Apreche.net | One geeks thoughts on the geekeries of the world.

How To Setup Android SDK in Ubuntu

Posted on 11-15-2007 by Apreche

If you pay attention to technology at all, you probably know about Google’s Android platform. People have largely panned it because they were expecting a gPhone to do battle with the iPhone. I think they are missing the point. This is the first time ever where there is a well documented and supported open source mobile platform. I joined the Android developer’s mailing list last night, and I’ve already gotten almost 200 messages on it. Whether or not people are excited, developers are excited about developing mobile applications for this new platform. Some of that excitement might have to do with the cash prizes, but I doubt that’s the only factor.

Anyway, one of my major disappointments with the iPhone is the lack of podcatching software. If it had a podcatcher, I probably would have bought one right off the bat. Android has presented me with the opportunity to write my own mobile podcatching software. I’ve decided that I’m going to go for it. Being an Ubuntu user, I had to setup the SDK to get working. However, I ran into a few problems along the way. Since I suspect many other Ubuntu users out there also might want to get into the Android developing business, here I will post how I got the development environment setup in Ubuntu. Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | Tagged Android, Google, howto, Linux, mobile, Ubuntu | 1 Comment

Upgrade Hosting means Clean URLs Are No More

Posted on 11-05-2007 by Apreche

I use Linode for web hosting. I like it because from an administration perspective, I effectively have a dedicated Linux box. In reality it is shared, so I pay a lot less than the cost of dedicated with the same amount of freedom. Up until Saturday, this server was running a very old Gentoo build that I never bothered to update. Performing this update was good, but had unforeseen consequences. Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | Tagged programming, webdev | Comments Off

What it’s Like Being On Digg’s Front Page

Posted on 10-29-2007 by Apreche

I wrote an article about how Linux’s lack of complete support for most hardware is a bigger problem now than its total lack of support for a relatively smaller amount of hardware. This article really felt like Digg material when I wrote it. I was saying something that had not really been said in the past, and I spent a lot of time writing it. I decided to go against the stigma of Digging your own content, and I put it up there. I would not be writing this article if I didn’t make the front page. Let me share with you what I have learned from this experience. Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | Tagged Digg, webdev | Comments Off

Linux Doesn’t Lack Drivers, it Lacks Complete Drivers

Posted on 10-27-2007 by Apreche

I recently read this article about how the Linux device driver project needs more work to do. I pondered this for awhile, and came to a realization. While Linux still does indeed lack drivers for some hardware, I believe that the lack of drivers is no longer the largest technological obstacle to Linux adoption. The thing Linux needs to focus mostly on now is completeness, not quantity, of hardware support. Read on, and allow me to explain.

Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | Tagged Linux, Ubuntu | 102 Comments

How to Make Major Purchasing Decisions

Posted on 10-19-2007 by Apreche

Being a podcaster, especially a technology podcaster, results in many people considering me to be an authority on tech products. Thus, people often ask me for help them make technology purchasing decisions. It amazes me how most of these people lack basic decision making skills. I guess I have wrongfully assumed that this sort of thing was common sense. Instead, I find myself giving the same spiel over and over again. To save myself the effort, here it is once and for all. Scott’s step by step guide explaining how to make a major purchasing decision. Continue reading →

Posted in Advice | Tagged howto | 1 Comment

Linux is Desktop Ready for Most People

Posted on 10-11-2007 by Apreche

Not a week goes buy without me seeing some new article about how Linux is or is not “ready” for the desktop. This article is much like all the others, but it helped me realize something very important. Desktop readiness isn’t a matter of yes or no. It’s a matter of how many. There are a number of desktop computers in the world. It’s not a question of whether or not Linux is ready for them or not. It’s a question of how many of them are ready for Linux. Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | Tagged Linux, Ubuntu | 2 Comments

Put Iron in the Ocean to Stop Global Warming?

Posted on 09-28-2007 by Apreche

I am a software engineer. I am not qualified to say whether or not this is a good idea. However, I do want to make a point that I have made many times in the past. If global warming is real, and we decide it is something we want to avoid. The only way to realistically solve such a problem is with new science, such as this. Decreasing energy usage, carbon footprints, recycling, etc. will all theoretically help to delay the bad news. However, even if everyone became a super green hippy, it would still eventually come. Unless you want the world to give up electricity, rapid transportation, rapid communication, etc. we will slowly but surely bring about this kind of end as long as we do it with our current technology. Only a new advance in science that allows us to find a way to more efficiently use solar energy, put CO2 on the bottom of the ocean, or something else similar, will save us. If you are really worried, you should tell your representatives you want your tax money to go towards scientists like these.

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