Vista Experiment Dual booting XP, Part 3

So I successfully have a system that dual boots XP SP3 and Ubuntu 8.10. It took a bit of fiddling and research on how to properly configure the GRUB bootloader to recognize where XP's partition was and that it was something bootable.

Like anything Ubuntu related, I found the correct answer through the Ubuntu Forums. It's threads like this one that make Ubuntu Forums such a worthwhile resource. Not only is the user base pro active and helpful, it's large enough that about 95% of any problems you come across running Ubuntu have already been posted and solved. Even when I transitioned to 8.10 a few weeks early I found that there was already a great deal of posting about how to get just about everything working even with beta software.

At the end of the day computers are far too useful to be held down by only one OS. There are things that are easily done in linux that just don't work as well in Windows. On the other hand, Linux, no matter what the distribution, can produce real headaches and lots of time configuring and rebooting to diagnose a problem--and most of the time its something like a proprietary video driver that you wouldn't have to spend but a few seconds on in Windows to get it functioning.

I've been part of the linux community since about 1999 and have participated in varying degrees. Just recently I've become involved in posting on the forums when I can help diagnose a problem, but most of my experience is that of the end-user. I can't stress enough how happy I am with how the linux community has developed and I feel like the OS is finally getting to a point of maturity that would allow it to be used by just about any average user. It's still going to remain the choice of true enthusiasts though, because its free and legal and ultimately incredibly scalable.

The relative ease of installing and dual booting XP was a pleasant surprise, and I'm actually impressed at the boot time of the tidied up repack of SP3 that I ended up loading. I'm looking forward to getting Photoshop up and running and finally getting to stretch the legs of the graphics card I bought a few months ago. I don't think I'll be able to run super-current games, but I look forward to installing some classics that I used to play (Black & White, anyone?) and see what I can throw at it before it breaks.

Also, this really wouldn't have happened if not for this article over at APCmag, which gave me the courage to go ahead and take the plunge and commit to the install. They're actually got a whole series of articles about dual booting. If you're a Windows user that wants to see what this whole linux thing is, or a linux user that's a little unsure when it comes to partition tables, it's really never been a more straight-forward process to dual boot your PC.

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Wine in Ubuntu is the best!

Wine allowed me to install a certain proprietary piece of windows only software (starts with an eff and ends in an assssh) to get some crucial web development work done yesterday when I was home sick. It didn't work with the most current version, which means that I'll have to go back and redo some stuff with the 8-core screamer at the Mito office, but I made some major progress with the software none the less.

If you're not a linux user, that means that there's no reason for you to know about Wine, but essentially it provides a layer of functionality to your linux setup--the ability to run windows programs seemlessly. Mac users know that this has been possible since the OS 9 days, but it requires a layer of processor hogging OS emulation, and hasn't really been a viable option until the recent releases of vmware Fusion and Parallels 4 (3 was ok too). On the mac tip, I use vmware Fusion and love it!

The main problem with emulating the entire OS is that it really is a burden on your processor and your ram comsumption, in addition to requiring booting or unfreezing before you can start using it. Also, it requires a copy of Windows to install on top of the copy of vmware or Paralells you purchased. Wine acts as an Windows API layer over X in Linux, bypassing the need to purchase an OS that you don't really want.

In the past, Wine has been somewhat a piece of vaporware, due to the uber-nerd L337 skillz to get it up and running. I had bad luck ever getting it to run back in the glory days of RedHat 6, 7 and 8, but now with the ease of apt-get in Ubuntu, Wine is preconfigured and precompiled via automatic updates. It's still a little shakey, but I've successfully been able to run quite a few programs that I thought would be doomed to a Windows partition.

Oh, and on the computer front, the 500gb harddrive I ordered on sunday should be here by the weekend (fingers crossed). At only $60 it was a steal! I'm looking forward towards giving Vista the ole' college try with 100gb partition. I'll post my travails in the Windows world once I start tinkering.

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Boinc Manager: Tough to Explain to Friends, Fun to Use

So for the past few months I've been putting my computer's extra cycle time to good use by partaking in several @HOME projects using the BOINC Manager. If you don't know what an @HOME project is, I'll take a moment to explain.

The best and oldest example is the SETI@HOME project, started in 1995, which uses radio telescopes to search for extraterrestrial life--yeah, like in Contact. Up until 1995 the SETI project relied on supercomputers to sift through the massive amount of data, most of which was random noise, which created a painstaking process that was slow to yield results. That's when David Gedye decided that it could be better done by linking multiple computers via the internet to function together as a virtual supercomputer, thus eliminating the need for sole reliance on massively expensive time on a real supercomputer. This concept came to form the basis of cloud computing well before anyone even mentioned the words "Web 2.0".

Fast forward to present day. Its now practical and fairly simple to participate in. In addition to SETI@HOME there are many other offshoots, such as Rosetta@HOME, researching protein folding for cancer research, and Eienstein@HOME, which is searching for pulsars.

The reasoning behind doing something like this? I leave my linux-box home server running 24/7, but only use it a few hours a day. The program that manages my @HOME projects, BOINC, only uses processor time when the system is idle, which includes LAN activity, and is set to use only 2gb of disk space at the most. Essentially, it downloads files (big math problems) then uses processor cycles to complete them, uploading the results and deleting the original files.

So, if you have a machine that is on for most of the day that is mostly idle, why not set this up and contribute to some scientific research? It can be a great use for older systems too! If you have a box that's been collecting dust in the basement or garage, just throw a network card into it, install a lightweight Linux distro, like Puppy Linux or Xubunutu, then setup BOINC, pick yr projects and start contributing!

Here's a screengrab of my BOINC Client:

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I think my commitment to nerd-dom might be complete

Because I've been "thanked" in a post on ubuntuforumns.org, a site for Ubuntu users to solve all the little quirks that drive linux users nuts. And pretty much all I've been doing with my free time is web development.

The website I'm building for a local new media venture goes live in about a week, and there's lots to get done before then. Unfortunately I can't link to anything until we do go live, but its shaping up to be clean & classy. Pretty much the only thing I have left to do is build and implement a flash player for our hd content. Embedding Vimeos works ok, but I need a packaged deal-y before I can sign off on my work.

Also, a new version of my personal site went up last night, and pretty happy with how that's looking--it's really turning into a showcase for all teh cool new tricks I've learned recently. So check it out samuelbreed.com

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TV as Second Display: Check.

In addition to a bunch of new furniture, Amy and I were given a tv
over the weekend by her parents. So I decided that it needed to go
into my office to act as a second display for the Linux server.
Earlier this week I had put in a new video card with multiple video-
outs, so all I had to do was configure the xorg.conf file and plug it
in. It's great for watching movies through vlc, but not much else due
to the low resolution.

I also upgraded to the beta of Ubuntu 8.10, Intrepid Ibex, which
solved some nvidia driver issues. Everything is running smoothly and
I'm glad I upgraded rather than waiting or the full release.

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