LibreOffice 7.6.. Version

I just installed LibreOffice in my Ubuntu.

While opening it it created two Data Bases for me.

I did not have to remove the old version (of course without the writer) to install the new LibreOffice version .

However, the LibreOffice file is huge, 1 GB plus.

USB MultiSystem Utility

I have one MultiSystem USB which I use to display Linux distributions to new comers.

It supports most of the Ubuntu Based Distributions except Ubuntu.

I have installed Gparted as a default distribution.
It is there for "on the go" partitioning of new hard disk.

Tails do not support it now but it used to support it.

I am going to install Linux Mint cinnamon desktop today.

Arched based Manjero can be booted with MultiSystem but none of the Debian Live DVDs is supported.

It needs Squash file (single hierarchical file) for live booting.

Almost all Puppy Linux distributions support squash file system.

Instead of having several Puppy Linux USN sticks in my pocket several can be included  in a MultiSystem USB with 32GB storage.

Interestingly, Knoppix with a persistent store is included in my MultSystem USB stick.

Its booting CD is not freely available and it comes from France with English language support.

Testing Manjaro Linux, Tuxedo Linux and Linux Mint

 It is raining and Thunder Storms in Australia and I am going to be brief.

Overall I like Tuxedo since it is developed for a particular hardware. It is from Germany and I know very little German to navigate the web page.

I ended up Ctr + Alt and F1 to exit.

Manjero is good but NOT for a newcomer, for very good reasons.
I do not like this immutable file configuration system.
I come from the background of flexibility and openness but not on proprietary domination.

I some time laugh at Apple Mac users who pay through their noses and see the same software (Husband and Wife or Love and Hate relationship ) from beginning of the year to the year end.

I even say, if you have Love and Hate relationship buy an Apple Mac to steam out your frustrations.

Coming to Manjaro, good things first.

1. It configures the WiFi but one has to search through the desktop to reach the wireless tool..

2. Night light and lighter (not the darker shade) shade of the Genome desktop was pleasing for my eyes but lack of clean sheet appearance of Gnome desktop is not soothing to the eyes.

Going for bad things,

3. Installer is Calamara which I hate (see my blog piece here).

4. I look for a Writer application at the beginning (at least should include 28 to 32 MB Abiword) to open a document in my hard drive but it could not do that in a Live Session.

5. It has no software at all to begin with.

This is why, I say it is not good for a beginner.

Buy the way, I have never used Arch and it was a pain for decades and Manjaro was the only distribution which took some forward steps to popularize Arch!

So do not kill the enthusiasm by being very restrictive on software in a Live session.

Becoming Paranoid is an early sign of dementia.

Many more "itchy bits" of Manjaro but that is why I always use Ubuntu and Debian for my work.

I had been using Emmabantus which has everything one wants in one installation including WiFi (Debian was very slow to pick up but is now on equal footing with its enormous software "load" both in new Software and Synaptic package manger).

Linux Mint has Gnome, Cinnamon and Mate desktops and all are pretty good.

But I use the Debian Mint (coming from Debian base).

Gnome desktop has evolved a lot and has BOX for Virtualization which is a damn good introduction.

Rain has stopped but I will also stop for a few days.

 

Debian Live Mate USB

Debian Live Mate USB

I have logged in with a Debian Live USB-Mate Desktop here.

This live USB let you have a password for user (administrator) and for a authorized standard user permission.

In case if you lose the USB another person cannot log in.

I am going to check whether I can install additional software.

Buying a Mini PC NUC

I did a survey of Mini PCs, especially the NUC, and I have following comments and recommendations.

1. The second hand value of a NUC is below 100 dollars.

I come to this in detail.

2. Bare bone NUC is not for Gamers.

3. A good Gamer NUC with DDR 5 costs over 2500 dollars.

4. I bought a bare bone NUC with 4GB RAM two years ago for my work in Ceylon with a huge sum in Rupees (taxes added on top of it).

It has no Audio output which suits my writing style with no interference even with little background music.

I have a Smart Speaker with analogue radio with Bluetooth functionality, which is not compatible with my bare bone NUC.

It has 4 USB slots two gone for mouse and keyboard and other two can be used for Audio link to watch an old film.

I used to watch 3 films a day in my retirement but stopped seeing films for the last 6 months.

Stopped writing books for 9 months.

Mind you, I am in total retirement and sleep very well (did not sleep well in my active life).

Coming to the NUC it uses only 8 Watts when I am writing a book.

It has a small Carbon Foot Print.

That was my Goal and I continue to promote it.

5. If you play a digital game it costs a lot in Carbon Foot Print.

If you go out and play a game of your choice for 90 minutes it is good for your long term health and the amount of Carbon Dioxide you exhale can be mitigated by running a small garden with some mint plant or better still a few coriander plants with lovely aromatic smell.

6. Sitting in front of the TV screen, you become a Living Potato!

7. Coming to NUC if you play games you need 16GB RAM and better still 32GB and the RAM costs a lot.

My minimum is 4GB RAM (with two slots for 8GB RAM).

Mind you computer runs on RAM and 2GB RAM was my minimum a decade ago!

Mind you, I started with 4MB RAM 30 years ago and only played DOS games.

Coming to Linux unlike windows its resource share capability is excellent and I do not use Microsoft Words for nearly 25 years.

8. So if you bought a NUC with 2GB RAM it has no second hand value since upgrading to 8GB RAM is going to be a costly affair.

9. I have several SATA disks varying from 320 to I Terabyte.

1 Terabyte is at home in Ceylon in its original box with all my important files of 30 years (copied from my Desktop Computer) stored.

The 500GB one has old Linux distributions installed and Old Linux Iso files stored for a rainy day.

The third with 320GB, I bought to Australia inside my NUC.

It has now Ubuntu 23.10, Debian 12.4.0 and Emmabantus Debian 5 with only two blog files.

10. All my important files including "Coronavirus Saga" are posted, is in my Google Blog post ready to be cut and paste to a chapter in any of my future books.

My files are not private (except political ones, most of them,   I have removed. I am not a politician fearing a backlash).

11. If you have a NUC, with NVMe slots, it costs a lot to buy DATA storage in Terabytes.

12. Exchange of DATA inside a NUC leads to  a heatwave inside the NUC and without a fan and a heat-sink, it will catch fire especially in Australia.

Besides 60 to 100 Watts output is not conducive for indoor living.

It is like a hot (blowing camp fire) lamp in front of you.

I'll stop at that, and if you invest money invest prudently and the gadget you bought should last for at least 5 years. 

If not you have to dish it to a gullible guy or girl, short of cash for only 100 to 200 dollars.

A waste of resources!

Linux Booting-GRUB-2

Two points to remember.

Point 1

When Linux starts it checks the file integrity every time.

One should wait patiently for it to check the files. One can stop it by hitting Ctr + C but I never do that.

I am multi task man using Linux and I do not want to to start my work with a background daemon working hard to get things right. If file integrity is OK the daemon has only house keeping, to do.

Just today I found (it was warning me that var/etc file has only 400MB left) that Ubuntu was not booting stuck in file checking.

I immediately went to Ubuntu Safe Mode and removed few files and stopped installing new software for checking.

It booted nicely.

Point 2

At boot time and start time Linux gives a running commentary and make a habit to read them and one begin to realized what a lot of house keeping jobs need to be done before giving you the login screen.

Microsoft is obsessed in giving you the Login Screen before it starts that is why Windows SUCK!

Linux Booting-GRUB-2

Linux booting is standardized.

What is important is it gives a run time information of the system which one can read at a leisure using a keyboard short cut and take action as per needs of the system (only root can do that). This is important if the system is shared with other users.

It can boot alone and it can boot with Mac OS or Windows, effortlessly.

Problem is its implementation by various distributions available.

Furthermore, Linux Debian Calamara Installer has its own problems, booting with the EFI partition. 

It does not let or recognize the other distributions residing in the same hard disk or any other disk attached to it (in my case, attached through a USB port in the Intel NUC).

I have gone through this booting protocol hundred times, if not more, it is second nature to figure out the problems associated with the distribution. If problems remains or continue to pester, I dish it out for a better distribution.

First of all, the GPT partition tool which can be booted from a CD or USB stick does not have any issues creating a EFI partition.

It is the responsibility of the developers to implement booting protocol without an added restricting script.

I think Zorin (I have never tested it fully), a commercial distribution that comes from UK that has a script written in, so that another distribution (sorry if I am wrong) cannot boot.

This is true with Sparky Linux that comes from Poland which does not let one uses a user account under the root. It has to be booted with root permission which exposes all the file system and the password that can be exploited.

That is why I almost blacklist (there are other subtle reasons) Sparky Linux.

Astra Linux also does not permit user account but in defense of it, it lets one boot other distributions including windows.

There are no more options left for Russian developers.

The 3 distributions that seamlessly configure EFI boot partition are

1. Ubuntu

2. Emmabantus

3. Debian 12.4.0 version (not the 11 series)

Coming back to booting there is no GRUB version 1.

Legacy Version or Zero (0) Version do exist but it jumped to GRUB 2 Version.

I haven't had any problem with GRUB 2 but only the implementation or the use of EFI partition by various developers with insinuating scripts at boot time that restricts, parallel booting. 

The Linux distributions that are commercially orientated are the culprits.

They cannot match Debian and Ubuntu (Ubuntu is Debian based).

One cannot kill the Raja or the Elephant in the room, that is Debian, the maestro!.

Linux Productivity Utilities

Linux has enormous pool of productivity tools.

I started with GIMP (now version 2.8 version) for manipulating photographs with rafter graphics.  

My main plan was to reduce the layering bulk and make a png file for Web transport.

It has many formats including jpg.
The pdf or the portable document format is light and has solved many of my problems.

The other utility was Open Office 1 to 3 (work with thesis was done on Open Office, Big Thank You) and later I transferred myself to Abiword for my book publishing. 

Abiword is built in command line format to begin with and it does not let you number the pages at lib.

 I have solved this little annoyance by opening the Abi file in Libre Office and numbering the pages. When I open it in Abi word it recognizes the page numbers and I position these precisely with Abiword.

Abiword Page Format is the best in current use.

Last few books I did with LibreOffice 7 as an experiment, since Abiword was only available in Emmabantus, then.

Currently Abiword 3.0.5 is available in Debian 12.4.0 and Ubuntu 24.10.

I am going back to Abiword in Debian in my next book.
 

That book is about a Ceylonese dog who lost his memory!

The BEST utility of Abiword is its ability to remove formatting when copying and in the last 2 years or so, the LibreOffice has also implemented copying without formatting.

That is the best way to kill Microsoft's buggy Macros with Viruses.

Now there are many other word processing utilities which include Only Office, Manuscript, Collabra, Callibra, Kate, LibreOffice, TyTex, Groof of BSD and the commercial Google and Microsoft words.

TyTex is like Latex and is a command line utility.

This is besides lot of NOTE taking applications that were developed for Android devices that are now adopted and ported by the Linux Community.

RedNote.
Gnote
Note and many more.

The utilities I rarely used are
1. Blender
2. Scribus
3. VM Ware Box and Virtual Box.

Multimedia
VLC
Audacity
Clementine
and many more

Video and Audio editors

These applications are bundled in one DVD and the rest not available can be downloaded from Software Store or Synaptic Software Center.

Debian 12.4.0 has integrated both Debian and Synaptic under one hood.

Even Ubuntu lately have followed suit and using Android utilities.

By the way, Android is Linux with a proprietary tag!

If one is not using Linux he or she is loosing a lot of money, time and resources.

Debian base has over 60,000 packages and up to 21 DVDs for installation.

There are also at least 8 Live DVDs with different desktops.

You are FREE to try and all what you need is a good Internet connection and at worst, a portable USB mounted Hard Disk.

You can carry all these in your pocket.

I use Intel NUC without a Fan.

I only carry couple of USB sticks with Puppy Linux, not an Immutable copy but a Persistent copy which is mounted on RAM and in an available space in a bootable partition (in the hard disk one uses).

If you install at least one SWAP partition (I use at least 3) temporary pages (not files) are swapped at run time.

The SWAP partition can be formatted without harming the distribution.

Microsoft uses only temporary files and pages and with no SWAP partition, the recovery of a big file is dicey!

That is why Microsoft has gone to the cloud for safety and recovery.

If the Internet breaks down with lot of Cyber guys operating now, having your own hard disk or portable disk is mandatory.

RAIDS and NAS need network connectivity.

I think I missed talking about various pdf editing utilities in Linux.

Partitioning for Linux Installation

"(I forgot to mention that I have a ntfs partition for saving all my current Linux Iso Images.)"

This not about partitioning a hard drive.

 Linux is very well streamlined OS and it can reside in only 100GB.

I have a SATA disk of 320GB and it has 3 Linux distributions and NO Windows. 

I used to dual boot with Windows and certainly NOT for about 25  years.

Linux has enormous (60,000) packages and I decided to pick and choose with about 1500 to 2500 packages in Debian and Ubuntu.

I did follow my standard old method and I realized I need to increase the var partition for stability.

For Linux installation one /root partition is good enough but for stability one need at least 5 to 7 partitions.
If one ignore the modern EFI boot partition of about 528MB, the partitions I use are
/boot partition of 1GB.
/root partition about 30 to 40GB.
/var partition about 20GB
I have additional 40GB left.
/ home partition get 28GB
/tmp of 2GB
 

That is my global plan and if I have any additional space say another 100GB I will allocate that to my home partition.
There are other partition in use when the computer is shared.
That include
/srv for shared services
/srv/local
/opt is similar to temporary but more organized.
 

That's about all.

In addition one need SWAP partition of Twice the RAM.

I use at least 3 SWAP partition in between the working distributions.
 

The SWAP partition can be formatted without loosing DATA.

Linux Installation and Wireless Connection

When Internet connection were slow I used advice guys and girls not to be connected to Internet while installing especially with Debian.
I have to revise this safety information.
Ubuntu effortlessly connect to internet both wireless and ethernet.
Now Debian 12.4.0 has no problem with wireless internet.
Emmabantus was my favourite in the past because it was the only one apart from Ubuntu that had wireless connectivity.
Emmabantus Iso is not available in Linux Tracker, and I had to fish it from its home site.
It is a good distribution with plenty of packages including Abiword.
I just had problem with snapd and snap daemon with Ubuntu.
It would not boot and I have to reinstall Ubuntu.

Abiword was My Christmas Gift for Debian 12.4.0

 Abiword was My Christmas Gift for Debian 12.4.0.

It was with lot of searching (Debian Install did not support Abiword package) I found another Software Package installer.

It has many of the mobile application including dictionaries.

What a discovery?

Debian Linux (12.4.0) Live CD/DVD and Install DVD 1 to 21

 Yes I have successfully installed Debian 12.4.0 with Wirless connection.

Thank YOU guys and girls of Debian.

It also recognized Astra Linux and Emmabantus Debian 5 Edition.

Good thing about Debian ,12.4.0 is unlike 12.2.0 it recognized my NUC and I am installing it now.
Debian DVD 1 has all the type of Linux desktops and that is why I love it.

At boot time one can pick and choose the desktop one wishes to work on a particular session.

It is the regular install and not the finicky Calamara Install which hate.

The new Debian Cinnamon live has solved my Wireless Internet configuration.

Than you guys and girls, the old DVD 1 of Debian 12.2.0, I could not mount on my NUC.

I will try 12.4.0 instead.

This piece done on a live CD session.

It is time for me to give an Update on Debian.

It is the Number 1 of all Linux distributions.

Debian Linux 12.4.0 is out

It has 21 Install DVDs.

There are Live DVDs in Mate, Cinnamon, Lxqt, LXDE, Xfce, Gnome and many more.

If the DVD one is not supporting your old deices please feel free to try Live DVDs and and install same on your Laptop or PC.

VanillaPup-64

 I have a very short comment on Vanilla Puppy Linux.

It has sacrificed the utility value of Linux for the glossy appearance.

That is a fundamental mistake.

It cannot configure the Wireless Internet.

Any Linux distribution that cannot configure Wireless Networking is not worth testing.

My advice for them is to work on the first 512MB of the distribution for basic utilities so that it can be booted from a 1GB stick (hard to find) and the rest can be downloaded from the home page of the distribution.

The glossy appearance can be worked out later.

It is like a chocolate, the basic ingredients are chocolates, sugar, milk and salt.

Rest is old wrapping outside.

Once the original Linux Chocolate is good, the taste and flavour can be added on (not padded on).

This is the problem with Apple Mac and Windows, they have one flavour and one is stuck with it.

Linux has more than 300 flavours (chocolate has over 330 chemical ingredients) and www,distrowatch.com highlight 100 of them.

FatDog-901 Version is Pretty Good

FatDog image is only 500MB and fits in a OLD 512MB USB stick BUT I prefer at least 4GB stick to install additional software.

After configuring the Wireless Internet, bit different from Easy OS by selecting the Panel Item in the bottom for the internet connection.

It has Ducky Duck Seamonkey browser but I installed both Chrome Browser and my favorite FireFox Browser.

Everything is breezy with FatDog.

FatDog control panel let you configure your system.

I did not try to configure since I am going to test another Puppy Derivative from the same USB stick.

I have only one Scan Disk USB stick for all these testing.

Debian Bookworm 64 PuP cannot Configure Wireless Internet

Bookworm PUP compared to Easy OS cannot configure Wireless Internet, I'll come to that later.

1. Bookwork Pup is an iso image, whereas Easy Pup is an image that is converted to EFI first partition and second bootable Ext4 File by image writer.

2. Bookwork can be written to a USB but it identifies itself as CV and not USB.

3. Bookwork is bit graphic intensive whereas Easy Pup has a smooth graphic face.

4. Regarding Wireless Internet connection all Debian derivatives classically fail (they are Ethernet based) wireless test except Emmabantus.

That is why I use Emmabatus for ages, since I do blogging and I need quick Internet access.

This is very important for me when I am on holiday mood and travelling and shopping on the fly.

I carry several bootable Linux distributions on USB especially Puppy Linux. 

Say if I want to buy a laptop, I boot it with my USB and test for its said performance and hardware criteria.

Bookworm PUP does not have a panel for entering the password.

It ask for a phrase instead of the password. I believe phrase is used as a second criteria after the password.

Hope they rectify this.

Until then I will use Easy OS.

Easy OS-Puppy Linux

I just downloaded Easy OS (Puppy Linux) and installed it to a USB stick using Image writer.

Booted it.

Configured Wireless Network

Signed in with Gmail to my blog post.

Finished posting this piece in 5 minutes.

This was after I made a sore comment in www.distrowatch.com on Sparky Linux which comes from Poland. 

Using the new version of Sparky Linux is a waste of time.

Thank you to all Puppy Linux Developers.

I have downloaded all active Puppy Linux distributions in less than 24 hours by torrent.

I am Puppy Linux Lover and I am in Australia currently.

Barry Kauler of Australia developed Puppy Linux, first.

It is cool, it has a small footprint and a classic Linux Utility (can be installed) and using the word distribution to it is a misnomer.

Only Knoppix can beat it on the number of utilities but Knoppix is almost dormant from 2020.

Gnoppix is a welcome addition.

Easy OS has followings.

1. Container Folder

2. Data Folder

3. File Folder 

4. Release Folder

5. sfs Folder

6. Initrd

7. vmlinux

Squash File

Squash may be a Linux term for compression when USB sticks were only 512MB. It opens up and expand in a Live Session.

I used a 512MB stick for my first Puppy Linux!

Squash File (I have forgotten the details) is a one long text file including boot instructions of legacy boot time.

Easy OS uses EFI file that requires only 528MB (much bigger than the boot file in legacy time).

Microsoft UEFI framework tried to destroy dual booting of Linux.

EFI is Linux solution to blatant interference of FREE Internet use by Bill Gate Clients who were working with dead Epstein (I believe murdered Epstein)!

SFS files use the SquashFS file system, which is compressed and pretty much only supported by Unix/Linux. 

 ISO files are much less standardized as well as uncompressed, so they can be used in a lot more way, including as a generic file container.

SquashFS

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia SquashFS

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Squashfs

Squashfs is a compressed read-only file system for Linux.  Squashfs compresses files, inodes and directories, and supports block sizes from 4 KiB up to 1 MiB for greater compression. Several compression algorithms are supported. Squashfs is also the name of free software, licensed under the GPL, for accessing Squashfs filesystems. Squashfs is intended for general read-only file-system use and in constrained block-device memory systems (e.g. embedded systems) where low overhead is needed. Uses Squashfs is used by the Live CD versions of Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo Linux, Linux Mint, openSUSE, Salix, Ubuntu, NixOS, Clonezilla, Kali Linux, KDE neon and on embedded distributions such as the OpenWrt and DD-WRT router firmware. It is also used in Chromecast, in Tiny Core Linux for packaging extensions, and for the system partitions of some Android releases (Android Nougat). It is often combined with a union mount filesystem, such as UnionFS, OverlayFS, or aufs, to provide a read-write environment for live Linux distributions. This takes advantage of both Squashfs's high-speed compression abilities and the ability to alter the distribution while running it from a live CD. Distributions such as Debian Live, Mandriva One, Puppy Linux, Salix Live and Slax use this combination. The AppImage project, which aims to create portable linux applications, uses squashfs for creating appimages. The Snappy package manager also uses squashfs for its ".snap file format". Squashfs is also used by Linux Terminal Server Project and Splashtop. The tools unsquashfs and mksquashfs have been ported to Windows NT – Windows 8.1. 7-Zip also supports Squashfs.  History Squashfs was initially maintained as an out-of-tree Linux patch. The initial version 1.0 was released on 23 October 2002.In 2009 Squashfs was merged into Linux mainline as part of Linux 2.6.29.In that process, the backward-compatibility code for older formats was removed. Since then the Squashfs kernel-space code has been maintained in the Linux mainline tree, while the user-space tools remain on the project's GitHub page. The original version of Squashfs used gzip compression, although Linux kernel 2.6.34 added support for LZMA and LZO compression, Linux kernel 2.6.38 added support for LZMA2 compression (which is used by xz), Linux kernel 3.19 added support for LZ4 compression, and Linux kernel 4.14 added support for Zstandard compression.

Squashfs is intended for general read-only file-system use and in constrained block-device memory systems (e.g. embedded systems) where low overhead is needed.

Uses

Squashfs is used by the Live CD versions of Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo Linux, Linux Mint, openSUSE, Salix, Ubuntu, NixOS, Clonezilla, Kali Linux, KDE neon and on embedded distributions such as the OpenWrt^[1] and DD-WRT router firmware. It is also used in Chromecast,^[2] in Tiny Core Linux for packaging extensions, and for the system partitions of some Android releases (Android Nougat).^[3] It is often combined with a union mount filesystem, such as UnionFS, OverlayFS, or aufs, to provide a read-write environment for live Linux distributions. This takes advantage of both Squashfs's high-speed compression abilities and the ability to alter the distribution while running it from a live CD. Distributions such as Debian Live, Mandriva One, Puppy Linux, Salix Live and Slax use this combination. The AppImage project, which aims to create portable linux applications, uses squashfs for creating appimages. The Snappy package manager also uses squashfs for its ".snap file format".

Squashfs is also used by Linux Terminal Server Project and Splashtop. The tools unsquashfs and mksquashfs have been ported to Windows NT^[4] – Windows 8.1.^[5] 7-Zip also supports Squashfs.^[6]

History

Squashfs was initially maintained as an out-of-tree Linux patch. The initial version 1.0 was released on 23 October 2002.^[7] In 2009 Squashfs was merged into Linux mainline as part of Linux 2.6.29.^[8][9] In that process, the backward-compatibility code for older formats was removed. Since then the Squashfs kernel-space code has been maintained in the Linux mainline tree, while the user-space tools remain on the project's GitHub page.^[10]

The original version of Squashfs used gzip compression, although Linux kernel 2.6.34 added support for LZMA^[11] and LZO compression,^[12] Linux kernel 2.6.38 added support for LZMA2 compression (which is used by xz),^[13] Linux kernel 3.19 added support for LZ4 compression,^[14] and Linux kernel 4.14 added support for Zstandard compression.^[15]

Linux kernel 2.6.35 added support for extended file attributes.

 

Booting with Ubuntu and EFI Configuration

Ubuntu as usual saved me from trouble.

Most of the current Linux distribution cannot identify already installed distribution in the hard disk.

Emmabantus Debian 5 even though, a pretty good distribution, could not identify the boot file of Astra Linux (Russian distribution based on Debian).

What I did was to install Ubuntu at the end and it automatically find the distributions and configure the GRUB boot loader.

Ubuntu has a good partition tool!

That's about it.

Expirion OS

Expirion OS

Expire OS is a sleek Linux distribution I found by accident.

It has only two versions Gnome and Mate.

I love it.

It is only available by direct download. 

I have they would release a torrent file in due course.

 

Debian's Calamara Installer and EFI Booting

Debian's Calamara Installer is a bit of a pain if you have multiple Linux Distributions in your PC or NUC box.
I wanted to install three Linux distributions on my NUC base with only 320GB SATA disk.

Come Christmas time, I stop all work and download, my favorite distributions by torrent client and test them on a USB stick and pick few of them for my daily work.
My pick this year are;
1. Debian Emmabantus Version 5
2. Russian Star Linux
3. Sparky Linux for games

Debian 12.2 has depreciated my NUC base and I cannot install it.
I am not in a hurry to by a ASUS Mini since I know the prices wil come down crashing.
Redhat and Suse I have given up long time ago.

Yes EFI does recognize only one distribution.
There is no way booting others.
I will work out a solution before New Year.

WiFi Settings
Almost all of the old Linux Distributions assume one is having a Wired Ethernet.
Except for Emmabanrus and Ubunru, all of them could not configure the WiFi including Debian 11 Version.
Debian 12 version (I could not test) probably may have figured out a solution.

I do not believe in monthly postpaid services for intermittent Internet work.
I use my cell phone for important information.
Once I have downloaded the Linux images I do not need an internet connection for my work.
A good dictionary is by my side for checking spellings and picking smart words.
So prepaid SIM card is used for my work and I keep a minimum balance for emergency calls.
I rarely use a cellphone and for the last 9 months I have given only one call to my bank in Ceylon.
The cell phone wastes productive time.
Email is cheaper and it keeps almost permanent record and one cannot deny receiving (even if it is in the junk folder) an email.
By the way, I erased everything in my email client.
Even Pinterest I consider as an inconvenience.

One more comment when Installing a distribution the current locality is important.
If the dialog box does not have your location, what one has to do is to go back a step in installation and select the language of use.
For me it is English.
In that stage all the countries that support Linux are listed and one selects ones own locality.
I used to do this after installation in the past.

Star Linux has many advantages.
It has its own database utility which is rarely found in Linux distributions.
It has good Boot Loader which identify other distributions already installed.
It has both legacy BIOS and EFI boot loader.
It has its own on the FLY utilities.
It has a total of only 1650 packages whereas Debian has over 2500 packages.
Only downside is it takes long time to install and one has to sit in front of the monitor and respond to its installment requirement.
It has good virtualization utility.
If you go down for a cup of tea it stalls and wait for your response.
Overall it is a good distribution to have in addition to Debian.

It is a military grade distribution for Stability and Reliability based on Debian Base.

Endless OS Version 5 is available.
I have downloaded it but did not test it live.

By the way, I am going to take a break and there won't be any blog pieces, the moment the election is declared.

I am not involved in any development but testing only.

Thanks a lot to the Community of Developers of Linux.
Without You Developers Linux would not have survived.

When I started only 32 guys worldwide.

I think it has gone up above 5% now.

Sucxnet

Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first uncovered in 2010 and thought to have been in development since at least 2005. 

Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and is believed to be responsible for causing substantial damage to the nuclear program of Iran.

Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, multiple independent news organizations recognize Stuxnet to be a cyberweapon built jointly by the United States and Israel in a collaborative effort known as Operation Olympic Games. 

The program, started during the Bush administration, was rapidly expanded within the first months of Barack Obama's presidency.

Linux Distributions-Update

I have some good news for Linux Gamers.
Batocera game image is available as a torrent file.
I would have been the first person to download it and there were almost none peers.
I hope guys start downloading it so enough peers are there for quick download.

I am ditching Sparky Linux.

I have tested few distributions with USB booting.

1. Open Mumba Live DVD did not boot from the USB.

2. Tuxedo Linux for the first time, I managed to boot from a USB with KDE desktop. Nothing fancy to talk about it.

3. Debian 12.2 won't boot on my basic NUC.

4. I am currently writing Astral Linux Oriel on USB stick to test.

Both are working OK.

5. Parsix Linux (coming from IRAN) which is depreciated from 2017 would boot from a USB stick but it won't identify NUC's integrated RAM and Video Card even under safe Video Mode.

6. EndlessOS Version 5 

EndlessOS freeze after configuring the wirless internet.

I think it cannot recognize the wireless keyboard and freeze dead.

I did not have any problem with Version 4.

7. Stuxnet

Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first uncovered in 2010 and thought to have been in development since at least 2005. 

Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and is believed to be responsible for causing substantial damage to the nuclear program of Iran.

Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, multiple independent news organizations recognize Stuxnet to be a cyberweapon built jointly by the United States and Israel in a collaborative effort known as Operation Olympic Games. 

The program, started during the Bush administration, was rapidly expanded within the first months of Barack Obama's presidency. 

8. SOLUS OS

Solus OS seems to be a Linux distribution that tries to emulate MacOS but it does have one desktop at a time.

One has to download several images.

This is cumbersome for a beginner user of Linux. 

I am getting a warning from my computer DATA LEAK is possible with SOLUS Gnome Desktop.

It had about 20 utilities and because of the warning I did not authorize WiFi connection.

Its icon set up was large and bulky.

9. LPS or TENS
This was a military application developed by American Air Force to snoop on computers without leaving a record.
It is a SHS client.
Changed its name to Trusted End Note Security.
LPS was a Linux CD.
Lightweight Portable Security.
I stopped using it when I realized it was a military software which I nothing to do with.

10. Tails
I support tails for countries where dictators suppress human dignity
The
Incognito
Amnesia
Live
System.
It is Debian based and open software.
NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden use it to expose American Digital Surveillance.

11. Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux was my start and favorite.

It comes from Australia and Barry Kauler is its creator.


12. Knoppix

One of the best all purpose Linux Distribution.

Last edition is on 2020.


13. Vanilla Pup

It is a new look Puppy Linux that configures WiFi effortlessly.

It has limited utilities.

Good for a guy coming from base without Linux know how. 

14. Gnoppix

It is developed due to slow pace Knoppix (9.1) release.

It is nowhere near original Knoppix (2020) and it cannot configure the Internet which Puppy Vanilla can.

15. Expirion Linux

Is a very beautiful Linux distribution that has two flavours, Cinnamon and Gnome.

I love it.

16. Mageia Linux
Mageia Linux is not available live and it took over my hard disk and erased everything in a few seconds including Linux Iso Images.
This is the second time it had done this damage.

Its partition tool is poor and destructive and does not warn like other distributions.

Luckily I had Debian Emmabantus in a USB stick and reinstalled it.
Currently installing Astra Linux of Russian origin.

I have saved 138GB of the 320GB SATA disk testing other Linux distribution I fancy.

No data lost except a few Linux images!

Students’ English Requirements

There was a long pause between initial lectures and practical sessions in the second year. 

What I did was to give the students photocopies of various items including news items to read for half an hour and ask questions based on what they read. The idea was for them to take a book on subject matter and make them to understand that academic English is completely different from "English English".

Then, they should relate the subject matter in their own English.

Their Paraphrasing lets me understand the difficulties they encounter in the subject matter. 

No point getting the English right if they do not understand the core concepts.

The subject I taught defined all the core material necessary for clinical work.

I felt the basic sciences took a toll on 95% of the students. 

They teach "Heavy Stuff" often not necessary for clinical work. 

Besides, they did not know how to use a microscope after one year of intensive lecturing. 

 

My findings – Students’ English Requirements

1. According to the recent survey carried out with the students of the Faculty of Dental Sciences, majority of the students prefer to have English at least two hours per week in the first year.

2.  Contrary to the belief that the student needs only General English input, there is a sufficient demand for "Academic English".

3. None of the students feels comfortable with all the components of General and Academic English 

4. It appears that they are comfortable with note taking. 

   However, they tend to copy ‘word for word’ without comprehending the contents. 

   It is worth checking a sample of student notes to see how they tally with  a standard lecture notes.

5. Summarizing, analysing and paraphrasing with heathy discussion of important concepts at  academic level may be necessary to improve performance.

To put them into context I have paraphrased two of the subjective comments randomly selected below (at the end of the first year).

I hope I have provided “food for thought' for improving the level of English of our students in the first year.

Comment 1

English course is not geared to help the academic course.

I cannot understand most of the lecture since the flow of the lecture is too fast.

Since I cannot understand I try to take notes as fast as possible without listening or comprehending.

The end result is both writing and listening fail.

 

A lecture note may be helpful. 

Then I can listen and try to comprehend!

 

Comment 2

I think grammar is necessary to express clearly. 

The English course did not provide sufficient input.

There was no support for English in the first year.

I hope the second year won't be like that.

 

Emmabantus Debian 4 and 5

First let me dispense with Debian 12 and KDE plasma.

My basic Intel NUC with 4GB RAM with integrated Graph Card cannot boot Debian 12 from a USB stick.

However, it boots well with Debian 11. The old Debian 11 version cannot configure Wireless Network. 

It works only with a Ethernet input.

I have erased it and installed Sparky Linux Game Over in that partition (in fact, in a dedicated partition in 320 GB SATA disk).

I have Emmabantus 4 already installed in it but it does not configure Bluetooth.


However it is the only distribution which identifies the wireless Internet.

Currently only Emmabantus 4 identify all the distributions in my NUC and configure the GRUB file.

So if you have a working Emmabantus 4 do not think of upgrading to 5.

Besides Cairo Dock is no longer supported by Debian 5 version.

So I decided to install Emmabantus 5 which is derivative of Debian 12 as my Debian base.

Emmabantus 5 is superb and it took 48 hours for me to figure out its versatility.

1. It is not bulky and fits in a 4GB USB stick but for safety I used a 8GB stick.

2. It has Bluetooth.

3. It is single boot and ignores my Sparky Linux and Emmabantus.

4. It is multilingual.

5. Detect Wireless Internet effortlessly.

6. Mind you Linux distributions were historically Ethernet based utilities.

7. At boot time Emmabantus 5 lets you configure your system including which language to use, red light shift, desktop type (2) and importantly has a script to rewrite the GRUB File.

One does not have to manually configure the GRUB boot loader.

One has to tick the GRUB tool. Since GRUB did not recognize other distributions, what I did was to download Debian 11 Version and install it.


Presto!


Debian 11 Edition did recognize other distributions and updated the GRUB file and now all three (Debian 11, Emmabantus Debian 5 Edition and Sparky Linux) distributions can be booted.

Sparky Linux Game Over has lot of FREE games.

I did download Star Linux of Russia but did not try it on my NUC.

I have a USB stick with MultiSystem Utility.

Following cannot be booted (cannot form single bootable sfs file)

Sparky Linux.

OpenMandriva

Astra Linux

Ubuntu 23-04

Christmas Countdown

It is Christmas countdown.

Let us forget cricket and get on with our day to day life.

There are lot who cannot celebrate Christmas, either due to sickness, lost of loved ones or alcohol or substance abuse.

Spare a thought for them.

Christmas is for give and take.

We are just recovering from a global pandemic and spare a thought for the ones who left us long before the due date.

Equally, be vigilant since another virus variant may spring up due to our own lapses and excesses.

Happy Christmas 2023 and New Year, 2024!

I am out of commission and no blog pieces for at least 6 weeks.

How Indians Ruined Cricket

I love cricket.
West Indies and Australians brought cricket to limelight whereas, English cricket administrators doing their best with the help of Indians to ruin it.

These comments, I have picked up from 80 year old Ian Chappel with my own insinuations.

Just look at a 1970 and 1980 cricket games  West Indies against Australia.

Even captain Andy Roberts would play a hard game to run three runs.

There are occasions they have run 4 runs under scorching sunshine.

It was not a bollywood game played by actors and actresses.

1. Long time ago, Cricket grounds were big.

Indians made cricket grounds smaller.

2. Scoring a six was difficult on those big grounds.

Indians made cricket grounds so that six is normal and boundary is rare.

Three runs the rarest of all!

I think Indian must get the Bollywood girls to play on these small grounds.

3. Just look at Vivian Richards.
They used to work hard running between wickets and they were very athletic.

Given current small grounds Vivian would have scored twice as much.

In other words, each run is worths twice of todays runs.

Each six today is equivalent to four runs those days.

Only exception is Glen Maxwell.

4. These guys were not interested in statistics.

They play the game by merit.

5. They never made cricket grounds to suit the guest country.

Getting a team out under 100 was rare.

Getting 300 was rare then.

6. It used to be a male dominant game and balls and bats were made according to a tradition.

7. It is rare to see a wicket cartwheeling!

So me not watching Indian Cricket is a natural phenomenon.

8. I was pleased when India lost.

9. That is what happens when cricket becomes politicized.

10. I want cricket becoming an Olympic Game and a Global Entity.

11. Do not make cricket a bookie game for
Sumathipala, Shammi Silva, Ranatunge and Wijedasa family game.

12. Above all do not make cricket a lady's game!

Rape, Attempt at Rape and Illegal Complaints

I was a medical man but I am a civilian off Legal Entanglements for the past 23 years.

I can talk like a citizen.

1. Legal system should NOT be biased.

There should be equal opportunity for parties both accused and the complainant especially, if the complaint is false and a cooked up story created abroad.

2. Accused is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

3. Complainant has the burden to prove it beyond reasonable doubt.

4. In a case of rape accused should make an immediate complaint to the police and the police should subject her to medical examination as soon as possible to obtain vital information and specimens.

5. It is the duty of the doctor (expert  witness) to examine quickly and preserve productions and give a duplicate sample to the victim for independent examination.

6. I have caught a few paedophiliacs in England as part of my duty.

There was a English Prime Minister who was an ace paedophiliac.

There were 37 paedophiliacs in the parliament during my time.

I left UK long time ago and my last case was a policeman.

7. Attempted rape is a ploy to get compensation.

It is always dicy for the complainant.

8. I represent the innocent who are accused wrongly.

This is a political game politicians use to hoodwink the voter.

There are over 50 criminals in our parliament and stupid voters have voted them in.

Voters need not be sent to prison since their life in Ceylon is a living (hell) prison worse than the Palestine under Zionists.

Transgender "Cow Boys" Destroying Women Sports

These "Cow Boys" are born with a man's body and is a disgrace to sports.

I am one who is against Woke Culture of Biden.

Equality and Equity do not apply to transgender guys.

They are genetically males.

As a medical man I say one has to be diagnosed genetically not phenotypically.

I think most Sports Administrators are homosexuals and got confused in the process of identifying their own sex identity and orientation.

It is a very bad thing in administration!

Bed Head Ticket and Diagnostic Tips

This is just to expose the duplicity of medical wheeler dealing in public and private hospitals.

1. Blood picture is one of those tests that can discover many underlying diseases and rarely requested in present day setup.

Coulter blood count is almost superfluous and rarely diagnose disease in early stages.

Whereas, a simple blood picture (by a competent guy or girl) can diagnose liver diseases, kidney diseases and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (advanced stage of  shock).

2. Blood count does not help except in an advanced stage of leukaemia.

There is a cell called Natural Killer Cell in the blood picture.

This is the cell that eliminates cancer cells and gives a clue to underlying cancer.

During D.J.V.P. insurrection, I used to go to the laboratory secretly, during lunch time and examine (preliminary screening) all the blood films.

There was a blood film of a GP on the tray.

I examined it and found a lot of Natural Killer Cells (simple staining) and I wanted to talked to the surgeon (our PR guy).

I told him this guy has a prostate cancer and did you do a PR.

He said NO.

He asked how do you know?

I told him you have to put your foot in.

He got the message!

This guy (GP) had been coming to the hospital for nealy 9 months and nobody had considered an underlying serious condition.

He did have a prostate cancer and I did not explore anymore.

It brings me to the next topic.

4. Next important thing for me is the Temperature Chart.

This guy who presented with underlying cancer would have had a consistently elevated basal temperature.

His presentation was PUO or Pyrexia of Unknown Origin.

There is a standard procedure for PUO.


5. Next important thing is ESR.

Things were bad under Sirimavo and NM time.

I did neither had a MLT nor a Microscope at my Base Hospital.

I did not have any facilities and ESR was the only test.

I managed to get a stock of capillary tubes.

ESR had to be mounted everyday by 8AM.

I come to ward at 9AM.

I look at the serum and diagnose hepatitis and I confirm that with the sclera.

Hepatitis was endemic then.

Cholera was sporadic.

Careful examination above the serum would indicate the platelet status (low or high).

Malaria had to be diagnosed with the temperature chart but I took several blood films and sent them to the MRI for confirmation.

List can go on but let me stop here by saying that every test has to be supported with BHT records.

Otherwise, it becomes a hapless routine!

Reliability of the tests is fundamental to the diagnosis.

Specificity and Sensitivity are the key components.

None of the current tests is specific nor sensitive in the 21st century.

I can kick the bucket now in peace and I won't  subject to any of these tests except at the Border Zone of a country for a VISA application.

They are only interested in Tuberculosis which is very difficult to diagnose.

In closing, I must state, one of my aunts who was a nurse was diagnosed as a cancer but she died of tuberculosis.

Everybody missed it!

I was never consulted but duly attended the funeral.

"Rare manifestation of commoner diseases are commoner than rare diseases" is a catch phrase in medicine.

She did have all the tell tale signs and a few symptoms.

Perhaps, she would have hid the symptoms to the five girls in the family (fairly well educated).

Uncle I reserve my comments, perhaps he may have had some grudge with my father.

My father of course neglected us and cared for them until they were fully employed.

From them, I have not received even an extra nib for my pen that got me to the university.

Once I made it a point to state that fact emphatically.

He blushed.

I used to love Parker Pens and I still have one as a souvenir.

Playing Games on Linux Distributions

Linux can run Windows games using Wine or Proton.

SteamOS is a game dedicated Linux distribution.

Sparky Linux Gamer is another distribution.

Nvidia graphic cards have proprietary drivers but most new Linux distributions have compatible drivers in their kernel already incorporated. 

AMD and Intel GPUs support Linux and one need not worry about the drivers.

1. Search for Steam iso and install it.

2. Proton layer to support games.

3. There is also GE Proton for incompatible games.

4. Epic Game Store.

Needs official client launcher called Heroic.
Download and install heroic.

5. UBSOFT or Origin
User defined script is necessary.
Lutris game manager is used.

6. Battle Neck and Blizzard Games

7. GOG

8. Tools

FSR and FPS

Science (Practical) Education in Ceylon

Current President started as a Education Minister and his Boss, the Political Fox of Ceylon are the two guys who ruined our education in general and science education in particular.

J.R.J. thought by giving educational books free to students he would improve education in Ceylon.

He thought by ruining public schools and universities he could start private (fee paying) learning institutes.

They (private partners) were interested in only Medical Schools, so that the rich people have easy passage to medical degrees.

This did not include dentistry.

This lead to protest and students forming students unions.

For over 30 years school books were never updated.

R.W.   24-03-1949
King.  14-11-1948
Anura.15.02-1949

Trump 14-06-1946
Biden.  20-11-1942
Putin.   07-20-1952
Boris    19-06-1962
Sunak  12-05-1980

Cameron 09-10-1966
Albanese 02-03-1963

Rajapaksa 18-11-1945
Prabhakaran 26-11-1954

Global Knowledge Index Ceylon is 91st out of 133.

This piece is mainly on use of microscopes.

Most students have never seen a microscope until they enter a leading university.

Most of them have never seen a telescope.

I do not think we have an Electron Microscopes (not a necessity, anyway,) in Ceylon.

When we were students in Peradeniya we had one and it broke down within one year.

I was fascinated by simple microscope as a school kid.

I did spent my own money to by a digital microscope (student type) for my own research work and it is still in working order.

Our students only look at enlarged pictures of microscopic features at school and expect them to see them under a simple microscope.

When they cannot see those features they become confused and agitated.

They have never seen a blood film let alone a malaria (somebody in the internet say malaria is a virus) parasite.

They cannot identify a macrophage, lymphocyte, basophil, eosinophil and a neutrophil.

Laboratory technicians I have trained in Private sector are better than an average doctor in Ceylon.

When I was working in the Dental Faculty we managed to get 25 microscope from Japan and after 25 years none of them are serviceable!

That is the status of higher education in Ceylon.

Regarding advance level practical examinations were cancelled them in 1969 under Education Minister Iriyagolla.

Nanda Matthews and Cyril Matthews ruined our education.

Please do not confuse with Angelo Matthews!

Except the King, I am older than Putin and many of the Western Prime Ministers.

They were born well after my graduation.

I do not intend to volunteer any advice in education reforms including politics.

Beg Bugs, Leeches, Snails, Cockroaches and Vali Gowwas

This piece is not about insects but about political parties in Ceylon.

I am a naturalist like Darwin.

I love nature and they are inhabitants of our nature and these species have adapted their physiology and anatomy for survival.

All these politicians are by default and nature are animalistic in their actions and behaviour.

Now it is evident that N.P.P. is heading in opinion polls, the guys and girls who were dormant for over 4 years are now resurfacing in broad day light.

My advice for the clever citizens is to be vigilant and not to be off guard.

1. Some parties are like snails.
They are putting out their tentacles and are having a go at the available seats.

2. Bed bugs are the ruling party U.N.P.
Having sucked out the economy they add new taxes to bleed the voter fully dry.

3. Leeches are the cohorts of the ruling party who have a meal once a year and then go into hibernation.

4. The cockroaches are the banks and subservient businesses (Milinda Moragoda type).

5. Newts or the Vali Gowwas are the one without an anus. They are the local mafiosi who gobble every bit of remaining economy and get bloated.

6. Mad Gowwa or Newt is the larval stage of dragon fly.

The Mada Gowwa party is the S.L.F.P.

7. Kala Madiriya or the firefighter party is the Ranatunge Cooperative Cricket party which is throwing flash light with empty cricket rhetoric.
.
7. Silverfish parties are the new parties that are supported by Chandrika and initiated by Kumara Welgama.

They are many new coalitions that are coming up like mushrooms.

They do not look like rainbow parties.

I am running out of insect species to describe the 186 parties at fray in Ceylon.

Do not get caught to any!

Singapore Now

1. It is very expensive.

2. Singapore airline fees have gone up by (6) six fold.

3. Duty free are expensive and very poor selection.

4. Buy your wine from the wine stores outside not at departure lounge.

5. It is very crowded.

6. Airport Hotel for overnight stay is always booked.

7. Sleeping on an armchair after missing a connection flight is not pleasurable.

8. Food at the airport is expensive.

9. Books in bookshops are expensive.

10. Underground train is always crowded.

11. On one of the occasions I had 10 days of delicious English Treats.

They had just opened a new City Hotel.

My luck came indirectly.

I have only one meal a day when travelling since I hate public toilets.

Hotel toilets are reasonable.

Hotel breakfast is ordinary and I love garlic bread (Macdonald type) and they never made a good one in the hotel, I stayed.

So by 9AM I come out for Window shopping.

Also look for a single good meal.

Bananas are my favorites.

Morning dosai at Komala Villa are nutritious and delicious.

I HATE rice.

This hotel made a Open Display" of morning/afternoon English and Italian food in a street corner.

They were expensive until 1PM and after that they sold the balance left, at cut rate to close the shop to save overtime for salesmen.

This was a bonus for me and the items were fresh.

I bought them in bulk for the full day and the next morning breakfast.

For 10 days I had Super English Meals at cut rate and on the 10th day I was flying back.

Regarding drinks, I have a favourite yogurt milk in Singapore (not Greek yogurt) and  tea and coffee I made myself from the hotel stuff.

No alcohol at all!

Cake and the Crow or Kaputa Saha Keju Kella

This piece is about my Singapore Sojourns.

I was working at Negambo and on Friday night I go to Singapore and come back on, a week Monday morning for morning work.

I was working at Sath Samudura (father) creator's Dispensary as a hired hand.

It was running at a loss and his son who was a Lecturer  in Physiology (MRCP U.K.) in Colombo, University did not know how to manage the place with a big nursing staff.

I took up the challenge with an understanding that he should fire any staff member who does not fit in with the system.

I came home on Friday evening having named two

1. Matron

2. A Labourer who was sleeping on the Operating Table of the small OP Theater.

VOG
I noticed all post op cases had a nasty wound operation and V.O.G. was the culprit.

I had a little tussle with him and told him if he is arrogant to any of my staff, I would blacklist him and he cannot come after that.

I made the same threat at a Colombo Private Hospital to blacklist consultants who were arrogant and late in their appointments.

I did reverse ventilate the OP Theater and bugs were removed and no more infections  during my time, there.

Within 3 months we broke even and by the time I left to Zew Zealand it was running smoothly and profitable with full bed capacity.

I was studying for NZREX Examination of New Zealand which was held in Singapore while working, there..

I managed to diagnose a case of Histoplasmosis, which was passed as leukaemia by several consultants.

It is called bird fanciers diseases and pet shops and aquarium are common there.

I had over 40 pet fish tanks at home and was trying to breed zebras and pearl gouramis.

I was the only one out of 25 candidates from Ceylon who passed Stage I and II of the 4 part examination.

Part III and IV were held in NZ.

I hated New Zealand and came back after 2 years.

Read the piece here on New Zealand.

In Singapore, I used to stay at a particular cottage hotel off Sarangoon Road.

It was cheap and was run by an Indian Indian (Not Singaporean Indian).

Bed bugs, cockroaches and houseflies were worse than in Ceylon.

I cannot believe, Singapore has come up so quickly and my last stay there in a different hotel was very expensive and I came back home after 5 days.

Mind you,  rebooking is expensive on Singapore Airline and you could guess how much I saved by coming home early.

Coming back to Singapore and Kaputa Saha Keju Kella, I visited an Indian lady in Singapore on her invitation for a dinner.

One of my young relatives was staying with her and I made it a point to see him every time, I go there.

He knew better places in Woodlands for cheaper shopping.

I only knew Musthapa and Sarangoon road.

Orchard road was like London Reagent Street and bookshops were my only attraction, there.

This lady put a garden party for us.

On that very same day, she coined a nick name for me.

Kaputa was that nickname!

That's the only Sinhala word she picked from me.

I may have said, "I eat like a Kaputa" (her food was nice and spicy with lot of chillies) and I did not pick the hot stuff.

She had some land in Malaysia and promised to take us there and I could not  make it, since my work in New Zealand was heavy.

My other nickname was Singapore Charlie.

That came after a bizarre incident.

My postgraduate roommate who was a distinguished professor met me in Singapore, one day.

He was staying at an expensive hotel and was paying the hotel bill from his meager allowance.

I told him, he could join me and save some money (besides he should learn few tricks and save some money for a bottle of good spirits).

Of course we had a bit of a gossipy chat.

He was coming home on the same flight and university vehicle was waiting for him for the return journey.

I could join a free ride.

The understanding was if he gets drunk I would drop him at home, and if I get drunk he should drop me at home.

So we consumed a lot and onboard alcohol was free those days, unlike now.

We were almost dead drunk and when we were about to land in Colombo, an Italian guy who could not read English asked me to fill the disembarkation slip.

I said OK but my fee is Free Alcohol he gets onboard.

So we had a Top Up.

The name Singapore Charley was bestowed on me, on one mistake, I made in my entire married life.

My wife and daughter were waiting to pick me home.

I instead I jumped the University Van.

Half way through, when we were having hoppers at a joint (hoppers are my favourites) I realized the mistake (no cellphones then) and I had to prepare for a "Big Onslaught" of my life.

Came home and told my mother in law, my impending plight, the next day.

Of course my wife had checked the manifest at the airport and verified  my landing and went to Negambo Private hospital with my daughter to sleep.

I did go to sleep knowing very well, I may not be able sleep for two nights.

Yes, the onslaught went on for two days and I did not utter a single word.

My luggage was full of presents and we never had a fight after that.

Lessons learnt!

1. No drinks on flight.

2. Teetotaler now. 

3. Never forget wish list and presents.

4. Kaputa changed to Singapore Charlie.

5. Never plan short holidays.

Parliamentary VISA Application

This is a simple request from Speaker of the House.

It is very funny in a democracy speaker cannot speak.

Since he can write and my request is simple.

Better still he could publish this data on a web page.

He has to fill only 225 (including himself) VISA Forms giving the following details.

For example he can use Wira Wansa as a model case.

This should be published on or before the 1st of January, 2024 which is our election year.


1. Name of each parliamentarian.

2. His aliases like Loka Hora, Podi Malli, Harak Kata, Boru Wansa, Putta Pul Boru Yaka, Nalla Thambi, Sinna Thambi

3. His birth date and birth certificates.

4. Forged birth certificates.

5. Sex

6. Sexual orientation including Woke Culture.

7. Spouse and spouses of spouses, old and new.

8. Illegal dealing like prostitutes and massage parlours they frequent so ordinary citizens could avoid them.

9. Number of ID cards and Passports old and new.

10. Dual or Triple Citizenship.

11. How mamy criminal offences from birth  listed, decade by decade.

12. How many bank accounts.

13. Business addresses

14. Business partners both legal and illegal.

15. How many cell phones they own and the number of SIM cards.

16. Foreign travels and future itineraries.

17. Smuggled items including gems, gold and living souls, including prostitutes travelling with them.

18. Their favorite sports and games.

19. Number of casinos they own.

20. Number of promises

21. Registered party

22. Forged Membership in other parties

23. How many bars they own.

24. How many bars the spouse owns.

25. Income Tax portfolio and declarations.

26. Number loans they have absconded from paying.

27. Name of their Thug Groups and Buvallas



This is like a revolving door and list is expanding.

I will stop at this level, for the time beings.

Sports Fitness and Injuries

Let me start with my own story.

Peradeniya university has a model gymnasium and sports facilities except a swimming pool.

No problem, there is a nice stream that flows to Mahaveli River from Hantana range.

(There is a swimming pool now, but not maintained properly).

We used to have a dip in this stream and on Saturdays, I used to take my car up and have a dip with my kids.

As an undergraduate, I used to do the military drill round the athletic track before, I play at least 90 minutes of hockey.

When there is an invitation cricket game like Kehelgamuva playing against, a foreign team we used to climb the trees to watch the game with a panoramic view.

Then I used to go to the gymnasium and play some TT or badminton.

Last thing was to climbing the rope.

I never did weight lifting or any muscle exercises.

Simple reason is "all build up" muscles disappear within 6 months.

More pertinent point  was I knew my limit and tolerance.

I only had muscle cramps twice.

Once in first year and second in the fourth year after Inter Faculty athletic meet.

I think I did 9 events (6 was the limit) including 3 relays.

If one takes the military drill it amounts to 10 or decathlon.

What kept me fit was the military drill and climbing the wall was the most difficult part.

It gives the overall balance and my glycogen store was in trim condition since the food in the halls of residence was better than at home. Muscle glycogen is released during anaerobic metabolism and each individual has a certain capacity to store glycogen.
That is the limiting factor.

There are two types of muscle fibers.
Type I slow type of fibers are seen in long distance runners. The glycogen store is released slowly and hence the endurance.

Type II fast type of fibers are seen in sprinters. They are depleted fast.

Of course fatty acida are also utilized during work load.

I think coconut pol sambol, fish (I stopped eating beef) and beef liver at home were enough to keep me fit.

No vitamin supplements, at all except Vitamin C and a glass of beer on Saturdays with a good friend.

My friends used to change every week lest I was identified as a homosexual.

I have an aversion for homosexuals especially if they are politicians.

We have plenty of homosexuals in Ceylonese politics and in our National Cricket.


Injuries and when to Retire

I have had only three injuries all my life. They were minor injuries but one needed stitches.

1. One on my forehead as a kid hit by a makeshift hockey stick made out of a tree branch.

By the way, I used to make my own cricket bat out of imported wood.

I made several and donated to my cousins and friends.

My father never helped me but may be once he made a table tennis racket which I never used.

2. One injury was on my shin when a guy who never played hockey put the stick around my leg.

We did not have a referee and he was immediately thrown out and I continued to playing after an Elastoplast patch.

3. Third injury was when I was 35 or 37.

I had come home from UK and we were playing a softball cricket game at the university hockey grounds.

We did not have 11 players and I was in placed deep mid wicket.

I got a chance to run out the batsman.

By the way, I was bad both in batting and bowling but my only asset was catching and fielding.

I took the aim and tried to throw hard and I felt a tear coming in one of my upper arm muscles (I have forgotten the name of the muscle) and I decided NOT to throw, in midway process.

I was more concerned about the injury than the run out.

Besides, I would have missed the target due to the impending tear.

It was bit painful but I immediately retired and never played a game again.

Fortunately, the tear was not bad but left a stricture and I cannot shampoo my back of my the chest, at at a particular level.

But I make it a point to stretch the torn muscle every time I have a bathe.

The bottom line is when the time comes one should retire.

Of course that injury did not interfere with my snooker and billiards.

I think with so many crush injuries to his hands I think our Sana (Sanath Jayasuriya) cannot beat me in a game of billiards.

I am joking!

If I meet him, I would offer him a cup of excellent Green Tea with a pinch of Cider Vinegar.

This combination is supposed to be good for scalp hair and I am bit like him with silver grey hair.

My advice for him, if anybody requests him to join cricket administration he should flatly refuse.

Current sports minister is a crook and S.B. is an ace crook.

"Nivan Sapa Labewa" to Cricket.

"Death to Ceylon Cricket" is the English translation.