1001 Reasons Why You Should Switch From Windows

Ubuntu One or Dropbox?

Most people I know have a Dropbox account nowadays.  If you didn’t know, then Dropbox is a Cloud Service, which is basically just an online storage service.  Instead of storing your files and media on an external hard drive or a NAS, you can store information on a Cloud and access it from any computer with an internet connection.  You can also share files with friends or family who can access your cloud, or folders within your cloud, as long as they have an internet connection.  To read more about Cloud Storage Services, look at the link I posted above.

Dropbox is probably the most popular Cloud Storage Service being used to date.  Most Dropbox accounts come with 2GB of free storage space, and if you refer a friend who signs up with their service, you often get an extra 500MB added to your 2GB, totaling 2.5GB of free storage.  Other companies also have Cloud Storage services, such as Amazon and BlackBerry .  Obviously, being that this is an Ubuntu Blog, I am going to talk about Ubuntu’s Cloud Storage in this post.

I have both a Dropbox account and an Ubuntu One account.  My plan for a while has been to purchase additional storage space beyond the free space provided by each service, so I wanted to do some research and see which one was actually a better deal.  Here are the details of what I found.

Ubuntu One:

• 5GB of Free Space.
• Smallest upgrade available is 20GB for $29.99
• Built-into all versions of Ubuntu Linux.  Also works with Android and iOS mobile devices.  The Windows version is currently in beta, but it is working well.
• Same-Day support

Dropbox:

• 2GB of Free Space, with an additional 500MB for friend referals.
• Smallest upgrade available is 50GB for $99/year
• Available for Windows, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mac, and several mobile phone systems, including BlackBerry
• Support takes a few days

I’ve decided to go with Ubuntu One, mostly for the reasons I listed above.  Their free package is 5GB instead of 2GB plus 500MB referral pieces.   Also, they let you buy additional space in increments of 20GB for $30 each.  If I needed more than 20GB, I could buy 60GB for $90, which is more space and still cheaper than Dropbox’s 50GB package for $99.  I do wish that Ubuntu One had a BlackBerry app, since that is the Smartphone I use, but that is insignificant on the importance scale to me.  Really, how much information are you going to want to sync to a Smartphone anyway?

I’ve had several questions about the Ubuntu One products and have emailed them from their support page a few times.  I always get a response on that same day, sometimes even within the hour.  However, I have only contacted Dropbox 1 time about an issue I had with setting up my account and it took them about 3 days to reply via email.

So Ubuntu One for me, but of course I still have my 2.5GB Free Dropbox space, if I ever need it.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on which Online Cloud Service you have chosen, and why.

Verizon Wireless Aircard on Ubuntu

This post was written while using Ubuntu 10.10, the Maverick Meerkat.

I dual-boot my laptop with Windows for just 1 or 2 reasons, the main one being that I use a Verizon USB760 Aircard when I travel and Ubuntu doesn’t recognize it.  During this Labor Day weekend of 2011, I decided that I wanted to try and get the Aircard to work in Ubuntu so that I have that option while traveling.

Follow the instructions below.  I’m told this works in Ubuntu 9 or later.  I need to update this laptop to Natty but I haven’t done it yet.  But for now, it works great in Meerkat and I am actually on the Verizon connection while posting this blog post.
Open a Terminal Window:

sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-cd.rules

find the line that contains “Novatel_Mass_Storage” and append the following to it:

RUN+=”/usr/bin/eject %k”

save and close

sudo gedit /usr/share/hal/fdi/information/10freedesktop/10-modem.fdi

Add the below code to the file under the {USB Conections} section:

<!– Verizon USB760–>
<match key=”@info.parent:usb.vendor_id” int=”0×1410″>
<match key=”@info.parent:usb.product_id” int=”0×6000″>
<match key=”@info.parent:usb.interface.number” int=”0″>
<append key=”info.capabilities” type=”strlist”>modem</append>
<append key=”modem.command_sets” type=”strlist”>IS-707-A</append>
</match>
</match>
</match>

save and close

Now plug in your card and make sure it didn’t mount anything (Places -> Computer USB Drive shouldn’t be mounted)
Now left click the network applet and select ‘Auto mobile broadband (CDMA) connection’ Check the box for “New” and just follow the prompts.  I chose Verizon for the provider.  It should connect right up.
If it doesn’t make sure to go into VZAccessManager on a Windows machine and activate your USB760.

Ubuntu 11.04 -Natty Narwhal

It’s long overdue, but I finally upgraded from Lucid to the newest version of Ubuntu on my desktop last week.  Natty has a new look and feel than its predecessors from the last few versions.  I’m actually reminded of a Mac OS a little bit, with the active window File Menu being at the very top of the screen, rather than in the open window.  Somewhat scary since I hate Macs, but of course their OS is built on a Unix platform, so I guess it was just a matter of time.  Not real sure which one I would rather not use, Mac or Windows.

Anyway, I think the new Natty has great potential but still needs some work.  It seems to run slower than my previous install on the same machine.  And I am not so sure that I like having no menus on the screen at all, but I am impressed with the search feature and the ALT-F2 feature for searching.

On the laptop I am currently typing on, which was also running Lucid, I did the upgrade to Meerkat through the Update manager and it seems to be working well.  I thought for testing purposes I would just use 2 versions for a short while, and if I don’t like Natty I might downgrade for a bit until the LTS version is released, projected for April 2012.

Firefox 4.0 for Ubuntu

Install Firefox 4 In Ubuntu 10.04 / 10.10 Via PPA Repository – The Proper Way

Thanks to the guys over at Web Upd8 for this information.

Basically all I did was force the Update Manager to see the Firefox Update from PPA.  Open a Terminal Window and type these commands:


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable
sudo apt-get update

After this, just run your Update Manager and it should find the updates for Firefox 4. If it doesn’t, you can force the PPA, but be aware that the PPA will grab all Alpha and Beta updates in the future.  Just pay attention to your updates in Update Manager, and you should be fine.

Ubuntu 10.10 Meerkat

I am late in posting this, been busy lately.  Meerkat dropped on 10/10/10, coincidentally (or is it??)

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

How To: Install Tweetdeck on Lucid

I just successfully installed Tweetdeck on my Ubuntu Laptop.  Yet another reason why Windows really isn’t needed in my house anymore.  The instructions below are for the 32-bit version of Lucid, and should work with older versions as well.  Thanks to the guys over at Tweetdeck who actually HAVE a version of their software for Linux and also provide instructions for installing it.

Original Link:

32bit Ubuntu Based Distros:

• Download AIR & TweetDeck – http://bit.ly/getair & http://bit.ly/thedeck
• Place both files on your desktop (for ease of use)
• Open-up Terminal and type:

cd Desktop
chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

When entering the last command, it will ask you to enter your password. Once you have done that, an Adobe AIR installer wil appear – run through the guided install.

Once Adobe AIR is installed, right click the TweetDeck air file. Select open with and find the Adobe air application installer. If you cannot find it, log out of your session and then login again. The .air file should now be associated with the Adobe Installer.

Follow the guided install and you should now have TD installed on your 32bit unbuntu-based distro.

Number Pad in Ubuntu

My number pad on the right-hand side of my keyboard hasn’t been working.  Up until now I have just been dealing with it, but I decided to research this today.  It didn’t take long to find the answer.  These settings will work for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

Go to :
1) System
2) Preferences
3) Keyboard (Tab: Mouse Keys)
4) Uncheck “Pointer can be controlled using the keypad”

Your Number Pad should now work.  123456789 <—- just like that!

WoW Installed

I wasn’t able to get my CDs to install.  I tried copying the files from the CD to the hard drive, and I get this error:

 No installer data could be found. If this problem persists, please contact Blizzard Technical Support.

This error comes up in a windows-looking box. I tried running it from the CD and I got the same error.

I removed Wine completely.. deleted the folder… reinstalled wine, ran “winecfg” and I get the same error. I tried this with the Vanilla CD and the WOTLK CD, both.

After this, I ended up just downloading the installer from Blizzard’ website and I installed the game this way.  It worked fine, but it did take several hours to complete.

I copied my Addons folder from my Windows box over to the Ubuntu box, along with the Saved Variables folder, so that all of my addons would match up.  Most of them work fine, but Ark Inventory and 1 or 2 others aren’t working.  I will probably install the Curse client on my Ubuntu machine and run it in Wine to update these local addons.

Right now I am standing in Orgrimmar on my bank toon and getting about 15 frames per second (fps).  Not really all that great, honestly, but I can’t tell any lag while running around the city or doing AH scans.  The true test will be to run a random dungeon from this box, which I might do later today.

Lynda.com Training Courses

This morning I had a job interview for a Tech Support position at a company who primarily focuses on Outlook   and Exchange Server.  While I am not a fan of these, I believe them to be more versatile and a more common standard than IBM Lotus Notes, which is the email platform that was used by my last employer.

I wanted to brush-up on my Outlook and Exchange knowledge, and a friend had recommended Lynda.com to me.  Lynda has many online training courses for just about any online resource you wish to study.  Sadly, they are lacking in Linux courses, but when it comes to Microsoft, they have all the bases covered.  They even offer courses on Twitter, Facebook and Blogging.  I will be checking into those within the next couple of weeks.

Of course my curiosity peaked when I learned that most of the courses were videos, so I decided to login and try them from my Ubuntu laptop.  I am happy to report that the videos and audio ran flawlessly.  I packed up the laptop, headed up to a local cigar bar, and smoked a Perdomo 10 Year Anniversary, Robusto Champagne while watching the course for Microsoft Outlook 2007.

Lynda is a subscription based service, and their packages start around $25 per month.  If you like learning on your own time and don’t want to attend a training school, these courses can be a valuable commodity to those wishing to expand their knowledge.  You can read more about their packages by following this link.

I’ll post some more in upcoming weeks about the blogging, Twitter and Facebook courses, all of which I will be watching from my Ubuntu laptop through Mozilla Firefox.

For The Horde!

In a few previous posts I had mentioned some reasons that I was hanging onto Windows longer than I had desired, because I didn’t want to give up some programs or applications that I used, which didn’t work on Ubuntu.  Most of those issues have been overcome and I can honestly say that the only reason I still use Windows is for World of Warcraft.

I’ve tried installs of WoW in previous versions of Ubuntu, and I actually played on my live account for a short while through Ubuntu.  But the performance on Windows is so much better that I finally acquiesced and returned to Windows.  WoW is my last and only reason why all of my PCs aren’t running Ubuntu.

So this is my project…. get WoW to run in Ubuntu through WINe efficiently enough to raid with and not give up too much performance.

I do Google searches and I read some other blogs about people who are actually doing this, so I know it can be done, it is just a matter of how many hoops I have to jump through in order to get WoW to perform the way I need it to.  So be looking for new posts about this subject, and if anyone has any advice, please post a comment.  I will probably start by going through this article again and posting results of that experiment.

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