Entries Tagged 'Land of the Freeware' ↓

By Andrew Min

I have this huge love/hate relationship with Firefox. It’s way too bloated and so much slower compared to the other browsers I’ve tried. But I can’t live without it, simply because I never found a decent alternative. I can’t use Internet Explorer or Safari simply because I run Linux. Besides, neither seemed extremely stellar to me. Konqueror won’t render everything. Sure, that’s the programmer’s fault and Konqueror is W3C compliant and all that, but that doesn’t help me read that site. Ditto for Opera. I also don’t need an email, BitTorrent, and feed client. All I need is a web browser. And Epiphany and Dillo are great, but I don’t like running Gnome apps in my KDE install. That’s why I was quite excited when I found Arora, a WebKit-powered Qt web browser.

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By Andrew Min

I suppose it’s fitting that my first review here at dawningvalley.com is
about Glide OS, since the first article I wrote in my life was about the same product. Back then, it was just called Glide Digital, required a credit card, and was not really an online operating system but a site that hosted your files with a few online applications. Two years later, Glide has evolved into a WebOS in the style of YouOS and eyeOS. But is it ready for general use?

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By Andrew Min

Recently, there’s been a lot written about virtualization. Ever since Steve Jobs announced the move to Intel, there’s been huge flurries of excitement as commercial virtualization products like VMWare and Parallels and open-source products like VirtualBox improved their offerings. Not just on the Apple platform, either (you should see the amount of work that has gone into the Linux KVM and Qemu programs). However, these “traditional” virtualization programs have had problems, mainly because they run a separate operating system in a separate window (recent products have sort of fixed this, but issues still abound). Luckily, there is another option: andLinux, a full-blown Ubuntu Gutsy-based distro that has been around for quite a while. andLinux utilizes the coLinux kernel, which is a port of the Linux kernel to Windows, which greatly improves speed (nice for those of us who only have 512 MB of RAM). Also, coLinux allows the VM and the host to share resources, while you have to virtualize all the resources in a “traditional” virtual machine offering. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

Most of the time, I’m at my computer. Or near it. And if I had an internet device like a Nokia N810 or an iPod Touch, I’d have it with me 24/7. And since most of the time I’m at a place where there’s a wifi network, it makes sense for me to use VoIP rather than a regular phone line. Now, you’re probably ready to sit back and listen to a pitch for Skype’s cheap $0.021/per minute or Gizmo’s even cheaper $0.019/minute. If you’re really tech-savvy, you might be expecting a pitch for iCall, which has free calling in the US and Canada and a free phone number. However, iCall is Windows-only and doesn’t always work. That’s not what I want. I’m talking about making and receiving calls that are completely free (that is, $0.00/minute) forever (that is, no 30 day demo) for as much as you want (that is, no 30 day trial or five hour/week limit). The key? Google’s closed-beta GrandCentral. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

If you type a lot (and chances are that if you are reading htis, you do) you probably know and are slightly worried about that horrible disorder known as carpal tunnel syndrome, a form of repetitive strain injury (RSI) common among keyboarders. It’s a really painful disorder in your wrists and fingers. And once you have it, it’s really hard (and expensive) to cure. Obviously then, it’s a lot better to prevent yourself from getting it in the first place rather than trying to cure it. The best way to prevent carpal tunnel is to simply take periodic breaks from typing every now and then. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to remember to do this. That’s why Workrave was created. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

My student friends all use Google Talk or AIM. One of my editors uses Windows Live Messenger. My church friends all use Skype. My gaming friends all use Xfire. Obviously, I can’t download all five clients and run them all at the same time. What’s the answer? Trillian Astra, the free multi-protocol instant messenger. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

I’ve always been a fan of sidescrollers, ever since I got my first GameBoy with Super Mario Bros. on it. I’ve played them all, from Soldat to Super Tux. But I never experienced anything quite like Teeworlds, an open source multiplayer sidescrolling shoot-’em-up game. Continue reading →