nixternal

Docunification

nixternal — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:36:24 +0000

As a member of both the Ubuntu Documentation Project and the KDE Documentation Project, one thing is clear, our current state of system help isn’t the greatest. An initiative that the GNOME project has looked at taking on (for the greater part of the past 3 years) is called Project Mallard. There are some things in this project that I like and dislike, however one thing is clear, they understand the inefficiency of their current system and know it needs to be fixed. KDE is realizing this same exact thing and know we need to fix it, but figuring out how to do so correctly, isn’t the easiest thing.

One thing that GNOME, KDE, and others have worked hard to do is collaborate with Freedesktop.org specifications on many levels. Maybe it is time we look at continuing this excellence, but this time add documentation to the menu. How many of you GNOME users love using Amarok or another KDE application, but hate the fact that KHelpCenter is installed just so you can view the help documentation? Granted a lot of this has been fixed by just recommending KHelpCenter in the packages, but this doesn’t fix the issue, because now you have a .docbook file to read, and guess what, Yelp isn’t going to open it cleanly for you, or at least the last time I looked at Yelp it didn’t. Or you have KDE and want to open up the .xml file with KHelpCenter, but it just doesn’t work correctly. I think if we were to unify documentation we could move toward the goal of world domination

Would working closely together help fix our issues, would this be a good thing? What would be the “best” way to move forward?

BarCamp Chicago Style Going On Right Now!

nixternal — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:17:59 +0000

RIGHT NOW! Ya Jono, that was my Sammy Hagar reference there, the one you made fun of as you sung Hammer Time with Captain Morgan at some little pub in Michigan a few months back.

Anyways, I am sitting here at BarCamp Chicago listening to a really groovy talk on Erlang. The air show is going on right now over the lake and I really want to be there watching it too. Jeesh what a weekend in Chicago. If you want to stop by here at BarCamp go right ahead. We have plenty of food and drink and everything is FREE!

If you want to follow along a bit, you can keep an eye out on my new identi.ca account where I go by nothing other than ‘nixternal’

Hope to see some of you here at BarCamp! Have a great weekend!

BarCamp Chicago!

nixternal — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:30:59 +0000

August 16th and 17th, Chicago is holding its annual BarCamp Chicago event. It will start Saturday and run all the way through Sunday evening. FREE FOOD AND DRINK! Great talks and a lot of super cool IT people all getting together and hanging out. I went last year and it was awesome! So if you are able to next week, come on out and hang out with the various area user groups, Ubuntu Chicago, and me

What should I get?

nixternal — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:15:25 +0000

Howdy my fellow lazy webbers! I have been having issues with one of my desktops (currently a Pentium D with 1GB DDR2 and an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro) and I am looking at upgrading. It seems these days the reviews are kind of garbage like out there so I was wondering what you all prefer. I am an Intel fan nowadays and have been using Intel chipsets with integrated video because it always just worked for me and KDE 4 or when using Gnome and Compiz. I would like for it to continue to work as well. Something dual-core or more, DDR3 if possible, and gigabit LAN if possible. If you know of a good setup that you would recommend for a Linux only box, please speak up. Thanks!

Critical Mass

nixternal — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:55:12 +0000

Yesterday, Brian Green (one of the original Ubuntu Chicago OG’s) and I joined up with the Chicago Critical Mass bike ride throughout the city of Chicago. Last night we toured through the west side (almost got caught up in a gang fight at an intersection, but we peddled through it), headed north up Western and ended up in the Logan Square area. From there we went a little bit more north, then west again, then north again, then east, and then south through Lincoln Park and Old Town. To end it, a thousand or more cyclist took over Michigan Avenue, Chicago Police included, and yelled “HAPPY FRIDAY” to all of the pissed off automobile drivers and the cheering pedestrians. The entire trip lasted about 3 hours and went on for about 30 miles (48.387 km). It was a beautiful ride, and a painful one at that. I took my Trek 1.2 T road bike which has a racing saddle and clipless peddles. I wore my new cycling shoes which aren’t broken in yet, OUCH! I also forgot to wear my chamois so my butt is a tad bit sore today, but not sore enough to go cycling more.

Click HERE for more pictures of the ride.

iCrack 3G Ripoffs already sighted

nixternal — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:27:19 +0000

So, as most of you know, today was the release day for the new iPoops. I of course made jokes at everyone in the office who has one, and watched all of the complete idiots stand in line since yesterday hoping their iPoop had some Steve Jobs sweat on it. Anyways, woohoo, I could care less, but what I find funny is that people went and bought the new iPoops during the iTunes failure (Mako, there you go man! Add that to your list of errors, there are some good screenshots out there, or better yet Jono, Mass Fail!) and couldn’t activate their new waste of money. So, some people decided, hell, I will buy 2, put them on Craigslist and Ebay for $800. Holy smokes you Apple freaks, you are slightly iTarded! The AT&T store, about .75 miles from my hood, has all but the 2 they sold today, and the Apple store in Schaumburg still had some when I took a cruise by to see how many iTards were waiting in line. And people wonder why I hate the city of Chicago and enjoy the burb life, ya that means you Kevin ‘I use Ubuntu in my closet’ Harriss! We don’t have the silly hoopla the city has, and don’t have to stand in line, unless it is an $800 laptop on sale for $250 at Best Buy come the day after Thanksgiving.

Oh, and I just happened to stop by Best Buy yesterday and purchase my very own Ubuntu collection. Oddly enough, it was the last one and the guy at the desk started to act like he knew a thing or two, which was cool, though he didn’t know much except that Vista was better and not prone to hackers like Lie-nux is

OK, time to simmah down, watch today’s stage of the Tour de France and go to bed. Have a great iWeekend everyone!