The Lazy Blogger
Pulling the plug (on Windows10) and moving to Linux on my desktop
2015-10-13
If you have followed my recent posts, you know I am working on this experiment on what it takes to wean myself off non Open Source OSes. Over the past weekend I decided it was time to walk the talk and pull the plug on Windows 10 on my Desktop. To be honest, it is not possible for me to avoid Windows 10 because my current Dev platform at work is heavily dependent on Windows (and Visual Studio), but the experiment is to see if I can avoid using Windows/OSX when not working and for my hobbies. So far there are some glaring gaps in my requirements (that I know have solutions but), I used to skirt them by going back to Windows, so I decided lets pull the plug and then figure out how to solve those issues. So here's how I went about it.
Linux on Mac Update 1: Fixing Kernel Panic issues in Debian Jessie
2015-9-20
In my previous articles I had explained how I installed Debian Jessie on my Macbook Pro and set it up to do .NET work. I had mentioned in the same about some crashes I had encountered. At the time of writing that, the crashes had seemed one-off and manageable, but soon after things changed drastically.
Getting your Debian Jessie System Ready for .NET work
2015-9-13
As a followup to my last post I thought I would continue with my 'learnings' on how to go about using Linux. It hasn't been all sunshine and bunny rabbits. I've had multiple crashes and one was so bad I had to re-do the entire OS installation again. I have a nagging feeling it had something to with me trying to install developer dependencies over a dodgy wifi network on the train ;-), I shall not try that one again to confirm. There were a couple of secondary crashes that were pretty bad too. I am close to concluding that's because my laptop's heating system is botched and I really need to take it apart and reapply the cement for better heat dissipation. Second suspect is the Broadcom wireless driver. Also the 'close lid' behaviour is a little odd as it doesn't seem to go into 'deep sleep'. It only shuts the apple logo off but its still working along silently. One day I put the laptop in the bag and took it to office, only to realize that it has somehow 'awakened' in the bag the my laptop bag was as warm as a heating pad. Now, I manually set it off to sleep before I close the lid (a little Windows XP ish, I know). I shall continue my 'investigation' and report back on progress. I am sure it's my setup somehow. Moving on, today we'll see what it takes to setup .NET on Linux (aka Mono). Before that I realized I didn't have wireless drivers. So we'll start with Wireless Driver installation.
Dual Booting LINUX (Debian Jessie) and OSX (Yosemite)
2015-9-10
Back in my college days (aka... once upon a time, very long time ago) Linux installation used to conjure up pictures of geeks sitting amidst a forest of cables, wires and exposed h/w parts, peering into consoles with green text (been there, done that). Well, if you still think the same, you are in for a surprise with any of the contemporary Linux distributions today. They are just as neat, efficient and functional as any of the commercial OS vendors (snicker snicker 
). Today I am going to try and document what I did to get Debian Jessie on my MBP alongside OSX.