Raj Agrawal

Learnings from software and technology

  • Home
  • Technology
  • Software
  • Work
  • Play

Connect

  • GitHub
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Powered by Genesis

You are here: Home / Archives for Raj Agrawal

The Need For Speed Continues…

May 6, 2009 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Seeding up the OS

We know that a better PC Gaming experience comes only if the system resources are sufficiently available. If the system is out dated, it needs to be upgraded. If the games are still lagging at play, some even consider upgrading it further. This is when there is a need to check where and how to system resources are being used. There are many cases where the computer hardware is sufficient to run the game flawlessly but the Operating System is not properly setup or configured and the users without knowing this fact, spend more money to make their system run better.

Game Booster Logo
Game Booster Logo

A long time ago, one of my friends bought a new high end HP Laptop with almost all the attractive features. I really liked that system but, the only thing that irked my eye was that is was preloaded or say “cursed” with Windows Vista. My friend was happy with the OS and why wouldn’t he be, he was a newbie. He enjoyed the candy coated looks and the GUI. A month later, i got a call from him and he said how frustrated he was with the consistent decrease in the speed. He was worried that the hardware just have gone faulty and was willing to get it repaired or upgraded or some newbie thought like that. As his hardware system was actually up-to-date, i recommended him to downgrade the OS to Windows XP -Service Pack 3 which would solve all his performance related issues. He started using Windows XP and soon realized the tremend us improvement in the performance without the need of spending on new hardware.

The speed related issues can arise in any OS if it’s not timely maintained. Flooding the OS with applications, insecure / infected system, too much fragmentation, e.t.c can disrupt the system from working with it’s real capability. Earlier, i have written articles of how to use your computer with it’s “actual speed“. You can very well check them out.

Above all of these, there exists an application that significantly makes additional RAM available temporary stopping services that are not at all needed. The app is called as Game Booster, a freeware program to make additional RAM available for playing games or for loading heavy programs. When you are done playing games you can very well revet to the Normal mode which will restore all the temporary stopped services.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: optimize, security

I’m Linux You Idiots!

April 23, 2009 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

I stumbled on a clip on YouTube with a Southpark characterisation – “Mac vs PC vs Linux”. Check it out, it’s hilarious 😀

Filed Under: Consumer Technology Tagged With: Fun, linux, mac

Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope Set To Release Tomorrow

April 22, 2009 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

The ready version of Ubuntu 9.04 aka “Jaunty Jackalope” is set to release tomorrow. The release candidate (preferred by testers only), is available for download on the Ubuntu website. I’ve been a Ubuntu user since the release of Gutsy Gibbon and have been quite impressed with the constant development efforts put into by the Open Source community. The most recent version of Ubuntu, Intrepid Ibex was a disappointment for me the OS failed to startup the desktop even after fresh installations, but i am expecting the new version to work *fingers crossed* 😛

GNOME 2.26

Ubuntu 9.04 RC includes the latest GNOME 2.26 desktop environment with a number of great new features, including:

  • brasero, version 2.26.0, developed by Philippe Rouquier and Luis Medinas, as an all-in-one CD burning application. Brasero is now the default disc burning utility in Nautious.
brasero
Screen 1

  • Improved handling of multiple monitors with an updated gnome-display-properties by Federico Mena Quintero.
gnome-display-properties
Screen 2

X.Org server 1.6

The latest X.Org server, version 1.6, is available in Jaunty. The latest Mesa 3D DRI, version 7.4, is also available. A number of video cards have been transitioned to free drivers as part of these updates.

The -ati driver has received numerous fixes and performance improvements. It now.uses the EXA acceleration method by default. 2D acceleration support for the newest R6xx/R7xx family of cards is also available. 3D support is available up to R5xx cards for -ati. An updated -fglrx proprietary driver is available for R6xx/R7xx users who need 3D support.

The -intel driver now uses GEM for memory management. The new UXA acceleration architecture and DRI2 is available as an option.

Wacom tablet hotplugging

Wacom tablets now are enabled automatically when attached, no longer requiring xorg.conf modification. Button mapping configuration is not yet supported, but can be set manually by adding an fdi file to /etc/ha/fdi/policy/.

New style for notifications and notification preferences

Included in Jaunty is a simple menu which can be used to set preferences for notification icons, such as where they pop up on the taskbar. Ubuntu 9.04 beta also includes a whole new notification system, as shown in the Flash movie here: link

Boot performance

A number of improvements to the Ubuntu start-up process bring significantly improved boot performance to Ubuntu 9.04 RC. Please open bugs if you experience any degradation, and tag them with boot-performance.
Linux kernel 2.6.28

Ubuntu 9.04 RC includes the 2.6.28-11.37 kernel based on 2.6.28.8.

Ext4 filesystem support

Ubuntu 9.04 RC supports the option of installing the new ext4 file system. ext3 will remain the default filesystem for Jaunty, and we will consider ext4 as the default for the next release based on user feedback. There has been extensive dis.ussion about the reliability of applications running on ext4 in the face of sudden system outages. Applications that use the conventional approach of writing data to a temporary file and renaming it to its final location will have their reliability expectations met in Ubuntu 9.04 beta; further disuussion is ongoing in the kernel community.

Ext4 support in GRUB was provided by Colin King. If you choose to upgrade your / or /boot filesystem in place from ext2 or ext3 to ext4 (as documented on the ext4 wiki), then you just also use the grub-install command after upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 RC to reinstall your boot loader. If you do not do this, then the version of GRUB installed in your boot sector will not be able to read the kernel from the ext4 filesystem and your system will fail to boot.

Ext4 support in gparted has been provided by Curtis Gedak.

Cloud computing

Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition makes it easy to experiment with cloud computing. Eucalyp.us, an open source technology which is included in Ubuntu as a technology preview, enables you to use your own servers to deploy, experiment and test your own private cloud that matches the Amazon EC2 API. You can dynamically create virtual machines, configure multiple clusters into a single Cloud and even provide an EBS (elastic block storage) equivalent and an S3 compatible storage manager.

Turn-key mail servers

The dovecot-postfix package in Ubuntu 9.04 RC provides an easy-to-deploy mail server stack, with support for SMTP, POP3, and IMAP with TLS and SASL.

dovecot-postfix was packaged by Ante Karamatić.

Filed Under: Consumer Technology Tagged With: linux, ubuntu

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • …
  • 79
  • Next Page »