With the launch of the on-demand video streaming service Netflix in the UK and the offer of one month's free trial, I decided to give the service a quick test.
More than the selection of programmes and films available on the service though, I was curious to see if instant streaming would work on my Linux computers. In short, it does not.
I tested the service in both Firefox and Chromium, with default and altered user-agents without success. I was mildly optimistic that whilst it wouldn't work straight away, that perhaps by faking the user agent it could be forced to work but unfortunately it was not that simple.
My optimism came about because Netflix should work on a Chromebook (running Google's Linux-based cloud OS Chrome OS). Unfortunately though, it seems from the error page that Google's system has some software specifically to allow it to use the software. Unless this software is available outside of Chrome OS then it seems that general Linux usage is futile.
The only alternative would be to resort solely to streaming using an XBox or Android phone but for me, the latter has a screen size much too small and the former is a hassle to use thanks to the TV only having one HDMI socket which is generally occupied by my Sky box.
So less than 30 minutes after starting my trial, I have canceled my membership. It's no great loss - I watch more than enough TV via Sky - but I think it's a shame that a service which obviously technically can run on a Linux system (proven as it's on Chrome OS) is not widely available for any Linux system.
Yesterday's setup of Linux Mint 12 KDE Edition went very smoothly.
From running the system via a live USB boot disk through to complete installation; the problems were few and the impression has been largely positive particularly in comparison to the Gnome 3 edition of Mint 12. It has been so much better in fact, that the boot of the system via the USB stick was significantly faster than the boot of the old installed OS. I think that says a lot about the speed of the Gnome system.
I was particularly pleased to discover that dual screen support exists without issue and without needing proprietary drivers from NVidia. Little features like independent wallpapers for each screen are a nice touch. I'm also quite the fan of KDE's widgets system. To the best of my knowledge there is no equivalent in Gnome and if there is, it wasn't as obvious as here where a right-click on a panel or desktop is enough to reveal their presence.
So far - and it has been less than 24 hours since the installation, so it's hardly a thorough test - I've had no major issues on my desktop machine. The only very minor niggle is the appearance of Firefox which visually, doesn't sit as well in KDE as it does in Gnome. It really is a minor issue though and doesn't affect the usability of the browser. If it really starts to bother me, I can always use Chromium as an alternative.
Following such a success, I decided the netbook should also be upgraded. I like to run the same systems where possible just for consistency so I downloaded the 32 bit version and went through the same process of installing via USB.
This was more tricky. At the moment, I'm not a particular fan of netbook versions of traditional interfaces. I didn't like Unity and I don't like Plasma-netbook that KDE used by default on my machine. Not being particularly familiar with KDE, I had to research how to revert to the traditional interface which took some time and some clicks but I got there.
Oddly I've also experienced a few crashes, one of which resulted in a Kernel Panic requiring a battery pull to resolve. That was during my configuring phase though and now I've settled down on that front, I'm hoping it'll be fine.
Assuming the desktop machine remains stable, I think I'll be keeping this for a while. My last experience of KDE was right after the launch of version 4 and I remember being less than impressed. Now is a different story. It's come on a long way.
For the netbook, if it doesn't seem stable enough then I'll have to investigate other options. One of which is a minimal Linux OS designed purely around using the internet. I can't recall it's name but it only takes something like 100MB and considering the netbook is mainly for internet use, it could be fun to try.
From running the system via a live USB boot disk through to complete installation; the problems were few and the impression has been largely positive particularly in comparison to the Gnome 3 edition of Mint 12. It has been so much better in fact, that the boot of the system via the USB stick was significantly faster than the boot of the old installed OS. I think that says a lot about the speed of the Gnome system.
I was particularly pleased to discover that dual screen support exists without issue and without needing proprietary drivers from NVidia. Little features like independent wallpapers for each screen are a nice touch. I'm also quite the fan of KDE's widgets system. To the best of my knowledge there is no equivalent in Gnome and if there is, it wasn't as obvious as here where a right-click on a panel or desktop is enough to reveal their presence.
So far - and it has been less than 24 hours since the installation, so it's hardly a thorough test - I've had no major issues on my desktop machine. The only very minor niggle is the appearance of Firefox which visually, doesn't sit as well in KDE as it does in Gnome. It really is a minor issue though and doesn't affect the usability of the browser. If it really starts to bother me, I can always use Chromium as an alternative.
Following such a success, I decided the netbook should also be upgraded. I like to run the same systems where possible just for consistency so I downloaded the 32 bit version and went through the same process of installing via USB.
This was more tricky. At the moment, I'm not a particular fan of netbook versions of traditional interfaces. I didn't like Unity and I don't like Plasma-netbook that KDE used by default on my machine. Not being particularly familiar with KDE, I had to research how to revert to the traditional interface which took some time and some clicks but I got there.
Oddly I've also experienced a few crashes, one of which resulted in a Kernel Panic requiring a battery pull to resolve. That was during my configuring phase though and now I've settled down on that front, I'm hoping it'll be fine.
Assuming the desktop machine remains stable, I think I'll be keeping this for a while. My last experience of KDE was right after the launch of version 4 and I remember being less than impressed. Now is a different story. It's come on a long way.
For the netbook, if it doesn't seem stable enough then I'll have to investigate other options. One of which is a minimal Linux OS designed purely around using the internet. I can't recall it's name but it only takes something like 100MB and considering the netbook is mainly for internet use, it could be fun to try.
A few months back, the latest release of the popular Linux distro Mint was released. Since then, I've been running it on my two machines - a 64 bit desktop and a 32 bit netbook.
Linux Mint 12 was a significant release as it was the first time that the distribution adopted Gnome 3 as it's GUI. This latest version of the interface has itself been controversial because of its significant departure from the its traditional experience.
Mint's release did a reasonably good job of trying to tame the new beast by incorporating theming and extensions in an attempt to try and retain some familiarity but I don't think it's quite worked yet. The repositioning of the taskbar, duplication of functionality (with Gnome's launcher and the Mint Menu) and the noticably slower performance have left me with a poor impression. Not of Mint necessarily - moving on from Gnome 2.x was a necessity - but of what Gnome 3 is at the moment.
Since installing the new system, I've experienced a number of bugs and annoyances from a slow boot, laggy Gnome Shell, GEdit lockups, full system crashes and difficulty with shutdowns and restarts. For this reason, I'm now downloading the release candidate for the KDE edition of Mint 12.
I've used Gnome since I adopted Linux back in 2007 and although have briefly played with KDE; I've never settled down with it always preferring the simple interface of Gnome 2. Now though, I wonder if things will be different. KDE 4 is well developed compared to the recent release of its rival. Perhaps I'll find it a better option. If not though, my third option is to try the Debian edition of Mint - or something else altogether!
Linux Mint 12 was a significant release as it was the first time that the distribution adopted Gnome 3 as it's GUI. This latest version of the interface has itself been controversial because of its significant departure from the its traditional experience.
Mint's release did a reasonably good job of trying to tame the new beast by incorporating theming and extensions in an attempt to try and retain some familiarity but I don't think it's quite worked yet. The repositioning of the taskbar, duplication of functionality (with Gnome's launcher and the Mint Menu) and the noticably slower performance have left me with a poor impression. Not of Mint necessarily - moving on from Gnome 2.x was a necessity - but of what Gnome 3 is at the moment.
Since installing the new system, I've experienced a number of bugs and annoyances from a slow boot, laggy Gnome Shell, GEdit lockups, full system crashes and difficulty with shutdowns and restarts. For this reason, I'm now downloading the release candidate for the KDE edition of Mint 12.
I've used Gnome since I adopted Linux back in 2007 and although have briefly played with KDE; I've never settled down with it always preferring the simple interface of Gnome 2. Now though, I wonder if things will be different. KDE 4 is well developed compared to the recent release of its rival. Perhaps I'll find it a better option. If not though, my third option is to try the Debian edition of Mint - or something else altogether!
Unfortunately it seems this guide may no longer work - at least it didn't when I attempted it in Linux Mint 12 (based on Ubuntu). The guide remains here for posterity, but I accept no liability for anything that may go wrong should you attempt to follow it.
Whilst Amazon are to be congratulated for providing version of their software for Linux, I think it's quite poor that after a little more than three years there is still no 64-bit support.
Never mind - guess I'll just be using 7Digital or buying more CDs.
--
At long last Amazon has launched it's MP3 music store in the UK, providing more choice for DRM free music downloading (along with the likes of 7Digital and Play.com).
The new store very kindly provides downloading software which is designed to make downloading albums straightforwarded, and even more kindly they have provided a version of the software for Linux. Unfortunately there is not a native 64-bit version of the software so anyone attemping to do a straight install will come up against an error due to the differences in architecture.
Fortunately, in Ubuntu 8.10 at least, this is very easy to overcome, just by following these simple instructions:
The first time an album is purchased using Amazon MP3, the browser will ask what application to use to open Amazon's AMZ file. Point the browser to the Amazon Downloader which can be found in /usr/bin/amazonmp3. Tick the box to use this program from now on, and that will be the only time the browser will ask.
Whilst Amazon are to be congratulated for providing version of their software for Linux, I think it's quite poor that after a little more than three years there is still no 64-bit support.
Never mind - guess I'll just be using 7Digital or buying more CDs.
--
At long last Amazon has launched it's MP3 music store in the UK, providing more choice for DRM free music downloading (along with the likes of 7Digital and Play.com).
The new store very kindly provides downloading software which is designed to make downloading albums straightforwarded, and even more kindly they have provided a version of the software for Linux. Unfortunately there is not a native 64-bit version of the software so anyone attemping to do a straight install will come up against an error due to the differences in architecture.
Fortunately, in Ubuntu 8.10 at least, this is very easy to overcome, just by following these simple instructions:
- Download GetLibs (provides libraries for 32-bit software on a 64-bit architecture) from http://www.boundlesssupremacy.com/Cappy/getlibs/getlibs-all.deb saving it to your desktop
- Double click on the GetLibs icon, on your desktop to launch the installer. Install this package
- Download the Amazon MP3 Downloader installer for Ubuntu 8.10 from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/dmusic/help/amd.html/ref=sv_dmusic_3">here</a>, saving it to your desktop.
- Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal)
- Move to the Desktop directory:
cd Desktop
- Attempt an install of the downloader:
sudo dpkg --install --force-architecture amazonmp3.deb
- The install will show dependency errors. Do not worry about these.
- Run GetLibs on the downloader install, stating Yes if you're prompted to continue at any point:
sudo getlibs /usr/bin/amazonmp3
- The downloader is now installed, and can be started from the 'Run Application' dialog (ALT+F2) by typing amazonmp3
The first time an album is purchased using Amazon MP3, the browser will ask what application to use to open Amazon's AMZ file. Point the browser to the Amazon Downloader which can be found in /usr/bin/amazonmp3. Tick the box to use this program from now on, and that will be the only time the browser will ask.
More computer hardware today. Being annoyed with my old wired mini keyboard and cheap wired mouse, I bought a Logitech MK250 keyboard and mouse set.
Unfounded Opinion
I've always refrained from wireless peripherals as I had the opinion that perhaps they wouldn't play nice with Linux. I'm not sure if that's an opinion that has ever had any basis in truth, but I'd formed it at some point and never really looked further into it.
So, thanks to my increasing annoyance; over the last week I did some research on the types of wireless keyboards that were available and compatibility. I knew that Linux was Bluetooth friendly so thought that would be the best option. However, much of what connects via this common standard is designed to be small in order to accompany a laptop and is therefore not ideally suited to a desktop. Thinking I might as well give up, I took a further look at the proprietary 2.4GHz systems. Various sources said that Logitech was a promising brand, so that's where I focused my search.
Linux Compatible
I eventually settled on the MK250 set, and checking Amazon's customer reviews; found one that mentioned success with Ubuntu. Brilliant. Argos had a 20% off offer making it only a few pounds more than the online retailer, so off I trundled to the shops and came back a few hours ago with the new kit.
And I'm pleased to report that both the keyboard and mouse connected instantly without any problems whatsoever. I'm also pleased to note that every 'quick key' i.e., media and internet controls, works without fault. This is something I really wasn't expecting. I know that even with wired keyboards, sometimes these extra functions can be difficult in Linux operating systems.
The Keyboard
I terms of the keyboard itself, compared to the laptop-like mini keyboard, it's much more comfortable. A couple of feet raise it to a slight angle (although it's not dramatic). The keys are not overly clacky but make enough noise to satisfy that they've been pressed. There is an omission of any indicator lights i.e., caps-lock, num-lock, scroll-lock but I don't see that as a big issue. The layout of the document keys (home, end, insert, delete, page up, page down) is slightly unusual where they're laid out in a 2 column, 3 row format as opposed to the more usual 3 column, 2 row format. Presumably this is a space saving feature and will take a little getting used to. The quick keys I mentioned above are all placed as secondary options on the F1-F12 keys. A FN button enables them, so they're not as quick as some keyboards but handy none-the-less. The unit is powered by 2 supplied Duracell AAA batteries. Of course, I'm yet to discover how long they will last in real life.
The Mouse
The mouse is a simple affair. It's a standard 3-button scroll wheel laser mouse, where the wheel doubles as the middle button. The scroll is clicky and a little noisy but it works fine. It's powered by a single AA battery (again, supplied).
Conclusion
Although it's been mere hours since I first connected this set, so far I'm very happy with it. Losing two wires from my desktop makes it much tidier and not having to worry about snags when I want to move the peripherals back a bit is very nice indeed. With 100% Linux compatibility, I wish I'd looked into this earlier.
(Logitech MK250 set tested on Linux Mint 10 64 bit)
Update: 09 July 2011, 20:08
The mouse battery died about 15 minutes ago. That's 3.5 months on it's original single Duracell AA. Not bad going. The keyboard's still on it's original set.