What if Panic’s software wasn’t made for the Mac, but for the Atari?

Panic’s lost 1982 artwork. Found. « Panic Blog.

• 10.5: How to reset Leopard back to the Setup Assistant – I've been reinstalling some laptops recently that are going to family. I wanted to put some apps on it already but couldn't take the "fresh OS X install"-feeling away from them so this little scripts puts a system back to basics while leaving the apps installed.
• Install memcached PHP extension on OS X Snow Leopard – Much easier than I expected
• How to configure, build a php extension on macosx snow leopard – Handy little snippet
• Continuity (Flash Game) – I love it when games challenge your brain instead of bombard you with cutting edge graphics
• Cryptographic Right Answers –
• Install XP from USB – How do you install XP on a netbook without a DVD drive?
• 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error

So yesterday my new laptop arrived. I decided to get a little Dell Mini 10 netbook as a companion to my new Mac Mini workstation. At the moment I’m at the point of selling it again though.

I found a good deal on eBay for a Dell Mini 10 with integrated wireless-n, bluetooth, 3G/HSDPA, TV-tuner, HD screen and a 6 cell battery. Additionally I liked the model because everyone seems to like the Dell Mini 10 for  turning them into hackintoshes. Yeah, that’s where I was wrong.

The Dell Mini 10 has a little brother called the Dell Mini 10v (where the v stands for value). This model rarely comes with all the extras and has a atom N series processor. It turns out that my machines Z-series atom is actually the reason why I can’t run Mac OS X on it. Doh!

Now I promised myself at the beginning of the year to invest some more time in Linux, so I saw this as a good moment to try it out. I started off with Ubuntu 9.10, which is the newest Ubuntu version. After install the wifi didn’t work, neither did the graphics driver, nor the brightness controls, nor the sleep/suspend, nor the wifi, etc. I spend a few hours getting the wifi and screen to work correctly, and a hack gave me hibernation support. But by then the audio started acting up even more so I decided to do the wise thing to switch to Ubuntu 9.04 (the current long-term-support release).

I chose for the Netbook Remix release because I already started to notice that having a UI that’s optimized for a small screen and a small keyboard might be a wise plan. I managed to get everything to work pretty quickly (except for the TV tuner software) but realized that even the netbook remix doesn’t really run that smoothly on my Z530 with 1GB of ram.

Now to be fair, I’m used to machines with 4GB of ram for the least 4 years, so this is quite a step back. But the screen tearing and slow response is just sometimes killing me. So I decided to look into upgrading the RAM in this machine. This is when I realized this machine doesn’t have any upgradable RAM!

So at the moment I’m really contemplating my options. I love the built-in 3G in this machine, and the 6 cell battery is interesting, but the keyboard is crap, the upgradability sucks, and it won’t run Mac OS X.

So, what IS the best netbook out there that can run Mac OS X? Should I stick with this machine for now or maybe go back to Mac? A Macbook Air is starting to look very tempting.

It still amazes me that somehow this combination works!

We saw “Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel” this weekend at Ian’s place and I seriously thought it was hilarious. Go and have a look at the trailer and definitely watch it on DVD if you can.

• Kill or cure? – What does the Daily mail thinks causes or prevents cancer?
• Cartographer.js – thematic mapping for Google Maps – Working with Google maps directly can be a bitch (trust me, I tried) so I’m happy to see someone abstracted some cool functions out
• 10 Useful WordPress Coding Techniques « Smashing Magazine – Thinking of building some of these techniques into my wordpress blog theme
• Mastering CSS Coding: Getting Started « Smashing Magazine – I love Smashing Magazine. I already knew all of the things in this tutorial but I think it’s great for beginners

So we did it. We ran another BarCampLondon. It was awesome and it would have been impossible without all the organisers, volunteers, IBM people, catering, and most of all the attendees.

It’s sad it’s over already but at least we still have the photos.

Taiwan ‘Hack Girls’

[Edit: I had to replace the video with an older one because the original one has been pulled. This one doesn't have lap dancers but it sets the scene quite right]

Bad Yahoo! Very bad!