Arghhhhh what a month May has been

May has been most eventful personally and in my learning curve of the tech world.

On a personal note i turned 31 which indeed was scary but i managed to get over it successfully till next year deleting some memory space with alcohol should give it a defrag at some point lol.  :S

May also brought about the need for a new laptop as my old one broke and the tech couldn’t get the part how hard is it to get and inverter to light the back screen for a Medion pink notebook ( yes i said pink lol ). So i decided to pop along to my local electrical suppliers and got an Acer, 3gb/250gb which is more than my old one so i can now run my virtual machine without it acting like a slug smothered in salt (dead basically).

My virtual machine runs the new  version of Ubuntu linux OS which runs like a dream till you have a pile of options for flash players and the likes so I’m still fine tuning my options if all else fails i have mahjong to play lol.  I joined a new chat site aimed at women Linux users called Linuxchix which is a great source of help and advice or just sitting and reading other peoples thoughts and problems.

/server irc.linuxchix.org    /join #linuxchix

from my last blog i stated i was learning computing languages, i started off with ruby which i quite successfully managed to do the 20 minute guide but then closed the wrong box before i could run it which is quite a noob thing to do but i shall perceive and maybe post my efforts.  i used this site if anyone interested

http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/

Well that’s pretty much what i have been doing of late apart from me chatting on fsirc which i can also do from my new phone the  HT magic on Vodaphone there is an irc app which is some what easy to use but force closes or times out so often i don’t know if its worth it but keeps me in contact with friends which is a must for a chatterbox like me

hydra.fsirc.net   /join #chat

feel free to pop by and say Hai we don’t bite

learning programming languages

Oh the joys,

I am now learning various programming languages any suggestions for a beginner ??? . I have done a little html and now I’m trying Ruby then maybe PHP .

I insanly let someone convince me i needed to learn these things where as ive mannaged thus far in my life without them. I get the benefits, I mean you can design your own web pages without using templates so more variety , code bots for chat rooms etc..

Well i shall keep you all informed on my progress and how much hair i have left and if I’m grey by the end of it lol

Happy Coding

IRC for the nOOb

IRC , I had never heard of this kind of chat client before until i met a few peoples that use it as apposed to the  java applet,

What is IRC ?? , IRC basically means Internet Relay Chat

and there is multiple IRC clients you can choose from e.g

mIRC, xchat, irssi, Konversation, Ice chat, Mibbit to name but a few there are loads out there.

IRC can be used in chatrooms  instead of the java browser options, so you can go on multiple servers and rooms at the same time. Can use Scripts that make fonts into different colours and patterns and most run on different OS such as Windows and Linux.

I started off with mIRC and found it relatively easy to use but you have to pay for the software so when i had to do a full reinstall on my laptop i decided to change to x-chat as it was recommended to me and i love it much easier to use and have multiple servers open to chat , x-chat is free on Linux but you have to pay for a Windows version unless you get the xchat 2 version, I also use Pidgin as an alternative to MSN which can also be used as a IRC client .

I work on and IRC server as a non paid ops which is basically a chat room moderator who can kick or ban people that don’t adhere to the rules of the server and keep chatters in a safe environment, this includes unwanted personal messages, harassment over colour ,creed or sexual orientation and anyone that just wants to cause a disturbance.

On IRC i am called perpetual_drkness and i have this nickserved which i recommend unless you want someone else to use your name

/msg NickServ REGISTER [password] [email]

There is a hierarchy on IRC and goes like this :-

~ = Has “founder” access to the channel
& = Is a channel operator and is protected by our set of IRC channel services.
@ = Is a channel operator but is not protected by our set of IRC channel services.
% = Is a “halfop”, meaning half-operator. These users can kick and ban users, but not set channel modes.
+ = Is a “voice”, our members with no seniority are given this level of access, they cannot kick or ban.

So ….. i bid you all happy chatting xD

windows vs linux

Windows Vs Linux

I have a laptop that runs on Vista and a desktop that runs on XP and I’m now in the process of duel booting them with Linux software. As I’m new to Linux my first port of call is Ubuntu oh the problems I have had trying to set this up lol, as I am just learning computers I decided in my infinite wisdom to try and duel boot my laptop myself everything was fine I made the partition in my c: drive and off I went and installed the Ubuntu software to find that Vista had disappeared and the Ubuntu wouldn’t load, Imagine my dis pare I had to do a full Vista reinstall which I did myself from backup disks.

Few months later when I was feeling much braver I tried again but this time I couldn’t even get Ubuntu installed before the laptop kept freezing . So this brings me to this debate I suppose you could say. What is the best OS for you to use is Linux just for the geeks or can us not so technically advanced user  find it better than Windows ???.

One of my friends gave me this analysis not very technical but its an opinion

Windows = shit  , Linux = awesomesauce

Thanks King Tarquin much love to you, he is a Fedora user so maybe a tad bias but this is where I have learned of different things I suppose I hang about with a pile of computer geeks most of them run different versions of Linux so I thought id give it a try as I wasn’t happy with what I had.

……………………………………………………………………………….

OK lets start with Windows , the new Windows 7 is due out soon and if its anything like vista I’m wondering if its worth ridding myself of Microsoft products all together, Vista is OK if you want it all set up for you out the box and not really going to do much with it just word processing etc.. plus I find it very memory hungry plus you are limited you can get business, office and server versions of Microsoft products but their basically the same but with some added extras and the OS isn’t exactly cheap either and if you have multiple computers you need one for each. Also when the release a new product they stop support for older ones where people that haven’t upgraded and still use, lol yes some people still have 95,98 and Me. I am so fed up of automatic updates which I don’t choose I’m told to have these and I cant filter which ones I want or not

The lack of custom ability basically it comes as it is task bar to the bottom and off you go. You also have a lot of different programmes on windows but their mostly made by Microsoft ,dos prompt is the only text interpreter on windows , Another reason is I’m not Paying for Bill Gates and his Crones retirement plans they deserve to have competitors around to rival them not I will just have the Microsoft product cause that’s all you can get unless you get a mac or a dedicated Linux machine..

So with my disillusion with Windows and Discussions with friends that are Linux users I started to use Ubuntu through a Virtual Machine this means no install on to the hard drive  and this is what I found

the various distributions of Linux come from different companies (i.e. Linspire, Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu, Xandros, Knoppix, Slackware, Lycoris, etc.  to name but a few and most of these are free or very cheap and can be downloaded on line and don’t even have to be stored on the hard drive can be just run off a disk or a usb stick, but most come with little or no support network if your a new user . All the OS of Linux use the same kernel which is the Operating system back bone should we say the way they differ is threw add ons GUI, install process, price, documentation and technical support so depending on what you want to use it for there is more of a choice. Would a major Linux distributor rival Microsoft ? I just think it would arm people with freedom to choose pick a computer and pick an OS not have what it comes with out the box.

Linux is very customisable the user interface, while similar do vary in detail from distribution to distribution the task bar may default to being on the top or the bottom. Also, there are many special purpose versions of Linux , NASLite is a version of Linux that boots off a CD and converts an old computer into a file server. This ultra small edition of Linux is capable of networking, file sharing and being a web server.

Both Linux and Windows provide a GUI and a command line interface,Linux typically provides two GUIs, KDE and Gnome. Of the major Linux distributions, Lindows has made their user interface look more like Windows than the others. Then too, there is XPde for Linux which really makes Linux look like Windows. So basically can make it look like windows and not be windows if that’s what your used to, the Linux GUI is optional while the Windows GUI is an integral component of the OS. The speed, efficiency and reliability are all increased by running a server instance of Linux without a GUI, something that server versions of Windows can not do. detached nature of the Linux GUI makes remote control and remote administration of a Linux computer simpler and more natural than a Windows computer the flexibility of the Linux GUI a good thing? Yes and No. While advanced users can customize things to their liking, it makes things harder on new users for whom every Linux computer they encounter may look and act differently

Linux users instead of dos prompt they call it a shell. like all versions of Unix they supports multiple command interpreters instead of just the one that is on windows. Linux as far as i’m aware has little or no common known viruses and you can update and choose programmes that you wish and most are free for instance why pay for Microsoft Office when you can get open office.org for free

I am still undecided and so are other people out there as to weather Linux would work as an OS for a larger majority of people or is it still for the more technologically advance I am going to give it a go what I got to lose really other than gain knowledge and learn from my mistakes. Most of it is Alien to me I have to learn a bit at a time suppose it don’t help that I didn’t learn all this in my teens but then computing wasn’t part of my life then but i’m very interested to learn and improve and show that not only non computer people can do this but so can us girls  so look out geeks i’m invading your space xD

Mobile Phone Debate

I’m currently looking for a new mobile phone and with discussions with many on line friends we have had varied opinions.

I like the look and and the style of the dev-1 but basically this is a developers phone with little or no apps ,

The G1 is also mentioned which looks nice has a slide out keyboard for ease of typing but is currently only on t-mobile and i don’t want to change network provide (currently on O2).

Then there is HTC phones which all look nice but touchscreen typing can get to be a bit of a pain i suppose, i like the magic which is currently unavailable plus expensive.

Thus brings us onto the iphone, many a friend has recommended this phone to me and im a bit dubious seeing as its from apple i have an ipod currently and i dunno it seems to have to many silly apps like a spirit level but i could lighten my handbag load with ipod and phone combined so i can see its advantages.

Any thoughts i want it for phone uses ease of texting emails and use of  IRC whilst away from laptop and home to keep connected to friends but also useful on a night out to call a taxi home and not have to fiddle to much so im going to do a straw poll and cast opinions

Twitter is it just a faze

Twitter is it just a faze ???

I have a Twitter account i have had it for around 6 months now and i must say i think im typing random thoughts to people with the odd reply now and then.  I don’t know if it is over hyped but everyone seems to have a Twitter like they would have Face book, Myspace, Bebo or another social networking site .

Is this just a faze everyone is going through?? and when something new comes along will that be the end of Twitter discarded and left in cyberspace alone and in the dark.

The way i see Twitter is its kind of an on line stalker watching your every daily task and sharing it with others the mundain happenings of everyday life.

Can you over “tweet” yes i suppose you can how much information is too much information suppose you find out with the amount of unfollowers, the same applies if you don’t tweet enough you then become boring and uninteresting how do you keep a happy medium who knows?? , who cares ??

FYI my twitter account is perpetual_drkss feel free to add me and let me in to your mundain lives and share my thoughts of the world from my perspective

Hello world!

Haiiiiii xD

This is my Blog, i am new to blogging and thought it would be fun to Blog my rise to geekdome, im a relative computer nOOb but im learning new things on a daily basis so i thought i would share my struggle with the world

I am for a start a girl, computer geeks generally are male not always ! so this mainly is for girl power to break the myth that geeks are boys who live at home with their mom and play endless games of World of Warcraft

so please feel free to comment on my Blog and any advice and tips would be appreciated xD