Dabbling in Linux Live CDs

I've been trying some out on my old laptop, sling in the CD and run Linux off it. So far I am liking
Kate OS

a lightweight fast distro, looks nice and runs fast. With XFCE desktop environment. The snappiest of the CDs I've tried.

Wolvix

is also feature packed and looks good (choose between window managers XFCE and Fluxbox, which are my current faves (appearance and design-wise)). Though they are both based on Slackware and not sure I'm ready for escaping the ease of Ubuntu yet. It comes with multimedia apps like MPlayer, Kino and Audacity and Internet apps like WiFi Radar and XChat. It comes in two variations Cub, which is a small edition designed to fit on a flash drive (256 MB) and Hunter, the one I tested, the HD version.

I've briefly (very briefly) tried FreeSbie which i s a FreeBSD distro, which took ages to load, but looks very deep. It features xffm, a window manager I had not come across before with many features, but looks complex. I'll be checking FreeSbie out in more depth later.

I still have more CD flavours to taste.

RAW Developer

I hooked up my camera today and realised that OS X (10.4.11) can now read those Olympus Evolt E510 RAW files, which it previously could not. This means that iPhoto can read them too, but this isn't so great for me as I don't use iPhoto. Alas Photoshop CS still no open, and Olympus haven't released a plug in, and I guess won't. So there are alternatives for RAW work. I could try Aperture or Lightroom, or upgrade to CS3, but I doubt I'll do any of those things. There is a program called RAW Developer which costs about £65 and lets you do all kinds of wonderful to all kinds of RAW images. I like, but am felling cheap and have not bought it yet. You can alter the white balance, RGB and LAB curves both on the same image, adjust highlights, shadows, saturation, sharpness, it's all great, but I feel I can't stretch to it quite yet, though am more likely to buy RAW Developer than Aperture (need faster puter) or Lightroom/Photoshop CS3 (That damned product activation seriously puts me off).


You can try out the prog in a demo mode where your photos are exported with some text printed on them (and are probably digitally watermarked or summink too).

Videocasts I Am Watching

All these are Internet/Web/ModernLife videocasts.
EpicFu, formerly known Jetset is fast snappy and full of creativeness, art, music, fandom, featuring news and stuff of YouTube, work sent in by viewers, and general coolness from da Interwebs. Lovely communityness.


They have this Fu of the week (is it weekly, I'm not quite sure) which features people doing things (distributing music, making clothes, whatever) in new creative ways or in ways that are more in keeping with the ethos of the web, DIY and word of mouth and all that goodness. It's hosted by the wonderful Zadi Diaz.

Mobuzz is a more newsy cast the blue/green screen backdrop feature the RSS, Drupal and podacst icons. This short daily cast from Spain is more about this world of the Internet and mobile communications, social newtorking and modern life. And being produced in Spain often reports on things that you might not hear about from the US centred casts. The host Olivia is entertaining and there's always something on the cast to keep one interested.

Textra, has been going for a while but I only recently found out about it, now I hear that the host Natali Del Conte is leaving soon and the videocast probably will be no more. Another person moving to CNET. This is cast is again newy, the host standing behind a desk with a monitor in the background, giving you daily tales from the Web. Natali has this rather jarring transition between news anchor stylee to giving you her own opinion which I quite like. It's like one moment news reader mode, then wham she changes attitude. She covers many web apps and new tech things. Like everyone recently she covered the Kindle.

Geekbrief, of course. Gadget lovin' Cali Lewis show us her new tech and the tech she drools over, along with news from the Webs, much giggling, gadget fun and teh GoDaddy pimping.

All videocasts hosted by women who hoo. There seem to be way more women in videocasting than in audio podcasting. I have heard people saying things like female presenters are "easy on the eye". Hopefully people will realise that the hosts/writers/producres/creators aren't just talking head eye candy. Though perhaps not cos, after all they're only girrrlzzz.