Debian Development build

In this post I want to post the build that I will buy soon. This is going to be a development system and also my first step towards the future.

I'm already used to Linux. It's a fantastic system and use Ubuntu at work to develop, as i'm a web developer by trade. That's one of the reason's why I cannot wait to get my build. Now, it's not far away, however. I've made the initial build a little bit to ambitious. That, in the sense that I didn't look for compatibility when building the system online. That's why I have to give it another go. I will have to check for compatibility before adding it to my wishlist.

I'm close to having the money to actually get the components but enough time to do some proper research in what components I should invest. This is going to be a development build, so by all means, if you have an opinion on parts or about the current list of components, input is what it's all about in an community.

Component	Name	Price
Processor	AMD FX-8320 Black Edition	126,-
Mobo	ASRock 990FX Extreme3	82,60
HDD	WD AV-GP WD5000AUDX, 500GB	49,42
Case	BitFenix Shinobi	54,50
CPU Sink	Scythe Mugen 4 PCGH Edition	36,50
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2C4G3D1608ET3LX0CEU	60,50
PSU	Seasonic Platinum Series 660 Watt	128,04
SSD	Samsung 840 series 120GB	115,47
	Total :	653,03

Now, This is what i've got so far. It might change completely. It all depends on what I will research in the next couple of weeks. I've gotten some good input from forums that I've found through Google.

I've asked a bit around and maby I can get around with an onboard videocard. My linux sources say it might just be enough. However, I want to be able to run 1080p though, as a somewhat higher resolution is just easier to work with.

I will let you guys know more when I know more. Peace.

DavMail and Thunderbird / Evolution

No crashes today. I've gotten DavMail in combination with Thunderbird / Evolution on Ubuntu. I've not decided yet wich of the two clients I like best. I'm still baffled and equally amazed by how much faster the machine was. Windows 8, the install before Ubuntu, wasn't even old either. 4-5 months top. Things are easy to install and when faced with problems, Google and my mentioned sources in an earlier post are valuable source for experience.

I've setup RabbitVCS as my SVN client. I'm coming from TortoiseSVN. Rabbit suits me really well and the performance is excelent. I've tried Rapid and the build in SVN client from Netbeans but both didn't met my expectations. Rapid was good, yet Rabbit is more simplistic and easier to handle in my view. Netbeans build in svn client... horrible. I tried setting it up in multiple ways, tried other build in svn clients other than SvnKit yet that lead to even more frustration and longer waiting times before I could commit. Overall, things are easy and there is a world of choices in alternatives that work equally if not better than their Windows counterpart.

I'm still looking into an calender program, or on how to make it work in Evolution. I've not put effort into this yet as there was plenty of work.

That's pretty much day 3 on my use of Ubuntu. I'm seriously thinking to throw Windows in the bin on my personal computer. Ubuntu is really great for me and it's a mere matter of time before most of my games will be available for Linux. I feel like an b**** when mentioning that in every post postponing my own rig's software overhaul. This due to the fact that my Steam holds currently a library of 492 games, and the fear that something of my rig's hardware might be badly supported by the limited amount of drivers available.

Note that this is said in an unknowledgable position. As I've still not done the proper research nor had the time over the last couple of days.

Linux | Day 2 "Black Hawk Down"

Today was a wise lesson in Linux. I coudn't configure LAMP, still don't know why. Must be something I am doing wrong though. I've carefully followed multiple guides, checked, double checked, yet coudn't get vhosts to work properly. I've installed XAMPP for Linux as an alternative to LAMP and this seems to do the job.

Then I was challenged by the second failure. I installed chrome. I used chrome for a good few hours, when all of a sudden chrome seemed unrespondsive. The OS itself was fine, just chrome. Then it just crashed and had to do a restart. When rebooted I coudn't login. Followed a guide and everything was fine. Lesson learned, using Firefox now. I already found it strange that chrome had no search result in the software center. Ubuntu itself is a blast to use however. I really found that the overall experience, coming from Windows 7 / 8; that it works smoother. Everything is snappier. I like it. I can see myself using this at home, the steam list is growing and the days of Microsoft are counted for.

Cannot wait to personally make the step! I can use my experience that I have at work to install it on my own machine. On that note, coming from someone who has had a few lessons in how to handle Linux, that it has a pretty hard learning curve. You need technical knowledge when facing a problem and often terminal is key to solving whatever problem your facing. However, I'm willing, patient and backed-up by a great Google+ Community, AskUbuntu and an pretty knowledgable boss that knows it's way around the terminal.

~ Rob

Linux | Day 1

Ubuntu is the flavor I've went for. Installing went down quick. Then came the install of updates along with LAMP and setting it up to where it would work with all the stuff we use at work. This took me a good few hours to do so. It was worth it though!

I've had lessons on school on how to handle Debian, I knew everything still! Even though those lessons were about the basics. VIM and small things like that. I was actually amazed by how much I still knew and was able to manage on my own. *pads on own back*

I felt really good when everything was setup and was actually working. Cannot wait to get to work with this OS ( i've installed this near the end of my workday. )

~ Rob

Migration to Linux

At work we,or at least, I am migrating to Linux for the better. As a web developer my duty is to work on the platform where our websites and applications are going to run on. Thus migrating. I've got little experience with Linux, yet what I have with it, is good. I've been meaning to take this step for a long time. On my personal machine it will still have to hold out for a few more months or so as the only thing holding me back is Steam and support for hardware.

I've tried flavors such as Ubuntu, Debian, Mint and Arch to get a taste of what the wonderfull world of GNU/Linux has to offer for a developer / gamer like me. Fact is, I would still like to game and like my OS to be as maintainence free as possible. Ubuntu or Debian would take my preference. In my place of work, Ubuntu is proudly replacing my Windows 8 machine. On top of that, I've prepared myself for years to get to know open-source variants of their counterparts on Windows already. Gimp is my Photoshop. OpenOffice is my MS Office. I've been steaming myself ready for this moment.

Im really exited to take this step ( Win8 to Ubuntu / Debian maby. ) as migrating from Win7 to Win8 was horrible. I've gotten to know the bug that make Win8. For example shutting down. Win8 has NEVER shut down properly. It always asks to forcefully shutdown, and when given the command to do so, still doesn't shutdown.

The start menu, when you search for programs, it often, in mistake starts a program I don't need nor want on Windows 8. That takes us to another point. Some programs are proprietary. IE, wich we need, cannot be uninstalled nor downgraded without taking the nessesary backdoor steps. Along with a huge list of default programs such as your PDF viewer and such. Even the PDF viewer itself is brackisch as it reads the MS version of PDF encoding wich is slightly different than the Open or Adobe version of pdf encoding. Is discovered that when generating PDF files for a client project.

My main, or only heldback is game and hardware support. I've got a camera setup to where I've got hardware that can record old camera tapes. No support on Linux. I really expected this, yet shame. Then games. Videocards have pretty much no support and specially the newer models. Then games, they often NEED DirectX to run. I hate it. Awesomenauts and dozen of indie games SUPPORT OpenGL and this is really a good move. They also have the default setting to OpenGL, wich is a kick to the nuts for DirectX HAHA!

I've got about ~500 games on Steam. I really want to play at least half of them on Linux. Looking at that list, it ain't gunna last long anymore untill I can. When I make this change, it's going to be forever. Windows is going in the bin in my household. If I can get my mom to use Linux, then I will take that chance. If I can get my brother to use it, I will take that chance.

GNU/Linux is something that will change the world and computer technology. We knew this when it started and now it is catching up. Great thing!

~ Rob