Linux OS and Everything Else

I can't say enough good things about Pioneer Linux. If anyone out there try's different linux distros for fun, or is just trying to find that perfect one to fit their needs, then I recommend that you check out Pioneer Linux. Here is the site address http://www.tapioneer.com/. I just use the free basic one but the paid ones look like they might be good too if you can afford to get them. No Linux distro is perfect yet and I believe gamers for the most part still need to run Windows. Other people are just brainwashed by society and think that anything beyond Windows is just too hard. But for the rest of us it works just fine and it's free. Ubuntu seems to get all the attention and I agree it is good and solid - but Pioneer is worth a look as well. I have barely used any other os since installing it this time.

Here is a great little tool if you do anything with photos on your website. Check out Jalbum at http://jalbum.net/. It is free and there are extremely cool themes that people have uploaded that you are free to use. I personally like the one where you can flip through photos. See my use of it on the Salem Country Club site at http://www.salemcountryclub.net/ check out the pictures section. Something else awesome is that it works under linux!! I have been using Pioneer Linux for almost everything I do. For website design and maintenance I am running Kompozer , Filezilla FTP client , and Jalbum all under Pioneer Linux - Works Great!! And I listen to shoutcast streams on my Audacious Player!! Linux rocks!
Check out Pioneer Linux if you have not - it is rockin. Here is the link for that one http://www.tapioneer.com/.

I have tested Myah OS recently with pretty good results - I won't say it is the best os I have ever used but it is very good. I had tried out the live cd and was impressed so I installed it. However, there are some issues - the Firefox Browser seems to have crazy issues all the time. I tried using other browsers , like Konquerer instead but the results were no better. One example is the Hulu website , when I typed in the address www.hulu.com the Firefox browser shut down on me. This site works fine on my Ubuntu machine using Firefox. I am not entirely sure it is the fault of Myah because the hardware on that machine is weak compared to my Ubuntu PC. Maybe it's the hardware , I can't be sure. I still have to say I have used no better Linux distribution than Ubuntu. I have tried many.

I am always downloading and trying out new Live Linux cd's and sometimes dvd's - it's so fun. Half the time I test one and so much fails to work or impress me - it's the only time I boot it. However, today one of them actually made me split my Puppy Linux Drive in half to make room for an actual hd install - No way - yes Way. I was so impressed with Myah OS that I actuall fired up gparted - shrunk my puppy and installed Myah to my drive. It is very smooth - my YouTube test work - meaning can I play a video and hear sound - yes  I can. It has a nice unique package manager that at least I have never seen before - works very well. Cool Cartoonish looking brightly colored FUN Wallpaper  - I am all about fun!!
It is not all perfect - the software add/remove is somewhat limited - but I found enough of what I needed - everything I installed seemed to place itself in my menu except for streamripper - I have not rebooted yet though - and possibly strearipper might be run from command line? Not sure on that. But , overall - very nice - and worthy of my hd space.

Where is everyone getting XP Antivirus? So many people are getting infected with this thing right now - you can call it a virus or malware or extortion who knows? Some people think Microsoft is trying to get them to buy it because it has the letters XP in it. Windows XP Service Pack 3 still seems to be causing problems right now. I am only installing this on new builds that are not AMD. Linux is finally easing it's way into the mainstream - I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. With the Asus mini laptops really catching on , now several other companies are going to release similar products with Linux. At this moment I bounce between Vista, XP, and 3 versions of Linux : Freespire, Ubuntu, and Puppy - they all work great for me but I tend to be in XP overall more than the others with Puppy being the next. I like Puppy because I can play with it - in a technical nature - and the boot time is extraordinary.

2 days ago my Mandriva install failed to boot back up on my pc with the MSI board in it. I could try to fix it or look for something new. I chose the latter and found the new Alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04 called Hardy Heron (Desktop Edition). I booted the Live CD - OH YEAH!! Everything worked Sound , Video, Internet - Good to go - did the install - no problems - installed the Nvidia (non Free Driver) OH YEAH - Desktop Effects work - 3d games are working - yeah yeah yeah!!!

So this is going good so far. I had to dig up some information on adding more software repositories so that I could download all the software that I needed but once I figured that out it's been great - very stable - I am using the Metisse (Window Manager?) also had to dig up some information on using that - has some nice 3d Type effects you can do moving the axis of your windows and so forth - I played with it but I'm not sure productivly why I would need to shift my windows in such a manner - however the transparent effects are very nice. I don't like the 9 different desktop windows on my Taskbar/Kicker/Panel?? I have not removed them yet but I may - they take up way too much space down there. Flash works, Java works (playing Runescape last night). Some of the 3D games I installed did not work - but that is due (I assume) to the generic drivers that got installed for my hardware - I did submit my Hardware to Mandriva when asked to on the install (although that part came up in French) I think I did it right. So maybe they will work on getting some drivers for this board so I can actually Game in 3D. Overall though this is a very nice Linux distribution - I love it.

Finally I think I have found a working Linux Distro for my board the MSI K9NGM3. I will comment that I have not tried the latest Ubuntu on it , so that may also work but - tonight I downloaded and burned Mandriva One 2008. I am in the Live CD right now and my video display is perfect, my network/internet connection was found, and I just checked my control panel for sound through the Sound Test and I had sound - I did have two minor glitches YouTube has no sound in Firefox - common for some reason right now on many Linux Distros that  I boot up - and I tried playing a Shoutcast stream and Kaffeine attempted to play it and totally crashed. Other than that the KDE 3.5 is totally beautiful and my plans are to actually install this on my hard drive in the next couple of days. I used to use Mandrake quite some time ago but as it progressed into Mandriva I had some issues with it - but it seems like it might be ok now so maybe I'll give it a spin.

I must test further. After several more attempts at running any type of linux on my new pc - I now think it is my DVDRW causing the problems and not the motherboard. I went total SATA with my DVDRW and My Hard Drive not thinking this would somehow be a problem. The thing is that all of my Linux Distros are looking for an IDE based DVD/CD Drive when they go to boot and cannot find one. So either I have to search for Distros that can find a SATA drive , not use Linux on this PC, or install an IDE DVD drive (which I did not want to do). I was trying to keep the pc simple and clean and only put in what I needed - Now in order to run any of my Linux Distros I am forced into installing an IDE Drive. So I'm sorry if anyone reading has taken my advice on the board not running Linux - this may not be the case at all - I will not know anything further until I tear my pc down and add an IDE DVD Drive. Then I will be able to report better about that motherboard. MSI K9NGM3

Lately I am having issues finding a version of linux to run on the MSI K9ngm3. If anyone knows a good distro or two that work well with this board please advise, thanks. I figured since it had the Nvidia chipset I would be alright - I am using the board straight with no cards - XP works fine but having trouble finding good linux match