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Random Musings: 20 January, 2007

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I know, I haven’t been updating like I should. Nothing much happens in the PC world Dec. – Jan. I’ve been working my tail off at my real job, had minor surgery (I’m fine), and went to Vegas for a few days (no, absolutely not for CES).

I finally got a widescreen monitor. The Samsung SyncMaster 226BW. I got a good deal on it at the CompUSA closing sale.
In a related note I found awesome widescreen wallpapers at these sites:
DeviantArt
InterfaceLift
more good links at Wallpaperreview.com.

I use an old program called WallpaperChanger to rotate my wallpapers and it works great under Vista (I do not use the Resize or Color options). KDE has this option built-in.

Speaking of Vista. I’m running the SP1, RC refresh and it isn’t doing too bad. I found an interesting post at Neowin today about Microsoft’s Windows Vista: The Facts. While the article is typical marketing BS, it does make a few valid (if over-hyped) points. Be sure to check out the comments at Neowin for a few laughs.
That brings me to the results of this sites Windows Vista poll. Let me state right off I am well aware that this poll would not stand up to the scientific method but it is interesting and In My Humble Opinion looks to be pretty accurate based on what I see and hear.
As of this writing (I will expire the poll in a few days, when I think of another one):
-484 total votes.
-329 have used/tried Vista
-166 like it
-163 went back to XP or are using it and don’t like it.
Pro/con that’s darn near 50/50 for Vista. I don’t care what you think of Vista, nobody at MS could look at numbers like that and say Vista is a success.

Oh, and I’ve been playing at bit of online poker. The site I play at is free and legal here in the U.S. It’s called VLPClub and you can actually win stuff. Shoot me an email at ” etc ” at this domain (tweakhound.com) if you are interested an I can send you a referral that’ll get you (and me) some bonus points.

Random Musings (12/02/2007)

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It’s that time of year for tech articles, the lame “gift guides” continue to pour out. Next up, the super-lame “year-in-review” articles.
A reader asked why I’m only running a Pentium 4 computer. Well, my laptop is a Core 2 Duo and I’m still making payments on it. Gotta pay that off before I get something else.
Speaking of readers. Some of you guys continue to make great comments and contributions, even if (actually, especially if) we disagree. Thank you, it makes doing this fun.
I’m constantly getting asked to link to this-or-that website. So, I’m gonna put up an affiliates list. The qualifications are:
-You must have been on the web for at least 1 (one) year (I don’t care what kind of traffic you get). Sorry to you new guys but I’ve seen too many sites come and go.
-You must have an affiliates list on your front page (and listed prominently). Not a separate page.
-You must post news from other sites on your front page (and listed prominently), complete with an article synopsis. The format should be either in blog form or an a format like Warp2Search, [H]ardOCP, etc.
-No ‘adult’ content (that includes links).

I’m amazed at the number of people that have switched back to XP! (see the poll —->)

Random Musings…

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If you aren’t into Ubuntu it’s been a rather slow week for PC users. I’ve been continuing my setup of openSUSE 10.3, installing Ubuntu 7.10 on one machine and doing an upgrade on another. BTW, does anyone know what the problem is at KDE-Look? I haven’t been able to access that site in quite some time.
You know, if I have to see one more lame-butt ‘is Linux ready for the desktop’ article I think I’m gonna have a conniption. Yes, Linux is ready for the desktop, if you have the nads to learn a new OS.
The big news for me this week is that I ditched Comcast broadband and got Verizon FIOS. All I can say is WOOOOHOOOOO!!! It also seems that the original story of Comcast monkeying with downloads may be true after all.
I would like to send a big ‘atta-boy’ to whomever does the Mozilla updates at openSUSE. Before I read about Firefox being updated anywhere on the net, Firefox 2.0.0.8 was on the openSUSE servers! I checked for updates via SMART and, ‘what the, 2.0.0.8?‘ so I scooted over to the FF home page and sure enough…

Anywho…I hope you have an awesome weekend!
Eric

Site Stuff…

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– I’ve added a polls section in the right sidebar.

– I’ve got room for 2 more RSS Feeds in the sidebar. What sites would you like to see there?

– Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon comes out Thursday. That’s what I’ll be doing next weekend.

– A personal “Thank You”. I was reading a post over in SuSE Linux Forums and it got me to thinking…
I would like to personally thank:
– All the people involved in writing code for Linux, its distros, and its software.
– Every person who writes an article or blog post helping others use Linux.
– Every forum member in the various Linux forums who attempt to help others in using Linux.
Your selfless efforts have made my and many others Linux Experience a fun, productive, and rewarding experience.
As we say here in the South; Rock On Y’all!

Question Of The Week

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A reader asked:

I notice on your website that you said I need two hard drives to make everything run better. My question is this: are there any particular hard drive configuration ie, name brand that I should use, and or does it matter if I put in different brands, speed, etc. I now have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB Hard Drive – 7200, 16MB, Serial ATA-300.

My answer:

It depends on what your goals are. I like to completely isolate my operating system so when possible it/they are on its own drive. Of course this leads to massive amounts of wasted space on the drive but increases performance ever so slightly and makes image backups easier. The OS should absolutely be on the fastest drive (you’ve got a pretty good drive there). Mixing brands doesn’t matter though Geeks will fight over brands based on past experiences. The only advice I would give is stick with the major brands.
Check here for a hard drive leader board:
http://www.storagereview.com/leaderboard.sr
And watch Newegg and here for the best deals:
http://www.techbargains.com/index.cfm

So what do you think? Got a tip or opinion on this?