When One is troubled with Windows What one can do?

 

 Posted on December 28, 2011

When One is troubled with Windows What one can do?

It is strange that when one is troubled with Windows he or she goes into shell and blame oneself and not the operating system.
It is the opposite when one is troubled with Linux.
If he / she is a one who comes from the windows background without batting an eyelid he / she blames the distribution as if the hole hell has descended on him / her.
It is often a minor glitch he or she has overlooked to configure or may be downloading a suitable alternative package or worse come, file a bug report to which a ready solution is available within 6 weeks.
If that does not help one can swap the distribution and select one that suits and download it.

(I have two books already available, not digital yet selecting a distribution and also the utilities and packages, if this blog entry is not adequate enough).
 

One problem with this approach is if one is not using a torrent download (even this can be painful if there is one seeder who has gone into hibernation at night-simply switched off the computer) it can be time consuming.
 

The download time can be awfully long and painful (I have enough of stories often due to failure of the Telecom but now never or do not complain because I download several at a time and I know one will be finished by morning when I am in deep sleep and dreaming some bizarre episode of Cloud Computing like star wars of yesteryear).
But once one has a CD (ideally D.V.D with almost everything one needs in one pack) the live session is breezy and installation is cakewalk if not catwalk.
Only thing Linux guys forget is to keep it running 24 hours (cron jobs at midnight are vital to get rid of the junk files that collect is one switches off the computer regularly; leave seeds for others to access) at least once or twice a week.
If you are lazy use a the sweeper or do it manually which I prefer now because of the frequent downloads.

Now come to Window guys/girls.
Steps.
1. Do not blame yourself.
2. It is often the operating system at fault.
3. It can be due to a corrupt file or large macro sitting on the file and spying on you.
4. The pet device to blame is the latest virus and I bet you will not have a solution this side of 6 months.

With so many holes in the operating system which Microsoft will never able plug and then they will promise you the new version is very beautiful (but very slow to run unless you doubled up your RAM) and one should change and upgrade and works better (of course till the next ultra new version is ready for upgrade).
 

You are in this vicious cycle (V.C) and never get out of it.
 

If a guy of my age descends on me with a problem, I do not try to convert the guy to Linux fearing one gets a heart attack.
I ask a few questions.
If it a pirated copy.
If the answer is yes, thrash the pirated copy and get a copyrighted version.
This is I am openly campaigning for the guy to remain with Microsoft.
Microsoft should be happy with my efforts now but I do not charge anything for this advice.
The poor guy has to pay through his nose anyway.
Do not forget the virus guard and that also will cost you some quids.
Get somebody to format and install, I won’t do that for you unless he or wishes to have a Linux distribution dual booted.
His has to spend a half a day with me with food and beverages ready and ample.
This is Christmas time anyway.
If the guy has not got the money, then the scenario changes.
I ask what are the things that he uses computer for, regularly.
Invariably, the answer is that he uses the email and nothing else to be in contact with the family and friends.
Then I give him a breezy Live CD and ask the guy to use it till he himself try to find a remedy for the malady or ultimately ditch Microsoft and ask me to install the new distribution in his computer.
The long course works well for Linux and I of course have to have two visits instead of one.
That of course keeps our friendship lasting and viable.
Who says Microsoft is bad.
It makes “my sphere of activity” to enlarge and expand.

Things I could not do in 2011-Finding a Book on Turtles / Tortoises

 Posted on December 25, 2011

Things I could not do in 2011-Finding a Book on Turtles / Tortoises

Turtles / Tortoises are now classified in the same species category.

I use to feed tortoises daily.
The were in plenty in Kandy Lake.

 
One day bystander told me not to do that.
Why?
If you do that the our Kassipu /Toddy / Illicit drinkers will take them and eat them was the answer.
His prediction was right in 1973 when food was scarce and children were dying of hunger our population of tortoises vanished.
This the Buddhist heritage city and that was how we practiced Metta to all animals.
Other reason probably was the pollution of its water.
Then they (once the species was exterminated/genocide) pass a law stating it is a protected species.
We are good at closing the stable door once the horse has bolted.
We no longer practice Buddhist virtues.
Animal are food material and then they started catching dogs and cats for food during Perehara festival.
Vanishing species is not Food for Thought anymore.

 
Below is a reproduction from elsewhere for your perusal.
Conservationists have declared 2011 the Year of the Turtle in an effort to raise public awareness of the precarious state of turtle populations around the world. Nearly half of all living turtle species are considered to be threatened with extinction. Of the well-known animal groups, turtles are disappearing the fastest.
We are in the midst of a worldwide decline in biodiversity. A staggering 12 percent of birds, 25 percent of mammals and 30 percent of amphibians are threatened with extinction. Sadly, turtles offer no exception to this trend towards species loss. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization that maintains a comprehensive list of the status of the world’s species, categorizes 47 percent of all living turtle species as Threatened.
Turtles first appeared in the fossil record more than 200 million years ago during the Triassic Period. Since that time, they have changed little and today’s turtles bear much resemblance to their ancestors. Despite their long evolutionary history, turtles are now in danger of disappearing due to a variety of threats including habitat loss, over exploitation, pet trade, hunting for use in traditional medicine, by catch, invasive species, disease and climate change.
Many of the threats facing turtles are derived from human activities. Conservationists look to this fact with optimism—if man can create these threats, we can also reduced or eliminate them. They suggest a number of actions that can help ensure a more secure future for turtles. These actions include protecting rare turtle species and the habitats on which they rely, looking after common turtle species to ensure their populations remain healthy and managing crisis situations such as saving critically endangered turtle species and responding to emergencies such as oil spills.

Rough Guide to the Tree Equivalent of Man and their Re-plantation

 Posted on January 31, 2011

Rough Guide to the Tree Equivalent of Man and their Re-plantation

This is not referring to the commercial scale of replacement since the rate at commercial scale exploitation cannot be estimated to any accuracy.
This is based on the use of tree, timber and its products by man during his productive life.

If we were to sustain each man or women has to grow at least 10 trees and maintain them till their mature life. 

This  has to be done in 4-5 year cycles and older you (above 35 years) are the cycle has to be at least 1-2 years.

Ideally each man or woman plants a tree on his / her birthday!

1. The use as timber products for roofing and housing

2. To replace the use of paper products

3. Use of fire wood (this has to be in relation to the use)

4. The use of furniture

5. Wastage in every production line

6. The trees not sustaining themselves due to bad planting or weather conditions

7. The last 4 are for unaccountable felling and vandalism encountered and may have to vary according to the country.

This amount is to keep the balance of nature. 

 

If one has a house with 4 adults in it this estimate makes it 40 trees around their neighbourhood and the way the houses are built in a city next to each other there is is no room for to grow enough trees.
Not even a single tree or hedge to act as windbreaks and shade. (please look at how rich Americans build their houses and walkabouts).
That means every major city has to have a buffer zone (this is how the ancient people built cities) of tree cover equivalent the population that is incarcerated in the name of development.

Colombo city can never regain its splendor what ever we do now for it.

The Kandy city has almost 3 three times population density of Palestine Refugee Camps and we are going to be no different to Israel in another 10 or 20 years.

We are losing it faster than it’s regeneration.

Regarding the commercial exploitation the re-plantation has to be according to the tree’s cycle. If the tree grows to maturity in 4 years for every tree harvested 4 should be planted and only a few trees fall into this category.
For some trees, if it is lost it is lost for ever.
They take may be 400 to 500 years for it to grow to maturity and often not reproducing fast enough due to their longevity and this simple equation cannot be applied in recreating it natural habitat.

This is only a rough estimate and we have lost about 60% of our forest cover in 50 years of unsustainable use.

I do not think these people with mega-development ideas have understood the problem or have insight into the matters of concern we are facing now.

The have no futuristic goals but presence of mind for exploitation.

Very soon we will be like Dubai, the work we have to do now is enormous if we are to arrest these trends.

Finding a Good Web Janitor and a Fire Alarm

Thursday, October 6, 2011
Finding a Good Web Janitor and a Fire Alarm
Finding a Good Web Janitor

I am yet to find a good and powerful Web Janitor.
 

Yes there are Sweeper and Janitor with Linux but they cannot be automated.
One has to manually do the cleaning most of the time.
 

Recently my hard disk was getting chockablock and my external hard drivers were also full of Linux images, it came to a point I could not download a big file.
I wanted to keep Knoppix and latest version of FullMonty (I have tried it only live) at least till December without deleting the images.

 
Just for the sake of finding space I went to the Tmp file to see there was 4 GB of junk there waiting to be deleted.
This was something unacceptable for me since I thought most of them were deleted by cron jobs.
Not to be.

 
I want the Cleaner utility to come up with a reminder "you may delete the last 24 hours of junk, if you like" type of reminder once in a way at boot time or while one is on the job.
 

This new Utility I want to call it "House Keeper'.

 
Why?
1. Apart from alerting me to remove junk it must alert me many other routines which I forget in my old age.

2. You have not changed your password for email for six months.

3. Hay your browser is loaded with cookies that you hardly use.

4. Hey your browser is remembering the password for your Jolicloud.

5. Your system is running slow, it is high time do some maintenance work.

6. Hey your battery is getting weak.

7. Hey it is getting too hot and your computer is at cooking temperature, switch it off and go and have a nap or a snack or a drink.

The last one is very important to me since the ambient temperature except at night is over 90 and consistently touching 95 Fahrenheit.

 
I keep a digital thermometer over the computer and check it but  forget to check the kettle which is plugged in with all the water evaporated and burned the Kettle Filament the other day and if the main did not go the whole house would have been on fire.

Video Surveillance, Human Rights to Privacy and Productivity

 22-02-2017

Video Surveillance, Human Rights to Privacy and Productivity

 

Let me deal with a point Linux Guru, Jon Hall has to say about Technology and Automation, first.

He is a believer that technology pushes human progress fast forward;

Automation and computers included.

I believe in his mode of thinking but with a difference.

If we are to travel in space to an alien planet, current mode of rocket science is inadequate and will get us nowhere.

Similarly, we have to drop that “God Created Us” and the “Intelligent Design” forthright.

We have to design a NEW FORM of transport technology that Warps “Time and Space”, if we are to investigate and expand our horizon in space.

To get there next generation has to be educated in STEM (Jon Hall’s coining).

S for Science (rather new science in my thinking that includes dark force and dark matter).

T for Technology

E for Engineering and more importantly

M for Mathematical Model and Calculation (computer assisted, ideally string theory of many dimensions is my choice).

All this is within Human Grasp in the next 100 years.

Now let me come to the "Video Ordeal" every one of us goes through in our daily life (buying the daily food provisions from the food store is not spared).

You are under 24 hour video surveillance buying bread and butter.

That annoys me a lot.

That makes me to hesitate poking my finger through a loaf of bread to see if it is soft or crispy and crunchy for a kid under video surveillance.

Without this first hand human testing you have to buy whatever rotten stuff is left in the shelf.

If I am in service I will use video surveillance productively but randomly to check;

1. Survey “bottle necks” in service outlets.

2. Survey improvement in a “chain of production line’

3. Survey who is adopting (prevent) shortcuts in a “5S Facility".

Barring those few business like approaches, I hate I am being watched and in video, in every “Activity of Daily Living’, in a supermarket.

I feel that we are treated like monkeys in business suit.

I also consider, it as a violation of basic human right (to be able to keep the dignity of private life as private life-what I eat, how I pee or void my excesses).

I know even my dog does not like for me (Except when he eats. He wants one of us to be near his food plate) to be around when he is attending to his daily voiding.

 

Imagine we keep video surveillance 24 hours at home and your spouse watches it daily.

It is simply a major psychiatric disease called paranoia which there is no treatment.

I think our business world has gone totally bonkers with video surveillance.

Few observations.

Few years ago, I detected a Manager (I did three days of detective work) of a Commercial Bank using his video camera to watch and prey young girls withdrawing money from a particular till.

On the third day I went into his room and told my observations in detail to his annoyance and I told him I never will come to his bank.

Just today, I went to a business place where I meet an old friend of mine (clever accountant) and have a little chat.

Moment I entered the place, I felt bit unfamiliar and uneasy.

I could not point my finger to the problem and I asked for the chair to sit in front of his desk. 

I do not like looking down on people when I talk to.

The chair was missing which in business sense was a major lapse.

He got up and proceeded towards the entrance and while moving on told me that they have installed video cameras and the friendly chat is being watched by the minute not only by the owner but his wife at home on weekends.

The owner who started small and was dealing with smuggled electrical items in potato containers, a decade ago ( I used to give him few friendly advices, smuggling is not the way forward) has gone paranoid.

What a turn around?

I wish everybody knows his beginning.

I now make it a point to avoid these institutes but once in a way throw temper tantrums (to make the salesperson angry) well thought and programed in my brain to see the response.

The response is muted, the reason being the video surveillance.

That is why, I believe, the video surveillance brings the productivity down to almost zero.

Just this week I went to pay the electricity bill and the cashier threw the balance back at me like a devil.

Funnily enough (usually I give an angry eye contact but no verbal exchanges) he did not make me angry and I felt pity for the psychopath behind the counter.

In that sense most of the government servants including bank officers are now psychopaths.

I told my son why don’t you make me angry for a change that I am getting very passive for an unusually long period of time.

He laughing said “No Way”.

The secret of my anger management is my Blind Dog.

He is an anger manager par excellence!

Never gets cross with any family member (even the food is late).

Sun Solaris

Sun Solaris

What is the Sun Solaris Operating System?

Sun Solaris operating system was developed by Sun Microsystems in 1992. It is a Unix-based operating system, a successor to SunOS, based on BSD Unix. Solaris SPARC is best known for its scalability. It is designed to provide a robust and stable environment for enterprise applications.

In 2010, Solaris was acquired by Oracle Corporation and rebranded as Oracle Solaris. It supports SPARC Solaris hardware and x86-64 servers and workstations that comply with single Unix specifications. Despite the change of ownership, it is still a reliable and robust operating system used in several enterprise environments.

What is the Open Solaris Operating System?

In 2005, Open Solaris was developed on the registered Solaris version of Sun Microsystems and is now part of Oracle Corporation. 

It is a free software project, and the Solaris source code is released under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL).

OSI (Open-Source Initiative) and FSF have approved the CDDL license as a Free Software license, but it is not GPL-compliant. 

Its source and binary code versions are licensed for free and can be downloaded.

What are the Advantages of Solaris operating system

Performance and Scalability

One of Solaris SPARC OS’s significant advantages is its scalability, which makes it effective for managing large-scale information. Therefore, it is highly recommended for enterprise-level applications and data centers. This operating system is designed to cater to heavy workloads and ensure applications run smoothly for enhanced performance.

Robust Security Architecture

Solaris UNIX operating system or Sun UNIX OS is known for its robust security infrastructure and offers advanced security features like role-based access control (RBAC), encrypted file systems, and process rights management. These features help secure sensitive information from unauthorized access and allow you to define user roles and permissions accurately.

Reliability and Stability

The Solaris Unix operating system or Sun UNIX OS offers reliability and stability in a mission-critical environment. Its features include PSH (predictive self-healing) technology and DTrace (dynamic tracing), which help identify and resolve issues before they challenge this business and hamper performance.

The DTrace assists with tuning and troubleshooting the Solaris OS by providing detailed real-time information on system behavior and performance. In contrast, PSH takes precautionary measures to reduce the damage caused by future significant hazards that may result in downtime, saving both time and money.

Virtualization

Solaris on SPARC offers a virtualization option that enables businesses to run multiple instances of the OS on a single physical server. It helps in saving on additional hardware expenses and improving resource utilization.

Compatibility and Inter-operability With Solaris Unix Operating System or Sun Unix OS

Sun Solaris operating system is known for its versatility and supports a range of hardware platforms like SPARC and x86 architecture without any compatibility issues. Also, its infrastructure allows it to work seamlessly with other applications and operating systems.

SOT Linux

SOT Linux

This was one of the First CDs I lay my hands on.

I amy have installedit on a Hard Drive but I was more interested in SOT Office being interested in an alternative Office Suite.

Red Har with its book was my regular Linux at the beginning.

Web site: sot.com | sotlinux.org | bestlinux.net (not active)
Origin: Finland
Category: Desktop, Server
Desktop environment: Gnome, KDE
Architecture: x86
Based on: Red Hat
Wikipedia:
Media: Install CD
The last version | Released: 2003 | 2003

SOT Linux (previously: LBA Linux, Best Linux) – freely distributable, Open Source software.

LBA-Linux R1 Release is distributed as a single Foundation CD containing the LBA-Linux Installer, and two optional bonus software CDs.
The Foundation CD is all you need to install LBA-Linux R1 Release as a functional desktop system. Boot from the Foundation CD to run LBA-Linux’s unique “5-click” installation program.
The second CD contains additional software that lets you extend LBA-Linux R1 Release with the KDE desktop and a variety of multimedia applications.
The third CD includes a wealth of development software for programmers and developers.

The latest LBA-Linux release includes the Linux kernel 2.6.3, providing the best support for the latest hardware, and modern desktops: KDE 3.2, GNOME 2.5.90, gtk2 2.3.4 and XFree 4.30.

LBA-Linux R1 Release requires the following minimum system requirements:
– Processor: 400 MHz Pentium II or better
– RAM: 192MB
– Hard drive: 1.5GB

SOT Linux Copyright SOT Finnish Software Engineering Ltd. and others.

SunOS

SunOS

Web site: oracle.com/us/sun/index.html (not active)
Origin: USA
Category: Server
Desktop environment: Cli
Architecture:Motorola 689x0, Sun 386i, SPARC
Based on: BSD
Wikipedia: SunOS
Media: Install
The last version | Released: 4.1.4 | November 1994

SunOS – a UNIX based OS derived from BSD, created by Sun Microsystems. Initially released in 1982, it was the standard OS on Sun Machines at that time. Platforms supported by this OS were the Motorola 68000, the Sun 386i, and the SPARC.

Sun-1’s were the very first models ever produced by Sun. The earliest ran Unisoft V7 UNIX; SunOS 1.x was introduced later. According to some sources, fewer than 200 Sun-1’s were ever produced; they are certainly rare. The switch from Motorola 68000’s to 68010’s occurred during the Sun-1’s reign. Some models are reported to have 3Mbit Ethernet taps as well as 10Mbit.
68000-based Sun-1’s are not supported by SunOS. The last version of SunOS to support Sun-1’s may be the same as the last version to support Sun-2’s, since the 100U CPU boards are the same part.

Sun-2’s were introduced in the early 1980’s and were Sun’s first major commercial success. While not as popular or as common as the later Sun-3’s, they did well and there are still quite a few in circulation in the home/collector-used market.
All Sun-2’s are based on the Motorola 68010 and run SunOS. The last version of SunOS to support Sun-2’s was 4.0.3. Early Sun-2’s were Multibus; later models were VME, which Sun continued to use through the Sun-3 era and well into the Sun-4 line.

Sun switched to using the Motorola 68020 with the introduction of the Sun-3’s. A few later models had 68030’s, but by that time Sun was already moving toward SPARC processors. All models either have a 68881 or 68882 FPU installed stock or at least have a socket for one. All models which are not in pizza box chassis are VMEbus. Two out of three pizza box models have a “P4” connector which can take a framebuffer; the exception is the 3/50.
Support for Sun-3’s was introduced in SunOS 3.0. The last version of SunOS to support Sun-3’s was 4.1.1U1.
During the Sun-3 era, Sun introduced the handy practice of putting the model number on the Sun badge on the front of the chassis.
There are two different kernel architectures in the Sun-3 model line. All 68020-based models are “sun3” architecture; 68030-based models (the 3/80 and 3/4xx) are “sun3x” architecture.

The Sun 386i models, based on the Intel 80386 processor, were introduced when 80386-based IBM PC/AT clones were starting to become widespread. Intel had finally produced a chip sufficiently capable (32-bit, among other things) to allow porting SunOS, and using an Intel processor and an ISA bus offered the ability to run MS-DOS applications without speed-draining emulation. Unfortunately, they were a dismal failure.
Support for Sun-386i’s was introduced in SunOS 4.0. The 386i SunOS releases came from Sun’s East Coast division, so 386i SunOS was not identical to the standard version with the same number. The last released version of SunOS to support Sun-386i’s was 4.0.2; there are a few copies of 4.0.3Beta (with OpenLook 2.0) floating around.

Support for Sun-4’s was introduced in SunOS 4.0, although there was a special variant of SunOS 3.2 for Sun-4’s which was shipped with some very early units. Since this product line is still current, it is still in general supported by SunOS, which has mutated to become part of Solaris. Support for some earlier models has been dropped, and some later models require at least 4.0.3c, 4.1.1, or Solaris 2.x.

SunOS took a shift starting with version 5.0, which changed its base from BSD to Unix System V Release 4, and became Solaris. The last release under the SunOS name was Version 4.1.4, released in November 1994.

Frenzy

Frenzy

Web site: frenzy.org.ua/en/
Origin: Ukraine
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: Fluxbox
Architecture: x86
Based on: FreeBsd
Wikipedia (pl): Frenzy
Media: Live CD
The last version | Released: 1.4 | May 5, 2012
Zobacz po polsku: Frenzy

Frenzy – a FreeBSD based operating system for system administrators.
It contains software for hardware tests, file system check, security check and network setup and analysis.
The system can work in live mode and can be installed on a hard drive too.

Frenzy is available in two flavours:
– Lite – includes text based system and tools only
– Standard – bigger version which contains X Server, Fluxbox window manager and some extra applications as well.

The last version 1.4 Lite was released in May 2012.
The last full version with pre-installed GUI is 1.3, which was released in July 2010.

FreeNAS

FreeNAS

Web site: freenas.org (not active)
Origin: France
Category: NAS Server
Desktop environment: Web_interface
Architecture: x86 64
Based on: FreeBSD
Wikipedia:
Media: InstallDVD
The last version | Released: 11.3 U5 | September 29, 2020
Zobacz po polsku: FreeNas

FreeNAS – a free and open source operating system equipped with a NAS (Network-Attached Storage) server.

NAS is a technology that allows you to connect disk storage resources directly to a computer network. Thanks to this solution, you can easily configure access to data located in one place from different points in the network.

FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD and is released under the BSD license.

Key features/capabilities include:
– can run on i386 and x86_64 processors
– support for Linux, MS Windows and OSX clients
– support for many virtualization systems, such as XenServer and VMware
– support for CIFS, AFP, NFS, iSCSI, SSH, rsync and FTP/TFTP protocols
– support for full disk cryptography
– support for installing third party plugins

Thanks to the interface, FreeNAS can be managed and controlled via the web interface.

The project was founded by Olivier Cochard-Labbé in 2005.

Since version 9.3, FreeNAS is only offered for 64-bit machines.
Version 10 was renamed from numeric to text “Corral”.

The project changed its name to TrueNAS.

NeXTSTEP

NeXTSTEP

Web site: (not active)
Origin: USA
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment:
Architecture: Intel x86, Motorola 68000, SPARC, PA-Risc
Based on: Unix
Wikipedia: NeXTSTEP
Media: Install
The last version | Released: 4.2 Pre-release 2 | September 1997

NeXTSTEP – an object-oriented, multitasking operating system created by NeXT Computer, Inc. a company founded in 1985 by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs.

This system was created on the base of Mach microkernel and BSD Unix system code. 

NeXTStep was oriented to work in a graphical environment. 

It had a very well-prepared, intuitive user interface, based on object-oriented architecture, quite different from both the most popular then Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Mac OS. 

The visualization engine was based on Postscript, which on one hand made it very demanding in terms of hardware (considerable demand for memory) and on other hand an ideal solution for industrial and designer workstations.

NeXTSTEP 1.0 was released 18 September 1989 after a couple of hits in 1986, and last Release 3.3 in early 1995, and previously worked only on the Motorola 68000 CPU family (especially the original black boxes) and the generic IBM compatible x86/Intel, Sun SPARC , and HP PA-RISC. About the time 3.2 releases NeXT teamed up with Sun Microsystems to develop OpenStep, cross-platform implementation of the standard (for Sun Solaris, Microsoft Windows, and NeXT Mach kernel version) based on NEXTSTEP 3.2.

In February 1997, after the purchase of NeXT by Apple, it became the source of the popular operating systems macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

The NeXTSTEP screenshot’s author: Gürkan Sengün; source: Wikipedia; License: GNU GPL.

Tiny Linux Distributions and Their Utility Value

Tiny Linux Distributions and Their Utility Value

This is the name of one of my early books on Linux.

When a Indian Guy, entered my computer without firewall  using Linspire (Microsoft use this utility as Freespire to snoop on Linux guys), I decided to recommend few basic precautions.

1. Configure the firewall 

2. Use torrent instead of point to point downloads

K torrent was my early use during K.D.E time now Transmission of Debian/Gnome 

3. Remove all browser cookies 

4. Remain vigilant of any impending attacks

I am not paranoid now.

5. Use a different distribution to boot 

6. Format all hard disks at least once a year

7. I do not use encryption at all.  

If you forget the password, all all data is gone for good.

Suffice is to say, I haven't had any attack since then but having an occasional swipe at Microsoft Windows (I am more of a political satirist) has NO Value Added.

In my twilight years, satire is not a tool I use anymore.

Well after publishing "Linux Essentials" I would stop talking about Linux, too. 

Little over 24 hour power cut in Brisbane made me to sleep little bit more.

List of Guys I admire

List of Guys I admire

 

Yes it is the most boring of all subjects.

With the bare minimum IQ, one can master the bare bones of practice of medicine.

I had a fairly reasonable IQ (not 140) and my plan was to enter the University.with the least effort.

So instead of choosing Physics or Politics, I went for Medicine.

After 30 years of Medicine I stopped practising Medicine and stopped registering with the Ceylon Medical Council.

I am now just a lay person and a Free Inquirer.

I continued to hold a post of teaching pathology for my survival.

It is simple after the fact protocol and no stress at all.

The best stress-less job is Radiography.

After all you are looking at a negative film and never a positive.

Doctors specially psychiatrists commit suicide most often.

Next pediatricians.

Radiologist and pathologist never commit suicide (if they pass through the training).

Unless one has a potential Buddha Character one should never take up psychiatry as a profession.

This post is about 10 or more guys and one girI I mostly admire, in not any order of merits.

1. Buddha comes first to me since he was the only human in history who taught mind as the base of everything.

2. Professor De Bono comes second he talks about logic in style.

His book on Beautiful Mind and Thinking to Think without dogma are classics.

3. Bertram Russell who was hiding in Russia away from the persecution by the Church is another huge personality.

His books on Power and Why I not a Christian are not available or banned in UK and USA.

That is how democracy works in the birth place of democracy.

4. I am still looking for Karl Marx's De Capital book one.

It is out of print.

5. Darwin is my "carte borne" or born again of Evolution.

6. Gregor Mendel was born observer and was a priest.

7. Linus Torvalds, the Linux creator.

8. Che Guerra

9. Carlous Linneus

10. Louise Pasteur

11. Robert Cooke

12. Alexander Flemming

13. Professor Senaka Bibile of Ceylon

14. Arthur C Clerke

15. Edwin Hubble, Einstein, Steven Hawking

16. Nelson Mandela

17. Mageline Maguire who proposed an alternative view of early evolution.

She was sidelined by her male colleague and only in one pathology book her name was quoted in my time.

She proposed mitochondria came from earlier line of protozoa.

I had similar view as a Medical Student and never voiced my view in public.

Mitochondrial DNA mutate only once in 5 million years.

Mitochondria are the Energy Pool, if that breaks down the protoplasm cannot survive.

Now with Coronavirus we are talking about cell surface artificial "endomeres" carrying mRNA.

Gain in Function is another kettle of fish.

Baden Powell of UK, the racist guy and the German Sigmund Freud, the sexist guy are not in my list.

 

 

I should add these names to the List

Richard Stalman is there.

It looks like I have not made an entry on Ubuntu Linux and John Maddock.

He is not the coauthor of Joy of Linux but Director of Linux international.

Ken Thompson and Dennis Richie of course wrote the Unix Architecture.

Micheal Hall and Brian Profftt wrote "Joy of Linux" in the tradition of "Joy of Sex". 

That catch phrase made me to purchase the book in a local bookshop.

Sure, I did read it and went into purchase Linux Bible.

Charts the history of the Linux community and discusses Linux philosophies while demonstrating Linux basics, exploring hidden creative tools, and answering the question "Why Linux?"

John Maddock, Joy of Linux and Ubuntu

It looks like I have not made an entry on Ubuntu Linux and John Maddock.

He is not the coauthor of Joy of Linux but Director of Linux international.

Ken Thompson and Dennis Richie of course wrote the Unix Architecture.

Micheal Hall and Brian Profftt wrote "Joy of Linux" in the tradition of "Joy of Sex". 

That catch phrase made me to purchase the book in a local bookshop.

Sure, I did read it and went into purchase Linux Bible.

Charts the history of the Linux community and discusses Linux philosophies while demonstrating Linux basics, exploring hidden creative tools, and answering the question "Why Linux?"

Alfred Cyclone and My Previous Encounters

I have slept through two major catastrophes and the third one is building up.

I would  probably sleep that natural disaster, too.

 

This is just to say I can sleep well.

The first was in 1988 in UK.

I was about to return to Ceylon and the family was packed home in advance. 

I had to continue another month or so of my official duties in UK.

If I remember right house was, No.1, Sanctuary Close, Dartford.

I had done my night duty and returned home in the early hours for my usual after work nap, around 9.00AM.

At about 1.30PM I heard the rattle on our backdoor which was interrupting my sleep.

I put the table top freezer, fridge and the  tumbler against the door and went to sleep.

At about 7 to 8PM the biggest thunderstorm of the recent history in UK hit the coast ripping trees, power lines and roofs and what not.

I slept through the entire episode and casually gave a call at 1.30PM, why there is no power.

The lady in the telephone exchange said you are hell of a guy and YOU slept through the biggest cyclone. 

Open your door and see for yourself, that the front parapet wall made of bricks  is ripped off.

The next door neighbor's roof is blown off.

We did not call you since you were up all night, yesterday night.

Have you got any gas?

I said, Yes.

Then boil some water and make a cup of tea.

We got your telephone line working and would get your electricity line up soon.

I politely ask if they need any help.

She laughing said; only if you can climb electric poles and trees.

I said no way but I am available for an emergency.

Within half an hour I got my electricity.

These guys who did emergency and restorative work were the best in the world.

Next episode was in 1994 July, six years later in New Zealand. 

Similarly, I have packed our family home and sleeping on a Saturday afternoon.

I was thrown out of the bed and I guessed I had a dream and kicked a guy in my sleep and I had fallen off the bed. 

But when I looked at the Buddha Image in front of me on the roof, it was tilted and swinging lightly. 

Then when looked at the pantry, I saw most of the cupboards open and some dangling.

It dawn on me that a major earthquake has hit South Island.

Yes, it was and it was 7.2 Richter Scale and I slept through it. 

But the aftershocks lasted 6 weeks.

I was terrified every time an aftershock hit the floor.

I did not sleep well for over 6 weeks with even a slightest of tremor.

I woke up.

Soon after, I left New Zealand, never to return.

It looks like disasters seem to follow me.

Regarding, floods it was frequent in Peradeniya, those days.

Thankfully we lived on a little hill and water never reached our level.

However, the road get flooded with even a minor rain. If one is caught, one has to take off the shoes put them on the shoulder and bent the  trouser up to the knee level and wade through the raging water. 

One day, when I came down to pick my daughter after school, we were caught in a torrent more than usual. 

With clever manoering we managed to reach for the crossroad. 

I was glad I there when she really needed me. 

No schooling on heavy rain was a golden rule afterwards.

Years later much bigger girl was drowned in a canal in the city of Kandy.

When the Project Maskeliya came into operation part of water from the Maskeliya Oya was diverted to Mahaveli River upstream so our flood plane receded accordingly. 

I was very much active discussing the flood problem with Mahaveli Engineers.

All of them (hired hands) were not provided with regular places in the Estate Engineering Corporation, after Mahaveli Project was completed.

They left Ceylon.

We lost them with their talents.

I never saw them, again.

This is a summary for those reading this piece from Ceylon.

It looks like the Albert cyclone soft landed with category 1 but the torrential rain will go on for a week or more.

Hope floods would not do more damage than the winds with waves over 10 feet hitting the coast and hindering the flow of water of the rivers to the sea.

But falling trees are doing enough damage to the power lines causing interruption to electricity in many regions.

Sunshine Coast is relatively safe but Gold Coast is inundated with rain.

Brisbane that was expected to be hit worst was spared by some grace of Weather Gods.

All shops are closed and we are home bound.

I did keep up till 1AM as  usual but dropped to sleep eventually.

No dreams.

 

We had power cut little over 24 hours.

Complete rest for my NUC and cellphone doing the updates.

Little Napoleon is in a Dreamy State

It looks like Little Nepolean has forgotten the defeat and retreat of over 600,000 soldiers. 

His proposed 5,000 would be cannon fodder and there is no chance for retreat with drones following them behind their footsteps.

I wonder how British boots on the ground would fare?

The fate of battleships is no different. 

It looks like already two British ships transporting weapons to Ukraine were sunk near Odessa.

I guess there is no place for foot soldiers in modern day ariel combat.

Oreshnic is Russia's answer.

However, Presdent Trump's Golden Globe is yet to come into service.

Gonzalo Lira

It is nearly two years that Gonzalo Liro, a freelance journalist who was let to die in prison under SBU.

He was an American who was not investigated by Biden administration.

Why?

Double Dealing India

Indian expatriates are generally called by Africans locals as Black Jews appropriately. 

This piece is about their duplicity with Palestinians cause.

While they are sympathizing with Palestinian plight they import all their advanced military equipment from Israel. They will never speak a word against Israel. 

In fact, Israel has made them to keep their mouth shut.

This is true about Ceylon, too.

While appeasing the government in power the RAW has its own covert operations in the North of Ceylon.

India should never get a seat in the Security Council due to these duplicitous actions.

Pretty obvious.

This brings me to BRICS.

Russia, Iran and China are better off without India as an alliance. 

I am not referring to economies but military alliance against American hegemony in Ukraine for example. 

I do not think EU or NATO has any relevance today. 

Ruled based order is just a mockery.

They are only Talking Shows.

Rules without concrete action are superfluous, by their own nature.

Ceylon is a good example. 

We have almost all the International Laws inacted by our legislation but there is no mechanism to empower them at face level.

Coming back to EU, they cannot raise an army to fight Russia without American backing.

When President Trump retires from the political forefront in another 4 years, who will come after him is a big mystery.

It is time for him to make history not in War but in American Technology.

Think of the time from RadiShack to Texas Instruments to Sun Microsystems.

A golden time in American history of computer games until Atari, Haulu and Sun computers of Taiwan started dominating the game world. 

Sun of course was a American company to begin with.

I had an Atari in 1992.

Chips and AI will dominate the current period of Trump's Presidency not War of Zelensky, Macron and Stamer and it is good for the entire world.

Now that American Intel is shrinking I want an under 200 dollar gaming Mini PC, coming from America.

Not from Taiwan or Brtian or France.

Four years without any war anyware in this world would make Computer industry blossom.

The benefit of Chips and AI on Any War Machine is tremendous as a form of defense if not for offense.

Russia seem to have made giant strides in both air and water drones albeit with Chinese help.

Meanwhile, China should explode the market with game boxes varying from Steam Box substitutes to new designs at cheaper prices so that the kids of this generation could play War Games (unlike Zelensky) on television to tone down their inbuilt tensions instead of using live ammunition on the battlefield.

Let these big guys go to the battlefield Macron, Boris Johnson and Keith Starmer, (if these guys are as brave as their rhetoric mean), instead of the young guys and girls who have many more pospherous  years to live on this planet.

Man Older Than America is Paid a Pension

Yes, it is TRUE a man older than America itself was paid a Pension according to President Donald Trump's speech to the Congress.

Elon Musk and DOGE is discovering these irregularities.

It was a carefully constructed speech and his goal is to bring America back on roll without Any War Anywhere on this Globe funded by America.

It is truely a grandfatherly speech.

However, it has a Right Wing stint and Racial Bias. It was all expected, no surprise at all, the Right Wing elected him.

This is a global phenomenon and he was addressing the Right Wing factions of Europe, indirectly.

Democratic Wing failed to arrest the trend due to their own fault and their own massive corruption exposed partly by Elon Musk.

One can say, America is the most correct country in this World at this moment.

Whether President Donald Trump can make a Course Correction, time will tell us.

I hope he will succeed, he hasn't got another term to worry about.

When corruption is in built to a system it is very difficult to uproot, whether it is China, Russia, Brazil or United States.

Whoever who wrote this speech had a global vision but It was boring and I did not listen to the end.

My only interst was Chip and Computer industry. I am not much interested in AI but it will be the mankind's future.

America who owned the RadioShack to Texas Instruments to Sun Microsystems has to wrestle back dominance they lost to Taiwanese companies with cheap reproductions or duplicates.

In this process Intel lost its rightful place.

NVIDIA of course different kettle of fish with cryptocurrency and 4K games  are their domains.

I think under his leadership and correct tariffs procedures, correct balance of Chip Industry and with innovation, new ideas to benefit mankind would emerge

Chinese domination is not welcome and Russia is underpar in chip technology but catching up by looking at its drone warfare.

Intel should be revived by ASUS.

Golden Globe as in Iron Globe in Israel is a project under him. 

That means the world is no safer today than yesterday.

Military Industrial Complex gets its money in a Circuitous Way. That means Jews will dominate the world indirectly if not directly. 

Must state something nasty that happened to Ceylon during our Internal Conflict. Mossad was helping L.T.T.E and Ceylon Commandos (when our crafty Old Fox was President elected), in the same building in two rooms, at the same time.

That is how diplomacy works in Israel ways. Get money from both sides.

India's RAW was helping L.T.T.E. under Indira Ghandhi to undermine J.R.J. 

She had an antiamerican stance.

Both Indians and Israelists are vicious in world politics.

I hope President Trump is mindful of both sides (India and Israel). 

Driving a wedge between Iran and America is their ploy. 

India is looking for spoils if something like that to happen under President Trump's second term.

That is what happened to Ceylon.

We are in dire straight.

Smaller nations are just pawns in this global game.

Microsoft and Google both Branded Antitrust in America

It is not me Judges in America who say both Microsoft and Google violates Antitrust Law in America.

It is Google Chrome and Search Engine that is braided as such. YouTube is part of it.

I disbanded Microsoft long time ago and tied up with Linux. That was easy. Linux has over 60,000 software packages.

I am yet to find a replacement for YouTube. I have no problem with Google Search Engine and it's Surface cellphone. Microsoft tried to enter Google's domain of cellphones and failed.

I found one but it has many components but did not try it.

It is called POE Product.

I am not against YouTube at all but I am against some of the Ceylonese Sinhala (making it a political platform) YouTube guys who are abusing YouTube Space.

Poe Product

 I thought of promting this applicastion as an alternative to YouTube.

I am not against YouYube, since I have learned lot of Technical Stuff from it regarding even Linux. 

I am against the YouTube content creators in Ceylon, especailly in local language where politics and subtle charaqcter assssination is of daily occurrence. I just delete them without reading them.

I wish them success but bit ambivalnt about AI technique.

Poe -product-updates@poe.com- Unsubscribe

Hi everyone,

Over the last two years, we have built Poe as a unified chat interface to all AI. We now provide millions of users with access to 100 of the best text, image, video, and audio models from leading AI companies, along with millions of bots built on top of them, all in one place.

We have learned from this experience that while chat is the right interface for many people and for many use cases, there are also many cases where a visual UI is a better interface, particularly when a single workflow involves the use of multiple models made by different companies — access that Poe can uniquely provide.

Today we are introducing Poe Apps, which make it easy to build visual interfaces on top of any combination of the existing models on Poe and custom logic expressed in JavaScript. Poe Apps can run side-by-side with chat, or be entirely visual. Thanks to the integration with Poe, when these apps need to make potentially-expensive model calls, they will use the user's existing points, so that as a creator, you don't have to risk ending up with huge API bills, or having downtime when your app hits limits.

You can create a Poe App without writing any code, thanks to App Creator, which we built on top of Claude 3.7 Sonnet. Or, if vibe coding is not for you, you can take full control of the underlying HTML and JavaScript. Either way, we'll be giving distribution to the best apps within Poe through the existing systems we have built out for bots. This means our millions of users are all your potential audience, with no extra work required on your part.

Here are some examples we created to better illustrate this product:

• Chibify: An app that transforms one or more photos into 3D anime style art, using GPT-4o and FLUX-Pro-1.1.
• MagicErase: An app that removes unwanted objects from images, using Bria-Eraser.
• MemeGenBattle: An app that lets you compare memes generated by LLMs of your choosing.

These are just a few examples, but we expect a wide diversity of products to be created because Poe Apps can build on all the models on Poe. This includes the newest reasoning models, including o3-mini, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and DeepSeek R1, multimodal text generation models like Gemini 2 and GPT-4o, image generation models like FLUX Pro 1.1, Imagen 3, Ideogram v2, Playground v3, and DALL-E 3, video generation models like Veo 2, Pika 2.0, Hunyuan Video, Kling Pro 1.5, and Hailuo Live, and audio generation models like ElevenLabs and Cartesia.

Starting today, Poe Apps are available on web, with iOS and Android support coming in the near future. You can get started with App Creator here.

This is an early launch and we have a long roadmap ahead to give creators even more power, including the ability to earn money directly from their apps. We are excited to see what you all create. And we are excited to see how much better we are able to make Poe Apps as the models continue to get better at writing code this year.

Please share any feedback with us at feedback@poe.com.

Thank you!
The Poe Team

Puppy is Small BUT it can do big Things like MX Linux

Puppy is Small BUT it can do big Things like MX Linux

I am not referring to FatPup which I do not like since it does not support Abiword.

This piece was edited using Legacy Pup on a USB stick. It took half an hour to download.

I am referring to Legacy Pup which is Debian based and is 3.2GB. 

It is based on AntiX and I think it has more punch than Mx Linux.

Yes all Puppy derivatives were known to be under 700GB to fill a CD.

Its basic current problem is not supporting U.E.F.I. and WiFi.

So far I have got two who is supporting these developments.

One is Ubuntu and the other is Debian and Gnome.

Most of these derivatives support legacy BIOS and good for Old computers in the attic.

It is a matter of using WiFi scanning Utility to the system so that the user can select his or her own WiFi Server and key in the password.

Long time ago when they were introducing WiFi in Ceylon it was a big hastle. I had to go to Singapore to buy a good router. Two years later they both us our home router. We had to wait for the government to order it from Taiwan, I believe.

Unlike now I used to blast the Telecom guys. I was busy lookong after sick patients.

I would not NO to any reasonable request from Telecoms. I gather in the YouTube they are charging customer without permission for a non existent service.

I was using Ubuntu and Emmabantus to get my WiFi automatically configured in the late 1980s. 

Later I got hooked to Debian.

Sorry for the diversion.

I am going to test all the Puppy derivatives which has U.E.F.I. support and could be booted from a USB and not a CD. I am going to include a chapter on Puppy Linux in my book. In the current chapter I am working on, I have highlighted the lack of 64 bit versions and the very good Puppy derivatives which had gone dormant.

The chapter name would be small is beautiful.

I have already found three other Puppy Derivatives that could be configured by using the Internet protocol.

They are Bionic Pup

Xenial Pup

Puppex-Focal Pup

I have decided to finish my book on "Linux Essentials" mounted on a Puppy Linux. The book is over 400 pages. 

I started it  using, my Debian Gnome on Abiword and I would finish it on Abiword on a Puppy Linux.

This is the fist time I am publishing a BIG Book using Puppy Linux.

Till I finish publishing the book, I will keep it as a Top Secret.

By the all my books at Amazon were published using Abiword.

I have a book how to publish a book using only FREE and Linux utilities. 

If you are Linux Newbie, purchase it an read from cover to cover.

There is no spoon feeding. 

It might take little time to learn but the effort will save YOU lot of money for your own entertainment.