at least 20 years, so maybe I'm remembering wrong) back in elementary school; I also used some other Macintosh that was a little more modern at the time.
In middle school, it was the early iMacs (the translucent, aqua-colored ones).
At home, I grew up with the Performa 550, which was replaced in 1998 with some HP computer. After moving into a new house in 2000, I still used the Performa 550 for some of the games and to sort of mess around with, but once I broke the registry with too much tinkering, I decided to retire it. I was also going to reinstall Mac OS 7 to see what was on some old floppies, but the monitor wouldn't turn on - wouldn't doubt if a spider died in the power supply and shorted the power for the monitor, or if it was just old age - so it finally went to get recycled.
Sae-chan was the next Apple I owned, followed by Shizuma.
What I'm getting at is that I used to be quite the Apple fan (I excluded the iPods, since they're not proper computers), but after Shizuma, that began to fade. After the PowerMac G5 and iBook G4 Debian PPC projects, I've really lost the appreciation for Apple that I used to have, because of a few reasons.
The first reason is that old architectures that are no longer supported. Sure I can update Mac OS X 10.4 to the final version of 10.4.11, but that's as far as the updates will go. Even major software (like Firefox) has officially stopped supporting the PPC architecture (it's unofficially supported with TenFourFox for OS X or in any PPC Linux).
Another reason is that some of the up-front quality is nice, but some of the lesser parts (namely the built-in FTP service) isn't as quality. I'm sure Apple never meant the file-sharing service to be used as an actual FTP or to transfer gigabytes of information, and I'm sure they never imagined it being used in that way either. It was a feature that was just quietly in the settings that (probably) not too many people used. In 10.7 (Lion), the graphical way to toggle the FTP service on/off was removed, but still accessible via command line. Again, I'm sure it's because not too many people used it, so they (Apple) figured it'd be better to remove the graphical option.
I used 10.6 for quite a bit of time, but it wasn't all that great. The 64-bit kernel did make most things a bit faster, but the cost was that certain 32-bit support was finicky - I had to switch between the 32 and 64-bit kernels until I gave up and just used the 32-bit kernel. I think that was the only time I saw something "broken" of Apple's, even though their products are usually quite fluid - the result of fine-tuned code for a small pool of hardware.
The prices are another reason, but I probably don't need to really explain it all that much.
And I turned this into a rant (LOL), but again, my point is that I've lost quite the appreciation for Apple even though I've pretty much grown up with Apple.
The article I read today is a short article about an infographic: 534 Apple Products On One Giant Poster
About the article itself, there's nothing to talk about, but the article did remind me of my history with Apple computers.
The earliest Mac I used was some purple-cased Apple that had a 5.25-inch floppy drive (unfortunately, I can't remember what it was called, and I don't have enough info to search for it... maybe the case wasn't purple, but it's been at least 20 years, so maybe I'm remembering wrong) back in elementary school; I also used some other Macintosh that was a little more modern at the time.
In middle school, it was the early iMacs (the translucent, aqua-colored ones).
At home, I grew up with the Performa 550, which was replaced in 1998 with some HP computer. After moving into a new house in 2000, I still used the Performa 550 for some of the games and to sort of mess around with, but once I broke the registry with too much tinkering, I decided to retire it. I was also going to reinstall Mac OS 7 to see what was on some old floppies, but the monitor wouldn't turn on - wouldn't doubt if a spider died in the power supply and shorted the power for the monitor, or if it was just old age - so it finally went to get recycled.
Sae-chan was the next Apple I owned, followed by Shizuma.
What I'm getting at is that I used to be quite the Apple fan (I excluded the iPods, since they're not proper computers), but after Shizuma, that began to fade. After the PowerMac G5 and iBook G4 Debian PPC projects, I've really lost the appreciation for Apple that I used to have, because of a few reasons.
The first reason is that old architectures that are no longer supported. Sure I can update Mac OS X 10.4 to the final version of 10.4.11, but that's as far as the updates will go. Even major software (like Firefox) has officially stopped supporting the PPC architecture (it's unofficially supported with TenFourFox for OS X or in any PPC Linux).
Another reason is that some of the up-front quality is nice, but some of the lesser parts (namely the built-in FTP service) isn't as quality. I'm sure Apple never meant the file-sharing service to be used as an actual FTP or to transfer gigabytes of information, and I'm sure they never imagined it being used in that way either. It was a feature that was just quietly in the settings that (probably) not too many people used. In 10.7 (Lion), the graphical way to toggle the FTP service on/off was removed, but still accessible via command line. Again, I'm sure it's because not too many people used it, so they (Apple) figured it'd be better to remove the graphical option.
I used 10.6 for quite a bit of time, but it wasn't all that great. The 64-bit kernel did make most things a bit faster, but the cost was that certain 32-bit support was finicky - I had to switch between the 32 and 64-bit kernels until I gave up and just used the 32-bit kernel. I think that was the only time I saw something "broken" of Apple's, even though their products are usually quite fluid - the result of fine-tuned code for a small pool of hardware.
The prices are another reason, but I probably don't need to really explain it all that much.
And I turned this into a rant (LOL), but again, my point is that I've lost quite the appreciation for Apple even though I've pretty much grown up with Apple.
30 October 2014
Network Attached Storage 2
As I'm going through all the old posts on EDBv1, I'm realizing that there are things I just haven't updated about - my NAS being one of them.
Earlier this year (2014) Synology released DSM 5.0 for most of their NAS products (some of their products did not fit the DSM 5.0 requirements), and while there were quite a few changes, there is one main one that I was pretty ecstatic about after reading it.
The update was the "QuickConnect" feature that was added, which allows an even easier set-up to access the NAS from the internet. Basically, you register for a MyDS account (which is free) then register a QuickConnect ID (also free), then use the link of "http://QuickConnect.to/[QuickConnect ID]" to connect to the NAS.
The only problem with QuickConnect is that it is based off of the NAS's external IP address, so if your modem's external IP is DHCP and is leased a new IP address after a reboot or disconnect (like I used to have), the QuickConnect link will stop working until you reset the QuickConnect link. So after testing it out, I turned it off, since I didn't really need to access my stuff outside of my house.
It was about mid-September when the phone company came to fix the phone and also fixed the internet connection as well (supposedly, the wires for the internet was loose), and so I decided to turn QuickConnect back on, since it's nice to be able to get files when I'm at my best friend's place (provided the files are on the NAS XD).
QuickConnect is very nice and so much easier than the alternative way - thank Synology for their hard work.
Earlier this year (2014) Synology released DSM 5.0 for most of their NAS products (some of their products did not fit the DSM 5.0 requirements), and while there were quite a few changes, there is one main one that I was pretty ecstatic about after reading it.
The update was the "QuickConnect" feature that was added, which allows an even easier set-up to access the NAS from the internet. Basically, you register for a MyDS account (which is free) then register a QuickConnect ID (also free), then use the link of "http://QuickConnect.to/[QuickConnect ID]" to connect to the NAS.
The only problem with QuickConnect is that it is based off of the NAS's external IP address, so if your modem's external IP is DHCP and is leased a new IP address after a reboot or disconnect (like I used to have), the QuickConnect link will stop working until you reset the QuickConnect link. So after testing it out, I turned it off, since I didn't really need to access my stuff outside of my house.
It was about mid-September when the phone company came to fix the phone and also fixed the internet connection as well (supposedly, the wires for the internet was loose), and so I decided to turn QuickConnect back on, since it's nice to be able to get files when I'm at my best friend's place (provided the files are on the NAS XD).
QuickConnect is very nice and so much easier than the alternative way - thank Synology for their hard work.
Trying something new / HP Sprout
While reading Forbes article on HP's Sprout computer, I decided I would give writing my thoughts and feelings on any technology articles that I find interesting enough to talk about. It's something to try out, but it should make my blog a bit more active, seeing that the only active part would be Linux testing/tinkering.
Without further ado, let's begin!
The article I've read is Forbes' "If Da Vinci Had A Desktop, It Would Be HP's $1,899 Sprout".
While I was scrolling through articles on Google Play Newsstand, the image caught my eye, as it depicts (presumably) an artist writing in cursive with his finger on a white mat (I later found out that it was an artist while viewing the article on the desktop). The article title was probably next to capture my attention, as I was wondering what the author meant.
I got a better understanding of the Srout as I began to read the article - the Sprout is an all-in-one computer that uses a combination of touch-screen and a special mat. The mat sits in front of the Sprout and has sensors inside it to capture input (fingers/styli), while also being the area for the embedded projector to project the digital workspace.
Above the monitor is a fixture that houses the camera and projector that scans and displays the workspace, respectively.
The two main sources of input for any digital artist is a mouse and/or graphics tablet (using either or both); I, myself, have a graphics tablet made by Wacom, so I'm pretty familiar with how it feels to use the graphics tablet as a source of input.
I thought it is a pretty interesting concept, and thought the price was a bit steep for something of that sort, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem that bad of a price. More specifically, it has a touch-screen all-in-one computer, a "scanner", a projector, a "graphics tablet", and a customized version of Windows 8.1 (presumably) all into one package (technically two counting the mat); I'm sure building something similar would come out to around the same price, which is why I call it a fair price.
I don't particularly like the fact that the projected display and the monitor is a mirrored view, although I do understand why it is, and while most of the things can be done with the touch-screen, the touch-screen doesn't have the pressure sensitivity that the mat does.
While I do like the ideas, I feel that I'd rather stick with a graphics tablet (most of Wacom's tablets have touch capability) and all-in-one, as it pretty much would be the same thing. I'd definitely like to play with it, but I wouldn't buy it and probably wouldn't recommend it either.
It's impossible to say how the sales will go, but I think it'll be a niche market - artists looking for a new computer and technology-collectors being the presumed main buyers.
The video (as stated in the article) shows the system in action, and is why I think it's not much different from using a graphics tablet (that accepts touch input), though the "scanner" is something different from the usual flat-bed scanners that can only scan 2D objects.
Again, it's an interesting idea, but I think it could definitely be improved to become "truly new", but it just seems slightly gimmicky to me.
Without further ado, let's begin!
The article I've read is Forbes' "If Da Vinci Had A Desktop, It Would Be HP's $1,899 Sprout".
While I was scrolling through articles on Google Play Newsstand, the image caught my eye, as it depicts (presumably) an artist writing in cursive with his finger on a white mat (I later found out that it was an artist while viewing the article on the desktop). The article title was probably next to capture my attention, as I was wondering what the author meant.
I got a better understanding of the Srout as I began to read the article - the Sprout is an all-in-one computer that uses a combination of touch-screen and a special mat. The mat sits in front of the Sprout and has sensors inside it to capture input (fingers/styli), while also being the area for the embedded projector to project the digital workspace.
Above the monitor is a fixture that houses the camera and projector that scans and displays the workspace, respectively.
The two main sources of input for any digital artist is a mouse and/or graphics tablet (using either or both); I, myself, have a graphics tablet made by Wacom, so I'm pretty familiar with how it feels to use the graphics tablet as a source of input.
I thought it is a pretty interesting concept, and thought the price was a bit steep for something of that sort, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem that bad of a price. More specifically, it has a touch-screen all-in-one computer, a "scanner", a projector, a "graphics tablet", and a customized version of Windows 8.1 (presumably) all into one package (technically two counting the mat); I'm sure building something similar would come out to around the same price, which is why I call it a fair price.
I don't particularly like the fact that the projected display and the monitor is a mirrored view, although I do understand why it is, and while most of the things can be done with the touch-screen, the touch-screen doesn't have the pressure sensitivity that the mat does.
While I do like the ideas, I feel that I'd rather stick with a graphics tablet (most of Wacom's tablets have touch capability) and all-in-one, as it pretty much would be the same thing. I'd definitely like to play with it, but I wouldn't buy it and probably wouldn't recommend it either.
It's impossible to say how the sales will go, but I think it'll be a niche market - artists looking for a new computer and technology-collectors being the presumed main buyers.
The video (as stated in the article) shows the system in action, and is why I think it's not much different from using a graphics tablet (that accepts touch input), though the "scanner" is something different from the usual flat-bed scanners that can only scan 2D objects.
Again, it's an interesting idea, but I think it could definitely be improved to become "truly new", but it just seems slightly gimmicky to me.
Triela 2
I found that I never wrote about the Intel Wifi+Bluetooth card that I talked about a while ago. I did order it and tested it out, but was still unable to get the wifi to work. I think the Mini-PCIe slot for the Wifi is just locked to two modes - on and off - since I remember reading something about having to use the function key to toggle the Bluetooth on, which never happened.
Another thing I never wrote about was the Mini-PCIe to USB 3.0 converter that I wanted to use to hide the Logitech USB dongle and free up one of the USB ports. After getting it, I was unable to get it to work at all, and since I was at my best friend's house, I didn't feel like doing any extensive testing (along with the fact that I was already tired from the testing I already did).
After getting home, I used an Intel Wifi+Bluetooth card that he gave me (it didn't work in his Lenovo, and it was too late for him to RMA it) to test out the extra Mini-PCIe slot. It didn't appear, even with taking the stock Wifi card out of it's slot; I even tried the stock Wifi card in that extra slot, which still didn't work. I'm guessing the slot is disabled by the firmware or by the controller, seeing as that it doesn't work; the only other possibility is that it's actually a mSATA port, but I did quite a bit of research to disprove that, so I highly doubt it.
While I wanted to RMA it, I had already broken off part of the adapter so that it would fit into the slot, and I don't think Amazon would like me returning it in that condition. I'm sure the card works, but I just don't have anything to test it with. For now it'll just occupy that extra Mini-PCIe slot in Triela.
Another thing I never wrote about was the Mini-PCIe to USB 3.0 converter that I wanted to use to hide the Logitech USB dongle and free up one of the USB ports. After getting it, I was unable to get it to work at all, and since I was at my best friend's house, I didn't feel like doing any extensive testing (along with the fact that I was already tired from the testing I already did).
After getting home, I used an Intel Wifi+Bluetooth card that he gave me (it didn't work in his Lenovo, and it was too late for him to RMA it) to test out the extra Mini-PCIe slot. It didn't appear, even with taking the stock Wifi card out of it's slot; I even tried the stock Wifi card in that extra slot, which still didn't work. I'm guessing the slot is disabled by the firmware or by the controller, seeing as that it doesn't work; the only other possibility is that it's actually a mSATA port, but I did quite a bit of research to disprove that, so I highly doubt it.
While I wanted to RMA it, I had already broken off part of the adapter so that it would fit into the slot, and I don't think Amazon would like me returning it in that condition. I'm sure the card works, but I just don't have anything to test it with. For now it'll just occupy that extra Mini-PCIe slot in Triela.
29 October 2014
Success!
I think the problem was the "Add CSS" field in the template customiser; I think it's actually meant for appending CSS instead of replacing it, so I replaced the CSS in the "View HTML" field instead.
I learned a bit of CSS while spending time editing it, so I can read it a lot easier now than when I originally started. Defintiely thankful for W3Schools and Liveweave (it's the first editor I found), as without those, I'd probably still be horribly lost.
Now that the blog's themed, I can finally work on the content.
(Edit) Oh right... I was supposed to put in a custom font... I'll do that later.
(Edit 2) Had to fiddle with the CSS again once the fonts were in place, but I think it looks decent enough (plus, font sizes are wonkier the CSS way than the old HTML way).
I learned a bit of CSS while spending time editing it, so I can read it a lot easier now than when I originally started. Defintiely thankful for W3Schools and Liveweave (it's the first editor I found), as without those, I'd probably still be horribly lost.
Now that the blog's themed, I can finally work on the content.
(Edit) Oh right... I was supposed to put in a custom font... I'll do that later.
(Edit 2) Had to fiddle with the CSS again once the fonts were in place, but I think it looks decent enough (plus, font sizes are wonkier the CSS way than the old HTML way).
Ugh...
I really was trying to mod one of the stock templates to make it how I like it, but apparently CSS works differently on Blogger than it should... I don't even know how that's even possible, but it somehow just is...
Specifically, "border-radius: 10px;" should round all four corners of the appropriate widget, but in Blogger, it only rounds the top and not the bottom. Again, how this works, I haven't a damn clue. What it seems like I'm going to have to do is to do the editing elsewhere and then copy it all over and pray that it works.
By no means am I going to give up on Blogger, but this is one of the things that frustrate me a lot - when the built-in tools are making it much more complicated than it should. Considering the nature of CSS and the fact that I don't know any CSS, I expected the theme-customising process to be slow, but it's ridiculous when it's slowed to a crawl.
I was really hoping that I can just modify a theme I liked and then go to bed, but I spent a lot more time than I wanted trying to get the CSS to work right.
Oh right, and in technicality, if I remove a property, then it shouldn't apply (as I noticed with Liveweave and Firefox's inspector, but apparently that's not the case, as I have to do something to nullify the property (e.g. changing a border from 1px to 0px to remove it).
Anyway, I need some sleep. Hopefully I can get the theme properly made and working right tomorrow.
Specifically, "border-radius: 10px;" should round all four corners of the appropriate widget, but in Blogger, it only rounds the top and not the bottom. Again, how this works, I haven't a damn clue. What it seems like I'm going to have to do is to do the editing elsewhere and then copy it all over and pray that it works.
By no means am I going to give up on Blogger, but this is one of the things that frustrate me a lot - when the built-in tools are making it much more complicated than it should. Considering the nature of CSS and the fact that I don't know any CSS, I expected the theme-customising process to be slow, but it's ridiculous when it's slowed to a crawl.
I was really hoping that I can just modify a theme I liked and then go to bed, but I spent a lot more time than I wanted trying to get the CSS to work right.
Oh right, and in technicality, if I remove a property, then it shouldn't apply (as I noticed with Liveweave and Firefox's inspector, but apparently that's not the case, as I have to do something to nullify the property (e.g. changing a border from 1px to 0px to remove it).
Anyway, I need some sleep. Hopefully I can get the theme properly made and working right tomorrow.
28 October 2014
First Official Post!
Testing is over, yay! Now this post will sit here as the "site" is under construction. :x (Posts dated before this are old posts from version 1.)
openSUSE Tumbleweed Part 1
Last night, I had an huge itching to tinker around, and decided to upgrade Mei-chan to Tumbleweed, seeing that she was already on. After upgrading, X broke, so I went and downgraded the packages back to 13.1. The downgrade was pretty much fine, however, the text decided to become boxes with any GNOME 3 window, which was not exactly good (luckily text inside Firefox was fine, and there wasn't any problems with the system itself).
First time in a long time that I had to ask for help, since I wasn't able to find it anywhere (especially with how tired I was), and I got an answer that the pango cache just needed to be updated with either of the commands:
It worked, and I was saved the hassle of having to reinstall (or upgrade). I'm slightly upset that I can't use Tumbleweed, but there are a couple rolling distros I can try when I feel like it.
Things I've learned:
First time in a long time that I had to ask for help, since I wasn't able to find it anywhere (especially with how tired I was), and I got an answer that the pango cache just needed to be updated with either of the commands:
sudo pango-querymodules --update-cache
sudo pango-querymodules-64 --update-cache
It worked, and I was saved the hassle of having to reinstall (or upgrade). I'm slightly upset that I can't use Tumbleweed, but there are a couple rolling distros I can try when I feel like it.
Things I've learned:
- Definitely test in a testing environment to avoid complications.
- I can't use Tumbleweed. ☹
- Downgrading causes the textual glitch.
- Update pango's cache when the above happens.
26 October 2014
openSUSE 13.2 RC1
While I wasn't exactly thorough with the beta, I did notice quite a bit of changes this time (either they were there in the beta and I didn't notice them or it wasn't in the beta).
One thing I'll mention is that hitting the "Activities" after a cold boot is still just as fast (if not a bit faster) as the beta, but "Show Applications" is now faster than it was in the beta or before it (even 13.1). On the Dell, the "Show Applications" problem I had is fixed.
While I'm here, I might as well point out the new graphical effect when you click on "Show Applications" (assuming hardware is able to support it). The icons and labels for each application floats outward from the "Show Applications" button in a similar way as the "Genie" minimize/restore effect in Mac OSX; the attached screenshot only shows the beginning part of it, as the graphical effect is pretty fast and isn't easy to capture, but I'm sure it helps make the effect a bit more understandable.
In the top-right menu, another button is added (presumably for laptops, as it did not appear on the Dell), which I haven't any clue what it's for, besides that it changes to have a lock on it when you click on it. With it being only for laptops, it doesn't really help to figure out what it is or is for. I'll see if I can find something on it later.
Confirmation dialogues are a bit different now: the pop-up greys the corresponding window (which I don't really remember from 13.1), but the most noticeable aspects is the pop-up itself - which now has no window decorations (the "x" for the close or a grab-able title bar is no longer present), and the buttons are much larger. It looks much cleaner and simple, which is a nice change.
YaST2's Software Manager also got a pretty large graphical update, which now has several tabs instead of the drop-down menu. The package info section also has tabs, which makes it easier to get to the respective section (say you're trying to get to the versions to install a specific version from a different repository). With how it's changed, the layout seems a bit more aesthetically pleasing than Synaptic.
As I had mentioned in the beta, some of the buttons have been moved to the top of the dialogue instead of being on the bottom. This was done (presumably) to utilize the extra space in the title bar, which makes the windows that much smaller.
Gedit was really graphically overhauled - some buttons placed into the title bar. Tabs appear when you click the new tab button, though there might be a preference to have tabs always shown (I didn't really look at the preferences). The "Save" button is decently large, which is nice, though I'm sure most of these changes were to accommodate touchscreen-based users. As you can see with the save dialogue, the "Cancel" and "Save" buttons are in the title bar and make the window smaller vertically. The menu button has the rest of the other functions and has the same look as Firefox's menu button. Gedit's menu on the GNOME bar is very desolate, seeing that it's something that's not going to be accessed very often.
YaST2's Boot Loader also was revamped graphically (this change can also be seen when installing RC1).
Also, the theme I've been using for 13.1 is now broken and incompatible. Mainly the radio buttons, checkboxes do not appear correctly when selected, rather they just show up empty. Luckily the "Oxygen Neon" cursor I've been using isn't broken, so that's at least something. The default dark theme isn't bad, but I prefer pink instead of blue - I may have to go looking for another dark/pink theme.
It certainly looks like everything is moving in the right directions and I can't wait to see how things turn out for the release.
One thing I'll mention is that hitting the "Activities" after a cold boot is still just as fast (if not a bit faster) as the beta, but "Show Applications" is now faster than it was in the beta or before it (even 13.1). On the Dell, the "Show Applications" problem I had is fixed.
While I'm here, I might as well point out the new graphical effect when you click on "Show Applications" (assuming hardware is able to support it). The icons and labels for each application floats outward from the "Show Applications" button in a similar way as the "Genie" minimize/restore effect in Mac OSX; the attached screenshot only shows the beginning part of it, as the graphical effect is pretty fast and isn't easy to capture, but I'm sure it helps make the effect a bit more understandable.
In the top-right menu, another button is added (presumably for laptops, as it did not appear on the Dell), which I haven't any clue what it's for, besides that it changes to have a lock on it when you click on it. With it being only for laptops, it doesn't really help to figure out what it is or is for. I'll see if I can find something on it later.
Confirmation dialogues are a bit different now: the pop-up greys the corresponding window (which I don't really remember from 13.1), but the most noticeable aspects is the pop-up itself - which now has no window decorations (the "x" for the close or a grab-able title bar is no longer present), and the buttons are much larger. It looks much cleaner and simple, which is a nice change.
YaST2's Software Manager also got a pretty large graphical update, which now has several tabs instead of the drop-down menu. The package info section also has tabs, which makes it easier to get to the respective section (say you're trying to get to the versions to install a specific version from a different repository). With how it's changed, the layout seems a bit more aesthetically pleasing than Synaptic.
As I had mentioned in the beta, some of the buttons have been moved to the top of the dialogue instead of being on the bottom. This was done (presumably) to utilize the extra space in the title bar, which makes the windows that much smaller.
Gedit was really graphically overhauled - some buttons placed into the title bar. Tabs appear when you click the new tab button, though there might be a preference to have tabs always shown (I didn't really look at the preferences). The "Save" button is decently large, which is nice, though I'm sure most of these changes were to accommodate touchscreen-based users. As you can see with the save dialogue, the "Cancel" and "Save" buttons are in the title bar and make the window smaller vertically. The menu button has the rest of the other functions and has the same look as Firefox's menu button. Gedit's menu on the GNOME bar is very desolate, seeing that it's something that's not going to be accessed very often.
YaST2's Boot Loader also was revamped graphically (this change can also be seen when installing RC1).
Also, the theme I've been using for 13.1 is now broken and incompatible. Mainly the radio buttons, checkboxes do not appear correctly when selected, rather they just show up empty. Luckily the "Oxygen Neon" cursor I've been using isn't broken, so that's at least something. The default dark theme isn't bad, but I prefer pink instead of blue - I may have to go looking for another dark/pink theme.
It certainly looks like everything is moving in the right directions and I can't wait to see how things turn out for the release.
25 October 2014
openSUSE 13.1 and Touchscreen Part 3
Was able to do the test and the OSK glitch I experienced with YaST on the Dell wasn't there, and long-pressing also worked naturally (no jitter problems).
Not much else I can really say or do, since there isn't really all that much to test that would be different than the usual mouse/keyboard input methods.
Not much else I can really say or do, since there isn't really all that much to test that would be different than the usual mouse/keyboard input methods.
24 October 2014
Ubuntu GNOME 14.10
Compared to what I remember of Ubuntu GNOME 13.10, it's a lot smoother.
Testing went pretty fast, as there wasn't a whole lot.
The Iris icon set doesn't work, which was partially expected.
The "When Laptop Lid is Closed" seems to appear correctly, but the options don't work.
Synaptic Package Manager isn't installed by default, as I'm sure Ubuntu is pushing Ubuntu Software Manager.
It's feasible for a backup distribution, but I really know how to use openSUSE a lot better - namely searching for packages with terminal.
Testing went pretty fast, as there wasn't a whole lot.
The Iris icon set doesn't work, which was partially expected.
The "When Laptop Lid is Closed" seems to appear correctly, but the options don't work.
Synaptic Package Manager isn't installed by default, as I'm sure Ubuntu is pushing Ubuntu Software Manager.
It's feasible for a backup distribution, but I really know how to use openSUSE a lot better - namely searching for packages with terminal.
Debian GNOME Part 2
I installed Debian again on Triela, trying to make a custom Xfce colour scheme to use for Taiga and Sae, but ended up with GNOME instead.
Installing FGLRX just broke the system, so I had to manually install the open-source Radeon driver, which did work.
GNOME 3.4.2 was installed, so it definitely isn't viable yet, though GNOME 3.14.0 is in testing, so it'll be the next stable when it does, and so I may do some actual testing then.
Installing FGLRX just broke the system, so I had to manually install the open-source Radeon driver, which did work.
GNOME 3.4.2 was installed, so it definitely isn't viable yet, though GNOME 3.14.0 is in testing, so it'll be the next stable when it does, and so I may do some actual testing then.
openSUSE 13.1 and Touchscreen Part 2
My best friend recently won a laptop with a touchscreen, so I was able to test some of the stuff again.
Not much is different, besides the touchscreen being more accurate. I also found that selecting text looks like Android a lot, but instead of long-pressing the highlighted text to copy/cut/paste, it pops up after a couple seconds.
I forgot to test the long-press and the on-screen keyboard with YaST. If I get a chance to today, I'll test these.
Though the cursor doesn't appear, the last key on the virtual keyboard stays in the depressed state, so again, it's not much different than before.
Not much is different, besides the touchscreen being more accurate. I also found that selecting text looks like Android a lot, but instead of long-pressing the highlighted text to copy/cut/paste, it pops up after a couple seconds.
I forgot to test the long-press and the on-screen keyboard with YaST. If I get a chance to today, I'll test these.
Though the cursor doesn't appear, the last key on the virtual keyboard stays in the depressed state, so again, it's not much different than before.
23 October 2014
iBook G4 and Debian PPC 4
I verified roughly 230 more files (bringing the total to about 10% of the files), and all of the checksums matched exactly. I'm decently certain that all the other files copied fine, and I don't feel like taking the time to check them all, especially when OS X (technically BSD) prints one space between the checksum and file name while Linux prints two spaces between the checksum and the file name (in Mac OSX, it's "md5", and in Linux, it's "md5sum", so it's not that surprising with the differences.
I found that I can turn off the Bluetooth mouse and back on while the system is running without any problems - I actually found this out sometime before I went to sleep, but I had forgotten. I think it's just a fresh-installation glitch that's fixed after a reboot, so now I can just treat the mouse like I usually do.
What's very nice is the on-screen keyboard that I installed (Taiga's original keyboard became unusable, since it would either print partial gibberish or not respond at all), so now I don't need to manually plug in a keyboard when I actually need to type something into the computer (albeit a virtual keyboard is much slower to type with).
I've confirmed that sound works just fine on Sae-chan by partially playing a song from my music library. I've also confirmed that the LCD removes the image from the screen when the screen is shut off (I used my phone's flash to put light into the screen), so the abnormal picture fade that Taiga exhibits with Debian is some sort of driver glitch (which I don't care to fix).
Taiga also seems to handle multiple tabs in Iceweasel a lot better than in TenFourFox (OS X), which is nice when I actually need it, since I don't have to be on-edge about how many tabs I have open.
I think that's honestly everything - I can't think of anything else to write about.
Things I've learned:
I found that I can turn off the Bluetooth mouse and back on while the system is running without any problems - I actually found this out sometime before I went to sleep, but I had forgotten. I think it's just a fresh-installation glitch that's fixed after a reboot, so now I can just treat the mouse like I usually do.
What's very nice is the on-screen keyboard that I installed (Taiga's original keyboard became unusable, since it would either print partial gibberish or not respond at all), so now I don't need to manually plug in a keyboard when I actually need to type something into the computer (albeit a virtual keyboard is much slower to type with).
I've confirmed that sound works just fine on Sae-chan by partially playing a song from my music library. I've also confirmed that the LCD removes the image from the screen when the screen is shut off (I used my phone's flash to put light into the screen), so the abnormal picture fade that Taiga exhibits with Debian is some sort of driver glitch (which I don't care to fix).
Taiga also seems to handle multiple tabs in Iceweasel a lot better than in TenFourFox (OS X), which is nice when I actually need it, since I don't have to be on-edge about how many tabs I have open.
I think that's honestly everything - I can't think of anything else to write about.
Things I've learned:
- The 8GB CF card is useless for test installations
- The 30GB IDE disk is best for test installations
- The Mac OS X FTP service is most likely crap (I'm not willing to spend time to test this)
- Reading files from an external HFS+ volume is most reliable with Mac OS X
- Use
md5 -rin Mac OS X terminal to print a Linux-style file checksum line (though I probably won't ever generate checksums in Mac OS X again) - My appreciation for Mac OS X has really depreciated (due to past and current events)
iBook G4 and Debian PPC 3
Well... That was definitely something else...
Since I had the 30GB IDE drive in Sae-chan (and had the Debian installation on it), I didn't want to use that drive for Taiga (for whatever reason that I can't remember). My other options were Sae-chan's actual drive (160GB IDE), Taiga's drive (32GB CF card in an IDE adapter), or and 8GB CF card. I opted for the latter, seeing as the other two were big "no-nos".
Debian failed to install to the 8GB CF card in the IDE adapter (for reasons still unknown) four or five times (I didn't keep a proper count), and I tried a couple different things... From using Sae-chan's combo drive, to using the net-install disk.
Eventually, I snapped and just used the 30GB drive and it worked first time without a problem (I believe I was also using the [recently released] 7.7.0 Xfce disk as well), so I tried once more on the 8GB CF card, making the swap size larger since I thought that was the problem.
And I was wrong, as it still failed. I went for a semi-blind install on the 32GB CF card, seeing that was my only real option to for proper testing, and it also installed without any problems. Again, I have no idea why the installation kept failing on the 8GB CF card (I even tried using GParted to make the partition map as "Apple" - "mac" as GParted has it - while I was in the 30GB installation), and the best I can say is that 8GB is just not enough for Debian (the drive size itself, not the space used).
I thought I was clear after that, but I was certainly wrong. The next problem was the power management for the display... Under the right circumstances, it works as it technically should, but for whatever reason, doesn't work correctly. Instead of a proper black-screen or turning the display off, the back-light stays on (when it clearly shouldn't) and the picture fades from the LCD in a weird way - the colours fade away (usually green is the slightly faster one) and leaves a weird patch of "blocks" which was the image. Maybe the picture fade from the LCD is normal, but since I've always seen the back-light shut off when it's supposed to, I can't say if it is normal or not.
While installing Debian on Sae-chan on the 160GB drive, I played around with the power management settings a lot to try to get the back-light to turn off properly, which never did; I also tried some video settings (trying to disable framebuffer or KMS), which also didn't work. The option I reached - an alternative I didn't want to use - was to pull the plug on the display and use an external monitor. I shut Taiga off and focused on getting Bluetooth and Wifi for Sae-chan, so that I can remove the 15 metre Cat6 cable running to the other side of the house (I didn't think I was going to spend as long I did with Taiga, so I thought I only needed the Cat6 for a couple hours). I then finished up installing what I needed on Sae-chan and went to bed after a 20-hour day.
This morning, I left the bed at roughly eleven (even though I wanted to sleep more) and grabbed one of the monitors that I used to use for Mei-chan, since it had speakers. After slightly rearranging the table and setting the monitor up, I booted Taiga and went to the display settings to disable Taiga's screen. I was quite displeased to see that the back-light did not turn off, and, before shutting Taiga down to unplug the cable to the screen, I decided to see what sort of resolutions I could use with the monitor.
My displeasure was counteracted when I saw that I could use the proper resolution of the monitor - 1440x900. While I had to slightly fix the video position on the monitor (third time I had to do so), it was nice to see that I'll have a lot more screen real estate for the windows (Transmission at its narrowest width takes almost half the screen at 1024x768). Needless to say, I shut Taiga down and unplugged the cable to the screen.
I then tried to get sound to work with Taiga (though on Sae-chan it's just a beep when, say, you try to backspace a text file with nothing in it), but couldn't get anything to work, so I just gave up on it, seeing as it was hardly important to have sound.
The only thing that's wonky is the Bluetooth mouse - if I turn the mouse off and back on while Debian is running, the input service (which makes the mouse move the cursor) doesn't reconnect properly with the mouse and I'm forced to add the device as a "new device". While I'm used to turning the mouse off when I'm not using it, I guess I'm just going to have to leave it on or maybe not use it at all, I'll have to see what happens.
Despite wasting so much time, things still turned out quite well - all the MD5 checksums that I used to spot-check the file transfers checked out exactly (though it's only about 7% of the files); I have a nice, large resolution to work with on Taiga (albeit Taiga's more like a Ronco Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ oven); updated programs (more updated than ones on OS X 10.4.11); a more stable FTP service (when I install it); and finally no major problems which would force me to revert to OS X 10.4.11 (heck, installing Debian solely from the disk still is faster than installing 10.4 from its disks).
Since I had the 30GB IDE drive in Sae-chan (and had the Debian installation on it), I didn't want to use that drive for Taiga (for whatever reason that I can't remember). My other options were Sae-chan's actual drive (160GB IDE), Taiga's drive (32GB CF card in an IDE adapter), or and 8GB CF card. I opted for the latter, seeing as the other two were big "no-nos".
Debian failed to install to the 8GB CF card in the IDE adapter (for reasons still unknown) four or five times (I didn't keep a proper count), and I tried a couple different things... From using Sae-chan's combo drive, to using the net-install disk.
Eventually, I snapped and just used the 30GB drive and it worked first time without a problem (I believe I was also using the [recently released] 7.7.0 Xfce disk as well), so I tried once more on the 8GB CF card, making the swap size larger since I thought that was the problem.
And I was wrong, as it still failed. I went for a semi-blind install on the 32GB CF card, seeing that was my only real option to for proper testing, and it also installed without any problems. Again, I have no idea why the installation kept failing on the 8GB CF card (I even tried using GParted to make the partition map as "Apple" - "mac" as GParted has it - while I was in the 30GB installation), and the best I can say is that 8GB is just not enough for Debian (the drive size itself, not the space used).
I thought I was clear after that, but I was certainly wrong. The next problem was the power management for the display... Under the right circumstances, it works as it technically should, but for whatever reason, doesn't work correctly. Instead of a proper black-screen or turning the display off, the back-light stays on (when it clearly shouldn't) and the picture fades from the LCD in a weird way - the colours fade away (usually green is the slightly faster one) and leaves a weird patch of "blocks" which was the image. Maybe the picture fade from the LCD is normal, but since I've always seen the back-light shut off when it's supposed to, I can't say if it is normal or not.
While installing Debian on Sae-chan on the 160GB drive, I played around with the power management settings a lot to try to get the back-light to turn off properly, which never did; I also tried some video settings (trying to disable framebuffer or KMS), which also didn't work. The option I reached - an alternative I didn't want to use - was to pull the plug on the display and use an external monitor. I shut Taiga off and focused on getting Bluetooth and Wifi for Sae-chan, so that I can remove the 15 metre Cat6 cable running to the other side of the house (I didn't think I was going to spend as long I did with Taiga, so I thought I only needed the Cat6 for a couple hours). I then finished up installing what I needed on Sae-chan and went to bed after a 20-hour day.
This morning, I left the bed at roughly eleven (even though I wanted to sleep more) and grabbed one of the monitors that I used to use for Mei-chan, since it had speakers. After slightly rearranging the table and setting the monitor up, I booted Taiga and went to the display settings to disable Taiga's screen. I was quite displeased to see that the back-light did not turn off, and, before shutting Taiga down to unplug the cable to the screen, I decided to see what sort of resolutions I could use with the monitor.
My displeasure was counteracted when I saw that I could use the proper resolution of the monitor - 1440x900. While I had to slightly fix the video position on the monitor (third time I had to do so), it was nice to see that I'll have a lot more screen real estate for the windows (Transmission at its narrowest width takes almost half the screen at 1024x768). Needless to say, I shut Taiga down and unplugged the cable to the screen.
I then tried to get sound to work with Taiga (though on Sae-chan it's just a beep when, say, you try to backspace a text file with nothing in it), but couldn't get anything to work, so I just gave up on it, seeing as it was hardly important to have sound.
The only thing that's wonky is the Bluetooth mouse - if I turn the mouse off and back on while Debian is running, the input service (which makes the mouse move the cursor) doesn't reconnect properly with the mouse and I'm forced to add the device as a "new device". While I'm used to turning the mouse off when I'm not using it, I guess I'm just going to have to leave it on or maybe not use it at all, I'll have to see what happens.
Despite wasting so much time, things still turned out quite well - all the MD5 checksums that I used to spot-check the file transfers checked out exactly (though it's only about 7% of the files); I have a nice, large resolution to work with on Taiga (albeit Taiga's more like a Ronco Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ oven); updated programs (more updated than ones on OS X 10.4.11); a more stable FTP service (when I install it); and finally no major problems which would force me to revert to OS X 10.4.11 (heck, installing Debian solely from the disk still is faster than installing 10.4 from its disks).
21 October 2014
iBook G4 and Debian PPC 2
Debian seems to run a bit better than OS X 10.4.11, but I haven't done extensive testing - mainly just testing LibreOffice out, since it's what I usually use Sae-chan for. Other than LibreOffice, most of the programs seem to start up a bit faster.
I had a horrible time getting the wifi to work with the first installation, and it was because I was installing pretty much anything that seemed to have to do with wifi, so the kernel was probably confused when I installed the b43 driver; I reinstalled Debian and then followed the instructions on Debian's wiki, and it worked after that.
Bluetooth took some work, and it was that I was installing a lot of Bluetooth programs/drivers - that wasn't the actual problem though, it was that connecting the mouse was weird. When I reinstalled, I just installed the GUI configuration program thing and then went to set it up, which got slightly weird again. What it was doing was connecting but not working as a mouse, even though I hit "always accept" when it asked me to connect the device. I actually have to connect the mouse as a new device, so that it registers it as an input device (and cycle the power to the mouse if I reboot).
Transferring files over ethernet seemed to be better having the host computer (Taiga in this case) send the files with Filezilla to the client computer (Sae-chan) instead of the client computer requesting the files from the host computer. I can't exactly say if OS X's built-in FTP's to fault, but when the initial batch of files I sent checked out fine, it's hard not to say so.
I realized why I wanted to keep OS X: to play most of the games I used to play on the Performa 550 with the Mac OS Classic emulator, so I'll be having a dual-boot environment for Sae-chan, but I'll probably have Debian be the default OS to boot to.
Right now, I'm waiting for the rest of the files to transfer before I can begin testing the Wifi/Bluetooth in Debian with Taiga, but it's taking a while. I'm expecting things to go well, since I've already done enough preliminary testing with Sae-chan, and I know what to install now.
I'll be back with the results.
I had a horrible time getting the wifi to work with the first installation, and it was because I was installing pretty much anything that seemed to have to do with wifi, so the kernel was probably confused when I installed the b43 driver; I reinstalled Debian and then followed the instructions on Debian's wiki, and it worked after that.
Bluetooth took some work, and it was that I was installing a lot of Bluetooth programs/drivers - that wasn't the actual problem though, it was that connecting the mouse was weird. When I reinstalled, I just installed the GUI configuration program thing and then went to set it up, which got slightly weird again. What it was doing was connecting but not working as a mouse, even though I hit "always accept" when it asked me to connect the device. I actually have to connect the mouse as a new device, so that it registers it as an input device (and cycle the power to the mouse if I reboot).
Transferring files over ethernet seemed to be better having the host computer (Taiga in this case) send the files with Filezilla to the client computer (Sae-chan) instead of the client computer requesting the files from the host computer. I can't exactly say if OS X's built-in FTP's to fault, but when the initial batch of files I sent checked out fine, it's hard not to say so.
I realized why I wanted to keep OS X: to play most of the games I used to play on the Performa 550 with the Mac OS Classic emulator, so I'll be having a dual-boot environment for Sae-chan, but I'll probably have Debian be the default OS to boot to.
Right now, I'm waiting for the rest of the files to transfer before I can begin testing the Wifi/Bluetooth in Debian with Taiga, but it's taking a while. I'm expecting things to go well, since I've already done enough preliminary testing with Sae-chan, and I know what to install now.
I'll be back with the results.
Debian GNOME Part 1
Seeing how nice Debian was on the G5, I decided to test it out on Triela.
After installing, I was met with GNOME fallback, as GNOME 3 was not able to load because of hardware issues - in other words: I need to install FGLRX (Debian decided to use some "random" VESA" driver instead...)
Needless to say, I didn't really test anything past there, as I couldn't exactly remember how to install FGLRX, nor did I want to have to fiddle around with it again, knowing that the open-source Radeon driver covers all the GPUs I own (the highest being the AMD Radeon HD 6770).
I might test again on a desktop, but I'm sure if I want to.
After installing, I was met with GNOME fallback, as GNOME 3 was not able to load because of hardware issues - in other words: I need to install FGLRX (Debian decided to use some "random" VESA" driver instead...)
Needless to say, I didn't really test anything past there, as I couldn't exactly remember how to install FGLRX, nor did I want to have to fiddle around with it again, knowing that the open-source Radeon driver covers all the GPUs I own (the highest being the AMD Radeon HD 6770).
I might test again on a desktop, but I'm sure if I want to.
15 October 2014
iBook G4 and Debian PPC 1
I was pondering yesterday to put Debian on Sae-chan and Taiga (my best friend's iBook G4 that he's having me use), and I went with testing it on Sae-chan today (albeit, on Sae-chan's original 30GB HDD).
Works better than Ubuntu 10.10/11.04 from what I remember of those, and I remember that 11.04 ran Sae-chan hot and with the fan on most of the time.
Since I didn't want to completely reassemble Sae-chan, I had to plug in a spare mouse to use to get the Bluetooth to work. The Bluetooth is a bit glitchy, and I had to spend a bit of time to get it to work right, but every reboot, I need another HID to accept the Bluetooth mouse's connection before I can use it.
I tested LibreOffice and one of the large stories I'm writing (140 some odd pages), and it seemed to work quite well, though the auto-save seemed to be about the same speed as Mac OSX 10.4 or slightly slower.
I didn't test much else, but I will have to manually install the driver/firmware for the Airport Extreme card (this is where my strong dislike of Broadcom comes from) before I can connect wirelessly to the internet.
The test I'd really like to run is copying files from an external USB drive over ethernet. I remember doing it with Taiga once, and it turned out kinda horribly, either because OSX's built in FTP isn't made for large transfers, or HFS/HFS+ isn't the best file system to use for an external drive (with OSX, I'm pretty limited to what I can use). I think it's because of HFS/HFS+, since when I plug the external into Mei-chan and copy the files that way, I still have a bit of problems; yesterday I had 1 file miscalculate the MD5 from the external, and two bad copies out of 80-100 some odd files, while that doesn't seem bad, it should be a lot rarer. The only problem with testing it is that the files I'd like to copy to test with are on the HFS/HFS+ external drive, so if I copy to an ext4 external drive, it'd have to be in Debian, since using FUSE is a big no-no because that's just extra, unnecessary CPU work. I suppose I could transfer over ethernet to keep the file systems with their respective OS's (ext4 external with Debian, HFS/HFS+ external with OSX) - I'd just need to set up vsftpd to do that.
I will probably do this project soon, I'm just not sure exactly when. I may also migrate Sae-chan to Debian if things seem to be better that way.
Works better than Ubuntu 10.10/11.04 from what I remember of those, and I remember that 11.04 ran Sae-chan hot and with the fan on most of the time.
Since I didn't want to completely reassemble Sae-chan, I had to plug in a spare mouse to use to get the Bluetooth to work. The Bluetooth is a bit glitchy, and I had to spend a bit of time to get it to work right, but every reboot, I need another HID to accept the Bluetooth mouse's connection before I can use it.
I tested LibreOffice and one of the large stories I'm writing (140 some odd pages), and it seemed to work quite well, though the auto-save seemed to be about the same speed as Mac OSX 10.4 or slightly slower.
I didn't test much else, but I will have to manually install the driver/firmware for the Airport Extreme card (this is where my strong dislike of Broadcom comes from) before I can connect wirelessly to the internet.
The test I'd really like to run is copying files from an external USB drive over ethernet. I remember doing it with Taiga once, and it turned out kinda horribly, either because OSX's built in FTP isn't made for large transfers, or HFS/HFS+ isn't the best file system to use for an external drive (with OSX, I'm pretty limited to what I can use). I think it's because of HFS/HFS+, since when I plug the external into Mei-chan and copy the files that way, I still have a bit of problems; yesterday I had 1 file miscalculate the MD5 from the external, and two bad copies out of 80-100 some odd files, while that doesn't seem bad, it should be a lot rarer. The only problem with testing it is that the files I'd like to copy to test with are on the HFS/HFS+ external drive, so if I copy to an ext4 external drive, it'd have to be in Debian, since using FUSE is a big no-no because that's just extra, unnecessary CPU work. I suppose I could transfer over ethernet to keep the file systems with their respective OS's (ext4 external with Debian, HFS/HFS+ external with OSX) - I'd just need to set up vsftpd to do that.
I will probably do this project soon, I'm just not sure exactly when. I may also migrate Sae-chan to Debian if things seem to be better that way.
Apple PowerMac G5 2
I reburned Fedora at x1 speed, and still wasn't able to boot from it, then tried the net install version, which worked, up until I had to type in the root (or maybe user) password, where it asked me to double-click "Done" when using a weak password - it froze.
I then looked at the list of PPC-based Linux/Unix distributions, and was left with Debian, Free/Open/Net BSD, Vine, and Descent|OS (there's also RHLE, and T2 SDE, both of did not sound like a good idea).
I've touched Vine Linux once before, but since it's Japanese-only text (from what I saw for screenshots), I decided to steer away from it.
Descent|OS sounded okay, but with MATE as the desktop environment, I decided against it (I remember having problems with Cinnamon and MATE when testing them a long while ago).
Free/Open/Net BSD I decided to put off, since I think the installation was a bit more complicated than most standard distributions (Debian, etc).
Debian is what I was left with, and I was decently sceptical, since I remembered booting to a command line after installing on the netbook I used to have, but I went with it anyway, since I didn't have much option. At first I was going to download the DVD version, but was off-put by the 4-hour download - during which, I was reading through the documentation. I then moved to downloading the three install CDs, since it equated to under 2GB, compared with the full DVD-sized download of roughly 4.6GB. After reading a bit more of the documentation, I found there was the Xfce desktop environment, and a separate CD-sized disk 1 for it, so I stopped the regular disk 1 download and started Xfce disk 1 instead. The documentation also said that I'd need disks 2 and 3 along with it, so I downloaded them.
The initial test installation passed the test, not breaking/freezing at any point. What I found really strange was that the installation never asked for disks 2 or 3, especially when the documentation said it would, but it did install all the necessary items with just Xfce disk 1, so I wasn't that concerned with it.
I tried to used Aptitude to update the system, but it got weird and I had to eventually kill the process, since it didn't seem to be getting me anywhere (the process was running just fine); Synaptic worked just fine, minus the "Quick search" box being missing. After installing, setting up, and testing vsftpd, I began writing some of the necessities down, along with a bit of instructions before I did a reinstallation to write instructions for the installation process. I reinstalled again (I believe) to mimic the actual set up/use and wrote more of the installation.
My best friend needed a podcast recording from me (I forgot to give it to him before I left on Saturday), and I took it all to his place to finish up and whatnot. I ran a mock test, transferring a large amount of files (55 files), with one of them being quite large) from my laptop to the G5 then back to my laptop. I had 4 sets of MD5 sums (the original source, the copy on my laptop from the original source, the copy on the G5, and the copy from the G5) and they all came out the same, meaning that there wasn't any problems during transfer over gigabit LAN; the speeds were also acceptable.
One thing I noticed was that
After 4 days of working with it, I'm satisfied with the results; it also makes me tempted to migrate towards using Debian instead of openSUSE because of the rolling-type distribution, but I probably won't.
I then looked at the list of PPC-based Linux/Unix distributions, and was left with Debian, Free/Open/Net BSD, Vine, and Descent|OS (there's also RHLE, and T2 SDE, both of did not sound like a good idea).
I've touched Vine Linux once before, but since it's Japanese-only text (from what I saw for screenshots), I decided to steer away from it.
Descent|OS sounded okay, but with MATE as the desktop environment, I decided against it (I remember having problems with Cinnamon and MATE when testing them a long while ago).
Free/Open/Net BSD I decided to put off, since I think the installation was a bit more complicated than most standard distributions (Debian, etc).
Debian is what I was left with, and I was decently sceptical, since I remembered booting to a command line after installing on the netbook I used to have, but I went with it anyway, since I didn't have much option. At first I was going to download the DVD version, but was off-put by the 4-hour download - during which, I was reading through the documentation. I then moved to downloading the three install CDs, since it equated to under 2GB, compared with the full DVD-sized download of roughly 4.6GB. After reading a bit more of the documentation, I found there was the Xfce desktop environment, and a separate CD-sized disk 1 for it, so I stopped the regular disk 1 download and started Xfce disk 1 instead. The documentation also said that I'd need disks 2 and 3 along with it, so I downloaded them.
The initial test installation passed the test, not breaking/freezing at any point. What I found really strange was that the installation never asked for disks 2 or 3, especially when the documentation said it would, but it did install all the necessary items with just Xfce disk 1, so I wasn't that concerned with it.
I tried to used Aptitude to update the system, but it got weird and I had to eventually kill the process, since it didn't seem to be getting me anywhere (the process was running just fine); Synaptic worked just fine, minus the "Quick search" box being missing. After installing, setting up, and testing vsftpd, I began writing some of the necessities down, along with a bit of instructions before I did a reinstallation to write instructions for the installation process. I reinstalled again (I believe) to mimic the actual set up/use and wrote more of the installation.
My best friend needed a podcast recording from me (I forgot to give it to him before I left on Saturday), and I took it all to his place to finish up and whatnot. I ran a mock test, transferring a large amount of files (55 files), with one of them being quite large) from my laptop to the G5 then back to my laptop. I had 4 sets of MD5 sums (the original source, the copy on my laptop from the original source, the copy on the G5, and the copy from the G5) and they all came out the same, meaning that there wasn't any problems during transfer over gigabit LAN; the speeds were also acceptable.
One thing I noticed was that
sudo didn't seem to work at all - I actually had to use su instead (as in logging into root in terminal). I suppose I could've tried su -c, but it didn't strike me at the time; plus, with some of the things that I needed to do, it seemed faster to just use su and stay in it.
After 4 days of working with it, I'm satisfied with the results; it also makes me tempted to migrate towards using Debian instead of openSUSE because of the rolling-type distribution, but I probably won't.
openSUSE 13.1/13.2 "Beta 2"
Anyway, after updating packages on Mei-chan yesterday (which included VLC), I was watching a movie, since I didn't feel like doing much at all. I decided to hit the subtitle hot key for VLC since I had previously clicked on the video window, and it changed the setting; I hit the key a couple more times before testing the space key for play/pause. I was quite pleased to see that it was finally fixed (whatever the problem was), since the only other way to fix it was to compile VLC from source code... Which is something I'd like to avoid.
Now I don't have to make sure to click on the controller window whenever I watch something, and it'll save me a lot of hassle if my controller's buried underneath another window and I need to pause whatever I'm watching.
On a different note, it seems like there wasn't ever 13.2 Beta 2... And during my G5 escapades, I snagged RC1, since I realised that I had missed and forgotten about Beta 2 (not knowing then that it never happened). I've done a bit of testing, but still have a bit of testing left, along with taking some screenshots; hopefully I can have the 13.2 RC1 post up by tomorrow evening, since I was busy with the G5.
Now I don't have to make sure to click on the controller window whenever I watch something, and it'll save me a lot of hassle if my controller's buried underneath another window and I need to pause whatever I'm watching.
On a different note, it seems like there wasn't ever 13.2 Beta 2... And during my G5 escapades, I snagged RC1, since I realised that I had missed and forgotten about Beta 2 (not knowing then that it never happened). I've done a bit of testing, but still have a bit of testing left, along with taking some screenshots; hopefully I can have the 13.2 RC1 post up by tomorrow evening, since I was busy with the G5.
Finnix and SystemRescueCd
I stumbled upon these as I was looking for PPC-based Linux distributions (well, SystemRescueCd is strictly x86) and decided to give both a whirl. I was hoping to find something that stayed updated with GParted, fast to load, and hasn't any annoying setup options (boots straight to X).
Finnix was fast indeed and had no setup, but the major thing I found was that it's strictly command line. No X to get into to use GParted. I also found this site that told me what I needed to know about Finnix (though the article was on a slightly older version). Needless to say, it was not a viable candidate.
SystemRescueCd uses X and GParted, however, while booting, I saw the textual setup that's in GParted Live, so at the first question (I believe the keyboard map), I ejected the disk and did a hard shutdown. While I can understand the point of SystemRescueCd, I'd rather use GParted Live If I'm going to have to set up the language, keymap, etc. SystemRescueCd is not going to be something I use either.
Since my GParted Live is old (0.17.x vs 0.19.1), I'll have to test it out, but I'm expecting it to be not much different than before with the setup options. At some point, I may spin my own distro where it boots directly into X and opens GParted, just like GParted Live, but without all the annoying setup questions; however, that will be when I learn how to do so... Heck, I may just respin GParted Live to use the default options to make it how I'd like and finally kill off PartedMagic.
Finnix was fast indeed and had no setup, but the major thing I found was that it's strictly command line. No X to get into to use GParted. I also found this site that told me what I needed to know about Finnix (though the article was on a slightly older version). Needless to say, it was not a viable candidate.
SystemRescueCd uses X and GParted, however, while booting, I saw the textual setup that's in GParted Live, so at the first question (I believe the keyboard map), I ejected the disk and did a hard shutdown. While I can understand the point of SystemRescueCd, I'd rather use GParted Live If I'm going to have to set up the language, keymap, etc. SystemRescueCd is not going to be something I use either.
Since my GParted Live is old (0.17.x vs 0.19.1), I'll have to test it out, but I'm expecting it to be not much different than before with the setup options. At some point, I may spin my own distro where it boots directly into X and opens GParted, just like GParted Live, but without all the annoying setup questions; however, that will be when I learn how to do so... Heck, I may just respin GParted Live to use the default options to make it how I'd like and finally kill off PartedMagic.
11 October 2014
Apple PowerMac G5 1
My best friend wanted to essentially turn it into an NAS (or FTP server, essentially the same thing), but there's a couple problems. First problem is that it's missing a temperature sensor, so the fans are at full blast; and second, the highest it can take is OS X 10.5.8. While I'm not sure when updates to 10.5 will end, I'd rather it stay updated than not - even if it's not going to connect to the internet very often, if at all. Also, with his iBook G4 that I'm using, the file transfers via OS X's built-in file sharing (which essentially makes it an FTP server) didn't seem to transfer the files correctly, so that is another additive to why I'm weary about using OS X. (Though the iBook has 10.4.11, but nonetheless, it doesn't make that much of a difference, since I don't think Apple updated the FTP "package" at all).
I started with installing 10.4 since I had the disks and I wanted to get more info about the machine itself from the horse's mouth. I had forgotten to look at the sticker that has the model's specs that's usually somewhere partially hidden (on the inside of the G5's case, near the groove for the side panel) which would've given me the info I needed quicker.
Obviously, the only other option is a Linux distro, to which I started with Ubuntu (technically Lubuntu) 14.04. I booted into the live and was met with a weird graphical glitch, and eventually tried the suggested
When I was moving it from the loft into the other room (which has my entertainment centre), I decided to swap the Dell's monitor with a Dell monitor I had refurbished (but left to the side) which I was using as the monitor for the G5, and when I was going to boot into Ubuntu 12.04, I missed the timing for the boot from CD command (holding "c" at the startup sound) and booted into Lubuntu from the hard drive without any problems. I was very confused (since I didn't realise that I had missed the timing) and looking for the install shortcut. After rebooting into the Ubuntu disk, I was still a bit confused, but started the install process anyway, which is when I realised that I was actually in Lubuntu when I missed the timing; I finished with the install anyway and tested out how it was before reinstalling Lubuntu. I couldn't find vsftpd in the software manager, so I decided to update to see if that made any difference, and in a way it kinda did: it froze. Trying it again yielded the same results, and I did it one more time with a different hard drive just to see if it was the drive or not ("luckily" it wasn't the drive). I installed Ubuntu and began updating it, which also resulted in the crash - needless to say, I was quite off-put about it.
Gentoo was next, which I began installing, but after taking 3-4 hours to get halfway through the installation process (not to mention it was 3 in the morning), I decided to go to bed instead. (For those who are unfamiliar with Gentoo, you must manually install it, which gives greater compatibility with the programs you install later.) Gentoo will be one of the last few I try, since it'll take quite some time to install (I think the BSD bunch are also "manual" install types, I don't know yet).
I recently tried Fedora, but it wouldn't boot from the DVD for whatever reason. I've just recently reburned it, so maybe it'll work... If not, one more reburn at x1 speed, then I'll have to try the net install... Which always seems to give me troubles.
For now, I will say that I'm quite determined to get a Linux distro on this thing, as it's probably going to make it a more reliable FTP server than OSX will. My best friend will be getting a replacement sensor, so hopefully that will help the fan speed problem (when he gets it) and a couple of large hard drives (hopefully it reads the entire size). I will also make another update, but I'm sure you've already expected that.
I started with installing 10.4 since I had the disks and I wanted to get more info about the machine itself from the horse's mouth. I had forgotten to look at the sticker that has the model's specs that's usually somewhere partially hidden (on the inside of the G5's case, near the groove for the side panel) which would've given me the info I needed quicker.
Obviously, the only other option is a Linux distro, to which I started with Ubuntu (technically Lubuntu) 14.04. I booted into the live and was met with a weird graphical glitch, and eventually tried the suggested
live video=ofonly, which cleared it up. (Though this was after I became more patient with it booting from the DVD.) After installing Lubuntu, I had a lot of troubles getting it to go to the desktop - if I left it alone, it'd hang; if I used radeon.modeset=0, it'd boot into the system but corrupt the video so bad I didn't know what was going on (only way I could tell was that when I hit the power button, the broken video would change a bit and hitting enter would shut it down). I tried a lot of things - even putting the hard drive I was using in the Dell to read the logs - but eventually just took a break and left it alone.
When I was moving it from the loft into the other room (which has my entertainment centre), I decided to swap the Dell's monitor with a Dell monitor I had refurbished (but left to the side) which I was using as the monitor for the G5, and when I was going to boot into Ubuntu 12.04, I missed the timing for the boot from CD command (holding "c" at the startup sound) and booted into Lubuntu from the hard drive without any problems. I was very confused (since I didn't realise that I had missed the timing) and looking for the install shortcut. After rebooting into the Ubuntu disk, I was still a bit confused, but started the install process anyway, which is when I realised that I was actually in Lubuntu when I missed the timing; I finished with the install anyway and tested out how it was before reinstalling Lubuntu. I couldn't find vsftpd in the software manager, so I decided to update to see if that made any difference, and in a way it kinda did: it froze. Trying it again yielded the same results, and I did it one more time with a different hard drive just to see if it was the drive or not ("luckily" it wasn't the drive). I installed Ubuntu and began updating it, which also resulted in the crash - needless to say, I was quite off-put about it.
Gentoo was next, which I began installing, but after taking 3-4 hours to get halfway through the installation process (not to mention it was 3 in the morning), I decided to go to bed instead. (For those who are unfamiliar with Gentoo, you must manually install it, which gives greater compatibility with the programs you install later.) Gentoo will be one of the last few I try, since it'll take quite some time to install (I think the BSD bunch are also "manual" install types, I don't know yet).
I recently tried Fedora, but it wouldn't boot from the DVD for whatever reason. I've just recently reburned it, so maybe it'll work... If not, one more reburn at x1 speed, then I'll have to try the net install... Which always seems to give me troubles.
For now, I will say that I'm quite determined to get a Linux distro on this thing, as it's probably going to make it a more reliable FTP server than OSX will. My best friend will be getting a replacement sensor, so hopefully that will help the fan speed problem (when he gets it) and a couple of large hard drives (hopefully it reads the entire size). I will also make another update, but I'm sure you've already expected that.
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