Google Chrome Released!

Today Google did something we have all been awaiting and expecting for years, and we were right to do so- Google Chrome is officially in Beta release, what is Chrome you ask? Chrome is Google's new web browser. From what I have heard on the front lines of tech news is that Chrome is shaping up to be the new lead browser, with sand-boxing (meaning each tab in the browser is a separate process, so if one tab crashes, your whole browser wont crash), a simple UI (the cornerstone of the Google enterprise) and full open-source (this means were going to see millions of extensions and mods) we can expect great things. The one flaw in the release is that currently there is no Linux or Mac release available, but it is apparently 'in the works', so hopefully some time this month we will see a Linux beta for me to review. If you run Windows XP/SP2 or Vista (why?!) then head over to http://www.google.com/chrome and check it out!

Rocking Blogging: Rhythm Junction

Okay guys, You might have noticed, I have been spending a lot of time reading blog's. Today is no different, I stumbled upon this gem hosted on BlogSpot (the same as this blog), the blog is named Rhythm Junction, the author(s) seem to focus on rock music, namely bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbeth, Ozzy, Hendrix and Metallica (to name a few). It has a very user friendly layout, making it easy to track down what you're looking for. The author(s) has recently started posting more about general life, including a topic that I have been considering posting about myself, regarding the new trend of being paranoid of everything. So what say you head over to Rhythm Junction and check it out? :)

A World of information is here

Alright guys, so today I was browsing some blogs and stumbled upon Gvishnu.com, It's a blog based on a few things, Linux (I stumbled upon a great post detailing setting up a Linux/GNU server), life (a lot of philosophical stuff) and plenty of other subjects. The blog owner is based in Malaysia, which gives you I guess what could be called a third-person perspective on topics that we either take for granted, or don't pay much attention to (in my opinion anyway). So I suggest you guys go over and give it a good read, I did- and will be in the future. Happy travels guys,

Kiefer.

The World of information is here, check it out!

Picking a distro, made easy!

Okay, this is going to be another relatively short post once again, Im sorry. One of the most common questions we are faced with in ##linux on IRC is "What is the right distro for me? I am into ". And nine times out of ten we will link you to a handy site named DistroWatch.
DistroWatch's main aim is to provide resources for people either having trouble picking a distro, or who want more information on a specific distro. I personally didn't use DistroWatch myself when picking out my first Linux distro- a friend suggested Ubuntu and I trusted him and went with it, and haven't looked back. Of course a lot of the time, im afraid to say; it comes down to trial and error, pick a distro you think will suit you, try it out and if you decide it isn't for you, move on. But I'm going to do a backflip here and also suggest you give it time, no distro is perfect for everyone under its default configuration. So play around with it and explore, you may surprise yourself!

GIMP > Photoshop

Okay so maybe the quote "GIMP is greater than Photoshop" is a bit of an overstatement, but it comes close, very close. GIMP is short for 'GNOME Image Manipulation Program" (at least I think it is heh'), and as you may have guessed, it's a fully fledged Image Manipulation program, it boasts countless tools and plugins suitable for general artistic original work, from manipulating photo's for blogs, MySpace and whatnot. As an example, the logo for this blog was made in GIMP with just a few mouse clicks, literally. So go out and give GIMP a try!
What are you waiting for? You know the drill!

sudo apt-get install gimp

On a side note, I have decided to go for Arch Linux for my new computer I am getting in the next week, a friend provided me with a Live-CD that won me over heh' :)

Come Visit Us!

Hey guys, once more a quick note (they seem to be getting quicker and quicker, I have noticed and Im sorry, I will post more in the coming weeks, I pr0m1s3z!) about where you can receive support, whether it be Ubuntu or any other distro, the two best places for general support are..

ubuntuforums.org
google.com (heh, Im sorry)

Or for live support, feel free to pop in to ##linux on irc.freenode.com we have a very large user base and provide 24/7 free support to anyone we can, come and say hi!.

Linuxmadeeasy.org

Okay guys, Recently a friend asked me if I would be interested in contributing to a new website for Linux beginners. So over the past few months we have all been busy writing up some content, and I think its looking pretty decent.
The site is in Wiki format so you should be able to find what you're looking for pretty easily. The site is named "Linux Made Easy" and thats what we aim to do.
The site is Australian based, much like myself. So go check it out!

Linux Made Easy

Also on a side note, I plan on doing a post related to choosing a distro soon, but if you are looking for details right now, check out DistroWatch.

P2P Madness!

Alright guys, Just a quick note to let you all know about FrostWire - The Linux equivalent of LimeWire, so head over to http://www.frostwire.com and check it out, its only flaw (in my opinion anyway) is that it's written in Java, which can be incredibly slow on older systems, so keep that in mind and may the P2P be with you!

P.s: Guys, new computer in a week or so, I'm going to be switching distro - still deciding which, friends have nudged me towards Arch Linux, checking out Gentoo right now, I'll keep you updated!

MPlayer > iTunes

Okay so I'll admit it, I'm not the most reliable blogger of all time, heh.
But for my return I've decided to post about MPlayer, well not so much MPlayer, but running it through terminal.
Over the last six months I have learnt a lot about Linux, I have switched to Ubuntu, become a contributor (programming, more on that in the future) and done extensive editing of system files without too much hazard. But one of the things that has stood out to me is how much use someone can make of the terminal, I now play all my music through terminal (MPlayer), edit system files (vi[m]), code (again, vi[m]), and various other things like configuring my wireless device (again, more on this in further posts).
So, lets get to it, whats so great about MPlayer through terminal? well, for one- No GUI, meaning less system load for people with slower PC's (such as myself, new computer in the next week, hooray!). Second of all, all the controls are extremely simple to remember, and i mean extremely simple.
If you wanna check out MPlayer, run:

sudo apt-get install mplayer

..and enjoy the simplicity!
-Kiefer

P.S: More posts coming soon guys ;D

Ventrilo under Linux! DotA anyone?

Okay, quick note to let you all know that Ventrilo works 90% under WINE, I use Vent. often to chat with friends overseas, the other option for VoIP chat's is Skype which offers an actual Linux client, but it's well known the Skype is focused more on speed that quality, so odds are your going to have a hard time having a decent in-depth conversation without having to say "Sorry, what was that?" at least ten times. Also, I believe the guys behind TeamSpeak are working on a Linux client, as a Linux Server already exists, so we can hosts, but not partake! heh.
Please remember guys, Ventrilo usually works best with WINE running "emulated" hardware acceleration, check out "sudo winecfg" to configure WINE easily. Also, sometimes applications will require a lot of configuration before WINE will run them decently, e.g. FL Studio. And not all application will run under WINE, or they will but not in a usable manner, e.g. the Z3ta+ Synth from CakeWalk wont give me any sound-output, rendering it useless. But sometimes WINE will surprise you, World of Warcraft works under WINE (:

Firefox 3.0

(Note: This is actually a draft post from a while ago I forgot to post, might as well still post it :)

Firefox has long been one of my favorite internet browsers, more so than Opera (which is also good), Internet Explorer (*cough* crap!) and Safari. So recently Mozilla released Firefox 3.0, with plenty of lovely bug-fixes and new additions, what are you waiting for? head over to mozilla.com and grab it!

P.S: Sorry for the short post, I'm a bit busy at the moment.

A glass of Wine with a side-order of p2p please!

So I promised I would try my luck with p2p and music on Kubuntu for my next post, so here it is.
Im a regular in several chatrooms (As well as an Admin) on the Ares Galaxy p2p servers, so Ares was my first choice for p2p software, after finding out that Ares isnt available on Linux I was puzzled as what to do, So I hopped on MSN and spoke to one of the server owners and he said I should try my luck with Wine, for those who dont know, Wine is essentially a Windows emulator for Unix based operating systems, it allows you to run software for Windows under Unix based operating systems such as Linux, meaning Kubuntu - So I grabbed Wine and was thrilled to see it allowed me to install Ares with no issues - My next step was to see if Ares would run without any tweaks needed (As its open source). To my suprise Ares runs smoothly and without any flaws under Wine!
Im downloading mp3's as we speak (Arrr Im a pirate!) though I thought I might say - I only download music I cant find on iTunes :P .

-Kiefer