Category Archives: Interface

KDE 4 and the Dismal State of the Linux Desktop

There has been a lot of push over the past many years to get more Linux onto more desktops. That’s fine, as long as the pushers keep in mind that an Operating System is, fundamentally, a means and not an end. Similarly, desktop environments are neither the journey nor the destination—they are, at most, the steering wheel and the dashboard.

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Attempting ‘all-in-one’ PC Mod–Turning Garbage into Gold!

Hey, folks!  I just grabbed an old all-in-one pc off the scrap heap, and I am going to try to convert it into something actually useful – a touchscreen bar-top jukebox.  Only problem, I want to do it on the cheap!  Can I get some feedback regarding any ‘skinable’ open source setup that I might be able to put on this thing?

Tech specs — It’s got a honking POWERHOUSE under the hood!  Celeron 566 with 512 of PC133 on an ultra modified mATX framework (I think).  It’s a crap heap, but hey, it comes with a 15.4″ LCD screen with a 2.5″ flat bezel frame and a decently sturdy and quiet case.  I may be stripping this down and airbrushing some nice enamel on it, but who knows.  The value price of FREE was well within my budget!

Any sage advice from the GG Open Source crowd would be greatly appreciated!  I would think it would be cool if there was some Media Center like apps out there that could run on this, that shows album art with a customizable GUI.

Any ideas?

More Virtualization rumors – OS 10.5 with Windows XP API

This was originally posted on Slashdot so many of you may have already read it. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060420.html

Cringley writes that one possibility that may come out of 10.5, in addition to a completely new kernel, is utilizing the Windows API – which they should have had access to due to the ’97 five year deal between Microsoft and Apple – and integrating it into the new version of the OS. This would allow users to run Windows XP applications in 10.5 without the need to install the entire bloated OS. I’m not quite sure how well this would work for applications that need DirectX (read games), but this is definitely an interesting theory. I agree with others here that virtualization is the holy grail of IT right now. How it pans out between VMWare, Parallels, and others will certainly remain an interesting topic.

Shaky IDF demo shows off voice-command functions

I reposted this because I found it interesting. I feel that audio control is going to be the next big step in interfacing with electronics. The sad part is, we seem to be far from a successful solution…

Intel’s voice-activated remote-control prototype doesn’t behave for Don McDonald, vice president and general manager of Intel’s digital home group. McDonald demonstrated the remote during his keynote speech at the spring 2006 Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco.