Bug

Just found a bug in my lava build on pclinuxos. It does not effect the Ubuntu build. Apparently the image I created for the grub boot manager does not play nice on some pcs. Just remember to select the text menu as a boot option during install and you will be fine. I'm going to have to downsample the image and rebuild it later. For now just select the text menu for grub during your install within the livecd install wizard.

Thanks

Awesome Online Courses

Happened upon this site and thought I would pass it on.

http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/05/22/open-courseware-for-linux-geeks-50-resources/

Lava 3.5 - PClinuxOS Version

Hi All,

Uploaded the PclinuxOS Version of LAVA.

It's almost the same as the Ubuntu version. Obviously some things are not available in the repository but for the most part it has all my tweaks as well as extensions.

Let me know what you think - you can download it to the right.

New Gaming Video

Uploaded a sample video of a game engine I am making with Panda3d - building it all in LAVA and free software. Runs on Ubuntu of course and Windows. Runs on anything PANDA3D runs on. Tested it on LAVA 3.0, 3.5, Ubuntu 710 - 8.04 and also on Windows XP, Vista.

Its just a level right now but building the base tools to any video game is the most time consuming. I know it's not related to building a customized Ubuntu but it's cool - check it out on my gaming site to the right.

Bittorrents

How many of you would like a bittorrent to supplement the regular ISO I provide?

I was thinking of setting up a bittorrent server in my datacenter to help seed the isos I build but wouldn't go thru the hassle if people wouldn't use it. Leave a comment and let me know. Thanks.

FYI - I finished both 3.5 lava based on Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS.

I finished uploading the ISO of lava based on Ubuntu and plan on uploading the PClinuxOS version by tonight.

Lava 3.5 release

This Version of LAVA is built with Ubuntu 8.04

Added all the usual items in past builds.

Tweaked the sysctl.conf file for better handling on higher end pcs.
Disabled IPV6
Changed Menu to Gnome Menu
removed prelink.
Many application changes here are a few of the highlights
Openoffice now has 2007 support for Microsoft Word 2007 formats. OpenOffice defaults to save as Office formats - makes it easier for users who are coming off of Microsoft Office. My motto - "Change their app first then their format later."
Alien for rpm to deb conversions included
Deluge for bittorrents
Gnome Main menu replaces menu
Nautilus addons like 'Open Terminal Here', Convert Images, Run as Administrator, Search for Files, Sendto, Share, Wallpaper
GnoCHM - I have to read those CHM files. Lots of ebooks in this format.
BUM- Bootup Manager
SMBFS - so I can mount samba shares
HardInfo - Hardware information applet
Gnome OSD - Onscreen Display - Shows you what music you are playing onscreen, etc
SYSINFO - System Information Applet
NDISGTK - Helps load drivers for Wireless cards
Cheese - Webcam program
Gnomebaker - CD / DVD burner
gchangepass - gnome password changer - easy access to change your password
usermode / ntf-config - NTFS usermode applet in case you want to change how you mount NTFS drives
Eggcups - Printer applet - lets users know whats going on with their print jobs
gisomount - gnome iso mount utility
gnome-schedule - easy gui to cron
glabels - label program
compizconfig manager - extra config options for compiz
gftp - ftp program
curlftpfs - lets you mount ftp sites as drive mounts
isomaster - iso utility extra, build, etc
xnest - multiple x display to local and remote machines
p7zip , rar - compression progs
liferea - RSS feeder
Added a couple extensions to Firefox and set homepage to google.com
Changed some of the defaults for compiz-fusion
Changed the panel defaults to more my liking
Added adesklets
Also added a bunch of nautilus scripts available via right-click. A bunch I made myself.
Added Gnome-DO with all the extra plugins.
Added gedit plugins and changed gedit defaults.

The Roman Senate and Colloseum

Here is a high vantage view of the remains of the Roman senate and the Colloseum. [more videos can be found on my personal blog on the right]

Back

Been awhile since I have updated the site. Went to Europe for awhile. Got to go to Rome, Venice, Florence and then London. Simply amazing stuff. Really makes you realize how young the USA is.

Anyways, I see some of you have been asking for the PLUS edition. I'll upload it this weekend but like all things it is already out of date.

I have built a new iso based on 8.04 before I went on my vacation. I'll upload that as well.

I also played a bit with PCLinuxOS and was able to almost entirely recreate my LAVA using it as a base also. I might upload it so people can check it out. It seems faster on my hardware than UBUNTU and I wonder if it is just the tweaking of the kernel or runtime parameters like sysctl - going to have to do some research cause although I like the speed, PCLinuxOS has a smaller support personnel and less software available thru its package manager than Ubuntu.

I will say for having a lighter support infrastructure and less developers on it, the distro is faster and seems to run on lighter hardware. I was able to install it on a laptop that Ubuntu won't even run live on and that includes the infamous Xubuntu as well. Previously my only other distros I could get on the laptop was Windozes XP and Fedora. Partly cause Fedora automatically initializes the swap file and uses it during install and the Ubuntu and Xubuntu do not. Since the laptop in question only has 128 MB, it was problematic with Ubuntu and Xubuntu and even though I knew this and manually created and initialized the swap file, I think just running the live environment was too much for it. I suppose if I really wanted to I could have downloaded the alternate version of Ubuntu and installed everything from the commandline but that's just too much work especially since the laptop is not one I regularly use. It's more of a benchmark or challenge to any OS I want to check out. "Hmmmm, wonder if it will load on that old laptop of mine."

Anyways, I'll do some uploading this weekend and hope to hear next week how everyone is doing.

As they say in Europe, ciao.