Linux notes from DarkDuck

Anne Nicolas: Mageia project is a viable and mature

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:30:00 +0000

"This is a good time for the next interview", DarkDuck thought. And there was a good reason for it.

DarkDuck's favourite distribution Mageia has just jumped into the version 3.

Let's cut this story short. My today's guest is Anne Nicolas, the chairperson of Mageia.org association.

DarkDuck: Hello Anne! Thanks for the second visit to my virtual interview room! So many changes since the first time you were here.

Anne Nicolas

Anne Nicolas: Indeed!

DD: Mageia 3 is now out. Do you feel relieved?
AN: Well releasing a new version is always a big stress for everybody. This time the list of release critical bugs was huge due to the big moves we did. When we speak about release critical bugs we speak about bugs that cannot be fixed through further updates. It deals mainly with install media and all their components but also with all the upgrade process.
While we knew it could happen, we just faced a bottleneck in our development and packaging process for all the Mageia specific tools like installer, mcc, rescue system... Very few people do have a global knowledge for it as it's a huge piece of software. About 317 000 code lines for all these tools in 2 or 3 brains only :). We are working at the moment to find a solution and have a development team focused on it.

DD: What's the major improvement in Mageia 3 compared to Mageia 2, from your personal point of view?
AN: Well we had zillions of major updates for Mageia 3. People used to say "this new version is much better, faster than the previous one". Well my opinion is we have released the third one and this was important as a sign that the project is a viable and mature project.

DD: I can confirm that saying. Even though I had some issues with Mageia 3 installation initially, most of them are now resolved.
AN: Great to read this! It would have been nice not to have any problem at all :). Still we try to reduce them as much as possible. We hope to be able to work on automatized tests for Mageia 4 to detect some of them in early stages of the development.

DD: ROSA team told me that their third release (ROSA Desktop.Fresh 2012) since the formation of a new company was the first truly independent. Can you say the same about Mageia?
AN: Well I would say we did it since the first release. Mageia and Mandriva have always been 2 independent projects. Still we do have the Mandriva Linux history inside and all the past development effort and we will never deny this.

DD: Mageia is a fork of Mandriva to a certain extent, as well as PSLOS and ROSA. Are you aware of any forks from Mageia? Would you support them if there are any?
AN: Don't know any others. Forks are distributions like all others :). I guess we would work with them as any other distribution unless we have common targets, organization, technical views... Then the point would be rather to join efforts.

DD: Mageia is now #2 in the 6-months Distrowatch rating. That's already an amazing result for the operating system which was first released less than 2 years ago. Are there any plans to be on the top?
AN: This is indeed a result that exceeds all our expectations. But even if we should be pleased with this result, Distrowatch is only an indicator of the popularity of the distribution. This means that we are interested in the project. The remains unknown as to the exact number of more permanent users.
It remains nevertheless a huge encouragement to all for their efforts and for almost 3 years.

DD: Mageia 3 is dedicated to Eugeni Dodonov. It is a very nice touch. Who's idea was it?
AN: It's a common decision as many of us knew Eugeni as part of Mandriva community and after Mageia community. On my personal side I met Eugeni several times and we worked together also on Mandriva releases. I really appreciated him, someone out of the ordinary and very human. I was devastated when I heard the news and it seemed natural to dedicate Mageia project in his memory.

DD: Is Mageia primarily aims desktop market, or you want to extend presence on the server market as well?
AN: When we started Mageia, we decided not to restrain the aims. In fact the only constraint is about finding maintainers for the software. When we have some for both desktop and server stacks then we will go ahead on both sides.
The "problem" for now is to know who is using Mageia, what are the main profiles. We do discover every day new kind of use of Mageia and it's quite exciting! The last one we heard about is Alcasar, an open source project of access control portal to Internet for opened consultation networks.

DD: Do you plan to invest in marketing of Mageia?
AN: Well we do have already a marketing team leaded by Patricia Fraser (aka Trish). She is doing an amazing job for now so that we can have all ready for our new releases (press release, web site, blog posts, ...). Still we think we can also go further in marketing especially towards our users and the local communities.

DD: Will Mageia team take part in any exhibitions, conferences and other mass events?
AN: Of course. We are trying to attend as many events as possible, mainly in Europe but anybody can work on it, we can give a hand to prepare it. In 2013, we went to FOSDEM (Bruxelles), Linuxtag (Berlin), Solution Linux (Paris). We will also attend RMLL (Bruxelles), FrOSCon (Germany) for the main one.

DD: Do you plan to start Mageia 4 straight away, or you want to have a truce first?
AN: Cauldron (the development version of Mageia) was reopened a few days after Mageia 3 was released. Still we are working at the moment on post-mortem for Mageia 3. All Mageia team are listing all the good things of this release but also all the one that should be improved. We will then work on it and try to find solutions.

DD: Does it mean there will be Mageia 3.5, or Mageia 3 SP1?
AN: Not at all. It is rather a reflection following the release of this release. How can we improve the difficulties and incorporate these improvements in the next version. Still we plan to open backports section in coming weeks. This will allow people who want it to get some brand new versions for some packages.

DD: Last time you told me that you'd love to visit East Asia and India. Are you closer to your dream now?
AN: Hum... I was not able to go further than Bruxelles :). Even if Bruxelles is a lovely town I do hope to be able to have such trips some days when planning is a bit less full...

DD: Thanks for coming, Anne! And I wish all the best to you and your wonderful team!
AN: Thanks for supporting Mageia!

Divergence in the distros: how the Linux community is splitting into a two-tier system

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:40:00 +0000

Multiple revenue streams aren't a bad thing.

Look at any major service provider: Heroku, Google, Amazon, Apple. All of them offer different levels of access to what they offer, usually at different prices. There's even an established route to enticing customers towards the paid plans, via the well-worn 'freemium' model.

Let's be clear about this: Linux isn't dividing into paid and unpaid. It's not going the freemium route (although the cynical will suggest that Canonical might be thinking about it). What we're seeing, though, is the development of a clear split. A kind of meiosis.

Debian 7, Fedora, and openSUSE are one head of the hydra;
Mint, Zorin, and Ubuntu the other.

And, much like the mythical beast itself, these heads enable the Linux beast to tackle both the herculean developer community while snapping up computer-averse consumers at the same time. If Linus Torvalds ran the Linux Foundation for-profit, this would be exactly the kind of business move that'd make sense: a two-tier system of Linux distributions, with one aimed at various levels of consumer and the other squarely aimed at the million unpaid developers who'll push the company forward.

Smart.

Case in point 1: Zorin OS

Zorin's been hanging around the lower part of the top ten used distros for around a year, according to DistroWatch. The super-friendly distro - aimed at helping Windows and Mac users make the jump to Linux - was released a little under a year ago, and it's due for an upgrade.

Zorin is an important player, because it embodies one level of the two-tier system we're talking about. It's branded as "The gateway to Linux for Windows users". It's "much faster than Windows 7". The Zorin homepage boasts "immunity to Windows viruses".

Who is all this pitched at? It's aimed at the Windows-using masses, the droves shackled senselessly to Redmond's profit-generating machine. It's one of the bold new faces of Linux: user-friendly, familiar, swish, much better than Windows, runs on all the best laptop lines (check out Canonical’s choice placement of mainstream-brand laptops proudly chugging through its OS).

All those things are correct, of course, but it's a far cry from the muted homepage of Debian, which offers "37500 packages", "precompiled software" and explicit references to "free as in freedom".

Zorin, Mint and Ubuntu (on which the first two are based) are not aimed at developers. They're not even the "transitory mechanisms" they used to be (moving users from Windows to Debian via an intermediary). They are the bright young face of Linux, where the proof of a free, open-source Operating System is more 'in the pudding' than splashed across their homepages.

Case in point 2: Debian

Debian 7's on the way. "Wheezy", they're calling it (in the Debian tradition, after the rubber penguin of Toy Story 2). Perhaps idiomatic naming is a tradition in the hardcore open-source dev community: after all, if you don't need to appeal to a wide audience of consumers, you can call it whatever you like.

Wheezy isn’t so much a bold statement that old-school Linux yet lives. It's more a quiet whisper: an under-arm nudge to the thousands of development teams that silently worship Debian's staggering stability, obsessive reliability and hassle-free maintenance.

It’s a hushed cry that tech admins the world over should think about readying the upgrade cycle on their servers: servers which, to this day, host around 2% of the top 100,000 websites on the Internet. In other words, Wheezy's release will interest large numbers of people and directly affect millions more (20% of Debian's websites state their business as 'Adult').

But it's understated and fanfare-less. Why? Because it's representative of the 'second tier' of Linux distributions: the ones which still care about free as in freedom and proudly splash lengthy Q&A essays on the philosophy of programming across their front page.

The two tiers

I'm betting this kind of talk has a few developers riled up by now.

"But Ubuntu is extensible!" they’ll say.
"Where does openSUSE sit in this ridiculously simplified model?" they'll cry.
"Do you not want to mention the thousands of other distributions available?" they'll quite rightly ask.

To those developers and Linux aficionados, I say this: the two tier model is not meant to be proof of itself. I'm using it to illustrate a divergence in purpose within the Linux community.

Zorin and Mint draw their users by offering functionality and usability at no cost whatsoever. They offer a product. Canonical's ill-fated experimentation with Amazon ads in Ubuntu last September epitomised this attitude: they were offering a product, and required a revenue stream to maintain it. In a way, they adopted Metafilter user blue_beetle's widely-quoted mantra: "If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold."

Debian, openSUSE, and (in some ways) Fedora don't intend to offer a product. They do, but it's more by accident than design (excepting, to an extent, Fedora). Instead, what they offer is a philosophy. A movement. The Debian Project, for example, states that it is "an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system". They are keen to explain that 'free' means a great deal more than 'costing nothing'. They openly ask the question "why would people spend hours of their own time to write software, carefully package it, and then give it all away?", and respond "The answers are as varied as the people who contribute." There's a sense that using Debian is about much, much more than using a sweet, slick product whose main selling point is that it doesn't cost anything.

So where do we go from here? Two-tiering isn't a bad thing. But Linux has, in the past, focussed much of its efforts in luring users away from closed-source operating systems and in to fully-featured open-source development environments. That's how Ubuntu started out. So, here's what I propose: a third tier. Something in-between. Something as accessible as Zorin, but with a gentle ramp to all the sexy Debian goodness that makes Linux great. And something that reminds you, continually, of the Linux philosophy of freedom.

Of course, there's nothing stopping me from forking a distro and making this myself. Who's in?

Sam Morgan is a developer and psychologist. He is the founder and CTO for Handcrafted Ltd, a boutique web application development company. If he's not at the terminal, you can find him experimenting with Dragora, Foresight or tinkering with embedded systems through KNOPPIX.

Tell people you use Linux

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 07:08:00 +0000

What is the most obvious way to tell other people you use Linux. Talk to them!

But what if there are too many people, and you can’t talk to [all of] them really… But still want to get the message "I am a Linux user" delivered? In this case, put this message on something visible. Computer sticker, mug, pen – the options are there. And, of course, with this summer season asking us to change clothes to something light, T-shirt is a nice way to promote your favourite operating system too!

Linux notes from DarkDuck helps you here. Links below lead to merchandise stores of different Linux distributions. Purchasing (and using) items from these stores, you not only promote Linux and tell other people you're a Linux man (or woman), but also help your favourite distribution: part of your purchase goes to the developers and helps them to continue their valuable work.

Of course, I have not listed all the available distributions there, just a selected few.

Also, there are items available on Amazon. Here are the links to Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk – depending on where you live. Clicking through these links and buying anything there, you help this blog.

Debian Wheezy vs Intel 4965AGN: flop-flop

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 21:54:00 +0000

Installing Debian may be a trivial task for someone.

It has never been so easy for me.

To start with, my first attempt to install it failed epically. Installation of Debian 6.0 Squeeze without a network connection was a serious mistake.

Has installation improved in Debian 7.0? It was my task to study this.

What do I have now on a hardware side? Since my old laptop died and I got a new one, I wrote a new post about "Tux moving house". You can get technical specs of my new laptop Sony Vaio VGN-NR21Z there too.

I downloaded and burnt onto a DVD+RW drive the Live Xfce version of Debian 7.0 Wheezy. So, disk is in the drive. Reboot. Let's go!

Attempt number one

The first task was to re-partition the disk. Since my "move house", the hard drive underwent serious work, and only 2 partitions were left: one for the Windows Vista installation, and one for "DATA". Of course, it was the "DATA" partition that had to be squeezed to accommodate some more neighbours to WinVis.

I successfully booted Debian Wheezy into the Live mode. To my (almost) surprise, Debian did not include drivers for my wireless card: Intel 4965AGN. Wow! I had to move my laptop closer to the router and plug the LAN cable in.

Once that was done, I started the installer. No issues were found prior to the moment of disk re-partitioner. Of course, the Debian installer and its partitioner are not the best graphically enhanced software. It's almost text-based with a few bits of "eye candy" on top.

Nevertheless, I managed to resize the partition and create three new ones for future system installations (one of them being Debian) plus a SWAP partition.

All the remaining steps of the Debian installer also went fine, and I eventually was asked to reboot.

First boot

First boot was uneventful. I booted into the Debian 7.0 Squeeze Xfce and was greeted by a usual login procedure. The first thing I did was to start the Iceweasel browser and search for the method of getting my WiFi card Intel 4965AGN working. It was not difficult to find the relevant Debian Wiki page.

Following the advice, I installed the recommended package and ran the modprobe command. Then I was able to connect to my home wireless network.

I don't know at which moment everything went wrong, but the wireless network misbehaved. Sometimes it refused to find the DNS server. Sometimes it worked with DNS and could connect to remote servers, but could not see and ping the devices in the local network (even the router itself!)

After a number of tries, no two of which gave repeatable results, I gave up.

The second attempt

After few hours spent with such "fun", I decided to give Debian yet another chance. Another boot into the Live session of Debian 7.0 Wheezy Xfce, and another attempt to install it.

To my surprise, this time round Debian installer refused to mount my supposed-to-be root Ext3 partition! After few attempts to solve this, it refused to see that Ext3 partition at all, and could only re-format it to JFS of some other "non-ext" filesystems. The same for other partitions on the drive.

Ok, let's try JFS, told I myself, and then installation went on uneventfully.

Second boot

This was a quick boot, I need to say.

Debian refused to boot without prior checking (fsck) of my newly formatted partitions, but for some reason it forgot that fsck.jfs is not in the standard installation image. It was a vicious circle. I could not boot into the operating system, because it wanted to have a package, which I could only obtain once fully booted.

Yet another flop!

The third attempt

Don't give up, DarkDuck! I wanted to have Debian installed on my HDD, whatever the price!

That time round I decided not to boot into the Debian Xfce Live session, but started the graphical installer right from the boot menu.

The sequence of steps in that installer is very close to the Live installer, although there were some differences. For example, the installer asked me whether I had a driver for Intel 4965AGN on an external drive. Sorry, I did not have.

This time I was able to re-format the partitions back to the Ext3 filesystem, and install Debian 7.0 Wheezy Xfce normally.

Third boot

Once booted, I followed the advice from the Debian Wiki page to install and to modprobe the driver.

But, learning from the first run, I decided to switch off the computer straight after that, without immediate connection to my wireless network.

Instead, I unplugged the network cable and let the laptop cold-boot with a new wireless driver installed.

It worked. The wireless network was listed. I successfully connected to it, and was able to browse both Internet and local net.

Debian 7.0 Wheezy Xfce
after installation

It's the time to relax now.

What's next?

I thought you might be curious what are other systems I am going to install on this new laptop.

Stay tuned!

And, if you want, feel free to give your suggestions in the comments box below!

New book from a Linux geek

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 28 May 2013 20:05:00 +0000

This time I am not going to write about Linux, sorry guys.

But if you're into Linux world, you should know the person called Dedoimedo. I have even interviewed him once.

Igor Ljubuncic, who goes under Dedoimedo's nickname in the Linux world, is a multi-talented person. He is not only a computer and Linux geek, but he is also a writer. Last year he published his first book, The Betrayed. This year the second part of the story is out, called The Broken.

By the way, if you want to get The Broken for free, you can take part in the competition which Dedoimedo currently runs! Good luck!

Steven Ovadia: I wiped Windows and never looked back

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:01:00 +0000

This man usually sits in a different seat of the interview room. Many people in the Linux world recognise him as a person who interviewed a lot of high-profile Linux advocates, prophets and journalists. But let me now put him into the interviewee's seat and introduce the man to you. Please meet: Steven Ovadia.

DarkDuck: Hello Steven, thanks for coming for an interview. Could you please introduce yourself?
Steven Ovadia: I'm Steven Ovadia. I run My Linux Rig (www.mylinuxrig.com). It's a blog about desktop Linux and how people use it. It features an interview series called The Linux Setup where I interview people about their desktop Linux setups.

DD: How did you come to the Linux world? When did it happen?
SO: I've always found both Windows and OS X kind of frustrating and I've always been interested in Linux, so while I was in graduate school, I threw an Ubuntu partition on my ThinkPad and I loved it. I needed Windows for some applications (SAS, Stata, Word, and Excel), but once I graduated, I wiped the Windows partition and went to Linux full-time. That was around five or six years ago, I guess. And I've never looked back.

DD: Why and when have you decided to go blogging about Linux?
SO: I started blogging about Linux so I wouldn't forget the things I was learning. My Linux Rig started out as a public journal about working with Xubuntu. But after a while, I felt I had mined that pretty well, so I went broader and launched My Linux Rig and the Linux Setup.

DD: Is mylinuxrig.com your only blog or online project?
SO: Right now it is. I was a hockey blogger for a long time, but it kind of burned me out, so that's on an indefinite hiatus.

DD: You have conducted lots of interviews with different people in the Linux community. Who is your most valuable guest from your point of view?
SO: This is going to sound like a cop-out, but I find them all interesting. In general, I've really enjoyed the interviews with thoughtful people who not only discuss what they use, but also talk about why they use it. Any time the conversation can get beyond tools and into processes, I think it's a very cool thing. Noah Lorang's interview generated the most traffic for me and it was also a really great interview content-wise, so I think that's a pretty nice confluence of events:

DD: Who are the most influential people in the FOSS world from your interviewees list, from your point of view?
SO: Well here is a list of everyone I've interviewed. Importance is subjective and I truly believe every Linux user is important, since we're such a small community. I think journalists might be impressed by someone like Dan Gillmor or Steven Rosenberg. Mint users probably appreciated Clem Lefebvre. CrunchBang users probably enjoyed Philip Newborough. Everyone has their own Linux associations, so I try and hit a bunch of different points. But I don't think anyone in the community is more important than anyone else.

DD: Do you usually find your "victims" yourself, or they find you?
SO: Some people reach out to me, but for the most part, I reach out to people. It's nice, because I've gotten to interview some famous Linux users. I've also been able to target some of the users who are less well-represented in the public face of Linux. Having said that, though, I love when people reach out to me. It helps me connect to Linux users who maybe don't have a huge public profile, but who are doing very interesting things. Any DarkDuck readers who want to be interviewed can contact me through this form or through Twitter (I'm @steven_ovadia)

DD: Does it include myself?
SO: Definitely! I'll email you.

DD: You ask everyone to share their Linux desktop. What’s your current desktop?
SO: I'm using OpenSUSE 12.1 and GNOME 3. I LOVE both. GNOME 3 is just so effortless to work with. And OpenSUSE is a great distro that doesn't get the love it probably should. I'm waiting on some life things to settle down before I upgrade.

DD: Can you show a screenshot?
SO: Sure!

Steven Ovadia screenshot

This is my favorite part of GNOME – the dash. I love that I can just type and stuff happens. It was tough adjusting to a lack of a desktop folder, but I can honestly say I don't miss it anymore. My Downloads folder has become my desktop. GNOME is stock. Everyone's pretty much looks the same, but it doesn't bother me. I'm not really looking to customize much anymore. That's a young man's game.

DD: What are your favourite Linux distributions, Desktop Environment, applications?
SO: I use fairly standard stuff. Chromium for browsing and tweeting (I like the Silver Bird extension a lot). I use gedit for most of my writing. I can't stand Nautilus so PCMan is my default file manager. I use Clementine for music, gpodder for podcasts, and my backup is via SpiderOak. If I have to word process or do a spreadsheet, I use LibreOffice. And I use the GIMP fairly frequently. I size images a lot for some reason. Parcellite is also very helpful for clipboard management. GNOME seems to have a very short clipboard memory. It used to be very annoying before I installed Parcellite.

DD: Do you read Linux blog from DarkDuck? What do you think about it?
SO: Of course! Everyone knows DarkDuck. I always appreciate your distro reviews.

DD: Heh, this opinion contradicts the one from many commenters, and also general opinion of me from LXer residents. They usually say that it is too high-level, or that Live reviews are pointless.
SO: Every distro runs very differently on different hardware, so I really use distro reviews to get a sense of a distro. But I understand that the review hardware is most likely very different than my own, so I'm not too particular about if a review is based off of a live CD, a virtual machine, or an actual install. I'm really using a review to decide if a distro is worth further investigation. I'm not trusting it to be the final word.

DD: Apart from running online resource, what are your interests in the real life?
SO: I'm an academic librarian, so that takes up a fair amount of mental bandwidth. When I'm not doing that, I enjoy running, playing guitar, reading, and hanging out with my wife (one day I'll convert her to Linux!).

DD: What are your future plans?
SO: I just want to keep The Linux Setup rolling. I'm adjusting the questions a bit, which I think will help to keep things fresh. I periodically think about leaving Tumblr, but the community is just really awesome and tough to leave.

DD: Thanks for coming, Steven! Hope you see you again one day!
SO: Thanks for having me!

Facebook fans: 200

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:31:00 +0000

It was not long ago when I was happily announced that more than 600 people subscribed to this blog.

Today I have yet another nice announcement: the number of Facebook page fans is now 200.

Thank you to everyone in this list!

Do you want to join this fantastic outfit? Like the Facebook page of Linux notes from DarkDuck too!

Linux Screenshot Beauty Contest from DarkDuck (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:57:00 +0000

I hope you have enjoyed the first and the second parts of the Linux Screenshot Beauty Contest.

Let's see the third part.

Openmamba Milestone2 KDE

WattOS R5

Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon

And now, just to let you feel the difference between the real nice women on all the screenshots above, here is a screenshot from OpenSuSE 12.1 Li-f-e. No doubt, you like the music for this video. But... Do you like the man?

OpenSuSE 12.1 Li-f-e

These are all the contestants. Please comment below: which screenshot, which review and which operating system do you like more?

Linux Screenshot Beauty Contest from DarkDuck (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:55:00 +0000

The first part of Linux Screenshot Beauty Contest gathered different feedback. Somebody liked the idea, somebody did not.
I the meantime, it's now the time to present you the second part of the gallery. I hope you will enjoy...

Xubuntu 12.04 upgrade

What is your favourite screenshot and distribution from this list?

A letter from Linux Evangelist

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 02 May 2013 21:34:00 +0000

Dear Sir/Madam,

Read the GNU philosophy!

Listen to Linus Torvalds speak about why Linux is...., well, just is.

Ask Richard Stallman one simple question, why?!

My friends, and even those not my friends, I put to you the closest one can get to experiencing true freedom.

Not to being totally free, that is a completely different kettle of fish. Linux is a tantalising sample and example of what freedom can deliver.

Do I sound like an evangelist? I hope so! By the way, I'm annoyed that the Linux community kept this so quiet for so long! I'll argue with you later!

The core of the network of the company I work for now houses an i7 16gb RAM Linux Box, running Windows 7 and Server Virtual Machines, MYSQL, ownCloud Virtual Machine, Apache Web Server, openSSH and a sprinkling of command line monitoring tools. It will be free one day. It has it's enemy's close, where it can see them.

My workstation runs Linux, My home PC runs Linux, My TV is driven by Linux, My phone is driven by Linux, 3 of my 4 kids run Linux (they hate me for that by the way, made 'em think) LOL!

Am I obsessed? I hope so! Who could not be obsessed with the prospect of mind opening and sole unshackling freedom?

By the way, I ran, installed, administered, managed, developed for and advocated another system, which shall remain nameless, since '95 ;-) The 08 version was the tipping point. "There has to be something better then this"? There is, GNU/Linux, look it up!

Remember! With Freedom comes great responsibility! Be wise.

Now, where's my Penguin bat? Need to go tap on a few windows, get'em opened up and let the fresh air in ;-)

Regards, Nick

This is a guest post by Nick & Chris, which won a prize in the joint contest of Linux notes from DarkDuck and Zinio.

Linux Screenshot Beauty Contest from DarkDuck (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Everyday Linux User has recently published a gallery of screenshots from his distrohopping life. It gave me idea to do the same, but in a slightly different manner.

If you read my blog for some time, you remember the times when I did my own reviews. Most of them were accompanied by the screenshot or two. Here I republish some screenshots. Maybe it will intrigue you well enough to come back to the review itself and, even more, try the Linux distribution I wrote about.

What do these screenshots have in common? Few things:

All of them are from Linux distributions
All of them feature my blog's page
All of them have a nice female on the YouTube video

That's why I name this Linux Screenshot Beauty Contest. Interested? Let's go!

Debian KDE

Kubuntu 11.10 Live

Kubuntu 11.10 installed

Ubuntu 11.10 Live

Ubuntu 11.10 installed

Ubuntu 11.10 with GNOME3

Kademar

Fedora 16 GNOME3

Fedora 16 KDE

Pardus Corporate

Ububox SalentOS

Xubuntu 11.10 Live

Xubuntu 11.10 installed

Linux Mint 12

Agilia Linux 8.0.0

Austrumi

Of course, that's not all. Did you like the gallery? Which distribution and screenshot do you prefer most?

Wait for a second part of screenshot gallery! Stay tune! Stay subscribed!

Linux saved my life

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:27:00 +0000

Around 2005 I decided to educate myself in computers as an extension of my trade: radio-technician. Cheap imports meant that our trade was just about obsolete. Studying commercial software from one of the two IT giants though did not satisfy my curiosity of wanting to know what happens behind the screen.

A couple of years into my IT studies and I came across Ubuntu 6, tried it and immediately got hooked. I tried many flavours of Linux and at some stage sported over 10 partitions on my laptop but finally settled back to Ubuntu Linux.

I had been divorced a few years earlier, had a lot of time on my own and Linux came as a heaven-sent to take my mind off the blues I still had.

Dark thoughts had been on my mind but Linux saved my life!

Here was a field of important technology that I could immerse myself in. Here I could see the workings of a computer without the restrictions of patents and secrecy. There are many Tux lovers who helped me via forums to overcome bugs and other problems and now I'm able to help others. I feel that by using one of the Linux distros I'm privileged to be a member of a very important brother/sister-hood.

I have only a ten year old laptop. With the demand of today's software, example: firefox takes a third of my RAM, it has become very frustrating. In spite of many challenges I march on and keep on tweaking.

Now I use Ubuntu 12.04 run like Lucid by using gnome-fallback and even using some Lucid packages.

The top gnome-panel acts like a monitor for cpu%, temperature, net-speed, keyboard switch, time, date and more while Cairo-Dock makes the most used programs available at the Mac-like bar at the bottom.

Conky, the life desktop background integrated monitor shows me important activity and usages and even the weather forecast.

A tweaked clock to suit the dark theme and calendar screenlet add a sense of time to the desktop which I otherwise loose and get dates mixed up.

Compiz looks after using a gentle and impressive way to open and shut windows; no sudden pop-ups to stir up my quiet and peaceful existence. Emerald, yes it still exists and gets maintained, allows me to tweak the window frames to my likings and to suit the current theme.

I love Linux and I use the other, commercial OS only occasionally as I can do just about everything on Linux.

This is a guest post by Rolf Sommerhalder, which won a prize in the joint contest of Linux notes from DarkDuck and Zinio.

Another level taken: 600 subscribers

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:32:00 +0000

I have stopped actively writing for this blog in October 2012, half a year ago. Most of materials published here since that day are guest posts, written by other authors. Frequency of updates is lower now than it was before. You can see it from the statistics.

However, the number of subscribers of this blog continues to grow!

I am happy to announce today that the number of people who read this blog on a regular basis is over 600.

I'd like to say THANK YOU to all my readers and supporters! I very much appreciate your attention, your time, your interest.

Of course, I welcome all new readers of this blog, and ask you to subscribe by any method available: twitter, facebook, RSS or e-mail.

OpenSuSE 12.3 – the Cheater

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:31:00 +0000

I don't like OpenSuSE. I've tried it several times, and I always was disappointed.

However, I recently read an article by Dedoimedo, which praised OpenSuSE 12.3 as the best in the 12.x series. I also got a comment on my OpenSuSE 12.2 article, in which the commenter said that the 12.3 version is much better than 12.2. And last but not least, I recently got an order for OpenSuSE 12.3 disk from one of my customers.

That's why I decided to check OpenSuSE 12.3 for myself.

If you hoped to see the full-blown review of this operating system, unfortunately I have to disappoint you. I shall simply send you to Dedoimedo's article linked above.

I will write, for the 45th time probably, about what I consider the rubbish software and update management system OpenSuSE uses.

So, let's start the Live session of OpenSuSE 12.3 KDE, run the Install/Remove Software application, which is located in the Computer section of the main menu.

OpenSuSE 12.3 YaST

Type "Chromium" in the search string and hit Search. In the list that appears, tick the checkbox next to the Chromium line. You have a few more lines that will be autoselected here. They are logical dependencies, as you can notice.

Chromium browser and its direct dependencies

And now click Accept. First of all, you have to accept two more license agreements for software, not mentioned anywhere on the earlier screens: Adobe Flash Plugin and GStreamer Fluendo plugin. Finally, you have a list of additional components Yast (OpenSuSE's software management tool) imposes on you.

None of the items in this list can be deselected. Drop-down list at the top only filters the view, but not the follow-up process.

The text at the very top of the window reads:

In addition to your manual selections, the following packages have been changed to resolve dependencies.

If you scroll through the list, you can find there brilliant dependencies of Chromium browser like MozillaFirefox-translations-common, kdeartwork4-wallpapers-weather, gtk3-branding-openSUSE etc.

Will anyone in the world in a rational state of mind believe that the Chromium browser could actually depend on Firefox translations or OpenSuSE branding?

Dear OpenSuSE developers! Could you please read this carefully: don't take your users as dummies and newbies. Call things by their correct names. If you decide to impose an overall system update, call it an update. If a user wants to install only one application, let him install that one application, then inform him of a necessary update without insisting he perform it at once as a price for requesting something new.

Overall, I really do think that OpenSuSE 12.3 is the best in the OpenSuSE 12.x range. But that's far not the best operating system. And, I should admit, this is not the honest operating system. It's a cheater!

Do you want to try OpenSuSE 12.3 yourself? Then why not order the disk with this operating system from BuyLinuxCDs site?

Linux on the Mini PC

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:27:00 +0000

The recent emergence of the mini PC has opened up new horizons for the Linux user.

The form factor of the Mini PC is a square having approximately the same dimension as the long side of a DVD box and thin in profile. The mini PC is designed to be very power efficient, typically using a 65 Watt power supply. The CPU is a low-voltage power efficient type, there are no fans, and the power supply is often an external DC adaptor like that of a laptop. Because there are no fans, the computer runs silently.

Sapphire EDGE VS8

My mini computer is equipped with an AMD Trinity quad core 1.6GHz processor, and it runs not much slower than a desktop Intel quad core i7 computer, thanks to the efficiency of the built-in AMD Radeon graphics. I measured the CPU temperature when the computer was in an idle state to be 9 degrees C higher than an Intel quad core i7 computer which was running the same operating system.

There are two types of mini PCs on the market: those for Windows and those for Linux. The most suitable OS to use can be determined by studying the specifications. I estimate that the copy of Windows Vista that I had available to install on the computer would have run three times slower than Ubuntu 12.04 which I installed. This is because Vista is slow anyway, and the 32-bit version I had couldn't take advantage of all of the available RAM.

The installation of Ubuntu 12.04 from a USB flash drive was straightforward. Everything worked out of the box, including the proprietary graphics driver which I installed from the Ubuntu Software Center.

Now the only problem left was to get rid of the annoying AMD logo watermark in the lower right hand corner of the screen. I searched the Ubuntu forums for help, and came up with several answers which I tried one after the other, but nothing worked.

I decided to relax and give myself six months to think about it before I tried to make any major changes to my system. This strategy has worked for me in the past, and after all, everything was working. Two days later I found a bash script for getting rid of the watermark, and now everything works for me 100%.

This is a guest post by Karl Jablin, which won a prize in the joint contest of Linux notes from DarkDuck and Zinio.

image: wikimedia, sapphire

Tux moves house... again!

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:35:00 +0000

Does Tux really like to move house?

I've written about this already, when I first changed the HDD in my laptop. I moved the same HDD from an HP Compaq C300 to a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pi 1505. The HDD had 4 operating systems installed: Windows XP, Mageia 1 KDE, Linux Mint XFCE and Debian Squeeze. I made a conclusion at that time that WinXP survived the move the best.

The list of operating systems installed on that HDD have changed a bit since then. Linux Mint Xfce has gone, and Xubuntu 12.04 arrived in its place. Mageia 1 got upgraded to Mageia 2. Windows XP and Debian only got security updates, but remained at the same version level.

Unfortunately, the Fujitsu-Siemens laptop did not last long. Less than 1.5 years in my hands, and the backlight on the screen went bust. To be honest, the laptop had been used by somebody else before, so the actual lifespan of the device was significantly more than 1.5 years.

What was inside the Fujitsu-Siemens?

Intel Centrino, dual core 1.73 GHz
1GB RAM
CD/DVD-RW
Intel video card
Intel 3945ABG WiFi card

After the backlight failed, I set myself the task of buying a new laptop. My choice was a Sony VAIO VGN-NR21Z. Of course, it had also been used by someone else, but it was described as "in very good condition".

What does this laptop have?

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz
3GB RAM
CD/DVD-RW
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT GPU
Intel 4965 AGN WiFi card

Just a few words about the design of devices. I mentioned in my previous article that it took me much more time to put the HDD into the Fujitsu-Siemens laptop than to take the same HDD out of HP Compaq. But only now have I realized that the Fujitsu-Siemens was actually well-designed! If you have ever tried to swap the HDD in Sony VAIO VGN-NR21Z, you would know that you need to unscrew literally 2 dozen screws of different sizes just to get the frame with the HDD out. Plus 4 screws more to take the HDD itself out of the frame! Of course, you need to put all these screws back when you are finished! That's real torture!

Anyway, I went through that exercise, and my new Sony laptop is ready for the test. Are the operating systems ready? Let's see!

First boot...

and good news that I can see the same GRUB menu. It means that the HDD is recognised, and the low-level video modes of GRUB are working fine with the video card and screen panel.

Who will be the guinea pig #1?

Windows XP! It was the leader last time...

But it is not the leader this time. Windows went directly into BSOD and immediate restart. Bin it!

Guinea pig #2 was Debian

Debian Squeeze showed me a normal start. Of course, there were some error lines during the first boot, but nothing serious. I cannot say for sure, but by all the requisites I could check, the Nouveau NVIDIA driver was automatically switched on. The wireless card worked without any issues.

Second boot of Debian OS did not show any error messages. Have I actually changed the laptop? Looks like Debian hasn't even noticed that!

Sony VAIO VGN-NR21Z does not have hardware sound controls. Instead, the key combinations Fn-F3 and Fn-F4 work as Volume down and Volume up. When I pressed these keys, they showed me an on-screen display and worked just fine.

Similar to the sound controls, screen brightness controls (Fn-F5 and Fn-F6) showed the on-screen display, but had no real effect.

Guinea pig #3 was Xubuntu

Xubuntu 12.04 showed me a normal start too. The proprietary NVIDIA driver was listed in the Additional Drivers section of System menu, and installed just fine. Wireless card worked without any issues.

Sound controls (Fn-F3 and Fn-F4) showed on-screen display and work perfectly. Unfortunately, brightness controls (Fn-F5 and Fn-F6) had no effect at all.

And the last guinea pig - my favourite Mageia

Unfortunately for me, first boot into Mageia brought me some problems. This operating system did not have a driver for the WiFi network card Intel 4965 AGN "in stock". I had to temporarily connect the laptop to a wired Internet to download the driver. The process worked fine and did not take much time. I had a wireless connection very soon.

Mageia asked me to install the proprietary NVIDIA driver when I went to the Mageia Control Centre, Configure Graphical Server section. Installation took some time, but proceeded OK.

Sound controls (Fn-F3 and Fn-F4) had no effect at all.

Screen brightness controls (Fn-F5 and Fn-F6) only showed me an on-screen display, but had no real effect.

Conclusion

What are the ratings of the operating systems for the ability to move house? Last time the clear winner was WinXP, followed by Linux Mint Xfce, Debian and Mageia.

The situation is different this time. My rating is:

Debian Squeeze
Xubuntu 12.04
Mageia 2
Windows XP

The difference between Squeeze and 12.04 is marginal. Debian managed to show an OSD for brightness controls, which 12.04 did not. However, neither OS was able to change the screen brightness with these keys.

Similar to the previous time, Mageia gave me the most problems out of all Linux-based operating systems.

And Windows, like it is commonly said, "must die". It died. It won't be resurrected.

What's next?

Even though all Linux operating systems are working fine now, I made my own decision to do a full wipe of HDD and do fresh installations.

First of all, because I want to get rid of Windows XP, which took the biggest partition on my laptop's HDD, mostly acting like a storage. It means re-partitioning of the Hard Disk Drive.

Secondly, I have another project, which can benefit from me having an additional software installed in a separate partition. Unfortunately, this does not mean getting rid of Windows at all. Which project do I mean? I'll keep it secret and will only answer in personal e-mails!

Keep in touch!

The truth about being a full time geek

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:44:00 +0000

When I was at school the term geek was a derogatory word directed at people who spent a lot of time on a ZX Spectrum, was part of a chess club or played a musical instrument in the school orchestra. Unfortunately I was one of those people who fell into all three categories.

Nowadays the term geek is considered cool. Being a geek means you are knowledgeable in a particular subject and that you have spent a lot of time within the specialised field for which you are termed a geek.

What does all this have to do with Linux? Well the true geek, the one that played chess every lunchtime so that they wouldn't have to go outside and play, they still exist and the geekdom weighs down heavily on their shoulders.

You see a lot of people didn't stop using Windows and use Linux just because it was better. That was never the plan. The true geek used Linux when it was a mere shell of an operating system and being a geek doesn't actually mean you are knowledgeable about the whole thing and that you know what you are doing.

The inner geek wants to play and Linux is the ultimate playground. There is so much choice. There are a dozen different desktop environments and hundreds of different distributions each with their own unique slant on the way a computer should be used.

The trouble with being like this however is that no one distribution is every enough. The term distrohopper has been invented for people who continually jump from distribution to distribution and we don't do it because the distribution we are using now has anything wrong with it. We do it because first of all we can and secondly it is the need to know. Is there something in that other distribution that isn't in all the others?

A true geek will have attempted Linux From Scratch and will have repartitioned their hard drive on multiple occasions. The true geek appreciates Ubuntu for what it is but hasn't actually used it in quite some time. The true geek owns a Raspberry PI. Why? It is the ultimate toy. There is a new game to be played. Who can do the most impressive thing with the Raspberry PI?

Of course being a geek doesn't mean you are particularly any more intelligent than other people and your level of ability may be insignificant to other great minds who just seem to be able to build amazing things with the minimum of effort. It doesn't stop you trying though.

Being a geek is both a blessing and a curse. How I got married I will never know? I'm constantly complained at for being on that blasted computer.

Linux is there for everyone. It is so easy to use now that anyone can do it. For the chess club members and Sinclair Spectrum programmers of the past there is still a big enough maze to get lost in. A place to hide away from real life.

This is a guest post by Gary Newell, which won the 1st prize in the joint contest of Linux notes from DarkDuck and Zinio. Gary received a subscription to his favourite magazine and a disk with his favourite distribution Mageia 2 KDE from Buy Linux CDs.

Images by campuspartymexico and NeoGaboX

The Results of Zinio Contest

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:44:00 +0000

This is a time now to tell that the joint contest which Linux notes from DarkDuck ran together with Zinio is now over.

The winners were contacted by e-mail, and they will receive their free subscriptions soon. Also, Gary Newell receives a free CD with distribution of his choice.

Do you want to know who other winners are? Please subscribe to this blog, and you will see the winning articles in the course of 2013.

If you’re disappointed you could not win this time, or learnt about the contest too late, I have good news for you. This is not the last contest from Linux notes from DarkDuck. Don’t miss it – subscribe to updates using any methods available in the side column of this site.

ZINIO contest extended

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:18:00 +0000

Are you aware that Linux notes from DarkDuck runs a contest together with Zinio? I hope you are.

And I am sure you have already submitted your entry. Not yet? I am happy to announce that the contest dates extended! You have 5 more days to submit your articles. Closing date is now the ~~31st of March~~ 5th of April 2013.

Good luck!

Order your own disk with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu or Lubuntu 13.04 NOW!!!

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:03:00 +0000

With the coming release of next long-term support version of Ubuntu 13.04 just a month away, many of you already looking for downloading of your own ISO image of the system.
But many of you are not so lucky, and will need to wait longer, because you can not or do not want to create their own CDs with operating system images.
Here we are to help!
You can pre-order your own copy of Ubuntu 13.04 (or Xubuntu, or Lubuntu, or Kubuntu) right now. It means that a DVD with your favourite OS will be burnt to you as early as possible, and dispatched on the 25th of April, or soon after. Dispatched to anywhere in the world.
How you can get the DVD? Go to http://buylinuxcds.co.uk site, purchase the Ubuntu DVD from there, and in the PayPal comments state that you want version 13.04. If you want K-, L- or Xubuntu, state it also in the same comment. That's easy.

To help you even further, here is a mini-shop which you can use straight away. It supports PayPal checkout, similar to Buy Linux CDs site. And you even don't need a PayPal account to pay - you can do this with your credit a debit card!

UK (2.00 GBP):

Ubuntu 13.04 pre-order (UK)
Variation

USA (6.50 USD):

Ubuntu 13.04 pre-order (USA)
Variation

Other countries (4.50 GBP):

Ubuntu 13.04 pre-order (Other countries)
Variation

And yet another alternative: you can purchase the same disks via eBay.

From US Soldier to IT Manager... with Linux Mint

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 03:32:00 +0000

During my earlier years, I was in the US military as an enlisted soldier. Money was extremely tight for my wife and I, but I had a passion for computers.

I couldn't afford a new system, and certainly couldn't afford to pay for Microsoft Windows. So, I purchased a used computer from a yard sale that had no operating system on it.

A friend gave me a Linux Mint (version 6) CD-ROM, and I installed it on the system. Since then, I have tried many different operating systems on many different computers.

I now own a tech services store and am IT manager for two businesses. We use Linux Mint at work, at the store, and promote it with our customers daily.

Although I dabble with many different Linux distributions, nothing comes close to matching Linux Mint.

From freedom came elegance. From elegance came stability, reliability, and usability.

This is a guest post by David Bowlin, which won the 2nd prize in the Linux Mint contest where the main prize was the book Linux Mint System Administrator’s Beginner’s Guide. David received the second prize: a disk with his favourite distribution Linux Mint Cinnamon from Buy Linux CDs.

Win a Free Magazine Subscription in the Zinio Contest

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:21:00 +0000

The contest is over! The results are announced!

The latest contest, which I organized together with PACKT Publishing, is now over. Results announced and prizes are on their way.

Now I am already happy to announce a new contest!

This time round, Linux notes from DarkDuck runs a contest together with Zinio.

Zinio is a great place to subscribe to your favourite magazines in an electronic format.

Just few facts about Zinio:

Thousands of top magazines from around the world. You can browse and purchase subscriptions or single issues instantly from your computer or mobile device to read wherever and whenever you like
Explore section lets you read – even without a subscription – thousands of articles from your favorite magazines and share them with friends
Use on iPad, iPhone, Android mobile phones and tablets, laptop or desktop
For use on Kindle Fire, follow these steps: http://imgs.zinio.com/faq/fire.html

In particular, Zinio distributes iconic Linux-related magazines like Linux Format, Linux User and Developer and others. Of course, more magazines available too: from PC Magazine to Cosmopolitain, from PC World to Garden Illustrated Magazine.

If you participate in this contest, you have a chance to receive one of ten FREE subscriptions to any one of magazines from Zinio assortment! Yes, that means FREE!!! Plus, one winner will also receive a disk with his favourite Linux distribution from Buy Linux CDs.

This contest is organised together by Zinio, Linux notes from DarkDuck and Buy Linux CDs.

Who can participate?

Everyone with a passion for Linux, and with some writing skills. If you're good enough to compose a short e-mail to your friend, then you're ready for the contest.

What you need to do?

Please write a short story about Linux.

What to write about? The choice is yours. Just a few examples: Why do you use Linux? How did you come to the Linux world? What do you like here? What are you doing to promote Linux? Any of these, or maybe your own themes are good.

The text you're going to write should not be one-liner. Please be a little bit more productive. At least 50 words, if you don't mind.

Where to send your works?

Please e-mail them to zinio.contest@darkduck.com.

When to send?

Any time until the ~~31st of March 2013~~ 5th of April 2013.

What will you get?

Organizers of the contest will select 10 winners, and they will receive:

One free disk with a Linux distribution of winner's choice from Buy Linux CDs.
One of ten subscriptions to a magazine of their choice.

Will my work be published?

By submitting your work, you allow organizers to use your work on their web sites, unless you specifically withdraw your permission in writing.

When will results be announced?

The results will be announced on the ~~2nd~~ 7th of April 2013 or soon after.
The winners will be contacted by e-mail with a request to provide e-mail for subscription registration, and name the magazine they want to subscribe for.

Small print:

One prize per contestant, except for one winner who will receive both a subscription and a disk.
Decisions of contest organizers are binding, and cannot be changed.
Prizes cannot be exchanged for money.
In order to get the prize, you must provide your e-mail and postal address for disk delivery. Your postal address will be kept confidential and never disclosed to 3rd parties. E-mail address will be used by Zinio to register your subscription.
Winners must respond the requests within 5 calendar days. If there is no response, the prize will be withheld.

Linux Mint is better for those who come from the world of Windows

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:45:00 +0000

Back in 2010 I was looking for jobs and I´ve always had a hobby interest in computer and found out that some work ads were asking for basic Linux skills.

I had not heard of Linux until then.

So I started asking friends who’s into computing if they knew about Linux and pretty soon I was told that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was probably the easiest Linux and with GNOME 2.x it was awesome.

I discovered pretty quickly that Ubuntu Linux was very powerful and used almost no resources compared to Windows 7.

My laptop was reborn again and it had turned into a supercomputer!

Soon I discovered a lot more Linux Distros and started reading Linux Format Magazine.

While Ubuntu was great for me, the introduction of Unity and GNOME 3 made me look towards other distros. Linux Mint was actually better in the way that it’s a lot better suited (probably the best) for those who come from the world of Windows.

It has codecs, flash and other things that can be a little troublesome or even a pain in other distros.

Linux Mint Debian is my favourite and while I still try out a lot of other distros from time to time, Linux Mint Debian has come to be my "go to" distro from which I learn about Linux while still having everything I need.

Eventually I will run Windows in a virtualbox instead of dual booting.

When gaming and NVIDIA drivers work fully on Linux, I’m 100% Linux Mint user but now I still need 10% windows.

I tell my family and friends about Linux Mint and tell that if they have a old and tired Windows PC I can turn it into a ultra modern computer with a version of Linux Mint.

I just revived a work friends old laptop with Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon and he said “WOW, it’s great!” When he couldn't get messenger running I wrote him an instruction on how to add the i386 architecture and Skype so that he could continue using the MSN Messenger through Skype and talk to his friends.

I did this for free because I want to keep everything Linux free and spread the joy of Linux Mint system to all.

I also work in a hospital and they have about 80 000 clients and I've been trying to introduce Linux to them and pointing out all the license money they would save from using Linux instead of Windows.

So now I use Linux Mint Debian both Mate and Cinnamon to discover the differences and it's dominating my computer use.

This is a guest post by Gustav Fridell, which won the 1st prize in the Linux Mint contest. Gustav received a prize: the book Linux Mint System Administrator’s Beginner’s Guide.

Some more off-line publications

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:02:00 +0000

It is actually not the first time this happens, but it is always nice to see that my articles are being published in a printed form.

The people from the magazine User and Linux, which is published in Ukraine in Russian, are my old friends. They have published some of my articles previously, and I have even made an interview with their ex-Chief Editor.

December issue of U&L saw 4 articles with my name in them. Here is the list:

Zorin OS - the gateway to Linux for Windows users (page 14). This is an interview with Artyom Zorin.
Eugeni Dodonov about Slackware and his work at Miscrosoft (page 19). This is an interview with Eugeni Dodonov, probably his last in Russian.
Benefits of using Linux (page 30). This is a translation of my own article.
Linux, OSX, Unix and malware (page 87). This is my translation of original article from ERACC.

Feel free to re-read the articles either in Russian in the magazine, or in English on my and ERACC's sites.

Linux Mint Contest Results

noreply@blogger.com (DarkDuck) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 00:30:00 +0000

Time flies by very quickly.

It seems that only yesterday I announced a Linux Mint contest on my blog.

Now it is time to tell you who the winners are.

Drums please!!

The winner, who will receive the book Linux Mint System Administrator’s Beginner's Guide from PACKT Publishing, is Gustav Fridell. He wrote a whole essay about impact Linux Mint made in his life.

The runner up, who will receive a Linux distribution of his choice on a disk from Buy Linux CDs, is Dave Bowlin.

I will contact the winners shortly and ask their preferred delivery addresses.

If you have not won, or learnt about this contest too late, don't despair! You can still purchase the book or disk with Linux Distribution!

UK:	US/worldwide:

And, of course, stay tuned to read the winning articles!