Google Linux

I just read a column in Inquirer about meetup in Googleplex. There are people from Linux Foundation and FSF, which meet up in goal to discuss the latest Microsoft ramblings about licensing problems in Linux:

Following Microsoft’s inking of agreements with Linux hawkers, offering to shield them from lawsuits over the 235 patents it reckons versions of Linux infringe, a gathering of open sorcerers is assembling at Google HQ to debate what is to be done.

According to Reuters report, which helpfully details what a Linux geek is wearing these days (T-shirts and jeans), organizer of the “Collaboration Summit”, Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation, told the amassed geeks: “Guys: Be seekers of truth, not finders of contradiction.”

Maybe something will come of it, but typically, like the Left in politics, there may be too much squabbling over what society should look like after the revolution that the revolution will be eternally postponed.

I actually agree to this. Its much easier to discuss than get things done. But then, I like this comment:

Google Linux anyone?

Funny isn’t it? Not that Google needs such a thing, but I think that while everyone is talking Ubuntu would do the trick and take it all.

-A

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu

Building a value PC

This is something that I have always like to do. Imagine this: we’re computer/technology junkies (well, at least part of us are), and we like to have computers. But what we really like, is to build those, if not in life, but on paper.

So, you’d go to different online resources, and you find what kind of a computer you want. Then you go to forums and vendors sites and decide which components you’d like to have. Then you go to online stores and find what you need…lengthy process, but fun isn’t it?

Heh, here’s a shortcut for a computer for the best value for the buck.

Enjoy.

-A.

Spice up Windows – replace it! [with Linux]; part 5

In my few previous posts I’ve stated that I’d like to help people to spice their system and move from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I started to explain the process in last posts. I hope that to this point you got used to those applications I’ve suggested before. If not, just have another week or two using them, until you’re comfortable enough with them.

This time I will explain the 5th step: Playing around

Note: suggestions in this post should be taken with care as I assume that you’ve read all previous parts and have a little experience with your new shiny system.

This step will include checking different environments, customizations and applications.

So, after you installed Linux, and your applications are working fine, what’s in it for you? What could you gain by all the effort of moving? Well, at least you’ve gained the following:

• Moving to Linux made your system more stable. While Windows was probably stable enough for you, statistically there’s less loss of information on Linux systems I’ve worked with compared to Windows ones.
• Your system is much more customizable now. Not that you should run and change anything, but you could’ve if you wanted to.
• You didn’t have to pay a dime to Microsoft for a new version of Windows, to hardware store for a new hardware and yet still you have much better performing system. And the main catch? Its totally legal and free.

So, here are those things which can spice up your system even more:

1. Graphical environment – there’s a plenty of environments for Linux, which contrary to Windows, provide all sorts of features. All the odds are that if you went with my suggestions in previous posts, you’re using either KDE or Gnome. Head over to their sites and read about them! You can customize a look and functionality of those 2 in many unimaginable for Windows XP user ways.

2. Multimedia Library applications – I’ve suggested to use VLC, but that was just for convenience. There are so many multimedia applications for Linux, take a look:

• Totem
• Mplayer
• Xine
• Banshee
• Amarok
• Rythmbox

And there are plenty more! I suggest you to look at them, play and choose what works best for you.

3. Photo Management application – I strongly suggest trying out F-Spot. It is great application for managing your photos!

And most important part is, of course – play around and have fun!

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows – replace it! [with Linux]; part 4

In my few previous posts I’ve stated that I’d like to help people to spice their system and move from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I started to explain the process in last posts. I hope that to this point you got used to those applications I’ve suggested before. If not, just have another week or two using them, until you’re comfortable enough with them.

This time I will explain the 4th step: Spicing up Windows!

This would include the following:

• Backing up all you useful data (such as movies, music, family photos and those other photos).
• Choosing Linux distribution.
• Installing Linux distribution.
• Back to work.

NOTE: this step will be much easier if some member of your family (or a friend) who actually familiar with computers will be around helping. He or she can save a great deal of time, effort and negative emotions by helping to do all this.

Here we go:

1. In first step, you should definitely back up your stuff. Stuff includes documents, music, video, photos and all sorts of other things we always forget about (such as contacts, bookmarks and other settings which just the way we work – not the real information). I can’t say where is this stuff of yours on your computer (except maybe Firefox bookmarks), but computer-literate people can always locate it pretty fast for ya. That’s where that nephew of yours becomes handy and should repay for all those candy you’ve invested in him. You do get candies, toy cars and soldiers for him, right?

2. Choosing the distribution. Oh boy, this is so interesting step. By browsing multitudes of sites, you can find that there are several hundreds(!) distributions in the existence, while one or two more are created each day. So how should you choose? Well, the fact is (and I’m sure many disagree), it doesn’t matter! There are only 2 major differences between them all:

• They use different package manager (package is like installation file for a program)
• They have different set of chosen defaults for applications, settings and environments.

So, anyway, how should you choose? I suggest the following:

1. Choose the one that can easily be installed.
2. Use it for a while
3. Either stay with it if it fulfills your need, or try another.

I’m going to recommend using one of the following for beginners:

• Ubuntu Linux (of course)
• Fedora (yes, another ‘of course’)

As I’ve never used anything remotely as much as I have used Gentoo Linux (not recommended for beginners, but it is the one I use on my systems), I won’t suggest anything else. I hope that commenters will suggest other distributions and I will update the post 🙂

Another suggestion, is to use Wubi project, which intends to make the installation of Ubuntu Linux much easier for Windows users. (this one thanks to an anonymous commenter on my blog).

3. After (or during) installing Linux, make sure that all the applications I suggested before are installed. Just to make it quick reminder, here’s the list:

• Firefox
• Thunderbird
• Pidgin
• Xchat
• eMule
• Azureus
• Skype
• Gizmo Project
• VLC Player
• Picasa
• Jajuk
• Songbird
• Open Office
• AbiWord
• GnuCash
• Grisibi

So now, what you’re left to do is transfer you stuff to a new shiny Linux computer and get back to work. Using the same application will (supposedly) have no effect whatsoever on your productivity or entertainment.

I hope that these instructions cover the basics. If it doesn’t, let me know and I will help you find information you need.

Next time I will explain when will you feel the change and what can be done with it.

Have fun!

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows – replace it with Linux; part 3

In my previous posts I stated that I’d like to help people to spice their system and move from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I started to explain the process in last posts. This time I will explain the 3rd step: Spicing up Office/Production applications.

For many, such applications include:

• Word Processor application (for writing documents)
• Spreadsheet (for simple calculations such as IRS reports)
• Presentation application (for business people among us – for creating presentations for their bosses or customers, for the rest of the crowd – for watching those nice nude vacation photo stripes with great music.
• Some graphical tools, for building flow charts, graphs and similar things.
• Reading PDF files (and even creating them)
• Money/account management utilities.

I’m sure there are many others. If you know them, please send feedback to me and I will update this list. We will do our best to cover what we have at the moment.

Here we go:

1. OOO Writer – a very good Word Processor. It is a part of an open source project OOo (openoffice.org), and for many many many people it covers all their needs for an application for creating documents. Whats good, as a bonus, it supports Word’s document format (almost perfect), so you could use it for exchanging document with you friends who still not decided to move to better platform.

2. OOO Calc – a very good spreadsheet program. It is also a part of an open source project OOo, and it definitely covers much of the needed features in spreadsheet application. It also supports Excel file format which allows you to work with such files if one of your friends haven’t moved to other software yet.

3. OOO Impress – a very good presentation program. It is also a part of an open source project OOo, and it definitely covers much of the needed features in presentation application. It also supports PowerPoint file format which allows you to work with such files if one of your friends haven’t moved to other software yet.

4. OOO Draw – is a program for creating sketches, diagrams, and simple graphs. Its a part of an open source project OOo, and it also covers many of the features requires for simple diagrams creating and flow charting. While not much used by home users, it can drive great value to an office user.

5. PDF Reader/Creator – this is one great thing in all systems. Don’t mind about reading PDF files too much – they are readable in every system. It doesn’t even matter that much, which application you would use, because for general purpose PDF reading is application independent, and can be done in all applications – and it will look the same.

For creating you can use OOO Writer – it can import (save) your document as PDF file.

6. Accounting – I’ve inserted this here, because it has to do with productivity applications. I personally found that for me actually using a spreadsheet for all accounting is much easier and faster (So you can use OOO Calc). But for many who want to try specific application, I’d suggest checking one of the following:

• Grisbi ( my favorite)
• GPF
• GnuCash (Windows port completed few days ago)

As you can see, I strongly recommend to install OpenOffice suite of office applications. It will give you the benefit of integrated applications, the joy of using open source (and free) software and easy transition from that other application because of similar interface.

In addition, I will just mention that for the word processor functionality, there’s another option:
Abiword – it is an open source word processing application. It is also works with Word format files, and it is lite and sufficient for many tasks. I would choose Abiword over OpenOffice if it was the only type of productivity program I needed. It is much smaller and subjectively faster.

I hope that list I gave will cover you basic needs. If it doesn’t, let me know and I will help you find the applications that fill the need you seek to fill.

After you install aforementioned applications, use them. It is important to leave older application aside, just in case. But use these new ones to get used to them. I hope you will find those application easy to use and transfer your data to new applications.

Next time I will explain how do we remove Windows with fun.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows: replace it with Linux; part 2

In my previous post I started to explain the process of “spicing up” the Windows installation by moving to Linux. This time I will explain the 2nd step: Spicing up Multimedia applications.

I define multimedia applications as applications used for the following tasks:

• Listening to music
• Listening to internet radio
• Watching movies

So, without further due, lets dive in:

1. VLC – is one of the best multimedia applications ever. I use it extensively for music playing/listening, watching movies, and listening to some very cool internet radio stations. It is an open source project, supports replaying virtually all formats and containers in existence (except some exotic ones), supports subtitles, playlists and many more.

In an ideal world, I think I’d just suggest VLC and that would be it. But we don’t live in such world, and I will provide couple more applications:

2. Last.FM – this service allows creating “custom” radio stations based on personal choice and preference. It is very similar in functionality to Pandora, but Pandora has recently shut their service outside the United States, so as I live outside the US, I had to find something else. In fact I already have used last.fm more that Pandora, so the “switch” came to me with no big problem.

3. Jajuk and Songbird – these two are media management utilities, quite recent but fairly usable. I suggest them in case you have tones of multimedia and you’re tired managing it manually. If manual management doesn’t bother you (and you’re fine doing it), then there’s no real need to install multimedia packages. Jajuk is a Java application and Songbird is more of a web browser with vast multimedia features, that allow it to be digital media manager. You all should know though, that I don’t use media management applications, so my knowledge in this area is limited, so any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

Now, I have to mention couple more things:

1. iTunes – while the best in its field for managing multimedia content, I don’t suggest using it. Using iTunes would be justified if I were trying to explain the move from Windows to Mac OS, but since I’m trying to encourage people to “stay” with their hardware and just to move to better operating environment, move to Mac OS is beyond the scope of this subject.

2. Photo management – I wasn’t sure whether to suggest it or not, and if so, then in which category? I’ve decided to explain it here, in “Multimedia” context but still apart. For photo management I am suggesting to install Picasa – it is one of the Google’s acquired assets. It is in an essence a photo management application, which does a really great job managing photos, but no so great job for adjusting them and making small changes/fixes. So, this one is great for management, and if someone knows great application for “simple”/”minimal” photo manipulations, please let me know and I will add it to this list with links to people who suggested it.

After you install aforementioned applications, start using them. It is important to leave older application aside, just in case. But use these new ones to get used to them. I hope you will find those application easy to use and transfer your data to new applications. Take some time with these applications, say couple of weeks to see how it feels. If it feels good, move to next step, if not – use it for little more. These are all great applications and they all are very usable and there’s no reason one should have problem to get along with them.

Next time I will explain how do we install Office/Production applications (and which ones) to make life in Windows more productive (and in some cases – cheaper).

Feedback for everything is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows: replace it with Linux; part 1

In my previous post I’ve stated that I’d like to help people to spice up their system by moving from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I will explain step by step how are we going to do this so it will be easy for anyone to follow.

We will do it in 5 following steps:

1. Spicing up:Internet applications
2. Spicing up: Multimedia applications
3. Spicing up: Office/Production applications
4. Spicing up: Windows (by replacing with Linux)
5. Play!

So, let’s get started!

This time I’m going to explain how to perform step 1 – Spicing up: Internet applications

As I’ve explained in previous post, Internet applications are used for the following (mainly, of course, and highly subjective):

• Browsing the web
• Reading/Writing email
• Chatting/IM’ing (using instant messengers)
• P2P applications (bittorrent/eMule are the most popular ones).
• Internet Telephony

In order to spice up Internet applications, we’re going to install the following set of applications to answer our needs (which inherently makes our life better!):

1. Firefox – is known as one of the best browsers in the world. It is open source project, and while maybe not perfect on some (in my opinion – poorly written) sites, it is very customizable and expandable through gazillions of extensions. If you’re still using Internet Explorer 6 on your Windows XP box, do it urgently. Firefox is much better and secure browser than IE6, and provides much more functionality using fewer computer resources. Your browsing will never be the same!

2. Thunderbird – is known as one of the best email clients in the world. Just as Firefox (and made by the same team), it is an open source project. It handles email delivery in most known protocols (being POP3 and IMAP) perfectly and without any major problems. It has very good junk control (read spam filter) engine and very good rules engine. The new version (which is 2.0.0.0 at the moment of this writing) has new “tagging” feature which allows you to “tag” (categorize) message with any number of tags and then easily find it by tag without searching. This feature makes Thunderbird to be like Google – allowing to find messages by labels. Great stuff! If you’re still using Outlook Express, move to Thunderbird now – it is faster, more stable and more secure.

3. Pidgin – is one of the best IM clients around. It is an open source project, and the best thing that I like about it – it supports 3 major IM networks I use, namely ICQ, Jabber (Google Talk), and MSN. It means that I only use one client to be connected to all networks at once, at I’m able to talk to all my friends! Isn’t it cool or what?

4. Xchat2 – an IRC client. If you’re on IRC, stop using MIRC and move to Xchat! It is an open source project, has lots of customization options and very nice graphical user interface.

5. Azureus – very good, open source Bittorrent client. Written in Java, has a very good interface, stable and fast. Has many features that other clients don’t have, which makes it faster when downloading your favorite Linux distribution.

6. eMule – also very good client, but for ED2K network. It is different protocol of downloading (different from bittorrent that is), but also very popular and fast. Many prefer eMule to Bittorrent, so make up your mind and choose an application!

7. Skype – the most know application in the world for free internet conversations. It is free, beautiful an allow free pc-to-pc communication.

8. Gizmo Project – very similar to Skype, but uses different protocol. It is also free and allows free pc-to-pc conversations.

Both Skype and GizmoProject also allow calling to regular landline and cell phones around the world for considerably low price.

After you install aforementioned applications, use them. It is important to leave older (read your previous) application aside, just in case. But use these new ones all the time. I hope you will find those application easy to use and transfer your data to new applications.

Next time I will explain how do we install Multimedia applications (and which ones) to make Windows more fun.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows – replace it with Linux – Introduction

I decided to write a series of essays about moving from Windows system to a Linux one. There are plenty resources online that can help with this transition. I just thought to make an easy one and with explaining each step of doing so.

First of all, the main issue with the series: it is not intended for the following audience:

• Gamers
• Video/Audio professionals using specialized tools
• Photo professionals using Photoshop
• Professional artists using specialized tools for their work.

I believe that these posts will be helpful to the following minorities of users:

• Internet users (mainly browsers users, IM/Chat users, email users, internet video/internet radio users, p2p users)
• Writers (including bloggers)
• Office/Production workers without specially customized Microsoft Office applications.
• Music, video and movies consumers

I will explain each step in the process and provide information about it.

Good luck you all!

-A.

Update: here are these articles:

1. Part 1
2. Part 2
3. Part 3
4. Part 4
5. Part 5

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Choosing a platform for work.

After meeting a friend yesterday and talking a bit about technology with him, and after reading a review today, I had an idea.

I recently understood that most of my “computer”-related work is either already done or can be moved to be totally online. Such a thing would lead me to one of the following (or combination of them):

1. I’m totally online. I never loose my data because I have it online all the time. The only moment when its not there is that split of a second I loose my wireless connection and my data not uploaded yet. I can do my work (or entertainment) anywhere, anytime.
2. I’m totally “dead” without internet connection. My powerful computer has no use for me. I can’t access anything. I can’t do anything. I’m so addicted to being online, that I have problems figuring out what are computers for. Although my movies and music are local and with me, I have no wish to “consume” them – after all, I can’t access my email (don’t tell me its unrelated! It is. I am not addicted).

Then I’ve thought about it even more.

We have an internet connection nowadays everywhere. I walk around my neighborhood and I catch easily 10 open WiFi spots. Many can check their email with 3G mobile phones, or even use them to connect to the “real” Internet. Many of those phones are good enough for Internet by themselves. WiMax us promised to come in couple of years give or take. So we have connectivity problem solved. That, probably, also solves me the “problem” with an Internet addiction usage. This means, I can work virtually everywhere anytime.

Now, what bothers me at this point, is the computer itself. I mainly use browser and email. I use simple editor for documents/blog writing. I use simple photo management application. I use somewhat more advanced pictures editing application. I use multimedia players.

These all are hardly resource intensive tasks. But my computer starts to crawl when I open more than 2 apps at a time. Besides, when I’m thinking about installing applications and maintaining the computer, I wonder: why should I invest so much time in it?

So, I know what I want. I want a TV-like usability computer – something that just works. I want a “work” appliance. I want an appliance which is lite, small, convenient, has a long battery life, and fast and responsive. I want to know what it does and how it does it. I want to be able to customize it. I want my computing everywhere with me.

Just like an OLPC with a larger screen and battery life.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, OLPC, Ubuntu, apple, technology, windows

Responsive computing required!

Hey all. Thanks for spelling me out the obvious by commenting on my previous post – using swap out of memory is useless.

But I still want my computer to be faster and swap less. I know that today’s userspace apps suck and use much unnecessary computer resources, but all I want for my computer is to be responsive!

I remember in DOS days, with much slower computers I didn’t have to wait for it. Computers perform tasks much faster that people, so I want to use this tool and I want it to be usable. I don’t want to wait for it to do something it “thinks” it needs to. I want it to respond in half of a second to any of my actions.

Is that too much to ask for?
Is it possible to be easily done? Without the suggestion to buy more hardware? If so, how?

-A.

Technorati : Linux, Ubuntu, technology, windows