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Category: Linux Tips/News

Close your Windows: Open Ubuntu

berkeleylugtransferred7 Comments

Why do most people use Windows as our computer operating system? Windows is used by 88% of computer users as their operating system , MacIntosh is 6%, iOs 3%, Java ME 1%, Android 1%, and Linux is 1% according the latest figures from http://www.realtimestats.com/. Link http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?spider=1&qprid=8. Windows definitely has an operating system monopoly with no competitor even close. Unfortunately most software manufacturers simply give few non-linux interoperability and support options.

I believe Ubuntu is a good alternative choice and is much cheaper. Ubuntu is a very popular Linux distribution. Linux is very much winning on servers and phones, even over former market leader Apple with their iPhone.

Mark Shuttleworth recently said at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Budapest, Hungary on May 5, 2011 “Bring free software to widest possible audience”. He also wants 200 million new users in 4 years.

To start using Ubuntu please download ubuntu.com/download, and receive Ubuntu support and assistance you are on your way from moving away from Windows. I’m a member of Berkeley LUG and we give out many copies Ubuntu or Ubuntu distros as we can to meeting attendees on a volunteer basis.

1) You will never pay money for an upgrade of Windows or Mac OSX. Not only is it “much cheaper” but by percentage technically it is infinitely cheaper!

2) Users will probably never get another computer virus

3) You won’t have to buy Spy ware

4) No need to deal with licensing fees for computer software. But M$ Office is a major revenue cow for their company. Open Office now Libre Office is a real threat. libreoffice.org.

5) Anyone can legally share free software with co-workers and friends that are big bonuses.

6) Older computers and equipment work well with Ubuntu

7) Fewer hardware upgrades, but Moore’s Law marches on and everyone can benefit from faster hardware.

8) You don’t need automatic updates. As initially configured during installation automatic updates are turned on in Ubuntu.

9) Easy to have quick upgrades with Linux — Some say too quick.

10) Ubuntu will have fewer computer bugs

11) Open standards mean there is compatibility across open platforms

12) Linux will never go out of business because it’s not owned by one company

Android & Linux FUD

grantbow2 Comments

You don’t think there’s a war over freedom going on? That’s what they want you to think. Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean it’s not true.

Oracle and Microsoft could cash in big on Android

Microsoft’s Android Shakedown

Do you think that patent issues and all this money changing hands has nothing to do with Linux? Just follow the money. While most of the legal attention focuses on Dalvik, the Android implementation of the Java virtual machine, the public perception of Linux is also tarnished to anyone who understands that Android is a Linux distribution. I can only imagine what cyanogenmod.com people think about what is going on. News like this is concerning because Android is otherwise the most visible success for open source software. Thanks to Android more people than ever before now use Linux in the palm of their hands (whether they know it or not) than traditional Linux desktops. Fundamentally I think the patent system is what is really broken and all this activity is the most visible symptom of the underlying problem. What do you think? Please comment below.

Why I Use Linux Ubuntu

berkeleylugtransferred1 Comment

This article is geared for the unconverted and was published on my blog dark energi.

 

I have been enjoying and using Linux for many years. Currently I am a member of Berkeley Linux Users Group (BLUG) www.berkeleylug.com/. Linux is a free computer operating system similar to Windows and Mac although technically only the kernel is called Linux. Currently Ubuntu is the most popular distribution system for Linux. Ubuntu means “Humanity Towards Others”. The new version available is Ubuntu 11.04 out April 2011.

Linux originated when Linus Torvalds was a student at University of Helsinki he developed Linux in 1991. It was released for free and started a great increase in software development. Linus currently works for the Linux Foundation in Oregon.

Why Linux?

It’s all free and you save money. All Linux software is open source. Upgrades come every six months. Linux is part of the open source software movement.

No computer viruses and you don’t have to buy anti-virus software.

Any software glitches you can usually solve through the Linux community.

Don’t have to buy new computers every few years and old computers work perfectly on Linux.

Linux has a nice support system. One type group is called Ubuntu Local Community Teams (LoCo) – a regional group of Ubuntu users to advocate, build, and improve Ubuntu. Ubuntu California is another group to advocate and promote Ubuntu. Linux Users Groups (LUG) are worldwide and they meet regularly to assist and support. You can also receive support through the Ubuntu community.

Linux Users are Enlightened: 1) Linux computer users are more interested in improving, assisting, and building the existing Linux community than monetary gain. 2) Computer Professionals, novices, young, old, women, and all races & cultures are treated the same.

You can operate Linux with Windows and Mac or completely replace your operating system. All you need to insert a CD-R or USB stick. If you use Windows you can operate Ubuntu with the Windows installer (Wubi).

Be a little different & give it a try!

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Major New Linux Releases – May 2011

berkeleylugtransferred1 Comment

In case you haven’t heard, in reverse alphabetical order…

Ubuntu 11.04 is out with Unity as the default desktop interface. http://ubuntu.com

RHEL 6.0 was released in Nov 2010, but RHEL 6.1 Beta was released in March http://redhat.com.

openSUSE 11.4 was released in March. http://opensuse.org

Fedora 15 will be released in a few short weeks featuring Gnome 3 as the default desktop interface. http://fedoraproject.org

Debian Squeeze 6.0.1 was released in March. http://debian.org

Other distros like arch having rolling releases.

What cool new distos are you using these days as the summer heats up? What informed opinions do you have about the decisions that made up these releases and others?

My Favorite Lesser Known Android Apps

jdeslipLeave a comment

The guy sitting next to me on the plane home from Florida was a Droid Incredible user; while we were sharing app recommendations, I realized I had a few recommendations of lesser known apps that really rock that I should share with people.  Everyone knows about Angry Birds, Google Sky Map and ShopSavy … but here are a few hidden gems:

1.  ChromeMarks – If you are like me, you use Chrome on your Linux (or other) desktop.  One of the great features of Chrome is the built-in bookmark sync.  Unfortunately, the built-in Android browser does get in on this syncing action.  This is where ChromeMarks come in; it syncs your Chrome bookmarks to your Android phone.

2. aTrackDog – I like to download, install and try out a lot of apps.  I then tend to uninstall a lot of apps.  aTrackDog lets you track new updates of apps, even after you have uninstalled; so, you don’t miss a big improvement in an app that you previously uninstalled.

3. OS-Monitor – It is basically like running “top” on your phone.  You can see all the processes using cpu at any given time.  Isn’t it awesome how much info about your phone is available on Android?

4. Wikipathia – A fun game of degrees of similarity relating terms on Wikipathia.

Add your own lesser known apps in the comments.

TV show promoting Linux in schools!

berkeleylugtransferred2 Comments

We have an opportunity to introduce a mainstream TV audience to the great stuff that Linux can do  in schools, but we need 25 Linux enthusiasts to commit to show up in order to accomplish it.

I just spoke with a program manager for a TV show called ABC 7 Live.  They are interested in having supporters of Linux in schools (and particularly Partimus.org) attend a show. The show airs daily from 3 pm to 4 pm.  I need a list of 25 people who will attend.  I need the list by Thursday, 12/9/10 at 3 pm.  You must be on the list to be admitted to the studio.  I am coordinating the list, so please be sure to email me to get on the list. You can email me at einfeldt a t gmail dot com. You can watch shows from the archive here

They have had famous people like Mark Zuckerberg on this show.

The show features a host, Brian Copeland, with his two co-hosts, Elizabeth Bermuda and Jennifer Jolly.  Jennifer Jolly was an anchor on another ABC show.

During the show, the hosts will be chatting about technology and non-profits, and they will ask questions of 10 people in a portion of the audience called the Voice Box.  Apparently, the Voice Box is situated just to the left of the hosts, and the hosts will talk with them occasionally.  Apparently, there will time for numerous sound bites from the audience, say 5 to 10 seconds in length.  It is not a lot of time for speeches, but it is time for several one-liners from the audience in response to questions from the hosts.  Audience members are also allowed to boo and to clapp.

Again, the focus of this show will be technology and non-profits, and so the hosts will be asking us substantive questions that call for brief, snappy, on-point responses.  My impression is that this is a serious opportunity for us to present Partimus to a Bay Area audience.

We need 25 people to come to the Jackson Square district of San Francisco at Front and Pacific on Monday, December 13, 2010.  The Voice Box section of the audience can hold 10 people, and 2 people unrelated to Partimus have aleady signed up to be on that show.  During a break in the show, the hosts will rotate people out of the Voice Box so that others can rotate into the Voice Box and participate in the show.  Even if you don’t want to get into the Voice Box, this is an opportunity to support Partimus and Linux by showing up and cheering and making noise when Partimus or Linux is mentioned.  They want a lively show, so enthusiasm will definitely help.

Compiling the new responsive kernel from scratch.

berkeleylugtransferred1 Comment

The new “200 lines of code” that makes the system more responsive is finally out! It is included in Kernel 2.6.37-rc3. This guide will explain how to install it on your system!

If you have Ubuntu, you can download the Debian packages:

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.37-rc3-natty/

First, download the latest patch and sources from kernel.org.

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/linux-2.6.37-rc3.tar.bz2
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/patch-2.6.37-rc3.bz2

#Extract and apply the patch:

tar xvf linux-2.6.37-rc3.tar.bz2
mv patch-2.6.37-rc3.bz2 linux-2.6.37-rc3/
cd linux-2.6.37-rc3
bunzip2 -d patch-2.6.37-rc3.bz2 | patch -p1

#Start the build process:

make clean
make menuconfig
make -j3 all
make -j3 modules_install

#Install and update GRUB:

make install
mkinitramfs -k 2.6.37-rc3 -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.37-rc3
update-grub