Simply Red – Stay

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Michael Koby

stay_big.jpgWhen it comes to soul and funk music, I generally like it a certain way – funky and groovy. I usually look the other way at a more mellow groove. It is not that I think that the music is not good, it is just not my preferred style. I picked up a copy of Simply Red’s latest album Stay on a recommendation and I have to say, that my overall opinion of the more mellow groove remains, however that should not detract from the masterful sound that this band creates. While the album does have it slightly more upbeat moments in songs like “So Not Over You” the album is for the most part a slightly mellow album. If you are looking for a more rockier funk/soul, move along, but if you are looking for great background music for that chill party you want to throw (think martini party), then this album is perfect.

Finding music made by talented musicians is a rarity in this day but Stay is just that. The musiciaship on this album is above just about anything being released today and that alone is reason to pick the album up.

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What OS do You Use?

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Michael Koby

The Web Worker Daily has a nice article on operating systems and the author asks the readers what operating system they use. Astonishing enough, there is a lot of Mac and Linux users.

I find this kind of shocking that there are as many Mac and Linux users as there are. I know both OS’s have grown in popularity over the last couple years, but I did not expect that more than half of the people responding to be using OSX or Linux as their primary operating system.

This is however excellent news for both operating systems. The more people that begin to use them, the more companies will need to write software for them, including games. Sure you can run games on both, but on Linux it requires the installation of Wine, which is not a true solution.

So just out of curiosity, what are you using for your main operating system? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Songs & Such: “Ralph Wiggum” by The Bloodhound Gang

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Michael Koby

When it comes to the weird and insane, the Bloodhound Gang have it about 100 times over. Songs like “Discovery Channel” and “I Hope You Die” fully prove that Jimmy Pop is both sadistic and a lyrical genius all within the same three to four minute song. What I find disturbing (yet genius) is the song “Ralph Wiggum” off of the album Hefty Fine. Only the lyric genius of Jimmy Pop could come up with the idea of doing a song based solely on what have become known to Simpson fans as “Ralphisms” and then make the song catchy. Not to mention the most proper placement of the “I’m a pop sensation” line to really bring it all home. Overall simple song, but a great concept. Continue reading →

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links for 2007-03-29

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Michael Koby
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Going Ubuntu

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Michael Koby

Like I said yesterday, over the weekend I installed Ubuntu (a flavor of Linux) onto my PC. I did not take the Linux only route this time around because i wanted to get a lot of things working and tested before I completely switched over to Linux again. Main reason for this is because I telecommute into work 3 days a week so I had to be able to do my work from Linux without any issues. I also wanted to get the 3D desktop stuff working (Beryl in this case) because I wanted the eye candy. For today’s article I’m going to link to some websites that helped me get this up and going.

  • Ubuntu Download Page – Pretty much necessary to install the operating system
  • Ubuntu Guide – There is probably not a more helpful site for getting your Ubuntu install to be able to do everything you need.
  • Updating Xorg to Version 7.2 – I was having some issues with the Beryl installation, and I had read that Upgrading the Xorg server might help eliminate those issues. This helped me upgrade my Xorg server without a hitch.
  • Envy for Nvidia Drivers – While the Ubuntu Guide has a nice how to on Nvidia drivers, I found that using Envy is much easier. Nice graphical interface for inside the GUI and it also has a nice text interface if you use it inside a command console or terminal. Envy will work for ATI drivers as well.
  • Beryl Installation – The folks over at the Beryl project website have a really nice wiki with instructions on getting Beryl installed in Ubuntu using the Nvidia drivers. Again, the Ubuntu Guide has a section on this, but I found this one to be slightly better and a little easier to follow.

There really is not much more to it than that. I should note that everyone’s mileage may vary with installation and drivers and such. Everyone’s computer is different. If I can get everything working the way I want it to under this little 10GB partition, you can bet that I will be moving to a complete Linux only install. That will be nice, to not be relying on Windows at all.

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Ubuntu Edgy with Xorg 7.2

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Michael Koby

I spent some time this weekend getting Ubuntu Linux installed on my home PC.  I partitioned off 10 gigabytes of space for the install using Partition Magic and then ran the Ubuntu install off of the downloadable live CD.  I used Ubuntu Guide, to install some of the missing software I knew that I was going to need and then found Beryl+Nvidia tutorial online and got the cool 3D effects going.  Basically, it gives me Vista like eye candy.

I was having some issues with my Nvidia drivers crashing randomly when using Beryl, but after some research I realized that I was not using the latest version of the Xorg X Server.  I have updated the X Server to version 7.2 and so far so good on the Beryl stuff.

Hopefully I can write those problems off as fixed.  But I will say, I miss Linux and I am glad I have a partition with it on my computer.  My wife has been running Linux for about 4 months now as her main desktop and she is not overly computer literate and she has had zero problems with it.  If I can get everything working on this install, I might just format everything and go completely Linux at home.  No Windows license fees!

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