The Voodoo that is Ubuntu

Last week, as the lack of anything close to a star filled sky has kept me indoors, typing away on my computer, I decided now would be a good time to try something new. I have read and read over the years about Linux, my current job utilizes Linux servers on the majority of our systems, yet my experiece with with OS is extremely limited. I have heard so much on folks moving to Linux and never turning back that I decided why not.

I currently have my laptop configured to dual-boot Vista and XP. I loaded XP only a day after owning the computer, being very unimpressed with Vista. I grew weary of the performance issues and the too numerous to list "why the hell did Microsoft do this" stuff. After some research, I landed on the decision that Ubuntu was the Linux distro to give a try. So Saturday morning at 2am I started my installation.

By about 4 am I was surfing the web. To say the least I was impressed at that fact. I did not have a single driver issue, or should I say more correctly, at that time it 'appeared' that I didn't have a single driver. A quick search on how to install software for Ubuntu directed me to a wonderful feature, the Add/Remove programs feature of Ubunto. Simply put, it takes the complication out of installing those Linux apps, you can literally install hundreds of fantastic apps right from this menu. It worked fantastic. And although not everything is listed, boy there are thousands of Linux apps, the choices are certainly more then enough for most users.

After about an hour or so loading apps from the Software Library, I added some of the Linux versions of apps I use almost daily, such as TweetDeck, Audacity, Stellarium just to name a few. All these apps worked perfectly, with TweetDeck being the most challenging because of the dependancies. But with some quick 'googling', you find extremely helpful advise out there and a healthy list of simple step by steps as well.

Today I'm and and running over 30 apps, from Podcast managment software of OpenOffice and Thunderbird. Now the down to earth part, not all of them are running. For one, EtherApe is supposed to be a program that shows your network activity, but this does not run. Its interesting that this was downloaded via the Add/Remove Ubuntu Software Library, but I'm sure I'll find some advice online to resolve the issue. The other program which is not working is UrbanTerror, a FPS that I occassionaly like to play online. That one is going to take time, I just know it because it appears to be graphics driver related.

Now back to that part about the drivers. I was a bit frustrated that I could not figure out how to view my drivers, the Ubuntu hardware manager simply said I had "no proprietary drivers" detected. This may be good or bad, I don't know yet, but a weird issue that I have experienced is the sound from my speakers on Ubuntu is noticeably lower then on my Vista/XP (yes, I have checked the volume controls). So I'm sure there appears to be some hardware/drivers issues that I have to overcome in order to get the full potential of Ubuntu, and with that goes countless hours I'm sure of researching online. This is the biggest roadblock to Ubuntu going mainstream IMO. On OEM hardware you would not have the drivers issues that I suspect I'm having. Yes, Vista certainly has its issues with drivers to this day, and to Ubuntu's credit, I centainly have a funtional laptop, I just don't think its optimal.

I'll be "kicking the tires" so to speak on Ubuntu over the next few weeks, and I'll post more info, as well as my own How to's. For now, I'm forcing myself to utilize Ubuntu, but I still boot to up Vista when I want ensure things are working. Now isn't that funny.

Observing Report - Open Clusters near Sirius and Saturns closed rings

Blessed with the rare clear sky last night, I took out the 6" Dob and finally did some observing. With it being in the high 20's, I didn't bother to use the Intelliscope Computer, just decided to pan around a bit and see what I can see.

M42 - Wonderful as usual. I'm so impressed by this 6" and its ability to provide tight stars and contrasty views. My 8" SCT is collecting dust.
Trapezium - with an 18MM SWA Meade 4000, all 6 stars, thats A,B,C,D,E, and F visible. WOW is all I can say.

M41 - Nice OC. Visible in my 6x30 RACI finder
M47 - Nicer then M41 IMO.  I like the diamond star formation about middle of cluster
M46 - A favorite OC because of NGC 2438 PN. With my not so very dark site, it was visible but I really wish to catch it when I'm at a truely dark site. Surprised me how nice it was, gosh I love the tight pin-point images of this Dob.

Waited a few hours for Leo to rise higher and of course had to visit Saturn for the first time in a very long time.

Saturn - With the 18MM (68x), disk was small but still could decern some detail, and the rings were edge on and thus closed and formed a line right across the face. Pumped the power up using a barlow (138x), and the image was fantastic. I could barely see a hint of the widening of the bands on either side of the planet, cool effect. Definetly could see some cloud details, a whitish wide area just center of planet and right above the rings. Now decided to pump up power by using my 6mm Ortho (~200x), and the view did not dissapoint. Atmospheric conditions were more prevenant with this EP, but when the seeing permitted, sharp views were very rewarding. Now I could see that there were some suttle color variations on the surface of the planet. Feeling adventurous, I decided to barlow the 6mm, and go for 400x, thats right 400x.  Now my 8" SCT could never really give me nice views above 200x and only once did I view higher than
this with the 339x that this 6mm provided. In fact the last time I pushed
to this power was 2002 Cathedral Gorge Star Party, and fancy that my
target was Saturn. So with this 6" dob, I thought this high of magnication would provide nothing but mush. However I was encouraged by the very crisp view with the 6mm was giving at 200x, so I thought I would try more. My jaw dropped. I was shocked to have a very dim, but still detailed view of Saturn wisking by in the very narrow field of view. I did prefer the 200x image better, it was brighter, but the simple fact that this scope could take that kind of power and still provide a view that you could observe details and use, astounded me and reassured me that this scope was indeed a winner.