sniffle

Just for the record I'd like to say being sick sucks. I've been unable to do anything for the last few days except sneeze a bunch and nearly cough out a lung or two. However, on the plus side I've been able to finish up a few games I've been playing so I should have a little review of them.

Review Gentoo Linux

Review

Distro: Gentoo Linux

Rating: Very good

Pros: Portage is very powerful, this a very customizable distribution, great community support, and works on most platforms

Cons: the installer can make you curl up in a ball and cry yourself to sleep.

If you've heard about this distribution it's probably fair to say that you already know about the install process. Unlike other distributions, Gentoo lacks a GUI installer, as a matter of fact the entire thing is done by command line. So all of you who are timid when dealing with the almighty cursor may want to try a more GUI friendly distribution like Mandriva or SuSe. Now to make up for its lack of GUI, the developers have a series of handbooks or install guides that take you step by step through the process of installing Gentoo on many different architectures including x86 and PPC. Gentoo's Installation Handbook also has a great deal of information on how to perform the installation along with some detailed examples. However, like all manuals there will usually be something you either can find in the handbook or just don't understand in which case its time to hit the Gentoo Forums. The forum is the home of the Gentoo Community in which may of its users and maintainers read and post problems and solutions they have with just about anything you'd want to do with your Gentoo system.

For the record Gentoo isn't that much faster than most distributions, believe me it's a little faster but nothing really dramatic. The thing is that the best thing Gentoo has going for it is Portage, that is the distributions package/software management system. It doesn't require any special files that are difficult to create *cough* rpm *cough* but does typically require commands to be executed by the command line. There are GUI programs that allow you to use Portage through an application but I have yet to find one that has an intuitive interface. The rest of this distro is pretty much on the level with Slackware and other distros. Bottom line is that if your a command line junky and want to get away from the world of dependency ridden binary packages then Gentoo may be the right distro for you.

OS X and the end?

Okay with all the talk about Apple switching to Intel there has been some talk about OS X, invading Linux territory and spelling doom for the open source operating system, now there is some validity in these arguments so I thought I'd put in my two cents. Just to be clear I am a fan of both OS X and most Linux distributions, and have been know to use Windows now and then. So here is the deal, when Apple transitions to the x86 architecture there leaves the possiblity of installing the OS in non Apple hardware, but I'm not sold on that. Given the possibility people might think about switching to OS X other than Linux for many reasons, that deal with interface and a long list of things that essentially makes Linux a tough sell for the personal desktop market.

This can happen and probably will, now before all of you claim the end of Linux, please note that one Apple is extremely protective about its products so yes OS X may runn on the x86 architecture but Apple will denfinetly try to make it so that people buy their products, so I'm not seeing such a clean or fast transition... I could be wrong about this ... but it makes sense. Apple isn't going to give up on it product line any time soon and probably find ways to restrict where and how their products are used. Now the argument is because OS X is such a focused and clean operating system there is little to point people in the way of Linux. The statement has some validity but let get this out right now Apple's "proprietary" operating system has many hurdles like driver support and stability in the new architechure. On the other end of the scope Linux isn't as focused, in the sense there are hundreds of version of the OS with about eight different ways of doing the same thing, hence not as focused; there is also the fact that Linux is open source and has a strong following in educational (college) and server markets. The operating system has also been around the block a few times and is pretty much stable on any architeture due to someone's little pet project and the driver support is getting there. Now I'm not saying that none of this can't change, its just what it looks like now, so with everyone talking about the end of Linux, I just see a possibility for less dominance/reliance on Windows.

Sad little apple child

Well, today Steve Jobs made the announcement that Apple will be switching to an Intel platform, which will make the future of Apple computers and interesting one. Now before, I get all up in arms about what seems to be a strange pairing, let me be some what resonable for a moment. Apple has a history of showing how change can be good or spectacularly disasterous,but I digress; it is time for change. There are several limitations with any architecture and the PowerPC seems to be hitting a limit. While both Intel and AMD have recently switched and developed their new architetures of the future, or in the very least next few years. So the change in architecture makes a lot of sense, now assuming that rosseta works as welll as everyone hopes, there is a good chance for a smooth transition, but I have my doubts.

Now on with the ranting, the little mac fanatic inside me nearly died when I heard the rumour about switching to Intel, more or less but probably... very much so based on my previous experiences with Intels product line. In short I'm not a fan, their systems often don't perform well and are usually over priced; not to mention this is the company that brought us the celeron line which in my opnion was the worse low budge chip I've seen since the K6. Granted over the last few years Intel has been improving there other product lines like wireless chipsets however, most of that equipment is already made by Apple, so unless Apple plans on ditching their wireless solutions for Intel's there is little to be gained here. So why does this really tick me off? It's Intel's more recent problems that have me concerned about what they do, like does anyone remember Rambus, I know its old news but this is the company that pretty much went okay if you want our stuff you've gotta have Rambus. More recently Intel's been having problems, in actual production and delivering their untis, on time, by the way so has AMD. Thats probably my biggest fear, the latest mac will be due out on a date an legion of mac addicts will be waiting, drooling in anticipation and then some Intel person will come out and go, "....um.....we've only got 200 units, the rest couldn't get through production..." due to some rambling crap that few will be caring about while they prepare the torches, ultimately leaving a lot of mac users unhappy. In the truest sense, people don't buy macs for the "PC experience" they buy them for the "Mac expereince" and now the two are coming together, leaving the near future very much in question.

New System

Hooray! I have a finished setting up my new computer system. It's my first foray into 64 bit computing but so far I'm pretty pleased with it overall performance. In a few days I'll post a review and describe the setup process. Time to go do a happy dance.