Tiny Utilities

When I travel abroad I go almost empty handed except money and a few USBs and Small CDs.

I was looking for Linux utilities and they had nothing in 2009 in Singapore.

It is true even today.

They cater for big companies and hardware and not for OUR needs.

Instead I look for a good Laptop or some fancy handheld scanners.

Coming to small utilities I bought two small CD cases holding only 12  small CDs.

Two of them I did not look for some time and we're full of Puppy Linux, Gparted and Linux Partition Magic CDs.

Now with 64 bit computers running most of the Puppy Linux CDs we're unusable.

The RW CDs I formatted and I kept only Precise 5.5 series Racy Pup 5.5 series and Slako Pup that could boot on a 64 bit computer.

Even Wary was not bootable.

Mind you these CD had only 200 MB capacity and only Puppy could write a sfs file under 200 MB into the R and RW CDs.

It is sad to see these Puppy derivatives dysfunctional except on 32 bit computers.

I wanted AbiWord for my work and even FATPup support LibreOffice.

While I was doing that I found a Data CD with some of my blog writing made in AbiWord.

Accidentally I clicked a file and to my amazement LibreOffice current version reads AbiWord but won't save an edited version in AbiWord format.

This is in Debian 10 distribution and I do not have to convert them NOW to LibreOffice or Words format to read them or edit them.

Thank you very much LibreOffice and you should allow saving new AbiWod documents under LibreOffice hood.

Both backward and forward compatibility.

It is all about removing Macros.

I used Open Office to remove Macros from Words but lately it was only AbiWord.

Since Android cellphones do not support AbiWord, the strategy for LibreOffice should be to support AbiWord and it (a MUST) going to be a real booster for AbiWord users like me.

I am getting tired with Polaris and WPS word formats.

They are bulky.

This is ready not a draft.

Bees are coming again

First of all let me say that *Early bees store the pollan and honey instead of early birds catches the worm.
Two varieties. One comes for pollen from lilies and the other from the palm blossoms.
I'm fact the smaller bee I could record in my  spare cellphone camera.
Before I could bring my real camera it had gone away.
Not only early it is quick.
Within one hour they disappear.
Then there is a single wasp or bamara who roams daily in two visits.

Origami Guy and My Japanese Connections

Origami Guy

Meeting this guy was a chance occurrence, most likely through MW, I believe. He may have ask some favours from MW and he would have duly helped. Perhaps getting his daughter to a Kandy school with talent in swimming. This guys daughter, I use to buy treats, since she was a good swimmer and spend lot of time on swimming lessons.

Sitting with this friend who is an expert on Origami and having a tea and treat was to put importance of education and not sports. Only a few can rice up the ladder of sports. Doing sports for fun is a different matter. I used to the points point blank but now I use gentle and pervasive mode.

She was tiny and I told him, what she needs is good food and good education and her teachers are using for their fame and not his daughter.

In fact. the teachers are using her.

She gets up at five and come to Kandy, before six thirty in the morning to have half and hour of of swimming lessons from 7AM to 7.30AM the school opening, time. Then he waits until 2.30PM to pick her up with after lessons. The school closes at 1.30PM.

This schedule exhaust both the father and the daughter and his hard earned money in Japan is down the drain as it were. He has a another kid I think a boy.

I told him not to give Origami lessons free of charge and advertise it and earn some money. I could not follow a single lesson and my target was to get my memory back and develop a skill in old age to help my coordination in old age. I am losing bit of coordination and I realize keyboard is my my friend.

Besides, it will make me to finish few more books in double quick time. I also try to master new English words and synonyms are my favourites and I try to avoid using the same word repeatedly but instead use a synonym to go with my fast flowing ideas

I told him she has no energy left to concentrate on lessons. It is far better to lean English and Japanese instead.

Of course, corona virus put and end to swimming lessons and me meeting him for a cup of tea.

I should end this with the all the Japanese Guys and Girls who helped the Dental Faculty to its present standing. It is also closed due to corona virus and a blessing in disguise for the guys who are practicing.

My target was only 50 dental surgeons a year and export them and they went up to 100 not heading my advice.

The first is Dr. Handa and he was an amiable guy and I used to tell him instead of JICA, he should become a diplomat. I lost touch with him and he never game me his email and I did not ask in any case.

The other was Miss Hagiwara, opposite Dr. Handa very reserved and difficult to make any tangible friend. She was a computer lady and had all the Windows proprietary software including statistics with her. She was stingy not necessarily due to copyright issues but her nature. I gave up trying her but got Professor Asoka Ekanayake to demand from her all the software needed for student education in the small computer unit we had.

She had to give in and I built a small network in Linux at home with 14 computers. 

I had lot of time and was doing research work and most of my time in the morning was used in the computer laboratory with SPSS, only available in Windows. Linux has limited software in statistics and SPSS was a proprietary software. 

I also found pirated copies in Kandy streets.

It was no big deal for me to master statistics in six months, only to finish my thesis.

The third guy was with whom I shared my official  room. He was a retired Professor of Pathology and had lot of publications in Japanese but his English was hopeless to say the least. 

I used to do develop my private statistics database on placenta which I did not give to the university. 

All morning two days of the week, I was in Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya getting my data and specimens collected and then I come to Faculty and finish entering them. 

No conversation at all with him but got him to train our technicians in special staining techniques (demonstrations and no talking involved), through Dr. Handa. He was of course was fluent in English. He stayed with us for six months. There was an intensive crash course in English for him by  Dr. Handa and sure enough he made an English presentation and a booklet to go with it. 

I was instrumental in getting the text in the instruction booklet edited. We sent three of our technicians abroad one to two Japan and another to Korea for hands on training on special staining techniques.

I never wanted to go to Japan and learn Japanese or Korean in my twilight years and English and French are my mode of exchange of ideas but fall behind in French as compared to English.

But my cellphone keyboard is In French which I can switch to English effortlessly but my grammer in French is hopeless. 

I thought I could not get one page on KJ in my book of Unique Guys but here I  am ending with 5 pages.

I have inadvertently deleted the entry on Japanese Contribution to Dental Faculty. 

I am going to cut and paste this as a replacement for future reference but I will trim this site to 300 entries moment I finish publishing books at Amazon and have only Linux entries and few on other topis.

This site is named Linux 100 and 300 is three times that target.

I think I have done my honours to Linux in style. 

Tails and its Book Maker

I down loaded, torrent files of Tails and FreeNAS.
Unfortunately my DATA finished and larger of FreeNAS fell short of few MBs.
Thanks FreeNAS for your torrent file.
I do not like direct download.
For Tails I used image writer writer to boot.
It booted well but failed integrity its software.
From the booted OS I made another bootable USB.
Its image is only 1GB but expanded to 4.3GB.
It has a bookmaker utility and makes A 3 to A 5 books.
I tried a book file made of AbiWORD for conversion to book but it failed, saying EOF or end of the file error.
I will do a bit of editing to my big file and see I can make A 5 Book.
I hope Tails improve bookmaker identify ABI and LibreOffice long file.
I hope Tails add custom utility to get real book sizes printed out.

Jumping for Joy

This one is small.
Food is scarce for them due to extremely dry and hot weather not   due to Putin's War of Words and Guns.
Only place they can breed is my fish tanks.
She was going for the rooftop.
Bad idea since my plants pots are  dry and have only two buckets which are used to propagate Vallisneria.
Vallisneria also slowly die.
Frogs need clean water for laying eggs.

Clan of Six

The seventh guy mentioned above was not in the original six but we jumped a ride to Kandy city in the  car which came to pick him.

They were from the south who came to Kandy for business and never went back. They bought land in Haragama which is where our last king escaped from Kandy from British capture on his way to Mada Maharuwara (where he was captured eventually).

It is fitting to end this chapter with a real story.

Three of us were invited for the house warming ceremony. We were broke those days and we decided to walk from Gurudeniya to Haragama (Haragama means a tunnel dug under a steep hill).

We assumed it was a little walk but found it daunting and we reached there at 1PM, an hour late.

Luckily for us, the sumptuous lunch was not ready and we had one hour to refresh with sweat pouring underneath our clothes.

Additionally one of the three chunky bars of chocolates we decided to eat and not donate as a gift. It would look like one has not contributed to the simple gift. We never told him this story and it was top secret and before I kicked the bucket it should be recorded somewhere, for posterity.

Rebirth that baffles me

I working hard on book a "Why I believe in rebirth and do not believe in rebirth.
It will be out soon on Amazon Books  once it is proof ready.
Rebirth cannot be proved on scientific methodology.
It does not mean science has all the tools.
Mind is cosmological and knows no boundaries.
 

Brain is gravity bound and need oxygen and high pressure suits on the moon.
In zero gravity C.S.F fluid flows in opposite direction and effects sleep diurnal rhythm and critical decision making capacity.
 

But mind can function in outer space effortlessly.
 

What is the connection with rebirth.
The mind can exist without brain but brain cannot exist without mind and heart beat.
Mind can travel in space but for brain to travel it need a spaceship and the brain cannot travel in a cardboard box.
 

Mind can travel out of the body (Near Death Experience) and with this ability it can find another body another vector or host including animal form.
 

I tell my son I will be born next time round as a chameleon.

Can you guess the next round of birth for Putin and all politicians?

Let your imagination run riot.
 

It is a good mental exercise during the current wave of corona virus.

It is spreading fast in Colombo.

Get out of Colombo.

Orchids

This took 18 years to bloom

This bloom came after 18 years

It was a long wait to see this orchid flower.

First Casualty in WAR is TRUTH

CEYLON was a good example.

Both LTTE and GOVERNMENT in POWER used that as a tactic.

It is clearly happening in UKRAINE  and the comedian head of state is a good exponent of manufacturing lies.

We are in the brink of nuclear war and I want to be neural.

He played into the hands of President Putin who was very good at bluffing.

It is strange two individuals one who is a comedian and other who  is a autocrat brought the world to panic and chaos.

The AMERICANS are the biggest liers  overall, and their war machinery needed a booster.

They are laughing through their black ends.

DO NOT believe especially CNN reporting.

They have powerful cameras and drones why they showed only one dead soldier out of 3500 claimed.

The general equation is our deaths are less theirs it is 20 times.

I think lot of refugees are dying trying to escape from the human tragedy.

Lot of our Tamil brotheren, died at sea.

By the way, Ceylonese are good at lies and it is in our genes and we thrive on international lies.
When we want to get VISA clearance we use that cleverly even Ukrainians cannot match.
They get caught and we never get caught, since our lies are premeditated and carefully calculated.
Easter bombing is one of those many.
Telling the truth is the most simple but for lying one has to be crafty to not to get caught.

SIMPLE TRUTH is lies have short lifespan but THE BIG LIE the CHURCH created the man and this planet was created by GOD, is smooth sailing.

The god who created PUTIN must be absolutely MAD.

LIE Detection Tape or PACHA Tape

LIE Detection Tape or PACHA Tape

This is a million dollar investment plan.

While I was doing a chapter on "Lies and Alcohol" and how a  confabulating rank alcoholic creating, an instantaneous lie for the next draft of tot, this idea came on top.

It is to insert a "Lie Detection Tape on Our Politicians, starting with Wira Wansa.

Now we are manufacturing Face Masks for the entire globe, only a little modification to the manufacturing technique can achieve my goal, for two reasons.

It needs to be mandated how long one can wear a mask.
 

In my belief   it should be only 20 minutes.

The second is how to dispose it without causing environmental pollution.

My design of the Lie Detection has a color code.

White illuminance for truth.

Red for a While Lie.

Green for neutral conversation.

It should be located around the mouth and within seconds of a lie, it should dissolve into the mouth with a bitter taste.

One need not cut the tip of the tongue to get Kasthuri (Universal Medicine) out of an offending guy or girl.

This should not be allowed domestically, since the institution called marriage will not last.

In any case one need not wear a mask at home.

The first million doses or million batch should be given to Anthony Fausi for his consumption.

He is a Lie Factory and he has to finish the lot in one day for the million lies he uttered for China to go  scot free on Coronavirus origin.

One can modify this and copyright is left free.

If we use this technique in the next general election and the same old guys get elected we can say this country has only liars and we only love lies like a confabulating alcoholic.

By the way all our politicians are alcoholics and lying is their professional trade mark.

We need not have television to propagate propaganda of lies.

How to Publish a book in LINUX?

How to Publish a book in LINUX?

I have to finish this book quick and it will appear soon in Amazon's. Publishing a book in Linux is possible if one cares to learn a few basics.

If you are at mercy of Microsoft Windows you should not read beyond this.

I have just finished page formatting a book of 400 pages and finishing my book on "Alcohol and its Charms" of about 150  pages using LibreOffice, latest version which is fabulous.

Of course, I use AbiWord for removing Macros and perfecting a proof ready pdf file. LibreOffice is perfectly integrated with AbiWord and swooping one of LibreOffice long file with AbiWord is instantaneous.

Producing a big word file is easy but making it print ready is a different kettle of fish. Book comes in different sizes and I will write a book on how to? soon, once I finish writing the books I have already started.

I use Debian 11 for final touch up with latest LibreOffice. Debian does not support AbiWord.  So I go to Emmabantus installed on an External Disk.  It has AbiWord and slightly older version of Libre Office.

I  came across a few problems with getting the Chapter Index.  One can install LibreOffice, Chapter Index only once and once  installed, updating it is easy but deleting it is almost impossible.  So final LibreOffice file is opened in AbiWord and I delete the Chapter Index.  It deletes all the macros in one go.  Once it is clear of macros, I make Section Breaks and Page Breaks and number the pages in the header to make the file print ready in a book format.

LibreOffice has default header and footer and very difficult to customize. Header and Footer can be customized easily in AbiWord.  Once it is done when opened in odt file there are no conflict of interests and one can fine tune the page sizes.

Vertical page size come in standard sizes and I think page cutting machines have vertical limitations.  The width of the book can be made into exact inches but not the height.  After header and footer, page size is an important parameter.

I use 5.4 wide and 8.4 height in inches.

The book can be 7.4 inches in height and 4.4 in width. Width can be made to exact inches, if one wishes. Then one counts the total number of pages for the intended design.

Making header level can go up to ten but I routinely use 3 header levels.

I use big 12 fonts. Liberation sheriff is my favorite. If the book had more than desired pages I decrease the font size to 10 or 11.

https://myaccount.google.comFebruary 17, 2022

Old Entry

I have finish this book and will appear soon in Amazon's.
Publishing a book in Linux is possible if you care to learn few basics.
If you are at mercy of Microsoft Windows you should not read beyond this.

I have just finished page formatting a book of 400 pages and finishing my book on "Charms of Alcohol" of about 100  pages using Libre Office, latest version which is fabulous.

Of course I use AbiWord for removing macros and perfecting proof ready pdf file.

Libre Office now is perfectly integrated with AbiWord and swooping one of Libre Office long file with AbiWord is instantaneous.

Producing a big word file is easy but making it print ready is a different kettle of fish.

Book comes in different sizes and I will write a book on how to? soon, once I finish what I have already started.

I use Debian 11 for final touch up with latest Libre Office.
Debian does not support AbiWord.

So I go to Emmabantus installed on a External Disk.

It has AbiWord and slightly older version of Libre Office.

I  came across few problems with getting the Chapter Index.
One can install Libre Office Chapter Index once only and once  installed, updating it is easy but deleting it is almost impossible.

So final Libre Office file is opened and I delete Chapter Index.
It deletes all the macros in one go.
Once it is clear of macros, I make Section Breaks and Page Breaks to print level sizes and number the pages in the header.

Libre Office has default header and footer and very difficult to customize.

Header and Footer can be customized easily in AbiWord.
Once it is done when opened in odt file there is no conflicts and one can fine tune the page sizes.

Vertical page size come in standard sizes and I think page cutting machines have vertical limitations.

The width of the book can be made into exact inches but not the height.

After header and footer page size is an important parameter.
I use 5.4 wide and 8.4 height in inches.
It can be 7.4 in height and 4.4 in width.
Width can be made to exact inches if one wishes.

Then you count the total number of pages for your design.

Making header level can go up to ten but I routinely use 3 header levels.
I use big 12 fonts.
San sheriff is my favorite.
If the book had more than desired pages I decrease the font size to 10 or 11.

More details I will introduce with my book.

Libre Office in Debian 11 is fabulous

The latest version of Libre Office is fabulous.

My lay off from writing over one year was a good omen.

During the pandemic Libre Office Developers have done a commendable job.

I have to relearn all the tits and bits.
Besides, I added a new keyboard and a mouse and the keys feel soft on my fingers.

The old keyboard had few keys that jam especially, the return key which erases few lines in a second.

The redo function is almost limitless.
I am enjoying my writing.

Thank you guys and girls of the Developer World.

Ubuntu Update

I decided to install Ubuntu OEM version on an external disk, since a few guys new to Linux makes adverse comment on Linux based  on limited  use with Ubuntu.

I am not an Ubuntu User but Use Ubuntu regularly for critical work.
To begin with there are over 300 Linux derivatives of different flavor.

If one is not happy with Ubuntu one can choose a different distribution depending on one's taste.

Coming back to Ubuntu OEM version is almost  identical to normal installation except having Disk utility to view and change partitions, including resizing.

It uses only about 15GB of hard disk for its utilities.
Rest is incorporated with the root partition and there is no home partition.
It needs rebooting twice for functionality.
It is frugal but one can get free or commercial apps after installation.

Ubuntu has the knack of detecting bad sectors when formatting.

It does not state bad sectors but say it cannot form a partition and halt installation.

It was a SATA 250GB hard disk.
After three days of failed installation, I excluded that part of the hard disk when installing and it did the trick.
Installed Debian and Emmabantus, too.

This error checking is bypassed when one lets the distribution takes over the whole disk for installation.

Making partitions before installation is mandatory job.

OEM distributors take advantage of this major lack of oversight of not checking the entire hard drive by many Linux distributions and may be dishing out faulty hardware.
They assume hardware is full proof when sold in the open market.

Even SATA SSDs can have bad sectors.
I may have discarded the hard drive long time ago, due to that reason..

It had a Linux distribution installed in it but it did not boot.

What made me to consider the presence of bad sector was the undue time Gparted took to scan the disk after having partition this disk.

I let a day go off before reformatting the old disk.

Patience is prerequisite skill in Linux installation and use.

I have found a another reason for Ubuntu installation aborting in mid cycle.

It has a thermal daemon to detect the hard disk.
My old SATA disk mounted on a external aluminium case got heated up and installation stopped.

Ubuntu gave a detailed list including bad hard disk but luckily  for me it gave a note on thermal daemon and my hard disk was new spare one.

I switched off everything and put a heat sink on top of the external hard disk.
While installing Ubuntu for the second time I used a bundle of A4 papers to fan it.

I am told by a guy who was introduced to Linux by me (never mastered it coming from Windows base) that where he works water coolers were running around supercomputers.

Computers consume lot of heat and me giving them a test was mainly due to soaring electricity bill.
I do my work on PC as a routine after midnight or between 5AM to 9AM and switch it off thereafter.
Keep it running only if there is a download of Linux distribution pending.

Debian also has a thermal daemon and switch down to cooling mode automatically.

So switching on, a computer is not good for this planet earth and we are in the middle of a rising temperature.

If your computer packs up do not repair or buy a more powerful computer unless you are a game addict.

My PC has lot of fans (one inside busted in three months and I pulled the link to the motherboard) and they have diode lights that gives a Wesak lantern type of color display.

That warn me, that I have not switched it off before dropping to sleep.

I think ESP does not work with old IDE hard disks

I found an old IDE mounted on a silver colored Aluminium Case.
It had Old Debian 9 edition and Ubuntu Blackbox but decided to install Emmabantus leaving behind a FAT partition for GRUB.
It did not boot

Tried Ubuntu with ESP partition.
Did not boot again.
I resized the ESP and left about 300MB FAT partition and currently reinstalling Ubuntu.

I am hoping for it to work.
With SATA disk no problem.
By the way, my PC has an IDE as a save and it boots OK with ESP.

The old IDE gives a creaky noice when reding and writing.
I need absolute silence when working and if it failed to boot I keep as a souvenir, since I really like the casing.
It had at least 16 nuts to fix the IDE.

New SATA disk can be slotted in without nuts to a external case.
They do not make a noise, unlike rotating IDE disks.

Power consumption per memory unit is Hugh for IDE disks.

Refurbishing of old 32 bit with IDE disks is counterproductive.

Smaller units (both internal and external) with SSD disks save lot of money.

My PC's SSD is only 120GB and has been running over 10 years with Debian from Debian 9 to 11.

Debian 11 when doing (example downloading) goes into energy save mode automatically.
I rarely use my PC for Internet but use my cellphone for emails.

Running the PC for internet connectivity is an absolute waste of money.

I have had fires with Computers and TVs with cathode ray tubes in our house.

I dismantled 12 of my 14 computer network to save electricity bill in my retirement.

Even the telephone I use rarely now.

I tell my contacts to send me SMS, which cost less instead of giving me courtesy call on my birth day.

I still test Linux distributions and utilities.

Unlike Windows and Apple that consume lot of electricity Linux conversion save this planet from overheating.

Video Conferencing are counterproductive except perhaps  for UNO during a pandemic but they too, contribute to global warming.

Less computers we use and less Twitter and Facebook communication we use it is better  for the planet.

Instead of plant a tree or water plant, lilies or lotus is better for this planet.

Even though they grow in the mud, their flowers are beautiful and enticing.

The Guppy fish live among the bring down mosquito population almost to ZERO.

Keeping few Guppy fish and feeding them good for your heart.

Having being a pet fish man of yesteryear, I discourage exotic ones.

I have disposed all my fish tanks and no air compressor pumps.

Air compressor pumps also need red electricity.

Hot summer coming in soon, the mosquito menace, dengue and encephalitis cause more deaths than Coronavirus.

Booting Old Gadgets with Ubuntu

I have old gadgets with lot of old data including my favorite films.

For about three weeks I was trying to install Debian 11 and Emmabantus while keeping old data.

I could not.

I tried copying to a SATA external disk but transfer rate was snail pace and it abruptly stopped for no reason.

There was no problem installing Ubuntu along with data.

But due to frugal and commercial Ubuntu ploys, I could not open most of my files including films.

There was no VML utility.

I tried Debian and Emmabantus first but they won't boot after installing on the Immation and Apallo disk with no ESP partition, to boot.

Finally, I decided to install Ubuntu last, after Debian or Emmabantus install, on one Immation 500GB and the other, one terabyte disk.

It worked and Ubuntu read and installed the GRUB, the Grand Universal Boot Record.

By the way, ESP or EFI partition can reside on any sector, not necessarily starting from the first sector of the hard disk.

That was a relief and if the first sector becomes corrupt or unusable the whole disk cannot be used.

I have a USB stick which I installed a bizarre script and it cannot be formatted.

It has become a read only stick.

USBs are supposed to be erasable and reusable, unless of cause a copyright firmware is installed by OEM guys.

Thanks Ubuntu your GRUB search is excellent.

Both hard disks had only 3 year warranty and I erased all Windows utilities.

The Windows won't let me install Linux distributions.

They are solid after forty years of use.

Thanks Immation the workmanship of your hardware is excellent.

They are solid sealed disk containers.

Keeping them in the box was absolute waste.

They were the with two, OLD, Type 2 USB slots, one for reading and one for writing.

They work as new and I decided to pack the SATA external disks into their original boxes and give them a little respite.

Do not throw old hard disks simply because you have new gadgets.

I can take them with me as mobile units and watch my old films and re-edit my book files.

I had forgotten the data were recorded in one of the disks.

I do not have to redo files and my PC is free of junk files.

Recordings stuff on USBs without a label on top is annoying.

I have erased data on all USBs and use them as bootable Linux USBs leaving some space for storing and keeping the ISO images.

Mageia 8 is out

I was a fan of Mandrake and Mandriva and it went into dormancy and Mageia Linux kept it afloat from France.

It was the first commercial portable OS and Globe Trotter was its innovation.
Soon after Globe Trotter it went bust.
Since then, I have not used Mageia as a regular installation and lost interest in Mageia.

According to reviews it's version 8 is pretty good.

However Download speed of Ceylon is currently at snail pace and I need at least two days to download almost 5GB Iso.

I have download it and installed it on hard disk and an external drive.

It brings back nostalgia of Mandrive with a blue desktop.

I have to say something nice about it.

It has more utilities than Ubuntu 21.10 frugal edition.

It takes over the entire hard disk.

All the utilities work well Mageia Control Center has a partition tool which allows one to resize the home partition, which I did to save free space to install Debian and Emmabantus.

It has No ESP (Debian and Emmabantus, too do not have ESP at boot time) and won't allow dual booting.

Finally when Ubuntu was I stalled with its ESP partition, all other distributions were identified as bootable with the GRUG 2 utility.
Ubuntu does difficult things easily and luckily I never use it but have a copy in an external disk to trouble shoot.
Funny thing about Debian is once installed it never fails and no need of updating software.
In my latest book on Rebirth, I am going to state that Linus probably has had rebirth connection to me like our dog who inspired me be a Linux addict.
Now that I am off alcohol, I need annother addiction to be tagged onto.
Fortunately, for me our download speed in Ceylon is hopeless that it takes 4 days for a 4GB image to download.
They are



Currently downloading FreeBSD.

It took nearly two hours to download.

I had to configure the Transmission utility to speed up the download speed.

Mageia installation bit messy.
It did not install on the free space and did not configure the boot loader.
It only allowed plasma desktop but was not as flashy as with Debian 11.

It needs 50GB for root and took the entire disk for home partition.
I resized the home partition.
I am using Ubuntu to do the honors and keep four distributions in the hard disk with over 700GB left for Data.

I downloaded FreeBSD and tried to install it on an external disk and failed.

It is over 4.8GB and could not be written on a DVD to test it live on a DVD.

When I find a Big 10GB DVD I will try it as a live session.

USB image is 1.1GB.

Partitioning Tools

This is not an expose of all tools available but quick recipe for the newbies.

I have been using partition tools from the time of Windows 95.

I accidentally found a tool called Partition Magic which I had to install on Win-98 and resize FAT partition and install Redhat 8 dual booting with Windows.

I could never lay my hands on Redhat 7 series but managed to find 6, or 7 CDs of Debian 6.

There was no return to Windows and I was an avid advocate of Linux full-time.

Partition Magic was bought by an agency and it has changed it's name to Qparted and I never used it again or bought a paid copy.

I was hooked to Gparted and suffice to say, I did not find any problem with it, in 32 bit days.

It has a PAE and a 64 bit version of which I have multiple copies mounted on USBs, using MultiSystem CD.

Lately I have been using Disk utility of Debian which is very handy to mount 32 bit USBs and format them to FAT and reuse them as bootable Linux such as Ubuntu.

Then there is FDISK utility on command line which I used sparingly on early Caldera Linux book days, that came with 3 CDs.

There are no books on Linux nowadays but thanks to those pioneers who wrote books, if not for them, I would have never entered the Linux World.

It ended up, me writing few books on Linux as a precursor for the LINUX Freedom in a Capitalistic World.

I have Linux Bible and UNIX, the master book of Linux commands.

I have never used LateX but have a copy of it in one of my Linux versions.
It is the best Word Processor and can be used in command form.

Linux World is a never ending Stream.

There is also GNU partition tool.

So do not try to be a pundit in YouTube boasting about 10 Linux commands but try to learn Python 3.

You never finish Python in your entire life.

It is 70 years old and still ruling the Linux World.

But my favorite is ViM.

Ubuntu is the King of ESP Protocol

Let me be forthright.
Coronavirus has affected all the Linux Developers, including Debian Base.

Only Ubuntu 2110, has been able to keep it's head above water.

It has pruned its application base, but has enough applications left for the workspace.

It looks like Ubuntu has gone commercial and paucity of applications on base install is the end result.
Downloading additional applications is a pain.
In that sense I prefer Endless OS which has an endless source of applications.
I was never an Ubuntu fan and no hard feelings.
It's GRIP with ESP partition is commendable.

It's new Desktop does not have a Debian name and an equivalent desktop to compare with but has kept its uniqueness, quite evident.

I love it's hippos face-lift.

For Debian has kept all its desktops afloat with 2700 applications to boast about but it takes at least two hours to install.

The problem is installation, I will come to that in a moment.

If you need a fully functional OP, go for Emmabantus but it also fails to have a ESP partition at the end of installation.

Remember I DO NOT give any room for a Microsoft partition to lay resident in my PC with all it's assortment of Viruses.

Only boot partition is 528 ESP and that's it.

The crunch point is NO more boot partition of the old.
One has to master the ESP boot partition which is the replacement for Windows UEFI.

My old computer PC which is 64 bits has NO UEFI front but only the Legacy BIOS to boot on.

After installing the base Debian and Emmabantus struggle to write the Grub boot loader.

My PC's main boot partition of 120 SSD has no ESP or Master Boot Record.
It has been upgraded to Debian 11 but boots by default to its Debian fully fledged desktops.

I cannot boot an operating system installed on the IDE disk.

I do not have lot of Data and Films to be saved in my PC's Free Space.

Each OP takes about 100GB and if I have three OPs installed I have 700GB or more FREE Space in a one terabyte internal or external Hard Disks left idling.

Solved it by removing the one terabyte SATA disk from my laptop and installed Endless OS on a 120 SATA disk.

Endless.OS takes only 4GB.

Formated it for future use.

Then I found another one terabyte Seagate hard disk.

Both are in Original Sealed casing and cannot be removed.

Then I removed two other ancient SATA disks  that I paid a handsome amount of money in 1980s when tiny (IDE hard disks are heavy and I wanted portable disks for music and film files which included GOD Father) disks were coming to the market by air travel agents or the correct name the smugglers of banned electronic items of Ceylon.

I was stupid to buy three external cases for, one new SATA hard disk and two ancient (30 years old) hard disks (of no use at all).

The last two could not be formatted for current use and the other had working Endless OS mounted on an external case.

I have two spare external cases but no spare hard disks.

All of them in proper use.

My AXIOM of more than 10 years Old and they are electronic junk of no use anyone.

Do not give it to your old aunt Aubry.

Hard disk was a banned item then.

Me going to Singapore at a cost of less than Rs. 7,500/= and paying three times the air fare of Rs. 25,000/= to buy a hard disk was shamefully stupid.

The laptops were bulky and they had only Windows installed, which I HATED.

I was not stupid to buy a laptop when I had over 14 PCs in my home network all second hand IBM machines booting an assortment of Linux starting from PC Linux, Redhat,  Peppermint, Ubuntu and Suse Linux and many more which I forget the names.

I bought one laptop for Rs. 35,000/= and it worked for a decade and suddenly went dysfunctional.

Now I know Windows guys write a secret code so that it won't boot at all, so that the next generation of OEMs with jacked up price are available on the market to fool the innocent young guys.

It is Branded  Money Swindling by Microsoft and Apple Guys.

Finally I bought a Windows laptop in 2009 and after three years of use erased Windows using TrueOS and installed Debian 9 or 10.

All these preamble is not to bore you but even with that background, I found it difficult to figure out how ESP works.

The bottom line is old hardware one has to discard including SATA.

How I figured it?

Only Ubuntu at partition time could use ESP.
Debian and Emmabantus Debian based could not.

The ploy is simple.

1. I install first  Ubuntu on the external SATA.

2. Then use Gparted to delete all the Ubuntu partitions except ESP.

3. Install Debian and Emmabantus.

4. Do not touch ESP.

5. Install Ubuntu last of all.

6. Presto Ubuntu figures out what is best  for you and install the GRUB bootloader on the ESP partition of any internal or external drive.

7. Press F2 or Del and chose which partition to boot.

Thank you Ubuntu and it took 10 days of my time  of trial and error to figure it out.

I scheme out my options and partition the hard disk according to my need and that was what I was doing for over 30 years.

It is second nature for me to understand my mistakes and I read  all the Warnings on display and follow the instructions to the last letter.

NO shortcuts.

Books on Linux are not on the market and I do not intend to write one for a foreseeable time.

Enjoy Linux!

My Favorite Linux Distributions

1. PUPPY Linux comes first.
I hate bloated Operating Systems.
With 100MB Puppy large collection of utilities.
It has save options.
FatPup supports 64 bit computers and all Puppy Linux in the past were 32 bit.
4 to 8GB USB is more than enough.

2. Knoppix comes second and last version was way back in early 2021.
Its desktop effects are fantastic and application list is enormous.
It can be booted with a persistent  volume and one should use 32GB USB.

3. Ubuntu 21.10 is only 3.1GB and bootable from a USB of 4GB. It has curtailed basic stuff in this volume but once installed it has enormous applications to install from Debian store.
It has AbiWord.

4. Number 4 is Emmabuntus which support old 32  bit computers.
It can be booted on a 64  bit computer and it's application supports children utilities and its application base is enormous.

It has AbiWord my favorite word processor.

5. Debian 11 is my workhorse and it does not support AbiWord.
It's disk tool is useful and I do not need Gparted for partitioning.

6. Number 6 is Gparted PAE and 64 bit versions booted on a USB.

7. Number 7 is MultiSystem OP which is Ubuntu based and one can boot multiple image on a USB.

8. Number 8 is Endless OS.
It takes over the HD and no dual booting options.

9. Number 9 is PinguOs.

10. Number 10 PCLinux which has fallen out of my liking and it does not support dual booting.

11. I have installed Ubuntu, Emma bantus and Debian on a external terabyte disk and I have 700GB left for data.
Emmabantus need 30GB for root partition and Debian 25GB.
Ubuntu needs only 3.1GB.

The 240GB is used for Home and Var partitions for data.

The operating system consumes the least resources.

Debian takes about 2 hours to install and configure 2700 packages.

Once installed booting is smooth and brisk.
It's fsckd takes a few minutes to check file system integrity at boot  time, although one can halt this process it is prudent to let it do it's house keeping job at it's leisure pace.

By the way, I am wrong about Debian cannot be booted on a USB.

All what one has to do is to download the ISO and use image writer from Debian, to write it to any bootable media external or internal.

In a flash it boots an image without an ESP partition (boots from a 2MB boot partition) and rest of the media is available for data.

All these are coming with kernel 5 and USB Mouse is very sensitive to slightest of hand movements.

I forgot about Peppermint but since it wants Microsoft words to be installed I have given up using it from version 10.

It took 20 minutes of fiddling to get torrents files for Debian and Knoppix 9.1 images.

It was a good exercise for my age  and clumsy hands.

With DVDs and CDs disappearing from the open market, it makes sensed to buy few USBs.

I have a big collection.

Both Debian 11 and Ubuntu 21.10 Need ESP Partition

My PC with 120 SSD Hard disk is set up with Legacy BIOS and the new  Debian 11 was installed without a problem.

My Home partition is never formated so all my old data are saved.

I tried installing Debian and Ubuntu on one terabyte Seagate External Disk with Fat partition as the first boot partition and I could not boot it after installing Debian.

I ignored the Debian flashing at boot time, it is now supporting UEFI.

UEFI is a ploy by Microsoft to scuttle dual booting Linux in your PC.

The ploy I used overcome this problem was to go back to Legacy BIOS.

UEFI stands for Universal Extensible Firmware Interface.

Linux does not use the term UEFI but has renamed, it as ESP.

For a long time Ubuntu and Debian could not overcome this problem of UEFI but now they have their own solutions to this problem.

Back a few years ago, when I had this problem with my Windows Laptop which I erased everything and I used True OS to erase and mount an ESP partition and boot Debian subsequently.

TRUE OS is No more and it's follower FREE-NAS has no desktop.

Attempt of using Debian ESP was a failure.

Then I used Endless OS to erase everything.

Unfortunately Endless OS does not let you dual boot and using one terabyte SATA disk for Endless OS was an absolute waste of resources.

I removed the one terabyte disk and put a 120GB SATA and reinstalled Endless OS.

I have another problem and there are no DVDs in this city to write an ISO image. Debian 11 does not support bootable USB but Ubuntu does.

I have lot of USBs and all have bootable OSes.

The only USB that did not boot a graphic desktop was BSD.

I formated it.

Downloaded Ubuntu 21.10.

Made a bootle ISO image on a 4GB USB stick, using the Debian PC.

Mounted Ubuntu and installed Ubuntu on the External Disk without a ESP partition.

While I was doing this I got a message saying that it won't boot without ESP partition.

I reinstalled Ubuntu with ESP partition.

Presto it is booting.

ESP partition is only 300MB.

I am currently booting Debian and expecting it to write the boot loader in the ESP partition.

I have 800 GB free space left in my external disk.

Perhaps I will boot Emmabuntus on this free space, on a later date.

I have to download Emmabuntus first.

Knoppix 9 Update

I believe Knoppix is the only Linux Distribution with enormous number of applications that can be booted from a USB and does not fear or care whether Microsoft Windows exists at boot time.

Of course it can be installed on a hard drive but with a persistent volume in a 64 GB USB that need does not arise.

It is a fully fledged mobile OS.

I can do all my jobs with only one USB stick but I have all the volumes from version 7.

Being a Linux guy I keep Debian in my PC but it needs a windows partition to boot.

It won't boot from a Ext-4 partition.
This subservience to Windows is an unwelcome ploy.

Since Linux can stand on its own in the cloud, why one needs a windows boot partition?

This is true also, if one boots from a SATA disk with SSD.

I do not like carrying a Laptop on travel.

It is a big hassle on the plane.

If I cannot take my Operating System in a external disk and boot it at the airport, all the achievements of Linux is lost due to Microsoft's UEFI hegemony.

I still use legacy BIOS and usually carry a USB stick prepared from Multisystem USB on travel.

Problem with Multisystem USB stick is one cannot save data.

I hope Endless OS look into this problem in future.

The latest Endless OS DVD won't let me create a USB stick and also won't install on my laptop with a small SATA disk.

I used the old version of Endless OS to Install a new copy.
It is running smoothly and I believe it does not need updating but I would only update the applications.

Thank You, Debian 11 Plus, You have solved all my Linux problems

I have been using Debian intermittently for decades and  solely for the last five years.

Suffice to say Debian did not support AbiWord but I used Puppy Linux and other Linux distributions, including Peppermint and Ubuntu for making light weight AbiWorb, Word and Pdf files, print ready for book format.

1. Latest LibreOffice can now load and read my numerous Abiword files.
This thanks belongs to LibreOffice and Debian for  supporting LibreOffice.

2. I had problem with my digital speaker device which Debian did not configure at boot time.
It does configure it now at boot time.

3. For visually handicapped the every movement of the mouse movement is verbalized and is great for them.

It is annoying for me but I can live with it by lowering the volume of the speakers.
A mute button was not visible on desktop.
They could add it on a future date.

4. I cannot still boot fully fledged Debian on a USB stick but I reinstalled Debian on a external SATA disk.

5. I have saved the Debian 10 and 11 ISO images on a 16GB MicroSD.
That is cool thing of my own thinking.
I hate carrying loads in my possession to teach a Linux newbee.
Preparing a bootable disk is one of them.

I now pretend not to know Linux to save my free time.

One word of caution.
I once press the off button of the computer while Debian was updating its files and it did not finish fschk file and it did not boot   again and I had to reinstall Debian  11.

One should keeps hands off when  Debian is checking its files including the files in external disks.

Debian automatically check files at boot time.

Let it do its house keeping job on boot time.

Few lines about Endless OS.

First Thank You for erasing all the contents of Microsoft boot files from my Laptop.
It takes over the entire disk and no dual booting options.
I removed the 1 terabyte hard disk with Endless OS and stuck a 120GB SATA disk and installed Endless OS on it.
I have over 100 GB left for additional applications.

Using one terabyte for an OS is absolutely waste of resources.

My Debian 11 is on a 100 GB SSD disk for ages and never give problems.

I have Debian 10, Peppermint 10 and Ubuntu 21 on an old IDE disk in my PC for use when I am bored.

It has been serving me over 5, years, now.

The idea was to erase the 1 terabyte disk with Endless OS.

Since endless OS does not allow one to make a bootable USB once it is installed on a hard disk, on second thought, I decided to keep it as as an External Boot Disk with ton of applications already installed that gulped all prepaid data in one night of installation.

The end result is I have one terabyte FREE external disk and two USB sticks of 32 GB with FREE capacity.

I do not need a 3 terabyte external disk for saving data.

Since I do not save films now and all my files are saved in 3 USB sticks with high capacity, I do not need any more space in spite of price of SSDs coming down drastically during the pandemic.

The bottom line is Linux does not corrupt the hardware and system unlike costly Microsoft.

Linux learning curve may be steep but once the basics are mastered it is smooth sailing.

Thank you Linux developers and I can sleep long hours, now.

On a different note for Linux gamers, Steam Deck and Dock are coming soon in this year for you to enjoy games.
Proton utility is there to play Windows games.
This year is good for all Linux users.

Endless OS and Debian 11

I downloaded Endless OS version 4.1 and tried to make a bootable USB on my Linux Box.

I could not.

Then I explored it's website and realized that USB booting is only supported on Windows machines and has a windows exe boot file.

As a last resort I copied them to a USB but it won't boot.

Ironically it takes over the hard drive and won't dual boot.

I have Endless OS on my laptop and I cannot upgrade to version 4.

I would NOT try it.

If I do that I have to reinstall all the applications I have already downloaded.

Instead the OS, I updated the software and it took almost 24 hours (VERY Slow) and some applications could not be updated.

This OS is not for the weak hearted.

Its plus point is it has many Android applications which a Linux guy like me cannot install on Debian base.

By the way, Debian 11 is fabulous!

Why Leaders (International) Lie

1. State to State Lies
2. Inner State lies or Fear Mongering
3. Strategic Cover up Lies
4. Mythical Lies or National Lies
5. Liberal lies

Liés and Scientific Research Lies

I have summarized five precept of  Scientific lies.
It is very simple.
1. Lies
2. More Lies
3. Damn Lies
4. Statistical Lies
5. Fifth has synonyms
Head CDC =Fausi Lies

Catching an Eagle in Flight

It is very difficult to catch an eagle in a film.

It is very difficult, especially when there are clouds.

Moment it spots a human being or a crow it floats above the clouds.

I believe it can see through the clouds.

It is very clever and makes a queer sound and turn around  abruptly at 90% degrees to confuse the target.

Not only vision it uses sound to lure the prey.

Today I tried half an hour to spot it in the sky (not to film it) but it evaded  me in style.

There is a nasty teen in my neighbourhood.

He had a whistle and imitated it's sound.

I gave up and it vanished.

Reason of its surveillance is to see any prey in a nearby coconut tree.

This coconut tree was felled and the guy who did it pruned the coconut leaves first.

I am pretty sure a grey with young squirrels was in it's sight.

May be a few giant multipedes were there,too.

While I was trying to spot it a giant butterfly  landed on a violet flower of one of my water plants.

It was huge and very beautiful.

Pitch black, with white spots and  a tinge of blue at the edges.

A very beautiful specimen and it vanished in a flash.

I know it will come back but I won't try catching it on my camera.

It's beauty is firmly registered in my brain.

New Kid in Town

 17-09-2021

New Kid (Bird) in Town

I never so this bird again.

It is not actually biped kid in town but a pair of birds, I had never seen in my life.

The pair in my assessment getting ready to breed somewhere in our neighbourhood but by felling few trees for a guy to park his Old Hiace has made a mockery of tree  planting campaign of Ra Ja Raja, in this country.

Ra Ja Regime felled eight jack trees in one year  before 2005, and he has gone to Italy to get jack fruit "madulu" in cans on a loan from Italy.

This bird the female is smaller than the Mynah with a short tail and short break and snout.

Its appetite was voracious and swallowed at least five seeds in no time like our squirrels (the difference the squirrel take the outer shell and drops the seeds and vandalize the place).

Then it decided to groom it's feathers and have a sun bath.

Mind you it came last after other birds.

Big surprise was a pair of cranes (who come for water crabs) landed with a thud and gobbled lot of seeds.

Even the Kingfisher did come for a sun bath but never venture into fruits or seeds.

The Kerala the one which has the colour of a parrot but ugly beak like of s kingfisher was absent for long time.

A pair visited after a long time.
It is secretive and avoid all human contact.

Even two pairs of Ceylon oriole did visit today.

It is most likely heavy rain elsewhere and scarcity of food that made them to visit the palm seeds.

I am pretty sure this palm not a local one has tasty seed coating.

Attracting cranes was a mystery.

King fisher never comes to the tree but his nest dug in a mud wall nearby (cleared up  for the water pumping plant of the teacher training college).

The land is gone into wilderness and there are few but tall mulberry trees, there.

It gobbles the left over chicken bones and marrow of our Christian neighbours.

There are no crabs and the well where crabs were hiding was filled up for a Hiace parking.

My estimate is the palm bunch has about 400 seeds and it will last only a week with this food scarcity for birds with the inclement weather.

The Mulberry tree has no fruits at all.

I am praying for sunshine so that my aches and pains in the back would disappear with blood flowing to my aching spine.

Coming to the new kid the male bird who was huge waited for at least half an hour till the female had its share.

This male dominant Muslim religion and Thaliban should learn, a great lesson, if they watch this pair of birds (five times a day) before their prayers.

This applies to Japanese patriarchs, too.

Male was huge bigger than a Mynah and Babbler.

He had only a few seeds, less than five and that is why I maintain that the lady bird is getting ready for laying eggs.

Where they make their nest, I won't check.

By default they cannot breed on our garden and the young brood will be finished by one cobra or a rat snake.

We do not have rattle snakes in our neighbourhood.

The male Chameleon was spotted today and they come annually for breeding.

They dig holes in the soil and I think they dig holes in my pots made soft by watering.

I rarely see a young one.

I think the ghekos kill them.

The skunk also come for breeding  on the roof of our annex not occupied for 5 years.

With Coronavirus no visitors allowed.

They have released large number  of criminals and I decided to pit a padlock for the gate.

Pretty crimes are mounting at a very alarming rate.

Tribute to Sir Clive Sinclair

Sir Clive is only a decade ahead of me.
He was the one who made me to dive and drive into computer science and electronics.

AMSTRAD computer also came around at that time but I did not fancy both of them but hooked to American Atari ( or did it come from British Hong Kong) in no time.
Many moons later in New Zealand I bought a Atari Console for my kids and I still have it in its original box ( of course it is in the attic).

I do not know how I migrated to Linux with 4MB RAM.

Sinclair has only few KB of memory and how they cramped up that memory was to record games in audio cassettes.

I tried to make a address book and it took so many hours and I gave that to one of my friends who was a mathematician (who is no more) so that his only son learns computing.

After the father's death he went into a core but never successful in academics.
I now know Linux is the only operating system that can add power to low memory from fridge to freezer to baby dolls.
That is why it is successful.

It has 28 million lines in its Kernel 15 and STEAM Dock and Drive will be soon on the market.

My ultimate aim was to make few Linux games.

Linux was devoid of games of top class then until Steam application came into existence to emulate Windows games and it is now called I think Proton.

R.I.P. to R.I.I.

Yes Recovery Is Impossible for Our Economy.

Rest In Piece for those who advocate Printing Money to overcome our Cash Flow Deficit.

I am digitally and virtually dead till I get my foreign assets frozen by CB Governor and Acting Finance Minister.

My worry is FM is trying to artificially bring down Rupee Depreciation but on the long run I will gain since Rupee will go down rapidly and uncontrollably when artificial framework start cracking.

Food prices in the coming weeks before and after the budget will indicate where we are heading.

Why?

We take a loan to settle a loan.

The second loan is at a higher rate.

We are economically *Down the Pallan*.

In Linux of Course R.I.P is a distribution to recover lost Data.

In Linux one never lose Data anyway.

In economy we deliberately erase data to avoid persecution.

New Governors job is to erase the data and muddy the water and take all the irregular emoluments (the post is vested with) for which he does not deserve a red cent and he will elope blaming the Coronavirus.

The Coronavirus is there to take these fraudulent guys to the grave.

The vaccination may mitigate it temporarily.

The recovery is impossible with makeshift cash flow adjustments but the economic downturn Coronavirus has brought in will last more than 20 years and then only will some signs of recovery will surface.

The Coronavirus in my estimate peter out in about 20 years.

These pseudo-experts will escape like rats when the "economy ship" starts sinking.

Make hay when the sun shines is their Moto!