July 31, 2009

I know at first glance, a sequel to Tron [1.0], a film made the year my wife was born, doesn't have much to do with computers & technology. But it has more to do with it than anyone realizes.
First off, I never would have found an interest in computers or even my current career and lifestyle if it wasn't for seeing, and loving, that movie back in 1982, I never would have thought one could be "cool" and be a computer programmer. This film not only showed amazing innovation in the CGI industry but it captured the imagination of myself, and a whole generation of kids that went on to be geeks, cool or not, that helped the digital world become what it is today.

So it is with great joy & excitement that I bring to you the real trailer for TR2N (AKA Tron 2.0) from You Tube. Watch it while it's there because a recent article over at TechDirt.com entitled

Great Moments In Marketing: Disney Pulls Movie Trailer Off YouTube For Copyright Claims

Where Mike Masnick writes:
"The purpose of a movie trailer is that it's a commercial. It's a pure advertisement with the math being simple: the more people you get to see it, the more likely you are to get people interested in shelling out cash to see the actual film."

(LINK TO TECHDIRT.COM ARTICLE HERE and it's a great read)

Which makes total since but apparently Disney has sent a Take Down Notice for their Alice In Wonderland trailer. (Directed by Tim Burton and it looks RAD!)

So before they bull it down, check it out and it will be released in 2011 and Jeff Bridges is reprising his role as Kevin Flynn. WOOT! As an added bonus, I have added the ever-popular Tron Guy's video (Jay Maynard) as well because...well...I love the guy and I never get tired of him! More to come...
Cheers,

Matthew






July 19, 2009

If you dual boot as I do with multiple Operating Systems, you are familiar with the GRUB Loader that loads right after the BIOS. This loader lets you choose wether to load Ubuntu Linux or Windows. When I installed the Windows 7 Beta, I noticed I had no choice but Windows 7 afterwards. After a quick search, I found this article at the How To Geek on how to restore it and I was reminded of it recently as I installed Windows 7 RC and the same thing happened. Here's a link to the article if, like me, you dual boot and got stuck wondering, "Where did Ubuntu go?"


Now, if you're a N00b, or just want a quick fix, here's a link to Super Grub Disk .org and they have created an app that you can download and help you get over any Terminal fears!

Hope these help some out there and remember that our contest for a Free 2GB MP3 Player is going on until the end of the month. All you have to do is either donate through our PayPal link, our post a comment on any of the last three posts!
Good luck!

Cheers,

~Matthew

July 16, 2009

Good morning, readers.
UPDATE: We were able to get enough money for my wife's doctor's visit today but we are still short for her medication. If there are any of you that are able, please use the donate button below. My wife is bearing it so far but still practically immobile and unable to move. As an added incentive, we will be choosing a donater at random and giving away a Free 2GB MP3 Player as a thank you for your kindness and again, any donations will be paid back within 60 days. Thank you again and God Bless.

~Matthew

----------------Original Post 7/14/2009
I have bad news this morning... We are experiencing another family emergency to our dismay;

As some of you may or may not know, my wife is disabled due to a condition know as Pudendal Nerve Entrapment
and she is always in a state of discomfort if not full blown pain. Due to a recent crisis, we have literally ZERO dollars right now and she needs to see her Doctor today as well as pay for her medications. The total amount is a little under $800.00 and we currently have $0.00...actually less than that as our bank accounts are overdrawn at the moment.

Now, I'm sure you have an idea what I'm getting at, but this IS NOT as scam and we are honest, hard working people that have been affected by this condition that she received while giving birth to our daughter. With out her medications and her doctor's visit, she is completely immobile and miserable. She usually can barely lay still and just cry.

All of our other resources have been used up at this point. All of our parents are broke, relatives, all we have left are friends or kind strangers.

So, I have set up a PayPal Donation button below that anyone with a credit/debit card or PayPal account can use to donate any amount of money to us....here's the catch...we will pay everything back that is given to us within two months.
I have recently found a job opportunity that was made for me and I know I'm going to get it and our problems will be sated for a moment. I hate doing this but I can't stand to see my wife suffer. If anyone out there could spare anything, I know it's hard right now, but anything at all, we will send it back to you via Pay Pal within the next two months. If you're uncomfortable using my Donate Button, we accept donations under my email, matthew@krubuntu.com and again, anything and everything helps. Now if you can't, won't whatever the reason, that's fine. Like Cheech & Chong once said, "Things are Tough All Over," so we don't blame anyone for not donating.

But if anything, please at least try and spread the word to someone you know that can help, or comment here some words of support or Tweet some kind words for my wife and family at Twitter.com/Krubuntu

We just need some help & we're asking for it.
Now not to close on a totally depressing note, below the Donate button are some wicked funny You Tube videos just for the heck of it.

Thank you for reading,

God Bless and have a great week.

Matthew

















July 2, 2009

As some of you may or may not know, I dual-boot with Ubuntu on one partition and Windows 7 Beta on the other. I am usually using Ubuntu to do the most of my work but alas, at times I do need to use Windows for applications I use that will only run on Windows. If WINE would run these apps, I would be much happier but certain programs like, Photoshop CS3, Dreamweaver CS4 and the like, refuse to play nice with WINE or even an amazing program called Crossover.
Short & the long of it is, I need a Windows machine at times and I prefer speed over using a Virtual Machine.
So, imagine my disdain when I was reminded a few days ago that the Beta version of Windows 7 I was running was expiring on July 1st.
Well, July 1st has come and gone and thankfully the expiration hasn't done anything too drastic.
So far the changes are pretty benign; you get an annoying pop-pop that tells you ," This Beta version of Windows 7 will expire in '0' days. Please install any version of Windows 7 Ultimate', then after approx. two hours, the machine will shutdown trashing any unsaved work, messing with the registry, yadda-yadda-yadda.... From what I've read, the PC is only supposed to reboot every two hours but mine has been shutting down.
So this presented me with a problem; it tells you to "install any version of Windows 7 Ultimate...which won't be out until October.

So, I have a long-term [1 year] solution thanks to John Baker over at John Baker's Brit Blog. He points out that Microsoft is still offering free downloads to the Windows 7 RC [Release Candidate] version until August 15th!

What this means is that anyone with a Windows Live ID, [MSN, Live.com, Hotmail, etc.] can download the RC ISO, burn it to a disc and replace the beta version. The good news is that this version is good until June 1, 2010 which gives users like myself time to decide what to do.

Bad news is, if you already have a version of Windows 7 installed, you have to back up all of your data because the upgrade will perform a full format of your hard drive. This frustrates me to no end as Ubuntu, ever since I first installed it back in 2005, releases an upgrade, for free, every six months like clockwork.
When you perform the upgrade, you never have to back anything up as Ubuntu just works and makes sure all of your important data won't be destroyed.

Anyway, here are my options;

  1. Keep using Win7Beta & keep an eye on the clock so I know when it's going to shut down. [This isn't really viable as I hear that it will completely cease operation on August 15th.]
  2. Back up my 455+GB of data, then perform a full wipe while installing Win7RC.
  3. Giving the "finger" to MS and performing a complete install of Ubuntu 9.04 -Jaunty Jackalope knowing that my data will be safe.
Well, I'm more than likely going to go with number 2 as I have the means to do it and also due to the programs I mentioned above. [I know there are Open Source alternatives like GIMP and Kompozer but I'm very good with the Adobe products...plus...I actually paid for these apps instead of boot-legging them like some other "unsavory types." As a software developer, I realize that we "gots to get paid" so if software is meant to be purchased, I buy it rather than downloading keys or cracks. Now it the software is offered for free...then heck yeah I'll use the free option and if I like it, I'll donate a few bucks to the cause.

So if you're in the same boat as I am, or something similar and you were wondering, "WTF! Expired!? What do I do??."

Just head on over to Microsoft's Windows 7 Release Candidate page and follow the instructions to back up your data and install Win7RC over the Beta.

Also, I am indebted to John Baker's very informative article and without it, I would have been caught off guard, stuck & Googling from my Android device attempting to find a solution, so jump on over there after reading this and make sure I haven't missed anything. ;-)

He also has an article regarding the release dates of the Official Windows 7 versions including pricing and it's definitely worth the read.

So until next time, post any questions as a comment or send them on over as an email to qanda@Krubuntu.com and if we have or can find a solution/answer for you, we will not only send you the solution, but if it's a good question or solution ro a previous one, we will use it in an article!
Thanks for reading as well as you re support and watch soon for our series on Getting Android to run on an OLPC XO-1 Laptop! Should be interesting!

Cheers,

~Matthew Krum