New toy

I recently picked up a new tablet, a Dell Venue 8 Pro. I got this at an office depot that is closing down, and got it for a steal. It is a full Windows 8.1 install with a quad core atom processor and 2 GB of ram. This one only has a 32 GB ssd, but for the price I cannot complain.

At the moment I am installing Visual Studio on it so that it can be my mobile development machine, because it weighs less than 1 lb, I can take it anywhere. The only issue is that is has an 8 inch screen, but that is what is also perfect about it. It fits in one hand, and I am using a bluetooth keyboard with it. The font isn't that hard to see, and it is completely portable!

I also run Intellij IDEA on it, as well as my go to text editor, Atom. This has brought me back to Windows full circle and I am planning to develop some Windows apps for tablets and phones (as some in my household have Windows phones).

We will see how this goes, but so far this is a wonderful little device.

Back with more linux

I have been messing about with my Raspberry Pi 2 I happened to snag on release day, and it is running Funtoo Linux. This has got me back into linux in a huge way, and it has kept me from wasting time on games. 

I have switched my main desktop over to Gnome on my main rig, and will be doing so on the Pi soon enough. Gnome 3 has grown on me, and it is really customizable with the shell extensions. Another plus is that they are written in javascript, so that really opens up a new world. Who knows how long I will stay on Gnome, I tend to DE hop quite a bit.

On top of that, I am running Gnome 3 without systemd! This is quite great, as openrc is more than able enough to handle startup, and it is very flexible.

Just wanted to post an update. I have been working on my main site for a little while, and it isn't exactly where I want it to be, so it will be changing over the next few months.

Android Life

I just upgraded to a Moto X (2nd Generation) phone, and it is such an improvement over my old Nokia 920 Windows 8 phone. It is much snappier, larger screen (5.2" compared to a 4.5"), 1080p, amoled, and the battery life is great.

I was going to wait for the Nexus 6 but I felt the 6" screen was too big for one handed use for me. I have a tablet so a "phablet" just didn't make sense to me. Sure, the pictures aren't as sharp as the Nokia, but as a developer, I don't need that.

I missed the app selection on Android also. Windows phone was nice when it came out with the promise of apps, but Microsoft and other companies never really delivered on that front, and Windows Phone users were left without a lot of functionality. I did check out Apple's offerings, both the regular iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus, but the regular iPhone was too small for my liking and the larger one was much too large for one handed use. This is just preference, as some users don't mind using two hands for their phones.

I have also recommissioned my original Motorola Xoom tablet, to try to squeeze a little more life out of it. It supports the new Google Now launcher, and it acts like a nice tablet, albeit a little slower than my phone. It is older hardware though, and it is still fully functional.

Just an update on what has been going on, hopefully there will be more to come.