Ubuntu, pronouced as ‘oo-boon-too’ is a linux operating system which many might have heard, but never tried. In this semester, my subjects require me to play around with linux systems. As you guys know, I am an Ubuntu supporter and have been using it on my desktop for a few years.  Ubuntu has a consistent release for their distribution, and as far as I’m concern, they keep improving so much from day to day. The only problem they experience is the hardware part, since most of the hardware and its drivers are meant for Windows or Mac. Hardware developers are reluctant to give support for Linux drivers, but I guess the Linux community never gives up and tries their best to create drivers for almost any PC hardware.

Recently, there was this new distribution called Ubuntu Netbook Remix(UNR) introduced and I was eager to try it but I didn’t have a netbook to try it. And if you have read my previous posts, you would know that I got a HP Mini 210 netbook from Streamyx. I didn’t immediately try the UNR since I had to get used to the netbook with Windows 7 itself. After getting to know that I need to be using Linux for this semester’s subjects, I thought of giving it a try. The latest version is 10.04, Lucid Lynx and they changed the name from UNR to Ubuntu Netbook Edition(UNE).

I was a little worried because UNR didn’t have support for Wubi(a software which allows you to install Ubuntu without the need of changing the file system) but I just found out that it was included in 10.04 so it made my life easier. I installed it and here you go, this is an image of my main/desktop screen.

Click on the images to see a larger image

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After some time of playing around with my electric guitar, I just felt like playing with an acoustic guitar back again. It doesn’t sounds so good if I had to sing and play with an electric guitar, plus i’ve just been messing around with the sounds instead of practicing properly. I realized that my chord movements and some other skills is getting bad. So I’ve just been thinking for a long time about getting a simple acoustic guitar to play around.

Since it was the school holidays,  my family came down to KL. I told my dad about it and asked him to follow me to the music store. I took him to Bentley in Mutiara Damansara and tested some guitars over there. Its a nice place to look around for music stuffs over there. So, I was trying the normal acoustic guitars and was pretty satisfied with the sound of it. Then my dad suggested me to get a acoustic guitar with a pickup, which means it can be connected to an amplifier. I tried a few, it sounded well without the amplifier but its really ugly when it’s connected to an amp. Finally, the salesmen who was with me, took a guitar which cost a little more then the previous one and suggested that to me. I tried it, and compared it with the previous one. It sounded softer when i was playing without an amp but it sounds great when its connected to an amp. The only downside would be, i need to use a 9V battery to use the pickups. My dad was satisfied with it too, and we bought it.

In this post, I’m going to explain things which happened to me recently and how it can help you guys in purchasing things. Recently, all my devices around me just went crazy. My house got striked by lightning and many of my devices got spoilt by it.
(Shhh… I’m dead if they come to know about this)

1. Asus Motherboard
2. LG LCD Screen
3. Nokia N85 ( Not by lightning,  but related to my post)

First my motherboard ethernet card, and the DVI port got spoilt. Most motherboards has 3 years or more warranty by manufacturer. So I went to lowyat and gave them my motherboard and told them something is wrong with it without mentioning about the lightning strike, cause you know Malaysians, never want to give customer support, they only want money support. So he was reluctant to take my motherboard since its like more than 2 years and he asked me RM30 for transport fees. I was like going to slap that guy, and tell that nut head, “You don’t need a car to send this motherboard to the next building.” ASUS was in the plaza next to lowyat. I gave him the RM30 and paid RM 5 for the parking and another RM 5 for the parking when I came to collect my motherboard.

Total : RM30 + RM5 + RM5 = RM40

Next, my LG LCD Screen. I thought it was only 1 year warranty and I got to pay to fix it. So I took it to LG, and parking was RM1.50. I haven’t went and get back this screen yet. The LG guys called me up and said the PCB is spoilt so he needs to wait for stock to repair it and it would be about a month. Currently using my netbook to blog. So I asked him if the motherboard is still under warranty and he said YES. It is 3 years warranty. Considering the next time I go there, I need to pay the parking fees again.

Total : RM1.50 + RM 1.50 = RM3

Finally Nokia N85, this is a little longer story…
I was using this phone like normal since the first day I bought it. Never knew it had any problems until one of my friend came and told me that sumthing wrong with the camera which I never realised at all all this while. After he showed me the problem, it was not comfortable to be using the phone. So I took it to Nokia Customer Centre in Sunway Pyramid. This is the worst customer centre I ever been to. Its like a small store room where guys are repairing stuff. I gave it and had to keep going and coming back since this guys never knew the problem until I fired them nicely. How many times they expect me to keep coming back and live without a phone. So the boss took me out so that he wouldnt get embarrassed in front of his other customers and told me:

Sir, the technicians here not so professional so they don’t know how to do. Can you go to Amcorp Mall ? There are more professional Nokia technicians there.

I was like, HAHAHAHA, this is why you brought me out ??

So I went to Amcorp Mall and parking was RM3 for open parking. So I went and gave my phone, they changed the camera to a new one. Even the back cover was changed. the camera was so much better. I wasn’t satisfied with the GPS and also told them about it, and the fixed it. I could connect to a satelite within a few seconds. I was totally satisfied with their service except they couldn’t back up my contacts. I had backup, so it doesn’t matter to me. I brought it back, and not even a few days I dropped the phone. The phone was ok but I felt it a little slow. Suddenly one day, I tried my GPS and it didn’t work. So I took back to them and told them that the GPS isnt working since the last time it was fixed. So they took my phone, and guess what. They changed my whole internal board. A new phone with a old casing. Since the day I dropped it, I wasn’t satisfied with the slide, it was a little lose. So when they gave me back my phone, i pretended like the problem just happened. They checked the work order and it wasn’t stated that at the time I gave the phone, there was such a problem. They took it in, and asked me to return in an hour and changed my slide. How cool is that ? Now I have a total new phone and guess how many more days for my warranty to end. 2 more days, and they told me since we just did your phone, you can come back anytime if there is any problem, we give you extra 2 months warranty.

Parking : RM2

Total : RM2 + RM2 + RM2 + RM 2 + RM2 = RM10

All of these plus some of my time and every thing is back to normal and NEW !!
So my suggestion, go for branded and officially supported things and with WARRANTY !!

Facebook is a wonderful tool which enables us to connect to practically anyone we know through the internet. We do add many people through Facebook and keep in touch with them. The chat system in it enables us to chat with anyone who is currently online and browsing through Facebook. I never liked their chat system previously because of the bugs it had. It gives me a sound and pauses my firefox for a few seconds.

Recently Facebook has implemented a new chat system which uses the same protocol as GoogleTalk which is XMPP protocol. Its just a protocol to enable real time communication technology. This means we are actually using this technology when we are chatting through Facebook. When used in connection with a reliable internet service, such as broadband from O2, this technology can greatly improve the experience of using the chat system. OK, lets not get down to much to the technical side and get moving to how to use this technology.
Now we can actually access this XMPP protocol by using any XMPP clients available.
A list of clients can be found at this site : http://xmpp.org/software/clients.shtml

I personally prefer Pidgin, because if supports Windows & Linux plus its quite stable and its light weight. Now lets begin with the tutorial.

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