posted on monday on my facebook
-------------------------------------------
Music (playing from iPhone plugged into speakers, because god forbid we get iTunes to work in Linux):
Artist - Wax Tailor
Song - Hypnosis Theme (feat. Marina Quaisse)
Album - Tales of the Forgotten Melodies
So, I'm all finished installing Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) on /dev/sdb and Windows XP Professional Black Edition on /dev/sda. What's that mean? Dual-booting glory! The only problem is, I'm dual-booting only out of necessity. What on earth is Alex talking about? Let me show you.
Note my laptop has 2 identical 100GB SATA drives in it.
Laptop
* Disk 1 (sda) - Windows
o Single Partition - NTFS filesystem (C:\)
* Disk 2 (sdb) - Linux - Ubuntu 2.04 "Jaunty Jackalope"
o Boot Partition - ext2 filesystem (/boot)
o Data Partition - ext3 filesystem (/)
o Swap Partition - swap space (swap)
Okay. So I have 2 operating systems, each with their own disk. Easy setup, really. Now, when I boot up, GRUB (a Linux boot loader) asks me what I want to run. It's that simple. I choose a Linux kernel or choose to boot Windows.
... and before I go farther, in order to shut the geeks up, yes, I know Ubuntu is regarded as an entry-level flavor of Linux. as someone who has used Mandrake, Slackware, Suse and Gentoo, I felt usability and ease of configuration was the goal for my laptop. If I were building a desktop machine or server where I wanted to configure and optimize the hell out of my box, I would use Gentoo (which I prefer anyway). But I digress...
Here's the thing, I am running Windows for two things, and two things alone:
1. iTunes - iTunes will not run reliably in Linux, and as I have tried, will not do too well in virtualization (means running another OS inside a program that emulates being another computer) either, without MAJOR tweaking (which I am FAR too lazy to do).
2. Games - No telling how well WINE will run any new-ish games, and with what type of results
I know what you're thinking -- it sounds a bit insane to run windows to just use 1 app, and maybe a game or two. Well kids, that's how Apple (yes, my gripe is with Job's baby instead of Ballmer's fascist regime of a company at this moment) is making people do it. You know how Apple is always trying to uproot Microsoft Windows as an OS, saying they're unique and whatnot? Here's a secret: New Macs use Intel processors. that's right. they have the SAME hardware in their machines as say, a Dell. Why the big price tag? A pretty white case and a shiny logo. But that's a whole different gripe.
OSX is based on BSD (Berkeley Standard Distribution), a flavor of the server operating system, UNIX (suddenly my mind goes back to Jurassic Park where Alexis exclaims "THis is a UNIX system! I know this!"). The Linux kernel (the core of the operating system that makes it work) is based on UNIX as well. Linux and UNIX are so similar, most programs can be compiled on one or the other without a whole lot of customization, or alteration to the source code (unlike Windows, where you have to change damn near EVERYTHING). Now, since OSX can be looked at as a distant cousin, it would make sense that Apple would play nice, and make their apps more readily available to Linux users (so people can buy iPhones, iPods, etc and better yet, use the iTunes store and give Apple more money). There's no rule saying you can't run proprietary software in Linux.
Essentially, Apple is following a poor business model, propping up Microsoft market share in operating systems (look at the $127 price tag for Windows 7!). People will stick to windows thinking (incorrectly) that you need a Mac to run OSX, and fearing (more-or-less correctly) that they can't sync their iPod with Linux (I mean you can sync with other programs, but you can't get on the store, play files bought from iTunes, etc.). So, the end-user is faced with a couple choices:
1. Switch to Linux, and do what hardcore Linux kids would have you do - don't get the iPod and get an open-source-friendly player or phone, or if you have the iPod, hack it and void any warranty you may have... And by the way, if you bought anything from the iTunes store, FUCK YOU. You won't be playing that.
2. Buy OSX and/or a Mac, only like $3k for one of those.... big deal
3. Stay with Windows and buy Anit-virus licenses every year (prices vary), and still not be protected, because they never catch EVERYTHING (actually had to boot to a Linux cd to get rid of Computer-AIDS I got from Iraq that 2 different AV suites - running together - failed to catch and destroy.. imagine that), and look at wiping a drive once in a while, and/or having system slowdowns and/or security breaches due to malware... but you can keep using your iPod!
4. Do what I did, and dual boot
5. Dual boot with OSX and Linux .. and use WINE to use Win32 programs in OSX anyway -- just like linux!
There you have it. The reason I've had like 8 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Believe it or not, most of that time was spent trying to get Windows to boot to a SATA drive (Windows XP doesn't have native SATA support... yee ha.)...
And I'm not going to shell out more money for OSX when for some odd reason, even though OSX is so similar to Linux under the shiny skin, Windows plays nicer with Linux. So yes, Apple, you slave potential customers to the competition. Whoever thought that was a good business strategy should be slapped with a chainsaw.
.... So here I am, writing to you from Linux, looking to reboot just to sync my iPhone here in about 30 minutes. I hate you Steve Jobs. I love your devices (my iPhone 3GS is the SHEEEIT), but other than that, I want to destroy Apple and all their pretty white logos.
Rant completed. For now...
.... btw, iTunes 9.0.1 dies when I connect my iPhone with the 3.0 software. WTF is up with that? So I have to Use iTunes 8.2 to sync it.... sigh
-------------------------------------------
Music (playing from iPhone plugged into speakers, because god forbid we get iTunes to work in Linux):
Artist - Wax Tailor
Song - Hypnosis Theme (feat. Marina Quaisse)
Album - Tales of the Forgotten Melodies
So, I'm all finished installing Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) on /dev/sdb and Windows XP Professional Black Edition on /dev/sda. What's that mean? Dual-booting glory! The only problem is, I'm dual-booting only out of necessity. What on earth is Alex talking about? Let me show you.
Note my laptop has 2 identical 100GB SATA drives in it.
Laptop
* Disk 1 (sda) - Windows
o Single Partition - NTFS filesystem (C:\)
* Disk 2 (sdb) - Linux - Ubuntu 2.04 "Jaunty Jackalope"
o Boot Partition - ext2 filesystem (/boot)
o Data Partition - ext3 filesystem (/)
o Swap Partition - swap space (swap)
Okay. So I have 2 operating systems, each with their own disk. Easy setup, really. Now, when I boot up, GRUB (a Linux boot loader) asks me what I want to run. It's that simple. I choose a Linux kernel or choose to boot Windows.
... and before I go farther, in order to shut the geeks up, yes, I know Ubuntu is regarded as an entry-level flavor of Linux. as someone who has used Mandrake, Slackware, Suse and Gentoo, I felt usability and ease of configuration was the goal for my laptop. If I were building a desktop machine or server where I wanted to configure and optimize the hell out of my box, I would use Gentoo (which I prefer anyway). But I digress...
Here's the thing, I am running Windows for two things, and two things alone:
1. iTunes - iTunes will not run reliably in Linux, and as I have tried, will not do too well in virtualization (means running another OS inside a program that emulates being another computer) either, without MAJOR tweaking (which I am FAR too lazy to do).
2. Games - No telling how well WINE will run any new-ish games, and with what type of results
I know what you're thinking -- it sounds a bit insane to run windows to just use 1 app, and maybe a game or two. Well kids, that's how Apple (yes, my gripe is with Job's baby instead of Ballmer's fascist regime of a company at this moment) is making people do it. You know how Apple is always trying to uproot Microsoft Windows as an OS, saying they're unique and whatnot? Here's a secret: New Macs use Intel processors. that's right. they have the SAME hardware in their machines as say, a Dell. Why the big price tag? A pretty white case and a shiny logo. But that's a whole different gripe.
OSX is based on BSD (Berkeley Standard Distribution), a flavor of the server operating system, UNIX (suddenly my mind goes back to Jurassic Park where Alexis exclaims "THis is a UNIX system! I know this!"). The Linux kernel (the core of the operating system that makes it work) is based on UNIX as well. Linux and UNIX are so similar, most programs can be compiled on one or the other without a whole lot of customization, or alteration to the source code (unlike Windows, where you have to change damn near EVERYTHING). Now, since OSX can be looked at as a distant cousin, it would make sense that Apple would play nice, and make their apps more readily available to Linux users (so people can buy iPhones, iPods, etc and better yet, use the iTunes store and give Apple more money). There's no rule saying you can't run proprietary software in Linux.
Essentially, Apple is following a poor business model, propping up Microsoft market share in operating systems (look at the $127 price tag for Windows 7!). People will stick to windows thinking (incorrectly) that you need a Mac to run OSX, and fearing (more-or-less correctly) that they can't sync their iPod with Linux (I mean you can sync with other programs, but you can't get on the store, play files bought from iTunes, etc.). So, the end-user is faced with a couple choices:
1. Switch to Linux, and do what hardcore Linux kids would have you do - don't get the iPod and get an open-source-friendly player or phone, or if you have the iPod, hack it and void any warranty you may have... And by the way, if you bought anything from the iTunes store, FUCK YOU. You won't be playing that.
2. Buy OSX and/or a Mac, only like $3k for one of those.... big deal
3. Stay with Windows and buy Anit-virus licenses every year (prices vary), and still not be protected, because they never catch EVERYTHING (actually had to boot to a Linux cd to get rid of Computer-AIDS I got from Iraq that 2 different AV suites - running together - failed to catch and destroy.. imagine that), and look at wiping a drive once in a while, and/or having system slowdowns and/or security breaches due to malware... but you can keep using your iPod!
4. Do what I did, and dual boot
5. Dual boot with OSX and Linux .. and use WINE to use Win32 programs in OSX anyway -- just like linux!
There you have it. The reason I've had like 8 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Believe it or not, most of that time was spent trying to get Windows to boot to a SATA drive (Windows XP doesn't have native SATA support... yee ha.)...
And I'm not going to shell out more money for OSX when for some odd reason, even though OSX is so similar to Linux under the shiny skin, Windows plays nicer with Linux. So yes, Apple, you slave potential customers to the competition. Whoever thought that was a good business strategy should be slapped with a chainsaw.
.... So here I am, writing to you from Linux, looking to reboot just to sync my iPhone here in about 30 minutes. I hate you Steve Jobs. I love your devices (my iPhone 3GS is the SHEEEIT), but other than that, I want to destroy Apple and all their pretty white logos.
Rant completed. For now...
.... btw, iTunes 9.0.1 dies when I connect my iPhone with the 3.0 software. WTF is up with that? So I have to Use iTunes 8.2 to sync it.... sigh
lavender_:
Geeklovin' <3