en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal The Last.fm journal for zakoz. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/10/07/27jaza_eye_candy:_fish_swimming_on_your_desktop Tue, 7 Oct 2008 16:47:44 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/10/07/27jaza_eye_candy:_fish_swimming_on_your_desktop People are flipping out on the Goldfish Widget from Opera.



+ to get more fishes, you must use more Goldfish widgets

+ you can give the fish names in 'Manage Widgets'

+ you can also make them 'stay on top'

+ clicking on the fish can put them in a fishbowl

+ they will restart with Opera

+ http://widgets.opera.com/popular/9/


click to zoom:







]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/10/02/2787bb_virtualbox:_say_goodbye_to_dual-booting_windows Thu, 2 Oct 2008 18:25:01 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/10/02/2787bb_virtualbox:_say_goodbye_to_dual-booting_windows http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualbox

Dual-booting is obsolete. You can single-boot your Linux machine and run Windows inside of it while maintaining full control of the buggy software from Redmond. You can also run your Live-CDs inside of the application.

Virtual computing is yesterdays news. Linux met this challenge years ago with VirtualBox. Go to your repositories and try this Killer App out. If your distro's repositories' don't offer this award-winning product, then don't hate Linux. Just go get another distro that is more modern in its purpose.

If you DO find VirtualBox in your repositories, then do consider supporting that distro. This is one of those ideas that's so cool that it makes Linux worth sending in your donations.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/09/24/26m6q6_i%27m_a_linux_end_user,_and_i%27ll_pay_you. Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:38:07 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/09/24/26m6q6_i%27m_a_linux_end_user,_and_i%27ll_pay_you. I don't sacrifice a damn thing by single-booting Linux. It's those Command-Line lovin' Open-Source Only Distros that make lay-people think we are all in the Geek Squad; they have M$Windows on the brain. If they'd ditch their crappy CLI 1990s Linux and get a modern distro like Mint or PCLOS, then they'd understand that WinDoze was trumped LONG TIME AGO by 'Big Daddy' [ask a PCLinux fan]. Now, we have our sights on the best GUI of all, Apple.

We need to make sure though, that we don't do the old 'tow the company [Linux] line' of 'install it and then fix it twice'. The End User wants to do work on their computer, not work on their computer.

The average person that actually does work on their computer thinks we are all fools for 'settling' for Linux' not-ready-for-Prime Time desktops. But you see, Linux IS ready for the desktop; Linux HAS already beaten M$Windows w/ at it's own game of User-Friendlyness. Yet the very biggest names in Linux distros are not User Friendly at all. Just like MicroSoft, they are all large multi-national corporations. Hmmmmmmm.............

An End User does not want to 'tinker' w/ the Operating System, they just want it to work. Any 2008 desktop that can't play a .AVI file without you having to 'fix' it first is a FAILURE, folks. Then OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, and Fedora are dismal embarassments to modern distros like Mint and PCLinuxOS; just like the apes are a laughing stock to the Homo Sapiens.

The End User does not want to hunt down any repositories that do not come w/ the default installation. Once again, they expect it to JUST WORK --and rightfully so.

I am a Linux End User, and I've put my money where my mouth is.

I go all the way back to the 1990s w/ Helix Gnome and Ximian Gnome, when there were no Live-CDs so you had to install everything just to even have a look [using dial-up for days on end]. Everything then was barely a GUI at all; heavy command-line typing all the time. Stuff like copy/paste functions and applicaions were a joke. Linux on the desktop was more of a TOY back then, w/ no real use; definately not anything you'd want to pay for.

You see, I can and have fixed Linux installs and used the Command Line Interface until my eyes and fingers were sore. In 2008, I have no friggin' desire to still be using the CLI ten years later from the Bad Old Days. In 2008, I want to be an End User and I don't want to fix a damn thing. I give TexStar my money and he insures that I don't have to.

The PCLinux GUI is pure Push-Button Sex, folks; I haven't used the CLI in so long that I've forgotten many of the commands. I know people call M$Windows 'the Old Peoples OS', but the PCLOS desktop experience is so evolved that my 60+ parents both single-boot Linux [PCLOS Gnome and TinyMe].

PCLinux repos offer applications that finish at the top of the Best-Dressed List for all software, regardlesss of OS [+Win +Mac +Lin]; names like Opera, VLC, NoteCase, Compix/Fusion, VirtualBox, BlueFish, Pidgin, Scribus, Deluge, BlueTooth, SongBird, AbiWord, FileZilla,TV-Time, nVidiaDock, Picasa, AdobeReader, and of course DVD::Rip.

The End User doesn't need for you to hold his hand, he needs for you to do the work for him ...preferably before he even gets the Live-CD. The End User, in turn, gives you money. Mint and PCLinux understand this concept, the Big Corps do not.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/09/18/266skq_top_10_kde_icons_vs._top_10_gnome_icons Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:45:54 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/09/18/266skq_top_10_kde_icons_vs._top_10_gnome_icons Get a real and robust OS,

then get some eye-candy icon sets:

KDE:
http://www.junauza.com/2008/09/10-fine-looking-icon-sets-for-kde_06.html

Gnome:
http://www.junauza.com/2008/08/10-really-cool-icon-sets-for.html]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/09/18/266pr4_multimedia_pack_for_people_stuck_w_opensuze Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:40:39 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/09/18/266pr4_multimedia_pack_for_people_stuck_w_opensuze I am a Linux End User.
...and I think I just discovered why Geezers say silly things like, 'there are too many distros' and 'I don't want to sacrifice all my cool apps to use Linux'. I'm also beginning to see why the experts say 'repositories make ALL the difference' between the distros.

I installed OpenSuze 11 on an extra server I found on FreeCycle . I was all set for KDE4 in all its glory. I was in for a surprise .

I tried to play a pr0n video and the system said that it had no codec lib to play video [my first warning]. Also, there was no MacroMedia Flash to play streaming video from YouTube or Google Video.

I went to the ultra-slow Yast Package Manager and found NONE of the award-winning software that make Linux Rule. It was just as bad as the useless, Old Man Geek repo's at Ubuntu. No VLC, no Pidgin, no TVTime, no NVidiaDock in the OpenSuze repo's, ...indeed, I've been spoiled because of PCLinux' out-of-the-box goodness .

I went to complain and found this guy who will supplement what the distro does not offer by default. He wants to fix it, but my complaint is that if the software isn't in the repo to begin with, then it DOES NOT get automatically updated [and I don't have the time to search out obsoleted software for updating by hand, one-by-one]. Here is the link:

http://easgs.wordpress.com/category/multimedia-pack-2008-for-open-suse-11/

Since I don't want to install something and then fix it, I'll be putting a real, modern Linux distro in the place of OpenSuze 11 [prob Linux Mint ]; good riddings to bad rubbish. ...it was pretty, though.

With the advent of apps like VirtualBox and VMware, dual-booting has become obsolete. If you feel like you have to 'give up' on top-tier software in order to only boot Linux, then you're using the wrong distro. period.

Sample all the Live-CDs that you can, even when you find one that you want to install. After you have installed your distro of choice, 'vote' for that distro by sending in your donation.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/08/30/252l8a_everything_went_black_%5Bpaper_thin_walls%5D Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:27:57 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/08/30/252l8a_everything_went_black_%5Bpaper_thin_walls%5D So, Michael Ian Black, tell us a story

Comedian Michael Ian Black has finally released his long-awaited debut CD, I'm A Wonderful Man. Also, he's probably on VH1, like, right now.

When I was a senior in high school, I had essentially no social life. I didn’t really have many friends, and I wasn’t particularly well-liked, I think because my personality did not exactly mesh with the other students at my high school. This is in the late '80s, and so punk rock had kind of died but grunge had yet to be born, so those of us who wanted to be individuals or be individuated, or had that punk rock aesthetic, didn’t really know how to express it. It’s ironic because punk rock is about individuality but we were looking for the uniform. So we took our cues from Duckie in the movie Pretty In Pink—that kind of effete, vintage-store teenage look. It was a lot of pajamas and vests—that’s what we wore. I started this punk rock band in high school, to sort of be the culmination of my punk rock aesthetic. And I was going to be the lead singer because I didn’t know how to play an instrument, and because I wanted attention.

Over the course of the year we built a following the way you do in high school, which is to say, kids in high school kind of know about your band and nobody really cares. But for me it was as much attention as I had ever gotten in my life. During the year, I saw that CBGB’s, which was about an hour and a half outside of where I lived, was holding auditions on a Monday night. I called CBGB’s and they said, “Yeah, you come in and audition and if we like you we put you in real shows with real, grown-up punk rock bands.” Obviously, this was sort of like a dream-come-true scenario because we really thought we were the shit. So I said sign us up, and they said “Great, all we need you to do is sign up and bring 10 friends.” We said great, no problem. We really thought this was our shot at the big time, in our hearts believed that we were going to go rock their socks off and launch our careers as a punk rock band.

We rehearsed and rehearsed and we cut school and we rehearsed and we played shows locally and we rehearsed. We just really, really worked our asses off and came up with some choreography about how we were going to start the show, all this shit, just really pathetic, embarrassing shit that we were going to do. I had a beret that I was going to wear because that was punk rock. Berets.

The day of the audition, we gathered our 10 required friends and somebody’s dad volunteered to drive us into New York. I think the audition was at 6 o’clock in the afternoon or something, and I think there were half a dozen other bands going on that day. We patiently waited our turn, and our turn came and we got on stage. The choreography was basically that our drummer was going to come on first and he was going to come on first and do a little thing, and then the bass player would come on and do his thing, and then the guitarist would come on and do his thing, and then I would come on and start singing. It was all very pseudo-U2, anthemic… in our heads it was majestic. I march out there with my beret and my pajamas and my vest, and I look out and there’s our 10 friends and just about nobody else in the club. But in my head, it’s Wembley Stadium and there’s 50,000 people, and lighters in the air, and beach balls, and bodies being thrown, and people stage-diving. But there were literally 10 people. So we go through the set and I remember at one point bringing up our guitarist’s 13-year-old brother and screaming into the microphone with him the way I’d seen other punk rock bands do in videos. At the end of it, it was three or four songs, I was drenched in sweat, I had lost my voice. Our 10 friends applaud and then it’s over. And we take our long drive back to New Jersey, feeling like we just played Live Aid and Sir Bob Geldof was congratulating us and that sort of thing.

Time goes by and I’m waiting for the call from CB’s. I’m waiting for the call and waiting and waiting and CB’s doesn’t call. So maybe a week or two later, I call CB’s. I say I’m so-and-so from the band so-and-so and we played an audition a couple weeks ago on Monday night. Did we pass? I can tell that on the other end of the phone is probably a 19-year-old kid, probably the barback at CB’s who’s like “What the fuck is this?” But he doesn’t have the heart to say, “We call it an audition night, but all it is is a way to get people into the club at six in the afternoon. That’s why we have you bring 10 friends. We’re trying to make money here.” But he doesn’t have the heart to say it. So he goes, “Yeah, you passed.” I go, "Really?!" And he goes, “Yeah, you passed.” So I’m like, what’s next? What do we do. He says, “Just hang out and we’ll give you a call when a slot opens.” And I’m like fucking great! Obviously I run and call everybody in the band that we passed the audition and we should be expecting a call any day now from CBGB’s and we’re going to be punk rock stars. And that was ’88. And I’m still waiting for that call.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/08/30/252l3x_sharky_malarky_%5Bpaper_thin_walls%5D Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:25:42 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/08/30/252l3x_sharky_malarky_%5Bpaper_thin_walls%5D So, Clockclean Er, Tell Us A Story



A couple years ago, I lived in Cleveland. And if you can believe it, I was a bigger pain in the ass then than I am now. I was 19 or 20, I had no couth and no conscience. There’s no way to get around it—I was an asshole. I lived with Steve Peffer from the Homostupids and Nine Shocks Terror. When I first moved there, it was me, Steve and this kid Scott [Names were assuredly changed in this story—Ed.]. He was kind of an enormous pussy. Like a Sophie B. Hawkins fan. He ended up eventually moving out of our house, because [we] were constantly drunk and busting his balls. A couple months later Steve decides to move in with Scott because he had a really nice house and offered him a nice room. Steve moves out and goes on tour in Europe. While he’s on tour, Scott gets the bright idea to kick Steve out for some stupid little reason. He didn’t pay a $75 phone bill or something. He kicked Steve out when he could do nothing about it. Steve ends up moving back in with me and we’re like, “Yo, we should fuck with him.” But I was like, “Dude, if you fuck with him, people will know it’s you. Just let me handle it.”

The house that Scott moved into was about three blocks down the street from us. In the middle of our houses was an enormous white wall that he had to drive by every day to get to work. So I took a can of spraypaint and went up to this wall at three in the morning, shit-faced, and as large as the wall—it was like the size of a billboard—wrote “SCOTT BAKERMAN IS A FAGGOT.” His full name. As clear as day. Crystal clear. Of course he drives by it the next morning and freaks out—we hear it from friends that are friends of friends. A couple days later that gets buffed off the wall by the city. So, I’m like, “Fuck it, I’m gonna do it again.” Take the spraypaint, go up there, I take his girlfriend’s full name: “PATTI MCLELLAN HAS A DICK.” We’re all standing on the porch waiting for him to drive by on the way to work. He just drives by furious! You could see him freaking out in his car, speeding down the road.

One night, it was three in the morning, I was like, “I’m gonna seal the nail in this coffin and fuck Scott up for a little bit.” He’d been leaving his car windows open and down like an idiot. So I went and reached in and stuck airplane glue into his key ignition and filled his ignition with glue and his car locks with glue. I get home [from work] the next day and I go to my answering machine and there is the fucking best answering machine message I’ve ever heard in my life.

SCOTT BAKERMAN
"Answering machine message"

After listening to that 80 times in a row with the glee of a school girl, [that] became our outgoing answering machine message. So you’d call our house when we weren’t home, that would come on. And the kicker to the story, he actually did call the cops. Only for them to call our house and fucking hear that as the outgoing message! And then when I actually talked to a police officer, I said, “He’s fucking crazy. Did you hear that message?” They kind of left me alone after that.

’John A. Sharkey III is the lead ranter for Philly skronk-rockers Clockcleaner. Their latest album, Babylon Rules (Load), is due in October. Clockcleaner are playing the Paper Thin Walls-curated East River Music Project show in New York City on September 8, 2007, along with Made Out Of Babies, Dälek, Despot and These Are Powers.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/08/16/249ilp_%27shots_from_august_%2708:_get__you_some! Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:55:15 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/08/16/249ilp_%27shots_from_august_%2708:_get__you_some! Bo brings KNotes to my house...


Props to Last.FM...


Props to Old Beryl...



Props to PCLOS and VirtualBox running WinDoze 2000 (years ago)...



Props to AWM, Comix, FrostWire, Dolphin, and TVTime...






Tribute to Isaac Hayes...


You can also see the newest 'shots on the MyOpera album.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/06/12/20qwfi_are_these_the_best_3d_video_cards_for_linux__open_source%3F Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:49:41 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/06/12/20qwfi_are_these_the_best_3d_video_cards_for_linux__open_source%3F My famous-maker Video Card has a fan thats going out... the thing sounds like a tractor; its so loud that I dread having the PC on.

Yaass, I know that you can just replace the fan on the card if you want to; but this is the second video card fan to go out on me. I may just go w/ a passively cooled [fanless] card next.

I've got to have all my gaming and Compiz/Fusion sweetness, so any suggestions on good cards or comments on the fan-noise thing?

According to a famous Linux magazine:

#1 ATI Radeon HD2900XT

#2 NVidia GeForce 8800GTS

#3 NVidia GeForce 8600GT

Cheap Best Buy: NVidia GeForce 7300GS

Is this true?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/06/11/20q6nk_reprint_for_linux_newbies_coming_to_the_dark_side Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:17:05 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/zakoz/journal/2008/06/11/20q6nk_reprint_for_linux_newbies_coming_to_the_dark_side For those just coming over to the Dark Side...
Here is a reprint of an internet article for Linux Newbies who just want to understand the new choices that the OS offers.
...........................................................
I just thought I'd make a quick list to aid in quickly understanding and feeling comfortable using Linux.
I find it quite easy to learn.
I recommend it.


Recommended Software:

KDE = equivalent to the icons and Startbar in Windows.

Konquerer = Equivalant to Internet Explorer both can be used to browse the web and manage files on your Hardrive. Even rips audio CDs 'audiocd://'.

Amarok = Similar to iTunes, it Is easy to use powerful music player, and like itunes allows you to sort music very thoroughly. Added ability to drag files in and out of amarok to Konquerer.

Ksysguard = Windows Task Manager

Kmix = Windows Sound Volume Manager

Kcontrol = Equivalent of Control Panel (kcontrol can configure every shortcut, icon, colour, how your desktop looks sounds feels acts)

Control Centre = Windows Control Panel features add/remove software/hardware, configure Hardware, Login Settings(Usernames)




How it Works:

/ = equivalent to C:/ drive in windows it is the heart of your system (is it helps just imagine there is a letter at the start.)

/home = equivalent to Documents And Settings in Windows, This folder contains a folder for each user and stores all you personal settings, Documents and program history.


/etc = Windows Registry, like the registry etc stores startup settings and hardware configurations


/bin
/lib = is probably most like c:/Windows/System directory it keeps core applications, and extensions.


/usr = Program Files: /usr directory tends to store most software you install for personal use including media players and browsers.

/tmp = c:\windows\temp Linux however uses it differently purely delete immediately data only.

/var = c:\windows\temp Linux uses the /var folder to temporarily store information for currently open programs, it generally isnt deleted since it caches software and aids in quick loading.

now anything contained within:
/mnt/ = is equivalent to drives available in "My Computer" excluding c:\
All descriptive names in /mnt/ can be changed to your liking,
the second word is the mount point it can be changed in the text file /etc/fstab

/mnt/floppy is = a:\ in windows
/mnt/hdd = can be any other harddrives in you system
/mnt/cdrom = is your first cdrom generally d:\ in windows
/mnt/cdrom2 = is your second cdrom generally e:\ in windows


finally:
Swap = c:\pagefile.sys unlike windows pagefile.sys linux swap is stored on a dedicated slice of your Harddrive, this allows it to run quickly, efficiently and doesn't fragment with other files (consistent performance).
........................................................]]>