Happy New Year everybody!
It’s already 2013 and I’m glad to see that you all survived the invisible apocalypse of December the 21st 2012.
2012 has been a strange year in the world of Linux.
We saw no real major change in the world of Linux until the last few months.
And those changes weren’t small either, in fact they were huge!
First we seen Valve’s closed testing of Steam, an app which has been dreamed of for quite some time now.
It has since then moved into open beta and it’s everything we have expected.
Originally we all thought Valve decided to cater for us Linux fans but with the announcement of the Steam gaming console, it is fairly obvious why the move had been made.
However, regardless of the motives, we now have Steam and it works very well.
The end of the year also finished rather ominous when Canonical announced that it was going to announce the unveiling of a new exciting product but wouldn’t reveal what until early January.
All kinds of ideas of what it could be started flooding the internet.
Some said it could be an Ubuntu gaming console, and others had even more fantastic ideas.
However, the unveiling was in my opinion even more amazing than all of them.
We were introduced to the Ubuntu Phone.
When I first learned about it I was excited but also slightly worried.
I love Android at the moment but would give it up in a moments notice for an Ubuntu Phone.
And that’s not because I’m an Ubuntu fanboy because I’m not, but because it’s pure Linux.
For those of you who don’t know the difference in terms of Linux inclusion for these phones, let me quickly explain.
It’s often said that Android is a Linux phone, which is technically correct, but not as much as you might hope.
The underlying kernel is in fact Linux, the same as on a computer.
However, what makes Android work is a form of Java.
The entire operating system is actually running Java, which slows it down slightly and let’s be fair, is not Linux.
Ubuntu however are going to cut out Java and make it a complete Linux phone.
The only issue I had was that like so many others I want it, and I want it preferably right now!
But I’m not the wealthiest of people and to buy yet another phone when I really can’t afford it, was slightly worrying.
But, it turns out you don’t have to buy a new phone at all!
In fact, if you have a shiny Samsung Nexus then you can download Ubuntu OS towards the end of February and load it right onto the device for nothing.
You will have an Ubuntu Phone before anyone else and for absolutely nothing.
And even if you have an older phone (like me), then don’t worry, Ubuntu have said they will be ensuring that this OS runs on older hardware too, although you will have to sacrifice the docking to a desktop experience.
Please note that February’s release will have some features missing as they are still working on it, but the majority of the features are already working and all the phone services (calling, texting etc) will work. However, whether a marketplace is working yet is unclear, so it might mean not having any apps to put on there yet. But we will see.
So what will 2013 bring?
Well, the Ubuntu Phone and of course improvements to Steam.
We will also see two new releases to Ubuntu desktop and perhaps even Ubuntu TV.
So if you are a fan of Ubuntu, I think this year will be the year where you can fill your house with everything Ubuntu.
And for Linux as a whole?
I don’t think it will be the year of the Linux desktop.
I say this because I think that ship sailed a long time ago.
Although I personally cannot see the death of computers for tablets for instance (which I feel is now declining), I do think that the desktop is not as important as it once was.
The time that the race for the desktop was important was the days before smartphones, and now that we can get our information and entertainment from many sources, I think the desktop has to share it’s world.
But what about this blog?
Well, I have many personal projects going on at the moment and I think there will be some new ones heading my way. But I like to share my knowledge and I want to see everyone having a brighter future so I have some ideas lined up for you.
Firstly I will be making a series entirely dedicated to the new user.
I will be covering everything from using the desktops (Unity, Gnome3 and KDE) as well as using the terminal, administration and a few more things to put the new user in charge of his/her system.
But for those that are already familiar with these things, and those hoping to make a career out of Linux, I want to try something interesting too.
I will be creating an LPI1 category.
Here I will be showing everything you need to know about Linux for Junior Linux Admins, and that will help you to get an LPI certificate.
Now you most likely will need to read books etc too, but I will try and cover every subject that would come up in an exam, and all I will ask back for it is a cup of coffee if we ever cross paths, that’s not a bad deal is it?
So all in all, let’s make this a great year and I hope we can celebrate it together
thanks and have a great Year too !
In 12.10 I re did the System Tray completely and it actually came out better then the origianl Install . . I did the Windows Flag key + ALT and right Key on mouse and deleted all the stuff up there and re did it NOW EVEN the HPLIP is up there and not telling me there is no system tray and I guess I should have thought about the order before doing it as things are really OUT of Order up there now the shut down button is now in the middle LOL and even WEATHER works again !
Oh I messed around with the tray on KDE about 6 months ago, what a nightmare that was to set right, it just looked a mess lol.
It’s funny how you get so accustomed to having everything in 1 place that when it’s even 1 place to the left you freak out lol.
I’m glad to hear everything is working though, it took a while but at least you got it done lol.
Looking forward to trying out the Ubuntu phone. I’ve been having geek dreams regarding the Ubuntu phone! I think it’s going to be a great year. Happy New Year to all of you!
On a side note, I was playing around with CrunchBang Linux which was once based on Ubuntu and is now based on Debian. I’m very impressed with the performance and it’s general aesthetics. You should try it sometime.
Oh I am too, although I think the sensitivity could get irritating. And I think you could possibly get cramp with the side bar, however, I’ll still get it lol.
I have never tried Crunchbang, I think I might, I have an old computer lying around that would suit perfectly. Plus it appeals to my poweruser side, and that’s one appeal of Crunchbang
LOL! I know what you mean. I definitely want to try and install it on one of my android tablets. Maybe my Nexus 7. Don’t get me wrong, I love my nexus, but I really want a tablet that I can put in my pocket like the nexus 7, but that will allow me practice my severly underdevelopped Python skills.
I think you will really like Crunch Bang. It’s a Geeks joy to use, but doesn’t require the extensive reading that Arch requires when you first try it. And since it’s apt-based, all your ubuntu skills translate. I actually like the file-based configuration editor a lot. That’s the only thing that requires any kind of learning curve if you’re coming from Ubuntu. But their port of the openbox WM is so good that I doubt you will need to do much with the configuration editor.
I’m using it on a small crappy single-core atom based mini-computer that is powering a 30 inch dell monitor. I am an artist, I use it for presentations, for playing hulu, youtube, vimeo and documentaries, and for displaying my photo-reference while I paint. I’m blown away by how responsive it is and easy the networking was to set-up.
As I said, it is also running a computer out of the box that I could get working with Ubuntu 12.10. I highly recommend it, it won’t replace my beloved Ubuntu, but for many install situation, it’s working like a charm.
ah python, in my opinion the program language of the gods. since you’re an artist, out of curiosity, what are the apps you couldn’t live without?
LOL! I agree with you about Python. Wish I had the time to dedicate to it like I did when I was a kid
I’m a traditional painter, but I also do a lot of CG. Many of my favorite apps have a Linux port, like Maxwell Render, Maya, Mari. I keep a Windows partition for Photoshop (my most used program), Painter, and Zbrush (very often used).
Basically my Windows partition has three programs and nothing else. (Photoshop, Zbrush, Painter)
If Photoshop and Zbrush had Linux ports, I would probably never, ever boot into Windows again.
I’m looking into learning Blender, but I don’t have the time
I have these moments where I get really excited about something and dive right in there and obsess for a few days then lose interest. The same with Blender. I gave it a go but I have no artistic talents at all, even stick men look like they have been in a tragic car accident when I draw them.
I use GIMP a fair bit, just to touch up on some photos, get rid of horrible bits (you know what I mean), and to me it seems like a fine app, but because I’m your average photo manipulation user, Photoshop seems unnecessary, I do hear a lot of people say though that GIMP simply cant replace Photoshop, but I am going to have to dig through my work for you.
When I was in university we had a section on webdesign and you had to use Photoshop, but, I dont have Windows (havent had it for about 6 years now) so I looked for an alternative, and obviously GIMP came up but I didnt use it.
I found this piece of software which looks the spitting image of Photoshop in every way, but it was native Linux.
I think they dont make it anymore. Anyway, if I find it, I’ll throw it on Dropbox if you’re interested, maybe experiment with it and who knows, it might just make your life a little easier.
Oh and it’s really cool meeting an artist, it’s a type of person I really admire
LOL! Thanks, that’s a nice thing to say.
I use Gimp once in a while when I’m working in linux and I need to do something quick. I also have a cs2 running under WINE for when I’m in Linuxx but need a little more than Gimp can offer. But I still boot up into Windows when I have to do serious work. CS6 is so incredible that I can’t live without it and it’s still crappy under wine. I wish Adobe would come to their senses. Gimp is getting better, but it still doesn’t have 16-bit support nor does it have good support for LAB and CMYK color spaces. Photoshop also has 64bit support and gpu accelaration. That’s very important for me being as I sometimes have files that are up to 6 gigabytes. These files cripple Gimp (lol! no pun intended). Cinepaint used to be great. It was so far ahead ahead of Photoshop. I used to edit 32bit displacement maps in Cinepaint before Photoshop even have 16bit support. But for some reason the big movie studios have stopped supporting it and now it’s just too far behind to be usable for me.
Funny many of the big CG studios have the same problem I do. They use Linux for everything and keep a couple of windows ports for photoshop. Here’s an article I think you’ll get a kick out of. WETA, the company responsible for Avatar and King Kong, uses Ubuntu for their render farms and for 90% of their desktops. They only keep Windows for something like three programs.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine/emphasisthe-day-earth-stood-stillemphasis
Here’s another article:
http://jordanopensource.org/freeplanet/article/ubuntu-linux-used-making-avatar
There used to be a program called Pixel that had a lot of promise. I had 64bit port before photoshop did, it had Windows OSX, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris support. The Demo was terrific. But it was developped by a single russian guy who took our money and then disappeared.
If you do come across that program you are talking about, please send it to DropBox. I would love to try it.