Switched from Gnome, to KDE

Been using Gnome for the past 4 years at least, but I decided to switch to KDE after trying it again.  I seem to recall that KDE wasn't stable enough.  I must have tried it when v3 was having stability problems, and then v4 was in between as well.  Lately, I switched to the latest that comes with Ubuntu 13.04 and I like it more.  It get more tweaking, and it's pretty stable.
Gnome has become too minimalistic to my taste, although I like the approach, but too much tweaking was needed to customize it to my taste.
I also like digiKam application, it's way better than shotwell.  It's got a two pane comparison window when editing images, that is an excellent feature.  I do feel that shotwell is faster a bit, but I can live with the slowness for those options.

Flash nightmare Kubuntu 12.10

I tried to install Kubuntu for an elder couple, mainly they use it for surfing, youtube, email. I've installed linux on so many older systems, and never had a problem getting flash player to work until now. I started with the LTS version 12.04. Removed, installed and re-installed flash with no luck. Then I decide to go to the latest version 12.10, re-installing flash, and gnash etc... no luck.  Still fighting against the machine.  Funny thing is I've been using Ubuntu for over 10 years now, I've had headaches, with flash and a few inconveniences but this time it is annoying.

Cable modem/router slowness

It's been about 6 months or more since I upgraded my internet connection to double what I had.  I had a 60Mbps down and I think 15Mbps upstream.  Now I have a 120Mbps/10Mbps respectively.  Interesting enough I started using the router provided by the ISP.  I started noticing that my DNS resolution was slow, crawl basically.  So I did a local DNS cache on my machine hoping to speed things up.  It did a tiny bit, but not a significant change.. The I started google-ing harder, no concentrating on DOCSIS systems, and Cable modem/routers.  I came a cross a person who had the same issue, and the suggestion to fix it worked for me as well.  All I had to do is turn of flooding detection, and my DNS resolution became super fast, I had DNS resolution in the range of ~4000ms some sec, now it's below 100ms where it should be.  I finally feel like I have my connection that I had before the upgrade, even though it was a stupid router setting :(

raspberrypi installed

After the 3rd try, I managed to install wheezy on the raspberryPi.  It loads, and the xserver starts and everything is ok, with one exception, I need to get a HTMI to DVI adapter, so I can use it with my monitor, and not in the bedroom where the TV is, since my TV has HDMI.  Also a wireless keyboard, mouse combo is in order, oh did I forget to mention WiFi.  So I am shopping around for now, then I'll decide what to use it for, may be an FTP backup server, with a 500GB USB drive, or a proxy server, or a proxy + vpn server for my devices to connect to when I am on a public network.  Haven't made up my mind.

Linux on Raspberry PI

I've received my Raspberry Pi a while ago, probably more than 2 months ago, but still didn't get the time to start working on it.  I haven't even decided what I want to do with it... a backup server, maybe a squid proxy server, maybe my own proxy server to reach from the internet, I haven't made up my mind.  I'm also planning on buying an enclosure.  I'll try to start updating this blog more often....  stay tuned.

Cheap linux box

  My trusty laptop batteries started to deteriorate.  I also realized that editing pictures over the network via the NFS isn't that effective.  The problem was that I didn't tag my pictures properly, since I didn't think I would ever want, or need to create picture collections of say family, or travel etc...
  I decided to build a box, for under $250 I got a pretty good deal.  I already had the monitor, since I used the laptop with dual monitors, and I had 2 Hard drives as well.  Final build :

• MSI s775 G41M-P28
• Intel E6600 3.06Ghz
• 8 GB DDR3 Memory
• 2x 500GB SATA drives using Software raid 1
• Intel GMA x4500 built in graphics
• 22" LG 1680x1050
• TP-Link Gigabit Router 
• OS Ubuntu 12.04

  I hope it turns out to be good, I still need to think of a backup strategy.  Having a NAS which has a media server, I don't think I need to store the music and video files on my local HDD...

Made the jump to 11.10 Oneiric

Before this version, I had 10.04, but was intrigued by getting the latest and baddest.  So I finally decided to  make the jump.  After disabling Unity, and getting Gnome to work almost as it was, a classical view.  Not perfect yet but I think I can live with this.  I've also been experimenting with Archlinux, which I think is a great distribution, and I think I will have that on my budget box that I am building.  One thing that I need a computer for, is surfing, reading and sometimes photo editing.  So I don't need a speed deamon, yet, not that weak that makes my current laptop look like speedy gonzales.  So stay tuned for more on the new new cheap box, and what I build on it.