Archive for June 12th, 2005
TiVo Tips and Tweaks
This seems like it should’ve run a couple of years ago, but there are still at least a couple of relevant tips in PC World’s “Secret TiVo Tips and Tweaks.” “Whether it’s a simple trick, like turning your TiVo into a clock, or a serious hardware hack to increase the amount of storage space in the device, we’re here with several tips, tricks, and pointers to more information, so you can get more out of your TiVo time.”
Extensions for Thunderbird
NewsForge is running a nifty little article detailling some Extensions for Thunderbird. Firefox’s email counterpart includes Firefox’s ability to have features added via small program plugins named Extensions. While Thunderbird doesn’t have nearly the number of Extensions as Firefox, it does have some really good ones. My favorite are all listed in this article, including QuickReply, Addresscontext and the Contacts Sidebar. If you use Thunderbird, you must read the article, then try some (maybe all) of the Extensions listed.
TheOpenCD.org
Posted by Biffster in Firefox, Open Source on June 12th, 2005
I’m a big fan of the Open CD from TheOpenCD.org. I love the idea behind it: “TheOpenCD is a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software. The programs run in Windows and cover the most common tasks such as word processing, presentations, e-mail, web browsing, web design, and image manipulation.”
If you are or know someone who simply has to run a Windows OS on their computer, but wants to support Open Source, then this CD is for you. It includes a number of great Free/Open Source applications, including OpenOffice.org (Microsoft Office replacement), The GiMP (Adobe Photoshop replacement), Mozilla Firefox (web browser) and Thunderbird (email client), Gaim (instant messenger, compatible with Yahoo, AIM and MSN) and more.
If you run Windows, check this out. You won’t be sorry!
FreeNX: Too good to be true?
Posted by Biffster in Debian/Linux on June 12th, 2005
Hmm… while I’m not quite ready to make the leap, an article at Linux Journal makes me really want to consider dumping TightVNC in favor of FreeNX: “FreeNX has many advantages for enterprise users in Government. It provides us with an excellent and inexpensive thin client environment. It’s fast, and it uses a proven encryption methodology (OpenSSH) that has made it through major FIPS 140 criteria tests in source code form. FreeNX also is available for Ubuntu and Fedora, which are free distributions of Linux that have extensive community support.”
My current setup is to run a TightVNC server session on my Debian machine, then I SSH into the box from most anywhere in the world and tunnel a TightVNC connection over the SSH session. This works, but can be very slow on all but 384k+ connections. I’m looking for anything that can provide better performance. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on FreeNX as it matures.
Amiga emulation
Posted by Biffster in Debian/Linux, Miscellany on June 12th, 2005
Newsforge is currently running an awesome article regarding the Amiga and emulating the Amiga on current computers. The author of the story got into the Amiga game a little late (he lists the A1200 as his first experience with the Amiga, which came out years after my first Amiga, a beloved Amiga 1000).
Still, it is great to see someone giving the Amiga such a wonderful writeup: “Commodore was ahead of its time when it created a versatile and powerful home computer for the masses. You can still find quite a few applications and innovative games written for the system — something for everyone. Give it a try if you want to see what a past generation of programmers could do with the cutting-edge desktop hardware of its day.”
I must now figure out where I have my Amiga Forever package hiding, and get it up and running with UAE on my Debian box. Oh, what I would’ve done for a 1.8GHz Amiga back in the day!
