Colin Charles Agenda

It is. Look what gems I found today:

• Ubuntu Feisty will have a cool command-not-found package. It will tell you where to find said application, and how to install it. Look at the examples in Alan Pope’s blog entry. (apparently, this is in Edgy)
• Fluendo has got some amazing codecs, and its worth supporting them by buying it. Fedora 7, instead of complaining of a missing codec everytime you try to play something, will have a codec buddy, according to Chris Blizzard.

All this means great things for Linux users. And new Linux users. Think about how easy all this will be, for the average home user? They follow something online, they hit up the command line, and they get helped. Even better if they don’t have to hit up the command line, just pop the DVD in, Totem sees it, it doesn’t have the correct codec, and voila, codec buddy helps you go to the Fluendo store, selecting exactly what you need. Have credit card handy, and you’re ready to watch your content.

Keeping in mind, that your mother will not want to know the difference between Windows Media or MPEG2. She’ll just want it to work! (In fact, after being spoiled by OS X for over 1.5 years, I too just want things to work.) Of course now, I do hope that both the Linux community distribution behemoths share these cool features (or should I say, adapt from each other).

Technorati Tags: end user, linux, friendly, command-not-found, codec buddy, fluendo, codecs, usability

Been feeling subpar today, as in I woke up with aching bones, and a runny nose. Its probably because of the stress the body has undergone to re-arrange the lab/office in a more sensible fashion. Also, my Dell PowerEdge arrived today (I hate waiting around for these delivery guys to rock up), and that literally weighed a metric tonne. Much heavier than 30kgs, but at least it has 4 processors, so I should be able to do some SMP testing real soon now. Seems to require 3 power supply plugs, so its probably not a box I want to have running regularly. Lots of SCSI disk storage (hot-swappable), there are 3 disks there to boot, so that should be fun.

Yesterday I also managed to clear drawers and throw out an amazingly large amount of junk - user manuals, diskettes with drivers, etc. things that a normal Linux user will never ever require (for old, obscure hardware that might not even be here any longer). Will definitely take photos of the new arrangement in due time, as I’m thinking of getting rid of the 17″ CRT that’s here, and maybe even getting an 8-port data switch (to replace the 4-port), and possibly a 16-port switch (because the current 8-port one is full up). I recall buying 17″ Benq LCD’s last year for $230, and now, they seem to have gone up in price at $239! No such luck with finding 15″ ones retail.

Its global sports day at work today. I was told that maybe my sport was carrying a PowerEdge up a flight of stairs, single handedly. Yes, there was sweat. Perhaps the other sport was cooking while on a conference call with Kaj & Lenz. I made a mean pasta, and the sauce (two open fires), while being on the phone. Looks like I can multitask.