Software Spot

[03-Nov-2010] Updated for Meego 1.1,  yum isn't included with Meego 1.1, changed procedure to use zypper instead. I managed to install Dropbox on my Acer Aspire One AOA110 running MeeGo Netbook Edition. These are the steps that worked for me. 1. Download the Dropbox source code bundle from http://dropbox.com ,   nautilus-dropbox.0.6.4.tar.bz2 2. Extract the source files $ cd Downloads $ tar -xjvf nautilus-dropbox.0.6.4.tar.bz2 $ cd nautilus-dropbox.0.6.4 3. Install the pre-requisit dependencies $ sudo zypper install gcc make $ sudo zypper install  nautilus-devel  docutils 4. Compile the Dropbox source (see the README files for details) $ ./configure $ make $ sudo make install 5. Run the Dropbox installation $ dropbox start -i follow the prompts to complete the install 6. Set Dropbox to autostart $ dropbox autostart y

I've had using  Moblin as my netbook OS since sometime last year, and I've been keenly waiting for it's reincarnation as MeeGo . When Ubuntu 10.4 came out last month I decided to ditch my old Moblin 2.1 on my Acer Aspire One AOA 110 netboook and give the latest Ubuntu UNR distribution a try. I think Ubuntu is a great desktop Linux distribution, but for me UNR still doesn't really stand out as a solid netbook OS compared to Moblin, so with MeeGo 1.0 released this week I was eager to give it a try. The MeeGo distribution is offered in two variants, one with Google Chrome as the default browser, and another with the Chromiun browser (the open source variant of Chrome).  Installation was easy, and the boot time (like Moblin before it) is amazingly fast. The MeeGo UI is ideal for a small netbook sized display and the revised layout of the home screen is very nice, with a calendar overview, unread email count, favorite apps launcher, and combined visual feed of twitter p...

Added another gadget to my collection, I recently got my first dedicated ebook reader - the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600. With a whole slew of new ebook readers hitting the market (with new announcements at CES) and the growing popularity of the Amazon Kindle (now available in Canada) why did I pick the Sony device? Well a number of reasons, firstly it's the only one I've been able to get my hands on and try before making a purchase, I find the device is good size, solid, with good build quality, although may be a little on the heavy size. I was tempted by the smaller Sony Pocket Reader but found the screen a little too small and I found the touch screen on the PRS-600 more intuitive. The Amazon kindle looks like a nice device, but I was put off but the keyboard and the and lack of support for the epub ebook format which seems to be solidifying at the "standard" format outside of the Amazon eco-system. Amazon currently use a propriety ebook format ...

I took the plunge and replaced the Linpus Linux OS that came with the Aser Aspire One with the lastest Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) release, and so far I'm very impressed. I have to say the that UNR 9.04 is an excellent replacement OS. The Ubuntu documentation provides a good starting point for installation details. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne Before I started with the installation I backed up the Linus Linux OS using partimage running from a bootable USB drive with SystemRescueCD, saving the disk partition image to a second USB drive. Once the Linpus OS was backed up I created a Ubuntu UNR bootable USB and ran the installation. Out of the box Ubuntu 9.04 runs great on the AA1. The Ubuntu documenation lists some tweeks to get the wifi LED working. Even after applying the patch I found that the LED blinks on and off randomly, rather than staying on to indicate the wifi is on. As I have the AA1 with the 8GB SSD I used the following tweeks to optimize Ubuntu for SSD perf...

Started taking a look at the Windows 7 public beta this week. The target machine for the install is my older PC, a Sony VAIO VGC -RA820G, that I have connected up as an HTPC . As this is a older machine I had held out form upgrading this machine the Vista I didn't want to upgrade or wipe out the existing XP installation on the this machine, so as a first step I created a blank 30 Gb partition for the Windows 7 installation using SystemRescueCD .  Installation of Windows 7 was very smooth, once everything was up and running it also downloaded the latest updates. The Aero interface was working right of of the box, even without installing latest drivers which was nice, and looks great. I decided to install the latest video drivers anyway. A quick search on the ATI website located the  ATI Windows 7 Beta drivers.  Installed without a hitch, so far so good. Like previous versions of Windows it nags you to install some Anti Virus software and suggests a few options including Nort...

I just picked up a Acer Aspire One Linux edition with the 8Gb SSD. It a great little portable netbook. I chose the Linux version over the XP edition for a number of reasons. Mainly the price; I picked mine up for just $299, plus because I got display model they through in the 2 year extended warranty for free. Secondly I have enough XP and Vista computers and laptop the deal with already, and I didn't want the hassle of installing firewalls and virus scanners and spyware detectors, plus I'd inevitably end up installing many many other apps which over time begin to bog down the windows registry and general slow windows to a crawl. In general I just want my netbook to be as hassle free as possible. The Linux Linpus OS on the Aspire One has "almost" everything I need out of the box to use as light weight cloud computing platform. Browsing around the net there are a number of "hacks" and enhancements for the AA1. Here's my recommended list the optimize the ...