Friday, December 21, 2012

BYO my new xbox?

I like lubuntu
it's been easy enough to use, considering its a free unix system.
ubuntu is fairly mainstream
it runs fine on the laptop I bought in 2004, as does XP (with no service packs or virus protection)
it hardly uses any system resources, leaving more for games
steam for linux beta is out, thus far it runs smooth as silk, (only tested Solar2 atm)
Connected to my TV it runs anime (via VLC) better than the TV, as good as Win7.
Getting the OS running is a simmilar hassle to setting up windows (no flash/Java/Firefox for example)
I installed a copy on a 16GB USB, it runs fine and now I can exclude the OS from any PC issues I have in the future.
doesnt nag me about openning files. occasionally asks for a password but no nearly as annoying as windows.
It's not mainstream, just like my trackball mouse.
Using it sort of reminds me of playing Space Rangers 2, one of the best UI's I have seen in a game and it also had ~3 fully integrated minigames.
ubuntu had an app market before there was such a thing and its still really easy to find and install programs with it.

For me the OS should have as small a footprint as possible leaving me plenty of power to get <100 ping and 60FPS in LOL and GW2 (for example). Thus I think Lubuntu is better for gaming that Win7, the only think holding me back is compatibility with games being built nearly exclusively for windows.

Thus;
Seems to me my broken/slow/old PC BYO will now be my new media center. Plugged into the TV for watching anime/YouTube and running the occasionall game over Steam. Pretty keen to trial Psyconaughts in BigScreen mode with a controller and pretending I am a console gamer. I suppose I need a new wireless keyboard+trackball mouse for all other games though and to press "V", "B" & " " in VLC.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Camino: The Way of St James

Note: I don’t want to be somebody who talks about stuff and is full of dreams. I want to be a person who lives. I thought about kitesurfing for three years before committing and this is a similar thing. It was a possibility to do the walk of St James for my gold DofE but I went to Nepal instead. Over the years this trip has become more appealing and I now have some people I personally know in Europe who I could visit. Knowing a local makes holidays a lot more relaxing.

Min 100k for certificate
Average 5kph
Say 8h a day walking, therefore 40km per day
3 days easy to complete
That would be ~20 days at 40km per day
+10 days for site seeing along the way. Since Caroline took 30 days to complete the trip.

Maybe 3 days to recover from jetlag?
3 days in Norway to see Scott Bowes
3 Days to see Aurore
3 Days to see Kristina
Possibly also Stephan and Eduard?
I suppose most people would be working, but I could catch up in the evenings and maybe somebody could walk with me?

40days in Europe would be a nice number, making the most of the price of airfares too.

$2000 or so for airfares each way?
About the same for spending cash

Need a week or so to see Levi get ordained in December 2013
Possibly a Jan-Feb-March holiday?

I’m frightened to plan this for 2013, it seems too soon and will be harsh on my back account.
But the longer I leave it the worse I will feel about failing to act.
Unless I save it up for a later in life thing like a honeymoon? But that would require a wife and I’m still single, so I dont know how much later "later" would be.

Kk so holidays for 2013 will be:
1 week in Jan with Dad sailing for his BDay in Hervy Bay
1 week kitesurfing somewhere somehow
1 week kitesurfing somewhere somehow
1 Week to see Levi graduate as a Pastor on or about the 8th of december

Then 2014
Easter is April 18-21
Somewhere march-April-May could be my Eurotrip?
All my holidays at once

God willing it will be so, if not then …um, well I’m prepared to be unprepared.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Lubuntu: another attempt to replace windows

Once again I'm goingto have a go at using linux instead of windows. This time the primary cause is that my PC at work had corrupted the system files.

for general install

for installing to USB, so I can use at work and home.

I used an old Lubuntu 10.10 install CD and attempted to partition my USB to 8GB ext4 “\”, 4GB ext4 “\home” and 4GB swap. But every partition had ~4 bytes added or taken from it so they none of them were nice round numbers.

After installing the OS I restarted the PC and ran the performance test, then restarted a few more times. Seems best to consistently keep the USB in the same slot otherwise it resets the boot order and occasionally boots Windows. Also I can only use the GRUB to start XP on the computer I used to install Lubuntu, all the others say serial number not found.
After sorting that out. On my broken PC, load times from GRUB to login screen were
3:29 Lubuntu
1:31 XP Pro
Where as on my new work laptop both systems took 20 seconds to load.


Next I’ll need to update the OS to current; 12.10
Apparently steam will have a linux beta this week open to the public.
Run full Ubuntu on BYO? Seems a slow but it shouldn’t be. Win7 ran fine and a clean install of XP should also work well.
Want Lubuntu for USB and laptop and if that works well I’ll put it onto BYO as well.
I should reformat the \home directory to FAT32 so that I can access some of the usb when it is in a windows pc. Otherwise it keeps suggesting I reformat my drive.

After that replace chrome with FF and add VLC for my anime.
Then to use it at work I probably need Java + Open Office, With that I can hopefully install NCSTools and Citect.