OS X content and your ideas

I have been very heavy on the Linux content the last while.  For those that prefer OS X related content, I just want to say that I am working on a couple things which will be posted in the next couple days.  I still love X very much, and use it about 60-70% of the time I compute these days with the rest divided between OpenBSD and Lubuntu.  

My intention is to give equal coverage to both OS, but the last couple weeks I have been concentrating on the Linux to help the early adopters.

If anyone has any ideas about content they would like to see me write about, please leave a comment about what it is and why you feel it's important to cover.

Midori: Webkit for Linux

I had heard about this for a while, but didn't try it until 3 days ago because I'm not a big Webkit fan, until now.  On Mac OS I almost never use Safari or Webkit and it took a Linux adoption of the tech to get my attention.

Over the last 3 days I have run this on Lubuntu 12.04.1 and 12.10 with great results.  It launches in less than half the time of Firefox 16, uses about 40% less RAM, and is noticeably snappier at page loading.  It doesn't have all the brute capability of Firefox, but for regular  browsing it's all you will need.  I now keep both browsers installed with Midori set as the default.

One of the real positives about it is that it has a very capable built in collection of extensions, like ad blocking, cookie management etc.  So far the built in ad blocking is just as good as ABP/ABE.  Very capable bookmark management also.

Those that have installed Linux should give it a try.

Linux: The Code

I wanted to share a great Linux documentary from 2001 about the fundamentals of the Linux culture.  It also talks about the birth and history of Linux.

After decades of using strictly Mac OS and BSD, I am happy to finally embrace Linux.  The last two years I have slowly increased my Linux use, but it's these last 3 months or so that I have really dove into it.  As a BSD user since the 80's, I was sort of caught up in that BSD elitism some have.  By that I mean that many BSD heads scoff at Linux for not being 'true' Unix.  The reality is that it may not be as close to true Unix as BSD, but all the same advantages are there along with a Linux developer and user base that dwarfs BSD. 

The greatest thing about Linux in 2012 is that the pre-existing kernel and package collection that makes up the whole is so big that virtually everything is limitless.  After two decades of heavy growing development there are solutions to suit literally everyone, from the most green newbie, to a command line wizard.  It's because of all these things that I now heavily promote Linux especially for PowerPC Macs now years after being abandoned by their maker.  I still use BSD every single day, but Linux is just as much if not more a part of my life now.  Linux reaches much further into virtually every computing avenue. 

About 10-15% of the video is in the Finnish language without english subs, but most parts are spoken in english.  All the core people are interviewed.  I first saw this in 2003 right around the time that I was starting to sway from BSD, and it reminded me why I shouldn't.  If you have never seen this, or have not in a long time; here it is.

Video
140.9 MB - 58 min 49 sec
320x240 - h.264/AAC - 25 fps

Here is the standard web URL for HTML5.  I have a personal policy here to never embed images or video in my posts.  The reason for this is that it keeps the load time and CPU use much lower.  I also prefer to concentrate on the words and keep a simple elegant look.  This is also why I don't use the blogger navbar at the top.

Puppy love?

I am a big fan of Puppy Linux, and I am really feeling the void of there being no PowerPC port.  There was an attempt at a beta back in 2009 with PowerPup, but the developer seems to have abandoned it with no updates for 3+ years.

There are others out there in the PowerPC community that like Puppy Linux, and a proper version for our favourite architecture is exactly what it needs.  The greatest thing about Puppy is that it runs entirely in RAM which means it's lightweight and extremely fast.

We need developers and testers to step forward and make this happen.  I do OpenBSD development for both PowerPC and x86 myself, so I will bring all I can to the plate, but I can't do it alone.

Who's in?  We need some great people with amazing skills to step up and push PowerPC forward by helping port what could possibly be the perfect distro for our hardware; especially G3's and slower G4's.


Puppy links:

Official Page - Community Page - Wiki Page