Arun’s Blog

I got the Maxtor OneTouch4 500 GB external hard drive during the Thanksgiving deal. Maxtor uses it’s own software to access/backup files from/to the external drive. I used Windows OS to setup the hard drive the first time. Maxtor installed it’s desktop software and I backed up my files using it’s software. I then booted [...]

My office is closed for holidays starting today until January 2nd. I got some house chores to do during that time, so I’m not sure how often I would be able to update my blog.

You might have heard the news that Dell is offering DVD video playback in their Ubuntu systems. Dell has released more information on what they are offering for Ubuntu 7.10.

Dell is offering LinDVD software with every Ubuntu system for DVD playback. It’s a proprietary software and the cost is included in the system price.
Normal Compiz [...]

Jonathan Riddell announced in Kubuntu mailing list that Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron will include KDE 4.0. Since 8.04 is supposed to be a LTS (Long term support) release, users will have an option of selecting either KDE 3.5.x or KDE 4.0. KDE 3.5.x will have the outstanding bugs fixed in order to release Kubuntu 8.04 [...]

As most of the Ubuntu users are aware, Ubuntu doesn’t install DVD or mp3 or other audio/video codecs by default unless they are open source. The reason is the U.S. patent law. Once you install Ubuntu and try to play a DVD or audio file, Ubuntu will prompt you to install the necessary codecs automatically [...]

I somehow missed this news. I accidentally came across this news in PC World today. The news was 3 months old. It was talking about a new technology, namely HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) which was supposed to be cheaper than Blu Ray and HD DVD. It uses the current DVD technology, the red laser [...]

PC World announced the 15 biggest tech disappointments. This includes (may not be a surprise for many), Windows Vista, Microsoft Zune and Microsoft Office 2007. The interesting part is, the list also includes Apple’s Leopard OS and iPhone. The iphone is more due to AT&T’s broadband service and the big price drop.
Technorati Tags: PC [...]

I installed KDE 4.0 RC1 in my Kubuntu 7.10 installation as per the instructions here. It was quite buggy. Here is a small list of problem I found in the couple of days I used it. I don’t know if those were fixed in KDE 4.0 RC2 which was released 2 days ago.

The K Menu [...]

The Dutch government has set a soft deadline of April 2008 for its agencies to start using open-source softwares. Government organizations will still be able to use proprietary software and formats but will have to justify it under the new policy. The government estimates it would save $8.8 million a year on city housing registers [...]

KDE team has released the second release candidate of KDE 4.0. This version is codenamed Coenig. The code base is now feature complete.
Here is how you can install KDE 4.0 RC2 in Kubuntu:

Remove previous KDE 4 packages, they are not compatible. Open a terminal and type sudo apt-get remove kdelibs5 kde4base-data kde4libs-data
Add deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu [...]