Das Nullniveau lauert über uns

So, after having this problem at some point on Ubuntu and Fedora I did some searching and it turns out the solution is quite simple (as always, you just have to find it ;):

The problem:
I have a SoundBlaster Audigy SE (CA0106). At some point my sound stopped working. There where no error messages, sound controls said all is fine and even the meters showed something when sound was playing … only the boxes didn’t output anything.

The solution:
Turns out the (/this?) SoundBlaster doesn’t feed anything to the analog output as soon as the digital output is active.
So you just have to fire up alsamixer, select your SoundBlaster (F6 -> CA0106) and mute the S/PDIF channel (select it and press M). And … voilà … you’ll have sound again.

So, after having this problem at some point on Ubuntu and Fedora I did some searching and it turns out the solution is quite simple (as always, you just have...

So, after about 6 years of using Ubuntu I switched (kind of back) to Fedora a few weeks ago.

Why? Because of a few reasons. Of those, the two biggest ones are:

• Each of the (desktop) releases got more buggy over the years.
  A colleague of mine once said that every release except the LTS ones is just a public beta. While at the time I did argue that, but in the meantime I have to agree with him.
  In my case, on all of my computers 11.04 broke at least on essential service. (WiFi, graphics and sound to be exact.)
• The switch to Unity
  While there may be positive voices about it, especially regarding long-term Linux users (e.g. here; sorry, german) I agree more with this opinion on /. that Unity “throws away years of UI experience”.

So … I know – in regard to the second point – that there’s the Classic Desktop (which I use at work) but no one knows how long this will be supported (so I consider it a hack).
What bugged me most about Unity is the global menubar (again, I know this can be circumvented by deactivating the plugin … but again: hack) because this effectively breaks focus-follows-mouse (there’s much discussion about that at the Ubuntu bugtracker). And this is a feature I use since I use Unix desktops and I just won’t live without.
As for the first point … there’s simply nothing to say about it other than such screw-ups aren’t acceptable.

Also, I more and more get the feeling Ubuntu aims to be a free Windows than a Linux distribution …
So … I switched to Fedora 15 (beta at the time). A step I haven’t regretted – at least for now.

But as with everything Fedora naturally has it’s bad sides too, so here’s a short summary of my first impressions.

Pros:

• Gnome3
  Overall I really like working with Gnome 3. Sure, there a a few downsides (e.g. a click on the Terminal icon doesn’t open a new Terminal if one is already open which I find quite annoying) but overall I really enjoy working with it.
• “Bleeding edge” Software
  Using Ubuntu I always had to set a quite a few ppa repositories to get the software I wanted at all or at least to get the versions I wanted (e.g. Rapid-Photo-Downloader).In Fedora I got all I wanted almost out of the box. Almost, because I had to add just one special repository: RPMFusion. (Which is more like enabling the partner-repository in Ubuntu than adding a bunch of external repositories.)
• I got rid of NDISWrapper (more about that in the Cons ;)
• The installer is way better
  e.g. because of the feature to decrypt encrypted partitions before installing so you can use them again. (Worked flawless even with the partitions I created while installing Ubuntu.)
• Two finger scrolling
  Worked out of the box (vertically and horizontally) on my laptop.

Cons:

• There are also some bugs (e.g. this). But that’s to be expected and I’ve encountered nothing really serious so far. (Just wanted to have it in the list.)
• I never got NDISWrapper to install (because of dependency problems of the kernel modules). So I ended up spending 15 bucks for a natively supported Wifi-USB-Stick.
• I didn’t get some programs (e.g. Skype) to work in a 64bit installation
  I just wouldn’t run (stable). So I ended up with a 32bit installation which doesn’t really pose a problem thanks to the PAE kernel.

(As a sidenote: On the server-side I’m still quite happy with Ubuntu.)

Last, but not least, a few tips:

• The Fedora documentation is a good starting point after the switch to Gnome 3
  (Yay, finally an shutdown-option again. ;)
• Focus follows mouse
  As I stated: I need this. But it’s gone from the Gnome 3 settings and you won’t find it in the Gnome 3 tweak tool also. To still get it working type

  gconftool-2 -s /apps/metacity/general/focus_mode -t string mouse

  in a Terminal.

• Changing backgrounds
  In Gnome 2 you could add a xml definition for changing backgrounds (background.xml) directly in the background menu. This capability seems to be gone in Gnome 3. What still works is setting the same xml file using the settings manager

  gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri "file:///home/<username>/Pictues/backgrounds.xml"

• Broadcomm Wifi on Acer
  If you can’t get your bcm43xx-Wifi to work on an Acer laptop (it instantly turns off again after activating it) you’ll just have to blacklist “acer_wmi”. (Will break bluetooth but I think Wifi more importat; will work on Ubuntu too.)

So, after about 6 years of using Ubuntu I switched (kind of back) to Fedora a few weeks ago. Why? Because of a few reasons. Of those, the two biggest...

Apple does not build geek-gadgets. They build solutions for the main stream users.

Maybe that’s the case nowadays. But with the switch to a BSD (or lets say more generally UNIX) base they also sent the message out “Hey nerds, come to us and feel at home”.
Was this intentionally or by accident? I can’t say. But it worked really well (as it did with me).
Which was quite good for Apple because it’s always good to have people who understand the technology (and like to code) use ones devices.

Take the iPhone for example. It isn’t the best smartphone out there any more. (Android 2.1 is way ahead in my opinion.)
BUT: What makes it stand apart from all other smartphones out there is the number of apps. And to have this you need people who code them. And believe me: People (/Nerds) who like to code produce way better applications than people who code for money (or bandwidth ;).
(To be fair: One other thing unique to the iPhone from a programmers view is that there is only one kind of hardware, but that’s another topic.)

So, over the last years Apple definitely benefited from their image of being nerd-friendly and – even more – being the “good one” (opposed to Microsoft).
But also over the last years they didn’t life up to that promise. And the pinnacle of that development (for now) is the iPad. As stated in so many articles these days, for example in the german Süddeutsche,

Damit erschließt sich Apple zwar eine gigantische Zielgruppe – vergleichbar mit der Strategie von Nintendo, die mit der bewegungsgesteuerten Spielekonsole Wii Frauen, Familien und die über 40-Jährigen in die Spielewelt katapultierten. Den bisherigen Kern der eigenen Zielgruppe stößt Apple-Boss Steve Jobs aber vor den Kopf.

Apple is switching more and more to the main stream user as preferred consumer because this is the largest user group out there and because of that there is the most money to make as they have seen with the iPod and the iPhone.

But that also brings one problem: Someone who conveys the impression to have profit as their highest goal (yes, every company has to operate for profit, but there are different ways to achieve this) is no longer seen as the “good one”. And this is something nerds loathe even more than a company that doesn’t fulfill their needs.
I think this plays also a big part in why there are so much negative comments about the iPad in the nerd community.

And this is something of which Steve Jobs is well aware, why else would he be going into the offensive and disparage the Google philosophy of “dont’ be evil”.

Because – let’s face it: A product can be the best in

doing the basics right

, it still can’t survive without content (which is in case of the iPad the apps).
And for that apple still needs the nerds!

… you don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

But: The nerd is a fickle being. So, Steve, you just have to put the right device on the market.

(A response to http://teilweise.tumblr.com/post/363874467/dear-geeks)

Apple does not build geek-gadgets. They build solutions for the main stream users. Maybe that’s the case nowadays. But with the switch to a BSD (or lets say more generally...