Chrome 4 Beta available for Mac and Linux

Chrome is finally available to both Linux and Mac users. I have really enjoyed using Chrome in Windows but since i don't use Windows that often I would have really liked it to be available for the Linux and the mac platform. Google heard my geek prayers and released Chrome 4 beta.

I installed it and run to both platforms without any problems and to my delight there were ready-made packages for Ubuntu, as well as for Fedora and Suse all having 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

One noticeable difference of the two versions is that the Linux one keeps the default blueish theme while the Mac version has a metallic theme obviously to play along with the rest of the metallic theme of OSX. In addition one, hiccup is that In Ubuntu, Chrome does not follow the windows behavior set in user preferences. Thus, for example, if you have set for a window to roll-up if you double click on the titlebar it will just stay there which is kinda disappointing. I guess its still in beta and better integration will come in the near future as soon. In addition, the mac version does not support extensions for now which is a bummer since extension have some very useful stuff. in Linux version though they are enabled and ready for use.

I like Firefox but it has started to get to my nerves how painfully bloat it has become. When Firefox came out 5 years ago it was bleeding fast compared to Internet Explorer, which was one of the reasons it became the browser of choice for many people. Chrome still lacks the plugin support that Firefox enjoyes but it will come in the near future (the extensions are in beta as well). All I can say Chrome is the new Firefox.

Ubuntu 8.10 to be released tommorow

The release of the new Ubuntu Linux 8.10 is upon us. Many have downloaded and tested the new version and all agree on one thing. 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is a polished version correcting the mistakes of the past. Rather than introducing many new features the Ubuntu team went out to eliminate the glitches that plagued the previous version. It feels more of a service pack than a whole new version, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Good news is that it has has an even better hardware support, paying particular attention to wireless connectivity. Installation procedure as always fast and easy. Previous version users can just update their current system. Please note though that updating will get you to a non LTS version so anyone using the machine for a server is advised not to upgrade. Dedoimedo has a comprehensive review for you to check out, along with a small tutorial and many pictures of the new version.

Ubuntu 8.10 to be released

The new Ubuntu 8.10 is going to be released in a few days. The brave souls can download the release candidate and play around with all the new features. From my experience the Ubuntu release candidates are quite stable and you can drop the old repositories for the new ones to get all the update after the official release. So if anyone is in a hurry he/she just might as well install it on his/her machine. I would not recommend it on production machines though because you never know when the nasty bug will hit you.

There are numerous upgrades on this release. We have the usual suspects of new versions for gnome and kernel but more “exotic ones” as well such as the encrypted directories and the long awaited improved connection manager that allows the road warriors to manage their 3G connections of their laptops.

The list includes:

• Gnome 2.24
• X.Org 7.4
• Linux Kernel 2.6.27
• Encrypted private directory
• Guest session
• Network Manager 0.7
• Dell Kernel module support
• Samba 3.2
• Pam authentication
• Totem BBC plugin

Along with Ubuntu, the Xubuntu and Kubuntu distros will be released for the fans of Xfce and KDE desktop environments. The new releases will not be LTS, even though this will not be an issue if you are not planning to use it on a production server.

I was not very happy with the previous release and had problems with it. Lets see if all the issues were resolved in 8.10.

Ubuntu Linux is starting to piss me off

I have been a Linux user for years. For the most part I used Suse Linux for work and at home. Around six months ago I decided to use Ubuntu Linux at work, which is gaining the momentum these days, after a short period of using it at home. The reason for this was that Suse version I was using then (10.2) was really pissing me off with how fat and heavy it felt (and was) and its really awful update system that rarely worked. In order to install a single small packet I had to wait for many minutes in order to find the mirrors resolve dependencies, crash the system, kill the xserver, and so on. I had used, briefly, a debian-based distro, in the past and was very impressed by its excellent update system. Thus since Ubnutu had the reputation of being very friendly with less hassle and was debian-based I gave it a try.

I started with a prior to 8.04 version and the updated after a month or so to the current version (8.04). Trouble was ahead since they changed the whole sound system and I had to fiddle around with the sound settings for a great long in order to get everything with the sound working. Then the updates started. Since the Suse update system rarely worked I was happy during the first few days to receive daily updates. The version was just released and many updates seemed logical. After six months of use though I still have an average of 25-30 MB of updates daily. I mean what is up with that? It is really annoying and the worst part is that some of these updates broke the xserver and then broke the alsa sound system and I had to fiddle with them again. Installing a package is a breeze though....That is something. In addition some of the tools simply don't work. For example I want to change the class of device for my bluetooth dongle and Ubuntu just refuses to do that. I gead down to hcidconf file to do manually and refuses to take that into consideration. I figured out later after days of trial and error that it disregards the universal to every Linux distro hcidconf and uses other settings for that. Go figure....

These days I have started thinking about going back to Suse. I don't know. I 've read they have fixed their update system and thats good, but on the other hand I read that for every new Suse version and its never fixed. I miss Yast and the many ready-made scripts for controlling everything. Time will tell.