Practical Technology

for practical people.

May 27, 2011
by sjvn01
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How to install Google’s Chrome OS

The commercial Chromebooks are almost here, but if you want to try Chrome OS sooner than that you can do it. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as you might think. Here’s how to do it.

First, if you just try looking for “Chrome OS download” on Google, ironically, you’re going to have trouble finding it. Instead, you’re most likely to find links that will eventually take you to Chrome OS Linux. This is not Google’s Chrome OS. It’s a Linux distribution that uses Chrome OS. It may be fine. I don’t know. I haven’t tried it, but it’s not the Chrome OS that you’re looking for.

The real Chrome OS, which is indeed based on Linux flavored by Ubuntu, is available as source code, along with build instructions, at the Chromium OS Developer Guide. If you’re not an experienced programmer with access to a 64-bit Linux system, Ubuntu 10.04 Long Term Support (LTS) version for choice, you don’t want to go this route though.

For people who don’t program in C for a living, the smart thing to do is to download a Chrome OS virtual machine (VM) or USB stick live image from Hexxen.

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May 25, 2011
by sjvn01
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Here comes the Chromebooks

In about three weeks, we can stop talking about how Chromebooks-light-weight laptops running Google’s Chrome OS-might, or might not, work in the real world because we’ll get our hands on the first two models: the Samsung Series 5 and the Acer Wi-Fi Chromebook. Here’s what we know now about them.

First things first. The Chromebooks you’re going to see in mid-June are not going to be those dreadful beta CR-48 netbooks with some lipstick on. These are real netbook-sized laptops from Acer and Samsung: companies that know a thing or two about design.

Next, none of these laptops are powerhouses. For processors they use the 1.66GHz duel-core Intel Atom Processor N570 and they come with 2-gigabytes of RAM. On the other hand, they’re not trying to run Windows 7 or even Ubuntu Unity. They’re running Chrome OS, which is little more than the latest Chrome Web browser with a bare-bones Linux foundation. You don’t need much to run that.

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May 25, 2011
by sjvn01
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Microsoft Skype breaks open-source partnership

I told you so. I knew that Steve Ballmer could talk all he wanted about how Microsoft would continue to support non-Microsoft platforms, but that there was no way he’d actually do it. The first proof is here. Digium, the company behind the popular open-source Asterisk private-branch exchange (PBX) program, has announced that Skype has unilaterally ended its deal that allowed Asterisk to work with Skype.

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May 25, 2011
by sjvn01
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Fedora 15’s five best features

Fedora Linux not for everyone. If you’re an experienced Linux user who wants an easy-to-use desktop Linux, I recommend Mint 11. If you’re new to Linux and just want something that’s easy to pick up and use, I think you should give Ubuntu 11.04 a try. But, if you’re a Linux expert, and want to explore the outer limits of what’s possible with Linux, then Red Hat’s new Fedora 15 Linux is the distribution for you.

Why? Well, here are my five favorite reasons to use Fedora 15. I’m going to start though with one reason I don’t care for this release of Fedora. Let’s call this one: Feature 0.

0) The GNOME 3 desktop environment

GNOME 3 claims to be the “the next generation of GNOME with a brand new user interface. It provides a completely new and modern desktop that has been designed for today’s users and technologies.” It’s not.

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May 23, 2011
by sjvn01
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Mint 11: The “Un-Unity” Ubuntu desktop Linux

I like Ubuntu’s Unity interface, but I wouldn’t use it all the time, and I know many of you don’t like it at all. Like me, you like getting your hands dirty with the operating system and Unity is meant for new Linux users. That’s why for day-in, day-out use I’m now using the Ubuntu Linux-based Mint 11.

Instead of Unity, Mint 11, which is now at the release candidate stage, uses the old Linux Mint desktop layout, mintMenu system, and the same desktop elements featured in previous releases. It also doesn’t use GNOME 3.0. That’s fine by me since I don’t care for GNOME 3 at all, but my reasons for that are a story for another day. Today, I want to tell you why I think Mint 11 is a great desktop Linux for experienced Linux users.

To put Mint 11, Katya, which is based on Ubuntu 11.04, through its paces, I first installed it on one of my main Linux workstations. This is a Dell Inspiron 530S powered by a 2.2-GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800-MHz front-side bus. This box has 4GBs of RAM, a 500GB SATA (Serial ATA) drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) chip set.

How well did it work? Well, after a week on it, I also installed the Mint 11 release candidate on my main work laptop. This is a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 with its 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7500 and 2GBs of RAM. In other words, it not only worked well, it had already proved trustworthy enough that I’d switched to using it on a production machine.

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May 23, 2011
by sjvn01
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What happened to my Klout!?

There I was, happy as a clam with my Klout ranking of “Thought Leader” and a Klout score of 62 when suddenly my Klout score plunged to 1. On a one to hundred scale that put my social networking influence slightly below the neighborhood cat. It turns out I wasn’t the only one. All of Klout’s millions of users had had their scores reset to 1.

Now you think “What nonsense! Who cares what your Klout score is!” I’d agree… until a few months ago when I was in the early stages of a book deal and the publisher insisted on knowing what my Klout score was.

So what is a Klout score? I quickly found out that, according to Klout, that the Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.”

I soon discovered that many companies, and not just publishers, were using Klout scores to determine if they want to work with social networking “experts,” public relations people, marketers, and, oh yes, writers and journalists.

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