One Year Blogging

As September comes to a close so does my twelfth month of writing:Thoughts on TechnologyWhat started off as a small page for me to post my tech tips and tricks for myself and friends has spiraled into over 50,000 unique hits a month for the the last three months. I'd just like to say thanks to all those who read regularly, if you could please drop a comment on this post letting me know who you are and why you read.I'd also like to say thanks to Wine...

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LibreOffice - What it means to End Users

Open Office has been the defacto standard for open source productivity suites for some time now. It provides a high quality, free alternative to Microsoft's costly Office software and is completely cross-platform. As with many of the larger open source projects Open Office has had a corporate backer for the last ten years, up until recently that backer was Sun Micro-systems. In 2009 a software company known as Oracle bought out Sun Micro-systems...

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Does Windows 7 Aero Slow Down Your 3D?

Early last week I made a post that detailed some benchmarks with Linux desktop effects being on and Linux desktop effects being off. In the case of Compiz I found that slowed 3D performance of the system on average by over 10%. Several of you dropped comments wondering if a similar performance decrease was present when utilizing Window 7's Aero feature while gaming - today I am going to set that wonder to rest.The Test:I am going to use Unigine Benchmarks on Winodws 7 Ultimate 64bit. This was a fresh install of Windows that had only the security...

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nVidia - There is No Optimus Support for Linux

It is about the time of year when I start looking at new laptops. I am looking for something small, but powerful. I have been an nVidia faithful since I made the switch to Linux almost four years ago, as such I used to not even look at a system if it didn't have an nVidia graphics chip in it. While browsing I noticed that many of the laptops I was looking at had a new feature stamped on them called:nVidia OptimusWhat is nVidia optimus? It is a genius...

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Are Your Desktop Effects Slowing You Down?

Whenever I perform a 3D benchmark in Linux one of the first questions I get asked about the results is:Where your desktop effects turned off?For those who are not aware, desktop effects are the "flash" that is enabled by default in many popular Linux distros (namely Ubuntu and it's derivatives) such as the wobbly windows, desktop cube, and sleek sliding effects. Something that has always been questioned is whether or not desktop effects slow down...

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HOWTO: wxMaxima on Nokia N900

I mentioned in a post at the beginning of the year that I was attempting to get my favorite CAS functioning on my N900. I am happy today to say that it is indeed possible to run wxMaxima on your N900! The following is a short HOWTO on getting it running.First - if you have not already done so, install the rootsh package from your application manager and enable the extra-devel repository.Next, crack open a terminal and run the following in order:sudo...

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Linux Out Performs Windows in OpenGL

Late last year I did a posting detailing how Windows 7 crushed Ubuntu 9.10 in the area of 3D performance. Nine months later I am happy to say:Linux out performs Windows 7 in OpenGL benchmarks!Using the Unigine benchmarks Windows 7 on my system obtains the following average frames per second:Tropics - 30.5 FPSSanctuary - 35.2 FPSOf all the Linux distros I recently tested, Chakra Linux performs the best in these benchmarks with the following average frames per second:Tropics - 38.0 FPSSanctuary - 38.3 FPSWhew! Chakra's scores are just higher than...

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Best Linux Distro for 3D Performance

There is one question all new Linux users ask themselves at one point or another:Which Linux distro do I want to use?The answer to the question is different for everyone and varies depending on what you are doing with your Linux box. One thing I think many users fail to consider (or perhaps don't care about) is the level of 3D performance their distro gets. You may think that your choice of distribution does not matter in this area, but you will...

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Crossover, Bordeaux, Cedega VS Vanilla Wine

A question I have fielded more then a couple times in the Wine section of the Ubuntu Forums isWhat is the difference between commercial Wine products and vanilla Wine?There are three main commercial Wine products: Bordeaux, Cedega, and Crossover. There are a few distinct differences between the commercial Wine products and the FOSS Wine.Support:One of the largest benefits to using a paid for Wine product is that not only are you paying for software, you are also paying for support of said software. What this means is that if an application that...

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Chakra Linux - Distro Review

Taking a bit of a break from the many Ubuntu derivatives I have been playing with of the late, I came across Chakra Linux 0.2.1 on distrowatch's feed late last week. The Chakra project started off as a derivative of Arch Linux. It was a modular KDE Live CD with some extra tool sets to make setting up and using Arch Linux less of a hassle.Notice the careful usage of the word was in my last sentence. The current alpha build you can download of Chakra...

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The Key to a Successful Linux Conversion

People are resistant to change. This is a fact and it is not going to change any time soon. Because of this they will not want their entire computer to change on them all at once. An important fact that a lot Linux Advocates miss is that the conversion to Linux starts on Windows or OSX.A beautiful things about FOSS is that a good deal of the applications run on Windows, OSX, and Linux. The key to a successful Linux conversion is slowly replacing...

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Windows vs Ubuntu Release Cycle

I started writing this article but then felt it's point could be better represented in comic form (click to enlarge):While it does not address how all Linux distributions release, I think you may get my point. Most people fall into one of the following for their operating system upgrades:Upgrade to New Release Every 6 monthsish (Fedora isn't always on time)Upgrade to a new LTS every two yearsUpgrade to a new Windows version... Well, whenever the...

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LiveText - A Cross Platform Online Education System

In the last couple months I have posted my disgust about two different online education systems that are being used at various colleges around the United States. My dislike for these systems stems from the fact that even though they are web based, they do not adhere to Web Standards. This means that they are not fully accessible on FOS operating systems as they should be.Too often in the world in which we live only the negative things in life get...

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Eight Linux Tech Tips for Beginners

If you are someone who is diving into Linux for the first time it can be a somewhat daunting task learning all the ins and outs of the operating system. We are all beginners at one point or another. The following is a list of tidbits and tips I have learned over my years working with Linux that will help you learn/maintain your Linux based operating system.1.) If you can't find what you are looking for - ask. Odds are the Linux distribution you are...

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