UEFI … Is Not Anti-Virus, It is Anti-Trust
Posted in And In Other News, Not Preaching to the Choir On This One on 2012/06/02 by Anonymous DanielWhether you like it or not Microsoft is committing antitrust measures again to attempt to gain your usage of their OS. Yes ladies and gentlemen that is correct what I just stated. UEFI is supposedly designed to “prevent” anything that looks lika a boot virus from attacking your computer. However this is not the case. UEFI will prevent you the user from being able to make an informed and deliberate choice to use or not to use Windows on your machine. Microsoft is basically making your choice for you by locking the hardware and telling you it is for your own good.
Say No To UEFI
There you can say no to this kind of activity. Right now if you go to the Free Software Foundation’s site you can sign the petition to stop UEFI from being implemented on future hardware.Do not be lied to about what you the user can and cannot do with the hardware that you, the user own.
Happy 1k Podcast Hacker Public Radio
Posted in Free and Open Source Software on 2012/06/02 by Anonymous DanielCongradulations are in order for Hacker Public Radio on reaching their 1000th podcast. Great Job Guys keep up the good work.
PCBSD – Desktop That Shines, and BSD Goodness Under The Hood
Posted in And In Other News, Free and Open Source Software on 2012/02/16 by Anonymous Daniel
PC-BSD 9.0 based on FreeBSD 9.0 is a very well developed desktop release from iXsystems, Inc. My personal observation over each release of PCBSD is how that it has continued improvement. From the new installer to the AppCafe. Everything just works. The desktop that I chose to use on this install is Gnome 2 being that Gnome3 has not yet been ported. To tell the truth I won’t make a fuss about that, being that it is stable and does what I need it to as an interface. The other options are KDE4, XFCE, and LXDE.
The installer is very straightforward. Former Windows users who are inclined to try new things will find it to be easy to walk through and use for a decent desktop install. You are given two options at install time. One use it as a desktop and the other is to install FreeBSD and set up a server.
Overall like I said this is a well put together system. Lots of good options desktop side and under the hood.
A Minty Fresh Take On Gnome 3
Posted in Free and Open Source Software on 2011/12/11 by Anonymous Daniel
A while back I gave Gnome 3 a whirl. I personally have no complaints about how it is put together and don’t mind using extensions because it gives the ‘build it how you want it’ feel. Now Mint 12 has been released. Mint has given Gnome interface a major overhaul and really shows what can be done with Gnome 3 and extensions. I gotta say I am personally quite impressed with it overall. Gnome 3 still stays out of the way, you have the options that come packed into the Gnome-Tweak-Tool, to turn on or off things as you like.
Overall it’s clean, and doesn’t have a heavy feel to it. I did get a comment from a Windows user that it had a certain appeal that would actually make it easier for them to switch from Windows to Linux.
So if you haven’t tried the newest Mint and have been a bit bothered by the initial feel of Gnome 3. I suggest give it a go and see how you like it.
A Short Take on Foresight Linux
Posted in Free and Open Source Software on 2011/12/05 by Anonymous DanielI have been playing with Foresight Linux for the past month or so. It’s a pretty decent desktop system. I am quite impressed with conary. Conary within itself is quite interesting after having used apt, yum, and pacman. One the optimizing the system upgrade by using ‘system model’ to install only what is needed and no more. I personally liked how that works in being able to customize the installs and upgrades through this tool.
I really recommend giving this distro a spin and see how you like it.
Please Call Your Senator Support The Fight To Stop Internet Censorship
Posted in And In Other News on 2011/11/28 by Anonymous DanielWebsite Blocking
If SOPA or Protect IP passes, the government can order internet providers to block any site for its users’ infringing posts, using the same DNS-blocking methods as China or Iran.
Risk of Jail for Ordinary Users
It becomes a felony with a potential 5 year sentence to stream a copyrighted work that would cost more than $2,500 to license, even if you are an ordinary noncommercial user. Singing a pop song on Facebook could be a felony.
Chaos for the Internet
Thousands of sites that are legal under the DMCA would face new legal threats. People trying to keep the internet more secure wouldn’t be able to rely on the integrity of the DNS system.
