Mepis-AntiX-Linux Extras-14

Mepis is a Debian base Linux distribution with KDE desktop which very good. Except for its KDE front it inner works are like Debian.

One of its features is it has a light weight version which is called AntiX and boots up live easily and can be installed in old computers from 486 to 686. Its latest 686 id pretty good.
With 128 RAM it can boot up.
KDe DVD version has k3B and sweeper which can be used to clen up temporay files which is utility all Linux desktops shod have.
PCLinuxFullMonty also incorporate it but not in other PCLinux versions do not have this but it lets you activate clen up activity at boot time (lets you activate it at installation.

Current test version 11 is out in 32 and 64 bits and I am currently downloading it .

It has LibreOffice.
I will update you the moment I have it for testing.

Comment on best 7 Linux distributions

Top 10 or 20 in any category (food for example) has a false sense of security and it applies to Linux too.

For example Coca Cola is on top of the list and as a doctor I would say it is the worst drink (Pepsi included) a cricketer can drink (with World Cup Cricket which is on now) while playing.

See what the Indian advertisements are doing on our TV and how rational and sensible human beings are?

We are only sensitive to taste but not sensible and that is my assessment.

It is true when they bomb Libya too.
When we bomb in Sri-Lanka it is human rights violation but when NATO bombs Libya it is called UNO convention.

Bunki Moon should be ashamed now being a puppet on strings.
All these comments applies to Linux top 10 to 20 too.

1. If one has used only one or two Linux distributions on a regular basis and writes an article on top 10 it is not valid scientifically. It is like somebody who used Microsoft or Apple Mac all his life says they are the best.

2.If somebody who works for a Linux Enterprise Company either part time or full time makes statements about Linux does the same mistake.

3. They must say I have tested 10 (not 100) and these are my subjective assessments and should not make statements as if they were objective.

4. Unfortunately the word GURU has come into Linux and it has no meaning scientifically or metaphorically. They distorts the facts.

5. The reason why I tested 100 and more (dalmatians) was to get this unscientific tradition out of the way and out of the fray.
We are not going for a talent contest.
It is the use and the utilities that are incorporated in Linux distributions that matters.
That is why I try to highlight the utilities presently instead of trying to win a talent contest.

6. Other point is that Linux developers are poor CEOs and they do not know how to market useful and good products but get involved in flame wars like politicians.

Flame wars are killing Linux and Microsoft also add to this to the confusion.

We must start with the saying "Microsoft sucks your energy and money but Linux stands tall and delivers the goods", no matter what distribution you may use.

That is the starting point and Linux really work for me and saves time in the long run.

That is why I use it daily.

One has to learn the basics and get the tradition of computing out of power politics and money.

Below is a comment I made about 7 distributions listed.

Thanks for updating the article but no thanks for the recommendations.

I can agree with Knoppix and Backtrack only.

SuSe is beautiful and still clumsy and slow. I have stopped using it from this month.

Ubuntu is popular with lot of useful utilities but stability is a problem with frequent release cycles.

Redhat is rock solid but its service is poor like SuSe.

Ubuntu Studio I have not seen because of its very slow download speed and is painfully slow even with torrents.

Knoppix can be installed now without a hassle and it has extremely beautiful graphic features.
It really rocks!

I have downloaded Vesta 1 today and it is sleek and has plasma effect but cannot be installed.
It took 3 days to download it.

This is Java based and Oracle is promoting it and due to its ownership claims I am not prepared to recommend it.
It looks like everything is Java and it could not configure internet (router) automatically which any good Linux distribution does automatically.

Only kernel is Linux and the rest is Java and it will have stability problem since who is somebody anybody can write Java to upset its inner work and that is going to be the biggest problem a user may encounter.

Like Microsoft Visual Basics it has all Java platform development kits and eclipse.
If you are a Java man or woman, Vesta 1 is for you but remember it does not have a script for installing.

None of them support Sinhala installation except Debian.

The latest version of Debian 6 is pretty good and I have all the assortment of Live and Installable CD and DVDs.

It is taking a leaf out of PCLinux and spending time on light weight distributions. It has packed in one CD, LXDE, XFce and Rescue and that is what I recommend for users in the third world with little money and has Sinhala capability too.

What beats everything for me is Mepis which also has assortment of distributions (namely AntiX) that support 486, 686 to 32 and 64 bits. One need not throw away an old computer because win 2007 is there.

Its test version (11) is out for testing now. I have downloaded and tested it and has a big face lift this time. Download it and enjoy it.

I have dropped SuSe and have gone back to Debian (AntiX too) in my office because of its versatility.

It has over 60,000 packages (for every one from a kid to a scientist) and one rarely use all of them in one go.

Mind you it is the God Father of Linux and Ubuntu is the most successful derivative of Debian.

This article is useful for a newbie if he reads it with my comments at parafox and asokaplus (Linux 100) written in the same tone and flare of as Fortune 100 (or is it 500) companies.

Other option is to have several distributions installed in one computer and that is what I usually do.

My Selection of Linux Utilities that Should make a Standard Distribution-Support for Visually Handicapped-Orcas and House Keeping-03

One of the features I always look for in a distribution is whether it supports blind and the visually handicapped persons.

Ubuntu is well known for supporting blind users with Orcas which is a Debian based utility for keyboards and Linux support for braille is unsurpassed by proprietary operating systems. Most of the stable version Debian support visually handicapped users.

Along with this facility multi-language support is essential and many Linux distributions are only in English and some are only in French or Spanish.
But lately many distributions are supporting several languages. Debian is the leader in this and it now supports Sinhala too.

Third utility should go with this is virtual keyboard.

Often with the frequent use keys of the keyboard some of them get stuck and if this happens when entering a password one may not be able to get started which is a little embarrassment to say the least.

Virtual keyboard is value added utility.

All these must be bundled out in the accessibility corner.
I am not sure where the sweeper, the cleaning utility should be placed and I prefer it with the accessibility option. The sweeper removes unnecessary and temporary files and the history tree which tend to accumulate and get bigger and bigger in almost every Linux distribution.

Only in PCLinux I find the utility that removes temporary files at boot time which one can select at the time f installation.

Unlike servers where every data and every little movement are necessary for recovery purposes when a servers fails but all these details of history tree are not necessary even though very valuable when break into a system is suspected for a desktop.

Archiving utilities are universal in Linux distributions and if one uses them judiciously may be able to save disk space.
In my case it is not the hard disk (which I format once a year) that I use but CD and DVDs and burner utility either K3B or Brasso is essential for this purpose.

So I have lumped all the good housekeeping utilities in one category which are useful if one is using one computer for all the day to day activities.

Cricket World Cup-Final Count Down

Well before the Cricket World Cup, due to many a reason, I decided not to write about Sri-Lankan Cricket.

This not the time to list them except to say, there are many who have never played or watched cricket except on TV (armchair cricket pundits) who have entered into cricket fray and making money at the expense of poor cricketers in the Asia subcontinent.

IPL can be taken as an extreme example but what I mention here is much more subtle and lot of politics involved.

Cricket is going to enter into a different era with all the contenders of the West except New Zealanders have been eliminated and gone home already.

I feel really sorry for Strauus, who played a gem of an innings at the beginning and showed all the signs of long winter of cricket and petered away in an almost burnt out or run out of steam fashion.

He has lot of cricket left in him and all the cricketers except a few in the team deserve the respect they deserve for trying out hard under extreme whether conditions. It is easy for the normally grumpy (politicians and diplomats included) Britishers who sit like potatoes in front of the TV with an ancient Axe in hand and try to destroy them.

I was expecting some unruly Sinhalayas with anger towards harbouring LTTE in their political and diplomatic folds make some unwelcome gestures towards the team. Nothing like that happened but they expected a real beating at the hands of Sri-Lankan cricketers.

When several catches were dropped, it was uneasy for everybody watching but England failed to capitalize on them but capitulated themselves.

Our boys were ready for Australians but since weather prevented it and India had done the honours, the cricketers were ready to pounce on England as an alternative.

It is as if we wanted England to score over 200 hundred (only a wishful thinking, catches were badly dropped) and getting two centuries was a record that is going to be in our memory for a long time.

As for Ricky Ponting unlike Strauus, time has come to say good bye to Asian Subcontinent and his century was glorious. We want to remember him for that century and as a cricketer of high caliber, somewhat steely like Steve Waugh, and not as a rugged Australian who lost the Ashes.
Good luck for his future.

For Graham Smith, I was thinking that they had a chance of lifting the cup but when they lost to England, I knew something nasty will happen eventually and I was actually banking on New Zealand to do that.

I like Smith's demeanour very much and he was my most favorite captain of this world cup even surpassing Sanga for that category.

In my mind he made the mistake of opening the innings and he would have come down the order, may be one down or two down. If he was there in the middle when chips were down, unlike the younger players, the outcome would have been very different.

We are going to miss hm as the most amiable captain of the world cup.

Now there are only four of the captains left to prove their mettle and Daniel Vittory is an ace who may even challenge Sri-Lanka when chips are down.
Watch out for him. even with injuries.

He was of the same caliber as our Murali when injured and even though he was not our captain he (Murali) was the one who every opposition captain envied and every Sri-Lnkan captain revered, as a god send messenger of cricket.

He is our ambassador of cricket and long live his memories, only the good ones not the bad ones that come from Australia.

Luggage and Laptops

It was World Cup Cricket Saturday.
I got up late decided to stay at home but did not want go out thinking I might get late and miss the first 10 overs where the game seems to be decided.

I was almost confident Sri-Lanka will be in the semifinals barring bad weather and poor ground preparations.

In any case I bought a new TV Card (PCI plugging) with facilities for recording (compressed images) and tried it on one of my Linux computers BUT unfortunately even though it had a TV software it did not configure the new hardware.

Then on second thoughts I thought of trying the LAPTOP I was using for testing Sinhala Linux and few other new Linux distributions on which I installed Win 2007 starter pack.

While I was doing this I counted the number of little, little gadgets on the table and there were 12 in all which included the power pack and the USB battery I used in case of power surge or drop in voltage due to everybody watching cricket.

This is one thing I hate about laptops, so many luggage, in fact a gunny load of gadgets.

The list goes like this.

1. Battery cooler (one USB port used).

2. Extension for extra USB ports (two USB ports used).

3. USB Mouse (now three ports used and adorned).

I hate fiddling with the laptop flat mouse. I prefer a real meaty mouse. which I can grip and squeeze when I am annoyed which is generally the case until windows find a driver.

4. Power connector and step down transformer

5. UPS battery.

6. Power connection cord with multiple plug holes

7. TV USB Kit

8. Antenna

9. Mouse pad

10. Microphone or Speakers

11. USB extension cord to prevent clutter and get the antenna cable well away for clear TV signal.

12. CDs to install drivers and any instructions that come with the gadgets.

With all this I managed to get the TV signal with cricket (except other channels) but I could not get Microsoft to configure audio codecs and a message that the audio was not available was on the screen when I open the software.

This is something I hate, the drivers with Microsoft and OEM vendors.

It used to be the story with Linux 10 years ago but Linux will identify and configure audio automatically and sound quality is pretty good too.

I hope by next Cricket World Cup Linux will have a search engine to detect any TV single over the globe especially in villages areas where TV signals are weak and after the cricket the Linux box can be used for education and games for children with TV channels providing services instead of advertisements which galore!.

Any way I did some home work which I had learned from win 95 (42 to 45 CDs then) days and got the audio working (AC 97) with TV channels all received except one just in ready for the semifinals.

I must state how we got the win 98 work.
1. Prepare hard disk with FAT partition.
2. Install with many restarts.
3. Install graphic driver.
4. Install sound driver
5. Install virus guard
6. install media software
7. Install office.
8. Install any other software you paid for including TV software.

It was apin in the neck and I went through this rigmarole many a times to get it in working order.

Now I do not have to do any of those donkey work. Put a live Linux CD/ DVD on the CD/DVD ROM and check the media and run Linux sometimes lighting fast booting with 1 GiB RAM.

I thank Microsoft million times since it was not for such a pain (getting the computer in working order) I would not have discovered Linux in its early and formative years.

Anyway for three cricket matches I can go through the pain again.

I love cricket much more than Linux or Microsoft.

SwiftLinux Diet Edition-Linux Extras-13

After 40 or more goes at downloading (point to point) finally I manage to download 400 odd MiB of Linux iso. That is also not the full version but the diet version.
Glamour version is TaylorSwift Edition but I am still trying it.
This is the classic example of how poor is over Telecoms to connect with a distant server on the other side of the globe.
I am a fan of Mepis especially its tone down version of Anitx.

They are light weight in spite of being of KDE variety and also specializes on old computers with 128 RAM.

I still have an old computer with 233 speed, 128 RAM and 4M on board graphic capability which is still working with Redhat 9 and that is why I love this light version which boots up nicely and run fast. I still use it for demonstrations of old Linux versions with lot of nostalgia.
One need not throw away an old computer since the latest Microsoft cannot be booted on it, especially in the third world and kids can use them for DOS games and other fun.

Coming back to Swift Linux it is simple and attractive and have lot of utilities including Abiword and CD burner. If you have an old computer in the attic take and dust it out and boot with Swift or AntiX.
It (Antix) can be used in 486 too.

Sinhala Linux Update-Sabayon-5.5

I am pleased to inform you not only Debian but Sabayon which is a Gentoo based Linux distribution with many excellent graphic features let you install Linux on a laptop in Sinhala.
it has XMBC.
Unfortunately Gentoo Live DVD has not got a script to install on a computer.Make sure you have Sabayon but not Gentoo but if you want to demonstrate Linux features especially XMBC use Gentoo but I prefer Sabayon.

Thanks Guys and Girls at Sabayon for introducing Sinhala capability.

Edited on the 26th March
I have to confess now even though Sinhala is there for installation, in two installation incidents in my laptop the translation was not complete or not available in the DVD (probably one has to download the script from the repository which is the way Gentoo and probably Sabayon operates and I did not want to try because of slow speed of our Telecoms.
It states the availability of many languages and whether one needs to remove them during installation.
I would be happy to hear from anybody who had the time to try this facility.

Why I have reserve a FAT pattion in my hard Disk

I reserve a FAT partition of Generous 20 MiB in my hard disk would be mystery for you since I do not install Microsoft even for testing now.
I will list few of the reasons.

1. Sometime back when (I was not testing live CDs then) I lay my hands on a new Linux distribution I try to install them and many had no methods to install and some had what is called persistent and try to install in a FAT partition.
Two of them come to my mind, one was Knoppix and the other was GoBo Linux. Now of course both of them can be installed into hard disk.

2.Since I had many distributions in my hard disk most of them ran short of space in home partition and even writing an image was not possible. The Linux has the habit of collecting junk called history in tmp folders without automatic cleaning. So I used to take all my data files and place them in the FAT partition. External drives were expensive and i could not afford them. So FAT partition was the temporary shelter for my data till I write them to a CD or DVD.

3. Third reason was when I started downloading Linux Live images I use to shift them to a folder in the FAT partition when home folder was full. By doing this I was able to remove most of the tmp files cluttering the Linux system.

4. When I do cleaning up job for my friends with rotten Microsoft hard disks removed from the computer and mounted on a external drive, it was easy for me to transfer the data file to my FAT partition after doing the cleaning up process for cutting it to a CD or DVD. Then I give them the CD / DVD with data and freshly formatted disk and say I don't install Microsoft any more and don't come back again with Microsoft problems to me and virtually chase them away.

5. The latest is a very delicate issue. With data security paranoia most new Linux distributions let you encrypt your data (asks you whether you want to do that while installing) in home folder. This I did recently and took some photos of my dog and nephews and nieces and saved them. So after that I did testing Sinhala Linux and for some reason forgot about the whole issue. Then when I wanted to boot that image it had some problems with it's boot file. I could not get those photos. I tried many methods and I could not open the encrypted photos.
This was where I had to sit back and work out a strategy to recover the encrypted data (six photos). This was a Live distribution and I tried to recover the files while Live CD was running but could not.
Then finally I reinstalled the distribution without formatting the home partition (this is the value of home partition) with the same password and booted it up and formatted a free Linux partition to FAT transferred the opened photos to FAT partition without encrypting. The job was done and I recovered the encrypted photos. I also copied the encrypted file to another home partition of my computer using some devious methods to see whether I can open that in a another Linux distribution. I could not.
This was the longest period for me to solve a simple problem without using unencrypting software (which I am not interested and I am not in the habit of cracking passwords).

So do not be paranoid when encrypting your data. If you forget the password the data is as bad as in the dustbin or thrash.

My Selection of Linux utilities that Should make a Standard Distribution-GParted-02

Even though I started with K-Torrent for its global utility factor and demand by many a mile my best utility is gParted, apart from Damn Small Linux (D.S.L-only 50 MiB).

I used DSL for two main reasons.

1. When one of my (not that it happens) computers gives problems or I am cleaning them up and reformatting. I use it for formatting the hard disks.

2. Browsing the web to see whether internet line (wiring) is broken or is it a problem with the (external as opposed to internal) service provider before giving a call to the Telecoms.

Both these utilities (browser and partitioning tool) and many other little ones are there in DSL.

With my general inquiry into the best Linux distributions for my use (family) long before writing on the 100 Linux distributions.

When I discovered many distributions I thought I should share that knowledge with a wider audience mainly locally and now of course globally.

It is evident more foreign visitors hit my page than locals and thank for keeping my interest alive and well.

There are of course days with very few visitors and then I reflect on the reason of drop in page hits and try to change my strategies.

Mind you I have been talking about Live Linux over a year now, even I need a diversion to keep my inner senses sharpened.

That is why I decided to write on the different utility packages in Linux.


1. Gparted is a Debian derivative and for that reason it is stable and reliable.
2. It updates frequently and improve almost every 3 months.
3. It is light weight and one can carry in ones front shirt pocket like DSL and Puppy Linux.
4. With its popularity every good Linux distribution includes it by default but there are some who do not.
5. So much so that if it is not included I have a tendency for dropping that in my personal list. Suse is one of them which does not have it (KDE version) and restricts the partitions to 15 even though Linux is capable of having over 60 partitions.
6. It is graphical front make partitioning a simple job. Good old days I used to install win 98, then a virus guard and thirdly partition magic for partitioning. After that only I Install Redhat Linux.
7. New versions can handle hard disks over 160 GiBs.
8. It is amazingly fast compared to DOS. In 5 to 10 minutes it can prepare a disk.
9. No defragmentation necessary (cleaning) like what you have to do religiously in Microsoft systems.
10 It looks after the health of the hard disk and its long life. I have used many hard diks discarded by others and have the best use of them for years. Of course once a year I erase everything and reformat to get the best use and that is why I use gParted.

Mind you other factor is Linux does not harm the hard disks and keep a watchful eye every second and boot time.

There are many other partition utilities in Linux but if one has used it once you do not need another for your life. I have said good bye to partition magic, the windows utility.
I must tell you it is better than the Knoppix partitioning (GParted in it) tool.
One simple advice before I wind up is, make sure you have at least one 20 MiB FAT (32) partition in your system free and in the next writing probably I tell you why.

My Selection of Linux utilities that Should make a Standard Distribution-K-Torrents-01

The list can be an endless stream of creative packages that makes Linux as versatile as it is today. There are over 33,000 of them in one repository constantly updated and maintained at cutting edge mentality but my selection is based on their utility value rather than face lift value that Microsoft always add to its Office Package and other ubiquitous utilities (which can be found in any Linux repository free) . I believe this can be easily accomplished with a paint brush but not with any worthwhile code. Any face lift that does not add to the functionality or productivity is a waste of computer resources only fools will try to keep in their armory of battle fatigued foot soldiers.

The are not commandos with swift command line direct action but fringe dresses to cover the ugly functionality.

So let me introduce the first of many such Linux Utilities.
K-Torrent comes to my mind for its versatile and nanosecond functionality.
This is something one should have in the third world (but would be a workhorse in the developed world) since our Telecoms are one of the worst (other two are water and electricity) Service Sectors for which we pay through the nose and get 10% of what they have promised. Right now I am paying for 56 bits for second and i get only 5.7 throughput. There are no regulatory bodies monitoring this or provide remedy for the users.
If I make a complaint, the context become even worse and there is vilification and victimization.
This is true for election malpractices too, if one reports an abuse of power or subdue of power of authority, there is no mechanism to address or redress. that is wished for.
There a re no good Umpires or Television reviews even though we a cricket frantic nation.

With that type of service available for one to download an unbroken data image and check integrity as it is downloaded and after the completion of the download we need a utility which react to sudden breakdown which include electricity supply.
We are heading for the Month of April which is the month of thunder and downpour and lot of computers burn down including processors and lot of little breakdowns in between and if we do not have UPS to support, I would have lost all my computers,
Even the laptop I provide power through another battery (UPS) and the standalone battery won't last its lifetime if that protection is not taken. Power surges and voltage drops are universal and no instrument is safe.
Worse scenario is that I have to get up and switch on and switch off the systems in the thick of my sleep when alarm bells go up.

With point to point download every time it breaks down I have to start again.
I was trying to download Taylor Swift which is a Mepis derivative for the last 3 months (unfortunately no Torrents) and it had broken down almost 40 times, sometime in the last few megabytes. I am trying it now to see how long it will last to report you like the ball by ball cricket commentary.

All these hassles are not there if one uses K-Torrents and that s why I use it.
If I list the its virtues for quick look at for a busy body, it goes like this.

1. It monitors the speed to nanoseconds.
2. Graphic face lets you instantly detect when it is broken down.
3. Integrate with the download folders instantly.
4. There is no repetition and once downloaded one cannot download it again.
5. It goes to check mode to see whether the existing image is not broken and report to you in graphic mode.
6. In the last few seconds of a download it had some problem and I ignored it's report (Image size was OK) and burned an image and it did not boot properly. I wonted to restart a fresh download and within seconds it cheeked everything and downloaded the tiny fragment missing and when I burned the image again everything was in working order.
7. If a file is moved it lets you reconfigure with the torrent so that seed activity is kept alive.

True to its form and as a literal illustration of the points raised, suddenly without thunder electricity supply was disconnected (I will write what i did during that period late at night with clouds covering the moon at leisure) and it came after an hour or so (guess work) and quite fortuitously , when it came sever providing connection to the wider world (Internet) was not switched on till late this morning.

In this country we pay a salary for those doing night work for sleeping and there is no supervision at night what they really do including some doctors too.

So my train of thoughts were rudely interrupted to add the last 3 points regarding K-Torrents which I have to do sometimes later, once my anger dissipates.

Mind you I was up till 4 am tidying up some (recovering some photos) computer configurations of my laptop including deleting Sinhala Linux etc.

As I expected Taylor Swift and MacPup were rudely disconnected without completing the downloads (point to point) and I did not have any K-Torrent downloads too.

Edited
Now I must add the missing points.

8. K-Torrent lets you control the download and upload speed and if like in house other members are using the same network it reserves bandwidth for other members. This is really handy in a community network, say in a school. I use this when I download point to point download through Firefox of small files or browsing the web and email.
9. It estimates and time the download and you know depending on the seeders (country and from where) how long it takes.
10. It lets you download several files at the same time and adjust according to the speeds of others. When some seeders become inactive it go for the active seeders of the other files. It is better to download at least two files and the best throughput is achieved but I generally use three.

You may wonder why I used K-torrent as the number one. Worldwide it is the most used utility apart from Flash and it is generally used for downloading films and TV programs, sometimes violating the copyright law. I have never downloaded a song or a film since I do not like to steal and not because I fully endorse the copyright law.

Sorry for the broken file and every minor irritation I take as a challenge and try to overcome my frustrations.
Next one would be on gParted.

What to Look for in a Standard Linux Distribution

I have talked about practically all the possible combinations of Live and Standard Linux it is time for me to wind up with a guide for selection of a distribution without giving a particular distribution.

I will not go into hardware compatibility even though it is a major issue since what innovation are round the corner is difficult to predict after this ipod and mobile utility craze is over and done with it.

But before that I must tell you my favorites without any order of merits.

I go for several light weight distributions and for one Gorilla Edition.

The Gorilla Edition is PCLinuxFullMonty which is almost comprehensive and lacks only XBMC but that also can be downloaded.

For Sinhala Linux Lovers (SLL) it is Debian 6.0.0

They are as follows

1. Puppy Linux and its various editions. you can simply carry in your front pocket (carry when I go abroad-an use it as an Acid Test of the computer, laptop or netbook I may buy-not that I want any more with all the assortments i have at home an office.

If I cannot boot it it with Puppy, I won't consider buying the stuff, whatever the vendors gimmick may be.

2. Knoppix the 10th anniversary edition to show off its graphic capabilities including compiz and cheese the web camera. Now it has found a permanent place in my computers in spite of its finicky requirements for hardware configuration.

3. Gparted (Debian's), the best companion to partition my computers when I reformat. Mind you it is light weight and does not say no to any complicated partition composition within the framework of the standard laid down principles.

4. KDE base nothing to choose between Mepis and PCLinux but I prefer PCLinux since I got a good hang of its versatile performance which SuSe lacks.

5. SuSe for my long association with it after Fedora in spite of craving for RAM (the new with Venation blind appearance but in vertical orientation of strips)I. It has the the best configuration utility called YAST (I call it Yet Another System configuration and teaching Tool) but the partitioning is limited to 15 which is a handicap when I want several distributions installed in the same computer.

6. Debian for its versatility and the ability to recognize all the hard disks of various make (SATA, SCSI, IDE) and the ability to write the partition table without getting confused when a fellow like me install assortment of operating systems in my own finicky ways.

It has taken a special place now with Sinhala capability of its installation.

7. Fedora for its ability to take on board changes which commercial operating systems resit and for my yesteryear long association with it and the Hanthana Sinhala Linux which is a derivative of it.

It was the first Linux distribution that I have used which could accommodate Sinhala fonts way back when other Linux distributions were learning the tricks of the trade.

8. GoBO Linux for its innovative approach but no new version for a long time.

9. YOPER for trimming, shedding dropping extra fringes to get it running fast but it has a big problem with its GRUB file.

10. Pure KDE without a brand name since it is the one made Linux desktop eye candy and a market force of its own and still introducing new innovation but one need at least 1 GiB of RAM and still more RAM for it's better performance.

11. LXDE is my favorite even though I am hooked to KDE and its plane and bird like logo.

12. Cloud Linux

13. MeeGo

14. Pendrive Linux

15. PureOS, Saline OS, Peppermint, LinuxMint, Console Linux, Morphix, MYAH, ADIOS and the lot I forgot because of my bad memory.

16. Scientific Linux of course is my ultimate goal and that is where I belong to as a professional and where my personal biases are rooted, which I am trying to wean off and become an ordinary man again with taste and flair.

If I have left any other distribution, it is all because of my finicky behaviour and lack of space.

It is a fact that any one of them do the day to day work for me.

Please excuse for my bias since I am an ordinary human being with lot of personal deficiencies and lapses in my memory with geriatric age approaching fast.

Young ones are the live blood of Linux, you need to keep on innovating and also have a pause and listen to ordinary uses too.

Next few editions will be based on the packages one should have in a distribution that may vary from person to person.

I will start with K-Torrent and gParted.

I am afraid I may have to group them since there are over 60,000 of them, if one takes Debian as a base.
With that exercise I may finish my engagement with the wider world and go back to my normal life of gardening, fish keeping and looking after my dog.

MeeGo-Linux On the Go-Linux Extras-12

Sinhala Linux has made me to format my Laptop and try other distributions including Sabayon, Ubuntu's XMBC (Deabian) and today after the cricket match MeeGo which is for a notebook and can be installed from a Pendrive.
 

I tried to install install XMBC on PCLinux and for 560 odd files on point to point installation was nearly 20 hours and gave up to install MeeGo.

I used the DVD image live and installed it on my laptop and it is cute and pretty good.
I really like the web cam and its effects.

The whole arrangement is with the young at heart and it took some time to get round it.
At the end of the day I feel young at heart if not physically.
I again has to ask why one has to pay enormous amount of money to get these from Microsoft guys. Makes me to run to the jungle (bush) with a solar panel on my head and a battery on my shoulder.

Installing Linux in Sinhala-Debian-6.0.0-Update

I am glad to report to the wider world that I have tested Debian 6.0.0-32 bit and 64 bit versions on my desktops and the laptop and they are running amazingly well.

Now I am getting a hang of Sinhala terminology, installing went on while watching the cricket match and without making any mistakes but "alpili" and "papili" are still in awkward places but can read them without a problem.

They are not of print quality.

Bit better than the Sinhala fonts of the government web site.
So with a sigh of relief I go to bed with our boys getting a good win at cricket,too.

Thanks to guys and girls at Debian for doing a wonderful job.

Thanks to our cricketers for a creditable win.

Make sure you download CD/DVD from LinuTracker and they are also doing a wonderful job.

Both DVD and CD (2 CDs at Linuxtracker) are Sinhala installation capable, now.
Make sure you use K3B and not Nero for image burning.

Pay Money and go through the Extra Mile or Pain in the Neck

There is so much hype about Windows 7 and on my daughter's request I went and bought a Windows 7 Starter Pack but kept on delaying opening the pack to install it since the netbook I bought her already had Windows XP.

She has a working knowledge of Linux with the desktop she had and I bought the netbook stating that if it started giving problems she has to go back to Linux for her work.

Then I wanted to repartition (re-size) the hard disk but the XP installed did not allow me to repartition unless I delete the operating system with it.

Since I have paid for the operating system, I realize it is not a wise thing to do since if she wants there are enough computers at home to try Linux including her desktop.

Then everything went into cold storage and she was down with some illness and Windows 7 was completely forgotten.

Today as part of my full reformatting exercise, I deleted all my partition and booted this Windows 7 Starter Pack to see what it has.

It immediately recognized the 20 GiB ntfs partition, the hard disk had and started giving me instruction that it can be installed in one computer only and the blah blah.

It pulled out the internet wire fearing it is going to note my laptop machine number and the details and it's identity and then allowed it to install.

Mind you this was the computer I bought in Singapore after big fight with the vendor stating that I did not want windows installed in it and I only want the machine and I know what to do with it.
Then I booted Linux while waiting in lounge of the Changi Airport with Linux DVD I downloaded in Singapore (one of my relatives residence in Singapore).

After installing it goes up several times rebooting and this is the time it gives all your details to the Microsoft head quarters to subsequently send warning after warnings to lure you to buy all the extra utilities.

Finally it booted up and this one lets you have a password facility and the system has nothing at all to work with.

I told my daughter how stupid was to buy it and booted up and showed her the latest 10th anniversary Knoppix 6.4 live with compiz and Pingus game in it and amazingly beautiful graphics.

It has enlightenment effects and LibreOffice and over 6000 t0 10,000 packages in it's DVD.

Who is stupid Microsoft or little Me I will let you decide it.

Mind you I installed Knoppix and Sabayon KDE while typing this bloggy blog and tested PCLinuxfullmonty has 64 bits capability also., in between watching the last stages of the Sri-Lanka New Zealand cricket match too.

I must tell you Win 7 took a long time to install and restarted several times.

Sabayon has a media center called XBMC and it is something windows users will never have the luxury of using.

PCLinuxfullmonty has blender and with these three distributions in my laptop I have amazing rich collection of graphic utilities.

I did not have to pay a red cent but had to spend some time downloading the 3 DVDs with K-Torrent.

Only limitation was slow download speed of Sri-Lankan Telecoms.

Good Bye to Microsoft.

The hassle Microsoft Guy / Girl has to go through when one gets a new Laptop / Desktop

The hassle one goes through when one buys a computer with Microsoft installed is something that I never wondered for the past 3 to 5 years or so.

It is mind boggling for a Linux guy.

Once a year I format the root partition and sometimes leaving behind the home partition for a while and install the Old / New version of the Linux distribution in that partition.

This time I had to delay it till March (including Mageia) since most of the distributions including Debian delivered or released the distribution (except PCLinux which was right on the button during December) in late February or March.

The slowest and the laziest was SuSe, though.

My work and cricket world cup were other distractions.

Mind you I install many distributions for various reasons and for testing and not because I lack anything on PCLinuxFullMonty.

Other reason is I need to fill the hard disk so that it is not left idling and rotten.

I will list the hassle a Microsoft guy has to go through.

1. S/He has to backup the data.

2. S/He has to remove the crap the OEM guy install

3. S/He has to download the free software

4.Then has to install the paid software

5. Then anti-virus software

6. Then he has to get Firefox, Opera or safari

Suffice is to say in this time I will install 15 (3x5) distributions in my main computer and two other spare ones I use for testing.

One of the major benefit of Linux is I save lot of time and do other interesting things like watching cricket or water the plants or feed the fish and testing distributions and this time additionally Sinhala Linux distributions.

This list is endless and I will stop at this point and give you a list Linux Free (point number 3 expanded) software that one get FREE

Please go to NiNite web site and get them free if you are a Microsoft user.

If you have chosen the right Linux distribution of your choice you will get all this and more in one go except perhaps Flash.

1. Web Browser Group- Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera

2. Messaging Group-Skype, Pidgin, Google Talk, Yahoo, Messenger, Thunderbird

3. Media group-iTunes, audacity, KMplayer, HULU, Songbird and many more

4. Runtimes - Flash, Java

5. Imaging Group- GIMP, Picasa, Inkscape

6. Office Group-LibreOffice, OpenOffice,Adobe PDF Reader, CutePDF, SumatraPDF, Foxit reader

7. File sharing-uTorrent, eMule

8. Security- What a medical problem for sick machine?

9. Cloud computing-Dropbox, Google earth

10. Image Burners-Nero

11.Compression- win 7, winzip

12. Utilities

13. Developer tools-Putty, Python, Filezilla

14. Others I may have missed

You do not have to do any of these if you select a Linux distribution and all are packed in one and installed in one go.

What a waste of time trying to run windows 7.

That is why Windows users do not have any creativity and continue to lack creativity at work place or on the go.

They are Potato (not hot potato) Guys bloated with Image of Crisis.

Well Done Strauss-You can change the Cricket Fortunes now

When I said star (Strauss) was born earlier, I really meant it.

You can become the star of wonder if you lift the World Cup too.

Go for it.
There is nothing to lose.

Now it is only two more games away to the final.

Have a good rest (without alcohol) for the tired legs and fully stretched out minds of the players.

The cliff-hanger games are the ones I love to watch (but not for one with weak hearts).

If you can take one game at a time and the final will come true to itself.
If you could bring ashes home and immediately follow with another Champion Cup it is good for the home of cricket.
This time every team has an equal chances of winning unlike previous games.
The team that does well in all three actions batting, balling and fielding will win the game.
Mind you West indies was not the best prepared team.
The winning should be attributed to their bad management on the day.
But by stroke of luck if they become your opponents in the final, as a true cricket lover I am going to favour the West Indies' win.
If the opponents are going to be Sri-Lanka, I am going to be neutral.
If opponents are Australians, I am going to favour England's win.
If opponents are South Africans, I am going to favour Smith's Team.
If the opponents are New Zealanders I am going to support New Zealand.

I am going to ignore India and Pakistan because they are playing on familiar home conditions (Indian subcontinent), home crowd support and corrupt officials, Sri-Lanka included.

It is going to be interesting contest and cricket will be the winner.

I hope now onwards all the players will lift the spirit of the game unlike Australians (and some captains) who use devious means to win.

Remember the ball under the glove (underarm) tactics against us last time round.

They want to win, it does not matter how (to them).

I hope England (not English and Australian umpires though) form now onwards, set the standards of the game in the field and outside the field.

However, Flower should know not to put tired legs on the filed in a crunch game and you have been playing too much cricket, already.

Rest without alcohol is the need of the day.

If you win bookmakers of the subcontinent and a few politicians have to perform hara-kiri and that is going to be very good for cricket!

On top of a Murunga Tree

I manage to find a two Murunga saplings and wanted to look after them till big enough and relocate them in a suitable place. I could not water them for three days and one wilted and whithered away. The other survived and started blooming prematurely. I resisted taking the flowers for a vegetable curry. I let them pollinate (which is rare with no bees around) and only one flower produced a pod.

Side by side there were two cocoa plants which germinated out of over 100 rotten seeds.
Similar fate descended one of them and I kept on watering it in spite of its stem looked like fire wood.
Murunga sapling disappeared but the stem which looked like tiny black wood after about 3 months started sprouting and few leaves appeared.
My gut feeling was correct. I thought this would happen because it is not a native plant but that comes from mid Africa.
African plants can stand adverse weather for long period of time.
Our slender plants cannot withstand adverse weather. Murunga was an example.

So my prediction is that we will lose lot of our biodiversity much more and faster than Africa loses.
Come coal power plant when operational that will aggravate the context much faster and swiftly.
I heard our energy minister thinking of a nuclear plant here.
I wish he looks at pictures of Hiroshima first and the current pictures coming from Japan.

Real reason for writing this is not for that reason.
I cannot go to sleep without a swipe at the local elections.
We have a saying in Sinhala put a man on a Murunga Branch (unfortunately not on the moon to bring rice some of them promised to bring) to mean let him eventually tumble down quickly.
I wish all the present candidates land on Murunga Branches.
Then we can see them falling off quickly with the cost of living going up by the minute.

Actually when we elect them that is what we want them to be (on a Murunga Branch) but they have devised and engineered some other methods to stay longer on the Murunga branch and unfortunately we cannot have the last laugh.

This one chance we have that we can give them a Murunga Treat and it will be a Maru or Mara (Devil) Treat.

Jurassic Park Trembling Tumbler and Politcal Tumble

In the midst of World Cup Cricket we have another match.
In this match the winners take it all and sometimes they take our freedom also away a week prior and week after the election day.
Everything come to a standstill and at least this time we can divert our attention and watch cricket.
The day of the election when these young proteges parade the streets, it reminds me of the tumbler trembling cinematic effect depicted in the film, Jurassic Park.
Some of them bring similar fear to adults leave alone children.
That is how elections are fought.
There are no umpires like in cricket.
The officers who should act as neutral umpires are no more.
They tremble more than the voter when these guys come in numbers.
Some of course stooge to the lowest level where they even share free alcohol.
The police who suppose to bring the law and order are outnumbered by drunken supporters.
Alcohol sale is prohibited but they stock alcohol before the ban of sale.

If we have free and fair election, in actual fact it is the candidate who should tremble.
For some bizarre reasons even before the final vote is cast winners are already known and I do not know what this exercise bring to the ordinary citizen, except Tumbler Trembling Fear of Jurassic Park nature.
They are real dinosaurs who drain all public money.

Installing Debian 6.0 In Sinhala-Sinhala Linux

I can now report to you that Debian DVD 1 (one of many) has Sinhala capability and is available at LinuxTracker with many seeders and one can download it in less than 24 hours.

Please do not go for point to pint download or slt.net.

The good news is that I have now installed Debain in Sinhala with Sinhala dropdown menu (mixture of Sinhala and English) and it is amazingly good.

It is Gnome but I will miss K3B but the Debian Sinhala is going to stay in my main computer from now onwards and I will be reporting bugs if I detect any.

I hope, in its next edition, it drops Openoffice and go for LibreOffice.

In any case, it is going to improve my Sinhala leaps and bounds.

Thank you Debian and the Translator Team.

I have no hesitation in recommending it’s use but with one or two advices and some warning is in order.

Please get a proficient Linux guy / girl to install it and do not copy the DVD with Nero.

For best use one must have an internet connection when one installs it and Debian configures the card automatically (better have a router instead of telephone connection) in its initial install and please have patience, it takes a fairly long time to install (do it in the night when internet is not busy).

With those provisos HAPPY SINHALA LINUX for all.

Mind you this was edited with Sinhala Linux activated and Debian’s Iceweasel on the web track.

Old Note on the CD

Now I have tried installing Debian 6 in Sinhala, I can report back and say it can be done but prior understanding of Linux and how Debian does things is essential.

I also have to report that the 4 CD / DVD that I downloaded is not available in Linuxtracker due to unfortunate incidents there.

It is up and running but it will be sometime before all Debian CD/DVDs are restored for download.
Moment I have good news I will be posting it here and elsewhere.
I have to tell you that I had to format my hard disks and redo all the installations new.

It is all fun and game in Linux but took lot of my spare time and not having interesting cricket matches to watch was a bonus.

Everything went on smoothly and I was expecting to work in Sinhala after the installation but sadly it was not to be.

I could not select Sinhala at boot time and none of the Linux distributions let you do that currently and even though many of the Linux distributions have the multilingual capacity, Sinhala has not been promoted in the web world outside Sri-lanka.

I am afraid lot of translation work has to be done in legible and lexicographical world of Sinhala and enough Sinhala fonts have to be installed in the usr/src folders.

Coding for fonts and character map is now available but translation of computer terminology is extremely difficult and many thanks for the guys and girls for trying it.

I enjoyed installing it in Sinhala with my limited ability in Sinhala but lot of guess work, in doing so but having known Debian for a long time and had sweated a lot learning Linux, a little over decade ago, the guess work (Sinhala terms) did work.

This gives an opportunity to learn how Linux works especially Debian for one who has difficulty in English language.

But my advice for all is one should be proficient in both Sinhala and English to be a successful translator and Learning Linux in that process is an added bonus.

I am not at all good in Sinhala to be of any help to you but I am there to test the capability of Sinhala in Linux and report to the wider web.

Thanks again guys and girls for trying a very difficult task.

With good team work and perseverance it can be accomplished and good luck with your future efforts.

Debian is the best Linux distribution to learn nuts and bolts of Linux, even though it is bit difficult to master it and the learning curve is steep at the beginning but it invariably drops quickly after the first year of trying.

Do not give up your efforts of Learning Linux in Sinhala and English too.

LinuxExtras-FusionLinux and Fubuntu-11

New Linux distributions are coming out thick and fast and I am glad most of them keep at manageable level of under 2 GiB.
Not too small and not too fat and chubby.

Fusion Linux is a combination of Fedora and Ubuntu and unlike Fubuntu which keeps the Ubuntu look Fusion Linus while retaining Fedora look and KDE desktop has done better job than Fububtu.

I am fit biased here because I am a fan of KDE and especially K3B

It has no Skype but Blender and still has openoffice instead of libreoffice.

Basically one is Gnome based and other KDE based but a mixture of Fedora and Ubuntu.

LinuxExtras-Gentoo-11

Gentoo was my last conversion or convergence.

I had seen a Gentoo live CD (probably 2008) and KiWi Linux (I may be wrong here) which was probably a Gentoo Linux derivative but never caught my eye till I discovered XBMC in Sabayaon.

The latest edition which I downloaded yesterday is pretty impressive.

In 2.3 GiB it has everything a newbie needs and XBMC (Media Center).
It has both 32 bit and 64 bits editions.
It is good as gold for Linux Lovers.
In 10 years it has the stature and only Knoppix can boast and can rival.

If not for my search for Linux 100 and the discovery of Sabayon and XBMC I would not have been writing this piece.

Thanks a lot guys and girls.

Please excuse me for my ignorance and not including you in my Linux 100.

You are in the top 10 in my list and even though you are around 20 in the distrowatch (Sabayon is in the top 10) if you introduce few live CDs and LXDEs, you will be envy of the rest.

XBMC may be heavy to be put in a CD distribution but that as a separate edition in your repertoire (do not let it die a natural death of under usage) of live CDs will add spice to your distribution of high quality.

I would have preferred you put blender in the DVD in future version with XMBC and that will be the best multimedia and graphic Linux image for newbies and the savvy..

Final Count Down on Linux 100

I am almost completing 18 months come end of March of downloading and testing Linux Live CDs and lately few of the DVDs.

All good things have to come to an end and with Sinhala Linux coming to the scene without fanfare or funfair after a long delay, I will be concentrating on that instead of the Live CDs but with occasional reference to them (not full time as it used to be for nearly 18 months).
Real reason for this venture was the boring one year election campaign and as a diversion tactics of an intellectual nature.
The things I learned was enormous.
Sinhala Linux coming at the tail end was quite a surprise.
It looks as some of my critical comments are taken with serious attention and lot of my audience is not Sri-Lankans but Americans and far way web browsers.

I believe my comments were only academic and may be some times constructive but lot of things not intended by me has / have happened.
In the Grand Finale, I would like to list few.

1. Multilingual Distributions are coming from EU and South America which is pretty good.

2. French is also becoming a leading language of distributions.

3. Light weight and multiple editions are hitting the bench.,emulating PCLimux. Sabayon (Gentoo), Salix(Slackware), Aptosid (Debain), Fedora (Redhat) and Zenwalk are examples.

4. Some dormant like Korora coming out of the attic.

5. Distributions are looking at others to emulate or improve the Linux image.

6. Dominance of Ubuntu is diminishing and Ubuntu also looking for an image lift.

7. Redhat has come out of hibernation.

8. Debian is showing its prowess and slowly and rightly embracing the changes. Lot of live editions including Sinhala Linux edition.

9. Flame wars are becoming less intense but critical and constructive.

10. With all these I am becoming rejuvenated at my twilight years and old and young are coming together for a Grand Finale.

11. Puppy (front pocket) and Knoppix (piggyback) remain my favorites.

12. Pendrive Linux are ubiquitous.

Only criticism I have is the children programs (except gCompris and few others) and games have been neglected.
Morphix, Myah and Adios are slow to wake up from hibernation or slumber.
Young chaps take them out of the attic and put some the grandpa influence on the map and make some really grandiose games and creative activities (for children and grandpa like me) and reinvigorate the Linux spirit of the yesteryear.