Ubuntu on MacBook

Since my 21-credit-hour semester ended, I've had a little more time to tinker. In preparation for my trip to France, I wanted to install Windows and Ubuntu on my MacBook (model 4,1) so I could have all three major operating systems on my computer so I can develop for any platform (or use iTunes to rescue my iPod and Photoshop as there isn't anything on Ubuntu that really compares).

I followed this tutorial to set everything up (I got a free Windows 7 license from my school's CS department which pays for licenses for students--Microsoft's online support was incapable of allowing me to move my license from my old hardware to new hardware, even after me being on the phone with them for 3+ hours). There were a few minor hiccups with rEFIt (a necessary piece of software used to allow non-OSX operating systems to run on a MacBook)--it had a tendency to not boot correctly but the problem evaporated for no apparent reason and it seemed the problem was pretty rare anyway.

Because I used rEFIt instead of BootCamp to install Windows 7, I'm having a driver problem preventing me from scrolling or right-clicking with the trackpad--making Windows 7 even more frustrating to use.

Lately I've been using Ubuntu 11.10 exclusively and I'm incredibly happy with it. Many of the usability bugs in Unity have been worked out in this iteration (many still remain, but it's much more tolerable) and it's actually a pleasure to use as things have become more customizable. Additionally, because everything is so customizable in Ubunu, the operating system is a pleasure to use compared to OSX which is fairly locked-down. I truly love that I can push a key combination (by default Alt+F1) and navigate the dock with arrow keys. Furthermore, Unity + the Software Center make the new Ubuntu a great operating system for beginners (the Software Center was my biggest criticism for Ubuntu in appealing to new users, but, as I predicted, the Mac App Store drove many improvements in Ubuntu's Software Center).

That said, I plan to install this OS on the computers of a couple of my friends and family before I leave for France. Give it a try. Documentation abounds on how to install the operating system and it's probably the easiest operating system to install.

Evolution makes me look less like an idiot

Evolution, Ubuntu's default mail client, makes me look less like an idiot with its useful reminder. The image pretty much sums it up. Thanks Evolution!

Beginning Work On The New Blog Engine

Today I'm starting to work on the new blog engine. A friend of mine has some server hosting he's letting me use in exchange for helping him develop a website for his recording studio. I'm planning on developing the same general blog engine for both his site and mine and then tailoring each to our specific needs. Today has been the first day I've had time to start working on it.

Unfortunately, his hosting provider doesn't support Python as a web programming language, which is really too bad because its syntax is incredibly easy to use and its quite a fast, powerful language and is great for developing things quickly. So it looks like I'm going to have to jump back into PHP, in which I really haven't dabbled for some four or five years. LOTS has changed on the web since then. Anyway, I'm older and wiser now with lots more experience in writing "good code". PHP was my first language and I had no concept of proper code-writing and I just wrote what I could to make things work any way possible. This meant ugly code (hard to understand, difficult to modify, etc), LOTS of repetition, and slow execution. We'll see how I fare this time around.

Anyway, so far I've started my first script for reading-in existing posts from an RSS feed. Yesterday I installed an Apache server on my netbook and got everything running well by all appearances. I hope to get a little development time in every weekend, but with this being my last semester in my Electrical Engineering Technology major, I'm quite busy.

Time will tell.

PS: Ubuntu 11.04 is shaping up niiiiiiiicely. Can't wait for April. :]

Software Center and App Store

The Internets are buzzing with news of Apple's revolutionary new PC App Store, which delivers applications to its Mac line of PCs. Except, erm, it's not that revolutionary. Ubuntu has long had its own Software Center.

Ubuntu's Software Center (henceforth USC) is a great concept--a single place from which to download all of your apps with a graphical user interface (GUI), rather than the "sudo apt-get" terminal code that I can never seem to get to work correctly (despite copying and pasting instructions from the website). Moreover, the USC theoretically keeps track of software on your computer  so you can easily uninstall software you don't want or don't use. You can even add third party software sources and browse their apps through the center.

It's Elementary

So my desktop PC's fan went out... It served me well for four years now. I'm buying a replacement off a friend for a few bucks tomorrow so that should be back in action soon. In the meanwhile, I've spent a lot of time researching a lot of great Ubuntu customizations. Here's a list of my favorite apps: