Ah sweet Hardy Heron. (Ubuntu 8.04)
You solved my probles with the Creative Zen 4G. After upgrading my 7.10 install to 8.04, and reinstalling Amarok I not have some pretty decent support for the Zen.
Colour me impressed.
I’m liking Ubuntu so much, I’ve been inspired to go out and pick up a 24″ widescreen monitor for it. To be delivered Monday. Joy!
Once again, I must reiterate that I am extremely happy with my switch to Ubuntu.
In the last week, since I’ve made the full switch to Ubuntu, I’ve started asking myself this question, do I need Windows.
So often when I had that other boot option my though was Yes, I need Windows. “I need this program or that, I need to do that thing that only Windows can do.”
As the week has progressed without the handy fallback, I am beginning to realize that I have never in fact needed Windows. What I had needed was the comfort of the only operating system I have ever really known. I started with PC’s back in the days of DOS 2.0, and have since been staring the Microsoft brand in the face nearly every day of my life.
Over the past week I have found that 75% of what I do on the PC includes a web browser, a media player, and a graphics editor. All of which are quite handily accomplished with the likes of Firefox, Amarok and GIMP. (Among other alternatives) So with that in mind I can easily say that that at least 75% of the time, I don’t NEED Windows.
Of the other other 25 percent of my PC activities, at least 15% is dedicated to general fiddling, scripting, programming, poking around and messing things up. Activities for which Linux grants more than ample opportunity. Far more than Windows…So much in fact that that 15% may rise dramatically for the foreseeable future.
What’s left? 10%. This 10% has been perhaps one of the prime reasons I have stayed with Windows for so long. I have for a number of years been an avid casual gamer, floating from one virtual world to the next, slaying dragons and delivering packages for any number different elves, dwarves, mages, thieves, etc… Gaming has kept me in the Windows world for a very long time.
Since the birth of my daughter, whose images pepper my site frequently, gaming has become a distant priority. That time being replaced with time playing with her. Gaming at it’s best in my opinion. There may come a time that I want to get back into it, and here I must admit that I don’t know where Linux currently stands with this type of activity as I have not explored it in the least. (Unless TuxRacer counts…)
All that aside, I would hesitate to say that I need to game at all at the moment. I just want to from time to time. But even if I were to say that Linux does not handle gaming at all…I am still left with having no real need of Windows 90% of the time. (Or 100% of the time as I’m not currently in gaming mode)
I am really beginning to see that much of the pain people have in switching to Linux is not really based on what Linux can or cannot do, but rather, what is different from that which they have become so very accustomed to. Be it a specific program, a specific way of accomplishing a task, or maybe just that ubiquitous Windows startup sound that so many of us hear multiple times daily in our cubicle farms and homes.
If people were exposed to Linux in it’s current state (as a desktop operating system) from the start, it would be Windows we would look at with dismay and suspicion, and wonder quite loudly “Why in god’s name would I want to PAY for THAT? And PAY for virtually any program I want to run on it? I can do all that and more for free…”
So I’m still off windows, and for the most part feeling fine.
There are some things I have liked and some things that have been a challenge…but on a whole, I’m still quite happy as a windows free user…
Things I like:
Challenges:
Those are my only hang ups so far. Loving the rediscovering of my PC, it’s like when I was learning DOS when I was 10 years old. New, fresh and fun. Heck…even Laura hasn’t minded the switch so far. 
Say no to windows…
P.S. I certainly appreciate any suggestions for alternatives to the apps I have listed, I’m just exploring and have no particular allegiance to anything. It’s still fairly new to me. And if anyone has ideas for anything else, for purposes not listed above…please feel free…
So on a sleepless Sunday morning, I did it.
I decided to run my windows updates, which I have not done in some time.
This certainly seemed like a fairly standard and normal thing to do, something I’ve done countless times before. But Sunday, it was different.
Everything ran through fine, downloading, installing, and then….the reboot…Oh you bastard of a reboot.
NTLDR is missing
Hmm…I can fix that….Windows CD, recovery console…bippitybam…No go….
Flash forward to 4 hours of troubleshooting later….
The following has happened:
So…Needless to say, I have cursed Microsoft, Bill, Windows to the ends of the earth and back…wishing ill will upon them all until blue in the face.
Solution:
My desktop is now 100% Ubuntu Linux. I’m sick of all the crap I have to deal with on Windows. I’m sick of the fact that despite the fact that I have a legitimate license for widows, it would be hell to try to reinstall windows because since the move I haven’t been able to locate my license number, so would have to probably purchase another copy of windows, or pirate it.
I have used ubuntu a lot over the past year, but find myself from time to time lured back to windows when in need of an application. But this time…no dual boot. If I need something, I’m going to find an open source way of doing it.
Summary:
Screw you windows…I know Linux isn’t perfect by any stretch, but given the choice of paying for imperfection, or getting it for free…I’m going to go the free route.
That title is a bit of a mouthful, particularly for those who don’t know or care what I am talking about.
But again, for those that do…here goes.
So my scenario is as follows….
I have a newly installed Ubuntu 7.04 installation, and a Blackberry 8700.
As any of you blackberry users know, when you plug your blackberry into the USB cable in windows, it conveniently begins to charge. Easy stuff, no messing about generally. This is not really the case with Linux. (Ubuntu 7.04 to be precise, in this scenario)
You see, as I understand it, and have confirmed in my last few days of migrating to Ubuntu on my desktop PC, a usb port normally outputs 100mA of juicy power. This is not enough to charge the Blackberry. It requires 500mA.
Now windows, in all it’s wonder (and with the help of a driver) is quite efficient in recognizing that when you are plugging in your blackberry, you most likely want to charge it. So, sensing the blackberry it increases the output of the USB port accordingly and viola, you have a charged blackberry some hours later.
Ubuntu however requires a little help in this area. Out of the box it does not appear to see the blackberry for what it is, and does not change the power output of the USB port, and therefore, does not charge your little hip side companion.
Fortunately, there is some help for ubuntu in this regard. The Barry Project at Sourceforge includes a handy utility called bcharge that can recognize your Blackberry and adjust the output power to the required 500mA, much like Windows does. In many cases this tool is all that is required for making your Ubuntu install into a fully functional blackberry charger.
However, this did not quite work for me with the 8700. I am not entirely sure why. But the issue was that the power on my usb port would be increased, but only for about 1 second. Then, my little charging icon on the blackberry would go away, leaving me sadly with no more juice in my crackberry.
I was stumped, and could not find a resolution to this issue until today, when I spoke to my nephew, who knew a guy who had resolved it. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I cannot. But since I didn’t find this work around anywhere on the net so far, I thought I would share in the hopes that someone else will have some luck with it!
So here is the solution (Finally) to…
Charging the Blackberry 8700r on Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) using bcharge.
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DISCLAIMER: USE THIS SOLUTION AT YOUR OWN RISK!
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I cannot be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device as a result of using this method.
All I can say is that it works for me, and so far, my blackberry has not blown up or caught fire, or been otherwise visibly damaged, I cannot guarantee you will get the same results!
The solution is pretty simple really. A loop. Since the charging icon goes away after just over a second, Run bcharge, every second!
This is what I did exactly. (Fyi: I placed the script in my home directory, but put the sudo in anyway)
1. Use your favourite text editor to create a script that we will use to loop bcharge.
sudo nano bbcharge.sh
2. Use the following script code that will run bcharge every second, forever. Save it when you are done.
#!/bin/sh
X=0
while (X=0)
do
bcharge > NUL
sleep 1
done
*Note: This is exactly the second shell script I have ever written so forgive the rudimentary nature of it.
3. Make the script Executable.
sudo chmod 755 bbcharge.sh
4. Plug in your Blackberry. (Do this first, when I run the script first the blackberry reboots when I plug it in, can’t be good)
5. Run the script!
./bbcharge.sh
You should now be charging away.
Let me know how it works out.
Many won’t know what I’m talking about, but the odd person might so…
Running “sudo chown -hR matt /” in an Ubuntu install, is not so good for the system.
It’s actually a pretty effective way or borking it up good and proper.
I honestly meant to put something after the /, but my morning fingers just wouldn’t have it.
I used to have a rule that working on my system before 8am was a big no no…I may have to reinstate that rule.
Fortunately enough It was a new install on my desktop, and it wasn’t much more than the base install…
Anyhow…now I have to wait to get home and fix it…because I managed to do all that damage remotely…
Pro’s
Con’s
Most of the cons are not a really big deal as I can work around them, and they may just be a matter of getting used to life in Linux.
Overall I notice very little difference in what I would normally do on my laptop, and I think I might just leave it as my default laptop OS. Granted, I still have dual boot set up so I can go back to windows at a moments notice. But I am extremely impressed at how easy it has been overall to make a switch to a linux desktop. I’m by no means a linux guru, but at least I have reached a milestone in having a fully function non windows system that I am happy with. It’s not about to replace my desktop system as the primary OS of choice, mostly due to my dependency on certain applications Windows offers, but its certainly much closer.
Yep, I’m an Ubuntu user, and proud of it.
