bin-false.org

This past weekend I made sure I saw the first possible showing of the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, not so much for the movie… I wanted to be sure I caught the new Star Trek trailer on the big screen as soon as I possibly could. Being a huge Star Trek fanboy I have been waiting for the first “real” trailer for what feels like, well since I walked out of the theater after the last Star Trek movie.

I thought I’d get my obsession on, and talk about some of the new things I noticed with the new “revisioned” movie version of the Enterprise.

Over all I’d say it looks sleek, modern but has a big retro-feel to it. The few things that really jump out at me is the addition of the phaser emitters and the photon launcher that better matches what we see on  the Enterprise re-fit from the original movies.

There’s no denying the great classic design of Matt Jefferies’ NCC-1701. Sure it does have a dated feel and look to it. Specifically with the main deflector dish, and the warp nacelles. We all grew up with this ship, but the truth is, it’s a dated (awesome dated, but very 60s). Even though I’ll always love it, I can see the areas a movie would want to modernize for today’s audience. It’s a fine line they have to walk between modernizing and keeping the classic retro look for the fans.

Let’s talk about the bridge for a few minutes. Always the nerve center of the Enterprise, and probably where we will see the bulk of on-ship scenes take place.

Here is a shot of the new bridge, obviously very flash, and much much larger than any bridge we have probably ever seen, even in the previous movies. Note the white arm-rests on the  captain’s chair… Not sure how I feel about the look of those.

Just for some perspective, here is the classic bridge that we all know, obviously a much smaller set, as was their budget back then.

Also note the new big fancy 16:9 big screen action upgrade the Enterprise bridge is getting in the movie.

And of course, what was big for back in the day, the classic 4:3 main viewer:

The last thing I’ll make note of, at least in this post, is what I suspect is the new “warp effect”. I think we might be trading the streaking stars for a more “subspace tunnel” graphic. Here is the new, at least that I suspect. Notice that effect appears in the main view screen shot above as well.

There’s plenty more that I’ve noticed in my 100 viewings of the trailer, new transporter effect, Kirk driving a car off a cliff as a kid, new shuttles, some notes about the building of the Enterprise, etc etc. As the movie approaches and we hopefully get some more trailers I think I’ll vent some more pent-up geek energy by writing a few more posts that touch on those things.

I thought I’d take just a moment to acknowledge Veterans Day. I’ve recently focused a lot of my energy on learning the history of war my grandfather took part in, World War II. Looking back on history gives you a great appreciation for the events we find our selves in today.

My grandfather was a member of the U.S. Army and saw many things, gained many life experiences that I can only imagine. I truly believe that out of our second world war came the best generation of our time. When I look back at some of our family pictures from back then I can’t help but feel I missed something; not the war  I make no false glorification of what was a horrible struggle, I focus more on the time and the spirit of the people as we exited the war a victor. What an amazing time it must have been as a people and country the energy and drive must have been truly inspiring.

In the picture to the right of this post, you see the spirit and will in my grandfather’s eyes, even in the midst of the war he pauses for a moment in front of Big Ben realizing the historic moment for him self.

Grandpa took a bullet to the leg near the end of the war, after his recovery he was honorably discharged and he sailed home to meet the beautiful woman he had been corresponding with from around the world.

In September of 1945 they  married and started our family.  It is incredible to look back 63 years and see what a world of difference time makes.

Thanks grandpa, and happy veterans day you’re an example for us all!

Some other takes on Veteran’s Day:

On Veterans Day 2008, Soldiers Honored
Veterans Day- November 11, 2008

Veterans Day 2008, from a family perspective
Everyday is Veterans Day

Ubuntu 8.10 kicks off the new batch of Linux Distribution releases, how does it stack up? Read on…

When the very first version of Ubuntu shipped it was late October of 2004, and the release name was Warty Warthog, I was among the many that rushed to the mirrors to download this new version of the Linux Desktop. Since 2004 Ubuntu has been a Linux desktop trend setter, and it’s with that in mind that I look at the latest version of Ubuntu.

Each release of Ubuntu I spend some time talking about the brown theme, and I do so in the video below a bit more… So I’ll leave it at that, and not re-iterate those comments here.

Watch the video for some screen shots and a general overview of new features:

I’ll breakdown some of the key new features and talk about them. I’ll start with what I think might be the most significant work my way down. I’ll try and give each new major feature a grade, that will reflect its usefulness, and functionality.

The new Gnome 2.24 and a improved File Roller (the Archive manager)

At first I was more than ready to roll my eyes at a tabbed file manager being a major feature, after all with Firefox and every other browser on the planet, we are all kind of tab snobs now and it all seems like such old hat.

But then I stopped to think about it, and realized this is a VERY handy feature that most other

desktop file managers do not have… Oh sure KDE has had it for quite a while as well as a handful of other file managers on Linux, but Windows and OS X still do not. And after all does it matter if we already had it over here, but did not have it over there.. The most important thing is that we have it now! I have spoken with some developers on the Nautilus project and they told me that adding tabs was no easy task, it involved some major re-tooling at the core of the file manager and for a long time they were unsure if it would be worth the efforts.

Well I am very pleased we got this feature, my grade for tabbed nautilus file manager: A+

X.Org 7.4, X11 steps up it’s hot-plug support for display devices

I have been harder and harder on X.org lately. To make a long story short, I feel they are holding the Linux desktop back in some major ways. So any progress forward on multi-monitor support improvements or the ability to plug in projectors and have that project recognized immediately

with the correct resolution (just as OS X or Windows would).

X.org also handles input devices like your mouse and keyboard as well, so it’s critical that a Linux Desktop distribution has a fantastic implementation.

Now all that said, there are real disadvantages to living on the cutting edge of X.org, at the time of this writing the Nvidia and ATI binary (proprietary) drivers do not work with X.org 7.4, that means for many of us, no OpenGL acceleration and no Compiz support.

Now if this was 2006 or mid 2007 and we were looking at a distribution shipping that does not support those drivers, I’d look past it. But this is 2008, and desktop Linux is trying to complete in the same space as OS X and Windows Vista, both of which have accelerated video and utilize transparency with alpha channels to enable better usability.

The product managers at Apple and Microsoft would never even consider taking a “final” version of their operating system to management for approval with out those features, just like the vast majority of us they realize the important it is that users are able to take advantage of the most expensive component in their computer, their GPU. The lack of support for binary drivers is not Ubuntu’s fault, but it is going to be a deal killer for many.

The great improvements in X.org 7.4 with Hot Plug, and the new X safe mode are great, but the short-falls of no binary driver support are a killer. I have to believe that X.org could have worked more closely with Nvidia and ATI to prevent this, after all it would be in Nvidia and ATI’s best interest to do so.

I have high hopes that this is fixed very soon.

X.org 7.4 in Ubuntu 8.10 final grade: D-

NOTE: Sounds like updated drivers are already in the repo, this brings the final grade up to: A-
(more details at the bottom of the post)

DKMS, rebuild kernel modules automatically with kernel updates

DKMS stands for Dynamic Kernel Module Support, DKMS means it’s very easy to rebuild modules (such as drivers, or VMware hooks) as you upgrade kernels. This will allow Linux vendors to provide driver updates without having to wait for new kernel releases while also taking out the guesswork for customers attempting to recompile modules for new kernels.

I see no reason that this should not be HUGE, I want to see this in every distrobution going forward. The best part is that it is working, tested code. Dell (creators of DKMS) have been using

DKMS in house for several years. This is going to bridge that gap between the use of binary drivers and frequent kernel updates, and that is going to be BIG time handy.

Personal side note, members of my family have tried Linux on the desktop after having awful experiences with Windows, but kernel upgrades broke X11 for them too many times, and they gave up and bought a Mac… Needless to say I was very disappointed, my hope is that DKMS will prevent this kind of thing in the future.

DKMS included in the new Ubuntu 8.10 final grade: A+

Other minor features that I think are great, but overall I am not super stoked about:

• Samba 3.2 (good improvements for large enterprise)
• Network Manager 0.7 (improvements in 3G device support, have not tested yet)
• Guest sessions (seems handy, but not something I’ll use)
• Totem BBC plugin (Probably great for my friends across the pond)

Minor features in Ubuntu 8.10 final grade: B+

Final Grade Roundup:

Gnome 2.4 w/Tabbed File Browser	A+
X.org 7.4 w/o Binary Drivers	A–
DKMS Mojo for Modules	A+
Other Minor Features	B+
Overall Score	A

So is Ubuntu 8.10 once again a trend setter? Perhaps, I aruge maybe not what it once was, but it is still a very strong desktop offering. In the end though, thats up to you and everyone else to determine!

You can download Ubuntu 8.10 here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

UPDATE: A new Nvidia driver (at the time of this writing) is reported to have early support for new X.org version in Ubuntu 8.10: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=122139 and appear to have been included in the repository, still waiting for an official word on ATI drivers (I do not have an ATI card to test with).

Last March Bryan and interviewed a gentleman from Hot Head Games who were about to release a new game that was coming out for all platforms, with first class Linux support. Of course we were very excited and could not wait to play. After what seemed like almost forever, the game shipped and we got our hands on it for a full review.

We all liked Episode one of On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness quite a bit. I especially like the episodic nature of the game, as a casual game player I prefer something perhaps a bit  shorter that gets refreshed every so often with new levels, adventures, and challenges. 

Episode 2 of the Penny Arcade game continues the dry wit and humor, combined with the familiar characters placed in a steam-punk 1920s robot butt kicking world!

 

 

Today episode two is being released for all major platforms, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and on the Xbox 360 arcade with the exception of the PS3 for now.
I think the fact that Linux is being targeted at release for a commerical game like this is a great step for desktop Linux. While this game may not put the demand on your system that something like Crysis might, it is by all means a modern game with great graphics and sound. Releasing for four platforms on launch day is really impressive, and something we talked about in our interview with Hot Head games last March.

Bryan and I put togther our first episode of The Big Story a quick video about Episode 2, and include some screen shots and video from the game:

As a special promotion tomorrow October 28th only, CodeWeavers will make their CrossOver products for Mac and Linux free, limited to one copy per-customer. This is a great application if you want to run Windows apps on your non-Windows desktop, but don’t want to overhead of an entire Virtual Machine and OS.

With CrossOver you can run a lot of key Windows apps on your Linux machine, or Mac. Here are just a few apps I use the software for:

• Office 2003 – When Open Office just can’t read that file
• Photoshop – What can I say, I am a long time PS user
• Outlook – Great Exchange support is hard to find, and my work uses Exchange
• Internet Explorer – For those web sites that “just don’t get it” 
• World Of Warcraft – Runs great, and every now and then I just gotta scratch the WoW itch!

You can read their official announcement here, along with all the details !

The first episode of The Linux Action show aired June 10th 2006. Since then it has become a huge part of my life. At first a weekly show, then as life caught up with Bryan and I it became a every other week show. I think most people realize the show does not start and end every other week and that there are always many things that need to be done between release days.

As the show has grown of course the community and listener base has grown along with it. I have formed habits of checking my email, twitter replies, forum posts and etc, about every 15 minutes that I am at a computer.

The main thing we always try to do with LAS (The Linux Action Show) is to push the edge, keep things fresh, and bring in new users to Linux. Bryan and I both know the only way Desktop Linux will ever be successful is bringing more users to the desktop… It’s the only way. There are many ways to accomplish this (winning over companies like Adobe, compatibility with current “standards”) but you can’t achieve any of them unless we significantly increase the Linux user base. We don’t think we can do this all on our own, but we do think we can help.

We have got to reach out to new users, hanging out at our own sites, using our own formats (Ogg/Theora) does not spread our message. At all. I content that in-order to reach new users and show them the features of the Linux platform you have to communicate and distribute media in a way they are familiar with, I’m speaking of MP3 and Flash of course. You can’t expect a life-long Windows user to go out of their way to Listen/watch a Linux show that is in a format they can’t even open or play, that is just irrational.

As we look at this situation, and we look at our lives we find our selves really stuck between that classic rock and that damn hard place.

Some week’s between Bryan and myself we are working 140 hours, on top of the man hours we sneak in-between that to focus on our community or record one of our other shows, and we love doing it. The honest fact is, it helps us scratch the creative itch that sometimes our day jobs just don’t provide. Plus we love talking and sharing about the stuff we think is awesome, Linux, Beer, Old Time Radio, Scifi movies and so on.

But there comes to a point where we hit a wall, a wall in terms of our time, a wall in terms of our audience size, and where we feel a bit stagnant. Not a bad stagnant, but just one that does not push our creative efforts forward and scratch that itch that drives us to make the shows.

So we have reached a point where we have decided to drastically change things up, for what we hope is the better. Starting with Season 10 of The Linux Action Show, there will be no more official Linux Action Show twice a month audio release. The Linux Action Show will transform into a series of mini-videos and episodes hyper focused on specific topics and released much more frequently than twice a month.

A key part of our plan is to leverage on-line streaming sites, like YouTube. We hope this approach drives a few key goals

• A potential for a huge viewer base, YouTube has millions of users, it’s the #2 search engine in the world. We can deliver our views and message to a much wider potential audience
• Dedicated episodes per-topic (or a few small specific topics) this means when YOU or anyone else wants specific information about Compiz, or the eeePC you search and find it. Getting you exactly what you wanted, not an entire 60+ minute episode where 10 minutes was spent talking about what you wanted to know more about.
• Also this method takes a large load off Bryan and I. It gives us the ability to quickly create specific shows more frequently, but in the end will take less of our overall time. With Bryan’s crazy work schedule and my wife and I expecting our first child, this should be huge.

I know for many, this will be a un-welcome change. I know that many prefer the format of an hour long episode that acts as a companion in the background, we understand that… But truthfully there are many Linux shows now, and we need to differentiate and standout. We have got to find a way to break out of the base and get the message to the masses.

Who knows, maybe down the road we will look at this and decide it was a huge success, or maybe we’ll return to our original format. But for right now I know that it’s the move we got to try.