Notes on Linux

Audio Blog #12 Ancient Unix

2012-01-24T04:01:00.002-05:00

Swag Bucks

2012-01-16T11:58:00.002-05:00

Earn extra money through swag bucks, it works!

Swidget 1.0great free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Alternatives to Microsoft Windows Part 2

2011-08-15T22:35:00.002-04:00

Originally posted on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, part 2 of 2

Alternatives to Microsoft Windows Part 1

2011-08-15T22:21:00.004-04:00

Audio Blog from Tuesday, November 2, 2010, part 1 of 2

Thought it would be better to stream from youtube

Tech Blog episode 11: Retrocomputing

2011-05-17T04:27:00.003-04:00

This time we are talking about retrocomputing and unicode with information on how to use the compose key under Linux and KDE. In addition we have a look back on the earlier days of computing, coding forms, paper tape, and how to communicate between a Linux PC and an Amiga 500.

Total duration is 24 minutes, 23.7 megs in size.

Tech Blog #11

Tech Blog Episode #10

2011-02-19T02:51:00.002-05:00

This entry is episode #10 in my series about technology. This edition talks about the Iyonix PC from Castle Technologies and the reemergence of 1970's era computer kits. It is a bit over 13 minutes in duration.

Tech Blog #10

Linux Audio Blog #9

2011-01-09T03:23:00.003-05:00

In this episode we cover the coreboot project in more detail, which I talked about in episode #8, and mention some of the advantages of using an open source bios. We compare KDE 3.5.10 with Project Trinity and finally we discuss what would make an ideal computer. Total Duration is just over 20 minutes, 46 megs in size.

Audio Blog #9

Linux Audio Blog #8

2010-12-31T06:12:00.002-05:00

The topics for this edition include a discussion of various open source BIOSes (also known as kernals) for personal computers and my experiences with CoreBoot and SeaBIOS. We also talk about using FreeDOS and running old MSDOS programs in the modern era. Duration is a bit over 16 minutes, 38 megs in size.

Linux Audio Blog #8

Linux Audio Blog #7

2010-12-11T05:51:00.002-05:00

Today's topics include more info on using the Plan 9 OS, programming various function keys using KDE 3.5.10, some thoughts on kernel parameters, Dell's lousy Linux support, and Coreboot. 19 minutes in duration.

Audio Blog #7

Linux Audio Blog #6

2010-12-05T04:16:00.002-05:00

This edition has information on the Linux distro Slitaz along with more thoughts on FreeDOS and Plan 9 from Bell Labs. Also included is a desciption of the hardware used to run Slitaz and Plan 9, 20 minutes duration.

Audio Blog #6

Linux Audio Blog #5

2010-11-26T15:36:00.003-05:00

This edition includes comments on Xerox and Microsoft, wireless keyboards and mice on Linux, the importance of source code, Adobe Flash as a control mechanism and older software, 24 minutes in duration. I may have misspoke about the Xerox Alto, it came out in 1973.

Linux Audio Blog #5

Linux Audio Blog #4

2010-11-21T16:10:00.002-05:00

This entry is mostly about my further experiences with AROS (Amiga Research Operating System) along with some more thoughts about Plan 9 and the Zaurus. 16 minutes in duration.

Audio Blog #4

Linux Audio Blog #3

2010-11-08T03:07:00.005-05:00

Some additional comments about operating systems with some more detail including MMUs, Amigas, old computer hardware and where computing is going, 16 minutes duration.

Audio Blog #3

Linux Audio Blog #2

2010-11-02T05:28:00.005-04:00

This is mostly a discussion of FOSS Operating Systems as alternatives to Microsoft Windows. Operating Systems mentioned include Haiku, MikeOS, various GNU/Linux distros, OpenBSD, AROS and ReactOS, 28 minute duration.

Audio Blog #2

Browse our True Rewards! Free Stuff! FOR Real!

2010-10-18T20:29:00.000-04:00

Browse our True Rewards! Free Stuff! FOR Real!

Linux Audio Blog #1

2010-10-17T14:43:00.002-04:00

Been experimenting with a dynamic microphone (the Shure SM-58) and so here is the first in a series of audio blog entries.

Audio Blog #1

The Features of Konsole

2010-10-04T13:55:00.002-04:00

Konsole is KDE's terminal emulation program, essentially a super featured command line shell. I spend a lot of time in konsole and it really does help one become more efficient. Currently I am using KDE 3.5.10 and Konsole 1.6.6 on VectorLinux.

One of the main things I use konsole for is to control multiple computers using the tabs feature. One can set konsole sessions which automatically perform certain operations like ssh, or start a root shell or user shell. You can even have coloured tabs, with different colours for each computer. But a picture tells a thousand words so have a look at this video:

Konsole Demo

Another Look at PTC

2010-09-23T01:38:00.004-04:00

It's been almost 2 years since I tried my first PTC or Pay to Click site. Since that time I've encountered several sites which were particularly good:

NeoBux
WordLinx
Clixsense
JillsClickCorner
GetPaidTo

All these sites paid me either by paypal or cheque. You can check these sites out by clicking on the links to the left. Also worthy of mention is Swagbucks which is a search engine, something almost everyone uses anyway, to make a few extra dollars per month. Currently I am accessing these sites using Firefox 3.6.8 under Linux but I am sure they would also work for people using Windows and Mac. You can access JillsClickCorner here.

Another site that I've just started using but looks very promising is QuickRewards.net. This site also pays via paypal. One nice feature of QuickRewards is that the payout is anything over $0.01 so you know right away the site will pay you.

Making money this way takes some persistence but it's the sort of thing that's easy to do when you have some slack-time.

Linux on Old Computers

2010-07-14T21:42:00.002-04:00

I discovered recently that my LCD doesn't seem to be able to do 320x200 mode with 256 colours. One of the old games I enjoy playing (Lands of Lore circa 1993) played alright under dosbox but I wanted to try it on the Real Thing (TM). So it was time to haul out the old 486 with 16 megs of ram and put FreeDos on it.

Well the FreeDos project was a great success. The game played much better on FreeDos on the old 486 SLC2 50 Mhz machine than it ever did under dosbox. The 3d game Blockout quickly joined Lands of Lore on the ancient 240 meg hard drive, but then I thought could Linux actually run on this ancient machine? Coincidentally the machine was just as old as the game, 1993 so 17 years old!

I tried various small Linux distros but none seemed able to run in 16 megs of ram. Worse still, it seemed that 16 megs was the absolute memory limit of this particular motherboard. There was no ethernet card in this computer and it's CDROM drive had stopped working years ago. It was time for the smallest of the small distros: Basic Linux 3.5

There was quite a bit of hand turning necessary to make this a usable system. First two floppy disks needed to be formatted and have the Basic Linux files put on them. Then it was made to be dual-booted with FreeDos. Next I fought with PLIP for a while (remember there was no ethernet card) but after a while the Parallel Line Interface Protocol was functioning at a roaring 30k per second. X was configured for the ATI VGA Wonder+ card which could handle 640x480 with 256 colours.

Once I discovered one could use packages from Slackware 4.0 things got easier. One major limitation was the size of the hard drive: I divided the 240 megs into two 120 meg partitions, one ext2 and the other for FAT16. I even managed to squeeze on a few games for X like xmahjongg and xfreecell (although xfreecell really didn't work too well in 640x480 mode).

When I first announced my intentions to run Linux on a 486 with 16 megs my 'friends' on IRC immediately told me to throw the 486 in the rubbish bin. I knew better of course and after completing the project I realized just how bloated operating systems had become. Finally the picture at the top is the end result.

This blog has moved

2010-04-08T05:10:00.001-04:00

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The Last Documented Computer

2010-04-06T18:55:00.003-04:00

I've been doing some research into non-x86 computing, trying to find the perfect computer for hackers. Something that has documentation down to the register level where it would be possible to understand every part of the machine, especially the video hardware.

Unfortunately the lack of documentation is a big problem nowadays. Most of the companies making video cards don't release programming documentation. There are many devices which have Linux installed but are quite difficult to program due to secrecy.

There are Sparc workstations available on Ebay in a wide variety of formats and varying ages but there appears to be a lack of community. The hobbyist programmer has become endangered if not completely extinct. The main Sparc programmer for Linux seems to think Sparc's time is over and the new Sparc boxes use Intel CPUs, and it's very doubtful that the video hardware used on Sparc machines is well documented.

Sharp has not supported it's zaurus series after they stopped making their SL series of Linux hand held computers. Although I thought the SL-5500 was a nice machine it is not ideal for software hacking. Once again the main problem is the lack of documentation. Learning to fully program the machine is difficult and many zaurus programmers have moved on to another platform.

Strangely enough the last machine that was fully documented appears to be the Amiga 4000 made by Commodore in 1992 and discontinued in 1994. (I inquired about becoming a dealer in 1991 but it never transpired). Of course hackers liked the machine and created versions of Linux and BSD for it. Some people who still use this machine today hang out in ##amiga on freenode.

Rumours and announcements persist to this day about an amazing new Amiga called the "X1000". But on a more mundane note we still see some Amiga's for sale used on ebay. Keeping in mind the first Amiga was released in July 1985 making the total lifespan of the Amiga series to be only 9 years.
Of course the original Commodore company itself died in 1994.

I am seriously considering buying a used Amiga 3000 or 4000 to hack on.

Command Line Applications

2010-01-12T00:36:00.004-05:00

This article assumes some knowledge of the command line. Before we get into the specifics I should say a little about ncurses. Ncurses is a programming library enables a programmer to write a text interface for programs running under a terminal emulator, e.g. bash. An application using ncurses can resize itself within certain limits set by the programmer. Note that it is possible to ssh into devices with small displays to use a larger external display.

Text based programs come from three main development groups: GNU, Linux and BSD.

Here are some of the things I find useful to do at the command line:

Script to look up a word in the dictionary:
curl dict://dict.org/d:$1

Script to listen to CBC Radio 1:
mplayer http://icy1.abacast.com/cbc-r1toronto-96
(CBC tends to change things around a lot and this script may not work in the future)

Stream classic music from WGBH:
mplayer http://streams.wgbh.org/classical.asx

Check spelling of standard input (gives suggestions)
ispell -a

This is a script I use when I can remember what a file is called, but can't remember which directory it's in:
TEST=$(dirname `locate -n 1 $1`)
eval cd $TEST

I put this in ~/bin as locate.sh but to get the desired result one would use:
. locate.sh SAK.txt
This would put you in the directory where SAK.txt was located.

The two calendar programs cal and gcal (cal is from the Linux world, and gcal is GNU's version).

Ncurses based IRC program:
irssi

Ncurses based spreadsheet program:
sc (7.16 seems to be the newest version)

Unit conversion:
units
(Example: You have: tempC(0)
You want: tempF
32

Various text based browsers like elinks, lynx and w3m.

I run bc a lot for simple math calculations:
bc -l (run bc with standard math library)

I have accumulated a rather large collection of bash shell scripts over the years but even more useful than the scripts was the text file I keep here: Accumulated Linux Notes. Text based programs are generally smaller in size and execute faster and (this might be the most important concept of all) can be easily ported to other systems.

Linux Laptops and Netbooks

2009-12-01T19:19:00.003-05:00

Well, once again I headed out to the stores looking for the perfect Linux based laptop or notebook. Were there super cool ARM based netbooks running Linux? Have the stores started to stock non-Windows based computers? Could I at least find some Linux based laptops?

The current situation is bad but not hopeless. If you are willing to import you can get a Lemote manufacturered device. One can order them online from Tekmote Electronics (based in the Netherlands). Richard Stallman uses the Lemote mini-laptop because it uses 100% Free and Open Software up to and including the BIOS. Lemote's high end model is the YeeLoong 8089 which has a 64-bit Loongson-2F processor running at 900 Mhz and an 8.9" screen. This system runs Debian Linux.

Dell Canada is selling their Mini 10v netbook for $329 Canadian which comes with Ubuntu 8.04. The Mini 10v comes with an Intel® Atom® Processor N270 running at 1.6 Ghz, a 10.1" screen with 1024x600 resolution, 1 GB of RAM, the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and a 160 GB hard drive. This device comes with a one year warranty. Their other Linux computer is the Vostro A90 for $319 which has the same memory and graphics hardware, but a smaller 8.9" screen and a 8 GB Solid State Drive.

The third choice is to buy used on ebay. One of these days I'll get one of those Sharp SL-C3000 series PDAs. I already own a SL-5500 machine and I had a lot of fun porting GNU, Linux and BSD programs to it. You should be able to find a SL-5500 for under $100. Recently I bought a Lexar 4 GB compact flash card for the SL-5500 and it worked fine. If you are willing to go for a higher price I have seen the Netwalker go for about $520 on ebay.

Unfortunately I was not able to find any ARM based laptops or netbooks, not in the retail stores in Canada or online. What I am hearing is that next year will be a big year for ARM based netbooks. I would be happy to hear about any such devices so if anyone comes across an ARM based netbook or any other kind of Linux based netbook or laptop please comment about it.

The Importance of GNU

2009-10-09T01:26:00.007-04:00

If you are a Linux fan, then you probably know something about the GNU utilities. In short, Linus Torvalds (and others later) used the GNU utilities to write the Linux kernel. But before that happened Richard Stallman realized back in the 80's that computer users needed a portable operating system.

What we see happening over and over again is any hardware system will eventually become obsolete. In Stallman's case it was the PDP-10 system. Over time the system became obsolete and for some reason a lot of Stallman's early programming work was lost, perhaps because it was written in assembly language. Stallman, or RMS as he is often called, realized for any operating system to survive the passage of time it needed to be a portable system.

RMS decided he would be the one to write this new portable system and not only would it be portable but it would be free as well. In this case the word free refers to freedom: the source code of the operating system would be free to modify and exchange with other programmers. RMS decided to base his new system on Unix and that at minimum the computer needed to be at least a 32-bit system. This was a task of Herculean proportions.

Unix was a good choice in that it was compartmentalized and it was relatively straightforward to replace each Unix component with it's GNU replacement. (For anyone who doesn't know: GNU is a recursive acronym that means 'GNU is Not Unix'). Bit by bit RMS worked and by the early 1990's he had almost a complete system. Only one major part was missing and that was the kernel.

As we know Linus Torvalds wrote a kernel and then people started to use the GNU utilities to create a complete operating system. Of course there were many contributions from different places, but the two most important parts were the GNU utilities and the Linux kernel.

It is important to remember Stallman's original objectives: to write a free operating system and insure that it is portable. Basically his objectives were met and we now have several free operating systems. But it is also important to remember that Linus needed a compiler to write the Linux kernel and that compiler was the GNU C compiler gcc.

We can see the critical importance of portability: Hardware will grow old and die and manufacturers will cease to make replacement parts. They will only concentrate on new hardware. So the time will come went one will need to port a program to a new architecture. Fortunately this is made somewhat easier with the GNU utilities. Using the GNU utilities I've started to port programs which I felt were missing from the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 PDA.

Now even though I have a lot of ideas on how the GNU utilities could be made better I can easily see how valuable a toolset it makes for any programmer. I'm sure that given enough time I could port any GNU utility or any program under the GPL (although I admit it would be a ton of work in some cases). Once I started to port programs I felt quite liberated. So what if my PDA didn't have an IRC client, it couldn't be that hard to port one, and it wasn't :)

Sharp Releases the 'Netwalker'

2009-08-28T19:55:00.002-04:00

Sharp has released a new Linux based computer called the 'Netwalker'.

The Netwalker has a 1024x600 WSVGA display (5 inch or 127 mm) and runs a Freescale processor at 800 Mhz. For memory it has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of SSD storage which is expandable with a microSDHC card. Sharp is claiming 10 hours of battery life.

This device is a little unusual. It could be considered a big PDA or a really tiny
netbook. Sharp is saying the boot-up time for this device is under 3 seconds and
in this case the Linux distribution is Ubuntu. It's dimensions are 6.33 x 4.25 inches
or 161 x 108 mm which would require a rather big pocket.

Unfortunately the Sharp Netwalker is only available in Japan but chip makers
Freescale are looking for ways to import the device into the USA. The good news
is that Sharp is continuing to develop devices which run Linux and hopefully
the Netwalker can pick up where the Zaurus series ended (the Zaurus series
ended in February 2007).