To this point I have always used Linux on the server side of things. It was simple in most cases and inexpensive in every case. Though I suppose it would also be fair to say that it perhaps was not as intuitive as Windows is (was). Finally after years of think about it I have finally made the plunge and started to use it as my primary desktop. I have to say that there has been some what of a learning curve to it. Things like why I wasn’t able to use the shift key to type capital letters on a page, and how to set up some of the “eye candy” have been two of my bigger issues. Though some of the more mundane/complex issues that I would have had to deal with with Windows (such as finding and loading drivers, and installing my programs) was mostly taken care of for me during the installation. The only driver I had to install (actually it was optional) was the driver for my video card, and the only reason to install it was to be able to use all of the neat features in Compiz (the”eye candy”). But programs such as an office suite, and graphics editing were already installed. Things like my printer and digital camera, were the very first truly plug and play devices I have ever used. I very simply only had to plug them in give the computer a few moments and bam! They were ready to go! It is absolutely amazing, no installing drivers, no trying to find the correct CD, nothing. So far the only two devices I have that I have that I have not tried using under Linux have been my GPS and Logitech Harmony remote, though I am curious to see how they work. I may end up having to try running them through Wine (which is a Windows emulator, though the creators of it would prefer it not to be called that). Wine has already allowed me to use a few of my favorite Windows admin tools for the Linux servers I administer.

I suppose at this point I should mention that I am currently running 64 bit Ubuntu 8.10 for my desktop, though in the past I have tinkered with various flavors of Fedora, SuSE, Red Hat, Cent OS, and Ubuntu.

If anyone is looking for a refreshing change and does not necessarily want to go to Windows Vista, then I would suggest giving Linux a try. It definitely is not Windows but as with any computer problem Google is your best friend who knows all the answers to your questions :)

Well, after much trying we finally managed to get the cats to sit down and pose for some Christmas photo’s.

Christmas Cats (2008)
 
 

Christmas Cats (2008)

Hello All,

Just wanted to the new Christmas photo’s up on the site as everyone is asking about them. I will be adding some more over the next few days as well. Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Concert
 
 

Christmas Concert

Christmas 2008
 
 

Christmas 2008

How to sync your Black Berry with Outlook is extremely easy, but not that many people want to do this (myself included), they would rather use a better e-mail client such as Thunderbird. What I am going to show you is the process I used to do this.

First you will need to set yourself up with a Google apps account. In this account you will need to have GMail and also Google calendar. To set one up click here.

Next, make sure that you have the newest version of Thunderbird installed and ready for use.  To begin with we are going to install the Zindus addon.  This allows us to sync our contacts from Thunderbird with our newly created GMail account.

To install this and the other Thunderbird addons do the following.  In Thunderbird, go to the

Tools -> Add-ons

Click on install and select the add on you wish to install.  Once it finishes installing Thunderbird will restart.

Now that you have Zindus installed it must be configured to work with your GMail account.  To do this go into Zindus’s configuration settings and add your new GMail account along with password.  Make sure to click Google for the sync with option.  Once you have these two settings in place you can use the test connection button to check and make sure everything is running properly.

To recap so far, we have Thunderbird installed, with the Zindus addon to sync to our newly created GMail account.  You can actually check in GMail to make sure that your contacts have been updated at this point.  Now on to setting up our Calendar.

In order for calendering to function we first must install the Lightning addon found here.  Once installed you will again be prompted to restart Thunderbird.  Once restarted you will notice on the right hand side a new calendar and task panel.  Now to sync the data from here with your Google calendar you will need to use the  Provider addon.  Once this is installed it will ask you for the private address of your Google calendar.  To get this information log into your Google calendar and go to

Settings ->Calendars->xml  See the picture below

Your finished in your Google calendar for a while now.  The next step is start creating a new calendar in Thunderbird.  Do this with the following commands

File->New->Calendar

A new window should now appear. The first option you should see will be for the location of the calendar – select “On the Network” and click next. The next option allows you to select the format for the calendar. Select “Google Calendar”. In the location box paste in the private address for your Google calendar that you retrieved earlier. Finally you will get to a “Google Calendar Login” window which will ask you for your Google account login.

At this point you should now be able to sync your Thunderbird calendar with your Google calendar!

The final step is to grab the Google Mobile Sync from here. You can get Google to send a link to your phone but I found that this didn’t work for me and just ended up downloading the app directly onto my Blackberry. Once it is installed it will ask you for your Google Account login information. After this press sync and you are on your way.

Additionally if you use a firewall that filters egress traffic you will need to open ports 443 and 80 in order for the Google Provider Add on to function correctly.

Sun Rise

Man what a colorful morning!  With the Chinook arch in the sky and the sun nice and low I was able to get some intense pictures this morning.  Take a look!

Sun Rise
 
 

Sun Rise

I’ve been looking for awhile now for a simply and easy method/ program for backing up my windows desktop to our file server. Today at work I came across this articles on life hacker about a pretty interesting piece of software called Sync Back.  After having played around with it a bit I have to say I’m impressed!  IT does everything I’ve been looking for which is basically keeping a local and a remote directory sync’d so that one is never older than the other.  The best part of it is that the software is freeware (version 3.2.9 at least).  This was way easier to setup than the closet similiar option of trying to run rsync on windows (rsync being pretty much a linux only program and trying to run it on windows requires cygwin for it to operate).

At your request here are some more pictures of the newest member of the family Angus Leroy.

Angus Leroy
 
 

Angus Leroy

Trish managed to find him a little tank top for these pictures. As you can see he is starting to go all tabby in his spots which we had thought might stay all black.

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