After reading numerous web usability articles and cleaning up the look of the site I think it looks much better. The colors are easier are on the eyes and the navigation has been updated to reflect best web usability practices. I’ve also implemented a few local cache plugins to allow external media sources (IE Flickr/Twitter) to load much faster.
Let me know in the comments what you all think!
The latest release of Mandriva 2008.1RC2 has been out for a few weeks. I’ve had a chance to hammer away on it. Many other users of varying technical expertises have also had time to work with it. In general, everyone is impressed with the most recent release (on the Asus eee PC). It has been my full time operating system (on the eee PC) for the past three weeks. I think it’s here to stay.
As with any release the more we hammer on the kinks the better the overall end product will be. Here is a summary of findings/feedback about the current Mandriva 2008.1RC2.
I think this one is ready to go gold!
START QUOTE:
1) Can be installed on the SSD (replacing Xandros), a USB key, or an SDHC card. 4GB min required for install, can be compressed (see below).
2) Kernel recognizes up to 4GB RAM.
3) User-friendly installer, multi-language.
4) Correctly installs video, sound card, webcam, Ethernet and post-install correctly installs Wi-Fi. USB peripherals are all correctly recognized. Touchscreen module compiled in the kernel.
5) Suspend-to-RAM (Sleep) works, needs a single extra line in rc.local if Mandriva is installed on removable medium.
6) Overclocking works, needs eee.ko module and single extra line in rc.local + simple bash script.
7) KDE 3.5.9 and 4.02, Gnome 2.22, Xfce 4.4.2, IceWM, FluxBox, etc. Take your pick!
8 ) Complete development environment included. OpenOffice 2.4 included. Mplayer included. VLC included. Kitchen sink included.
9) Post-install /usr compression of everything-including-the-kitchen-sink install results in < 1.8 GB install, leaving > 2GB free space for user files and upgrades on 4GB storage device.
10) Compiz-fusion available and easily installed. Metisse 3D desktop also available (imho not production ready yet).
11) Skype 2.x (with webcam) works with small workaround for sound (Skype hogs the sound interface while in use, so you can’t have Skype and e.g. Amarok playing an MP3 file simultaneously).
12) No Easy Mode interface.
13) Power-management is very good, comparable to what is available under Xandros.
14) Mature, stable distribution with simple upgrade/updates management.
15) Boot and shutdown are slow compared to Xandros. Boot: 1min40s; shutdown 35s. However as noted by Adam, a Mandriva box rarely needs rebooting. Suspend-to-RAM and resume are quite fast (10~15 seconds).
16) Bluetooth works, instantly recognized a $5 generic USB Bluetooth key.
17) Responsive interface (KDE 3.5.9 tested without compositing) if correctly configured.
18) As secure as you’ll want to make it. “Normal” security level (set during installation) provides sufficient security for normal online usage. Top-notch firewall provided (Shorewall, default configuration is excellent).
19) Flash can be post-installed very easily. PDF reader and printer provided.
20) Windows games can be installed through wine. But don’t expect stellar or even reasonable performance, the hardware is just not up to it…
:END QUOTE
(source: eee User Forum / dd99)
When I saw this movie trailer released I thought it was a April Fool’s Day prank (as many online thought). Turns out this is real. The story of Zelda holds a place in my heart. I remember being seven years old and getting “Zelda: A Link to the Past” with the Super Nintendo. From that point on hundreds of hours were spent over the next few years beating this game over and over. Never losing interest or getting tired of it regardless how much it was played. I then went on to play and eventually beat “Zelda” for the original Nintendo. I tried my hand at “Zelda two” entitled “Link” on the NES, but never did manage to beat it. From time to time I still haul out the old SNES and play “Zelda: A Link to the Past” and reminise back to a time when games were simple in graphics (compared to nowadays), but big on story. This Zelda series captured the imagination of an entire generation (mine) and from what I hear, is still doing so on the Wii and more recent consoles.
I think it’s time to go digging through my closet and take a walk down memory lane (again).
Does anyone else remember the Zelda Animation Series? I bought series this on DVD two years ago. Great series for a Zelda fan.
Update 2 April 2008: It turns out this REALLY is an April Fools Day gag. With all the video game to movie adaptations being done I’m honestly surprised Zelda has never been done. Maybe I’ll be surprised and someone will do it seeing the response from this April Fools Day Gag.
Digg! this article.
This is a post from the eee User Forums (courtesy of delboy711) I’ve decided to link to. The biggest question I get has to do with wireless issues on Mandriva and Ubuntu. The below configuration is known to work on both Mandriva and Ubuntu. Hope this will help a number of you out there with wireless issues. I have tried it on my Mandriva install and I’ve noticed a number of issues are now resolved. The network interface now comes online and searches out the wireless network when resumed.
Step 1: Create a file “/etc/acpi/events/eee-wifi-on” containing
Code:
# ASUS eeePC Wifi Hotkey (Fn-F2)
event=hotkey ATKD 00000010
action=/etc/acpi/actions/eee-wifi-on-off.sh on
Step 2:Create a file “/etc/acpi/events/eee-wifi-off” containing
Code:
# ASUS eeePC Wifi Hotkey (Fn-F2)
event=hotkey ATKD 00000011
action=/etc/acpi/actions/eee-wifi-on-off.sh off
Step 3: Create a file “/etc/acpi/actions/eee-wifi-on-off.sh” containing
Code:
#!/bin/sh
#FILE: /etc/acpi/eee-wifi-on-off.sh
# main wifi toggle script (loads/unloads modules)
#. /usr/share/acpi-support/key-constants
# The sequence here *is* important.
unload_modules() {
rmmod ath_pci
rmmod ath_rate_sample
rmmod ath_hal
rmmod wlan_ccmp
rmmod wlan_tkip
rmmod wlan_wep
rmmod wlan_acl
rmmod wlan_scan_sta
rmmod wlan
}
# At least this one’s straightforward.
load_modules() {
modprobe ath_pci
}
wifi_on() {
# Force PCI Express Hotplug to reinit
rmmod pciehp
sleep 1
# pciehp_force may be unnecessary; Xandros did it.
modprobe pciehp pciehp_force=1
sleep 1
# Switch on the hardware
echo 1 >/proc/acpi/asus/wlan
sleep 1
load_modules
}
wifi_off() {
unload_modules
echo 0 >/proc/acpi/asus/wlan
}
case $1 in
on)
# acpi_fakekey $KEY_PROG1
wifi_on
;;
off)
# acpi_fakekey $KEY_PROG2
wifi_off
;;
toggle)
STAT=`cat /proc/acpi/asus/wlan`
if [ “$STAT” = “1″ ];
then wifi_off;
else wifi_on;
fi
;;
esac
Step 4: Make this file executable
Code:
chmod +x /etc/acpi/actions/eee-wifi-on-off.sh
Step 5: Thats it!. You should now be able to toggle wireless off and on.
The command:
service acpid restart
OR
reboot is required before it will do anything.
Digg! this article.
Mandriva 2008.1 RC2 has been out a few days and the reviews are coming in. Personally, I haven’t had time to test it as it was released along side with Ubuntu 8.04 Beta. I have decided to play with Ubuntu 8.04 Beta instead as my last week has been spent with Mandriva.
My biggest concern with Mandriva was the memory issue. There has been a great response from Mandriva regarding this issues and it has been throughly addressed. Mandriva is listening, and they have responded. Below is Adam, from the Mandriva forums explaining the “memory issue”.
“To clear up the memory issue:
Mandriva has several kernel ‘flavours’.
‘desktop’ supports any i686 or later CPU, and up to 4GB of memory.
‘desktop586′ supports any i586 or later CPU, and up to 1GB of memory.
‘laptop’ supports any i686 or later CPU, up to 4GB of memory, and has tuning for better power consumption on laptops.
’server’ supports any i686 or later CPU, and up to 64GB of memory. it has some tuning appropriate for server use.
the Free and Powerpack (and Mini) editions all detect what system you have, and install the appropriate kernel. So unless you actually have an i586 CPU, they will install kernel-desktop or kernel-laptop, or kernel-server if you have more than 4GB of RAM, and all your RAM will be recognized.
One can’t do this. One’s installer is completely different from the other editions. All it really does is dump the running One itself, as a big image, onto the hard disk. It’s copying a big pile of bytes. It has no concept of packages, actually. So it can’t detect hardware and then install the ‘correct’ kernel. All it can do is install the kernel it uses itself.
We use the desktop586 kernel for One to give the widest possible hardware compatibility. We don’t want to use one of the other kernels and have One unable to boot on an i586 machine.
So, that’s the reason. We could, in theory, change the desktop586 kernel to support 4GB of RAM, but we’re unwilling to do that because supporting over 1GB of RAM does cause a measurable performance loss, and most machines that actually need kernel-desktop586 don’t have more than 1GB of RAM, so it would put people trying to keep their old Pentium systems alive needless pain.”
(source: Mandriva Forums)
A great first impression by delboy711 from over at the eee User Forums. From what he says it looks like the RC2 might be worth the install.
“A few tips for others trying out Mandriva 2008.1
When setting up your wireless be sure to be connected to the Internet by Ethernet. Mandriva needs to download some packages for the Atheros Wifi. If you go into the software install GUI first, online software sources will be automatically set up for you. (If you install from a ‘Mandriva One’ CD the drivers are already on the CD)
If you find wireless still does not work after the drivers have been installed and you have configured your wifi correctly, do not panic. Reboot and the wireless connection will start working.
No matter which edition you installed, you can install the ‘Powerpack’ themes from the online repositories. Simply search the software install GUI for any package with the word ‘Powerpack’ in its name. The default Powerpack desktop background is really nice, and slowly changes through the day.
The eee trackpad will automatically be set up by Mandriva to support both vertical and horizontal scroll bars.
Metisse in my opinion is awesome. It perfectly complements the small screen of an eee. To scale a window just point the cursor at the top of the window and run your finger up and down the trackpad scroll bar.
If when you are trying to install software you find you get an error message saying “urpmi is locked”, it is because the Mandriva update applet is locking you out from the online repositories. It is the little orange or green circle in the system tray. I find it best to simply stop the applet running. (right click on it) (urpmi is Mandriva’s equivalent of apt-get. Enter ‘man:/urpmi’ in a konqueror URL line to learn about it.)
And finally a word about kernels.
If you install using a Mandriva One CD it will install the kernel-desktop586 This kernel is chosen because it will run on almost any hardware including a Pentium I. To use a full 1 or 2 GB of memory upgrade the kernel after installation to kernel-laptop-latest Do this and reboot **before** setting up your wifi if you want to save yourself some effort.
If you install using the ‘Free’, or ‘Powerpack’ editions, or perform a network boot with all.img, then Mandriva 2008.1 will install kernel-laptop straight away. This kernel will recognise up to 4GB of RAM and will be the most suitable for most eee owners.
If you ever update your kernel, do not install a specific kernel release, always upgrade the kernel-laptop-latest package and it will pull in the latest kernel with it. At the same time upgrade the madwifi-kernel-laptop-latest package and you will get the latest driver. Also make sure the dkms-madwifi package is installed and after a kernel upgrade the madwifi driver will be automatically recompiled on the next boot.”
(source: eee User Forum courtesy delboy711.)
After having used Mandriva on the eee PC for the last week and getting to know it I’d say it’s not perfect – but it’s getting there. I have about ten burnt discs sitting in front of me (Linux distributions) and there is still a lot more testing to be done. This has been a quick overview of the first few days of what users are saying about Mandriva 2008.1 RC2. Take note of the “release version” you download as there is a notable difference in what each release has out of the box (IE CD version vs DVD version).
UPDATE: 22 March 2008: AkBrian over at the eee User Forums has some important information when installing Mandriva 2008.1RC2 regarding 3D support.
“A couple of things I noticed on RC2. There were a number of updates that came out in the last day or so after RC2 came out, including KDE updates. IF you added sources during the install (cooker ftp) you may have gotten “file not found errors” during installation. This would be due to the nature of cooker files changing during the install, not a bug. Could this have been your problem Tinny?
>>Don’t run the 3d setup from the login manager on first boot. You need to go into your normal desktop, and uncheck the launch at boot of the “whats new in 2008.1″ screen first. It’s too large for the 3dsetup screen that lauches from login manager, and it can’t be closed, requiring an
>>At this time it appears to be NECESSARY to use either mettisa or compize to see some of the KDE specific screens, like the one for customizing your desktop. You can install them both and switch back and forth between them to see which one you like. I oddly enough, like the heavy weight compize better myself, as I think it renders fonts better, but mettisa is much less complicated and resource intensive. No reason to not try both.
>>Mandriva seems to have been really responsive to fixing properly submitted EEE specific bug reports. Remember, the Devs don’t have time to read forums around the Internet, they are hacking code to get the release out on time with the fewest bugs possible. People, next stop is gold, when the bugs get baked in! If your going to take the time to beta test, which is what we are doing, then read the documentation, and post detailed reports of whats wrong.”
Happy testing!
Justin
I came across this startling article that will make us question our online habits. “Compulsive e-mailing and text messaging could soon become classified as an official brain illness.” (source, Canada.com) say psychiatrists. “Users experience cravings, withdrawal” (source, Canada.com).
I’ve been aware of this for years observing friends and family and how they operate online. This problem is finally getting the attention it deserves. Bringing awareness to this issue is the first step in preventing and treating this “addiction”. As more people are “wired” than ever before this problem will continue to grow. If not dealt with swiftly it will escalate to the point of no return.
If we are aware of this issue we can consciously and cognitively control it. Maybe it’s time I stop e-mailing and go outside for a run. I think so.
Digg this article!
After the success of Ubuntu 8.04 on my Asus EEE PC it was brought to my attention by Klopus there are interesting happenings going on over at Mandriva. I was directed to a thread on the EEE PC User Forum discussing Mandriva on the EEE PC. After reading through the thread I was convinced I would give Mandriva a try. A swift download/burn/format/install later Mandriva was installed on my EEE PC.
The install was straight forward. The disk partitioning software Mandriva uses is a bit awkward to figure out. In advance mode there was a listing of over twenty different file systems to chose from – I did not see EXT2 on this list. This was my first disappointment as “journaling” file systems have a high read/write not good for the SSD in the EEE PC. Therefore, EXT2 would have been my first file system choice to install. However, as it was not an option I ended up choosing EXT3. The partition manager also enjoyed harassing me about not having a swap file – it took me an additional few clicks to assure the partition manager I was aware of said issue.
Out of the box all the software/hardware were supported as discussed in the forum. I greatly enjoyed the WPA2 LEAP support out of the box (compared to Xandros). The Compiz support out of the box was a treat as never having experienced “3D” Linux eye candy before. However, this did take an amount of CPU power/memory to perform (Compiz can always be disabled).
As with Ubuntu there were minor issues with the ACPI settings. The wireless would not come back up after resuming from standby. The battery monitor was inherently wrong. I was told I have 2% battery power when the machine is first turned on (and plugged in) – this then jumps to 100% telling me I have 19 hours of battery life. The battery meter then sits at around 2.5 – 3 hours while jumping up and down erratically.
I found the sound to be even stranger than the ACPI support. The sound level has two modes – at max volume or mute. There is no variability in the sound levels. Either scare everyone around you when the machine boots up or disable the system sounds – I did the latter.
The biggest issue I found with Mandriva was memory support. The EEE PC BIOS sees 2GB of memory, the Mandriva hardware manager sees 2GB of memory physically installed. However, the actual operating system only makes use of 1GB of memory. I tried researching this and found no information on it. I assume it’s a relatively new issue. During the setup process I was prompted to specify the maximum amount of memory for the operating system – the max was 894MB. There was no option anywheres to increase the allocation.
Edit: Clarification on why Mandriva does not support more than 880MB of memory in this release. (source: damchi)
All this being said I am pleasantly happy with Mandriva. A comment Klopus made to me via our e-mail correspondence caught my attention:
“The fact that Mandriva Eee support is official and thus guaranteed to propagate upstream with changes is also critical. Compare this to Ubuntu for example where Eee support is some persons hack which may be broken at any time by some official Ubuntu update which’s totally unaware of Eee related mods.”
I found this interesting as there is conscious work over at Mandriva to in time have full support for the EEE PC. Whereas support in Ubuntu is by luck or by the work of Linux enthusiasts making the release compatible.
Conclusion: In time I’m sure we can look forward to Mandriva possibly being as fine tuned to the hardware as is Xandros now (minus the issues) or as Mac OSX is to Apple hardware. Mandriva is still in “release candidate” mode and there are many changes to come just as Ubuntu 8.04 is still Alpha. It will be an interesting spring/summer season of development for the Asus EEE PC.
Update (19 March 2008): Once again I’d like to thank everyone for their feedback and discussions about this article on the various forums. I would like to clarify the premise of this article was to insight discussion going on in the area of software development on the EEE PC. Based on the hits, downloads, and forum discussion I’d say this was accomplished. I’ve learned a great deal from the Linux community in the past few days and continue to encourage feedback (positive and negative). Again, discussion is my primary objective with this article.
Further developments:
Digg! this article!
In the past three months I have been using my Asus EEE PC and love it! However, there are some shortcomings with the stock Xandros install leaving much to be desired. The “easy mode” Xandros install can be put into “full desktop” mode allowing a full KDE desktop experience. This isn’t bad, but still not perfect.
The default drivers on the Xandros install do not allow for WPA2 (LEAP) wireless access. There are numerous tutorials online explaining how to use a “WPA supplicant” file and WPA2. However, I do not want to spend time going through various tutorials. A good modern Linux install should have everything up and running out of the box! My second problem is the default Xandros install doesn’t allow the use of more than 2GB of memory. The chip set used by the EEE PC allows for 2GB of memory addressing, the default Xandros install can only address up to 1GB of memory. This is unacceptable. Xandros being under the GPL forced Asus to release the kernel source code. This allowed the great Linux enthusiasts to compile the kernel for the EEE PC, but in doing so broke a number of things in the operating system. What’s the sense of addressing 2GB of memory if none of the software/hardware functions 100% correctly? I’m not even going to mention the work involved for compiling a Linux kernel for Linux novices.
My options? Try to fix the issues with the Xandros install spending hours reading tutorials on the forums or chose another operating system. In keeping with the Linux spirit of the EEE PC I refuse to install Windows on this machine. My other options out there are eeeBuntu 7.10(Ubuntu build with EEE specific drivers), eeeDora (Fedora package with EEE specific drivers), and OpenSuse.
I first installed eeeBuntu. There were many issues with the wireless not working. There were also issues with the video acceleration. To no avail, I could not get the wireless working. I moved onto the next distro.
Secondly, I installed eeeDora. I greatly enjoyed the small footprint of this operating system. However, eeeDora uses the ext2 file system which is notoriously problematic compared with the ext3 (or more recent) file systems. After doing a system update the ext2 file system was corrupted and fsdk could not repair the disk errors. I understand why eeeDora chose to use the ext2 file system over the ext3 file system, but I think the risk of file system corruption is too high and would prefer to use the ext3 file system. The reason is the ext3 file system has a much greater rate of disk read/writes than ext2. Keeping read/writes down on a SSD drive is essential in maintaining the drives integrity. Currently the lifespan of these new types of drives are unknown in the long term.
While contemplating if I wanted to attempt OpenSuse I read the reviews and saw there were many problems with the distribution. I opted to take one last look at the forums to see if there was something I was overlooking. There was.
My golden fleece: Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha. I found this blog post mentioning the success the author has had. I decided to download the newest Ubuntu release and try one last time to get the perfect install. The install process flawless. The only issue to deal with was getting the wireless up and running. After downloading and installing the required drivers the wireless works perfectly (with WPA2/leap support out of the box)!
Many installs and burnt CDs later - my hunt was over for the perfect out of the box install for the Asus EEE PC!
Instructions:
1)Download and burn the newest release of Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha.
2)Boot the EEE PC from an external optical drive and install Ubuntu.
3)During the partition process make sure to disable the swap file install (swap files shorten the life of SSD drives). Choose a file system without journaling (i.e. avoid using ext3). I used ext2 for the file system. Again, not using a journaling file system will minimize the read/writes on the SSD drive.
4)Once the install is complete, download/install/configure the wireless drivers in terminal:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/special/madwifi-ng-r2756+ar5007.tar.gz
tar zxvf madwifi-ng-r2756+ar5007.tar.gz
cd madwifi-ng-r2756+ar5007
make clean
make
sudo make install
reboot
5) Enjoy! : )
Conclusion:Asus envisioned an easy to use computer with everything that just “worked” out of the box. The stock Linux install for me was far from this experience. With Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha, I now truly feel I can use this machine as it was designed to be used! It’s easy. Period.
Update (17 March 2008): In the last 24 hours I received a huge spike in traffic. I wanted to thank Netpatia for his groundbreaking work with Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha on the EEE PC. Also, the great community over at EEE User Forum for their support in getting everyday people into Linux and spreading the word about everything the EEE PC and Linux has to offer.
Update (19 March 2008): Clarified this release of Ubuntu 8.04 is alpha. The beta is to be released later within the next month.
“Working late? Blame your computer screen. A new study finds that bigger monitors make people more productive. “
A great article from “The Wall Street Journal” talking about computer monitor size and it’s relation to productivity. People using a 24 inch monitor had a 52% increase in work productivity over people who used a 18 inch monitor. It’s simple really, the larger the monitor the more information can be processed with greater ease. For example, I am typing this article on a 23 inch monitor. My word processor and web browser are opened side by side. I can read one window while working with another window. This is done without switching/maximizing/minimizing any applications.
Key Points:
When it comes to monitors “size does matter”.
Update: Link to study from 2004 by James A. Anderson (University of Utah, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Communications) on “Productivity and Multi-Screen Computer Displays”, see Volume 2:1, pages 31-51
“How to Use the Web to Build a Powerful Reputation In Any Industry” (from doshdosh.com) is by far, one of the most interesting and thought provoking articles I’ve come across in recent surfing. It’s about creating an online presence harnessing the power of the Internet to market yourself towards potential employers and partners. It’s like someone reached into my head and put many of my ideas on paper (or on a website). I’m surely not the first person to do what this article is purposing. In fact, many tens of thousands of Internet users already have an online presence and market themselves in such ways.
“The web is incredibly powerful and it can be used to generate huge amounts of publicity. It is potent launching pad for personal careers. When you are seeking to enter and dominate an industry, the internet is your best friend. With smart online marketing, you can develop a substantial presence which will not be ignored.
Let’s recap the goal: To build a strong reputation and promote oneself within a specific industry through the use of the web. It is not about earning an income online but purely about using the internet to develop one’s individual brand and improve career prospects/perceived worth.
To achieve this goal, you need to develop visibility and industry connections. For people to talk about you, they first need to know that you exist. And so it is important to develop visibility in all the right places through an online persona.
If you want to be deeply involved in the industry and want others to recommend you, you need to use the web to forge solid relationships that matter. To achieve all this, I’ve broken down the entire process into four progressive steps.” (source: doshdosh.com)
I like the idea of integrating the various social network sites back to “home base” (your website). This allows you to control the flow of traffic back to the one stop shop that is everything YOU! Each social networking site (or other online community) has a different user base that is unique to that site (I’m sure there’s user overlap with people on both MySpace and Facebook). By having a presence in each of these online communities you are reaching out to a different user base/demographic you wouldn’t otherwise have. For example, MySpace and Facebook will have more college aged youth than say LinkedIn, which is going to have a more business oriented demographic. Therefore, it’s vital to have a presence in as many online communities as feasible. Also, making regular thoughtful contributions to those communities builds a relationship and increase traffic back to “home base”.
A final note on this article. “home base” doesn’t need to be an elaborate. You don’t need to have a complex website with in depth knowledge about web technologies. Sometimes having a simple presence on LiveJournal or Blogger is all that is needed for a good start. These sites can always be built upon and scaled as needed.
Now get out there and get connected!
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