Today mark another milestone for Canonical’s Linux distribution, Ubuntu, with its’ ninth release dubbed as “Intrepid Ibex” or if you prefer the number, just Ubuntu 8.10 is suffice. You can read about the release note here. Among the changes are:

• Comes with the Linux 2.6.27 kernel, X Server 1.5 / X.Org 7.4, Pidgin 2.5, and GIMP 2.6 (among many other packages).
• Native 3G support.
• Refined default theme.
• Dynamic Kernel Module Support (some reading here).
• Comes with a special ATI driver for providing the X.Org 7.4 support.
• Inclusion of Live USB Disk Creator.
• Refined BulletProffX.

If you’re not into Ubuntu yet, you can download it from Ubuntu’s site. If you’re upgrading, a simple guide can be found here (check your release version first). Currently I’m using the network upgrade method since I already have version 8.04.1. But since my local broadband connection kinda sucks , it seems the upgrade process will took 2 years to complete But for those who’re not in the rush, you can always request a free cd through Shipit.

There is already an official guide on how to properly upgrade your wordpress (and it’s painless), but let me tell you how I do it. First, I determine all my changes that I made previously with the original release (hack, mod, etc) and I’m pretty sure all the changes been made hard coded, so as long as I don’t delete/replace those files, it should be okay. Most mod/hack that I made is on the theme files (*.php or *.css); so I would be very careful handling “wp-content” folder.

Next, I compare my “wp-config.php” with the new version named “wp-config-sample.php” to see if there are any changes at all. A little changes I suppose, so I just follow the new structure/format by copying my old settings to the new files and renamed the “wp-config-sample.php” into “wp-config.php” Then, I just followed the official guide. Backup database, change the name of “wp-include” and “wp-admin” by adding the suffix “_backup”, and lastly copying all the new WordPress 2.6 files over the old ones (exclude the “wp-content” folder. It seems “wp-content” only contains few files which I’m very sure I already updated those files; no harms done for not copying them over.

Then running the blog off the browser, login to admin, and database update page appeared. Just press upgrade, and a few moments later, voila…it’s done. Now, I just need to see if everything work as before. Since I use K2 theme (with external style), I encounter a few hickups but not that hard to solve. I just play some check-uncheck and save; done. Also, I notice some “image missing” error on my blog and I just realize, that some of my image didn’t exist in the “wp-include/images” folder. Luckilly, I have em’ in my old folder (wp-include_backup). On the plugins department, no appearent problem at the moment and I’m glad…Really painless.

DB Upgrade

PS: Well, it seems the upgrade do brake something. Sometime my sidebar act a little bit funny than usual. Sigh~~guess I have to wait for the next version of K2.

UPDATE: Head on to K2 official site, the update to comply with the 2.6 had been released.

The long awaited final version of Mozilla Firefox 3 had been released. Well, I’m eagerly awaiting this release to see how much different would it be compared with the Beta 5 version. To be honest, not much. There are some add-ons that I used is still not updated and I kinda can accept it since it’s not Mozilla’s concern (and to some extent, the add-ons developer themselves is not at fault here), so I’ll wait. But, it’s not going to stop me from updating and feeling impressed with the enhancement of the new release. One thing though, since the beta, I kinda feel the smart location bar is off to my liking. I mean, its size is kinda big, although I really like that features. Maybe I’m not used to it…yet. Thumbs up to Mozilla for fulfilling their promises to release it today (local time). If you’re wondering about the new features, you can view it at Mozilla Official Site.

P/S: Maybe it’s kinda too late I put this below, but better late than never I guess. Come on, join the initiative to set the world record!!

P/S 2: Well, due to the world record initiative thingy, the mozilla.com site was unreachable from around the world, occasionally responding with the message, “Http/1.1 Service Unavailable”; even the spreadfirefox site is not spared from the outage . It seems ok after a short while; a couple of refresh works for me. More news at the Netcraft’s news section.

Just today I had downloaded the latest release of Nine Inch Nails, The Slip. Well, before any of you blabbering about piracy and all that stuff, I will tell you that this release is free to download (legal in any way). Quoting from the frontman of NiN himself (Trent Reznor) from their official site

thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years – this one’s on me

The release contains 10 tracks and IMHO, according to my ears their genre kind of fusion between alternative rocks, electronic, and a little industrial rocks. I never seriously followed all their previous releases (only heard a couple of their previous tracks once in a while), so I kinda can’t say much about the latest release in terms of comparing it with their predecessors. What can I say is (personally), it’s a little out of my listening taste but I still find it interesting somehow. Maybe I need more time.

So, I can’t say more than that. Some might argue that this kind of release will not be that good, but I beg to differ. I do think this release haven’t fallen low like that and it’s still offer a quality tracks. Download and judge it yourself anyway. The best thing (beside its free to download) is you can choose the audio format; from the usual .mp3 until the humongous file size of either FLAC, Apple Lossless, or WAVE. Follow the link on their official site and you need to give out your emails to receive the download link. If you intend to own the release in the usual form (physical audio CD, etc), the band also plans to release in the form of CD and vinyl around July.

Enjoy

Additional Info

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. letting you
4. discipline
5. echoplex
6. head down
7. lights in the sky
8. corona radiata
9. the four of us are dying
10. demon seed

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