April 28th, 2009
I use Linux Mint on my personal computer i.e. not for work. I would use it for work but I am a software developer who works in Delphi and Visual Studio and I don’t want to use them in a virtual machine. Anyways, I freakin’ love Linux Mint. It is derived from the very popular Ubuntu, which is Debian based. I started playing with Linux last year, and didn’t know anything about it. I started with Ubuntu, and it was pretty cool. However, there were certain things that Ubuntu didn’t do “out of the box”. It was a nightmare getting it connect to Windows computers on my network. It was a nightmare getting it to see external hard drives and USB sticks. I know how to do these things now, but the average computer user off the street is not going to be able to do this. I was frustrated because I was really ready to ditch Windows, and I’m not paying $2000 for a mac. (Update: These problems no longer exist in the current versions of Ubuntu because they listen to people and resolve issues.)
Then I discovered Linux Mint. Those who say Linux is not ready for the masses have not seen Linux Mint. I didn’t have to do anything to connect to my Windows computers. External hard drives and USB sticks automatically show up when connected (auto-mounting). It’s rock solid. It boots up fast If you want a new program, just go to the package manager, find the program you want, and click install. (Note: this is not unique to Linux Mint. All Debian based systems do this.)
So, if you are looking to expand beyond Windows, or just want to try a really cool flavor of Linux, then give Linux Mint a try. You will not be disappointed.
Read this review of Linux Mint for a much better explanation of its features and benefits.
Linux Mint Home
Distrowatch
Another Review
Posted in Computers, Development, Linux, Visual Studio | No Comments »
April 11th, 2009
Apple released Mac OS X in 2001 to little fanfare. I’m a Windows user, but my wife is a Mac user. A house divided. I got her a Mac for Christmas in 2002. When we booted it, she said something to the effect of, “what the hell is that?” She was looking for the old-school OS 9 that, to me, is just fugly. She was determined to avoid OS X at all costs. Fortunately for her, it would dual-boot OS 9 and OS X. But Apple was going to force OS X down her throat. Every time we got a new piece of software, it would only run in OS X. She kept switching OS’s for different apps and it was driving her nuts. I finally convinced her to dump OS 9 and only use OS X. I assured her that it was going to be the future for Apple and she might as well join the bandwagon early on.
And now look at it, all grown up. OS X is like a hot actress with brains, but her manager tells her to act dumb because her smarts intimidate people. She is so hot you find yourself forgiving her for the dumb things she does sometimes, even though you have a feeling it was orchestrated that way. Using Mac OS X reminds me of a Dateline undercover special where ugly people are treated like crap, but beautiful people get away with just about anything.
I present my conversation with a Mac :
“I want to delete this file. What? You won’t? Oh, hey, no problem, it can just stay on my desktop for the rest of my life. I’ll just stick in the corner over here by all the downloaded dmg files that I don’t know if I can delete. Has anyone ever told you how hot you are? God, I’ve never seen glass buttons like that. I love the way that red one in the corner lights up. About that file I want to delete. Right, I need to use the terminal. No problem. Would you like to join me for an hour while I search Google on how to do that? Maybe we can get together afterward and hook up my external hard drive? You call it what? Mounting? Sweet. Sounds very Euro. Oh, Berkley, you say. Close enough. Yes, I’m married, but I paid over two grand for you and I want to do more than look at your glass buttons. I can touch your keyboard? Well your keys are shaped real nice, and I love how they light up. What’s a guy got to do to access your root? I apologize. I must have misconstrued all that all that heat coming from underneath. Please don’t lock up with that pinwheel thing. I said I was sorry. Crap. At least you boot up fast.”
One more thing: I love how they use big cat names for each release. Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard. I don’t think OS X is old enough to be a cougar yet. They’re probably saving that one for the 40th anniversary. Sorry, I had to say it.
Posted in Mac | No Comments »
April 10th, 2009
I am not actaully from Ireland, nor do I live there. I was born in New York, and currently live in Alabama. I am half irish, and half italian. My father’s side of the family is all irish. My mother’s is all italian. I wouldn’t mind also using “ItalianStallion” for my internet names, but that’s much harder to get. “ItalianStallion_34534923″ just doesn’t have the same effect as plain old “ItalianStallion”. I checked godaddy.com and someone in Australia of all places owns the domain name ItalianStallion.com. Weird.
Posted in About Me | No Comments »
March 25th, 2009
So you might ask, “what exactly is The Irishfury, and what does it mean?” Honestly, I have no idea. I just made up the name for my fantasy football team many years ago. I’m of irish descent and it just sounds cool and fierce. I wish I had a cooler story, like it was a nickname I got in prison or during a war because I was psycho or something, but this is not the case.
Posted in About Me | No Comments »