Tech
Various bits of software I use and would recommend:
- Firefox, the free, secure, open-source web browser. Chances are, if you're having any trouble viewing this site it's because you use Internet Explorer - I recommend you change ASAP. (If you're not, and there's still trouble, contact me.)
- Mandriva, a user-friendly distribution of the marvelous, stable, free, open-source (I could go on) operating system that is Linux.
- Exact Audio Copy, the most precise CD ripper around, and guess what? It's free.
- The Linux Game Tome, a thorough directory of more than 1500 free games designed expressely for Linux.
- Wine, a windows compatibility layer, just in case you aren't satisfied by the above, and want to run windows games on Linux (I suppose you could use it for other software as well :-). Oh yeah, it's free...
- aMSN, a clone of the popular MSN messenger program. aMSN has the advantage of not including any microsoft code, so isn't as susceptible to virii as the original MSN client is, and can run on linux and other UNIXs.
- I should also mention the key pieces of software that this site runs on: the Apache web server, MySQL database server, and Python for the comments scripts (which I wrote myself :-D) - tho the webmail script I use (but didn't create) is written in Perl. This lot is all installed on Slackware linux because, although slack isn't as friendly as Mandriva, it is unbelieveably stable (he says, just asking for the server to crash)...
Bands
A few of the bands wot I like most:
I have to warn that some of them are truly yucky flash-based websites - please don't hold it against the band concerned...
News
Anyone who knows me will be aware that I am a little sad when it comes to current afairs. To that end, I present:
- The Reuters news agency, one of the three I check daily.
- The Associated Press, another of my favourite three.
- And finally, United Press International, the third on the list.
- BBC Radio 4, not only reliable news, but debate and discussion, as well as fine comedy and literature. Just don't make the mistake of assuming that all the BBC is alike...
- The Register, keeping you up to date with news in the tech world, or, as their fine slogan puts it, biting the hand that feeds I.T.
- Slashdot, the ubiquotus geek news site.
People
Blogs I know and people I read:
- Good in parts
- One pedestrian away
- Reach out and touch the screen
- Steve
- Pip Wilson, BHP
- Dog Collars and Rabbit Corpses
- Lee Alley and family
- Dewi Morgan
- Dave Walker's Cartoon Blog
Misc.
All the odds 'n sods which aren't in any other group:
- Greenbelt festival, without fail the high point of every year.
- The Make Poverty History campaign.
- L-space web, a tribute to Terry Pratchett's inspired Discworld books, with masses of related links. (The official discworld site is here).
- Online Thud, a web version of the board game based on the Discworld books.
- Weebl and Bob, offering some immensly fun flash animations.
- Bushflash, providing flash animations and general rantings on a rather more serious note...
- ImprovEverywhere. Not worth me failing to do them justice with an explanation. Just go there and love it :-).
- Project Gutenberg, a most glorious idea - free books. Just because books are beautiful, and should be available.