Monthly Archives: October 2008

Let’s get virtual

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Almost a year ago I was posting about my new MacBook and how I installed Bootcamp in it to try it out. It was a fun test although I have only launched my Windows XP partition a couple of times in the past year. There is nothing I cannot run in OS X so having Windows XP on my MacBook has been pretty useless.

A few months ago I also successfully tried an Ubuntu Live CD. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution and a Live CD allows you to run the operative system without installing it in your computer.

Today I was reading the unofficial apple weblog and found out about VirtualBox: a virtualization open source software from Sun Microsystems. Up until now I knew that you could use VMWare (which I use at work) or Parallels on your Mac, but those were all commercial packages and I didn’t wanted to spend any money since all I wanted was to learn and experiment. I was really excited to find out that I could install Ubuntu on my Mac using VirtualBox for free.

Creating a new Virtual Machine (VM) was really simple and currently Ubuntu 8.04 is being installed as I write this post.

Ubuntu installation on VitualBox

It actually is taking me longer to write this post, than for Ubuntu to get installed on the VM. The installation is done, and now it is downloading 46 software updates which means that at least the network is working like a charm!

Ubuntu running on VitualBox on a MacBook

Now this is the bragging part of the post:
I can now run 3 freaking operative systems on my MacBook and if I create a Windows VM image I can run them simultaneously!

The world is no longer flat my friends.

Yes I did notice that the Ubuntu clock is one hour behind…

High Fidelity

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BOOK
The author is Nick Hornby and the book is from 1995. The main character is Rob: a mid thirties bloke that owns a small record store and used to be a DJ and loved it. He thinks you should own at least 1000 records to prove that you appreciate and know music. He hates U2 and Pink Floyd (among others) which means that if we ever met I will punch him in the face. I wonder if he also hates Soda Stereo or NIN…

Rob has had some messed up relationships in the past and currently things are not going well with his girlfriend (Laura).

The book is entertaining and makes for an interesting read.

LOUDSPEAKERS
Recently I purchased a pair of Wharfedale DIAMOND 9.2 speakers from ebay and I also got these amazing speaker stands from a guy who posted an add on craigslist for only $10! Now I’m spending my evenings in my living room studying for the GRE test and listening to The Final Cut.

The DJ has a new toy

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M-AUDIO x-session-Pro

Today I went to the Apple Store at the Domain and bought myself an xSessionPro: a USB mixing device that you can use to mix tracks on your computer and pretend that you are a DJ. It comes with a software called Torq Mixlab which is pretty simple but powerful and after a few minutes I was mixing good stuff. I’m going to play more with this and get better at it and maybe you will find me soon on iTunes just like dj jon carpenter.

Take that DJ Fucho!

Austin City Limits 2008

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Another Austin City Limits music festival has passed successfully through Austin. The festival just keeps getting better every year and I really enjoy going to it. My favorite bands this year where:

Manu Chao
I saw Manu Chao last year in Austin and I enjoyed watching him perform again. It was the only artist I saw this year that singed sang in spanish.

David Byrne
The former Talking Heads is still a genius. Great concert, amazing dancers at the stage and looking forward to hear some of the music he has been producing with Brian Eno in the past few years. He also hosts an online radio station which I highly recommend.

Gogol Bordello
Crazy Irish Gypsies band.

CSS
This brazilan-american band has lots of energy and good vibe. Great show.

Other bands I saw included Beck, Foo Fighters, The Freddy Jones Band, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, MGMT, John Fogerty, Priscilla Ahn (who replaced Adele), Flyleaf, Neko Case and The Raconteurs.