SparkyLinux 4.0 “GameOver”

SparkyLinux 4.0 “GameOver”
 

SparkyLinux 4.0 “GameOver” is out.
It has been built on the top of SparkyLinux 4.0 “Tyche” and it’s fully compatible with Debian testing “Stretch”.
“GameOver” is a special edition of Sparky targeted to gamers.
The most important changes inside the GameOver 4.0:
– Linux kernel 4.0.5
– all packages upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2015/07/09
– lxde-common 0.99.0-2
– openbox 3.6.0-2
– PCManFM 1.2.3-1.1
– Iceweasel 38.1.0esr-2
– vlc 2.2.1-dmo6
– steam & steam-launcher 1.0.0.50
– desura for linux
– wine & playonlinux
– Sparky-IA – quick access to very old games
– grub 2.02~beta2-26
– added support of the system installation on 32 bit machines with UEFI motherboard
– system rebranding
– theme “Sparky4” and icons set “Ultra-Flat-Icons”
– Gnome-Alsa Mixer replaced by Pulse Audio Mixer
New applications:
– Sparky Internet Archive (sparky-ia) – lets you launch and play online very old games stored at Internet Archive via the default web browser. The application lets you choose one of the 3 game categories:
– Classic PC Games
– Internet Arcade
– MS-DOS Games
A set of emulators of old machines and systems available via the package manager and Sparky APTus Gamer: 

AdvenceMENU, 

Atari800, 

DeSmuME, 

Desura Installer, 

DOSBox, 

DOSEMU, 

ePSXe, 

FCEUX, 

FS-UAE, 

GNOME Video 

Arcade, 

Hatari, 

Higan, 

Hega Fusion, 

MAME, 

Mednafen, 

MESS, 

Nestopia, 

PCSX, 

PlayOnLinux, 

PPSSPP, 

Steam, 

Stella, 

VisualBoyAdvance, 

Virtual Jaguar, 

Wine, 

Winetricks, 

Yabause,

 ZSNES

A set of preinstalled games: 

0ad, 

3dchess, 

airstrike, 

alienblaster, 

amphetamine, 

antigravitaattori,

armagetronad, 

asciijump, 

asylum, 

atomix, 

balder2d, 

barrage, 

berusky, 

billard-gl, 

biniax2, 

black-box, 

blobby, 

bloaboats, 

blockout2, 

brainparty, 

bygfoot, 

chromium-bsu, 

einstein, 

extremetuxracer, 

five-or-more, 

flare, 

four-in-a-row, 

freecraft, 

freedroid, 

frozen-bubble, 

funnyboat, 

gnome-chess, 

gnome-hearts, 

gnome-klotski, 

gnome-mahjongg, 

gnome-mastermind, 

gnome-mines, 

gnome-nibbles, 

gnome-robots, 

gnome-sudoku, 

gnome-tetravex, 

gnubik, 

gnuchess, 

gnugo, 

gtkatlantic, 

gtkpool, 

gunroar, 

holdingnuts, 

iango, 

lbreakout2, 

lightsoff, 

liquidwar, 

ltris, 

maelstorm, 

megaglest, 

minetest, 

mokomaze, 

monopd, 

monsterz, 

moon-buggy, 

moon-lander,

 netmaze, 

netpanzer, 

openarena, 

pacman, 

performous, 

quadrapassel, 

slimevolley, 

smc, 

snake4, 

snowballz, 

supertux, 

swell-foop, 

tali, 

teeworlds, 

tennix, 

tetzle, 

tomatoes, 

transcend, 

warzone2100, 

wesnoth, 

widelands, 

xblast, 

xmoto, 

zaz

Live system user is: live
Password: live
Root password is blank (empty).
Minimum system requirements for SparkyLinux “GameOver”:
– CPU i586 / amd64
– 256 MB of RAM memory (some games need more than that – 500-1000MB recommended)
– an optical DVD drive or 4GB USB stick for Live medium
– 20 GB of space for installation on a hard drive (30GB recommended)
– 16 GB of Flash/Pen USB drive for “normal” installation (32GB recommended)

New iso images of SparkyLinux are available at our download page:t.......-----

Linux Games

 Friday, November 13, 2015
Linux Games

Games in Linux is its weak Link.
I decided that I would concentrate on developing games in my retirement, even though I am not into programming at all now..
I in fact have a Book On Linux Game Development, which I bought few years ago.
It looks like I need not bother very much.
But I have few reservations having looked at Sparky Linux.
I dismantled all my 32 bit computers in preparation for this endeavor.
I am into 64 bit world.
The motherboard is a Gamer Motherboard with PCI ports for upgrading to Newer graphic cards.
I had problems with UEFI and I have dealt with that problem in a few hours of experimenting at night with Windows 8.1 in the system.
I have two one terabyte hard disks for game databases.
I got Peppermint and Debian installed with a extra "BIOS" partition in hard disk one.
Peppermint is in first SATA disk.
Debian and Sparky Linux in second SATA disk.
Windows have to be in the first disk by corporate design.
 

Now a few words about Sparky Linux.
Not necessarily in game context.
It does not support Ethernet.
Bluetooth is its game base.
I could not update its software (Office suite) due mainly to  not having bluetooth connection.
I will try with a dongle later but I have to pay twice one for Ethernet and one for wireless (SIMS) dongle.
I do not want to fiddle with my wife's Microsoft configured wireless router which has given endless problems to her and I bought a tablet for her connectivity when Telecom goes out with a thunderstorm and lightening.
Linux s far behind when compared to Windows.
I now use Windows for TV Card and Games only.
I have not tried other Linux gamers including Fedora's version, even though, I have all the game DVD Isos.

 
I start my work up with Tiny Linux games I played over the last 10 years.
I hope Linux would not ignore those tiny games developers played along side with black terminal when they were they were busy programing!

Thesaurus for LibreOffice

 
Monday, November 16, 2015
Thesaurus for LibreOffice

Thesaurus is not associated with LibreOffice when YOU install it,
 for good reason.

There are so many languages in the world using English alphabet.

For English one of those below and install from synaptic.

Artha

Aiksaurus

Giksaurus


For other Languages

Mythe and the country code (not telephone).

eg. Mythes-De

LibreOffice and Thesaurus

 Tuesday, November 24, 2015
LibreOffice and Thesaurus

I must say I never used Microsoft Office.
My favorite is something else not even LibreOffice.
I used to promote OpenOffice and when it was bought up by the killer shark, Oracle,
I used to promote LibreOffice that comes from France.
This post is done on Windows 8.1 on LibreOffice.
It has LibreOffice and thesaurus is available and if one right clicks with a selected word, synonyms are displaced.
But I updated my computer with Peppermint and Debian 8.2 only yesterday BUT the LibreOffice in both distributions won't open up thesaurus (do the same as on a Windows platform) or synonyms with my 64 bit motherboard.
Linux 64 bit software are patchy and buggy.
This was not true with my old 32 bit machine with LibreOffice.
Lot has been spoken about LibreOffice in Linux Magazine and nobody has spotted this flaw.
I begin to believe that those who write to Linux Magazine also use Microsoft Windows or won't test LibreOffice on a Linux distributions to begin with.
LibreOffice looks beautiful on Windows machine but looks ugly and dark on Peppermint and Debian.
I guess the guys working on Linux terminals prefer pitch dark ambiance.
This is where Microsoft score a point or two.
They listen to the customer feed back but Linux guys /girls (only 1% are using Linux according to surveys) don't have customer base.
Mind you my wife uses Microsoft Windows and I bought her a new MINI computer with pre-installed Microsoft.
I do not want to have complaints from her and I have no intention of converting anybody to Linux this Christmas, 2015.
This was not something I wanted to write on a Linux blog site but IF I do not I am cheating myself if not others.

Revisiting Windows

 Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Revisiting Windows

I must confess that after a decade of using only Linux, I installed Window's 8 well hidden from my Linux distributions.

I am glad to say Windows can be booted from a second hard drive (SATA not IDE) with the first hard drive having only Linux distributions.

It took three days of fiddling and no need for me to boast about.

UEFI boot sector was also demoted to a lower ranking position with the first hard drive having a Linux Master Boot sector instead of BEOS boot partition.

I need to touch Del or F2 keys to boot what ever I want including my favorite Flash Drives with multiple Live Linux distributions.

In case my wife (she never does) boots my computer, (if I am away abroad and I want a file or photo downloaded by my mobile) she will only see Windows in my BOX.

She is scarred of Linux. 

She is fully cleaned off from any Linux remnants.

She does not need to (she has her own computer) in case her computed is infected by a Virus she need to use mine.

It took only three days of fiddling to downgrade Windows to lower rank.

Amazingly it took the same time to configure the Internet (I could not use IE for three days).

I forgot Microsoft still needs drivers to configure Internet hardware, which Linux does a good job at boot time.

Debian could not do it either with its DVD booting, but configured the Internet after installing the system, without me bothering about the IP address and the rest.

I forgot some important assets of Linux in my book Linux Revisited.

Number 1, drivers are installed at boot time including Internet connection for updating, the system.

Linux is Internet friendly.

Number 2, Linux does not need adding up software (like I do minimum at boot time and pick and chose packages from the repository) if YOU chose the correct the distribution with all the packages.

One installation is all that is necessary.
Number 3, is that there is no endless rebooting which Windows Love.

In other words Linux save time.

It took three days for me to get the Windows 8 to my liking.

Three Linux distribution in one hard disk took only one night for me (I was briefly up in between the distributions but deep in sleep while installation was on).
Once I commit a job for Linux BOX in the night, I check it only in the morning.

Reliable and Stable. 

Only hindrance is frequent power failure of our Electricity supply.

In fact, we were without electricity the whole morning today.

Knoppix 7.6 and LibreOffice 5

 Knoppix 7.6 and LibreOffice 5
I am writing this with Knoppix 7.6 booted on an a 16 GB MicroSD.
I partitioned it with two partitions.
10 GB Fat which Knoppix used  4 GB of space for NTFS.

Other was a NTFS partition. 
My Internet provider has restricted me to 5 KB / per second since I have exceeded the download limit of 20 GB.

In spite of the slow speed I was briefly on to my blog site through my MicroSD.
  
It also runs a script preventing undesired cookies running and that is why it is fast.

Preamble
I signed a contract of unlimited download 10 years ago when only a very few were using Internet-there were no wireless routers then-I went to Singapore and bought one. Unfortunately for me the University student hackers (I believe Engineering students) got hold of our wireless signal and were using it (the wireless security was not available for Microsoft, then). 
I detected it using my Linux BOX but did not go further except discontinue using the wireless but used the Ethernet with secure SSL. 
The University stands a wireless range away and our current wireless connection is protected but it serves as a hot spot.
All this preamble is to illustrate a point that our students who get FREE books UP TO the university wants everything FREE including Operating Systems.

They pirate the Microsoft System when Linux is freely available.

Less than 1% (my study) of the students in HIGHER EDUCATION use free software or Linux.

That is the irony of the FREE EDUCATION and FREE BOOKS provided by the school system.

The school which is walking distance from the University has NO Science Stream.

Few years AGO, I tried to introduce Linux to students of this school through a young teacher friend of mine. 
The teacher was transferred out of this school, probably because of the intransigence of the free education system (one book is enough attitude applied to operating systems including Linux).

KNOPPIX
So if these students are out of school and looking for a pastime, they are free to download Knoppix 7.6 and try it themselves.
The reason for my writing this is to get the Linux developers to use LibreOffice 5 in their distributions in double quick time.
It has Thesaurus which my current Peppermint 6 and Debian 8.2 do not have.
Within a week of complaining about Thesaurus in Linux in 64 bit computers, I have a Live System which has Thesaurus under synonyms and one has only to select the word and right click the word.

I saw a Web Piece which states by selecting tools, options, language, and language aids, One can grab the Thesaurus.
I checked this routine BUT it does not provide the desired OPTION.  
I am in the process of installing Knoppix in my computer.
It needs a reiserfs partition. 
Funnily it was only in ? German or ? Danish installed from a English DVD. 

One Night of TROUBLE with Linux

 Saturday, November 28, 2015
One Night of TROUBLE with Linux

I was trying to upgrade my computer with Linux derivatives and take an early Christmas Break.

I list the Linux Nuances not on any order of merit here.

All these are Human Errors and can be rectified.

I believe all the Linux developers are DOING a great JOB but by rushing to put out the distribution before Christmas leave behind some ugly nuances.

They should be excused for minor lapses.

1. Peppermint FRONT end is DARK and UGLY.

I get a headache after few minutes of work.


2. LibreOffice has no Thesaurus in Linux.

3. Ubuntu 14.04 takes four hours,mind you it is not their fault;
(my Internet speed is down to 5 KB / per second by default action by the service provider; I Pay over Rs.8000 per month and get only 20 GiB of downloads which I finish in one day of downloads and the rest of the month GO snail space even to read my email.
  
This they CALL a Five Star Service. 
I hope during the Christmas holiday at least, they allow a leeway) 
But at the end of the installation delete them which also takes a bit of time.

Why can't they Install first in English and give the USER to download his or her language afterwards?

4. Knoppix 7.6 is beautiful on a Live Session But has a major glitch.

I downloaded the English version and Installed it to reiserfs partition.

It is not in English but probably in ? German ? Danish.

I tried to convert it to English at boot time but it boots so fast that touching the Del Key or F2 has no effect.

5. Boot loaders are finicky, especially Knoppix but it gives the option of not installing it and configure manually.

6. None of them detect the UEFI based Window's 8 in my second hard drive. 
I deliberately shifted its UEFI partition.

7. DVD booting of Pinguy, and Knoppix were halted abruptly due to sectors not written properly on the boot disk. 
They were burned by K3B on Peppermint. 
One disk did not finish writing on it.

I am not a novice to Linux and I have gone through these nuances many a times, I can tolerate all this in one night of Linux Dance BUT what I cannot tolerate is our Telecoms restricting my access to Internet at 5 KB per second.

It is killing me softly.

I take my hat off for all the developers.

I am making these comments before Microsoft guys trying to bash (not the bash script) your back with critical comments.

If YOU hear these comments from a Microsoft Guy / Girl please ignore them and have a PATCH ready by January.
Mind you Microsoft takes one year patch their faults by that time they release a new edition for which you have to PAY.

Only foolish guys PAY for their own faults and make Microsoft Rich by many a Miles.

You Guys/Girls need a holiday and you richly deserve a holiday.

In any case I am going into recess any time from now and if you do not hear from me please do not assume I am dead and gone with the wind.

I will be back with all cylinders firing at top level.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, 2016.

My Old Media Files with Windows 8

 Sunday, November 29, 2015
My Old Media Files with Windows 8

I am getting ready well in advance for Christmas holidays.
I found two hard disks with in built Hard Disk Player.
It was full of old Linux Isos and few media files and song tracks.
One of the flies was Home Alone Video.
I tried to play it with Windows Media Player, it only played the audio file. 
I connected it to a KVM Switch / Slot and played it on VGA but it needed speakers for audio. 
Well I needed RF Jack to plug into Combo.
All are now USB media players.
Ah, lot of work and wire connections not digital but analogue.
Then on second thought, I wanted it to be played on Peppermint's VLC Media player.

Presto!

Files were good as NEW.
This why I say Window's is pain in the Arxxs.
I won't bother to visit Microsoft and PAY for a Media Player.

Windows Guys / Girls there are lot of Linux Software that can be used in Windows and I won't list them, here.

You better find them yourself.

 Reproduction.

Sign out of Google

Sign out (Android)

This information is for the Gmail app for Android 4.0 and up.
There’s no option to sign out of the Gmail app for Android without removing your entire account from your phone or tablet.
However, you can accomplish many of the same tasks through other actions, depending on what you need.

I want to check mail from another account

If your device is running Android 5.0 or higher, there's an easy way to let a guest use your device.
If you want to read mail from another account, or a friend wants to check email on your phone, you don’t have to sign out — you can just add another account.
Keep in mind that when you add an account to your phone, you can easily switch between accounts without having to enter the password again.
If a friend adds an account to your phone to check email, be sure to remove the account afterward (see steps in section below).
Or, you could also use the browser on your phone to go to mail.google.com and check your email from there.
I want to protect my email
If you’re worried about losing your phone or having someone read your mail, you can password-protect your device. Here’s how to set a screen lock on a Nexus device — other types of phones or tablets will have similar instructions.
Tip: If you ever lose your phone, you can remove access to all Google services (Gmail, Maps, YouTube, etc.) on that phone. If you later find your phone, you'll just need to sign in with your username and password before you can use Google services on it. Learn more about account permissions.
I want to preserve data, storage, or battery life
You don’t have to sign out of Gmail to save power on your phone. To help optimize data usage, device storage, or battery life, you can adjust your sync settings.

Choose which labels to sync

1. Open the Gmail app.
   
2. Touch the menu.
   
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Choose an account.
   
5. Touch Manage labels.
   
6. Touch a label.
   
7. Touch Sync messages.
   
8. Choose Sync: None, Sync: Last 30 days, or Sync: All.
   

Choose how many days of mail to sync

1. Open the Gmail app.
   
2. Touch the menu.
   
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Choose an account.
   
5. Touch Days of mail to sync.
   
6. Select the number of days.
   
7. Touch OK.
   

Turn off Gmail sync

If you turn off Gmail sync, new messages will stop syncing automatically.

1. Open the Gmail app.
   
2. Touch the menu.
   
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Choose an account.
   
5. Uncheck the box next to Sync Gmail.
   

Touch the Refresh icon while viewing your inbox to sync your messages manually.

Remove downloaded messages

1. Open your device’s Settings app.
   
2. Touch Apps, and then Gmail.
   
3. Touch Clear data.
   

This will clear the data on your Gmail app. Accounts that have Gmail sync turned on will start syncing immediately. Accounts with Gmail sync turned off will not sync automatically.

Use Gmail on your mobile browser

You can also access Gmail by going to mail.google.com on your mobile browser.
If none of these situations apply to you, you can also remove your account from the entire device. Don't worry, removing the account from your device won't delete the account itself—just remove it from your phone or tablet.

Remove an account

Migration to 64 bit Computer (in Linux) was a bit of a pain-2015

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Migration to 64 bit Computer (in Linux) was a bit of a pain

After 15 years of regular 32 bit computer user, changing to 64 bit was a bit of a pain in Linux.

Linux distributions fair very badly on 64 bit computers.

I tried more than 10.

Let me say, my change was mainly for the purpose of saving ENERGY and thereby my electricity bill.

Yes it saved a lot.

I now use the computer as my NIGHT heater.

It used to be a laptop on my lap.

The new one has lot of fans fixed to cool it down and the by the product is my room is warm at night.

Just to test its energy consumption, I let it run overnight with Linux logged off.

I got the bill yesterday.

It has saved me 100 Units.

So saying good bye to 9 out of ten 32 bits was productive.

Even though, I had ten one was exclusively used others were for some mundane Linux work.

The 64 bit one was struck by lightening and it went through the UPS battery and burned the upholstery and cooling system.

It got hot hot within seconds of booting and after some repair used it for testing 64 bit Linux distributions but never installed any.

So my testing of 64 bits is only one month's standing.

I list the downside of Linux 64 bits.

Software has bugs and LibreOffice had lot of missing plug ins.

I booted Ubuntu 15.10 and it is no better compared to 14.10 LTS.

Besides graphic display was ugly.

Everything dark.

Font edges are blurry and not smooth.

Nice points apart from saving electricity is only the fans make a noise.

Internet with cookies removed is awfully fast.

Email reading was fast enough with Yahoo.

I use lees and less of DVD drive, that also saves money.

Hard disk is SATA which is much better than IDE for data transfer.

The Multimedia Dashboard has slots for SD cards and MMR.

USB booting especially with USB 3 is faster

I would have preferred to have an internal SSD hard drive.

I would go for portable external SSD instead.

They are still expensive and the capacity is nowhere my needs of multi-booting at Least six Linux distributions in addition to one copy of windows.

Overall I am impressed by the Intel technology.

Most of my 32 bit Linux distributions on MultiSystem USB booting are redundant now,

However, I keep the 32 bit computer linked with KVM switch / port to retrieve old data files.

USB stick is my workhorse now.

Well in time to come I will have all my Linux distributions in a tiny external hard disk (in fact I have already done it) live booted with lot of isos in for testing a potential Linux customer (hardly any).

Linus and Linux on the fly is my motto.

Russian ROSA -Redhat Installation

ROSA Fresh Desktop 13.1 is the ISO.

I Revisited Russian ROSA installer and it seems this time round I got it. Right. Last time found the partition selection got stuck.

 

Running Commentary

It has installed the partitions and now it installing the SWAP.

It got it right and the installation started at 10.20PM on Christmas Day, after dinner in my case.

Anaconda is the installer and I have used Redhat Linux extensively in the past and that experience has come good.

However, the current Redhat gives only 60 day window and after that a paid subscription.

 

ROSA bundles lot of Software, most likely Russian based Software.

Russian Astra Linux I have used in the past but current version is a subscription based. 

This is (ROSA) the free version for Russians. 

ALT Linux have free Isos but none of them have GNOME.

It is installing the Boot Loader and I hope it would not destroy my Boot Record.

I keep my fingers crossed.

Thank YOU, ROSA Linux, I erased PARROT OS for your sake which Debian based and pretty good.

I want to be global in my Linux REPORTING and I do not intend to isolate Russian Linux Developers.

It is 10.35 and nearing completion of the installation under 20 minutes.

My base line is 22 minutes for ARCH and REBORN OS.

 

Post Installation script is long and it rebooting now.

Rebooting is OK.

 

ROSA is like a Christmas Gift for me.

 

Merry Christmas to all including Russians.

Everything went alright including installing VLC, Audacity and LibreOffice.

However, I could not get AbiWord.

SO ROSA would not be my daily driver in Linux. 

The repository is based on Russian KDE utilities.

Only the Desktop is Gnome which has its own look.

Applications are grouped into Groups.

Naming is in Russian and Installation was in English and I got them out of the group.

Reinstallation of GIMP failed but I put into the bottom panel without a name.

I can pick it by the icon.

Plymouth is light blue and pleasing.

I am going to keep it.

GRUB is intact.

 

If YOU want to try it better learn bit of Russian to begin with.

FreedomBox

 FreedomBox

FreedomBox is a Debian-based distribution, primarily used as a server operating system for home users. FreedomBox supports point-and-click settings up a number of services ranging from a calendar or jabber server to a wiki or VPN through a web interface. Firewall, domain names, user accounts, backups, and Btrfs snapshots can also be managed through a simple web-based control centre.

Debian Installation STEPS

In the Linux Bible each section of the book gives detail description.

I used the books which came with CDs.

Later I moved to books on Redhat. 

I am really disappointed that Redhat is aggressive and commercial now. I have given up both SuSe and Redhat for good. 

Now that I am trying to finish a book on "Linux Essentials" , I should thank the guys before me who wrote books with detailed description of each step. If not for them without a Teacher or GURU, I wouldn't have become a Linux advocate now.

The medical books were boring but reading Linux Text books was exciting. However, reading big medical texts prepared me adequately, for the big plunge.

Things have become easy with graphic installers. 

Below is what YOU see if YOU install using Text Mode.  

Debian Installation STEPS

(1)  Debian Installer main menu

Choose the next step in the install process 

Choose the language 

Access the installer using Braille display

Configure the keyboard (say English or Greek)

Detect and mount installer media (CD/DVD and now USB)

Load installer components from the installer media

Detect network hardware

(With Ethernet detection was easy and automatic but with WiFi there were problems. I used to skip the Network Configuration at the stage and do it after installation. Now once configured the installer finds the nearest repository and install the latest kernel) 

Configure the network which means providing the password for the network.

Set up user and passwords

Configure the clock ( depending on where one lives)

Detect disks

Install the base system

Configure the package manager

Select and install software, what really means a choosing a desktop, gnome Plasma ot Xfce

Install the GRUB boot loader

Install the systemd-boot boot loader (this is where runit, ....   and controversies come but I am happy with sustemd)

continue without boot loader

Finish the installation 

Additional Features

Change debconf priority

Check the integrity of the  instillation media

Save debug logs

Execute s a shell

Eject a CD from the drive

Abort the installation 

The last one is the most important, if one makes a mistake one can go back and revise.

I use to write down each mistake on  a piece of paper so that I do not repeat it next time round.

Patience is the most important attribute in Linux, I have learned.

 Good Bye and Merry Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

. 

Set 

 

New Wave of Linux Multi Booting Capability

 Posted on October 3, 2010

New Wave of Linux Multi Booting Capability 

Most of the Linux distributions are making a culpable offense by not recognizing other Linux distributions that come from various backgrounds. 

In the beginning the LiLo had problems with booting other Linux distributions.
Then came GRUB it solved most of the booting problems by booting from any partition unlike windows which have to start from the first sector.

Linux guys have not put this weakness of Microsoft to light.

Now is the time to highlight why we give priority to Microsoft.

It is unfair in legal sense and open market economy.

It also should learn how to boot from any sector of choice other than Master Boot Record.

Nobody should give the copyright inheritance of the first sector to any Linux or Microsoft distribution.

It should be with the customer or the user.

It is a monopoly.

Why computer wizard did not expose this weakness to light is my grouse.

They only aggravate the situ by only recognizing windows and dos sometimes and invariably gave Microsoft the first place.

This is a culpable mistake Linux developers perpetuated by not taking the starting block.

Mind you I was a short distant runner in my prime.

Why give the head start to Microsoft?

I have found only a few distributions doing it right
They are PCLinux (the new distributions now have a problem not including other format options – other types of disk formatting including DOS), Mephis, Debian, Suse , Mandriva, Redhat and Fedora.

Redhat had the best GRUB including RAIDs .

Still SuSe has the best partition tool, even though it restrict itself to 15 partitions.

Why I do not know?

All the other Live and installable CDs I checked had problem recognizing other Linux distributions.

But they invariably recognized Microsoft by default or is it fear induced by Microsoft by its global propaganda or is it both.

Why not recognize its sisters and brothers breathing over the neck to have a good start.

Most pertinent question is why Microsoft cannot see with their eyes open wide Linux or other partitions.

They are totally blind to independence an market forces.

Where is universal  brotherhood?

Where is universal comradeship?

There are two reasons.

1. One is boot loader they use is LiLo.

2. The other is that they do not write a script (copy of the booting sequence in the header files of the root partition).

They all write on the M.B.R while giving priority to Microsoft almost by default or deceit.

Ubuntu do this, all Ubuntu derivatives including attractive Mint do this culpable offense.

It is time to wake up and put this right.

Suse recognizes only 15 partitions.

There used to be over 60 partitions those days before the RAID and volumes came into existence.

I used to have at least 8 (2 for windows) distributions bootable on my hard disk barely 80 GB.

Those days Linux were not fat and heavy and some of them could stay on 2 GB partition.

I used to modify boot sector by various means to get all running without a problem with GRUB as the boot loader.

Now the hard disks are over 300 or 500 we must go back to all traditions and have at least 30 partitions recognizable.

My current NUC has 0nly 320GB but has 5 distributions running.

Unlike those days instead of Windows I have two of Debian Gnome, BluStar Linux, Reborn OS and Parrot Linux.

I could have had Gnoppix26 if I had 34 partitions but two large NTFS partitions are there to store Linux images. I have 16 Iso images that include CachyOS and Emmabantus Trixie Edition.

Then I can boot Microsoft, Apple Mac and Open Free BSD as part-timers with Linux preferably my own assembly called God Bless You All (G.B.Y.A) (thanks to all the guys including Puppy Linux) and I will throw a party even the all mighty God has directed me to the grave for rest after the party.

Recovery Is Possible or Impossible and cohabitation is a must in the coffin for all of us at the end.

Hypnotist with a Strong Man

 
Hypnotist with a Strong Man
Posted on June 5, 2011 
This is just relating an old story with no malice intended.
This is just to illustrate even a Hypnotist cannot down a strong man.

But a weak man with legs across the aisle can down a top actor / hypnotist down to the level of concussion.
 

He was not mindful of himself and how could a man like him help others to be mindful?

That is my opening question.

But to make Micky out of all hypnotists, below is a true story acted by none other than 1st year Medical Student of the yesteryear.

This guy is no more and how he succumbed I do not know, may be to excess of alcohol. One of my class mates had similar problem and he was very successful GP in Pollannaruwa. I just gave him a call and he disappeared. 

I did not follow suit.

Today’s students would take a leaf out of this story, who go for some bizarre training, without critical thinking.

My friend who succumbed to this indignation  is now in Australia in full retirement, if he sees these few lines of recollection, hope he gives me permission to bare the facts but name withheld by consensus.

He was a dignified soul in our batch and was not in our halls of residence.

He was our batch representative popularly elected without a challenge.

I was go between in the plot with diplomatic astute to convince the guy that one of our batch mates could hypnotize anybody with a strong mind.

We practice this in our halls of residence when everybody else is  in sleep and the time was well past midnight.

Suffice to say most of the strong guys in our hall of residence went through this ordeal.

On the day we prepared a room (not mine) for our show.

One of us went and pulled the main plug supplying electricity when the go signal was given.

Slowly but surely show went on.

We were dressed in trousers to begin with unlike today and one by one we changed to sarongs surreptitiously and our strong man was in a corner with hands clasp in warship mode.

Since this was the last show of hypnotism we took unusually a long time with lot of blah blah from the performer.

Then the final signal was given to switch on the electricity.

He was not happy at all even though the performer could not hypnotize him.

Why?

He had being worshiping our backside (sarongs raised up) for nearly half an hour in the darkness and he realized only when we switched on the lights.

(We all had raised our sarong showing our back to him and he was not at all pleased).

He controlled his anger in good stead and we promised him that we will never tell the story to our female medical students and told him he was not the only one who went through this ordeal.

In other words he was baptized in the real world like Japanese karate men who never take the eye off from the focus of attention.

My apology above is if any of my female batch mates sees this now will guess who is the guy was but he was not the only guy who was baptized (not hypnotized).

So anybody who closes one’s eye for the wish of any gullible performer would go through this indignation by his or her will.

I wish I could perform this to some of our TV showmen /women and politicians in power who are blinded with ego.

I hope the hypnotist who was the Fall Guy and not mindful to his own steps got the message wide / wild and clear and not to be a SHOWMAN to poor souls with weak minds.

Tiny Linux Derivatives

 Friday, November 5, 2010

Tiny Linux Derivatives 

Linux on a low budget and RAM

I was somewhat obsessed with the variety of live CD distributions on offer that I have overlooked.

That is  Linux on a low budget and computers both old and new with little or inadequate RAM.

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. Voyage is only 45MB.

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

8. The xin-v1 is only 52MB

9. SliTas

10. Tiny Me

11. Finnix is another

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

13. Minix is 385MB.

14. CRUX is 220MB.

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

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

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

17. gparted

18. partmagic

19. pmagic

20. R.I.P. Linux

20 is a magic number for me. 

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

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

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

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

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

Sorry guys and girls that I have only mentioned your names only and they are much better and my GoGo. F.O.F. Linux which is still under construction with my workforce on extended Christmas holidays enjoying other Linux for relaxation.
 

They are allowed to copy any good idea free of charge or copyrights.

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

Bye till new year!

4MLinux

  

Posted on September 3, 2011

 

4MLinux-50 is available now.

 4MLinux is a miniature Linux distribution focusing on four capabilities: maintenance (by using it as a system rescue live CD), multimedia (for example, for playing video DVDs), miniserver (using the inetd daemon), and mystery (meaning small Linux games).

 

4MLinux- 2.3 to 48

Small Is beautiful with UnetBootIn 

Making Mandriva Flashdrive

 4MLinux is a CD/DVD Image and CANNOT be booted from a USB, just like Gparted and Tails.

I wanted to try UnetBootIn on Live mode but could not.

UnetBootIn was the utility that I used to use to write an Iso Image to a USB stick in the good old days.

4MLinux is a miniature Linux distribution focusing on four capabilities: maintenance (by using it as a system rescue live CD), multimedia (for example, for playing video DVDs), miniserver (using the inetd daemon), and mystery (meaning small Linux games).

Features

 Maintenance (system rescue Live CD)

 Multimedia (e.g., playing video DVDs)

 Miniserver (using the inetd daemon)

 Mystery (console games)

As mentioned already Mandriva is good idea badly implemented and slow to boot.
 

One can remember Mandriva had Globe Trotter and Live Pendrives.
 

Now the new Mandriva is bulky and difficult to work with just for for fun I decided to make Mandriva Flashdrive (I do not know how long I will keep it before erasing the image).

Steps are as follows.

1. Download 4MLinux all in one.
 

2. Download Mandriva image.
 

3. Boot 4MLinux
 

4. Go to maintenance and click UnetBootIn
 

5. Plug in a Flash drive (I tried 8 GB Flashdrive) since the image is heavy. 

One has to format it with FAT beforehand.
I had 6.5GB for Mandriva and another 1.5 GB as a reserve partition.
 

6. Give the path to your image (need not be Mandriva or any Image you have downloaded).
Root—> Media—-> Disk—–> Image
 

7. Click OK and in about 5 minutes you have Mandriva in a Flash.

8. Now to reveal how bad the new Mandriva boots (if you have 1 GB RAM like me), go and make a cup of Tea/Coffee.
 

I finish my tea (boiling the water to brewing and drinking it before Mandriva booted and fire-up the Firefox).
 

It did not go to Mandriva site as it used to do.

This is why I am happy that I left Mandriva long time before their split and use 4MLinux for my work on Live sessions and say “Small is beautiful” and promote Unity Linux and (Core Linux on top of one can built one's own packages) its derivative of HUMANity Musician Edition (currently downloading, the last 100 or so MB).
 

Unity is one of the earliest Core Live CDs before PCLinux stormed the community with Big Daddy (only in archives now).

It broke away from Mandrake and formed Unity and there are at least 8 derivatives and one of which is TinyMe.

One does not need to be FAT to be productive when the cloud is promoting thin clients.
4MLinux even though tiny and only 60 odd MB, it can be destructive if you use it’s partition utility without due care.

It only detect the first hard disk and if you select sda1 instead of sdc or /d or /e by accident your will boot Mandriva Live instead of your prized distribution (gone as you press OK in the dialogue box) in the first hard disk.
 

Please take care and the UnetBootIn graphic mode fonts are very tiny for an old folk like me.

But I did not do any mistakes, simply because I check my actions especially typos now before clicking OK in any command line operation. 

 

I do not use Command Line now.

4MLinux

 

This is an old piece and Mandriva (not its derivatives) extinct but not 4MLinux

Small Is beautiful with UnetBootIn and Making Mandriva Flashdrive

I do not do any of these now but sleep well since I changed to Debian.

As mentioned already Mandriva is good idea badly implemented and slow to boot. One can remember Mandriva had Globe Trotter and Live Pendrives. Now the new Mandriva is bulky and difficult to work with just for for fun I decided to make Mandriva Flashdrive (I do not know how long I will keep it before erasing the image).

Steps are as follows.

1. Download 4MLinux all in one. 2. Download Mandriva image (better try another distribution). 3. Boot 4MLinux 4. Go to maintenance and click UnetBootIn 5. Plug in a Flash drive (I tried 8 GiB Flashdrive) since the image is heavy. 

One has to format it with FAT beforehand. I had 6.5 for Mandriva and another 1.5 as a reserve partition. 6. Give the path to your image (need not be Mandriva any you have downloaded). Root—> Media—-> Disk—–> Image 7. Click OK and in about 5 minutes you have Mandriva in a Flash.

8. Now to reveal how bad the new Mandriva boots (if you have 1 GiB RAM like me), go and make a cup of Tea/Coffee. I finish my tea (boiling the water to brewing and drinking it before Mandriva booted and fired up the FireFox). It did not go to Mandriva site as it used to do.

This is why I am happy that I left Mandriva long time before their split and use 4MLinux for my work on Live sessions and say “Small is beautiful” and promote Unity Linux and (Core Linux on top of one can built ones own packages) its derivative HUMANity Musician edition (currently downloading, the last 100 or so MiB). Unity is one of the earliest Core Live CDs before PCLinux stormed the community with Big Daddy (only in archives now).

It broke away from Mandrake and formed Unity and there are at least 8 derivatives and one of which is TinyMe.

One does not need to be FAT to be productive when the cloud is promoting thin clients. 4MLinux even though tiny and only 60 odd MiB, it can be destructive if you use it’s partition utility without due care. It only detect the first hard disk and if you select sda1 instead of sdc or /d or /e by accident your will boot Mandriva Live instead of your prized distribution (gone as you press OK in the dialogue box) in the first hard disk. Please take care and the UnetBootIn graphic mode fonts are very tiny for an old folk like me.

But I did not do any mistakes, simply because I check my actions especially typos now before clicking OK in any command line operation.

TrixiePup64-Wayland is excellent

TrixiePup64-Wayland is excellent.

This is posted with TrixiePup64  mounted on a USB stick of 8GB. It is only 1.1GB.

6.9GB is just wasted.

Pup is is  now saved in the root directory as a folder (named by me) with home and other directories.

It  reminds me of the 32 bit days, it took me two or three days to figure out how to save Puppy File in the hard disk partition with Puppy on 512MB USB Stick. Those day there were many varieties of Puppy Linux distributions just like Linux distributions today.

With the emergence of 64bitswhich Puppy could not handle except a few like FAT Pup.  It is good this Puppy came before my Book on "Linux Essentials" is published. I would make updates on the Puppy saying Puppy is not dead still alive and in Good Health.

I have stopped coding (forgotten most of it now) but the efforts we mad those days were not in vain.  

For the first time, I got my WiFi configured.

Just a matter of keying in the Password.  

It has Abiword.

It has Xournal

It has Cherry tree 

It has Xpad

It has Geany.

It has L3Leaf pad.

NO LinbreOffice. THANK YOU.

It is only 1.1GB and that is the beauty of Puppy Linux .

If YOU want LibreOffice Please try Easy OS 7.1.