A little ME time

I have been so busy for just about every weekend since going to the Newcastle Maker Faire, that when this weekend came around I thought "Computer time!"

After seeing that there was a new PCLinuxOS available I started checking to see if there was an update for the EeePC version for my EeePC 701. Sadly it seems not yet.

I had used EeePCLinuxOS (running from a pen drive) and for a while it seemed to work, right out of the box. But I had some problems with a video podcast recently and thought I would see if there was a fix. I looked at the Ubuntu variant that is now called Easypeasy.

Now, I like the look of the menus on this distro, except for a few niggly things like the wifi light always being on. Another niggle is that it takes over 2 minutes to boot. One enhancement I would like is to be able to do a menu search by just typing the name into a dialog box on that main screen.

I will search for another distro and see if I can get that little blue light to go off.

Wife gets her geek on installing fonts in Linux

So there are a number of posts about guys testing their partners to do typical functions in Linux that they would normally do in Windows.
A couple of days ago my wife announced that she wanted to have a particular fancy font for one of her craft projects.
When she used to boot to Windows, her computer would have a lot of fonts that she would download and install.
So I perched over her shoulder and kept an eye on what she was doing she went out there and found several instructions for a Redhat distro I explained that she needed instructions for Debian distro. Well, unperturbed, she typed something else into Google and found better instructions. I told her what a sudo is and how it works and she followed the instructions.
She manually copied the fonts to the location she wanted them to be.
Then at the command line she typed in the commands fc-cache -f -v etc.

She successfully installed the fonts with a little mumbling that it was easier to do in Windows.
This was all done with minimal prompting from me.

Today she installed a program from package manager and mentioned there is no way she is going to boot back into Windows anymore.

Linux Mint 6 first impressions

Installing a new release of Linux about every 6 months gives me a good excuse to back everything up, which is not a bad thing.
However I hate all the tweaking that is then needed to get everything back to **just right**.

So it was a pleasant surprise when I installed Mint 6 Felicia this past weekend. I was expecting my dual monitor setup to be a big pain in the you know what. But I have to say I was amazed at how easy it was. It detected my video card and I told it make a large desktop and voila!

I thought to my self 'Hmm.. that was easy ...almost too easy'.

My first impression was 'Cool, this has improved a lot since Mint 4,' which
had me going around in circles for several hours trying to get dual monitor support.

I then went to open Firefox. Nothing. Tried again. Nothing.

When I looked at the hidden .mozilla directory it had a lock and an X emblem on it and when queried it said root only. I found I could run it as a sudo user in terminal.

It took me a while. My solution was to add my user account by using the chown command sudo chown : .mozilla (and then all its subdirectories and file).
I also had the same issue with .adobe and .macromedia directories that prevented flash working.

I am now in the process of adding all those other tweaks, but in the back of my mind I am wondering how can some files become root? Why does this happen and would this happen again?
Should I reinstall over again while I have not got too much time invested in getting it **just right**?

Thoughts of Mandriva

So I have Mandriva 2008.1 on my computer. So far there are only a couple of annoyances.

1) Logging in
When I installed Mandriva I added a password. No problem.
Rebooted the computer. At the end of my session I had my password memorized and turned off the computer.
A couple of days later I turned on the computer, but it would not take my password or allow me to log in.
So I tried about 30 combinations, then by accident I typed my login name only to discover that numlock was
turned on. Well, when I typed my login name it had numbers in it. The keyboard is a mini keyboard with the keys laid out close to that of a laptop. It seems that Mandravia turns the Numlock 'ON' unlike Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS and Mint.

2) Mandriva and the vanishing MD5 sum.
If you downloaded Mandriva and got the MD5 sum without a lot of searching then count yourself lucky. It really is hidden away I even searched with Google and all I found were people asking where the MD5 sum was and strange cryptic clues from others who probably found the information by accident but wanted others to go through the pain of finding it.

3) Variations of Mandriva.
It's not clear (as in I am an idiot, and could not be bothered to look) what you get with the three different versions of Mandriva- free, one and Powerpack versions. I don't just mean lists of programs, I mean Powerpack number of seats / licenses, home, professional. What happens in 6 months when a new version comes out? Does everything stop working or is there a slightly cheaper upgrade path. I know that people need to make money, but $80 (from what I can see) each year is a little expensive.

Other than that it seems OK

Five different linuxes over five days

A few months ago I went and purchased a hard drive for around $60. My wife had been bugging me to install Linux on her computer. I, like an idiot, went out and purchased a second hard drive for her. I say 'like an idiot' because I was lazy and did not check to see if it was IDE or Sata. (To be honest I could not see it being Sata, so why check?)

Long story short, I ended up with an extra hard drive. So I installed it into my workshop computer.

Installing Mint on my wife's computer went perfectly first time. Installing Linux on the workshop computer however, was another story.



First Install
Mythbuntu - I thought, great, I like to watch podcasts. I have a tuner card. I can watch TV or Podcasts while working on my various projects. The Mythbuntu install felt like an Ubuntu install and installed quite fast. However I was disappointed that my video card was not one of the ones that could be recognized. At that point, I knew that it probably not stay. I played with it for several hours and found that there were a lot of broken links (not their fault). I was not impressed. I thought it would do more. Removed.

Second Install
openSuse - Well, it did not like something and would not install. No time. Removed.

Third Install
Mandriva 2008.1 - It recognized my tuner card (90% - It knew it was there but I could not tune to anything except white noise station). Not enough time to test more - I need a better antenna. I actually liked this distro. I found that Mandravia 2009.1 was released the same weekend. I have done this before where I got the disks and spent time on the installation of a Linux only to discover that it was almost immediately out of date. Removed.

Fourth Install.
Mint Linux - I had a small issue here. I partitioned the drive so I could boot more than one Linux. At this point I found I had made a mistake and I did not get a boot menu like when dual booting Windows. I could see the Mandriva install but needed to run repair to access it. So I did, but then the reverse happened and it would boot Mandriva but not Mint. Mint could see my tuner card though. Removed.

Fifth install.
Ubuntu Hardy Heron - I repartitioned my disk to take different distros together and installed Ubuntu. Reinstalled Mandriva. I now have the boot menu choice. Ubuntu, however, did not recognize my tuner card.

Verdict - I think I will now revisit the Mandriva 2009.1 distro and I think I will add it to my Eee PC when I have a chance.
Mint Linux Elyssa is on my main desktop and even though it has some great features it has been a bit disappointing. I have several applications that I use that seem to actually crash. This probably is hardware related. But I never had issues with Cassandra.
My wife has been booting into Mint all the time and loves it. The only issue she has had is that flash does not always play.

Linux Mint Mint tea

According to the recent Mac vs PC spoof commercial, Microsoft has come out with a line of relaxing teas to deal with the frustrations of using Vista.
Well, I surely could have used some Linux Mint Mint today. while configuring network access to other computers and my printer via CUPS.
I've been spending a lot of time trying to track down issues recently. This does not seem to be just plain setup issues
I could have used Crashytime Chamomile every other time I accessed PenguinTV, and I needed a lot of Pomegranate Patience when trying to use Flash player in Firefox.
I had to turn off Compiz's funky rotating screens to get Blender to open, Wow, now I need those bath salts.

But seriously configuring the network was quite a headache because I could not find where Gnome had hidden "Connect to Server" (it's in the "File" menu). I don't know why but I was looking in the "Go" menu. I thought it was missing. I actually installed Konqueror where I found the aptly named "Add a Network Folder" and that only took minutes to setup. Maybe it has always been there. I configured it once previously and then never needed it again. Maybe it's because I'm more familiar with KDE... but I have to say thumbs up to Konqueror.

I installed Opera because it does not seem to have the same issues as Firefox with Flash.
Also, as a side note, I hate that Mint hijacks my Google search from the search box in the tool bar. I should say I would not mind it if it did not reformat everything. I'm thinking that if I keep on using Mint then I may donate and just get rid of the code, however now I am in a distro-hopping mood.

Linux upgrading madness

Linux Mint installed everywhere.....
So I posted a few weeks ago that I was going to keep Linux Mint, after trying it for a year. Shortly thereafter I talked my wife into my needing two monitors.

Reluctantly she agreed so I popped down the road and bought myself a ATI HD 3450 video card, plugged it into my system and I sort of got video working. But I needed a second monitor so I popped off to get one. Well, when I plugged it in and turned it on I could really tell the difference between the two LCD displays (old and new). But worse, both images on the screen were the same (cloned) and I wanted them to be different.

I was using Cassandra and I thought 'No problem, I am upgrading anyway. I'll give the settings a poke.'

I tried to edit my Xorg using VIM (boy, is that a pain in the neck to use). Tried Envoy and tried to follow the instructions on ATI's webpage. Not getting anywhere, I upgraded to Daryna because I had that on CD but never got around to installing it. I had the same problems as with Celena. I started checking for fixes and realized that I was still a whole distro behind.

I downloaded Elyssa and wow! It detected my video card and downloaded (from what I can see) the ATI drivers (complete with control panel) with a lot less pain than with the previous two versions.

I then started to set things up. Well, gradually I played with settings in the control panel-still a bit tricky at this point. My wife, who had been watching me play with some of the Compiz features, asked if I would install Mint Linux on 'her' computer. I popped out and got her a second hard drive and installed it. At the same time I figured maybe dissimilar sized LCD monitors were to blame for my problem so I got another LCD monitor.

I installed a dual booting Elyssa and XP on her computer (I think she has only booted to Windows once over the last 2 weeks).

The new monitor did not make a difference. I finally cracked the settings so that the images on my desktop were not cloned. After trying countless times in the ATI control panel I went to control center and found I had to add one setting there under screen resolution.

Still configuring,customizing and optimizing.

Linux Mint one year later

About a year ago I did a cage match between Linux Mint and PCLOS.
A year later I am about to clean off the Linux hard drive and what am I going to install?

PCLOS or Linux Mint.
During the year I updated workshop computer with PCLOS08 and have to say it looks nice but I find it quite often does not have the applications I can find in Mint. I recently installed Lazarus a sort of Delphi clone programming IDE. I was able to find the basic instructions for Mint (I had to install all sorts of libraries and dependencies). But did not come even close in PCLOS. I gave up because it was too much effort.
PCLOS08 changed to gnome and whilst the industrial look is good, I can't help but say I like Mint more.

My wife has even commented that she likes Mint more.
So a year later it looks like Mint has won the desktop wars. I am going to try some others while I have a clean hard drive
I think I will try PCLos on the EEEPC though.

Spring in your step... Not really

I have not posted anything recently, I have slowed down work on Gort due to being busy at work during the day and the recent bout of humid \ thunderstorm weather. Not to completely stop I have added ears to Gort and another layer of Papier mache.

I have spent a lot of time with the EEEPC and various other linux \ linuxes I like the EEEPC so much, I like that it powers up fast.
After using it for a while I have only one complaint it gets hot, very hot.

I moved my project movies to Viddler (which I also like)

Other projects have my attention too but I want to see how it turns out first.

The upcoming weekend is Canada day and I will try to give the workshop a good clean up.

During the summer I would like to paint Gort while the weather is good and give him a chance to dry in the fresh air.
More soon (hopefully)

Busy being quiet, almost too quiet.

I have not posted for a while this is not because I had anything to post just no time to do it.
Easter came and went and I have actually gone into a little Gort overload.

So I thought I should do something else...

I have been switching Linux over the last weeks and had a lot of computer configuration problems.
I added Studio 64, Ark Linux, Fedora 08 and PCLinuxOS 2008.

Studio 64 is a nice Linux if you like to make music or video. Unfortunately it did not like my mother board video or monitor and the time to configure it was too much. I actually installed this by mistake.

Ark Linux is actually a very nice Linux (visually). I found it quite buggy, again it did not like my display. I did spend the time to configure it. But then it crashed too many times.

Fedora recognized my video but then I had to find all the software to play the simplest of podcasts or even MP3s.

PCLinuxOS 2008 I have to say visually PCLinuxOS is still the best for my old Dell computer, strangely it also had issues with my video card etc but PCLOS 2007 did not.
I checked the forums it was hot off the press the week before and it was not just me a lot of people were posting similar issues.
Gnome in PCLOS2008 is great but I kinda miss the KDE

Well everything was working fine then I decided that I should install opendns well now my network which was working fine is all screwed up...

I now have to move all my videos from Videoegg because they are shutting down their hosting

I got a eeepc as a toy then started reconfiguring my wifi well now half of my wifi enabled items work and the rest do not. So many distractions

This an example of how NOT to use your time effectively.

Focus... on GORT. I did manage to do some work on Gort I do not have any pictures as that would involve more work. I worked on the body and the feet of Gort. I am about to start the "lights behind the visor circuit \ programing

More updates at the end of the week.

Linux for your listening pleasure

I was mentioning recently about all the Podcasts I've been listening to.
If you are thinking of making the big switch over to Linux, or have the urge to play with Linux,
then I found this podcast all about switching over to Linux and the various things you need to do to experience Linux for yourself.

Well here is the really wacky part, this is not a video podcast but is actually an audio podcast.
How can an audio podcast be so good?
Well it is described in lots of detail as if someone was describing the steps out loud as you did them.

The pod cast is called Linux Learning Curve and you can find it at PodcastAlley

If you like it then you should give a vote for it.

I had some questions asked about listening to Podcasts. You do not need an iPod to listen to Podcasts. I found a program called PenguinTV that will find when new podcasts are available and download them automatically
It works in Linux only

Linux Mint first impressions

It was my birthday recently and I purchased a cheap reconditioned computer from Tiger Direct as a treat.
Emachine T5052 Pentium 4 HT
1GB RAM
120GB HD
ATI video (on board).
I was reading more reviews and I discovered Mint was an Ubuntu variation but with elegance.
So I took the challenge of Mint Linux... the one I mentioned a few weeks ago "If you have more than 512MB ram you should try it"
I downloaded the iso burned to a cd and ran the live version.
I do prefer Gnome desktop (Mint), over KDE, I also noticed there are lots of packages you can download for Mint because it and Ubuntu share the same repository

I purchased a 250GB drive and added it to my system, with the intention of it being used just by Linux.

Before installing I thought long and hard if I wanted to install Linux Mint after being so excited after installing PClinuxOS. I thought worse come to worse I can always go back...

Installation: After doing almost the exact same thing on my workshop computer last week I have to say, the PClinuxOS installation is much nicer smoother and looks more professional as it install than the Linux Mint install. I think the install is like this is because it is based on Ubuntu.

Live distro: Mint took longer to load than PClinuxOS

First impressions - Cage match......
Hard disk installation: Linux Mint 8/10, PClinuxOS 9/10.
Live distro: Linux Mint 8/10, PClinuxOS 9/10.
Packages available: Linux Mint 9/10, PClinuxOS 8/10.
Older computer suitability: Linux Mint 3/10, PClinuxOS 6/10.
Overall experience: Linux Mint 8/10, PClinuxOS 9/10.

I have not removed it yet.... I think Mint is still good and deserves to stay for a while, I have to give it a little longer.

Harry Potter and the installation wizard

Midnight Friday we were out getting the last installment of the Harry Potter series.
While my wife was lost in her Harry Potter book I chose to have some fun with my Linux I had just installed on Wednesday ....

Saturday morning around the time she was on page 180 I was looking through some documents and found that about a month ago PCLinuxOS 2oo7 has been released.

Decisions, decisions I felt I should upgrade before I got stuck in too much. Just around 5:30pm when she had finished the book I had finished the upgrade.

Problem for her was she was done (no more HP books) .
Problem for me is I lost the bit that was pretty and a few of the programs I liked have gone.
This version of PCLinuxOS is grittier than the 2006 version and means business.
By her comments so did the book

Whilst I have 'lost' these things I gain with other features...
I also lost my tv-card, not really a big deal but it was nice that it recognized it straight away first time around.

I will learn all about installing not from a repository but the "hard way" next weekend.

That computer has now made it's way down into the workshop.

Linux not just better, but pretty too!

I like to get the English Linux magazines (Linux Format) they always have 'free' disks with live and installable Linux distributions on them.
I have tried many different types of live Linux over the last months. So many that it is a bit of a blur. The Dell has some problems having the on board video recognized. Up to now Ubuntu had done the best job. For some reason KDE always broke with the result being huge characters.
So I was doing some upgrades and I grabbed one of these disks and it had PCLinuxOS 2006 on it.
It recognized the hardware and seemed to run OK. The Desktop picture of a field and town in the distance made me want to try this more.... It just looked so pretty!!!
So I thought I would give it a try. I installed it over Ubuntu.

Now the technical jargon....
A while ago I bought two Dell GX110 Pentium 3 computers from a surplus store, used them for a while.
I then installed Ubuntu on it. My other Dell computer (same spec) has Win 98 on it.
As Win98 support is getting less and less I thought to amalgamate the two computers.
So I moved all peripherals into one unit.
So far it is working quite well....
I have a Pentium 3 with DVD R\W 512 MB RAM, TV card 28GB over 2 hard drives Win 98 still installed on one and a dual boot using Grub.

Linux on an old computer???

Been trying some other live distos of linux recently openSuse and Mandravia.

These were tried on an old Dell Pentium 3, 256MB RAM Mandravia ran very slow but on a faster machine it would be quite impressive. OpenSuse seemed to have font issues.
At present I still have Xubuntu on my Linux box. I added an additional 256MB of memory,
bringing the total memory up to a whopping 512MB RAM.

I saw this new Distro called Mint. The hardware requirements say if you have more than 512MB memory then you should try it.

More Linux

OK, so now the desktop is running OK with Linux I thought I would see what would run OK on my Laptop. Another Old computer that is hanging around.
It is a Compaq Pentium II Armada series. 4GB hard drive, 64MB Ram.
Well I tried Damn small Linux (DSL) and I like the interface but had a problem with the computer hanging.
I had even better luck with Puppy Linux and have installed it partially to my hard dive.
Now this is strange my old OS was Windows 98 the computer ran really hot and my wifi located in one of the bedrooms could only just reach the ground floor.
With Puppy Linux I can sit in the basement and surf with occasional drop out.
The computer seems to now run cool. I can really recommend Puppy Linux.

My first project add Linux to my desktop

I have been playing with several live Distros of Linux. I have finally taken the plunge and converted one of my older desktops to Linux.
I have a used Dell Optiplex Pentium 3 700MHz that I converted to Linux 384MB Ram 14 GB hard disk.
DVD rom writer.
I was trying vector Linux (VL) and Knoppix. I finally caved in and tried Ubuntu, it is slightly slower than VL but the video card was recognised without any need for manual changes and that was what made my decision for me.
The whole installation to my hard drive was 30 minutes. I did not attempt to partition the drive so no Mickey$oft left on this computer.
After installation it automatically updated all the packages