Need a reason NOT to buy Vista?

You can get a few just by doing a simple Google search, ‘buy Vista’. Here are some interesting results (note these results are a few days old so your’s may differ).

Info Source: One Post At A Time

Fx 1.5.0.12/2.0.0.4 Released

From the Mozilla Developers Blog:

On Wednesday, May 30, we expect to begin distributing Firefox 1.5.0.12 and Firefox 2.0.0.4 via automatic updates. These are standard stability and security updates for the browser to ensure a fast and secure online experience for our users. We expect this is the final stability and security release for the version 1.5 product series.

Now, for those of you still on the 1.5 product series, you will be happy to know in a few weeks you will be offered an upgrade to migrate to the current 2.0 product series (should be 2.0.0.4) via the Major Update mechanism.

Sound Fixed but New Issue

First has anyone else ran into troubles with Fx 2.0.0.3 and the upgrade Linux Kernel?  My Fx keeps crashing after a couple minutes running in the new Kernel.  I was able to reboot into the old Kernel and it works fine.  I know there has been some issues with video cards on the new Kernel but those were at boot up.  I can boot into the new Kernel but when I use Fx it becomes unresponsive after a few minutes and then will come back for may be 10-20 seconds for going unresponsive again.

Now the sound issue has drove me batty but I got it figured out.  If boot fresh (machine powered off) into Ubuntu I have sound.  If reboot (without a shutdown) I won’t have sound when I come back in.  I have even tried installing (now since removed) Pulse Audio (had issues with that as well, but that was also with the new Kernel).  I also removed the asound.conf file I had created (never had one prior).  I don’t quite understand what is causing me not to have sound when I reboot but this method/fix seems to be working.

Weekly Update 2007-05-28 Note

While there is an agenda (very basic) listed on the Weekly Update site, I doubt that there will be a weekly update this Monday due to the Memorial Day Holiday. If all goes as planned these things should happen this week:

• Fx/TBird 1.5.0.12 (Final Update/Release on the Fx 1.5 Branch) released – Wednesday, May 30th
• Fx 2.0.0.4 released – Wednesday, May 30th
• Fx 3.0a5/Gecko 1.9a5 released – Thursday, May 31st

Update: The agenda for the May 28th meeting has been removed from the WeeklyUpdates site. Next meeting will be Monday, June 4th.

Sound Issues Fixed Themselves?

As a result of the Ubuntu Sound Issues as well as post on the Ubuntu Forums, I had some suggestions as to how to fix my issues.  Now this morning I booted directly into Ubuntu and the dangest thing happened, I had sound again. I also have determined that my other sound issue were being caused by as Nogg3r5 put it: “unreliable alpha software”.

So far so good, I’ve been using Fx 2 along with Banshee media player all morning.  Just wish Foxy Tunes supported Banshee.  I did drop the folks at Foxy Tunes a note about this as it had been discussed in their forums prior but that was back in July 2006.

Ubuntu Sound Issues

Last night I mentioned in the Mounting ‘Data’ Drive & Other Ubuntu Stuff post was having trouble playing music in Rythmbox or Totem when doing anything in Fx3a5pre. So this morning I was going to try using Fx 2.0.0.3 and see if it made a difference. However, when I directly booted (from when I turned the machine on) into Ubuntu, I didn’t have any sound. This has happened a couple nights ago but then last night it was fine. FWIW, below is my Sound Preferences screen. I am using a Creative Labs Sound Blaster PCI512 and I also have (but I believe it is disabled) an on board sound card with the motherboard. Clicking test brings up the ‘Testing’ Dialog box, but no sound. According to Ubuntu volume is on I have adjusted all the way up and still no sound. Anyone have any suggestions? Of course the next time I boot-up into Ubuntu I will likely have sound.

Mounting ‘Data’ Drive & Other Ubuntu Stuff

On the Places/Bookmarks now on Fx 3 Alpha 5 post, ‘cd‘ had asked how I was able to finally get my ‘Data’ Drive (now drives as I seemed to have split it into two partitions) mounted. Thanks to spock1982 on the CyberNet Forum I found out that I needed to install the NTFS Configuration Tool. This was a rather simple process, well a lot simpler then reconfiguring the x-server (so I could get the 1440×900 screen resolution) which I screwed up the first time. Luckily I had made a backup and was able to restore my original xorg.conf via the Linux terminal.

Now, back to getting the NTFS (Windows Partition) drives mounted on boot-up.
Note: these directions apply to Ubuntu 7.04 ( Feisty Fawn):

• Applications -> Add/Remove -> search for ‘NTFS’, you should find NTFS Configuration Tool, install it.

• Applications -> System Tools -> NTFS Configuration Tool -> Enable Write Support (depending on your device internal/external)

When you run the application you will be presented with a list of mountable partitions. Simply check the boxes for the partitions you want to mount. So now when I boot up into Ubuntu I have on my desktop my WinXP Drive (C:) and my two Data Drives (E: & F:)

Okay so I have my ‘Data’ Drive(s) mounted now, I have access to all my music files. Ran into a bit of a problem when I was trying to play some music in Rhythm Box and had Fx 3.0a5pre open. Whenever I did anything in Fx the music would stop or skip (like what would happen in WinXP if you are low on resources). Once I closed Fx, it played fine. Even played fine when I was doing some stuff with OpenOffice.org at the same time. I am still trying to get that resolved.

Speaking of OpenOffice.org, I was able to open and modified an OpenOffice.org document I had created in WinXP with the Ubuntu version. Then later on I booted back into WinXP and was able to open and modify the same document using OpenOffice.org for WinXP. No conversion, no incompatibility issues, it was so great.

Places/Bookmarks now on Fx 3 Alpha 5

A little over a year later since Places was removed from the then under development Fx 2, it appears it is finally starting to take shape for Fx 3. From the mozilla Developers News blog:

The Firefox Places team has been hard at work to get the bookmarks portion of Places in shape for it to go out with Firefox 3 Alpha 5 scheduled later this month. And we are excited to let you all know that last week we enabled the Places implementation of bookmarks on the trunk. Although there is still much to be done, this is an important milestone for us.

If you are willing to experiment with this new feature on Fx 3 Alpha 5 Pre (The final Alpha 5 should be released on 2007-05-31) you are advised to backup your bookmarks, just in case. See Bookmarks: Backing up and Recovering for step-by-step instructions. Also keep in mind this is no where close to being a finished product so the UI may not work as desired (but that’s what make beta software so fun!).

Next time I boot up into Ubuntu and update my Fx 3, I’ll take a look at this. Of course right now I don’t have any bookmarks over there. I’ll need to import some from one my Windows profiles. At least I am finally been able to mount my ‘Data’ drive (or may be they’re on my ‘WinXP’ drive) so I can get those files.

Fx 1.5.0.12rc2/2.0.0.4rc3 on ‘Beta’ channel

Looks like we are getting very close to the final Fx 1.5.0.12/2.0.0.4 releases. Today on mozilla Developer News:

Firefox 1.5.0.12rc2 / 2.0.0.4rc3 coming to a beta channel near you

At around 4pm PDT this afternoon, Firefox 1.5.0.x and Firefox 2.0.0.x users on the “beta” update channel will be receiving updates to Firefox 1.5.0.12rc2 and Firefox 2.0.0.4rc3, respectively.Feedback about these release candidates should be directed to the mozilla.feedback.firefox.prerelease newsgroup.

 

Weekly Update 2007-05-21

Here the latest Mozilla news:

• Fx 2.0.0.4 RC3 testing completed will be upgrade to beta later this week.  Final release scheduled for Wednesday, May 30th
• Fx/TBird 1.5.0.12 testing nearly completed
• Fx 3.0a5pre updates, Places Bookmarks Landed, Password Manager Update Landed. a5 release scheduled for May 31st

Complete meeting notes