The article I read is: Does anyone actually use digital audio players?
Short answer, yes - yes there are plenty of people that use digital audio players (DAPs).
You see, we DAP users tend to hide in our little alcove, hidden away from the rest of the world (unless you know where to look).
More seriously, it's true we are somewhat "far and few", but we do exist and we do buy DAPs. Most of us "hide" on audiophile sites like head-fi.org and go to expos like CanJam, but of course, some of us also don't.
I'll quit having fun now and actually rant about MP3 players (coughcoughiPodcoughcough) and DAPs.
If the article author is reading this, I'll inform you that my rants may be hard to follow (and I sometimes never write in chronological order).
Anyway, why DAPs? There's a lot of reasons people choose DAPs over their phones or Apple-branded devices - anywhere from file compatibility to quality of sound. For me, it was mainly because of storage and that I use Linux much more often than Windows; there's also the file compatibility, but I'll get there in a bit.
Originally, I had an iPod (I don't remember what generation, but I think it had an 80GB hard drive), and when it died, I replaced it with one that had 160GB. I think that one died and I replaced it with the "Classic" that had the 120GB hard drive. At some point after that, I grabbed the 64GB iPod Touch (4th generation).
It was fine, it held all of my music (though I reduced the bitrate to save a bit of space on the "iTouch" - what I call it when I'm too lazy to utilise proper nomenclature), and it shuffled all of my songs the way I liked it.
My friend told me about the ColorFi or something sometime before I purchased the iTouch and shoved it into one of my Amazon wishlists before it ended up getting deleted into eternity (became unavailable or something if I remember correctly). It was a very brief touch into the DAP world for me.
It was roughly September of last year when the iTouch began to glitch out much more often than used to, and October I decided on Cayin's Spark N5 DAP, which apparently had a slightly better firmware than Fiio's X5 II.
Roughly 256GB of music at maximum with two micro SD card slots? Hell yeah! No longer have to boot into Windows and wait forever and a half for iTunes to down-sample and sync my music? Hell fckin' yeah! Better sound quality? I'll take it.
I'm not an audiophile like others can be, and so it's not a huge deal to me.
Well, I forgot that with the ASUS ZenFone 2, I bought a 64GB micro SD card to load all of my music onto (without resampling) and attempted to utilise it as a music device, but it didn't work. Why? Because there isn't a good music application for Android (at the time) that allowed me to do the same thing as the iTouch. Google's Play Music application (or whatever they call it) couldn't handle adding 8000 something songs in the play queue, and all the others I tried weren't much better. I think I ended up using it to listen to a specific song, since I never liked disturbing the iTouch's random queue.
There was also something at some point that I wanted to go with an open source codec (Ogg Vorbis) with my entire music library, but since I couldn't use it with iTunes, I set the idea aside and passively pined to get away from the Apple.
Back to the near past, and the N5 was a pretty decent replacement for the ageing and glitchy iTouch, as the randomisation was okay. What I found was that after a week or two is that I would hear the same songs in the same order... I remember reading somewhere that a playlist on the N5 has a maximum capacity of 1000 for some sort of security issue or something, so I'm guessing it got stuck with some set of 1000 songs and randomised between them. It wasn't too bad though, I usually could skip one or two songs and it would be okay for another week or two.
What was the real problem with the N5 that I had? Electro-static discharge. ESD likes to make everything problematic for everything that isn't protected against it. What happened was that every-so-often, ESD would enter from somewhere and freeze the firmware and I'd have to scramble for the reset button or try some weird trick with the micro USB port and the power button to get it back on. Eventually I kept my SIM card ejection tool that came with my Nexus 5X with me, so when it did freeze, I could just whip it out and reset the thing. I could never pinpoint where it was entering from and understand how it affected it that badly. C'est la vie.
The other slightly annoying thing was that the headphone and line out was the same jack and that I had to change between them depending on what I wanted - I also had to fix this after a full reset. I eventually grabbed a short right angle adapter stereo cable to keep plugged into the port so I wouldn't lose my line out "volume" when I unplugged from my work speaker or from the car; when I wanted to listen with headphones, I just unplugged the adapter and plugged my headphones in (insert Staples button here).
Since the randomization was limited, I didn't care too much if it reset or meddling with it when I wanted to listen to a specific song, but even with "page scrolling" enabled, it was impossible to get to a specific song while looking through a list of 8300 something songs.
But the main thing I loved about it was the hardware buttons (because the iTouch only has four buttons, none of which contribute to playback functions) because I didn't have to awkwardly try to find the next "button" on the touch screen while keeping my eyes on the road. Shame I realised late that holding the volume buttons on the N5 was the same as previous/next. C'est la vie.
It's probably obvious by my tense that I didn't stay with the N5 and I pre-ordered Fiio's X5 III on the last day of February this year. I finally got it mid-March and have been using it since then. Randomisation function seems to be much better than the N5, though the X5 III runs Android and Fiio's very own music application; however, because of the relatively frequent firmware updates (and also not thoroughly exploring all the options in the application), I've not been able to get a proper randomisation test in. Que sera sera.
From what I've been able to experience, I really love the X5 III. Roughly 512GB maximum storage size (because micro SD cards are maxed out at 256GB at the moment, but it will easily support higher cards when they're available), dedicated previous/next buttons, volume wheel (a bit more on this later), touchscreen, and ability to properly search for songs (albeit slow)? Let's say my reaction was somewhere between extreme hyperactivity and cardiac arrest.
Well, I forgot to say that when I was looking to replace the N5, I was heavily considering the X5 II, but while looking around for a confirmed maximum card capacity for it, I found out about the X5 III and read over Fiio's page on their site about it. Though companies usually try their best to glorify new products, I was quite sold because it was everything I was wanting and needing. (I think this was roughly January by the way.)
Anyway, the power button has a blue LED that indicates power and charge (though I don't think I've ever seen it not blue), which I read that a lot of people don't like, and I see why - it's bloody annoying. There're ways to deal with it, but I don't think Fiio can do anything with at the firmware level, since I'm sure they would've done so by now. Que sera sera.
The volume wheel is kinda nice, but sensitive (like all the other buttons), and also doesn't change volume quickly enough sometimes (which was another complaint I read about). Fiio might be able to fix this at the firmware level by adding a multiplier option so one wheel step changes the volume by x amount. I'm not too concerned with it, since most of the time I'm utilising the line out jack.
Which is what I forgot to add to the list above, headphone and line out are bloody separated! Line out shares the same jack as coaxial out, but who uses that stuff? Well, not me anyway, and obviously line out is the default option.
And as I said, the buttons are bloody sensitive, it's easy to accidentally press a button with or without the vinyl case (it also comes with a leather case, but I didn't care for it. I figured the easiest remedy would be to cut out the button overlays in the vinyl case, and yesterday I decided to do it because I was sick of having to turn the screen on every time for the playback controls. Forgot to say that the buttons and volume wheel can be locked out to avoid the accidental issue. Anyway, it worked pretty well, though I left the power button overlay alone since I thought it was okay (earlier today I decided to go ahead and get rid of it, just because).
If it's not obvious why I was ecstatic for the touchscreen, it's because I can utilise an on-screen keyboard to search for stuff. Though the stock, non-Google keyboard wasn't bad, I ended up installing Google's keyboard (Gboard I think it's called now?) since Google's keyboard gives me more access to accented characters (though I haven't really utilised them in searches yet), and that I was installing Google's Japanese keyboard anyway (might as well make everything match).
I did say the search is slow... It's kinda bad, I'll type like 3 characters and then have to wait for it pull up results. Live searches are good for certain things, but the X5 III can't handle it that well with a large library - I'd like to see them implement a way to turn off live search to make it quicker for users like me to search their music. While it is slow, that doesn't mean I have to stop pressing keys as soon as it lags, nope, I can keep typing and hope I don't make a mistake because that's when I would actually have to wait, unless I know what I hit. Search is perfect from what I tested as searching "fo(u)r" actually brings up the songs and nothing else while "four" doesn't bring any of those songs up. I tried a search for something in Japanese, but it was a unneeded reassurance.
The list of songs is weird and some accented characters don't appear right, but that's really not much of my concern (sadly it's actually faster to search than to scroll with the touchscreen).
Oh yeah, the X5 III also has WiFi and Bluetooth which I was initially excited for (mainly Bluetooth), but now it's a bit more inverted now. WiFi makes the firmware updates easy, since it's less to do than to download it, transfer it, etc. It does have an option for manual updates, but I doubt I'll need it. I was excited for the Bluetooth because Fiio has their own Bluetooth remote for Bluetooth-compatible devices, but the only time I would be using it would be in the car, but the buttons on the X5 III itself isn't hard to remember... I'll maybe pair it with the iTouch or something, we'll see.
My only minor irk with the X5 III is that with the ports on the bottom, the spot I've been using for the DAPs blocks access to two of the three playback buttons since I keep the stereo cable topside when in that little spot. I'll eventually adapt.
I did glitch out the Fiio music application while trying to play over Bluetooth to the Sound Step thing I have, while not important, it was still a sort of "well, there goes that idea..." situation. I'll just use my headphones.
Sound-wise, it seems like the N5 boosts the higher frequencies a bit while the X5 III sounds clearer and more balanced (both DAPs at default sound settings). I eventually got really tired of hearing the same song twice in a row trying to compare the two, and got really bored quickly.
X5 III also supports fast charging (9 and 12-volt charging), and I grabbed my ZenFone 2 charger when I was initially setting up the X5 III, since it would easily keep it charged than a 5-volt, 1-amp charger. It was really weird setting it up because I've gotten so used to it taking a day or two to set up a new (Android) smartphone, but it took me an hour or less and I felt extremely lost.
Oh yeah, there's no accelerometers, so no landscape keyboard for me. Que sera sera.
The X5 III is very slightly bigger than the N5 which was a nice find, though I didn't really care much. Neither of them are as small as the iTouch, but do realise that the iTouch has a smaller battery and less music-related components.
I'll stop reviewing the X5 III here as I kinda went in that direction (if you're still reading this, article-author, I first applaud you, and I secondly re-welcome you to my rants).
I remember something about the LG G6 (or whatever it is) was supposed to have quad-DACs (digital-analogue converter), but from the short digging I did after it was released, I couldn't find such thing. Would I have gotten it instead of the X5 III? Nope.
Anyway before I quit ranting altogether, let's take a brief (and late) introduction to what makes a DAP a DAP. Well, I suppose there's two ways to see this... DAP stands for Digital Audio Player, so in technicality lots of things are DAPs (phones, Apple products, etc), but what do we music enthusiasts and audiophiles consider a DAP? A unit that has good-quality DACs. I think most mid-range DAPs (X5 II, X5 III, N5, etc.) are dual-DACs, where one DAC takes care of one frequency range and the other takes care of the other frequency range. So by that definition, phones and all that stuff is taken off the list because they just have some cheap stuff that sounds decent.
As far as the two DAPs mention in the article, I probably wouldn't buy them mainly because the X5 III has a higher storage capacity capability. Well, considering I already have the X5 III, I don't see any good reason to spend more money for another DAP (considering I've already purchased two).
I did revisit the Ogg Vorbis idea, but decided it probably won't be worth the time for the moment, since that entails converting my entire library. When I build Melty's replacement (possibly an AM4+ CPU when those are out... or maybe AM5), I'll probably be a bit more willing to do so since it'd be a bit faster with multi-threading (along with multi-core processing). The main reason why I originally thought about doing it was because openSUSE doesn't ship with the MP3 codec because of it's non-free status, but after moving to Manjaro, I'm obviously not as worried about it. We'll see what happens later.
Anyway, for those of you who are avid (?) and/or regular readers, you now know a decent amount of my history with portable music players, and for the article-author (again, if you're still here), you now have quite a bit of insight to why people like us prefer DAPs over anything else (even if it is another device to carry).
Also, I was going to write/rant couple days ago when I read the article, but it's difficult to do anything at all when dizziness prevails... Yay, illnesses! (Yay, sarcasm!)
Well, back to the blog's semi-hiatus... Ciao!
Showing posts with label Articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Articles. Show all posts
30 March 2017
14 February 2017
Reasons to Use Manjaro Linux
The article I read is: 7 Reason Why I Use Manjaro Linux And You Should Too
I was surprised to see an article about Manjaro in my news feed, and decided to humour the author a bit by skimming the article. There's a few things I'll pick up from it, but I think I've already exhausted the reasons why I use Manjaro enough times already.
While I've never tried installing Arch itself, I have tried Gentoo, and from what I know of installing Arch and installing Gentoo, I'm decently certain that installing Arch is faster and/or easier than Gentoo (remember that I gave up on installing Gentoo on the G5 after about 8 hours).
I've never really had any hardware issues in Manjaro, and the only Broadcom chip that I have that would cause an issue are the AirPort Extreme chips in Sae-chan and Taiga. Sure there's the Sound Blaster Z card in Melty, but meh. Not much else to say here.
PPAs... Ah, the bloody lovely world of PPAs... I remember adding a few when I was still using Linux Mint, and I think also when I briefly used Ubuntu. I do agree that it's not bad, but when you have a pile of them to add, it becomes fairly annoying. AUR is definitely a better "system", but if and only if the package gets maintained and not orphaned.
The rolling release is the main reason why I switched to Manjaro... From what I remember reading about it when I was trying to find something to replace openSUSE with, Manjaro described itself as somewhere between cutting and bleeding edge. As the article says, it's the newest stuff without breaking your system. I've not run into any major problems yet that required either a lot of work or just a clean install. Honestly the only problem I had so far was some
Switching kernels is usually not a huge priority for me, as I can usually run the latest stable kernel (the ones that don't say "experimental"), and have the kernel before it as a backup if something does happen to break (which hasn't so far).
I've not delved into the Manjaro community... Well, any communities in that matter. I've only delved into part of the Ubuntu and openSUSE communities once each to get an answer I wasn't able to find otherwise. In terms of Manjaro, I've found most of the answers I need on the Arch wiki to figure out things I'm trying to do or trying to find more about.
With friends that ask me where to start them on their Linux journey, I always point to Ubuntu and Linux Mint because of their large base and that both are the stereotypical distros to begin with. If they're looking for something a bit beyond that, that's probably when I would recommend openSUSE and Manjaro, as both serve me well (given that Tumbleweed on the Banana Pi could be better).
I was surprised to see an article about Manjaro in my news feed, and decided to humour the author a bit by skimming the article. There's a few things I'll pick up from it, but I think I've already exhausted the reasons why I use Manjaro enough times already.
While I've never tried installing Arch itself, I have tried Gentoo, and from what I know of installing Arch and installing Gentoo, I'm decently certain that installing Arch is faster and/or easier than Gentoo (remember that I gave up on installing Gentoo on the G5 after about 8 hours).
I've never really had any hardware issues in Manjaro, and the only Broadcom chip that I have that would cause an issue are the AirPort Extreme chips in Sae-chan and Taiga. Sure there's the Sound Blaster Z card in Melty, but meh. Not much else to say here.
PPAs... Ah, the bloody lovely world of PPAs... I remember adding a few when I was still using Linux Mint, and I think also when I briefly used Ubuntu. I do agree that it's not bad, but when you have a pile of them to add, it becomes fairly annoying. AUR is definitely a better "system", but if and only if the package gets maintained and not orphaned.
The rolling release is the main reason why I switched to Manjaro... From what I remember reading about it when I was trying to find something to replace openSUSE with, Manjaro described itself as somewhere between cutting and bleeding edge. As the article says, it's the newest stuff without breaking your system. I've not run into any major problems yet that required either a lot of work or just a clean install. Honestly the only problem I had so far was some
gstreamer0.10 packages that came from somewhere and had to be compiled from AUR, which eventually broke my sound, but was fixed by removing the packages.Switching kernels is usually not a huge priority for me, as I can usually run the latest stable kernel (the ones that don't say "experimental"), and have the kernel before it as a backup if something does happen to break (which hasn't so far).
I've not delved into the Manjaro community... Well, any communities in that matter. I've only delved into part of the Ubuntu and openSUSE communities once each to get an answer I wasn't able to find otherwise. In terms of Manjaro, I've found most of the answers I need on the Arch wiki to figure out things I'm trying to do or trying to find more about.
With friends that ask me where to start them on their Linux journey, I always point to Ubuntu and Linux Mint because of their large base and that both are the stereotypical distros to begin with. If they're looking for something a bit beyond that, that's probably when I would recommend openSUSE and Manjaro, as both serve me well (given that Tumbleweed on the Banana Pi could be better).
23 January 2017
ASUS Tinker Board
The article I read is: ASUS' Raspberry Pi rival can play 4K video.
I was initially quite interested, but it faded away as I saw the price. While it's nice that it's a pretty good step above the Raspberry Pi 3, the fact that it's just about the same price as the Banana Pi M1+ is a bit of a deterrent for me. I like that it has gigabit ethernet (and its specs), but I don't like that it doesn't have a SATA port or USB 3.0 (I would've been more likely to buy one if it at least had the latter). Though, in technicality, I don't have to connect a storage unit to it to have a local (in terms of the machine) copy of my music library, and I could just mount the file server and utilise the copy on it, but that doesn't entirely sit well with me.
From what it seems like, it is the same size and hole pattern as the Raspberry Pi, so it essentially could be a drop-in upgrade, though there's probably only the standard distro for it at the moment (unlike the numerous distros available for the Raspberry Pi).
Looks like something that can do well, but I don't think it's for me.
I was initially quite interested, but it faded away as I saw the price. While it's nice that it's a pretty good step above the Raspberry Pi 3, the fact that it's just about the same price as the Banana Pi M1+ is a bit of a deterrent for me. I like that it has gigabit ethernet (and its specs), but I don't like that it doesn't have a SATA port or USB 3.0 (I would've been more likely to buy one if it at least had the latter). Though, in technicality, I don't have to connect a storage unit to it to have a local (in terms of the machine) copy of my music library, and I could just mount the file server and utilise the copy on it, but that doesn't entirely sit well with me.
From what it seems like, it is the same size and hole pattern as the Raspberry Pi, so it essentially could be a drop-in upgrade, though there's probably only the standard distro for it at the moment (unlike the numerous distros available for the Raspberry Pi).
Looks like something that can do well, but I don't think it's for me.
22 January 2017
Articles Backlog
I had quite a few articles saved that I wanted to talk about, but most are from so long ago that I don't feel it would be entirely worth writing a separate post for each one any longer, and it won't follow the usual format.
- Intel/Lenovo prevents Linux users from installing Linux on Yoga notebook:
- It wasn't the best idea, and they did remedy the problem, but hopefully they learned from it.
- OpenOffice devs debate retiring OpenOffice:
- Honestly, Apache shouldn't have touched it and left it dead. I haven't looked into this further since the articles, but I'm hoping they decided to retire it and let LibreOffice reign.
- Apple Airpods:
- There were quite a number of people not happy with Apple's decision to pull the plug on the audio jack (pun partially intended), and there are other manufacturers also following the path. I do like having a headphone jack for headsets for when I do send/receive calls on my mobile phone, but I'll have to adapt when it's time to replace the Nexus 5X that I have. Other than that, it doesn't bother me all that much, considering I have a digital audio player for my music.
- Windows 10 Anniversary Update:
- Luckily I didn't become victim to this (Yay for utilising Windows less than one percent of the time!), but it still didn't look good on Microsoft to release a large update to have it cause problems on a majority of PCs.
- Overnight phone charging:
- I had always charged my phone overnight at 500mA to have a fully-charged phone for whenever I left the house so that the battery would last the longest time possible. Things changed with the Nexus 5X, since it uses USB Type C. Since the device communicates with the charger on the amperage it would like, I now use a Type C charger and let it decide the best amperage (whatever it may be).
- Ubuntu server hacked:
- The article is titled "Here's another really great reason to never touch Linux". The article title still gets me riled up, even though the article is written sometime last July. It seems like the writer isn't too familiar with the Linux universe, which is much more vast than just Ubuntu. Ubuntu is Linux, Manjaro is Linux, Fedora is Linux, but most importantly Linux is not Ubuntu. I would have been more settled if the article title used "Ubuntu" and not "Linux", but no sense in beating a dead horse.
2017 Linux Distributions to Watch
The article I read is: The Best Linux Distros to Watch Out for in 2017
First distro in the article is Solus, and they go on to say that it's a new distribution that's not a derivative of some other distro and is based on the rolling-release model. While I haven't taken a close look at Solus (by perusing their website or utilising the Dell to test it), there are topics that come to mind.
First off is desktop environments and window managers, while the article doesn't specify about what desktop environments are included, it's usually best to support the ones that people can quickly become familiar with, ones that are lightweight, ones that are well known, and/or any combination of them. Over the time I've been toying around with Linux, I've used GNOME 2, GNOME 3, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, Unity, Openbox, and whatever Fedora uses. Taking a shot in the dark, I would think Solus probably has GNOME 3 and KDE as their "official" desktop environments, and then maybe LXDE and XFCE as their "supported" desktop environments. I could be wrong, but I'm not entirely in the mood to poke around Solus' website and find out for myself.
The next is the software repository... well, a couple things here, but let's just delve into it anyway. I'm assuming that they have some sort of GUI and/or CLI package manager specifically built for their repositories (for example: openSUSE has
Another is architecture support. This is always a major topic because it's not just x86_64 computers that Linux users install Linux on. Obviously I'm not saying that they need to support RISC, MIPS, and so forth, but they should at least support most of the popular ARM types if they want to "compete" with the other distros.
So while I do like the idea of a non-derived, rolling-release distro, I don't think it's for me. While Manjaro is a derivative of Arch, it is a very similar concept to Solus, and I prefer being able to utilise the AUR to automatically compile the not-popular-enough software that I use when it is updated (assuming someone didn't orphan it beforehand). Depending on the architecture support, it may become something worthwhile to me if it's something I can utilise on the Banana Pi, assuming it properly writes the boot data for kernel upgrades (with openSUSE Tumbleweed, I'm better off downloading the new image and setting the system back up than trying to utilise
I do think that it should be great for most other users that want a rolling distro and not be using a derivative of some other distro.
Second up is Liri. While I've heard of the Papyrus project a bit, I can't say the same with Hawaii. I don't really have too much of an interest in it from the article itself, but I'll at least say that the desktop environment looks nice.
Next is LXLE. As a distro to revive old PCs, I'm somewhat interested in it, but in honesty, I'm more interested in PIXEL. I may give it and PIXEL a shot on the machines that are less powerful than Ziggy, but it will become a matter of which ends up being better.
Last in the article is KDE Neon. I've never been much of a fan of the KDE environment , since I had felt it to be awkward to use sometimes and a bit too much customisation in its appearance. While I do like making things nicely look the way I want things to look, the days of changing colours of every window aspect are long past me these days, and I just want a colour scheme I can grab from somewhere that fits what I'm looking for. There's a possibility that I may try it out to poke at KDE 5, but I highly doubt it.
None of ones in the article really struck me as well, since my needs are fairly met (with the old machines, ARM boards, and iBooks as the exception), but I will still keep my eyes peeled for something that seems would help me get closer to having my needs fully met.
First distro in the article is Solus, and they go on to say that it's a new distribution that's not a derivative of some other distro and is based on the rolling-release model. While I haven't taken a close look at Solus (by perusing their website or utilising the Dell to test it), there are topics that come to mind.
First off is desktop environments and window managers, while the article doesn't specify about what desktop environments are included, it's usually best to support the ones that people can quickly become familiar with, ones that are lightweight, ones that are well known, and/or any combination of them. Over the time I've been toying around with Linux, I've used GNOME 2, GNOME 3, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, Unity, Openbox, and whatever Fedora uses. Taking a shot in the dark, I would think Solus probably has GNOME 3 and KDE as their "official" desktop environments, and then maybe LXDE and XFCE as their "supported" desktop environments. I could be wrong, but I'm not entirely in the mood to poke around Solus' website and find out for myself.
The next is the software repository... well, a couple things here, but let's just delve into it anyway. I'm assuming that they have some sort of GUI and/or CLI package manager specifically built for their repositories (for example: openSUSE has
zypper, Fedora has yum, and so forth), and that it's not using one and/or based off of one from another distro (that would defeat the purpose of being a non-derivative, yes?). The other issue is with niche packages (the packages that have some sort of demand, but doesn't get prebuilt packages like popular packages). Does Solus walk in the same footsteps of most other distros by having their users manually compile these packages from source, or do they have something similar to the Arch User Repository?Another is architecture support. This is always a major topic because it's not just x86_64 computers that Linux users install Linux on. Obviously I'm not saying that they need to support RISC, MIPS, and so forth, but they should at least support most of the popular ARM types if they want to "compete" with the other distros.
So while I do like the idea of a non-derived, rolling-release distro, I don't think it's for me. While Manjaro is a derivative of Arch, it is a very similar concept to Solus, and I prefer being able to utilise the AUR to automatically compile the not-popular-enough software that I use when it is updated (assuming someone didn't orphan it beforehand). Depending on the architecture support, it may become something worthwhile to me if it's something I can utilise on the Banana Pi, assuming it properly writes the boot data for kernel upgrades (with openSUSE Tumbleweed, I'm better off downloading the new image and setting the system back up than trying to utilise
zypper to upgrade the kernel.I do think that it should be great for most other users that want a rolling distro and not be using a derivative of some other distro.
Second up is Liri. While I've heard of the Papyrus project a bit, I can't say the same with Hawaii. I don't really have too much of an interest in it from the article itself, but I'll at least say that the desktop environment looks nice.
Next is LXLE. As a distro to revive old PCs, I'm somewhat interested in it, but in honesty, I'm more interested in PIXEL. I may give it and PIXEL a shot on the machines that are less powerful than Ziggy, but it will become a matter of which ends up being better.
Last in the article is KDE Neon. I've never been much of a fan of the KDE environment , since I had felt it to be awkward to use sometimes and a bit too much customisation in its appearance. While I do like making things nicely look the way I want things to look, the days of changing colours of every window aspect are long past me these days, and I just want a colour scheme I can grab from somewhere that fits what I'm looking for. There's a possibility that I may try it out to poke at KDE 5, but I highly doubt it.
None of ones in the article really struck me as well, since my needs are fairly met (with the old machines, ARM boards, and iBooks as the exception), but I will still keep my eyes peeled for something that seems would help me get closer to having my needs fully met.
14 July 2016
New Skype for Linux Alpha & Franz
The article I read is: Microsoft is replacing Skype’s ancient Linux client with a web app (sort of).
I've actually read two or three articles before this one and was thinking about obtaining it to play with, but after reading the linked article, I found it wasn't necessary because it's essentially a "fancy" version of the web-based Skype.
I've been using Franz to connect to Skype since I've found it (before I was using web-based Skype in Firefox), and it's been a lot more easier to manage my messaging services, since it lets me connect to (the web versions of) Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Discord. Heck, I didn't even know Facebook Messenger had a web version until Franz (saves the hassle of the tiny pop-up window thing on the Facebook page).
I do recommend checking out Franz, as they're multi-platform (even Mac OS) and have a few messenger services that it can connect to. The only weird thing is using it in Manjaro (not sure if it affects any other distros, but I know it doesn't affect Windows 10), where it will glitch out when loading Skype. It seems to be having to do something with also having Discord, since removing Discord fixes it, but it also seems to load if I leave it alone for a while (I'll turn Melty on when I get home from work, and after I'm finished changing and stuff, Skype's up without a problem). If I'm unlucky (or impatient), I end up closing and reopening Franz several times before Skype comes up with the blue "Signing in" screen. I honestly should just let it be and wait for it (or get my Skype friends to get on Discord instead).
To be honest, it's nice that Microsoft's putting the effort into doing something about the dated Skype for Linux program, though I think it would've been better if they had just killed the program and have Linux users use the web-based Skype (or Franz) to connect. I don't think I really need to say more that I'm not going to use the new program if I don't have to.
I've actually read two or three articles before this one and was thinking about obtaining it to play with, but after reading the linked article, I found it wasn't necessary because it's essentially a "fancy" version of the web-based Skype.
I've been using Franz to connect to Skype since I've found it (before I was using web-based Skype in Firefox), and it's been a lot more easier to manage my messaging services, since it lets me connect to (the web versions of) Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Discord. Heck, I didn't even know Facebook Messenger had a web version until Franz (saves the hassle of the tiny pop-up window thing on the Facebook page).
I do recommend checking out Franz, as they're multi-platform (even Mac OS) and have a few messenger services that it can connect to. The only weird thing is using it in Manjaro (not sure if it affects any other distros, but I know it doesn't affect Windows 10), where it will glitch out when loading Skype. It seems to be having to do something with also having Discord, since removing Discord fixes it, but it also seems to load if I leave it alone for a while (I'll turn Melty on when I get home from work, and after I'm finished changing and stuff, Skype's up without a problem). If I'm unlucky (or impatient), I end up closing and reopening Franz several times before Skype comes up with the blue "Signing in" screen. I honestly should just let it be and wait for it (or get my Skype friends to get on Discord instead).
To be honest, it's nice that Microsoft's putting the effort into doing something about the dated Skype for Linux program, though I think it would've been better if they had just killed the program and have Linux users use the web-based Skype (or Franz) to connect. I don't think I really need to say more that I'm not going to use the new program if I don't have to.
19 June 2016
Snap Packages
The article I read is: Linux App Distribution Gets a Little Easier with "Snap".
I actually read a different article, but I realised I had things to write about it.
I read the other article yesterday, after a bit of apathy about Snap, and figured I'd give it a try since it was available on Arch (remember that Manjaro is based off of Arch).
I installed it and poked a bit with it, but decided to not do much more with it. Why? Because the packages that I would be installing from it could be counted on one hand.
Once there are a lot more packages, I'll most likely start using it, but I'll just hold off for now.
I actually read a different article, but I realised I had things to write about it.
I read the other article yesterday, after a bit of apathy about Snap, and figured I'd give it a try since it was available on Arch (remember that Manjaro is based off of Arch).
I installed it and poked a bit with it, but decided to not do much more with it. Why? Because the packages that I would be installing from it could be counted on one hand.
Once there are a lot more packages, I'll most likely start using it, but I'll just hold off for now.
Raspberry Pi NAS
The article I read is: Raspberry Pi as a NAS (Network Attached Storage).
Well, it's not really an article, but did somehow end up in my Google Play Newsstand feed.
One thing that irks me is that if you're planning on making a low-power NAS that's decent, then the Banana Pi would be the better option because of the SATA port and gigabit LAN (both the Raspberry Pi 3 and the Banana Pi have Wifi, though the instructable utilises LAN, as it's probably the Raspberry Pi 2). The main drawback would probably have to be that with the Banana Pi can only support up to 2TB drives connected to the SATA port.
Now if you happened to have an unused Raspberry Pi laying around, then yes, it would make sense to utilise it to make a low-powered NAS, given that the read/write speeds are going to be much lower because of the USB 2.0 and/or 10/100 LAN.
My other irk is that NAS consumption really depends on the brand and type. Yes NAS units can easily draw over 10 watts when spinning a 3.5 inch hard drive (for a one-disk unit), but some (if not most) NAS units have a standby mode, where it spins down the hard drive(s) and waits for activity.
What's a bit interesting it that the person used a serial connection to access the Raspberry Pi. The main advantage would be that if you're setting a static IP address, then you will still have access to it without having to reopen an SSH line to it, but if you're not, then why bother spending more money on the cable?
With the CFS, I didn't bother with Samba, though I could have and have made it a bit easier to mount in Windows, but considering how rarely I'm using Windows these days, it's not worth any of the hassle (if it is at all).
Not sure what NAS units the person is thinking of, but my Synology NAS is neither fire nor water proof/resistant (might be a bit water resistant as long as it doesn't run toward any vents).
Again, while it's not a bad idea in general, it only seems worth doing if you already have a Raspberry Pi (and maybe an external hard drive) that aren't in use.
Well, it's not really an article, but did somehow end up in my Google Play Newsstand feed.
One thing that irks me is that if you're planning on making a low-power NAS that's decent, then the Banana Pi would be the better option because of the SATA port and gigabit LAN (both the Raspberry Pi 3 and the Banana Pi have Wifi, though the instructable utilises LAN, as it's probably the Raspberry Pi 2). The main drawback would probably have to be that with the Banana Pi can only support up to 2TB drives connected to the SATA port.
Now if you happened to have an unused Raspberry Pi laying around, then yes, it would make sense to utilise it to make a low-powered NAS, given that the read/write speeds are going to be much lower because of the USB 2.0 and/or 10/100 LAN.
My other irk is that NAS consumption really depends on the brand and type. Yes NAS units can easily draw over 10 watts when spinning a 3.5 inch hard drive (for a one-disk unit), but some (if not most) NAS units have a standby mode, where it spins down the hard drive(s) and waits for activity.
What's a bit interesting it that the person used a serial connection to access the Raspberry Pi. The main advantage would be that if you're setting a static IP address, then you will still have access to it without having to reopen an SSH line to it, but if you're not, then why bother spending more money on the cable?
With the CFS, I didn't bother with Samba, though I could have and have made it a bit easier to mount in Windows, but considering how rarely I'm using Windows these days, it's not worth any of the hassle (if it is at all).
Not sure what NAS units the person is thinking of, but my Synology NAS is neither fire nor water proof/resistant (might be a bit water resistant as long as it doesn't run toward any vents).
Again, while it's not a bad idea in general, it only seems worth doing if you already have a Raspberry Pi (and maybe an external hard drive) that aren't in use.
09 April 2016
Phone Size
The article I read is: How big should your phone be?
Honestly, I wish this article was written last year when I was looking for a new phone, because it would've helped out a lot.
When I took the quiz (for fun and to kill time during lunch at work), I ended up with the mid-sized screen category, which includes the Nexus 5X. Was I suprised? Not really.
I think it's a pretty decent guideline to help you choose the right screen size, though it was hard to pick a choice at times (I usually went with the higher-score answer if I remember correctly).
Honestly, I wish this article was written last year when I was looking for a new phone, because it would've helped out a lot.
When I took the quiz (for fun and to kill time during lunch at work), I ended up with the mid-sized screen category, which includes the Nexus 5X. Was I suprised? Not really.
I think it's a pretty decent guideline to help you choose the right screen size, though it was hard to pick a choice at times (I usually went with the higher-score answer if I remember correctly).
Skype for Linux
The article I read is: Skype for Linux is lagging behind and falling apart due to Microsoft's neglect.
I'm not sure if the author was aware that the only update Microsoft gave to Skype for Linux back in June of 2014 was just so that the Skype program would be pointed to the new servers from the old, and that Microsoft didn't touch anything else beside that.
It was working fine until Microsoft started adding features to Skype (Windows and mobile), and I've really noticed it recently when trying to chat with my friend - the messages won't send, will double (when posting from another interface), and/or won't sync messages properly (most of the time I just get my friend's messages and not a copy of my own).
I will agree with the author that it seems like Microsoft will eventually make the web version of Skype the future for Linux, though I'm not fond of using it (even though it's still beta). My main irks with it is that I can't turn off the notification sound, I can't get my group chats unless they're in the list of (really) recent chats, and resizing the browser window makes the layout auto-resize in a wonky manner.
I probably will stop using Skype for Linux quite soon and uninstalling it from Manjaro, since it's just about useless. It's annoying that Microsoft isn't willing to spend the time/money for remaking/improving Skype for Linux, but I'm just gonna have to eat it and adapt.
I'm not sure if the author was aware that the only update Microsoft gave to Skype for Linux back in June of 2014 was just so that the Skype program would be pointed to the new servers from the old, and that Microsoft didn't touch anything else beside that.
It was working fine until Microsoft started adding features to Skype (Windows and mobile), and I've really noticed it recently when trying to chat with my friend - the messages won't send, will double (when posting from another interface), and/or won't sync messages properly (most of the time I just get my friend's messages and not a copy of my own).
I will agree with the author that it seems like Microsoft will eventually make the web version of Skype the future for Linux, though I'm not fond of using it (even though it's still beta). My main irks with it is that I can't turn off the notification sound, I can't get my group chats unless they're in the list of (really) recent chats, and resizing the browser window makes the layout auto-resize in a wonky manner.
I probably will stop using Skype for Linux quite soon and uninstalling it from Manjaro, since it's just about useless. It's annoying that Microsoft isn't willing to spend the time/money for remaking/improving Skype for Linux, but I'm just gonna have to eat it and adapt.
25 March 2016
SSD from 10 Micro SD Cards
The article I read is: This Brando Adapter Turns Ten microSD Cards into a SATA SSD (which appeared as "Memory Card Hard Drives" when I viewed it on my phone).
It's not really a new concept (there's CF to IDE adaptor cards floating around the net), but I was just surprised to see it come up.
While it's not the most cost-efficient way to make an SSD, it does give micro SD cards some use if you happen to have a ton laying around.
While it'd be nice to have, considering it could (probably) make a 5TB SSD, I feel like it probably wouldn't be worth my money, since I don't have extra micro SD cards laying around.
It's not really a new concept (there's CF to IDE adaptor cards floating around the net), but I was just surprised to see it come up.
While it's not the most cost-efficient way to make an SSD, it does give micro SD cards some use if you happen to have a ton laying around.
While it'd be nice to have, considering it could (probably) make a 5TB SSD, I feel like it probably wouldn't be worth my money, since I don't have extra micro SD cards laying around.
16 March 2016
Apps and Battery Life
The article I read is: Closing Apps to Save Your Battery Only Makes Things Worse
I've seen a few articles about this on Google Play Newsstand, and have been ignoring them. Why did I finally give and click on it? Because Ting decided to post it to their Facebook page.
I'm neither going to agree nor disagree with the articles, simply because it depends on how you use your phone. I hardly use my phone, so I get home from work with about 90% battery life. I have a set of countdown timers running (because it's easy to lose track of time when I'm focused), and only really poke around on my phone during lunch.
I've always closed apps because I don't want it using CPU/RAM. Yes, the automatic resource management has gotten better over the years, but every-so-often I'll notice the phone lagging a bit, to find that I left a ton of apps open. This is mainly why I'm not going to agree or disagree with the article, because it's really a case-by-case issue. For the general public that spends almost every free second on their phone, yes it's great advice, but for light users, it might not be the best idea.
I've seen a few articles about this on Google Play Newsstand, and have been ignoring them. Why did I finally give and click on it? Because Ting decided to post it to their Facebook page.
I'm neither going to agree nor disagree with the articles, simply because it depends on how you use your phone. I hardly use my phone, so I get home from work with about 90% battery life. I have a set of countdown timers running (because it's easy to lose track of time when I'm focused), and only really poke around on my phone during lunch.
I've always closed apps because I don't want it using CPU/RAM. Yes, the automatic resource management has gotten better over the years, but every-so-often I'll notice the phone lagging a bit, to find that I left a ton of apps open. This is mainly why I'm not going to agree or disagree with the article, because it's really a case-by-case issue. For the general public that spends almost every free second on their phone, yes it's great advice, but for light users, it might not be the best idea.
15 March 2016
Cellular Phone Service Providers
The article I read is: Charge Mobile Data dumps your phone’s voice plan for pure data
While I find provider interesting, to a point, it's sort of a niche market (in my opinion anyway).
I've been with Ting mobile for a year now, and love how they price their plans... if one could call it a plan. Talk, text, and data are charged separately with its own tier structure, but you also pay for the number (a.k.a. "device"). Each device under your account costs 6 USD, and this is charged every month, along with whatever you use. If you don't talk, text, and/or use data for that month, you don't pay for those. For example, I just mainly use data, so I pay 6 USD plus 3 USD for the first data tier (1-100MB), making my bill 9 USD a month (a little over 10 USD after taxes and such).
The two caveats is that (1) calls from your cell phone to your voice mail are not free, and (2) any text messages you receive are also not free. Since I don't use text messages, I disabled that feature (there's better ways of getting a hold of me in a non-vocal way. But the main thing is that if and when I need to make/receive a phone call, I can. That one of my main irks with Charge, is that if someone can't contact you directly via telephone number (without having something set up).
The other problem with Charge is that it only works on Sprint's CDMA network at the moment, whereas Ting works on both CDMA and GSM (the latter being on T-Mobile's network). I'm sure Charge will expand, but it's a limitation that's not in their favour at the moment.
There's also Google's Project Fi, which doesn't seem bad either, but it's also not for me. 20 USD for unlimited talk and text (including international texts), and then 10 USD for every GB of data. Unused data (to the nearest 100MB I'm assuming) is refunded back to you, which is nice, but in my case, I'd be paying 21 USD (before taxes/fees), which is more than what I usually pay with Ting (between 9 and 12 USD before taxes/fees).
I've learned to be more frugal with my data plan with Ting, and so I hardly go over 100MB a month. Because of this, other providers don't really interest me much, because they can't offer what Ting offers me. And like I've said, I'm happy with Ting, so I haven't a need to shop around.
While I find provider interesting, to a point, it's sort of a niche market (in my opinion anyway).
I've been with Ting mobile for a year now, and love how they price their plans... if one could call it a plan. Talk, text, and data are charged separately with its own tier structure, but you also pay for the number (a.k.a. "device"). Each device under your account costs 6 USD, and this is charged every month, along with whatever you use. If you don't talk, text, and/or use data for that month, you don't pay for those. For example, I just mainly use data, so I pay 6 USD plus 3 USD for the first data tier (1-100MB), making my bill 9 USD a month (a little over 10 USD after taxes and such).
The two caveats is that (1) calls from your cell phone to your voice mail are not free, and (2) any text messages you receive are also not free. Since I don't use text messages, I disabled that feature (there's better ways of getting a hold of me in a non-vocal way. But the main thing is that if and when I need to make/receive a phone call, I can. That one of my main irks with Charge, is that if someone can't contact you directly via telephone number (without having something set up).
The other problem with Charge is that it only works on Sprint's CDMA network at the moment, whereas Ting works on both CDMA and GSM (the latter being on T-Mobile's network). I'm sure Charge will expand, but it's a limitation that's not in their favour at the moment.
There's also Google's Project Fi, which doesn't seem bad either, but it's also not for me. 20 USD for unlimited talk and text (including international texts), and then 10 USD for every GB of data. Unused data (to the nearest 100MB I'm assuming) is refunded back to you, which is nice, but in my case, I'd be paying 21 USD (before taxes/fees), which is more than what I usually pay with Ting (between 9 and 12 USD before taxes/fees).
I've learned to be more frugal with my data plan with Ting, and so I hardly go over 100MB a month. Because of this, other providers don't really interest me much, because they can't offer what Ting offers me. And like I've said, I'm happy with Ting, so I haven't a need to shop around.
04 July 2015
Website Adertisments Part 2
About a couple weeks ago, I wrote about blocking website advertisements, and about a week ago, I came across another article on it (Why Adblocking is the New Speeding).
I only wanted to revisit this because the author makes a very valid point:
That was all that I wanted to revisit this topic for.
I only wanted to revisit this because the author makes a very valid point:
.... Like pretty much everyone else on the outside three lanes of the four-lane motorway, I was over the speed limit.Just like speeding, people that block ads are going to continue to block ads because there isn't really much immediate consequence to do so.
And what happened? Nothing. I carried on going above the speed limit. Many of us that day were breaking the law. And nothing exceptional happened. No police stopped us. We broke the social compact – the one about obeying most laws – without compunction. None of the people on that motorway that day had an accident there, so is speeding harmless?
It’s also a fact that around one-third of car accidents can be ascribed to excessive speed. Going too fast is highly correlated with accidents.
Yet we ignore it. And we speed. ....
Similarly, there’s no retribution for adblocking. Nothing happens when you do it, except you get a better experience. Ditto for speeding: you get where you’re going sooner.The only thing I disagree with this statement is that for speeding, you do get where you're going sooner (results differ a bit depending on distance if you're doing it on the highway or in the city), but the main consequence is that your gas mileage becomes worse above a certain speed (supposedly it's above 55mph, but I think it depends on other things, really). But it is what you intentionally give up to get where you want to sooner.
That was all that I wanted to revisit this topic for.
21 June 2015
Google Standalone Clock App For Android
The article I read is: Google further embraces custom Android with standalone clock app.
I'm not sure if that is the article I first read a couple days ago, but I did also read the one I linked.
Recently Google's been releasing more of the apps that are built into Google's Android "ROMs" that are seen in the line of their Nexus phones.
The couple days before May ended this year, I recently got a 64GB ASUS Zenfone 2 (ZE551ML) to replace my Galaxy Nexus. I was greeted with apps that I thought were Google's, but were actually ASUS's version of them, and I promptly installed the Google version of the things I use most (Calender, Keep, Gmail).
This article piqued my interest, as I was curious to see what Google's released, and when I looked at the reviews in the Play Store, I saw that it was very simple, had an ability to dismiss alarms early and had the "material" design that launched with Lollipop.
I opened it up and it was definitely simple and basic. The background is a dark steel blue, the text is white and the buttons/sliders are (deep?) pink, it was much better than the black on white scheme of ASUS's clock that blinded me every morning when the alarm went off to get up for work. One of the reviews I read said it was a bad colour scheme, but from what I remember of Friday morning, it's still better than the black on white ASUS clock scheme.
The early dismissal is quite interesting, it is (probably) designed for when you wake up before the alarm goes off and want to dismiss the alarm since you're up - instead of the alternative options of either waiting for the alarm to go off to dismiss it (bad if you share a room/bed) or turning the alarm off (bad if you forget to turn it back on sometime after the time of the alarm has passed and before it's needed again).
While the article states that Google is giving Android users a choice, I think the other part of the reason behind Google doing this is because (if I remember correctly) Android M will be the last version of Android that Google will make their own phone - what better way to preserve the legacy of a clean version of Android than to release as many of the "stock" apps that's possible?
Before Google released their clock app, they released their camera app, and while I liked it better than ASUS's, I ended up installing "Open Camera" instead (I still use ASUS's from the lock screen when/if I need it).
I'm not sure if that is the article I first read a couple days ago, but I did also read the one I linked.
Recently Google's been releasing more of the apps that are built into Google's Android "ROMs" that are seen in the line of their Nexus phones.
The couple days before May ended this year, I recently got a 64GB ASUS Zenfone 2 (ZE551ML) to replace my Galaxy Nexus. I was greeted with apps that I thought were Google's, but were actually ASUS's version of them, and I promptly installed the Google version of the things I use most (Calender, Keep, Gmail).
This article piqued my interest, as I was curious to see what Google's released, and when I looked at the reviews in the Play Store, I saw that it was very simple, had an ability to dismiss alarms early and had the "material" design that launched with Lollipop.
I opened it up and it was definitely simple and basic. The background is a dark steel blue, the text is white and the buttons/sliders are (deep?) pink, it was much better than the black on white scheme of ASUS's clock that blinded me every morning when the alarm went off to get up for work. One of the reviews I read said it was a bad colour scheme, but from what I remember of Friday morning, it's still better than the black on white ASUS clock scheme.
The early dismissal is quite interesting, it is (probably) designed for when you wake up before the alarm goes off and want to dismiss the alarm since you're up - instead of the alternative options of either waiting for the alarm to go off to dismiss it (bad if you share a room/bed) or turning the alarm off (bad if you forget to turn it back on sometime after the time of the alarm has passed and before it's needed again).
While the article states that Google is giving Android users a choice, I think the other part of the reason behind Google doing this is because (if I remember correctly) Android M will be the last version of Android that Google will make their own phone - what better way to preserve the legacy of a clean version of Android than to release as many of the "stock" apps that's possible?
Before Google released their clock app, they released their camera app, and while I liked it better than ASUS's, I ended up installing "Open Camera" instead (I still use ASUS's from the lock screen when/if I need it).
SourceForge
The article I read is: Why big open-source projects are fleeing SourceForge's free software hub.
For the past few years or so since I've been trying to migrate the programs I use to open-source (preferably also multi-platform), SourceForge has been one of the places I visit often (or have been directed to). I'm not sure when they began wrapping junkware into some of the software that they host, but I don't recall ever seeing it in any of the things I have downloaded from SourceForge.
I believe it was FreeFileSync that I was first introduced to FossHub, and I liked it better than downloading it from FossHub instead of SourceForge, as it was much easier to do, along with it being quite easy to grab the checksum to make sure the download is fine (via DownThemAll Firefox extension).
I don't remember when I was introduced to GitHub, but I do remember going there a few times to try to download something and ending up horribly confused (I think?). I don't want to say I don't like it, but I will say I really ought to spend some time so that I can become more familiar with it.
Back in the early 2000's, CNET used to be my main source of shareware/freeware, and I do occasionally end up there when searching for software. I'm not sure when they began to push their own download manager, but when I did download some things from CNET, I found that I had downloaded their download manager installer instead of whatever I was wanting. Though a "proprietary" download manager is fairly different from injecting junkware into open-source software installers, it's still the same sort of annoyance.
The only thing with FossHub I haven't figured out yet (as I haven't been on it too much, beside to update FreeFileSync) is where the older downloads are kept (if they are even kept) in the (very) rare occasion that I need an older version of a software for whatever reason.
I, obviously, will join this "boycott" because I believe that people should be able to download the software they want in an unadulterated form directly.
For the past few years or so since I've been trying to migrate the programs I use to open-source (preferably also multi-platform), SourceForge has been one of the places I visit often (or have been directed to). I'm not sure when they began wrapping junkware into some of the software that they host, but I don't recall ever seeing it in any of the things I have downloaded from SourceForge.
I believe it was FreeFileSync that I was first introduced to FossHub, and I liked it better than downloading it from FossHub instead of SourceForge, as it was much easier to do, along with it being quite easy to grab the checksum to make sure the download is fine (via DownThemAll Firefox extension).
I don't remember when I was introduced to GitHub, but I do remember going there a few times to try to download something and ending up horribly confused (I think?). I don't want to say I don't like it, but I will say I really ought to spend some time so that I can become more familiar with it.
Back in the early 2000's, CNET used to be my main source of shareware/freeware, and I do occasionally end up there when searching for software. I'm not sure when they began to push their own download manager, but when I did download some things from CNET, I found that I had downloaded their download manager installer instead of whatever I was wanting. Though a "proprietary" download manager is fairly different from injecting junkware into open-source software installers, it's still the same sort of annoyance.
The only thing with FossHub I haven't figured out yet (as I haven't been on it too much, beside to update FreeFileSync) is where the older downloads are kept (if they are even kept) in the (very) rare occasion that I need an older version of a software for whatever reason.
I, obviously, will join this "boycott" because I believe that people should be able to download the software they want in an unadulterated form directly.
19 April 2015
Logitech MX Master & Logitech Product Rant
The article I read is: Logitech MX Master Wireless Mouse Unveiled.
I'll give a fair forewarning for this post will be quite long, as I'll be covering a lot.
It has an interesting design and style, and as much as I'd like to have one, I wouldn't need or have much use for it. While it does allow me to control 3 devices with it, the only place it'd see use is my bedroom - it would connect to the Raspberry Pi 2 and Banana Pi via Bluetooth and then to Mei-chan via the Unifiying receiver. The problem is that it's a regular mouse, so I'd need some sort of space to move it around to control the cursor, and with the limited space, that's not exactly entirely possible. The other reason why I wouldn't want it for my bedroom is because I have already bought a Logitech M570 to replace the Cordless Optical TrackMan for Mei-chan. What I'm planning is that the Raspberry Pi 2 is going to use the Cordless Optical TrackMan and the Banana Pi will be using the V470 that's paired with Taiga at the moment (the Banana Pi will be taking over Taiga's duties). I may get it in the future, but that's about all I have left to say about it.
I own and have owned numerous Logitech products over the past 15 years, and I've never had any reason to switch to any other company. I'm not exactly sure when I began my brand loyalty to Logitech, but perhaps it was when the MX1000 was released.
The first Logitech mouse I owned was the Value Optical Mouse, which I eventually gave to a friend, because of my adaptation of the "first" generation of Logitech's Marble Mouse.
The third mouse would (probably) be the MX1000, as it was quite interesting to have something that used a laser instead of an LED light for surface tracking, but the battery eventually degraded to where it didn't hold a charge very well (perhaps it was a bad thing that I had it on the charger if I wasn't using it?). I eventually gave it to my best friend as a mouse for backup/test rig/something else.
Next would be the Mini Optical Mouse Plus for Sae-chan, which I used for quite a while until I didn't have Sae-chan for a couple years, and during that time, I gave the mouse to my best friend so that he can bundle it with a laptop he was selling.
After that came the white V470 for Shizuma, which I used for a while until it was replaced with the Performance Mouse MX (more on this mouse later).
I bought another V470 for the netbook, but in the blue colour, and this one went to my best friend again, until he retired and (possibly) sold it.
While I'm not sure exactly when I got the "third" generation of the Marble Mouse, I bought it to replace the "first" generation because of the button count increase. For those wondering, the "second" generation is the same as the "first", but with different colours, and the "fourth" is like the "third" with different colouring as well. Generation numbers are in quotes, as I can't say for sure if that's how Logitech released them.
I've also bought an M310 for something, but I don't recall what - though I do know that I gave it to my parents to use on the Intel build and the VAIO it replaced.
The Performance Mouse MX was very interesting to me because of it's ability to track on 4mm (and thicker) glass, and I bought it to use with Shizuma along with a N305 for numeric entry (the Unifying receiver is quite nice). I originally had a couple Bluetooth (non-Logitech) numeric pads, but the first one died after I accidentally spilled a bit of water on it, and the second one was just kinda cheap and annoying to use.
When I got Triela, I also got the Anywhere Mouse MX (first generation), since it uses the same Darkfield technology and my best friend had a glass desk at that time (though I only tested it on glass for fun and used it seriously on a mousepad).
When I got Sae-chan back (I think this was when I had the netbook) and "modded" her to have Bluetooth, I bought another white V470, since the other was paired with Shizuma.
For Lie-chan (when she became a Media PC), I bought the M505 because I wanted laser mouse that had Unifying (so I could pair it with the K360).
I also got the Cordless Optical TrackMan at some point, just not sure when (I think when Ziggy was my bedroom compy).
And the latest mouse would be the M570, which is still a bit weird to get used to, since it's a thumb-controlled trackball instead of the index finger-controlled trackball (using the middle finger in concurrency for more precise movement). The first week or two was the hardest, because my brain had been so hardwired to using the Marble Mouse and Cordless Optical TrackMan, so I had to slow down a bit to make my hand control the M570 correctly (instead of making clicks/scrolls when trying to move the cursor).
A total of thirteen Logitech mice, but that only concludes the list of mice. For keyboards, I own/have owned a total of 5. For speakers, I've own the X-540 and owned the X-530. For miscellany, the HD Pro Webcam C920 and the Harmony 650 Remote.
I'll more than likely continue to buy Logitech products when I need/want them, keeping myself from early adoption to avoid any possible issues that may arise (the G910 would be a good example).
I'll give a fair forewarning for this post will be quite long, as I'll be covering a lot.
It has an interesting design and style, and as much as I'd like to have one, I wouldn't need or have much use for it. While it does allow me to control 3 devices with it, the only place it'd see use is my bedroom - it would connect to the Raspberry Pi 2 and Banana Pi via Bluetooth and then to Mei-chan via the Unifiying receiver. The problem is that it's a regular mouse, so I'd need some sort of space to move it around to control the cursor, and with the limited space, that's not exactly entirely possible. The other reason why I wouldn't want it for my bedroom is because I have already bought a Logitech M570 to replace the Cordless Optical TrackMan for Mei-chan. What I'm planning is that the Raspberry Pi 2 is going to use the Cordless Optical TrackMan and the Banana Pi will be using the V470 that's paired with Taiga at the moment (the Banana Pi will be taking over Taiga's duties). I may get it in the future, but that's about all I have left to say about it.
I own and have owned numerous Logitech products over the past 15 years, and I've never had any reason to switch to any other company. I'm not exactly sure when I began my brand loyalty to Logitech, but perhaps it was when the MX1000 was released.
The first Logitech mouse I owned was the Value Optical Mouse, which I eventually gave to a friend, because of my adaptation of the "first" generation of Logitech's Marble Mouse.
The third mouse would (probably) be the MX1000, as it was quite interesting to have something that used a laser instead of an LED light for surface tracking, but the battery eventually degraded to where it didn't hold a charge very well (perhaps it was a bad thing that I had it on the charger if I wasn't using it?). I eventually gave it to my best friend as a mouse for backup/test rig/something else.
Next would be the Mini Optical Mouse Plus for Sae-chan, which I used for quite a while until I didn't have Sae-chan for a couple years, and during that time, I gave the mouse to my best friend so that he can bundle it with a laptop he was selling.
After that came the white V470 for Shizuma, which I used for a while until it was replaced with the Performance Mouse MX (more on this mouse later).
I bought another V470 for the netbook, but in the blue colour, and this one went to my best friend again, until he retired and (possibly) sold it.
While I'm not sure exactly when I got the "third" generation of the Marble Mouse, I bought it to replace the "first" generation because of the button count increase. For those wondering, the "second" generation is the same as the "first", but with different colours, and the "fourth" is like the "third" with different colouring as well. Generation numbers are in quotes, as I can't say for sure if that's how Logitech released them.
I've also bought an M310 for something, but I don't recall what - though I do know that I gave it to my parents to use on the Intel build and the VAIO it replaced.
The Performance Mouse MX was very interesting to me because of it's ability to track on 4mm (and thicker) glass, and I bought it to use with Shizuma along with a N305 for numeric entry (the Unifying receiver is quite nice). I originally had a couple Bluetooth (non-Logitech) numeric pads, but the first one died after I accidentally spilled a bit of water on it, and the second one was just kinda cheap and annoying to use.
When I got Triela, I also got the Anywhere Mouse MX (first generation), since it uses the same Darkfield technology and my best friend had a glass desk at that time (though I only tested it on glass for fun and used it seriously on a mousepad).
When I got Sae-chan back (I think this was when I had the netbook) and "modded" her to have Bluetooth, I bought another white V470, since the other was paired with Shizuma.
For Lie-chan (when she became a Media PC), I bought the M505 because I wanted laser mouse that had Unifying (so I could pair it with the K360).
I also got the Cordless Optical TrackMan at some point, just not sure when (I think when Ziggy was my bedroom compy).
And the latest mouse would be the M570, which is still a bit weird to get used to, since it's a thumb-controlled trackball instead of the index finger-controlled trackball (using the middle finger in concurrency for more precise movement). The first week or two was the hardest, because my brain had been so hardwired to using the Marble Mouse and Cordless Optical TrackMan, so I had to slow down a bit to make my hand control the M570 correctly (instead of making clicks/scrolls when trying to move the cursor).
A total of thirteen Logitech mice, but that only concludes the list of mice. For keyboards, I own/have owned a total of 5. For speakers, I've own the X-540 and owned the X-530. For miscellany, the HD Pro Webcam C920 and the Harmony 650 Remote.
I'll more than likely continue to buy Logitech products when I need/want them, keeping myself from early adoption to avoid any possible issues that may arise (the G910 would be a good example).
Linux 4.0
The article I read is: Linux 4.0 brings Skynet closer to existence, offers reboot-free kernel patching.
While it probably won't be mainstream all that soon, I do look forward to reboot-free kernel upgrades, since it will make things a bit more convenient than it already is (considering that a Linux user can reboot/relog at their own convenience without a nag message).
The other thing that will be nice about 4.0 is the audio over HDMI with the open-source AMD Radeon driver; this will be quite nice for a media PC or HTPC, since it doesn't require the workaround. To make it work with 3.x, you would have to tweak a setting or two, but it can cause issues (I tried it once for the heck of it, but it was a long while ago, so I don't remember all that much of what happened).
As for the numerical numbering, it doesn't matter to me if it's 4.0 or 3.2 because it's just a numerical sequence after all.
While it probably won't be mainstream all that soon, I do look forward to reboot-free kernel upgrades, since it will make things a bit more convenient than it already is (considering that a Linux user can reboot/relog at their own convenience without a nag message).
The other thing that will be nice about 4.0 is the audio over HDMI with the open-source AMD Radeon driver; this will be quite nice for a media PC or HTPC, since it doesn't require the workaround. To make it work with 3.x, you would have to tweak a setting or two, but it can cause issues (I tried it once for the heck of it, but it was a long while ago, so I don't remember all that much of what happened).
As for the numerical numbering, it doesn't matter to me if it's 4.0 or 3.2 because it's just a numerical sequence after all.
29 March 2015
Internet Doorbell
The "article" I read is: Raspberry Pi Internet Doorbell
I stumbled across the blog entry (hence why I typed "article" instead of article) while looking for the blog of the Raspi 2 on sale (I was needing the photo for something).
While I didn't watch the video, it's quite a nice idea, since sometimes the sound of the doorbell isn't heard sometimes.
What I'd like to do is something similar where a motion detector (or possibly a security cam) detects motion and reports it visually and/or audibly since the parcel delivery services here usually just leave the package without knocking or ringing the doorbell, which quite annoying.
I may get another Raspberry Pi to do that with, but we'll see what happens.
I stumbled across the blog entry (hence why I typed "article" instead of article) while looking for the blog of the Raspi 2 on sale (I was needing the photo for something).
While I didn't watch the video, it's quite a nice idea, since sometimes the sound of the doorbell isn't heard sometimes.
What I'd like to do is something similar where a motion detector (or possibly a security cam) detects motion and reports it visually and/or audibly since the parcel delivery services here usually just leave the package without knocking or ringing the doorbell, which quite annoying.
I may get another Raspberry Pi to do that with, but we'll see what happens.
06 March 2015
Water Cooling / Other Stuff
The article I read is: It's Been A Fun Ride, But I'm Done Water-Cooling My PC (I'm hoping this loads correctly for you, as it didn't load correctly for me on Melty).
I've always thought about doing liquid cooling for a computer, but I've never gotten around to doing it, though I've looked at parts here and here a couple times or so.
One of the things that has kept me away is the fact that I can't find a water block for a Radeon HD 6770 - the thing I would want most to be liquid-cooled. With where I'm working now, I technically could make a custom block, but at some point, I'll probably upgrading the 6770 in Melty to something better, so it'd be a lost cause to make that custom block.
Even though I do want to tinker with liquid-cooling, I don't think I'll ever actually do it for any of my own machines, mainly because of the fact that air-cooling works well enough.
A couple weeks ago, I started working as an electronic assembler for a small company that puts together wheelchairs; besides the obvious PCB work, I also make all the cables.
It's decently interesting and I've learned a bit from it - from SMT to using an oscilloscope. It's been sort of a crash-course though, since the one who was training me was really needed in welding (it also didn't help that some of the parts are really low).
Anyway, I probably won't be posting too much for a couple months or so, since I have a severe lack of money; you'll probably mainly be seeing posts about articles, and maybe some projects/tinkering using parts that I already have.
I've been pondering around with ideas for a case that contains the Pi2, Banpi, and HDD, and so far I've figured out to put it all into a single, pre-made box that I found. Sure it's relatively weather-resistant (weather-proof?), but it was the only box I was able to find that was roomy and rectangular. As far as internal layout, I have yet to figure it out since I have a very vague idea of cable paths for one layout (I'm trying to put the HDD in a place with minimal EMI). In the matter of parts, I'm quite covered, so it's just a matter of getting the parts in that stituation.
Once I'm able to, I'll be setting up the Pi2 and Banpi before I do the first half of wired networking for the second floor. Luckily, there happened to be fishing tape at work, so I can borrow that when I run the Cat6.
I thought there was more I was going to talk about, but I can't remember it - if there was.
I've always thought about doing liquid cooling for a computer, but I've never gotten around to doing it, though I've looked at parts here and here a couple times or so.
One of the things that has kept me away is the fact that I can't find a water block for a Radeon HD 6770 - the thing I would want most to be liquid-cooled. With where I'm working now, I technically could make a custom block, but at some point, I'll probably upgrading the 6770 in Melty to something better, so it'd be a lost cause to make that custom block.
Even though I do want to tinker with liquid-cooling, I don't think I'll ever actually do it for any of my own machines, mainly because of the fact that air-cooling works well enough.
A couple weeks ago, I started working as an electronic assembler for a small company that puts together wheelchairs; besides the obvious PCB work, I also make all the cables.
It's decently interesting and I've learned a bit from it - from SMT to using an oscilloscope. It's been sort of a crash-course though, since the one who was training me was really needed in welding (it also didn't help that some of the parts are really low).
Anyway, I probably won't be posting too much for a couple months or so, since I have a severe lack of money; you'll probably mainly be seeing posts about articles, and maybe some projects/tinkering using parts that I already have.
I've been pondering around with ideas for a case that contains the Pi2, Banpi, and HDD, and so far I've figured out to put it all into a single, pre-made box that I found. Sure it's relatively weather-resistant (weather-proof?), but it was the only box I was able to find that was roomy and rectangular. As far as internal layout, I have yet to figure it out since I have a very vague idea of cable paths for one layout (I'm trying to put the HDD in a place with minimal EMI). In the matter of parts, I'm quite covered, so it's just a matter of getting the parts in that stituation.
Once I'm able to, I'll be setting up the Pi2 and Banpi before I do the first half of wired networking for the second floor. Luckily, there happened to be fishing tape at work, so I can borrow that when I run the Cat6.
I thought there was more I was going to talk about, but I can't remember it - if there was.
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