Free and Open Source blogger with an attitude
Here’s an easy way to erase CD-RW and DVD-RW from command-line in Ubuntu:
you only need to install ‘wodim’ package:
sudo apt-get install wodim
Then run:
wodim -scanbus
To search for the cdrw device in case if you don’t already know.
To erase the entire disk, run:
wodim dev=/dev/cdrom blank=fast
That’s all!
This is a continuation from my post of running Android on my AMD decTOP machine.
Of all Linux distribution that I tried, I found out that only Puppy Linux offered a usable GUI desktop environment on a plain vanilla AMD decTOP out of the box, but that is not without some effort on the installer side.
On the other hand, it is very easy to get Windows XP running on a plain vanilla AMD decTOP, without additional hardware upgrades. Here is my prove.
It seems Windows XP is more tolerant to low end desktops (or in this case, decTOP) than Linux operating system for fully GUI environment. Are we getting bloated?
AMD decTOP specs
RAM: 128MB RAM DDR2
HDD: 10GB IDE
Processor: AMD Geode GX 500, 366 MHz clock rate
Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) has been released! Hopefully some of you have already downloaded the ISO file and installed it on your computer. I’ve yet to install Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat in my computer because I prefer to use the 10.04 Long term support (LTS) release on my file server.
However, I manage to test out the Maverick Meerkat installation on my virtual machine, where I found two things of note. First is that the installer and installation step has been simplified with fewer dialogs and secondly, the installer presents a choice dialog, which enable users to download 3rd party software and codecs to enhance their experience while using Ubuntu. In my opinion, this is probably one of the best decision made by Canonical, which enables new users to download proprietary codecs without distributing it on the installation CD.
As long as the users are connected to a high speed internet connection, the installer is able to download 3rd party codecs to enable users to enjoy it.
I’ve the opportunity to test out a decTOP computer at my workplace today. decTOP was originally produced as a low-cost computer to allow people from emerging countries to access the internet.
Originally, decTOP (formerly PIC) was shipped with Microsoft Windows CE and Internet Explorer 6.0, but recent release changes the BIOS behavior of decTOP, that’s allow it to boot from USB devices (flash drive and external DVD-drive).
This has led me to do few experiments with the decTOP computer. I’ve tried installing it with Ubuntu, then Windows XP, and finally Android.
and I found Android runs nicely on the decTOP without any modifications. The downside is, that currently only Android 1.6 is available for installing on x86 machine.
What happened to Ubuntu?
Apparently I ran into some difficulties in installing Ubuntu on decTOP. With LiveCD image, it is obvious that the 128MB SODIMM ram is not enough to load the desktop interface, let alone installing it. I tried the server edition and it succeeds, but the point is to run a usable Linux desktop out from decTOP machine, and I think Android do shine in this area.
Android drawback?
One drawback though, Android won’t let you save the downloaded *.apk on the remaining harddisk space, you got to use USB stick for that.
Not exactly GNU/Linux related, but it seems easy enough to build a Green PC, provided that we have all the stuff. Talking about the stuffs, where can I get those parts in Malaysia? Do please share with me…
Windows users should be familiar with the “Windows Key” present on most QWERTY keyboards. This key supposedly brings up the “Start Menu” on Microsoft Windows operating system, but it is useless when in Ubuntu, as it does nothing when pressed. Here’s how to make the “Windows Key” to function similarly in Ubuntu as in Windows operating system.
Firstly, go to the Gnome desktop and click on the “System menu”. Then go to “Preferences” and select “Keyboard Shortcuts”. Then look for “Show Panel Menu” under “Action” column and click the shortcut column. Press the “Windows Key”. Close the dialog and you’re done. Here’s the screenshot of the dialog for your reference.
Extra Added Touch?
For an extra added touch, you can replace the “Windows” logo on the “Windows Key” with the Ubuntu ones. System76 offers free Ubuntu logo stickers to be used on the “Windows Logo” key, and the good news is you can order it for free! (the bad news is, it only available to few selected countries only)
Happy hacking!