If you're old enough to remember that commercial, well, welcome to the club. In any event, this article details how to rescale and edit your images, up to and including removing people from them. No more using scissors to cut out the old boy/girlfriend from photos. Simply remove, preserving the lovely background image. Oh, and be sure to check out this video which, I believe, Allah posted a link to over at Hot Air.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 02:50 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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One place where Linux still lags Windows is in its (in)ability to create VCDs, DVDs et al complete with custom menus. Sure, there are lots of programs out there, many of which are command line driven, which means that lots of people won't even attempt them. In some cases, you have to manually run multiple programs from within a shell, using lots of gibberish (okay, I actually understand shell scripting, but you know what I mean) to create menus, ISOs and then burn the DVD. Well, not only has someone created the open source software to do such a thing (DeVeDe), someone else has made a detailed tutorial on how to install and use it on your Linux system. Excerpt:

In windows there are many guides on how to create a dvd using your own video files. However this doesn't seem to happen in linux and moreover by using a program with a GUI. In this guide I will describe how to create a dvd with a menu using DeVeDe. DeVeDe is an open source program which allows you to create DVDs and CDs (VCD, sVCD or VCD) suitable for home players. It supports any of the formats supported by mplayer such as mpeg, avi, asf, wmv, wma, quicktime, mov, realtime, ogg, matroska and many others!

There's actually waaayy too much detail for me to excerpt anymore from the tutorial. Suffice it to say that it's a good choice for you Linux users. He also suggest using k3b to burn the resulting image. Since that comes with several of the KDE frontend distros, you won't even have to search for it. If you do, the Synaptic tool will easily find, download and install it for you. And if you don't have Synaptic, you always use apt-get. Now go forth and make DVDs.

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I swear that this article of 100 Reasons to upgrade to Vista from XP is one of the funniest damned things I've ever read. What makes it even funnier is that the authors appear to be serious. Personally, I tend to agree with this article from IT Wire: Microsoft's Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to Ubuntu, Not Vista. Excerpt:

#8 Your PC can take care of itself
Your days of defragmenting are over. Ubuntu uses a different file system to Windows. It does not really ever require defragging. DonÂ’t just take our word for it; check out geekblog.

No version of Windows can boast such built-in self maintenance. Not even Windows Vista. Perhaps its intended radical new database-oriented file system may have fared better, but it was pulled so the OS would finally ship – so we’ll still have to wait to find out.
...
#3 ItÂ’s the safest version ever
That’s right; Ubuntu is the safest version of an operating system ever. Oh, it’s safer than Windows XP or other prior versions of Windows – and it does it without fading your screen to black and asking you to confirm each operation.

Microsoft have gone over the top with VistaÂ’s user account control, but they have a problem largely of their own making. ItÂ’s rare to find a Windows user who logs in under one account, and performs systems administrative tasks under another. Consequently, Windows has a legacy of users running as local administrators who have full control over their machine.

Linux has never been this way; users are always been encouraged to run under a user account with limitations imposed. Because of this, Linux has always made it harder for people to accidently delete operating systems files, or infest their system with virii.
...
#1 It makes using your PC a breeze.
The cliché literally is true: Ubuntu just works. You install it and it runs. In fact, you can test it out. Without harming your computer in any way, you can boot from the Ubuntu CD and give it a complete whirl on your machine. If you don’t like it, nothing’s lost. You just remove the CD and boot back in to your existing operating system.

Ubuntu is the operating system your granny can use. And what a dutiful grandchild youÂ’d be setting her up with it. Imagine not having to explain blue screens of death, or UAC, or program crashes and lockups.

Thanks, Microsoft, for these top 10 reasons why we should upgrade. LetÂ’s take up that advice. Time to load Gutsy Gibbon.

While I'm partial to the Ubuntu derivative MEPIS (I prefer the KDE interface and I think it's better than Kubuntu), I don't really have anything bad to say about Ubuntu. It's enormously popular, and part of that popularity has to do with the ease of installation and use. In fact, that's probably the best indicator of how robust Ubuntu has become.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Kim Brebach, fresh from his 13 Reasons why Linux won't make it to a desktop near you column, presents the other side of the coin: 13 reasons why Linux should be on your desktop. Excerpt:

1. Cost -- Linux is free, and that includes all the apps. Microsoft is greedy. Vista Home Premium and Ultimate cost hundreds of dollars, even when upgrading from Windows XP. Moving up to Office 2007 involves handing over another bundle of dollars.
   
2. Resources -- Even the most lavishly equipped Linux distros demand no more resources than Windows XP. Vista is greedy: a single-user PC operating system that needs 2GB of RAM to run at acceptable speed, and 15GB of hard disk space, is grossly obese.
   
3. Performance -- Linux worked faster on my Dell Inspiron Core Duo than XP, at least the way XP worked out of the box. After cleaning out the bloatware and trading McAfee's Abrams Tank for the lightweight NOD32, XP and Linux (with Guarddog and Clam-AV) perform at similar speed.
   
4. No bloatware -- Linux is free from adware, trialware, shovelware, and bloatware. Running Linux is like watching the public TV network.
   
5. Security -- Last year, 48,000 new virus signatures were documented for Windows, compared to 40 for Linux. Still, most distros come with firewalls and antivirus (AV) software. Programs like Guarddog and Clam-AV are free, of course.
   
6. Dual booting -- The best Linux distros make dual booting a simple affair, along with the required disk partitioning (so you don't need to buy partitioning software). Windows on my Dell laptop is still intact after installing and uninstalling a dozen distros.
   
7. Installation -- Anyone who's done it once knows that installing Windows from scratch takes hours or even days by the time you get all your apps up and running. With Linux, it can take as little as half an hour to install the operating system, utilities, and a full set of applications. No registration or activation is required, no paperwork, and no excruciating pack drill.
   
8. Reinstalling the OS -- You can't just download an updated version of Windows. You have to use the CD that came with your PC and download all the patches Microsoft has issued since the CD was made. With Linux, you simply download the latest version of your distro (no questions asked) and, assuming your data files live in a separate disk partition, there's no need to reinstall them. You only need to re-install the extra programs you added to the ones that came with the distro.
   
9. Keeping track of software -- Like most Windows users, I have a shelf full of software CDs and keep a little book with serial numbers under my bed in case I have to reinstall the lot. With Linux, there are no serial numbers or passwords to lose or worry about. Not a single one.
   
10. Updating software -- Linux updates all the software on your system whenever updates are available online, including all applications programs. Microsoft does that for Windows software but you have to update each program you've added from other sources. That's about 60 on each of my PCs. More icing on the Linux cake is that it doesn't ask you to reboot after updates. XP nags you every ten minutes until you curse and reboot your machine. If you choose "custom install" to select only the updates you want, XP hounds you like a mangy neighborhood dog until you give in.
    
11. More security -- These days, operating systems are less vulnerable than the applications that run on them. Therefore a vital aspect of PC security is keeping your apps up-to-date with the latest security patches. That's hard manual labor in Windows, but with Linux it's automatic.
    
12. No need to defrag disks -- Linux uses different file systems that don't need defragging. NTFS was going to be replaced in Vista, but Microsoft's new file system didn't make the final cut. Instead, Vista does scheduled disk defragging by default, but the defrag utility is a sad affair.
    
13. A wealth of built-in utilities -- The utilities supplied with Windows are pretty ordinary on the whole, that's why so many small software firms have made a nice living writing better ones. Linux programs are comparable with the best Windows freeware, from CD burners to photo managers, memory monitors and disk utilities. PDF conversion is built-in, both into OpenOffice Writer and into the DTP application Scribus. All you do is click a button on the task bar.
    

...
The road from Windows to Linux is now mostly sealed, with only a few rough patches left. You can see your Windows partition in Home > Storage Media, open Windows files, and even write back to them. The sound of glass shattering when Mepis can't open something is a change from the dull red cross signs Windows throws at you. These Linux dudes have a sense of humor: when K3b finishes burning a CD, it bursts into a bugle sound that makes you look for the cavalry coming over the hill.

For most users, OpenOffice is compatible enough with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. The font set in the Writer is pretty mean but can be made more generous by installing MS core fonts with Synaptic. Still, fonts are the elephant in the Linux room, admittedly. More work needs to be done here.

Compatibility stops with Desktop Publishing, since Scribus can't open Publisher files. Other than that, Scribus will do most of the things Publisher does, Evolution is more than a match for Outlook, and Firefox makes Internet Explorer 7 look stale. ShowFoto is as slick as any photo editor I've used on XP, digikam is a great photo organizer, and the Linux multi-media apps lack nothing.

If you prefer Opera to Firefox, or XnView for working with photos, you just tick the box in Synaptic and it will provide. More specialized apps like Inkscape or Blender are just a few Synaptic clicks away. The Gimp is already installed; it has a reputation for being hard to use but who'd argue that Adobe Photoshop isn't?

Read the rest.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No nasty downloading and burning ISOs, where you find that your handy dandy DVD burner will not correctly burn a Linux Live CD image. You absolutely need a CD (only) burner. A CD-RW/DVD-Read only will work fine, but if the drive also burns DVDs, you will be SOL when it comes time to boot your Live CD. Trust me: this is the voice of ugly experience. Anyway, How To Forge has an article that details the use of UNetbootin, which allows to install various Linux distros onto your computer. It even creates real partitions so that you have a working dual boot system when you've finished.
"In the end, you have a dual-boot system (Linux/Windows or Linux/Linux). "

Very cool.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:22 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Falko Timme installed OpenSUSE 10.3 in the hopes of creating a full-fledged Windows replacement. Did he succeed? You be the judge. Excerpt:

This tutorial shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 10.3 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

Falko lists all of the software he needs for his desktop to be considered Windows replacement worthy. It's a long list, so I won't reprint it here. I'll simply mention that it's quite comprehensive. Also, he goes through a step-by-step tutorial which will get your new system completely installed. The result? it looks pretty darned good.

Related links, if you're so inclined:

• The Perfect Desktop - Fedora 7
  
• The Perfect Desktop - PCLinuxOS 2007
  
• The Perfect Desktop - Mandriva 2007 Spring Free (Mandriva 2007.1)
  
• The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn
  
• The Perfect Desktop - Debian Etch (Debian 4.0)
  

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:12 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Those tricksy Linux developers. They've created more distros than you can shake a stick at, one variation for pretty much any need or desire. I think that the multitude of distributions is both a strength AND a weakness (newbies get overwhelmed trying to figure out what to testdrive). Pretty much any niche has its own favorite. This time though, some developers filled a need which I believe doesn't currently exist: Vixta, which attempts to duplicate the Windows Vista look and feel. Yeah, I don't get it either. Emulating an OS that vendors are currently selling a downgrade for isn't something that I'd bother to work on. To be fair, the need may exist at some point.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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