Updated the firmware to the latest version. Before updating, I noticed with some surprise that this router had disappeared from the official website — in its place there is now some DIR-300/NRU, which looks different. Fortunately, the firmware files were preserved on ftp.dlink.ru, so I gave it a try. The goal was to improve the Wi-Fi transfer speed, which on version 1.04 wouldn’t even reach 1 MB/s. After the update things got a bit better — the speed to a nearby (city-local) server increased and reached 2–3 MB/s. However, the transfer speed between two laptops, each connected via Wi-Fi to this now-updated router, improved only marginally and still doesn’t exceed 1.3 MB/s. I’ll try updating the drivers too, but I still suspect the router itself — I think it just can’t keep up. Which, in principle, is not surprising or alarming given what it cost. (By the way, this is the only purchase I’ve made that actually got more expensive after I bought it. Usually everything I buy drops significantly in price within a month or two. But here — what a surprise :)

To lift our spirits, we watched the 2009 KVN Premier League final. We somehow endured the first half of the show, but by the second half we had no energy left, so we switched to dinner, conversation, and tea. Today we finished downloading the “KVN Super Games” — the anniversary edition matches. We watched the most recent one, the 48th anniversary game from 2009. As it turned out, it featured the teams that hadn’t made it into the final we had already seen. I spent a long time trying to figure out what the audience in the hall found so funny, especially during the performances of the team “Fyodor Dvinyatin” — the captain of which personally makes my teeth ache, so repulsive, disgusting, and dim-witted he is, and the jokes so dull. And now, as I write this, a performance by the KVN team from NSU is playing in the background on YouTube — the one that gave the world Alexander Pushnoy, among many wonderful acts — and I think: the show is from 1997, a round of 16, yet it’s so funny that the entire 2009 final doesn’t even come close. I’d rather not think that I’ve grown old enough that even KVN has stopped being funny.

-firefox -keepassx -krusader -yakuake -kvpnc -tcsh -audacious -mc -htop -gpodder

-kdenetwork-filesharing (for sharing via Samba through right-click in the file manager)

Broke Kubuntu a little — wanted to enable window manager effects. Turned them on — laggy. Decided to install drivers. The native Catalyst refused to install — it didn’t like the OS version. Installed what was in the repos — Kwin started crashing. Windows without title bars look quite funny :) And the keyboard stopped working, only the mouse. Found an article (the text is quoted below, link: http://www.kubuntu.ru/node/3201), used it to fix things (removed the driver).

So, brief conclusions after installing Kubuntu Karmic Koala: - During the installation, the disk partitioning step took a very long time to open, and after changing each option it would lag again - After selecting all the parameters and hitting the “Install” button, everything disappeared, and only the blinking of the hard drive activity light indicated anything was happening. I launched a browser and spent 30 minutes surfing the web until a window finally popped up saying the installation was complete. (By the way, Wi-Fi came up right away, and I was installing the system in the kitchen) - After the nicely polished GNOME in Mint — the fonts here are ugly. Especially in Firefox. I’m not picky, I’ll live with it, but the difference is visible, especially fresh off the other system. - Coming from GNOME, KDE runs noticeably (NOTICEABLY) faster. Most likely because Mint has compositing enabled by default, whereas here it doesn’t. kwin itself seems capable of it, but I didn’t bother enabling it. - KDE, even in its fourth version, is still native KDE. Krusader, Krdc, Yakuake, Kopete — how much I missed them in GNOME! However — Kopete somehow refuses to connect to ICQ, will need to figure that out. - Plasmoids look pretty cute. In GNOME I had found Screenlets — a similar concept, but rough around the edges. Screenlets would regularly lose their settings — coordinates and desktop assignments. - It’s unclear whether the ATI video drivers got installed or not. I already forgot where to check. - Firefox, my favorite little monster, starts up and loads noticeably faster. Empty, without plugins — it appears nearly instantly. Maybe it’s because the profile is still small, but it’s pleasant either way. - Image viewing — Gwenview — has been redesigned, big time. It became really beautiful, stunning really. In GNOME all the image viewers are garbage. - The new file manager Dolphin I liked since KDE 4.0 days in OpenSUSE. Even though I’m not a fan of single-pane file managers, Dolphin is the most glamorous of them all.

Went to install Karmic Koala, the KDE version.

Lately I’ve mostly been listening to the radio. The pleasant St. Petersburg Rocks Radio, and the wide selection of SKY.FM stations. However, the best audio backdrop for work or study was Last.fm for me, and it’s quite sad that it went behind a paywall.

A quick search led me to the site tune.ru, which works on a similar principle: I find my favourite Dire Straits there, the browser starts playing, and when the songs end it picks others similar to that artist. On top of that, you can control the playlist, save it, or even just listen to only the songs you’ve added to the playlist manually.

Due to an internet crimes investigation, the largest portal in Dnipropetrovsk has been shut down Today, November 19, the largest internet portal in Dnipropetrovsk, Gorod.dp.ua, posted a message stating that the site’s operation had been halted by people in black masks carrying assault rifles.

Bought a router, set it up. Very easy and intuitive to configure, it has a Wi-Fi power level control (turned it down to 25% right away and it’s fine — the room is small, it reaches just fine). Mint immediately detected the network and connected — by default the router had no Wi-Fi password. Set up encryption on the router, Mint asked for the password, and everything is good.

today, on International Students’ Day, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine finally passed law 404 — the one that obliges internet providers to monitor users: where we go and what we look at. I hadn’t paid much attention to this law, because I didn’t believe it would actually pass — its content is too absurd and obviously KGB-flavored. Yet today it passed after all. And the law on toughening liability for bribery, the bastards, did not pass! Sellouts and liars…