Archive for the ‘News’ Category

This is the fifth of series of posts on installing Slackware Linux. The previous parts:

Part 1: Considered why some persons find Slackware difficult to install.

Part 2: Partitioned the hard drive for a clean install, as opposed to an upgrade or a dual boot installation.

Part 3: Formatted the swap drive and target drive and pointed the computer to the source media.

Part 4: Installed the operating system and included software and configured LiLo (the Linux Loader).

This post looks at the final steps of configuring the system.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is the fourth part of a series on installing Slackware Linux.

Part 1: Considered why some persons find Slackware difficult to install.

Part 2: Partitioned the hard drive for a clean install, as opposed to an upgrade or a dual boot installation.

Part 3: Formatted the swap drive and target drive and pointed the computer to the source media.

Now it’s time to put Slackware on the box.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, we looked at using cfdisk to partition the hard drive (this morning, I changed to the title of that post to make it more accurate).

Today we will look at formatting drives and selecting the target drive for the installation.

We left off yesterday by exiting cfdisk and returning to the command line. To enter the installation program, type “setup” at the command line and press enter.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have met many a Social Media Club members from around this great nation. About a year ago, I toyed with starting the Madison chapter, but we already had a great community in Web608. However, a group has officially created the Social Media Club of Madison and their first kick-off party will be on Feb 23rd.

Good Morning!
Just wanted to let everyone know that we have scheduled our first kick-off event for tomorrow, Tuesday, February 23 from 5:30-7PM at Brocach Pub on the Square. We have the whole upstairs reserved with music, swag and drink specials. Event details are located here: http://madisonsmc.eventbrite.com/
I hope to see you there! Please spread the love in any way you can!!!
Best,
Janie

–
Janie Winston
Network Administrator (membership)
Social Media Club of Madison

This should be a great time and I encourage anybody in the area to check it out tomorrow.

Update: I changed “formatting” to “partitioning” in the title to make it more descriptive.

This is the second of several posts on installing Slackware Linux. The first post is here.

Before installing Slackware or any operating system, you have to have the installation media. I use CDs because some of my computers are old enough that they do not speak “bootable DVD.” For most Linux distributions I try, I simply download *.ISO files and burn CDs from them. Almost every DVD/CD burning program includes the ability to burn CDs from *.ISO files, but sometimes you have to hunt around a bit to find it.

(If you haven’t burned from an *.ISO file before, read the burner help file; all that copying the *.ISO to the CD does is give you a backup of the file, not a usable disk. I know; I’ve done it even after I knew better).

The computer needs to be set to boot from the CD drive before booting from the hard drive; this setting is found in the BIOS. See the note at the end of this post for pointers about setting the computer to boot from the CD.

Slackware 13.0, which I used in this test, comes in a six CD set; three of the CDs are installation CDs. Three contain extra programs and source code (under the terms of the GPL, source code must be made available to users–hence the term “open source”). Slackware does not have a live CD, which allows you to boot from the CD and test the OS without installing it, but there is a Slackware-based live CD project called “Slax.”

So, let’s boot this puppy.

Read the rest of this entry »

When we saw what Ford was doing at CES 2010 with the SYNC system, we were impressed. Well, it goes without saying that not only were we impressed, but the Fast Company was, too. They put Ford on the Top Ten “Most Innovative Companies” in mobile technology. Actually, it’s #5 on the list:

1. Google
2. Apple
3. Amazon
4. HTC
5. Ford
6. Evernote
7. Qualcom
8. Clearwire
9. Foursquare
10. Intermap

This is the first time an automaker has been featured on the Top 10 Mobile list. The honor goes to Ford from their work of with SYNC and the MyFord Touch driver interface. Collaborating with many different mobile device manufacturers, as well as software app developers and network providers.

One of those providers is Stitcher – a content provider of Podcasts and Internet radio over the iPhone, Android, Palm and Blackberry. All of Geekazine’s Podcasts are available on Stitcher. Other programs are Pandora, OpenBeak, Inrix, Microsoft and TeleNav, amongst other programs.

Mark Fields, Ford President for the Americas States:

This honor represents Ford’s commitment to innovation and development of technology that enhances the driving experience and adds real value to the consumer. We’re very proud of this recognition from Fast Company, and it is truly an accomplishment to be named amongst some of the leading technology innovators and mobile application developers.”

Ford has also become the first automaker that announced hands-free command and control of smart phone applications. Ford SYNC is available in all cars created today. Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo are their other brands.

For some time now I’ve wanted to write a post on how to install Slackware Linux. I even had a bunch of pictures taken and kept getting distracted, then a new version came in the mail. I’ve finally sprung the time to set it up and will devote several posts to installing and configuring Slackware Linux.

About Slackware:

Slackware is the oldest named Linux distribution. It is also supposed to be the “most Unix like.” I cannot speak to that because I’ve never used Unix. I can say that in the Unix user group in my new area, my first impression is that most of the old Unix heads seem to be using Slackware.

Indeed, Slackware is venerable enough in the short history of Linux that it has given its name to a family of distributions, which are described as Slackware-based, Debian-based, or Fedora-based. (Of the ones I’ve tested, Ubuntu is Debian-based and CentOS is Fedora-based. I am currrently using Ubuntu on my laptop and my netbook because they came that way from the factory and if it ain’t broke etc.; my desktops all run Slackware.)

Slackware is conservative, not cutting edge. In the choice between “new” and “stable,” stable wins out.

Ease (or Not) of Install:

There are some Linux users who will claim that Slackware is difficult to install. (They do not, of course, use Slackware.)

Others, true geeky snobs, take the position that anything less than Slackware really is not Linux. There is one fellow currently participating in the newsgroup, alt.os.linux.slackware, whose signature includes something like this (I’ve edited it slightly):

“Ubuntu”: an African word meaning “I can’t figure out Slackware.”

The truth is this: Installing Slackware is not very difficult, but it is more difficult than installing and using many other Linux distributions. This is primarily because Slackware expects the user to be able to use either Linux fdisk (command line) or Linux cfdisk (menu-driven) to prepare the hard drive to receive the installation. (Linux cfdisk is similar to DOS fdisk). Most other distributions I’ve tested default to suggesting a formatting scheme and giving the option of doing it yourself.

Consequently, someone who has never formatted a hard drive is quickly confronted by a bunch of unfamiliar stuff to do and can understandably go up a tree complaining that “This Slackware stuff is too hard for me.”

Testbed:

The computer I’m using is a Pentium III 1000 with three hard drives:

• 40 GB IDE drive jumpered as master.
• 4 GB slave IDE drive jumpered as slave.
• 4 GB slave SCSI drive jumpered as slave (the primary drive when the computer started its life as a WindowsNT server; I added the other two).

Over the next several days, I’ll describe the initial installation and configuration of the operating system. This is not intended to be a text book install–I’m hardly qualified to write a text book–but rather one person’s lessons learned.

I Buzzed the other day. The little Buzz bubble was there on the Google Maps on my Android phone and I succumbed to temptation and replied to someone else’s Buzz.

I think it shall be my one and only time.

I am thoroughly underwhelmed. As I punch the little bubbles on the map, I find myself learning who’s stuck in traffic, who’s ordering pizza, who’s lonely for companionship (that buzz was really no one’s bizz, especially accompanied by a picture of the lonely person in question). And, frankly, the fact that Google Maps shows the geographical location of Buzzers (Buzzists? Buzzites?) does sort of induce a case of the willies.

Read the rest of this entry »

January’s Roundtable was another great event. Todd Cochrane was your host for the TechPodcasts Roundtable.

Jeffrey Powers talked about ways to podcast via a mobile device. He introduced Mark Smith – CEO of iPadio.com -We provided TPN updates from CES by phone right from the show floor, in audio podcast form. Learn how the technology from the UK Company spearheaded coverage of the disaster from Haiti a few days after CES. Mark even used the iPadio service to also stream out his portion of the discussion to his followers.

Andy McCaskey introduced Rob May from BackUpify.com. Backupify offers a way to safely back up all of the social media data that you have stored in the cloud – such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Gmail. It’s in beta right now, so if you want to try it for free, you can get your current social media content backed up.

Sponsor: GotoMeeting get your free 30 day trial today atgotomeeting.com/techpodcast Unleash the power of online meetings with GotoMeeting

There are a lot of options to watch of listen select one below.

• Watch the Interactive Video
• Watch Apple TV Ready Video
• Listen to the Audio Only

Or just watch the video below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (77.0MB)

We are happy to announce another new site in the Geekazine library – Sportazine: for the Sports Nuts in All of us. This is a site dedicated to any sport. Don’t your sport on the list? Let me know and I’ll put it up there. Want to be a contributor? Let me know and I’ll get you on the list.

Douglas will be taking care of most of the posts over at Sportazine. Welcome Doug on the team!

IOMega i-Connect Wireless Data Station gets in the Network Attached Storage (NAS) game with this new device. It takes your USB drives and turns it into storage over the network. You will also be able to connect USB printers or other devices, and it will turn into a new drive for you to pull from.

Andy McCaskey talks with Bill on this great new product from Iomega. The i-Connect Data Station is only $99 and has a 3 year warranty. Of course, it is wireless, so you will be able to place it anywhere you have a WiFI signal.

Sponsor:  Get GotoAssist Express free for 30 days and complete the IT Toolbox – GoToAssist.com/techpodcasts.

Get this content on TiVo, Roku and Boxee – Subscribe to the YouTube Channel and Check out Techpodcasts.tv

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (48.5MB)