rohitj's domain

2007 was overall good. I got to learn lots of things, and got to do lots of things. Got to talk to lot of cool people. Though I wouldn’t forget that it also brought 7th semester which was like the most difficult semester I ever had. This semester probably took my anxiety level to top. Some of the highlights of 2007 are below:

1. Got a job at Microsoft, India. I am excited about it.
2. Got involved into Free Culture activities.
3. Shifted 99% to open source softwares. (flash )
4. Shifted 100% to free songs. (though, this is true.)
5. Shifted to wonderful KDE. I will write an entry for it.
6. No more Gentoo, it takes time. Ubuntu on other hand is wonderful. (Apologies to all those who are on Gentoo or are thinking of shifting to Gentoo because I asked them to do so. )
7. Hiking
8. Another hobby now is Photography …. need money to buy DSLR.
9. Bought a new web space to play with different things. Its been wonderful till now.
10. Zeropage removed restrictions from their songs.
11. Kelly Allyn sent me her autograph, need to go home to get it.
12. Met some wonderful people during internship at Virginia Tech.
13. <compressed because its personal>

Hopes from 2008 :

1. Grad School or a good job (or a startup?)
2. DSLR
3. Free Culture Club at IITK
4. Passing IITK
5. openmoko / android
6. make IITK music club release an album under CC ( www.tempostand.com should help us)
7. Finish talk with Vox Populi guys

mm, I want my Gentoo back. This is a funny article which says who uses what linux distro.

http://www.askreamaor.com/linux-and-unix/what-your-linux-distro-says-about-you/

So, what does your linux distro say about you?

So, these guys they have collected some logos of some free softwares. Checkout http://raro.oreto.inf-cr.uclm.es/apps/stickers/ . It’s a cool collection. Right now, on my laptop I have got 5 stickers.

1. Some warning label.
2. Laptop Hardware Config.
3. Graphics by ATI
4. Intel Inside
5. Designed for MS Windows XP

Of course the fifth one makes my laptop look dirty. . I want to remove it, but I am afraid my laptop’s beauty will go down with the mark that this sticker will leave. But these guys have given ‘us’ a solution. We plan to get these stickers printed. And then we will be able to remove the existing stickers and place these free software stickers on  the same place. It will be so cool.

Those who want such stickers, leave a comment here. And wait for some time. ( Search for a press is going)

So, after having some problems with installation of Gentoo, I was thinking of installing something else. It was very bad that I couldn’t install Gentoo for some bugs that I couldn’t fix. I waited for long time, asked experts for this bug, no one could solve the problem. I finally installed Fedora 7. Yeah, I know I have been supporting Ubuntu, and still I installed Fedora. The reason being that one friend asked me to try it again. Don’t forget, my linux life started with Fedora Core 4, 2 year go. I kinda thought that I should try it again. The main reason of my separation from Fedora is that Fedora is backed by an enterprise and it releases its new versions so frequently. But his point was good enough. Fedora separates non-free softwares from free softwares. Thats a good thing, I think. Rather Gentoo and Ubuntu should start doing that. I was on ubuntu for just 1 week. Though I was feeded a lot that Ubuntu is better. I will give Ubuntu another shot and then will compare things. I still think that if I leave apart this non-free, free software repositories stuff, Ubuntu is better. At least it claims straight forward that it will remain free. Anyways, I used Gentoo for like 1 year. It felt good that lots of things were under my control. I am not linux developer or debugger, but still Gentoo gives me so many controls. I liked that.

Fedora after Gentoo surely makes me feel dumb. Its obvious, right? You have so less controls and so many things that you don’t want. You know that things are not good with your computer, but you don’t want to do anything because you are afraid of compile time of Gentoo. Though I think it’s better. Gentoo was big addiction. I agree Linux is addiction, but Gentoo is a step forward. I have less things to do with Fedora, its good because now I can spend time in creative works. . I remember that I used to spend a lot of time in compilations and searching for solution of bugs in Gentoo. But, of course I will shift to Gentoo sooner or later. Though I am afraid of future of Gentoo. Main developers of Gentoo are going away from Gentoo. And those who are in have lots of internal fights. I hope they will unite soon.

Another friend of mine tried Debian. He liked it. But, I am sure I am not trying that for next 1 year at least. So, main competitors for me are Ubuntu, Gentoo and Fedora. Lets wait for another 2 weeks, then I will tell you where I am. In a week or 2 CFS will come on Gentoo. Then I will try Gentoo, before that I will try Ubuntu.