Mageia 7 Installation.

Mageia 7 Installation.
Manradke was the Linux distribution that I first learned to use in Linux.
It changed to Mandrake and due to litigation problems went into hibernation or defunct.
Fortunately community in France maintained it as Mageia Linux.
I installed it today in my laptop as the Third Distribution, in addition to Debian 10 and Emmabuntus 3 Debian version.
It reminded me of the early days and very well organized installation with enough pause for doing step by step configuration.
While installing it I read the documentation which was pretty good for a newbie.
Nevertheless I read the entire documentation.
It is bit slow in installation and it was very helpul for an old guy like me who has slowed down in reflexs.
(Not the reading speed which is very fast in my case).
Thank you guys / girls for all the security features including logging screen at boot up.
It is the best UEFI booting supported Linux distribution.
Windows intention is to pull the rug under your feet to mess up installing or duel booting Linux.
Mageia has done a good job not violating Free Software Protocol.
Many Thanks.

Stylish English Cricketer Marcus Trescothick

Stylish English Cricketer
Marcus Trescothick

Marcus Trescothick says he was "ready to move on" when deciding to call time after 27 years in cricket.

He was one of those cricketers with very little talking.

He unlike todays cricketers, was humble enough to let the bat do the talking.

SSD Disks and Swap Partitions

SSD Disks and Swap Partitions
This is a reproduction about SSD Disks 
Flash RAM cells in SSDs have a limited lifespan. Every write (but not read) cycle (or more accurately every erasure) wears a memory cell, and at some point it will stop working.

The amount of erase cycles a cell can survive is highly variable, and flash from modern SSDs will survive many more than flash from SSDs made several years ago. Additionally, the SSD intelligent firmware will ensure evenly distributed erasures between all the cells. In most drives, unused areas will also be available to backup damaged cells and to delay aging.
To have a value we can use to compare the endurance of a SSD, we can use lifespan measures such as the JEDEC published standards. A widely available value for endurance is TBW (TeraBytes Written, or alternatively total bytes written) which is the amount of bytes writeable before the drive fails. Modern SSDs can score as low as 20 TB for a consumer product but can score over 20,000 TB in an enterprise-level SSD.
Having said that, both the lifespan and the use of a SSD for swapping depends on several factors...

Systems with plenty of RAM

On a system with plenty of RAM and few memory consuming applications we will almost never swap. It is merely a safety measure to prevent data loss in case an application ate up all our RAM. In this case, the wearing of a SSD from swapping will not be an issue. However, having this mostly-unused swap partition on a conventional hard drive will not lead to any performance drop, so we can safely put our swap partition (or file) on that significantly cheaper hard drive and use the space on our SSD for something more useful.

Systems with little RAM

Things are different on a system where RAM is sparse and cannot be upgraded. In this case, swapping may indeed occur more often, especially when we run memory-intensive applications. In these systems, a swap partition or file on a SSD may lead to a dramatic performance improvement at the cost of a somewhat shorter SSD lifespan. This decreased lifespan may, however, still not be short enough to warrant concern. In all likelihood, the SSD may be replaced long before it would've died because several times the storage may be available at a fraction of today's prices.

Hibernating our system

Waking from hibernation is indeed very fast from a SSD. If we're lucky and our system survives a hibernation without issues, we can consider using an SSD for that. It will wear the SSD more than just booting from it would, but we may feel it's worth it.
But booting from an SSD may not take much longer than waking from hibernation from an SSD, and it will wear the SSD far less. Personally, I don't hibernate my system at all - I suspend to RAM or quickly boot from my SSD.

The SSD is the only drive we have

We don't really have a choice in this case. We don't want to run without a swap, so we have to put it on the SSD. We may, however, want to have a smaller swap file or partition if we don't plan to hibernate our system at any point.

Note on speed

SSDs are best at quickly accessing and reading many small files and are superior to conventional hard drives for transferring data from sequentially-read small or medium-sized files. A fast conventional hard drive may still perform better than an SSD at writing (and to a lesser extent reading) large audio or video streams or other long unfragmented files. Older SSDs may have their performance decline over time or after they are fairly full.

Changing English

I like sweet sounding, crisp, clean and volatile (meaning changing with time and Internet) English.

With computer science and expanding Internet English is changing fast.

Two of my contributions are below and many more in this site.

Religion is like a brain virus (near enough my invention) and resistant to formal treatment of a virus.

Counselor (social or psychiatric) is a guy/girl who lost the chance of reevaluation ones own orientation in time, place and person outside his room.

 I hate technical sounding English

I do not like American English.

I do not like even Queen's English at times.

I hate Indian English.

Ceylonese English was pretty good until SWRD's policy change i 1956.

Ceylon English is putrid now.

How Neologisms Keep English Alive

A neologism is a newly coined word, expression, or usage. It's also known as a coinage. Not all neologisms are entirely new. Some are new uses for old words, while others result from new combinations of existing words. They keep the English language alive and modern.

A number of factors determine whether a neologism will stay around in the language. "Rarely will a word enter common usage," said the writer Rod L. Evans in his 2012 book "Tyrannosaurus Lex," "unless it fairly clearly resembles other words."

What Qualities Help a New Word Survive?

Susie Dent, in "The Language Report: English on the Move, 2000-2007," discusses just what makes a new word successful and one that has a good chance of staying in use.

"In the 2000s (or the noughties, oughties, or zips), a newly minted word has had an unprecedented opportunity to be heard beyond its original creator. With 24-hour media coverage, and the infinite space of the Internet, the chain of ears and mouths has never been longer, and the repetition of a new word today takes a fraction of the time it would have taken 100, or even 50, years ago. If, then, only the smallest percentage of new words make it into current dictionaries, what are the determining factors in their success?"

"Very roughly speaking, there are five primary contributors to the survival of a new word: usefulness, user-friendliness, exposure, the durability of the subject it describes, and its potential associations or extensions. If a new word fulfills these robust criteria it stands a very good chance of inclusion in the modern lexicon."

When to Use Neologisms

Here's some advice on when neologisms are useful from "The Economist Style Guide" from 2010.

"Part of the strength and vitality of English is its readiness to welcome new words and expressions and to accept new meanings for old words."

"Yet such meanings and uses often depart as quickly as they arrived."

"Before grabbing the latest usage, ask yourself a few questions. Is it likely to pass the test of time? If not, are you using it to show just how cool you are? Has it already become a cliché?

Does it do a job no other word or expression does just as well? Does it rob the language of a useful or well-liked meaning? Is it being adapted to make the writer's prose sharper, crisper, more euphonious, easier to understand—in other words, better? Or to make it seem more with it (yes, that was cool once, just as cool is cool now), more pompous, more bureaucratic or more politically correct—in other words, worse?"

Should the English Language Banish Neologisms?

Brander Matthews commented on the idea that evolutionary changes in language should be prohibited in his book "Essays on English" in 1921.

"Despite the exacerbated protests of the upholders of authority and tradition, a living language makes new words as these may be needed; it bestows novel meanings upon old words; it borrows words from foreign tongues; it modifies its usages to gain directness and to achieve speed. Often these novelties are abhorrent, yet they may win acceptance if they approve themselves to the majority. This irrepressible conflict between stability and mutation and between authority and independence can be observed at all epochs in the evolution of all languages, in Greek and in Latin in the past as well as in English and in French in the present."

"The belief that a language ought to be 'fixt,' that is, made stable, or in other words, forbidden to modify itself in any way, was held by a host of scholars in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were more familiar with the dead languages, in which the vocabulary is closed and in which usage is petrified, than they were with the living languages, in which there is always incessant differentiation and unending extension. To 'fix' a living language finally is an idle dream, and if could be brought about it would be a dire calamity. Luckily language is never in the exclusive control of scholars; it does not belong to them alone, as they are often inclined to believe; it belongs to all who have it as a mother-tongue."

UNnetBootIn

Why I hated Windows is that one has to install drivers office and games etc with many bugs.

In Linux everything is bundled with the distribution from tiny (DSL) to Fullmonty and no rebooting.

UNnetBootIn-How I did it?

UnetBootIn has gone into depreciation and in many Linux distribution one has dedicated USB booting software.

However MutiSystem Booting CD (from France) is much better to write a live script.

Debian does not support it whereas Emmabantus Deb 3 has Multisytem Bootng software.

If you have an old computer which does not boot from USB Flash Drive I have a solution for you. This applies to the third world and perhaps to the guys and girls of the developed world who are going through rough times and cannot afford a USB booting netbook or laptop or desktop.
If you have a device which boots with USB, most of what of I state below may not apply to you except the principles. If you are buying anything new do not buy ones without USB booting.
I of course use old gadgets and my 233 speed with 128 RAM and 4 MB graphic is still working but painfully slow.

Also for the guys and girls of the developing world who have gone abroad looking for better pastures with all your parents' saving and the parent no longer can support you on the second or third years.
All what you need is a Flash Drive and if you cannot afford that it is better you start looking for a menial job and rough out till times get better or they chase you out without extending the visa.
Once those universities sap all your money they have no use of you and start recruiting new batch for their own survival.
Education is money and money is education now in the developed world.
However world has not got better but worse with plenty of geeky gadgets around you, even I cannot afford them in my retirement age.
That is why I am turning to bare bones of computing and Linux utilities are there to get expensive work done with minimum of expenditure but lot of learning to do.
One must get out of the Microsoft plug and play mentality (i.e. even monkeys and dogs can be trained).
And nothing is plug and play even for Microsoft with so many new gadgets hitting the market and D.I.Y is one of the best ways to put your neck and nose ahead in the game of computing world.
Lot of time is necessary and risk taking is essential and above all experimenting. At worse you may ruin the partition table of the Flash drive which I have done.

Linux guys and girls are not there to spoon feed you and they are mostly doing it as a hobby with lot of work and midnight oil burning for their own survival.

But there are few professionals not many of course who are out there willing to help.

I am not a GuRu but an ardent supporter of Linux and a daily user of few outstanding Linux utilities.

UnetBootIn in one of them even though it has lot of teething problems.

For two years I have not looked at my Flash Drives with Live Linux distributions which were booting with my laptop but with none of my computers without USB booting facility.

Since my old IBM is ready for junkyard and power pack and mother board needing a rest period before the junkyard experience I went and bought a secondhand IBM in good working order with little amount of USB support but SATA hard disks.

I still have it as a tabletop!

As the testing period was over and it is doing my daily work and downloading at night, with the extended New year holidays I decided to go for the Acid Test of USB booting while doing lot of other things around the household.

This is my Final Report on UnetBootIn, may not be comprehensive but how I got it to do my work and used all my Flash drives for USB booting with or without USB booting facility of the other computers I have.

Ignore the top preamble and concentrate now.

I have no idea of how it works but this is how I figured it out with some basic idea about Linux booting practice with GRUB.

How I did it.
1. Its kernel is less than one MiB
2. Its init file is the biggest which is less than fifty MiB
3. It has ID file
4. It has GRUB Menu (slash.msg for Pendrive Linux)
5. System configuration file
6. Two text files names ubnfilel and ubpathl
These seven files are necessary for its booting.

Rest of the files are distribution specific out of which livecd.sqfs file is the heaviest and the most important that boots up after initial GRUB sequence.

It has a boot folder and isolinux folder which are basic essentials for Linux booting.

Process has 3 essential steps.
1. Downloading
2, Extraction
3, Booting (grub) sequence.

Most painful part is the downloading which can break at any moment because of the poor downloading here.

So I choose DSL my yesteryear favorite (50 MiB), Puppy 4.2 my very first USB Linux and parted Magic (158 MiB). Unfortunately gnome's gParted one of my favorite utility is not there in the listed distributions. I hope gnome will come out with gparted enhanced with UnetBotIn in it's 128 MiB distribution in the next revision.
Knoppix is not there but it is a different kettle of fish altogether with nearly 4 GiB of compressed files and the best heavy weight category and I am here with the light weight category, for now.
All three worked in the first instance but not PCLinux and Mepis. Then I wanted to try PCLinux (could not get it because all iso files are now torrents at Linuxtracker) and Mepis (broke at once at 200 and the second time at 850 MiB out of 925 MiB). Tried PCLinux from my hard drive but some important boot files were missing.
Failures on several occasions, I went into the experimental mode.
Prepare DSL for booting as usual or copy the files listed above to the intended Flash Drive.
Then go to the graphic item and distribution source and give the path for the file in my hard disk and click OK. Before that one should delete the sqfs file of DSL or Puppy (or overwrite only this file when prompted).
Then say NO to overwrite for all the files except the sqfs file.
Before booting it is better to see whether all the files I mentioned above are copied correctly to the Pendrive.
If so shutdown the computer and reboot and the live CD is now in your Pendrive and you do not need to have a CD or DVD to boot your favorite Linux distribution onto the RAM. With this Pendrive you can install Linux to any worthwhile computer without a CD or DVD you may have.
In my case I did install PCLinux-2010 from the Pendrive I prepared on my laptop which I formatted to install Knoppix and record World Cup Cricket (quality of the USB TV card was poor).
Now I am looking for a netbook (my daughter would not oblige) to try my wizardry like wizard of OZ.
Only downside was that one cannot boot the DSL (you have overwritten or deleted in the process).
If you have brains you may even install another sqfs file and edit the boot menu and boot the second one too. I have no time to try it but I hope UnetBootIn will add that facility in future and access to iso files in my hard disk so that I can bypass the downloading bit and boot any of the 100 odd Linux live CD /DVDs I have.
PCLinux USB creator was hopeless to say the least and it does not do the job properly like UnetBootIn and also needs Linux partition and not fat partitions.
Go and enjoy Pendrive freedom that come from Linux Developers of repute.
I must say special thanks to MCN (Mandriva) group which started the ball rolling in 2007 with the first Penndrive Version I got to work on a Pendrive in Singapore in 2009.
However Singaporeans have no clue about Pendrive Linux or Linux in general.
This is something Indians would have invested (prepare LIVE PENDRIVES for sale) during World Cup but missed it in toto and now doing IPL cricket instead. Anybody can come to me but I charge for the time especially the download time which is painfully slow and I value my free time which is devoted for rants like this.
Edited on the 20th How to get new Puppy into your Pendrive (It is easy as eating cheese cake and dogs love cheese)
Easiest method is to is to boot the Live CD and used it as a base to make a Live Pendrive.  

This was how I made my first Live USB long before Pendrive Linux and at a time when I did not have a computer with USB booting facility.
Puppy was my entry into Light Weight Distribution Version and I have not looked back on that experience.
Then I went into PCLinux and its many versions including PCLinux Mini Me. I am not impressed with the record of USB booting with PCLinux even now and that was the one that took the longest time and method (Thanks to UnetBootIn) how to figure out making a USB drive. It failed miserably with my USB hard drive in spite of me getting it into a Linux partition and I finally gave up because I do not fancy carrying a heavy SATA disk in my front pocket.
I prefer a Pendrive around my neck instead of a hard drive. Mind you I use the hard drive to carry all my favorite iso images some of which are 4.4 GiB and Supreme Games Linux is almost 8 GiB.
Getting Puppy into a Pendrive was the easiest with UNetbootIn but with a problem. It only downloads the 4.2 version (the first version I used before Dingo-most number of Live CD I have is with Puppy) from the Internet.

So I set about to get a copy of Puppy lupu from my hard disk to Pendrive.
1. Plug in the Pendrive with Puppy 4.2 2. Start UnetBootIn and selected Puppy for install rather copy 3. From dialog box gave the path to my lupu already downloaded and click OK 4. Said NO to all overwrite messages 5. Check the Flash Drive to see production OK. Both Puppy 4.2 and and lupu 525 sqfs files were there with only 250 of the 1400 MiB used. 6. Booted the Flash drive to see it only boots the 4.2. Could not get F2 to change boot option since it configures the keyboard in later stages (Puppy bypasses even the BIOS) of booting. 7. Mounted Flash on my desktop and changed the 420 to 422 and lupu 525 to 420. 8. Booted again and got the kernel panic message (in early days when I get this message I go into panic mode, almost a heart attack but now wait for a few seconds and switch off the computer making sure RAM is not in freeze mode and fully flushed like toilet bowl after a wee, wee. (I get a message from South Africa where water scarcity is a serious problem and asking me to put bricks on the cistern to reduce the capacity and fill it with waste or used water. I think they way we are chopping trees and the Coal Power Plant functioning at full speed we will be near that fate before India. 

Please excuse me on this diversion if I blog this separately nobody will read it and hence the inclusion here) 9. Booted again but again kernel panic mode 10. UnetBootIn again and and copied lupu 525 and this time said yes to all overwrite messages including uninit and unkernel. 11. Booted again presto the lupu was running.
Summary in 4 steps
1. Format the Pendrive with FAT 32 partition 2. Install Puppy 4.2 using UNetBootIn and check booting of the Pendrive. 3. Download any of the latest Puppy, lupu, quirky or wary (you can rename the iso image with your dog's name if you are a dog lover. 

I believe Barry Kauler an Australian is a Dog Lover. Note, unlike cricketers Australian are nice and normal guys). 4. Repeat Step 2 to with overwrite mode on (manually) and boot it up.
I think I have said enough of UnetBootIn. I hope the Developers got the message and in its next update of UnetBootIn it is sweet as honey. Thanks Guys and Girls you are doing some excellent work, you should make sure that you have some rest in between and play some Linux Games like me .
Postscript I get a message from WiN 7 guys that they also have developed a Pendrive utility but it is painfully slow and need a huge Flash Drive with all the viruses included in the processing. So before any one using it do a virus scan first using a Linux Utility called Medi Linux!

JAVA

There are other programming languages in Linux

Python

Ruby

Perl

C

C++

Problem with JAVA it can bring in BOGS to other system including LINUX.

So learn to work on Python and Ruby which can be checked for bugs before implementation in Linux.

REPRODUCTION

What are the differences between Java, Core Java and Advanced Java?

 

How do you differentiate between the 3 of them?

Arundhati Kanungo, works at SAP

 

Answered Jun 26, 2016

Originally Answered: What are the differences between Java, Core Java and Advanced Java?

Java, Java Everywhere Too Confused, Right???
Come, I will solve your doubt
What is Java?
Java is a general-purpose computer programming language that is concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, and specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to let application developers "write once, run anywhere" (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation.
Different Editions of Java Platform:

• J2SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition)
  

Also known as Core Java, this is the most basic and standard version of Java. It’s the purest form of Java, a basic foundation for all other editions. It consists of a wide variety of general purpose API’s (like java.lang, java.util) as well as many special purpose APIs. J2SE is mainly used to create applications for Desktop environment. It consist all the basics of Java the language, variables, primitive data types, Arrays, Streams, Strings Java Database Connectivity(JDBC) and much more. This is the standard, from which all other editions came out, according to the needs of the time.

• J2EE (Java Platform, Enterprise Edition)
  

The Enterprise version of Java, also called Advanced Java, has a much larger usage of Java, like development of web services, networking, server side scripting and other various web based applications. J2EE is a community driven edition, i.e. there is a lot of continuous contributions from industry experts, Java developers and other open source organisations. J2EE uses many components of J2SE, as well as, has many new features of it’s own like Servlets, JavaBeans, Java Message Services, adding a whole new functionalities to the language. J2EE uses HTML, CSS, JavaScript etc., so as to create web pages and web services. It’s also one of the most widely accepted web development standard.
J2ME (Java Platform, Micro Edition)
This version of Java is mainly concentrated for the applications running on embedded systems, mobiles and small devices. Also, the J2ME apps help in using web compression technologies, which in turn, reduce network usage, and hence cheap internet accessibility. J2ME uses many libraries and API’s of J2SE, as well as, many of it’s own. The basic aim of this edition was to work on mobiles, wireless devices, set top boxes etc. Old Nokia phones, which used Symbian OS, used this technology.
Other Editions of Java:

• Apart from these three versions, there was another Java version released, Java Card. This edition was targeted, to run applets smoothly and securely on smart cards and similar technology. Portability and security was its main features.
• JavaFX is another such edition of Java technology, which is now merged with J2SE. It is mainly used, to create rich GUI (Graphical User Interface) in Java apps. It replaces Swings (in J2SE), with itself as the standard GUI library. It is supported by both Desktop environment as well as web browsers.
• PersonalJava was another edition, which was not deployed much, as its function was fulfilled by further versions of J2ME. Made to support World Wide Web (and Java applets) and consumer electronics. PersonalJava was also used for embedded systems and mobile. But, it was discontinued in its earlier stages.
  

Hope Core Java, Advanced Java and Java are well differentiated now. The relationship between them is as below.
Love Java!!! Live Java!!!

Have Cracking Password

Have Cracking Password

Web Etiquette and finding a suitable webbing name for blogging and browsing.

See below for passwords, a short new entry.
I searched over 100 web pages to find my web entry (accidental) on a blog site and what I discovered was something I should write here and is important for several reasons.
It is remarkable that several tendencies of the SMS age is evident.
1. Most of them were blogging for fun and only a very few for humor or satire.
The world without humor for me is not worth living and boring.
I like the subtle humour as opposed to crude humor where one has to tickle one's arm pit to initiate the process, almost self induced.

Humor has to be infectious and spontaneous.

The modern age of computing it it is noteworthy of its lack.
The worst of satire in Linux terms is flamming which I am opposed to.
I was brought up in a age of discussion and discrete disagreement and not infighting but that is what one sees today.
2. Second observation I notice was one does not know how to use a pseudonym or what editors call the screen or newspaper adopted name for acting and freelance writing.
The problem with this is that one wants to search for self to see how one fares in the Wild Web as opposed to Wild West of yesteryear is that the pseudonym does not appear when Googling and often to the disappointment to many. 
That is the topic here but I should state one more of my observations before getting into that topic.
3. Most of the young ones start blogging after some personal grieve (not death) and disappointment. 
Often break up of love affairs.
I often think breakups are good for many to learn real life situation before getting into serious commitments which most of them are not yet ready.
It should be of positive dynamics rather than negative, so to speak.
So blogging is not a bad thing to pass over the tide but I found a serious impediment there.
It is like this if one is attending a a diabetic clinic for the young and fall in love with a diabetic.
In noway I am going to encourage that.
Two bad genes and you (the two) end up with many diabetic children as parents. 
Getting to know another diabetic is a good for one's soul to learn to cope with but not to get married, for heaven sake.
My observation confirms that there was unhealthy pairing.
Two emotionally labile getting together leads to disaster.
Falling from ditch to a very deep pit which is worse than two diabetics getting together where on can treat the other with insulin injection.


This is sure recipe for more disappointments and even suicide.
At that stage what you need is a sympathetic friend (not a lover) and a very good counsellor with adult stature.


Back to pseudonym, coining a suitable pseudonym has to be done with care.
It is often trial and error.
I will come out with a story.
I went abroad for a short holiday and the idea was to buy a laptop without an operating system and to boot it at the airport with a Linux CD while waiting for the plane before check in call.
I actually did that.
When I went to several places knowing that I was foreigner they wanted to sell me (more profit) always with an operating system.
Eventually, it ends up almost with a fight but I did not cave in.
For my liking at last I found a very nice charming salesgirl who quoted me  a very reasonable price without an operating system (boss did not want it that way).
I had to show the guy I was not a stupid foreigner and pulled out a Puppy Linux from my front shirt pocket and booted up and in with the Internet and typed Linux and my Christian name.


Presto!
There were 20 of my entries including Gonbas, Gembas and Gambase in Linux.


My friend who was residing in that country too was amazed and he was a computer guy.
He helped me to go to the correct warehouse of course.
Without much a do we closed the deal.
Irony was the word Linux.
It is very little used in the web and my Christian name was very, very common.
It was all fortuitous but worked for me.
If one has a common name like Sara or David one can still work with it without adding numericals.
I change paradox to parafox and it is the name I use here.
Then I start using not prefix or suffix like in English.
Tailing words combined.
1. Saralive or seralive or sierralove
2. Davidknock, Davidcook or Davidcock and the vagary is almost limitless.
The word is not a English, Name or a English Word and it will hit the top of Google engine in no time.
For French it is very easy.
Just combine se, le, la to make one word.
Presto.
Only nearest word that came near my parafox was in fact French.
I use fox to fox the foxes live, like the Channel 4.
I hope you got the onions and foxes right by now.
Hope, you and your pseudonym, rise to the top in the web of antonymous.
Edited on 02-08-2013
Passwords
I wanted to write about password for sometime and kept postponing it for valid reason.
If I bear them here the hackers will use it to decode it.
So I do it free of charge on personnel basis not out in the open.
But one trick is easy to do.
In good old days, before computers and zip codes and bar coeds came in every shop had a code name with 10 letters.
Each letter represented numbers 1 to 10 in serial order.
Marked price is written in letters and not in numbers.
Same trick to remember the 25 letters in the alphabet/keyboard,
Quick Fox Runs,
12345, 678, 9,0,10,11
The mark price for 1000 = is nuu
The mark price for 1010 = is nn
For example Pig on my back or pin on my back
123, 45, 67, 89010
Password could be pi3on67bac10
One can use any combination of this and one has to remember the catch phrase only once.
Please do not use the above since the hackers may have already put the code in their search engine to crack passwords.
But one may use
Runs Fox Quick OR
Back my pin,on
Use your imagination for the catch phrase and use the numbers in reverse order.
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0
I use a different trick for my password and they come from Linux Code and only a Linux guy with lot of determination will crack it to find there is nothing valid in my emails which has not been published already in my blog sites.

Linux Experience in a Nutshell

My first Tamil and Sinhala New year Resolution is to have a long sleep after posting this.

My next new year resolution is related to the incident I discovered today.

Just today I went to drop a friend of mine to the airport and being new year we arrived at the friend's place in good time. Since I did not have a good night sleep yesterday (I was looking for various Linux gamers to download for the new year) I had a bath and had a little snooze on the arm chair.

I usually carry a book and gossip is not my pastime; I forgot the wine making book I fished out from a secondhand bookshop, unfortunately.

We had lunch and tea and all that but my friend and wife were taking an unusually long time getting ready and I was bit bored dropped into their daughters room to say hello, and found a computer and sat in front of it.

There was a glaring message saying that the hard disk is at risk and blah, blah.

Then she came in with another cup of tea before leaving and she told me that it is giving trouble and could not connect it to Internet.

I Looked at the router it was OK looking form outside (no evidence of hit by lightening) but not blinking properly and the outer panels were open pulled out the hard disk and the cable and she had another hard disk and fixed it as the slave and booted a Linux live CD (Peppermint with Google utilities) I had given him earlier.

It took a little time to configure first but in less than ten minutes with 256 RAM, I was up and running the Chromium browser and typed asokaplus and parafox.

So router part is OK and my friend was still not ready, I decided to boot the computer (XP, I believe a pirated copy vendor had installed) without the Internet cable not plugged in and I could not find any (I had given her Medi Linux disk, too but did not use it for virus check) problem and it was running well.

I booted again with Peppermint, to show how to use it, this time it quickly configured and it was up and running.

My diagnosis Microsoft secretly spying on pirated copies and infecting the hard disk and giving instructions not to recognize the router with the message I did not care to read.

Router is above the operating system and Microsoft has no right to fiddle it at that level but they are doing it on unsuspecting Sri-Lankans who are using pirated copies.

So my solution is get hold of a Linux live CD and boot it with it and go to Internet.

When using XP (pirated copies of course pull the Internet wire out, a very simple remedy).

I prefer DSL (Damn Small Linux-that is what I have given my wife) with less than 50 MiB which boots fast.

If you have enough RAM go for any Live CD I have listed in Linux 100.
The second message is to say do not use Microsoft for Internet.
Third resolution is to promote Sinhala Linux for the next 3 months and go into full hibernation so that Microsoft would not be be able to find a trace of me or my old testicles which are still producing enough testosterone to fight any villain against Linux.

If you have any brain take a few (5 enough) minutes a day and learn bit of Linux from a Live CD. It does not do any harm to your computer since it is running on RAM and there are enough forums to guide you through the early phase.

Down below is a note I sent to a Young newbie.

2 GiB is enough (not for graphic intensive windows games) for Linux except for games.

I have only one (1) GiB (4 GIB in my laptop which I use only for testing occasionally).

It is a waste of money going for more RAM with very slow Internet in Sri-Lanka.
I only use K-Torrents now and it is currently downloading at less than 5 KB/sec .
Solution is for having at least two computers.
1. For games and videos

2. Simple secondhand computer with Linux for Internet (can share with your sister or brother and family members).

3. Netbook with Android when you enter University (not now).
I have fallen out with Newtbooks and Tablets now.

Except my laptop and my daughters netbook all the computers at home are very good secondhand IBM computers (cost less than 20,000 with few updates with RAM but not graphic cards).

Secondhand desktops are good buys if you understand the hardware and look at inside before buying.

I test them with my Linux CD/DVDs before buying and there are lot of Linux utilities to test and Linux will work day and night for 10 years.

None of my computers broke down after I started using Linux (before that 3 new ones on Windows) except few graphic cards and RAM in the learning stage.

They work 24/7 schedule and the UPS battery is very important.
This is one reason I promote Linux and I do not fear viruses now.

Only down side is Games with Linux which I will probably concentrate when I retire and nothing else to do.

I have two game DVDs but I will not give it to anybody since Linux is for real and serious computing and not for games and leisure!

Never buy a secondhand laptop or netbook (I have written about secondhand laptops in my blog site).

Wait till new models come and with long battery life and you need it in the university and the government is unable to pay dons and do not expect them to help you with computers (not in Singapore though) when you eventually enter University.

Learning Linux is easy if you take one step at a time.

When I started there was nobody to guide me.
I used to read books (This is where English is important) and fast.

That is a technique (reading fast and also digesting the material) I developed on my own.

Give me any big book I will read (not from cover to cover) only what I want to solve a problem (in this case installing Linux) and pick up the important things in 3 to 4 days.

This is something essential in higher studies. One does not read for the sake of reading in science (reading in other fields including philosophy is different).

One focus on why one reads this or that and make one's own personal assessment in the course of the reading.

Early days I used to get bogged down in two or three days without any progress.

Then I take a break and think about the problem deep and somehow get to the point (D.I.Y- Do It Yourself) where I want to make progress.

It naturally comes.

We all have this natural ability but examinations do not make us better but show where we are weak.

After every examination we have to go for a higher level and a more difficult level.

Even though A Level is difficult we make life easy after the 1st year Examination.

Unfortunately 1st year examination is the most difficult for all and problem with English compounding the disability.

This is especially so in maths and IT.

Maths is difficult if one is not in it.

I was very good in my maths including applied mathematics and used to beat all in my class.

Then one day I decided to go for biology in particular (with my reading talent and the fast speed was a bonus) and without any help covered the syllabus myself (D.I.Y).

Rest was history and I never felt big but looked for the next challenge.

When you get bogged down in a mathematical problem do not try to solve it by somehow.

Think, analyze and look at the problem in a different way.

There is always several ways of solving problems and try to grasp the concept.

What I find in my teaching in the University is students struggle to grasp key points an concepts.

Not like our time.

I do not know why?

Other problem is they cannot read a manual and follow instructions according to the manual and instructions.

This is where reading is important.

So concentrate on your mathematics and English.

Rest will follow.

Linux take as a problem and a hobby to take a break from your studies.

Do not make it your first interest.

But keep trying and look at where you go wrong.

This talent is essential in IT.

There is something called fixing bugs.

This is where both mathematical concepts and programming merge.

Even though I do not write programs, I am good looking at bugs.

That probably has come from my analytical skills learnt from pathology.

Try to be a problem analyst.

The term in IT is system analyst.

If a server breaks down one has to find where and when and what has gone wrong?

Without trying to spoon feed I have given you a list or methods that I have used to solve my problem with Linux.

You try all and decide what is good for you.

One is enough at an examination but in teaching (as a teacher I have to cater for different type of students) one has to look at the global picture and focus on different aspects of a problem.

That is the difference between a student and a teacher.

It is sometimes very hard to become a good teacher.

If am given a chance I prefer to be a student.

That is where I always enjoyed.

But having to teach a brighter student is a blessing.

Linus Torvald, I like him the most because he showed that his professor was wrong.

There are many ways to solve a given problem.

Not one professors given method.

This is how the business world operate and there are Teams and not Lords

How I use my computer as a heater to warm me

How I use my computer as a heater to warm me
Internet is down to snail pace and I decided to test my computer CPUs working capacity and the memory use.
All CPUs are running currently at 25-35% capacity.
Memory use was only 30% and I have to wait one solid hour to transfer my hard disk files including films to the USB stick of 16 GiBs.
The reason being to transfer them to my laptop running Debian 10.1.0 smoothly.
In case of electricity failure I could fiddle my fingers and twist my brain to write something tangible and not political, with election heating up.
Now one of those CPUs were heating up to 50 degrees and was not to my liking.
Running a simple job of transferring files consumes electricity. 
It is all right on a cold day but on a hot day your computer is a fire hazard.
I thought of fiddling with the processor use or speed but decided against knowing very well Linux will automatically correct the scenario.
This is the advantage of having four or more processors.
Unfortunately Microsoft cannot handle this type of work which Linux does in the background.
Time for you to learn Linux and change over to Linux if you a heavy user of your computer gadgets. 
It runs for 10 years without breaking down if correctly configured.
Then I may have kicked the bucket but you can buy a new machine for your liking from the saving you have made using Linux 24/7 routine.
I have decided not to buy anymore gadgets including tablets but buy the cheapest new cellphone (in my case to play tiny games) on the market when down to half price.
But that won't warm me up but my laptop on the lap would keep me warm.
 

Debian on a USB Stick

Debian on a USB Stick

Making a Bootable USB stick (USB 2) with Debian 9.8.0 is humanly impossible.
1. I tried it with the latest DVD (First out of the 3 DVDs).
2. It has enormous amount of packages and does not fit in with a 16 GiB stick.
3. Writing took nearly four (4) hours and aborted with failure to install software.
4. I tired to (thinking that it might help to revover).
It did not (probably no space left) write a Grub file.
5. I could mount Debian on a USB 3 64 GiB stick (no installing) with MultiSystem Software.
6. I tried UnetBootIn and failed.
7. Now Linux does not support writing a Grub file on a USB stick.
My advice is to use SSD external drives.
I have several and discarding all OLD USB sticks.
Alternative is to try other Linux distributions on USB sticks.
AVLinux supports booting from a USB stick.
I do not know whether Peppermint, ElementaryOs or PinguyOS support USB booting.



It is time to say Good Bye to USB 2 sticks, except for data writing.
I am not sure one needs a swap partition for SSDs but all the same reserve some space for swap.
SSD does not support Master Boot record and one cannot install a second Linux distribution.
I have Debian on my Mater SSD but the reserved (for a second distribution) JFS partition is unusable.
New technology does not support OLD but very productive methodology.
My old turntable drives with terrabyte capacity have three or four distributions installed with over 500 GiB left for my data (films, photos, books and record of my Document Files).
One does not need cloud to store data, especially if your Internet connection and supply is pretty slow.
It is true in my case and I work only past midnight.
The technicalities behind it are tricky, but MBR is constrained by the capacity and limited number of its sectors—only 32 bits are available to represent logical sectors. You can find out more on Microsoft’s TechNet blog, but it means that MBR can only use up to 2TB of storage space. Anything larger than that, and the extra disk space is marked as unallocated and unusable.
GPT allows for 64 bits, which means that the storage limitation is 9.4ZB. That’s a zettabyte, which is one sextillion bytes or a trillion gigabytes. In practice, what it really means is that GPT has no real-world limit. You can buy any capacity drive and GPT will be able to use all of the space.
In short: MBR can support up to 2TB; GPT handles up to 9.4ZB.