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!!!!!!

There is only one Linux!!!

When I say there is only one Linux you can imagine the groans and gasps of disagreement coming from every direction. In the software universe it is true there is only one Linux. This one Linux consist of volumes of source code that is compiled and configured to run on different platforms, then lumped together to form the various distributions. Don't blame me for the habit of naming every Linux formulation. But in a way it is like conquering a mountain and putting a flag on it. But you have to thank so many folk who have managed to do this feat, so you don't have to do it yourself. And it still doesn't take away your freedom and right to do this if you want to. The thing to realize is that a distro is the beginning, if you want to change it, you can.

I admit I am a distro hopper and I am trying to find the sweetspot in Linux. You all heard me say there is no one distribution that does it all or has it all. So I am looking for the broadest approach. So far the Debian distro's are winning in my book with special kudos to Ubuntu. Ubuntu's repositories seem to have the widest assortment of applications pre-compiled for easy installation. Besides having a full repository, you want not to have to install Flash and Java apps into Firefox or what ever browser you are using. This is becoming better even as we speak, Linux developers are no longer waiting for Adobe to do the job for Linux. It is a shame for proprietary standards to be in common use and controlled by the ignorance, arrogance and whim of the closed source owners. As long as this is the case there will never be open computing.

Back to my distro hopping, I have done things I swore I wouldn't do. But I see some things have changed, so I took the liberty. Even though I don't have an official "old machine", I have used Xfce desktop, quite snappy and somewhat good looks. I have to admit KDE though large in comparison to Xfce is still nimble enough for me not to complain about speed. And because I am so changeable, I like KDE's ability to change with me. I have tried KDE 3.5 and while still not liking the complexity, found a descent arrangement. Then as I reported that I after being a Xubuntu fanboy for a while switched to Mepis. I really like Mepis but Mepis doesn't have the easy install of applications that I was looking for. Again, the extensive repository of pre-compiled programs is a big draw. Why compile yourself when you can point and click?? So, I revisited the Ubuntu forest and installed Kubuntu 8.04 over my Xubuntu 7.10. I was so pleasantly surprised, the install went very well, no problems like in my previous encounter with 8.04 (Xubuntu and Ubuntu).
The first thing to notice is that the latest KDE has been cleaned of clutter and confusion, even given a little polish. This KDE version 4 is kind of likable. It has elements I have liked in other OS's and Linux desktops. They didn't try to include everything so you might have to add some stuff, but it is a solid base, change or no. KDE is like Macs in some ways and like MS in some ways but these are ways that users are accustomed to seeing and as always if you need to change it, you can. The difference between Mepis and Kubuntu, not much but the pre-compiled software repositories of Ubuntu gives it an edge. Ubuntu, being a more international distro does have the media codec issue to contend with, but additions are easy to get at.

So if you are exploring Linux or are a distro hopper like me, consider these things:
1) There is only one Linux over all, but distro's have been made to narrow down your choice.
2) A full repository of pre-compiled easy to install software is what you want.
3) Make your /home directory a separate partition. If you are a change fanatic like myself you won't have to do constant backups. You can use the same /home partition with any Linux install.
4) A little Linux goes a long way. Upgrade fever is replaced with continual improvement.

Back home in Linuxville

My present tech job is ending and I relish the experience. Even the chance to pick at a few Macs allows me to fatten my resume. But I am still left with some after thoughts. If you have made the commitment to Macs or Microsoft in cash investments I'm sure you are in no mood to change. If you are taking a new direction you might want to add Linux into your figuring things out. Apple has done a good job at convincing people that Macs are easier to use than MS or Linux and you pay the price for the tour guide to stay on the path prescribed. If you stray off the path even a little bit, Macs are no different than Linux or MS other than a more polished interface. Staying with the applications your user experience is indeed something to boast about. If you need to be more powerful than the average computer user you have to deal with a more complex Mac. It is similar to Linux in that respect except that Linux is more understandable than the BSD Unix that Macs are based on (from this user's view). But since most Mac users never venture too deeply into the Mac, it is regarded as a point and click appliance. The truth is that Linux can be that way also. You can point and click Linux and you can script and program also. My great discovery is that what Macs have can be had in Linux for free. The advantage of Macs are some presumed polish and a single company behind it (if that is a real advantage). Linux is really the sum of parts compiled to run on various platforms and configured for targeted purposes and customized for the types of users. While out of the box setups have gotten better, the real treasure of Linux is that it can and most often is customized by the users. Then to top it all off, the Apple people are turning to the Intel PC platform. If you are a Mac user you will slowly see your present Mac hardware get old and obsolete. No upgrade path means you will have to buy new stuff if you want to continue to use the Mac OS. You have to note that Mr. Jobs in order to retain the tight market he has will continue to lock the hardware in some way so that other OS's won't run on the same, now common hardware that OS X runs on. In a perfect world you would buy the hardware you want and also the OS you want and go for it. This is not happening. It is too bad that Linux doesn't have a great marketing machine behind it. In another thought I am glad it doesn't. It is kind of hard to summarize Linux in a defined package. The Linux parts can be compiled and assembled in a vast assortment of combinations. So while distributions may be a company's or a person's choices, along with the naming convention, there are gangs of users who agree with those choices and rave about their superior distro. Marketing people and the tech mags are all waiting for the Linux market to shake out and one distro to take the lead. This is not in the nature of the Linux culture because Linux is not a single trademarked product. As long as folks consider Linux by the same measure as Macs and MS, they will miss the point of Linux. Linux is free, about freedom and about choice. Having made these choices, one is amazed at how it still works together. Then the nature of Linux extends into the community that develops it, supports it and uses it. Linux can be a great break glass emergency tool kit or a full time server or desktop OS, your choice. But, be at peace if your brand name loyalty prevents you from wondering or wandering. The sights, the sounds, the smells and the invitation to Linuxville is waiting here for you, if you choose.

The apple orchard next door

As a techie I get to contend with "other" technologies. Well for the first time I had to deal with Macs. It was a good time to test all the hype surrounding it. Yes the emperor is naked indeed. I had to install some network monitoring software on Macs with OS X 9 and 10.** (Leopard, Jaguar and Tiger) and I got to tell you that some folks are snowed and some deluded to believe the ads. No matter what folks say, Macs are Unix, even Linux like, sorta. It maybe covered by a very attractive wrapper, but you can't deny the truth, if you know. Of course if you were never told this up front it would go right past you. Macs are not more or less intuitive than other operating systems, you still have to learn where things are and how things work, but if you were told how easy this is over and over again, you tend to believe it and repeat it. Thus comes the saying that Linux is too hard and not ready for the desktop. The rub is that when you push past the friendly interface to get at the settings you need to have things explained to set them correctly. The manual comes in handy, how intuitive is that?? So, you are told Macs are easy and that they are the other choice besides MS PC's. If you have to do any power things on your Mac, the Unix comes out. We won't go into how I dislike Mac hardware, the ultimate in vendor lock. As long as it all works, it looks nice and does interesting stuff, this is one case where you do get what you pay for. Then again if it breaks, you pay to get it fixed. There is no thriving open community the likes of Linux to get help when you need it. If you tear that little annoying tab off, the men in white coats will arrest you. My verdict is simple, I can't afford a Mac, period. I don't like the hardware and the support sucks. If it all works for you, you are blessed, in a funny kind of way, sorta. Back in Linuxville I am surrounded by what I know and luv, but it is good to once and a while hop the fence to tinker with the neighbor's toys. I just don't believe his grass is greener because he tells me so.

I'm living in a virtual world, and I am a........

The orange barrels are up in Linuxville and I am really into tweaking and improving things. I have been exploring the virtual machine world and have found gold. In the Mepis docs there is a section that explains how to get and install Virtualbox. It involves typing a few lines into the terminal to install something called linux-headers, checking the repository listing in Synaptic, typing in another line in the terminal to provide an access key, installing Virtualbox and playing with the new software. There were a few curveballs but in all it went well. The first test was with Geexbox, a multimedia front-end that is actually a very small Linux distro. It worked but the video had flickering and jumping. I had to attach the "Guest Additions" to supposedly fix the problem. I applied the fix and it didn't fix it. Then I tried LIMP and Womp, they worked pretty good but because these are other operating systems, they need to be set up to see shared resources on my main or host operating system. I also installed two small footprint Linux distros, DSL and Puppy. They both worked perfectly. Then I did the ultimate test, I installed MS WinXP into a virtual machine. It was a normal install and it runs great, even added service pack 2. Now I got to configure all that backroom stuff, like antivirus, shared drives, internet and network connections. I must say that Virtualbox is a whole lot faster than Qemu, even MS WinXP is pretty snappy. I really have to LOL when I see WinXP in a window and not owning and dominating my computer. May the live-cd or .iso image should become the standard for all operating systems. You could try it and if you like it, install it or virtuallize it and all is well in the world. Perhaps the next big thing in computers is a solidstate drive just for the operating system and installed applications. There are still things to come and Linuxville has a thumb on the pulse.

Wish you were here, virtually

Linuxville is such an interesting place, every knook and kranny has details and depths to explore. Besides being able to take it with you (live-CD's), you can as if you had a computer in your computer, run a second OS to see if the grass is greener. It is called a virtual machine and it is all the rage. There are realities in running virtual machines called sharing resources. So, if you only have 512MB of memory, you would use 256MB of it to run the other operating system. That other operating system would appear to be just another application running but would "Virtually" be another computer (with less resources) running at the same time as your main OS. The effect is that things respond slower depending upon the load. It is not that bad if you have a lot of memory and a higher CPU speed. So, why on earth would you want to do this madness? What is the reason you might want more than one OS anyway?? Well, if the Wine emulator isn't working for you, you could install MS Windows as a virtual machine and run window's apps. Or like I said you could see if other Linux distros are better than what you have now. It is actually more cool because you don't have to burn a CD, just download the ISO file and run it virtually.
Virtual Machine software comes in various packages and depends upon your distro if you can easily use them. VMware is probably the oldest, most well known, then there is VirtualBox which is new and very nice to use. It is a wrestling match to install Virtualbox in Mepis but I will make the effort and tell you all about it. What I am using now is Qemu and it is so slow as I only have 512MB of memory and using KDE eats up a lot of that. But, Qemu is very easy to use. OK, here is one thing in Linux I really want and virtual machines is a big part of it. I want one application that allows me to play or view all the media files on my system. The separate programs are wonderful, but one "front-end" to manage and view it all would be great. I have raved before about Elisa Media Center as being a good looking application for this purpose. I have had terrible luck installing and getting it to run on my Mepis system, no problem in Xubuntu. I have discovered a few more apps that will do the job. They happen to be mini-Linux distros. The first one is called Geexbox. It has quirks but works on my system. Then there is LIMP which also works and Womp which works too. These distros are tiny and are just meant for playing media. I will have to see if they are fit for my needs as I don't need them to stream video or drive a TV tuner card, just view and play what I already have on my computer. Then to have the ability to use or play with all those small Linux distros is great fun. DSL or Damn Small Linux, Wolvix and Puppy Linux and several more are all great to explore. I can save my CD's for permanent collections. Those big distros I'd rather just use the live-CD, they seem to run better. The bottom line is that having as much system memory as you can afford is useful for any OS. Use older hardware if you must but realize how hard it is to support it. You will end up running older versions of Linux to do the job. Please let go of your 8088 and your 386, even 486 cpu's are a trial to support! I would consider a serious upgrade if your stuff is hitting 6 to 8 years old. Then you can enjoy all the modern gadgets and widgets.
Here is another edition of "Linux Truths", this time with a question attached. There is no one Linux that does it all because developer groups tend to focus on certain out comes, so that you can have an out-of-the-box experience. Which Linux distros seems to have the most extensive assortment of popular applications in their repositories, allow app installation without extra steps and have all this without resorting to a DVD size ISO? I ask this because .deb's compiled for one distro might not work in another. Is there a distro that has the depth and breath? Don't say Debian because I know of many applications I can't find in Debian, you have to compile them from source yourself to run in Debian. Ultimately compiling source code allows you to have custom distros. That is the very mechanism that makes software run in your distro, on your computer, specifically. To have software compiled to the "Debian" standard is a general specification. If Ubuntu, based on Debian, is designed differently than Debian, you can't actually expect all software compiled for Ubuntu to run on Debian and vice-versa. The differences might be small, but are just enough for stuff to not install or run. This is why distros usually stock repositories with software compiled to run in their distro. Same source but compiled to run in a different situation. I want to tell all you standardization cheerleaders that it is not a Linux flaw, it's a feature. This is why the same "Linux" can run on so many different types of hardware.
Does this take the fun out of Linux, no, we just see what other folks are using and experiencing. Then we try it, if we have problems or success we share it, voice it, blog it for others to be warned or encouraged. In Linuxville we call that community!!

Life after Home Makeover in Linuxville

Ever wonder how life goes on after Home Makeover has left and the rush from so much newness and people and cameras and hugs have faded. You might have to gather yourself and try to find how your old life can cope with the new environment. You yourself haven't changed, but now there are all these possibilities. After some time you might even get the boldness to change something or add something. While the gift of newness is wonderful, it begins to sink in that the tastes and choices they made on your behave are not truly reflective of yours. Eventually the custom designed themed bedrooms, though exciting, need changing because the kids grow up. Growth and change are fluid yet constant and rarely consistent and always enviable. The out-of-the-box experience, though a great impact statement is still just the beginning. Wait now, I am getting to Mepis! What I am getting at is that each distro seems to have there own ways of doing things. This is partly why some .deb packages compiled on one Debian based distro will not install correctly on other distros also based on Debian. Files are put in different places so when programs run and they ask for a file in a certain location, it is not there. Sometimes it is a matter of dependencies which are not in the repositories or that you have to add the URL of repositories and security code keys to access them. It is not very open if you ask me, but you must protect your assets and your access, these days. Standardization is a nasty word in Linuxville. And Linux mechanics will fight you to keep the freedom to devise different ways of doing things with Linux. But in my humble opinion, just a little standardization might be a welcome tonic for users. A .deb package should be a .deb package and just work on Debian based distros, no matter the flavor. Or a converter program is needed to insure a .deb package will install in that distro. Maybe even something like Alien which converts from one package system to another (.deb to .rpm) could do the job. Oh, we already got this, it is called compiling!! Yeah, we do, but then you have to teach the world to sing and with 95% of us off key too! So, maybe there should be one giant repository for .deb files and every distro have a compliance converter to insure that .deb's install properly in that distro. Maybe Synaptic needs built-in compiling tools and be distro aware. Does the compiling process need to be streamlined then put behind a front-end (a GUI)?? Why is it that some distros have full catalogs of pre-complied software that fit their distro and some do not? Standardization of some sort could combine resources or locations of resources, then common tools to access them, then modules added for specializations, exceptions, uniquenesses, differentiallities, quirks, radical departures, etc, to insure the .deb file installs in the particular distro. Every distro might come equipped with the "Universal Linux Package Distro Compliance Converter" so that you can throw any Linux package at it and it will make that package fit any distro. Standardization need not mean sameness, just better resource management and deployment. You have to ask if the different packaging systems amount to closed systems within the open source arena?! Packaging is a standard and it has to be or Linux is hindered. The Alien software program crosses the package barrier, what will cross the distro barrier? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to put compiling on the desktop in a way that is fully accessible. To find code and dependencies, compile it, install it and run it, should be an effortless workflow in Linuxville. To sum it all up, in Linuxville we all wear shirts, different shirts, but shirts. Different styles, colors, materials, shapes, sizes, still shirts (or blouses). Do we continue to endure the sweatshops? (to make shirts or command line compiling) or do we utilize more friendly and accessible tools to do the same job???? There is lots to argue about but that is what Linux communities are all about, throwing minds at problems. Life goes on!!!!
Mepis is just fine and the blurb above is a concern encountered upon installing apps in Mepis that were a breeze in Xubuntu. Ease of use and user friendliness are two different qualities. You need two mints in one if you intend to relieve user frustration. OK, you got the car with all the toys, but it has a standard shift. Multitasking behind the wheel just became complicated. Some will say that this is closer to the real Linux, requiring savvy and skill. Even Slackware had to address dependency hell and make software installs more friendly. If the Debian software catalog is more extensive than the rpm or the tarball ones, why can't some Debian based distros use all those .debs?? Within the open Linux world are closed, distro and cpu architecture dependent systems. I understand cpu architecture differences, but not distro differences. I mean so different that you have to resort to compiling from source code to make it run on your distro. I'm starting to repeat my anguish. We all are searching for the Linux sweet spot. The cries from the Linux choir are worst than a rampage of used car salesmen. There is no one Linux distro that is all things for all people, does all things well or is so able to run on mainframe or laptop, server or desktop, new or old hardware and accommodate skilled and unskilled users. Linux is the ultimate in customization and can be made to fit the hardware, the process and the user. But there is still room for improvements. Even in Linuxville, the streets are paved with orange barrels, at times.

Home Makeover comes to Linuxville

In Linuxville there is always the opportunity to re-evaluate your whole situation and change it if necessary. One of the best ways to do this is to have a separate partition for your /home directory. This way when you change your linux install you can better preserve your user files and data. In practice though, you shouldn't have to change anything for years. In fact the hot OS idea is counter the practical design of Linux. Once you have a distro installed, you should be able to upgrade portions of it as necessary be it the kernel, the libraries or the whole distro. I've become a "distro hopper" and it has got to stop. Is there really a better Linux distro just around the corner?? Does having the latest and greatest and being on the cutting-edge of things really matter?? Will I fall behind if I don't have the newest?? My hardware isn't getting any newer and the applications haven't changed significantly, why am I striving so hard to be first on my block?? A Linux OS is meant to last a long time, just like that gum they advertise on TV, where they beg you to chew a second piece. With the incremental improvements you don't have to get upgrade fever. The server folks have known this for ever and we in the desktop crowd should not be overcome by this sickness either. Linux choice is about considerate choosing of appropriate tools, reasonable look and feel and ease of use. To market Linux based on wallpaper and screensaver experiences is not a good thing.
Well, one thing leads to another and in Linuxville you get to see and experience a lot. Trying stuff is what keeps this whole thing interesting. Not having a business, I don't have to have a locked down user environment. Sameness is more maintainable from a system admin point of view. So, you heard of my love for Xfce desktop and how much I am weary of extreme eyecandy. I want to hip you to a couple of things I think are striking enough for serious thought. The first is a desktop called Kuartet. Kuartet is a desktop that runs on top of KDE and uses something called Superkaramba. Superkaramba allows you to design desktop wigets and gadgets, you know, clocks and gages, status bars, etc, etc, etc. Kuartet escapes the menu metaphor with info screens and desktop hotspots. It is cool looking and functional. The catch is that it is a project that has escaped notice and did not catch on (ahead of it's time??). If Oprah can promote books, I can promote this. We should consider a Kuartet revival and proceed to push the envelope of the desktop. The second thing before me is the window manager Fluxbox. I've played with it before and now have it on AntiX, the Mepis spin. Fluxbox is a looker and you can change the look with a flick. Fluxbox is simplicity inspite of requiring a little tweaking to set it up. Fluxbox is swift. If you want to turn in your SUV for something greener, Fluxbox is the one. Sorry, you can't just install Fluxbox from Synaptic and run it. Fluxbox is not a desktop environment like Gnome or KDE or Xfce. It is a window manager that requires the help of other apps to fill it out (you get to choose, yeah!!!). In the Mepis docs is a Wiki on how to install Fluxbox, configure it and what to put with it so you have a complete desktop. I will try it all out and report it here, live, for your enjoyment and deployment.
Another Linuxville truth!!! There is no Linux expert or single person who contains all there is to know about Linux. This is why user groups and forums are so cool. If you have a question or concern, you can inquire within the Linux "social network", "community", "distro docs" for the benefit of our combined knowledge and experience. Excuse us if our "mouse-side manner" (user hand holding technique) needs work, but ask. Life in Linuxville is fun and challenging.

More adventures with Mepis

Had a real busy day, the battery in my car which is supposed to put out 600 cold cranking amps only kicked out 21. It is a wonder the car still started, but Chevy's turnover fairly easy anyway. The 30 minute replacement operation turned into a couple of hours. I called a friend to assist me and we got it done. Things don't usually go as smoothly as we'd like. I had better luck with my computers. As you know I made the switch to Mepis 7.0 and it just works. I am learning to like KDE desktop, it has so much stuff, but I miss Xfce. So, I installed Xfce as an alternate desktop and am in the process of setting it up. To see all the tools Mepis offers in Xfce is making me feel I made a good choice. Mepis does something that other distros should pick up on. Instead of the missing manual that nobody provides anymore, Mepis comes with a desktop link to a manual installed on the live-CD or your hard drive. Not an internet link to a web site or a help file. It is clear it is the manual, you don't have to look for it. Then I read that Mepis uses Ubuntu repositories, but the truth is that it uses some, not all. Mepis is compiled from Debian "Etch" which is the latest stable version. So a better choice is to seek out the Debian repository sites. I am not clear which Ubuntu versions Mepis 7.0 is compatible with. Some Ubuntu based .deb packages will not work properly on Mepis.
My second machine, a 32 bitter took a major change, I removed Mepis 7.0 (is this guy fickle or what?) and swapped and reformatted the drives. In the Mepis camp, there is this distro called AntiX. It is Mepis, but very skinny. It reminds me of Wolvix, small with lots of tools and apps. It is just over 350MB in size and is full of light weight stuff. It has Fluxbox and Icewm for the desktop and looks great. As a hit and run live-CD it is adequate for rescue work or an office you take with you. And as I will use it, to manage files on my network and explore and tinker and tweak and general geeking out. What happens to all those other live-CD distros stacked on your desk? I like to from time to time revisit neighborhoods I have known and do demos for friends. Promoting Linux is not easy as one distro is good at somethings but not at others. The coolness factor depends on how much Linux you understand and appreciate. Eventually you get past all the flash and want the functionality too. Mepis and AntiX are an interesting combo.

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.

The awlful truth about Linux

The awful truth about Linux is that there is more than one way to do things. So, when you change from one distribution, say Xubuntu, to another, Mepis, you gain some things and lose others. This is like the days of my youth, combing through a Boy Scout catalog and seeing a Swiss army knife. My dad buys me this other knife. It was twice as big and had three times as many tools. It did the job and then some, but was hard on the pockets. Xubuntu is slim in function, though you can nudge it to do anything. Mepis on the other hand has all the stuff and just works. Mepis is very impressive but I can see that certain applications are not in the repositories and might have to be compiled to run on my system. This is unfortunate for a point and click guy like me. I might have to learn something new. There is a lot to be said about simplicity. I bought a Pontiac car a while back. It had a lot of dashboard dials and buttons for extra stuff. Sort of made you feel you were in an airplane cockpit. They were not really needed to drive the car, but boy was it cool looking. I am working my way around KDE desktop. It looks spiffy but it is hard to settle on what I like, I keep tweaking this and that. I have a status panel on the top and a application icon panel in the bottom, that disappears. Not radical but very workable. I noticed that Mepis doesn't have quite the web presents that Ubuntu has and perhaps a smaller community too. But the Mepis forums are not filled with minor new user questions either. This is because Mepis just works for most people. Hey, it worked for me. Another truth is that the applications that matter are available for most distributions leaving the awkward installs for those projects that aren't so popular. Yeah, yeah, I could have moved to Ubuntu or Kubuntu but due to the compromises needed to make a distro popular, I don't think I would have gained as much. So, if you have a lean machine, give Xubuntu a try but don't expect to control the world without some work. Mepis is full-bodied and robust. The KDE menus are a bit much to remember where things are kept. The icon panels help out a lot. And so far I didn't have to install flash on the 64-bit Firefox, it just worked. And the video downloader extension installed and works too. Mepis is a little less work than Kubuntu and I like that.
Now, Elisa Media Center is not a convenient install on Mepis and I am looking into have it or something like it on my computer. But as I go around tweaking and adjusting my system, I will eventually will find a solution. Stay tuned, you'll hear it from me.

To all you purest, loyalist and devotees of Linux

One of the hardest things to deal with in Linuxville is distro love. Often you hear of folks who swear by a particular distribution of Linux. We get so personal with our connection to the distro we are using as if it has the ability to do all and be all. These are of course good and confident feelings and my intent is not to discourage them but to insist on a little reality. While most distros seem well thought out it is obvious that not all can do things exactly the way we wish. Choices and compromises and decisions have been made to produce something so that you might have an out-of-the-box Linux experience. We should not expect that provided solution to be optimum for everyone. This is why so much attention has been spent on being able to delete and install portions of Linux. Then the GUI desktop itself has become a large part of what is provided in the distro. The major desktops are based on a particular library, Gnome and Xfce use the gtk and KDE uses the qt libraries. Then developers have written similar solutions from those libraries that integrate well with the desktops also written from those libraries. Of course you can use a mix of these solutions in your installation of Linux with various degrees of success. So you can be GUI focused which reveals that different distros function the same when sharing the same GUI. Or a name brand loyalist, pushing and recommending a particular distro. Or a mix of the extremes. You have to ask the question, if the new car out of the box experience is so great, so satisfying, why do you see fuzzy dice, new hub caps, seat blankets, beads, knick-knacks, tissue boxes, trim lights, hood scoops and assorted stuff in the new car by the first weekend of ownership ? The out of the box thing may be a great concept for business transport but the drive to personalize and accessorize makes it mine. Being able to cover all of the user choices in one distro is near impossible, but you should always have the feeling you can personalize and accessorize. I drove Ford cars for years, I now own a Chevy. I've had 4 station wagons in a row, I now have a sporty sedan. I have had Slackware and Red Hat, now I have Debian. Eventually you discover what works for you, what you are willing to deal with and who supplies what you need? My moto, "It's all Linux inside."

My latest move is SimplyMepis 7.0. It uses KDE desktop and the Ubuntu repositories. It has good looks and feels solid. Similar to Kubuntu? Yes, but lets not split hairs. I am looking away from the millionaire's OS's to see what else is out there. Mepis has the coolness factor without the political/social philosophy thing Ubuntu has. Gosh, what people do to sale cars!

New developments and winds of change

Well folks, in my personal Linux adventure, I was tortured by the question of wither to install a full featured Linux distro or a small trimmed down one. Is it better to delete redundancy or install what's needed. I still can't answer that question. But my computing needs did indeed change and I find that Xubuntu does not stand up to the challenge. When inquiring about my new direction, the response was good but not clear cut as I had hoped. To accomplish the things I want and have to use all sorts of command line tweaks and such is not the kind of person I am. Some of you kind and helpful folks really like to dig into the flesh of Linux and make it work. My self, for the purpose of pursuing a more "popular" Linux, prefer to see application and GUI solutions. While I root for the Ubuntu crowd, I have had trouble with the new Hardy Heron 8.04 on both of my machines. The 64-bit one works but web browser extensions are problematic. On the 32-bit one, the install failed a number of times and the desktop settings did not hold once I did get it installed. This was with Xubuntu and with Ubuntu (with Gnome). The 7.10 versions worked without a problem. I wonder what are the underlying causes of these problems, but I really don't have the skills to probe them or the interest to use work-arounds. Oh, I did not mention Kubuntu, I really don't care for KDE desktop but, this has become a part of my new direction. So, you can guess that I am not a true distro loyalist, not a make it work or die kind of person. I have loaded a distro called Mepis onto my second machine. While I don't like the KDE menu or the extensiveness of the tweakability of KDE it does look and feel just fine once you become accustom to it. Mepis is Debian based and does use Ubuntu repositories. I don't know what it has in comparison to Ubuntu but when I installed it, it worked, period. You can't ask for more than that. I of course am looking into the background of Mepis as I want to know about the support community and such things. Then this KDE thing is interesting for one reason, I want the tools to do what I want. Xubuntu lacks networking apps and the path to gather which tools are useful, to download, install and configure is not so clear. You system mechanics might holler "what's the problem?" and "you can do it like this!". This is fine but it is probing too deep into the inner workings of Linux and I really don't have the inclination to 'figure it out'. Back to the question of full or skimpy distro, Mepis has the tools to do everything and to my taste I might have to uninstall a few things and add others, but the tools are there. What I need to do is see my network, share files and remote. I shouldn't have to make it work, from my perspective. I guess the idea of a single computer using Linux is fine but being part of a network is different. And it is not a dedicated server and I am not a Linux system mechanic, so I look for simpler, more complete and accessible solutions. To sum this all up I would say that the new Hardy Heron needs work, is not as cool as the previous version. The KDE desktop, which I am not rah-rah over is not that bad to deal with (takes time) and while Ubuntu enjoys the spotlight, is not all there is to Linux. I am tipping my hat to the Mepis crew. Mepis or SimplyMepis as it is called, uses the KDE 3.5 and I wonder if the new 4.0 would be better but at this point it does not matter, it all just works. That is the point!

doing some yard work in Linuxville

Here in Linuxville you don't need a builder's permit to do that special project that's going to upgrade your property, but then again you are not assured to have all the stuff you need available to do the job. I have dubbed it "the land of not". As a big fan of Xubuntu, I was expecting to have what was needed to do some expansion work, not!! What I was wanting to do was setup a MS Windowless network consisting of two Xubuntu computers, a router and a DSL modem. Yeah, I got it physically wired alright, but the software side is "not" happening. Not only does Xubuntu not have adequate network tools, but there is not one how-to that explains it in a simple, step by step way so that the average Joe or Josephine could understand it. If you use Samba, which I think is for connecting to MS Windows computers, there is lots of info. If you have only Linux machines, there is zilch. Then to top it all off, Xubuntu does not come with a network browser. Sure, if you are a techie who enjoys digging into the inner workings behind the GUI, you can make it all work. But if you want Linux to be the fairly popular desktop that might rival MS Windows, you have to have clear cut GUI ways to access these things. That also means that system mechanics need to swallow their savvy and condense the complicated path they took to make it all work into point-n-click simplicity. Xubuntu, Xubuntu, Xubuntu, you have it going for you and yet you come with missing parts. To be able to connect to a network is a simple thing. A network browser is not too much to ask for, even if it is an application that can be installed later. I have heard it from techs but the point is I shouldn't have to know so much to be able to do this. Every little detail requires an explanation and those explanations are scattered across the internet. I realize that Linux distributions tend not to do everything well, which is why folks try out many different ones. Alas, even I, must join the ranks of folks who say Linux is crap because something does not work on "my machine". No, Linux is evolving and growing and is better than previous versions, that is for sure. But, in the explanation of things, certain assumptions have been made. My complaint is that my particular needs have not been addressed and my skills have not progressed to where I can do-it-myself without help. My project is to have two Linux computers, share one internet connection via a router, see each other, have one remote into the other, share folders and a printer. In MS Windows, these things are not so complicated. Why are they so hard to do in Linux which was designed with networking in mind? Again, I am looking through Xubuntu glasses. This is like typical yard work at home, I can see what I want but don't have a tool to get it done easily and rightly. I mow, then it rains, the dandelions stand up like soldiers, 'ya missed me', where is agent orange when you need it? I call tech support, I want to install a "package", then point-n-click and get it done.
Somewhere, deep in the heart of the urban jungle of Linuxville in a small obscure curio shop with dusty shelves, strange lights and noises come from a back room, a couple of surviving machine code wizards motion to their young protege, faces still glowing from the ancient CRTs on the table, "oh, you can do that in Xubuntu can you?", "yeah, but can you manage it with a mouse and make a simple how-to anybody can use?" I wish........

Linuxville bragging rights revisited.

When you get brand new software it always is a concern as to if it is a finished product or if you are the second rung beta tester (guinea pig). I guess I could have taken the upgrade path where you install the new software on top of the old, but that does not work so cleanly all the time. So I, as you will recall, installed the new Ubuntu 8.04 on my older machine and it hung. I tried three times and the third time (the charm) it loaded with no problems. Now I have on my main box, Xubuntu 8.04 and 7.10. My older machine sports Ubuntu 8.04. Being a Xfce fanboy, I am a bit biased toward Xubuntu but, Gnome does have some points. It is a solid desktop with some things I like. I really like the snappy windows in Xfce, Gnome sort of fast fades in and out. I am not a slow motion kind of guy, I like the crisp popping in and out of my windows. I think fades and hesitation promotes an un-assured feeling when working the desktop compared to a crisp response. But don't get all click happy, we must learn patience, computers still don't provide the swiftness of mental agility. Ubuntu 8.04 is on a 32-bit machine so I don't expect any problems getting web browser extensions to work. Gnome is like a whole new neighborhood, similar to Xfce but different enough to notice. In Xfce, the Icon panels or tool bars are more configurable. You can in Gnome add fancy icon bars that rival the one on Macs, but I really hate adding to the overhead of the desktop when the point is to get to the programs. You might think otherwise and that is your right. What do you do with two computers when you are the only real user in the house? If I had some money I'd get a couple of large hard drives and use one computer as a server to the other. But the truth is that my needs are not that great and I don't tend to collect stuff I don't use. I do intend to try out networking and remote desktop and virtual machines and all that sort of thing. I was considering installing MS XP as a virtual machine but I can't think of any software that runs on MS Windows I must have that doesn't run in Wine on Linux. Yes, I am practically MS free.

One of my latest interest is multimedia as I am impressed with a little item, the digital picture frame. Just sitting there on the mantle or desk, flicking scene after scene is so cool. Then I installed a program called Elisa Media Center. It is wonderful as it allows one interface to all the media on your computer, it is very sweet. I'm not much into the MythTV kind of thing, the computer/TV connection is there but, I'm still hedging about putting a computer in the living room, I guess it could happen. Like the days of the hifi stereo setup, TV and computer arrangements tend to get techie. Does Elisa need anything? Yes, it allows you to explore YouTube, but only YouTube and there is no search function so you can only see the most viewed and tagged stuff. To be able to load any internet video source site and have search criteria would make it even cooler. In the meantime, you can download videos to the hard drive and watch them that way at your leisure. Also to be able to download the stuff you find while in Elisa would be nice. Maybe combine Elisa with some Flock browser type functions would be cool. The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades!!

Standing room only and somebody yelled 'Fire!!'

Yes folks, the mad rush to download the new Ubuntu 8.04 is on and I jumped into the fray. Of course I used bit torrent like a good boy and it all went smoothly. I installed the 64-bit Xubuntu on my main machine, an HP Pavilion desktop, 2.20 ghz AMD Athlon 64, 512kb memory and 80gig HD and Nvidia Geforce 5200 video card. It is not extreme at all and the install was slow but perfect. Like I said previously, there were some typical 64-bit issues with Firefox and Flash but they are being worked out. I am now able to view flash movies but still I can't download any. In the Ubuntu repositories, there is Gnash and swfdec, which are the two Flash choices available, but I don't know if they are 64-bit or 32-bit. I do know that if they are 32-bit, they require a nspluginwrapper to let them work in a 64-bit Firefox browser. I installed them and don't recall installing the wrapper. I will have to peek inside to see what was installed. Anyway, at least the video watching problem is solved. I still don't understand why the download extensions for Firefox don't work. I even installed SeaMonkey, which is the Mozilla continuation of Netscape browser (very nice). Download extensions won't even install for SeaMonkey. Alas, so much mystery!!
My second computer is one I pieced together, a 850mgz AMD Duron, 256mb, 20gig HD and ATI Radeon 7200 video card. For it I downloaded Ubuntu 8.04 and wanted to see just how long it took to install. I can't tell you because it hung. When the install reach the point of configuring the locales, it hung and I had to go to work, so I shut her down. The saga continues..........
The trauma fuels a discussion as to whether it is more worthwhile to install 32-bit over the 64-bit versions, even on 64-bit hardware. Opinions vary but in reality 32-bit hardware is slowly being replaced by 64-bit, even though many, many 32-bit softwares are not changing over. In this mix, backward compatibility is built-in but I wonder at what cost.
More adventures are coming, stay tuned.

Linuxville's critic's corner

You all know the thrill of getting a shiny new car only to find a few flaws that spoil the allure. I wonder what was the rush to get Hardy Heron on my computer was all about. This is the latest Xubuntu 8.04 and it indeed was sweet for a while. Being a 64-bit kind of guy, I was braced for some trauma and I wasn't disappointed. But what troubles me is a deeper concern, I now can not download videos, the helper extensions won't install in Firefox. I even reinstalled an earlier Firefox to no avail. The combo of new Xubuntu and Firefox 3 beta 5 does not play well together. I also tried Mozilla Seamonkey browser and suffered the same fate. I also went throught a bought of browser crashes which seems to have subsided. I was having MS like flashbacks and wondering if my install CD's were corrupt. I did an original install instead of an upgrade, I still have Xubuntu 7.10 and it works just fine. There are a few other things that bother me about this 8.04. I don't have access to my whole hard drive. I can't even see my 7.04 installation. From within 7.04 I can see the 8.04 partitions just fine. Actually that's not too bad, just two items out of all the stuff I could complain about. I will see what other citizens are saying in the forums and perhaps return some sweetness to Xubuntu. I am wondering if the 32-bit crowd is hurting also. Anyway, it's back to the dealership and I'm glad I still have my old ride.

Xubuntu renovations in progress

Greetings from Linuxville, excuse the mess. Xubuntu 8.04 has arrived and I've been up to my elbows downloadn', installn' and soon to be tweakn'. Everything downloaded and installed great, except I have a 64-bit machine and a 64-bit Xubuntu, so I needed a "nspluginwrapper" to allow me to use a 32-bit Flash plugin in Firefox. Someone tell Adobe that 64-bit Linux machines are here to stay!! If it weren't for the user fourms, I'd be kickn' my box. Haven't noticed any big changes on the new Xubuntu yet, I'm still nosing around. Did get QGRUBeditor, which is a GUI for managing the Grub boot loader. I still have the older Xubuntu 7.10 on the drive, for now, and I can log into it, my choice. I installed Xubuntu 8.04 right over MS WinXP (ha!) which I plan to reinstall as a virtual machine. The Xubuntu iso file doesn't include a lot of stuff I want, it is after all meant to be lean for lower resource hardware. Being such, it is Ubuntu's best kept secret and I do want to whisper this, Xfce is better than KDE and Gnome!! (my thought). So, after adding some fat apps to my Xubuntu bones, I'm ready to compute.

I have heard some things around town. Firefox, it is said, gets slower when you add too many extensions and plugins. I don't know this to be true, I have no complaints. But if you folks are into the social net thing and photos and such, you should look at the Flock browser, it is made for this stuff. I like downloadn' flash movies and such and found a new app called Miro. Miro hooks you up to video feeds and your saved video files so you can organize and play all day. It is sad that the Linux home entertainment center idea seems to have cooled off some. Many of those projects have not seen recent development updates in a while. You'd think with the advent of digital TV, there be more demand for Linux solutions that aren't so complex. There are a few that are on the download list like Elisa and My Media System, but how to make them work is a mystery to me, meanwhile I got Miro and it works great.

Was at my place of employment (a school) and I overheard a student lament over his "borrowed" software collection and that he can't afford to own his own. The kids here learn on top shelf MS compatible applications, you know, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Win Movie Maker, etc, etc, etc.......but in spite of all the school contracts, discounts, the students still can barely get their own. It is safe to say these kids will eventually buy the apps they learned in school. Why is this so different for cars. You learn to drive any car by taking drivers' training. Does learning Photoshop in school indebt you to use only Photoshop? How can you hone your skills if you can't afford the tools? Open source is the unspoken and misunderstood answer to many questions. Here are some hookups. http://www.linuxalt.com/ get a good look at Linux apps that do whatever, http://www.webi.org/ this one you see open source stuff that runs on MS Windows (if you must), and then http://www.schoolforge.net/ here we have a school focus on Linux apps. The funny thing is that most institutions don't understand GPL or the General Public License. They keep worrying about users agreements and about copy right infringements. Linux is free and there is no catch, open source software, even the MS windows versions are the same. You can get, use and recommend these to your friends, students and co-workers. You can give them as gifts, if you want to. Yeah, we all need a psychology upgrade.

I just had to make an addendum, Ubuntu has two application install programs, one is called 'Add/Remove' and the other Synaptic. If you use the Add/Remove for some applications, it may fail to install all the dependences. This happened with Elisa Media Center, which is why it didn't work for me. I used Synaptic to download and Elisa works beautifully and looks like a winner. Miro is a whiner, but only because it allows video downloads in background. This is fine, if you have a huge hard drive and you don't mind editing channels. I'd like more control over internet content than Miro gives. Miro might be good for some but not for me. So, Elisa Media Center is a must have app. I may have to put a computer in the living room.

The buzz around Linuxville

Hey all, thought I try out a blog face-lift, because I can. I do this in Linux all the time. Linux desktop people all find out eventually they can morph their GUIs a little or a lot depending which one they are using. Again, I like Xfce desktop because the configuration settings are not buried deep in layered menus. And while I can't tweak everything, I can adjust it enough to get a satisfying look without much effort.

In my neck of the woods, things are a brewing. I stopped by my alma mater and discovered Ubuntu loaded on several computers in the computer lab. Perhaps I made an impression on the teachers while I was there. I think up and coming techies should know about Linux and have the opportunity to use it. Not only on the server but on the desktop as well.

Then, I am waiting for the official release of Ubuntu 8.04, known as "Hardy Heron". It is boasting a few improvements but what I want to explore is the virtual machine support built in. I want to install MS XP as a virtual machine so I don't have to dual-boot anymore. But to this end I might have to install more memory so that the virtual machine will run better. Ubuntu 8.04 will also have tools to shrink MS partitions and install Ubuntu while booted into MS Windows. Of course I will be loading Xubuntu 8.04 on my main machine. I am thinking about Ubuntu on my older machine. It is good to know a little about Gnome desktop, but I am a bit biased. KDE, well, it's like a window manager called Enlightenment in the way it has so many configuration settings. I just think it is too much and I wish people quit saying KDE is more like MS Windows. This is just not true. KDE, Gnome, and Xfce are all more adjustable than MS Windows. They may have similar elements but that is all.

I do have some secret wishes I would like to reveal. In Xfce, I would like to assign a different wallpaper to each virtual desktop and assign apps to open on the desktop I assign and save my settings. Then I would like to see better isolation of desktop GUIs when you have multiple desktop GUIs installed. If you have KDE, Gnome and Xfce on one computer for instance, functions are duplicated, menus are confused and clear control over the desktop is denied. On popular distros that feature one of the main desktops should feature also a leaner window manager like Fluxbox, Icewm as a users alternate choice.
I would also like to see a dual hard drive standard in computers. A smaller drive for the OS and applications and a big as you want drive for user files. It is kind of risky to put OS and user files on the same disk. So, if you must repair or upgrade or change your OS or the disk it's on, you don't have to touch your data. Solid state or flash drive cost are coming down, a 20-30 gig drive would be perfect for this. Lastly, at least for now, I would like to see a "Popular Linux Magazine" that targets typical average computer users rather than server techs, system admins and programmer/developers.

Still on the porch

Linuxville is my virtual retreat as you can see I am running a video in VLC media player, I like jazz and here is Bradford Marsalis on soprano sax, sweet! And I have Gnome Sword Bible Guide which has many free bible versions in various languages and is very handy for study. And you can see through the Terminal, the infamous command line. The talk around town is that there is a little something for all your computing needs. I am pretty much satisfied with XFCE as a desktop, though I did play with compositing. I loaded Avant Window Manager to get an animated icon-bar like the one on Macs. It installed smoothly, looked nice but I couldn't drag and drop application icons on the bar and it kept interfering with my Xfce window settings. So, I got rid of it. Like I said, I'm happy with Xfce as it is. You can tweak it to look good and it has good solid functionality. If you want to get work done you don't want to have to hunt for stuff. I would be the first to tell you if eye candy was really useful.

Linux sometimes is the stuff of dreams and I had an idea. I can understand why so many MS struck or stuck folks won't switch to Linux. If KDE, Gnome and XFCE were to be ported over to MS Windows to be an replacement desktop window manager for MS Windows, then coupled with open source software, people could get use to using the GUIs and the programs. Could this be a path to full migration? I guess that remains to be seen, after all it is the GUI that people see. Although I wouldn't like Xfce on top of MS Windows either if it crashed. I did try a port of KDE to MS Windows but it was only to be able to run KDE applications and I don't think the desktop itself was ported. If I'm wrong, it didn't work for me. In my thought, KDE without the desktop is not KDE. But after a final analysis, it is better for you to switch cold turkey yourself than try to pry MS Windows out of your dead hands.

I've seen another version of Ubuntu, this one called OpenGEU 7.10. It is pretty fancy with artist designed looks. It has the Enlightenment 17 window manager mingled with Xfce supported by Gnome libraries. Pretty and lean on resources too is quite a combo. But the best news of all is that Ubuntu 8.04 is days away. So, all Ubuntu versions will be new all over again. The trend is to perfect the art and science of system migration. Ubuntu is making it easier to shrink MS Windows partitions, install Ubuntu, dual-boot, and transfer settings and data. There are probably YouTube videos showing you how to do it, you just have to look. But no matter the excitement over the operating system, the thing everybody wants is applications to do the stuff. So, you Linux folks need to show off how you use Linux. The GIMP has enjoyed an outstanding user support. There is also Krita, Xara Xtreme, mtPaint and others that are extremely useful and fun (do serious work). Today the net shows lots of Linux eye-candy of spinning cubes, how useful is that, so what. Can you do interesting and useful stuff with Linux applications and enrich the community? Well, there is more ahead that has yet to be realized, indeed.

view from my front porch

Well, here is a shot from my front porch. I have Krita, which is a sweet graphics editor, the faithful calculator called gcalctool and XMMS media player all open on my Xfce desktop. The icon bar below disappears automatically so as to not be in the way and a right click anywhere on the desktop gives a application menu so I don't have to go to the bar at the top of the display to get at it. As far as I can tell, nothing is buried, I can get at everything easily. But you ask, why the fuss over the desktop GUI? The desktop GUI is the face of the operating system. It's what you see and use. Linux has different faces because differences are in the world. Some faces are a little more pleasant to look at, some have more expression, some do disguises really well and some are quite stoic. What I want is a combo of all these things, so I picked XFCE. Each desktop almost makes Linux a different operating system. Yes you can have at the same applications but because the basic libraries are different, different solutions are provided to do the same things. For instance, KDE has the Konqueror web browser which is also a file manager and other things. Gnome has its own and Xfce has its own too. And if you don't like them or you are familiar with another, you can install that one because it is all Linux, the supporting libraries will be loaded also. Forget the notion of the best, it is what is best to and for you. So, you can find within the Linux community folks who are kindred spirits as yourself and some very different. Another way to say it is that Linux is organic and not mechanical. Yeah, some people think that to homogenize or boil down everything to a least common denominator is progress. Sameness and efficiency of a single product makes for easy marketing and administration, but you have to fit yourself to it. Because Linux is designed from many points of view a custom fit is there for you. A car is sold on two things, the looks and its engineering. Linux has curb appeal and a fine engineering reputation. A front porch in Linuxville is not a bad place to be. I'm gonna "google up a soda an pizza" while enjoying the view.

A day in the life in Linuxville

I want to tell you there is only one Linux but you know those guys in the north have an accent that is a little different from the guys in the south. Plus the food they eat is a little spicier down south and those east coast boys like a sporting life. The west coast gang likes the beaches. And to top it all off there is a lot of action behind the scenes in Linuxville. But we shouldn't let the back room folks have all the fun. So, I'm going to explain Linux real simple. There are three main Linux trees, the Red Hat or .rpm trunk, the Debian or .deb trunk and the Slackware or .tar gz trunk. Then there are three main desktops, KDE and Gnome and XFCE. Of course there's other trunks and window managers, but these are the main ones. According to popular talk, Debian or .deb is the most popular and so is KDE. Some can always argue but that's the way it seems. I myself like Debian (Ubuntu) plus XFCE. These trunks and desktops have become the bases of many distributions. If I were to recommend a distro I would offer Xubuntu because it runs well on older and slower hardware and flies like crazy on new hardware. Then the Debian (Ubuntu) repositories have a little fuller selection of applications than the other systems. Mind you they all have the most popular applications. The support team of one distro might say we have fries too but we also have special sauce. This might be in the form of better system configuration and management tools or fancy graphics drivers. You might want to examine a distro closer before you settle down to one. You should make sure you have access to the applications you want and have the look and feel you want and the support you are comfortable with. The trick to any desktop is to fit it to the way you work while you learn what you can do with it. It is OK to dual-boot or virtual machine if you still want MS windows. I am doing this and while a hassle, it is great if the need is there.
Linuxville is a busy place, always renovations and revisions going on, things are always getting better. Years ago you had to manually mount your disk drives, now auto mount is standard stuff. Linux is getting user friendlier everyday. It is very good if they can do this without sacrificing user choice. I was a MS Win98 fanatic as a lot of people were. Why? Because Win98 themes were very popular and I enjoyed getting away from the out-of-the-box looks. And darn it, I didn't have a business machine, so I had the liberty, the freedom to change it. Win98 people went wild. XP in comparison is rather stiff, every time I added a tweak, a new security patch would break it. Now with Vista there is a canned glitzy look. I really don't know what you can do with it and I never liked what MS anticipated my likes might be. Cars did the same thing, the 5 spoke mag wheels are standard now, they were once a pricey option. The after-market got radical and came out with spinners. The Linux desktop after market is vibrant. Take a look at www.kde-look.org , and www.gnome-look.org and www.xfce-look.org for a hint of user activity. Themes, icons, backgrounds (wallpapers) and system sounds are plentiful. And if you have suggestions for improvements, you can talk with developers.
I hate to be a separatist, but in Linuxville you have to draw the lines between the server folk and the desktop user folk and then again between the business user and the home user. The extent of the knowledge and user experience is different for each group. Linux can be adjusted to suit your work habits and have the look and feel to suit your tastes. The hardest thing is to become an expert at Linux because there are so many areas to concentrate on. This is why community is important. If you decide to make yourself at home here in Linuxville, look around.

Art and Science and Linuxville

Linux is not the focused product of one company, that much we know. Linux is the work of many people brought together on one platform. I remember my teenage days pouring over a catalog called Whitneys. It was an after-market car parts book. This was way before the pimp your ride movement, we called it hot rodding. You could build kit cars or transform your standard jalopy by customizing. Even back then we had the old school, new school thing going. Linux is an awful lot like that. You can have a standard like Gnome or KDE or any of the assorted desktops and you can tweak an pimp your settings to an outrageous range of styles and actions. I know there are many who say this is the reason Linux is not popular, too much tweakability, choice and not one desktop that everybody knows. You are familiar with the toy Bionical, we had Erector sets in my day, comes with snap together parts. If a kid opens the bubble pak to play with the pre-assembled form and never takes it apart to build something else, what fun is that, what kind of kid is that. I am finding that PC users are like that also. They want one form and feel more secure if it doesn't change. If you are this kind of Linux user, don't change it, but don't complain if it is unsatisfactory to your taste. I get ticked sometimes at screenshot comparisons of Linux (mostly Ubuntu) to MS Vista and Mac Leopard. Right out of the box looks are so misleading. Vista and Leopard have "polish and sophistication" you don't have to hunt for. You don't have to do a thing to get those looks, but with Linux you get a basic (not ugly) desktop. The Gnome group seems to stick close to the basic functional look (fresh and simple), KDE is reaching for "polish and sophistication". Personally, I like Xfce, it fits my way of how things should look. Most users settle on a desktop as a favorite and don't change after that. So having the ability and liberty to change is designed into Linux. There are the one size fits all favorites, MS and Mac, then the custom fit Linux. You really have to ask if mass marketing appeal is what you want. Look at Macs, they are kind of specialized to a particular niche market. Yet they are considered in the same vein as MS which is really a mass marketing effort. Linux can accommodate many types of users, because it can be customized to your needs. Linux really is a different platform. Now Linux, MS and Macs all have server OS's and applications. They all have desktop OS's and applications. Nobody is worried about Macs taking over the whole desktop kingdom, why do they think this about Linux? For certain Linux has a niche crowd too. I wonder if because Linux is not a company or a single organization or that it is free and open source it is being held as not being able to fairly compete with MS and Apple which are. This is so much like the car world. Sometimes innovation is forced upon the major car makers by the backyard hot rodders, the racetrackers, foreign cars and the oil crisis. People who are asking if Linux is ready for the desktop always discount the fact that there are folks who can deal with it just fine with no complaints, no hassles. They say over and over the average person (mom) can't use it and it will never take over MS's domination. So far I have not heard anyone ask Linus Torvalds why he didn't just use MS Windows instead of writing a free Unix style operating system from scratch. Then a guy by the name of Mark Shuttleworth, who is obviously familiar with making money like Jobs and Gates, decides to develop and support Linux and keep it free and open source. So, being free is suspect, the media is nay saying and critical and PC users are skeptical or uneducated when it comes to Linux. In a secret cove, deep in the heart of Linuxville, there is a ring of Tux clothed server monks surrounded by thousands of chanting users from every walk of life or is it like that old spy TV show "The Prisoner", the island is everywhere, you can't escape and you're not a number? Is it like "The Matrix", we live in a virtual world and one day wake up? Or like "Star Wars" or "Tron", that too is your choice.
Well I do have a prediction and a dream that one day somebody will put a virtual machine program in the boot rom (a flash drive). All OS's will be an iso file and personal settings and supplemental programs saved to disk. Data and OS's will never be put on the same disk and file formats will be open and usable between OS's. Your PDA will contain your personal settings and when in proximity to a computer transfers the settings, becomes your mouse, ethernet link and storage device. OS lapel pins will be worn like merit badges but it wouldn't matter because businesses and homes are well versed in open source software. Tux becomes a popular mascot at basketball games, learns a flying slam dunk. The total outcome is that Linux will continue to develop and grow as a OS, in spite of the inertia against it.

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.

Buried treasure in Linuxville

One day a few years back I was lurking around a store called "Half Priced Books" looking for Linux material. They were having a sale which meant books were even cheaper. I stumbled upon "Linux Journal" for the year 1999. I am not much of a magazine collector but I know treasure when I see it. I've bought a few more mags the years that followed, today it is all internet. There was though one mag called "Linux User and Developer" from the UK which had Fedora Core 2 in it. Anyway back to the Linux Journal of 1999, the whole Linux world was different. 95% of the articles and emphasis was on servers and server applications, peppered with workstation stuff. The desktop was not a big topic. Most users seemed to be destined for system admins or engineering workstation and coding work. I don't think anybody had a notion that Linux could be a popular desktop OS. The times have changed and now many of the Linux vets are having to figure how to deal with users who just use the GUI. These mouse jockeys and app mavens really don't want or need to know the depths of Linux. They just point and click just as they did in MS Windows or Mac OS. But looking back is so cool. You can see that even though coders and developers world wide put Linux together, Linux is well thought out and proven by the developers and the users.

Well, what's going to happen to Linuxville in the future is an on going thing. I think we will have to separate the server from the workstation at least in the way we teach Linux to new folks. This is because most desktop users will not be interested in server functions and applications. The desktop deserves it's own focus. I really see a need for users to write more how-to's for all those applications. And to put in one book the popular desktops and window managers. Hey, people still like books you know!

Linuxville has politics too!

There are always parallels in life, religion and politics and Linuxville has its share too. In America I can't understand the way some presidential choices are handled (the media, people's minds). The same has been true with Linux. We won't dip into the details of haggling for a president but the metaphor in the PC arena is nearly the same. Is Linux ready for the desktop? This is a very loaded question and a hot topic in debate. It depends on who you ask and what you are referring to. If you are looking at the whole Linux OS as a system that can run a server, corporate and web services and administration tasks and coding skills, yes Linux is quite complex and not for the average user. Then if Linux is a PC desktop OS, you get a different picture. Among Linux users, who is describing Linux experiences? Programmers and system admin folks view Linux differently than desktop users. Lets not forget technicians who fix and repair PC's what ever the platform (mostly MS PC's). The question as to if Linux is ready for the desktop is often subtitled by other questions and realizations like; why change? I don't know enough about it to support it. Microsoft is on every PC, I don't know why we need another OS, Linux can't possibly take over, so I'm not really interested. Well, there are a zillion of them, the point is that since Linux as a desktop is not common, we don't consider it a real part of "the computing experience". We all sort of say that MS owns the town and their logos are on everything and Linux is just some graffiti by a renegade tag artist (probably Tux). Of course some of us know this is not true, but folks are so used to what they are used to. Even the PC tech crowd is avoiding Linux because they lack knowledge and experience of it. For instance on MS Win systems, something goes wrong and you do the three finger salute (ctrl-alt-del), but in Linux you do a different one (ctrl-alt-backspace). Imagine getting hundreds of calls just for that. But so many don't know what to expect when you click the mouse or push the button in Linux. So with all those vocal Microsoft trained folks speaking on Linux, it is overwhelmingly against it. Linux was only a small mention at the college I attended. I learned all about PC tech stuff including the server. It was said that Linux existed, but nothing else. If I hadn't pressed the issue, the school wouldn't have talked about Linux at all. By the way, they didn't say much about Macs either. I showed a fellow student and a teacher a printed color screenshot of my desktop. They were amazed that it was like MS Windows then turned away when it wasn't better, flashier, or what ever than MS Windows. So, I am laying down some ground rules so that folks who come to visit Linuxville can give a fair assessment to their friends, write on their blogs and such.

1. If you come, stay a while. Hit and run analysis is not a reliable source. If you use a new thing over time the tastes and habits of the old thing gets tempered. Knowing more than one system also looks good on your resume and you are not backed into a corner when upgrade time comes.

2. Don't compare Linux too closely with MS. Realize it is engineered to be different than MS. While MS emulation is possible, being different and free are features worth enjoying.

3. If you are unsure about anything, ask for help. Why figure it out yourself if others have agonized over the same problems and found solutions.

4. If hardware compatibility is an issue, don't just proclaim Linux is crap. There maybe clear reasons or exclusions, like newness, propriety drivers, obsolete equipment, etc. Compatibility lists do exist and even I had to buy new hardware to install Linux (DSL box instead of a winmodem).

5. Installation is an option. If you must install, learn the install steps, get help, be patient. Even MS Windows is a hassle to install (most don't have to do it). Recite point 3 over and over.

6. Don't trash your MS install for Linux if you are not committed. It is OK to virtual machine Linux or live-CD Linux. And if you install Linux you can do the same with MS Windows (except MS Windows has no live-CD). Dual-booting, which I am doing now, is bothersome, messy to set up and a hassle to switch between OS's.

7. Linux applications are fine. It is not intended for Linux apps to be spitting images of MS apps. The important thing is the file formats. If you must run MS apps, use virtual machine or Wine or Crossover office, the same is true for games.

Linuxville is a varied place. Some come for vacation, some escape from legal entanglements, some want to explore, play, some do serious work and some just think penguins are cute. Most who come want to reside here even just to say they've been here. Yes, Linuxville is quite the place, if you give it a chance, it will grow on you (you might wake up in a TUX suit!).

Linuxville, how to dress like a native.

One of the biggest complaints MS Windows users have about using Linux or any other thing is that they have so much invested in MS software. Many have quite a large library of applications and games accumulated over the years. The thought of trashing it all looms above them like a potential stock market crash. I am here to tell you not to fret and fuss. You can vacation in Linuxville and when you come back, your place has not been ransacked. I am talking about a live-CD Linux and a jump drive. Then if you decide to stay, there are ways to run your MS stuff, so if you must, you can. You know all this, you just don't believe it. So, go a head and set up your computer to boot from the CD drive first, pop in the live-CD and see. Live-CD's are good for a few things. First is the tryout. You can use the real software as a demo to see what's there. Practice, you can become familiar with what Linux looks like and feels like. Then as a rescue OS, just in case your MS Windows crashes and you need to get at files on your hard drive. Finally the install, because once you use to using it you might want a permanent residence. Even if you are a die-hard MS person it is handy to visit once in a while just to learn some OS flexibility, to expand your skill set. Very useful in today's job market. Can look good on your resume. Hey after all, you've been to Linuxville.

Found another great book, "Test Driving Linux, from windows to linux in 60 seconds" by David Brickner. It's for users, not administrators.

Dressing like a native is easy these days as a number of programs that are standard fare in Linuxville also have MS Windows versions. We are talking open source software. Open Office, Firefox, Gimp, Abiword and others that can be freely downloaded off the net. If you are using them already we can speak the language mon! I wish there was a printed book that illustrates and explains all the various Linux applications but, the web will have to suffice. Check out http://www.linuxalt.com, it exposes you to a lot of unfamiliar names that do things similar to what familiar MS Window programs do. I hope you look them over and then if they are included on your live-CD you can appreciate them.
I want to warn you, they can be habit forming. You might see penguins in your sleep.

Linuxville is green, an alternative OS

What makes Linuxville the place to be these days. What makes Linux different? First off, it's like comparing American cars to foreign cars, the same but different. Once you settle into the habit of using it, those differences are minor, simply a matter of taste. Linux works all the same equipment and options but under the hood, it is engineered different. But to you on the desktop it is so close to what your use to.
It feels close to home, then it grows on you, then it becomes a regular destination. Any advantage, you ask? Linux is the alternative OS, it can be used rather than Mac or MS. Linux is greener than Mac or MS. What I mean is that it will run on older, less endowed hardware. You will upgrade and recycle less often and your hardware becomes obsolete over a longer period of time. Linux is greener because the same community that uses it, develops and supports it, thats sustainability. Linux is not bloated, but trim and efficient. Linuxville only needs your passport, not your birth papers, social security card, driver's ID and a bill with your postal address on it. Politically Linuxville is open source. Both the source code and the development tools are free and accessible to you, you can own the stuff you acquire, not just buy user rights. With Mac you get some stuff, but I'm not familiar because I could never afford it. With my HP desktop I got XP, a trial MS Office package, internet ISP offers, MS Works (Office Jr.), MS Internet Explorer, and a couple of multimedia apps. I had to remove a lot of unwanted and unnecessary stuff and install free open source software to get some real work done. I hated the way new program icons peppered my desktop after installing. But I used icons because it is more awkward to use the start button to get to the main menu and or the file manager. Not having the file manager easy to get to means more folder icons on the desktop causing even more confusion. The new Vista still hides the file manager. You probably could adjust these things to work smoother but out of the box, it gets old pretty fast. On my state of the art Linuxville desktop a left click opens a application selection menu anywhere on the desktop and there are a few handy desktop icons and a toolbar to access my file manager in plain sight. No hunting and fishing. I didn't have to remove any useless or unwanted software and when I do add software there is no need for desktop icons because the menus are so accessible. My work flow is more efficient and I enjoy my neat and clean desktop. So, things in Linuxville are well thought out but not psycho-analyzed to death then locked down. If you want to you can change it to suit yourself. What, you want travel photos! Every version of Linux has screenshots on their web pages, you just have to search a little. If your adventurous, boot up a live-CD and see for yourself.
If you want to explore the perfect book I recommend "Point & Click Linux" by Robin 'Roblimo' Miller.

The Linuxville embassy blurb

Linuxville is not that difficult to navigate, but it does depend upon your approach. I highly recommend the live-CD Linux because you can visit and leave at your discretion. You could employ a jump drive or a shared directory on your MS system to save your memoirs. If you plan to stay, you have a couple of options from dual-booting on two hard drives, two or more partitions on one drive to going the virtual machine route. So, putting down roots (installation) can be tricky or as straight forward as a fresh install making Linux your only OS (welcome to the neighborhood). The most comfortable approach is pre-installation, then you can just turn on, boot up, log in and enjoy.

Then, what kind of user are you? Your bio makes a difference. How Linux fits your needs is the key to happiness. Server and workstation admins and coders will probably want to know all about the text input options like, the terminal emulators and text editors. They need to have at the internals, configure, compose and compile programs and other system admin stuff. If you are a point and click artist, like me, you want the ins and outs of the GUI made plain. At some time in your Linux life you should venture to know a few command line things but it is not a prerequisite. If it is your own computer you are required to know about user accounts, permissions and basic file management. What car owner would survive without knowing how to add oil or change a tire. The car manual is the car user's guide to all the user accessible features. You've read what I think about most Linux user guides, but they are none the less very helpful. Also the distro of your choice has web pages, user forums and tutorials, and also fanboy/girl blogs are rampant. This is in lieu of "the missing manual". And if all else fails, "goggle it" or "yahoo it" (sounds funny), the info is on the net by other users (Linuxville citizens). Did I forget Linux user's groups and computer clubs?

If you are a tourist or road warrior (using the live-CD) you don't have all the rights and privileges of a resident. Depending on your hardware, live-CD's run slower and you don't have the (MS Windows compatibility) extras. So if the fonts in the word processor or web browser look funny or you can't play a video or you're unhappy with the live-CD selection, you must realize this is a foretaste of better things to come.
Some live-CD's come with tools to add stuff you want and then make a new live-CD, but that is yet to be explored by yours truly.

But the big question that is asked by all visitors to Linuxville is, can I do my normal computer stuff with Linux? The answer is yes, maybe and yes, probably. You have to look into the applications available to see if they meet your needs. This includes running MS Windows in a virtual machine or using a software called Wine (allows MS software to run in Linux).

Then, if my MS stuff works fine, why try Linux? You are free to try or not. And if the opportunity to try or adopt presents itself, the benefits are yours to own. In my situation economics, choice, history, philosophy, involvement and many other considerations made Linux very attractive. But, trying it, I liked it. The cost of ownership and the legal commitment of Linux is very low for an individual user (per seat). Maintenance is lower, security is very good, and stability is excellent. But the best part of Linux is that I did not have to buy newer, bigger, faster equipment in order to run the latest OS so that I could do the same things I've always done on my computer, upgrading was and is still an option. I get good performance and bang for my buck.

Regrets, you ask, are there any regrets for switching? Sometimes you are the only Linuxville citizen in a crowd, you do the same things as others but, the slight difference can be annoying or gratifying. Having a bumper sticker is fine but wearing a TUX costume is a bit extreme. I often feel a quiet desperation because others are missing out or are duped and in the back of my head is a notion to educate them. Practically, I have not missed a beat in my computer use and as I find out more about Linux, I find Linux can accommodate that expansion. And I have discovered the holy grail of the do-it-yourself world (if your that kind of person), bragging rights.

Linuxville, citizenship has its benefits.

Linuxville history and crossing the border

As your guide in Linuxville I feel you should know a little about me and my obsession with Linux. Not being totally taken in by the advertisements and the new car smells of ownership (actually a lease), I have been free to consider other options. The economics of life have played their part and also the opportunity to acquire a different solution while not having to change my habits. Of course I did a background check (history), a cost of ownership study, platform migration plan and an exit strategy. I have had a good Linux experience and after much consideration I will pursue permanent dual citizen status.

I confess, I am a Linux fanboy. I watched the movie "The Pirates of Silicon Valley" and if that was a accurate portrayal of Jobs and Gates, the kingdoms they've built and the product outcomes, then computing and users are doomed to a lifetime of abuse and servitude. If not, then excuse my misguided judgment. I also watched the movies, "The Code Linux", "Revolution OS" and "The Free Software Movement" and came away with a different impression. I have heard Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman talk on YouTube. I am totally amoured by Linux and open source software as a movement and as a product. So the "dynamic duo" has become "the three Musketeers" and according to personality, Mr. Torvalds is the stable one among them. He has produced an outcome not as glitzy as Jobs but more stable than Gates. The clincher was when another millionaire, Mark Shuttleworth, funds and develops Ubuntu Linux and gives it away.

I know how we value the apparent success and dependency upon the product outcomes of Mr. Jobs and Mr. Gates but it does not mean that there are not other solutions in the world. Linux grew up along side and with the internet, and while not a model of the American dream, it is still a successful outcome. The genius of Jobs and Gates has been trumped by the genius of Torvalds who just wanted a free operating system. It works on the server and to the dismay of many (including server admins and Linux power users) works on the desktop too. Linux is not really a new comer, its heritage is older than both Macs or MS, but you all know that. We have been under the marketing and use of Macs and MS for so long that we can't imagine another platform making inroads. We resist, compare and try to discount any idea that Linux is just as good and worst if some say it is better. That is all a human nature thing. Over time the smoke and mirrors marketing and the pony shows are over. The stuff going on in the background becomes reality because somebody just wanted a free operating system and set it in motion. Linux, so complex it takes years to know it all, yet so simple you could work it with six commands, point and click, drag and drop, cut and paste. Though having to learn myself and teach others about Linux, I am having fewer to no MS Windows problems or commitments in writing (end user agreements). Linux is green, portable if need be, low or high powered, it is adjustable, configurable, and flexible. Linux is free ( no coupons to clip, no money back guarantees) or if you must, pay for it. But in any respect the Linux genie is out of the bottle and its allure is being discovered, soon we will all have to check it out. Welcome to Linuxville.

The Linuxville travelguide - rewrite needed.

It is a funny situation, no one knows or cares about Linux until they are actually faced with the chance to use it. Then if the curiosity bug bites you, you try to read up on it or search the internet. It is a total shame that most books and internet sites seem slanted toward users involved with servers and or programmers workstations. They tend to start out with the command line or terminal, and using text editors. So, here you are wanting to dive in and try Linux and you are hit with learning standard Bash commands, or learning Vim and Emacs. All you really want is to run programs with a click, read your email, write a letter, balance the checkbook, search the internet, view some video and play a CD. My advice to all you Linuxville Travelguide writers is: now that the target audience has shifted to include normal everyday computer users you must write less about text input and more on using the GUI on the desktop when explaining Linux to them. Now, exploiting the GUI on the desktop does not cheapen Linux or make it less than what it is. It does make it more approachable and imminently more useful to everyday computer users. In my everyday routine, I turn on, boot up, log in, check email, go to internet, all with a point and click. Once it is all set up it is no bother at all. The perception of Linux being hard is not just from what it takes to install it but from how some have chosen to explain it to new users. From our local public library I just got a thin book called "Linux for the rest of us" by Mark Rais. It is a very very good book being just over 100 pages long and hits all the high points of Linux, but the assumption still seems to be that "the rest of us" to whom Linux is for is would be system administrators and coders. I think it is rather ironic that system admins need to know so much about Linux but once a server is set up it only needs to be touched once in a while. Whereas the desktop Linux user really doesn't need to know that much in order to use Linux on the desktop everyday. The GUI makes Linux as simple to use as any operating system. I recommend another book called, "Point and Click Linux" by Robin "Roblimo" Miller. This book confirms what I am talking about. Having made my rant for the day, you can all say it with me, "Linux is not hard at all".