tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28369492869697085722012-01-29T01:22:14.121-05:00"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty G-d! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" -- Patrick HenryFordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.comBlogger661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-43391121709339445942012-01-26T10:02:00.001-05:002012-01-26T22:18:13.493-05:00

Notice how the eleven comes before the ten. This does signify that eleven is, indeed, louder than ten. Everyone loves hating Unity. It's new. It's different. It's pretty. It's everything that Linux typically isn't. People also love hating Ubuntu in general. While people struggle to make their Linux desktops look and feel more like OSX every day and there are over 9000 different OSX-like docks out

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-89010580455112863052012-01-18T14:35:00.002-05:002012-01-18T14:42:35.085-05:00

In 1962, J.C.R. Licklider proposed the creation of a global network of computers. Later that year, Licklider held a position at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the USA) where he headed a project that would create such a network. Robert Kleinrock gave the world one of the first major breakthroughs toward this network which was the theory of packet switching that has formed the

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-6375301011387566882011-11-23T12:29:00.001-05:002012-01-18T11:36:16.707-05:00

We all know these arguments. An outsider comments on Linux distribution plurality and says that the lack of a unified platform is what hurts Linux adoption. This argument is not without its merits, but it isn't exactly a valid argument anyway. The first main issue with it is an obvious one. If no one singularly owns and controls Linux, no one would be able to pull all variants off of the virtual

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-32838065553304159872011-10-20T15:27:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:36:31.990-05:00

People often look at Slackware with a certain amount of trepidation. It appears complicated, difficult, or tedious. If you ever felt like trying Slackware but didn't because of those fears, this is an article for you. I am going to cover installation step by step, and then proceed to common post install configuration tasks, and a few system management tasks. Before beginning, you need either to

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-35372177290080621952011-08-31T09:51:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:36:50.396-05:00

In a recent article over at MyBroadband, Alastair Otter says that the end of the OS is nigh. I couldn't disagree more. His argument is that cloud applications along with browser innovations will replace our normal applications. He argues that cross platform compatibility of those cloud applications will be the push (not eliminating OSs but making the choice of one over another inconsequential). I

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-49312378831417192052011-08-22T11:17:00.011-04:002012-01-18T11:37:02.085-05:00

Learning find can seem daunting at first, but it is worth learning. There is no single more useful search tool for UNIX like systems. You could almost consider find a very primitive scripting language in itself as find can find the files you request and then perform tasks Simply finding a file:find / -iname "foo.bar"Case sensitive search for a filefind / -name "foo.bar"Note that we do not have

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-76052969429130456842011-08-05T15:14:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:37:21.536-05:00

If you are reading this, you are most likely a Linux user in some way. You are also quite likely familiar with a certain phenomena. You probably love, hate, hate loving, and love hating Linux. Why does this occur?The first reason (and possibly primary reason) is that it is still an operating system that you are using. No operating system has ever worked on all hardware, with all software, or

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-1601510043132455432011-06-09T18:32:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:37:34.500-05:00

So often lately, I hear of the cloud and the wonderful things it will do for the world. I increasingly hear that any software effort that is not directed toward the cloud is going to fail. So much, I hear that desktops and laptops are antiquated due to the superiority of cloud-utilizing dumb terminals. I completely disagree, and should the cloud be the true future of computing, I think I may just

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-40487304762464743512011-05-18T11:20:00.007-04:002012-01-18T11:37:52.909-05:00

Computers have long been a rather expensive luxury for those who could afford them. Desktops have drastically fallen in price, but with a cost of roughly $300.00 for a modest machine the price is still nothing to laugh at. Laptops have fallen in price as well, but $500.00 is still a lot of money. Worldwide, our economies are not in the best shape. Along with coffee, people tighten their

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-74780683926787333672011-04-20T14:33:00.012-04:002012-01-18T11:38:05.463-05:00

A long time ago, in a college far far away, some nerds were playing with UNIX. At that time, UNIX shipped with ed. Some rather clever programmers made a replacement for ed called em. Em became en. En became ex. Ex is Vi. Why is this important? Understanding where Vi comes from, helps you to understand its rationale. Why does Vi matter? It's an editor that has become part of the UNIX specification

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-80719309877754281362011-04-15T12:45:00.005-04:002012-01-18T11:38:19.397-05:00

Pardus Kurumsal 2 was a rather interesting respin of a great distribution. I decided I would give it a try on the VIA ARTiGO A1100. Overall, it's a great experience. If you own an ARTiGO, this would be a distribution to try on it.The first obstacle to overcome is the lack of a cdrom drive on the ARTiGO. This is actually rather easily done. Once you have downloaded the Pardus Kurumsal 2 ISO file,

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-80718683236845824802011-02-19T11:25:00.003-05:002012-01-18T11:39:49.756-05:00

Yesterday, I did something that I always do. I checked DistroWatch for the latest news. Something interesting was listed there. Apparently, Pardus has a "Corporate" edition. This isn't a paid release or anything. It's another version of Pardus that uses only trusted components. I was rather interested. I have long been a Slackware fan due to the amount of control I have over my system, but also

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-78573485415643305092011-02-02T20:42:00.003-05:002012-01-18T11:40:03.092-05:00

It seems as though every year or two some hack comes along to recommend a single package management solution. This time we have the talking heads suggesting a single app store API. I think all of this ridiculous.First, not everyone agrees on what a single package management solution should be. You have your Gentoo/Lunar/SourceMage/Crux crowd who believe that the user should have ultimate power

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-74355436008888026082011-01-06T10:44:00.005-05:002012-01-18T11:40:16.401-05:00

It seems as though every time someone sees me at my desk reading my mail, they ask what it is I am doing. I tell them I am reading my mail, and they're shocked. They see me pull up image attachments, and office and all this, and they think I am some kind of wizard. "How is it that you can do that in command line?" they ask. "I use Mutt," I reply. I have done an article on Mutt before, and I will

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-1646002654617451882010-12-23T22:41:00.003-05:002012-01-18T11:40:40.213-05:00

One of the strangest things that I have heard recently is that Microsoft is porting their Windows operating system to the ARM platform. By itself, that wouldn't seem all that strange. ARM is clearly an up-and-coming platform for which many different companies are writing a ton of software. The strange thing about this move by the Redmond Washington giant is that the port is almost completely

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-8448061304316242752010-11-24T10:14:00.006-05:002012-01-18T11:40:56.906-05:00

To be honest, I am one of those troglodytes who hates KDE4 and GNOME, and I prefer some good ol' KDE 3.5.x. Until recently, I had been using XFCE4. It came closest in offering me the features I was wanting, but something still rubbed me the wrong way. I had known about the Trinity project for some time. Trinity is the continuation of KDE 3.5 and they've made a release. KDE 3.5.12. It's relatively

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-75268214097130952702010-11-12T08:49:00.006-05:002012-01-18T11:41:26.812-05:00

We all know that Microsoft doesn't like people messing with their stuff. For example, Microsoft really hates the amount of piracy that surrounds Windows and Office. The company frequently releases updates that make piracy of those products harder and harder. This is completely legal considering that only Microsoft owns Windows and Office. You pay about 300.00USD to have MS Office and MS Windows,

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-89872866656436990342010-11-05T09:58:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:41:43.663-05:00

X11 has been with us (the Linux/UNIX community) for quite some time. Well, quite some time depending upon your age; it was released in 1984. In computing terms, this is the equivalent of saying that you have been using the original black and white Mac OS for the past 26 years. When software reaches this kind of age, it becomes nearly impossible to maintain.Software has a tendency to grow in a

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-57449334117859413562010-11-01T16:30:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:42:04.734-05:00

Over the passed few months there has been a lot of chatter about former Sun Microsystems' projects. Many have been lamenting Oracle's decisions on how best to steward these projects, and forks have surfaced. I used many of the products in question when they were maintained by Sun, and I find myself looking into a future that seems better rather than worse.Something important has occurred here.

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-33651854972839549742010-10-27T11:13:00.005-04:002012-01-18T11:45:41.508-05:00

So, my niece was having a few problems with her laptop and I bought her a new one. The eMachine e527 was on sale at the local MicroCenter for 279.99 and seemed to be a good fit for my accident prone niece. I wasn't sure whether to leave Windows on it, put Linux on it, or put OSX on it. After about 30 minutes, it was a hackintosh and running nicely.Here is what you do.First, I highly recommend

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-82441397666346056122010-10-18T11:12:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:46:33.228-05:00

So, in an article at PCW (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/207999-2/desktop_linux_the_dream_is_dead.html), Robert Strohmeyer argues that the dream of desktop Linux is dead. I disagree. I strongly disagree. I don't disagree because I have some hope of Linux out-pacing Windows or Macintosh OSX. I don't disagree because there is some new distribution that is going to sweep the market. I

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-32291923256780402922010-10-15T09:19:00.005-04:002012-01-18T11:46:45.813-05:00

There are several different ways to make backups of data for any operating system. In the "glory days" of UNIX people would usually write a cron job that would create a Tape ARchive of their system and write that TAR to a tape drive. Well, those days are long gone, as are those scripts. What is here? DD. DD is very powerful and rather under appreciated tool. Do note that dd does NOT have a

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-73000642793879511012010-10-05T10:25:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:47:03.515-05:00

In the city of Gainesville, which is the majority of Hall County Georgia, open source software is starting to make an impact. For the past two weeks, I have been taking note of the software installed on machines that come in for repairs. The results, so far, have been rather astonishing.Out of 279 machines, 147 have had OpenOffice.org installed on them. The other 132 did not necessarily go to MS

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-38654628302847613252010-09-09T11:54:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:47:32.818-05:00

In the Autumn of 2004, I was searching the net and came across this new Linux distribution called Ubuntu Linux. It was based on Debian and was supposedly easy to use. It promoted these seemingly humanitarian concepts and touted itself as shipping with over 1000 pieces of software. Overtime, the colors of the site remained odd, and the default color scheme of the desktop did as well. The word "

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-37314342898522977802010-09-07T08:42:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:47:50.733-05:00

In the beginning, there were a few different distributions. From a handful came hundreds. We are currently living with several hundreds. Many say that this is a bad thing. Many claim that the myriad offerings confuse people. Many claim that these distributions are often redundant. What's the deal? I have often talked about the lack of innovation in many distributions. The fact that people respin

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-53912432324101129972010-09-03T17:47:00.006-04:002012-01-18T11:48:27.603-05:00

I have to make a small departure from my normally fair stance on things. I am the first to admit that Windows has better 3D performance than Linux, BSD, OSX, Solaris, and other systems. I am the first to admit that the amount of business software developed for Windows makes it an attractive business platform too. That is fine and good, but things are getting completely ridiculous.Ars Technica

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-21418452130184480482010-08-27T22:48:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:48:49.566-05:00

If you have not yet noticed, I am a nerd. Not just your garden variety, everyday, commonplace nerd, but a big nerd. With that cleared up, I could not help but purchase an ARTiGO. Over the past month (maybe longer), I have been testing different operating systems on it, and I think I can confidently declare a winner for best fit, and another for best performance. I did not have the Wifi Kit or the

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-49591520132813438712010-08-05T10:43:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:49:16.537-05:00

For some reason, people consistently feel that one operating system is more difficult to use than some other operating system. To me, this is a load of dingos' kidneys. I fail to see how Linux is more difficult to use than is Windows, or how DOS is more difficult to use than is Windows, or how Windows is more difficult to use than is a Macintosh. In all of these systems the setup is rather easy,

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-61560364514311404972010-07-30T08:57:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:49:38.772-05:00

The GNU project developed some of the 21st century's most important software. The GNU Compiler Collection is used on Linux systems, BSD/OSX systems, and on Windows. GNAT has, for the most part, replaced any other Ada compiler ever created. The list could go on, but you get the idea. The sad thing about GNU is that it is so ideologically bent that I can no longer support it.I am not looking to

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-25464167347186272142010-07-27T13:21:00.005-04:002012-01-18T11:49:55.300-05:00

So many people out there just love to talk about how Linux is now a "drop in replacement" for Microsoft Windows or Macintosh OSX. This isn't the case. The sad truth is that there are no "drop in replacements" for most software, and especially so for operating systems.Let's look at Windows for a moment. There are two things that hold people to Windows like super glue. The first one is MS Office.

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-28724874022817479602010-07-15T09:18:00.005-04:002012-01-18T11:50:16.397-05:00

Currently, Linux systems take the very high end machines (any machine more powerful than a fully tricked out MacPro {read supercomputers and mainframes}) and the very low end machines (phones, routers, palm-tops, PVRs). In both cases, someone is missing. Microsoft. I do not hate Microsoft. Many people would think that I did (being a Linux fan, and to a lesser extent an Apple fan), but I really

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-1141875811317150292010-07-13T09:58:00.005-04:002012-01-18T11:50:38.885-05:00

In my last post, I discussed reasons why an open source government would be a good thing. Now I will tell you my plan for how an OSG would operate (using the USA in the model). It is essential to understand that this is not a left vs right issue. The idea here is simply to empower the people of any given country, and allow those people to rule their own lives. Using the same methodology we use in

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-35877512619780670282010-07-03T20:47:00.007-04:002012-01-18T11:51:16.977-05:00

When we think of open source, we normally think of software. We (freetards, freediots, open source fanboys) have often been described as a type of new hippie movement. In some ways, this may be true. We favor open collaboration instead of top-down empiricism. This is somewhat liberal in nature. At the same time, this breeds fierce competition, this breeds explosive markets, this lowers the bar of

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-81899490709541337682010-07-01T10:04:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:52:21.348-05:00

Once again, Microsoft has a product that failed miserably. The Microsoft phone "KIN" has already been pulled from the US market, and will not be making its European launch as had been planned. The reality here is that Microsoft's only money maker is Office. Windows sells well only because of its being pre-installed on most PCs. Linux would likely do just as well were MS Office available for it.

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-13439329799783305682010-06-29T08:58:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:52:35.547-05:00

What do you do when a Macintosh motherboard ceases to function, you don't have a warranty, and you do not have money for a Macintosh motherboard? Well, you use a PC motherboard. WHAT?! WAIT!? HUH!?It really isn't that difficult. The ASUS P5KPL-CM has a great track record, as do many of the Intel Desktop boards. Main things to keep in mind are that Intel processors (Core Duo, Core 2, and i5/i7)

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-55723835270060955732010-06-15T09:36:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:53:01.825-05:00

I consistently find myself looking up statistics for OS market share around this time every year. Every year numbers change. Every website reports different numbers from the last, and the only thing that one can assuredly deduce is that it is impossible to accurately gauge how many systems are running a specific OS. With that said, market share does matter.For software engineers, time is very

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-2821504679277195142010-06-07T22:21:00.009-04:002012-01-18T11:53:16.506-05:00

The Mutt MUA started in 1995 when Michael Elkins wrote the first version. It's powerful, light-weight, made for CLI, and tends to suck less than do other email clients. It's my MUA of choice, and if you've never used it (or haven't in a while), you may want to give it a try. For the purposes of this little tutorial, I am going to assume that you use Gmail (who doesn't these days?). Another thing,

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-79074046221631511092010-06-04T09:04:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:53:29.329-05:00

It's rather strange, this thing called Linux. We hear of Linux powered devices proliferating the market while the users are completely unaware of what they are using. What a success. An operating system that is so simple people simply are unaware of what they are using. It's an overwhelming success story. Phones, tablets, eReaders, netbooks, DVRs, and so on are everywhere, and Linux powers many

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-57813001978985965072010-05-27T09:50:00.004-04:002012-01-18T11:53:42.148-05:00

On my last post, I asked people about what open source applications they use. I received 22 responses, and I was a little shocked. Until now, I had always heard people say that they really don't have any applications in Linux that they miss in Windows/OSX. This has changed. Most people said they use the following:OpenOfficeVIM (one respondent saying that software isn't operating system without it

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-83788642500767700312010-05-12T14:36:00.003-04:002012-01-18T11:53:55.544-05:00

In all honesty, are there any open source applications that you prefer and would use in exclusion to others? For example, do you like OpenOffice.org more than Microsoft Office or iWork? If so, do you like it enough that you would install OpenOffice.org on any system that you were using (even if your OS were closed source, such as OSX or Windows)? I might could see someone using OpenOffice.org

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-71740591459309310482010-05-10T10:25:00.005-04:002012-01-18T11:54:10.269-05:00

I recently read through a post on "The Blog of Helios". The article was about the troubles of porting Osmos to Linux. There were apparently many struggles with audio and video support, due to the variety of platforms. This isn't surprising when we consider that variety is Linux's main selling point. Don't like [insert feature] in Ubuntu? Try Arch. Don't like [insert feature] in Arch? Try

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-45662177538181490482010-05-05T14:46:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:54:35.336-05:00

Recently, I came into the possession of an Acer Aspire One (AOA150, ZG5). It's a modest netbook with a 160GB IDE, two card readers, 3 USB ports, 1GB of RAM, an Intel Atom N270 CPU, and a really awful touchpad layout. The system came to me with Windows XP Home Edition installed on it, which wasn't really to my liking. This started some massive Linux distribution hopping and operating system

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-47731863128890492062010-05-02T02:19:00.000-04:002012-01-18T11:54:49.530-05:00

Before I go any further, I'd like to thank Ford for the honor of being allowed to post here at Eleven is Louder. This is my first post, so please try to refrain from throwing any large, heavy, or otherwise dangerous objects at me.Ubuntu 10.04 [Lucid Lynx] was released a few days ago, and after seeing how well it was working on Ford's netbook, I decided I should try it out as well. My first

Shillelaghnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-90598719577467674902010-05-01T15:36:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:55:08.045-05:00

Lately, there has been a lot of anti-Apple talk around the open source community. To a point, I can see why. Apple took a lot of software packages that those of us in the BSD and Linux communities have loved for quite some time, and they've bundled that software with their own graphics server, desktop environment, and accompanying software; none of which, is open source. What I think bothers

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-24746566919835535812010-04-28T10:32:00.000-04:002012-01-18T11:55:27.069-05:00

As I look through DistroWatch's list, I see a trend. The top ten at the moment are: Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, OpenSuSE, Mandriva, Debian, PCLinuxOS, Sabayon, Arch, and MEPIS. Strangely, we find two relatively non-n00b distributions in there: Arch, Debian. The other 8 distributions aim to be relatively easy to use, while Debian and Arch are not. Arch's uptake has been surprising. The first time I

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-87132161892321519692010-04-23T10:47:00.000-04:002012-01-18T11:55:40.972-05:00

If you didn't already know, I am in the computer repair business. Normally, people come in with either PCs or Macs, and request repairs that are really rather simple. Occasionally, I'm called on to do large installations, or set up servers, but that's rare. What's even more rare is having a Linux client. I did just happen to get one though. The first I've ever had.A gentleman in his late 50s came

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-63014570543518279332010-04-16T09:28:00.000-04:002012-01-18T11:56:00.676-05:00

Lately, it seems as if quite a few people are concerned about the status of Android as a Linux fork. There is quite a bit of talk about re-admitting the Android Linux kernel into the vanilla Linux kernel source. Chris DiBona commented on many things in Android being irrelevant to the majority of Linux users, such as mobile phone chipsets. Is most of the kernel relevant to most people, or is it

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-33264010750980891582010-03-24T10:22:00.000-04:002012-01-18T11:56:14.206-05:00

I was reading through some news on Google and came across this article on bild.de. The Commodore 64 is due to be rereleased with an Intel Core 2 Quad, 4GB RAM, a 500GB HDD, Intel chipset, and a bunch of other features. A peek at the Commodore website shows Ubuntu, Windows, OSX, Chrome, AROS, and Comodo OSs under the "OS" link at the top of the page. While OSX is not officially supported, you

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-76458853103544474002010-03-17T09:13:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:56:29.831-05:00

As my readers have seen, my posts tend to focus more on market trends and such than they do on technical topics (though I have made posts regarding the latter a few times). Working in computer repair I meet a variety of people every day, and while I am ritualisticly astounded by the daftness of many, I do try to help those people figure out how to do what it is they wish to do. Often, this means

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-49791010791187548572010-02-22T23:25:00.001-05:002012-01-18T11:56:42.575-05:00

I was about five years old when my father showed me my first computer. It was an old 8086, and it had 5.25 floppy drive, a shiny new 3.5 floppy drive, and a 10MB hard drive. When he gave it to me, it ran nothing but MSDOS. As a starter machine, I didn't really care. I was just stoked to have a computer, and when my father showed me how to get to video games, and how to type a text document, I was

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-65555474377968220752010-02-16T16:15:00.001-05:002012-01-18T11:57:02.901-05:00

Well, I figured that I should take an opportunity to introduce a few opensource OSs that really haven't been in the lime light much. We all know about Linux and many of us also know about Darwin and BSD. Still some know about OpenSolaris. Which ever ones you know or don't here's a chance to get the scoop. GNU/Linux No. I am not talking about a wildebeest. On September 27th of 1983, Richard

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-23312928731299459952010-02-05T10:55:00.002-05:002012-01-18T11:57:27.585-05:00

It seems as if most people are for OpenSource but against any other form of distribution/development. For example, Microsoft maintains ownership of the software that they sell on store shelves. No one owns a copy of Windows except for Microsoft. Well, good for them, but when Microsoft's products became dominant due to market demand people starting making noise because Microsoft wanted to put

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-6415809856309303132010-02-01T15:28:00.001-05:002012-01-18T11:57:52.576-05:00

Stali is a new Linux distribution from Suckless.org that is based on a "hand selected collection of the best tools for each task, and each tool being statically linked (including some X clients such as xterm, surf, dwm, dmenu, mplayer)." Suckless has often delivered outstanding software, and I am eagerly awaiting an official release. So, what else is in store? Radically different choices. I have

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-10610134907238372672009-11-28T10:41:00.001-05:002012-01-18T11:58:05.240-05:00

When we say that Linux is UNIX-like, what are we saying? At my college, we have a course that is named 'an introduction to UNIX using Linux'. All over I hear people use the phrase 'UNIX/Linux' when referring to UNIX-style systems. It is somewhat hilarious to me, as Linux and the surrounding community have, for the most part, left the UNIX philosophy behind. The UNIX philosophy goes as follows:

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-24926989064054641652009-11-22T11:06:00.002-05:002012-01-18T11:58:17.216-05:00

So here we are. Windows 7 launched and it isn't like the whole world changed. We knew it wouldn't. Snow Leopard launched with much less fan fare, but it brought some changes that someone needed to make. A fully 64bit OS that focuses on multi-core technologies as well the disposal of the Power libraries that permeated the Darwin landscape. Windows and Macintosh will be battling this out for many

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-21519778493711655112009-10-09T12:50:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:58:28.802-05:00

The GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME) and the K Desktop Environment (KDE) have long been the Linux/UNIX options for fully graphical environments. Long ago, it seemed that these two were truly all we needed. You chose one. It would work well in nearly any situation. It was nimble enough to run on most hardware, and it was prettier than most other operating systems' graphical

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-42669089141160497002009-10-07T12:22:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:58:47.486-05:00

Lately, a lot of talk has been coming out of Europe. The talk I am referring to concerns an anti-trust case against Microsoft for bundling a web browser they make with an operating system they make. The claim is that Microsoft has made competition in the web browser market difficult because Internet Explorer is included with Microsoft's Windows (a computer operating system). I understand that

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-11677159774859543112009-09-19T20:04:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:59:02.478-05:00

Recently, I stumbled upon a new Linux distribution aimed at the x86, general use, desktop microcomputer. Naturally, I had a bit of an urge to groan, moan, and otherwise throw a temper tantrum. The predisposition to loathe new Linux distributions is not based in a dislike of Linux distribution plurality, but more of a dislike for redundancy. Back in 2005, there was a new distribution released from

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-35879655533990282362009-09-08T20:01:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:59:20.246-05:00

Overtime many people have complained about the failings of the X Windows System, and especially now, with X11, and its growing size and complexity. There are so many libraries within the modular X11 that when installing a distribution and trying to figure out what is needed and what isn't... you end up mapping hundreds of dependencies. It can be confusing, frustrating, and time consuming.

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-57912738999986988342009-08-31T10:24:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:59:33.774-05:00

What are the real threats to open source software? We all know that there are some threats. Microsoft is a big one. The Redmond Washington mafia is always trying to stifle the GNU/Linux and open source community. Macintosh, the real alternative to Windows in most consumers' minds, is another potential threat (especially considering that several of the current markets are shared between GNU/Linux

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-75624196293039605342009-08-25T20:43:00.001-04:002012-01-18T11:59:49.174-05:00

There are some great distributions in our wonderfully cluttered Linux distro landscape. Some are very similar to others, and some are wildly different from the rest. The one thing to remember is that while these distributions may be amazingly well thought out, and amazingly well put together their obscurity will present two problems. First, smaller communities will not be as capable of helping

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-70253515103177143352009-08-08T08:04:00.002-04:002012-01-18T12:00:15.325-05:00

It isn't unknown that Linux/UNIX systems have a powerful CLI. The heritage of these operating systems is in the CLI, and applications are still written for it. Here is a run down of some of the more popular CLI apps. Web Browsers Lynx, a classical text-based web browser that supports Gopher, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, WAIS, and NNTP. It doesn't render tables, frames, CSS, fonts, Java, JavaScript, AJAX or

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-74357431858066193412009-08-06T09:54:00.002-04:002012-01-18T12:00:27.252-05:00

Nearly every desktop computer and laptop has some kind of office or productivity suite. Many of these have several applications in them that can be used together to replace a paper office, but the most common three applications are word processors, spread sheets, and presentation creators/viewers. On Win32 machines, there are several commercial suites that reign supreme, and on Macintosh systems

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-6020408552726579962009-08-04T10:10:00.001-04:002012-01-18T12:01:10.277-05:00

What is it that makes Microsoft's products sell? Why is it that Microsoft seems to reign supreme in our microcomputer industry? Sure, we all know that IBM and Linux are strong in the research field, and we know that Solaris had a strong following in some areas as well, but niches aren't what dominate markets. Niches are just small pockets that concentrate on specific things. We all have a

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-70236355277903310362009-07-28T18:16:00.001-04:002012-01-18T12:01:42.070-05:00

Well, I am here to tell you, but before we launch into an explanation of what Linux is, we need to cover a few basics. First, I want to tell you a little about computer hardware, and then a little about how an operating system is structured. On a typical desk in the USA you will see a computer. Sometimes this machine is a laptop computer, other times it is a desktop, and occasionally it is a

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2836949286969708572.post-15488592338504537872009-07-19T15:02:00.001-04:002012-01-18T12:01:56.266-05:00

A lot of people are unsatisfied with the current distribution offerings that litter that software landscape. It can be frustrating to boot up a distro, only to realize you hate it and wasted a darn good CD to test it out. For this reason, I began trying to craft my own system. The only thing I can say to summarize is that you have a couple of ways to start this journey: 1. Use a currently

Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01293259530243564276noreply@blogger.com0