GNU + vidya

2012-10-25T21:25:00.002-04:00

Free Software survey

I was going to interview a friend of mine who's a free software expert, but since he doesn't exist, I instead asked ten people on Omegle three questions pertaining to free software. Here are the logs:

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: no
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: yes
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: pandora

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: yes
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: the first is declaration of independence the second illusion
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: keynote

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: Slightly
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: Yes
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: Microsoft Paint :D

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: yes
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: yes
Stranger: freedom to edit essentially
Stranger: cost vs rights
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: vlc media player, ubuntu, used debian for a spell but didn't like it too much, used k window software, firefox, thunderbird, audacity I think is open source
Stranger: a fair bit

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: hell no
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: what kind of questions are these
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: microsoft word

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: yes
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: i guess i do
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: utorrent

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: nope
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: I believe so
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: beat master, audio shark, audiacity, WMM
Stranger: utorrent

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: no
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: yes
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: cant discuss that.

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: no
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: no
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: none

You: Do you know what free and open source software is?
Stranger: yes
You: Do you know the difference between the ideas "free as in beer" and "free as in speech"?
Stranger: yes
You: What free software do you use, if any?
Stranger: none

The survey showed that most people are completely unfamiliar with free and open source software, and even some of the people who answered "yes" seemed to not actually know what it is.

Image Source: "logo;" "Omegle logo;" http://omegle.com/static/logo.png

2012-10-25T19:27:00.001-04:00

My Computer

      After careful consideration, I decided to branch out once more from my original topic. I thought a post about my computer, my portal to the realm of free and open source software, would be right at home on my blog, so here it is. I've upgraded my desktop numerous times since I first built it (the only parts that are the same from that original build are the case and the hard drive), but its purpose is essentially the same: do everything I want, when I want it, without any slowdown whatsoever. The numerous upgrades it has endured ensure it can continue to serve its purpose well. Above is a picture of my desktop (click here for the full size version of this picture) to refer to while reading this post.

   First of all, the motherboard and processor. The processor is an Intel Core i5 2500K, which was $200 on eBay, overclocked to 4.0ghz. This processor usually overclocks very nicely, but mine overclocks poorly; I couldn't get it stable at 4.5ghz at 1.4vcore, and I decided to stop raising the voltage to keep the temperature down. The motherboard is an MSI P67S-C43 and was $70 on eBay. MSI isn't known for its great motherboards, but it's been dependable as long as I've had it. The heatsink/fan that I'm using with my processor is a Cooler Master Hyper 212+, which came with the 2500K.

   The case is a Thermaltake V4 Black Edition, which cost me $40 on Newegg. It's a decent cheap case, but it's a bit flimsy. I have two fans installed (one that came with the case and one I bought separately) in a flawed push/pull configuration because installing it behind the 5.25" drive spaces looks like a total pain that I honestly don't care enough to do. Its biggest problem is its total lack of cable management, which you can easily see by the mess of cords on the bottom of the case; however, it's still a great case.

   Next, the power supply (the gray box on the bottom left). The power supply is an Antec Earthwatts EA-650, which was $40 on eBay. I upgraded from an Antec Earthwatts EA-500 (which is now in my server) to allow for more overclocking headroom and to accommodate a more power-hungry graphics card.

   Right above the power supply are my sound card and parallel PCI controller card. The sound card (black PCB) is a Creative Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit, which was $11 on eBay. The integrated sound on my last motherboard failed, requiring me to use it. The integrated sound on this motherboard is pretty low-quality, so I decided to keep the sound card. The parallel PCI controller card (green PCB) is a generic card I bought for $5 from a Chinese seller on eBay, and it works great for my HP LaserJet 4050, which is all I'll ever need it for.

   Above those is the graphics card. The graphics card is an AMD Radeon HD 6950, which cost $180 on eBay. The seller listed this as the 1gb version, but upon receiving it, I discovered that it was actually the 2gb version, allowing me to flash it to an HD 6970. This card is fantastic and runs very cool now that it's undervolted, so I see no need to upgrade soon.

    On the top right of the case is my optical drive, an Asus DRW-24B1ST which costed about $18 on Newegg. It was cheap and it works. All ~$20 optical drives are basically the same, so I just got the cheapest at the time.

   On the lower right of the case, partially obscured by the cords and mounting bracket, is the hard drive, where all my GNU/Free Software is stored. The hard drive is a Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb that was $50 on Newegg. This drive has been very reliable for as long as I've owned it (which is great, since I'm too lazy to do backups).

       Feel free to comment with your own build specs, or make fun of my choice in parts and inform me why your taste > my taste and why I'm a total pleb. implying anyone reads this shitty blog anyway

2012-10-24T10:39:00.005-04:00

Ubuntu Pt. 2

This is the second part of my multi-part Ubuntu post.

1. Joli OS
Joli OS, previously named Jolicloud, is a lightweight Ubuntu-based distribution, mainly intended for use on netbooks. Joli OS aims to support all netbooks out of the box without needing to install any drivers. The user interface is very simplified and optimized for low resolution screens.

2. Trisquel
Trisquel is a Ubuntu derivative that is 100% free software (Ubuntu is mostly free software but has proprietary "blobs"). Trisquel uses the GNOME desktop environment, and is one of the few GNU/Linux distributions recommended by the Free Software Foundation.

3. Linux Mint
Linux Mint is a Ubuntu derivative intended to be more full-featured out of the box, and includes considerably more programs and plug-ins than Ubuntu. Due to all the additional software included with Mint, a lot of people consider it to be "bloated" (which it is; you can just install the software you need in Ubuntu without all the additional bloat you don't need)

Download Joli OS
Download Trisquel
Download Linux Mint

Image Source: "ubuntu-operating-system;" "Ubuntu logo;" http://www.colocationamerica.com/picts/articles/ubuntu-operating-system.png

2012-10-15T21:59:00.002-04:00

Ubuntu Pt. 1

Ubuntu is one of the most popular GNU/Linux distribution available, if not the most popular. Ubuntu, itself based on Debian, is the basis for a huge amount of distributions, which I will be covering in a multi-part post

1. Kubuntu
Kubuntu is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop environment. I'm personally not a big fan of KDE but it's certainly not the worst DE in existence.

2. Edubuntu
Edubuntu is Ubuntu with a bunch of tools designed for use in education. It's aimed at users ages 6-18 and is intended for use in the classroom.

3. Xubuntu
Xubuntu is Ubuntu with the Xfce desktop environment. Xfce is my absolute favorite desktop environment; it's pretty lightweight, yet very full-featured.

4. Lubuntu
Lubuntu is Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop environment. LXDE is very lightweight, and mainly aimed at lower-end computers with limited resources.

Download Kubuntu
Download Edubuntu
Download Xubuntu
Download Lubuntu

Image Source: "logo-ubuntu_cof-orange-hex;" "Ubuntu logo;" http://design.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-ubuntu_cof-orange-hex.png

2012-10-10T00:50:00.002-04:00

Open source text editors

One area where free software is especially strong is in text editors- there are tons of them, and lots of good ones.

1. Notepad++
Notepad++ is what Notepad on Windows should've been, with a wealth of addition, useful features. One of its biggest advantages is tabbed editing, which means you can open multiple files in the same window. It also supports different character encoding systems.

2. Emacs
Emacs is a family of text editors. The original Emacs was written in 1976 by Richard Stallman. The most common version is GNU Emacs, but also notable is the fork XEmacs. Emacs uses a Lisp interpreter to provide a very high level of customization and scripting abilities.

3. vi
Not all version of vi are free and open source software, but free implementations do exist, such as vim. vi is best known for its extensive list of key bindings, and is often regarded as having a steep learning curve.

Download Notepad++
Download GNU Emacs
Download vim

Image Source: "notepadr;" "notepad++;" http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/260/notepadr.png

2012-10-08T00:43:00.000-04:00

Open source media players

I'm going to branch out from just talking about open source video games and talk about open source programs in general, starting with media players. Most media players play music and video decently well, but some do the job a lot better than others. A lot of the best programs also happen to be free and open source; they play a wider variety of files while using less system resources.

1. VLC media player
VLC is one of the most popular media players right now, and for good reason- it plays everything. It plays pretty much any audio or video file you can possibly find, and has a host of additional features, such as media streaming. I have VLC installed but I don't use it mainly for anything.

2. MPC-HC
Media Player Classic - Home Cinema plays audio files, but it's definitely more of a video player. It's a lot lighter than VLC, and handles some things better, such as subtitled anime. I use MPC-HC as my main video player.

3. Clementine
Clementine is a music player. It plays most any audio file, like VLC, but has a better layout for handling music. Clementine has a lot of features, such as integration with internet radio sites, and a handy tag editor; however, VLC has one advantage over Clementine, and that is that it handles corrupted files better.

Download VLC
Download MPC-HC
Download Clementine

Image Source: "Clementine-Logo;" "Clementine;" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clementine-Logo.png

2012-10-02T21:09:00.002-04:00

Tux games

Tux, a penguin, is the Linux mascot, and over the years, his likeness has been the inspiration for many open source clones of more popular games. I'll list what I think are the most noteworthy Tux games.

1. SuperTux
SuperTux is Super Mario Brothers with penguins and slightly poorer controls. It's a pretty casual game, but there are a few difficult stages. It's unoriginal, but fun nonetheless.

2. Tux Racer
As far as I know, Tux Racer isn't a clone of anything, but I have played games similar to it. You control a penguin sliding down a hill, and you want to collect the fish for points. Simple concept, but it's pretty fun. It's also pretty old. I remember playing this when I was a lot younger.

3. SuperTuxKart
SuperTuxKart is Mario Kart with penguins and other open source software mascots. It's the best looking game on the list, and it's quite fun. However, it needs online multiplayer or LAN multiplayer.

4. Pingus
Pingus is Lemmings with penguins. It doesn't have Tux in the title, but I'm counting it because it has penguins. I don't have too much to say about it. If you've ever played Lemmings, you'll know what to expect.

Super Tux gameplay
Tux Racer gameplay
SuperTuxKart gameplay
Pingus gameplay

Image Source: "Tux;" "Tux;" https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Tux.png/220px-Tux.png

2012-09-30T23:23:00.001-04:00

Open source first-person shooters

One area where free software is sort of lacking is first-person shooters. There are a few, but not many. I'll touch on what I think are the three most notable examples.

1. OpenArena
OpenArena is a free and open source shooter based on Quake III Arena. They look different (OpenArena looks nicer) but play about the same. It also has a decent amount of active multiplayer servers. It runs pretty well on most computers too, a bonus if you're installing GNU/Linux on an older computer and want to play games on it, for example.

2. Freedoom
Freedoom is more of a novelty. If you still want to play Doom but want an open source implementation, this is your best bet. Freedoom is pretty much the same as Doom; however, it's a work in progress, so there are still missing parts. You also need to use your own Doom engine, like PrDoom.

3. Nexuiz
Honestly, I haven't played too much Nexuiz, so I can't say too much about it. It runs on a heavily modified open source Quake engine. It's a pretty nice-looking game, and there were always people online whenever I tried it.

OpenArena gameplay
Freedoom gameplay
Nexuiz gameplay