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Day 2 (ish): OSX

AntiThesis — Sat, 12 May 2012 08:57:12 GMT

So it's the last day with OSX and I've decided to mix it up somewhat by trying to install some custom Kexts to get my dual monitor setup working. Should be interesting.

I am growing used to OSX's little quirks and intricacies and once you get over the irritable bowel syndrome that is iTunes, it's actually not that bad. As with all the platforms I've tested so far, dev work is a breeze.

I've opted to leave Aptana studio behind on this one and have shifted over to Netbeans so that'll be the base for my comparisons from now on - I just found Aptana to be a little too clunky for my likes.

Alright, off to go install some kexts. Wish me luck.

Day 1: Osx86 (Hackintosh)

AntiThesis — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:30:22 GMT

After the untimely demise of my Fedora install, the next OS to crop up was OSX.

Let me start off by saying that I have mixed feelings about this behemoth in the OS space. On the one hand, it's something like my geeky Everest - I've never really run it and in many respects, its unclaimed treasures remain unspoiled (at least by me - many others have spoiled OSX but that's another story).

On the other hand, it represents all that I feel is wrong with the world - it's regimented, has stringent rules about what I can and cannot do and of course, includes iTunes*

Something the previous OSes have had in common is their native ability to support pretty much any architecture and hardware combination out there. OSX has no such compatibility.

This isn't surprising given the walled garden approach that Apple have chosen to adopt with their technology - if nothing else, the software giant is consistent in its philosophy.
Briefly summed up, this is: "Do it our way or GTFO"**

I installed OSX on my machine by ~~going to the internet equivalent of a man with a large overcoat standing in an alley~~ PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE MEANS and after fiddling with various start-up options, was presented with a fairly smooth install.

OSX is... different. While I do feel that there is a market for it, I'm not convinced that I am that market. The design harks back to the era of Windows 98 and dancing the Macarena, I find the buttons to have a distinctly pre-web 2.0 look and the liberal use of gray and those icky rounded blue scrollbars makes me cringe.

Before I'm beaten soundly by a crowd of ravenous fans, let me say this - to its credit, OSX is FAST. Really, really fast. This may have something to do with the Quad Core and 4GB of RAM but I doubt it - while I may not agree with the philosophy that underpins the OSX experience, this they have done perfectly well.

I'm left with a slightly bewildered feeling - remember when you were young and you found your dad's Scope magazine? You felt good but bad and also a little guilty? The OSX experience is like that - bewildering. I'm happy... but I don't know why.

For day 1 (and probably day 2) a solid 7/10 for OSX: Lion

Pros

Fast - < 5 second shutdown. No really.
Finder - Godsend of a tool
Application Installs - so easy!

Cons***

iTunes
Design and look
Restrictive nature

* Which everyone in their right mind agrees is the spawn of all evil.
** Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying this is a bad thing, just that it's as uncompromising as an angry she-bear.
*** An unofficial con is that it makes me REALLY want to buy a bigger monitor. OSX is built to have a 40" monitor. 19 just doesn't do it justice.

Day 2: Fedora redux

AntiThesis — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:11:28 GMT

I must admit, Fedora is starting to grow on me. Gnome is not. At all. Unless it's like syphilis in which case, yes, I suppose it is growing on me.

I'm still not used to running everything through "Activities" and I'm finding the lack of taskbar use to be more and more of a problem. While taskbars are undoubtedly

Perhaps Fedora could be a decent, viable solution.

edit: Scratch that. Some form of odd kernel panic has doomed me. Since it took place around 12:30 or so, I'm just going to move onto OSX86.

Overall rating: 3.0/5 for the kernel panic and the "Activities" feature.*

*Yes, this is subjective again. I'm sure at some point I screwed something up but that's OK :)

Day 1: Fedora 16

AntiThesis — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:33:58 GMT

24 hours in, Fedora isn't driving me as insane anymore - it was a rough start but after some percussive maintenance and genteel swearing, I've managed to overcome some of the things that irritated the hell out of me.

Gnome 3 is the devil in Fedora's details and the source of 90% of the frustrations. Like Ubuntu, Fedora seem to have gone somewhere along the line of simplifying everything without too much consideration for usability.

Peeves include no minimize or maximize natively (have to edit gconf to get it right), no shutdown and/or restart function unless I hit alt and a complete inability to add anything to desktop or taskbar without another gconf edit. Bah.*

Like Windows 8's Metro and Ubuntu's Unity, Fedora's use of "Activities" does make me lean more towards grabbing an axe and wreaking terrible vengeance on the creators but it's something I probably have to come to terms with - seems like the slippery slope we're all destined to fall down sooner or later.

For dev, I've been using LAMPP + Aptana studio + Smartgit + Chrome so I can keep it all pretty much OS independent.

Something I'd forgotten about that irritates me about Open Source OS is the inability of native players to... well, to play anything. I know it's not really their fault, proprietary codecs are everyone's enemy etc etc but it's a little hard to feel impartial when I'm unable to play any of my files without first installing VLC.

Pros:

I missed yum :love:
Boots like a ninja; sub 30 seconds all told
Native handling of multiple monitors is pretty effortless
Native ssh means I don't have to use putty? (:erm:)

Cons:

No native support for codecs
Windows don't pre-empt each other well (sometimes get stuck behind)
Minimizing sends a window away completely to be lost somewhere in the "Activities" section
Native handling of multi-monitor taskbar is pretty nonexistent (?)

I'll call it a draw so far - overall rating, 3.5/5 - I'm not overwhelmed but I'm not suicidal while using it.**

* I know, I know - I could use some other Desktop environment. But I shouldn't have to work to do so. At the least, I should have the option right up there glaring at me during setup:

1) Use Gnome 3 and want to murder Fedora devs
2) Use Gnome Classic and live with the old tech

** This is an opinion, not a technical review ;) It's based only on my experiences and my particular needs. In before OMGWTFN00b and so forth.

10 days, 5 OSes

AntiThesis — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:01:26 GMT

Having grown bored of Windows 7 and all her ilk (That's XP and Windows 8*), I'm adventuring into the semi-unknown realms of Operating Systems.

- Fedora
- Mint + Cinnamon
- Ubuntu Studio
- OpenSuse
- OSX86

Since I'm clearly some kind of masochist, I'll be installing an OS with all requirements for a total of two(ish) days and then doing a complete wipe and restart.

My requirements are:
- Must be able to pollute the internet with my drivel (browse)
- Must be able to work in PHP/MySQL easily
- Must be able to watch the occasional bit of media

Wish me luck or failing that, watch me fail.

* Windows 8 is actually a completely different beast. Something evil and wet. Probably smelly too.

Photoshop in your browser?

AntiThesis — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:52:38 GMT

I do a fair amount of image manipulation and creation and so far Photoshop has by far been the best option. All the various pieces of software of course have their own merits and problems but by and large I think most people are confident with Adobe's stuff and it's certainly an industry leader.

Thinking almost purely of hobbyists and people like myself who dabble in the odd bit of image manipulation, Aviary has been launched. And boy is it pretty.

The tools range from Image editors to swatch, vectors, music and terrain generators as well as word processing and a whole gamut of 3D technology.

Some of the example images are starting to look pretty damned good and are easily equal to some of the things being done in applications like Bryce, Photoshop and 3DS.

Check out a couple of this week's featured images:

Face

Orb

I've got a couple of invites if anyone wants some.

Technology is amazing.

AntiThesis — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:54:39 GMT

Technology seems to have gone in leaps and bounds.

This morning I was playing with a Canon PowerShot SX100 that we got for someone at work to take quality assurance pictures. They were specifically looking for Macro shots and this seemed to be about the best in the batch of "point-and-click" type cameras we looked at.

At a price tag of R2.5k it's not particularly expensive but damn this little thing does well!

Check out a couple of these hastily made macro shots for an idea: (click for bigger)

http://www.dementia.za.net/photoclub...board-real.jpg

http://www.dementia.za.net/photoclub/Macro/mem-real.jpg

After which I cleaned my mouse very well!

http://www.dementia.za.net/photoclub...mouse-real.jpg

http://www.dementia.za.net/photoclub.../ring-real.jpg

Pretty damned good neh? And the macro focus distance is around 1cm or less :)

The Internet is melting

AntiThesis — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:58:13 GMT

Proportionally, the amount of spam, Viagra advertisements and generalised bollocks available on the internet is gaining on the legitimate, interesting content. This is not a great position for the internet to be in.

I'm pretty sure the content with more value than a worn-out sock is still ahead of the game but it can't be by much.