One reason to use Linux Mint over Ubuntu

This post will make heated arguments no matter what, so let me go ahead and shove the disclaimer in your face: I do not favor either Linux Mint or Ubuntu. If anything, I had more experience using Ubuntu than Mint, but I acknowledge both distros as great. That said, let's move on.

I recently went back into distro-hopping, getting to test several LiveCDs unknown to me before. The motivation was that my friend requested my help to fix his computer, and I decided to try new tools for the job. In previous distress calls, I carried with me two Rescue media: a USB drive containing Ubuntu 11.10 and a CD containing the latest KNOPPIX release (6.7 I think). I've always used the Ubuntu USB unless the Computer couldn't boot from it. It's faster, snappier and is overall simpler. However, with the recent popularity boost of Linux Mint shaking the Distrowatch hierarchy, I decided to finally bite the bullet and make a LiveUSB. And while I was at it, I also downloaded Fedora 16 and GhostBSD.

Here is the short answer:

Don't trust anyone who says "basically"

Basically, the title of this post means that basically the people who say "basically" are basically douchebags, because, basically, the word "basically" doesn't mean anything, basically.

Everyone should have a Hacking Machine

My computing experience and opinions have changed slowly, but drastically over time. I resist change for as long as I can, but when it comes, the change is immensely radical. Many people (including me) condemn this "dive straight in" attitude, as it's bound for frustration and sometimes irreversible damage to the computers. In fact, I have gone through these two problems a more than a couple of times already. The difficulty of reverting determinate situations with Linux is probably one of the reasons many people are hesitant to try it at first. Sure, the LiveCD is one way of playing it safe, but has limitations on speed and extensibility. So what is the best solution to try new things without fear, you ask? Simple, use a hacking machine.

Gaming in Linux: how to get the best of it

The title of this post is a paradox itself. If you're a Linux user, you already know that. If you're not, let's just say that the procedure to play a popular game in Linux is usually something like the following:

• Think about some game not too heavy for the box you own (even when you ran Windows);
• Look said game up on WineHQ's AppDB section;
• Pray it's rated Platinum (or at least Gold, for mercy);
• Torrent said game (unless you actually have a CD of it);
• Install said game and play it, only to find out a few side glitches that were not there with Windows;

This is the standard procedure with most of the games I've ran, or currently run. Most of them (which were AppDB checked beforehand) ran seamlessly, and only two presented glitches that had to be tweaked out. So, though I know that gaming in Linux is a lost cause by definition, I find that the Wine workarounds have worked pretty damn well so far. And that is to say:

I am pretty damn satisfied with Desktop Linux as it is at the moment - and gaming IS included in my satisfaction rating.

What... do you want more explanations? Well, I guess I do owe them in this case... It'll also help you to understand how to get the best Gaming experience in your Linux box.

Transformers 3 is a disgrace.

Trilogies tend to start off as the shit, and end up shitty. Lord of the Rings was like that, and so were the Spiderman movies. Sometimes this happens because producers pack as much awesomeness as they can for the first one (since they don't know if they will make a sequel) that the latter come out watered down in comparison. This trend is not limited to movies, though. Many video games also suffer from that, just look at Valve Software's Half Life series:

Linux Mint PWND Ubuntu!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it has happened. Behold the new most popular Linux distribution ever, Linux Mint:

Oh yes, they can! Source: Distrowatch

I wasn't planning to post anything for a while, but this caught me completely off guard...
Teaches you a lesson, Shuttleworth! Mint has turned its back on you much like you did with Debian.
Find out about them here.

UPDATE: Regardless whether you think that Distrowatch is an accurate measurement on how popular a Linux Distribution is or not, all I have to say is the following; Since Linux is completely open and Log-free ,I see no better other way to know how many people out there are using whatever distro. Wanna count all the forums? Go ahead, but I won't hold my breath.

UPDATE (Feb): Turns out that Joey Sneddon solved the mystery. Short answer: Ubuntu still rules, Linux Mint is still just a fad, etc... Go get a life.

Nov 2011 by K. Zimmermann
Contact me.

Stop making Dubstep progressively retarded

I hate to watch things that are good decay and become crappy. It seems to be a trendy thing in life, unfortunately. Two day-old pizza is sure as shit not as good as fresh pizza. 90s rap is an order of magnitude superior to 2000s rap. Dating and socializing was ten times more honest before the boom of the internet. We are faced with no other choice except to swallow these shitty things, and live on with our opinions shoved up our anuses. I still have faith in the ones that are past their glorious days, but are day after day becoming closer to a blob of poo, and I try my best to support them. One of such things is Dubstep.

How to install a program from source in Linux

Installing software in Linux is not the nightmare that Linux virgins tend to believe. There are package managers, repositories and precompiled binaries that make this task much easier. So much easier and cleaner that in fact, you must always refer to these methods FIRST before even thinking about installing from the source code.

There are only two "last stands" situations in which I would install from source: