I’ve read books of 2 of the most unique creators of operating systems, that is Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, and Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft Windows.

Of course, I did get the feeling that Bill Gates was a money-hungry, arrogant, geek-vampire from his book while I got the feeling that Linus Torvalds had bigger things in mind like creating open-source operating system platform and spread of free knowledge.  I think when I was growing up, Linus Torvalds was one of my heroes while Bill Gates too, but Bill kept making bad operating systems for money.

If it wasn’t for Linus, I don’t think we would have Firefox, Google Chrome, and pretty much open source software in general.  (or at least they won’t be as popular)  This is that one guy who made the best open-source operating system and boosted the open-source community by gazillion miles.

Well, to cap it off, here’s an interview with Linux Torvalds on his thoughts with Linux as of lately:

I’ve used different distributions over the years. Right now I happen to use Fedora 9 on most of the computers I have, which really boils down to the fact that Fedora had fairly good support for PowerPC back when I used that, so I grew used to it. But I actually don’t care too much about the distribution, as long as it makes it easy to install and keep reasonably up-to-date. I care about the kernel and a few programs, and the set of programs I really care about is actually fairly small.

And when it comes to distributions, ease of installation has actually been one of my main issues - I’m a technical person, but I have a very specific area of interest, and I don’t want to fight the rest. So the only distributions I have actively avoided are the ones that are known to be “overly technical” - like the ones that encourage you to compile your own programs etc.

Yeah, I can do it, but it kind of defeats the whole point of a distribution for me. So I like the ones that have a name of being easy to use. I’ve never used plain Debian, for example, but I like Ubuntu. And before Debian people attack me - yeah, I know, I know, it’s supposedly much simpler and easier to install these days. But it certainly didn’t use to be, so I never had any reason to go for it.

via oreilly

Acer has just launched the very first laptops in the U.S. that are WiMAX-enabled.  Of course, people in Asia have been getting WiMAX laptops for the last year or so but hey, let’s just celebrate the fact that WiMAX is beginning its 4G speeds in the U.S.  This is just the start folks, you will begin to see people use WiMAX over all that other AT&T 3G crap.

SAN JOSE, Calif. and BALTIMORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Acer America, part of the world’s third largest PC company (source: Gartner data, 2Q 2008), today unveiled its first WiMAX-enabled notebooks – Aspire 4930-6862 and Aspire 6930-6771 – in support of the nation’s first U.S. WiMAX wireless broadband network launched by XOHM in Baltimore. Demonstrating the company’s focus on delivering innovative technology solutions, the Aspire 4930-6862 and Aspire 6930-6771 are WiMAX-enabled Intel® Centrino 2-based notebooks with the first-ever combined WiMAX/Wi-Fi module, previously codenamed “Echo Peak,” part of the Intel WiMAX/Wi-Fi Link 5050 Series.

via engadget, Press Release

Today, I decided to buy a new laptop since my previous two $2000 HP laptops keep dying on me constantly.

I did get a Dell Inspiron 1525 for about $600 at my local BestBuy.  It turns out the laptop gives you bang for your dollar.

Although I do hate even saying Vista as of lately, I decided to give it another go and see if Vista would stay on the laptop as it came with it.  The funniest thing happened though, I got the “unlimited” blue screens of death after installing one of my older programs.  This was the worst unlimited blue screens of death I’ve got in my 21 years career of using Microsoft’s products.

After installing that program, I’d get the blue screen of death whether I booted in Safe Mode or not.

So, if I wasn’t tech-savvy, I’d have to take it to the GeekSquad at BestBuy and spend another couple hundred bucks to fix it.  (Yes, let me also add that the BestBuy sales guy was worst than car salesman, he tried to sell me “optimization” and “virus protection” for MONEY, how fu*ked up is that?  I told him to shut the fu*k up and hand me the laptop so I can pay cash for it.  He actually agreed finally that I was right and he’s only doing his “job” as there are cameras watching him.)

Well, you can solve this problem by recovering Vista to an earlier point in time, similar to VMWare’s System Restore feature.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Press F8 at boot to enter the recovery mode.

(image credit)

2) Select “System Restore” and you will be able to select which “time” you want to recover the whole system to.

Now, I was very impressed that Vista had this capability to restore to a point in time.  But the bad news is that I should have been able to boot my Vista at least in Safe Mode.  I have never encountered such bad blue screen of death on my Windows XPs but this was just devastating for your average Joe user.

Again, I confirm the horribleness of Vista but I will keep using it on my laptop for now, just to see if I can come up with more hacks and write it on this blog.

It’s funny because the first 386DX-25Mhz PC computer was the very first computer I bought when I was 9 years old.  On the first day, somehow I deleted command.com from my MS-DOS operating system, of course made by Microsoft.  After that, I had to wait couple days so my parents could take the 30 pound PC back to the Chinese computer makers couple hours away so they could install command.com for me.

You see, Microsoft has been making vulnerable operating system since MS-DOS, how can you allow the user to erase command.com??? (Kinda stupid idea that you let that even happen without any security locks)

It was probably that first time I bought my PC that I fell in love with hacking, well, it seems like I do have to re-live my horrible operating system nightmares once in awhile.

I wonder how many people in the world do the same thing that I do, well, let me keep trying Vista and see if it gets any worse than today.

Google GMail has added another cool feature that will prevent users from sending unwanted drunk e-mails at the middle of the night.  I think it’s a good idea, I admit to sending some e-mails that might have been better kept in my draft box.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you’re in the right state of mind?

via gmailblog

Here’s a cool Eee PC Hack that uses a modified Fedora Linux to speed up the boot time of Eee PCs.  I think this shows how great linux operating systems are modification by uses.  I am sure you can do something similar with Windows, but not to the extent this hack does.

How did they do it? Arjan said it starts with the right attitude. “It’s not about booting faster, it’s about booting in 5 seconds.” Instead of saving a second here and there, set a time budget for the whole system, and make each step of the boot finish in its allotted time. And no cheating. “Done booting means CPU and disk idle,” Arjan said. No fair putting up the desktop while still starting services behind the scenes. (An audience member pointed out that Microsoft does this.) The “done booting” time did not include bringing up the network, but did include starting NetworkManager. A system with a conventional hard disk will have to take longer to start up: Arjan said he has run the same load on a ThinkPad and achieved a 10-second boot time.

via engadget, slashgear, Hack Page

Here’s a cool hack that shows you how to install a GPS seamlessly into your Dell Mini Inspiron 9 netbook.

I started by tearing the Mini down and seeing if it was even possible. Luckily, there’s a bit of space around where the Bluetooth adapter is located. It wasn’t much, but it looked like enough, so I ordered the smallest USB GPS receiver I could find. It’s a nice unit with a SkyTraQ chipset and support for AGPS. Once I used the included utility to download an AGPS update into the unit, it gets a location fix in about five seconds after a reset.

via laptop blog, Hack Page

This has to be the most wackiest DIY ever, a phone dial that let’s you browser the web via IP addresses.

Well, technically, you won’t be able to surf the web with this phone dial unless you can remember IP addresses of every website you visit but still is a cool project.

Let’s just say this DIY is more of an artwork than it is a practical thing to make.

Our relationship with technology is quickly becoming analogous to our relationship with fast food. Like the fast food restaurant chain McDonalds, information technology (e.g. the internet) seems to be everywhere. We expect it to be fast, and collectively value convenience and efficiency over elegance and craft. In the Phone Dial Web Browser, I ask how we might bring beauty and appreciation for craft back into our interaction with the now commonplace, pervasive web browser.

via make, DIY Page

Here’s a fun design for a USB Pillow iSleep, it uses the Laptop fan vents to inflate itself.

This might be a good way to sleep on the job but then again, I rather stick to my Keetsa Eco-Friendly hybrid memory form/spring bed that gives me a real rest.

This painfull experience will now stop! Now there is i -sleep, a comfortable soft pillow which can be attached on the top of each leptop and functiones like a rescue west in an airplane - with the difference…it really saves us. If we tend to fall asleep, we just close our laptop, a pillow gets filled with warm air, music is being played and after 10 minutes the alarm clock rings. Bonne nuit!

via ohgizmo, Design Page

Well, here’s a weekly re-cap of laptop stuff from our Laptop Pimp Blog just in case you’ve missed it:

ASUS Eee PC 900HA is out, slightly different but available to order through Amazon.  Check out the HP dv3500t review and specs.  Toshiba has another new laptop out, Toshiba Satellite E105 review here.  OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is coming back to Amazon but I am not excited about their corporate structural changes and deals with evil Microsoft.

Also check out 30 cool hacks for the Acer Aspire One.  Sony VAIO TT is out finally and the verdict looks pretty good.  Mouse computer launches their 10-inch netbook, I don’t see any features that is better over the Eee PCs though.  Lenovo IdeaPad S10 has been dissected here, this laptop gets so hot though, definitely not recommended buy.

Toshiba intros 250GB harddrives size of batteries.  Now, there’s an alternative to SSDs.  Panasonic Toughbook T8 Reviews here, it’s a really “tough” laptop for sheezy.  Panasonic Toughbook W8 reviews and Panasonic Toughbook F8 reviews are also there.

ASUS N10, N20, N80, N50 specs can be found here.  ASUS also has its UMPC R50 out.  BenQ Joybook U101 seems to be a promising netbook.

Well, there’s too much info on laptops so if you wanna knock yourself out, go to Laptop Pimp Blog pleaz.