Category: Linux

Vista is dead. Long live CentOS…

I’ve been using Vista on my Laptop for a few months, and I’ve tried hard to like it, but the truth is it annoys the hell out of me. This weekend I wiped off all traces of Vista and installed CentOS 5 (x86_64). At last some calm has returned to my world. There will be a couple of applications I will miss, but for the most part it feels like I’ve returned home.

Just for the hell of it, I’ve installed a Vista virtual machine, but I doubt I’ll use it much. If I’m ever forced to use a Windows application I think I’ll run it on an XP virtual machine and avoid the constant barrage of, “Are you sure?” questions.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle 10gR2 on Fedora 7…

I had a quick go at this installation and it worked OK. I had to load a bunch of FC6 packages to get Oracle to install, link and run properly. It looks like lots of the “compat_*” packages have been removed from Fedora 7, which is a problem as Oracle 10g needs them. The “libaio” package is no longer present. I’m sure the functionality is there somewhere, but I couldn’t get the listener to work without loading the old package. Also, the “libXP” package is necessary to get the installer to run. It has also been removed, along with some deprecated X11 packages that were present in FC6.

I’m sure the cleanup makes sense going forward, and 10g is getting a little old in Fedora timescales, but I wonder how many other applications will be broken by this.

Of course, I’m no Linux expert, so maybe I’ve missed something and these extra packages are not really needed.

Cheers

Tim…

StumbleUpon and Fedora 7…

Is SumbleUpon really worth $75 million?

I suppose the answer to that is yes, since eBay have just bought them for that figure. StumbleUpon claim 23 million regular users, of which I’m one, but if most of the other users are like me, they just click on a single toolbar button when they get bored. I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I did anything other than hit the “Stumble!” button. I don’t even rate pages I visit. Are 23 million users like me really worth that much money? The words “Boom” and “Bust” spring to mind!

Does anyone want to buy a blog that is visible to all internet users worldwide (even though they don’t actually read it) for several million pounds?

By the way, Fedora (don’t call it Core) 7 is now available.

Cheers

Tim…

Upgrade from CentOS 4 to CentOS 5…

I upgraded my main server at home from CentOS 4 to CentOS 5 last night. The upgrade from the installation DVD went OK, but when the upgrade was complete and I tried to check for software updates on the net using “yum update”, it complained about a number of package conflicts. On closer inspection I found that about 10 old packages were still present on the server, causing conflicts with newer versions. I removed the old packages and the software updater ran fine.

Now CentOS 5 is up and running, I guess I need to see what else I’ve broken along the way. I wonder how long it will be before I switch off the transparent windows and wobbly menus? 🙂

As is always the case, it’s better to do a clean OS install rather than an upgrade, but I really couldn’t be bothered. Maybe in a few weeks I’ll blow it away and start again.

Cheers

Tim…

CentOS 5 and Internet Usage Observation…

CentOS 5 has been released. Please wait for me to download it before you try… 🙂

I’ve recently had another reality check about the internet usage patterns of “normal” non-IT folk. I’ve spent years on IT forums, where you often post a question and get a rapid response, but recently I’ve been frequenting a number of stretching and flexibility forums where the response time can be up to days. All of these forums are quite well populated, but unlike IT forums, most of the members don’t spend the whole of their lives in front of a PC, hence the delays involved.

This sort of this just serves to remind me I’m not a “normal” internet user… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5)…

I’ve been having a play with the beta 2 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5).

Having seen the various Fedora Core versions released since RHEL4, I knew what to expect from RHEL5, but somehow I hoped for a bit more. If just feels like RHEL4 with a different theme.

I can see why Microsoft always add a bunch fancy new gizmos to every Windows release. They need something to differentiate the product, regardless of its usefulness, and people like me fall for it every time… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Ubuntu 6.10…

A little over a year ago I blogged about installing Ubuntu 5.10. At the time I thought is was a nice enough distro, but not really anything to rock my world. In a fit of boredom I recently installed Ubuntu 6.10 (screenshots by SnagIt 🙂 ). What a difference a year makes.

First off, it’s a live CD, so when you boot from it you can use Ubuntu straight away. I think that’s a really nice touch. On the desktop is an “Install” icon, which not surprisingly allows you to install the distro onto your hard drive. A handful of mouse clicks later you are presented with an installation progress bar and in no time you have a complete installation.

Now the distro itself still doesn’t rock my world, they’re all pretty much the same to me, but I think this is the easiest and cleanest Linux installation I’ve ever done, and I’ve done plenty.

Once again, this isn’t going to make me change my base distribution, I need an enterprise clone, but I certainly think it makes a good candidate for your average desktop, or people using Oracle XE…

Let’s see what it’s like next year… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

WebCams, Linux and Windows…

With the recent departure of one of my friends for New Zealand, I thought it was about time I got into using Skype. I’ve had it installed on my CentOS machine at home for some time, but only have one friend who uses it, so it’s not really been a big thing for me.

Until yesterday, I used a dodgy old microphone and my PC speakers, but I thought I’d nip down to Rip-off World (PC World) and buy a headset to make it more convenient. Whilst shopping, I decided to buy a cheap and crappy headset and webcam package, allowing me to make video calls… Or so I thought.

It turns out support from webcams on Linux is really crappy. I quick search on the net shows there are several projects that produce drivers to support an assortment of webcams, but there are none that support my hardware. Added to that, the latest version of Skype doesn’t include the beta video call functionality under Linux.

I guess I should have expected it really. There is little reason for manufacturuers to write Linux drivers for their kit when the demand is so low, but until they do using Linux on a home desktop has some limitations.

I’m going to stick with CentOS on my main machine. It serves me well and it’s free, so I can’t complain. I’m planning on buying a new laptop in the next few weeks/months. I had half a mind to install Linux on it, but maybe I will stick with the preinstalled copy of Windows Vista after all…

Cheers

Tim…