Kiwi Linux

Kiwi Linux

I have been formatting and reorganizing all my computers from netbook to my old IBM Server, it is time for me to give some good advice to young and old guys who are bombarded with wrong information to get rid of the out of fashion old stuff with lot of changes coming in the computer world.

I will deal with old stuff.

1. First of all I still have the computer with 4 MiB on board graphic.

That I keep to test Tiny Linux which does not need lot of RAM and graphic but want to do some scripts in command line (I do not do it any more now).

I have found better short cuts and utilities like net booting now.

2. Then I have an old Toshiba Laptop which packed up it's CD ROM device.

With lot of difficulty I found a CD ROM of a different model which juts out of is casing but still runs making a big noise when read and right heads touches the rotating platters.

I managed to install Knoppix and Peppermint on the hard disk which is less than 20 GiB.

I had forgotten (this is my son’s who is now not interested in computers) the password and was looking for a CD distribution in my armory and I could not find one.

All the recent distributions are DVD size and above 800 including Linux Mint.

I was more than annoyed but found KiWi Linux 12.04 LTS as a a very healthy companion.

It took hours of installing with not so perfect (It reported that the CD Rom has reading difficulty and went down to slower rotating speed) CD/RW ROM.

It got me on my nerves with the rickety, rack-arty noise (I was listening to light music and dosing in between) but eventually I got the KiWi Linux beautifully running and I was connected to the Internet in a flash and wanted to post this piece of writing but was only woken up by our domestic aid at 12.00 p.m. today.

I had gone to sleep with my dog under the bed.

He also had a good night sleep, I believe but he is mortally scarred of the fire crackers and that is why he was under my bed.

I quickly posted verse on Tony Graig which included my resolution not to promote fire crackers for New Year celebrations.

There was nothing for me and my dog to eat, I told the domestic aid to do some cooking and rushed to town to buy some cookies.

So sorry KiWi Linux for my holiday lapses.

It is a beautiful outfit and thank a lot for your wonderful work and keeping it within 700 MiB and the latest software and Chromium.

All other CD distributions except Peppermint go back to 2009 and won’t let one updates and repositories are no longer supporting some software.

3. Then my Server, I have dismantled it with all its parts, 

I could not find RAM, more than 256 memory for it.

Mind you, servers do not need much RAM or graphic capabilities.

I was looking for replacement RAM for over 9 months and I could not find one.

I sorted out all the DDR 1 RAMs I had, just a few days ago and tried one by one and found one with 400 speed and 512 Memory at last.

Now the time to summarize the problems, one encounters if one is using old computers.

1. Graphic capability (on board or cards capability).

2. RAM

3. CD instead of DVD

4. Size and the type of hard disks (IDE, SATA instead of Solid State without mechanical parts)

5. Transformer.

6. Battery Life.

One has to consider all the above apart from the weight of the laptop and the accessory gadgets.

7. Is there blue tooth?

That is vital if one is using the device for mobile work.

8. One should see whether it is bootable with a  USB device (DVD for example) or Pendrive.

For me Pendrive is the only device I need but now I have few laptop hard disks that fits in my front pocket with few images stored in for quick action, on the fly, on the spot and no more downloading.

If one is buying secondhand those are the problems but if you buy new one you are going into unknown territory.

I hate Japanese laptops including Toshiba and I will stop at that.

There are many reasons, including hardware compatibility with Linux.

9. I will be brief with new laptops.

Only look for the battery life even if it is on the heavy side. 

Like ASUS transformer, if you have two for one device it is wonderful, if your backpack is large enough to accommodate.

10. All the other gimmicks that (salesman/woman) chaps tell you are blah-blahs unless you are serious graphic artist or a gamer. 

Even a media person can be happy with a minimum of resources.

11. Solid state hard disk is what one needs if you are a chap like me who will jump to sea bed with backpack on my back.

So be wise in your choices but cheap does not mean one cannot get one’s work done on a daily basis.

12. One more advice,

One has to use the computer 24/7 schedule like me.

If not do not buy one but borrow one for the work and have your hands free on vacation or better still get another donkey to do the work and enjoy one’s life like, there is no tomorrow.

Warning 

With the Tablets about to hit the market and take it by storm, the work floor guys are going to DUMP old hardware on your back and part with your hard earned money,too.

Beware business gimmicks.

Good Bye Tony (Graig)

Good Bye Tony (Graig)

We have to say 

Good Bye to Tony,

Who had been our 

Sporting Ambassador

And I have made a resolution,

In his name,

No fire crackers for New Year 2013.

Why is that anyway?

Like, Tony Graig, easily

The best friend all Sri-Lankans had,

The next closet friend of ours,

The canine variety,

The Paraya Dogs

With no permanent residence

Who chase the politicians

Of all shades of colour,

Are terrified of the thunder,

That announces 

The arrival of these thugs

At our doorsteps

By the way,

He should now 

Join the angles

Who play cricket 

EVERY DAY

Except

On Sundays! 

Well what do they do
On Sundays? 

They watch Cricket,
If Sri-Lanka
Is not playing,
Sorry-Lanka Cricket,
To be precise

PS.
I thank God for sparing 
Tony watching any more
Agonizing Sri-Lankan Cricket.

Good Old days and Telecoms Download Speed-2012-12

Good Old days and Telecoms Download Speed-2012-12

In year 2009 it took nearly 4 hours to download Puppy Linux which was lees than 100 MiB.

It then did not support Linux and routers were not heard.

I downloaded all what I wanted in Singapore in 3 hours which I had to toil for six months here.

I have said this before but I am repeating it again since if you cannot even see a web page or download a picture of a grand kid, the reason is they are not providing the download speed you have paid for.

Come 2012 we had 20/20 promotion in November, 2012 and ever since my download speed has never been above 7 KB/sec.

It took over  (20 MiB per an hour) 5 hours to download Puppy Precise which was 166 MiB.

What I do is, I do some work while downloading in the background.

Otherwise it is a wastage and up my Electricity Bill.

When I finish my work I switch off the computer and in actual fact the download was finished in 3 days of intermittent work by me.

The holidays have kept me off the computer but not sweets and chocolates.

Then, I survey my torrent data and find the hours it had taken and the number of days to finish downloading.

The guys and girls using Windows will have no way of knowing the details and the Telecoms takes mean advantage of this lack of surveillance.

Like water and electricity, they have made connections to all and sundry and they have not increased the servers to serve the masses.

What they do is old and regular users are suppressed electronically and digitally to meet the increased demand and  reduce  the band width of all at peak times.

Unfortunately, some guys in the periphery switch off the server at night and go to sleep giving more stress to Colombo servers.

I only download Linux distributions for testing.

Luckily because of the industrial action I had the liberty to download almost all what I wanted before September.

Knowing the trend and to cut my electricity bill I subscribed for Linux Magazine and they have One DVD with each issue.

I have already got the January issue and it has a double sided environmentally friendly DVD which had both Ubuntru 12.10 and Linux Mint KDE (MAYA)13 which were both pretty good distributions to work with. 

If you a Linux oldie, you might be bit irritated with the Ubuntu Unity but I figured out how it works in a few minutes and the every time one opens a software or a utility it opens a workplace for you.

I went up to 7 workplaces and every time one adds a new workplace the panels on the left decrease in size and the workplace also decreases in size.

In my old age I like the new setup since if I open only two or three workplaces they are big enough for my eyesight.

I have never worked with more than 4 workplaces, even though Linux can go up to and above 20.

In is a new experience even though bit annoying for a regular Linux user but for a newbie it is and ideal experiment, come year end and holidays.

I believe it is also touch screen and tablet ready.

Linux magazine was also enjoyable reading and for a change has devoted full articles on Windows 8 and and how to TAME the big Tiger.

How to make Christmas Spirit live longer? Linux way!

How to make Christmas Spirit live longer? 
Linux way!

I was in up mood for sometime.

I made a resolve to keep the spirit up that I had during (all the others were in downward mood in that period) the prolong industrial action and told my mates, if ever they found me moody, remind me and make some contribution to make it disappear as soon as it comes. 
The resolve was to make it happen to all within my sphere of activity.

I kept myself happy not because I had enough money in hand but I had to draw into my resources and credit cards but it was the longest period in my working life, I had the longest freelance activity of mine not interfered with. 

Christmas coming it has become easy, to prolong this artificial well-being but it will (the Christmas) pass just before we had a feel of it.

Even the music on radio are on blue Christmas, I must find a way out of it, in spite of credit crisis.

Most of the moody behaviour is due to cash trap or strap.
That is true for everybody.

I am going to see a gentleman tomorrow who has sent his son abroad and he has lost his communication channel.

His computer is old.

His hard disk is gone and unfortunately one cannot find an old IDE hard disk.

I told him come and see me and I will make him communicate with his son with Skype without a hard disk.

He had an added problem.

He did not have a DVD Rom and only a CD Rom and the CD  Rom interface has become SATA instead of IDE in new motherboards.

All the Live distributions I have are DVD and not CDs.

I scanned through all my Distribution archive which is well over 300 and I could found only two CDs with Skype.

One is German Ubuntu with English in it.

Other one was 2009 PClinux Gnome edition.

I must make my point when Microsoft bought Skype, I lost interest of this product by default and all the Linux distributions try to shy away from it except, SupereOS and Pinguy, both Ubuntu based distributions but both are DVDs.

My request, for developers is, for one of them to produce a Live CD and / or Live USB during this Christmas period and make them available as a Christmas gift.
USB is a good way to save all the digital content stored but unfortunately, for old computers BIOS won't let you boot from a USB but still the USB instead of the hard disk can be one's portable storage.
That will be a ploy if one cannot find a IDE hard disk.
Mind you there are lot who cannot afford an expensive gift.
I may make few Pendrives / Flshdrives / USB sticks with Puppy Linux and give them free like Santa Clause but one has to take a vow that I will use only Linux and no Microsoft or Apple for year 2013.
It is a small price for one who is short of money.
I vouch, only a few take that step given the poor state of our economy.
That is why Microsoft and Apple are rich but ordinary folks are getting poorer and poorer.
Rich will always device a method to become more rich and that is the name of the game.
Hope Androids with Anabolic Steroids will spoil the SOUP in due course of time with all the Mobiles circulating now.
 

With only the RAM one can be in communication with friends and relatives abroad.

Even, Tails is now DVD sized and making leaner CD for old folks like my friend is a welcome addition during this Christmas.

Cheers to all developers who heed to my request.

I was labeling all my old RAM cards dismantled and my old server had only 256 MiB of RAM and but quite fortuitously I found enough RAM to fill the room, not really but 1 GiB.

I am going to have a break from tomorrow.
Merry  Christmas and bright new year if the world is still wholesome and not in pieces by then.
PS.
In any case not to sit in front of the computer during the Christmas time should be a firm resolve of everybody.
One should  interact with one's friends and near ones.
One has to make that decision anyway, since with our Telecoms is in snail pace for weeks after 20/20 promotion.
They cannot deliver what they promise and the price one is paying is bit of a waste.
Unfortunately, guys working at ground levels in Telecoms are working round the clock and they are good souls anyway and I have nothing agaist them.
Christmas cheer to them without any reservation except few guys who answer the telephone and lie to protect the institution they are working for.
I hate liars including pompous politicians.
What I am against are the guys who paid FAT salaries as directors and managers who make decisions to increase the income with poor service and lot of money wasted on advertizing.
Some of them should be sacrificed or ideally sacked and recruit more to staff the ground level from the money saved by sacking them.
Other alternative is to add some servers to the pool during peak times and configure them ideally with Linux to serve the "hot spots".

DreamStep is a dream come true of a hardworking guy.

DreamStep

DreamStep is a dream come true of a hardworking guy.

A true developer who adds to the already existing Window Maker a new twist.

I like the window maker because it is light weight desktop and Debian based.

It runs on smoothly on my ASUS laptop.

It is 64 bit and has many utilities.

The one’s I like most are Blender.

It has Gambase 3 my favorite and SciText to add value to programmers.

It has all the programming languages Python 2.6 and Python 2.7, Ruby and many more.

I have pasted below how it come into being.

It is one of the best for advanced as well as newbies getting to bit with nuts and bolts of Linux.

I hope Linux Magazine should test this distribution and write a an introduction, the next year round.

About DreamStep

DreamStep is a custom Linux distribution (distro) that is built from a Debian Wheezy base. It uses Window Maker as the desktop. DreamStep is available in 64 bit only and comes on DVD (USB / SD media also available).

DreamStep is built from my old Liquid Lemur - Window Maker build scripts. The Lemur bits were removed. This distro is actually my second run with DreamStep. The original DreamStep was based on Dreamlinux and started with AfterStep before switching to Window Maker. With Dreamlinux being in an off again / on again state, I pulled the plug on the original DreamStep many moons ago and moved on to my other distros (HEKA OS and Liquid Lemur). Liquid Lemur was my most successful run at distro building. However, due to personal issues I could not continue. So I handed it over to the other devs and stepped down. Once I got my life sorted, I came back. Not liking the direction Lemur was headed, I brought DreamStep back to life and continued to work on my original goal...a hybrid Window Maker. And here it is! :)

DreamStep steps outside the box where other Window Maker based distros are concerned. I morph Window Maker into a more modern, aesthetically pleasing desktop. I call this the "Hybrid" mode or morph. Old school Window Maker users may disagree and prefer the usual Window Maker desktop. For those, I created a "Traditional" morph. A custom tool (Morpher) allows users to morph DreamStep into these morphs. Additional morphs are planned for future releases. DreamStep also has a custom tool (Themer) for switching themes. Unlike traditional Window Maker themes and styles, DreamStep gives you the ability to change the theme for the entire desktop (i.e. Window Maker, Gtk, Icons, Sounds, etc.) in one easy to use tool.

There are several other custom tools / apps in DreamStep. I have a custom shutdown dialog, making it easier to exit DreamStep (Window Maker). There is also a custom Control Center app that is based on the Liquid Lemur APE MAN app. Additional custom apps include; a first-run / Welcome app, a hybrid web browser, apps for panel, conky, idesk, wbar, and more.

DreamStep also includes some pretty fine artwork, if I do say so myself. The distro is still a little rough around the edges, but it IS getting better. I hope that people will at least try the hybrid Window Maker before passing any judgment.

UberStudent-2.0.4-64 bits

UberStudent-2.0.4-64 bits

Student is one of the best LINUX distributions with lot of educational packages.

It is an Ubuntu Derivative.

It has amazing amount of educational utilities for student to research workers.

It is cloud ready and that is, it's strength.

It is heavy on my computer with 1 GiB of RAM.

One should have ample RAM for its installation and daily use.

It has everything except blender.

Why blender is not included, I do not know.

Its only disadvantage is that it is Ubuntu based and Unity desktop might be an Achilles heel.

But with Debian, the God Father of Linux is there as it is, there is no attrition to Linux and UberStudent.

I feel it should take the Debian root to its advantage and drop Ubuntu.

This does not mean I am against Ubuntu.

I am one who supports Ubuntu’s new found direction and freedom.

It has done the donkey work and now it should be free to decide its future without worrying about the community.

After all Ubuntu is not blocking its derivatives of preemptive actions or closing the door.

All the utilities are there as Open Source.

It is the onus of the derivatives to enrich the repositories with their own packages without waiting for Ubuntu to give the lead.

Talking about Linux apart from Debian, Yellow Dog (Redhat derivative) and Ubuntu nobody else supported the Apple hardware.

I never used Ubuntu on a regular basis, coming from Redhat base and as a Mandrake user. 
Then I changed to Suse but gave it up when Novel took over.

Now I use many derivatives including PCLinux which does not have 64 bit distribution but supports 32 bi and 64 bit hardware.

I have only one 64 bit box and all the others are 32 bits.

I came across Ubuntu by accident and used it as a demonstration utility.

Now I am so much in love with Ubuntu, I am downloading and collecting its old versions in my archive.

Linux should encourage competition.

It can stand up to challenge and that is, its strength.

Ubuntu’s move is a challenge to old school but that itself should be the guiding principle to make appropriate adjustments in the developer mentality.

All this is to support UberStudent with all the might.

It should stand up to the challenge and develop its own personality.

All those who are students and in education both school and higher institutions should do their utmost to make UberStudent the best educational package on this planet.

Its cloud preparedness is its strength, with or without Ubuntu One.

Best Christmas Gift is Puppy

Best Christmas Gift is Puppy
When I say a Puppy, I mean Puppy Linux.
I am averse to giving a Puppy as a X'mas gift, since the poor fellow is really neglected when all in the household go back to work and children to school after holidays.
It is the worse gift as far as the puppy is concerned.
Whereas, if one gives a Puppy Linux where there are many breeds going over 100, it is play time for kids as well as adults.
The latest Precise has many derivatives with KDE; LXDE; Gnome and Mate.
 One has an array of desktop displays to choose.
The Rasor and SlimPup are over 400 MiB and SlimPup has Blender, Gimp and Inkscape to choose which are heavy weight applications in Linux.

I wonder, how they have bundled them in only 400 MiB.
I like the MATE for its unobtrusive and organized desktop.
LXDE is also rich with its applications.
If one is crazy there is FAT pup in 64 bits.
Go and enjoy the holiday with Puppy of your choice.
The precise has done precisely what light weight mind should carry, on holidays, in a BOX or a mini CD.

CyLonLinux=Good Work

CyLonLinux 12.04-Good Work
It is with Christmas Spirit and with some elation I report that CyLonLinux, that I downloaded few minutes ago is pretty good effort.
It has desktop effect that originated from enlightenment  or ELive.
It id Ubuntu based with mix of Gnome and KDE utilities like K3B.
It has TOR which I liked very much and I used DuckDuckGo browser to reach the wider web.
It has Docky and both Firefox and Chrome Browser.
It also has GamBase II which is one of my recommendations for newbies.
All the above except the browsers (FireFox and Chrome) I love.
I prefer Debian's hassle free IceWeasle to other browsers.
It has latest blender 2.8 and all the utilities one uses on a daily basis.
It was heavy on my RAM (1 GiB) but ran well on both old IBM Netvista and Think Centre.
It did not have cloud utilities but that should not deter anybody using it.
I tried the SINHALA installation script but gave up since graphic interference was too much.
If one is installing it one should not go for a live session but straight go for installation in English to save the RAM.
It also used 60 to 70 % of the CPU in a live session with active browser. 

Well done boys and girls of the www.CylonLinuxWeebly.com.

I hope they will put out a have a light version with Abiword for computers older than my computer.

 My Comments at the web site

I download and test Linux distributions.
It is almost a hobby and post comments on parafox.
I have done it over many a times and wanted to call it a day.
Then I found CyLinux and downloaded it to see lot of Sri-Lankan seeds.
First I thought it was CeyLinux project and then when I went to their site I could not find any links.

Then quite by accident I found a link to your web site.

Your work is excellent and I was impressed by your inclusion of TOR and Gambase II.

I have a few, if you care to heed to them.

1. Keep it independent

2. Do not have any link with the Sr-Lankan Government.
Officials will infiltrate your development efforts and slowly kill it by their propaganda.
Case in point is Hanthana Linux in our schools. Its leading developer has already left it and I know him well enough, so no more comments about Hanthana Linux.

3. Get in touch with Anuradha Ratnaweera.
He was the one who got the Sinhala Unicode to Debian.
He is an expert and consultant to many original projects.

4. Ubuntu does not support our Unicode well and one has to work with Canonical to iron out the rough edges.

5. Ubuntu has made a decision not to support community with the development of the Unity Desktop.

6.Gnome is also going through lot of changes with its new desktop.

7. KDE is heavy and like Knoppix using LXDE is an advantage.

8. I do not use Ubuntu very much except for demonstrations (I do not like SUDO due to security reasons) but I like the SuperOS (KiwiOS is similar) very much which is an Ubuntu derivative.

9. UberStuendt which is also a Ubuntu derivative has lot of educational packages that you can use in CylonLinux.

10. I am not sure which way Linux will go with Cloud Computing is on the horizon and all the distributions with heavy footage will disappear giving way to sleek light weight browser based distributions.

11. You should explore the possibility of using Cloud utilities and have a light weight distribution ready in case there going to be sea of changes in the IT World.
Good Luck and god bless you.

CylonLinx=Good Work and that is how I have described you in my blog post.

Moment Meditation

Moment Meditation
If I am asked what is meditation?
I would try to answer it by saying,
Moment gained is moment lost in Meditation,
Moment not gained or lost is the the true
Focus of attention in Meditation.
Equally, it is not a void or an empty phenomena or vacuum,
But the height of intense attention
That is not measured in seconds
But by nanoseconds of intensity,
Which is very difficult to achieve
In a world of distraction.

One should try to see
Its own application 
In a moment of meditation.

Apple Mac and Boot Loaders for Linux Distributions.

Apple Mac and Boot Loaders for Linux Distributions.

Boot Loaders both Grub and LiLo can be pain in the ArXXXX if one is installing as many as seven (7) distributions in one computer.

That is what I do .

Each distribution, I use for a particular purpose, for testing and demonstrations.

Sometimes it is the smallest distribution that does it well.

I am going to talk about AntiX in a while, just hold it for a moment.

Because I use so many passwords including my Bank Cards I tend to forget some of them due to lack of use.

I forgot the root password for  PCLinuxFullMonty.

One cannot ROOT without a root password in Linux.

That is my work horse and I use it everyday including for downloading distributions for testing.

I wanted to do some simple task, home keeping task, one may call it BOX keeping task, like what cricketers wear when they go out for batting.

Like cricketers protecting their testicles one has to protect important data when computing and Linux has a way of doing it.

All important tasks are delegated to root user which normal user cannot use unless he is given sudo user privilege.

I could not remember the password and I could not cover my computer genitals.

That speaks lot about Linux.

Once configured I rarely do any household task.

 Once the firewall is properly configured, one can do seamless work day after day.

No complaints.

It is true that Linux computer should run 24/7 day schedule.

.

No hassle of updating too.

I decided to format and install it again since that is what I do in December.

This time because of our industrial action and particularly the laziness acquired during long drawn out strike, this was bit delayed.

I keep entire December for enjoying and the computer also get a rest.

But not this time round, we have to extend the sessions to accommodate for the lost time.

December 1st and second I was busy installing PCLinuxFullmonty.

Only PCLinux.

Others were OK and I could remember their passwords.

Installing went OK but with a hitch.

It did not recognize some of my other distribution in its GRUB file for booting.

I Installed Debian 6.0.6.

It recognized all but but PCLinux failed to start.

The fact of the matter is PCLinux is KDE desktop.

Debian was Gnome.

They do not speak to each other.

That is true as far as GRUB booting is concerned.

Then I re-installed PCLINUX without formatting home partition.

This time Debian did not boot.

Then I go for my magic-wand.

It is called AntiX, a Debian based Mepis derivative, and tiny and install in 10 minutes.

It restored my boot Loader with all in its menu.

I used to do all this manually with Redhat and Mandake and edit the boot partition line by by line.

Mankdrake had LiLo and Redhat had very good GRUB then.

Now of cause Linux does not need a boot partition and all is integrated with root partition and they can be mounted from any partition and MBR has all the details.

Coming back to Apple Mac it is Unix based and it still uses 1 MB bootstrapping partition which none of the partition tools is able to do now.

I installed Debian in the Apple Mac and then mounted Xbuntu and reduced the home partition and installed Xbuntu on the available space.

Now it has two bootstraps but can recognize only one.

that is the last install boot partition.

Apple Mac does not have MBR like in windows and it recognize only one boot partition.

I know one thing I can do is to edit the boot menu in the boot partition using an editor.

I am too lazy to do that now and I have no idea how Apple uses its command to recognize alien distributions.

This is how Apple works and even Windows 8 is trying to emulate Apple very late in its downward trend evolution.

I can use only one Linux distribution in an Apple hardware.

It is an absolute waste of resources as far as hardware is concerned.

The core Debian used only 280 MB of hard disk.

That is how powerful Linux is.

Rest of Linux utilities are spread over var and user partitions.

Unifying All Linux distributions-Is there a justifiable case for this approach?

Unifying All Linux distributions-Is there a justifiable case for this approach? 

Let me be forthright.

There is no case for Free software Foundation or the Community based Linux Distributions to follow a unifying theory.

In fact it is a waste of productive human endeavour.

Just as there are many newspapers, and many models of cars and sports and clubs that deal with these sports institutions, the variety of Linux distributions deliver a product that would appeal a greater user base.

What is probably lacking is the many developers do not focus on a certain or particular theme or vision and do it for the fun of it.

It may have a religious flavour or a sport or hobby enthusiasm and the human nature is for these to wax and wane.

That is the reason for some distributions to go dormant and some of them to have an active community support.

The community support and vigour is the one that make the Linux distributions successful.

It may not be true for a business model which is based on a particular task of course makes ends meet and make a profit at the end of the day.

If one mix this like Fedora and Redhat I believe that middle ground is never reached.
The tendency is for it to shift towards the business model.

They were the failures.

Suse also come into this fold.

For argument sake I will use five categories of users.

1. General users.

2. Hobbyist and gamers.

3. Students.

4. Scientists.

5. Technocrats

The beauty of Linux is that it can cater for any of these appeals.

Unlike business model which identify certain section of this population Linux should not restrict itself to a certain segment of the users.

In the beginning of the Linux story and history it was the hobbyist that played the major role.

Now that Ubuntu has taken a very distinctive an admirable vision and direction other developers also should focus on these efforts with their vision as a priority.

I always say even Linux developers have to make room for providing rice and curry or bread and butter for their families, once the hobby element is taken out of the denominator.

One should not measure the success by the fan base.

It should be based on the utility value.

I will give one example since I have downloaded and tested as many as 300 hundred distributions from September, 2009 and still continue to do that with a less aggressive manner to cut down on my electricity bill and also because the Sri-Lankan Teleom does not provide me the speed I pay for them .

I pay for 50 K bit and get barely 5 K bit per second.

With the 20/20 promotion they only worry about the profit and not the service that they provide to their customers.

There was a distribution based on Slakware was for writers and its last version was in 2009.

If I remember right it was named PocketWriter

It was a live distribution and I was not able to install it since that was the time I was getting into habit of writing at least to document, a portion of the lovely distributions I tested (not all).
I really liked this distribution. 

This distribution has gone dormant since there are fewer writers in this world than readers.

I hope the developer who did this distribution if he reads this piece activate this distribution for the sake of writers like me (I have deliberately excluded writers and media men and women who use Linux distributions in my informal list above).

That is the point I want to drive in this piece.

Even though the user base is limited the utility value of all the big and small Linux distributions outweigh the the consumer base.

If we use the Unifying Theory we are going to lose these innovative but very useful distributions.

Some of them are tiny like Puppy, 4M Linux, Finnix and many more.

They have a place in this Universe of Linux distributions.

We must not fall into the trap of Apple and Windows mentality.

Now that I have tested few Apple Macs, it is pain in the ARxxxx for users like me who do not like to be slaves of the gadget as well as the operating system.

I hope I have started a “Flame War”.

It is good for the the next generation of Linux distributions.

I hope somebody makes a distribution like PocketWrier for writers like me that can be installed in my netbook and not a Mega Super Computer.

That is the the vision that is lacking in Commercial and corporate Linux.

We need technocrats not the corporate CEOs.

Linux and Mobility with Wireless World.

I have more information for you.
My decision to go mobile was proven right.
My wired connection is giving me only 5 Kb per second and it cannot even connect me to Google let alone my email..
I switched it off and ecven my torrent downloads are at snail pace.
I only went for a data plan and no iPhone or mobile telephone used.
I hate telephones and take them as constant irritation and enemy to productive work.
I am made to understand that cell phones will eclipse the human population soon.
It is matter of time 
Only internet and prepaid SIM.
The other requirement is Linux compatible unlocked dongle and a good Linux distribution, ideally a latest edition.
They are Ubuntu easily the best and automatically connected me to the Internet.
It gives all the details too.
I will list them down (some numbers are changed to mask my IP Address) here if one is doing manual configuration.
They guys and girls in Dialog, Mobitel. Airltel, Tigo and the rest do not understand them unfortunately.

1. IP Address ooo.222.222.152
2.Broadcast Address as above 000.222......
3.Subnet Mask. 255.255.255.255.255
Default Router 00.64.64.64
Primary DNS.000.19.72..201.
Secondary DNS.000.19.72.201

Please do not use above they are not real.
Then comes Knoppix 7.0.4. Live or installed but one has to look for the network utilities and configure but it is automatic and no manual entries.
Sabayon 10 is also pretty good and I am posting this with Sabayon Gnome the brand new touch screen compatible and compiz version.

Good luck with your mobile roaming with Linux and there over 200 active Linux distribution to choose.

I have stooped downloading and testing them to save my electricity bill which is more than I pay for the Linux Magazine for a year subscription and I get a DVD with every issue.

Why don't you subscribe to it and save time and electricity?


Linux and Mobility with Wireless World.
If one is an ardent Linux user one is discriminated for being such in Sri-Lanka.
This had been the case few years ago but with routers hitting the market we were lucky.
Lately even the server functions are slow and not reliable and I was without internet connection for over 10 days.
I decided to opt for Mobile connection as a backup which my daughter uses since she prefers the mobility than to hook up to a wired Ethernet.

As usual I did a market survey to find both Mobitel and Dialog do not support Linux with their dongle devices.

I did not check Tigo and Airtell.]

I bought few dongles for wireless router (which I do not use now) when I was abroad but they do not have slot for SIMS.
I knew of a vendor who is quite up to date with gadgets in Kandy and he found me a dongle that can be used with any SIM and Linux compatible.

After that I found a wireless router that was Linux compatible.

Armed to the teeth I went to Mobitel and bought a SIM and with the help of the guys at the desk after several visits we were able to mount my Linux distribution with the dongle attached.

Below is an email related to that story.
It still has minor hiccoughs, none of which the Linux cannot negotiate.
It is strange that the dongle should not have Linux script to support Linux and the guys and girls who work for Microsoft and Apple have to bootstrap their efforts to be less discriminative in a commercial world.

This is why one of us has to be a hacker to hack these dongles for them to be universally acceptable. 
I have no time for those activities till I retire but a guy who has more time and adept at Linux should try it for me. 

Following is an email I posted to Mobitel Service.
Thanks for your help.
The SIM is still temperamental with my Linux Distribution.
It is all due to the dialog box wanting a number, password and ping information.
I persisted with not entering any data in those entries and at last the SIM sent a message to handshake with the server.
Still there was a problem since I worked with the live distribution on RAM and not on my hard disk installation.
In a couple of goes the hard disk installation picked the message and I was quickly on the web.
Unfortunately every time I wanted to access the web I had to configure it since the netbook was earlier used with the wired router ( I will have a go, with the wireless router when I have time).

Then I changed the SIM to Mobitel Dongle but it was not automatically recognized by Linux.

I opened is files in it to find install Linux file and clicked it and the script installed 7 files in a folder but still those files were not automatically recognized by Linux since the root kit and its files are meant for Microsoft and Apple Mac.

I believe a clever Linux guy (not me) can write a simple script to overcome this problem of the Mobitel Dongle without any physical changes.

I will look into these files when I have time (busy now).

In the process I may have corrupted the SIM and may not be able to use it anymore.
I will be visiting you to buy another SIM if it was the eventual outcome of my adventure with the mobile gadgets.
Thanks again.

Knoppix-7.0.4-Linux Magazine Issue

Knoppix-7.0.4-Linux Magazine Issue
I have good news for Linux Lovers.
Linux magazine for December 2012 is out and it has Knoppix 7.0.4.
Knoppix developers have iron out all the problems it had with the issue of April Magazine release.
I have already stated those issues here.
Go and download Knoppix 7.0.4 or if you bit lazy go and get three issues of the magazine now.
This edition has different desktops in addition to LXDE.
It is a fantastic live DVD from which one can install into hard disk.

Apple Mac, Yellow Dog, MakkOS (Fleas) and My Dog-The Connection and the Nation Building

Apple Mac, Yellow Dog, MakkOS (Fleas) and My Dog-The Connection and the Nation Building

All the above have literal and metaphorical connection.

The common denominator is thee size of one’s pocket.

All except Yellow Dog is going is going up and the trend is exponential with the announcement of our budget which is is economically strangling the nation with debit and credit crisis.

While the black money is going in percentage from 30% to 50% and we are debiting our money in the NBT (Nation Building TAX) and if one is having Rs.33,000/= turnover (above the SME-Small and Medium Enterprises) a day one is taxed for helping the economy in which the current government is unable to encompass and accomplish its energy with unnecessary extravaganza.

Yellow Dog is is open source distribution that can be installed in a Apple Computer.

I do not think any one of us in the university can afford to buy an Apple computer for productivity work.

Leave alone if one us including academics can afford an old netbook, it is a luxury.

Some years ago I figured out the cost of one Microsoft computer not pirated, I could have three computers, one at office, one at home  for me and one for my kids for playing games (basically DOS games that are / were very good but out of vogue now).

If I revise my old computations with Apple as an example today I can have almost 50 computers wirelessly connected in my SME business model using Linux as the Link Language.

The beauty is that the economics of the  NBT pundits cannot figure it out or understand the Linux OR its open philosophy and versatility.

They are engrossed with hedging deals instead of critical thinking.

What about MakkOS, the dog fleas which are plenty in this country like IRCs in Welikada with some political backing or the vote bank.

But the trouble is the treatment of dog fleas has gone up and I have to live with my dog and its fleas.

There is a saying in Sinhalese, that we say “if we sleep with a dog we wake up with dog fleas”.

That is of course if we are not interrupted by mosquito menace.

Fortunately we have a temporary respite with torrential rain and not full game o f cricket.

That is also a blessing since we can switch off the TV to save on electricity.

Fortunately, I do not watch SORROW-Lankan cricket but more interested in how the hedging deal was accomplished with ex-cricketers in the fray and running the SHOW.

I sometimes think if I hedged myself with an ex-cricketer instead going on an academic exercise called industrial action, I could have earned the entire emoluments in the university in one transaction.

That is only a wishful thinking.

Coming back to my dog which is having an expensive taste is refusing to eat the meager meal provided.

I did a survey and realized he wished that I should be back on with industrial action lest he missed all the fun we had during the prolonged strike.

Yes, we had dog food those days without our salary being paid but the dog food we shared had more meaning than all the 6% increase in educational funds we were asking for.

I am in full agreement with my dog who does not understand anything about Work or Free time (duly paid after three months) or Strike.

Yes the company we had eating dog food was worth in gold than the promises we were entertained by the economically Enlightened Economists.,

We are treated like Pol Buruwas by the elite.

Fortunately my dog who is eternally wagging his tail is a Pol Buruwaa but I am not.

Who else are the Pol Buruwas?

They are the poor voters

Linux Update on Apple Mac

Linux Update on Apple Mac
I have lot to report now.
Even though, Apple Mac on IBM hardware is based on Linux architecture boot parameters are different from Microsoft.
There is no BIOS but it has something called EFI where Apple Mac boot parameters are locked in and that little bit less than 1 MB [in fact few kilo bites] cannot be erased or formatted.
That little bit is essential for booting the computer and probably the firmware is written there and is permanently resident there.
I could not change it and after installing Ubuntu, I could not boot any other CD.
I searched the web and an Apple user who seemed to be having the mind of a HakingTosh PLAYER helped me.

One has to hold down the C for Command line and P and R for RAM to get the factory boot options AND THEN I could boot all the CDs I downloaded with Linux for Power Pack PCs.

 I managed to install Debian xfce.
The old Mac has very little RAM.
It took a very long time while connected to the internet for updating files.
Ubuntu and Xbuntu [I have now installed Xbuntu because my favorite word processor is AbiWord ] 6.0.6 version [ do not confuse with Debian 6.0.6]which is few years old and has no updates and installation was pretty breezy.

Debian is the latest 6.0.6 and has upto date facility.

I managed to install Yellow Dog 5.0.2 and had to terminate it due to not having the third CD downloaded.

It is like the old Redhat 8 with 6 CDs and it is pretty good.
I had to do lot of searching for the images. 

Its partition tool detects Apple firmware unlike gParted in Ubuntu and Xbuntu.

I could also use a home partition.
Yellow Dog based on Redhat has the best partition tool for Apple Mac hardware.

OK then, thanks to Debian, Yellow Dog and Ubuntu for your their excellent work on Apple hardware.
I won't test or write on Apple Mac for sometime, lest I will destroy the precious little RAM I have in my old Apple hardware.
i have done enough installing already.
I am currently downloading the 4th, 5th and 6th CDs of Yellow Dog.

If you have any additional information on Linux on Apple Mac please do not hesitate to make some comments below for other users Apple users to experiment with Linux.

Linux-Ubuntu on Apple Mac

Linux-Ubuntu on Apple Mac
You may be wondering why there was no addition to my blogpost.
I did not have access to internet for two solid weeks all due to thunder storms and the local telecom server unable to provide service.
I wanted to write about Linux on an Apple Mac and my first encounter with Apple Mac computer had to be delayed by about three weeks.

Three weeks ago, I was hunting for a RAM for IBM Server which I had misplaced after dismantling its components.
With the strike on, I did not want it (the server) to be obstructing my massive clean up efforts.
Before tidying up, I just wanted to see whether I could find few 266 DDR RAMs.

I was looking for them over the past 9 months.

It needed an EEC (Error corrected) dedicated RAM.
I walked into a computer shop and the guys knew me instantly and after a little search gave me a negative reply.

As I was walking out I saw an Apple Mac (Globe) with a beautiful monitor.
I asked, is it working and the guy said not Apple but Ubuntu.

That was a pleasant surprise and I got the young chap to run it and he even did not know how to open the CD tray.
I jacked in a USB Linux and it did not boot but after a long pause it booted up Xubuntu and it had Abiword, my favorite word processor.

I told him nobody except me would by it and nobody knows Linux in Kandy as much as I do and it is not Ubuntu but Xubuntu to be precise.

I checked the hard disk capacity which was 36 odd and the RAM was pretty low in today's standard and it was a good toy for me to play with Linux testing. 

I told him I will be back in two hours and if they quote a good price the deal was on.

I was collecting money for breast cancer project in those two hours.

Try all your tricks and tell me how it boots and BIOS etc were my instructions.
When I came back, they had given up on it and only the live CD was booting after a very long delay.

I managed to take the live CD out and could boot live only once at home and the thunder storms started and the install script did not work.
The same night the local server of the telecom was out and I could not have any access to download a Linux CD to install.

Ubuntu 5 and 9 power pack editions, I had were of no use and did not boot.
I downloaded Xubuntu 10 and it also did not boot.

All this was due to low RAM.

Toady morning I managed to download both Xubuntu and Ubuntu 6.0.6.1 and fortunately I managed to install Ubuntu on the first go.

Several goes with Xubuntu (to save the RAM) did not work with some file errors in the CD.
I could not find a Debian or any other less than 700 MiB (CD version) to instal on the old Apple Mac.

It is again Ubuntu to rescue.

What ever false propaganda people are spreading against Ubuntu, it was Ubuntu which had the nerve to spread its influence even on Apple hardware.
In less than 10 minutes it copied the files and in another 7 minutes it installed and configured the hardware in a Mac which had 80 odd RAM.

It is amazing what Linux can do even with low RAM.

It has open office 2 and firefox which was old but got me to my email and blogspot in an instant but without cookies.

I hate cookies which is pain in the neck and delay mounting files.

BIB THANK YOU to guys at Canonical and the guys who keep old repositories full of old Linux distributions.

If not for you lot of working hardware would be in the junkyard.

Now I can say I am an Apple hardware (if not software) convert.

What should I do with my email when I finally kick the bucket?

What should I do with my email when I finally kick the bucket?

I have enormous amount of web writing varying from Bullshit to Buddhism.

My Bullshit is visited by many including Americans.

It is currently at 70,000/= and I think 50,000 of it is my own visits (I have blocked my visits now).

I want it to pass 100,000 before I kick the bucket and you may help by visiting it.

The blogspot is called parafox at Google and mind you most of it is GOO like Guha Goda or Goo Goda in Kandy.

My erudite or better but Buddhist, philosophical and political one's are at Asokaplus at Wordpress.

Type Asokaplus and Buddhism and you get to those contents, hardly a few visit them (Not even me) by accident.

What it means is Web is mostly junk and do not sit in front of your computer like me for hours on end but go and visit your friends.

Till I get 100,000 visits I have decided not to socialize with anybody except myself.

You can get me out of this serious malady by visiting parafox at least once a day not in the morning but before going to bed.

That is the time I open my emails (many in fact) and post blogposts.

I have decided not to do that in the morning since our industrial action is suspended not over yet.

I will finish this bullshit by posing a question which you should help me to solve.

It is a radical and political problem.

What should I do with my email when I finally kick the bucket.

Your suggestions are put in my blogspot (parafox) not in any order of merits.

Ideally one should post a comment here instead of sending me an email.

Booting Netbook with a SD Card

Booting Netbook with a SD Card

I was lucky to find a Netbook with reasonable RAM with hard disk more than 100 GiB.

It also had SuSe enterprise edition to make a good buy in Sri-Lanka.

There was no buyer for it until I discovered it in a shop in Kandy.

Dealer was not a computer expert but a good salesman.

I could negotiate a good price having convinced him nobody will buy it (except perhaps me) with Linux as an operating system and if he has to install Microsoft there will be additional cost for him.

He won’t be able to boot it from a Flashdrive and he needs a USB DVD ROM to boot Microsoft.

That was some additional expense for the buyer.

Then I came home since I did not have spare cash (they stopped the salary for 3 months) because of the strike action.

Three months was a long time and I negotiated a loan from the bank and bought it, a week after initial negotiation.

Having bought tit I left it without using it since SuSe 10 was very old for me with OpenOffice instead of Libre Office.

In addition I could not get any additional software without registering with Novel (just like one register with Microsoft).

this was annoying for me to say the least.

I did not won’t a somewhat Virtual Guy taking control of my Linux Freedom.

Equally I did not want to lose warranty.

Then I realized only a few of the Linux distribution were compatible with Netbooks.

Finally I found Pinguy with all the software (11 series of Pinguy-Ubuntu derivative) including gParted and UnetBootIn and even Ubuntu One.

So one day I eased everything and booted and installed Pinguy.

I of course tried resizing the partition to get some space for Pinguy but it did not boot SuSe afterward..

In any case the partitioning done by the foreign vendor was horrible and did not have any understanding of Linux I believe.

That is the long story and the little story is how i booted it with a SDHC Memory Card.

Again I had to delay this due monetary reason.

Two days after we suspended the strike action I was in full swing and saw a 16 GiB SDHC Card and bought it using my credit card.

Methods and Materials.

1. Netbook

2. Linux image written on a DVD (Pinguy in this case).

3. Couple of Flashdrives.

4. USB Hard drive.

5. SD or SDHC

6. DVD RW Writer, optional.

7. Laptop for getting things ready with a DVD.

8. If not a Desktop. In my case the downloading was done with the desktop and all the Linux images were copied subsequently to the USB Hard disk.

STEPS.

1. Install Pinguy.

2. Using Pinguy prepare either USB Flash Drive (UnietBootIn) or USB hard drive as spare Live systems(Using Live DVD).

3. Boot Pinguy with SDHC card in slot.

4. Use gParted to partition SDHC Card.

5. First partition has to be FAT32 (in my case 4 GB FAT 32,  4 GiB NTFS and 8 GiB Ext4)

6. Run UnetBootIn and I gave the path to where my Linux Pinguy image was (in the USB Hard Disk). Be careful of the nomenclature of the disk names (HDD 1 Sda2, Sda 3 etc) and where it should be installed (in this case SDHC Card).

in about one has a bootable SD Card.

7. Boot it to see whether the installation is right.

8. Follow the same procedure for Flashdrives and test to see whether they work and remove them and place them in a safe place (Use them in case your original system breaks down. It rarely happens with Linux though and in my case never but when accidentally I format partitions with an operating system, I fall, back to the live CD/DVD.

Now it is Flashdrives and SD Cards both of which are environmentally sound as compared to CD/DVDs which are not.

Good luck if you are trying my experiments to get a hang of Linux.