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Nov
13
Linux Preloaded–an Insider’s View
Filed Under Editorial, Ubuntu, linux | 5 Comments
There is a story today that WalMart’s $200 Linux machine running Ubuntu with Enlightenment is sold out and selling like hotcakes. The article links to WalMart’s product page, where it is listed as sold out and filled with glowing reviews. It feels good to see that. I’ve always felt that Linux was ready for general consumption. At one point I got to put my money where my mouth was, but was burned by bad timing. Hopefully the story might interest you.
I managed a regional computer store in Metro Detroit. I had always loved the company, it was one of the few places you could go and actually see the product you were buying. Motherboards were open and available to handle. If you needed it, they carried it. The sales staff was always knowledgeable and helpful. I felt fortunate to work for them, and took over a store in a major regional mall.
I had always wanted to see Linux systems up and for sale. One day the owner and COO were in the store, so I stepped away and fired up Mandriva 2007 Spring on one of the machines. It looked fresh and impressive. Compiz definitely gave the OS a unique look and feel. Based on this, I was given the opportunity to sell Linux systems. The experience was an eye opener.
My initial thought was to go with an underdog. Since Mandriva had been the distro that helped me sell it to the bosses, I thought I would give them a try. I contacted them, they were very nice with a thought out plan. The costs were more than I could justify, though. This was a pilot program, and the costs had to be as close to zero as possible, initially, to justify the experiment. The major selling point was to be able to offer systems where hardware was the only cost. It became apparent that Mandriva would not work, initially at least.
I contacted Novell. I knew how the community felt about them, so I had hesitations. We were also potentially going after the business market, so it made sense. I found out right away that my pilot program was just not big or fancy enough for Novell. I suffered through a condescending phone call basically saying “How cute! When you become a player, let us know and we will work with you!†Never mind the fact that at the time my company was a major regional player that worked on a national scale. I was now 0 for 2.
PCLinuxOS was next. I have always loved PCLinuxOS. Some of my fondest Linux memories were the Mandrake days when Texstar would supply packages. I thought this would be a great opportunity to help the distribution get business cred, and would bring a lot of publicity to my company and PCLinuxOS. I got absolutely nowhere here. I never heard back from anyone. I’ve since read that Texstar is interested in making the distro, but does not care how popular it is. I can respect that, if it is true. It is a great OS. I was now 0 for 3. It was time to stop avoiding the inevitable, and go to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is on their game. From the minute I first contacted them, they were all over it. The entire time I dealt with them I had a sense that whatever I needed (within reason) they would provide. Costs were going to be zero, initially. They offered a clear cut program that made sense. The only thing they ask in return for outstanding service is one key factor. You can ship Ubuntu, but only Ubuntu. They were very clear about this. It is brilliant, when you think about it. They give you everything you need, and one of the only conditions is that they lock other distributions out. That is good business for Ubuntu.
As the ball got rolling, I put a machine on display in the store. It got a lot of attention. I went high on the specs, thinking people would recognize the good deal the machine was. People responded well, but hesitated to drop $400 on an experiment. We were soon going to offer a full line of notebooks that were certified to run Linux. I decided to drop the specs of the display machine and managed to get it to under $200 without a big hit in performance.
At some point during the Ubuntu plan, I got cold feet and wanted to put Sabayon on the machines. I think what Fabio is doing is nothing short of revolutionary. I have to hand it to him. He was as good, maybe even better than Ubuntu in customer service. He was very clear that whatever I needed, I would get, even to the point of a customized distro. By this point it was too late in the game. Dell had launched the Ubuntu notebooks, and my boss wanted to capitalize on the publicity. My dream of a full line of Sabayon laptops died a quiet death.
I continued to be pleasantly surprised by Ubuntu. Every communication was positive. They were going to help in whatever way I needed. By this point it was a matter of waiting for the notebooks to come in, then there would be a launch with a lot of publicity. I was certain I had a home run on my hands. We finally received the notebooks. I loaded them with Ubuntu, customized the install so it ran Compiz-Fusion and threw a bunch of extras on the install. I was pumped. We had forty notebooks and I knew once the announcement was made, we would sell all forty in one day. I would be a hero.
As my ex father-in-law is fond of saying, “Timing is everything.†Just as I was finishing the notebooks, the effects of the dismal Michigan economy took its toll on my company. Just like that most of the stores closed. In the ensuing chaos, my pet project got buried. Soon I was out of a job. My grand experiment died just as it was being born.
So, I am glad to see WalMart having great success with its Linux desktops. It helps me to feel that I did know what I was talking about, and given different circumstances could have really made a go of my idea. I’m not done yet…
Oct
31
Living with Mandriva 2008
Filed Under Mandriva, random thoughts | 6 Comments
I tend to switch distributions as often as Paris Hilton switches sexual partners. At any time I am running two or three different distros in addition to windows vista (how can I complain about Vista if I don’t occasionally use it?). when Mandriva 2008 came out, I decided to stick with it, day in and day out and see how I felt. This isn’t a review, just a look at my experience with it. For those wanting a review, I’ll imitate one you one in one paragraph!
Mini-Review:
Installation: flawless, except my (insert odd hardware or ati card here) didn’t work without fiddling around. Mandriva 2008 contains (list of updated packages with boring numbers i.e. 3.4.7). I (really like!) (hate) the updated look (circle one). Talk about Mp3/W32 stuff. Mention Ubuntu. Complain about Gael Duvall’s dismissal years ago. Wrap it up by saying either you love it, think it is okay but you are sticking with whichever distro, or hate it because something didn’t work.
I just can’t write those anymore. I want to give a shout out to those that do, though, because the current round of distribution reviews have been excellent. You go girls! Why do you need me to tell you what others have said eloquently enough already? You don’t, and I can live with that.
So, back to my point, which is I thought it might be interesting to stick with one distribution and see how it fit my day to day needs. Most reviews I have written were written after spending a couple of days with a distribution. It is like having a friend over for the weekend. A whole different world than living with the friend every day. Or…. Having a one night stand, then deciding to date the person. The way you feel one day is probably very different a month later. So I moved in with Mandriva.
It was made easier to stick with Mandriva after the new video card came to town. I believed the hype and rushed out and got an HD ATI card. Previously, ATI and Linux got along like John Bolton and the UN. The new AMD/ATI Linux driver situation is very promising. In that there are a lot of promises being made. OpenSuse couldn’t handle the card. It gave me one of the most screwed up errors I have ever seen. It was nothing compared to Vista, though. Vista could not handle the righteous intensity of having on board video and a PCIe video card. I’m stuck in 4bit graphics hell. ATI says it is the motherboard’s fault. the motherboard manufacturer blames vista. Visa blames the motherboard. Every fix does not work. How did mandriva do? Worked right out of the box. Big ups!
All of my hardware, none of it exotic, just works. I couldn’t play around with Compiz-Fusion due to my poor choice of video card and its proprietary drivers. No biggie. I am sure if I hacked around I could have gotten it to work, but it is too big a hassle for the benefit of bling that will cause an occasional crash or freeze.
Everything I need to do in my daily life I can do with Mandriva 2008 Powerpack. The same can be true of most distributions these days, but the feel of the Mandriva System is better. There is a lack of annoyances that I find in other popular distros.
Pluses I find:
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I like the new menu layout, with XDG integration. The mixture of KDE/Gnome apps is smooth. I feel *buntu gets crazy and incoherent when you run more than one Desktop Environment on the system.
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Everything just works. I run a 64-bit system, and that is important to me. Adobe’s Flashplayer would not work on OpenSuse. Unfortunately Flash is an essential in my web surfing, so that detail was a deal killer for O/s.
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I love Mandriva’s community. Adam Williamson impresses me. He is all over Mandriva’s forums being helpful. Any article mentioning Mandriva he is usually there representing the company in a favorable light. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Adam has given Mandriva a public face, and it is positive.
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Drak3D as a login choice, to get it set up outside of being in a DE, is smart. I like.
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Blogrover and Foxmarks installed by default is an interesting choice. Blogrover has proven to be irritating (Stop jumping out at me!) Foxmarks (sync-er of bookmarks) does its job well.
Annoyances:
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I’m not crazy about the new theme. No big deal, it takes all of a minute to adjust things. The Orange look of Mandriva 2007 Spring was fresh and new, the updated look, while decent, is a bit boring and cheap looking.
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No description of packages in the otherwise excellent package manager. I am sure there is an easy fix out there, but they should be in there by default. Or, since there is a brief description right next to the title that says it all, just get rid of that message.
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No Katapult?
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Surprisingly, nothing else!
I am glad to see this release getting the respect it deserves. For too long Mandriva has been viewed under the harsh light of past failures instead of the strength of the product they deliver. They are racking up a string of great releases. A lot of hard work was put into 2008, particularly at the end, and it has paid off. I feel it is better than OpenSuse 10.3. Ubuntu hasn’t caught up to Mandriva in my eyes.
This is currently my favorite popular distro. From a practical standpoint, I feel it is better than Windows Vista. I don’t say that as a Linux slappy. Looking at it from an angle of which OS enables me to do the things I need to do day in and day out, Mandriva shines. My next article will compare Vista and Mandriva 2008 in depth, and I will convince you why 2008 wins.
Apr
17
Quick Review: Automatix2 for Amd64 Ubuntu Feisty
Filed Under Ubuntu, automatix2, quick review | 2 Comments
Automatix2 for Ubuntu 7.04 has just been released. What is Automatix2? From the site:
“Automatix2 is a free graphical package manager for the installation, uninstall and configuration of the most commonly requested applications in Debian based Linux operating systems. Currently supported are Ubuntu 7.04, 6.10, 6.06, Debian Etch and Mepis 6.
Our list of supported applications include a whole range of multimedia codecs, burning and ripping software, file sharing software, email clients, VoIP enabled chat clients, browsers, encryption software and a lot more!”
I am running 64bit Ubuntu Feisty. The selling point of Automatix2 for me is that it simplifies getting Flash player running (via 32bit Swiftfox), handling installation of codecs, etc… that can sometimes be a hassle using a 64-bit distro. It helps to make a true multi-arch system without any chroot hassles. It does all of the work. It also provides one place to get everything you want to install for a full featured operating system.
Installation was as simple as clicking a link and allowing Gdebi to install it. You can run it later from Application –> System Tools in Ubuntu and Main Menu –> System in Kubuntu.
Starting Automatix2 brings up an Information screen warning you that it is a crime in the United States to install w32 codecs, libdvdcss and other codecs without paying a fee to the concerned parties. It also advises not installing AUD-DVD codecs if you are a US resident. The land of the free and the home of the brave, baby. You have to agree to this screen to start.
Automatix2 gives you software sections:
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Burning and Ripping
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Codecs and Plugins
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Eyecandy
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File Sharing
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Miscellaneous
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Web Browsers
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Chat Clients
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Drivers
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Email Clients
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Media Players and Edit
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Office
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Programming Tools
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Utilities
Programs include Gaim 2.0 beta6 and Extras, 64-bit Multimedia codecs, 64-bit Sun JAVA 1.6 JRE, Azureus, Frostwire, aMule, Songbird, Mplayer, VLC, 32-bit Skype, Automatix read/write NTFS and FAT32 Mounter, Extra Fonts, KDE Extras, Google Earth, Krusader, OpenOffice Clipart, 64-bit Bluefish and Scribus, KFTPGrabber, 32-bit Swiftfox and Swiftfox Plugins, NDISWrapper, 64-bit Nvidia Driver, KDE Security Suite (includes ClamAV AntiVirus and Guarddog Firewall) and much more. There are other means of obtaining these, but Automatix2 makes it easy. Gnome applications are hidden by default, clicking the “Show gnome apps” button brings up a lot more choices, including VMware Player and Slab (the menu used in SLED 10). There is a description of each program, telling you what it is and what it does.
Everything installed without a hitch. A window opens showing a dialog of what is going on. My only complaint is that it does not provide version numbers, so there is no way of knowing if the Nvidia driver is newer than the one I am currently using, other than exiting the program and using Synaptic or something. Other than that, it couldn’t be simpler. You simply check what you want to install or uninstall, click “Start” and Automatix2 handles the rest.
There are a variety of ways to do what Automatix2 does, but I like its simplicity and ease of use. I continue to lack a lot of free time so I appreciate this program for what it does. If you lack the technical know how to get things installed, or even to know what you are looking for , I recommend Automatix2. It is a fine program. It is so simple, there isn’t much to say about it.
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Mar
21
Review: Austrumi Linux
Filed Under Linux Distributions, Reviews | 7 Comments
Live CDs are great. If you are on the road an unable to access a Linux box, you just pop it in to the drive and away you go. You can use them as restore discs, play practical jokes and install a full operating system from them. One of the more interesting areas in Live CDs are the minimal (or business card) distributions. Designed for older machines, these can be a lifesaver if you are visiting your parents and using an old computer. Over the next week I will be reviewing them and decide which one is the best.
One of my favorites is Austrumi. It is under 50mb in size and surprisingly full featured. It will run with 128Mb of ram or less. When Distrowatch Weekly mentioned version 1.4.0 was out, I was interested in trying it again.
A big change in this release is the switch from enlightenment to Metacity + LXPanel. They have added a MySQL client and server (?!) and the bittorrent client Transmission. The kernel is 2.6.20.1. More details are available on the project’s home page.
So what do you get on a 50Mb Live Cd? Austrumi has made interesting choices.
* File Manager - emelFM2 and Midnight Commander
* Web Browser - Firefox 1.5
* Email - Web-Mail (Uebimiau)
* Graphics - GIMP, Inkscape, GQview and the Ghostview Postscript/PDF Viewer
* Audio/ Video - MPlayer, Sweep and SimpleCDR-X
* Development - Bluefish Editor, QEMU
* Games - Atomix, Ltris, Mines, GtkBalls, Icebreaker and XBoard
* Office - Abiword and Gnumeric Spreadsheet
* Accessories - Calculator, Terminal, Stardict and Partimage
* Networking - Transmission, DC++, Linphone, XChat and vqcc-gtk Chat Client
You get a good amount of programs for such a small distro. You also have the option to install to disc or install to USB.
I booted into Austrumi. You are given four choices at the boot prompt:
1. al nocache (don’t attempt to cache CD) for systems with less than 128Mb Ram
2. al union (read-write filesystem)
3. al text (run text mode)
4. al noddc (for old monitor)
I simply hit enter and booted with no problem. The default language is Latvian. I changed this by clicking the menu, then Istatiejumi (Apparently the Latvians use a lot of letters in their words) and choosing valodas to change language to English. This restarts the X server. This could be made easier. The look of Austrumi is striking. The Wallpaper chosen gives it a sophisticated look. This distribution has a reputation of being very fast. It lived up to its reputation for me.
I clicked Firefox and found out my internet connection was not set up. Clicking the Connection Manager icon in the upper right corner opened Netconfig (a connection dialog.) I chose DHCP and I was online in less than a minute. This couldn’t have been simpler. You can set up a printer via the Cups web interface. The selection of printing drivers is minimal, so you may need to download your own.
Austrumi is not without its problems. Web-Mail did not work for me, it gave me a blank Firefox browser window. Install to hard drive did not recognize a disc, so I was unable to test it. As I mentioned earlier, it would not hurt to make the language switch more intuitive. If I remember correctly, in past editions you just clicked a flag on the toolbar. One program didn’t make the translation to English, Ugunsvarti. It is a firewall/router program. The program runs in English, though. I couldn’t connect to MySQL. Install to USB was not working. This is listed as being fixed as of version 1.4.1.3, but as I mentioned below I was unable to download it.
The website is a bit lacking. There are mentions of newer versions (up to 1.4.1.3), but the link on the download page only lists version 1.4.0. You won’t find a lot of information on the site, mainly a link to Slackware, some screenshots and an outdated list of programs. The history page only goes up to version 1.2.0. There are no English forums, there is a Latvian forum. To be fair, most distros do not provide Latvian forums and this is a Latvian distribution.
One great feature is that you can remaster and create your own Live CD from within Austrumi. You are able to remove the Live CD and burn a new one. The screenshot shows all of the steps you take. It is remarkable to me that you are even able to test it using QEMU before burning. I give them a lot of credit here. This is cool.
If you load Austrumi into RAM when you boot (which is done automatically do unless you have less than 128Mb) you can eject the disc to burn CDs as well. The provided program, SimpleCDR-X, is a nice and simple CD burning program that I was previously unaware of. I also had not heard of the audio editor and player Sweep. It looks like a very interesting program, one deserving of its own article. (Note: The Sweep website mistakenly lists the last update as February 2006 instead of 2007.) MPlayer uses the old skin, which I hadn’t seen in years, and runs fine.
The games are simple and entertaining. This is Linux, and a 50Mb Live CD, so don’t expect the latest and greatest. What they lack in fancy graphics they make up for in challenge. Atomix is a game where you have to put molecules together and drive yourself crazy in the process. Icebreaker is similar to Kbounce, where you trap the bouncing penguins in increasingly smaller blocks of ice. Similar to what is going on right now in Antarctica. LTris is, you guessed it, a Tetris clone. If you are looking to waste a little time, Austrumi comes through.
Austrumi is good at what it does, which is provide you with a reasonably full featured Linux Distribution that will fit on a 50Mb business card and run on an old machine. I recommend it. The small size makes the download painless. If you are stuck using an older machine, Austrumi is a good way to go. It is not without its bugs, but overall I found it worked well for me. It could use a bit more polish and attention to detail. Overall, I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Next up: Puppy Linux.