Recycling

Wednesday, 25 January 2012 12:04 MrB

January became spring clean month. After weeks of moving things from one room to another I found myself with various piles. One for the tip, one for eBay and one of crap that I don't want or need but is too good to throw out and cant be sold. I also found myself with a pile of tech that was like a journey down memory lane. From back in the days I used to keep things. It was like flicking through an old photo album. A Discman, old 333MHz CPU's, 72 pin RAM sticks, 16MB memory cards, it went on. I was tempted to drop all these items back in a box and shove it to the back of the cupboard (they are in the too good to throw pile) when I decided there WAS a better way. Like other memory inducing pieces of history, why not decorate with them? And thus, I present... server cabinet art...

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 13:21 Read more...

Internet Diversity

Thursday, 19 January 2012 18:25 MrB

Is it more dangerous for a few private individuals to control the Internet, with the power to turn it off whenever it suits their political needs, or the US Congress and SOPA? Honestly, I'm not sure. But maybe it's time to challenge the dominance of the worlds largest websites.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 15:23 Read more...

Welcome Nala

Thursday, 12 January 2012 09:51 MrB

We welcome the addition of Nala to the family. She's a Cavalier x Poodle (Cavoodle) and has quite a personality already.

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 January 2012 10:00

A use for the old

Thursday, 12 January 2012 08:40 MrB

Putting the old laptop to good use

With the arrival of the new laptop (see here) the question begged; What to do with the old one? So, I threw it in the lounge and made it a media PC. I'd not had a media PC since the arrival of the Playstation 3 as that seemed to take care of everything. However, there were some things the PS3 just wasn't good at. Browsing the web tops that list and some media formats didn't play nice.

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 January 2012 09:35 Read more...

Fedora 16 meets Sony VAIO Z

Sunday, 08 January 2012 15:42 MrB

I put Fedora 16 64 bit on the latest Sony VAIO Z Series

MEETS

Fedora 16 has stuck with Gnome 3 which is a fantastic interface but has disappointed with the lack of further development on the surface.

Gnome 3 still has no built in desktop applets for multiple clocks, weather or RSS tickers (I only really miss the multi-clocks). That said, it still looks stunning. One welcome addition is the beginning of the online integration of the desktop. So far your Google account is the only one you can add but it is a start and if you're a power Google user (mail, calendar, chat, Docs etc) then your Linux world just became a lot simpler. Other chat accounts can still be added through Empathy for integration into the desktop (as per Fedora 15) but you still need to open Empathy to get it started.

I'll just jump to straight into how things went with the VAIO as Fedora actually hasn't changed a great deal since 15. For a re-cap check out the review here.

Firstly, unlike my previous Sony laptop the Webcam worked out-of-the-box which was a welcome surprise. Unfortunately though, the SD card slot in the laptop did not work (which did in my previous laptop, weird). Luckily I usually use the USB connection anyway but it would be a nice-to-have.