Linux (Ubuntu) Mint 17.3, still the Number ONE

Linux (Ubuntu) Mint 17.3, still the Number ONE

Ubuntu Mint has the best GRUB 2 in all the Linux distributions, I have installed in my computer.

It detected Windows 8.1 which I craftily shifted to the second hard drive.

It also had the canny insight to leave the old boot record untouched and available at boot time.

I had to press F2 or Del to get to the boot record.

One has to remember Linux Mint came into existence, when Ubuntu deviated and went developing Unity desktop, which I never criticized (they have the right to take decisions like a successful business adventure) tier new vision BUT admired their bod steps.

One can still get gnome desktop which is poorly supported officially but a community effort.

So if one wants to go back to Linux basics I have no reservation recommending Linux mint.

Its 17.3 version comes in MATE and Cinnamon desktops.

I am not sure it has the KDE desktop but only tested Cinnamon desktop.

If you want all the desktops in on installation Debian 8.2 is the best bet.

It does not support Abiword (DVD installation disk) which was a handicap for me.

In closing Mint had a temporary breakdown of its web site.

We must thank the server administrator and the team for getting its running again.

If you had any problem with Mint web site recently that was the reason.

I also recommend downloading torrent file instead point to point download for the above reason (temporary instability).

No wonder why Linux Mint is Number 1 at Distrowatch ranking.

Migration to 64 bit Computer (in Linux) was a bit of a pain

Migration to 64 bit Computer (in Linux) was a bit of a pain

After 15 years of regular 32 bit computer user , changing to 64 bit was a bit of a pain in Linux.

Linux distributions fair very badly on 64 bit computers.

I tried more than 10.

Let me say, my change was mainly for the purpose of saving ENERGY and thereby my electricity bill.

Yes it saved a lot.

I now use the computer as my NIGHT heater.

It used to be a laptop on my lap.

The new one has lot of fans fixed to cool it down and the by the product is my room is warm at night.

Just to test its energy consumption, I let it run overnight with Linux logged off.

I got the bill yesterday.

It has saved me 100 Units.

So saying good bye to 9 out of ten 32 bits was productive.

Even though, I had ten one was exclusively used others were for some mundane Linux work.

The 64 bit one was struck by lightening and it went through the UPS battery and burned the upholstery and cooling system.

It got hot hot within seconds of booting and after some repair used it for testing 64 bit Linux distributions but never installed any.

So my testing of 64 bits is only one month's standing.

I list the downside of Linux 64 bits.

Software has bugs and LibreOffice had lot of missing plug ins.

I booted Ubuntu 15.10 and it is no better compared to 14.10 LTS.

Besides graphic display was ugly.

Everything dark.

Font edges are blurry and not smooth.

Nice points apart from saving electricity is only the fans make a noise.

Internet with cookies removed is awfully fast.

Email reading was fast enough with Yahoo.

I use lees and less of DVD drive, that also saves money.

Hard disk is SATA which is much better than IDE for data transfer.

The Multimedia Dashboard has slots for SD cards and MMR.

USB booting especially with USB 3 is faster

I would have preferred to have an internal SSD hard drive.

I would go for portable external SSD instead.

They are still expensive and the capacity is nowhere my needs of multi-booting at Least six Linux distributions in addition to one copy of windows.

Overall I am impressed by the Intel technology.

Most of my 32 bit Linux distributions on MultiSystem USB booting are redundant now,

However, I keep the 32 bit computer linked with KVM switch / port to retrieve old data files.

USB stick is my workhorse now.

Well in time to come I will have all my Linux distributions in a tiny external hard disk (in fact I have already done it) live booted with lot of isos in for testing a potential Linux customer (hardly any).

Linus and Linux on the fly is my motto.

My Old Media Files with Windows 8

My Old Media Files with Windows 8
I am getting ready well in advance for Christmas holidays.
I found two hard disks with in built Hard Disk Player.
It was full of old Linux isos and few media files and song tracks.
One of the flies was Home Alone Video.
I tried to play it with Windows Media Player, it only played the audio file. 
I connected it to a KVM Switch / Slot and played it on VGA but it needed speakers for audio. 
Well I needed RF Jack to plug into Combo.
All are now USB media players.
Ah, lot of work and wire connections not digital but analogue.
Then on second thought, I wanted it to be played on Peppermint's VLC Media player.

Presto!
Files were good as NEW.

This why I say Window's is pain in the Arxxs.

I won't bother to visit Microsoft and PAY for a Media Player.

Windows Guys / Girls there are lot of Linux Software that can be used in Windows and I won't list them, here.

You better find them yourself.

One Night of TROUBLE with Linux

One Night of TROUBLE with Linux

I was trying to upgrade my computer with Linux derivatives and take an early Christmas Break.

I list the Linux Nuances not on any order of merit here.

All these are Human Errors and can be rectified.

I believe all the Linux developers are DOING a great JOB but by rushing to put out the distribution before Christmas leave behind some ugly nuances.

They should be excused for minor lapses.

1. Peppermint FRONT end is DARK and UGLY.

I get a headache after few minutes of work.

2. Libre Office has no Thesaurus in Linux.

3. Ubuntu 14.04 takes four hours,mind you it is not their fault;

(my Internet speed is down to 5 KB / per second by default action by the service provider; I Pay over Rs.8000 per month and get only 20 GiB of downloads which I finish in one day of downloads and the rest of the month GO snail space even to read my email.
  

This they CALL a Five Star Service. 

I hope during the Christmas holiday at least, they allow a leeway) 

But at the end of the installation delete them which also takes a bit of time.

Why can't they Install first in English and give the USER to download his or her language afterwards?

4. Knoppix 7.6 is beautiful on a Live Session But has a major glitch.

I downloaded the English version and Installed it to reiserfs partition.

It is not in English but probably in Danish.

I tried to convert it to English at boot time but it boots so fast that touching the Del Key or F2 has no effect.

5. Boot loaders are finicky, especially Knoppix but it gives the option of not installing it and configure manually.

6. None of them detect the UEFI based Window's 8 in my second hard drive. 

I deliberately shifted its UEFI partition.

7. DVD booting of Pinguy, and Knoppix were halted abruptly due to sectors not written properly on the boot disk. 

They were burned by K3B on Peppermint. 

One disk did not finish writing on it.

I am not a novice to Linux and I have gone through these nuances many a times, I can tolerate all this in one night of Linux Dance BUT what I cannot tolerate is our Telecoms restricting my access to Internet at 5 KB per second.

It is killing me softly.

I take my hat off for all the developers.

I am making these comments before Microsoft guys trying to bash (not the bash script) your back with critical comments.

If YOU hear these comments from a Microsoft Guy / Girl please ignore them and have a PATCH ready by January.

Mind you Microsoft takes one year patch their faults by that time they release a new edition for which you have to PAY.

Only foolish guys PAY for their own faults and make Microsoft Rich by many a Miles.

You Guys/Girls need a holiday and you richly deserve a holiday.

In any case I am going into recess any time from now and if you do not hear from me please do not assume I am dead and gone with the wind.

I will be back with all cylinders firing at top level.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, 2016.

Knoppix 7.6 and LibreOffice 5

I am writing this with Knoppix 7.6 booted on an a 16 GiB MicroSD.
I partitioned it with two partitions.
10 GiB Fat which Knoppix used  4 GiB of space for ntfs.

Other was a ntfs partition. 
My Internet provider has restricted me to 5 KB / per second since I have exceeded the download limit of 20 GiB.

In spite of the slow speed I was briefly on to my blog site through my MicroSD.
  
It also runs a script preventing undesired cookies running and that is why it is fast.

Preamble
I signed a contract of unlimited download 10 years ago when only a very few were using Internet-there were no wireless routers then-I went to Singapore and bought one. Unfortunately for me the University student hackers (I believe Engineering students) got hold of our wireless signal and were using it (the wireless security was not available for Microsoft, then). 
I detected it using my Linux BOX but did not go further except disconting using the wireless but used the Ethernet with secure SSL. 
The University stands a wireless range away and our current wireless connection is protected but it serves as a hot spot.
All this preamble is to illustrate a point that our students who get FREE books UP TO the university wants everything FREE including Operating Systems.

They pirate the Microsoft System when Linux is freely available.

Less than 1% (my study) of the students in HIGHER EDUCATION use free software or Linux.

That is the irony of the FREE EDUCATION and FREE BOOKS provided by the school system.

The school which is walking distance from the University has NO Science Stream.

Few years AGO, I tried to introduce Linux to students of this school through a young teacher friend of mine. 
The teacher was transferred out of this school, probably because of the intransigence of the free education system (one book is enough attitude applied to operating systems including Linux).

KNOPPIX
So if these students are out of school and looking for a pastime, they are free to download Knoppix 7.6 and try it themselves.
The reason for my writing this is to get the Linux developers to use LibreOffice 5 in their distributions in double quick time.
It has Thesaurus which my current Peppermint 6 and Debian 8.2 do not have.
Within a week of complaining about Thesaurus in Linux in 64 bit computers, I have a Live System which has Thesaurus under synonyms and one has only to select the word and right click the word.

I saw a Web Piece which states by selecting tools, options, language, and language aids, One can grab the Thesaurus.
I checked this routine BUT it does not provide the desired OPTION.  
I am in the process of installing Knoppix in my computer.
It needs a reiserfs partition. 
Funnily it was only in Denish installed from a English DVD. 

Revisiting Windows

Revisiting Windows

I must confess that after a decade of using only Linux, I installed Window's 8 well hidden from my Linux distributions.

I am glad to say Windows can be booted from a second hard drive (SATA not IDE) with the first hard drive having only Linux distributions.

It took three days of fiddling and no need for me to boast about.

UEFI boot sector was also demoted to a lower ranking position with the first hard drive having a Linux Master Boot sector instead of BEOS boot partition.

I need to touch Del or F2 keys to boot what ever I want including my favorite Flash Drives with multiple Live Linux distributions.

In case my wife (she never does) boots my computer, (if I am away abroad and I want a file or photo downloaded by my mobile) she will only see Windows in my BOX.

She is scarred of Linux. 

She is fully cleaned off from any Linux remnants.

She does not need to (she has her own computer) in case her computed is infected by a Virus she need to use mine.

It took only three days of fiddling to downgrade Windows to lower rank.

Amazingly it took the same time to configure the Internet (I could not use IE for three days).

I forgot Microsoft still needs drivers to configure Internet hardware, which Linux does a good job at boot time.

Debian could not do it either with its DVD booting, but configured the Internet after installing the system, without me bothering about the IP address and the rest.

I forgot some important assets of Linux in my book Linux Revisited.

Number 1, drivers are installed at boot time including Internet connection for updating, the system.

Linux is Internet friendly.

Number 2, Linux does not need adding up software (like I do minimum at boot time and pick and chose packages from the repository) if YOU chose the correct the distribution with all the packages.

One installation is all that is necessary.

Number 3, is that there is no endless rebooting which Windows Love.

In other words Linux save time.

It took three days for me to get the Windows 8 to my liking.

Three Linux distribution in one hard disk took only one night for me (I was briefly up in between the distributions but deep in sleep while installation was on).

Once I commit a job for Linux BOX in the night, I check it only in the morning.

Reliable and Stable. 

Only hindrance is frequent power failure of our Electricity supply.

In fact, we were without electricity the whole morning today.

Libre Office and Thesaurus

Libre Office and Thesaurus

I must say I never use Microsoft Office.

My favorite is something else not even LibreOffice.

I used to promote Open Office and when it was bought up by the killer shark, Oracle,

I used to promote LibreOffice that comes from France.

This post is done on Windows 8.1 on Libre Office.

It has Libre Office and thesaurus is available and if one right clicks with a selected word, synonyms are displaced.

But I updated my computer with Peppermint and Debian 8.2 only yesterday BUT the Libre Office in both distributions won't open up thesaurus (do the same as on a Windows platform) or synonyms with my 64 bit motherboard.

Linux 64 bit software are patchy and buggy.

This was not true with my old 32 bit machine with Libre Office.

Lot has been spoken about Libre Office in Linux Magazine and nobody has spotted this flaw.

I begin to believe that those who write to Linux Magazine also use Microsoft Windows or won't test Libre Office on a Linux distributions to begin with.

Libre Office looks beautiful on Windows machine but looks ugly and dark on Peppermint and Debian.

I guess the guys working on Linux terminals prefer pitch dark ambiance.

This is where Microsoft score a point or two.

They listen to the customer feed back but Linux guys /girls (only 1% are using Linux according to surveys) don't have customer base.

Mind you my wife uses Microsoft Windows and I bought her a new MINI computer with pre-installed Microsoft.

I do not want to have complaints from her and I have no intention of converting anybody to Linux this Christmas, 2015.

This was not something I wanted to write on a Linux blog site but IF I do not I am cheating myself if not others.

Thesaurus for LibreOffice

Thesaurus for LibreOffice

Thesaurus is not associated with LibreOffice when YOU install it,

 for good reason.

There are so many languages in the world using English alphabet.

For English one of those below and install from synaptic.

Artha

Aiksaurus

Giksaurus

For other Languages

Mythe and the country code (not telephone).

eg. Mythes-De

Linux Games

Linux Games

Games in Linux is its weak Link.

I decided that I would concentrate on developing games in my retirement, even though I am not into programming at all now..

I in fact have a Book On Linux Game Development, which I bought few years ago.

It looks like I need not bother very much.

But I have few reservations having looked at Sparky Linux.

I dismantled all my 32 bit computers in preparation for this endeavor.

I am into 64 bit world.

The motherboard is i series Gamer Motherboard with PCI ports for upgrading to Newer graphic cards.

I had problems with UEFI and I have dealt with it in few hours of experimenting at night with Windows 8.1 in the system.

I have two one terrabite hard disks for game databases.

I got Peppermint and Debian installed with a extra BIOS partition in hard disk one.

Peppermint is in first SATA disk.

Debian and Sparky Linux in second SATA disk.

Windows have to be in the first disk by corporate design.

Now few words about Sparky Linux.

Not necessarily in game context.

It does not support Ethernet computers.

Blue tooth is its game base.

I could not update its software (Office suite) due not having blue tooth connection.

I will try with a dongle later but I have to pay twice one for Ethernet and one for wireless (SIMS) dongle.

I do not want to fiddle with my wife's Microsoft configured wireless router which has given endless problems to her and I bought a tablet for her connectivity when Telecoms goes out with a thunderstorm and lightening.

Linux s far behind when compared to Windows.

I now use Windows for TV Card and Games only.

I have not tried other Linux gamers including Fedora's version, even though, I have all the game DVD isos.

I start my work up with Tiny Linux games I played over the last 10 years.

I hope Linux would not ignore those tiny games developers played along side with black terminal when they were they were busy programing!

SparkyLinux 4.0 “GameOver”
SparkyLinux 4.0 “GameOver” is out.
It has been built on the top of SparkyLinux 4.0 “Tyche” and it’s fully compatible with Debian testing “Stretch”.
“GameOver” is a special edition of Sparky targeted to gamers.
The most important changes inside the GameOver 4.0:
– Linux kernel 4.0.5
– all packages upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2015/07/09
– lxde-common 0.99.0-2
– openbox 3.6.0-2
– PCManFM 1.2.3-1.1
– Iceweasel 38.1.0esr-2
– vlc 2.2.1-dmo6
– steam & steam-launcher 1.0.0.50
– desura for linux
– wine & playonlinux
– Sparky-IA – quick access to very old games
– grub 2.02~beta2-26
– added support of the system installation on 32 bit machines with UEFI motherboard
– system rebranding
– theme “Sparky4” and icons set “Ultra-Flat-Icons”
– Gnome-Alsamixer replaced by Pulse Audio Mixer
New applications:
– Sparky Internet Archive (sparky-ia) – lets you launch and play online very old games stored at Internet Archive via the default web browser. The application lets you choose one of the 3 game categories:
– Classic PC Games
– Internet Arcade
– MS-DOS Games
A set of emulators of old machines and systems available via the package manager and Sparky APTus Gamer: AdvenceMENU, Atari800, DeSmuME, Desura Installer, DOSBox, DOSEMU, ePSXe, FCEUX, FS-UAE, GNOME Video Arcade, Hatari, Higan, Hega Fusion, MAME, Mednafen, MESS, Nestopia, PCSX, PlayOnLinux, PPSSPP, Steam, Stella, VisualBoyAdvance, Virtual Jaguar, Wine, Winetricks, Yabause, ZSNES
A set of preinstalled games: 0ad, 3dchess, airstrike, alienblaster, amphetamine, antigravitaattori, armagetronad, asciijump, asylum, atomix, balder2d, barrage, berusky, billard-gl, biniax2, black-box, blobby, bloaboats, blockout2, brainparty, bygfoot, chromium-bsu, einstein, extremetuxracer, five-or-more, flare, four-in-a-row, freecraft, freedroid, frozen-bubble, funnyboat, gnome-chess, gnome-hearts, gnome-klotski, gnome-mahjongg, gnome-mastermind, gnome-mines, gnome-nibbles, gnome-robots, gome-sudoku, gnome-tetravex, gnubik, gnuchess, gnugo, gtkatlantic, gtkpool, gunroar, holdingnuts, iango, lbreakout2, lightsoff, liquidwar, ltris, maelstorm, megaglest, minetest, mokomaze, monopd, monsterz, moon-buggy, moon-lander, netmaze, netpanzer, openarena, pacman, performous, quadrapassel, slimevolley, smc, snake4, snowballz, supertux, swell-foop, tali, teeworlds, tennix, tetzle, tomatoes, transcend, warzone2100, wesnoth, widelands, xblast, xmoto, zaz
Live system user is: live
Password: live
Root password is blank (empty).
Minimum system requirements for SparkyLinux “GameOver”:
– CPU i586 / amd64
– 256 MB of RAM memory (some games need more than that – 500-1000MB recommended)
– an optical DVD drive or 4GB USB stick for Live medium
– 20 GB of space for installation on a hard drive (30GB recommended)
– 16 GB of Flash/Pen USB drive for “normal” installation (32GB recommended)
New iso images of SparkyLinux are available at our download page:

Removing An Account From Google

A technical preamble is appropriate here.
I am not a fan of mobile phones.
In fact, I am new to mobile phones.
I use Land Phone exclusively for mission critical work.
Mobiles are pain in the neck with lot of clutter.
I bought two phones when my wife was out of the country for few days.
The reason is not to keep in touch with her but for a different but mission critical work, let me not expand on it.
One was cheap Java Phone which is out of order after 3 months use.
Not due to physical damage but due poor RAM.
The RAM was not sufficient even to load the screen.
No touch screen.
The second phone wit a touch screen, I hacked to my heart content and is still working android.
In my first hacking (to see whether it can be used by a visually handicapped person it FROZE and could not go back to factory setting.
After three days of fiddling with it I went back to the vendor and he could not do any better.
This time the problem was with the version of the Android.
It was too old.
So when you buy a Phone one had to decide on the RAM and the version of the android.
If you use a phone for just for only calls by an old analog mobile.
Java Phones are pain in the neck.
If you are buying a new Android go for a Version 5 not the version 4 that I am using (sparingly, though).
I wish I could keep in touch with my dog with a mobile phone.
I must say I learned the touch system and little tricks from my daughter.
These gadgets are made exclusively for young people to keep in touch and for their fast track social activity.
I am one who advocate a Tablet instead of a Mobile (Smart phone is actually a mini computer).
So I bought Tablet again a cheap one to give as a present.
It is miles of FORWARD MARCH on mobile utilities and took solid 24 hours to configure to top performance without a Mini SD Card.
I have an old tablet which is very slow on both Internal Memory and RAM in spite of the 32 GB Mini SD overall.
For my luck I had forgotten the Screen Password and I cannot reach my files.
Fortunately I use it for hacking and not for any mission critical work, photos or documents etc.
All the data is in the Mini SD and it is matter of removing and shoving it to the new Tablet.
It does not load to my computer by a USB cord to copy files before formatting it to Run a new operating system.
So the next pint is that the Tablet should be able to share data with your computer through a USB link.

Now the crunch point and I could not remove my email before delivering it to the intended person.

I gave it to my wife who is an expert on mobiles phones and she could not log off my mail.
I gave it to her and ask her to browse the Google Help and went out for buying food for our dog.
Let me tell you why I am posting this.
There is lot of junk advice in the web.
It is like touching your nose with your finger tip with the hand coming across the back of the neck like Yogi Expert.
One does not have to go to Yogi Practice, just go to the Google Help and follow their instructions.
I have copied Google Help here, using my Linux BOX and all the Macros removed and only TEXT remaining.
Any errors are due to my plundering the information and not the fault of the Google.
So YOU better go straight to Google Help instead of reading the instructions below.
They are doing a god job unlike FACEBOOK which took six months for me to sign off it, for GOOD.
They deliberately hid the sign off item.
I stop using FACEBOOK from that moment and the social media may be pain in your Arxxx.

Reproduction.

Sign out (Android)

This information is for the Gmail app for Android 4.0 and up.
There’s no option to sign out of the Gmail app for Android without removing your entire account from your phone or tablet.
However, you can accomplish many of the same tasks through other actions, depending on what you need.

I want to check mail from another account

If your device is running Android 5.0 or higher, there's an easy way to let a guest use your device.
If you want to read mail from another account, or a friend wants to check email on your phone, you don’t have to sign out — you can just add another account.
Keep in mind that when you add an account to your phone, you can easily switch between accounts without having to enter the password again.
If a friend adds an account to your phone to check email, be sure to remove the account afterward (see steps in section below).
Or, you could also use the browser on your phone to go to mail.google.com and check your email from there.
I want to protect my email
If you’re worried about losing your phone or having someone read your mail, you can password-protect your device. Here’s how to set a screen lock on a Nexus device — other types of phones or tablets will have similar instructions.
Tip: If you ever lose your phone, you can remove access to all Google services (Gmail, Maps, YouTube, etc.) on that phone. If you later find your phone, you'll just need to sign in with your username and password before you can use Google services on it. Learn more about account permissions.
I want to preserve data, storage, or battery life
You don’t have to sign out of Gmail to save power on your phone. To help optimize data usage, device storage, or battery life, you can adjust your sync settings.

Choose which labels to sync

1. Open the Gmail app.
   
2. Touch the menu.
   
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Choose an account.
   
5. Touch Manage labels.
   
6. Touch a label.
   
7. Touch Sync messages.
   
8. Choose Sync: None, Sync: Last 30 days, or Sync: All.
   

Choose how many days of mail to sync

1. Open the Gmail app.
   
2. Touch the menu.
   
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Choose an account.
   
5. Touch Days of mail to sync.
   
6. Select the number of days.
   
7. Touch OK.
   

Turn off Gmail sync

If you turn off Gmail sync, new messages will stop syncing automatically.

1. Open the Gmail app.
   
2. Touch the menu.
   
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Choose an account.
   
5. Uncheck the box next to Sync Gmail.
   

Touch the Refresh icon while viewing your inbox to sync your messages manually.

Remove downloaded messages

1. Open your device’s Settings app.
   
2. Touch Apps, and then Gmail.
   
3. Touch Clear data.
   

This will clear the data on your Gmail app. Accounts that have Gmail sync turned on will start syncing immediately. Accounts with Gmail sync turned off will not sync automatically.

Use Gmail on your mobile browser

You can also access Gmail by going to mail.google.com on your mobile browser.
If none of these situations apply to you, you can also remove your account from the entire device. Don't worry, removing the account from your device won't delete the account itself—just remove it from your phone or tablet.

Remove an account