Stop it Ubuntu. Just...stop.

     It seems that with every release, Ubuntu seems to be getting closer and closer to the dark side...


    Each new release (since Hardy) has brought us darker themes. And the new login screen? Atrocius! It's disgusting! I'm going to go back and show what it was like back in Ubuntu 6.06.

    Ubuntu 6.06 LTS was the first ShipIt CD that I recieved Ubuntu in the mail in. It was absolutely beautiful, the desktop was a chocolate brown, but that was just the background, not the actual themes themselves. And that could easily be changed with the themes that came along with it. Now, I can't include pictures, as I am writing this from school, but trust me, Ubuntu used to have TASTE man.. But then they started this up. Oh god, why?!?

Was it really necessary that we do this? And don't get me started on the login screen. It's just plaing awful.

The reason why I'm complaining so much is... are we really ready to present this as an Operating System to the masses? As Ubuntu we should be embracing a more easy look torwards our desktop. Right now, it looks like some basement nerd's pet project. Do you know why so many people hated Vista? Not only was it because of the awful security and the way it treats hardware, but the new look of it too. Microsoft went from nice subtle shades of blue and green with WindowsXP to harsh translucent blacks and light blues.


Now tell me, which one is more pleasing to your eye. The simple blues and greens? Or the translucent shades of black. I would have to say that the shades of greens are the more pleasing in my opinion, and I once read that the eye is more attracted to greens and blues than any other color. On the left there is serenity, while on the right there is technology. I'm all for technology, but would it be possible to combine the two? Even OpenSuSe understands the need of a peaceful green background combined with shades of blue. If Ubuntu wanted to go technological then they should be pointing people to crunchbang , which is completely techy nerdy. Ubuntu really needs to stop, and look at it's self. Are we an operating system for the basement nerds who don't get out? Or are we an operating system that even the most technologically inept person can be proud of. Now I know I can always just contribute to this and make my own theme. But you wouldn't want that... Trust me, you definantly wouldn't want that. As a 17 year old teenager, I understand a little about design choice and usability. In particular, I think OpenSuSe's Gilouche is a great theme. It's simple border and GTK makes it pleasing and fast. I understand that Brown is ubuntu's "thing" but with the new themes coming out, I think it's understandable that we take on a new color scheme. Preferably one that is not brown.

Posted via email from travist120's posterous

The first CONKY TWITTER CLIENT ZOMG!

Well, I can't really say that it's the first conky twitter client. Any twitter client from cli should be able to work. But I can say that this is something that I am very proud of it because I MADE IT!!!

In order to get this on your sexy conky configuration, you are going to have to jump through some hoops. So bear with me.

First up is to install python-twitter.

sudo apt-get install python-twitter

Now that wasn't so bad was it?

Now we are going to have to edit your conky configuration.

put "text_buffer_size 10000" (no quotes) into your ~.conkyrc file. This allows conky to display more text than normally. Make sure that it goes before TEXT.

now download the script, or copy and paste for your enjoyment.
'''This piece o' junk hack of python and twitter was created by
Travis Moore (@travist120). Some 17 year old kid who decided that he
was severely bored one day and decided to create this instead of doing
his Essay and french homework.
'''





'''Oh, and the licence. I have to make sure that those who copy will give back.'''

'''
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see
.

'''

for s in status:
i = i+1
print s.user.name, "(@"+s.user.screen_name+")"
print s.text
print
import os
import string
import twitter
#set your user name and password here.
username=''
password=''

api = twitter.Api(username, password)
status = api.GetFriendsTimeline()
#how many tweets you want displayed at a time
twitterSize = 5;
i = 0 if i == twitterSize:
break


Make sure that if you copy and paste it, you name it cwitter.py.

Now to make it show up in conky.

${execi 60 python ~cwitter.py | fold -w45}

stick that under your TEXT and you are done. I have set the time (60 seconds) as default because it's nice and safe on Twitter's servers. Feel free to change that.

-w45 might also need to be changed. This is the word wrap settings, so you are going to have to manually figure that one out by trial and error.

Posted via web from travist120's posterous

Cwitter. The first CONKY TWITTER CLIENT ZOMG!

Download now or preview on posterous

clitwitter.doc (270 KB)

Posted via email from travist120's posterous

I don't have hopes for Windows 7

Before I begin, let's get this straight.

I am an avid Linux and Open Source Software follower. I also have not personally used windows 7, but I know plenty about it. I am also 17 years old and still in high school.

That said and done, I will now be talking about my opinions on Windows Vista  7.

---

So here's the scoop. Microsoft, after a carefully laid out plan and 5 years, released one of their worst operating systems since Windows Me. It really just sucked. I'm not trying to be funny or clever by bashing on it. I'll give you some examples as why it was so bad.

Vista Capable
   -Your desktop is Vista Capable I see....
    This was one of the serious blunders of their marketing programs. It was a neat thought, but it was one of the killers when Vista released. For those who don't know, Microsoft would slap a sticker on any computer that they deemed "Vista Capable". Then, due to many changes to the kernel (how the operating system determines interfaces and the such), a vast amount of those computers knighted as "Vista Capable" were no longer "Vista Capable" but "Vista Incapable". Microsoft made an early stab at the hopes of what is known as  "hype". Example.

    "Fred! I just got this bombin' new desktop today! It's even "Vista Capable"!
    "OH MY GOD THAT'S LIEK TEH BEAST COMPUTAR EVAR!!!!!"

Multiple Versions
    -Which one should I buy, Vista Home Basic? Vista Home Premium? Vista Home Basic Premium Plus?
    There were so many versions of Vista that it was ridiculous. I mean, it might seem like a clever idea if it was all the same price! You are buying a $100+ operating system that you want to make your computer "work". And by "work" I mean not sit there like a brick. You want the computers "magicks" to connect to your email, write a paper, edit a photo, whatever you do daily that only a computer can do to make your life easier. Each version of Vista was a difference of $100. And each one was THE EXACT SAME THING! With 3rd part applications, they all equaled to the same version of Vista!

Device Drivers
    -The reason why Geek Squad exists.
    I've had the worst experience with drivers ever! My first copy of Windows Vista came from my Dell XPS Laptop that I got for my birthday. Not only was I excited about having a computer with dual core (my other only had Pentium 4), I was excited to experiment with a new OS. At first, with the OEM installation, I was fine.

Then things got ugly.
  
    I bought Halo 2 for PC, and I spent a lot of my time playing it. Then one night, whilst playing on a stalemate of capture the flag on Coagulation, I got a disconnection error. "Ah, no problem" I said. I exited out of it, went down to network connections....
There was a little itty bitty icon. Just a little one. A triangle with an exclamation point in it.
"Awww... cute!"
I disconnected then reconnected and went back to Halo again. Needless to say, I got disconnected again shortly after.

Slow
    -As a snail some say...
    When first unveiled, Vista seemed like it would do well in a market where computers are getting cheaper and faster exponentially. It was an operating system that had been redesigned from the ground up to take full advantage of the new hardware capabilities that were emerging on the desktop market. Simply said, it was going to be "da bomb". When it finally did release many were.... disappointed. I know when I first started up my new laptop with Windows Vista, I was thrilled because it was going to be faster. And to me, a person who came from an old Pentium 4 desktop, it was! But now that I have had more experience of installing Windows XP onto the thing and Ubuntu as well, I've learned that Windows Vista...treats my hardware like it's an infant. A 512MB Nvidia card is nothing to laugh at, but Vista seems to think it's a comedic act. "Your graphics card can't handle games like these" was one of the first prompts that I encountered when installing Halo 2.



Now on to the main event.

    Windows 7 will more than likely be another failure. The formula is definitely set up right! Out of the four things that I have listed for Windows Vista's failure, 3 of them are going to be in Windows 7. How? Because Windows 7 will use the exact same kernel as Windows Vista. How can a new OS be faster if it's using the same kernel?

Multiple Versions
    -Didn't they learn from this?
    Here is is again, Windows 7 will have multiple versions. And do you know what the worst part about it is? Windows Starter Edition--the edition that will be used on the increasingly popular netbooks--will only allow you run 3 applications at any given time. Please excuse this outburst.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY THINKING!!!!!

    SERIOUSLY!!! ARE WE IN 1990 AGAIN? I don't know about you, but I have at least 10 or more applications running at any given time; Instant Messengers, Music Players, Firefox, Email, Open Office. I mean, I could understand a 3 application limit on cellphones, but on a laptop? That's just retarded!!!


Device Drivers
    -Still hasn't changed much.
    You know something? Microsoft has always been a pain in the ass to Hardware Manufacturers. "If you want a device to work with our OS, you have to do everything yourself." And that's what they still are going to do. Because Windows 7 will be using the same kernel as Vista, the Manufacturers will be given a slight break. Their Vista drivers would theoretically already work with 7 after a bit of tweaking.

Slow
    -Windows 7 is a pig with makeup.
    Many people who are currently using the beta of Windows 7 insist that it is faster. And that may be. But not when you start buying laptops and computers preloaded with Windows 7. OEM's always try to bring the price down of their computers by including 'crapware'. This 'crapware' is pre-installed and ready to start crappin' the first time you boot the thing. Windows 7 may seem faster, but in reality it is only because it's a fresh installation. However, I do admit that the Microsoft Team has made adjustments to help speed up interaction between the processor. It has also optimized the usage of RAM and graphics cards.

User Interface
    -Changes are a comin'...
    I once used Office 2007. Once. Everything was topsy-turvy, and I couldn't figure out how to do half of the things that I used to in previous versions of Office. Why? The Ribbon. Instead of getting some work done on my Essay, I spent half of the time trying to figure out how to double space it. This is from somebody who 'gets' things and how they work with a few short clicks. The Ribbon is a medieval torture device sent from the past to give it's users brain hemorrhages and break our keyboards. Younger folk should be able to get over this fairly easy. What about the old folk. The people who have been around so long they remember when "640K ought to be enough for anybody". The new interface will be a difficult transition for them, and more than likely they will be sticking to the soon-to-be-unsupported Windows XP. Another thing that the ribbon does is make 3rd party applications stand out. It is likely they will not be allowed to use the Ribbon interface for their programs, and even if they could it would be a pain to recode the entire application just so it could fit in.


    I'm not hopeful for Windows 7. Microsoft clearly hasn't learned from it's mistakes; not only do they still have the same crap as before, but they've added some new crap to the mix. Windows 7 could spell the end of Microsoft (I know that is a stretch), or more likely spell the end of it's dominance. If some changes aren't made before the final release sometime later this year, it will heftily effect it's hold on the market.

I do have an open message to Microsoft.

START LISTENING

You can fix everything if you would just START LISTENING to your users instead of insisting that your way is the right way and the only way.

That is all.

Posted via email from travist120's posterous

Don't do it!!

I don't seem to understand something. It seems that a lot of iPhone and iPod touch app developers seem to think that we have use for turning our iPods upside down. Don't do this!! What id the use for this?
 
Let me explain it this way. Sometimes when I can't sleep at night I browse the Internet with safari. I sleep on my side because my back whacks out when I sleep on it. But the beauty of it is that it doesn't flip UPSIDE DOWN!!!
 
It makes reading and life so much easier when you don't do something as STUPID as that!

Posted via email from travist120's posterous

Ubuntu 8.10 64bit with SLI

Back in October, I got a new desktop for my birthday. It is a Dell 630i with SLI Nvidia cards.

A 64bit quad core beast.

One of the first things that I tried to do was install Ubuntu Linux on it. That was total failure. I got it installed, but as soon as I updated my graphics card, it completely died on me. So I gas up for a while and just left Windows Vista intact.

A few months later I was sick of bullshit.

I had a score of 4.8 only because of my RAM. Everything else was maxed out. Not only that but I was getting random BSOD's.

For a while I had to use a USB wifi card that windows managed to make it seem like it sucked ass. When I was using Windows XP, I would play a game and it would run fine. Now that I was on Vista, that card would ALWAYS disconnect me after 5 minutes into the game and then the computer would freeze. So I gave up on gaming for a bit until the BSOD's finally drove me nuts.

(note: Mine was different.)

I went over to Best Buy and bought a new wireless card, but since that thing was expensive as hell, I didn't get games.
After a while of just using my computer for browsing the web watching YouTube and hulu, I finally gave Ubuntu a thought once more.

I thought "Well.... let's try Kubuntu! Maybe things will be different!!";

I downloaded Kubuntu 64bit.

As soon as my computer ingested that it went off like a car alarm! So I groaned, kicked, and cursed and put Ubuntu in instead.

About 10 minutes later, I was up and running, though not at the right resolution. I put that off, installed all of the new updates, rebooted annnnndddd........

It still wasn't fixed. No matter, I know better methods. Quickly, I opened up the terminal, typed in "sudo apt-get install envyng-core envyng-gtk envyng-qt"

What the hell? Doesn't work with gtk? Who was the idiot that ruined a perfectly good and working program?!?!? I then traversed over to Nvidia's website and downloaded the drivers myself.
I hit [CTRL]-[ALT]-[F1]
I began to install the drivers.
It told me I needed to stop GDM.
I did.

It broke again!!!! I was back to square one!! But then I had an idea. What if I could get wireless working?

No beans. Desperately I Googled every search term that I could think of that related to my problem.

Only one page had hope to me. Somebody else with SLI cards was having the same problem. He eventually gave up and took a card out, but somebody posted their method anyway. He gave a link to a .txt file that had his x.org configuration in it. Tentatively I tapped on it.... (I was on my iPod Touch at the time)

"Safari cannot open this file"

AGGGGGHJJHHHHHHHH!!!!! iPod's Safari cannot open something as simple as a text file?!?!
I ran into my brothers room, brutally shoved him off of his computer.
"Runescape?" I shouted. "NO! I NEED MAI XSERVER FIX'D!!!!!!"
I typed in the page and got the text file. Wrote down two things

Option         "SLI" "SFR"
BusID          "01:00:0"

Ran back in my room. Sprayed "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" into the terminal and put those options in. I saved. Typed in "startx".....

I think  this twitter message can express how I felt.

But for those of you who have been having problems with Dual SLI Nvidia cards, here is the post that saved my ass.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1000350

I will now get back to my Ubuntu awesome'd computer.

Posted via email from travist120's posterous

What I don't like about digg/reddit.

As november comes up we tend to see a lot of political advertisements throwing a lot of mud to the other side of the political party. This is good and all (mainly because I don't watch T.V. in the first place) but what really get's my goat is when it starts showing up in the websites I visit. Digg.com and reddit.com have been my two favorite websites for getting all the information I want about Tech. I even dropped my Google Reader because I rely on digg / reddit for my info. But ever since the presidential candidates went up, digg has been getting worse and worse. Several leftist (almost radically leftist) websites frequently hit the top page discussing the latest scandal between McCain and Palin. What's even more amusing is that they are often reported as "innacurate" yet they seem to accumulate thousands of diggs. This isn't bad. It's what's happening to the rightist (even the people who are a smidgen to the right). When they comment something that isn't 100% pro-Obama, they are dugg down into infinity. That's where the problem lies. I wouldn't mind it so much if a radically right article got in there, because it would show to me that Digg is trying to mix it up a little. No, in fact, all I see about McCain is from huffingtonpost or dailykos. What also makes me wonder is what's happening to all the republican diggs? Are they blasted to infinity as well? Wouldn't there be more people of the right wing than there seems to be? It's kind of annoying if you ask me, for being websites that are greatly valued in their "sociability" they are often obliterated by extreme biasm.

I posted a poll on Reddit.com, asking "Why are sites like "Digg" and "Reddit" left-winged?" and to my suprise, I got a lot of responses.

Though there are some things I have to point out. I am a moderate that leans a smidgen to the republican standpoint. (I took a test on who I should vote for, I got 53% McCain and 47% Obama)

I'm going to have to disagree with you. If Reddit was full of rational freethinkers then there would be some dissonance in its communal politics. As I see it there is almost none of that. People who do post comments in opposition to this homogeneous group of opinions often have their opinions disregarded as being so stupid that there is no point in offering a counterargument; I know many of you might find that hard to believe, but, as a moderate, this is the general response when I even speculate that 9/11 wasn't planned by GW or that possibly neocons might have any opinion about anything that may have some merit. The way most of this community outright disregards any objection to its general political opinion makes me think that it is not full of rational freethinkers.

I have not once seen one article praising McCain for anything. It is pedantic and asinine to assume that everything that has to do with McCain is bad. McCain was one of the few Republican candidates that stood up for evolution, doesn't he deserve some credit for that?

"Rejecting talking points that create lots of cognitive dissonance" is basically the definition of being closed minded.

Where everyone thinks the same, nobody is thinking much. - TheCaterPillar

I have to say, this is probably the most thought out response of them all. He clearly understands what I meant by "left-winged" and instead of saying that the "left-winged" are superior, he also notices that many democratic articles are being dugg / upped into the high heavens. Though, I do have a feeling that this person is republican, so let's find a more moderate statement as well.

I wonder what is left wing anymore. The left used to be all about communism and socialism, but you don't have to be a communist or a socialist to despise George Bush and John McCain. And yet, that's the way many neoconservatives would define left wingism.

To me it seems like most people on digg and reddit are more libertarian than leftist. Their criticisms of government are generally about trying to minimize it and keep it out of people's lives as much as possible.

However, I would say diggers and redditors are largely anti-oligarchic, so maybe that makes them left wingers to some extent. - mutatron

Digg and Reddit, in my opinion, have lost their sense of what's important.

Why I quit runescape. (And why you should too...)

RuneScape is a Java-based MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) operated by Jagex Ltd. It has approximately ten million active free accounts and is a browser-based game with some degree of 3D rendering. RuneScape was created by Andrew Gower, the creator of DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, in 1998. Rewritten and renamed, the first version of RuneScape was released to the public on 4 January 2001 in beta form. It has a free-to-play option, and a simple interface that is accessible on most web browsers.
- Wikipedia

I'm not going to lie to you. Runescape, as any other MMORPG, is addicting. So addicting that I lost my entire 7th grade to it. It was free, massive, and there was just so much to do! Mondays were the best, a new quest was usually added, or maybe a new feature. I would try to make gold by raising my mining level, and selling the ores, or even trying to make my own armor.

That's what it used to be anyway.

For anyone who has been playing since ~2001-2002 knows and remembers and even longs for what Runescape used to stand for. Back then, the graphics were cheesy, but the gameplay...oh the gameplay was amazing. Player-killing, monster killing, quests, economics, all set during the medieval period. It was beautiful, and no one even cared too much about the graphics.

2003 brought even much more joy, instead of the 2-d, poorly-animated graphics that we got used to, we got an even bigger update. Bringing in the realm of 3d graphics that would rival those of popular mmo's at the time. We were all ecstatic, seeing runescape in a new light, now finally able to clearly see those blobs we once knew as rats. Several more features were added and taken out during the process, but I missed none of them.

A few years go by.

It is now circa 2006. New developments arise. The legendary "Player Owned Houses" (or POH's as it used to be referred as) are being created. It had been released shortly after the farming skill (which I detested, I can't sit still for that long).

Now comes the line of Jagex's mistakes.

POH's were a costly thing to maintain. You had to buy the supplies for the wood. Buy the nails (or make them yourself, which took quiet a bit of time). You could order servants for your house, but you had to pay them a pretty sum of money. You had to buy things that cost millions to even make your house respectable. To me, it was a disaster, it left the middle and low class of the community in shambles, while the merchants and the upperclass got to enjoy the fruits of the update.

But I stuck with runescape, shelling out $5 a month to stay a member, thinking this would be the last of the crappy updates. I was wrong, again.

But, for a while, I stopped playing runescape. I got an xbox 360, and comparing Halo 3 and Runescape, Halo 3 won. I made friends on xbox, got better at first person shooters in general.

But still billing my card every month.... runescape.

For the holiday seasons, runescape usually gets into the mood by releasing a special "Holiday item" only obtainable for 2 weeks during that season. It's a non-tradeable item that is often valued because of it's rarity, and because it is a sign of your devotion. One day I logged into runescape, and checked out some of the new features.

Once feature stuck out at me. One feature that made me lose all hope.

Of the many things, communism (or socialism, I can't be bothered with the details right now) practice is freezing of prices. Meaning, that a free market, which allows the people to create their own price for their goods, is the opposite of what communism (or socialism) believes in.

The new feature, rightfully dubbed, "The Grand Exchange" allowed players to post an item (kind of like ebay) wait for someone to buy it, then they would recieve their money for it. Sounds like a good idea, does it not? Not until I heard of the fixed prices. That's right, fixed, frozen, unable to change, not only that, but even trading with another player could not be above or below the new price range. You had to trade an equal amount both ways. What happens when a sudden new price is offered to a previously "expensive" item? Pretty much disaster. No more merchanting, no more gifts, no more swindling, no more haggling. Virtually all form of free market disintegrated. You were basically stuck in the same class you were in before the update.

Maybe this isn't the worst. Maybe....

No, there's no hope left. Shortly after the announcement of the "Grand Exchange" another wave of worse news followed. Players would not be able to PK (killing other players for enjoyment, or for their items [you are only allowed to keep 3 items when you die in the wilderness]) instead of PK'ing, there will be a new system in place allowing you to kill others, but for no money.

All of this, the greatness, the glory, all of it turned into crap after less than a month of updates.

Jagex gave a reason for this, they said something along the lines of "Because scamming and real world trading, we have decided to freeze everything you own, and allow no more fun. That's right, I hope all of you cry your selves to sleep, because fun is a thing of the past."

Through all of this, I have remained a member, until today. When I read that the price for a new member joining will be $7, and will stay that way until they are a member for 6 months. As well as how commercialized the company is getting.

I quit runescape because it lost it's standards. I'm 17 years old, and even though it may have been deemed "childish" to play a game like that, I still played it. However, I do know when I am being jerked around, and I do know when something has lost it's mojo.

I encourage that anybody who reads this, should immediatly stop playing runescape. Go outside, go get a wii, xbox, ps3 -- whatever just stop playing runescape. My hope is that, if enough players quit, they will see that graphics and security is not what makes a game. It's the gameplay.

And if you have a child, or know somebody who thinks about playing, give them a slap on the face, and introduce them to [name of better mmo here]. Please, do it. SAVE THEM.

[edit-- added another image to better clarify the new graphics system.]