I have a lot of ideas on the direction I want to go with regards to the whole open source movement, but first I need to start small. I want to move myself off of a MS platform and on to a Linux based platform. I hope to keep a similar set of functionality, which primarily include:

• Email, contacts, calendar, task list and memos (Outlook)
• Simple spreadsheets (Excel) and formatted text documents (Word)
• Synchronization with my Palm Treo 650 (Palm Desktop/HotSync)
  • Outlook data: contacts, calendar, tasks and memos
  • DocsToGo data: spreadsheets and formatted text
• Multimedia (e. g. MP3, DivX, CD ripping)
• Image management and posting (from my Canon EOS 10D and Powershot S3 IS to my gallery)
• Virtual Machine (VMWare)

Some other applications that I may need include presentation editing (PowerPoint), project management (Project), video editing, virtual machine and torrent client.

My initial choice for an OS was Ubuntu, which is based on the Debian Linux kernel and GNOME window manager. It’s really easy to install, set up and maintain. However, I’m having some issues with getting it to work with my laptop and other accessories.

My primary computer at the moment is a Dell Inspiron 600m. It includes a built in Dell TrueMobile 1400 Dual Band WLAN Mini-PCI card. It seems that this card is based on a Broadcom chip set which has no direct Linux support. Some Linux drivers are in the works, but for the moment, it seems like the common method is to use ndiswrapper and the Windows drivers. So far I have not been able to get this to work on Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake), but there is a nice script which I have used successfully with Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft).

Problem solved, right? Not really. Unfortunately, I can not synchronize my Treo 650 using Edgy. It worked with Dapper, but apparently some timing issues have cropped up on the Edgy release of gnome-pilot, the underlying Palm synchronization software. When I try to sync my Treo on Edgy it consistently resets the PDA!

There’s a newer version of gnome-pilot which claims to fix the reset problem, and I have been able to download an build i t on Edgy. It even manages to identify my Treo correctly, however it seems I have lost a lot of sync conduits including contacts, calendar, memos, and todo (the main ones I care about). Ultimately I want to be able to sync with Evolution, which seems like a pretty good replacement for Outlook. I could go with Thunderbird, but I have become accustom to the nice integration between email, calendar, contacts, etc.

So now I can either keep working on fixing gnome-pilot/Evolution under Edgy (or fix the wireless card under Dapper), search for a different Linux installation that works with both the wireless card and Treo, or wait for the Feisty Fawn release of Ubuntu (which will not be final until April). At the moment, I have sadly returned to Windows…

I’m starting this blog to talk about a path towards a nerd utopia. A place where the code warrior looks forward to going after a long life of battle versus the Evil Empire. Where the human community rises above corporate domination. An attempt to lead the masses to the land of open source, wikis, and social networking. Geek Valhalla.

After dinner last night, Mary and I decided to go see some Christmas decorations. We went to the Willow Glen area of San Jose, which is usually quite well decorated. Many of the houses in this neighborhood have a small evergreen tree in the front yard decorated with lights. Some houses don’t have much beyond that, but others are quite extensive. This year we saw a multi-house decoration that was pretty cool. It consisted of 3 reindeer (one of which was Rudolph) and Santa’s sleigh. It spanned some 5 houses, connected together with Christmas lights. Usually, the most amazing house is the one at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Curtiss Avenue, but it was not lit when we went by. I’m not sure if they are skipping the decorations this year, or they just aren’t done yet. More pictures here.

After driving around Willow Glen, we went to Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose. Christmas in the Park is an annual festival in and around Plaza de Cesar Chavez near the Fairmont Hotel. The park is filled with Christmas displays and trees decorated by various community groups and schools. The tradition was started by a community leader in the 1950’s, and moved to it’s current location in Plaza de Cesar Chavez in the 1980’s. The festival includes rides, food vendors and various entertainment throughout the holiday season. There’s even an ice skating rink in front of the Fairmont Hotel. Mary and I strolled around the park checking out the displays and “community trees” and sipping on piping hot Mexican hot chocolate. It was a very nice evening. I have some more pictures posted in my gallery. Next time I should probably take my tripod…