CloudUSB and Cloud Support

Now I can report that CloudSUB gets exactly 1240 points what Ubuntu LTS got. 

In my scheme nobody gets 100 (I believe we have to approach the target of 80%) since when one delete a feature, in this case the distribution cannot be installed into hard disk and it misses on some points and it get more points for adding cloud support which Ubuntu has from its version 9.

This is where I defer from developers that base their activities on previously developed and established distribution which sometimes limit  or cramp up innovation by design.

Reason for suggesting start from the scratch below is based on that observation and premise!

Below is a user comment about CloudUSB distribution and I use the comment below of this particular user as base to give some of my views.

Mind you I have not tried it myself except booting the Live DVD.

I tried the UnetBootIn but could not open the Download Folder  in PCLinux in my hard disk where the CloudUSB image was downloaded. The distribution in my hard disk was PCLinux and it may have been different if I had Ubuntu in the hard disk. 

There was conflict of download folders of Ubuntu and PCLinux.

I have unity in my laptop and would try this again when I have time and report to you later.

However, read my writing on UnetBootin elsewhere in this blog site for further details.

"CloudUSB is a USB-based Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. 

The idea is that you can carry your own Linux distribution with you for use anywhere, thus allowing anyone to use Linux on any computer and keep their data safe in the event the USB key is lost. 

In practice, this is more limited than suggested by the Web site.

To use CloudUSB, you need to download a 950MB ISO image and a script to copy the image to your USB key. 

The script makes use of UNetbootin to copy the image to the USB key and set it up correctly. 

It takes about 10 minutes to copy CloudUSB over and get it ready. You'll need at least a 4GB key to use it effectively, and larger is better if you have a significant amount of data. I (not me) used an 8GB Seagate "puck" USB drive. The configuration routine allows you to decide how much room to allocate for data, so I split it evenly between 4GB for the OS and 4GB for personal data".

My comments about CloudUSB.

1. This idea of integrating with cloud service is excellent but implementation has some glitches.

2. It is not a service but it is a cloud client (same terminology as in Torrent downloads and there are many clients for Torrents but Torrent is the best Linux service available for third world).

3. It is tied to Ubuntu and it can very well use the Ubuntu One Service which is 5GIB. Mind you simply because of this I have switched off my lack of allegiance to Ubunutu and I now have Unity in my laptop and not Ubuntu 10.10 L.T.S.

I use a USB hard disk and not a USB stick and my favorite is now Ping Eee.

Thin SATA laptop hard disk can sit in your front pocket and one can buy one for three GiB Flash Drives' price.

4. Next point is relevant because of Ubuntu switching to Unity desktop, the CloudUSB will have some teething problems.

5. My biggest critical comment is that it is not a thin client but a very very fat client. It needs to shed its dead weight of Ubuntu  and "start from the scratch and be distribution independent".

6.Its integration with Dropbox is scratchy and Dropbox gives only 2GiB free and its policy re-evaluation has caused some bad taste in the mouth.

7. It should take a cue from Peppermint (it is supporting Google plugins) as far as the general users are concerned but must give a serious thought to the developers and Linux administrators (they will love to carry it in the pocket when on service duty away from home, may be in a foreign country).

8. Adding UnetBootin, WireShars, Emac and Skype (? now Microsoft's) are good money but adding more dead weight to already chunky Linux chocolates.

Cloud is going to rule and we have to re-engineer everything and sometime from scratch.

My vision.

1. Make it very very thin client. It should be for Administrators and Developers  level at this level. In the line of Puppy Linux and under 200 MiB. I am surprised Puppy does not have a cloud client.

Do they?

It should have gparted  copy image and the like. When it is is light the problems that you have encountered with Ubuntu LTS won't arise. Go for Dilo or SeaMonkey instead of Firefox which is getting bloated and unmanageable.

2. Then a Middle Weight client in the range of 500 for users.

this is the Peppermint style!

3. Then the Business Class with a full blown heavy weight distribution and Dropbox, Skype, Web Editor, Emac, Wireshark and all security and encrypting utilities added.

I suppose with Ubuntu going in many direction base ought to be Debian.

I suppose one should start with redobackup by Debain.

It may be a good base to begin with and in notime it will be bloated to Business Class with developers helping.

Mind you one does not have to abandon CloudSUB but add the ones I have mentioned to the repertoire as additional CDs/DVDs.

I am in the process of realigning myself to think what is the minimum I should carry in  a CD or Flash Drive (may be even to my grave and the coffin may not be that heavy to carry then with all the unnecessary paraphernalia she in advance).

Come up boys and girls do some exercise to she weight around the belly or belly button.

Linux Games I Love to Play

Linux Gamers Live, the Arch derivative is top of my list and Linux Ultimate Edition is close second and Knoppix 2008 December edition comes third and i could not find a new version of games in spite of Knoppix 6.7 was out and looks fantastic.Knoppix cannot be installed on hard drive.

Why I choose Linux Gamers Live was simply because its front end just looks like Apple front end and ready for games with icons instead of names.

It also can be installed into hard disk now.

Now instead of trying to outscore these three edition which have done a lot for Linus games, I will list my favorites below.

 

Even PCLinuxFuillMonty thought they have place for Linux guys and girls. 

Indirectly FullMonty comes fourth.

 

1. Number one is Super Tux 2 and I enjoyed playing hours and hours.

2. Close second is Pingus and its environmental theme is commendable.

3. Number three is Extreme Tux Racer which is sweet and relaxing

4. Number 4 is SuperTuxCart (this is for the racing addict)

5. Number 5 is Tuxcart (This is for the training on racing)

6. Number 6 is Frozen bubble

7. Number 7 is any of the 100 of tiny games

If any of the Linux distributions fail to introduce any of the top 5 of mine selection i thought of giving them minus marks in my rating in future.

Mind you with Wine and getedit one can play windows , DOSand Atari games of the yesteryear.

Linux for Kids

Linux for Kids

Now that I have talked about Linux games it is imperative I should write something on Linux that parents can use with their supervision (this is important since some distribution might go straight to the wider web with one or two clicks).

There are many and I will dispense with the distribution first before talking about the software packages.

1.YouKnowforkids

2.Knoppix for kids

3.QIMO

4. DoudouLinux

5.Foresight for Kids (Latest finding that I am going to download soon)

Out of the packages GCompris comes first and SUGAR (OLPS Project) second.

I like Tux paint and Tux Typing the best though.

Some distributions incorporate these packages in the iso image but if it is not their one should not worry.

One can download from the software repository.

Latest Unity Ubuntu did not have SUGAR and in five to ten (5-10) minutes especially in the night one can download and install them.

What determines the Flight Paths of Birds?

The long drawn out trade Union Action gave me some free time to watch bird migration.

This year the weather pattern was bizarre and in keeping with that the birds that came in also differed in type if not numbers.

Numbers never approached the 30 which I used to count 30 years.

Numbers have come down to 3 to 5 and only fluctuation was seen in the migratory birds.

Unsusal finding was there were three types of woodpeckers.

The common one without a distinct crown feather with a big beak.

Another tiny woodpecker (not young ones) and the third was exotic hooded varity very beautiful.

All of them were looking for nesting site and were exploring the bread fruit tree for boring holes.

They came for about three days and vanished.

I am fortunate but (birds are not and their flypath is now interrupted by rapid development and there is no food or water. surface well that the birds came was closed in the name of development and the little stream is dry now.

What determines the Flight Paths of Birds?

We can assume they migrate  in search of food, nesting site and to avoid the harsh winter condition but what determines the flypath?

I wondered and wondered.

We have not done adequate studies to postulate any firm scientific theory.

I developed a theory based on simple observation.

All the birds hate rainclouds.

Not only clouds interfere with vision but the cold weather fronts and lightening must surely be frightening to the birds.

My observation is relate to the movement of clouds.

The clouds h the Hanthana range and breaks into basically two paths.

One goes towards Kandy and the other towards Katugastota.

Usually one dominate the other.

If the clouds come down towards Panideniya it is very likely the clouds will go towards Katugastota.

If it does not but hit the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens it will move definitely towards Kandy.

All these are very simple observation and nothing extravagant and I see them and avoid the rain especially when I do not carry a an umbrella.

There is a corridor of no clouds and the birds often get it right and come well in advance of the rain in this corridor.

No rain or thin drizzle the birds are their in numbers.

Heavy rain of course no birds and the local resident birds get out of the way well in advance.

This of course is a very simple observation but I really do not know why these birds take a particular patway.

This is something I will study if I find time or in my retirement. 

One thing is sure if we make radical change to the tree cover in the name of development the birds I see now will be never seen again on the same route.

Linux Gamers and IgLive/Knoppix

Knoppix had a Game DVD in December 2008 but quiet since then but the new Knoppix 6.4 and 6.7 with support for visually handicap are fantastic.

Knoppix gamers cannot be installed on hard disk.

This was the same scenario with Linux Gamers Live the Arch derivative.

Their 0.9.7 (CD/DVD) has remedied this and have install and persistent facility.

Beware I won't try the installation on hard disk but only on  a Flash Drive and if I make a mistake for a for b or b for a my hard disk will be erased with  only one warning. Unfortunately its GRUB cannot read my complicated hard disk.
Anyway it is a good try and better than the last version.

Ubuntu based Ultimate Edition is out with Light and Full version and  I have not downloaded it yet (point to point download is damn slow in thus part of the world).

Thanks guys and girls now you have placed an image at Linux Tracker.

(I am waiting and expecting them to place a torrent copy at Linux Tracker).

Thanks guys and girls you are doing a wonderful service and this is the only area Linux is still lagging behind.

I do not mind developers placing the games for purchase and that will make cash available for more ambitious work and developers also should need to survive at a time of debt crisis.

The idea is for you to be able to carry a decent amount of high-quality Linux games with you where ever you go for purposes of demonstration, gaming or parties. 
Your computer will remain completely unchanged as everything will run live.

It can boot this distribution from a CD, DVD or USB flash drive.

DoKuWiKi and WikiSpaces

It is time for me to expand the horizon of words world and go deeper into the program world where work is done almost on Unicode.

Let me be fair to the Linux Community and illustrating DoKu WiKi in no way undermine there efforts that are for professional programmers.

Vi is my number one.

Gedit is the one I used when editing files in Redhat 8.

Then there are Bluefish, Cream,Quanta and many more which I have forgotten the names.

Please do not confuse this with DidiWiKi of Puppy Linux.

I was abroad when early changes in computing (Commodore, Atari, Sinclair, BBC Basic) were taking place and when windows came I wanted to buy a (last item in my shopping list with little money in my pocket and my wife having a hawk eye view, that I would put my last dollar on a worthless junk machine-very expensive then) a computer and going around the few shops in the high street selling computers (price over 2500 dollars) the salesmen were ever willing to show me the tit bits and sell.

After the demonstrations I asked the guys what program language I can type on this machine they were speechless (this little guy from Asia talking like a programmer) and told them I would not spare my money on a machine which I cannot write at least 100 lines of code for fun and promptly exited saving my money making my wife very happy.

The rest is history till I got into Linux where from Python to Ruby to C to C++ were there but very rarely explored them since my medical duties tax my time to the hilt.

While me doing night duties and you programmers were doing wonderful work with mid night commander and burning mid night oil.

So thank you guys and girls.

I am in no way excluding your efforts but this is to expose the newbies to the real world of computing and using DoKuWiki is only an introduction.

 DoKu WiKi I downloaded was only 2.7 MiB and AbiWord is 7.9 MiB and it does my word processing. It has tahs for Apache, DTHML, html, PHP and SQL.

I  typed one line and saved it in UniCode (Graphic front end and code in the background) and opened it in Abiword and saved the line in abi.

You have two utilities using under 11 MiB which are super fast and minimal Macros, why you go for a Gorilla which you cannot handle when you are a newbie? 

This is why I always say "Small is beautiful and bigger is never the best"

Now few words about Wikispaces.

It gives you 2 MiB of storage free which you can share documents with your class mates and teachers.

I have already opened a space for my students in the university and another for K-12 class, even though I use Google and Wordpress almost exclusively for my blog activity.

Wordpress is of course professional class and the best I have used.

I will cut and paste few of the comments at their site for you to read.

"You guys have great customer and technical support--about the best I've experienced since the Internet began in fact."  

"I am a HUGE fan of Wikispaces for its ease of use and its endless options for collaborative projects and have been encouraging all my teachers to create a wiki for their class." 

"Thanks for making it so simple for my fellow classmates and I to connect. We've got a 20 year reunion coming up, and there's no better, easier, and fun way than through wikispaces. I truly appreciate your efforts!"  

"I had 80 kids register for Wikispaces today in class. Almost all of them said they were going home to make another one for personal use. Great tool, keep making it better." 

"Let me say how impressed I am with your service. It always amazes me that such an organization still has that personal touch." 

Thanks guys and girls for your comments which I have reproduced here.

Old Dog Haven and Senior Dogs

There are lot of myths about dogs but here I want to illustrate few human facts that I should communicate with Maha Brahma who was a yesteryear dog exterminated to make room for Perahara Pilgrims that visit this holy city of Kandy.

Most of Sri-Lankan end up in hell whereas the Maha Brahma's dog and present assistant of Maha Brahmas were dogs from this country. By clever design they ended up there and for my luck I happened to know the Present Maha Brahmas Assistant as a Paraya dog in Kandy and I am fortunate enough to communicate with him by virtual email.

First the bad news.

Lot of paraya dogs were cleared up recently in preparation for Perehara and I want a place reserved for them in hell (for the municipality exterminators not the exterminated paraya dogs).

In some countries when they are old they are sent to Old Dogs Haven.

I want the Maha to take them to heaven moment they are exterminated but make a short list of the exterminators and send that list to Apaya (Hell) Server. 

I have designed a full proof program to catch dog killers and that is working nicely in Apaya Server currently but the problem is these dog killers live longer  than the dog by many a mile due to cardiac surgery performed.

Senior Citizens                                                   Senior Dogs

1. They have homes for the elderly          1. Haven is practically hell for the dogs

2. Some senior citizens by that             2. There is only extermination decree age become mayors of the holy city 

3.They never give way to juniors             3.Junior dogs take charge of the brood

I have another plea.

If one wants to age with the dog please do the following.

1. Take care of a young dog at the age of 43 (when nobody seems to want you including your wife and kids) years.

2. When you are 50 your dog is 7 years old and equal to 50 years of human age.

3. In another three (3) when your dog is 10 he is equivalent to 60 human years and you will be 53 years. You are younger by 7 years.

4. In another two years dog (at 12 years) will be 70 and you will be only 55 years.

You are younger by 15 years.

43=0

50=7=50 ( only at 50 one can be at the level of the dog age and enjoy with your contemporary to your heart's content and his company prevents you from getting a heart attack, if you delay the dog will get a heart attack).

53=10=60

55=12=70 (This is the time you get a bypass operation and  the dog gets a heart attack).

5. Now that you have become the mayor at 55 after retiring from service would you be kind to this dog  who is 70 years human equivalent (12 years  of our time) or sent for the Municipality Exterminator.

6. They are just old senior dogs / citizens they do not have a parliament to go but only the streets but unlike you they look after our streets even at night when young, is it reasonable to put them to death?

7. How come if I say all the senior citizens who were ex-parliamentarians and drawing a fat pension and to save money for development they should be exterminated.

Will you pass a bill and vote yes  in parliament?

Are we reasonable human beings?

Below is a Image from WiKiPedia.

I hope WiKipedia won't pass copyright infringement for taking the side of the dogs against humans.

Slate and Slate Pencils

Slate and Slate Pencils

Digital devices are good for teachers and I am not sure whether too much of technology will be goo for kids.

Children have to use fine motor and gross motor skills as they grow.

Slate and the slate pencil were the primitive but sure way to learn finer motor skills and specially the hand writing.

In the west they are even banning cursive writing and when the grow up I cannot think of them becoming neurosurgeons (microsurgery need hand skills that are properly developed as children and not as adults) or eye surgeons.

We might have to use rots to do surgery then.

I had my granite slate till I was 25 years old and I gave it to a poor kid and he did not keep it for even three months.

In this consumerist society people do not value conservation and the amount of plastic junk we are collecting we won't be able to clean up for 100 years.

My slate was very special to me.

One side there was horizontal lines and the other side there were squares and I could practice as much as I wanted and my saliva was the best wet cleaner. My hand writing were no very good at least they were legible till I became a practicing physician and they automatically became illegible again. Point I am driving is slate was eco-friendly and there were no papers and no trees chopped down, then.

We are heralding an era of paperless and digital era and the rime is right for slate again if not digital pads.

I am not saying we much go backward what I am stressing is that manual dexterity and fine motor skills were something we developed in evolution and apes do not have these skills.

A monkey cannot open a door holding the knob and as kids we could not do that and we had to learn it and if technology retard our finer motor skills I do not know what will happen to us 100 years from now?

Calibre and DRM (Digital Rights Management)

Testing Linux distribution plunge me into deep waters but very often I find some interesting stuff.

Calibre is an Open Source E-Book Management System I found already installed in Pinguy / Ping Eee.

If you don't have it go to its website (there is a good demo) and download free. I belive it has a Microsoft version too.

It does the following.

1. Manages your E-book library

2. Converts the E-books to the device format for Reading

3. It synchronizes the device with your computer and exchange device to computer and vice versa

4. It is a E-book Viewer

5. Download e-books and news around the world

If you are good reader like me  this cute little program is for you.

Now then what is DRM?

It is Digital Rights Management system by which publishers and device (OEM) developers prevent infringement of copyrights of the digitally available material.

There are four main ebook formats at present.  

Mobipocket,

Topaz,

EPub and PDF.

The Amazon Kindle uses Mobipocket and Topaz and it also supports native PDF format ebooks and native PDF files.

Other ebook readers mostly use ePub format ebooks, but with differing DRM schemes.
Some call it Digital Restrictions Management and whatever the way one interpret it there is a law that prevent copying.
Not only e-books, audio, video and even TV shows are protected.
In time to come even in the developing world we might see tablets and  E-readers instead of slates and slate pencils which I used when I was a kid.

Linux100-PureOS-Light and Standard

Linux100-PureOS-Light and Standard

Very good light distribution of 366 MiB from Debian base. Guest and Root logging allowed. Only when logged as root one can install the distribution. Mouse based xfce x-windows is light on your RAM and very fast to boot.

Has all the utilities including Aniword.

The standard 700 MiB distribution is very beautiful and has Libre Office and gparted.The standard distribution is Gnome and is even better than xfce with blue hue used by Debian.

It based in France and the Administrator has taken all the trouble to list all the list of packages which may have taken an hour to type.

They are also promoting PureWebOS but I COULD NOT FIND the image to download.

This will be a healthy competition to HPWebOS, unless they decide to release it as OPEN SOURCE.

WordPress is also having a WebOS THAT CAN BE DOWNLOADED to a mobile phone.

Its light weight edition of PUREOS is also not available to download.

Cloud Computing-Ubuntu One

Below is a caption I enclosed for getting a PDF file from a web hosting service in America.

"Assuming that there is no power outage or failure and download speed is instant and fast (both these premises are hard to come by and ensure in the Third World) cloud computing is the next best thing that happened after World Wide Web. 

This can be better utilized in a school setup or in a University (I call it the Virtual University where everybody is a graduate or undergraduate). 

The potential is enormous once the infrastructure is laid down and maintained with a stable cloud".

I have decided to support Ubuntu Unity and Ubuntu One.

I hate the Free Books often outdated (especially in Science and IT) by 30 years dished out by the Education Department and the recently politicized new entrants (inculcation) discipline program (Yes Men and Yes Sir Program).

It is an insult to freedom of thought and exercise of free mind in creative work.

That is another reason for promoting Ubuntu One.

Without duplicating of information Cloud Computing can bring whole world together.

I am believer it can be done cheaper than the Government's Free Text Book Program.

I hope Mark Shuttelworth, the Guru can initiate it in South Africa and take few  of  our teachers from here for training there (instead of the English Instructors we got from India to teach English to teachers of English) and send them back with Ubuntu Unity CD/DVD (No more free CDs from Canonicals now) and IT and English Training.

He does not have to spend South African Money.

All he has to do is to give a free laptops to all opposition MPs with music streaming charged at 10 times the priming price instead of the basic customer price. 

That alone is enough to finance the project and voters get money back guarantee.

The money we pay them as pension after five yeas and pay while they are not doing anything except fighting for the top post-leader of the opposition).

They are not doing anything except singing local Baila (variety of song in this island and also use as substitute for lies -usually used by policemen) instead of actively engage in voter / consumer based politics.

Regards to the MPs in power who are more often abroad without even not knowing how to fill airport form in English should be sent to moon or given a satellite telephone to keep in contact with aliens.

The money for those utilities should come from President Fund to which our Lottery money is diverted.

All of them have become alien to the average voters needs.

But the language of instruction has to be Universal and it cannot be Sinhala or Tamil.

I hope present day parents, teachers and above all students should realize this.

We do not want to be like frog in a deep (Enclosed Island) well.

UnetBootIn-Update-Using Vinux booted Ping Eee on USB

I am posting this with Ping Eee booted from USB.

How I did it.

Steps.

1. Booted Vinux from my laptop (It has Pinguy with UnetBootIn, too).

2. Clicked UnetBootIn

3. Selected Ubuntu for Booting from Menu

4. Attached the Hard Disk mounted on USB enclosure (this was the hard disk I removed the other day when I upgraded my laptop with a 500 GiB SATA).

The partitions were formatted with gParted with Knoppix Live On booted and  the USB enclosure attached.

5. Loaded the DVD with multiple Linux images (copied previously)

6. Give the path for the image (Ping Eee on this occasion) in the DVD.

7. Selected Ping Eee and clicked OK after selecting the partition in hard disk where the live image should be installed, mounted on a tray/bay USB enclosure.

Partition used was not FAT but Ext 4.

8. Waited 10 Minutes for automatic installation of the Live Script.

9. Shut down Vinux and Restart with Internet cable attached.

10.Ping Eee up and running and Firefox activated and my fingers doing the rest.

I will Install Ping Eee if the laptop has a free partition but remember I stated above that I have already installed Pinguy (Not Ping Eee).

This post is to put the record straight and my previous post on UnetBootIn is now no longer valid and redundant.

The UnetBootIn has fixed most of the problems which I had when I booted PClinux on a Pendrive 3 months ago.

Thanks guys and girls who updated UnetBootIn and Vinux and Pinguy/Ping Eee for including UnetBootIn in the distribution.

I will load few more distributions in my USB hard disk for future installations On the move / On the fly.

It is cool and cute way Linux works for me.

Can Apple Mac match this feet?

I don't think so, Kevin in Home Alone, says so!

Ubuntu One and Cloud Space

Update on Ubuntu One

I am glad to say Ubuntu One is available in all the Ubuntu derivatives I have installed in my laptop, namely Pinguy and Vinux.

It took a long time for me to find where it is in the Menu List, the Ubuntu One is placed and it is under preferences.

In Pinguy it is in the Graphic Menu List in the bottom panel and moment you log in with Ubuntu One a folder is open in the left side panel. 

I have Dropbox downloaded / installed in Pinguy and that means I have  8 GiB of Cloud Space Free 5 in Ubuntu One and 3 in Dropbox. 

Now I can drop a DVD image of a Linux distribution in Ubuntu One to share with Linux friends.

In Ubuntu Unity one can at the time of installing Ubuntu One, the shared folder can be added to the left side panel which is a very nice Apple like feature. 

Thanks guys and girls of Ubuntu Community for doing wonderful things.

Not only Ubuntu is getting ready for the next phase of computing with Unity desktop it is also ready with cloud space.

Ubuntu has Ubuntu One, it’s built-in cloud file, both Client and Service, since Ubuntu 9.10 which was released in October 2009.

One does not need another cloud service if you are using Ubuntu.
There is also a distribution called CloudOS based on Ubuntu.

For those who prefer more storage, Ubuntu One Basic, the free service, has changed its name to Ubuntu One Free and it now comes with 5GiBs of free storage instead of 2GiBs.

If you opt for the paid Ubuntu One Music Streaming service in addition to music streaming, you’ll get an additional 20GBs of storage. 

For $3.99 a month that’s not bad.
Need more room?
It’s $2.99 a month for each fresh allotment of 20GBs.

On top of that there’s also now Ubuntu One file and music streaming clients for Android.

There’s also an Ubuntu One iPod/iPhone/iPad music streaming client.

Very soon iOS too.

This is what I call hit three birds with one stone.

So do not grumble saying Ubuntu has changed.

Yes it has changed for good with tablets in mind.

I am less and less reluctant to say no to Ubuntu now.

I have already installed Ubuntu 11.04 in my laptop.

 

 

Linux, Piracy and emergence of Copyright Laws

Below is a reproduction of a comment from distrowatch with some additions relevant to us.

In the freedom-loving developed countries of the West, jack-booted storm troopers from The Intellectual Property Cartel may well break down your door, haul off your computers, and after forensically examining the hard drive, impose harsh fines and criminal penalties if they discover an unlicensed software application or a pirated MP3 file. 

This scenario is fortunately seldom seen in the Third World, where the police, judges and government officials charged with enforcing the law are also running pirated copies of Windows on their home computers too.

(In addition Buddhist monks in temples use pirated copies breaking one of the five precepts and interestingly enough most of these computers are sponsored by the government.

What is even more relevant is even in schools and universities (who should be vocal in protecting copyrights law) use pirated copies).

This attitude of the education department encourage and perpetuate the violation of copyright law. Even entering a National School at year one all the possible  act of violation are  enacted by parents sometimes with inside help and young one are taught to lie and cheat and after 30 years these very same people enter the parliament one cannot expect the legislator to act impartially.

In actual fact they get in there to violate laws (in all the spheres from gem mining to illegal arrack and drugs) and monks and clergy are also become part of that machinery.

I am ashamed of this but there is no way we can change the evolving trends and corruption has engulfed us tip toe to vertex..

In fact, far from enforcing intellectual property laws in countries where there is little money, there is evidence that software piracy is actually being encouraged by Big Business as a shrewd marketing tool.

Bill Gates himself admitted as much in a speech at the University of Washington in 1998. When talking about software piracy in poor countries, Mr. Gates said: 

"As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."

But nowadays, most of the software I see for sale is legal, and costs considerably more than US$2 per copy. Bill Gates was right.

We have passed the copyright law but enforcement is poor.

For over decade I have tried awareness  of this fact but for some reason or other nobody wants to take some interest in Linux.

Why this is I am not sure.

When the political system fails and even the vote is stolen or rigged and MPs covertly and overtly encourage rigging talking about copyright law is a moot point.

Most of the voters do not know how to protect the ballot and law enforcement is not effective in enforcing severe punishment (one sided affair) for wrongful acts and people get used to stealing and think it is a downright entitlement as long as one is not caught, investigated and punished.

This is a malady of the Third World countries and poor penetration of Linux is a result of all these wrongful act of commission and omission.

I think lack of penetration of Linux whether it is in the West or East is a big loss and what is lost in academic terms is enormous.

I will not give up promoting Linux but I believe in education and it seems to be working albeit slowly.

At least all the well established vendors in my city (places I visit) do not sell pirated copies.

This should not be the primary work of mine but Buddhist monks and other clergy and they are not interested.

I now started telling them do not publish Dhamma or Religion in pirated Windows software.

I hope what we have started in this city supposed to be holy will spread from center to the periphery.

I will not give up.

It started from my home and the friends and I boycott all computers with pirated copies. 

We started from our department and we do not have any computer with pirated operating systems or software.

Even though we are a small faculty we are making slow but steady progress.

My perseverance seem to be working and hope it will last many decades after I have left  the scene of action and my student spread the good values among themselves and beyond.

All my good students are using Linux now and some of them are postgraduates.

 

 

Knoppix Update-Clear Front Runner

Knoppix stands tall and scores 2410 which is well above Ubuntu and Unity on the threshold of becoming a Gold Standard on its own.

Good old days when it was difficult to find a distribution and DEMO CDs were hard to come by Knoppix started the revolution of Live Cds.

I have used it from its 3.1 versions and up and it was available even in Sri-Lanka.

Its significant features apart from Live CD running on RAM are

1. Good hardware detection

2. Sound configuration and unique start up with sound script.

3. Ability to compress lot of programs into a CD.

4. Enormous number of packages

5. Partition tool and many more

6. ORCAs that is fun for visually handicapped user and is as good as Vinux.

It was way ahead until Puppy Linux came into the scene and took another twist by making Live CD under 100 MiB soon which I became a convert.

its weakness was it could not be installed into the hard disk and I found a way to mount it on FAT partition. I always had a copy mounted on my hard disk when the LXDE came into the available.

The came the 10th anniversary release which was  big hit by itself both CD and DVD versions. Now it can be installed and administrative right can be restored after installing.

There is Knoppix for Kids and Games DVD which was something lacking in 95% of the Linux Distributions.

If you do not use any other Linux distributions this is the one one should always have.

I cannot find anything wrong with this distribution when I format my hard disk it is the first one goes in as the flag bearer of Linux and other are installed afterward.

Do you want, Simple, Fast and Elegant way to write?

1. Do you want, Simple, Fast and Elegant way to write?

The answer is not Microsoft but AbiWord.

3. Do you know the size of the executive file?

It is less than 8 MiB.

Plug in can be installed later if one needs it.

Do you want to do collaborative work online? 

Perhaps in a school set up!

It is abiword.

Do you know how much memory it uses for a blank document?

Below is is the breakdown on a Linux machine.

Type gmemusage in Terminal and one gets

RAM allocations on my Debian desktop. 

When opened to blank documents, OO uses 60MB of RAM, 

compared to 30MB for Abiword, 

compared to 8MB for Bluefish (Web Editor with graphics), 

Vi uses the lowest memory when 

gmemusage output. 

OO is a pig,

Abiword is an anteater,

Bluefish is a minnow

Vi is the one on diet,

 

What is the Microsoft Word 2007 eating capacity?

It is a Gorilla Crashing on a dinner party ( not G.O.P.).

I hear an Apple Guy saying that it takes Microsoft 10 minutes to work out the RAM load of 2 minutes of its use and opening up a blank document.

What about the Apple takes to open a word document?

I am told it is a trade secret they wish not or would not share with Microsoft or Linux guys and girls?

What if you got an email with an attachment of word 2007 and you are unable to open it?

1. Open AbiWord blank document.

2. Copy the Microsoft document with its Macros.

3. Paste in AbiWord without formatting

4. In seconds you have clear word document which you can edit and post it back to the sender with a note when you send an important messages shed all the dead weight or proprietary load which I am not prepared to stomach in on a busy Monday.

Why I write this?

Well when the tablets hit the market, they should use a strip down version of Abiword instead of a Microsoft's notepad.

Yes Source Code is available free and the particular distribution can add the necessary tit bits for its proper use.

Linux of course unlike 5 years ago have started  incorporating abiword in their distribution sshedding dead weight of Open Office and adding more useful packages like UnetBootIn , Web Editor (Bluefish), CD/DVD burners and the likes.

Lions and Snow Leopards

Ever heard Lions and Snow Leopards living in the same home.

In Sri-Lanka Lions and Leopards live in such close proximity and in harmony only a terrorist can drive them mad.

I hear they cannot simply because they are proprietary products from Apple Mac.

Some time ago I wanted to write something Apple computer and final cut but for no reason I could not.

It was a very fortunate lapse on my part and had I done that I may have to eat every word of my short piece.

The other day I happen to walk into Kandy Super market and I saw something very similar to Pinguy and drop into see who is promoting Linux in Kandy.

I was wrong and it was a posh Apple Mac store but I could not see any iPods.

All the computers had Snow Leopard but not the new Lion roaring. It looks like they are dishing out the last remains of Snow Leopards on unsuspecting but rich customers.

Just yesterday I posted and updated today that one can install four Linux distribution in over 2 and half hours and make them cohabit but unfortunately Snow Leopard and Lion can hardly ever cohabit in the same computer.

The trouble one has to go to install (which has two disks) Snow Leopard on Lion computer only and expert can do that also on has two apple computers side by side with firmware attachment.

This guy who is a keen photographer wanted to transfer some photographic stuff from a camera and his old camera is not supported by the new Lion.

But if he gives his video to me I can convert them to many formats using ArtistX or AVLinux.

This poor guy, metaphorically of course (who is poor who can afford a new Apple computer) should learn some Linux be gets older like me.

Updating My Laptop

I must tell you after preparing the 15 partitions booting four Linux images took little over 2 and a half hours. Pinguy took little longer 20 minutes extra since I had to install Dropbox and I was connected to the Internet.
half and hour is all that is rquired to install Linux.

1.Knoppix DVD was the quickest.
2. Then Vinux
3, Then Sabayon
4. Pinguy took one hour and one can cut it down to half an hour if you do not tick updates from internet and third party software like Flash and Mpeg.
To be honest I had made a mistake in the night by inadvertently using its home partition (wrong numbering of partitions) for Sabayon and I had to redo all including repartitioning to correct order and numbering sequence for me to remember by heart and I finished in less than two hours.
This would go as the quickest update under one day (24 hours) while doing lot of other things including taking my son out for meal who has high degree of visual handicap and sat with him with Vinux after returning home. He of course picked up the finer points in no time and by the time I returned having attended  to Internet cables I had pulled out accidentally while configuring the laptop.
In fact that took longer than the installation since I had to check all the cables and make sure my download work continued (it broke twice yesterday) and listen to BBC cricket on radio while doing all this.
Since PCLinux 64 bits version is not there I am going to install Debian and leave two partition free for it for future day.

Beauty is that the GRUB file/s of each distrbutions is / are now compatible it does not matter in what order I install them.

That also saved lot of time.

In other words it is going to inhabit 6 distributions with all the utilities I used in various combination.

I have not installed ArtistX or AVLinux since I have no time for graphic work now but I have the images in my collection if any of my friends need them to b installed.
Laptop is a showpiece but my real workhorses are old IBMs which run almost 24 hours everyday downloading various images I test on a daily basis but that exercise is going to end very soon.

I was waiting for the PCLinux2011 64 bits Version but it was never coming and decided to upgrade my laptop with a bigger hard disk which are becoming cheaper by the day.

The steps are 

1. Remove the battery.

2. Remove the Hard disk.

3. Fixed the new Hard Disk and place the old one on a portable mini USB bay/tray enclosure.

4. Use gParted to partition the new hard disk (15 partition restriction applies  for SATA Hard Drives.

5. Install Knoppix 10 th anniversary edition. No problem.

6. Install Pinguy. No problem with GRUB and detects Knoppix but painfully slow when updating on line.

7. Install Dropbox in about 5 minutes.

8. Install Sabayon 6 with no problem and detects both Knoppix and Pinguy. No problem with XBMC media center and mouse does not freeze.

9. Boot up Pinguy and let Dropbox synchronize and me go to sleep and it is 6 am in the morning.

10. Test the USB Hard Disk and boots up OK but slow and my data in old hard is intact. All these without paying any ransom to Microsoft and now I have 7 operating systems 4 on the old disk 3 on the new one with another  7 partitions left for install.

Two for Linux Image Storage in ntfs partition and three for Debian Sinhala another three for PCLinux 64 bits when it comes and I still have another partition for testing new Linux distribution and a FAT partition for posterity but sometimes destructive Linux distributions with my oversight might make me to reinstall all in one night of hectic work and the whole Saturday for me to  go into sleep mode and have a couple of dreams for Maha Brahma.

Please note that installing was done in the night only because out Telecoms download is painfully slow for on line updates (takes ages if done day time) in day time and all Sri-Lankan including doctors on duty sleeping except poor Interns who have poor diagnostic skills.

Please do not get sick at night we do not have ambulances to take you to a hospital and the ambulance drivers also prefer a good night sleep. Then you might wonder me keeping up all night. Well I had to keep all night up when on call abroad often working for three others and patient prefer coming to me at night since I used to solve problems those GPs took ages to give an appointment let alone solve.

Those nightly habits are a bonus when one deals with computing in Linux not that Linux gives problems but often due to human errors like installing a root partition on some other distribution's home partition due to wrong numbering of the partition table.

Pinguy and Ping Eee-Update.

For the time being Pinguy and Ping Eee are the best innovative Ubuntu derivative which is in the market and the score is 2385 which is very close to the Gold Standard and well above Unity and Mabuntux.

Out of the Ubuntu derivatives this is the most eye catching feature filled derivative enticint the Linux newbies as well as savvy guys / gurls.

It has Cloud Utilities, Light Scribe and it almost look like apple Mac for one who has never seen a Apple Mac.

I have the feeling Ubuntu's Unity has taken a leaf out of Pinguy and Ping Eee for netbooks and laptops.

It's grub file is unable to figure out my other distributions and that is why it is not in my box. It can recognize only one Linux distribution at a time and that cab be easily sorted out with few lines in the Grub.

It will take the tablets by surprise by any breath of imagination.

Dream-12 and its interpretation from Heaven

I was dreamless for  long period of time and may have to wind up dreaming now that the industrial action is all over, unless of course we may start it again if other side of the bargain counter is closed for new ideas and innovations.

I had a fragment of a dream and to keep Maha occupied in his job, rather his hobby, I posted it. The dream was on the day of the second part of the local election night where unlike the Cricket World Cup I was not at all interested because it was one horse race and the other horses were in the stable with the tails up.

The dream

I had gone out and I was stranded in a massive bus station newly developed after the war.

Location I cannot remember.

I can only remember my destination which was to go to Colombo and from there work myself back to Kandy.

The place was filthy in spite of being a newly developed site with filth was all over the place and even the filthy drainage spills  into the floor of the bus station. Except me most of them were on roller skates to avoid the filth and dirty water and in that process of skating were splashing filth in waiting commuters including me.

There were lot of buses and they were all going to a godforsaken destination, again I cannot remember, somewhere in the direction Budulla or thereof towards the jungle terrain.

I asked several drivers and conductors and they said there are no buses to Colombo and the buses are plying only in the direction Badulla and beyond which was very unusual.

The usual routine is for the buses to ply towards Colombo and nothing from there to remote destinations like Budulla, especially after 6 P.M.

All those buses were chockablock and fill to capacity and there was noway I could have squeezed in and survived a trip.

The place looked like to me the real hell on earth and the stench was so unbearable I felt vomitish and soon I was woken up.

Maha was ready to blast off and I told that the industrial action was over.

That means you are not going to dream and I will miss my hobby.

Sort of that is unavoidable Sir.

Is it a good dream Sir.

Not really, he said.

What was the second part of the dream Sir.

There was no second part and with your composure that is as far as I would have let you dream or go free and that is as far  as you would go  on your own and it is towards the Server Master General.

It must be the newly built university computer center isn't it?

I would be in charge of the database isn't it?

No stupid.

Don't you realize you were at the  big Gate of the Hell and you were scanning the Computer Server.

My goodness!

Interpretation

There is no difference between the dream and the interpretation.

You were at the entrance to the Apaya. the Hell Gate International and you were on the Sri-Lankan Gate for Transit and the Computer Server doing the scanning of applications.

I remember you have sent a software to man the Apaya Server and it has eased the work but scrutiny takes a long time for Sri-Lankan applications.

There are lot of forgeries and wrong stamps on wrong pages.

The data entry is the slowest process but once they are entered correctly your software produce a token ring and you are immediately in a Apaya cell built for Sri-Lankans.

No more red tape.

It is not a bus station but a giant Server Station General (this is a French word) for Sri-Lankans entering Hell.

Don't con Sir We Buddhist would never get there with all the Punya Karma and defeating the terrorism for good and making miracles in this Buddhist country.

You think so?

Yes sir.

Not a faintest chance the way you violate or not taken advantage of the elections, its administration and proper conduct.

In my estimate all the eligible voters ends up there in hell.

Either you do not make use of the franchise or if you use it you violate it in some way.

Upaya Chief has no alternatives but to scrutinize the violations and send you to hell for ages.

Is there a way to prevent it Sir.

Yes only one way.

By voting for the correct candidate Sir.

No stupid.

If you do not register as a eligible voter, then only you are safe.

In that case only Sinhalysa will be in Hell Sir, No Tamils?

It is not fare. There must be no Tamils there, now know?

How come?

Praba did not allow or register them to vote know!

I did not know that Maha responded and reflected politely and said it is good know.

Then you won't have Tamil to fight in Apaya know?

That is good know?

That is not my point Sir even in Apaya we must continue our struggle for supremacy and without that no fun in Apaya know and no news coming out from there for me (from Apaya) to relate to the earthlings.

That is very selfish of yours.

I am human and Sri-Lankan Sir, I am entitled to some graphic action (horror) stories.

By the way have you got a vote?

No Sir for 35 years.

Part of the time I was abroad and the other time I did not furnish proper data.

It is not right know?

It is like this Sir there is de facto and de juro element.

De facto means you are already there and de juro means you are there in the list but you are away serving another electorate.

As a doctor I am blessed with to be de juro all the time.

But you are lying and you had been in this country with at least 3 presidents running the show?

But that was easy Sir.

I have two houses Sir.

When one Grama Sewaka (village headman) comes to register, I tell him my name is in the other electorate, if the other comes I tell him it is in the other electorate and it is as easy as that.

The officers have no way of communicating with each other and they are not allowed to do that anyway!

You are very clever and you will never go to hell in that case.

Is it so sure Sir.

Yes.

Then what about your citizenship?

I have a passport. I have ID card and I pay taxes to the hilt.

I am a true Sri-Lankan in spite of not having a vote.

How can you be so neutral?

It is not neutral Sir.

It is the survival trick. 

Survival of the fittest.

If I support the government the opposition guys won't come to get medicine from me.

If I support the opposition the government guys won't come to me.

That's very partisan people aren't they?

Yes.

Why don't you ask the people to follow your tradition.

I tried a bit but I failed. 

They all are political animals in this country, beside I will be deprived of some entertainment, too.

Now that we have stopped the war we will not get patients to try our trade and suture wounds and repair bones etc.
.

Election violence is the surest way to get injuries both physical and mental.

How mental?

Unlike cricket we let India to win so that 2 billion  Indian enjoyed but after elections both side of the divide go into mental mode (2M Mode) discovering how stupid they are.

Or I see.

But England beat India know?

England has to do that Sir.

Otherwise there will be no cricket but casinos and betting pools.

In any case it is English Game and it is a gentleman's game and India is against DRS (Decision Reviewing System), too.

That is not good sport know?

That is the difference between Indian and Sri-Lankans, Sir.

We rig both elections and cricket.

But Indians rig only cricket and never elections.

Even if the politicians do not return the promises Indian do not blame them as long as if they win any game by hook or crook,.

The average Indian on the street is immune to politics but never to cricket.

That is why we let Indian win. 

We are very good neighbours except the Indian politicians especially in the south who are good at harbouring terrorists in their own soil to win elections.

There is always equal an opposite reaction and mutual benefits.

We two nations will survive without the stupid politicians.

We like Indian and Tamil food.

Indians love visiting Ceylon and opening tourist hotels.

We will survive in spite of politicians.

I got to go any more questions.

One Sir.

We did a disservice to Tamils by winning the war isn't it Sir.

What nonsense?

If they were under Praba none will have a vote and all will be debarred from entering the Hell by your definition.

Now they have elections in the North and East and at least 50% are voting and 50% will be going there for scrutiny.

I suppose so and I have no veto power in politics and that is a human game and we gods have no political affiliations.

In that case I will be coming to heaven. 

Isn't it?

I cannot tell you that Sir. 

It is ethically wrong to forecast like economists in heaven but send me some dreams will you?

OK Sir.

Scoring Update on Ubuntu and Unity

I have downloaded Ubuntu LTS and Unity and have tested them on my old and relatively new IBM computers and hardly anything to write home except 3 new introduction to Unity. They are

1. Cloud support with (Ubuntu one) 2 GiB space.

2. Clean up utility

3. New desktop (already made some comments)

Total score for LTS is 915 and for Unity 1255 (300 points for new desktop) both well below.

Linux Mint score is 1235 and difference between Unity and Mint is negligible and Mint is more robust than Unity.

The relative increase of downloads of Mint at Distrowatch may be a reflection of this lack of outstanding difference.

The difference is only cosmetic at the expense of stability.

At least if they had introduced Sinhala capability I would have given another 100 points and the lack functionality for visually handicapped (at least ORCAS) is a glaring omission.

Now you have a choice either go for Debian proper  at Debian Mint as alternative.

My prediction is Ubuntu is going to lose its fan base like what happened to Redhat when Fedora was thrust upon Linux addicts, like us.

Having said that I still support Ubuntu's innovative approach and with touch screen and tablets coming it will make a serge in the customer base.

Till then Ubuntu fans Multiboot with at least 3 Linux distributions in one box.

With hard drives going to 500 GiB and cheap now what other option one has?

Mind you both CDs did not boot with my old IBM and there was loss of font functionality.