a mouse mechanic in Linuxville

Hi folks and welcome to the Linuxville garage. Every now and then I don the PC mechanics jumpsuit and tinker under the hood. Today, I stumbled on a web page that talked about fixing the scroll-wheel on a mouse. I have two mice that I put aside because they did not scroll anymore. Going from a mouse with scroll-wheel to one without is a BIG back step.

Flip the thing over and use two fingers to turn the donut and remove the ball. Usually when you look inside there is all kinds of personal forensic evidence caked on the ball rollers. Most time you can clean these with a knife, tweezers and a little air (your own is fine, don't spit!). Keep q-tips, lint-free towels, rubber gloves, a new mouse still in the bubble pak or the phone number of the nearest PC shop handy.

Mice have one screw on the bottom at the stern (back end), the front is held by body clips. You got to slide the top part back gingerly but with controlled force. Inside are plastic gears, the roller assembly, tiny switches and, Oh-My-Gosh! Tiny Dust Bunnies!!!

I cleaned the bunnies the best I could and even removed the scroll wheel don't try this at home carefully. The scroll wheel sits on a hub, not very tightly, it slides a little. I clean the wheel, the hub and put them back together. One web site recommends a little spray glue to keep it from sliding around the hub.

I put the whole thing back together in the reverse order of disassembly. I did this with both mice, one fully recovered as new, the other is a cripple (still doesn't scroll).

The crippled mouse is the wireless one that came with my Wacom Graphire 2 graphics tablet. And it works great while using Synergy, I can move the cursor from screen to screen, it just doesn't scroll. No, no, it's part failure, not PC mechanic error.

I still have my dream, an artist's sketching PC. There are none on the low end (pros have all the fun) and all the laptop modders are painting lids, not tinkering with laptop insides. I want to kill the last visage of the "typewriter cult". First by building a panel to cover/replace the whole laptop palmrest. This new panel will have a Wacom pen/touch embedded in it. Then if I need to type I will have two external keyboards, a regular size one for desk typing and an ultra trim mini travel size for portable finger poking (what I do). Depending on the laptop I will have to modify the hinge assembly so the lid/display will close properly. And lastly, the customary gray/green tarp that looks like a 57 Chevy is under it. The technology exists, it's mostly a repackaging job and a new tee shirt that reads, "back away from the cutting edge, please!". Come on, try this at home. Put your Graphire 2 tablet over the laptop keyboard and let it melt into place, see, and it's cheaper too! No, it's not a professional graphics workstation, it's not meant to be.

Part of my job is to egg you on to use Linux, Open Source Software and to divide that pile of used junk into two smaller piles. Computing is fun/work, but you have to work at it and have fun with it. Next project gene splicing an elephant with a chameleon.
 

livin the tech life

I'm tell'n ya, sometimes it's sweet and sometimes it's sweat. The tech life depends upon your point of view and your training. As Linuxville is not the most popular destination it takes on the persona of a resort town. There are seasons of crowds and seasons of emptiness. Linux is great on the server as most system admin will attest, but on the desktop Linux is still suspect. Actually the big difference between Linux on the server and desktop is the purpose and the GUI. Linux as a desktop has not filtered down into the majority of the computing public of users. Typically most PC users are Microsoft Windows oriented. Some know of Linux, most have no clue. If you have a PC powered by Linux, you just can't go to your local PC shop and ask for help. Chances are they have no experience with the Linux desktop. It is a pretty common occurrence. It is no different for home PC users or business users. All the problems that typical users have with their PC's or networks require a MS oriented technician to fix it. If you follow the logic, there is a synergy type relationship between the short comings of MS Windows and the technicians needed to fix them.

What about Linux based techie's?? The hardware part is the same no matter the OS, but Linux is.........well don't try it because if you get use to it, you will be spoiled. Seems once I set Linux up I don't have to mess with it for long stretches of time. I tend to forget what I did or how. If I had a continual practice of tweaking and fixing like I had with MS Windows I would be good at fixing. All my friends plus the jobs I seek have MS Windows PCs'. How can you ever get good at supporting Linux? Also seems Linux doesn't need that much fixing (once set up).

In the MS side of the PC world you can aspire to be a system admin, or user support tech. In the Linux world, system admin is the thing, you do it all (fewer users). That leaves software support and there is so much software out there. Business software is one thing and popular general use software is another. It can be difficult to place yourself to get exposure and training and experience. The reality is that you can't do or know it all. A greater problem is that you may not like the more needful and well paying tech work available around you. I think I fall into this category. After 24 years of electrical drafting I don't think of selling my soul to learn the depths of a new profession in PC support as a younger person might. I am a tad bit selective choosing not to constantly break new ground. So, I stay with what I am familiar with; CAD, graphics, open source software for general use,PC break/fix, desktop support, the Linux experience, and some MS Windows stuff.

My biggest hurdle is getting enough experience to hone my computer skills and make the work flow techniques to troubleshoot problems second nature. Some techs have a memory for facts, methods and experiences. This is a great value to techs. My dad could listen to a car, almost know what's wrong with it. Experience is big. A huge problem to techs is ego. A big self is not good for any situation or relationship. A little tempering makes for good business. Don't turn dependence upon your skills into a worship session. You should appreciate that folks rely on you, instead of that better person lurking in the wings. Don't you know there is always someone better!!

I think the human drive for perfection, excellence, and experts is over emphasized. Most of us reside between average and very intelligent. Many, many people hold this concept, in spite of our networks, being able to google for solutions, and think tank with peers. We still want go-to-people, gurus, prodigies and know-it-alls. This one person solution results in one thing, stress. To endure stress, work well under pressure, pays very well. To be skillful and under the constant squeeze makes you a star. Careful even the sun won't burn forever!

The user side of the tech life in Linuxville is still under development. Everything is in place, just needs users to use it. Not having a marketing machine behind it means folks are not worried about profits in the next quarter or risking the farm or bilking the investors. It is truly amazing Linux and open source software exist. Success here is measured in convinced and appreciating users not figs on the spreadsheet. Of course if Linuxville was filled with perm residences instead if vacationers my income would be a little better. Yet, I appreciate all who are curious and adventurious, come by, come in, Linuxville will always be open.

Metamorphasis - dropping out, then re-emerging.

Why is there so little time to do it all? You've got to figure out what's important, then account for due process. Things take time. Everything takes time. When your high school buddies drop out of sight and re-emerge as a garage band, you are shocked and amazed. You didn't know they could do that. You wondered what happened to them. And where was I when all this was going on? It is the same for computer users. Most folk are so engrossed in the daily use of Macs, MS XP and Vista, they never notice that there might be something else, something different in the computer world. This is why many new Linux users feel so much anxiety and have a hard time letting MS go. I went from dual-booting to virtual machines to two separate computers, one with MS the other with Linux. There are two different worlds, throw in Macs and then there are three. Each world can and does do the same things as the others but there are some areas that each excels in. Opinions can and do vary. The secret hook is that Macs and MS PC's boast in their professional and educational use as well as games. Can Linux do these things, yes, only Linux does not have the marketing machine or user base that says so and thus is not on most people's radar. So in spite of everything Linux is the choice of a smaller computer aware audience.

Due process, everything takes time, this is something I have embraced since childhood. To be left alone with my toys, to tinker, to figure it out, to go beyond the instructions and examples, I guess is in my nature. Then wonder, if Linux was your only operating system, would that be a gain or a hindrance in your world. I say often, am I the only one? Sure, there is a virtual community, but flesh and blood neighbors, friends and family are all in the MS or Mac worlds. So this desktop Linux is an continuing experiment and I am allowing myself to be immersed. I have had flings of Mac envy and falling back on MS but mostly enjoy what I am discovering about Linux. I've been through the rise and fall of a few operating systems, didn't try them all. There was Amiga OS, OS2, Commodore, Atari, BeOS, Next, and a couple more. You want a certain assurance that your OS and all it's applications are not a passing fad, that is too tied to the present time and present technology. An OS must have both the present and future in view, be flexible to grow, change and challenge, even press for innovation and be in peoples' face.

I will admit to having fanboy outbreaks about Linux, but against the backdrop of Mac and MS users entrenched in their daily use, I just want to say Linux deserves a spot as an alternative choice. Linux is not disappearing and is in fact improving with every iteration. I don't have any Linux tee shirts, I do carry around Linux live-CDs. I have a Steiff penguin which I've had before I found Linux (The Linux mascot is a penguin named Tux). I promote free and open source software (FOSS) every chance I get. Going a bit further, as a techie, I haven't had to remove any viruses, malware or those kinds of things in my many years of Linux use. Can't say the same for MS use in my life. Could be Linux is better, not a target so much, or my Internet habits are more selectively careful. I am not a social network fan, an avid game site visitor or a habitual music down loader. My interest are narrow as I don't have the time to see, do, or try everything. Yet I discover new things to explore within my choices. This is called focus. You never get good at anything if your roaming all over the place too much.

Oh, I know Photoshop is the pro-ware every artistic person should use, but there is other stuff out there like Inkscape and GIMP that if you spend enough time with could meet your needs for free. And you still, if you are so desirous, can buy and use Photoshop. You just can't run it in Linux, or can you? In any case I really like Inkscape and GIMP, finding them capable of extending my craft and honing my talents. I have not bothered to compare them to Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. If your artistic training pre-supposes that you will work for a commercial (professional occupation) concern, you should look at pro-ware, get it, use it. If not, you like me can choose differently. I know this to be true because I have known folks who mix their own photo-chemicals, grind powders to make their own paint colors or dyes, soldered computer boards to run other operating systems and don't buy consumer products when the do-it-yourself option is more fun. After you've made your choice of tools, you must focus to see what you can make them do. You can inquire what others using the tools you've chosen are doing, get tips, tutorials and ideas.

In the "Matrix" you go down the rabbit-hole to see how far it goes. You might pop, merge, become a super user or make a deal to go back. But can you really go back? The experience has changed you forever, added something dimensional to your thinking, your awareness. I have resigned to being a Linux guy, I think it's super. I have the flexibility to move between computer worlds, but I prefer Linuxville. I live on Xubuntu street and will visit from time to time other hoods, like Fedora road, Dynebolic avenue and Mandriva lane. The best is that things are both the same and different everywhere in Linuxville. Something familiar, something new.
Check out a travel brochure aka Linux distro web site, visit via live-CD or make yourself at home with an install...........you might be the One.

under the Linuxville news desk

The tangle of wires, wisps of "dust-bunnies" and digital bits that somehow leaked out, all strewn about, their muffled scurrying amid key clicks and computer's hum, I brush them with my foot, oh that's one of the cats.......

I "googled" myself, Arno's Art, just to see who's out there. There is an Arno Arts that is not Arno's Art. They, or he, or she are a multimedia artist in Germany, I think. They seem pretty well established and professional and in no way are related to yours truly, but it is interesting. Just try to be original, really original, in this Internet age. I use Arno because that's how my mom says it and my artist persona "RNO", is taken from the middle of my name. So I am within my self, ha ha.
Arno's Art sounds better than Arno's Science now doesn't it? In my realm you use science to find out all about it, then to apply it is an art. Thus art is the application of science. Tell all your teachers I said that.

Under the Linuxville desk is not so new technology because I like most of you can not keep up with the latest toys and have no practical need to do so. The problem comes when your beloved and depended on software is no longer supported or the new hardware requires new software. I've made the jump from Win95, to Win98 to XP to, that's enough........ With each ineration of Win there was a new set of applications to fit. And the stuff that was not really old enough to be trashed was useless, unsupported, made obsolecent.

In the Linux realm, my hardware is having a longer life cycle, in fact older hardware is quite useful. That older PC could become a file server, network attached storage (NAS), or a web server, or an multimedia machine for my den, on my network and not missed at all. Yeah, you could do it with MS Win, but this is Linuxville remember!? MS software owership is a lease agreement at best, you have the right to use it according to their wishes. Linux is free from legal entanglements and brusing your conscience, it really is yours to do as you wish. Free and up-to-date software on older hardware is tough to pass up. My wife worries about outbreaks of "it's alive, it's alive" coming from the computer room.

Here's a scenerio: You have your laptop with all you personal data on it (huge hard drive), it gets "borrowed" by a stranger and all your info is gone. Or, you keep your most precious data on your network attached storage (NAS), could be a portable USB drive, which you leave at home. Protect your data, there are digital dumpster divers in the world.

And speaking of digital art........
To all you folk who have interest in digital art, how do you view it? When you think of digital art, what do you think? My first impression was that of commercial art. My sister worked in advertizing, my cousins for a greeting card company. Then there is game art, comics, cartoons and special effects for movies. There are lots of fantasy artist and desktop icon and wallpaper artist. And I am still amoured by industrial designers who design all the stuff we live with, especially home furnishings. With the advent of big screen digital TV's you will see more "screensaver" add-ons that will allow you to display family photos or your digital art collection when you are not watching commercial television (plug in your jump drive). Much of the digital art today is never intended to be printed out, framed and hung, but it could be...........

There is much to be said about traditional art media and folks who have learned the skills to use them. They will not go away, but works of art with those media will probably become more rare, thus more valuable. But no matter the media, it is the artist who makes the art. What is interesting is when artist cross over and blend and bend and stretch and blur the lines between different media. Yeah, it would be very cool if one of my works wound up behind your couch, over your headboard, in your dining room. I am an admitted niche artist, looking for a responding audience, yet not trying to make a career out of it. And it all happens here in Linuxville..........

Confessions of a tweakin geek

I guess I was all caught up in the election of the new president the other night. And while having revelations about what this means to yours truly, I now must admit and commit. I decided to upgrade my Ubuntu 8.04 system installation to Xubuntu 8.10. Why Xubuntu, because I only have 512 RAM on my system and Xfce runs way, way better than Gnome or KDE on the same system. So, leaving the adoring fans of Gnome and KDE, I am a Xfce fanboy, again. Both I and my cats think the little mouse symbol is cool. Yeah, Xfce is not as flashy as Gnome or KDE, not as tweakable in some aspects, but has speed and agility plus a rock solid feel I just can't do without. And by sacrificing a little overhead, I get added performance for the applications I use. I downloaded a few desktop themes from www.xfce-look.org to get away from the standard gray themes. And even though Open Office.org is a fixture in my tool bag I like to use Abiword which is a tad bit nicer (I just discovered this!).

Up top is my present desktop, I do like horses of different colors. But I don't like the clutter of icons all over my desktop. MS Windows likes to bury the file explorer in the menu, my Xfce keeps it handy so that I know where my files are and I don't have confusion staring me in the face. I've seen too many MS Windows desktops that look like a magnet encrusted refrigerator door. And, I am not so distracted by all the "click me" toys Gnome and KDE has to offer.

What is the secret to living with Ubuntu and loving it, it's got to be "The Official Ubuntu Book". I know all the stuff in it because I'm a long time user, right? wrong! There are tips and secrets and explanations galore, as I found out. To have a simple concise fix to common gotchas is a great thing. But what I want is a screensaver that locks the desktop and screams "pull your hands back and step away from the keyboard", snaps a picture and uploads it to the cops.

The art business is shaping up, sort of. I think I am seeing some avenues I want to pursue. Job hunting is producing results and possibilities. Things are positive in spite of the process.

I leave you with encouraging tips to visit Linuxville. If your PC can boot from a USB hard drive or jump drive, install Linux on it. If you have a second drive you can throw into your PC, put Linux on it. OR just use the live-CD version, Linux has pleasant surprises for most people. And if you do plan to install, do a little research so that those surprises are not overshadowed by gotchas. You wireless people need a heads up. And to tell you the truth, if you think Macs are the only alternative to MS, Macs are Unix underneath no matter how much they deny it. Linux can be easy or difficult depending how you approach it. Linux can accommodate the casual mouse masher and the text-hardened code-head. You can come and go in Linuxville without a passport. Too bad there's no free tee-shirt, coffee mug or mousepad..............

............And other neat tricks

Thank goodness for clarity, I think I got it now. Dyne 2.5.2 does in fact do clustering. The computers have to be on the same network, and their IP's and hostnames listed in a config file. When they see each other they automatically share the work load. Of course they have to be running Dyne to do it. Are there trade offs?? YES! Networking several older machines will probably cost more to run than one fairly high powered newer one. I only have two, so no big deal, how about you? Then with Synergy you can use them all with one keyboard/video/mouse. If you like to tinker and toy and experiment, YOU can do it. Yeah, MS and Apple only let you use their stuff in the prescribed ways. Linux lets you tinker with hardware and code, invent new systems, be a classical "hacker" if you want to. The word "hacker" has been demonized in a negative sense. So if you can understand my advice, if you want your kids to be just computer users, MS and Apple are ok I guess, but if you want them to be something more, Dynebolic Linux opens too many doors to count. Aside from the great applications for multimedia creation, you can do system setups and configs yet to be discovered and application development. The main thing is that it is not all worked out for you, there are still challenges and problems and worlds to conquer and you don't need corporate sponsorship or permission or a user's agreement to use any of it, or to modify any of it. The best knowledge of the scientific community is shared knowledge, the same is true in the Linux computer community. Linuxville residences all have access and share from the mouse mauler to the coder.

Only in Linuxville

As you guessed Linuxville is a virtual place and virtually anything can happen. I already talked about looking into setting up an artist website and like pulling Indiana Jones out of retirement, the Linux exploration will continue.

The latest thing to happen is the GRUB bootloader was giving me hassles. So to all you wonder workers and especially to Gparted developers, if it would not put you out too much, put some GRUB utilities along side of Gparted. When you install another operating system on your hard drive GRUB does not always update itself, the added OS does not always recognize previously installed GRUB. And to top it all off, when GRUB is installed you only get 10 seconds to choose your OS before the default one boots itself. Or you GRUB developers could build-in better GRUB tools, make us all happy. Gparted is a very handy hard disc management application that is actually a mini-live Linux CD. It does all the partition and format stuff, even for Microsoft formats. The Gparted ISO is free folks!! Download it, burn it, boot it!!!!!

So, what brought up all this fixin and tweaking? Wolvix!! What's Wolvix? Wolvix is a smallish Linux, based on Slackware. It's 483 MB is one half the size of mainstream distros, yet you get all the standard applications. It even comes with ISO tools so you can make an even smaller live-CD if you'd like. The desktop of choice is XFCE which is light weight and fast (a relative term). You could install it onto a large bootable jump drive and really have a portable office or art studio. Yes, it has both GIMP and Inkscape. Ya want ta see.............?
This is just after adding some color to the standard grey desktop, hey, the howling wolf silhouette is missing. All the standard wallpapers are grey.
I downloaded sky/clouds wallpaper, the icon bar automatically disappears, of course.
Here, Abiword, GIMP and GQview is open. I think the screenshot app crops out edge details.

What's a Ubuntu guy doing installing Wolvix? Well a couple of things. If you are using the live-CD it does not make much difference, however installing a full size distro onto a small partition is problem. A smallish Linux distro allows you some room to add only what you need. Wolvix is pretty complete, it even has Open Office.org along with Abiword. Why, I don't know. And what's Slackware compared to Ubuntu? Slackware, which is the base for Wolvix is one of the oldest Linux distros there is. It has a rep for stability and for being command line driven. Slackware is up to date and it has the modern GUI desktops, but still is slow with modern conveniences. It just recently acquired Slack-apt to resolve software dependencies. Ubuntu is Debian based. Debian is almost as old as Slackware but is more popular and development has flourished. The Slackware/Wolvix software repositories are not as flushed as the Ubuntu ones. You have to realize though, there is no difference except packaging format for the same application running on either. Linux is Linux is Linux and opinions and mileage may vary.

Our Linux class is taking to exploring some of the various live-CD Linuxes. As you guessed Wolvix is my choice. This version is called Hunter 1.1.0 with 2.0 coming soon. My view of Linux? The many versions of distros have wrappers, arrangements, utilities, and tweaks to attract many different audiences. But in all, the same applications can be had on most any distribution. This means you can find one that best fits your hardware and experience and/or purpose and be assured the same applications are there. Then after all the OS smoke and mirror shows are over, you can settle down to the everyday life in Linuxville.

Linuxville Embassy changes ahead

I've been told that my compass has spun in the art direction of late to the demise of Linux exploration. My main problem is time and head size. I just can't wear all those hats with the liberty I had in the past. I got a real 9 to 5'ver now and keeping an eye on my parents and my wife's also, oh, and did I mention the new grand-daughter? What's a guy to do?

I'm contemplating a real web site for the artist side of things. That is going to take some time and will also require some looking into some new Linux applications for web design and HTML. HTML is the "hyper-text mark-up language", the reason they are called "web" sites. Of course with web design is all the trappings, fonts, clip-art, it should be an experience. Then after you spend so much time looking around, the time has come to settle down to get some real work done. There are plenty of web sites that "look around in Linux". Besides by now I know you all can "google it" or "yahoo it". Your Linuxville guide might offer a brief rundown here and there are always occasional flashbacks.

I do have some realizations you could ponder. Linux has many marketable qualities, one being that it will run on older hardware. I say this is great if you are going to use that PC for regular stuff like email, net surfing, tinkering and putt-zing. I would say don't even bother to install, just run off the live-CD, use web based email and save to a jump drive. This is a totally portable appliance like setup you can use anywhere. If you want to do heavier work, you should consider the best hardware (Linux compatible of course) you can get, all the memory you can put in the PC and keep an ethernet cable handy (just in case). You can get the most out of Linux if your machine is able to utilize it. This is true for XP and Vista also. I am doing graphics and I did notice a performance hit on my Linux machine using Inkscape. A graphics card upgrade and system memory upgrade will fix that. The more complex the drawing, the larger the drawing, you need more memory for crunching numbers and formatting on the fly. We won't even get into what avid gamers need, they are like hot-rodders at the races. Still, I am not looking for extreme technology, just to raise the bar a little.

For once the hardware at work has more umph than my home system. It's twice as fast and has a wider and larger screen. Seeing more image on the desktop is very cool, too bad it's an XP machine. Linux is still exciting but I am moving into an appreciation phase on the other side of installation. To all you people still dipping the big toe in Linuxville waters, don't be fooled by the penguins, the water is a balmy 75 degrees, always.

duh duh-duh...........duh

I bet you didn't recognize me.......... I sitting here, it's sunny, near 80 degrees, in a trenchcoat, fedora and sunglasses. Folks in Linuxville know somethings going on, but they just can't say what. The joke of the western movie is that all the store fronts have nothing but cactus and brush behind them. Science fiction and spy movies on the otherhand....... The most intriguing part of any spy movie is the unassuming store front, a secret door and a whole different world behind it. It's the best part of Maxwell Smart or James Bond or Men in Black. What am I talking about, well I've been tinkering with XP as a virtual machine in Virtualbox on Ubuntu. This is what it looks like........

I still LOL, Windows in a window!! Anyway, after you do a normal install within the virtual machine, you can if you choose go through the pain of SP3, anti-virus (AGV) and if you plan on playing DVD's, codecs. I couldn't find a codec for XP I didn't have to pay for, so I turned to open source. I installed VLC which has been ported to run on several platforms. It comes with the needed codecs. So now I can view commercial DVD's and do internet in my secret room. There is still work to do as I've got to find ways to share data with the host system other than burning CD's or a jump drive. Virtualbox OSE or open source edition I found has some limitations with file sharing. I think I need Samba or similar, I will check it out. It would seem a small thing for an operating system, even a virtual one to view and access the whole hard drive that it is on, but no. Even a virtual Microsoft assumes it is the only one on your drive. Yellow tape and fake construction crews are also spy movie stuff. I'll be dressed in cognito as needed and I'll let you in on it, need to know bases, of course.

Herding Cats or Care and feeding of users

I have 6 of them, so I know, cats are all the same but different. The cat nature is colored by the individual cat personality. This presents a problem at critical times like when it's time to go to the vet. Cattle are like dumb sheep compared to cats. Computer users are much like cats because though we are all doing the same things we are staunch individualist when it comes to our world in front of the computer. I have required the use of a Rosetta Stone to talk with some users, their colorful way of describing things is another language entirely. I have often been confronted by user arrogance and or frustration because they can't explain it or think the words are stupid and refuse to use them. Try that in another country. And we are talking about another country here, though in the Microsoft PC and Mac worlds we say much the same things, the Linux world can be a different dialect. How easily we can assume because computer words are part of our common language, we think we know it already. In the Microsoft PC and Mac worlds, many things are hidden from the user. If you don't see them you are hardly going to talk about them. In Linuxville there are no hidden rooms, though with the advent of the modern GUI, you can closed the door, somewhat. My point is that things are a little different in Linuxville, a user is required to communicate on a higher level. Knowing what to say, how to say it and what it all means is just part of being in the community of Linux users. This is from where support for your Linux system comes. Believe me, you'll never get your "clicky thingy" fixed if you don't call it a mouse. If you are new to Linux, keep your ears open to how things are said on web sites, forums and techie friends who are trying to help you. In any country, speaking the language opens a whole new world. Learning the local dialect gets you past the front desk, the first cab, the best wine list and winks and smiles from guys like me who wonder where you're coming from. First lesson you learn from herding cats, meows are not a language (neither is barking for dog lovers). Animals tend to communicate with gestures, postures, but with us expressive hand/face movements only emphasize, they don't explain. So, my encouragement to you new to Linuxville is to learn to talk techie, put on the geek words, nerdalize yourself and soon your be talking like a native. Oh yeah, in Linuxville "the finger" is for the mouse button.......

Linux and the Strawman's brain

Well, I am all the way into the KDE 4.0 experience and it is a rad different from 3.5. It's called PLASMA and has a Mac like dashboard that sports "widgets" and can even use Mac widgets that are html based. The stock widgets (plasmoids) so far are pretty cool but few in number. Here's what I think is needed:
1) a video player widget to play video files much like the slideshow picture player.
2) a good snazzy calculator
3) widget for the missing manual for the OS and the KDE user guide or a tip of the day.
4) the fix for the comic strip viewer (I can't get Delbert!?!)
5) an PDA widget to do all the PDA stuff, including sync with actual PDA (actual/virtual)
6) a am/pm digital clock, 24 hour time is bogus for the uninitiated and the stressed.
7) an audio file player (of course)
8) Plasmoid front-ends for existing programs, esp multimedia apps
9) a Trash-bin, recycling hot spot, de-resolution receptacle, black-hole or bit-shredder.
This is my short list, I wish I were able to devise some of these myself, it might be fun.

Then some of the things users like myself might like:
1) mouse-centric users would like kicker icons for obvious keyboard shortcuts. Like Ctrl-F12 for the Dashboard or Ctrl-F8 to show all work spaces. OR that upper right corner hot spot should evoke the dashboard in the widget locked state.
2) give that Kicker bar the ability to appear/disappear (use Tux/Win-key), some transparency would be nice.

The new KDE 4.0 is a mix of old school and new. It is a platform for new things to happen. You could try a number of arrangements and still maintain a basic and familiar jump off point. Compared to KDE 3.5, KDE 4.0 is less flexible and configurable but more focused and functional.
KDE 4.0 and beyond is shaping up well and looks good to this desk jockey.

Now to enhance your Oz experience, the official Linuxville guide gives you words to implant into your deepest conversations:

1) Commercializing and branding doesn't prove an OS is better or more secure or the standard.
2) Linux is actually easier to use and understand than Macs/OS X.
3) Linux has lots of games, just not MS games.
4) Gui's only skin deep, yeah, yeah, yeah!!!!!OS ugly is to the bone.

OK, click your red mouse button three times and chant "There's no place like Gnome"............

behind the curtain in Oz

When and if you ever get to see the wizard behind the curtain in Oz you might be disappointed with the man, but you got to admire his toys!! What I did was install the latest Kubuntu 8.04 but not with KDE 3.5. They have what's called a "Remixed version" with KDE 4.0+. It was kind of scary as I was expecting all sorts of flash and thunder of eye candy that would melt my eye balls and turn my Mac and MS friends Martian green, with their tongues hanging and panting, "Somebody slap me!!"or is it "Somebody stop me!!" Instead I was greeted with coolness, suave, and polish. This approach says that a spinning cube (or tornado) is not needed to bring you to OZ.......and I got here without incident.

OK, here I am in OZ and the stupid yellow street leads in all directions, the short in statue folk are very helpful but only hint at where you might be headed and what will happen to you. Linux is a reality TV show and you need a good GPS, a even better set of ears and a Rosetta stone. Adventure awaits you and Indiana Jones (sounds better than Kansas Jones) type experiences are normal in this neck of the woods ( some call it the cutting-edge, some deforestation). If you have the luxury of owning a pencil, it might be a good idea to write down and document your travels because the bread crumbs found in the forums are not very life sustaining no matter the delight at finding them, thanks folks. Let's see, doctors need med records, lawyers need legal docs, builders need blueprints, and you need a business plan to start a business, but we Linux users have survived and flourished with "the missing manual". "Fahrenheit 19", a classic movie, is a terrible metaphor for storing and retrieving information. If you can not find people of the exact experience you are left to experiment on your own. Are you caught between "Not me man, I'm not going first" and "Yeah, I been there, done that!" in your Linux use? I say all this to point out the importance of the Linux how-to. Linux is not an ego-fest for knowledge experts (a very closed sourced attitude), collaborate, co-ordinate and give us the play by play. Don't tell us to RTFM when there isn't one (yes, Mepis has one).

Where am I?..........
I am here in my laboratory and I have installed widgets on my desktop, yeah, you can do that in KDE 4, but how do you put them on the "Dashboard" so that you can get at them with a key or mouse click and not have them welded to every desktop??? I want to know! OR, where is the how-to?? You are supposed to be able to use OS X widgets also. How do you install them hmmmmm??? I hear music in the background, darts whizzing through the air and a huge boulder with human residue on it coming toward me. Oh, I'm not in Kansas anymore, I'm clicking my sneakers but no lights (unlike the neighbor's kids) and the pages I need in the phone book were torn out by the previous caller. In the phone booth I rip open my shirt, damn, forgot my tux super suit. I dropped my car keys down the grate. Falling to my knees, the yellow dust stains my pants and I cry out, "Stella, Stella". Who's Stella?.......and who decided a 24 hour clock is better that AM, PM???

I could snap out of this with a reboot to another Linux version, but I like this place. Kubuntu 8.04, the remixed version with KDE 4.* is very cool and has potential and polish. What is needed is some documentation to make it "ready for the desktop" (LOL). "If you explain it, they will come", oh, that's concerning baseball. You need a recipie for others to make the cake that you enjoyed making from scratch. The dab of mustard in the batter is better than on the top of the finished cake, don't you think?? So, we got the content (Linux of choice) and the gui (face of Tux), and the finicky, picky, choosey user (me!). Life is sweet in Linuxville!!!!!!

the Linuxville Mepis report

Linuxville has it's quirks, one being that distros become the brain-child of groups of developers. One distro might have a better way (at least to you) of doing a thing. Similar distros might feature that unique way compared to another distros. Then some distros are popular inspite of lacking better ways of doing things. Wouldn't it be cool if all the best stuff showed up in one distro? Well I have found that what works well and easy in one distro is a trial in another. There is not usually a problem with the common applications but a few refuse to work even when nudged. This is all in the realm of learning Linux. How is Mepis on my desktop? Mepis is getting a workout as I find out how to do all the stuff I want. While I don't have a single interface to view all my pictures and videos (like Elisa Media Center), I do have several video and picture viewers that do the job well. The saying in Mepis is that it just works, this has been my experience. Not as flashy and exciting as my trek into Ubuntu, but a very good experience none the less. Mepis is very solid and the just works thing takes the edge off many newbie concerns. My only complaint has been the KDE menu which takes time to get use to. So, the trade off is finding where the application or tool is over hunting it down and making it work. Actually, I haven't progressed much beyond the out-of-the-box Mepis as some like whirling and blinking displays as proof of their geekness. Most users don't have the time or the interest to tweak till you geek. Mepis is pleasant to look at from the get. There is a lot to like. Mepis is not on the cutting-edge, not in the back of the pack, not funded by millionaires, not pushed by fanfare and stigma fighters. It is sort of like my Chevy, dependable, capable and reliable, looks good and rides nice.

There's a disturbance in the force!

Linuxville is a virtual city that crosses many borders via the internet but when ever physical bodies come together as a users group there is a confirmation to the joy of Linux. In the northeast Ohio sector of the world we've had a few such user groups. Apparently these groups have been fading away and I don't know the reason. The Cleveland Linux Users Group has dropped their web site, The Oberlin College Linux group is student focused and so is the Case Western Reserve Univ Linux group, basically a mailing list. The Northeast Ohio Linux Users Group's web site is functioning whacky. These are the ones just outside of convenient travel distance for me. I kind of prefer the interactive internet involvement, but must admit face to face is still good. My wonderful city, Lorain Ohio, has a Computer Users Group. It seems to be made up of older folks who are MS Windows users. I hear there is some interest in Linux among them. It seems that younger folk don't care to meet together the same way as older folks do. There are a number of VFW and ethnic type organizations that seem to suffer from the same kind of thing. The local college I went to doesn't support, teach, mention Linux in the normal course work. Most people I know from school, church or work are unaware that there is a Linux. I don't understand the dynamic but older folks gather to try to figure out the new stuff while the younger perhaps think they know it already, no need to meet to trade notes. It may be that older folks think community and the younger emphasize individuality. Maybe we will have to re-think the structure and appearance of Linux user groups so that interested people can be virtual and/or physical with greater ease. But I do have one criticism about Linux users groups. It is that knowledgeable Linux enthusiasts who have gathered thus far have been mostly server oriented users. Most of these folk do a lot of talk about servers, system administration and the like. These things are of little interest to folks wanting to use Linux on the desktop. I experienced this at a NASA work site. A few of us gathered to discuss Linux. Most wanted to setup web servers at home or do coding. There were some video and photo buffs. I was interested in the available desktop applications. If you want to setup, run and maintain a server, you have to know Linux pretty well, but after a server is done, you don't interact with it so much. It will run for days, weeks, years without intervention, that's the beauty of Linux. If you are a desktop user, you don't need to know that much Linux to use it. You can concentrate on the applications before you. So, I am purposing a shift and a split in emphasis. While the one Linux can do server and desktop stuff, we shouldn't press the skills required of one group on the other. It is the same with cars. You don't need to be a mechanic to drive, just a few necessary skills (change tire, add oil, etc). I think if we can remember this, Linux and Linux users will be much easier to deal with. Who am I, just a humble Linuxville rep who knows a naked emperor when he sees it and has the guff to say so. I hope your entrance and stay in Linuxville is a pleasant and rewarding one.