Well, I’ve been fuming for the past few weeks over something, and I’ve just now gotten around to doing something about it.
I went back to my dorm room the other day, and a few buddies followed me in. One of them was carrying a camera; he was filming me for whatever reason (he’s weird like that). Anyway, I sat down at my computer and unlocked it (brought it out of the screensaver with my password) so I could begin studying for the upcoming finals (the next morning). Soon as I did, the dude with the camera behind me smiled and said, “Now I’ve got your password.” I didn’t know what to do. My computer password is the most secure password I have: alpha, numeric, symbol, and 10 characters long. I use that VERY secure password for the things that I REALLY need secured: computer data, and banks. The first former would be bad, but the later would be worse. If he knows that password, he can literally bankrupt me. Oh shit.
So, something had to be done; I needed to evolve the way I secure things. I’m in college now, so I should probably do it anyway. I need . . . → Read More: Grown-up Security
So, I upgraded by laptop (hp tx1000z) from Feisty Fawn (Ubuntu Linux Version 7.04) to Gutsy Gibbon (Ubuntu Linux Version 7.10) today. My results are as follows:
Pros:
Integrated Wireless support for broadcom chips Ubuntu FINALLY has pidgin. It automatically backed up my overwritten config files. The “Leave Message” feature of Gnome 2.20.0
Cons:
The integrated wireless support for my broadcom chip does not work at all. The laptop doesn’t boot unless I press the power button after an erorr, then repeatedly tap a key. It killed virtual box (my virtual machine program) My speakers don’t produce sound anymore My webcam no longer works My touchscreen isn’t working anymore (it’s not misconfigured; it’s not recognized) Computer starts with infinite >97% CPU usage 30% of the time My computer’s screen dims after momentary idle My computer’s screen dims after momentary idle after I turn uncheck the “Dim when idle option” My computer turns off after I have the laptop lid closed for a few minutes The computer isn’t auto-locked anymore when the lid is closed Pornographic screensaver was installed on my computer
More cons (I separated this list from the other because it’s not something that Gutsy broke, but something it . . . → Read More: Gutsy Upgrade
You must be 18 years or older to read this post. NOT SAFE FOR WORK.
I upgraded to gutsy recently. One thing I don’t like about ubuntu is that (unlike gentoo) your options for screensavers are severely limited. In Gentoo, you can select 1 screensaver, or random screensavers of your choice. In Ubuntu, however, you only have two options: 1 screensaver OR random screensavers (where you can’t select WHICH random–it picks a random screensaver from the whole lot).
I guess that Ubuntu released a bunch of new screensavers with their release of Gutsy. Every now and then I’d see a new one that I’d either like or dislike. However, one stood out from the rest: WebCollage.
WebCollage randomly picks pictures from the internet and displays them as a collage. It’s a cool idea, but we all know that 75% of the internet is porn. This screensaver is NOT SAFE FOR WORK.
I just got the wireless working on my new laptop in ubuntu (thank god for forums), and I was disgusted to find that from my room I got ~20% signal quality. I knew the problem could be with the laptop or the wireless router, but since I can’t do anything about the laptop I did some tests with my router by using three different antennas.
