Debian 7.1, is Fab

 Monday, December 29, 2014

Reproduction
Debian 7.1, is Fab
Debian 7.1, is Fab

This is going to be bit lengthy.
It was not my design.
But rain and elections had given me some welcome respite.

1.Rain
Rain is something I predicted many years ago.
Some of my predictions are in my book “Sri-Lankan Water Politics and Water Logic”.

No help from astrologers (no thank you).

This is mostly due to Global Warming.
I have already voiced my opinion elsewhere, no need to repeat.

In 1957 we moved to Kandy.

We only managed to get our belonging inside and it started raining for 10 days continuously.

That was the biggest floods in my living memory.
The Kalani River overflew.

2.Politics

Regards to the elections, this is the most boring election campaign in my living memory.

It looks like our minds are frozen with “War and Hate” or is it  “Hate of War”

Rainbow coalition has their work cut short due to bungling of the election commissioner's department and the torrential rain.

This is not the time for elections and our astrologers have bungled it.

And our weather men also foul-up their reports.

They were not proactive.

Politicians are clueless.

I think, it is time to rethink and postpone the elections by at least 10 to 14 days.

At least for the relief work to be carried out without political insinuation.
The election commissioner, if he has a humane qualities, takes over the reins and make some bold decisions and look after the “Pura Vasia”, the citizens, rather the  rural folks or the so called villagers.

That includes the masses effected by floods.

He hasn't got to listen to anybody.
Touch his heart with his own hand tap to his conscience.

I do not think he has the backbone be above politics.

3. Linux= Debian for Rescue
My solution is to have many distributions including Windows.
One has to install Windows first.
Then I quickly installed Abiword, Libre Office and even Apache's Open Office (it has changed hand from Oracle to Apache and Oracle was trying to kill it).

It took a day to find the small Mini CD /DVD containing all the software.
Then I tried all the Linux distributions Live.

Pinguy Linux was a failure (I have stated it elsewhere).

PClinux did get the sound but Firefox was a disaster (no plug in for Sinhala Unicode) and its Grub only recognises Windows and Knoppix.

Fedora even though, very attractive, having read a review decided against.

I did not try SuSe since the latest is not out (It has many milestones) yet.

I got the Linux Magazine today. 

It has Suse only 64 bits version.
I have tried all the Linux Magazine DVDs and I have had already made up my mind about them (nearly thirty).

So what NEXT.

Nothing but Debian, my ultimate gold standard.

Ubuntu is pleasing but I have never used it on a regular basis.

Peppermint is dainty and skinny desktop.

I need a meaty desktop but now I hate KDE.

It got to be Gnome or Xfce (I started my Live Linux with xfce Linux of PCLinux with the little mouse, the real mouse I hate but this mouse like Micky mouse I love).

I got Xfce installed in 15GB /Ext4 partition.

That is my love affair with PCinux but when FullMonty came with bloated tummy, I gave up.

It burned one of my graphic cards (wrong configuration).

That computer has gone to the end of its life time, after 7 years of daily almost 24 hour work. No hard feeling and I dismantled its useful hardware and mother board (power outage) was declared null and void.

No hardware or software problem, simply burnt out syndrome!

If you are trying Debian, do not take it lightly.

Read all the instructions carefully, before pressing the OK button.

It gives you fall back options.

One should be thorough with the partitioning tool.
Make sure it is linked to a reliable repository (not your local or the nearest, Sri-Lanka or Singapore or India).

I always choose USA.

It does a yeoman service even though, some Sri-Lankans hate USA for no valid reason.

Only, downside it took 3 hours to install 1.2 GB.

What that meant was every file out of 1306 was thoroughly checked and updated.

New gnome desktop is fabulous.

I was not happy, though.

I went ahead and installed LXDE desktop.

The xfce, openbox and Skol-Linux theme.

Mind you, it does a good advertisement for Linux specially Debian for schools.
I wanted to download the DVD but it was direct download not torrent.

I will search for the torrent and download in a minute.
Currently, I am downloading PCLinux KDE (1.8 GB).
In case, I need a KDE desktop as a consolation prize.

The experience with PCLinux KDE (2014-12) was very disappointing.
Postscript 
1. Debian is Sinhala, Tamil and Telangu empowered.
2. It does not support Firefox (probably for right reasons, no flash plug ins).

3. It supports Chrome.

4. It has over 66,000 software utilities including hamradio, academic and scientific.

Apple and Microsoft can never overtake its marathon record.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Debian 7.1, is Fab

Debian 7.1, is Fab

This is going to be bit lengthy.

It was not my design.But rain and elections had given me some welcome respite.

1.Rain

Rain is something I predicted many years ago.

Some of my predictions are in my book “Sri-Lankan Water Politics and Water Logic”.

No help from astrologers (no thank you).

This is mostly due to Global Warming.
I have already voiced my opinion elsewhere, no need to repeat.

In 1957 we moved to Kandy.

We only managed to get our belonging inside and it started raining for 10 days continuously.

That was the biggest floods in my living memory.

The Kalani River overflew.

2.Politics

Regards to the elections, this is the most boring election campaign in my living memory.

It looks like our minds are frozen with “War and Hate” or is it  “Hate of War.

Rainbow coalition has their work cut short due to bungling of the election commissioner's department and the torrential rain.

This is not the time for elections and our astrologers have bungled it.

And our weather men also foul-up their reports.

They were not proactive.

Politicians are clueless.

I think, it is time to rethink and postpone the elections by at least 10 to 14 days.

At least for the relief work to be carried out without political insinuation.

The election commissioner , if he has a humane qualities, takes over the reins and make some bold decisions and look after the “Pura Vasia”, the citizens, rather the  rural folks or the so called villagers.

That includes the masses effected by floods.

He hasn't got to listen to anybody.

Touch his heart with his own hand tap to his conscience.

I do not think he has the backbone be above politics.


3. Linux= Debian for Rescue

My solution is to have many distributions including windows.
One has to install windows first.
Then I quickly installed Abiword, Libre Office and even Apache's Open Office (it has changed hand from Oracle to Apache and Oracle was trying to kill it).
(It took a day to find the small Mini CD /DVD containing all the software).
Then I tried all the Linux distributions Live.
Pinguy Linux was a failure (I have stated it elsewhere).
Pclinux did get the sound but Firefox was a disaster (no plug in for Sinhala Unicode) and its Grub only recognises window and Knoppix.
Fedora even though, very attractive, having read a review decided against.
I did not try SuSe since the latest is not out (It has many milestones) yet.
I got the Linux Magazine today. It has Suse only 64 bits version.
I have tried all the Linux Magazine DVDs and I have had already made up my mind about them (nearly thirty).

So what NEXT.

Nothing but Debian, my ultimate gold standard.

Ubuntu is pleasing but I have never used it on a regular basis.
Peppermint is dainty and skinny desktop.
I need a meaty desktop but now I hate KDE.
It got to be Gnome or Xfce (I started my Live Linux with Xfce Linux of PCLinux with the little mouse, the real mouse I hate but this mouse like Micky mouse I love).
That is my love affair with PCCinux but when FullMonty came with bloated tummy, I gave up.
It burned one of my graphic cards (wrong configuration).
That computer has gone to the end of its life time, after 7 years of daily almost 24 hour work.
No hard feeling and I dismantled its useful hardware and mother board (power outage) was declared null and void.

No hardware or software problem, simply burnt out syndrome!

If you are trying Debian, do not take it lightly.

Read all the instructions carefully, before pressing the OK button.

It gives you fall back options.

One should be thorough with the partitioning tool.

Make sure it is linked to a reliable repository (not your local or the nearest, Sri-Lanka or Singapore or India).

I always choose USA.

It does a yeoman service even though, some Sri-Lankans hate USA for no valid reason.

Only, downside it took 3 hours to install 1.2 GiB.

What that meant was every file out of 1306 was thoroughly checked and updated.

New gnome desktop is fabulous.

I was not happy, though.

I went ahead and installed LXDE desktop.

The xfce, openbox and SkolLinux theme.

Mind you, it does a good advertisement for Linux specially Debian for schools.

I wanted to download the DVD but it was direct download not torrent.

I will search for the torrent and download in a minute.

Currently, I am downloading PCLinux KDE (1.8 GB).

In case, I need a KDE desktop as a consolation prize.

The experience with PCLinux KDE (2014-12) was very disappointing.

Postscript. 

1. Debian is Sinhala, Tamil and Telangu empowered.

2. It does not support Firefox (probably for right reasons, no flash plug ins).

3. It supports Chrome.

4. It has over 66,000 software utilities including hamradio, academic and scientific.

Apple and Microsoft can never overtake its marathon record.

Brave Browser Installation

Brave Browser Installation

Only Manjaro Linux supports graphic installation of Brave Browser.

I could not get BlueStar Linux to install it using Octopi.

All what I did was to open a terminal in sudo command and cut and paste what the brave browser guys tell me to do.

I have not done Terminal Work for over 20 years.

However, I tried to install compiz and haskell under terminal in Gnome 12 series but could not.

Viola!

I am posting this using Brave Browser under Debian Gnome.

The command I copied is written below.

sudo apt install curl

sudo curl -fsSLo /usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg

sudo curl -fsSLo /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.sources https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser.sources

sudo apt update

sudo apt install brave-browser

Linux Utility Categories

Linux Utility Categories

Image Editors
Audio Editors
Email Clients
Personal Communication
Screen Recording and Streaming Tools
System Optimizers/Task Managers
Apps for Gamers
Media Players
Media Server Software
Video Editors
Open-Source Media Converters
Backup Tools
PDF Editing Tools
Code and Text Editors
Note-Taking Apps
Team Communication & Productivity
Virtualization Apps
Authenticators

Microsoft Hegemony

Microsoft Hegemony

Microsoft Hegemony and my First Laptop

This Laptop could not be booted by a USB stick due to Microsoft’s hold on its BIOS. It also has a BIOS Virus, I call it figure of 8 virus.

Figure 8 repeating itself in an endless chain. 

The Chinese guys in Singapore rather Indian Mustafa guys cheated me.

"Rarely seen without a bustling crowd of customers, Mustafa Centre is set in the Little India district. A cult favourite in the Singaporean shopping scene, it’s the best place to go if you’re after a bargain or enjoy shopping late into the twilight hours. Mustafa may not be as fancy as some of Singapore’s other malls, but it has a great range of items, and good prices to match. Here, you’ll get a bargain on just about everything, from clothes, perfume, souvenirs, electronics, makeup, confectionery and even food and groceries. "

It had Windows without any software.     

On my frequent sojourns abroad, I accidentally found it in Mustafa Centre in Singapore. 

I purchased it for a cheap price, without knowing it had an issue on its Boot Menu. 

Additionally it had the figure of 8 virus which inserts itself at text level and at many entry points. 

I now know how to negotiate this inconvenience and this laptop probably was the very reason, I migrated to Linux for good.

I did not have the  proper sense to test it before purchasing and beware if, one purchases a "marked down" gadget even in Singapore.

After a while, Windows  Installation was erased with TRUE OS which is defunct now using the the TRUE OS Boot CD to connect to the Internet thereby, bypassing the use of USB Slot as a boot device which Microsoft owns by secret alliance with the O.E.M guys.

One has to be smart to bypass the Microsoft Hegemony. 

I paid for the hardware and Microsoft cannot own it after the point of purchase!

This laptop is working fine with Endless OS installed. 

I updated it few days ago.

It has all my archived Linux images.

It is very slow.  

I have no intention of looking for a DDR4 RAM. 

It has two slots. 

If the DDR4 fails, which is unlikely with Linux installed, I am going to dish it out and by a Mini Computer for less than 300 dollars.

Dimbulagala Stone Edit

Nampotha

Periyakaduwa

Ekagdwara

Maligatenna

Thalpathtenna

Polpithigama

Ibbagamuwa

Bambaragla

Alawwa

It is Jayaratne Pathiraarachchi's who said Buddha was born in CEYLON

Yes, it is in either 1980 or 1982 that Jayaratne Pathiraarachchi who said Buddha was born in CEYLON.

 

He has done extensive investigation over 45 years and he has all Sel-Lipi or Stone edits to support his claims.

 

Some Buddhist monks have stolen his copyright materials and have published them as their own.

 

Last one on this track is Bokken Kleppe who is distorting history from Norway.

 

Pathiraarachchi openly says Raj Somadeva is a Horek and my independent research confirm his claims.

 

I call SomaDeva a crook.

 

Paranavithana was a British Army guy who used that pseudonym to white wash British Distortion of our history including forged 

Kandyan Convention draft displayed in London Museum.

 

It is the British who taught us to forge signatures and distort history for the need of the kings and queens of England, rather United Kingdom (three regions, Scotland, Welsh and England).

 

Those facts are becoming exposed due to this gentleman's down 

to earth Suddha Sinhala Vahara.

 

It is a Historical Course Correction that this gentleman is doing and his lack understanding of English is a blessing in disguise.

 

He is like a modern Oracle.

 

Long live his efforts.

 

He has published them in Sinhala and that is also a blessing so that Tamil Diaspora cannot distort the historical facts.

 

The biggest lie of our history is Mahinda and Sangamitta brought Dhamma and civilization to Ceylon or Tambhapanni or country with golden sandy beaches.

 

We have a real Ravana History to talk about not Veddhas.

Internet and Mass Media

These are the key phrases I copied from a Internet Content Creator who is a Linux Guy.

Both nostalgia and frustration.

1. Nestscaoe

2. Napster

3. Google

Now determined by algorithm and matrixes.

It is soulless and not a paradise.

Digital landfill 

Difficult to decorate wheat from chaff.

Weed from a medicinal plant

Paddy seed and the husk

Self replicating

Quality drops 

Driven by advertisements 

Reliability lost drama emerges.

Blind and mechanical

Philosophical and reflective have no place. Incidentally that is my theme.

Try to be non judgemental except for Buddhist notions of Avihinsa and Metta.

Dopamine driven addiction.

I do not watch YouTube now.

Proud ignorance.

Cognitive decline.

Mental effect.

I have gone back to, the most Beautiful KDE Desktop of BlueStar Linux

 I have gone back to, the most Beautiful KDE Desktop of Blue-Star Linux

After a few mishaps with my "Linux Testing"  for my book, particularly ARCH based Linux I decided to keep Blue Star as it is much better than Netrunner.

I cannot wait till, MX Linux comes out with its next version. I do not think it could better Debian Trixie, anyway.

It took 95% of the 20GB /root partition.

It has all the application.

If I had 40GB, I could have installed Gnome,

Instead, I installed awesome and IceWM. 

Its Wayland session is minimal but the X11 version is the most beautiful.

Guys who want to discontinue X11 be mindful, its base stood the test of  time.  

To enjoy Blue-Star Linux one should have a fairly big Monitor. 

If I need to get out of the clutter, all what I do is to log in with IceWM and open the Firefox and I have one application working for me in the entire monitor screen.

Same with if I want to work with one of my books with AbiWord.

It does not mean, that I cannot open VLC, Kdenlive in IceWm. 

They are safely hidden without icons.

Awesome has limited options and cannot open heavy weight applications. 

Solved the problem by installing cutefish.

By the way, its log out option does not function. 

With this I am going to stop talking about Linux. 

Elephant Myths

Monday, February 2, 2015
Elephant Myths

How the Sri-Lankan Mafia Killed our Wild Elephants?


There is a hive of activity as regard to the elephant trade.

There was a mafia that operated with the connivance of the politicians.

There are thugs hiding behind saffron cloth that made the outer circle of this mafia.

My third book on elephants (elephant myths) was deferred with a valid reason.

I could not bear to reveal the 10 cruel ways of killing elephants since these methods once revealed would be used for further cruelty to even other animals.

Like aiding and abetting in criminal law not revealing the operational methods is also a crime.

Let me list them for investigation by proper officials of the present corrupt Department of Forestry.

1. When elephants venture into huts of Ganja growers (in the name of vegetable farming), they cut the tip of the elephant trunk with a Kattha or a sword.

That is the end of the majesty.


2. They cut 2 by 2 inches square hole in a pumpkin and introduce a poison inside and seal the hole with cut the piece.
Within hours the poor elephant who partake the poison is dead.


3. They used what is called the 'Hakka Pattas', an incendiary device packed with explosives similar to the hand bomb.


4. Shooting or trap guns.


5. Use one and a half feet square wooden plank driven with 5 inch nails. Once a foot / feet stuck in it there is no way to rescue the giant.


6. 'Waga Lin' or the pits made to trap (8x10x8) the elephants.

Once trapped, no escape and they die a slow death of starvation.


7. Wanton Poisoning the vegetation where the gentle giants feed.


8. Baby elephants when separated from mother die of starvation.


9. Infected 'Madhu' - trap wounds and sepsis.


10. Electric currents.


11. Use chilies and other petrochemicals to bring unpleasantness.


12. Fire traps.


The lost of their habitat and traps laid in their migration pathway with the help of the government officials is the biggest crime.

There was an organized crime syndicate and the connivance of the print media moguls (heading this crime syndicate) was evident.

That is why none of the elephants thieves who operate with impunity were not captured under Mahinda Chinthanaya.


They go scot free during the 100 day program.

Magnetic Equator, Kandy and Ravana and the Linux Revival

This piece is written for perusal by Jayaratne Pathiraarachchi and Wimal Weera Wansa.

 

My blessings for both of them especially to Wimal Weerawansa in politics.

I think if, Anura can become President by lies and cheating, it is humanly possible for Wimal to become president of this country by adhering to the Cardinal 4 principles of Dhamma.

1. No killing

2. No stealing 

3. No lying

4. No sexual misconduct

JVP and NPP are known violate the above four moral logic  in the past and currently,too. Their model has been antidemocratic and violent and killing is a natural tendency. Taking credit for rounding up Mafia gangs rounded up by the Interpol is ridiculous and their mode is Marfiosi internally and habitually.

It is their so called "Spiritual Leader" and the "Boss" or "Inner Circle" that determines their sordid logic.

Both as a Peradeniya University student and a don I have witnessed them. But unlike the current university guys and girls we had the courage to stand up to them and make them marginal and ineffective. 

Their mode of operation was to mount irrational strikes and disrupt the day to day life. 

It is a pathetic and paranoid ploy.

Disgusting.

Please remember that the fifth "Majja Pama" was added by monks (may be Jain's) and Buddha was very careful not to tread onto human indulgence except highlighting the evils of alcohol.

In my medical analysis including my book on alcohol and web pieces here even a little bit of alcohol is bad for humans.

Now coming to equators geographical equator is an imaginary line.

It does not correspond with the Magnetic Equator.

How magnetic field is formed and how the so called gravity works, I do not understand fully even though I am very keen in physics of the entire Universe.

Gravity we cannot measure but we can feel and it makd us to become bipedal animal which is abnormal. 

 

Animals are quadriplegic or flat on the face of earth as snakes.

I first felt the effect of gravity after a 7.2 Richter scale earth quake in New Zealand which  shook me to the core and I was thrown out of the bed.

That made me to leave New Zealand.

1. Magnetic Field does not follow straight lines but has curvilinear movements.

2. It makes magnetic elements get magnetized with two corresponding poles.

3. It makes electrons to move in more elegant spin.

4. I can use a magnet to find a lost needle in a haystack.

5. The magnetic field is supposed to be generated by molten inner plates.

6. This field wobble and the magnetic poles shift gradually and sometimes violently.

7. Palemagnetism is the record of magnetic evidence in stones which Jayaratne Pathiraarachchi should invest some simple methods to see their current orientation.

A simple but strong magnets that one carry in a trouse pocket is good enough. One can see wether the orientation is natural or due to human intervention.

8. I think we humans produce a subtle magnetic aura around ourselves.

9. Lord Buddha had the most charming magnetism of all human beings.

10. I think our mind can control our own magnetic field.

 

Anger disturbs it.

 

Metta fashions it.

The Central band of Earth's magnetic field crosses right through the belly of Kandy. The  Old Dalada Maligawa Temple of Kandy is in the center of this magnetic field.

 

I do not think the present one is in the center of it.

Central Africa has both geographical and magnetic Equators. 

That is the most important country where humanity originated, may be Ethiopia. 

 

The Magnetic field then from there onwsrds bends to go through South America where earth's biodiversity remains and Amazon is important to humanity, only second to Africa.

USA, China, Russia and Australia is completely outside the geomagnetic field.

It is very strange where White and Yellow races dominate. In the non magnetic area. 

In my genetic analysis both types are greedy and crazy.

India is within the upper magnetic band.

Jayaratne Pathiraarachchi's job is to locate old temple, using the old stone edits or Sel-Lipi he has.

I believe it is in Teldeniya or near about.

 

It may even be under water in Victoria Lake. 

British may have deliberately submerged it to erase our Ravana History.

Real Ravana clan were actually astrophysicists and astronauts.

 

They used this magnetic field to navigate their Vimanas or Spacecrafts.

 

No fuel energy was needed.

They had there own "Yaksha Basha" and it is not Sinhala but predates Sinhala. 

 

Current Vedda are not their descendants.

 

They merged and submerged.

I think Wimal Weerawansa with his guts epitomize "Yaksha Spirit" in us.

Good on him.

Old Indians wrote the mythical Ramayanaya to erase this Real Ravana History and current Indians using Anura is furthering that aim of deceit and deception.

Chinese beware Indians (recent BRICS gathering in China) are there to spy on you and provide information to Americans.

 

They are called black Jews by Africans.

 

In fact, they provided information to Mossad to undermine Iran.

 

Any moment this War might resurface.

Both sides are marking time.

In Sinhala we call them Depath Nayas.

 

In other words snake with two heads on both ends.

 

The end result is disorientation and confusion. 

 

By the way, Armenians are also double dealers.

Be mindful if you meet an Indian or an Armenian.

 

Americans are not that bad but British and French are.

 

I ignore Germans.

I would end up with Linux.

 

I stopped using German Linux images like Netrunner and Neptune.

 

My base is now global Debian Gnome.

Apology for Statement Debian Gnome Live USB/DVD

Apology for Statement Debian Gnome Live USB/DVD

I inadvertently stated that one cannot install application using this this Gnome Image.

I may have done this without configuring the WiFi

Without the Internet one cannot have any link to the repositories.

Only downside is Calamara Installer is very slow and sometimes hangs up.

It just happened now when installing Debian Gnome.

My advice is for one to use the Debian DVD1 and use one or several desktops at install time.

Gnome Live image installer failed. Simply because it did not choose gdm for Plymouth. It assumes it being Gnome and fail to recognize I have other Debian instances.

I decided to use only XFCE and fallback Gnome and it saved about 250 files that are needed for fully fledged Gnome.

DVD1 image is the saviour and install time is saved by about few minutes. In any case 13 series installation is by nature fast.

By the way. Image which is 6.12.38 Debian + is upgraded to 6.22.42 Debian + plus during Installation.

Basic stuff is not much change.

The change is all due to Kernel has to support many architectures from Raspberry pi to Nvidia and AMD stuff.

Linux code is crisp and if I am in the developer set up I would put everything in the basic installation including hardware support for my basic NUC and it I also exclude LibreOffice, I would make Image under 1GB, like what Puppy guys user to do in the past.

By the way, TeenPup derivative Legacy OS is 3.2GB and Antix full is 2GB both of which cannot configure my WiFi.

This is a warning for guys who are going to undermine X11.

Gnome Fallback I think ix X11 on steroids.

Small is beautiful and smart.

GRUB and Networking are the most important criteria for me over years.

Once I get the system up I think of my applications.

Gparted 

AbiWord 

USB formatter 

USB image writer

Audacity 

VLC

GDebi

Transmission 

All the above is about 1000MB.

I am up and running XFCE and the mouse mascot was my yesteryear favorite long before Tux.

I am going to remove LibreOffice and add Pingus and Tux Racer in my 9.5GB partition with 3.5GB remaining.

I do not go below 1GB since I get a warning message that there is no hardware space.

Go and hang with TimeShift utility.

I am even happier with Awesome and IceWM window mangers.

I do not need Kodi and Kdenlive for my desktop.

Ultimate Gamer Arch Edition

Ultimate Gamer Arch Edition

I managed to Install Ultimate Gamer but I find it difficult to configure Discover to install additional applications.

To begin with I tried it's Gnome version which was released in January, 2025. Its image incomplete i could not install and after four attempts, I gave up and used the Plasma edition to install.

Installation went all right.

WiFi was finicky.

Plasma Desktop and KDE

Plasma Desktop and KDE

A few minutes ago, I did a calculation to see how much Plasma desktop takes in memory. 

It has no application and file manager Dolphin had to be installed separately.

However, I do like plasma for the same reason it does not have hundreds of tiny application I never use.

But akregator is not among them but which is a KDE application.

It takes a huge 1 GB, somewhat similar to LibreOffice. 

Next one in line which takes, a lot of memory is Firefox (about 330MB for English edition).

Pingus, Tuxkart and Frozen Bubble also take large memory which is realistic since they are graphic intensive, games.

Pingus is my favorite.

In any case biggest contributor to memory drain or the hungry applications that drain memory are the games.

Over the years I used Dillo, Epiphany and Falkon.

Falkon which is KDE based takes up lot of memory which I call the unnecessary cookies

They are invariably bundled up with the browser.

 I always used Firefox from the moxilla time, and I would never give it up since it is second nature to me and it has done yeoman service to me.

Linux Games I Love to Play

Posted on August 17, 2011 

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

Knoppix cannot be installed on hard drive.
Why I choose Linux Gamers Live was simply because its front-end just looks like Apple front-end and ready for games with icons instead of names.
 

It also can be installed into hard disk now.

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

Even PCLinuxFuillMonty though, they have a place for Linux guys and girls.
Indirectly FullMonty comes fourth.

1. Number one is Super Tux 2 and I enjoyed playing hours and hours.
2. Close second is Pingus and its environmental theme is commendable.
3. Number three is Extreme Tux Racer which is sweet and relaxing
4. Number 4 is Super TuxCart (this is for the racing addict)
5. Number 5 is Tuxcart (This is for the training on racing)
6. Number 6 is Frozen Bubble
7. Number 7 is any of the 100 of tiny games
 

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

Mind you with Wine and get-edit, one can play Windows, DOS and Atari games of the yesteryear.

Window Makers that do not work with Trixie Gnome

They also cannot Log Out.

I am not sure they cannot identify the integrated graphic unit of the NUC.

1. Window Maker

2. Sway

3. Spectrum 

4. I3

5. Qtile

No tiles or Windows but at least it shutdown or log out

6. DWM

7. Matchbox 

That work with Gnome are

1. IceWM 

2. Awesome 

Has 9 desktops 

Opens akregator

LibreOffice 

AbiWord and Xournal

VLC

Audacity

Does not open Synaptic Pckage Manager but opens software in a bright front face.

Opens terminal 

3. Enlightenment 

It had tiling but I went for standard 

Says conman not available.

Takes 401MB for install.

Nice panel below.

4. Openbix

5. Fluxbox

6. Blackbox

Is the best.

In one interface one can open Awesome, IceWM Full and Light, Fluxbox

One can play Pingus and Froze Bubble.

7. IceWM Light

Beyond Debian: Useful for other distributions, too

This was posted through Debian MATE.

I used used Akregator news reader which is a tiny Linux application and copied a Veteran Linux Guy's introduction to Debian Trixie. 

Please do not bother him with queries.

Please respect his privacy.

Reproduction

Samuel Henrique (samueloph)

Debian 13: My list of exciting new features

 Samuel Henrique (samueloph) August 28, 2025 [debian]

 

Beyond Debian: Useful for other distros too

Every two years Debian releases a new major version of its Stable series, meaning the differences between consecutive Debian Stable releases represent two years of new developments both in Debian as an organization and its native packages, but also in all other packages which are also shipped by other distributions (which are getting into this new Stable release).

If you're not paying close attention to everything that's going on all the time in the Linux world, you miss a lot of the nice new features and tools. It's common for people to only realize there's a cool new trick available only years after it was first introduced.

Given these considerations, the tips that I'm describing will eventually be available in whatever other distribution you use, be it because it's a Debian derivative or because it just got the same feature from the upstream project.

I'm not going to list "passive" features (as good as they can be), the focus here is on new features that might change how you configure and use your machine, with a mix between productivity and performance.

Debian 13 - Trixie

I have been a Debian Testing user for longer than 10 years now (and I recommend it for non-server users), so I'm not usually keeping track of all the cool features arriving in the new Stable releases because I'm continuously receiving them through the Debian Testing rolling release.

Nonetheless, as a Debian Developer I'm in a good position to point out the ones I can remember. I would also like other Debian Developers to do the same as I'm sure I would learn something new.

The Debian 13 release notes contain a "What's new" section , which lists the first two items here and a few other things, in other words, take my list as an addition to the release notes.

Debian 13 was released on 2025-08-09, and these are nice things you shouldn't miss in the new release, with a bonus one not tied to the Debian 13 release.

1) wcurl

Have you ever had to download a file from your terminal using curl and didn't remember the parameters needed? I did.

Nowadays you can use wcurl; "a command line tool which lets you download URLs without having to remember any parameters."

Simply call wcurl with one or more URLs as parameters and it will download all of them in parallel, performing retries, choosing the correct output file name, following redirects, and more.

Try it out:

 
wcurl example.com

wcurl comes installed as part of the curl package on Debian 13 and in any other distribution you can imagine, starting with curl 8.14.0.

I've written more about wcurl in its release announcement and I've done a lightning talk presentation in DebConf24, which is linked in the release announcement.

 

2) HTTP/3 support in curl

Debian has become the first stable Linux distribution to ship curl with support for HTTP/3. I've written about this in July 2024, when we first enabled it. Note that we first switched the curl CLI to GnuTLS, but then ended up releasing the curl CLI linked with OpenSSL (as support arrived later).

Debian was the first stable Linux distro to enable it, and within rolling-release-based distros; Gentoo enabled it first in their non-default flavor of the package and Arch Linux did it three months before we pushed it to Debian Unstable/Testing/Stable-backports, kudos to them!

HTTP/3 is not used by default by the curl CLI, you have to enable it with --http3 or --http3-only.

Try it out:

 
curl --http3 https://www.example.org
curl --http3-only https://www.example.org

3) systemd soft-reboot

Starting with systemd v254, there's a new soft-reboot option, it's an userspace-only reboot, much faster than a full reboot if you don't need to reboot the kernel.

You can read the announcement from the systemd v254 GitHub release

Try it out:

 
# This will reboot your machine!
systemctl soft-reboot

4) apt --update

Are you tired of being required to run sudo apt update just before sudo apt upgrade or sudo apt install $PACKAGE? So am I!

The new --update option lets you do both things in a single command:

 
sudo apt --update upgrade
sudo apt --update install $PACKAGE

I love this, but it's still not yet where it should be, fingers crossed for a simple apt upgrade to behave like other package managers by updating its cache as part of the task, maybe in Debian 14?

Try it out:

 
sudo apt upgrade --update
# The order doesn't matter
sudo apt --update upgrade

This is especially handy for container usage, where you have to update the apt cache before installing anything, for example:

 
podman run debian:stable bin/bash -c 'apt install --update -y curl'

5) powerline-go

powerline-go is a powerline-style prompt written in Golang, so it's much more performant than its Python alternative powerline.

powerline-style prompts are quite useful to show things like the current status of the git repo in your working directory, exit code of the previous command, presence of jobs in the background, whether or not you're in an ssh session, and more.

Try it out:

 
sudo apt install powerline-go

Then add this to your .bashrc:

 
function _update_ps1() {
    PS1="$(/usr/bin/powerline-go -error $? -jobs $(jobs -p | wc -l))"

    # Uncomment the following line to automatically clear errors after showing
    # them once. This not only clears the error for powerline-go, but also for
    # everything else you run in that shell. Don't enable this if you're not
    # sure this is what you want.

    #set "?"
}

if [ "$TERM" != "linux" ] && [ -f "/usr/bin/powerline-go" ]; then
    PROMPT_COMMAND="_update_ps1; $PROMPT_COMMAND"
fi

Or this to .zshrc:

 
function powerline_precmd() {
    PS1="$(/usr/bin/powerline-go -error $? -jobs ${${(%):%j}:-0})"

    # Uncomment the following line to automatically clear errors after showing
    # them once. This not only clears the error for powerline-go, but also for
    # everything else you run in that shell. Don't enable this if you're not
    # sure this is what you want.

    #set "?"
}

If you'd like to have your prompt start in a newline, like I have in the screenshot above, you just need to set -newline in the powerline-go invocation in your .bashrc/.zshrc.

6) Gnome System Monitor Extension

Tips number 6 and 7 are for Gnome users.

Gnome is now shipping a system monitor extension which lets you get a glance of the current load of your machine from the top bar.

I've found this quite useful for machines where I'm required to install third-party monitoring software that tends to randomly consume more resources than it should. If I feel like my machine is struggling, I can quickly glance at its load to verify if it's getting overloaded by some process.

The extension is not as complete as system-monitor-next, not showing temperatures or histograms, but at least it's officially part of Gnome, easy to install and supported by them.

Try it out:

 
sudo apt install gnome-system-monitor gnome-shell-extension-manager

And then enable the extension from the "Extension Manager" application.

7) Gnome setting for battery charging profile

After having to learn more about batteries in order to get into FPV drones, I've come to have a bigger appreciation for solutions that minimize the inevitable loss of capacity that accrues over time.

There's now a "Battery Charging" setting (under the "Power") section which lets you choose between two different profiles: "Maximize Charge" and "Preserve Battery Health".

On supported laptops, this setting is an easy way to set thresholds for when charging should start and stop, just like you could do it with the tlp package, but now from the Gnome settings.

To increase the longevity of my laptop battery, I always keep it at "Preserve Battery Health" unless I'm traveling.

What I would like to see next is support for choosing different "Power Modes" based on whether the laptop is plugged-in, and based on the battery charge percentage.

There's a GNOME issue tracking this feature, but there's some pushback on whether this is the right thing to expose to users.

In the meantime, there are some workarounds mentioned in that issue which people who really want this feature can follow.

If you would like to learn more about batteries; Battery University is a great starting point, besides getting into FPV drones and being forced to handle batteries without a Battery Management System (BMS).

And if by any chance this sparks your interest in FPV drones, Joshua Bardwell's YouTube channel is a great resource: @JoshuaBardwell.

8) Lazygit

Emacs users are already familiar with the legendary magit; a terminal-based UI for git.

Lazygit is an alternative for non-emacs users, you can integrate it with neovim or just use it directly.

I'm still playing with lazygit and haven't integrated it into my workflows, but so far it has been a pleasant experience.

 

You should check out the demos from the lazygit GitHub page.

Try it out:

 
sudo apt install lazygit

And then call lazygit from within a git repository.

9) neovim

neovim has been shipped in Debian since 2016, but upstream has been doing a lot of work to improve the experience out-of-the-box in the last couple of years.

If you're a neovim poweruser, you're likely not installing it from the official repositories, but for those that are, Debian 13 comes with version 0.10.4, which brings the following improvements compared to the version in Debian 12:

• Treesitter support for C, Lua, Markdown, with the possibility of adding any other languages as needed;

• Better spellchecking due to treesitter integration (spellsitter);

• Mouse support enabled by default;

• Commenting support out-of-the-box;

  Check :h commenting for details, but the tl;dr is that you can use gcc to comment the current line and gc to comment the current selection.

• OSC52 support.

  Especially handy for those using neovim over an ssh connection, this protocol lets you copy something from within the neovim process into the clipboard of the machine you're using to connect through ssh. In other words, you can copy from neovim running in a host over ssh and paste it in the "outside" machine.

10) [Bonus] Running old Debian releases

The bonus tip is not specific to the Debian 13 release, but something I've recently learned in the #debian-devel IRC channel.

Did you know there are usable container images for all past Debian releases? I'm not talking "past" as in "some of the older releases", I'm talking past as in "literally every Debian release, including the very first one".

Tianon Gravi "tianon" is the Debian Developer responsible for making this happen, kudos to him!

There's a small gotcha that the releases Buzz (1.1) and Rex (1.2) require a 32-bit host, otherwise you will get the error Out of virtual memory!, but starting with Bo (1.3) all should work in amd64/arm64.

Try it out:

 
sudo apt install podman

podman run -it docker.io/debian/eol:bo

Don't be surprised when noticing that apt/apt-get is not available inside the container, that's because apt first appeared in Debian Slink (2.1).

Changes since publication

2025-08-30

• Mention that Arch also enabled HTTP/3.

DebConf24 was fun! Security, curl, wcurl, Debian's quality ›

Index

Beyond Debian: Useful for other distros too

Debian 13 - Trixie

- 1) wcurl

- 2) HTTP/3 support in curl

- 3) systemd soft-reboot

- 4) apt --update

- 5) powerline-go

- 6) Gnome System Monitor Extension

- 7) Gnome setting for battery charging profile

- 8) Lazygit

- 9) neovim

- 10) [Bonus] Running old Debian releases

Changes since publication

- 2025-08-30

---

My advice to Newbies to Linux

 My advice to Newbies to Linux

This is to put a newbie on track.

One does not need to learn Python of Command Line to be a Linux Guy.

I have been using Linux for 30 years and for the last 25 years I have not used Command Line.

I only use Graphic Utilities.

Had not been for Instructional and Graphic Intensive Mephis Linux, I would not have migrated to Linux.

 

Mephis is defunct and extinct but MX Linux still uses Mephis methodology.

 

Mephis transformed into Gnome and I stuck with Gnome to this day. 

Having said that I really liked the well organized KDE and I gave up KDE when it was transferring into Plasma. 

Simply because KDE could not configure early Wireless Connectivity.

 

I come from the Ethernet background and Wireless gave Mobility and Freedom when going out on short holidays to Singapore for looking for new hardware. 

I have stopped going to Singapore, I even bypass the stopover. 

Expensive and they ignore Asians but cater for Western countries and even dish outed Coronavirus to the West.

Preamble is necessary.

I have gone through lot of trouble but with perseverance I matured in Linux.

Never give up attitude.

But for a newbie of today, the going is easy.

 

1. Pick your hardware to suit your budget.

2. CD/DVD drives are gone.

3. All one need is a set of 4 to 8GB USBs.

4. One can have all your favorite Linux Distributions bootable from a USB.

5. Download and write them on USBs.

6. I do not use Microsoft Windows for over 25 years and I never think of Apple.

One can have a robust Network at home for the money one spend on a Unit of Apple.

7. Linux is robust but save money and hassle.

8. Now come to the desktop.

 

Why do you need an Apple like Desktop?

9. To me Debian''s Genome is the best in town. 

It is minimal and one can have a good looking Desktop for 6GB of basic utilities.

In a single partition of 9.5GB I have all my software and 1.4GB left for my work.

 

It has latest Trixie.

10. I have left the most important for the last point.

The latest 4GB Image of DVD1 has all the desktops in one bundle.

Xfce

Gnome

KDE

Cinnamon 

MATE

LXDE

LXQT

I am currently installing all the desktop except top and the lat too.

I hate XFCE and last two are minimal desktops.

 

In a 22GB /root partition one can have all or one of the desktops.

 

I tend to have Gnome and Plasma for comparison.

 

Yesterday, I installed Debian Cinnamon in my NUC and it is much better than Linux Mint.

11. The trick I have is, I have four instances of Linux in my NUC.

 

One is Manjaro which is fantastic and 3 instances of Debian with the one Cinnamon and two Gnomes.

 

This would be a chapter in my book "Linux Essentials" with some additional information.

 

Installation is over and it took only half an hour to get all the desktops installed.

I am going to add additional software.

Debian Trixie-Cinnamon is Pretty Good

Having tested Old Lmde 6 Debian, I decided to install Debian Cinnamon Trixie Version.

Calamara Installer I am getting used to and unlike Ubuntu Mint Installation was fast. Both Synaptic Package Manager and Software are available.

I even installed Flatseal but did not test its potential.

I installed IceWM window manager and thereafter Gnome.

All are working fine.

Again, I would to say Linux Mint having lost it bearing with Ubuntu trying to piggyback Debian had not worked well.

Visit Mint web site and see it for yourself.

I suppose those who are fed up with Linux Mint and do not want to try Debian another alternative is MX Linux.

It's new version is coming soon.

Linux Mint-Update

Linux Mint-Update

Read what is posted year ago, below for details.

I decided to try Linux Mint after one year to see whether it would allow me to use Flatseal as an application. It doe not in a live session. Debian 13 Trixie does install it but like Gnome-Pie it does not open or function.

One plus point of Mint in a live session is it lets me install Abiword and Synaptic Package Manager. Those are the two items I check in addition to WiFi connectivity. 

It passed those with flying colours.

I have basic Cinnamon Desktop, in one of my Debian instances. Linux Mint is cinnamon with some gloss padded up with proprietary which I  do not support.

Installation is over, I hope my GRUB file is intact.

I report on Flatseal, later. Unsuccessful.

This time I installed it on single partition. Even though it is 2.9GB in the USB Iso image it expands it to over 5.5GB and I had 10GB in the /root partition.

Installation is pretty SLOW, but I can put up within it by blogging a running commentary.

Overall perfarmaoce was very bad and it filled up the 9.5GB in no time. Removed LibreOffice and Firefox to get some space and installed Dillo but I could not get Falkon.

I am going to install Debian Cinnamon Imde-6.

Before that I am going to try Fedora Silverblue-ostree.

Silverblue takes over the hard disk and I gave up.

Workstation edition let me select a Partition types. I gave EFI, /root and Swap it crashed. I wanted a /boot partition but I did not have free partition. Overall Fedora does not want to coexist. Additionally, it ruined the GRUB or formatted it by default. This is all corporate mentality and that is why I gave it up 30 years ago.

For a change I am going to install Debian in a single partition to save the already existing instances and get the GRUB file in order.

Debian is always my saviour.

I could have used MX Linux but it still in the old kernel. I am saving 5 partitions for it's install, when it comes eventually.

I am going to install Debian Imde-6 instead on top of Linux Mint.

I am still waiting for the MX Linux New Version on Kernel 13 series.

 

Sunday, June 2, 2024
Linux Mint Installation
Linux Mint Installation is painfully slow but with Debian LMDE it is pretty smooth bit similar to Calamara Installer but different.

I do not know why?

Reasons may be;

1. It does not have world wide mirrors.

2. It takes ages to look for codecs.

3. It is basically the Ubuntu Installer padded up with graphic.

4. Unlike Debian Calamara Installer the panel cannot be expanded to see my hard disks partition which is 25 in number.

5. I think mouse pointer takes a lot of memory.

6. Deleting and making a new partition is pretty slow.

7. I have 7 partitions to review (for installation, no /var) before hitting the OK button but can see only 4 partitions.

8. I do not rush things, so it is not a worry.

9. Fortunately it does not direct me to its home page.

10. How it updates I do not know.

11. I only want to see how it configures the GRUB file.

It failed to configure GRUB and missed  both Manjaro and Debian and detected only Ubuntu.

I did reinstall Debian and got the GRUB file in order.

I think if one is having multiple distributions, Debian should be installed last to get the GRUB Efi in order.

12. I do not fiddle with Gnome basic or default configuration.

It suits me fine and why fiddle?

This so called customization is a gimmick for Newbies.

There is a father son file hierarchy and everything is organized.

I can understand it for a Server where resources have to be allocated equitably for better management.

In a desktop environment in a family set up if each individual is given a user name an a password of their choice, what matters is the applications available for their consumption.

I install several web browsers from light to heavy for my work. If one browser is slow I open a another browser and do my work on that.

What matters is the RAM. I have 8GB RAM (it was 4GB for a long time) and without playing games, it can handle numerous task one and the same time.

Daemon behind allocate resources as needed and with a healthy SWAP partition nothing get choked.

That is the strength and the basis of efficiency of Linux.

Microsoft Windows won't be able to handle this with padded up 64GB RAM.

That is the difference and that is why I use Linux.

There is no junk in my computer.

So I do not won!t a Snapshot of my Computer.

Each year by December, I take 6 weeks off the computer and look (Debian has two year cycle of update) new distributions and test them.

13. I tested the snapshot utility.

After one hour of copying it said there is no space for the snapshot.

I promptly deleted the half baked snapshot (save space for Linux mint).

The home partition has less than 1000 files or items and it is only 115MB. It has 17.3GB space from 20GB allocated to the home partition.

I always check this and if the (mainly due to iso images) if the balance space is nearing 2GB, I delete few of the tested images.

I use AbiWord for my books they are always less than 300KB and never in MBs.

That is the beauty of AbiWord.

So this customization is a big joke.

I just installed Window Maker in my Gnome Desktop and (it is a window manager) and fiddled with it with minimal strain on the computer RAM.

This game of windows within windows is not a creative concept.

One should use different Workplaces for different tasks not within windows.

Mint has only one workplace, I wonder whether I can make two work places.

I need maximum of 3 workplaces.

Any distribution without workplaces do not entice me.

14. I think my reporting of Linux would end with this.