Google, Chrome, Cloud Conputing and the Future of Communication

It is fitting to post the 200th and end my blogging exercise with some note on Cloud Computing.

I was one who was always concerned with the bulk we carry to school and work.

Light weight and agility with nimble footing was something I liked to treasure when young and in old age.

When I see Sri-Lankan children carry gunny loads of books on their back. I pause to think of the wisdom of our Educationalists who do not understand the physical and physiological mechanics and making of a young child.

They also do not understand how the world is changing from factual world to interactive IT world and web utilities.

Big books bring fear in children and adults.

I can remember tearing off the big medicine book into its chapters and making it small and light weight (this was an advice I got from a senior medical student).

Like one step at a time on chapter at a time makes it easier to read.

This I stretched further in the final year (now the big books are coming in pocket editions and and data and evidence medicine are carried in palmtops) and I only carried smallest possible note in my hand (rest in the head) and only noted down the few things that I did not comprehend fully to revise (I do this to present day- come across a new word, in ENGLISH or MEDICINE, refer that in a dictionary and master the use of it, better still find a simple alternative word which simple people understand).

When you take the computer world operating systems are getting bloated by the day.

Even, the Linux derivatives are bloated in size and the KDE 4, I fondly call the Gorilla of Linux to drive my point.

Linux started with 4 to 32 MiB of code but now fills a DVD (42, 000 packages in Debian and not even itemized yet) without an effort.

They come neck and neck with Microsoft.

The bloating period is coming to an end with the entry of Chrome Browser and Chrome OS from Google.

Now chills are running down the spine of Microsoft and if this takes the center stage software era and profit making are going to be thing of the past.

Utilities and Services will count like Water, Electricity and Payphone.

In future it is Cloud Service and Google will carry the load.

Already cloudusb (a company name) and dropbox are established and they are platform independent.

Quoted from a web page published elsewhere!

"Google has said that Android is optimized for touchscreen interfaces, while Chrome is optimized for keyboards. It might be just as accurate to say that Android is optimized for consumption first, content creation second, while Chrome will be optimized for both consumption and content creation".

For some of us, the crucial difference is "play" and "work."

I am one who wants to outsmart even Google by carrying my operating system in a Pendrive (Flash drive). into my grave if that is allowed by the government.

This is what I want the education department to give serious thought.
The Jolicloud Manifesto

At Jolicloud we believe a movement has started. A movement that will change the computer industry forever: a world where computers are inexpensive, where operating systems are free and software is online. This is the world we dreamed of when we first discovered computers and the Internet. And this is why we wanted to build an operating system (OS) around a platform that gives everyone the opportunity to be part of this movement and access a whole new range of possibilities.

Jolicloud is an Internet operating system. It combines the two driving forces of the modern computing industry: the open source and the open web.

Jolicloud transforms your netbook into a sophisticated web device that taps into the cloud to expand your computing possibilities. The web already hosts a significant part of our lives: mails, photos, videos, and friends are already somewhere online. Jolicloud was built to make the computer and web part of the same experience.

The online world is taking processing power away from our computers, so we won't need expensive machines in the future. The web improves itself, so we don't need to replace machines all the time to be able to run newer versions of operating systems or office suites.

But the real catalyst of change has been the arrival of the netbooks: they started as an experimental low cost laptop for kids and they now radically change our views on how much we are willing to pay for personal computers. Think about it: computers are now becoming cheaper than mobile phones and MP3 players.

We feel privileged to witness this rebirth of the computer culture and are very excited about the world changes it can foster: More affordable means more people around the world connecting with knowledge, more communication between people and more balanced access to computing power with less cost, format or geographical limitations.

We come from the web, so we built our user interface mostly using its core technologies (HTML, javascript, CSS). We have integrated our web DNA into the OS to make it modular, social and personal. Our developer platform relies on the web and will let anyone or any service join in no time. With our API, developers will have the ability to let their website communicate with the computer directly with no need to code specific native applications.

Of course it's just the beginning. Netbooks are very new. They are still bulky, but they are making progress with better keyboards, better screens and battery time.

No one has yet entirely switched his or her life online, but everyday larger parts of our personal and business lives are relayed and stored via the web. Online connectivity is still expensive but prices are dropping as operators can't resist the global needs of the "always on" generation.

Legendary computer inventor Alan Kay once said, the best way to predict the future is to invent it. This is why we created Jolicloud. Like every project we can't do it by ourselves. We need your help and support to make this project a success. Together let's change the status quo and build the coolest OS for netbooks.



The future lies in the IT industry and not in heavy textbooks.

Less textbooks is environmentally friendly too.

We do not have to chop more and more trees to produce paper and textbooks which are getting outdated by the minute.

Cloud of computers can carry all the education material online.

Children should carry a Pendrive and few workbooks.

That is the future and it is next evolution of mankind.

Tiny Buddha in you?

It is nice to start with a quote form Ajahn Chah

If you let go a little you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of peace." ~Ajahn Chah

If I may describe Ajahn Chah as one who can inspire and let little pieces of wisdom at a time (in simple English) to enter ( instill) into your mind that would suffice in my penultimate entry.

Each one of us has Tiny Buddha in oneself if the thoughts of that is let in without any attachment to the thought itself.

Tiny Buddha.com that originates from UK, let you have that little freedom of thought inspire you.

Please visit that site.

I should let go my attachment to Linux from now onwards for a while and enjoy the freedom of being myself.

This is the penultimate entry before 200.

I am wondering what it going to be?

What inspiration I get when I am totally free from attachment I do not know?

Let it inspire me for the next goal to perfection.

P.S.
Please do not confuse with Little Buddha; It is a different Kettle of Fish altogether but you are free to visit that site too.

I end with wishing beautiful thoughts to every one who visit parafox.
I let myself and my mind go total anarchy while making entries to this blogsopt but meant no harm to anybody including Microsoft!

Dropbox in Linux-Fusion Linux included

I have decided I should stop writing on this blogspot after the 200th entry.

But before that I should write something about the dropbox.

I saw dropbox accidentally in Ubuntu 10.10 and was curious but never bothered to find out what it was.

Quite by accident I went to the site of cloudusb.net looking for a USB bootable iso and I was not getting into cloud computing anyway as a way forward (not knowing they are hosting dropbox as a type of Linux clone of cloud-not really).

Anyway I got caught myself in the web since it is promoting young kids to get registered as an educational opening to store their school files (Windows, Mac and Linux) and guess what, I immediately got registered wanting more information.

I am already using Google's space for my lectures and carry on files (not carry on doctor series) there was no need for me to to duplicate things but since it is a Linux derivative I could not resist the temptation.
Then I have to use Ubuntu (which was not my Linux armory even though it is a very good Linux distribution).

Then I remembered loading Fusion Linux-Fedora 14 derivative (this feature is enough for one to use Ubuntu and Fusion Linux) in a spare partition in my old IBM box fo testing.

Quickly rebooted into Fusion Linux and clicked the dropbox and I was directly at the site dropbox and I am downloading dropbox currently.

Before I could finish typing this it installed drop box in my home.

So guys and girls thanks for the offer, I got 2 GiB (enormous for me-I myself is light weight category now) space free and if I introduce this to another I get another bonus space which I may never fill up with data anyway.

You are free to try this offer especially if you are a school kid who forget to take tit bits to school and become light weight like me.

When I see Sri-Lankan kids carrying gunny loads of books in their back my dream to see our kids will go to school carrying nothing but a Pendrive may be a distant dream but might become a reality, if I was made the Minister of Education without any other bonuses.

Unfortunately I am not a registered voter for the time being and that dream will never come true.

Skype for Linux- Is it Pain in the Neck?

I was looking for Skype for Linux on a Live CD and I did not find any.

Then I went to the Skype site and after many hours of reading of fed up Linux users and no help at hand I tried the D.I.Y to install Skype on SuSe.

SuSe did mot have required libraries and mixer connections.

Then I tried Fedora 10 version on SuSe that also did not work with missing libraries.

Now fed up tried Ubuntu 10.10 (obtained from Skype site). it mounted Skype well but the sound mixer was defective (mike not properly configured).

Fed up already then I went for a DVD.

Tried Fusion Linux with Fedora 14 and it did not boot well or install it properly.

Unlike previous editions had a bug in the Grub file.

Now irritated enough I thought of finding a distribution with Skype from over 100 I downloaded recently and found PC/OS Webstation.

It was the only one that had reasonable performance but it also lacked many of the feature found in Windows 5 version(that is what my daughter says-I do not use windows now).

Ultimately I went back to PCLinux-2010-10 which I temporarily suspended using except Live booting due to script bug introduced to two of my (Windows hacker I believe, preventing me getting to web sites with iso images of Linux saying that the site is not trusted. This was an immature script but I was going behind it for some time, originated from India probably but lost interest temporarily) computers.

Winner at the end is PCLinux.

This is why I take it as the Gold Standard.

I have decided to increase the points in the point scheme I have designed for Skype included Linux distributions to 250 from 100 with working Skype, which should be automatic if the distribution can boast its capability.

Even, in PCLinux the Skype was static.

Why it is not updated with many in USA and Europe will be skipping the air travel due to stock market crisis and delays in airports in Christmas is beyond my comprehension.

I think Santa should bring a new version of Skype Linux with Christmas and Santa should do the air travel on his own cost and deliver Skype without delay for the Holidays and New Year!.

Interestingly new Ubuntu derivative that comes from Chekoslovia has Skype but it is a DVD version (1-6 GiB). It looks attractive.

Linux-100-Update on Linuxconsolebuild147-2010

This is one of the few but very good Multimedia capable Live (Install) CD for an old computer (as well as new) in the attic to play video and DVD.

Make the computer a Multimedia Player.

It has TV capability but I did not tested it since our TV channels are not set to any standard (anybody can buy a space in channel frequencies-not international standard anyway) and do not register with any monitoring agency of frequencies so that Linux can detect it.

This gentleman from France has done a wonderful job and everybody should support his efforts and future developments such as ipod capability.

Only weakness for a Live CD of 200 odd MiB which is fantastic is that I could not configure the internet to listen to internet music.

This is a development release and it has windows executable file too.

Newbies and savvy should use it and give him constructive feed backs.

It has 4 GB DVD which I could not download up till now due to slow pace of our internet service.

I am going to download it during the Christmas Holidays.

Good work and thanks for the Guys and Girls of www.consolelinux.org.

Speed Tests

It is possible to test the speed of upload and download of data over the internet now.

It is fortunate that the one internet company provides instant speed test and offer faster web browsers for guys who a using Microsoft.

I have been checking download speed almost every day for the last one (1) year with my Linux machine and I have discovered it is not worth even considering downloading anything more than 50 MiB in the day time.
Over best download speed is 1/2 (half) MiB per second at best (usually after mid night) but I cannot understand how they offer 2MiB in the day time.
It is only a commercial gimmick and lot of our young guys / girls have fallen pray to this propaganda.
Our Telecoms is much better than most of the south Asian countries.
We do not have a dedicated satellite of our own. in spite of fighting a war for nearly 30 years.
Now it is time of us to re-think our strategies since there is no conflicting parties except Indian Merchants who spending lot of money in Telecoms and betting industry.
We are going to have the cricket World Cup and we are not ready to serve the waiting masses.
It is time for the Telecoms to go for it with Chinese help within this decade.
I do not believe

Downloading and Uploading Linux Distributions and Packages

Linux newbie and Linux savvy of this country should be aware of our limitations in the IT world.
Now that I have downloaded over 150 CD versions (Live CD to be precise) of Linux CDs, I am now doing some brief survey of their installation capabilities.
I have now down to top 5 (Five) of my liking (100 is for Live) for installations.
When I select the top five I have many considerations.

1. Light weight and fit into a CD

2. Should have a nice file system that even detect my spare Dos partitions(no windows in them for the past 3 or 4 years not even Wine in them)

3. Good partition tool

4. Good PDF and Word program

5. Image program and a Video program to watch clips before installing

6. Good set of Drivers for old and new computers including laptops.

7. No need for internet connection at the time of installation

8. Set of boxed CDs, if it is a commercial version

9. One year cycle (if possible) stability. Six month was ideal for me to see whether developers are listening to my vocal and almost interactive commentaries in the web

10. Preferably a repository to download Skype, Open Office, Flash and few other nice Goodies.

11. Last but not least " root" and "user" capability instead of sudo.

12. Good Grub file and compatibility with other Linux distributions.

Most of the Top 20 to 30 distributions have at least 8 out of 12 of my specifications and nothing in between them to choose except personal interest and likings.

So rating according to a number scale is redundant. All are pretty good their own ways, robust, stable and free of viruses.

The biggest problem is needing internet to install. Not only this slows down the whole process and sometimes freezes at the last moment without a boot or grub file at the end and sometime changing the BIOS due to freezing. This is unacceptable in the third world where download facility is painfully slow.
The other serious problem is incompatibility of Ubuntu versions to detect other Linux versions and giving priority to Windows instead. This is appalling.

I had this problem yesterday and today. I have at least two working distribution 9one for day to day working and one for an emergency- my emergency one is PCLinux first and Puppy second).

One of my old computer has a SATA hard disk and IDE hard disk. When they configure the hard disks a and b comenclature (not for Master and Slave) was at random and there were no two distributions that did the same thing the exact the same way. I had to give up after 24 hours.
I tried changing the boot file and the fstab and i could never configure the distributions exactly the same.
This was piece of cake in the early days when the distributions were handful.
Each one had an understanding of the other. It is not so now with so many distributions out there.

We need to formalize this like normalizing in tables, otherwise there going to chaos in time to come.

I have been talking about Sri-Lankan Standards ( we do not have any-Selfish and First come First basis, everybody beat everybody at the winning tape and their are only one winner and all the others are losers) elsewhere.
It is time we redesign our wheels and engines.

E-Reader and E-Books

It is sad we lost over 30 year a futile war and we are still spending more for defense budget. In the process we cutting our budget for education. If that is not enough we got a Minister who instills fear on students who tend to disagree with his views.

All this is enough for young ones to go abroad and see how education is done in the rest of the world.

If we take Singapore they have developed their own e-reader and over 900,000 books in the Library are converted to e-books and could be accessed free on the e-reader.

They do not boast that they give free textbooks but make available all the resources for young people to learn.

One can see young Singaporeans studying in the University (their accommodations are not as spacious like in our country) do their home work at the airport lounge.

The e-readers available there include Kinder 2 which is driven by Linux kernel (Amazon device). That is the very reason I wanted to write about it. It is black and white and has wireless connectivity and a browser.

I believe all the other devices are also using Linux kernel.

Then there is another called Nook which is available in both colour and black and white.
I would like to see our kids also get a chance to use them.
This in only a wishful thinking.
Our educators go on holiday just before their retirement wasting out resources.
I wonder how many of them have at least seen a e-reader at least in the airport.
Mind you one need not go there, just browsing the web is enough to see an array of devices.

Celebrations without Microsoft

I am celebrating the third anniversary without Microsoft, this Christmas.

Is there anybody other than Anuradha doing work only on Linux in Sri-Lanka?

Please post an email or comment below so that we can have a private party.

I was trying to catch 100 students (school leavers to train free) from Kandy.

That was a total failure (blessing in disguise for me) but welcome free time for me to enjoy life with my kids.

Science Education and Linux

One of my first articles on Linux was based on Linux in education.

Then, I was grumbling about not been able to find a Linux Guru either in Kandy or Colombo.

Result at that time was an appallingly negative outcome.

Of course I found a few Gurus from abroad which included Cristopher Naegus.

Unfortunately he has stopped writing or updating the Linux Bible.

I want blame him for his delay. (I bought his new edition few months ago which came after almost after 5 years).

The way Linux is progressing, nobody can keep pace with, including books on Linux.

Moment you write something on Linux and post it, it is outdated by many a miles.

My entry today is to talk about contribution of Linux to Education in general and Science in particular.

With the introduction of One Lap Top for Child (OLPS) project there was proliferation of educational products from France to Germany to Poland and Spain.

Material included from preschool to university level.

Unfortunately due to interference of Microsoft and they being able to port their product on OLPS with the sole object of destroying the initiative is hindering the progress of the OLPS.

For OLPS there is SOAP (Sugar On A stick or Plastics -means Flash Drive) packages but unfortunately nobody seems to streamline and organize these educational material in a systematic and stepwise manner (Built on an existing platform and add on serially to suit the different age groups and needs).

I found few packages very interesting and deal with them first before proposing a scientific way to establish this scenario of Open Source Science and Education.

I call it OSSE-U (Open for Students, budding Scientists and Explorers of this Universe).

There is is a serious of 7 to 10 Linux CDS for Science which I have not downloaded yet. (I have done it now-writing on science may be not in the immediate future)

Therefore, I am not going to talk about science at the moment but education in general.

To begin with there is gCompris from France with a definite French accent for Linux and Microsoft.

But my best in Knoppix for Kids (probably originated form Germany) but unfortunately there are no updates after 2005 or 2007.

There are packages from Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Greece, Spain, Poland and Italy and many other countries(including China-Taiwan-Linpus Linux-now become commercial).

But all these are catering for the domestic audience with their language bias without international clout.

Unfortunately UNICEF and UNO is Dumb and Numb about producing educational (Freeduc-that originated probably from France died in infancy at the hands of UNO) material at least for children and doctors of the Third World.

There is nothing from England and USA, who still with the colonial attitude and mind that they are the repository of Education, which is not so, now. If Open Source take a root in the Developing World their monopoly in education would slowly diminish in importance (European countries are embracing Linux, Spain in particular and Latin Americans including Brazil) but

Unfortunately India also has failed because Indian Maha Rajas also think education is money like their colonial Past Masters.

In this context Russia without a global outlook has failed to catch the market.

I am still to get a live CD version of ALT Linux (they have a DVD version in English-I have the Russian version, though) from Russia in spite of contacting them on several occasions. I have got a CD in Linux now.

I think my Linux 100 and critical comments on the web are bearing fruits in less than 6 months and stock market crisis is a blessing in disguise for the third world except U.N.O pundits who have succumbed to the pressure and insinuation by Microsoft.

Everybody think that once a CD ISO is posted at their web site for free download the job is done.

That is not so.

They do not realize that the Telelom Industry is still in infancy in the Third World and download speed is appallingly slow.

(This has become appalling after the introduction of PEO TV in Sri-Lanka).

It took 12 to 14 hours for me to download SuSe Sugar (please do not download SuSe Sugar, it is slow and has a serious bug in the Grub File).

Because of the proliferation of mobile industry Telecom Industry cannot think of a Giga bite download speed for another decade or so.

That is also if one pays a hefty fee.

UNICEF has failed.

UNO has failed to impart emphasis on education because education from preschool to university is big money spinner.

Unfortunately, even in this Banana Republic of Sri-Lanka it is true.

They are not thinking digitally (Brain Atrophied).

Currently trying to destroy the existing system and the students..
I think many more children will go abroad and will never come back with the budget for education going down while budget for defense is going up.

They think by giving outdated free education material to students free that they have solved our Education Problem. It is not so!

They do not pause to think why our brightest students and the children of rich families with foreign connections go abroad paying massive sums.

With this digital age that information can be had for 10% of the price.

All what the student should have is a laptop with Apple Approach (I would write about Apple computer in preference to Microsoft in due course).

This I have to defer since the price is not within the reach of average Sri-Lankan who has to pay almost 50 Rupees for a coconut now!

Mind you now Linux is porting free Linux distributions for Mac too.

We have to import English Teachers from Hyderabad to teach our teachers, having killed the English Education for the last 35 years.

If one wants to learn about Linux and Education, just go to Google and type Linux and Education you get a heap of material form nearby Australia to Germany and France.

This is only a glimpse. I would give a list below and wind with some hints for the Educational Developers with a Linux bent.

1.OLPS with my new OSSE-Universe Linux

2.SOAP

3.Knoppix for Kids

4.Look for defunct Freeduck

5.gCompris

6.Alt Linux form Russia

7.Pardus Linux from Greece and many more.

Even though SuSE Community assembled many of these resources from the repositories they have done a poor job.

Educational package should in my opinion should have they following as the base.

Mysql.

Mysql PHP

Mysql Admin graphic face

My Admin as the front end for student to play with and develop a database of packages.

Gbasic as a front end of Visual Basic application

gFlash as or Flash as a front end.

A Quick time simulator for playing Apple Education software.

Some way to hack itunes.

Kind of Play Station based on Wine and similar emulators.

Then divide the material as preschool, Junior, Intermediate, Higher and University Level to begin with.

Common software repository with series of Levels (for the Linux Distribution in mind) to download.

I would like the distribution to named as OSSE-U Linux (Open for Students, budding Scientists and Explorers of this Universe).

That is my contribution for the time being!

Asoka
Edited 0n the 15th of November. 2010

Original 14th of October, 2009

Open for Students, budding Scientists and Explorers of this Universe).
Copyright name of OSSE-U belongs to me anyway!

Google you can improve on this idea with cloud computing in mind.

Microsoft do not steal this idea.

I will be on your tail!

Education and Linux

It is worth writing few lines on education and its relationship with Linux.

Even though we do not have teachers trained in Linux to help with education including computer literacy, it is evident that in many other countries including Latin America and Australia are investing on Linux in a major way.

Education is big business in America and in the West and neglecting other avenues are deliberately done with the help of Microsoft.

Only in this spring that Americans are awakening to the fact that in eduction at least monopoly should be negated by using Linux. They have highlighted the Seven Sins of Microsoft and I will talk only about their insinuation in educational institution (other factors are well known to an average soul).

First they donate few computers, then they give a scaled down version of words package and the carrot and the stick approach is done to the politicians and the teachers abroad (as well as this country).

Ultimately teachers are hooked to the bait.

With words there is a proprietary format for Microsoft.

Why UNO or UNICEF is not pushing for a standard word format is an open question.

Are they caught up in the myriads?

How I stumbled upon education (there are many utilities of education value in any Linux distribution) utilities in Linux is quite an accident of some sort.

I was downloading almost one live distribution (of Linux) a day for testing with a view to (I may have hundred by December at the rate I am going on) sorting out the best ten for a web article.

What is written in the web is all about standard and well established distributions but there are many flavours (Gloria, Myah, Chacra, MoonOS, SuperOs, PCLinux,SAM, Mepis and many more) of Linux used by newbie and the savvy.

They are excellent in their own way but very few people write about them except listing them in a Live CD list.

I accidentally typed Linux and Education got an amazing list of Linux distributions that bundle in one package all the educational utilities.

One of them is ADIOS originated from Fedora Core 2.

Once I saw that all the anger I had with RED HAT due to their departure from Linux average community disappeared into thin air. Unfortunately this is done by voluntary basis and not updated frequently. I believe they (ADIOS) are waiting for Fedora 14 (newest version of Fedora with radical change in approach to coincide with the new needs and trends) to upgrade the systems.

They have done a wonderful job and what I downloaded yesterday had the Red Hat look and feel which was dear to me not many moons ago.

Unfortunately it cannot be installed into hard disk but very soon I believe ADIOS Community would do that.

That is not the only distribution Ubuntu has its own version called Qimo.

The Sugar on a stick approach (SOAS) was amazing it can be booted in a CD as well as on a Pendrive (Flash Drive).

Knoppix for Kids (2003) is another, unfortunately not updated for nearly five years.

The community should reactivate it.

Youknowforkids is another.

If you type Asoka and Linux you get me in the web.

But if you type Linux and Education, you get much more.

Pleas note that Microsoft has taken arms against the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Project which is based on Linux distribution and Latin American children are carrying them on their shoulder with pride and SOAS (Sugar on a stick) are meant for that Laptop.

Why our politicians fail to visualize that is due to their indulgence with Microsoft and ignorance.

Edited today, 15th November, 2010
Asoka - First published at www.writeclique.net before my adventure with Google.
21, September, 2009

Pendrive Linux, Textbooks and Gambling

Even though I spent nearly 9 months investigating (could have been 3 months if our Telecoms provided Express Highway- 3 distributions a day in 3 hours) Live CDs my single interest was carrying a Flash Drive in my pocket (not more than 4-8 GiB) in my retirement and that is the only thing I can afford then with the government expecting me to kick the bucket sooner than late.

How can a pensioner who spent over 40 years serving the average masses could have his or her head above water with cost of living showing an upward spiral?

I do not know.

My old professor in sick bed could not afford the expenses having served over 40 years service.

I used to bring him medicine from abroad and he could not afford a good English detective novel (that is the only thing he wanted me to bring from abroad).

Thank god he is no more suffering but he taught me a few lessons which I carry to this day.

Honesty, integrity and above all outspoken and confident in all what he did.

I hope he is in heaven for the way he changed my outlook, in life and matters of importance and integrity.

The bonus offered to lure the old cronies is no more and many old guys did not know how to get the 2%.

So, Pendrive not a Laptop that I carry in my old age and to my grave and they should be sealed,

for a century for historians to study our way of life if human race could last that long

It was over one year I prepared number of Pendrives with various Linux distributions but unfortunately I cannot use then in the University since none of the computers can be booted from a Pendrive (they are pretty old and some of them we purchased just before the bomb blast at Katunayake.

We have not had an upgrade since then.

We could not afford to network the rooms and the cost was prohibitive.

What we did was get some help from Lion's and bought all the equipment for networking and trained few of the guys in networking and got the work done.

We only paid them over time and that was also stopped abruptly.

This is the way the University functions.

This job would have cost us 2 millions.

I knew the price very well. Just before joining the University I was in private sector and we wired the entire hospital and we had to get some things from Singapore since our IT industry was not even considered existing, then.

All the rooms were networked except my room.

You may wonder Why?
I was fed up.
I did my own network at home (very simple one-climbed the roof and wired myself) and my network is faster than the University.

Even now I cannot download a Linux distribution in the University even at night.

So why bother leave the University if one want to upgrade oneself.

That was what I did I left the University in my youth and I was earning my professor's salary on a weekend locum in London, England.

Unfortunately. things have not changed much for the younger generation.

Now that the Government has legalized betting it is imperative the internet access should be fast and open to everybody.

I saw an Indian betting gentleman was inquiring from Indian Express whether online service is available, in Sri_Lanka.

Come Cricket World Cup, everybody will be betting except watching and enjoying cricket.

My impression is that this is going to be the Worst Cricket World Cup.

You wait and see.

Weather, grounds, umpiring and betting going to be diabolical.

Now that I was off the target a lot but not without any reason.

Instead of me talking about Pendrive Linux please visit the home of Pendrive Linux and see it for yourself.

I have copied part of the page of introduction of their website below.

But my last comment is that if I am the Minister of Education, I will have a distribution of Linux on a Pendrive with all the dictionaries and and texts for then the children do not have to carry a gunny load of old outdated government text books on their back.

Not worth reading with the fast changing and expanding universe of knowledge.

Copied from Pendrive Linux

Easily install your favorite Linux operating system on a flash drive or USB key no larger than your thumb (Thumb Drive). Your Portable Linux operating system can then be taken with you, and run from any computer that can boot from the Pendrive device. Bring your entire operating system, desktop, applications, files, email, personal settings, favorites, games and more with you. It’s your own personal operating system you can carry in your pocket.

The Pendrivelinux focus is to provide simplified portable Linux flash drive installation tutorials and custom USB Linux installers, making is easy for anyone to install, boot, and run their favorite Linux from a flash drive

!

Linux Activator and Linux-100

My approach to Linux 100 was purely academic but I never thought that lot of guys. especially the guys developing Linux would care to listen to my comments with any enthusiasm and would take them with good spirit and add utilities that I tend to like the most.

One of the utilities was PHP / MySQL Admin. since in my age and time I am tired of working on a terminal with poor eyesight and trying to work only on command line.

It is imperative that to encourage newbies that come from Microsoft background to get a hang of (good example is myself- having worked with SPSS and Access especially for my research work and trying to do some work only on terminal was anathema by itself) Linux before delving into commend line and scripts.

This is especially so when admirable utilities with graphic front has or being developed are available for wider use.

When these are incorporated in a distribution that make life easy for lot of users who are not full time administrators but have to get involved in administrative functions, especially database management ( for example in Medical Practice).

I thought only a few Linux guys especially the newbies would be interested in my comments as a way of grumbling and wining especially coming from the windows background like a spoiled brat.

Judging by the Linux outputs recently my reservation was ill founded.

There are lot of guys /girls with a global picture with lot of dynamism.

Another reservation is for us in the countries where download speed is hopelessly inadequate downloading a DVD is a nightmare and lot of little CDs are much better than a FAT DVD distribution with lot of utilities rarely used.

This where PCLinux was a trend setter on its own right.

It is nice to see even Fedora 14 has taken a leaf out of PCLinux history and following its foot paths.

Sabayon is doing it (of course they have been doing it independently).

Salix is introducing Live KDE.

I never thought this will happen in my life time.

There is lot of convergence in spite of the diversity.

That is the beauty of Linux.

I hope I never made a comment to hurt any guy / girl doing hard work for Linux with shear dedication.

All my comments were in good spirit since I am a Linux fanatic by choice and not by descent.

If I had made any comments sharp, they were to tone the commercial trends and subtle insinuation by rival distributions to undermine the advance of Linux.

This is happening everyday.

Beware!

I believe in small is beautiful and small (bet on the strength of the hand but not what others have-re-rival companies) is powerful when chips are down and the stock market is tumbling.

It is nice to see UK stock market is following the footsteps of US stock market even 3 years later (US probably anticipated the crisis 2 years before the event, I guess!)

Linux on a low budget and RAM

I was somewhat obsessed with the variety of live CD distributions on offer that I have overlooked the Linux on a low budget and computers both old and new with little and inadequate RAM.

There are many to list but I will mention a handful of them to conclude my investigation of user friendly tiny vinny distributions that I have come across.

1. Geebox come to my mind that is similar to gamebox or media player with needing 0nly 25 MiBs.

2. My favorite is Puppy which is 90 to 120 MiBs and there are over 30 varieties.
The last of which I downloaded was EliteOS (with a commercial presentation included).
It is pretty good.
In the Puppy 5 series, the lupu is another celebrity.

3. Damn Small Linux (the one I use when I am in trouble booting and partitioning) is a beauty on its own with only 50 MiB.

4. Astrumi (120 MiB) is another good one. I think it is a Polish distribution.
The older version cannot recognize LCD monitors.

New ones are coming by the dozens.

5. 4MLinux-Gamer is only 11 MiB and and the standard is 25 MIB.

6. Voyage is only 45 MiB.

7. xPUD a web browser and media player is 65 MiB.

8. The xin-v1 is only 52MiB

9. SliTas

10. Tiny Me

11. Finnix is another

12. WiFiWay small 285 MiB and Standard 408 (Spanish).

13. Minix is 385 MiB.

14. CRUX is 220 MiBs.

15. NimbleX was less than 200 but now is bit fatty and has doubled itself to 400 MiB.

16. Feather Linux is also another flag bearer (like DSL) of small and beautiful Linux.

Then come to the the partition tools, there are many and one does not need a proprietary software to do partitioning (I have dropped MS partition magic for good but it was the one that saved many hours of sleep (sleepless nights before that) in the early days of Linux experience)

17. gparted

18. partmagic

19. pmagic

20. R.I.P. Linux

20 is a magic number for me. In studies of evolution (my personal work) if there are 20 related species in a locality that 20 would circumvent any adverse climatic change at least temporarily but if that figure is 3 the species is critically endangered.

With the same context in time to come Microsoft is an endangered commercial species. may be catering for other planetary systems in space.

The host of Ubuntu derivatives that come as TURNKEY should be the fitting end to my list.

The list is endless and my favorites are Puppy. DSL and Feather Linux.

They are the ones I have used comfortably and on a regular basis and have used in demonstrations to show my prowess.

Sorry guys and girls that I have only mentioned your names only and they are much better than my GoGo.F.O.F. Linux which is still under construction with my workforce on extended Christmas holidays enjoying other Linux for relaxation.
They are allowed to copy any good idea free of charge or copyrights.

It is an understatement when I say that they are the most useful when one (I am in trouble) is in trouble or on low in RAM to do the tit bits (not bits and bytes).

Bye till new year!

Linux and the RAM

It is not so long ago with 4 MB on board VG and RAM 64 I was able to boot Redhat 8. Mandrihe, Debian, Xandros (no live CDs except Knoppix, I had not yet discovered the Damn Small Linux) with some difficulty SuSe in my desktop.

The Linux is somewhat bloated now.

Without at least 512 RAM one is not able to boot and install Linux now.

This is not a good recipe for average Sri-lankan who cannot afford to eat rice with Pol Sambol now (due to surging RAM on Pol Pol Arrakku and Pol -Coconuts).

If anybody makes a Linux distribution called Pol Sambol Linux. nobody will care to try it even if it is given free of charge (nothing is free in this country liberated except daily headaches).

So RAM is important for a low budget person like me.

Let me talk about the type of RAMs before relating my story.

I started with 100 BUS SDR RAM.

Those days finding two 128 RAMs was extremely difficult especially 100 BUS speed.

I had to wait for years and hacked them out of junk computers imported to Sri-Lanka.

Then came the SDR 133 (BUS) speed RAM and somehow I could find 256 of RAM with an assortment of 128's and 64's.

This was just enough for me to boot all Linux distributions without a hassle.

Then came DDR 1, 2 and 3 and the RAMs were hefty in size.

The other day my daughter's computer with Linux installed was out (the reason is the usual overl0ad and with 20 GB hard disk -over the last one year she had collected junk files (no viruses) and she does not want me to clean the junk files and she does not do it herself and one or two years of IDE hard disk is good throughput, anyway).

I dismantled the hard disk and put a new 80 GB hard disk that I have kept for future use.

I was trying to partition (not with dos now) the new hard disk with PCLinux-2010 and I could not.

Then I tried LXDE and could not.

Finally I had to go back to DSL and later to Linux partmagic to get the new disk prepared.

I did not enjoy all this at late night and gave her the computer with Sata 20 GiB and 80 GiB IDE (dual) with newly installed PClinux 2010-10 and downloaded, few of the softwares she needed for her work.

This was also bought from a junk deal and of course I added 512 graphic card to get it in prime condition.

I asked her whether we buy a new one and she was not that keen on a new one (now that she is very much comfortable with Linux without viruses and dropping her bad Microsoft habits was a welcome change for me).

The new Linux (PCLinux 2010) distributions are cravy on RAM and use the full 256 RAM and after that could not do anything useful including install.

This is why I call KDE the Gorilla Linux with some affection for Gorilla and the KDE (I am a KDE fan now except when I do repair work on old computers),

So if you are using Live CDs have at least 1 GB of RAM if you are thinking of installing the same.

Otherwise it will freeze down the installation process. This is true of Ubuntu 10.10 and SuperOs (DVD) too

SuSe needs minimum of 512 (but ideally 1 GiB) and that is also with CD and not DVD.

SuSe of course can be installed (very good feature) from the live CD without loading into RAM which most of the Linux Live distributions do not include or offer including PCLiniux.

Ultimately I decided to use the computer as a TV box in addition to using it as a web outlet with 1 GB RAM added.

Unlike those days there are plenty of unused second hand SDR RAMs in the market without buyers.

For Linux newbies and savvy this can be a Treasure House or Goldmine.

The Linux is far behind in configuring variety of TV cards now on the market and I hope developers will be looking to this aspect since it is cheaper to use a computer as a TV box instead of an expensive and flashy LCD TVS now in the market.