Enquiring Mimes» Linux

So much for Linux as the “people’s” OS

Dan Perlman — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:16:18 +0000

If you’ve always bought into the idea that Linux was written and maintained by geeks and hackers in after-hours ventures — all for other geeks and hackers, think again.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols on Computerworld analyzed a report from the Linux Foundation on who writes Linux and found that Linux is written by big companies for big companies.

Here’s the top ten contributors to Linux:

Red Hat: 12.3%
IBM: 7.6%
Novell: 7.6%
Intel: 5.3%
Independent consultant: 2.5%
Oracle: 2.4%
Linux Foundation: 1.6%
SGI 1.6%
Parallels 1.3%
Renesas Technology: 1.3%

Big businesses write Linux because big businesses use Linux.

Google Chrome for Mac is so cool, now finish it!

Dan Perlman — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:55:12 +0000

The Chrome team has released a developers copy of the browser for Mac and Linux, so far Google Chrome has just been available for Windows.

While to call me a developer would be a gross misuse of the term, I’ve been using the browser ever since it was released last week. It is so cool. Well actually so fast!

The team admits it’s far from finished. Among other things, it doesn’t print, it doesn’t display YouTube-like videos and there seems to be not much in the way of bookmark management. So let’s give it a number and say it’s 75% done. What it does well is render a web page really fast and when I’m digging around the web that’s what’s most important to me.

The Chronium Blog warns you not to download this version unless “take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software.

How incomplete? So incomplete that, among other things , you won’t yet be able to view YouTube videos, change your privacy settings, set your default search provider, or even print.”

It hasn’t crashed for me in about 20 hours of use. The only gotcha for me was when checking a blog post and panicking when I couldn’t see the YouTube video, but I had been warned.

Anway, if you live life on the bleeding edge and are so Type A that anything faster is better, download the browser and give it a try on Mac or Linux.

As for me? I’ll probably use it for most of my work on my slight aging Macbook because it just makes the experience so darn fast!

A rumor we hope is true

Dan Perlman — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:11:22 +0000

There’s a rumor making the rounds today that Google might announce a Mac version of their free Picasa photo organizer at 2009 MacWorld and we think that would be just great.

We got the rumor from the Googling Google blog over at zdnet and it would make sense. The story of a Mac version of Picasa has been kicking around at least a year since TechCrunch carried this one, Google Developing Mac Version Of Picasa , Due To Be Released This Year.

Why the excitement?

No matter what the PC or Mac fans tell you, there’s not really much difference between what you can do with a PC or a Mac, but Picasa is one of the coolest, most useful pieces of software that can’t be run on a Mac (the other, if you really want to know, is Microsoft OneNote). Making Picasa available directly available for the Mac would be one less reason to need to run a solution likeVMware’s Fusion which allows you to run Windows on a Mac.

There is already a slightly lame version of Picasa that runs on Linux. It’s somewhat lame because it uses WINE technology to work. WINE is the famous, this-would-be-so-cool-if-it-only-actually-worked way of running Windows on other platforms without needing Windows, kind like how useful it might be to have your blood pumped through your body without needing a heart.

Picasa for Macs Might Launch at Macworld 2009 [Picasa]

XMind Mind Mapping Now Open Source

Dan Perlman — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:32:16 +0000

The full-featured XMind, mind-mapping, application that previously sold for $299 a copy has been open sourced and is now available without charge. It’s cross-platform and available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

It has been one of the better professional applications for creating the mapping diagrams that are an intuitive way to take notes, brainstorm, collaborate and manage projects (among other things).

Here’s the XMind mind map of it’s features.

Download XMIND [via TUAW]

Let’s Start Getting Things Done with GTD

Dan Perlman — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:03:58 +0000

A popular methodology for task management is based on a book by David Allen called “Getting Things Done”. The main concept of the methodology is that for your mind to work effectively, it has to stop spending all of its time just remembering what has to be done next and instead working on the actual actions of doing it.

According to the methodology, your mind should be emptied of these “open loop” distractions of “to dos” by storing them all in some kind of “trusted system” that you can then organize anduse to refer back to all your tasks.

The “trusted system” can be a notebook or a PDA or something on your computer.

GTD-Free is a application that runs on Windows, Mac and Linux and is a straight forward implementation of the GTD methodology and can be used as the trusted system and for organizing your tasks.

The workflow for GTD consists of 5 steps, each represented by a process in GTD-Free. The Organize and Review steps are combined – and Do is called Execute (which sounds a little like the task is given a blindfold, a last cigarette and put up against a wall).

The basic idea is to do a “Collect(ion)” of all the tasks you’re carrying around in your head and “untrusted” systems (like stickies).

The next step is to Process the tasks by going from the top to bottom of your list, one at a time, determining if an item requires action and then filing it, throwing it away or incubating it for later action.

Then the Organizing step determines the next action the item requires to complete it and organizing it so that it can be done when ready. Reviewing the categories should be an on-going process done daily with a major review done weekly.

Do is pretty simply, when you finally start working on the items to get them finished.

GTD Workflow:

Collect
Process
Organize
Review
Do

GTD-Free is a great free way to begin to explore GTD and to find out whether it makes sense for you. If you like it, there are scores of other systems to help you collect, process and organize your tasks. We’ll be reporting on others of them here at Enquiring Mimes from time to time.

Download GTD-Free [via lifehacker]

Getting Things Done Resources

Wikipedia

GTD Dictionary

A Primer on Getting Things Done

New Picasa beta now available for Linux [Update]

Dan Perlman — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:01:43 +0000

We probably don’t provide enough help for those brave souls that have decided to use Linux as their desktop – these pioneers don’t use the Mac and certainly not Windows.

Unfortunately for these trend setters they’re also often forgotten by publishers of consumer-oriented software. Today we’re glad to report that the Google team has made the new Picasa 3 available to Linux users.

Our previous story on Picasa 3 beta.

The update provides much of what is available to the Windows crowd but does not include the rather cool slideshow movie format.

Limitations in the Linux version come mostly from the rather quirky Wine technology that Picasa used to port Picasa to Linux.

Download Picasa for Linux [via webmonkey]

Google’s Picasa for Linux catches up to Windows

del.icio.us Tags: picasa,linux,picasa for linux,google

Update: Bright shiny new update to VLC Video Player

Dan Perlman — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:23:24 +0000

Last week we first told you about VLC, the open source multi-platform video player that plays most any video format and this week, presto, there’s a nice new release for you, that they say has been two years in the making.

Here’s what they say is new:

The 0.9 version of VLC media player adds a new interface module for Linux, Unix and Windows, a media library and an improved playlist, many new inputs and codecs support and many new audio and video filters.

Here at the EnquiringMimes lab we have taken a look, and pronounced the new interface on Windows and Linux as very snappy. Many of the other features are updates are to keep up with fast-moving world of video technology.

The new release provides even more reason for you to use VLC for you videos.

Download VLC

Dropbox – the easiest way to sync file between computers

Dan Perlman — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:41:24 +0000

I work on a PC and Mac and I have a constant need to move documents and images back and forth between my computers.

One way is to just email the files as attachments to myself using Gmail and then download the attachment on the other computer. That’s not a bad method, fast and efficient but is limited to the 20MB file size imposed by Gmail.

DropBox is just about the easiest way I know of, to keep a folder of files in sync between two computers. I’ve been using DropBox throughout its private beta but now the beta is open and anyone can get an account. Just sign-up for the service and download a client application for each the computers you want to keep in sync and you’re in business.

A DropBox folder looks like any other folder on you system.

You can drag and drop any file into your DropBox folder and it will be automatically copied to any other computer you have installed the DropBox software. If you want to copy the files to a computer other than one with software installed, there is a web interface from which you can login-in and download.

A free account on DropBox gives you 2 gigabytes of file space. You will be be able to buy a 50GB Dropbox for $9.99/month, or $99.99/year if you need more space. Client software is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, so you can keep in sync any of those types of computers as well, of course, Windows and Windows, Mac and Mac.

Need a video viewer that can play any format? You need VLC Media Player

Dan Perlman — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:30:29 +0000

So many video formats, so little time. Video cameras, the cute little joke time-wasting videos your friends send you, training videos, DVDs, “backups” of DVDs, avi, wmv, mp4, mpeg, xvid, divx, flash video – you get the idea – you can get so many videos in a babel of formats.

VLC Media Player sorts it all out for you. It’s a cross-platform open source video player that is quick, light, free and can play just about anything. It can even play your store-bought DVDs.

VLC is available for Windows, Mac and Linux as well as other platforms.

Just download and install. Download VLC Media Player.

Read PDF Files with a Fast Reader

Dan Perlman — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:24:36 +0000

Adobe PDF files have become a nearly-universal means of distributing documents that are not meant to have their contents modified and need to look the same on every computer platform.

When I’m working, I find I spend enormous amounts of time reading PDF files. That’s the way I download many product and shared documents. Some very long. Waiting for Acrobat Reader to open can often be frustrating and time consuming.

Foxit Reader is a free light-weight very fast PDF reader that will keep you reading rather than waiting for documents to open.

In addition to being a very small and fast program, Foxit Reader will allow you to set bookmarks within the PDF file and add annotations and notes as you read.

Foxit Reader has an intuitive interface that features tabbed pages for multiple open PDFs, much like a tabbed-browser. It can also play video and music embedded in PDF files.

Foxit Reader is available for Windows, Linux and some mobile devices.

While Foxit Reader is free, there are “advanced” add-ons that add value to Foxit Reader available for purchase.

Download Foxit Reader [Via WebWorkerDaily]