Internetling

Well, a lot of time has passed since my little article about the ten apps I immediately install onto a default Linux setup. And time in open source means evolution! I’ve switched to a few apps that really make my desktop experience more enjoyable because of speed, stability and beauty.

Let’s see what we got…

Banshee

I’ve always been an Amarok fanboy, then I switched to GTK+ and with it to Audacious. But it has never been the same. Banshee, which is now at version 1.0, has everything you need, and MORE. Podcasts, Internet radio, album artwork, it’s just liek Amarok, only in my opinion, better, prettier and simply the best player for GNOME out there. It has integrated iPod support too. Rhythmbox is just nothing compared to Banshee.

Opera (the new one, 9.5)

Until you’ve tried he new 9.5 version of the Opera browser, you have no idea how fast the Internet can be. The Opera team did a great job, redesigning their flagship browser from both the inside and outside. Because of Qt it may look a wee bit better for you KDE folks out there, but hey, I’m using it on GNOME and it still looks slick. Oh, and Opera is now officially one of the few popular browsers which don’t lag on Digg.

FreeMind

It’s a mind-mapping application. What, you don’t know why you should use a mind-map? Hm, well, that’s OK with me, if you don’t want to boost your productivity for like 50%…

FrostWire

An open source Limewire clone, with all the functions, minus the adware/spyware/whatever other doo-doo they put into it. I’ve been searching for a stable p2p app for Linux for quite a long time, I hated aMule and gtk-gnutella-what’s-its-face was a bit too spartan for my taste. It does BitTorrent too, so there’s no need for a special client for that (or just use Opera).

Gnome Do

It’s really hard to describe this app! Well, yeah it is an app launcher, but at the same time it’s so much more. Please check the main site, it does a good job saying what power GNOME Do gives you. And don’t let the name deceive you, it works on KDE too (didn’t test this!).

Have fun testing these cool apps out!

I had an interesting conversation today with my friend, who is not a gamer and is not very tech-savvy He uses a Windows XP laptop.

Me: “Why don’t you try Linux?”

Friend: “Why should I?”

Me: “Well, it’s free, and legally so.”

Friend: “I got my XP for free.”

We come to a horrible paradox. Yes, law enforcement of software application copyright is needed, but the problem is such software is mosty spread through BitTorrent. Here, not many people actually profit from selling stuff they download, no: they’re well-off enough, but they download a copy for themselves. I am a fan of freedom of file sharing, but I’m also a fan of legal, and especially FREE software. therefore, it is impossible to have both in the same tech world we live in. Where to now?

I’m finally back from listening to podcasts, exams and stuff. Of course, I’ve also been a good blogger and have succesfully found more stuff to complain about, namely Ubuntu and the direction of its development.

Ubuntu is arguably one of the best distros for newbies out there, but in the recent months, as a long-time Ubuntu user and complete Linux nerd I’ve been installing Linux on various different machines and some interesting thoughts and results appeared infront of me.

Ubuntu is a good Debian-based distro. But why does Debian normally work where Ubuntu simply doesn’t?  Hardy Heron was supposed to be a stable LTS release, right? Where did the Debian base go? Ubuntu’s speed cannot be advertised anymore with the new release, just like openSUSE’s can’t. Xubuntu is a very bad excuse for a light distro – because it’s not.

256 RAM don’t cut it nowadays. But why? Why does Apple’s (crappy) Mac OS X run faster than the old version?

It puzzles me. It really does.

Linux Action Show Season 8 Episode 8.

In this podcast, the show’s hosts, Brian and Chris, take a look at Fedora 9 and give some insightful comments about the ups and downs of the Fedora Sulphur release. Quite surprisingly, they’ve had a lot of negative stuff to say.

Listen @ http://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/?p=38

This is just priceless, I stumbled upon an interesting science website:

We asked a large range of famous celebrities – and people who we think should be celebrities – what they thought the first words on Mars would be. Here’s a selection of the best we received. Where applicable, the category they wrote their words for has been shown.

And guess who was interviewed? Yes, good ol’ RMS:

Richard Stallman
Founder of GNU Project and Free Software Foundation

“Here we can share music!”