Screenshots from the N900

As mentioned in a previous post, I have recently obtained a Nokia N900. Here are some screenshots from the terminal. Hopefully it will illustrate that the interface is not too hard to understand:

One of 4 desktops on the N900

Another one of 4 desktops on the N900

X Terminal on the N900

Multitasking on the N900

As you should be able to see on that last screen, that is 11 applications open at the same time. Some are just web pages, one is the OviMap application (with GPS), and another is the weather application. There is also a chat window I have open that shows threaded SMSs I am having with Jarvo.

So what's the learning time? I think about 3 to 4 hours before you start customizing it the way you want. If you have a technical background, then it will probably be down to about 1 to 2 hours. This is to understand how the menus work with the desktop, and how to understand how multitasking works. The Nokia Maemo website has tutorials. Don't worry about going through these if you have the phone, as they're already listed in the web browser's bookmarks.

What's missing so far?

• Speech directions when using the OviMaps for navigation.
• MMS (but that appears to be coming soon).
  

Linux powered N900

I like things that are free and open. I really like the Nokia N900, which is powered by Linux under the Maemo distribution.

Here is some command line snippets:

BusyBox v1.10.2 (Debian 3:1.10.2.legal-1osso26+0m5) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

mullen:~# uname -a
Linux mullen 2.6.28-omap1 #1 PREEMPT Thu Dec 17 09:40:52 EET 2009 armv7l unknown
mullen:~#

I'll discuss it in depth soon, but some initial observations:

• It is very customizable
  
• The community web sites appear to be alive and well
• It multi-tasks very well
• It appears to work well with the Optus network
• The battery life is shorter than the Nokia 6300 I owned previously to the N900
  
• Kitty Kat would prefer if her unit was in white
  

I am hopeful for the future for this mobile phone / tablet / appliance. I would like it if Nokia would put their full support behind the transition of the N900 to the Meego system. Best of all, I like how the future is open...

Urban Legends fueled by the National Zoo

As mentioned in my previous post, I visited the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra. They seem to be attempting to advocate urban legends. One I read was in the aquarium section, stating that the Great Barrier Reef is an object on the earth that can be seen from the moon - just like the Great Wall of China. While I think it may be possible to see the reef from the moon, it is not possible to see the Great Wall from the moon.

One, that I am open minded to, is that the National Zoo was the inspiration of Tux. Look for the following sign, near the little penguin enclosure:
I do not know how much truth is actually involved with this claim, but it makes a interesting reason to visit the National Zoo, as the Aquarium was somewhat disappointing.

Things they could fix in Canberra #9

After visiting a the National Zoo and Aquarium, I am not surprised to find another thing that Canberra could fix - the Aquarium itself. I do not know whether it was poorly designed, or poorly constructed, but according to one of the staff, the walk through area had a leak, and was closed. This has closed indefinitely. Canberrians used to speak of going to the new Aquarium when it first opened and looking at the fish swim around you. This is what you can expect of it now:
If you want to go to one that "works", try going to the Aquarium in Melbourne. The National Zoo in Canberra should also update their website. It does not appear to have been updated since 2007, and it claims to have the largest saltwater tank in Australia at 220,000 liters. They did not take into account the 2.2 million liters of the tank in Melbourne.

Cockington Green in Canberra

Visited Cockington Green while I was up in Canberra for the Easter festive period long weekend. I've always wanted to visit the place, ever since Jay visited it and took some photos of him looking like a giant. The place is made up of miniature buildings. The only thing I would have appreciated more would be to allow people to walk through the small streets, but this would cause a lot more maintenance work for the staff. I don't know if I would go back again, or even suggest anyone else to go there. Take a look at the photos, and make up your own mind.

And here are some more pictures to show perspective:

Full steam ahead for Conroy

The good Senator Conroy is still in the belief that he is doing the correct thing - trying to save Australian net users from the dangers and disgust of an unregulated Internet. He does not appear to be backing down from his stand. According to an article on theage.com.au - Conroy has attacked Google, and ignored pleas from government of the USA to stop his plan of putting an Internet filter around Australia. If you do decide to click on the link, you'll notice that this article has gathered 800+ comments in around 24 hours. I do not know of any other topic that would gather this much attention.

There are even comments from concerned parents asking for Conroy to leave their lives alone. This sole person, who was put in charge of making the Internet better for Australia has been slowly eroding it.

Now the bill goes to government in the next month. If the opposition support it, it will become law. I hope none of the politicians forget they are there for the majority of the people, not just the wowser minority. There's an election coming later in 2010. I've got a suggestion for every Victorian - to make a change that will benefit Australia, and free speech for this world - VOTE CONROY OUT OF OFFICE!

The Toshiba P20 still works...

My main PC is a Toshiba P20, and as some of you may know, I'm running Gentoo Linux on it. After not touching it for over 3 months (call it being lazy from using a work PC with Ubuntu installed on it), I went through the upgrade process.

This time was not like most other times. Things were broken. Packages were outdated or removed, and generally the system would not work. I loved it! I learnt, I tweaked, I played, I worried, I compiled - and slowly, slowly - the system finally returned back to normal.

I'm writing this blog entry from:

evilric@lasek ~ $ uname -a
Linux lasek 2.6.31-gentoo-r10 #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Mar 6 22:31:14 EST 2010 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

If there is one thing Gentoo teaches you, it is that you need to analyse when you troubleshoot. Learn how to gather the indicators, read the documentation, and ask for assistance where necessary.

Things I have noticed with the upgrade:

• Gnome 2.26
• Firefox 3.5.8
• KDE4
• Kernel 2.6.31-gentoo-r10
• New versions of applications like GIMP, Blender, and OpenOffice.org
  

Things I still need to fix include:

• Wireless (I have not had this working for a while)
• SD Card reader (this has never worked - and does not work with Ubuntu's live CD)
• Bluetooth (same story as above)
• Remote controller (never tried it - not even when I was running Windows for a day before I installed Linux on the machine)

Wish me luck... or just hope that google does not decide to fold up in the next few days...

Why does it have to end with a penalty shootout?

I was apart of the crowd that witnessed the A-League's Grand Final for 2010 between the Melbourne Victory and the Sydney FC. Sydney played a very brutal game. It was a tactic that worked for them. After 12 minutes, Archie Thompson was sent off on a stretcher, and will most likely be missing 12 months with an ACL injury (saying that, Kitty Kat had ACL surgery done on both of her knees). Sydney were not visiting Melbourne for a haircut - they wanted to win the game, and do the Premier / Championship double - which was first done by Melbourne. They wanted to take the trophy back to Sydney. They did it.

After the first 45 minutes, the score was still 0-0. After 90 minutes, it was 1-1. After extra time, it was still 1-1. This is the part I hate the most. Why does it have to go to a penalty shootout? I think it facilitates a quicker result to a game, but if it is the final game of the tournament, they why does it have to end quickly? The final should be the exception, and implement the "golden goal" rule - keep playing until someone scores. First team to make a mistake, or first team to overcome fatigue wins.

It's a horrible way to loose a championship, but I don't think it's a great way to win a championship either. It really is based on luck - and when I say luck, I mean confidence of the goalkeeper and the penalty kick taker.

Well done to the Melbourne Victory for a great season of 2009 - 2010! I look forward to seeing you more often in the next season.

GO VICTORY!!

I am Blue

I took another one of those "personality" tests to determine which colour I represent in the Magic The Gathering game.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

I've taken such a test before, but apparently, I can side with my own "natural" enemies. Does anyone think this is correct?

Where's Ric?

I'm back in Melbourne again. It's been around 2+ years and a lot has changed. Somethings have changed for the worse - somethings have changed for the better. I'm working with a new company, but with an old friend. Lost an ex-wife, but gained a new partner - and this one wants to be around for life. Met some very interesting people while I was working in Canberra, and hopefully they will choose to remain in touch with me.

There's a few things I would like to address with this blog. Firstly, I am still using Gentoo Linux, although I do find Ubuntu Linux a lot easier to administer. There is something about Gentoo which keeps drawing me back. I like it how things may not work correctly when I first used them. It forces me to learn them. I'm currently compiling my Gentoo machine up to the latest repository - well up to about a week ago. It is working, but it has taken some intervention. Things that have changed have been a new version of GNOME as well as a new version of X.org. It seems to be going well. I'll write more about it when it's complete.

Just for your information - if you plan on trying Linux anytime soon, choose Ubuntu over Gentoo. It's been about 6 days since I started upgrading my Gentoo system, and it's still going. A new install could take somewhere in the range of 3 days or so (on my old hardware). I have gotten Ubuntu up and running in about 40 minutes. Another 30 minutes for updates and upgrades and I am fully functional.

Secondly, I would like to continue my observations on Canberra - but they will eventually dwindle down to nothing. They will be based off memory now, and will not be due to direct experiences. I believe I have covered the main points of Canberra, but a few more may pop up.

Look for more to come in the future...