Saturday, April 5, 2025

Linux on a Low Budget and RAM

15-09-2010
Linux on a Low Budget and RAM

Linux on a Low Budget and RAM
I was somewhat obsessed with the variety of live CD distributions on offer that I have overlooked the Linux on a low budget and computers both old and new with little and inadequate RAM.

There are many to list but I will mention a handful of them to conclude my investigation of user friendly tiny winy distributions that I have come across.

1. Geebox come to my mind that is similar to Gamebox or media player with needing 0nly 25MB.

2. My favorite is Puppy Linux which is 90 to 120 MBs and there are over 30 varieties.
The last of which I downloaded was EliteOS (with a commercial presentation included).
It is pretty good.
In the Puppy 5 series, the Lupu is another celebrity.

3. Damn Small Linux (the one I use when I am in trouble booting and partitioning) is a beauty on its own with only 50MB.

4. Astrumi (120 MB) is another good one. I think it is a Polish distribution.
The older version cannot recognize LCD monitors.
New ones are coming by the dozens.

5. 4MLinux-Gamer is only 11MB and and the standard is 25MB.

6. Voyage is only 45MB.

7. xPUD a web browser and media player is 65MB.

8. The xin-v1 is only 52MB.

9. SliTas

10. Tiny Me

11. Finnix is another

12. WiFiWay small 285MB and Standard 408MB (Spanish).

13. Minix is 385MB.

14. CRUX is 220MB.

15. NimbleX was less than 200MB but now is bit fatty and has doubled itself to 400MB.

16. Feather Linux is also another flag bearer (like DSL) of small and beautiful Linux.

Then come to the the partition tools, there are many and one does not need a proprietary software to do partitioning (I have dropped MS partition magic for good but it was the one that saved many hours of sleep (sleepless nights before that) in the early days of Linux experience)

17. gparted

18. partmagic

19. pmagic

20. R.I.P. Linux

20 is a magic number for me.
In studies of evolution (my personal work) if there are 20 related species in a locality that 20 would circumvent any adverse climatic change at least temporarily but if that figure is 3 the species is critically endangered.

With the same context in time to come Microsoft is an endangered commercial species may be catering for other planetary systems in space.

The host of Ubuntu derivatives that come as TURNKEY should be the fitting end to my list.

The list is endless and my favorites are Puppy, DSL and Feather Linux.

They are the ones I have used comfortably and on a regular basis and have used in demonstrations to show (my) prowess in Linux.

Sorry guys and girls that I have only mentioned your names only and they are much better than my GoGo.F.O.F. Linux which is still under construction with my workforce on extended Christmas holidays enjoying other Linux for relaxation.
 
They are allowed to copy any good idea free of charge or copyrights.

It is an understatement when I say that they are the most useful when one (I am in trouble) is in trouble or on low in RAM to do the tit bits (not bits and bytes).

Bye till new year!

The US Government and Extraterrestrials(ETS)

 Reproduction and a beautiful PIECE, written in the style of Art Buchwald!
The US Government and Extraterrestrials(ETS)


Arthur "Art" Buchwald (October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007) was an American Humorist best known for his long-running a column in the Washington Post, which in turn was carried as a syndicated column in many other newspapers.
His column focused on political satire and commentary.
He received the Pulitzer Price for Outstanding Commentary in 1982 and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy and institute of Arts and Letters.
The US Government and Extraterrestrials(ETS)
Now that concrete proof of the existence of the ETs was available to the US government, the ETs started sending messages to the leadership which knew about the Roswell incident.
The central message was that nuclear weapons were very dangerous and should be eliminated, plans to build nuclear power plants should be shelved immediately and in return the ETs would help the world develop new sources of energy which were safe and essentially unlimited.

The elimination of nuclear was naturally a military decision, but the civilian leadership of that time was also involved.
This was the time of the cold war.
Harry Truman was the President.

Truman was no Roosevelt - he was a small town Southerner, a decent man, but no great statesman - not exactly an internationalist or overly broad-minded.

He had no regrets about using the atomic bombs.

When Germany attacked Russia, Truman said "If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances."

He and his cold war Generals were the people who would be making the decision on what to do about the ETs overtures.

The decision was made to ignore the ETs urgent messages.

A secret department was created to investigate the ETs, their downed spaceship and their ultra high technology.

How did the thought process go?

How did they decide what the best course of action was?

Since the whole affair is so highly classified, we can only speculate.

So here goes (pure speculation):

Super Patriotic General
(his father may have been at the Alamo):
"I smell a rat. What do these wags want?
What is their angle?
What is in it for them?

Who do they think they are fooling?
We weren't born yesterday.
Once we disarm they will invade us with their fancy weapons".

Blue blooded Politician
(his was the third generation of ivy league educated men in the cabinet):
"The great nation of the United States stands between these blood-thirsty savages and the entire world. We are the world's last hope. It is manifest destiny that the US makes the last stand to defend the world against these aliens."

Member of the Cabinet (a self-made man - his father was a used car salesman during the Depression): "These aliens are a bunch of saps. We will just string them along until we figure out their technologies. That can't be too difficult, we already have all those Germans working on the rocket program. If not, we can just con them into handing their secrets over and keep all our nukes as well".
 
Someone who looks rather like Dan Quayle jumps up and starts hysterical shouting - "USA! USA! USA!".
The general asks him to shut up and sit down.
 
The OSS (CIA) man in dark glasses (nobody in the room knew his real name):
"Wonder what kind of sex these aliens have?
We could get some pictures and spread them around.
Nobody in the world would touch them again with a barge pole.
We have already taken care of all the witnesses.
Its like the aliens never existed."

The President takes a deep breath and with great pride in his voice:
"Boys, today will be remembered forever in history as the day, America did right by the world. Just keep it to ourselves for now. Shut it down like it never happened.
You all have a good weekend now."
I am sure we can come up with a lot of different scenarios.
When governments keep information, which rightfully belongs to all humanity, so secret, I think we have the right to speculate all we want.
There is of course no need to be at all charitable in our speculation about their motives.
If any of the readers have their own ideas, please mail them to me at the address at the bottom.
The decision was unanimous - the aliens were to be ignored.
The Truman team basically did not take the ETs that seriously.
After all any US marine could break one of those ETs, that they had found on the ship, into two pieces with both his hands tied behind his back.
Our jewels - the nukes would be preserved and strengthened.
The incident would be completely covered up. It was a wonderful day in America.
When the Truman term ended in 1953, General Eisenhower, the golfing President entered office.
The General knew exactly how to fight battles and win wars.
Just command someone to do it while he went golfing.

Eisenhower's cabinet contained two of the most evil men in the world since WWII - the Dulles brothers (Kissinger, Dick Cheney, David Addington, Karl Rove and Elliot Abrams come pretty close in matching them in evil).

One brother was the Secretary of State and the other one was Director of the CIA.

And then there was Nelson Rockefeller - he was no stranger to secrecy and the intelligence agencies and Eisenhower had already assigned him chairmanship of the President's Advisory Committee on Government Reorganization.
In addition Rockefeller was appointed the head of the Operations Coordinating Board responsible for integrating the implementation of national security policies - the OCB included the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the President's Special Assistant for Psychological Warfare.
The ET phenomenon had been well analyzed by the military by now.
 
The report that Nelson Rockefeller saw was devastating - it basically predicted the end of world as he knew it.
Nelson Rockefeller was reputedly a 'liberal', eastern republican, not like the narrow minded ones from the south. However, Nelson also believed in the 'American way' and the superiority of 'Western civilization'.
 
He was proud of his White, Anglo-Saxon heritage, American capitalism and his Christian upbringing.

He was also an internationalist who believed in spreading these American/European values across the world through evangelizing.
 
The other earthly races were the white man's burden and he would show them the right way to live.
 
But these ETs were going to spoil all that.
They appeared to be far more advanced and superior.
 
They even talked in terms of peace and brotherhood.
 
If the world at large found out about these superior beings, why would they bother with what he and America had to say?
It would be the end of American and Anglo-Saxon domination.
It may even be the end of capitalism.

With cheap, unlimited energy sources like the ETs promised, the third world would advance at a rapid pace.
All poverty and want would be eliminated.
Within a couple of decades, they would catch up with the West.
With free energy and technological progress, the countries with the highest population would be the most powerful.
China and India would be dominant with the US a distant third.
 
Christian beliefs and dogmas were also at risk.
 
This would never do.
The ETs had to be outwitted and defeated.
The world was to be united against the ETs under the leadership of America and its allies.(Of course with clean, free energy, there would be no pollution, no climate change, no global warming, no poverty, no starvation - but these were not the problems of the 50s and 60s in America nor considerations for the 'free market' republicans who wanted the market to fix all these problems).
Truman and his team had done a good job keeping the ET information from the public, but now it was time to take it further underground, not only would the public not know about, it would be hidden from all elected officials as well.
Nobody but those within military/intelligence complex who were already involved with ETs would have that information and any others would get to know only by invitation from those already in it.
This group would be financed completely off the books, by black budgets from the CIA and other agencies or from friends in the know in private industry (banking, defense and energy/oil companies) or even self-financed by illegal activities when necessary.
The ultimate cover up had begun.
The private industry partners in this black project were  very likely led by Nelson's brother - David Rockefeller. Together with other European banking families, US defense contractors and energy interests, the two Rockefeller brothers (or at least Nelson alone) would help the US intelligence communities (CIA/NSA/NRO etc) manage the operation.
The golfing president signed off on it and essentially signed himself out of the loop without quite understanding what he had done.
The US Military/Intelligence Cabal and ETs
The plan to handle the ET phenomenon consisted of several projects (all run by the blackest of the black ops):
Try to catch up with the ETs technologically - develop similar space vehicles as well as weapons to disable/destroy such spaceships. This project of building spacecraft like the ETs was handed to the defense contractors who were partners in the operation.
Discredit all witnesses to UFO sightings or close encounters with actual ETs. This involved planting CIA assets in every organization which believed in UFOs and buying off any journalists or writers who wished to investigate the ET phenomenon.
The worst part of it was catching those who did have encounters with the ETs and intimidating them, if necessary kidnapping them, torturing them, drugging them or eliminating them if that was what it took.
Get people in the US (as well as the rest of world) to fear and loath the ETs (without ever admitting that they existed).
Here the plan got more complex - it involved psychological warfare.
The plan was to have the military/intelligence members pretend to be aliens and then abduct ET sympathizers or those who may want to expose the cover up.
The abductees were drugged, hypnotized, tortured or sexually abused (the intelligence operatives have long discovered that sexual abuse was a easy way to traumatize people) using techniques perfected in the CIA's mind control project MKULTRA.
Besides drugs and hypnosis, bombarding the victims with concentrated electromagnetic rays was also used. 
The latter technique caused paralysis and often made the victims unknowingly have out-of-body experiences. 
While under drugs and hypnosis, false memories of alien atrocities were planted in the victims minds. The whole thing sounds like science fiction, but it turned out to be a very successful program.
Since the ETs often visited rural areas, a special group that secretly mutilated cattle was created.
This was sure to turn farmers against the 'demonic aliens'.
If nothing worked outright murder was always an option. They had discovered ways of driving people completely crazy or even inducing cancer in people from a distance using the Electromagnetic weapons.
The groups involved in the disinformation, abductions, torture, mutilations were very much like the Nazis - Mengele, Bormann, Himmler, Goebels all rolled into one (apparently only a Hitler was missing).
I am convinced the planetary Dark Forces influenced the groups, some of them may have even been obsessed by one of the Lords of Materiality.
As years past, the group went out of control. 
Even the civilian leadership (what little there was of it), like the Rockefellers, could no longer control them.
They became a rogue operation within a rogue operation.
If a CIA director or even a President dared interfere in the cabal's affairs, they and their families were at risk.
No Democratic President was let in on the covernup.
Kennedy who tried to find out more may have been assassinated for that very reason. Carter and Clinton did not have a clue and were threatened when they asked any questions. 
GHW Bush Sr. was in on it, but when he suggested revealing the secret, he too was threatened.
 
The Church and the ETs
When the Vatican was informed by the US government of the alien menace, they were equally appalled.
They searched the Bible desperately for any indication of such beings. If the ETs were not angels or demons, what were they?

Could the divine trinity be applied to the ETs too?
 
The Father and the Holy Spirit seemed universal enough, but Jesus posed a real problem. 
Was Jesus just the Son of Man or also the Son of ET?
There was no indications that The ETs accepted such a human/divine Son of God (or even a God).

And they were an advance superior race!
 
The whole Christian belief system built around the 'only begotten Son of God' was at risk.
It was best to suppress all information regarding the ETs.
Recent statements from the Vatican indicate that they are preparing for the time when eventually the truth about ETs will be revealed.
 A priest (Monsignor Corrado Balducci) not directly associated with the top brass at the Vatican, has been authorized to state that "extraterrestrial encounters are not demonic, they are not due to psychological impairment, they are not a case of entity attachment, but these encounters deserve to be studied carefully".
He spoke about the extraterrestrial people as part of God's creation and that they are not angels nor are they devils.
Recently Fr. José Gabriel Funes S.J., the current director of the Vatican Observatory, organized a conference about the possibility and consequences of life existing in outer space.

He even suggested that there could be aliens who were superior to humans and not guilty of original sin (Whatever that means! I guess, he is saying that the aliens are not demonic like the fundamentalists believe).
 
Incidentally the SJ - the Society of Jesuits is supposed to control the Vatican's intelligence service.
 

Islam and the ETs
Luckily for us all, no Islamic country with the exception of Pakistan has nuclear weapons.
Pakistan has never had a stable government.
There was no point in the ETs approaching them.
However, I am sure that if Pakistan's nukes ever got into the wrong hands, the ETs will disable them before any harm is done.
Islam is very specific about the type of beings that exist in the universe.
According to Islam there only three kinds of beings - humans, angels and demons.
The ETs were not humans and they were definitely not angels - that leaves only one choice.
I am pretty sure the full disclosure of the existence of the ETs will result in the complete collapse of the Islamic religion.
Unfortunately, the fanatics among the Muslims will not give up without a fight.
This will mean violent clashes between the firm believers (in this three kind of beings theory) and those Muslims who will accept that the ETs are not demons, but superior and advanced beings.
Foreign Governments and ETs
The motives of The US government are fairly clear.
The presence of ETs, their technological superiority, the availability of limitless sources of energy were threats to US domination of the world as well its political, social, economic and religious structures.
But what about the other nuclear powers that were also approached by the ETs?
What were their motives for participating in the cover up?
These are not so clear, so we must speculate. The analyses below is speculation, some day soon we will find how much truth there is in it.

Britain
The British were convinced by the US government that the ETs were dangerous and not to be trusted. If the west ever lost their nuclear weapons, the ETs were sure to invade and take over the world. Britain being a developed economy had nothing to gain by revealing the existence of the ETs and their UFOs and much to lose.
Recent official statements from the British government indicate that while not admitting the ETs/UFOs exist, the British government considers them harmless and benign.
However, the British government as usual would like to defer to the US on whether or when to reveal their existence.

France
The French government does not like to defer to the US, but they also see the danger of the West losing dominance and the more populous countries of the East becoming world powers. France is heavily invested in nuclear energy and quite sure the fission plants are safe.
Also France is technically a Catholic country.
Perhaps the France would like to defer to the Vatican for the timing of revealing the ET phenomenon.
 

Russia
The Russia were the second country to be approached by the ETs.
However they were soon convinced by the US that the ETs would not only leave them defenseless (without nukes) but that the ETs posed a danger to the monopoly of power of the Communist party in Russia.
 
Once the people had free localized energy, they would be independent of any central control. More recently, after the fall of communism, the reason for the Russians silence is not that clear. Naturally like the US, they also did not like the idea of the Eastern countries becoming the dominant world powers in the near future.
 

China
The Chinese were also fearful of losing their nukes - their only protection against the USSR and US. They were also worried about losing the power monopoly that the centralized communist party enjoyed.
More recently, they have been having delusions of grandeur.
 
In a few decades they expect to overtake the US economy and become the dominant power with or without the ETs help. 
 
They do not relish the idea of sharing the world stage with the Indians who they consider an inferior race. It is best if the ETs and their technology were delayed or hidden for ever.

India
India has been late coming to the nuclear club.
So the contact with ETs has been very recent. India would benefit most amongst all countries by elimination of nukes, the revelation of the existence of the ETs and the development of new energy sources.
With cheap energy, India's millions of starving people would be dragged out of poverty in a single generation.
Also among all the religions, Hinduism would be least affected by the ET news, if anything many of its beliefs maybe vindicated.

However, though India is regional power, on the international stage, it is a timid country. 
If would defer to the US rather than upset the status quo.
Besides Indians are panicky people.
 
If you walk through the streets of Bombay and shout 'the sky is falling', people will run for their lives. That maybe another consideration.
 
Besides having their own reasons for participating in the cover up, there is reason to believe that leaders of foreign countries have also been threatened by the US Cabal, these include threats to the lives of the leaders as well as their families.

There are rumors that members of the families of foreign leaders have been abducted by the US staged fake aliens and frightened into silence.

Chocolates and Coca Cola

Chocolates and Coca Cola
Yes to chocolates but no to cola is my motto!
This is the message that I should bring to the young and the old.
First, with some personal experiences of us as young parents in UK and the encounter we had with coca cola. My children were addicted to cola and my British colleague who opened my eyes to the addictiveness of (derivative of cocaine) cola drink and its (natural permitted ingredients) constituents.
That made me to do some search on the cola leaf.
Even, the tiny bit of coca extract in the syrup has cocaine and it continued to be an ingredient in the syrup in order to protect the trade name "Coca-Cola" for a long time so that the company became a house hold name in Americas.
Things have changed significantly but during the promotional campaigns, I have reason to believe the promoters increase the concentration of the syrup so that some would get addicted to the brand name.
That much is enough for cola and the Americanism and their market principles.
Now Bolivians are asking for free franchise of cocaine as a national industry.
Now to the cocoa nut.
Whenever, I get a new job abroad and whenever, I have a friendly discussion over the dinner table I always raise the issue that the westerners have a sweet tooth and eating chocolates is bad for two reasons.
One is because of the sugar content and the other my own Sri-Lankan secret invention (my April fool, long before the April fool's day) of cocoa.
I tell them in a very scientific way, that we suck the seeds of cocoa before drying them on sunlight. The scientific secret is that the digestive enzymes in our saliva digest the outer coat in such a way to get the best quality cocoa to be produced in        Sri-Lanka for export.
I do not think any cocoa trees left (imported from Africa) in this country.
And I go on to say we have hepatitis in Sri-Lanka and it is risky to eat chocolates. Whenever they offer me chocolates I flatly refuse the offer reminding of them of hepatitis.
This is the way, I take my turn for the rigmarole that I have to go through of all the vaccinations and medical check ups whenever I get a new job abroad and before commencing work.
Little they suspect that it is a made up story and I go onto say that during coca cola campaigns the company imports a special brand of essence from America that the company chairman himself prepares it in his private bath. I go onto say the essence is put in the tub and the chairman does the tempering with his feet (like vine making) and the real taste of coco cola is from the sweat of the his feet.
I go on to say the sweat he shed for his company is phenomenal judging by the company's sale figures.
This is something, I got from Arthur Buchwald’s writing and a slight hint for my friends that there is some exaggeration and pun involved in my scientific story (if they have had read him sometimes).
Arthur "Art" Buchwald (October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007) was an American humorist best known for his long-running column in The Washington Post, which in turn was carried as a syndicated column in many other newspapers. His column focused on political satire and commentary. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982 and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
So within a week I put them off of two of their favorite food items.
I have taken my revenge for the extra medical checks they have gone through myself and my family every time we go out.
No wonder I have not gone out for a long time now.
For about three month I carry on this ploy religiously and in due course I get caught eating chocolates somewhere in a supermarket or an open place.
YOU are a cheat and I find YOU eat chocolates, surreptitiously.
I would say this is a special brand and it is hermetically   (I don't understand the meaning of the word) prepared or something similar so as to avoid getting caught.
Finally, I bare open, the truth when enough people start suspecting me.
Then I buy them loads of chocolates for being good sport.

The chocolates and a sample of its virtues is given below.

Properties of Cocoa

Pick your choice and enjoy chocolates in the festival time of April.
All chocolate is made from powdered cocoa beans usually mixed with some kind of sugar, some butter or lard or vegetable oils, some milk products, and various other ingredients. While you may have heard that chocolate is "bad for you", it is not the cocoa that is unhealthy, but the other ingredients in the kinds of chocolate made from refined sugar combined with various kinds of cheap animal fats like lard, or cheap and unhealthy hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Cocoa -The Super Healthy Fruit

Cocoa beans come from the fruit of a tree which grows in tropical rain forests. The official scientific name of the cocoa tree is Theobroma Cacao. "Theobroma" is Latin for "food of the gods".
Strictly speaking, cocoa is a nut, the seed of a fruit, but is most commonly called cocoa beans, cocoa seeds, cocoa nuts, chocolate seeds, chocolate beans, or cocoa nibs.
Cocoa may also be spelled as "cacao" and pronounced          "ka-cow". All of these terms refer to the dried fruit or nuts of the cacao tree and the most popular term, cocoa beans.
Cocoa beans contain over 300 chemically identifiable compounds.
This makes cocoa one of the most complex food substances.
Chocolate consumption represents one percent of the American diet, yet most Americans have never tasted "real" chocolate -the natural cocoa bean in its raw form.
When healthy and high quality natural ingredients are used, it is possible to make a "healthy chocolate" from natural cocoa beans. Or one can simply sprinkle crushed cocoa beans onto whipped cream, ice cream, puddings, or other desserts for a natural chocolate flavor from the original "chocolate chips".
The raw cocoa beans taste like unsweetened dark chocolate.
Next to raw cocoa, it is unsweetened and dairy free dark chocolate that is the healthiest chocolate; while the least healthy chocolate is milk chocolate which includes dairy products and refined sugar and possibly hydrogenated oils or lard.
Studies indicate that dairy products block the absorption of the many antioxidants found naturally in cocoa and dark chocolate!

How Healthy Is Dark Chocolate?

Cocoa beans and organic dark chocolate are one of the best food sources of this heart supporting minerals, magnesium.
Cocoa is a potent source of serotonin, dopamine, and phenylethylamine. These are three well known neurotransmitters which help alleviate depression and are associated with feelings of wellbeing.
Cocoa contains monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO Inhibitors) which help improve our mood because they allow serotonin and dopamine to remain in the bloodstream longer without being broken down. Cocoa also contains amandamide which stimulates blissful feelings.
Cocoa also contains B vitamins, which are associated with brain health.

Antioxidants in Dark Chocolate

Scientists have known for years that cocoa contains significant amount of antioxidants, but no one knew just how rich they were in comparison to those found in two other healthy foods, red wine and green tea.
Recent research has demonstrated that the antioxidants found in cocoa beans are highly stable and easily available to the human metabolism. Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals and keep them from damaging the DNA and mitochondria of the body's cells, which is a major cause of many degenerative diseases, cancer and premature aging.
By comparison, 1.5 ounces of dark chocolate delivers as many antioxidants as five ounces of red wine.
That makes cocoa one of the richest sources of antioxidants in any food.
The liqueured chocolates is a bonus with vasodilator properties of alcohol added to the antioxidant effects.
Compare the cocoa bean to processed cocoa powder (defatted and roasted cocoa beans treated with potassium carbonate) and chocolates -which range in flavonol content from the more common concentration of 500mg per 100 grams in normal chocolate bars -to a concentration of 5,000 milligrams in some commercial preparations.
Theobromine and Caffeine
Cocoa can substantially increase a person's energy level, since it contains two stimulating methylxanthines -a significant amount of theobromine and a small amount of caffeine.
A cup of hot chocolate usually contains about 4 to 5 milligrams of caffeine, which is about 5% of the caffeine found in a cup of coffee.
A cup of coffee may contain 50 to 175mg of caffeine, a cup of tea may contain 25 to 100mg, and a cup of cocoa beverage may contain zero to 25 milligrams of caffeine.

Can Chocolate Help Us Be Happy?

We have all heard how chocolate can be a "comfort food" to help us cope with stress and depression and general unhappiness. There might actually be some connection between chocolate and happiness, when we look at certain chemicals which are found naturally in the cocoa bean and which affect parts of the brain.

Chocolate as an Aphrodisiac

The peoples of Central American in the pre-Columbian era often spoke in metaphors composed of words or phrases which had a hidden meaning when uttered in sequence. This is common in many languages, including English. One of these ancient metaphors was yollotl, eztli, meaning "heart, blood," -a phrase which referred to cocoa.
Chocolate is the heart's "blood" due to its magnesium, antioxidants, love chemicals and esoteric properties.
Chocolate truly is "food for the heart".
Chocolate is a symbol of sensuality, pleasure, and sexuality.
Some writers have claimed that 50 per cent of women actually prefer chocolate to sex!
That percentage might even rise if the women were offered real chocolate in the form of organic cocoa!
Chocolate is a favorite gift from a lover to the beloved one.
Chocolates are always given as love offerings.
A box of chocolates is one of the most popular gifts for Valentine's Day. Cocoa, because it is natural and unadulterated, has an even stronger love energy than manufactured chocolate candy.
In ancient Aztec wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom would exchange five cocoa beans with each other.

The remarkable career, and long-hidden pain, of satirist Art Buchwald

September 9, 2022
Reproduction
The remarkable career, and long-hidden pain, of satirist Art Buchwald

Humor columnist Art Buchwald in his Washington office in 1977. 
His satirical strategy: “The writer must be careful he is not accused of being a hater of mankind. 
The best way to do this is to abuse people and make them laugh while you’re doing it.” (Charles Bennett/AP)

Review by Eric Weiner
Asked if he ever read the humorist Art Buchwald, Richard Nixon replied: “No, no I don’t think he is funny. He is certainly not serious.”

Nixon was wrong — on both counts. Buchwald was funny and serious. In the tradition of Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, he concealed deep wisdom in the seemingly silly and farcical. As for Nixon’s potshot, Buchwald was not the least perturbed. “As a humor columnist, I need Nixon,” he said. “He’s been great for me. I’m going to run him for a third term.”

Over the decades, Buchwald was equally grateful for many other presidents, including Jimmy Carter (“I worship the very quicksand he walks on”) and Bill Clinton (for obvious reasons). Only George H.W. Bush let him down. “Nothing to write about, everything was dull,” Buchwald is quoted as saying in Michael Hill’s brisk and engaging biography, “Funny Business: The Legendary Life and Political Satire of Art Buchwald.” Meticulously researched and delivered in a taut, almost staccato style, “Funny Business” glides along the surface of Buchwald’s remarkable life, venturing wide but not especially deep.

Random House

In his column, published for decades by The Washington Post and, at its peak, syndicated to 550 newspapers around the word, Buchwald often crafted creative, tongue-in-cheek solutions to the nation’s problems. Gun violence out of control? Impose a federal mandate to cut off all Americans’ trigger fingers at birth. (“The Constitution gives everyone the right to bear arms. But there is nothing that says an American has to have ten fingers.”) Bogged down in the Vietnam War? Instead of dropping bombs, drop American autos that had been recalled. The unsuspecting North Vietnamese “would proceed to kill each other” with the faulty cars, he quipped.

Some of Buchwald’s satires were so spot on they were mistaken for truth. When in 1964 he wrote a column titled “J. Edgar Hoover Just Doesn’t Exist,” many Americans believed him. Hoover, clearly not amused, called Buchwald “a sick alleged humorist.” John F. Kennedy briefly canceled all White House subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune, at the time the newspaper that carried Buchwald’s column. Lyndon Johnson, irked by Buchwald’s criticism of the Vietnam War, ordered the National Security Agency to secretly surveil the humorist. Buchwald took heat from both ends of the political spectrum, but he found “the extreme Left” pricklier. Satirizing them, he said, “takes a little more guts.”

Following
For the most part, though, those on the receiving end of Buchwald’s “Buchshots,” as his barbs were called, took it in stride, or even played along. Buchwald’s satire was biting, but the bites were delivered so slyly that recipients rarely objected — or even knew they had been bitten.

A young Buchwald articulated the satirical strategy that he stuck with throughout his long career: “The writer must be careful he is not accused of being a hater of mankind. The best way to do this is to abuse people and make them laugh while you’re doing it. It indicates that the writer is just having a good time and he’s really your friend. The abuse will stick.”

The first two-thirds of “Funny Business” reads like a journalistic fairy tale. There is Buchwald in Paris dining at the city’s finest restaurants and rubbing elbows with Lauren Bacall and a young Robert Redford. There he is at the Playboy Mansion in Chicago, and on Broadway, watching “Sheep on the Runway,” the play he wrote. There he is receiving the Pulitzer Prize. And, all the while, there he is hunched over his trusty Olivetti typewriter, chomping on a cigar and making it look oh so easy. Life was good, or so it seemed.

The truth is that Buchwald, like so many comedians, had a dark side. When the black dog, as Winston Churchill called his depression, nipped at his heels, Buchwald turned to humor, “the greatest defense in the world.” And it worked. Until it didn’t.

In 1962, he suffered a debilitating bout of depression and was briefly hospitalized the following year. For many decades, he kept his struggle secret. Finally, in 1991, he went public, teaming up with fellow celebrities and depressives Mike Wallace and William Styron — the “Blues Brothers” they called themselves — to raise awareness about the disease.

Hill skillfully chronicles Buchwald’s ups and downs, relying heavily on a treasure trove of correspondence he unearthed: letters between Buchwald and A-list celebrities on both coasts, including Ted Kennedy and Charlton Heston. Some of these missives are more illuminating, and funnier, than others. At times, the book reads less like a biography and more like a document dump.

“Funny Business” contains plenty of laughs but also elicits pangs of sadness. The reader feels sad for Buchwald, who for so long felt compelled to hide his struggle with depression. Sad for the passing of an era when the nation had a common conversation, even if it was one conducted in raised voices. And sad for today’s comedians, inheritors of the Buchwald tradition, who must find ways to be funny when the news satirizes itself.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Buchwald suffered several setbacks, including a bitter and protracted lawsuit over the movie “Coming to America,” a film that Buchwald claimed was his idea. Next followed a series of painful health crises until, in 2006, he entered a Washington hospice. His days were numbered, but that number turned out to be much higher than anyone suspected.

Weeks, then months, went by, and Buchwald was still alive and funny. His kidneys began functioning again. He actually gained weight. From his hospice bed, he conducted radio interviews (“I had nothing else to do”) and welcomed visitors to what became known as Buchwald’s hospice salon.

When he finally did die more than a year later, Washington A-listers gathered to honor him. But it was fellow humorist Dave Barry who best captured the big-hearted comic genius that was Art Buchwald. “He talked funny, he wrote funny, he lived funny, and damned if he didn’t find a way to die funny.”

Eric Weiner is the author, most recently, of “The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons From Dead Philosophers.”

Funny Business
The Legendary Life and Political Satire of Art Buchwald

By Michael Hill

Very rare Counseling Episode

 Posted on November 18, 2011
Very rare Counseling Episode

This is something I wrote in a blog post as some help for someone who is trapped in a legal strings (trapping).
 
I am  doctor who does not practice (now I am a teacher but it is very boring stuff) and take my advice with a pinch of salt..
 
I never do counseling, even if enticed with money.
 
This is an exception.

I must tell you best of my creativity came when I stopped practicing my trade looking after only the sick (not looking after healthy kids is abnormal).
 
1. Your kids are healthy I believe and supporting them is not a crime (if your ex-wife takes the money and does not look after them. Well that is a CRIME).
The fact, that you do not see them may be a good thing and you can concentrate on your well paid job.
 
2. I believe your are top notch professional and giving up that job may make you miserable.

In my case it was a blessing, stop doing postmortem was a blessing.

3. when you are professional one sometimes does not have an escape route.
I found two.

a. One is Linux Computing.

b. Then writing about (more of blogging) Linux.
 
4. My job is poorly paid but less stress teaching a thing that is in my bones and second nature and simple.
 
5. We had a long drawn out industrial action and I was bored and started gathering my writing and wrote a book for the first time.
 
I never thought I would write a book in my lifetime.

I had three months of holiday (paid-I had a reserve to last even 6 months) but because I could not leave the place on a vacation, I was self imprisoned.
 
The creativity comes when one is trapped like that and you are trapped by legal strings.
If I were you like Art Buckwald, I will write a book (both of you get together and do it, it will be a best seller for this century) stating how bad and how one sided the legal system is.
Any correct Legal system should balance the evidence and should not be crude like in your case.
There are lot more people like you who does not like the legal system which needs reforms.

You won’t believe me, I wrote three books on Linux soon after the strike. 
 
I am not a computer man but a simple doc!
 
You are not a legal man but your experience make you a better judge than the one who sat on your case.
Mind you must not refer to your case (contempt of court and you might end up in prison) in your book but take other relevant information, not necessarily not in your country of residence.
 
Or think of a hypothetical country or as a dream (anybody can dream).

I wrote a book on dreams and in that book all what was relevant to out strike was included and nobody take me to court.
 
To get some ideas (business strategy) read my book dreams available in Kindle.
Amazon Books.

I believe you need a break and I hope over the last 6 months you had that.
 
Good Luck.
 
KIT (Keep In Touch) with your friends.

My recommendation of Sleep and Dream habits for Married Couples

Posted on March 19, 2013
My recommendation of Sleep and Dream habits for Married Couples

My recommendation of Sleep and Dream habits for Married Couples.
This applies only to married couples.
 
The young lovers should do whatever dreaming they do at lib and they should not read this article which is very obnoxious when infatuated.

I’ll try to be as brief as possible since married people have no time for heavy reading but reflex action only.

My advice to a young couple on sleep and never on dreams (since they are in a dream world which is going to end soon after the honeymoon) in good old days was one should match a couple with synchronized sleep.
 
Night sleeper who gets up early, late or indifferent.
Day time napper or of 8 hour 10 or 6 hour sleeper.
Idea was when two of them sleep which is synchronized, they get up together and the home and office work is synchronized.
The advantage is only to the employer and not to the married couple any way.

That is my new finding not disclosed elsewhere.
 
The old advice do not stand to reality of married life.
 
One should have two erratic sleepers so that when one dreams other one is up and doing home or office chores.
 
Married life is 24/7 schedule and never 9 to 5.
 
One has to be working while the other is having nap unlike in office life where everybody has to work whether enough work is there or not.
 
My recent but not published or disclosed data suggest the only time married people have a respite is in their real dream world.
 
So enjoy them even they are bitter to the opposite sex.
 
After all they are dreams.
 
Have you ever seen a couple who relate their dreams when woken up to the opposite spouse.

In my experience never.
 
The realty is that the dream is heavily edited to satisfy the opposite spouse.
Usually all the dreams are if not majority are obnoxious ones which even in reality extend from blue murder or downright slanderous.
 
If they truly relate these dreams the marriage won’t last even  three months
.
 
Most of the breakup are due to recurrent incidences of these obnoxious dreams.
 
One should never go to hypnotherapist for help and they (are the worse) will record them and use them to blackmail when his/her income is dwindling or volunteer to supply the information secretly to the defense lawyer of the other side for inappropriate black income.
 
This specially happens in Ceylon.
 
If these dreams recur it is alright to go to a divorce lawyer but never to a hypnotherapist.
 
Who knows one may take undue advantage.
 
One has to bear them, bite the teeth and boldly take them in, one go at a time, like a true and mature married man or woman.
 
One should not give this information to doctors since they will give you a sleeping pill and inadvertently stop the only entertainment one has at his/her leisure time activity.
 
Both pills and alcohol do interfere with Normal Sleep. 
I am finalizing a book soon, sleep and biorhythms.
 
That is simply disaster.
 
If you want to prolong and succeed in marriage one has to edit every dream to suit the partner and occasionally relate them saying,
 
I had a lovely dream about You KNOW with all the blah blah!
 
This has worked for me and I do not know about my wife.
 
All bad dreams are censored by default.
 
Now I write about dreams, nobody trust my dreams except
Maha Brahma who never dreams in real life.
His hobby is to listen to my ones and interpret them with wisdom.
If you have any bad dream about your spouse (not your secret lover) please post them under comments.
I may consider sending them to
Maha’s perusal and interpretation.
 
I assure you he never keeps any record of them since I am the virtual registrar and I turn them into books at Amazon Books (3 already there) with lot of editing.
By the way, I have stopped recording my dreams but if something nice comes, I edit them to suit my inner sanctity.

Why I HATE Containers?

Why I HATE Containers?

 In simple term Containers can be compared to a Tar Barrel

They are Big and Buggy.

Good example is Google.

Container problems cannot be solved in a days work, simply because the libraries that run them are buggy. 

It is OK for company with a big staff  and not for small company I would like to run. Say for example I want to run ward with extremely sick guys. Me having all the dictionaries in Medicine won't help me to solve a given problem until I break them to simple problems. When the body system fails we call it a state of shock and 50% is invariable fatal an d the others recover with incurable disability.

In a global America is a good example.

Elon Musk has realized in a shorter time frame that the America System is in Shock and is not amenable to resuscitation.

So he is leaving in good time to probably concentrate on perhaps his project on Mars.

Linux started with simple logic but it has expanded to every corner of the industry and has fallen to this tragedy of Container Systems. 

It is OK for Microsoft where they forget all the problem until they move into the next versions similar but more inbuilt problems.

The SAGA continues for Microsoft but Linux has to turn round the Tar Barrel and steam forward with Solid fuel instead of liquid fuel which need a bigger container. This a hint to Elon Musk if  he intent to pursue his dream but he should not waste his hard earned money. 

I am even quitting Linux, simply because even the Puppy Linux latest version is bogged down in Easy OS with containers but it hasn't got Abiword my work horse in its containers. 

AbiWord does not need a container, it can sustain, itself.

Unfortunately Debian 21.10. has dropped Abiword and I won't contribute any to version 13 plus with bug reports.

It will be buggy due to these buggy containers that it will support.

Puppy Linux used to be 100MB and it is now 1GB due to containers.

"Small is beautiful" and that is how started my career in Medicine and Linux.

I have better things to do in my life.

Friday, April 4, 2025

Ditching All Office Packages

Ditching All Office Packages

Yes I have decided to ditch all office packages and stick to AbiWord for my work.

Yes, I am currently working with 5 books and they in editing stage which is boring and tiring.

So, I went into a marathon effort to find the best Linux distributions.

It is Debian Gnome and nothing else.

I hate all KDE based bulky Desktops.

I started with KDE of Mandrake (went bust) and Suse (became commercial without proper customer support), but my departure from them had valid reasons. 

Even, Ubuntu is a total failure, now. I

 tried to Install in a reserve partition but it could not read my partition table. 

It wants to take over the hard disk like Endless OS.

I even tried MATE of Parrot OS and they all failed in Stability.

For the third time I have confirmed that LibreOffice and Firefox takes huge 2GB of DATA Space to supports Global  Community with over 150 languages.

I use only one language, that is English but if I need to write Scientific Notion, with symbols, I cannot do it.

Of course, I can use text good Text Editor or LyX. 

As an experiment I have installed all the needed applications with 4 alternative light weight FREE web browsers in less than 10GB (9.4GB)  of space and I have 6.8GB of space left if I do decide to add, Scribus, Blender and Inkscape.

In my standard Gnome desktop with 75GB /Home partition is exclusively used to test all yjr Linux distributions including Tuxedos and Pop Os.

I do not fancy any especially with KDE.

They look very nice from outside but configuring them is a PAIN. Installing new applications even more difficult but Netrunner with Synaptic Package Manager is pretty good.

Even, MX Linux which is an excellent distribution has a big problem.

It Encrypts the files which are in the same Hard Disk and using my Debian Gnome. I cannot see them.

Regarding Office packages, Manjaro has Free Office package in addition to LibreOffice.

Of course, I used Gparted and erased the  file permissions. 

To solve the above problems, I have installed 4 different distributions including Elive in my 320GB SATA Disk.

Smallest one is 16GB and it has Debian Gnome. My recommendation is from 20GB to 30GB.

All that MX Linux has to do is to add a line;

Do you really want Encrypt?

Yes or No for me to try it as another distribution, Year Ago, I could do that (I had it in my NUC).

Once Encrypted other distribution try not to read the partition.

YOU might wonder Why I did not post anything about Mint Distribution.

SIMPLE 

1. It is glorified Gnome on top of the Cinnamon Desktop.

With one exception.

It has proprietary software.

One can have all desktops under Gnome Desktop that include

KDE which I hate due to its bulk.

Cinnamon 

Unity

Budgie

Enlightenment the most beautiful desktop one can have.

MATE

Each desktop has a bundle of applications unique to it. KDE had many starting with k, for example kate, kwriter, kaffeine

Free Linux Software

1. Bit warden
For Passwords 
 
2. Rust Desk
Remote Desktop
Debian does not support Rust at the moment.
 
3. Meld Studio 
Software Studio
Like OBS but nothing outstanding there.
 
4. Local Send 
 Would be good for local network outside the Internet.
 
5. ShareX
Nothing much except sharing what one has.
Has screen capture which I like.
 
6. Everything 
Indexing Utility  may be useful for small database.
 
7.Only Office
I have said enough about bulky Office packs here.

8. LibreOffice Draw
Can edit pdf files.
I have not tried.
I am ditching LibreOffice
I have may tools in Linux to deal with pdf files.
 
9. Win toys
For Windows user.
I have ditched windows 30 years ago.

10. Mint Operating System
This is Linux distribution on Cinnamon desktop bloated with proprietary software and I ditched it 20 years ago.

11. I would run my NUC with Debian on a small /root partition of 16GB and a        /home partition of 1GB. 
I am going to ditch all Linux images except 30 Puppy Linux derivatives, Elive and Manjaro an Netrunner.
 
I have ditched Antix and its derivative MX Linux due to their paranoia about Encrypting the file system.
Open software opened with Open and Free Mind to begin with and it is not yet Closed Source.
Well," I got to go" to the toilet as in Jurassic Park.

Sticking with AbiWord and Ditching All Office Packages

Sticking with AbiWord and ditching  All Office Packages.

Yes, I have already done that.

 

Parrot OS

 Parrot OS

It is strange I have not written anything about Parrot OS in this blog site.

I keep a copy of it in a USB stick, in case somebody ask me for penetration testing.

I do not like Kali Linux derivatives and I have never used it in my life.

Parrot OS has a image for home use.

Since, I could not get Ubuntu Installed in a SPARE (It wants to take over the hard Disk) partition (3 small partitions where MX Linux Encrypted the file system, and made mess of it), I decided to Install Parrot OS instead.

It is in progress and use Calamara Installer.

It is a Mate desktop which saves MBs.

I have new four desktops in my NUC.

1. Gnome- Debian my Root Master

2. KDE- Netrunner, pretty Good

3. Manjaro- Best of of Arch derivates but I choose Gnome again 

4. Mate of Parrot OS failed in Installation. 

Probably 15GB /root partition not enough but Gnome can do that but I have to remove both LibreOffice and Firefox.

Well, I am b going to have another instance of Gnome.

Multibooting AntiX and MX Linux is Impossible

Yes, both Modern AntiX and MX Linux when installing Encrypt the partition installed so it is not recognized even by Ubuntu.
I had to format them using Gparted.
Unfortunately, there is no formatting Utility that can be mounted on USB.
They only support CD/DVD only.
 
I think MX Linux is meant for Laptop Security

MX Linux has lot of useful utilities including Synaptic Package Manager but I could not boot it with other Linux distributions.
I have found a very simple solution.
Install MX Linux KDE last of all, so that MX Linux can do YOU honours of writing the GRUB File.
I just did that.
Carefully made sure to avoid Encryption,too.
There is nothing on cannot SOLVE in Linux.

Thursday, April 3, 2025

iDeal (Linux Image) KDE Desktop Image Install

 iDeal (Linux Image) KDE Desktop Image Install

Yes, ran into problem, installing iDeal Image.

It is a derivative MX Linux and it has two options.

Diamond which is 5.3GB with lot of KDE applications and Synaptic Package Manager as in Netrunner.  Other Option is smaller and is called Emerald.

I am beginning to like KDE, especially if the distribution gives me Gnome applications.

It has BelanaEtcher pre-compiled. 

If one is a newbie this is a good distribution to try.

However, KDE partition manger is not as good as Gnome's Gparted. 

Anyway, I had to resize the partition and I had to reduce the size of the NTFS partition and in the process I had to delete at least 5 Linux images that I rarely use.

Luckily I had Ubuntu 24.10. in one of the SD Cards mounted on USB Stick.

That save the day.

Gparted and Tails cannot be mounted on USB and need a CD/DVD. 

Installation is almost finishing and I hope it would get Efi GRUB configuration right.

Installation was OK.

It probably configured the keyboard to a German and I could not log in with the password typed. Besides this Encryption Craze makes me mad. I had to add a boot partition in addition to EFT. However it is my usual protocol and this small partition did not deserve  /boot partition but using NTFS, I dis add another partition to the system.

By the way, MX Linux let me have a Gnome Desktop if I get bored with KDE.

I am now Installing proper MX Linux on top of it.

Bset part is MX Linux let me uninstall LibreOffice and Firefox from the system saving me space becuase this installation is in a very small partition of little over 15GB.

Thank YOU MX Linux.

 

Pentoo Linux

 Welcome to Pentoo Linux
Pentoo is a Live CD and Live USB designed for penetration testing and security assessment. 

Based off Gentoo Linux, Pentoo is provided both as 32 and 64 bit installable Live CD.

Our chat services are linked, although discord is considered "main".

Join us on discord for support: https://discord.gg/5yhY9bg
Or on irc on https://libera.chat/ #pentoo

Or on telegram https://t.me/pentoolinux

Report bugs on github: https://github.com/pentoo/pentoo-overlay/issues

Pendrive Linux

Pendrive Linux

Web site: pendrivelinux.com (not active)
Origin: unknown
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: CLI
Architecture: x86
Based on: Debian
Wikipedia:
Media: Live
The last version | Released: June 14, 2007

PendriveLinux – a Debian based Linux distribution, aimed to work as a live system from a flash USB disk.

The last version released in 2007.

Point Linux

Point Linux

Web site: pointlinux.org
Origin: Russia
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: MATE, Xfce
Architecture: x86, x86_64
Based on: Debian
Wikipedia:
Media: Live DVD
The last version | Released: 3.2 | June 21, 2016
Zobacz po polsku Zobacz po polsku: Point Linux

Point Linux – a Linux distribution based on Debian of the stable branch, and focused on personal computers. As default, it is equipped with the MATE desktop – a fork of GNOME 2.

Point Linux provides a traditional desktop, support for many additional devices, easy configuration and system management, and the ability to choose a local language during installation process.

Point Linux is also equipped with Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird products and uses the DuckDuckGo search engine.

The system is available for i686-pae and x86_64 machines in full and core version.

Play Linux

Play Linux

Web site: play-linux.com (not active)
Origin:
Category: Game
Desktop environment: Cinnamon
Architecture: x86, x86_64
Based on: Ubuntu
Wikipedia:
Media: Live DVD
The last version | Released: beta1 rev2 | September 26, 2015
Zobacz po polsku Zobacz po polsku: Play Linux

Play Linux – a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS made for Gamers. It combines the power of Linux with the simplicity of Ubuntu.

Play Linux comes with 
Firefox, 
Steam client, 
Skype, 
Spotify, 
Flash plugin, 
multimedia plugins, 
VLC, 
LibreOffice, and 
WINE, 
Winetricks and 
PlayOnLinux, which allows you to install and execute many Windows programs.

As an addition, the live system features an application called “Kosmos” which lets users install a few popular programs as well.

Pinguy OS

Pinguy OS

Web site: pinguyos.com (not active)
Origin: United Kingdom
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: GNOME
Architecture: x86_64
Based on: Ubuntu
Wikipedia: Pinguy OS
Media: Live DVD
The last version | Released: 18.04.2 | March 30, 2019
Zobacz po polsku Zobacz po polsku: Pinguy OS

Pinguy OS – an out-of-the-box working operating system for everyone, not just geeks. It is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution aimed at Linux beginners. The system is equipped with tools and facilities for novices, offers support for multimedia codecs and web browser plugins.

Pinguy OS features a slightly modified GNOME desktop and personalized program menu, and a good number of pre-installed additional everyday applications.

The system is available for 32 and 64 bit machines in mini and full version.
As of version 18.04, Pinguy is only offered for 64 bit machines.

Parted Magic OS

Parted Magic OS


Web site: partedmagic.com
Origin: USA
Category: Rescue
Desktop environment: Openbox
Architecture: x86
Based on: Independent
Wikipedia: Parted Magic
Media: Live CD
The last version | Released: active
Zobacz po polsku Zobacz po polsku: Parted Magic OS

Parted Magic OS – a live, independent developed Linux distribution which contains disk partitioning and data recovery tools.

Parted Magic OS works as a live CD/USB only without a hard drive installation and can be boot through a network using PXE.
It features recovery tools such as: Partition Image, TestDisk, fdisk, sfdisk, dd, ddrescue, GParted, Parted, Truecrypt, Clonezilla, G4L, SuperGrubDisk, etc., and supports many file systems, including ext2, ext3, ext4, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, jfs, linux-swap, ntfs, reiserfs, reiser4, and xfs.

In August 2013 Parted Magic OS became a commercial distribution.
One of the latest free version 2013_06_14 is available to download and test.

If you need an up to date Parted Magic OS iso image, you have to purchase it from the project page.

BeatrIX

BeatrIX

Web site: www.watsky.net (not active)
Origin: Czech Republic
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: Gnome
Architecture: x86
Based on: Ubuntu
Wikipedia:
Media: Live CD
The last version | Released: 2005.1 | January 28, 2005

BeatrIX – a minimal, Ubuntu based Linux distribution, designed to run on computers with old hardware components.

It features only a few applications, such as: e-mail, instant messaging, word processing and web browse on the top of Gnome desktop environment. The Live CD fits into 80 mm discs that can store up to 200 MB of data.

It can run on machines with 64MB RAM in live mode so can be used on very old machines.

The system developer is Steven Watsky.
The latest version of BeatrIX was released in 2005, and was based on Ubuntu 4.10 “Warty Warthog”.

Debris

Debris

Web site: debrislinux.org (not active)
Origin: Switzerland
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: Gnome
Architecture: x86
Based on: Ubuntu
Wikipedia: Debris Linux
Media: Live CD
The last version | Released: 2.0 | November 29, 2009

Debris Linux (previously: BeaFanatIX, BFX) – a minimalist Linux distribution based on Ubuntu with GNOME as a default desktop. The ISO image file is about 200 MB in size and works as a Live CD, with a hard drive installation option.

After the missing of Steven Watsky (maker of BeatrIX) the community fell apart. Stephan Emmerich wanted to continue the project, but since this was no longer possible with BeatrIX, he decided to make a new distro, based on BeatrIX, called BeaFanatIX. This was later renamed to Debris Linux.

Debris offers GNOME and Openbox, a lightweight session powered only by the Openbox window manager or a traditional session with GNOME and Metacity.

The live system features software:
– Mozilla Firefox – a web browser
– Beep – a mediaplayer
– AbiWord – a text processor
– Gnumeric – a spreadsheet program
– Evolution – an e-mail client
– Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger.
– Audacious – an audio player
– gFTP – a file transfer client
– GParted – a partition editor
– NDISwrapper – the Microsoft Wireless driver manager
– ePDFViewer – a document viewer
– GQView – an image viewer
– Leafpad – a text editor
– DebI – a custom system installer

Gnoppix

Gnoppix

Web site: gnoppix.com | nongnu.org/gnoppix/
Origin: Switzerland
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: Gnome
Architecture: x86
Based on: Ubuntu
Wikipedia:
Media: Live CD
The last version | Released: 2.12 | September 7, 2005

Gnoppix – a Linux distribution inspired by Knoppix, but based on Ubuntu.
Gnoppix can be compared to Knoppix but GNOPPIX uses GNOME as desktop environment.

The system can be used as a live CD without installing to hard disk, but it offers a hard drive installer too.

Gnoppix 1.0 is based on Ubuntu 5.04 Hoary Hedgehog.
The last version of Gnoppix 2.12 was released in September 2005.

The founder and main developer of Gnoppix is Andreas Mueller.

As of March 20, 2022 the developer let me posted, that the project is still under active development, and:

“Gnoppix is based on Kali Linux Rolling, Gnoppix comes complete with a set of additional software repositories containing the latest 64-bit versions of the Plasma 5 desktop environment/framework, Qt 5 toolkit and other compatible KDE software. Gnoppix was first announced in June 2003.

In Addition to the famous Gnoppix Desktop, we’ll provide also a docker version of Gnoppix, currently we’re working on a Gnoppix version for Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets as well.

The last version | Released: 22.313 | March 13, 2022”

Science Education and Linux

Science Education and Linux
One of my first articles on Linux was based on Linux in education.

Then, I was grumbling about not been able to find a Linux Guru either in Kandy or Colombo.

Result at that time was an appallingly negative outcome.

Of course I found a few Gurus from abroad which included Cristopher Naegus.

Unfortunately he has stopped writing or updating the Linux Bible.

I want blame him for his delay. (I bought his new edition few months ago which came after almost after 5 years).

The way Linux is progressing, nobody can keep pace with, including books on Linux.

Moment you write something on Linux and post it, it is outdated by many a miles.

My entry today is to talk about contribution of Linux to Education in general and Science in particular.

With the introduction of One Lap Top for Child (OLPS) project there was proliferation of educational products from France to Germany to Poland and Spain.

Material included from preschool to university level.

Unfortunately due to interference of Microsoft and they being able to port their product on OLPS with the sole object of destroying the initiative is hindering the progress of the OLPS.

For OLPS there is SOAP (Sugar On A stick or Plastics -means Flash Drive) packages but unfortunately nobody seems to streamline and organize these educational material in a systematic and stepwise manner (Built on an existing platform and add on serially to suit the different age groups and needs).

I found few packages very interesting and deal with them first before proposing a scientific way to establish this scenario of Open Source Science and Education.

I call it OSSE-U (Open for Students, budding Scientists and Explorers of this Universe).

There is is a serious of 7 to 10 Linux CDS for Science which I have not downloaded yet. (I have done it now-writing on science may be not in the immediate future)

Therefore, I am not going to talk about science at the moment but education in general.

To begin with there is gCompris from France with a definite French accent for Linux and Microsoft.

But my best in Knoppix for Kids (probably originated form Germany) but unfortunately there are no updates after 2005 or 2007.

There are packages from Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Greece, Spain, Poland and Italy and many other countries(including China-Taiwan-Linpus Linux-now become commercial).

But all these are catering for the domestic audience with their language bias without international clout.

Unfortunately UNICEF and UNO is Dumb and Numb about producing educational (Freeduc-that originated probably from France died in infancy at the hands of UNO) material at least for children and doctors of the Third World.

There is nothing from England and USA, who still with the colonial attitude and mind that they are the repository of Education, which is not so, now. If Open Source take a root in the Developing World their monopoly in education would slowly diminish in importance (European countries are embracing Linux, Spain in particular and Latin Americans including Brazil) but

Unfortunately India also has failed because Indian Maha Rajas also think education is money like their colonial Past Masters.

In this context Russia without a global outlook has failed to catch the market.

I am still to get a live CD version of ALT Linux (they have a DVD version in English-I have the Russian version, though) from Russia in spite of contacting them on several occasions. I have got a CD in Linux now.

I think my Linux 100 and critical comments on the web are bearing fruits in less than 6 months and stock market crisis is a blessing in disguise for the third world except U.N.O pundits who have succumbed to the pressure and insinuation by Microsoft.

Everybody think that once a CD ISO is posted at their web site for free download the job is done.

That is not so.

They do not realize that the Telelom Industry is still in infancy in the Third World and download speed is appallingly slow.

(This has become appalling after the introduction of PEO TV in Sri-Lanka).

It took 12 to 14 hours for me to download SuSe Sugar (please do not download SuSe Sugar, it is slow and has a serious bug in the Grub File).

Because of the proliferation of mobile industry Telecom Industry cannot think of a Giga bite download speed for another decade or so.

That is also if one pays a hefty fee.

UNICEF has failed.

UNO has failed to impart emphasis on education because education from preschool to university is big money spinner.

Unfortunately, even in this Banana Republic of Sri-Lanka it is true.

They are not thinking digitally (Brain Atrophied).

Currently trying to destroy the existing system and the students..
I think many more children will go abroad and will never come back with the budget for education going down while budget for defense is going up.

They think by giving outdated free education material to students free that they have solved our Education Problem. It is not so!

They do not pause to think why our brightest students and the children of rich families with foreign connections go abroad paying massive sums.

With this digital age that information can be had for 10% of the price.

All what the student should have is a laptop with Apple Approach (I would write about Apple computer in preference to Microsoft in due course).

This I have to defer since the price is not within the reach of average Sri-Lankan who has to pay almost 50 Rupees for a coconut now!

Mind you now Linux is porting free Linux distributions for Mac too.

We have to import English Teachers from Hyderabad to teach our teachers, having killed the English Education for the last 35 years.

If one wants to learn about Linux and Education, just go to Google and type Linux and Education you get a heap of material form nearby Australia to Germany and France.

This is only a glimpse. I would give a list below and wind with some hints for the Educational Developers with a Linux bent.

1.OLPS with my new OSSE-Universe Linux

2.SOAP

3.Knoppix for Kids

4.Look for defunct Freeduck

5.gCompris

6.Alt Linux form Russia

7.Pardus Linux from Greece and many more.

Even though SuSE Community assembled many of these resources from the repositories they have done a poor job.

Educational package should in my opinion should have they following as the base.

Mysql.

Mysql PHP

Mysql Admin graphic face

My Admin as the front end for student to play with and develop a database of packages.

Gbasic as a front end of Visual Basic application

gFlash as or Flash as a front end.

A Quick time simulator for playing Apple Education software.

Some way to hack itunes.

Kind of Play Station based on Wine and similar emulators.

Then divide the material as preschool, Junior, Intermediate, Higher and University Level to begin with.

Common software repository with series of Levels (for the Linux Distribution in mind) to download.

I would like the distribution to named as OSSE-U Linux (Open for Students, budding Scientists and Explorers of this Universe).

That is my contribution for the time being!

Asoka
Edited 0n the 15th of November. 2010

Original 14th of October, 2009

Open for Students, budding Scientists and Explorers of this Universe).
Copyright name of OSSE-U belongs to me anyway!

Google you can improve on this idea with cloud computing in mind.

Microsoft do not steal this idea.

I will be on your tail!

aLinux

 aLinux

Web site: alinux.tv (not active)
Origin: Canada
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment:
 AfterStep, 
Fluxbox, 
IceWM, 
KDE, 
WindowMaker, 
Xfce
Architecture: x86
Based on: Independent
Wikipedia:
Media: Live DVD
The last version | Released: 15.0 | February 26, 2013
Zobacz po polsku Zobacz po polsku: aLinux

aLinux (previously: Peanut Linux) – an independent Linux distribution targeted to home and small office users.

aLinux contains pre-installed a large set of applications of audio, video and graphics categories. 
It supports High Definition TV, so it is called as "Extreme Multimedia Center”.

The main desktop is KDE, but it is designed to have a Windows-style “look”.
The system uses RPM packages, and Synaptic as its GUI’s package manager.

The last stable version aLinux 15.0 featured KDE 3.10 and was released in February 2013.
The last (testing) version was 17.0 beta3.
aLinux founder and developer is Jay Klepacs.

The Live system user name is: root; and the password is blank.