After playin around in some settings I found out later were best left untouched in my Ubuntu 7.04 OS and managin to totally wreck the OS to the point of unbootability (I found I had some serious hidden talents for DESTROYIN an OS !) I loaded up a nifty lil version of Ubuntu Studio 7.04 I had layin around and ventured out on the web to DL the most recent offering by the crew at Ubuntu.

The new OS, Ubuntu 7.10, named Gutsy Gibbon (<- place joke here), I'm happy to say is now Be-boppin along like a champ and the guys and gals at Ubuntu have made some serious changes to how this baby rolls !!!

I now have dual monitor display support with individual resolution settings for each output. This means I'll now be takin my 2nd "media center" computer to work to act as a music server for the shop and then can surf/email/etc. off my main 'puter on my 22" Hi-res flatscreen monitor and also hook up the old 600x800 36" Gateway monitor I had hooked to the media machine and use it as a display for DVDs off my main machine. I really like this since it allows me to remove my complete home entertainment system and do all the same work with just my computer and one extra monitor !

It also has some nifty "Vistalike" desktop effects that are wicked additions for those like myself who like eye candy but still want it to function without taxin my 2gigs of DDR2 to get it done, and actually make some use of the capabilities of my recently added video card.

Speakin of video cards, as many Linux users are aware of, installin a new video card will often mean havin to search the web for the proper driverd and then instalin 'em. With 7.10 that task has been greatly simplified with some great Nvidia software already loaded up and there for ya at a mouse click, as are the codecs often also missing for handling DVDs, VCDs, MPEGs and other types of video files. which was a huge time saver in gettin the new OS up and functional.

Now, if I click on a file type my OSes native files can't handle it drops in a pop-up window telling me I need some software updates to open the files, then simply asks if I want to DL 'em and with a simple click it will do so for me, then install 'em and badda-boom-badda-bing, it's off to the races with the new codecs/software I needed folded neatly into the safe confines of the software repositories ... Woooo-Hoooo !!

Since I've had the new OS up for less than a day so far I'm sure there will be somethin I'll run accross that'll leave me scratchin my head, but so far all I can say is way to go Canonical Group !!!

Oh, and BTW, just as with all previous releases,the entire OS still only consists of 697megs meaning it all fits on a single CD

Linux and especially Ubuntu just keeps gettin better and better and the gaps between Linux and Microslush just get smaller and smaller, well, all except for one anyway. Ubuntu still costs ya a big fat $0, unlike XP or Vista

Now then, back to our regularly scheduled rants/flame wars

Fedora 7 has made some serious changes as well. Though I am having issues with networking. I can see my intranet but can not see the internet (which is handled by a router) or I can see the internet but not the intranet. I have a feeling this is due to ip6 tables, but am unsure. Fedora 7 is featuring dual monitors as well now and hopefully I will be making the big switch on my main machine in the next few days. I will be ghosting my XP partitions and then I will have full access to the HD to go fully linux. wish me luck.

yeah, i hear alot of bickering about ip6 in the ale mailing list... i'll keep an eye out for any answers
most ale is running the new ubuntu now though... i'm still using fc6 right now

Intel plans to roll out its newest generation of processors on Monday, flexing its manufacturing muscle with a sophisticated new process that crams up to 40 percent more transistors onto the company's chips.

The most complex chips being launched on Monday have 820 million transistors, compared with the 582 million transistors on the same chips built using the current standard technology.
Intel's first chips, introduced in the early 1970s had just 0.023 million (2300) transistors.

Intel's new chips shrink the width of those lines to an average of 45 nanometres, or 45 billionths of a metre, compared to 65 nanometres on the previous generation of chips .

The transistors on the new chips are so small that more than 30 million of them can fit onto the head of a pin.