JDPFu.com 2010

Each of us use a computer for various reasons. Some just want a system that works, without any hassle. Most of us want to run specific software, work with specific file types, connect with everyone else, and possibly just do what the people around us are doing to be the same.

I’ll be as honest as I can and put the reasons in order.

Some of you know that I’m a fan of Linux. Ok, so that is an understatement. Would you like to convert? I’ll help you! Linux lets me do what I want while still providing nearly complete control over the hardware, for free. I like it and I’m shocked when other computer users don’t like it too. In fact, I think that almost every Grandmother should be running Linux these days.

Here’s a story, Linux Experiment Gone Horribly … Perfect, about a tech trying to solve problems with a client’s laptop. After exhausting all other solutions to a virus infected, spyware running, root kit loving Vista install, he got to the point of needing to reinstall Vista, but no reinstall disks were available. The client didn’t have them or any backup. The answer? Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 (Lucid Lynx).

In short, unsophisticated computer users will probably do better with a properly configured Linux system. I’d try Ubuntu, Mint or PCLinux on end users for the best outcomes. All are based on Debian, very stable and work on almost any hardware.

Would you like to try Linux? I’ll help you!

The Best Linux Commercial that you’ve never seen.

Parts of it are clearly written by the marketing team, since it isn’t really 100% true and the performance displayed seems to be sped up 20%, but still it is a nice, slick looking commercial.

I wish they’d said – 30,000+ applications, instead of thousands of applications and pointing out that updates to all of them are handled centrally OR automatically, if you prefer. Synaptic for 10.04 shows over 30,000 packages now. Still, it is a very good view of what Linux and Ubuntu can accomplish today.

Dell needs to get some balls in their dealings with Microsoft.

Some more Linux commercials

I came across a short article on the Free Software Foundation building a federated social network solution and figured a few of my readers would be interested.

I’ve been interested in saving some money on home phone service since around 2001 when I dropped the babybell service for a VoIP solution. Over the years, I’ve switched providers and ended up with the cable company phone service to get the best quality for the buck. Now they’ve raised the prices and I’m looking again. I’m not interested in Vonage at $25/month when a $3/month plan will cover me. Further, I already own the necessary equipment to get this all working. You may already own the equipment too.

It always seemed that a $3/month SkypeOut account could be linked to a PBX (Asterisk/FOSS) to make this happen. A few months ago, I asked about this on Lifehacker, but didn’t get any acceptable answers.

How to Ask a Smart Question.

After reading a 2 pg rant from a new Linux user complaining that his questions were not being answered, I did a little googling and found a post on how to ask a smart question. I added a link here mainly so I could review it later, when I needed to ask a smart question.

If you are looking for the smallest Linux possible and want to add just a few applications, then you really need to look at TinyCore.

11MB of disk, 64MB of RAM (perhaps less), 2.6.xx kernel, X11 or not, your choice. What more do you need to know?

Small Footprint in Disk AND Memory – 11MB

Do you have 11MB of Disk and 64MB of RAM? TinyCore Linux will work for you.

Adobe has been plagued with security issues in their most popular tool, like Acrobat and Reader. These issues seem to be on all platforms, but are mostly targeted by hackers on MS-Windows. For years, we’ve known that Acrobat allowed PDF documents more access than most people need by default – JavaScript and the ability to start other programs running on the system. 99% of Acrobat Reader users do not need or want either of those features, yet, they are enabled by default.

Adobe has been slow to correct issues and claimed to be on a quarterly patch cycle. This is for Flash, Shockwave, Reader and all products including PhotoShop. For almost all of these tools, there are alternatives that are not the main targets of hackers.

So, I gotta ask …

Why are you still using Adobe Tools?

How to ask for help for Linux issues.

All of us need a little help now and again. Linux users aren’t any different than MS-Windows or Mac users in that regard. The difference is that to get help for Linux, you need to do a little more research first.

We’ll assume you don’t have a nearby Linux knowledgeable friend that knows everything. You’ll need to ask people you do not know for help. Or, perhaps you are the Linux guru in your circle of friends and your questions are more complex than most.

Below, I’ll suggest a few methods to use to get help and outline the data you should include in your requests to optimize the ability of others to actually be helpful to you.

Today a friend sent an email with a Gnome helper app to setup a panel so remote ssh logins could be added to the Gnome Panel. There are lots of applications, or applets, like this out there. They all read and edit config files and provide a GUI to do something that has been possible for years and years. I guess if you are new, then having a program that edits configuration files before you’ve learned to use a UNIX editor is a good thing. Noob-friendly editing is good and reduces the perceived learning curve for Linux. Long-time users know that having a program to edit simple configuration files isn’t needed. You can edit them yourself and accomplish amazing things.

Some background reading on X/Windows. Here’s an architecture image as a reminder:

Recall that the X-Server runs on the desktop and that the X-client runs on the other, sometimes remote, machine sending requests for to the specific screen to be displayed. Also, you can run many X-servers on a single machine, even if they are not physically displayed.

Nothing is New

Do a google search on “fvwm screenshots” to see what I mean. This one or one very similar has been displayed as long as I can recall using fvwm. fvwm has been around since before I started using UNIX/Linux in 1993. I didn’t find it until 1995 when it was a pioneer in virtual desktop capable window managers. At that time, people were still using wmw and twm, yes, people actually used twm. When you first started using FVWM, you wanted to configure the menu for your local needs. It was easy to get going quick and setup remote logins to other systems for everything, including telnet, ssh, email, web browsing, editing files, running desktop word processors … whatever. Today the GUI settings are still maintained inside text files and these can be customized manually. Sometimes there are a few more steps since GUI programmers today like to take a simple concept and turn it into an environment that requires many, many more config files. Still, manually adding menu items to a panel for Gnome, KDE, XFCE, or LXDE is relatively easy.