Fedora 12 or Ubuntu 9.10

So, the inevitable question came when I had to re-install Linux on my PC. The PC isn’t new, but I got a new hard disk, and my old Fedora 7 was too old that the current latest Fedora 12 wouldn’t detect as a installation it would upgrade from. I don’t mind a fresh installation of Linux. It seems like a good idea to start afresh rather than let years of upgrades accumulate cruft. So, what will it be: Fedora or Ubuntu?

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Linux for Newbies

I’m sad to say, Linux still isn’t quite ready for newbies. Although I only had a few simple struggles with my latest Fedora 12 installation, I cannot imagine how a computer newbie is going to handle such challenges. Granted, Linux is probably more suited for the “power user”, many people in Linux-land try to evangelize the idea that Linux can be used by just about anybody. To this end, I think Linux might be going in that general direction, but it’s still a long way getting there.

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North Indian Pakistani Food

I was at the famed ABC market and food centre recently for lunch. There’s quite a lot of good food to pick from in there. When we found an empty table to sit at, I noticed this stall whose signage says they serve North Indian Pakistani Food. Sounds interesting. It seems they are a branch of the Al-Musafir Restaurant located at Kitchener Road. I’ve not not of them either, actually, but it makes them sound “good”. They sell Briyani, one of my favourite, so I decided to order that.

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The Nexus One Arrives

The Nexus One, Google’s branded Android phone, finally arrives in Singapore. It comes in a nice packaging that on opening, kind of resembles how iPods are packed. Singapore customers are automatically offered a 3-pin charger during the order checkout. This will be an additional charger over the US 2-pin charger that is still included in the box. If you want to save a few bucks, the 3-pin charger isn’t all that necessary. The Nexus One charges via a micro-USB port (the new standard mandated in the EU), so if you already have one such charger, you don’t have to get another one.

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Personalized MacBook Pro

Now that everyone (almost) at the office are totting around identical MacBook Pros, I felt the urgent necessity to personalize mine. Otherwise, I imagine, when at some time that we leave our MacBook Pros in close proximity to one another, it’ll be all too easy for us to grab the wrong MacBook Pro. What if we grab one MacBook Pro, pack it into our bag, go home or somewhere else, then only realize that we’ve gotten the wrong one? I can just picture some of us struggling at the login/screensaver password window trying to re-enter our passwords repeatedly into the wrong MacBook Pro.

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Free Beer at Ma Maison

We haven’t come to this restaurant for some time, so we were quite pleasantly surprised that they have remained quite the same as before. Same ambience, the same food, same pricing, and about the same promotions too. It’s a quiet little Japanese fusion restaurant situated in a corner of the 2nd level of Bugis Junction, but they can get quite crowded. Service is good and the staff are friendly.

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Google Phone Hits Problems

Google’s new phone, the Nexus One, has started to turn up some problems. It’s their first mobile phone, and probably also their first real hardware they’re selling on their own (apart from appliances like the Google Search appliance). I thought it was somewhat too soon for the company to jump into something so new without much preparation. Customers are now facing a myriad of problems, problems that are not difficult to address even before they start.

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Don’t Stack Your MacBook Computers

When I got my brand new Apple 13″ MacBook Pro notebook, it wasn’t too long before I discovered that it “hung”. Nothing I did would revive it, so I resorted to a hard reset. It happened more than once. It happened in office, and it happened at home too. At the end of my second day with the new notebook, I was starting to get very annoyed with the several incidences of “hanging”. Something was seriously wrong. This is not something you’d expect to happen with an Apple computer. I decided to check out Google.

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The New MacBook Pro

I just got my hands on an all new Apple 13″ MacBook Pro. It’s the latest generation “Revision G” MacBook Pro with the aluminum unibody design that was announced at WWDC in 2009. I know, that’s like 6 months ago, and it is far along enough in the product cycle that some product updates should be expected soon. But anyhow, I’m still happy and excited enough to be unpacking this box.

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Finally a Dual Monitor Setup

20091211294I finally got around to connecting up a secondary monitor to my MacBook. More screen space is always nice. But even though I’ve had a spare monitor around for some time, both in the office and somewhat also at home, I’ve been a bit lazy to get them connected. The reason is that I tend to get comfortable with a certain setup and I don’t want that setup to change. With a dual monitor setup, I have to get used to the fact that I will not always have the secondary monitor available.

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