So in my efforts to try out many distributions of linux to find that "perfect" one for me... (so far I have a few favorites: Solus, Manjaro and MX Linux), I have installed Pop! OS.
Pop! is the Ubuntu based spin created by System76. The same group I am waiting patiently to announce their next-gen ARM systems... very excited about that! Pop! is supposed to be a "better Ubuntu" in the sense that they have listened closely to their customers and have woven their suggestions into the OS.
So my impression so far is mixed. It is actually pretty snappy, and it is a nice implementation of standard Gnome, but it doesn't encourage modifications (and was not meant to) as readily as other distros do. But you CAN, you just need to poke around a little and figure it out.
I did not like the default fonts and changed them. Also, the one thing that drew me to Pop! was a line in the release notes stating they did some work to help eliminate any UI / video freezes in this release. Well, within an hour of using it, my computer froze and had to be rebooted (while playing a game). But to be fair, I had not done any updates, so I did apply updates after that and the freeze has not yet recurred. So we shall see.
It has a good implementation of Steam, and lots of useful apps in the app store. The command line (apt) works well too.
Too early for me to really say, but it is a decent system, I just need to work it out for a few days.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Another general update
My son's play finished, my wife's has begun. Always busy here.
Work has been super duper busy.
I have distro hopped back to Manjaro... but this time I opted for the GNOME Beta 4. Not RC yet, but wow it has been very stable. And their implementation of GNOME is pretty well thought out and as unobtrusive as possible.
Performance is also quite good for such a heavy UI.
So! I have already decided what my next build will be... even though I imagine it will be spotty for awhile: ARM. Supposedly ARM will be coming out with a desktop CPU designed to compete with AMD and Intel and they claim competitive speeds/throughput. So I am very much looking forward to that. How can anyone NOT want a RISC machine? :D
Been plugging away at Borderlands 2... I am so not a good first person shooter gamer. I was screaming at the computer the other night because I had just about killed the boss that kidnaps Roland and he started firing out turrets like it was popping corn in an open pan. I was a couple shots from beating him then the turrets came out so fast I spent all my time picking them off (my life was low) that he was able to target me with one of those flying things... I was so mad. So then I leveled up again and went to the Hyperion prison and took him out there, in his home base. :P Felt good.
Now onto whats-his-face... I forgot the robot's name... eh. Anyway off to face him. There's another one who rejoices in spitting out other robots to distract you.
So far, in game, I have not gotten past the eagle, again forgot his name, but I am trying a new build and hoping I will be able to take him this time... Bloodhawk? I think that's his name.
Work has been super duper busy.
I have distro hopped back to Manjaro... but this time I opted for the GNOME Beta 4. Not RC yet, but wow it has been very stable. And their implementation of GNOME is pretty well thought out and as unobtrusive as possible.
Performance is also quite good for such a heavy UI.
So! I have already decided what my next build will be... even though I imagine it will be spotty for awhile: ARM. Supposedly ARM will be coming out with a desktop CPU designed to compete with AMD and Intel and they claim competitive speeds/throughput. So I am very much looking forward to that. How can anyone NOT want a RISC machine? :D
Been plugging away at Borderlands 2... I am so not a good first person shooter gamer. I was screaming at the computer the other night because I had just about killed the boss that kidnaps Roland and he started firing out turrets like it was popping corn in an open pan. I was a couple shots from beating him then the turrets came out so fast I spent all my time picking them off (my life was low) that he was able to target me with one of those flying things... I was so mad. So then I leveled up again and went to the Hyperion prison and took him out there, in his home base. :P Felt good.
Now onto whats-his-face... I forgot the robot's name... eh. Anyway off to face him. There's another one who rejoices in spitting out other robots to distract you.
So far, in game, I have not gotten past the eagle, again forgot his name, but I am trying a new build and hoping I will be able to take him this time... Bloodhawk? I think that's his name.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Caught the first episode of the most recent regeneration of Doctor Who, with the kids...
It wasn't bad.
I like that a) she did not act overpowered and crazy, although there was a little of that "I will stop you" attitude... I liked that it wasn't that clean and tidy.
So I would give the first episode a C+ (they took some liberties with the whole "I just regenerated" bit...)
We plan on continuing to watch it.
I like that a) she did not act overpowered and crazy, although there was a little of that "I will stop you" attitude... I liked that it wasn't that clean and tidy.
So I would give the first episode a C+ (they took some liberties with the whole "I just regenerated" bit...)
We plan on continuing to watch it.
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Today's Rattlesnake Encounter
So, rattlesnakes are pretty commonplace here in Arizona... we see a fair number of them each year. Rattlesnakes, Coral snakes, Gopher snakes... Today's encounter was kind of cute.
It is a cool morning for AZ, in the upper 60's, low 70's when we started walking. As we walked the trail my wife spotted a snake laying flat on the trail, unmoving... kind of looked dead. In fact we got within 6 feet of it and stopped, and realized its head was actually lifted off the surface. It was just sunning itself (the sun is ALWAYS hot in Arizona).
We started talking to it, and it realized we were there, tongue started flicking. We asked it if it wouldn't mind moving and sure enough, it sloooooooowly started slithering off the trail for us. (Well, we like to think of it that way; rattlesnakes are actually pretty shy). We thanked it and continued past it once it was off the trail.
I expected to see more on our walk but we didn't.
One of the reasons I like Arizona so much is because of how tough all the native animals are. We have carnivorous mice, crazy birds (watch a cactus wren some day), poisonous toads, venomous snakes, scorpions, giant centipedes, dangerous spiders, tarantulas... such an amazing place to live and observe wildlife!
That's all! Have a nice day!
OH! And baby creosote bushes are popping up everywhere. :)
It is a cool morning for AZ, in the upper 60's, low 70's when we started walking. As we walked the trail my wife spotted a snake laying flat on the trail, unmoving... kind of looked dead. In fact we got within 6 feet of it and stopped, and realized its head was actually lifted off the surface. It was just sunning itself (the sun is ALWAYS hot in Arizona).
We started talking to it, and it realized we were there, tongue started flicking. We asked it if it wouldn't mind moving and sure enough, it sloooooooowly started slithering off the trail for us. (Well, we like to think of it that way; rattlesnakes are actually pretty shy). We thanked it and continued past it once it was off the trail.
I expected to see more on our walk but we didn't.
One of the reasons I like Arizona so much is because of how tough all the native animals are. We have carnivorous mice, crazy birds (watch a cactus wren some day), poisonous toads, venomous snakes, scorpions, giant centipedes, dangerous spiders, tarantulas... such an amazing place to live and observe wildlife!
That's all! Have a nice day!
OH! And baby creosote bushes are popping up everywhere. :)
Friday, October 5, 2018
Gaming on Linux
I stayed home yesterday, feeling sick, and today I went to work but had to leave early. So now I am on my computer and was thinking about gaming on Linux-based operating systems.
There are a good number of native, linux-based games that have been produced over the years; but most people think of gaming as something else: PC and Console games.
When I use PC, I mean a personal computer running Windows 7, 8 or 10. Let's face it, the vast quantity of games are produced specifically with Windows in mind, and windows users play them.
Some linux users will dual boot Windows and Linux specifically for that reason. I am not much of a "dual booter" and prefer to dedicate my hardware to one OS. Because of that I do not have ready access to a large chunk of my Steam library, or a bunch of the games I own on CD that were meant for Windows (and a few for the Mac).
For mainstream gaming the options are few. You can try to run them through WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) which ties windows libraries to native functions, allowing Windows games to play on linux. This works well for some games, but not for all. The other option is when a game developer actually releases a version built to run on linux. Because the linux user base is minimal in comparison to Windows users, game companies focus on where they can achieve the biggest bang for their buck.
I do both. I run games through WINE and native, I even run some STEAM games in WINE and some native. The games I am able to get working through WINE run well, some games used to work and have stopped working with updates, which is sad. It is possible they will work again some day. Some games, however, are nigh on impossible to get working in this manner. Anyway, here is a short list of games I am able to play on linux:
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Portal 2
Bioshock Infinite
Borderlands 2
Cities: Skyliness
Saints Row IV
Civilization V
Civilization VI (with some issues)
Tomb Raider
Torchlight
Torchlight II
Skyrim
Bejeweled
...and a number of others... That was just a sampling of the ones I actually play from time to time, there are many more in my library.
I look forward to the day when more game developers pay consideration to linux-based operating systems as a viable and worthy platform. Linux has a lot to offer, and many people have this view of linux like it is a scary, command-line-driven monster.
Not the case... people need to give it a shot! They may find they not only like it, but prefer it.
There are a good number of native, linux-based games that have been produced over the years; but most people think of gaming as something else: PC and Console games.
When I use PC, I mean a personal computer running Windows 7, 8 or 10. Let's face it, the vast quantity of games are produced specifically with Windows in mind, and windows users play them.
Some linux users will dual boot Windows and Linux specifically for that reason. I am not much of a "dual booter" and prefer to dedicate my hardware to one OS. Because of that I do not have ready access to a large chunk of my Steam library, or a bunch of the games I own on CD that were meant for Windows (and a few for the Mac).
For mainstream gaming the options are few. You can try to run them through WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) which ties windows libraries to native functions, allowing Windows games to play on linux. This works well for some games, but not for all. The other option is when a game developer actually releases a version built to run on linux. Because the linux user base is minimal in comparison to Windows users, game companies focus on where they can achieve the biggest bang for their buck.
I do both. I run games through WINE and native, I even run some STEAM games in WINE and some native. The games I am able to get working through WINE run well, some games used to work and have stopped working with updates, which is sad. It is possible they will work again some day. Some games, however, are nigh on impossible to get working in this manner. Anyway, here is a short list of games I am able to play on linux:
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Portal 2
Bioshock Infinite
Borderlands 2
Cities: Skyliness
Saints Row IV
Civilization V
Civilization VI (with some issues)
Tomb Raider
Torchlight
Torchlight II
Skyrim
Bejeweled
...and a number of others... That was just a sampling of the ones I actually play from time to time, there are many more in my library.
I look forward to the day when more game developers pay consideration to linux-based operating systems as a viable and worthy platform. Linux has a lot to offer, and many people have this view of linux like it is a scary, command-line-driven monster.
Not the case... people need to give it a shot! They may find they not only like it, but prefer it.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
10 Years on Blogger!
I just realized that I have been weblogging on Blogger for over 10 years!
Crazy.
I've had huge lapses where I did not right for many months... but I did not realized I had written as much as I have.
Crazy.
I've had huge lapses where I did not right for many months... but I did not realized I had written as much as I have.
Life in general...
Life has been busy, in general. Home life, work life; I am in solitary mode. Basically when I just get too much of the world I want to hide all of the time. Not particularly good for my family but... they love me and I hope understand.
My son's play is almost done, ends this week. I am hoping he is able to take a few months away from acting to take a breather.
As always, regarding my home computer, I have fallen back to MXLinux. Really is a fine distro. I had tried a number of 3 day flirtations with other distributions, like Fedora, Manjaro, LinuxMint, Solus again, and a few others. MX just seems to be rock solid. It does, however, suffer from the same malaise as many other distros do, and that is screen locking when watching YouTube Videos. Seems random, not dependent on how long I've been watching (does not seem memory-related). So, I just don't watch many YouTube videos, or now just expect a failure.
Oddly enough, I don't remember a single freeze when I was using Fedora. The only thing I can put forth as a reason is that with Fedora I had to install NVidia drivers manually... installing supporting software, configuring startup settings, etc. For the other distros I use, they tend to have an automated method of installing NVidia proprietary drivers, which I gladly use because it is so much more simple. Could that be the issue? Some strange thing going on with the automated NVidia driver install? Who knows.
I've been playing a lot of Borderlands 2 lately, while I hide from the world. It took me weeks, but I finally got past the first major "boss" in the game. Squeaked by with just a tiny bit of life left! I was able to beat the robot using the Mechromancer class. Since I had success there I decided to go back, level up a Siren as best I could, and give it a try with her. We shall see...
Peace!
My son's play is almost done, ends this week. I am hoping he is able to take a few months away from acting to take a breather.
As always, regarding my home computer, I have fallen back to MXLinux. Really is a fine distro. I had tried a number of 3 day flirtations with other distributions, like Fedora, Manjaro, LinuxMint, Solus again, and a few others. MX just seems to be rock solid. It does, however, suffer from the same malaise as many other distros do, and that is screen locking when watching YouTube Videos. Seems random, not dependent on how long I've been watching (does not seem memory-related). So, I just don't watch many YouTube videos, or now just expect a failure.
Oddly enough, I don't remember a single freeze when I was using Fedora. The only thing I can put forth as a reason is that with Fedora I had to install NVidia drivers manually... installing supporting software, configuring startup settings, etc. For the other distros I use, they tend to have an automated method of installing NVidia proprietary drivers, which I gladly use because it is so much more simple. Could that be the issue? Some strange thing going on with the automated NVidia driver install? Who knows.
I've been playing a lot of Borderlands 2 lately, while I hide from the world. It took me weeks, but I finally got past the first major "boss" in the game. Squeaked by with just a tiny bit of life left! I was able to beat the robot using the Mechromancer class. Since I had success there I decided to go back, level up a Siren as best I could, and give it a try with her. We shall see...
Peace!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)