Oli's blog

linux

How to fix the 100% CPU issue in XBMC

Wednesday, 28 March 2012boxeelinuxnvidiaubuntuxbmc

Long time users of XBMC and Boxee on Linux will probably be aware of a very annoying bug that essentially uses an entire CPU when just sitting at menus.

Nano: Open a file at a specific position

Sunday, 17 October 2010linuxnano

Nano isn’t the best editor but it does a fairly good job at staying out the way and letting you edit or view things without needing a cheat-sheet of cryptic keyboard shortcuts. However, what do you do when you have a 50,000 line document and you want to get a specific line somewhere near the middle?

The Linux “1% myth” is pretty accurate

Wednesday, 8 September 2010linuxstatistics

Linux market share is an oft-debated topic. Some people release statistics, others shoot them down. But are they incorrect? Is desktop Linux still at 1% share?

My issues with Linux et al

Wednesday, 23 July 2008linux

Like a warm ocean current, the tides of contempt are slowly eroding my enjoyment of Ubuntu. I’ve been using it full time for eleven months now but I feel I have to write down my grievances before I find myself jumping ship.

Does Linux really want Windows users?

Tuesday, 1 April 2008linux

Linux is often criticised for its over-enthusiastic community trying to convert everybody and their grandma. Today I saw another post asking why we should care if more people use it. In short: yes but I’ve got plenty of reasons to back this up…

10 Reasons Why Linux Ubuntu is Better than Windows

Saturday, 29 March 2008linux

Rather than listing 10 genuine reasons, I’m taking these points from a fanboy. I use Linux as my desktop operating system but these reasons are amazingly flawed.

Does Windows have a viable future?

Thursday, 21 February 2008applelinuxwindows

Microsoft have enjoyed a long stretch as dominant market-share holder in the desktop market; but now they face stiff competition from two sides: OSX and Linux. Can they maintain their strong position?

7 things Windows 7 has to do to win me back

Wednesday, 30 January 2008linuxwindowswindows 7

As I keep harking on, I moved to Linux. I’m happy and things are getting a lot more routine for me. I’ve been seeing a lot of fake screenshots this week for Windows 7 and it made me think what I would need from the next version of Windows to migrate back.

Oh my! Nokia are buying KDE!

Monday, 28 January 2008kdelinuxnokiaqt

Well that’s a bit of an overstatement. Nokia are buying the makers of the Qt library, by far the biggest component of KDE and KDE applications. Make no mistake, this is big news for both Nokia and Linux.

The 2007 Linux review

Sunday, 23 December 2007linux

Another year, another time to ask the question: “Will next year be Linux’s year?” So lets look at 2007 and what desktop Linux has managed to achieve and at what point this leaves us for 2008.

4 Windows apps I can’t let go

Monday, 19 November 2007linux

If you’ve read anything by me in the past month, you’ve probably seen that I moved to Linux. I’m extremely happy here but I still find myself loading Windows in VMWare for several tasks.

Skype for Linux gets video (at last)

Wednesday, 7 November 2007linuxskype

I once heard that good things come to those that wait and today Linux users who’ve been waiting for Skype to push out a video-chatting client finally got their wish, albeit in beta form. Download link included,

Errata: Linux needs cross-platform applications

Friday, 2 November 2007linux

Some time ago I wrote that Linux needed "golden applications" to succeed on the desktop. I was wrong because I’ve seen the light that is Amarok. Cross-platform FOSS will cause platform freedom.

OMGBUNTU!

Thursday, 18 October 2007linuxubuntu

The Gutsy-fever is approaching tangibility and unlike most other bouts of mass-enthusiasm, I’m actually enjoying this.

So what’s wrong with Ubuntu?

Sunday, 14 October 2007linuxubuntu

While there’s definitely progress in the latest release of Ubuntu, there are still problems: some limited to Ubuntu, some ingrained in gnome and some endemic to Linux as a whole.

Gutsy, you’re just too… pretty

Friday, 12 October 2007linuxubuntu

It’s that time of year again: "Oli attempts to migrate to Linux"! This time (using Gutsy) I’ve got to say that it was considerable more successful that previous times and damn, it’s just too pretty for words…

Game: Spot the death threat

Monday, 8 October 2007distrowatchlinux

In short: Caitlyn Martin said last month that she was unable to review Puppy Linux. She claims today that a commenter in a Distrowatch thread issued her a death threat… Nasty stuff but I just can’t see the threat angle of it. "Threat" included in the post.

Distrowatch’s statistics don’t mean popularity.

Thursday, 4 October 2007distrowatchlinux

Distrowatch’s HPD stats are often bandied about to make out one distribution is “the best”. But do the numbers actually equate popularity and why do some care so much anyway?

3 moments in Vista that make me consider Linux

Thursday, 6 September 2007linuxvistawindows

While I definitely think some elements of Vista are definite improvements, 10 months of experience has shown me there are some things that just annoy me to my very core. Here are the three things that most make me wish I had the strength to move over to Linux — full time.

PCLinuxOS’s militant leadership

Wednesday, 23 May 2007linuxrant

As a reviewer, I expect people to disagree with points I make. Everybody has their own opinion. But is it okay when the project leader of a maturing Linux distribution calls on his users to "hammer" a site because of its outcome?

Review: PCLinuxOS (PCLOS) 2007 Final

Monday, 21 May 2007linuxreview

Oli reviews the final of PCLinuxOS 2007 to see if all the commotion about this quickly rising newcomer is really worth the weight people are pushing it with.

Review: Ubuntu Studio 7.04

Saturday, 12 May 2007linuxreview

Ubuntu variant of concentrating on three creative tasks: video editing, audio recording and graphics. I takes it for a test-drive.

Review: Gentoo 2007.0

Friday, 11 May 2007linuxreview

After five years of abstaining from getting down-and-dirty with Gentoo, Oli revisits the distribution that was responsible for many a migraine all those years ago… But does it cut the mustard when compared to other modern distributions?

Review: MCNLive Delft RC1

Tuesday, 1 May 2007linuxreview

Another Linux review and in my sights this time, Mandrivaclub.nl’s MCNLive ‘Delft’ Release Candidate 1.

Review: PUD GNU/Linux 0.4.7

Sunday, 29 April 2007linuxreview

Oli gives the PUD GNU/Linux project a run for its money over two computers and finds that the real let down is the XFCE window manager that, although fast, is nowhere near as usable as it needs to be to compete in the Linux desktop race.