Just did a fresh install of the 64-bit version of Lubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal), keeping the home directory from my previous 32-bit version of Lubuntu 12.04. Reason for switching to the 64-bit version is to run MATLAB R2012b and upcoming versions.
Main thing I have to remember to get my dual-boot (Windows 7 + GNU/Linux) system working is install GRUB to the root partition of the Linux system, then use EasyBCD in Windows to configure the Windows Boot Manager by adding an entry to boot to Linux with GRUB (Legacy).
[Note: I used the previous version EasyBCD 2.0 that was on my system and don't seem to be able to download the newer version now from Google Chrome. Suggested workarounds not involving EasyBCD for configuring the Windows Boot Manager welcome - I recall the last time I tried to control booting with GRUB on the Master Boot Record, Windows failed to load.]
Now to spend some time setting up the system, though it looks like everything mostly works!
Showing posts with label GNU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GNU. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Sylpheed Configuration
Just in case this is useful to anyone from Oxford or elsewhere using Sylpheed for emails and having trouble configuring it - I found that I had to choose the "LOGIN" method for authenticating IMAP and SMTP, as "Automatic" wasn't working for me.
Sylpheed is looking like a nice, snappy email program so far, and it runs fast and light on computing resources.
Sylpheed is looking like a nice, snappy email program so far, and it runs fast and light on computing resources.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Lubuntu 12.04
Did a reinstall of Lubuntu on my laptop as something went wrong during the upgrade to 12.04 (codenamed Precise Pangolin). Just as well, since I have /home on a separate partition so didn't lose any of my data, just the tons of programs that I haven't used for ages. I'm sticking with Lubuntu because Ubuntu (at least version 11.10 of it) was too resource-hungry for my machine.
Instead of the GNOME Do launcher, I now use Kupfer. Very snappy.
Followed these instructions to install Dropbox. Had to install gcc to get it working. Then followed the instructions here to get Dropbox running automatically each time.
Instead of the GNOME Do launcher, I now use Kupfer. Very snappy.
Followed these instructions to install Dropbox. Had to install gcc to get it working. Then followed the instructions here to get Dropbox running automatically each time.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
gNewSense
Sunday, November 6, 2011
rms
Richard Stallman came by to Oxford to give a talk ("A Free Digital Society") on Friday. As I was at another seminar, I didn't manage to attend even though it was relatively conveniently held at the physics department. As a result, I read up more about his life and work, after finding this very interesting piece that details his preferences and requests for anyone interested in getting him to speak.
The actual talk he gave was probably more or less along the lines of this earlier transcript. I agree that indeed, copyright and patents are relics of the past that now mainly benefit corporations only and stand in the way of progress. We do need to disentangle the issues to both encourage sharing and cooperation and also encourage content creation.
Reading up again about his life and cause reminded me of the ideals of freedom, choice and software. In many ways, universities embody the essence of freedom and cooperation - research published in open journals are analogous to "copyleft".
I'll end this post by pointing out that the story of his younger days is pretty interesting. He did physics at Harvard and spent weekends at the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab, where the "freedom" issue first reared its head in the form of a proprietary printer driver. He was a physics graduate student for a while and decided that he could make a greater contribution through computer code.
[On a slightly more technical/purist point, as I'm using Ubuntu GNU/Linux now with non-free drivers, I've sacrificed some "freedom" for the convenience of getting my laptop to work well. Just downloaded the fully free gNewSense which I'll test-drive.]
The actual talk he gave was probably more or less along the lines of this earlier transcript. I agree that indeed, copyright and patents are relics of the past that now mainly benefit corporations only and stand in the way of progress. We do need to disentangle the issues to both encourage sharing and cooperation and also encourage content creation.
Reading up again about his life and cause reminded me of the ideals of freedom, choice and software. In many ways, universities embody the essence of freedom and cooperation - research published in open journals are analogous to "copyleft".
I'll end this post by pointing out that the story of his younger days is pretty interesting. He did physics at Harvard and spent weekends at the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab, where the "freedom" issue first reared its head in the form of a proprietary printer driver. He was a physics graduate student for a while and decided that he could make a greater contribution through computer code.
[On a slightly more technical/purist point, as I'm using Ubuntu GNU/Linux now with non-free drivers, I've sacrificed some "freedom" for the convenience of getting my laptop to work well. Just downloaded the fully free gNewSense which I'll test-drive.]
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