Sunday, June 3, 2007

Feisty is Awesome

I got my Kubuntu Feisty CDs in the mail a couple of weeks ago and holy crap it's awesome. They've really made things a lot easier. One thing I really like is that if you type in a command for a program that isn't installed on your computer, it tells you what you need to install as opposed to just letting you figure it out on your own.
Here's an Example:
donkey@kubuntu:~$ fglrxinfo
The program 'fglrxinfo' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
Make sure you have the 'restricted' component enabled
bash: fglrxinfo: command not found

Also, all of the software is very up to date and there is much more software avalable in the repositories.

But I must say, the greatest thing about this release is that it required less configuration to get it working the way I need it too. It 'just worked'. It even loaded the 686 kernel by default. Who uses 386 anymore? However I did have to edit my xorg.conf. It still sets my resolution to the maximum supported by my monitor. It's a 17 inch monitor but it supports 1600x1200. (I've even seen it go higher with some distros)
It's hard to read anything at that resolution.

I'm not using ATI's driver because the open source driver is pretty nice in Feisty. I was able to get AIGLX and Beryl working with the open source driver without any problems.
Then... I did something bad. I installed all kinds of stuff to make my Kubuntu look exactly like the evil Wind0ze Vista. I didn't do it because I think Vista is nice. Vista really sucks. However it does look halfway decent and I'm getting the aero experience for free. I also did it to prove a point. Aero requires a very powerful computer. I'm running Beryl on an 8 year old computer with the following specs without any problem:
CPU: Intel Celeron 1.1GHz (coppermine) - 100MHZ front side bus
RAM: 384 MB PC133
Video: Radeon 9250 (AGP)
Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy 4
240 watt PSU

It runs great. I haven't tried Vista, nor do I plan to. I know it wouldn't work on this computer. I am planning to build a very high end computer withing the next two weeks that would definitely be able to run it (Core 2 Duo and Radeon X1650), but I certainly wont be installing Vista. I don't even have Vista. It's expensive and crappy. I also hear the pirated versions aren't that great. Windows is good for only one thing - games. And the only reason for that is because it's the platform games are made for. The same games could run even better on linux using OpenGL. I really think game and software developers should get together and decide to completely drop support for Wind0ze. Focus on an operating system that has a future. Also, don't forget the Mac. OS X is just as capable as linux (mostly).

Well.. that's enough of my M$ rant.

Update: Since writing this I have ordered the parts for my new computer. I went with a Geforce 8500GT instead of ATI. I'm expecting it to be here in about a week. It all cost me about $884.
I'm poor now :(

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wales is a country in the hills. Their people make love to sheep. Is this not a good enough reason to NUKE THE WHALES!