mikroTechnica in 2012

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Linux Mint 13 “Maya” Screenshots

How to update Iceweasel/Icedove on Debian

So after switching to Debian, I have realized that the only drawback this OS contains is the rebranding of Firefox and Thunderbird to Iceweasel and Iceape respectively. Because of this, they have been detached from the main release cycle of Firefox and Thunderbird and are not always up to date.

The latest release of Debian (Squeeze) still contains Iceweasel 3.x which is pretty old. Using the following procedure, I was able to update it to Iceweasel 10 which is way better. You may also be able to install 13 from source.

1. Add the following lines to the end of /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main
deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-aurora iceweasel-beta iceweasel-release iceweasel-esr icedove-esr iceape-esr

2. Next, update apt:

sudo apt-get update

3. Next, issue this command to upgrade to the latest stable Iceweasel in the Debian Backports repo (which at time of writing this post was 10):

sudo aptitude install -t squeeze-backports iceweasel

Congrats, you have successfully upgraded your Iceweasel! Enjoy Debian. You can use the same process for Icedove, just replace iceweasel with icedove in step 3.

Debian 6.0.5 Review/Screenshots

I have finally made the switch to Debian 6.0.5. There were multiple reasons for this shift. It is the parent distro of Ubuntu, the OS that I love the most. Secondly, it is a very robust system and has proven its reliability in many fields, even the aerospace industry. Unlike Ubuntu, which is limited to Desktops, Laptops and Servers, Debian also supports all kinds of weird platforms, like mobile phones, even though the official documentation for that is not very comprehensive at the moment.

Debian is massive. But you only need the first CD (or first DVD) to install it. The others are basically bundled repositories. However, I recommend going for either the first DVD or the live USB. The first CD does not have network manager, which is a huge pain.

Package management on Debian is going to be easy, with aptitude. The process is not much different from Ubuntu.

I chose to download the first DVD, since I have a fast broadband.

Install/First Run

Installation was really easy. Debian still uses GNOME 2. A BIG BIG plus in my book. If you have been subscribed to my blog, you must have noticed that I don’t like GNOME 3. The cloud type interface has taken away the spirit of Linux. I love Linux because I am geeky, and those new desktops like Unity and GNOME 3 have not been able to impress me.

Fonts

Clear fonts. I didn’t have to change anything. Looks beautiful as anything.

Stability

So far, NO crash at all. An extremely stable operating system. After all, it is the parent OS of Ubuntu.

Applications

Software Management is similar to Ubuntu, so no comments needed. It is superb.

Overall rating: 10/10 from my side. The best distro I have tried ever.

  

  

  

  

  

Sabayon 9 [GNOME] Review

So guys, for the first time in my life am I going to try a Linux flavor from the Gentoo family. Gentoo is a unique flavor of Linux in sense that it is really powerful and highly customizable. If you are ready to do a lot of work under the hood to get a system that just suits your needs, Gentoo is the choice. But Gentoo install is way too complicated for an average user. You have to compile your own kernel, and software has to be compiled from source too.

Sabayon Linux

Gentoo Linux

Sabayon aims to give a flavor of Gentoo that is as easy to install as any other distro, like Ubuntu and openSUSE. But at the same time, it gives you the power of a very robust operating system.

Sabayon comes in four variants, KDE, GNOME, XFCE and LXDE. I have pretty much started liking XFCE and LXDE as they continue to progress and are becoming as user friendly as GNOME, but at the same time, they are lightweight too. I however chose to download the GNOME version, since I have been using GNOME since eternity, and it is a mature desktop environment unlike XFCE and LXDE.

Installation

Installation is easy as anything. In its attempt to ease out the installation of Gentoo, it succeeds pretty well

First Run

It booted up into the GNOME 3 Desktop. I personally do not like the new GNOME. I always prefer the Fallback mode, I like the old GNOME much much more. However, at GDM, there was no option to choose Fallback mode.

The fonts were PATHETIC. I had to configure it using the Advanced Settings tool (which, thanks to Sabayon, is included by default). Its called from the command line by gnome-tweak-tool. Even after playing with the fonts for a while, it could not meet my desires. Ubuntu is much better in this sense

Applications

No Firefox or Thunderbird by default. It uses Chromium, which I don’t really like. I like Firefox. However, the new Rigo has simplified the package installation and its as easy as Ubuntu now. I’d say it also fulfills this goal fairly well. Yes, Sabayon also aims to simplify the installation of pre compiled packages (which is not available in Gentoo).

Crashes

LibreOffice has a very well known bug in Sabayon 9. It freezes after you type the first character. May it be Calc, Writer or Impress. This is irritating.

Everything else

GNOME froze three times in one day. Sigh. It’s not as stable as expected.

I would not rate Sabayon very high. Although it meets its two main goals (installation and package management), a lot of work has to be done in this distro before the public can adopt it.

Ubuntu 12.04 [GNOME 3] Screenshot Tour

As of Lucid Lynx (I think), Unity is the default shell in Ubuntu. I am one of those users though, who still prefer the GNOME shell. I have a strange umbilical link with Ubuntu and GNOME and I can hardly give it up. Installing GNOME on Ubuntu is easy, through the Software Center. When you install it, you will have the option to choose between GNOME and GNOME Classic upon logon. Although I still like the classic one, the new one ain’t bad either. It would just take me some time to get used to it I think. Here are some screenshots of the new GNOME shell:

Samsung Galaxy Gio S5660 Review

Finally, I have joined the Android army. This is my first post on smartphones, since I never used one earlier. My choice is Samsung Galaxy S5660 which indeed is a great phone to have.

First of all, Galaxy’s S5660 (codenamed Gio) competes with the HTC’s Explorer in the market. Even though the latter is (a bit) cheaper than this one, I would say Gio is a better choice. Multiple reasons for it.

• It looks more beautiful than HTC’s explorer
• According to claims (can’t confirm this but) Explorer’s camera is known to be not up to the mark (view a sample of Gio’s camera here)
• It has a better processor of 800 MHz as compared to Explorer’s 600MHz
• It has better internal memory
• It gives you access to Samsung apps
• Price difference is not much.
• Samsung is Samsung

As you unbox this phone, the first thing that disappoints you is the fact that the screen guard is printed with logos. You cannot continue to use your phone this way. You need to remove this screen guard, leaving your phone vulnerable to scratches. I recommend purchasing a separate screen guard at the time of purchasing your phone.

Now since this is my first smartphone, I was initially a bit taken aback to learn about some features of Android. Android comes from Google and you need your Google account to use most of its online features (like Gmail, Market (now Google Play), Gtalk, etc.) Even though you can add/remove accounts under Settings > Location and Security, the primary account cannot be removed without a factory reset. You cannot even remove the password from it. So in case your phone is stolen, be prepared to get driven by paranoia. Save yourself from the hassle of changing passwords and stuff.

I found only one efficient workaround for this. Get a new Google Account, separate from your basic account. Keep your Android phone away from your basic account unless you really need emails on your phone (and all that Contact sync stuff). But believe me, Mail is the only useful feature of your account that you can sync on your phone. All the rest is basically crap. You won’t need contact syncs in majority of the cases (since my cell phone contacts are pretty different from my Gmail account contacts).

If you want to chat using Gtalk, simply tell your friends to add your new account to their lists so they can see you when you are online.

Once you have created a new account and configured it, congratulations, you can now enjoy all the features of Android. This includes basically app downloads. Without apps, a phone cannot really be considered a smartphone. The first apps I downloaded were MoboPlayer (since VLC is not supported by S5660), some news apps, a dictionary app and some games.

Android is a great mobile OS to have. It is robust, fast, stable and combines the stability of the Linux kernel with a beautiful GUI.