Ubuntu 9.10 Brings on Some Fresh Changes

Where Windows and Mac OS X releases are concerned, people take notice. After all, each OS gets a complete new version only every few years. That's not so much the case with Linux, however, where there's a sheer number of new distro versions each month. So when one occurs, most people don't think too much of it. But with Ubuntu 9.10, the release has been long-awaited, even for non-users of the distro. Canonical promised some fairly big things, but did it deliver?

Since I've yet to install the latest version and give it a whirl, I can't say, but it is downloaded and burned, so I hope to soon. Since I knew I wasn't going to be able to touch the latest version right away due to time, I didn't make it a point to check out the official site last week when the latest version launched. I finally got around to checking it out earlier, though, and I have to say... how Canonical has handled the launch of its latest distro is quite interesting, and in a good way.

First and foremost, the official site has experienced a total makeover, and it looks fantastic. It's clean, bright, easy-to-read and gets the point across. I was keenly interested in the "For your netbook." remark, as I didn't realize the "Netbook Remix" version of Ubuntu was now an official product. That in itself is rather notable news. I proceeded to "Take the Tour", and geez, what does it remind you of? Apple, perhaps? It can't be denied... this looks like an Apple page straight off that company's site, aside from the colors.

Up and down the page are many listed features, which aim to explain what the OS is all about to people who either haven't used Linux or Ubuntu before, or are upgrading and want to know what's new. Of what's listed here, the "Software Center" is listed at the top, showing off just how easy it is to install new applications, games, tools and whatever else, which is followed by a quick look at the e-mail and communication features, a mention of Firefox 3.5 as being the choice for Internet browser, photos, music and video and even a blurb about gaming.

I have to say, Canonical did a splendid job of delivering the information about Ubuntu 9.10 to anyone who's interested, despite the feature's page sharing a likeness with Apple's own. Beyond that, even downloading the distro is easier than ever. Rather than selecting from a specific server, the site auto-selects one for you, depending on which country you choose. You can either download the first version they provide, or use other available options, such as being able to install through Windows, or text-based, and downloading via BitTorrent, if you want to save the company some bandwidth.

I plan to give the latest version of Ubuntu a try within the next few days, so I'll report again once I have formed some opinions.

Ubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Ubuntu contains all the applications you'll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to web server software and programming tools. Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing.

MAINGEAR Launches SHIFT "Supercomputer" with GPGPU Focus

Given that we at Techgage are so acutely focused on system components and personal PC building, we rarely ever post about pre-built machines. But, every so often such a machine will grab me by the shirt and force me to read what it's all about. One such computer was released yesterday, by MAINGEAR. Called "SHIFT", the company states it as being a "personal supercomputer" (this term is severely overused as far as I'm concerned), but how it comes to such a conclusion is what's interesting.

Years ago, when you heard the word "supercomputer", you'd picture a huge room dedicated to some massive machine, with hundreds, or even thousands, of individual motherboards and processors. With the advent of general-purpose GPU, companies like NVIDIA have been using the "personal supercomputer" term to describe what kind of power their products are capable of delivering. As we've seen in the past in our news section and site content, if an application or scenario is able to take proper advantage of the GPU pipeline, then performance can experience a major boost.

When MAINGEAR calls the SHIFT a "supercomputer", it's referring to just that... the GPGPU possibilities. Though it's been NVIDIA up to this point to push both GPGPU and "personal supercomputer" as a whole, MAINGEAR doesn't shun ATI, and it's actually the first choice in the configurations for SHIFT that I've looked at (appropriately, the HD 5000-series is the default choice). With companies such as MAINGEAR pushing its products as supercomputers, it's a wonder how much longer the GPGPU scheme of things will take to become more of an integral part of our lives. So far, GPGPU focuses primarily on video, so I think we need to see a far wider range of possibilities before the layman computer user will begin to care.

Regarding the actual product at hand, though, the SHIFT is easily one of the best-looking computers I've ever seen. I favor clean, professional designs for any chassis I use, and the one used for SHIFT is built from the ground up with that, and also ease-of-use and superb airflow in mind. Proof of the last part is the 90° position of the motherboard. Rather than have the GPUs and back chassis fan sit at the back, which is common, they're all faced to blow air up through the top. Given that hot air rises, this makes perfect sense.

You can read a lot more about what makes the SHIFT unique at the link below.

SHIFT uses the natural behavior of heat as an advantage - by rotating the internal components of the PC so that all heat is radiated through the top vents and cool air is drawn in from the bottom, SHIFT can harness the most powerful hardware on the planet with ease. Heat is the enemy of electronic components, and hot-running components are more prone to failure. Large, slow moving fans assist with the airflow and are virtually silent, and also feature removable, washable air filters. Generous, inconspicuous ventilation grates and inlets allow for ample airflow without taking away from the design aesthetics of the SHIFT chassis.

Western Digital Enters SAS Market with S25 Drives

Earlier this year, Western Digital issued a press release that revealed something not too surprising... that it was getting into the solid-state side of things. This happened via way of an acquisition of SiliconSystems, and we saw the first products to result from this a few months ago. Today, the company unveils yet another venture, this time focusing on the enterprise market. The company's S25 SAS hard drives are its first, and are designed for "mission-critical" applications.

The company's move to SAS at this point in time is an interesting one, because the technology isn't entirely new. Its new-found commitment to the drives show that it must believe that there's still a long life for SAS ahead, which will be interesting to anyone believing that SSD is sure to take over within the next few years. Although SAS drives are typically faster than regular hard drives, thanks in part to higher-grade components and 10,000 RPM rotational speeds, their read and write still can't compare to solid-state storage.

Compared to the VelociRaptor, also an enterprise drive, the real-world transfer rates are likely very similar, but the SAS drive experiences improved seek times, from 4.2ms to 3.6ms read, and 4.7ms to 4.2ms write. These tighter latencies would be appreciated in server or enterprise environments where a lot of reading and writing is going on all the time. As for transfer rates, the S25 is specified as being 128MB/s, but whether that's read or write, or both, I'm uncertain.

Pricing on the S25 drives hasn't been revealed, but you could expect a noticeable premium over the VelociRaptor drives, where the current 300GB model retails for around $270. The two available densities are 147GB and 300GB on the SAS side as well, with support for both 3Gb/s and 6GB/s interfaces.

"Our entry into the traditional-enterprise market continues the strategic expansion and diversification of WD's broad market and product portfolio, and significantly increases our addressable revenue opportunity," said John Coyne, president and CEO of WD. "As with our previous market expansion and diversification efforts, WD will approach the traditional enterprise space with the same focus on quality, customer service, technology and value that has earned us strong positions in every market we serve."

Apple's Sleek Magic Mouse Gets Reviewed

A few weeks ago, to much fanfare, Apple announced a slew of new products for general consumption. These included new iMac models, coming in 21.5-inch and 27-inch sizes, updated MacBook's with LED-backlit displays, and of course, the Magic Mouse. After these launches, I posted about how I felt that Apple price gouges its customers, rather than talk about a product in particular, or its features. So, when I spotted an Ars Technica review of the Magic Mouse, I gave it a read to see what's up.

If there's one thing that can be said about Apple, it's that it values aesthetics higher than most other companies. In some cases, its products could be considered a work of art. Take the Magic Mouse, for example. It's the sleekest mouse on the planet, and I could picture if being placed in a gallery somewhere. But for me, there's a rather fine-line between what I'm willing to put up with for overall styling in lieu of comfort. When I saw the Magic Mouse, which favors extreme sleekness over ergonomics, I wasn't immediately  impressed.

For the most part, the author of this review agrees, although he points out certain other features that make the mouse a winner, or a loser, depending on your viewpoints. What makes the Magic Mouse most unique is its multitouch capabilities. It features no scroll wheel or ball whatsoever, but allows you to rather use your finger to replace whatever your mouse wheel could handle - except with a major caveat... you cannot use a middle click.

That to me alone would be a deal-breaker, but the fact that it also interprets some movements as swipes would become annoying very quickly. For users of Exposé and Dashboard, some functionality is lost there as well (regained through various hacks). On the upside, the mouse proved to be a little more accurate than the last that the author used, and the momentum scrolling (think Logitech's Revolution scroll wheel) works quite well also. At $70, the mouse has it's upsides and downsides, so it's really up to you to decide if moving on up is worth the time and money. It primarily comes down to how much you love multitouch and can handle the extreme sleekness, so your decision shouldn't be too difficult.

The two-finger swipe is quite useful when browsing the Web, and I've already stopped right-clicking to go backwards and forwards through my browser history. You don't even need to grip the mouse as you swipe; there's enough static friction to keep it from moving if you perform a hands-off gesture (I've tried on glass, wood, and granite). If you have used screen zoom with the Apple Mouse, you'll find the implementation with the Apple Mouse to be fairly intuitive—simply hold down the control key and swipe your finger across the top of the mouse.

Skype to Go Semi-Open-Sourced for Linux

As a long-time user of Linux, and full-time going on three-and-a-half years, I've been able to test out a variety of applications, with a core few that I use each and every day. Out of them all, though, few are closed-source, with the exceptions of VMware Workstation, Nero Linux and Skype (which I still don't use often due to various issues). Skype is one of those applications, that while closed-source, works extremely well, and simply can't be ignored, given the absolute lack of like applications for the OS.

One major problem with Skype under Linux is Skype's lack of interest. For what it's worth, judging my the Mac OS X screenshots on Skype's site, I can say it looks like the company doesn't focus on non-Windows platforms much at all, in terms of updates. The problem I have with Skype for Linux is primarily a technical issue with how it utilizes the sound system. I used to own a USB mic which I used for this very application, but for some reason, it simply stopped working due to what I believe was a sound configuration change on my machine. Because of how Skype coded its application, there wasn't an easy fix, and no workarounds worked for me. So, I haven't used Skype since.

But, with a new statement made by the company, it looks like whatever issues Linux and possibly Mac OS X users have about Skype now, the community might soon be able to fix. Yes, that's right... Skype is going open-source in Linux. There's of course a caveat, and that's that the protocol itself is still locked down, so if there are issues with that for some people, there's not going to be tweaks made. It also means that the protocol will not be able to be used in another application, such as Pidgin, Kopete or other 'nix IM clients.

What this does essentially mean is that if the community should want to bother, a split project could be designed to allow a fully-revamped UI, to mimic more of the recent Windows clients, and perhaps add features only found in that version as well. The protocol is there, after all... it's just the features themselves that Skype have never implemented. While I do think Skype should have shown more love to its alt-OS versions, this could very well work out for the better.

"We appreciate our user community's enthusiasm and realize this is something they have been wanting for a while. We realize the potential of the open source community and believe that making Skype for Linux an open source application will help to speed up its development and enhance its compatibility with different versions of Linux. While it is our goal to make Skype for Linux source code available to the community in the nearest future, we are not at a point to disclose an exact release date yet."

Tech Roundup - November 3, 2009

Motherboards & Processors
• ECS Elitegroup P55H-A - Hardwareoverclock Austria
• Gigabyte GA-P55 UD3R - Overclockers Club

Displays & Video Cards
• HIS Radeon HD 5870 - Overclocker Cafe
• Samsung UN55B7100 55" 120Hz LED HDTV - Hardware Canucks
• Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 - PureOverclock
• Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 CrossfireX - Overclock3D
• Western Digital WD TV Live HD Media Player - Legit Reviews

Memory & Storage
• LaCie Starck Mobile 320 External Hard Drive - TechReviewSource
• Seagate Barracuda 2TB - Neoseeker

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Cooler Master Sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse - Modders-Inc
• Samsung CLP-770ND Network Colour Laser Printer - Dreamware Computers
• SteelSeries 7G Gaming Mouse - XSReviews

Cooling
• Arctic Cooling Accelero L2 Pro GPU Cooler - DeXgo
• Zalman CNPS10X Extreme CPU Cooler - Rbmods

Chassis & Power Supplies
• BFG Tech EX-1000 1000W Modular Power Supply - Bigbruin
• Nexus RX-1K 1000 Watt 80+ Inaudible Power Supply - PCShopTalk
• NZXT Lexa S Chassis - Bjorn3D
• NZXT M59 Mid-Tower Chassis - Overclockers Online
• Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock+ Portable HDD Docking Station - TweakTown
• SilverStone Grandia Series GD04 HTPC Chassis - Metku
• SilverStone Raven RV02 Chassis - Ninjalane

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• ASUS G51VX-A1 15.6-inch Gaming Notebook - TweakTown
• Blackberry Curve 8520 Smartphone - t-break
• Contest: Ultra X4 850W Power Supply - Bjorn3D