I picked up an Acer netbook a couple weeks back. Out of the box it came with windows 7 installed. I personally don’t want anything to do with windows, but I still made sure to set up a clone of the hard drive as it came from factory just in case using clonezilla so I could return it to factory spec if I have to. As a piece of hardware I find it to be a solid system to work with. though I know some don’t see the utility of an ultra-portable that doesn’t have an optical drive. I personally don’t see anything like this as anything other then a work system that you take. After all, if you don’t constantly need an optical drive, then why should you carry the bulk for it?
I installed Gentoo linux onto this system, and after a day of compiling the base system I got into a command line and proceeded to get the system operational with the KDE 4.4.3 Desktop Enviroment. I need to go back at some point and try to actually slim down what’s actually on here software wise. I do like the 4.4 netbook setting in the desktop appearence settings for KDE.
I got the chance to install and toy around with KDE 4.4.0 and some of the new program additions. Right now everything seems to function rather well, no real changes in performance from 4.3.0. It’s the new way of selecting plasma apps for the desktop, desktop activities, and desktop layouts that take the cake this time around.
In previous 4.x releases you got a scroll menu of applets for your desktop and panels when you wanted to add widgets. Now you get a filmstrip at the bottom of the screen that you can select your widgets from. it makes looking for things a little easier.
Desktop acivitys are also a good thing. This plays into the netbook desktop layout which allows you to organize your self and your display as well as you can. It also starts out as a netbook layout setup to make your life easier if you have a netook your installing on. I suggest you give it a try and see what you think.
Decided to give kBlooger 1 a trial run. I have to admit that even for alpha software it does look like it will turn out well. First problem though is no tags so I have to add that later. Second problem is no image uploading, so I have to do that in the site itself. I’ll see how everything works over time. Maybe some things will be fixed as it progresses into beta and then stable 1.0. Who knows.
Here’s a screen shot.
Started playing around with KOffice 2 today. Honestly I don’t really mind it. A lot of the features that I had issues with from before have been fixed. The program is bringing up OpenOffice.org generated odt files up properly now without an extra blank page at the beginning. The program did crash when I hit undo, which is a bug I hope will be fixed.
As a program I do like how it looks. It still needs to be able to export to HTML properly for me to be really happy, considering I need HTML for Darkscribes.
Code,
Linux |
Posted by LD
October 29th, 2008
Was discussing QTScript calls planned for and already in Amarok 2 in the freenode channel tonight. Seems a good portion of the functionality I’d need for my media device script would need to be added into Amarok as it stands. Which means I’m back to C++ for the entire process, and to build what needs to be included into Amarok 2. Little bit more work than I was thinking when I first thought to try this.
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I’ve been using KDE 4.1.2 for an extended period and I am very pleased with the setup. The new QT 4 based tool kit has helped improve a lot of perceived issues with appearence and functionality. The elimination of ARTS in preference for Phonon was a good idea for the most part. Several people may have issues with it however, as they would prefer direct calls to ALSA. Considering the intent of making all KDE apps cross platform however I don’t see that as logical or practical.
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Linux |
Posted by LD
October 26th, 2008
With the newer updates to KDE and Amarok the dev teams have set the entire thing up to make some things easier. Plasma scripts and apps are developed in any scripting language one can ask for. You can even write your apps in C++ and make due rather well. I’m trying to decide if I want to try to learn C++ and go from there. I’m not entirely certain.
One thing I want is a script in Amarok that would transcode and prep videos for transfer to iPod and other media devices. However I’m still trying to get my mind around it all. Little help would be nice.
The biggest issue I see is the fact that it’s all javascript. I’m not certain how easy Java script is supposed to be as I’ve not been one to code often. I’m trying to figure it out, but it’s not easy.
Any suggestions or options please drop me a line and let me know.
Hello,
Today KDE 4 was released, version 4.0.2 to be exact. it’s a lovely piece of programing from what I’ve been able to see so far and hope i will continue to be so. Many of the various apps that make KDE the major DE it is are still being developed to include a stand alone web browser based not on khTml but on WebKit, and other major revamps of programs. However the major shifting of all the newer stuff is still worth the updating even to the developmental branch of KDE 4. If you want to wait, then 4.1 will be the KDE you want.
Due to the two months of being unemployed I’ve been less then interested in my writing. I’m hoping that now that I’m employed again I’ll be able to get more into things like that again. I want to continue on with Imperium and try to get more stuff working on that. eventually I’ll have a nice full on novel with a PDF download and maybe self publish the damned thing. Anyone interested in assisting me fiscally on that to take some worries off my brow and allow me to focus on my wiritng is more then welcome.
I have found a new job finnaly, I’m working in a security company. It’s not Dell computer stuff, but it’s something I’m used to, working with appropriate authorities to make things safer for people even if it’s through people who are subs and not everyone. Wish I had some more money and made a bit more, but for now this is good enough.
Shift work for the win folks.
