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.