IE on Linux

I think it is quite unexpected that I was put in a position that I would need to look for Internet Explorer for Linux. I am blaming it on the unexpected ways different browsers render webpages. I will be thinking about it if I will be installing it because I do not like pulling WINE into my installation. Hmm.

Anyone have suggestions on other browsers that are Trident-based that has native Linux installations? Or is Trident one of those Windows things?

Linux is not a chore, Windows is.

I was reading through an article about the Demise of the Linux Netbook and as I was reading through the comments, I found this very enlightening comment. This captured a lot of the things that made me stick with Linux all these years and the only reason I go back to Windows XP was because of an online game that could not run on Linux.

If you are an old-time Linux user, you really will be able to relate.
If you are relatively new to the Linux world, this will help you see what is laid out for you.

Trouble with jQuery.

I have been stabbing at a minor problem with jQuery. Apparently, my first javascript calls did not get assigned.
I deduced a bit later that the scripts are called even before the page loads, thus, when it needed to find an object of some name, it doesn’t find it, yet.
To work around this, I think it’s a good practice to enclose all of your javascript code (edit: that needs to access DOM nodes and/or bind events, thanks guu) in a $(document).ready(){} block for jQuery.

KISSS 2009 : Blender, JavaFX, GIMP and HTML/CSS

When: July 4 (Blender+JavaFX) July 6 (GIMP+HTML/CSS)
Where: Alumni Engineers’ Centennial Hall (aka Engineering Library 2), Teaching Laboratory 1

Chiz Escudero’s Proposal Re: Secondary Education

Though the above subject is not directly related to FOSS, a friend of mine posted this excellently written reply to the issue. The mailing list (and everyone else I have discussed with on the matter) seemed unanimous that the proposal was rather crude and half-assed but he disagreed.  I’m guilty of a lot of points that he raised myself and when he put it that way, the proposal made sense. I don’t think this is a long-term solution though, but I think this will be a good intermediate plan of action to making education sustainable at the moment. I am often a pragmatist and this seemed like a rather practical approach to a problem.

He even managed to forge a connection between this issue and FSF, which says something about his argumentation.

Read and comment.

Reaction: Could you switch over to being 100% open source?

by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4667&tag=nl.e539
[sic]
Could you switch over to being 100% open source? In other words, could you replace your OS and all your software with open source alternatives and still do everything that you do now using commercial software?

Yes, for as a student and for the type of work that I do, I use Ubuntu. The only time I go boot my XP is when my brother wants to play DoTA with me or some other online game I can’t play on Linux. Otherwise, about 95% of the time, I use Ubuntu.

If so, how much training would you and others need, what would you do for support, and how long would it take you?

The shift from IE to Firefox did not cost me anything. The shift from OpenOffice (back then*) required a bit more work on my part but it took me as little as a week. (*It would probably take less now because newer versions tend to be more complete than the previous.) Of course, I am a special case because I’m the type that solves problems by myself so the only support I needed was Google’s.

While you’re thinking about open source, how much cash do you think you could save yearly?

I think this is a point that we can easily underestimate. Of course, a lot of us looks into the price and say “Hey! I’ll be saving P5000 pesos if I switched to Linux instead of buying a licensed XP” but you’re not counting the amount of stress and worry (reformats, viruses, slowdowns, crashes, regular scan and update of AV software, backups, etc) that you will save yourself from. Of course, here in the Philippines, you have P5000 less to save since most of the people get their XP for “free”.

In the end, the answer varies from person to person but, as the article said, if you’re not doing anything special on your PC, switching to 100% Open Source will not hurt you. In fact, you may gain more from it. I know I did.

Reconfigure

I literally spent hours just trying to change my home network’s netmask.

Why so long? Because there is a lesson to be learned: Renew your DHCP address everytime you change your settings. It was the only thing that kept me so long. That’s why I never reach the gateway nor do I get DNS addresses, it’s because I never ask for it everytime I change it.

For a second there, I thought it had something to do with my Ubuntu.

Reinstallation

Since I have started reinstalling my OS’es lately*, I’ve noticed that I have developed some habits when it comes to clean installs.

It would be a list off the top-of-my-head so pardon me if it’s not comprehensive.

Windows

• Change default (blank) Administrator password into one with more than 14 characters with special characters
• Install the latest Firefox
• Change security settings in Firefox: Master Password (same rules as above), No History, No Forms, Always clear all private data except saved passwords, change save download folder
• Disable unneeded services
• Install Billy (and never use WMP)
• Install OpenOffice

Linux

• I’ll update this space, I never seemed to do much else after installation other than changing Firefox’s settings.

*my Windows needed a reinstall.. all my games crash now and I’m preparing for a drive overhaul for my Linux

CS120 Project

I have been working on zembly for the past few days now for my CS120 Project and really, once you get the hang of it, coding widgets really can become fun. 🙂

Tinkering with different Linux tools

I was looking into creating a live-cd version of my ubuntu remaster this morning and I found remastersys, a fine great tool for creating your own Ubuntu remaster.