Now using XFCE
Posted by Tyler Brown
With all the speculation and consideration that I might be switching to KDE 4.5 next month - and I just end up switching to XFCE instead? Yes, that is true.
But wait a minute... that looks a little like how I had GNOME configured. Thats one of the things I love about XFCE, its lighter weight, however, it packs a huge punch. It uses the GTK Themes that you may have installed in your GNOME configurations, and although you may not see it in the screenshot, I'm using the metacity Window borders by using Compiz Fusion. another thing I would like to mention about XFCE that I like, is they actually pay attention to those who use dual monitors, and have options in simple things like Panels or the wallpaper configuration to either have something on monitor 1, or 2. In XFCE I can set a different wallpaper per monitor, without having to create an image in GIMP. I absolutely love it.
However, I am running into a few small issues here and there. Adobe Air apps rely on KDE or GNOME's Keyring applications, which don't automatically run in XFCE, so I had to set that up to be able to run Tweetdeck in XFCE. Another thing I'm getting used to is the different applets in XFCE panel, especially when I have gotten used to the ones I have used in GNOME-Panel. For example, the default clock applet in XFCE, when you click on it you don't get a calendar where in GNOME/KDE you do. However, there is a way you can put GNOME applets on the XFCE panel, so I might do that for a FEW applets.
So overall, I'm going to try using XFCE for a week or so and see how it goes, and see if I go back to using GNOME or not. Today's question for you all to answer in the comments is: Which desktop environment do you use, and why?
Anyway, thanks for reading Today's post, sorry for not having one Monday or Wednesday, share this post with anyone that might be interested, subscribe to this blog with your favorite RSS client, check back Monday for a new post and have a great Weekend! 
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Fun w/ Synaptic and KDE 4.5
Posted by Tyler Brown
Today's post is going to be me more or less venting a little bit about Synaptic and the Kubuntu PPA. So earlier this week I read about the KDE 4.5 Release Candidate and I decided to give it a little spin. I added the Kubuntu Beta PPA repositories and installed the KDEBase packages, etc. etc.
I guess I should first talk about my experience with KDE 4.5. From the probably 4-5 hours of me using it I can definitely see that this is going to be a release focused heavily on fixing bugs and stability. I noticed a few changes here and there to features, but I haven't really seen any new SIGNIFICANT features in KDE 4.5 RC. I would also like to say that the problems I had previously w/ Audio in KDE 4.x, where if you use a GTK app in KDE it would try to take control of the audio and not let any KDE apps use the Audio, is actually fixed, and I can now actually have the really annoying result of listening to a Youtube video in Chrome and Amarok at the same time, or just simply be able to hear an IM notice from Pidgin or Emesene while listening to music in Amarok. I did noticed a few bugs here and there, since it is a release Candidate, however, the issues I have previously with it have been fixed, and once its finally released next month I will heavily consider going from GNOME over to KDE!
Soo... if you managed to get anything from that mess of a paragraph, you can probably guess that I am still using GNOME for now. So, earlier Today I decided to try and install KVIRC, and this is where the troubles began. The .deb package was looking for older versions of the KDE packages and not the version that indicated it was the Release Candidate, so I just decided "hell with it" and started to remove the KDE packages anyway since I don't plan on using it until the final release of 4.5 anyway. Well, first I removed the repository, and I had to keep going from Dependency to Dependency until I found the one package that was still using the version from the repository. Needless to say, I finally managed to get it removed, but to remove that package it did ask me of one bizarre thing, that I had to remove fglrx. In the end I was able to reinstall my ATI drivers, but that was a bit weird (I haven't rebooted yet, so I hope nothing screws up). In the end I was actually able to install KVIRC, but that did take up about half an hour of my time trying to fix it and find out which packages I needed to remove/downgrade.
In the past 4 years of me having used Ubuntu (off and on of course), this is the first time where removing a repository and downgrading/removing packages from it has really given me any issues like this. But I guess it happens to most people at one point or another.
Oh, and while typing this I just thought of another thing I might do is ask a question at the end of each post in relation to what the topic was, so for example Today's question is:
So, have you had an issue w/ any repositories like that? And have you been able to fix them, find the root of the problem, or did you just say hell with it and reinstall Ubuntu?
Please leave a comment answering the question, or just what you think of the post in general. Also, if you like what I write, please subscribe to me using your favorite RSS reader. Have a great Weekend and Check back for a New Post Monday!
- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)
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New Random Blog Post, Updates, etc.
Posted by Tyler Brown
Ok, I apologize for not keeping up with my promise last month. Summer started to drag on, I had a cold for the first week and a half of June, etc. etc. So anyway, its July 1st, new month, and I figured, time for a new blog post.
So in the past month I've probably used Ubuntu 10.04 95% of the time, and Windows Vista about 5% of the time. So, I'm definitely using Linux hell of a lot more than I have in the past, which is definitely a good thing! Yes, I have gotten used to the buttons being on the left side of the titlebar, and even Ubuntu's new Ambiance Theme (although I changed it to something else eventually anyway).
So, around a week and a half ago I decided to order a new 500GB HDD. I wasn't running dangerously low on space, but I figured I might as well order one just to have the extra space, have one nice really large drive, and for performance too (the 32MB of cache is pretty nice). The drive I ordered was a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black. Absolutely amazing drive. Boots up into Ubuntu 10.04 much quicker than the 40GB I previous had Ubuntu on. And just to bring it, my previous drive configuration was 1x120GB for Vista, 1x80GB for Storage, and 1x40GB for Ubuntu 10.04. Now its 1x500GB for Ubuntu, 1x120GB for Vista, and 1x80GB for Storage. I'll include the unboxing video of the HDD below. I gave the 40GB SATA to my younger brother to use as an extra drive, which brings up the next topic.
My younger brother having had suffered 2 months on a A8N-SLI board (after trading motherboards with my other younger brother) which wouldn't work with his video card or Processor correctly (it detected his Socket 939 Athlon x2 as a Single Core), he finally got a new motherboard/CPU with 3GB of DDR2 RAM included. He's now finally able to use his 512MB 8600GT again, and his new CPU is an Athlon II x3 CPU at 2.7GHhz. Of course, because that boards only IDE channel would have been taken up by his Optical Drive, we had to order ANOTHER 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black drive. The pure fact that it was on sale AGAIN when we realized he needed another drive was some pretty good luck, otherwise we would have had to go with a 320GB or 250GB drive instead. But basically we set up a dual-boot on his system w/ XP and 7, plus a partition to store games. My youngest brother also got an upgrade out of this, including an upgrade to 2.5GB of RAM, Socket 939 Athlon x2 2.4GHz, and an extra 80GB IDE HDD.
Another thing I would like to mention is I have an extra Pentium D + a Board laying around I am actually considering doing something with. I just need to get a case, HDD, an optical drive for it (and maybe just a little bit more RAM). What I was thinking is I could possibly set that up to do videos on AND I will also probably use that as a machine to setup and do distribution testing and reviews on.
Anyway, I did mention I was getting used to Ubuntu's Ambiance Theme, well, thats when I decided to install the Elementary Theme Package, including The Elementary Modification of GNOME's File Manager Nautilus. I absolutely love this theme, and its actually going to be the Default theme of a Ubuntu-based distribution coming out called "Elementary OS". I think I might do a review on that in the future. That, along w/ Installing the AWN Dock, and using GNOME-DO, I can definitely say this UI is heck of a lot better than Window's UI.
So to continue on with my aimless rambling (is it really aimless?), while I kind of didn't go through with my blog every day in June, I definitely plan on doing more blog posts this month. I have been messing around with some pretty interesting software packages lately, mostly ones I found via Ubuntu's Software manager, that I would probably like to talk about, including an application I'm using to type this blog post in right now. So thats what I might focus my blog posts on in the next week, and I might even include videos. So, I would recommend keeping your eyes glued to this blog.
Anyway, thanks for reading this rambling blog post just updating a few things. Please subscribe to my Blog so you can keep on reading the next series of posts reviewing certain pieces of software, and I would definitely love some Constructive Feedback/Criticism in the comments section.
~ Tyler J. Brown
Mangler – A Ventrilo Client for Linux
Posted by Tyler Brown
So, I guess this is the first blog post for the month.
So, anyway. One of the things that has always kept me from always using Linux, especially when I used to be really really active over at McInTEC, is Ventrilo. I've tried various things from Virtual Machines, using Ventrilo in Wine, to trying under-developed projects such as Spux. Well, in the past month I found this piece of software called Mangler, which is a Ventrilo client for Linux. Their motto is “You should never use our software... ever.” Basically meaning that Mangler is to be used if you have no other option, and that you should opt to use Open Source alternatives for VOIP servers such as Mumble.
The Interface is very easy to use – basic, and the options aren't too hard to get at all. My Microphone works perfectly in it, Audio works, I can set comments, change the volume of people in the application, and more. Thats the very thing that surprised me, it worked. In the past few years this is the first successful Ventrilo client for Linux that I have even used.
Mangler Ventrilo Client
So basically, if you need to use Ventrilo for Linux and have no alternative, I would recommend looking at Mangler. It is a very good application and the best part about it: It works.
So yes, within the last few minutes of the day I managed to get this blog post out. I could have went more in depth about it, but it was a crazy day. Family came into town, first time I've seen em' in a year. Graduation practice was today, and graduation will be tomorrow. So, I will definitely be producing more in-depth posts later on in the month once things get a little back to normal. Otherwise, thanks for reading. Subscribe to see the other 29 posts I will do this month, hopefully, and check back tomorrow for the next post!
- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)
Blog Post for every day in June? And other things.
Posted by Tyler Brown
Ok, it is the last day in May, and its been about a week since I've done a blog post. Well, I think I'm going to challenge myself, I am going to (attempt) to do a new blog post for every day in the month of June, starting tomorrow. I think it will be interesting, and the topics will go over a range of subjects. So, keep your eyes open.
So far I've made it two weeks without booting into Vista. Pretty good accomplishment, of course. 
hehe. Of course, I haven't watched Hulu in a couple weeks, since Flash for Linux is still crappy, and would probably perform like crap when full-screen. So when I get a PC to use as a Media-center, I'll probably use Windows on it for that purpose. Otherwise, I have no other reason to boot into Windows. I'm not much of a gamer, I found a Ventrilo client for Linux that actually works called Mangler (Which I'll blog about in a later post), I'm having no performance issues, etc.
I have yet to setup Zen Walk on the Pentium 4 HT, just been kind of busy/crazy lately. Hopefully I'll be able to do that later this week and blog about it.
So in terms of whats going on in my life? Tomorrow, June 1st, I will have Graduation practice. I can't believe I've made it to this point, and I can't wait for graduation which will be this Wednesday on June 2nd. Last Tuesday I took the Second A+ Exam and passed it, meaning I am now A+ Certified (Although it took CompTIA Nearly a week to process it and send me a confirmation e-mail). I'm still waiting for the Strata certificate for the Strata Exam I took and passed over a month ago, which they're sending via Snail-mail. hehe.
Starting after graduation I'll definitely start looking for a job. I mean, I need a way to pay for all the computer upgrades I want to do. That, and I need to find a way to pay for school this fall, as well as many other things. I already have a couple places in mind that I will be applying to.
Anyway, be sure to look for a new blog post tomorrow. Don't forget to subscribe to this blog, and make constructive comments on this and my other posts! And don't be afraid to provide constructive criticism too. Anyway, thanks for reading!
- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)