little red planet » zenwalk

Zenwalk Linux – Cubic Wallpaper

dale — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:41:57 +0000

Wallpaper for Zenwalk Linux. Download the full size version here.

Anyone who wants a non-Zenwalk version can hit the link associated with the image below and click the ‘all-sizes’ button to choose your resolution size for download. Enjoy.

Summer of Zenwalk – Zenwalk Linux Wallpaper

dale — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:07:54 +0000

Download the hi-res version (1500×1200 pixels)

This Zenwalk Linux image was based upon one of my photos from last Summer. This photo has been the most viewed and favorited on my DeviantArt account.

Zenwalk Dreaming – Zenwalk Linux Wallpaper

dale — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:00:01 +0000

Here’s a hi-res (3888×2592 pixels) Zenwalk Linux wallpaper.

I would like to respectfully acknowledge Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation who are the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land I currently reside.

Using traditional Australian Aboriginal symbols, the image depicts the future dreaming of man leaving the cradle of humanity. The concentric circles the ‘campsites’ or colonies as man takes to the stars. Undulating patterns mirroring trials and tribulations persist in following the journey. The U shapes of mankind identify a new civilization emerging in the stars.

The background image is a Hubble Space Telescope shot of the Orion Nebula.

Created using the GIMP opensource image editing software on Zenwalk Linux.

For more information on Aboriginal Painting or to view real Aboriginal artists work please visit:
www.aboriginalartonline.com/index.php
www.aboriginalart.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_art

Note: I am not of Aboriginal descent and do not claim to understand the complexities and full symbolism of traditional Aboriginal art. I hope that by learning more about the Aboriginal culture and art I can gain a greater appreciation and understanding.

Nebula In My Backyard – Zenwalk Linux Wallpaper

dale — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:46:37 +0000

Here’s another Zenwalk Linux wallpaper. This one is based on my Nebula In My Backyard II image. The image featurres a photo off my balcony early one morning superimposed upon a Hubble Space Telepscope shot of the Orion Nebula. Download a hi-resolution version (1800×1200) here.

Zenwalk Linux – Fly Free Wallpaper

dale — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:05:59 +0000

Zenwalk Fly Free Wallpaper Download (3848 x 2592 px – 4GB file)

So far, I love using Zenwalk Linux 5.0. It’s a very nice lean linux distribution. I had the hankering to create a nice background for my Zenwalk box’s 20″ monitor. I started with a photo I took of some interesting clouds. To that, I added a photo of my youngest daughter jumping on the trampoline. I used the GIMP and also Wine running Photoshop CS2 to cut her away from the original background and blend in with the sky photo.

Above is a screen shot of my desktop using XFCE. Feel free to hit the link and download the large file. If you wish a smaller version, you can find it on my flickr account.

Camera: Canon 400D
Downloaded to Zenwalk with DigiKam
Edited using the GIMP and Wine with Photoshop CS2

Zenwalk 5.0 – Confessions of a Distromaniac

dale — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:32:20 +0000

Some may call me a distromaniac but, hey, I know I can’t resist the urge to purge an old computer and violate a few processors with a new flavor of *nix. I’ve committed to them all in the past – Red Hat, Mandrake, FreeBSD, Debian, Knoppix, Mepis, Slackware, SUSE, and Ubuntu to name a few. But, like a swinger, I always cheated and ditched them for something else.

Recently I went into a distro binge and downloaded all the most popular ISO’s. I obsessed with Distrowatch.com and saw fit to track down any that looked suitable for my old clapped out PIII 633 machine. I tried all the mini’s and even tried some of the bigger kitchen sink variety distros.

I was wanting something lean mean and not too bad on the eye. When all the smoke had cleared and the hard drive was feeling a bit flaccid, I chose to enter a relationship with Zenwalk 5.0. I know, I shouldn’t commit, I should have learned my lesson but, I just couldn’t help it.

The install was fairly standard and painless, not really worth much of a mention. I’d recommend that you download the live version first and give the distro a good test run. The live version is true to the actual install. One bummer was a lack of install to HDD on the live version.

First off, I liked the philosophy of Zenwalk – simplicity. A single package per task or issue. Following this simplicity was an easy package manager – netpkg when I needed or wanted something not included in the original install. They’ve thrown in a nice netpkg gui but I find that the CLI is much quicker and facilitates my lazy streak. It also is built on off a slackware platform and I have always been fond of slack and it’s speed. Zenwalk’s new you beaut HAL makes plug-n-play a breeze which is important now-a-days.

As a photographer I was initiially disappointed when I plugged in a digital camera and nothing happened. I was hoping HAL would kick in and allow me to browse or download my photos. Alas, a quick “netpkg digiKAM” fixed up that problem pretty quick and so now I’m good to go with the camera.

My verdict after the honeymoon?? It runs a little slower than what I think it should. I was expecting a slack derivative to still look beautiful the morning after but she does have a few bags under the eyes. Nevertheless, I still like her. She’s stable, good looking and easy to maintain. All in all … I’m still turned on and haven’t strayed once!

Before running off, I should mention that the documentation, wiki, support and forums for Zenwalk are very good. I noticed on some of the distros that there was little tolerance or responses to questions in forums … not so with Zenwalk. Good documentation and good support makes me very happy.

Here’s my screen shot of Zenwalk 5.0 with Gimp and a terminal on the desktop. I’m running the standard Xfce with the bottom panel removed. I like the right click access to apps and it leaves more area on my small old fashioned monitor. The wallpaper is one of the standards in the /usr/share/wallpaper/ directory.