GreySquare Blog

Switch to Linux: Part 1

// February 24th, 2010 // No Comments » // Linux, Tech

I’ve recently decided to try and switch completely to a Linux operating system. Partly because I like the idea of using open source software that is available for public scrutiny. Also because I wanted to start improving my Python.

As a part of this process I installed Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala in addition to my Windows 7 and started using it as my primary os. I’m known to be partial to Fedora but this time around I wanted to just go with Ubuntu owing to the humongous user base, which means better support information thats available out there.

Some of the issue I faced, in hope of receiving some excellent suggestions from the community of-course -

Issue 1: I have a Logitech MX Revolution multiple button mouse. Apart from the fact that the mouse is jittery all the time, the buttons are not detected by default. Installed btnx and enabled revoco for my mouse. Everything seems to be fine for now.

Issue 2: I’m partial to Photoshop and I use Illustrator on and off to design weird logo’s sometimes.

Issue 3: No Windows Live Writer replacement for Linux. None of the blog clients simple cut it. Even if MS wants me to pay for Live Writer, I probably would. It’s that good. Installed VirtualBox > Installed Windows XP > Installed Windows Live Writer.

Issue 4: Non existent Netflix support. I’m not a big fan/addict of Netflix but I do like watching movies instantly once in a while. But when I try to do that under Linux I get this rather unpleasant message – “Our apologies – streaming is not supported for your operating system.” Excuse me, but is that even correct English? shouldn’t it be “on your operating system”?

Issue 5: Old Firefox. It seems the Firefox build that is available in the Ubuntu repositories is almost always older than the current available Firefox. My version is 3.5.8 whereas the latest available version of Firefox is 3.6. If you need the latest Firefox you need to remove the one you have and get the latest from Mozilla. It’s imperative that I work with the latest version as 3.6 has the latest CSS, DOM and HTML5 support and I need those things since I’ve started working on those.

Logitech MX Revolution – I Love My Mouse

// December 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, Tech

I bought a Logitech MX Revolution a while ago and was instantly in love with its 7 buttons and 2 scroll wheels. The best feature has to be the document flip wheel that right near the thumb and does what its supposed to do.

Of course the interface is through Windows 7 and I can just click on whatever document I want. It works for someone like me who has a lot of things open and multitask a lot. All these things don’t come cheap, I bought the mouse for around $60 and that was with some coupon. Also the mouse is right-handed but very ergonomic. It doesn’t hurt my hand after.

And I hate to mention this, but the SetPoint software Logitech offers is either really buggy or they haven’t yet made their drivers fully compatible yet. Basic mouse works fine with the software installed. But once I install that to get access to all the feature, it lags and “feels” slow.