I've been playing with Linux since 1995. I'm not a heavy programmer, and my livelihood is based on databases with mostly high level programs and administrative functions.
In that timeframe, I've installed and run Redhat, Suse, FreeBSD, Gentoo, and Solaris at home. They've all been so-so as desktop replacements and I've had technical glitches in The Matrix while trying to do my day to day things on all of them. None seemed ready for primetime.
Over the last year I've been running Fedora with more or less success. It was stable, but had some things I didn't care for. Installing it was like most Linux installs, a pain.
One of the constants of Linux installs I've performed have been the need to 'tweak' to get things to work, and to ensure I have the drivers for my display, printer, sound, keyboard, network, and other peripherals working properly. In other words, it works in a half ass manner usually with one or more things requiring external intervention.
Ok, so yesterday I decided to give Ubuntu a try. I downloaded the .iso via bittorrent, and fired up my PC awaiting the upcoming Linux fix mousehunt. I finished installing, and... everything worked.
So, I went into my /home folder and double clicked on an .mp3 song waiting for the usual pain of finding codecs. A window popped up, and automatically installed it. Likewise for video. It imported all my old settings seamlessly.
Color me impressed.
Last month I struggled with Vista. My drivers didn't work. The interface felt like something was missing or haphazardly patched together. The media player ran like a tank with a cylinder engine. The desktop sidebar ate my cpu. The applications launched and gave me strage messages. It felt like a Linux install!
Ubuntu installed and just worked. I run a normal set of peripherals and I rely on my desktop to perform a variety of functions, including media center, printing, messaging, mail, and programming. So far, everything has worked out of the box with ubuntu.
Better, I've added the packaged I wanted and removed the ones I didn't need via the package manager, with no ill side effects.
Kudos to the Ubuntu team. I'll be on your distro for a while.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Godspeed Kurt
Vonnegut was one of my favorite authors when I was young, as his books were very fluid, smart, and fun to read. As I grew up, it was easy to see through Kurt, and to wonder why so few people who were huge Vonnegut fans missed the simple point that the man was miserable due to a gaping whole by having little faith, as was his writing.
Despite that, in an age of vapid writing and the mass churning of Patterson novels and their clones, rereading Cat's Cradle is a breath of fresh air. I wish we had more Vonneguts out there.
Godspeed Kurt. You certainly were one of a kind.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Vista has vanquished me
So, after running XP for years with no issues and being generally happy, I was not frightened off by all the bad PR Vista had been getting. I figured most of it was hyperbole. So I upgraded to check it out and be wooed.
Boy, was that a wrong decision. Vista runs like a product still in development. My shiny new PC, with it's killer hardware felt like it was actually a 286.
First, media center which runs like a champ on my older PC, was sluggish and froze up often while just taping in the background. The security interface just plain sucks. I read and figured out how to disable the annoying popups, but really an average end user would be lost, and probably annoyed. File copying is slow. Network devices are misidentified. DRM decided my music should not be copied, nor could my taped non protected TV shows.
I won't even get into gaming, but suffice to say by XP box runs twice as fast on Half Life 2 and Oblivion, with lesser hardware.
I imagine Vista eventually will turn into a decent OS, but for now stay with XP, or buy a Mac. Microsofts newest operating system is definitely not ready for primetime.
Boy, was that a wrong decision. Vista runs like a product still in development. My shiny new PC, with it's killer hardware felt like it was actually a 286.
First, media center which runs like a champ on my older PC, was sluggish and froze up often while just taping in the background. The security interface just plain sucks. I read and figured out how to disable the annoying popups, but really an average end user would be lost, and probably annoyed. File copying is slow. Network devices are misidentified. DRM decided my music should not be copied, nor could my taped non protected TV shows.
I won't even get into gaming, but suffice to say by XP box runs twice as fast on Half Life 2 and Oblivion, with lesser hardware.
I imagine Vista eventually will turn into a decent OS, but for now stay with XP, or buy a Mac. Microsofts newest operating system is definitely not ready for primetime.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Originality and Laziness
So, I have a plethora of ideas in my head and stories I wish to pen. The problem is that so much of fantasy is a rehash of Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien that it leaves very little wiggle room. I find those stories boring, as I crave, to quote Will Smith from MIB, New and Hotness.
Some creative people recently have borrowed minimally few ideas and through sheer prose power and fantastic writing ability have given us some of the most memorable fantasy works ever.
I hope to be published one day, but have no intentions of quitting my day job. More importantly, I'd like to actually finish one of the writing projects I begin, which is almost an equally monumental challenge for a working person with too many easy excuses for procrastination
Some creative people recently have borrowed minimally few ideas and through sheer prose power and fantastic writing ability have given us some of the most memorable fantasy works ever.
I hope to be published one day, but have no intentions of quitting my day job. More importantly, I'd like to actually finish one of the writing projects I begin, which is almost an equally monumental challenge for a working person with too many easy excuses for procrastination
Vanguard, Saga of Lone Wolf Mcquaid
Set the wayback machine to 1997, Mr Peabody. John Romero of ID Software fame had joined ION Storm and was hyping his new FPS game he was rolling out named Daikatana. Romero had garnered fame as being part of the ID Software team, with it's early 90s hits, including Doom.
The Romero name was good enough to gather enough capital to spend an exhorbitant amount of coin to fund his team at EON to create his 'next gen' game, in which he would 'make you his bitch'.
The game was a flop, and is regarded as one of the worst ever, What went wrong? In the words of Romero's ID compatriot and programmer, John Carmack, Design is easy. Implementation is hard.
Vanguard: Saga of Hereos is Daikatana for the MMO market. It had lots of hype. It had a ton of cash infused based solely on Mcquaid's name and ties to EQ. It is currently a complete wreck of a game that could go down alongside Romero's heap of junk as one of the worst ever.
Everquest was successful because it was cutting edge and pretty much the only game in town. In 2007, the MMO market has done a 180 degree turn and is saturated with a lot of competition. MMOs thrive based on content, community, and communications. By communications, I mean the word of mouth and grass roots appeal that makes a large amount of gamers at a minimum want to try ones game. There is a lot of communications about Vanguard, but unfortunately for Sigil, none of it good.
Vanguard is an incomplete game due to a combination of feature creep, designer ignorance, and developer incompetence. The game is loaded with bugs and is neither easy to be immersed in, or fun to play unless one wants a larde dose of Sado-masochism. Sadly, there is no valid reason for any gamer to buy or play this wretch with the large dose of quality and polished games currently out.
The key to a good game is not following any of Jessica Mulligans ludicrous and wrong point papers, it is targeting your core audience, keeping it simple, and making it fun. It doesn't matter if your budget is 80 million, 8 million, or 8 dollars.
Fortunately for Mcquaid, there is always room in the cell phone games market for another 'game designer'.
The Romero name was good enough to gather enough capital to spend an exhorbitant amount of coin to fund his team at EON to create his 'next gen' game, in which he would 'make you his bitch'.
The game was a flop, and is regarded as one of the worst ever, What went wrong? In the words of Romero's ID compatriot and programmer, John Carmack, Design is easy. Implementation is hard.
Vanguard: Saga of Hereos is Daikatana for the MMO market. It had lots of hype. It had a ton of cash infused based solely on Mcquaid's name and ties to EQ. It is currently a complete wreck of a game that could go down alongside Romero's heap of junk as one of the worst ever.
Everquest was successful because it was cutting edge and pretty much the only game in town. In 2007, the MMO market has done a 180 degree turn and is saturated with a lot of competition. MMOs thrive based on content, community, and communications. By communications, I mean the word of mouth and grass roots appeal that makes a large amount of gamers at a minimum want to try ones game. There is a lot of communications about Vanguard, but unfortunately for Sigil, none of it good.
Vanguard is an incomplete game due to a combination of feature creep, designer ignorance, and developer incompetence. The game is loaded with bugs and is neither easy to be immersed in, or fun to play unless one wants a larde dose of Sado-masochism. Sadly, there is no valid reason for any gamer to buy or play this wretch with the large dose of quality and polished games currently out.
The key to a good game is not following any of Jessica Mulligans ludicrous and wrong point papers, it is targeting your core audience, keeping it simple, and making it fun. It doesn't matter if your budget is 80 million, 8 million, or 8 dollars.
Fortunately for Mcquaid, there is always room in the cell phone games market for another 'game designer'.
Lord of the Rings Online
I've been playing Turbine's latest MMO in their long line of massive games.
This one benefits from cross spectrum name recognition and should be a fairly easy one to market, given the widespread love of Tolkien from so many people of different ages.
My first impressions of the game is they've done a great job with the graphics, and an even better one copying the successful elements of World of Warcraft and Asherons Call.
The biggest negative I can think of is there is not a single original detail in this game that isn't currently in other MMOs out there. I suppose there is safety in consistency, but I really wish they had done at least one original thing.
Although, perhaps their burnt fingers have limited their desire to experiment.
This one benefits from cross spectrum name recognition and should be a fairly easy one to market, given the widespread love of Tolkien from so many people of different ages.
My first impressions of the game is they've done a great job with the graphics, and an even better one copying the successful elements of World of Warcraft and Asherons Call.
The biggest negative I can think of is there is not a single original detail in this game that isn't currently in other MMOs out there. I suppose there is safety in consistency, but I really wish they had done at least one original thing.
Although, perhaps their burnt fingers have limited their desire to experiment.
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