automaticable

Here’s a little indispensable wisdom next time things go awry– whenever you’re having trouble with technology, the easiest first shot is to restart fresh. If you think it’s a hardware problem– such as routers, modems, cellphones– unplug it or take out the battery for about 30 seconds, and try again. If you think it’s software– VPN, fonts, or general application problems– just restart your computer and give it another go. This fixes 90% of problems, and saves you a 45-minute call to tech-support.

If you're new here, you can subscribe to automaticable's RSS feed by clicking here. Or, you can get post updates through your email. Thanks for visiting!

I have been using Last.fm for a few years now, and it’s been one of those services that keeps getting better the longer you stick with it. In case you’re not familiar, it’s an online social network that creates a profile based on the music you listen to you. From there, it can recommend new music, as well as show how musically “compatible” you are with your friends.

One of the most useful features is the free streaming radio. Last.fm creates dynamic stations with music from your musical profile, music similar to a particular artist, or from a tag. There are many options for listening to these streaming stations on Ubuntu, and I’d like to compare each of them.

Last.fm Official Client
Last.fm has released their own client for listening tostreaming content from the desktop. It’s a pretty full-featured interface, as far as you can go with a streaming radio client. Also, it has access to much of the content that you would find on the website.
Pros

• Full-featured desktop client
• Artist bios and profiles
• Access to your Last.fm profile

Cons

• A little bulky
• Closed source

Installation

sudo aptitude install lastfm

Last-Exit
Last-Exit is a lightweight alternative to the official client. It offers all of the basic functionality, and cuts down on all the frill. It’s a good substitute if you are having trouble with the official client.
Pros

• Lightweight
• Open-source
• Integrates well with the GNOME desktop

Cons

• No album art or advanced functionality

Installation

sudo aptitude install last-exit

Rhythmbox Last.fm Plugin
If you are already using Rhythmbox for the rest of your music needs, then the Rhythmbox plugin is a great option. It offers all of the Last.fm stations, through the Rhythmbox interface. It doesn’t have the artist biographies that the official client does, although it does integrate album art.
Pros

• Rhythmbox integration
• Already installed with Rhythmbox

Cons

• Bulky if only used for Last.fm

Installation

Already installed, enable it in the Rhythmbox Plugins dialog.

Last.fm Website
If you prefer not to install a desktop client, you can always stream radio through your web browser. All it requires is a flash plugin and a Last.fm username.
Pros

• No need to install a client
• Well-integrated with the rest of the Last.fm website

Cons

• Requires leaving your browser open

Installation

None

So, I’ve had nVidia video cards in just about every computer I’ve worked on to date. Geforce has always been known as cutting-edge; the standard for any graphics-intensive user. But I think things are changing.

Now, I don’t have a very in-depth background in the real trade-offs in video cards, or the specific differences between Nvidia and other cards– my background has been almost purely installing drivers, and their basic features. But this is the core functionality in any card, the bottom line that needs to work on any standard install. And this is where Nvidia has dropped the ball.

I recently made the switch to Linux with a laptop and desktop that both have Nvidia cards. Now, video drivers from Nvidia are all proprietary and therefore discouraged in the Linux community. However if you want to do cool things– like use desktop effects)– a lot of cards require that you use the closed-source driver rather than the free one. The switch is pretty simple, but in my experience, it’s a trade-off between eye-candy and stability. There are a number of known-bugs in the proprietary driver that cripple features like sleep/suspend, multiple X sessions, and in some cases, it still crashes with compiz.

But obviously things are better on Windows, right? That’s where the user base is, so basic configurations should be well-supported. Not exactly. Upgrading to Vista with most Nvdia cards was a huge fiasco when Vista came out, and I believe it still is for some cards. Also, Nvidia has dropped support for most of its older cards. That means no new drivers, and a wild-goose chase even looking for older ones. It has come down to hacking the new drivers to “support” older cards.

Enter ATI. To me, ATI carries a connotation of being a step below comparable Geforce cards. But recently, their Radeon line has come a long way. But the big news is that ATI recently opened up the source to their video drivers. This can only mean good things. On Linux, it means that the ATI-created drivers can be shipped by default, and better supported. On all platforms, it means faster bug-fixes and better stability in general.

So the bottom-line is, I’m still stuck with my Nvidia cards. But, perhaps Nvidia can take a page out of ATI’s book for their support. If things don’t change, I think ATI is going to take the upper-hand in the next few years.

I’ve been home with the family for a couple weeks for the holiday season now. I took a break from sitting by the fire and enjoying stories of Christmas-past, to set my brothers with Ubuntu. One of them just bought a new desktop, and was willing to give it a shot on his aging laptop, and the other wanted to setup a dual-boot, to test the Linux waters before making the switch.

Needless to say, I’m now on constant call for tech-support. Neither of them have any Linux experience, but they’re pretty tech-oriented anyway. It’ll be a good learning experience for all of us. In fact, I’ve already picked up a few pointers to share:

• Don’t assume that cool desktop effects are going to work on your old hardware. The new compiz is cool, but old cards just can’t hack it. For some Nvidia cards, it’ll require using the proprietary video driver, which is a whole new can of worms.
• Use local repository mirrors. Just like a fresh Windows install, expect about 100 updates after you’ve got things installed. You can cut the download time in half by finding a mirror in your area.
• Discourage sudo. Coming from Windows, there is an expectation that you should have access to everything. In Linux, there’s restrictions there for a reason. Instil a fear of root access, as a means to save the new user from himself. And when you must go editing system files, make backups.
• Show off the terminal. This may sounds contradicting to the last point, but Linux is built around the command-line. While your setting things up through the GUI, make sure to mention the alternatives. If they’re going to use Linux, they’re going to have to dabble in the terminal eventually.
• Teach them to search. Starting off, they’re obviously going to have questions, and more than you’ll probably have time to answer. Show them the wonders of Google. There’s even a search engine, Uboontu, that’s tailored exactly for Ubuntu and Linux questions.
• Setup remote access. Just because the relatives are leaving and the holidays are ending, doesn’t mean that the computer trouble will. Make sure you have an adminstrator account setup, as well as ssh and vnc access. This means setting up the server, and opening ports on the router.
• Talk it up. Finally, you need to convince them that they made the right move going to Linux. Ubuntu takes some getting used to, so make them feel they’ve made a worthy investment by bragging about it a little bit. Talk about how easy it is to install software, how everything is free and legal, and that they won’t get viruses. Make them like it.

So, I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time, and it seems like a good opportunity now. I’m not committing to any specific topic or genre, but really anything that happens in my life. So then, perhaps a little background:

I’m a computer science major at the University of Illinois, and so I assume most of my posts will have a nerdy slant to them. But, I also enjoy music, travelling, cooking, and all sorts of other things that could make their way into here.

But what the heck is ‘automaticable’? Well, that leads me to my first mini-post. Coming up with a cool, catchy, and seemingly-nonsense name is the most important aspect of any product. I decided not to go the Web 2.0 route, so I scrapped names like “scottr” and such. Instead, I stole an idea I recently read on Google Blogoscoped to come up with random names. The idea is to use Gmail’s account name suggestions to come up with something clever. If you enter numbers for your name, like “123456″, it’ll combine two random words, and sometimes it’s interesting.

The idea from the previous blog was intended for account names, but also applicable for domain names or… blogs. And with that, a website was born.