Choking on Windows 8

I was sitting there doing what I normally do (driving a truck going down the road, talking to myself), and thought. Damn! Didn't Microsoft have some kind of anti-trust suit going against them some time back?  I know it was about browsers, but isn't this signed certificate for the firmware to allow the computer to boot even MORE intrusive?

Who in the world on the consumer side of things is asking for this kind of crap?
Who on the IT side?

This certainly seems to be more of Microsoft's line of thinking that if you're not paying them homage, tribute, or some portion of YOUR money, to run YOUR computer, with YOUR software, they have some right to your pocketbook, just because, they're Microsoft.

XScreenSaver vs Gnome-Screensaver

I can see where XScreenSaver will be my Screensaver of choice from now on.  Not that Gnome-Screensaver didn't do it's job properly, it's just that it seems to be a dumbed down XScreenSaver.  Why would I want that?  Maybe, as time goes on, I'll see why there is a Gnome Version. But, really, I don't know why the Gnome team seems to have the habit of pulling the buttons off of things.

Also Elementary Nautilus seems to be more to my liking also...
 

Linux Mint 11 and Getting Tomboy Notes To Sync with Ubuntu One

I've been playing around with an old laptop, due to the new laptop going to a shop for a keyboard... So, what do most of us Linux Nuts do when we drag up an old machine? We fiddle with it, right?  Yup, that's what I did. I had to put new distro on it.

Not being a big fan of Unity, But I DO love what Ubuntu has to offer and does. Really I do. I'm just not big on the interface's and some of the desktop environment changes right now. Maybe latter. So, for now, I'm sticking with the old Gnome 2 environment, and Linux Mint.  Oh, Right. I'm getting side tracked.

Old Laptop. (A Toshiba Satellite A45)
New Linux Mint 11.

I got Mint Installed, and then was syncing Google Chrome, etc, and thought that it would be nice to have access to some of those Tomboy Notes that I setup back from Linux Mint 9.  But, Ubuntu One info wasn't really "there".  I did a little Googling, and found this blog post*, that had the one secret line that I was craving...

https://one.ubuntu.com/notes/

I added that line to the server, see image below.. 

Got the "Syncing Dialog"

So, I kicked back and enjoyed the syncing...
And Viola! The notes magically appeared. :)

One could also use Last Pass to Sync notes, and Passwords too, if they wished.

*Credits: My Life, Art and FOSS: Tomboy notes sync in Linux Mint 11

Free Podcast hosting = Blogger + Archive.org + Feedburner

This post is just supposed to be a quick overview on how to host and produce your own free podcast. I still prefer the term NetCast Ala Leo Laporte. As he was putting his stuff online to DL before the "Pod Boom".

So, How many of you want to have a podcast, or have had one? 

How many of you have gotten a  hosted WordPress site, only to have your shared hosted server to get bogged down? 

I've been there. So why not just use the power of Google?  I wish I had setup The Juiced Penguin with blogger before I gave it over to TerryF. It would have gone much more smoothly for us if I had. 

You'll need to have a Blogger Blog. 

(Register a domain name via your blogger blog for $10 bucks a year, and it'll look like gold)

You'll need to make sure that you allow the enclosures for your posts.

It's best to setup Feedburner for your site, it will make your Atom feed an RSS feed and make it more agile, if you want to move where you do host the site. So if you do move from Blogger to WP to Ddrupal, you'll be able to do so, but your feed to your subscribers will go on without a hitch. Feedburner also has a few nice features that aren't included with Blogger, but make the feed much more manageable, such as submissions to iTunes, Convert that Blogger Atom feed into a RSS feed for pod-catchers, Twitter integration, has Email subscription options, and more. 

You're going to have to upload your content to someplace.  I have used the Internet Archive for myself. It'll require you to have your own account, etc. But you can upload them there, and link to them. They even have a good little widget for you include on your blog for the posting so people can listen to your podcast on your blog.  Embedding the player might be a little tricky, as they make it about twice as wide then you might want for your blog post. 

If you want to see what one of these posts look like using the Internet Archive.org player widget, 

check out this post.

That's really it. If you have questions, please leave a comment.  Let me know if you'd like more details about a particular section on this, and I'll create another post. 

 

Diggin' the Droid

I found a cool little app for the Android that's called Androidify. I got it, used it and then modified what they allow you to do with the Gimp. No need to be just like everyone else, eh?

This reminds me of another little "create a little icon of your self" site called FaceYourMagna. I had used it to create a little icon of my self a few times, and of some of my co workers. It's also a great little way to make a picture of yourself to share, without using a real photo. (hint hint to the camera shy)...

Of course, I modified it too... 

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog! :)

I'd like to see comments from anyone who has used these tools, and what they look like. :)

Thanks!
Randy

QMLSaver Nice digital Clock Screensaver

This Clock ScreenSaver is something that was asked about on the Ubuntu Forums, back in 2007. And it didn't seem to have a good solution, They used gltext.  One would think that desktop Linux would have an easy and simple Clock Screensaver solution.

Enter in, QMLSaver, it fits the bill. It works great on my netbook on the nightstand.

QMLSaver - Clock Screensaver For Ubuntu ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog

It seems to me that anyone that can use apt-get should be able to install this handy Digital Clock Screensaver. I'm just making note of it here on my blog, as this is the second time I've looked for such a utility, for my netbook. - What I really want is a screensaver that has the time, and temp.  I suppose that I could setup a desktop for that, but, that doesn't hit the mark for what I'd like.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:prodoomman/qmlsaver
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libqt4-dev qmlsaver

QMLSaver - Clock Screensaver For Ubuntu ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog

Another alternative is the Noflipqlo screensaver It's a bit more complicated to install, but looks like it might do the trick really well also.

But Why?

I could blog from the truck with my phone... But this would really wear out my thumbs. I just don't get it trying to do normal stuff with a phone. I can't even tell what picture I'm picking.
@thenose100