[sf-lug] SF-LUG meeting of Sunday 6 January 2013

[Grant Bowman]

I would appreciate anyone who would like to share their perspective on
our recent discussion of a feature added to 12.10 and 13.04.

    https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-us-ca/2012-December/thread.html

The subject is "RMS vs. Amazon search results feature".

Thanks,

Grant


On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 2:53 PM, jim <jim at systemateka.com> wrote:
>     Nice report, Bobbie.
>     Also, Eric mentioned that Canonical is releasing
> Ubuntu built on an Android kernel. This promises to
> run the same apps as those available for Ubuntu for
> "regular" computers, i.e. the same apps will run on
> an Android cellphone as run on a powerful tower or
> laptop. Assuming so, that's full integration across
> my mobile and less mobile devices, a real boon and
> an interesting countrast to the dumbing down trend
> of computing platforms in general.
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 2013-01-06 at 14:39 -0800, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
>>     Hi LUGgers,
>>         Well it was an interesting meeting today.
>>     John Strazzarino was there before me at the Cafe Enchante.
>> He was very interested in seeing Ken Schaefer's Chumby running
>> and Ken with his wife was in shortly thereafter.  Ken's
>> gadget today was not only the demo of the operating Chumby
>> but an Ocopoid like USB Hub.
>>     Then as I was booting to Knoppix 7.04 a nice fellow named
>> Nelson showed up briefly and then saying he need cash and
>> the in-cafe ATM was out of order left to find $$ and food.
>>     He never returned so I hope he had no other problems.  He was
>> looking for help with his Lenova Linux install as all his support
>> had moved East after doing a big update for him.  He is a writer
>> and needs his computer to be working.
>>     Next in was Jim Stockford and he came to help and learn.
>>
>>     Playing with Knoppix I had tried to log out but in doing so
>> was offered the chance to use KDE in the desktop environment
>> and did so.  This is KDE 4.7.4 and it was interesting as the
>> set-up from the 4.5.4 that I use daily was not terribly different
>> but there was a problem with over-sized widget(s) icons on
>> the vertical panel.
>>
>>     By the way the Knoppix is running on Kernel 3.4.9 I believe
>> and usually boots to LXDE which can put up as many panels
>> as KDE but makes it substantially harder to populate them with
>> icons and widgets.
>>
>>     Then Morgan cam in with a problem getting an older editor
>> to run.  We were not able to help him much though I personally
>> sympathise  because I used to use Textra on the Amiga and try
>> to duplicated the features of that fine old tool using both
>> KWrite and Kate to do the chores I used to accomplish with
>> Textra.
>>
>>     Finally Eric came in to show off his Nexus 7.   This inspired
>> a search on the tablet and on its larger brother the Nexus 10
>> both by Google but the 10 inch device is much more connectible
>> and expensive.  I looked up the specs for Jim and it is a very
>> good fast multi-core with a separate core for Graphics and it
>> shows about 2560 x 1600 in those 10 inches.
>>
>>     Some one perhaps Ken raised the Raspberry Pi as a good
>> usable computer which reminded me of the news from Team
>> Amiga of "the MK802 Allwinner A10 Mini PC,the Other $35
>> Do-It-All Computer. Running Android 4.0, this about the size
>> of a flash drive and, also like your favorite USB storage device,
>> enjoys being plugged into things. HDMI inputs to be precise.
>> Unlike flash drives, however, the MK802 also enjoys having
>> things plugged into it. A keyboard. A mouse. A micro SD card.
>> The little brick with the Android brain is truly a wonder
>> of versatility and skill. . . ."
>>
>> <http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/gear/computers/android-mk802-mini-pc.asp>
>>
>>     We discussed the use of touch screens as well on full-sized
>> desktop
>> computers.  I find them pointless for general computing but for
>> kiosk and similar uses it was pointed out they have their places.
>>
>>     1:05 PM we adjourned.
>>
>>     Thanks for the ride, Jim.
>>
>>     Bobbie Sellers