Hey guys it’s been a while….but here I am.

On Saturday while working on Windows 7 and trying to get some work out of the way, I got the dreaded blue screen. I was not worried about it as I thought it was just Windows 7 doing its thing since it is a Release Candidate. Little did I know neither my vista or my 7 would reboot. I was in no mood at the time to troubleshoot as I had quite a few documents to finish. I got my Ubuntu live CD out and popped it into my disk drive. I got all of my files that I did not backup previously since I added more after my last backup and transferred them to my external. When all was done it dawned upon me to just install Ubuntu as my native OS and use a virtual program such as virtual box to run my MS winblowz.

Not a lot of people have the patience and time for Ubuntu as most of the applications come in the form of packages and repositories and it takes a great deal of time to find a decent program to actually do what you want it to. However there are many resources out there for one who is interested in running a full Linux system.

Adobe Air:

Adobe Air not only shows that the Operating System will soon be of no significance as it is a platform that could be installed on any Operating System, from Windows to Mac to Linux. This gives one the opportunity to run various apps for example Tweetdeck, KonoLive, designview, Facedesk, Websnapshot, Alertthingy and so many more too numerous to mention.

                             GeeMail                                                                          designview                                       Konolive

Crossover Professional for Linux:

It is no where close to WINE (Windows Emulator), but I love using it to install my Microsoft office instead. I mean I could get used to Open Office but I realized that there are some minor issues to be fixed plus it doesn’t hurt to have it installed. With Crossover one could install apps such as Photoshop CS2 and some others. Which is really great. I consider it to be a very useful tool when converting to Linux.

    Crossover                                                                    MS Outlook

MS Excel                                                              MS PowerPoint

    MS Word

Virtual Box:

VirtualBox (in my own way of explaining it)  is an open source visualization program that allows you to install other operating systems on your computer, be it Linux, MAC or Windows. This is a very handy tool, I am currently using it right now to gain  access to the Windows Live Writer, and I have Windows 7 RC installed on my Linux. It is considerably lighter than VMware and it does not take up as many resources either. If you want to try Ubuntu, head over to VirtualBox.

       VirtualBox Windows  7

I also tried installing Fedora 11 on VMware but it did not take too well since my VMware was not acting right. But here are some photos of the installation process:

WinE:

Windows Emulator (WINE) is an awesome program which is by many whenever trying to install  a program from a Windows origination into Linux. There are are quite a selection and unlike Crossover, it is not that limited. You could browse the AppDB to see all of the programs that could currently used with Wine and the status.

Instant Messengers:

I can say that I am still hooked on my windows and so upon installing Ubuntu I was in search of a good Messenger that would suit my needs. Ubuntu comes with a Universal on or a multi-messenger Pidgin, yeah it is ok but I do not like it. I only use it for gmail presently. Then I found Kopete this one came close to what I needed to satisfy yahoo, but not close enough for MSN messenger, and then there came aMSN which completed what I needed for MSN even though I missed my version 14.0. Oh and I am forgetting Skype, there is actually a linux version which was perfect. The bottom-line of all my ramblings is that I can communicate effectively with my friends and still feel comfortable.

Pidgin                                 aMsn                                         Kopete                                       Skype

In all, even though there are still many software issue in terms of  compatibility it is a very good Operating System even without all of the bells and whistles. I still have quite a few programs to try, but so far it has been working out for me. What doesn’t work on Ubuntu VirtualBox will do the trick.

Once again I apologize for taking so long to do a post . If you know of any more tips and tricks feel free to tell me, hey I am always up to testing and getting to know more .

Enjoying a beautiful sunset on my island. I have not written anything in a while, been busy doing other things, and causingg havoc where I can. I think I know what my New Years resolution is going to be…lol. So I have been playing this game second life where in order to get a 65K piece of land or an island you would have to pay $1000.00 US to get it and then $250.00 US after for monthly maintainence. Give me a break. I do own land in Second life but I do not intend to do so much longer. I have almost 4 regions already and guess what they are all free! Took some playing around to get it to work…soon I will have it hooked up to a grid and then once that works out I will go into my own grid. I guess I am liking it lol. Though now I cannot figure out what to build and gosh I have to make my own hair and clothes. I could do it the easy way hehe pay tons of money to get the clothes made for me and the scripts too…well that is just a thought. Here are some more pics:

Who said no one could walk on water haha…trying to level my region

Such a beautiful moon…night on DeValley

Just built the Bank of  DeValley…the steps look funny.

65355 sq m of land.

I am thinking of teraforming the land to look like Dominica. I need to get the program to do it…now that would be fun. Why am I up at this time of the night? I guess I am going to try to transfer somethings from SL to build the grid up some.

So on the countdown there are 11 more days to go and then it is Christmas. Ah how time flies. I need to buy the boys things by next week. On the 18th is the final day to make any online orders if we want to get it in time for Christmas, I better hurry or else….o.O. I already saw what I am getting, omg I am all girly now, normally I get gadgets something thta has to do with computers, ah…this time I am getting….Shhhhhh…not talking. Ok well time for bed. Goodnight All.

Ok so I have been interested in using ubuntu on my computer. I tried it for a few months last year but my computer at time could not take up the load. So since I have this computer I wanted to try it out again. I mean I have all the space in the world, though I want to dedicate a hard drive to Ubuntu and not have to multi-boot. Last night I gave it a partition of about 50 GB which is not bad. I love the interface so much, I had to get a little bit in tuned to it since I have not used it in a while. I loved it so much I began searching for ways to run Office 2007 and my instant messengers like Oovoo without having to get out of Ubuntu. To my great delight there were two softwares that I could use crossover and vmware (my husband suggested those). I decided to get them and wow I could run my office 2007  in Ubuntu and I made a virtual desktop for vista so I could use my instant messengers and my oh so precious Oovoo. I think I am going to maybe stick with Ubuntu. They even made it better. The last time I tried it other factors came into play as to why I could not use it, for one I did not have my microsoft office on the system and two I needed to use my phone to tether the internet when I am not at home and I could not do it. It is there now! So there is nothing stopping me from using it now.

I purchased a hard drive DYI kit from Dell last night for the extra hard drive bay in my notebook, to my surprised it was shipped this morning, the last time I tried to get the damn thing it took a whole month because they were on back order so I got mad and cancelled the order. Now I could give Ubuntu its dedicated hard drive and leave my main drive alone. That is a total of : 420 GB in there, if I feel like it I might get another 320 GB to put in there. I could access everything from school’s website and I could even create my own  programs. The good thing about Ubuntu is that the threat of viruses is almost nil due to its structure, and I do not have to keep rebooting everytime unless I shut down. I can transfer all of my songs to Ubuntu to since using Spiral Frog I get a lot of songs that I love and I am getting interested in a lot of new artist. That reminds me I need to look for a decent media player. So I will now call myself linuxGirl.

Ok I am hungry and in search of something  to eat. Later!