Bodhi Linux Service Pack 1 Ready to Go

As you may know the Bodhi Linux team and I recently released the first update release for our 1.0.0 version. One of the things Bodhi does differently from other distributions is that we make offline application installation easy. With this in mind each of our Bodhi updates will be accompanied a few days later by a "Service Pack". The service pack is a single file that handles seamlessly updating an offline Bodhi Linux computer.For those looking to...

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Bodhi Linux 1.1.0 Released

Two months after our 1.0.0 release the Bodhi team and I are proud to announce the availability of Bodhi Linux 1.1.0. This is the first of our quarterly scheduled update releases to keep the software on the Bodhi live CD current. The live CD includes a number of package updates including:Linux Kernel 2.6.39Enlightenment SVN Build from 05/23/11Intel 2.15 DriversMidori 0.3.6The Bodhi repository also saw a number of recent package updates including:Firefox...

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Open is a Loose Term in the Mobile Market

Recent news in the world of Android is that Google is blocking their movie renting service from being used on rooted devices. Thats right - if you are using a rooted Android device that means you must be doing so because you are doing illegal things and intend on stealing films. While I don't agree with this in the slightest, it is fully within Google's rights to block such access.In fact, when you bought your locked down Android device (that odds...

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Bodhi Linux Desktop of the Week Contest

Many computer users enjoy customizing their desktop to perfection. Personally I have spent hours playing with different icon sets, GTK themes, Enlightenment themes and E17 gadgets. Something most people like to do almost as much as tweaking their desktop is sharing those sexy screen shots with the world!Enlightenment is so customizable we like to encourage this tweaking and sharing among Bodhi users. Seeing what other people have done with their...

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N900 Application Round Up

In the past I've done two different application round ups for the Nokia N900 handset which runs the Maemo operating system. Today I would like to add to my lists of applications I find useful for a device I use for many hours each day.Widgets -There are three non-default widgets I enjoy using on my N900 very much. They are:Connect NowConversations InboxRecallerThe connect now widget allows you to define an internet connection (either 3g or wireless)...

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Thoughts on Wine Technology

If you have used a Unix operating system on a desktop computer for any extended period of time then odds are you have heard of Wine technology. In case you haven’t, Wine is an acronym that stands for “Wine Is Not an Emulator”. In actuality Wine is a “windows compatibility layer”. To put it in laymen’s terms it allows you to natively run Windows binaries in a Unix environment.Wine is software I both love and hate. I love the fact that Wine exists....

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Sometimes I just want my Computer to Work!

Many people read and left comments on the recent post I wrote about my poor experience using the Fedora IRC channel. Lots of people left comments agreeing with what I had said, many also left comments to the opposite effect.I was told I let me ego get in the way (highly possible, it is fairly large).I was told I shouldn't make such comments about other projects since I am the lead developer of Bodhi Linux.I was reminded by several, that yes I was...

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#fedora - You are always wrong

EDIT: Please note that obviously the people in #fedora are not representative of the fedora community as a whole. This is just me blowing off steam late at night after hardware failure and a poor experience.Fair warning - I am about to go off on a rant here.I discovered this evening much to my dismay that the year and a half old western digital hard drive in my main laptop is dieing. All three of the Linux installs on the system failed in various...

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Open Source Applications for Math Teachers

In addition to all the technology ramblings I post here every month, I am also a student. This is my final semester in an undergraduate mathematics program with a secondary in education. I believe free open source software (FOSS) is the way of the future and should be used in schools as much as possible. In addition to being free of charge, having code be open promotes learning (as future computer students can see how the internals of a program work).Part...

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Five Debian Based Alternatives to Ubuntu 11.04

I made a post last month outlining some of my thoughts on the Unity desktop Ubuntu rolled out with it's latest 11.04 release. If you are one of the many that has mixed feelings about the Unity desktop then odds are you may be looking for alternatives to the latest Ubuntu release. The following is a round up of alternatives that won't leave you feeling completely lost as they still use the apt-get package manager.Edubuntu - Classic GnomeIn addition...

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