This is hilarious. I can see the hacks now, just think how those LEDs could be rearranged.

I have started using Ubuntu 7.10 at on home on a laptop that we have been using with Windows XP SP2 on it for a year or so. My kids had loaded the Windows laptop with spyware, so it was time for a reformat, and I have decided to give Ubuntu a try. So far I really like it. It is easy to use. It comes by default with several really good open source applications preloaded.

The challenges I am facing so far are: connecting to my printer that is shared from a Windows XP machine, connecting to file shares on my Windows Vista machine, installing Mythbuntu (MythTV for Ubuntu), and watching DVDs (I can't get the codec necessary installed).

This laptop is mainly used by my kids, so as they use it I will post more updates on how it's going. Last night my daughter used it for the first time, she used OpenOffice.org Word Processor (which she has been using on WinXP for a while now), that went well, but then she couldn't print, so I output it to a PDF saved it on a share on my WinXP box and went there to print it, it wasn't as easy as it should be but at least she got her homework turned in.

Adam, I sure wish there was a version of Irfanview for Debian based Linux.

Everyone always wants new things. Everybody likes new inventions, new technology. People will never be replaced by machines. In the end, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake. And to me, the choice is easy.

Michael Scott (The Office)

Power:
Who doesn't want power? We as a nation, in our groups, as individuals. We are all looking for power somewhere. I would suggest you try looking here.

Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers.
—Arthur Eddington, 1944

Thanks Adam.

Our dog.

I am not a country music fan, but as a dad of an eight year old son I love this song.

I went to a LAN party and Played "Rise of Nations" for a few hours with some buddies from work, it was really cool!

I recently hooked up my big screen LCD via HD cables, and removed the VGA connection. It is connected via a PNY Nvidia GeForce 7600GS 512MB DDR2 PCIE 128 BIT DVI+VGA+HDTV/S-VIDEO. It's great! So crisp, so clear, even with non High Def content.

We have been playing Rise of Nations Gold Edition again at work. What a great game!

I'm loving Vista, Windows Media Center, my new HP Media computer M7760N, my new Olevia 541i LCD monitor (HDTV).

And I want an invitation to try out Joost so if you have one or know someone who does let me know.
See lifehacker post here.
See the Joost website here.

Last night I played catch with both kids for almost an hour and after many attempts I taught my son to ride his bike. He told me he had a great time, as did I.

A Ringing Endorsement:

My wife use Media Center today for the first time to watch a show that we record for her, and she said "Wow, that was easy".

Further review of my new Vista Media Center system: Below you will find the questions I ask in my first post (in white) along with the answers that I found in three days time (in blue). You should know that I have used a Dish Network DVR for years but this is my first experience with Media Center.

Things that I don't like so far:
-The wireless keyboard and mouse that came with the system from HP have a seriously pathetic range.
With an updated driver it works better, but still not great.
-The built in wireless in the computer is proving difficult as I have not yet been able to connect it to my 802.11G WPA-Personal home wireless network.
I held my head just right and clicked my heels three times and it mysteriously is now able to connect to my home wifi network.

Things that I still need to try, since I have only been playing with it for a few hours:
-Play a DVD through media center.
Playing a DVD is great just like all of the other TV and recorded media
-Get a second TV source going. I have two outputs from my Dish receiver and I would like to be able to have both of them be watched and recorded from in Media Center. Though I will say it doesn't seem that the idea of having two TV sources was really even a consideration in Media Center. (but I'm not going to let that stop me from trying :-)
I have two current problems here; 1. I have only one tuner card in my Vista Media Center PC 2. Once I get a second tuner card in my PC, my PC won't be able to control my 2nd Dish Networks tuner because, the second tuner is controller via a UHF remote, not IR like my HP has the ability to repeat to set top boxes.
Upon further review it seems the dual TV sources has been thought of by Microsoft, in fact it seems as if it is so seamless you don't even have to think about it, more to come on this in a future post, after I get another tuner installed…
My current work around; I have my second Dish Network tuner going straight to another input on my monitor, which means I can DVR from my Dish DVR if I want, but I don't really want that. More likely we will watch this tuner when we are recording something we want to watch later on our Media Center.
-I have purchased and am awaiting delivery of a PNY GeForce 7600GS 512mb video card that can output HD, so I look forward to installing and connecting that.
Back ordered still waiting.
-I want to burn some DVD's and use my cool light scribe to label them. I don't have much experience with this but as I understand it a DVD burned directly from media center will not play on a regular DVD player, so I am going to try to download the necessary software to make that happen.
Seems cool, but hasn't been high on my priority list yet.
-Soon I am going to add a Slingbox pro to my system and try remote viewing of media center content.
My new entertainment system seems pretty complex right now, I have decided not to add this to the mix as of right now.
-And much much more.

New thoughts;
I switched all of my DVR show recording schedule over from my Dish Network DVR to my Vista Media Center, and it is great, but I am sad to only have one tuner in there right now.
I added HD channels to my channel list, I could do this even though I have only one tuner card since it has inputs from "analog antenna/setup top box", as well as a "digital antenna". It works seamlessly, I change to and HD channel it uses the antenna, I change to a channel that is feed via the "analog antenna/setup top box" MC sends the change channel IR to my Dish receiver and all viola I see the channel I want.

Overall and so far I am very pleased.

I like this Vista Media Center review.

I am on a technology high! I just purchased a big LCD monitor and a new HP M7760N media center/entertainment computer with Windows Vista home premium on it. I just got it yesterday and hooked it all up last night, it was really hard to go to sleep last night. I LOVE IT! I hooked my dish network satellite up to it as it's source. It is great, the media center application on Windows Vista is really beautiful, very elegant looking, very intuitive to use, web content blends with content from the PC, and content from my television source seamlessly. The HP Media Center remote that I got with the computer is great.

Things that I don't like so far:
-The wireless keyboard and mouse that came with the system from HP have a seriously pathetic range.
-The built in wireless in the computer is proving difficult as I have not yet been able to connect it to my 802.11G WPA-Personal home wireless network.

Things that I still need to try, since I have only been playing with it for a few hours:
-Play a DVD through media center.
-Get a second TV source going. I have two outputs from my Dish receiver and I would like to be able to have both of them be watched and recorded from in Media Center. Though I will say it doesn't seem that the idea of having two TV sources was really even a consideration in Media Center. (but I'm not going to let that stop me from trying :-)
-I have purchased and am awaiting delivery of a PNY GeForce 7600GS 512mb video card that can output HD, so I look forward to installing and connecting that.
-I want to burn some DVD's and use my cool light scribe to label them. I don't have much experience with this but as I understand it a DVD burned directly from media center will not play on a regular DVD player, so I am going to try to download the necessary software to make that happen.
-Soon I am going to add a Slingbox pro to my system and try remote viewing of media center content.
-And much much more.

I will update more information in the days to come. What a fun way to waste time.

Birthdays...

A couple of days ago was my sons 8th birthday. He is really awesome. Got just a few simple gifts for his birthday, but he was thrilled. He had a great day. He was (is always) so happy. He's a great kid. We love playing catch, one of his gifts was a new football. Can't wait for warmer weather.

The basketball team is doing great. Not only are they playing hard, but they are getting better each week! I am having a great time, and I think the kids are too.

I spent some time today updating my family web site. take a look

later

It was great!

We had our first basketball game on Saturday. It was great. The kids played thier hearts out, they had a great time. It was fun to watch. I am glad I was there. Signed the proud coach.