Part Two: Everyday

Precedent embalms a principle

2006-12-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

The Averatec 1000 is back in my hands, and I couldn't be happier. Mandravia will arrive after Christmas and I'll write that up when I get it. It'll be nice to not have a lot to migrate between the two distro's, but it does mean that this computer's OS will be sort of a place-holder until then. Since I already had to install 6.06, I decided to download and install 6.10 since it came out so recently. 6.10 has already been put on my desktop, and it seemed quite nice, but my laptop did run into problems.

Installation, trials, tribulations

Since I didn't have a copy of 6.10 on hand I just installed 6.06, and then did the 6.10 update to that. Keep in mind I had opened none of the repositories, and have done little by way of installing new programs (VLC and Opera were basically it). The installation process took along the lines of 3 hours, but that wasn't a huge deal, big packages can take time to download. However, with 15 minutes left it stopped short of complete installation, forcing a troubleshooting session and another 3 hour install.

The first thing I noticed was the new splash screen, updated icons, and background. It's all much improved. Ubuntu has made a great deal of headway in how it looks and feels with every update. I remember looking at screenshots of 5.10 when I was first considering the switch, and it didn't look good. The dark brown, the general dark, demure feel did not look that good. But 6.06 looked great, with a lighter brown color, and a better spash screen. 6.10 had almost all but abandoned the previous color pallet, with what looks like a nice bronze color.

Problems with the new system in terms of wireless support is terrible. You can't have auto connect to open networks, you must manually input the network name, which is a pain when going to other people's houses or other schools. In addition to that there is a new problem involving WPA. my WPA worked in 6.06. I don't know if this was a fluke or an error, but it was quite helpful. My house uses WPA, as does my parents house. 6.10, however, does not allow me to use WPA. I spend weeks trying to get it to work using an NDISwrapper, but to no avail. All of this is combined with the fact that my range seems to be roughly half of its former ability. Overall, the new wireless was terrible.

In addition to that, there is a problem with updating from 6.06 to 6.10. I'm not sure why but most programs seem to deadend badly. Also, Deb packages which I know for a fact worked fine under 6.06 no longer work under 6.10. These problems were too significant, and I reverted to 6.06 on my laptop right away. It really is unfortundistributionh a nice distrobution has become so much trouble.

Waiting is the Hardest Part

2006-11-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

Of course the thin client wouldn't even boot. Not enough power from what I can ever tell from looking at it, so it looks like I need a different type of plug. I don't even know where I'd get it, so it looks like that experiment is shot to hell.

In the meantime my laptop situation has gone from bad to worse. They're replacing the motherboard, something I'm fairly certain they don't need to do, and it has to be shipped from korea. They don't do the frills, so that sucker is going to take between 2 and 4 weeks to arrive. The worse part is this is the second time they've had to tear apart my computer, that thing is barely going to hold itself together when I get it back. I'm not looking forward to that. At any rate, a copy of Mandravia is in my future, so at least there's that to look forward to. In a few days I'll post my opinions of Ubuntu 6.10, which was released not too long ago.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat

2006-10-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

eBay offers thousands of products that a man could want, myself included. Indeed, I've had my eyes for a long time on a cheap thin-client. I wanted a thin client for a number of varying reasons, but the biggest is that I wanted to install Damn Small Linux on the machine, and set it up as a Torrent downloader. Well, like many in this world I did something I'm not proud of this week: I did an impulse bid on a product I wanted. I bid $.69 on a thin client with 32 megs of RAM a 100 mhz processor, and 100 Meg internal flash. Honestly, this is exactly what I was looking for, but the shipping is going to make it $15 dollars, which I didn't have to spare. However, what's done is done and as a nice silver lining I now have the thin client I've always wanted. Assuming it gets here next week after I pay for it (payday tomorrow), I'll be able to install DSL on it over my fall break. This will be a nice addition to the website, and will be an interesting experiment. I can't wait to report back on what I find.

I Have Emerged From The Place Of Spells And Fairies

2006-10-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

I have not updated this place in a long time. The problem was after my initial impression, a whole lot of stuff came up. Setting up my laptop was not significantly different from setting up my desktop. From there, I gave away my desktop. However, my laptop was broken within a week of purchase. After that, school started, and it has been just about impossible to keep up with this. However, I do plan to start up again as soon as my laptop is fixed again. Ubuntu Linux has been an in interesting OS experience so far, however, I have other plans for the future of this laptop. The biggest question is what the difference is between something like Ubuntu, which has community support, and a Commercial distribution, such as Mandriva or SLED. To that end I plan on purchasing a copy of either Mandriva or SLED (I'm leaning towards Mandriva due mostly to the fact that it has a built in DVD player and I was getting sick of using Ogle). From there, the plan is to take a look at the difference between KDE and GNOME. From there, who knows? Hopefully a regular update schedule.

However, this will not happen until my laptop gets fixed. So to the three people who have not purged this blog from your RSS feed, take heart. I shall return.

"Insert Knob A in Hole B"

2006-07-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

The process is finished and I have emerged from the other side with more
questions than answers, to be honest.   Lets look at the five
Programs I tried to install and how they worked out.

Opera

In Synaptic: No
Deb File: Yes

Installation process was smooth. At the very end I receved this error Message:

"Error: Conflicts with the installed
Package 'opera-static'

Whatever that means, it hasn't effected the Opera browser so far, which is still one of the best browsers out there.

kxdocker

In Synaptic: No
Deb File: No

This was quite the undertaking. the ./configure, Make, Make install seemed to work fine. but once it was installed here is what came up:

Yup. That's kxdocker. The icon is the KDE menu, which obviously doesn't work in GNOME. I can't add launchers to it, nor can I get to the configure menu. A quick look at the information from terminal when it starts up probably explains why:

Link points to "/tmp/ksocket-foy"
Link points to "/tmp/kde-foy"
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
Major opcode: 144
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
Major opcode: 144
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
kbuildsycoca running...
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
Major opcode: 144
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
Major opcode: 144
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
kxdocker: WARNING: loading xml...
kxdocker: WARNING: loading external xml configurations: addons_50_configurator.xml
kxdocker: WARNING: loading external xml configurations: addons_90_trayiconlogger.xml
kxdocker: WARNING: loading plugins...
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDesignPanther.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDesignPanther.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXDesignPanther.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDesignPanther.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDesignPanther.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXDesignPanther.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: xeplugin_register(xMatrix)
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDockerFake.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDockerFake.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXDockerFake.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDockerFake.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXDockerFake.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXDockerFake.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: xeplugin_register(xGDocker)
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXCommand.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXCommand.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXCommand.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXCommand.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXCommand.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXCommand.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: xeplugin_register(xCommand)
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXARPManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXTaskManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxvidcapxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMountManager.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXAnimator.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXAnimator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXAnimator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXAnimator.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXAnimator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXAnimator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: xeplugin_register(xAnimator)
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMouse.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMouse.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMouse.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMouse.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXMouse.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXMouse.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: xeplugin_register(xMouse)
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_DCOP.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_DCOP.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibXEPlugin_DCOP.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_DCOP.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_DCOP.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibXEPlugin_DCOP.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: xeplugin_register(DCOP)
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXConfigurator.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXConfigurator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXConfigurator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXConfigurator.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibKXConfigurator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibKXConfigurator.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: xeplugin_register(xConfigurator)
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_TrayIcon.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_TrayIcon.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/opt/kde/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibXEPlugin_TrayIcon.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_TrayIcon.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/liblibXEPlugin_TrayIcon.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/usr/share/apps/kxdocker/plugins/libliblibXEPlugin_TrayIcon.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
kxdocker: WARNING: Plugins loaded:
kxdocker: WARNING: [0] xMatrix
kxdocker: WARNING: [1] xGDocker
kxdocker: WARNING: [2] xCommand
kxdocker: WARNING: [3] xAnimator
kxdocker: WARNING: [4] xMouse
kxdocker: WARNING: [5] DCOP
kxdocker: WARNING: [6] xConfigurator
kxdocker: WARNING: [7] xTray
kxdocker: WARNING: [8] xPillow
kxdocker: WARNING: Going to background...

I'm not sure what's going on here, since I installed the plugins that the website claimed I'd need, but what I do know is that KXdocker is a failure for me.

xvidcap

In Synaptic: No
Deb File: Yes

Xvidcap installed with no probelms, but it didn't show up in my applications menu. It seems it can only be launched from terminal. Not a huge problem, though, I just made a launcher for it and stuck it in my Dock:

It's the icon on the far right. Other than that problem it works fine. It's what i've been using for screencaps (except for whole screen caps, which I still use the Take Screenshot program).

American History Lux

In Synaptic: No
Deb File: No

I Love Lux. Easily one of the best Risk Analogs that has ever existed, and I was quite exicted to see this listed on softpedia. However, it isn't a deb file but a ".jar" file, which I guess is somesort of Java file.  Extraction gave me some files, but none of them seemed to respond to
./makefile.   As such, I'm sort of at a loss as to what to do. I looked up sunmicrosystems information, but I didn't see any documentation for using a .jar file on linux. GNU linux's information was fantastically cryptic. I guess it's a loss due to a fundamental ability to use it.

Freelords

In Synaptic: No
Deb File: No

Errored out, told me that SDL 1.2.0 was not installed, but after updating, the message did not change.

So I guess bottom line is, if it's in a .deb file, then you're golden. Otherwise it looks like trouble.

Post-Script

Sorry about how late this is, I've been rather busy lately. But I haven't forgotten about this blog. This week I'm going to sit down and use KDE for a week. Initial use has not filled me with confidence, but a lot of people talk it up, so I'll give it a try.

"There'd Be Days Like This, My Momma Said"

2006-07-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

The problem of installing programs if you aren't using Synaptic is apparently a much bigger issue than I ever could have thought. I'll be focusing on one painfully ironic example to show what this can be like.

Bulldozer

What is bulldozer? Why it's a program designed to give you a graphical interface to install programs. "Brilliant!" I said and began to download and install it immediately. However,it was not so easy as a simple download.

I honestly don't understand how to install programs, but this was not too much a problem as I was directed on the forums to this site which basically has a primer for how to install just about anything in Ubuntu. So, following the directions exactly as it said, I ran into this error message:

[REQUIRE] GNU make 3.80...
make: *** [.Require-gnu-make-3.80] Error
1foy@foy-desktop:~/Desktop/bulldozer-0.2.3$

Obviously I have no idea what this could possibly mean. So it was back to the forums where I was told that I needed to update my system (sudo apt-get update). But nothing updated. It was then recommended that I run "sudo apt-get update" then "sudp apt-get upgrade." Or, failing that, "sudo apt-get install build-essential --reinstall." Tried all three, and none of them worked. After all of this, I was told that my "Makefile" was not in tune. My alternatives were to change my Makefile, or remove the Makefile requirement and risk instability in the program in the future. Ok, then. I guess I have to change the Makefile. When I asked how to do this, here is the response:

"You have to edit it. It's one of the files in the bulldozer directory. You have to be familiar with an editor. The standard one for Ubuntu is gedit,but there are many others. Then you have to know all about makefile syntax,and shell syntax (it looks like the expected shell is sh or bash.Then you have to figure out how exactly the author went about puttingthis Makefile together with his/her particular interpretation of 'how it spoze to be'.This endeavor is not to be entered into lightly."

Essentially, I've been told that I can't do this without a firm grasp of a number of syntaxes, keep in mind that I don't have a grasp of any Syntax save the one used by the English language, and understand how to configure this in a manner which the maker of bulldozer expects it to be. So, now I'm stuck. Just to be clear here, I can't install a program designed to make instillation easier.

This fills me with a lot of trepidation. I don't know how often I'm going to need programs which aren't in the synaptic directory and aren't a .deb file. If they aren't in either of these formats, God only knows how often I'm going to be able to actually get them to install. Hopefully this is an outlying problem. I'll try installing a few more programs this weekend (randomly picked programs from softpedia that sound interesting and have high ratings), and see how each of these programs are as far as installing ease goes, and report back on that.

The Tipping Point

I kind of consider this the biggest obstacle in my continued used of Ubuntu. Media, once installed works fine. And now that I understand what media is missing it couldn't take more than a half hour to install. Or, I have recently discovered I could have used something like Easy Ubuntu to solve those problems quickly and easily. This, though, is quite different. From the sounds of it, no two installation packages are going to be quite the same, and it appears there is a lot of troubleshooting that goes with the territory. Hopefully I'm wrong, and this and gDesklets were not examples of a larger problem, but if it is, well, it could easily mean the end of using Ubuntu for me.

A Special Thanks to tonyr, moffa, and Jagot

As a small Post Script, I'd just like to say that the people on the Ubuntu forums were some of the most helpful people I've ever run into on a forum. They were insightful and timely and were more than willing to explain minute details of what a problem was. From the looks of this, the Ubuntu community is quite helpful, and different from some of their more zealous Linux relatives. A very good sign.

"And Now, The Left Leg"

2006-07-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Digg took pretty kindly to my review

I've been reading through the comments on there, as well as the comments on the blog, and I'm glad people are reading me. Whether they agree or disagree with me is not really a problem, you can't please everyone you know. In addition to that, some have felt that my review was unfair for this or that reason, and I really have no problem with those comments, perhaps they're right, perhaps they're wrong. That is something for the individual reader to decide, and I can't speak for them. There is only one particular comment that is absolutely wrong on every level and that I am 100% capable of addressing. A few, only a few, people seemed to think that my opinion was predetermined since I didn't like Windows. One person even went so far as to claim that I was a Linux user that had written this up as a piece of propaganda literature. I walked into Linux with an open mind, prepared to like or dislike whatever I found. And at first, I didn't like Linux. I didn't even want to use Linux for a long time. A friend of mine, a coder for Union Pacific who uses Linux every day at work, told me on numerous occasions that Linux as a desktop was a load of old pants. When I did finally decide to take the plunge, Ubuntu was a pain in the ass for the first few days. After that Trial By Fire, everything worked nicely enough that Ubuntu was nice to use, nicer than Windows. I dislike Windows, this is true. But I dislike Windows for aesthetic, quality, and interface reasons. If the aesthetics, quality, or interface of Linux were wholly inferior then I wouldn't have liked it. It's as simple as that. I'm not an anti-Window zealot. I'll quote from the very first post on the blog: "I do not like Windows. I know others do, and I'm sure for some it is the perfect OS for them to be using. But it just isn't for me." That's it folks. I'm repeating my experiences from my point of view. If your point of view is in line with mine, well you might want to give Linux a try. If it isn't, and Windows XP is perfect for you then have at it and have fun. Linux was enjoyable for me, though and that's all there is to it.

So please, say what you want about my review, poorly written, unfair in this or that, whatever. But do not think for a minute that this result was predetermined.

"We are through the Looking Glass People"

2006-06-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

After using Ubuntu for this past week, I can say that I have found it quite interesting. Today I will be listing various areas that are worth looking at in the OS that are either good or bad for my computer use.

Spatial View

As I said in the opening post, I prefer the spatial view. I know that this is generally considered anachronistic, but I think the "browser" format you see in Windows XP and OS X is a pain in the ass. However, in OS X, I could use spatial view, or the column view, which had had come to like more and more. In Windows XP, however, there was no real choice. Using spatial view (yes, there are indeed ways to set that up) didn't work because the taskbar became cluttered and unmanageable relatively quickly, as did quick switching. Unfortunately this problem exists in Ubuntu as well. The quick switching does not switch from program, but between windows, and the spatial view makes the taskbar unusable in relatively short order. What I really needed if I was to make this setup work was a Linux equivalent to the Dock. Eventually, I came across gDesklets, which creates a dock-like launchbar (it has other widgets, but I have no interest in using them). However, gDesklets cannot be used to replace the taskbar. The dock for gDesklets is a launcher, and only a launcher, it doesn't show minimized windows. So, the taskbar, with all of that clutter has to stay. This is only a ding against it if you don't like the taskbar, or like spacial view, however.

File System

The Hard Drive that everything is saved onto for the computer is called simply "file system." The files that you see when you open it up are. . . Well, shall we say strange:

etc? mnt? opt? sbin? If these files are not things that the user is going to interact with on a regular basis, and I have trouble believing I will ever open the file Opt, then they should be stuffed into a separate file named System or something along those lines.

Compare that to this shot of the Macintosh HD when you open it (Picture from applehelp.org):

That is the sort of simplicity I want to see.

Program Bar

Something I've never liked in Windows is the Start Menu. Once you start adding applications it turns into a massive tangle of information, and a pain in the ass to navigate. I'm glad that Ubuntu has a better implementation of this:

Everything is neatly organized into Applications, Places, and System. Applications itself is organized into these subsets, and everything downloaded off of Synaptic is preset to go into one of these sections. It makes for a remarkably well organized library of applications.

Applications

One interesting thing in the process of setting up and using Ubuntu was Synaptic Manager. Synaptic gives a complete listing of software that is available to you from a variety of sources (once the multiverse is set up). This was one of the nicest features that Ubuntu had. The ability to find applications like VLC and gDesklets without having to use the internet once was enjoyable. There is nothing in Windows or OS X that is like this, and it really is nice.

However, if you're trying to install anything without using Synaptic, well forget it. As a test, I downloaded gDesklets and then tried to install it manually without using synaptic. Ubuntu doesn't have an installer wizard like Windows and the unzipped file can't just be thrown into your application folder like OS X. No, you have to use Terminal in order to set it up. The effort was largely fruitless. The closest I got to getting gDesklets to install was when it actually started to unpack and install the file (with Terminal's usual cringe-inducing rapid flow of non-sensical words) when it gave me an error message and stopped. Defeated I installed gDesklets from Synaptic. Synaptic is fine if the program you want is listed, but I have trouble believing that every program I'll ever need is listed in synaptic. This is a real problem.

Using media on Ubuntu was a similar feat. Though it's billed as "Linux for Human Beings" someone at the Ubuntu project wasn't told that human beings tend to like watching DVDs and listening to MP3s. No media is supported on the Ubuntu standard installation, except for MPEGs. But not all MPEGs mind you, just some of them. I have no idea what the difference between the 5 MPEGs I tried is, but some worked and some didn't. Once VLC was installed, however, everything was fine on that front. The problem of DVDs was a much more unique issue, however. I downloaded four or five different DVD players, but none of them worked. Poking around the Ubuntu forums revealed that I needed something called "libdvdcss." However, libdvdcss is not in the synaptic package manager. I downloaded it from the videolan website, but had about as much success installing it as I did gDesklets. Finally I came across a forum post that explained how to grab it from the internet using terminal. After it was installed it was fine. This is a big problem though. If Ubuntu Linux wants to become more widely used it needs to make packages such as this easy to obtain and easy to install.

This leads into the default programs installed on the machine. I have no real complaints about most of them. Firefox works as well as you would expect it to, ditto for bittorrent. The games section was well stocked with the sort of simple, small games that a person can throw away an hour or so on. As an added bonus, Synaptic had a copy of the Bungie classic "Abuse" listed, which was extra nice. The only problem program was Totem Movie Player. The name "Totem Movie Player" sort of implies that it is a DVD player and it is, sorta. Once libdvdcss was installed it did play DVDs, but you could not navigate menus with a keyboard, the mouse was required. The control scheme was bizarre, and it had no option for speed-up. In addition to all these problems Totem seems to think that it is also a media player. The only format it can run is, again, some but not all MPEGs. However, opening a WMV or AVI file would not open VLC, it would always open Totem with an error message. I have yet to find a way to set up preferred programs for formats yet, so the only choice was to remove Totem. Once I did that, VLC opened all videos and Ogle opens DVDs. Totem is a busted program and Ubuntu would do well to toss it.

Terminal

As I have said before, I don't like using terminal. I think that anything that can be done in terminal by a user should have a graphical front to do it instead, and that the average user should never, ever have to touch the command line. Well, I'm happy to report that I have not had to muck about in the Terminal that much. That's not to say that terminal no longer is a major part of the Linux experience, Hell you can't even install an application without using terminal. However, most everything else is easy to do outside of terminal. At least so far.

Linux Compared to OS X

I don't really think its even a contest. Synaptic is superior in terms of downloading freeware apps, and the access to applications is easier for irregularly used programs, but other than that OS X is generally a more superior user experience.

Linux Compared to Windows

I'm surprised I'm saying this, but Linux has thus far been a more enjoyable user experience than Windows. The setup for Linux compared to Windows is a pain, particularly Libdvdcss, but once it was set up it was all around nicer to use. That might change if I needed to install a large number of programs that aren't listed on synaptic or if I was forced to use terminal more in the future, but as it stands now, I doubt I will be using my Windows partition any time soon.

Once the Dust Has Settled

2006-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

The installation process was great. Honestly, I was surprised by how smooth it was. One thing that struck me as particularly impressive and head and shoulders above Windows XP was that not a bit of it was text based. Ubuntu gives you a graphical interface all the way through the installation process. My only real complaint was at the partition table. I wanted to keep my Windows XP partition (for games, as well as a number of documents that I had started on Word 2003 that I didn't want to drag out my backup disks for). The partition table was graphical, and for the most part told you everything you needed to know, but I felt the wording to be somewhat cryptic. There were only two options, "Erase Disk" and "Manually Edit Partition Table." That is simple enough to understand but once in the partition table it was unclear which partition was housing the Ubuntu OS and Windows XP and which partition was being erased. In the partition choices I would have liked to have seen a "50/50" choice of some sort that would automatically partition the hard drive half and half, and leave the Windows installation untouched. Ubuntu is supposed to be Linux for the people, and, as such, it is important that there are simple, clear choices using plain English. That said, once I re-read the information the partition table was giving me a few times, I was able to understand what it was doing and successfully partition the machine without wreaking havoc on the Windows installation.

Installation compared to OS X

Not as easy, but this is not exactly the fault of the installer, but rather the nature of what is being installed. Most people would want to keep their Windows installation, just in case, and the partition table, though helpful, has some work that needs to be done in terms of average person usability. If you were doing a clean installation, however, it would be no harder than if you were installing OS X, and is, in fact, faster than an installation of OS X, clocking in at around 25 minutes for me.

It does not, however, have the same flair and friendliness compared to OS X. In the OS X installation, everything is spelled out clearly and succinctly for the user. You never wonder at what certain phrases might mean, and if you were not familiar with computer lingo ("IDE master (HDA)" for example) then fear not because it never showed up. It is everywhere in the Linux installation. So, the bottom line is that it is almost as good as installing OS X without the small niceties.

Compared to Windows XP

This was so smooth and comfortable that it hardly bares comparison to Windows XP. All the minor problems I had with Ubuntu compared to OS X are exactly the problems I would have with Windows XP compared to Ubuntu, only magnified by about a factor of five. Add to that the fact that Windows does indeed use a text based installer, and you have a far inferior installation experience.

Well the installation process is complete, and I am now looking at the desktop, and it is slightly disheartening. Linux looks like it operates suspiciously similar to Windows. However, I will stave off judgment until I really get down and examine everything in depth. My initial opinion of Ubuntu Linux will be written next week.

. . . And So it Began

2006-06-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

Linux is a strange thing. I've heard about it on numerous occasions, and had friends who've played with it, but it is something I've never looked at. I'm an OS X user by trade, and it has been my favorite OS by quite a distance. However, I am now in the position of trying Linux.

How I arrived at this decision

I used to have an E-Mac with a 700 mhz processor and a CD-RW/DVD drive, and I loved it. However, one day it exploded. I mean that quite literally, by the way, a tube in the CRT monitor popped and my computer lit up like the 4th of July. It was my only computer at that time. A good friend of mine set me up with a machine he built out of spare parts to help me through until I could buy another machine. The machine I'm using now has an AMD processor running at 1.5 GHz and a gig of RAM.

I do not like Windows

I know others do, and I'm sure for some it is the perfect OS for them to be using. But it just isn't for me. I still use spatial view (yes I know it's anachronistic, but I like it none-the-less) which means that my window bar is constantly littered with open folder boxes. I find the color scheme to be garish and ugly to look at, and classic terribly designed (IE 1 pixel border from the screen edge to the start button). And I'm downright scared to download stuff with the viruses lurking online. However, it's what I've been using for the past 8 months because I didn't see a lot of viable alternatives.

My Next Computer

So, I've been scrimping and scraping and living off of cheap meat for the summer and in august I will have about $1200 dollars to blow on a new computer, and my natural inkling was twofold:

1. I wanted a laptop this time (I need one for classes. I've been using a Palm M505 with a keyboard to take notes)

2. I wanted a Mac, naturally.

However, the more I look at the Apple lineup, the more I've come to realize the Apple portable market is not designed for what I want to do. I don't want a 13-inch widescreen, I don't want a duel-core processor, and I don't want something that weighs over 5 lbs. I want an ultraportable. I have been looking long and hard these past few weeks, and I think I've come across the laptop I want. The Averatec 1020-ED1. Two pounds lighter than the Apple laptop, 10.5-inch widescreen, almost fullsize keyboard, enough processing power to run everything I need for classes, and only $750. The problem was the OS.

I don't like the fact that Apple has tied their OS to their hardware, but I understand why. They make money off their hardware and they don't off OS X. That doesn't change the fact that for a consumer, such as myself, it means I have to compromise either my hardware or software choice. However, it does mean that I feel that I couldn't just by a machine like the 1020, and then put a hacked copy of OS X on it. It wouldn't feel right. But I can't live another year in Windows XP (I'm not going to pay for a Vista upgrade either).

I was stuck, until I saw this post from Mark Pilgrim. Then, I saw a possible solution in Ubuntu Linux.

The purpose of this blog

This blog is going to be in two parts. Part One: exploration is going to be me installing Ubuntu Linux on my desktop computer. I will use it throughout the summer. Blog posts will consist mostly as a comparison to how it stacks against windows and OS X. At the end of Part One, I will decide if Linux is going to be worth installing on my future computer. If at the end Part One I don't like Linux, I will purchase a second-hand 12-inch iBook as it is the closest match to an ultraportable solution that I can get from Apple. If that happens, then the blog is over. Part Two: Everyday, will be me blogging about how Linux performs on a day-to-day basis on an laptop.

Please bear in mind, I am a Mac user. I don't know anything about the command line or terminal, and as such I'm not going to judge from that standpoint. I will be judging how easy it is to use, how nice it looks, how well it does the tasks I want it to do with as little effort on my part as possible, and how often stuff "just works."

So, I have now downloaded a copy of "Dapper Drake." I will report on the installation process later this weekend.