Potato Hotpot in Ceylon

Posted on February 16, 2011

Mind things have not improved things in Ceylon but has got considerably worse.

Potato Hotpot
Potato hotpot is an easy to make British cuisine that I hate as much as some of the Australian and British umpires. 

Potato hotpot not only is easy to make but cheap and the hospital stuff we had to eat were the worst I could think of and there are no spices added and if there was any sauce, it is as bland as any British cuisine. 

One of my Indian friends used to say they (British) discovered salt and then pepper and after that it stopped till they discovered India. 

 

My friend Kurian is no more and he succumbed to a motor accident which are very common in India.

 

I totally agreed with Kurian and his wife’s cooking was one of the best coming from Kerala and quite similar to Ceylonese dishes unlike the North Indian stuff without coconut milk.
 

When I was fed up with the potato hotpot I had the luxury of having a meal with him.

(I wonder where the guy is now and totally lost track of him).

The umpires like the potato hotpot, have the habit of easily raising the finger against Asian Stars (Sanath Jayasuriya in particular in 1996 World Cup) but deliberate million times and even twist the cricketing rules when the player is a British or Australian (latest seen in the Ashes Series). 

 

Quite recently even Graham Smith had to bite his finger nail to its bed when umpires were in the hot seat and making the players to eat a humble pie or potato hot pot after the game.

 

Graham Smith was my favorite captain.

Come this time too, the World Cup, the mistakes would be as common like the potato hotpot and I wish to propose that potato hotpot (or similar dishes) should be banned from our cuisine till the World Cup is over.

The real reason for me writing this has nothing to do with cricket, umpiring or who wins the cup.

We are made to eat a meal very much like the potato hotpot but without onions and potatoes.

Both onion and potato have gone up in prices and along with the gas and electricity. 

Electricity has gone up like a rocket and if we watch the cricket we may have to skip few meals to save money to pay the units of electricity.

I am pretty sure our guys will skip meals and watch cricket.

To save money on meals I have a suggestion for all Ceylonese mothers.

We must make one curry like the potato hotpot.

The ingredients are as follows.
1. One small onion
2. Two potatoes finely sliced
3. One carrot
4. One mango
5. One or two Ambaranka
6. Lot of leaves from the garden except grass
7. Little salt
8. And any other available leaves to fill the pot
9. Dash of Pol Piti Kiri
10. Put them into a large vessel with water and boil to taste.

By this method gas, fire wood and electricity can be saved instead of cooking three different curries separately.

With money saved watch all the cricket matches till April.

Then we won’t be able to make even this Ceylonese Hot-Pot-Hotpot.

We all will be on hot seats.

Some Useful Linux Utilities one should invariably have in a Standard Linux Distribution

 Posted on March 23, 2011

Some Useful Linux Utilities one should invariably have in a Standard Linux Distribution
 
The list can be an endless stream of creative packages that makes Linux as versatile as it is today. 

There are over 60,000 of them in one repository constantly updated and maintained at cutting edge mentality but my selection is based on their utility value rather than face lift value that Microsoft always add to its Office Package and other ubiquitous utilities (which can be found in any Linux repository free).

I believe this can be easily accomplished with a paint brush but not with any worthwhile code. 

Any face lift that does not add to the functionality or productivity is a waste of computer resources only fools will try to keep in their armory of battle fatigued foot soldiers.
The are not commandos with swift command line direct action but fringe dresses to cover the ugly functionality.

So let me introduce the first of many such Linux Utilities.
 

K-Torrent comes to my mind for its versatile and nanosecond functionality.
This is something one should have in the third world (but would be a workhorse in the developed world) since our Telecom are one of the worst (other two are water and electricity).

Service Sectors for which we pay through the nose and get 10% of what they have promised. 

Right now I am paying for 56 bits for second and I get only 5.7 throughput. There are no regulatory bodies monitoring this or provide remedy for the users.
If I make a complaint, the context become even worse and there is vilification and victimization.

This is true for election malpractices too, if one reports an abuse of power or subdue of power of authority, there is no mechanism to address or redress. that is wished for.
 

There a re no good Umpires or Television reviews even though we a cricket frantic nation.

With that type of service available for one to download an unbroken data image and check integrity as it is downloaded and after the completion of the download we need a utility which reacts to sudden breakdown which include electricity supply.

 

I must say having come to Australia, I did finish downloading all the utilities I need in about 4 hours which I had to toil for over 10 years in Ceylon.

 

That is the reality and that is why we are so poor and backward scientifically.
 

We are heading for the Month of April which is the month of thunder and downpour and a lot of computers burn down including processors and lot of little breakdowns in between and if we do not have UPS to support, I would have lost all my computers,
 

Even the laptop I provide power through another battery (UPS) and the standalone battery won’t last its lifetime if that protection is not taken. 

 

Power surges and voltage drops are universal and no instrument is safe.
 

Worse scenario is that I have to get up and switch on and switch off the systems in the thick of my sleep when the alarm bell goes.

With point to point download every time it breaks down I have to start again.
I was trying to download Taylor Swift which is a Mepis derivative for the last 3 months (unfortunately no Torrents) and it had broken down almost 40 times, sometime in the last few megabytes. 

I am trying it now to see how long it will last to report you like the ball by ball cricket commentary.
All these hassles are not there if one uses K-Torrents and that s why I use it.
 

If I list the its virtues for quick look at for a busy body, it goes like this.

1. It monitors the speed to nanoseconds.
2. Graphic face lets you instantly detect when it is broken down.
3. Integrate with the download folders instantly.
4. There is no repetition and once downloaded one cannot download it again.
5. It goes to check mode to see whether the existing image is not broken and report to you in graphic mode.
6. In the last few seconds of the download, it had some problem and if I ignor it’s report (Image size was OK) and burned an image, it would did not boot properly. 

I wonted to restart a fresh download and within seconds it cheeked everything and downloaded the tiny fragment missing and when I burned the image again everything is in working order.
 

7. If a file is moved it lets you reconfigure with the torrent so that seed activity is kept alive.

True to its form and as a literal illustration of the points raised, suddenly without thunder electricity supply was disconnected (I will write what i did during that period late at night with clouds covering the moon at leisure) and it came after an hour or so (guess work) and quite fortuitously, when it came the server providing connection to the wider world (Internet) was not switched on till late this morning.
 

In this country we pay a salary for those doing night work for sleeping and there is no supervision at night what they really do (including some doctors on night duty).

 

I used have many altercation with the Telecom guys and girls who lie habitually and spontaneously.

So my train of thoughts were rudely interrupted to add the last 3 points  regarding K-Torrents which I have to do sometimes later, once my anger dissipates.
Mind you I was up till 4 am tidying up some (recovering some photos) computer configurations of my laptop including deleting Sinhala Linux etc.
As I expected Taylor Swift and MacPup were rudely disconnected without completing the downloads (point to point) and I did not have any K-Torrent download, too.

Please note these were the KDE days but now I am fully Gnome.

Only Mx Linux as a KDE desktop.

From Vi Editor to Vi Improved (VIM)

Posted on October 22, 2011

From Vi Editor to Vi Improved (VIM)

True that Dennis Richie invented the C language but there need to be an editor to do the language editing.
That was called ex in dumb terminals of Unix in black and white.
 

Then it had to evolve into Vi the visual editor and later to Vi Improved.
As I know it by my gut feeling Vi (Cholesterol free) is very light as compared to VIM which is loaded with cholesterol.
ViM is in MBs but Vi has to be in KBs but I could not find the exact amount after 3 days of searching.

In fact, I posted a question on Linux Question Organization and waiting for a reply from some old gentleman (I am not young by any imagination) out there browsing the web at leisure.
I feel some urge to document them in a book since once cloud computing comes into being things might be different and history may be submerged in clouds and not in sea water of tsunami.
 

Below is some of my current findings.
As far as computer language and it writing is concerned, I prefer a graphic output.
If I compare a computer language and its final output product to needle, threads and a cloth we finally wear for our adornment.

Analogy goes like this.
Computer language is like the thread. 

Threads can be woven into a cloth and stitches that hold them together.
 

Programming editor is like the needle.
 

We do not need to know the how the threads are made of except  for the fact from cotton, nylon or mixture of them or water-resistant mackintosh.
But we need to know their colours so that the pattern can be distinguished.
 

Similarly we need know that needle is made of steel and won’t corrode.
 

Visual editor was a needle and without the needle we won’t be able to stitch in time.

Vi Editor
The original code for Vi was written by Bill Joy in 1976, as the visual mode for a line editor called ex that Joy had written with Chuck Haley. 

Bill Joy’s ex 1.1 was released as part of the first BSD Unix release in March, 1978. 

It was not until version 2.0 of ex, released as part of Second Berkeley Software Distribution in May, 1979 that the editor was installed under the name Vi (which took users straight into ex’s visual mode), and the name by which it is known today.
 

Vi is a modal editor:
 

It operates in either insert mode (where typed text becomes part of the document) or normal mode (where keystrokes are interpreted as commands that control the edit session).
For example, typing i while in normal mode switches the editor to insert mode, but typing i again at this point places an “i” character in the document.
From insert mode, pressing the escape key switches the editor back to normal mode.
A perceived advantage of Vi’s separation of text entry and command modes is that both text editing and command operations can be performed without requiring the removal of the user’s hands from the home row.
 

As non-modal editors usually have to reserve all keys with letters and symbols for the printing of characters, any special commands for actions other than adding text to the buffer must be assigned to keys which do not produce characters, such as function keys, or combinations of modifier keys such as Ctrl, and Alt with regular keys.
 

Vi has the advantage that most ordinary keys are connected to some kind of command for positioning, altering text, searching and so forth, either singly or in key combinations.
The name Vi is derived from the shortest unambiguous abbreviation for the command visual in ex.

STEVIE
Probably this is a “Tim Thompson’s statement” fished out from the web.
 

STEVIE is perhaps my most noteworthy contribution to the Open Source movement, even though the phrase Open Source didn’t exist way back in June of 1987 when I posted my little clone of the ‘vi’ editor to Usenet.
 

STEVIE stood for,
ST Editor for VI Enthusiasts
Although it was only a subset of real ‘vi’, it had a good implementation of the ‘u’ (undo) and ‘.’ (repeat) commands. 

Here are the two parts of the original posting of STEVIE:
stevie.orig.1of2
stevie.orig.2of2
 

My implementation was usable and good enough for Tony Andrews to take and continue hacking on. A year later in June of 1988, Tony posted this 4-part version of STEVIE to Usenet:
stevie.tony.1of4
stevie.tony.2of4
stevie.tony.3of4
stevie.tony.4of4
 

Since that time, the software has continuously evolved in the fine tradition of what we now call Open Source, to produce the widely available and widely ported editor now known as VIM.

I was not involved after my initial development and posting to Usenet, and I didn’t really keep track of it after a few years. (I was actually a bit disappointed when the ‘u’ndo capability was broken by subsequent development, and was not fixed.)
When I recently discovered that VIM is the great-great-great-great-…-grandson of STEVIE, I was quite surprised and of course very pleased to know that my initial seed was so fruitful.
And I was most pleased to see that they fixed the ‘u’ndo command and even made it capable of ‘infinite undo’.
 

Vim Editor
Vim is a text editor written in 1988 by Bram Moolenaar for the Amiga computer, but first released publicly in 1991. It was based on an earlier editor, Stevie, for the Atari ST, created by Tim Thompson, Tony Andrews and G.R. (Fred) Walter.
The name “Vim” is an acronym for “Vi IMproved” because Vim is an extended version of the vi editor, with many additional features designed to be helpful in editing program source code.

Originally, the acronym stood for “Vi IMitation”, but that was changed with the release of Vim 2.0 in December 1993.
Vim is an almost compatible version of the UNIX editor Vi. 

Many new features have been added: multi level undo, syntax highlighting, command line history, on-line help, file name completion, block operations, folding, Unicode support, etc.
This package contains a version of vim compiled with a rather standard set of features. This package does not provide a GUI version of Vim. 

See the other vim packages if you need more (or less).
Repository: Debian Main
Download size: 894,29 KB
Installed size: 1,74 MB
Package filename: vim_7.3.333-1_i386.deb
Source package: vim

Sinister Political Program to Destroy Buddhism

Sinister Political Program to Destroy Buddhism

 

Yes, there is a Sinister Political Program to Destroy Buddhism.
 
It was spearheaded by the Catholic Church in the past.
 
This all started somewhere around 1962.
 
It was named "Catholic Action", then.

There was a hidden rule that determined that nobody gets a job unless he or she was a Catholic.

This theme has come back to haunt us (Ceylon) again.
 
It was L.H. Mettananda who brought forward the case for Buddhism in Ceylon.
He was Principle of Nalanda College, Dharmaraja College and Ananda College.
 

All these schools including Mahinda College in Galle were established by Sir Colonel Alcott, during the turn of the 20th century.
 
Ana Blastikova a Russian aristocratic lady also came into the foray promoting Theosophy at about the same time.

I have not listened to L.H. Mettananda but as a young guy under 5 years I knew that somebody was making a huge impact on Ceylonese Buddhist Community.

I used to stay overnight at A.C.B.C. building in Fort and I used to have a good Rice Meal, whenever, I come to Colombo.
 
Of course, I moved to more elegant Green Cabin (not The Indian Green Cafe), and stay over weekend and beyond (in Collpetty) for a hopper meal.
 
DhunTel Bath or Oiled Rice (not the Chinese fried rice which I HATE now), on banana leaves was top class delicacy with ice cream to top up (I will make a piece on ice cream later).

Nothing to beat Masala and Dhal Wade at Green Cafe at Dehiwala.

He was London Educated Educationalist.
 
He was a member of the "Buddhist Committee of Inquiry" of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress.

Yes, I did formal education in a school where they still train Catholic Priests.
 

I think me moving to a Buddhist school had a direct relationship to Buddhist Renascence.

This place is out of bounds to an average Ceylonese Citizen.
 
I think CIA have moles there.
 
I have had first hand experience, no need to elaborate.

I do not agree with Chapa Bandara in many respects but he seems to have a better understanding of this project coming from a Christian dominated background, in Wennappuwa.

I did work in Negambo but I never felt that the Christians there had a hidden program.

In fact, I made a lot of friends there as a doctor.

The first part of this piece is about my entry into real Dhamma.

The sinister part I would list at the end.

Be patient.

This is not written for the sake of vituperation.

I'll dish out only the snippets here but the theme, I highlight here has enough facts.

The facts are enough for a book for someone who wants to venture deeper.

BPS
I will start with Buddhist Publications Society and Bhikku Bodhi.

He has a PhD in physics.

He was the editor there and he left Ceylon to take up a post in America.

His last piece was "Buddhism at Cross Roads".
 
It is a small piece but this piece was identifying the impending danger to Dhamma.
 

It is well worth reading.

My mother wanted me to become a Buddhist Monk.
 
Good that I did not.
 
One of my maternal uncles was an erudite Pali Monk.
 
He interviewed me and agreed that I should become a doctor.
 
I promised him, I would study Buddhism when I am mature, enough.

I did help him to build a Temple in Colombo when I was working as a doctor in Colombo General Hospital.
 
Of course,  Senior Premadasa and his Private Secretary Mr. Gamage were of immense help.

His only (my uncle monk) weakness was his English.

He was the one who headed the Ceylonese Team in Burma (Myanmar) Buddhist Council (Symposium), in 1956.

BPS
BPS was established by two German Monks.
 
I was NOT fortunate enough to meet any of them in real life but the posthumous collection of books on Dhamma canonized there at BPS is a treasure trove.
 
A living monument to their dedication to Dhamma.
 
Buddhism is about deep knowledge and is not about beliefs.
 
They were imprisoned in Ghova and that is where they started translating Pali to English.

Most Reverend Gnanathiloka is the elder monk who stayed in the forest reserve (I never visited it) of Uda Watta Kelle.

The location where BPS is currently situated was the dispensary where  Dr. Dharmasena practiced.

He was my Family Doctor.
 
Do not misidentify him with the terrible Professor Dharmasena.

He donated his dispensary,  to the BPS for it's Library where "Satara Sathipattana" famous most Reverend Gnanapoinika Thera built an enormous collection of Buddhist Sutra Pitakayas.

His plan was to translate them to English.

Bhikku Bodhi of course was one I associated with but not very closely but he was crystal clear in his writing.

One can Google and order any book from BPS in Kandy.

He was a man of few words.
A real physicist.
If I have question, I pose him the question.
He selects me a book and say come back after reading this.
 
Which I did until I left Ceylon.
 
One of my dear friends who is a retired Bank Officer, does the book keeping of this institute. If I do not have a book I need, I request him to find one. He would do a research and find one for me, from any location in Ceylon, if it is available in Ceylon.
He is a dedicated guy.
If not found he would order a few copies to be printed.
Printing costs a lot and stocking books not read or moving is not commercially viable in the digital age. 

As a banker he knows this well.

What one can do is to donate some money to print the tiles not available currently.

These early publications were called "Bodhi Leaves".

My father had a lovely collection of Buddhist Texts which I could not save (I was in UK when he died), including Astrology (which I hated).
 
They were vandalized (stolen) within 10 days of his demise.
 
I of course build a New Collection with new Editions.

I settled down to Dhammpada,  Satara Sathipattana and of course the Vissuddhimagga.
 
Later of course I added Brahmajala Sutta and Kalama Sutta.

Karaneeya Metta Sutta was my base..
 
I have translated it into English Verse and posted here for perusal.
 
No one would guess it is really coming from this Sutta.

I have made the English translation very simple.

That helped me in my Simple English.

But I loved books of most Reverend Narada Thera.
 
He was the one who formerly introduced me to Buddhism before I left to UK.

Buddhism with a Smile is a classic for Children.

He was one of my regular patients in Colombo General Hospital.
 
One must say, I was fortunate enough to meet him in real life.
 
Then, Rev. Madhihe Pangnaseeha and Piyadassi Thera were veterans in Dhamma Deshana.

Reverend Rerukane Chandhawimsla had some simple Sinhala books on Buddhism. 

They ought to be translated to English.
I did not know him at all.
I saw his dead body in Navaloka Hospital along with J.R.J.
I signed J.R.Js final blood report but for some unknown reason I did not see a single blood report on this Thera. 

He may have given special instructions not to do any unnecessary tests or prolong his life.

But I entered into Dhamma after the death of my mother.

I thought, I would make a book on Dhamma on her behalf, on her 3 months Dhana Ceremony.

That ended up in many books at Amazon Book Store not only Buddhism but in Linux,too.

Snippets of Betrayal of Buddhism
 
USA and India Combo, The CIA and The RAW are directly involved in this sinister project.

The current government is the culmination of this Long Term Project.

They tried the CIA method (infiltrate the Sasana) and failed and now using the
 
"Niragamika Theme" (No religion) of the current PM / President Combo.

"Jayamangaka Gatha" was banned in the parliament BUT the full the Full Christmas Thamasha was dished out.

Jayamangaka Gatha is for the blessing of the Entire World not only Ceylon.

War of Ukraine is an antithesis to Dhamma.

Karaneeya Metta Sutta is the first Sutta one should recite.

If you are Buddhist and over 50 years, You should become a Vegetarian Buddhist which I call the Eggotarians (unfertilized egg) clan of Buddhists.
 
If you do that one can say that one is a True Buddhist.

Monks should go for "Vegetarian Dhana".

That is only the beginning to stop this subtle betrayal.
 
There is one Heart Specialist in Colombo who had a full "Vegetarian Wedding" for his daughter.
 
I forget his name.
 
He came after Walupillai.

1. In Kandy opposite the BPS they made a Missionary Hospital to promote Christianity.
 
This was near a Buddhist Girl's School.

I was taken there as a kid. 

As a kid I could feel that the doctors there were poorly trained.
 
On my retirement, one of my Catholic friends wanted me to raise it's standards but I gave up after one week.

There main aim is to promote Christianity through Medical Practice.

They have NO belief in medicine they dispense.

2. Number two is to enter Sasana and introduce moles.

Kiribathgoda Baththara Mulla is number 1.

Number two is the homosexual Sanatha Budda of Mahamewna saffron Guy.

Antidote is Do Not donate money to these guys.

Let the Catholic Church to fund them.

3. Translate Pali Verses into Sinhala and distort the contents and the meaning.

Antidote read Dhammapda.
 
The Dhammpada is out of production.
 
Donate some money to BPS to print new copies.
 
I bought all of them and posted them to my friends left in Ceylon.

Just grasp one or two verses that suits one's heart's content.

4. Dalada Wadena Nilame is the most corrupt Guy.
 
There was a branch of BPS at the rear side of the Maligawa, before he became the big guy.
 
First thing he did was to close this print outlet of BPS.

I made a vow not to visit Maligawa until he is eliminated from this post.

5. Meditation has become a business.
 
There is a book by me coming soon.

Dr. Steven Greer is in this game.

6. I am ambivalent of Wesak Celebrations.

As a kid I can remember one of my less bright uncles made a Wesak Lantern with Baby Lanterns. We could not take it out intact from the main door. We had to separate them and hang them in different locations.
 
For me, it was an experiment in physics.

Do not be a megalomaniac.

A few buckets and a few coconut oil lamps would do during Wesak.

"Olu Bukko Wigadama" should be stopped.

The buckets will burn showing the "Uncertainty Principle" of Buddhism.

Oils would burn out but the light of Dhamma shines.

7. Wearing a Cross is Christian but do not wear any symbol of Dhamma.

Dhamma is for your Brain.

Digest the meaning.

There are many other distortion and vagaries.

Be mindful of every action

I hope you become a down to earth Dhamma Guy.

Be very simple and transparent.

Non interventional to begin with.

Politics of CIA and RAW are always interventional.

They got a good ally.

That is NPP/JVP Combo.

BEWARE.

One of my Gifts

Posted on December 11, 2010

One of my Gifts
This is a comment I posted at tiny Buddha.

Giving without expecting anything in return is a virtue Buddha always admired.

My daughter was recuperating from a long illness and it was hard for her us to keep her occupied.

I had lost all the ideas to make any meaningful contribution.

Then one day, I dropped into a bookshop selling old books. 

I remember, she telling me that there is this new bookshop (opened recently) selling secondhand books (thrown out as thrash in UK) .

I knew she selects books and leave them (with her name tag) at the counter to buy them later (when she has spare money).
I went through the book at the counter but could not find her name.
The second time when I went there, I politely asked the manager, could I see the books that are reserved but not collected.
To my amazement there were plenty of books (bags) waiting to be collected.
After a few meaningful searches I found the bag with the label in her handwriting.

Rest is history.

What really dawned on me was that there are many like her going for secondhand books to save a few bucks.

When I was a kid if somebody gave me an old book, I would have “thrown a fit”.

But now I scavenge at bookshops selling old but readable books.

This Christmas, if you have books worth (secondhand) reading please send them to the third world, Ceylon included.

It is sad our English Education is very poor.

The gift need not be a brand new especially if it is a good reading material.

English books are very expensive even if they are printed (poor quality) in India.

Even, books on Linux were expensive, in my retirement, I used to the same thing my daughter did.

Reserve the books to be collected later when I had cash. 

I did buy a few books in Australia and gave up, soon.

Unfortunately, libraries are poorly stocked with this Digital Books and Amazon entry into book business.

I am still looking for the book "The Capital" by Carl Marx.

I think it is branded not to be used in Western World.

That is my guess work.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It naturally comes.

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

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

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

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

This is especially so in maths and IT.

Maths is difficult if one is not in it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not like our time.

I do not know why?

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

This is where reading is important.

So concentrate on your mathematics and English.

Rest will follow.

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

Do not make it your first interest.

But keep trying and look at where you go wrong.

This talent is essential in IT.

There is something called fixing bugs.

This is where both mathematical concepts and programming merge.

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

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

Try to be a problem analyst.

The term in IT is system analyst.

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

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

You try all and decide what is good for you.

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

That is the difference between a student and a teacher.

It is sometimes very hard to become a good teacher.

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

That is where I always enjoyed.

But having to teach a brighter student is a blessing.

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

There are many ways to solve a given problem.

Not one professors given method.

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

Why I Do Not Care what Linux Package System I Use

By the way, I use Brave browser as rthe default in MX linux.

Why I Do Not Care what Linux Package system I Use.

Yes, I do not care what package system I use.

I use Synaptic Package Manager which has 60,000 packages and I do not use even 0.0001% of it, except the things I need.

I install GDebi to get all Vivaldi, Opera and Perhaps Brave in future.

With MX Linux I do not need to bother with GDebi since it supports Brave by default.

I have removed Firefox to make way for other browsers.

It has Palemoon which was my favorite in the 32 bit Era.

I hate Ubuntu's, SNAP packages and I do not use Ubuntu at all for ages.

AppImage is a pain in the butt.

Flatpacks with Sandboxing waste my limited space or resources.

It is bare bottom NUC wit Integrated Graphic card and I am not involved in gaming at all.

I am still wonder whether I would buy a DDR5 based (NUC gone bust) ASUS before I  kick the bucket.

It is anyway for my son.

NUC stands for Next unit of computing which is already dead.

Still no downloadable DEB file for Brave?

This just to report that Suse 15.5-Linux Current supports both Brave and Opera Browsers. 

This piece was posted using Brave browser of Suse Linux.

 

It is long time ago I used Suse and getting used to it slowly.

 

Software installation is very slow.

 

However, I got Abiword and I am going to stick with Suse Linux, for some time.

 

This is posted by Brave Browser using MX Linux.

MX Linux is pretty Good and not resource hungry. 

It has three editions, KDE, 

Gnome-Like 64 bit Edition and 

Fluxbox edition.

 

I am addicted to its KDE Edition, it has a lovely start up.

 

It is available in  your Android Cellphone and I first got to know about Brave through my old discarded cellphone (no spare batteries in Ceylon, that is how bad the economy in Ceylon).

Still no downloadable DEB file for Brave?

 

Please NOTE  MX Linux allows YOU to install Brave.

It downloads and installs the package in a terminal. 

One does not have to worry using the terminal.

This is why I love MX Linux and I have copy of it installed in my NUC along with;\

1. Debian Gnome two instances.

2. Mx Linux

3. Reborn OS Arch based and lovely.

4. Suse Gnome

I won't try Redhat edition and Ultramarine 40 not 41 is available at Linuxtracker.

When will Brave start releasing official downloadable and installable .DEB files for Brave Browser? 

Vivaldi, Chrome, and Edge all offer .DEB files (and RPM files for Fedora installations), but not Brave. 

I know Brave offers .DEB files for Brave Browser, but that's only through the CLI. 

There was a thread or whatever from a year ago where someone asked about this same thing, and Brave said they had "plans" to start offering a regular .DEB download, but that there was no "timeline." It's a year later now. Any update? Thanks. 

EDIT: Here's the link to that same thread I mentioned. It's on the Brave forums. 

Link: https://community.brave.com/t/no-deb-files-to-download-not-looking-to-add-you-to-sources/485144

My Obsession with Browsers

My Obsession with Browsers

Mini Browsers Gone defunct

Gecko and his territory and FAT Browsers needing Diet Cola 

 

Diet Cola
Gecko and his territory
I wanted to write about the Gecko, the Firefoxe’s background engine thinking it is a little browser.
It is not.
It is a layout engine for multiple browsers that originated in the fold of Linux background.
It takes the content and formatting information and displays on the browser's bland screen.
Gecko has been known previously by the code names “Raptor”
I have decided to support the lightest browser in the line of Abiword as the lightest but a very powerful word processor.

I faintly remembered about its Linux origin. Most of them are defunct except Dillo.
 

Currently I favour Midori, IceApe, Dillo and SeaMonkey and not Firefox.
FireFox is light on its own but easily get bloated over 100MB with cookies.
 

IceApe
Download size: 10.27 MB
Installed size: 29.44 MB
Package filename: iceape-browser_2.0.11-5_i386.deb
Source package: iceape
 

SeaMonkey
Download size: 19.65 MB
Installed size: 48.37 MB
Package filename: seamonkey-2.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
Source package: seamonkey-2.4-1.el6.src.rpm
 

Dillo
Download size: 441.81 KB
Installed size: 1.04 MB
Package filename: dillo-2.1.1-1.ssl.i386.rpm
Source package: dillo-2.1.1-1.ssl.src.rpm
 

wget
Download size: 480.73 KB
Installed size: 1.79 MB
Package filename: wget-1.12-1.4.el6.i686.rpm
Source package: wget-1.12-1.4.el6.src.rpm
 

Lynx

This is probably the oldest one.
Download size: 1.38 MB
Installed size: 5.15 MB
Package filename: lynx-2.8.7-7.fc16.x86_64.rpm
Source package: lynx-2.8.7-7.fc16.src.rpm
 

Links
Download size: 1.81 MB
Installed size: 2.87 MB
Package filename: links-2.2-13.fc15.i686.rpm
Source package: links-2.2-13.fc15.src.rpm
 

Midori

I loved this unfortunately gone defunct.
Download size: 53.20 KB
Installed size: 599.80 KB
Package filename: midori-devel-0.3.6-1.fc15.x86_64.rpm
Source package: midori-0.3.6-1.fc15.src.rpm
 

I could not find a single article in the web stating their download size (compressed) and installed size.

This information is mandatory when new releases are made and they should also give a breakdown of the size of the cookies allowed when fully 

 

 

 Posted on October 5, 2011

Why I hate Nosy, Bulky Browsers?

I will list them first for easy browsing and relate an incident that happened only yesterday.

1. They are FAT.

2. The have what are called cookies. These cookies are very oily full of Cholesterol.

3. They are Lazy as a result of eating FAT Cookies.

4. All of these I can excuse.

To be fat is no crime. To be Lazy is  a Ceylonese pastime and I can excuse that too.

5. But I cannot tolerate FAT person being nosy.

All these browsers are Nosy.

In fact, like  FBI and KGB they are paranoid and watch every move you make out there in the Web.

There is nothing called privacy.

6. You may say I have a password when I read my mail.

It is just a joke.

Your password is remembered for posterity.

You might or yeah, it saves me typing a cryptic password.

But if the search engine remembers it how can it be a password?

Coming from Linux background this is violation number one.

Who gives permission to the browser?

Nobody but like a school principal the browser assumes the authority.

7. Some cookies do eavesdropping for advertisers especially porn.

8. Where does one end up with?

Your boss is angry with you.

Try to find an excuse to sack you.

You inadvertently forget to log off and close the browser and pretend to be doing some mundane work.

He excuses for a minute and sit in.

Goes through the history.

Copy the history and sends an email to himself with a date tag.

He does this for a month or so and asks you for an interview.

Some paranoid bosses may have even surreptitiously opened your email (DID NOT LOG OFF BUT ONLY CLOSED THE BROWSER) and BROWSE YOUR PRIVATE MAIL TOO).

You have no defense and fired.

Whom to blame not your boss but the BIG FAT BROWSER?

What is the end result.

Your boss is paranoid and you too are paranoid and the productivity comes down drastically.

9. Same scenario can be in your home unless you have a little network like what I have at home.

Everyone has a computer terminal (Linux not Microsoft) and the guests also has a terminal for an emergency.

Even if one does not have anything to hide like a simple Buddhist monk every individual deserve some space of privacy.

Breaking that is violation of a fundamental right.

10. What can one do?

If you use Linux you can have a Pendrive with your favorite distribution to boot up.

That is the cheapest way.

Otherwise have your own netbook or laptop which is bulky to say the least.

With tablets coming the weight might come down a little.

Apart from other reasons, this is one reason I strongly support tablets with variety of android clones and in time to come Anti-Android from Singapore.

Story

I wanted to show JoliCloud to a young guy.

I logged in his computer with my password.

Browser Chrome.

Operating system Microsoft Win 7.

I tried to log off the cookie wasn’t there.

Tried several times, searched every godforsaken little menu but could not log off.

I log on to JoliCloud, it starts again to my cloud space without asking for the password.

No logging off dialog box.

Finally we had to erase the one hour of our activity to erase the cookies remembering my password for future sessions.

Had I left without logging off he would have had the access to my data and if he devised (he was a nice guy and I was pretty sure he would not do that) a method to change my password, I will lose my ability to log in next time.

The story is different if the guy is like your paranoid boss.

I signed off from him saying there is no privacy in the Web.

 

 

AmigoLinux

Web site: amigolinux.org (not active)
Origin: USA ?
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: Window Maker
Architecture: x86
Based on: Independent
Wikipedia:
Media:
The last version | Released: February 20,2007

AmigoLinux – one of the easiest ways yet to run Linux. Just unzip on a FAT partition and boot. It is small (+200MB) and runs with as little as 16MB RAM.

Window Maker handles windows and there are 2 different GUI applications available for configuration. I also like some of the DockApps, but not the Dock itself. The dock and clip both use a space on the desktop, usually 64×64 pixels, which are wasted space.

Binary Packages: Most binary packages we provide are here. These are usually Slackware-style ‘tgz’ packages. However, the binaries should work on many other ix86 Linux systems as well. If you run Slackware, you can install them using ‘installpkg’.

Sources: The sources are divided into several areas for convenience. Nearly every program directory contains a description file called slack-desc and a PkgBuild script for compiling the sources and creating an installable binary package. See the PkgBuild Project area for more information. Even if you compile the sources manually, you’ll find the included PkgBuild scripts quite useful as they contain valid configuration options used for compiling the package. The main areas of interest are these:

GUI Components: This section contains basic components to build your own compact desktop environment. It includes a variety of software such as window managers, panels, menu tools, run-boxes, system trays, taskbars, dialog and message tools, etc.

Applications: You’ll find your new GUI environment pretty spartan without some accessories. This section has an extensive collection of applications and supporting libraries which is constantly growing.

Projects: Along the way we’ve created or done useful modifications to several Open Source programs. In the spirit of the Open Source concept, we pass along our favorite efforts here when it seems they might be useful to others. Here’s a list of some of the more interesting, promising or successful:
– PkgBuild Build Engine for source code PkgBuild scripts.
– ROX-Filer and AppDirs for GTK-1.2 -modernized and de-Pythonized.
– MinimoG12 Mozilla Minimo browser for GTK-1.2.
– Chico Browser A very lite GTK-1.2 app with embedded Mozilla html engine.
– XFtools GUI applications taken from xfce3.
– Xdialog Patched version with extra examples and utilities.
– WindowMaker Patches and configuration tricks for optimizing Window Maker.

Usually the latest stable release (if any) of these Projects is available in the other Source or Package directories.

The Do-It-Yourself Light Desktop Every one has their own tastes and needs, but here’s how I put together a super fast, flexible desktop using a variety of programs which you’ll find available here. This page should give you some ideas, no matter which programs you choose for yourself. You’ll also find ideas and materials elsewhere here, especially in the GUI components and Amigo Projects areas.

Extra: Sometimes no program is available for a certain purpose without resorting to the use of other toolkits and libraries. Here’s where you’ll find such items, including GnuCash, gtk-extra, Gnome and GTK+-2.x programs and libraries.

The project developer is Gilbert Ashley, and it was under development between 2003-2007.

 

AmigaOS

Web site: www.amigaos.net
Origin: USA
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: Workbench
Architecture: Mototorolla 68000, Power PC
Based on: Indendendent
Wikipedia: AmigaOS
Media: Install
The last version | Released: 4.1 Update 2 | January 12, 2021

AmigaOS – a commercial OS originally developed for the Motorola 68k based Commodore Amiga line of computers – now owned by Amiga, Inc. Version 1.0 was released in 1985 with the release of the Amiga 1000 computer.

The system is 32-bit from the beginning, it was written for the Motorola 68000 processor. Supported processors are: MC68000, MC68010, MC68020, MC68030, MC68040, MC68060. Systems in versions 3.x also support PowerPC processors also known as PPC, thanks to the WarpOS or PowerUP subsystems.

The current version of AmigaOS 4.1 has been completely rewritten for PowerPC processors and runs on AmigaOne, micro A1, SAM440ep, SAM440 Flex, Pegasos II computers. The software that was written for classic Amigas equipped with MC68x series processors can be run thanks to two emulators built into the system: interpreted, ensuring high compatibility with original hardware systems and JIT called Petunia ensuring high emulation speed.
AmigaOS and its clones

The core of the system was characterized by multitasking, advanced graphics capabilities, closely related to the construction of Amiga computers, as well as low response time, thanks to which it found a place in real-time applications, although it was not designed for them. The downside was the lack of memory protection. Compliance with the POSIX standard and the X Window System can be achieved using external libraries.

The system offered a modern graphical system with Workbench as the shell. There are also standalone text shells that run in a graphical mode window. A characteristic feature of the graphics systems and the system itself was the lack of purely text-based graphics modes. The system already in the first phase of the launch offered a graphical interface.

AmigaOS comes with its own desktop environment called Workbench. Workbench comes with a range of functions to help users access and arrange their documents, photographs, music and video files in an intuitive manner. AmiUpdate is now integrated into AmigaOS to provide timely operating software updates on a regular basis.

I have Gone Fully Gnome

I have Gone Fully Gnome but Keeping MX Linux KDE as the minimal KDE base with lot of functionality of MX Linux which comes from AntiX (in other words modernized version of AntiX).

Yes, I am gone not nutty but fully Gnome. 

For some unknown reason Reborn OS did not boot and I have decided to install Open Mandiva Lx on top of to make my Gnome transfer fully executed.

I started with Mandrake and Open Mandriva was the only remnant of that SAGA. It had teething problems with 64 bit (not during 32 bit time which I had a copy of KDE desktop which was my favorite then) version.

Installer is distribution independent Calamares.

Installation was pretty quick unlike SuSe.

Only MX Linux remains with KDE.

There is a reason for it.

Most of the popular desktops are born out of Gnome but they tend to despise or hide the Gnome Origin.

Classic example is Ubuntu and is  with compositor and Wayfire and Wayland.

They are born out of Classic X11 and they cannot hide that fact.

It is all based on Windows within Windows while master Window which is X11 (it was halted there with some future vision) .

For details on e has to read my book "Linux Essentials" which would be out soon.

CDE which became KDE was the proprietary Common Desktop Environment which metamorphosed into various desktops.

But Gnome kept its tradition of noninterference but it fell out of popularity.

I have now several Gnome editions.

1. The latest is the Open Madriva Gnome

 

2. SuSe Gnome

I Erased BlueStar Linux in that effort but did not go for Endeavour OS Gnome due to its paucity of applications.

 

3. My work horse id Debian Gnome

 

4. Pardus

 

5. Garuda

 

6. Chimera OS 

Chimer has come with a new Iso.

It is not Linux but BSD based. 

 

7. Reborn OS with many desktops

 

8.. I did not try Redhat Gnome yet. 

If it is available I would try.

I have a mortal aversion to Fedora for long time. 

Not available under Redhat but under Fedora there are two available in Linuxtracker.

I am going to try Nobara (may be having simple games as a default) but ultramarine is not have seeders.