automaticable

It’s always been an awkward question for me: “Mac or PC?”  The question is invariably focused on those two choices, completely leaving out the less-common option that I so devoutly use.  The Operating System I refer to –falsely described as ugly, difficult, and useless – is Ubuntu Linux.  For my entire two year relationship with Linux my answer to the Mac/PC question has almost always been followed by the even tougher question of “Why Linux?”

I have always responded to this question with some variation of it being productive for the computer-inclined, but more of a waste of time for those that don’t have the time to work out the kinks.  The recent Karmic Koala release has flipped this upside down.  The previous reasons to stay away from Linux have fallen by the wayside with this ground-breaking new release.  Faced with the new releases of Snow Leopard(Mac) and Windows 7, Karmic has come out with quite a large bit of competition;  I feel well justified, however, when I say that Ubuntu is the perfect alternative for those yearning to move away from the proprietary world.

The largest reason that I have always dodged the concept of migrating from Windows/Mac to Linux is the horrid hardware setup that I’ve always faced.  This has been completely wiped from my concerns with the Karmic release.  A clean install immediately recognized all of my hardware (which is quite the feat – my computer is a mismatch of scavenged hardware from old wrecks).  I continued to put Karmic through the test, as I installed a second video card with the hopes of setting up a dual monitor.  One BIOS change and one reboot later I was up and running on the second video card.

Another thing that has always scared people away from the Linux experience is the lack of software comparable to Windows/Mac.  Ubuntu specifically focused on this issue, and opened up the brand new Ubuntu Software Center(USC).  USC takes the great usefulness of the Synaptic Package Manager, and brings it into a more useable and comfortable GUI.  USC will offer a one-stop place to find software, read reviews, see and make ratings, and finally install.  Rumors also say that the USC has plans to become the breeding ground of an Ubuntu version of an app store.

My greatest worry withWindows 7 being released so near to the same time as Ubuntu 9.10 was that Windows 7 would come out on top in benchmarks.  My concerns turned out to be even greater after watching a Windows 7 demonstration (Windows 7 house party!) and noticing the very quick boot time.  Results have been published though, and www.techie-buzz.com shows that Karmic boots in near half the time of Windows 7.

With all the results in, I can confidently say that this is the Ubuntu release that I have been the most excited about.  With all three of the OS giants giving out the top of their game this year, I believe Ubuntu has finally released an OS that has the potential to break into the common household.  I am not saying that Ubuntu is the end-all to the OS war – Windows 7 and Snow Leopard are great at what they do – but it certainly is a valuable candidate when making your OS choice.   Prepare yourselves – soon the question may be “Mac, PC, or Linux?”

Shiver me timbers, tis be I, sir Brian of Orlando, here to drink your rum and leave you with the tab!  No, but seriously, I’m sorry for my hiatus, I’ve been VERY busy.  Since I last posted, I have done so much I can’t even remember it all!  All I remember is I’ve gone go carting at an awesome go-cart track with live gators, gone to Hollywood Studios MANY times, met up with my cousins while they were visiting, and even got the chance to meet up with my old band directors at Epcot while they were down here for Magic Music Days.  It’s been a crazy couple weeks and I’m getting so excited because Braves Spring Training has begun and that means pro athletes everywhere and lots of hours of working and more money!!!

Today was a fun day though.  I had the day off because of class this morning, so I decided to go to the Braves game afterwords.  I lucked out in it being Braves vs Yankees today which made it even more so exciting.  I took a special direct bus to Disney’s Wide World of Sports around 12:00 and went straight for the merchandise store and grabbed myself a jersey and a new Braves hat because I noticed I don’t have any Braves apparel to support them with.  When I finally got inside the stadium I grabbed myself a beer, a spicy chicken sandwich, and headed off to my comfy lawn seats to enjoy a wonderful day in the ball park.  I was surrounded by Yankee’s fans which kind of surprised me, but understandable cuz it’s way too cold in New York.  It started out to be a very brisk cool day, but by the end of the game, I took of the shirts I had under my jersey and was laying down in the grass, drink in hand, and enjoying the beautiful sunshine.  It was a pretty quick game, but an exciting one because the Braves won 3-2 when it was all said and done.

I’m really enjoying my stay down here, but as time goes on, I’m becoming more and more home sick and I miss my friends and family.  This scares me because I’m going to be turning 23 soon, and need to move out on my own eventually.  I still feel like I’m too young to be making adult choices, but too old to “party like a rock star” like I used to do.  Oh well, I’m sure I’ll come to terms with this eventually.

Wow, it’s already 12:30, where has the night gone?  Looks like it’s bed time!  Take care readers, I’ll post again soon!

Last night and earlier today a couple of tornadoes ripped through downtown Atlanta, bringing with them tons of lightning and hail the size of baseballs. Not being from a weather-disaster prone area, this has had me kind of on edge all day long watching the weather men say things like “I don’t think I’ve ever seen two storms merge together like this ever before, especially around a metropolitan area,” and “This is currently a worst-case scenario.”

The real point of this post is to let everyone know that everything is OK in my neck of the woods. Other than a few branches down and the power going in and out a bit, I didn’t really experience much tornado weather, though there were major tornado touchdowns 10 miles north and 10 miles south of me. Somehow I got lucky and actually had a rather sunny day.