I’ve kinda been on hiatus, so I haven’t updated this blog in awhile – been finishing up some things on the Element Beta.

Which I am happy to say is ready for developers and testers. It’s still early beta quality, but I am pleased with the new direction of the distribution.

Element aims to integrate a ten-foot user interface into a GTK/Linux based environment. Its started as my own project to set up an effective media center for my HTPC that would allow me to utilise certain GTK applications without straining my eyes to read the dialog fonts. I decided it would probably be beneficial to other users who were seeking something similar so I am hoping I can get an active community of media center enthusiasts to get behind it and support it.

Inspired by mobile and netbook interfaces I set up the window manager (Metacity) to run all applications in full screen mode within an XFCE environment. XFCE was chosen primarily for speed and simplicity. Font sizes have been set to an extra large 15 at 96 dpi, testing it out has proved very effective in rendering fonts and in general view-ability from 12 feet away on a 31 inch HDTV running at 1280 x 720 pixels.

This beta version is based on Ubuntu 9.10 and features Epiphany for web browsing, Fotoxx for image manipulation, Decibal Audio Player, Totem Movie Player, Transmission Bittorrent Client, XBMC, and you can easily add-on packages for Boxee and Hulu from the Element website.

Test it out and read more by visiting the homepage at http://www.elementmypc.com

Software installation on Ubuntu and really all major Linux distributions contrary to some people’s uneducated rants on the subject can actually be much easier than anything Windows has to offer. You just have to be accustomed to it and accepting of the software found in your desired distributions repositories. In Ubuntu’s instance there are nearly 2500 GUI-centered applications and close to twenty-five thousand other packages which include drivers, modules, and numerous command-line utilities. In that mix of GUI apps you will likely find a suitable, equal, and often times superior replacement for whatever Windows or proprietary software you may have been accustomed to prior to your switch to open source computing. Its often as simple as search, check, and install.

The latest version of Ubuntu has attempted to simplify the process even further and provide an app store/center like enhancement which claims to be better organized and feature filled than their previously used ‘Add/Remove Software’ utility. Honestly I am not really noticing it being any easier but it definetly has the potential to provide more features.

However two awesome websites offer their own web-based take on App delivery for Ubuntu through the usage of apturl, a very secure tool that allows a user to install software directly from their Ubuntu’s repositories by clicking a hyperlink on a web page. (in fact tuxsoftware was originally such a site, till I was forced to abandon the project)

Appnr.com and AllMyApps.com are already delivering many features with their web-based app centers that Ubuntu’s App Center may not deliver for another two versions or one-year in Ubuntu’s development cycle.

While the web-based systems such as AllMyApps.com specifically have many more features than Ubuntu’s built in App Center they lack much needed abilities such as recognition of currently installed apps and uninstalling applications. However if you are searching for a certain piece of Software, or seek further information on software before installing it, then they are definitely a greater resource than what Ubuntu offers ‘out of the box’ .

UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER – Doesn’t live up to the hype.

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APPNR.COM – Really simple and easy to use interface is a plus.

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ALLMYAPPS.COM – My personal favourite and the most feature filled!

Note: apt-get and synaptic have been excluded from this look at software installation options because honestly they are more for the advanced or power-user.

Google’s highly anticipated Chrome OS even before its much awaited release is being heralded as a revolutionary or more precisely an evolutionary change in operating system development and design. Being dedicated to webapps and cloud computing Google as usual seems to be keeping their fingers on the collective pulse of the tech-savvy as more business and individuals are beginning to do more work and store more data in the Cloud rather than natively. This is highly beneficial to Google’s business plan with Chrome OS as it seems there primary revenue stream from the system will emerge from lucrative web-based advertising.

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But does this transition to the cloud that Chrome OS represents actually nail the coffin lid on ‘native’ computing? Doubtful as I don’t believe Chrome OS would be able to gain real traction in the operating system market if it didn’t allow its users to utilize certain programs and store important data on there own machines. Everyone possesses some form of information on their computer that they may not want to house in some remote server space at the Googleplex or wherever said data may end up living in the cloud. Also if all our apps are based in the Cloud does that mean when our net connection goes down or isn’t performing as it should our computers are useless?

Fortunately for the future users of Chrome OS, me thinks Google has this covered and has for awhile.

Native Client is one crazy wonderful idea. Basically it allows you to run native x86 code in your browser, thus providing the capability to truly transform your browser into a lil operating system in its own right.

Checkout Native Client for yourself at Google Code!

If we can expect to see some manifestation of Native Client in Chrome then get ready for fraggin with Quake , photo managing/editing with Picasa, and listening/purchasing music with a Googlized iTunes-like application, except everything would run inside your browser as a tab.

Then we have Google Gears which more and more sites are utilizing to enhance their web apps and provide ‘offline’ capabilities. Gears is highly beneficial as it caches the necessary data and info from Gears enhanced sites like Google Docs and allows you to use such services on your PC similar to as if they were normally installed apps, thus increasing performance/speed and reducing the needed bandwidth .

Too see how Google may implement Native Client + Google Gears and what possibilities it leads to makes me anxious to have a “Chromed Out” computer in the not too distant future.

Just getting everything started. Feel free to check back on the development progress of the new TuxSoftware.com

In the meantime if you are looking for a good app portal or online software delivery system checkout ALLMYAPPS.COM