Elementary OS Luna Beta 1 is out!


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So, I dl'd this. Had to use nomodeset to load the desktop. However the desktop only partially loaded, then just stopped. Cursor moved fine, but it was a blank desktop. Had to do a hard shutdown, which really ****es me off to have to do. Anyways, loaded into Fedora, instead of Win8. Tried to make the LiveUSB from there. Fedora was a bit ****y over the image and refused to make the LiveUSB. Installed UnetBootin under Fedora, made the LiveUSB. Restarted the system. Had to use nomodeset again to try and load the desktop. Desktop loads with a blank screen and a the cursor as before. Leave it running, go out and bring in more wood and chop some kindling. Came back in about an hour later and still nothing.

Re-dl'd the ISO in Fedora this time. Thinking it might be a bad dl. Same thing all over again.

All in all a no go system. So no thanx.

So, I dl'd this. Had to use nomodeset to load the desktop. However the desktop only partially loaded, then just stopped. Cursor moved fine, but it was a blank desktop. Had to do a hard shutdown, which really ****es me off to have to do. Anyways, loaded into Fedora, instead of Win8. Tried to make the LiveUSB from there. Fedora was a bit ****y over the image and refused to make the LiveUSB. Installed UnetBootin under Fedora, made the LiveUSB. Restarted the system. Had to use nomodeset again to try and load the desktop. Desktop loads with a blank screen and a the cursor as before. Leave it running, go out and bring in more wood and chop some kindling. Came back in about an hour later and still nothing.

Re-dl'd the ISO in Fedora this time. Thinking it might be a bad dl. Same thing all over again.

All in all a no go system. So no thanx.

its based on ubuntu 12.04 lts, which has older video drivers than fedora 17. I get the feeling 12.04 doesn't have drivers up to date enough for your system, which is why you needed to use nomodeset to boot.

its based on ubuntu 12.04 lts, which has older video drivers then fedora 17. I get the feeling 12.04 doesn't have drivers up to date enough for your system, which is why you needed to use nomodeset to boot.

Exactly the case. Mint 14 RC loaded excellent. But I think I will stay with Fedora.

So anyone know how to set this up working in VMWare player ? I tried the basic Ubuntu setup and it installed fine but after that it doesn't seem to boot, I just get the black screen, with the barely visible elementary e in the background.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but why not just install it alongside your current os and dual-boot? I always heep a 50 gig partition at the ready for ocasions like this.

  • Like 1

Why would I want to do that, then I can't use Windows which I actually use for improtant stuff and gaming, while I play around with Elementary and check if it's a OS I can install on my other laptop. when a virtual machine allows me to use my windows and test out the OS.

Last time I used dual boot I was in school and then I realized there was no point with linux then because I never used it because I always had to use windows regularly, and rebooting constantly is a pain and stupid.

Also the elementary chat must be the most useless place ever, almost as useless as their forum, which is more useless because it doesn't exist.

just installed it in a VM and looked around a little

all they're really done is make it look even more like OSX in most areas

at this rate I can see them getting into some trouble

nah. There was distros that look identical to XP back in the days they didn't get in trouble. That's like suing a kid on the street for singing a song. He's not profiting and no one is listening so who cares.

  • Like 2

Why would I want to do that, then I can't use Windows which I actually use for improtant stuff and gaming, while I play around with Elementary and check if it's a OS I can install on my other laptop. when a virtual machine allows me to use my windows and test out the OS.

Last time I used dual boot I was in school and then I realized there was no point with linux then because I never used it because I always had to use windows regularly, and rebooting constantly is a pain and stupid.

To each his own. We all have our opinions and choices. I personally have not needed Windows in years. The only time i use Windows is when I'm forced to at work. Perhaps for gamers like you, Windows makes sense. But everything I need to do on a PC can be done with Linux. And I get a truer experience in an installed OS rtather than a virtual OS.

Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. GOOD LUCK!

I also need a proper office suite, lightroom, photoshop, and I want my 3DSMAX and so on, running linux as a main OS is just not an option on my main computers.

Gaming, photoshop and other Windows-specific apps, then you need Windows. I get that. But for office work, LibreOffice is fully compatible with Microsoft Office/Word. I've created resumes and other documents that open in Microsoft Office just like they were created ther. Office apps are no longer an issue for Linux, at least in my experience.

Eh. no, while you "can" work fine in Open/Libre office, it's certainly no replacement for Office.

LibreOffice works as well for me. Particularly the LibreOffice Writer. Never an issue when a document was "required" to be in the Microsoft Word format.

Eh. no, while you "can" work fine in Open/Libre office, it's certainly no replacement for Office.

You're right, its not. But it is pretty powerful for a free program, and many people that use office don't even use most of its extra features.

  • Like 1

nah. There was distros that look identical to XP back in the days they didn't get in trouble. That's like suing a kid on the street for singing a song. He's not profiting and no one is listening so who cares.

Tell this to all the Windows freeware dock authors who got cease-and-desists from Apple. Anybody remember Y'z Dock?

nah. There was distros that look identical to XP back in the days they didn't get in trouble. That's like suing a kid on the street for singing a song. He's not profiting and no one is listening so who cares.

yeah but this is Apple we're talking about, they don't seem to like anything that looks even remotely similar

LibreOffice works as well for me. Particularly the LibreOffice Writer. Never an issue when a document was "required" to be in the Microsoft Word format.

It's mostly opening documents created with MS Office in OOo/LO or other alternative products, especially Excel documents tend to mess up easily.

Glassed Silver:mac

Eh. no, while you "can" work fine in Open/Libre office, it's certainly no replacement for Office.

It's mostly opening documents created with MS Office in OOo/LO or other alternative products, especially Excel documents tend to mess up easily.

Glassed Silver:mac

I'm curious, aside from what Glassed Silver mentioned, what issues do you have with OOo or Libre? I use Libre every single day at work, more than most people, mostly in Calc (Excel), and I can't say I can recall having a single issue. I believe that it does have quirks, but aside from learning a new UI, I think Libre Office is pretty damn capable. Can't really ever think of a time when I've said "Damn, I wish I just had Office!". I mean this as an honest question because a few years ago I would have definitely agreed, but these days Libre seems to be a decent alternative. A lot of really big companies rely on Libre.

Productivity is no near the standards set by Office. that's the main issue. I can do everything far faster with Office and with far better and more immediate feedback when formatting and checking things.

If you just need to write a simple document sure. But for actual work and productivity, sorry, it doesn't cut it.

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
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    • I actually got to use one of those so called "backup codes" once. It was for a customer, I choose the backup code option, and by the grace of god, they actually hade them printed out. Imagine my surprise, when after using the backup code, Google then told use we had to enter a code they just sent to the gmail address we currently did not have access to. I was not amused, Google backup codes should be the end all get out of jail free card, because you had to have access to the account to even get them.
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