Author Archives: cghotkar

LUUG Meetings

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Throughout the semester, we had an assignment to go Linux and Unix Users Group for credit. So I decided to go check it out the club. However, I was kind of over-whelmed by the information that they were discuss at that meeting. The environment made it feel like everyone in the room had to be adequate user of Linux or UNIX.

I definitely want to give the club the benefit of the doubt. I might have walked into an officers meeting or certain where veteran Linux or Unix users come to speak.

I feel like this club should I have separate meetings for Beginner and Expert users, just some new users like myself do not get over whelmed with new information. Or the club could set up workshops for setting up Linux or for working new projects.

Maybe I get the wrong experience with the club, but first impressions are tough to forget.

Desktop Environment – Cinnamon

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I have been testing out different Desktop Environment throughout the semester. Of all of the ones that I tried out, I seem to always go back to using Cinnamon. Cinnamon has a very simple interface that combines the usefulness of Unity and Simplicity of GNOME 2. Cinnamon was created to maintain the classic GNOME 2 look as well as be adaptable to the new features coming GNOME 3 and Unity interfaces.

Cinnamon was originally created for a different distro called Mint Linux. However, since Mint is based off of Ubuntu, porting the desktop environment to the Ubuntu wasn’t too difficult.

I think this desktop environment is the best way to introduce Linux to a new user because of its similarities to Windows XP/Windows 7. Some similarities like the task bar at the bottom of the screen helps new user break out of their comfort zones slowly.

I highly recommend anyone to give Cinnamon a shot. Just go to their website and follow the instructions to install.

 

 

Response to Shy then Engineers or Engineers then Shy?

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Original Post

I agree with this post completely. First day of class is not as exciting as it used to be; no one tries to meet new people or talk to the person next to them. As difficult as it is maintain a social life as CPE, I feel like there are many opportunities to meet new people with similar interests, such as in school clubs or sporting events. I think effort is simply needed to meet new people.

Speaking up in class is entirely a different issue, I believe the main reason for no one wanting to speak up is because they are intimidated by public speaking. I know its a small class of 30 people, but I would nevertheless consider speaking up in class as public speaking.One way to fix this issue would be to make public speaking class part of our curriculum. Not only will this help in the short term, but it will be very useful on the job.

Well, its either my reason above, or no one knows the answer to the professors question.

 

Online class vs In Class

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I believe this class is structured perfectly, half the class is online and the other half is in class. As convenient as an online class is compared to in class course, I feel like I don’t learn the material properly. Basically, I try to get the class over with to focus on other things. I think Having an in-class section is important for two key reasons. One the student is able to speak to professor and is able to “put face to the professor’s name”. Second, in class give time for students to speak to each other, or form study groups.

Even though I believe in class time is important, I also believe it needs to be formatted properly. No one wants sit in a lecture in which the professor reads from a bunch of slides. There is no interactivity and its difficult to visuals what the code is actually doing. For example, if the professor actively codes a simple example in front of the class, it gives everyone an idea on how to start a project or what the fundamentals of the topic are.

In our UNIX class, i think our professor has the right idea of showing us a terminal commands on how the work, but it doesn’t offer interactivity. I read a post in our class blog, in which the author proposed that their be a “live feed” or chat room for asking questions. I think this a great idea. Of course, if no one shows up for class that might derail this idea.

Hopefully, so my thoughts will taken account for when the department is considering changing this course into in a online course.

Desktop Environments – GNOME

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Ever since I installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS for Intro to Unix and Applied Software, I have been trying to find alternatives to the default Desktop Environment, Unity. I gave Unity a chance for the first few weeks on installing the OS, but it felt like an awkward combination of Mac OSX and Linux fundamentals. Then I began researching for new desktop environments. While researching, I found into GNOME Desktop Environment. After I installed it from the Ubuntu Software Center, I logged out and went to select the GNOME interface. The selection menu, there were multiple options. GNOME Classic, GNOME, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 2D.

GNOME Classic is basically GNOME 3.0 with a the classic GNOME 2.0 interface. This was created for people who couldn’t adapt to the new interface.

 

GNOME 3.0 is the latest version of the desktop environment. It is similar to Unity in many ways, but the biggest difference is the way the GNOME 3.0 interface looks.Surprisingly, I found out that Ubuntu Unity was forked from the GNOME 3.0. Unlike Unity, many of the setting and apps are hidden away until you hit a hot corner on the left to reveal all of the running apps,app tray, and additional virtual desktop.

Overall, I found GNOME 3.0 to be a little annoying when it came to be productive because the desktop screens where set up on top to bottom, and in order to open any app it required going to the app tray. I’ll try to stick with it a little bit longer and see if I can look past these annoyances.

If anyone is interested check out the GNOME website: http://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/

Midterm

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Just I took the midterm on Wednesday night. It was very similar to the practice exam that Darren had posted. I think this exam did a great job expending upon what we have been learning in this class.  The command line input questions challenged me, a novice UNIX user, to figure new ways to solve problems without relying on the trusty mouse and visual GUI directories.

The python and bash shell (how to create these scripts should have been explained a little bit better) really tested my knowledge on custom scripts. After I wrote the bash script shell, and fixed the python code, I attempted the extra credit. When I read the specifications on what I am supposed write, I was suddenly reminded of my first python assignment in this class. However, I simply used the code, from the previous part, and rewrote the code to work with the new type of information.

Well, this all I have for this week, next week, I am gonna talk about DE (Desktop Environments). These DE remind me of changing launchers in Android. I starting to see the connection between Android and Linux. Small connection, but important one never the less.

Unix Experience Entry #3

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Last week’s lecture on Vim (Vi Improved) really changed the way I coded in Ubuntu. I had a little experience with Vi, and I absolutely hated it. There was no syntax highlighting or and the commands were really confusing. For this class, before find out about Vim, I used the GUI gEdit to code, since I really wanted to avoid using Vi. gEdit is great, and there is nothing wrong with the program. However, whenever I use gEdit, I feel like am programming in Windows. The whole point of this class is learn to develop in the UNIX environment, so I decided to give Vim a shot.

Vim allows me to code within the command line. Programming in the terminal helped lower the number of programs and windows on the screen. As began to learn the commands in Vim, I found using this editor was efficient and easier than GUI based editors like gEdit. I was able to go from top of the document to the bottom with a press of a button, or copy 8 lines without using the mouse.

I wonder if there are any more editors like Vim? I am going to do some research and write about it next post.

 

Unix Blog Post #2 – Issues :(

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Today, I had to switch a virtual machine to run Ubuntu because my Ubuntu install on my hard drive was over heating my laptop. My laptop would constantly run the fan, whether or not, I am doing anything intensive. Initially, I thought it was a video card issue, since I have both an Intel and ATI Radeon graphics cards in my laptop. So I installed the required drivers, which allowed me to turn of the ATI Radeon Graphics card. Unfortunately, my fan continued to exhaust heat from the fans.I am going to take my laptop tomorrow to LUUG. Hopefully, they can figure out what is going. If anyone else can help me, my laptop model is HP Pavilion DV6.

Despite, the driver issues, I am enjoying using Ubuntu. Many of the different commands that I am learning from this class and ECE 3574 are finally starting to sink in. Typing commands into the Ubuntu’s terminal is starting to become more natural. Hopefully, by the end of this class, I will remember most of these commands.

Command School

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Today, we split up into 5 groups to learn about 35 different UNIX commands. Each group had about 7 commands to research and learn about the usage and flags. I was placed into group c. The 7 commands that I had to learn man, mkdir, more, mv, pwd, rm and tail. Once we got into our groups, we began to explain what our commands did and how to use them.

I thought this was a great way of introducing the commands, but I feel like I wont be able to remember all of the information that I heard when I need to use it. I feel like a good way to improve this assignment is to assign individual groups 7 different commands and each group presentation their research visually. When they are presenting, they will show the usage of the command and its unique options real-time. I think if people can see how the commands are used in the UNIX environment, they will be more likely to use it. Overall, I think the command school made people aware of these commands, however if the improvement that I suggested are implemented I think it will be more useful to people.