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Not dead

From mobile-watcher.com

And finally, we have more info on the upcoming Nokia n900 Linux-based phone. The new phone features a transition from the S60 platforms, Nokia decided to use their Maemo platform, originally used only on their Internet tablets. The new Freemantle (code name for Maemo 5) version of Maemo represents a transition to the QT toolkit, although GTK+ support remains in the Debian-based OS. The phone will retail for 550 EUR and is coming out later this year. If you like Linux phones, this could be the right one for you. I personally prefer a REAL Linux environment over Android’s Java layer.

More on the Nokia n900 Maemo Linux Phone – First Look

Image from Wikipedia

The Internet has been abuzz about the new, Slim edition of the popular Playstation 3 lately. What especially grabbed my attention was that Sony decided to remove the option to install 3rd party operating systems, which means, no clean Yellow Dog or Debian Linux installs. The aim is, apparently, to “standardise” the OS on the PS3 platform. I suspect this means Yellow Dog are going to lose a financial backer soon and people who want to use the Playstation 3 and its powerful Cell processor (even though it is a restricted virtual environment) as a basic computer are out of luck this time. Bad move, Sony. Oh well, let’s just hope they don’t screw it up with their awesome motion-sensing controller.

Playstation 3 Slim – no more Linux?

It was a love-hate relationship. While I still adore the elegance of Arch Linux, pacman started acting up. After every update, my Wacom tablet ceased to work. Gwibber and pywebkitgtk were almost impossible to set up and I couldn’t rotate my wallpaper correctly (found a script to do this later). I like to (since I’m a pretentious nerd) think of myself as a power user. I don’t mind doing things in the terminal or learning new commands. Sadly, even though I am on vacation, after an update, I’d like to draw with my Wacom tablet in the GIMP. I can repair it, but it takes up to 10 minutes. 10 minutes during which I’d rather be drawing. With a heavy Windows XP setup and a once again broken Arch system, I finally decided it’s time to scrap both.

For what?

The first distribution I ever tried was Ubuntu, in 2005. Ubuntu, at least for me personally, represents the best parts of GNU/Linux in a polished package and while I’ve used PCLinuxOS, Fedora and Knoppix as my main Linux machine, I always came back to Ubuntu. Everytime, switching back to a new and improved Ubuntu was a wonderful experience.

Alas, Ubuntu got a bit old.

I heard about Linux Mint numerous times and even tried out a few releases. The major “selling” point of Mint is its main focus: to provide a ready-to-go, user-friendly desktop. Most readers are probably familiar with the fact that Fedora and Ubuntu, for instance, don’t ship with Flash because of certain licensing issues. Well, Linux Mint does not care about that. The project aims to provide a full, out-of-the-box experience, so you get a distribution with i. e. Flash installed. This is both a pro and con, since you do not have a completely open setup anymore. However, many Linux users are not even aware their Linux distribution ships with other closed-source components, such as the famous binary blobs in the Debian kernel. There are certain distros like Gnewsense who use strictly Free Software, though arguably , most of the popular distros all contain proprietary components. So, if we’re going to have to worry about it anyway, why not use a leaner distribution?

Mint is built on Ubuntu. As a consequence, upgrading to a new version of Mint will bring you new Ubuntu features. Alongside the basic Ubuntu setup and some proprietary components, Mint also ships with some different applications and front-ends, which you can see in the gallery. Here are some notable ones.

1. Gnome Do, my favorite launcher application (that also features a Dock) and a must-install for most power users.

2. The good-looking, but unnecessary mintInstall (how many APT GUI do we need anyway). A nice feature is the rating system, even though I believe something similar already exists in the Ubuntu installer. Synaptic does the job much better, can now download screenshots, and is also easy enough to use.

3. The Compiz Config Manager, which is absent in Ubuntu. Good idea to tweak Compiz settings if you’re running it.

4. The excellent MintUpdater, an update manager that sorts updates by “safety”. Depending on the reliability of the package, the updates (originally pushed for Ubuntu) are ranked from 1 (Certified working updates) to 5 (most unstable).

5. Gufw. It is basically a GUI for the Ubuntu Firewall. Sadly, it has very few options. I’d at least like to have the option to get asked whether to allow Internet access when an application requests it. Or is that not the Linux way?

5. Giver. Allows you to easily share files with other users you can see on the network. Yes, this is the most creative description I could come up with.

6. MintBackup. Helps you backup your home directory. Most people who do backups will probably use other applications. Despite this, it might come in handy.

7. APTonCD. This tool allows you to backup your downloaded packages to a CD/DVD. Something like a backup of your installed applications. You can later insert this CD and restore what you backed up.

8. Mozilla Thunderbird instead of Evolution. Hell yeah.

9. SCIM (life-saver for a Japanese learner like me) and Mint Nanny, a rudimentary lock-down app.

10. The Control Panel – just a GUI with all the configuration front ends neatly grouped and sorted by category.

You might notice in the screenshots that Linux Mint does not use the regular GNOME menu, instead they decided to go wtih the SLAB menu, an advanced GUI used primarily in OpenSuse. Some might not like it, I’m still making up my mind. It is nice to have a Search feature for menu items and a Favorites Section. The main downside to SLAB in my opinion is its rather large size. See the screen grabs and decide for yourself, I’m personally sticking with it for the moment.

All in all, Linux Mint 7 is going to be my main machine from now on, at least until I get my claws on another unsuspecting distribution. It is a distribution I spent very little time customizing and I have a pretty specific setup. Flash was there, Gnome Do was there, the GNOME bar was already on the bottom of the screen, I liked the icon theme. Linux Mint is the Ubuntu cake with some extra-delicious icing. The icing doesn’t make it slow, just better. Way better than vanilla Ubuntu. So, if you chose Ubuntu because it does most of the things for you, take Mint for a spin. It does everything, you can just sit back, relax and have a few evil laughs in your secret control tower. Minty fresh.

Get Linux Mint here

There’s also a KDE4 version!

Linux Mint 7 Review, Screenshot Tour and Love

When the new version of Knoppix came out earlier this year, it caught my attention that the project dumped KDE3 for LXDE, an environment I’ve only heard about and never seen used in a distribution as the default desktop. During the test, I was surprised to find out the lead programmer was, and still is, Hong Jen Yee a.k.a. “PCMan” , the author of my favorite file manager PCManFM. That is why I couldn’t wait to take LXDE for a spin, since I knew it was going to be an interesting ride.

On my first login, the system greeted me with an error message, claiming it couldn’t detect my GTK+ icon theme correctly. I ignored it and continued loading the desktop. LXDE managed to find another GTK+ icon theme so the initial desktop looked pretty attractive. The LXDE logo seems to be a swallow. If any good graphic designers are out there, LXDE needs your help. Even though the swallow logo looks shiny in the task bar, the same swallow completely ruins the desktop background. Well, maybe it’s just me being a spoiled little brat, take a look at the screen grabs and decide for yourself.

Apart from the swallow detail, the lower panel reminds me of GNOME. The task bar looked similar, though I’m not a big fan of the CPU usage graphs, they’re just so 90’s… still, considering how fast the environment is, it is a small price to pay. As most complete desktops, LXDE is build around a set of apps. There is a Preferences Manager, a terminal emulator called lxterminal, an image viewer (gpicview), PCManFM which acts as the default file manager and manages the desktop and the icons, and the  lxappearance GTK+ theme manager (which I couldn’t find in the menus).

And now for the most amusing part. Do you remember those Windows Plus! Themes, bundled with retail copies of Windows 98 SE? Well, LXDE followed KDE4’s path and also decided to include those annoying OHGODPLEASESTOPICANTTAKEITAANYMORE desktop sounds. I know it is intended to help visually impaired users and for the initial “wow”-factor, but I suggest that this feature be turned off by default and to add an easily locatable option to turn it on if you really need it. Did I mention I couldn’t find the option to turn it off? Well, I guess I probably couldn’t find it, although a menu called “Desktop Settings” should include this, in my opinion. Finally, a thumbs up for including an LXDE package that is made specially for Asus Eee PCs, I believe netbook users will get the most of this desktop environment.

In conclusion, LXDE still needs some polishing. I have no doubt that PCMan will work hard to make it an excellent desktop, but at the moment, there is still lots and lots of room for improvement. If you are looking for a lightweight desktop environment, be sure to give LXDE a try. Maybe you’ll find it useful.

Please note: the LXDE packages I used for testing come from the community-supported Arch Linux repositories.

LXDE 0.4.2 Review and Screenshot Tour

Image by iquto.com

Hey Internetling readers, it’s that time again. The time to think about how happy you are that you use Linux and that nothing is being shoved in your face.

Due to a complaint by the EU not long ago, Microsoft was left with two choices: to either leave out the browser altogether, or let the users choose between several browsers. Well, according to Gizmodo:

The new approach is to sell Windows PCs with Internet Explorer as the default browser, but to present users with a “ballot screen” which allows them to select and “easily install competing browsers from the Web.”

The problem is that nobody knows the specifics. What browsers will they choose for the “ballot screen”? Will the ballot screen feature a list of differences between browser features and, most importantly, user rights?

Will Microsoft choose the so-called competing browsers? I do not see how this will be fair. They may choose them by market share, although Opera, for instance,  has as much rights to be on the list as Firefox, Chrome or Safari. Why? Because it offers a full user experience and is a modern browser. Why not K-Meleon, why not Maxthon? Will they deliberately choose a few unfinished, bare-bones browser projects  in order to confuse the user’s perspective on what the competition can offer?

I sense a great disturbance in the Force. And you?

Windows 7 buyers in Europe will have to choose a browser. Fair?

It’s actually pretty cool, the shiny announcement and all, but where is the point of Chrome OS?
And why the heck is it named exactly like the Google browser? As if things weren’t confusing enough for new users already. The article basically describes Android on a netbook. How are they going to revolutionize computing? According to the description, all Chrome OS will be is a WebKit-based browser running on a Linux kernel, which is less than Android.

Tons of articles have been published about vendors like Dell successfully testing Android on different netbooks. You can even download a liveCD an try it out yourself.

OK, for the sake of argument, let’s suppose they are building something new. Let’s suppose it will be something revolutionary.

From the announcement:

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds.

Android. It is Linux based and boots almost instantly.

Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.

Android again. It has a WebKit-based browser, what Chrome basically is.

The only clear difference between the two in the announcement is that Chrome OS will be designed to run on netbooks and desktop machines, while Android is a mobile operating system that can run on netbooks. I am not a programmer, but what kind of a browser are they going to build that cannot be run by Android on a desktop machine? The biggest part will surely be Google Gears and WebKit. Since the kernel will be Linux and the whole OS open source (if they release it a promised), the whole solution seems highly impractical. Why build two when it is obviously possible to accomplish everything with Android?

Finally, despite everything I have written I am very excited to see what Google will do with Chrome OS. They probably do not want to ruin the surprise, hence the all-words-and-no-facts announcement. As a Linux geek, I am glad to see such a big company working with hardware manufacturers to bring Linux to the masses, because it will broaden the availability of Linux-supported hardware, so if I don’t like Chrome OS, I will be able to simply slap on any other netbook Linux distro.

Can’t wait for 2010!

The Pointlessness of Google’s Chrome OS

KSplice – Rebootless Kernel Upgrade

One of the arguments I use often when talking about the advantages of using Linux is the fact that you do not have to reboot when installing or upgrading software. Most of the time. Almost every Linux user knows you have to restart your system after updating the kernel. The guys at Ksplice Inc. came up with this fascinating new technology that basically enables you to apply kernel patches and start using the new kernel right away, without rebooting. That is really all there is to it.

Comment: I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned, it is pretty mind-blowing. Kind of like making a headless chicken do your homework. Read about the underlying technology here.

USB 3.0

Via Wikimedia Commons (Tosaka)

This new bus specification promises a speed of 5 Gigabits per second, about 10 times faster than USB 2.0. And the first operating system to get a USB 3.0 driver is GNU/Linux, specifically, kernel 2.6.31 (scheduled for September).

Comment: Although we have yet to see some hardware (guess we will have to wait until good ol’ Windows adopts the tech), think about the possibilities. A pen-drive could be almost as fast as a regular hard drive, which would drive storage prices to the ground. As soon as a 1 GB or more USB 3.0 thumb drive appears, mark my words, I will be installing Fedora as if my life depended on it.

Ubuntu to support Google Android applications

Ubuntu Netbook Remix running Android (via Ars Technica)

With a user base of roughly 2 million and more than 20 Android-powered  devices coming this year, Google’s mobile operating system may become a force to be reckoned with. Developers will embrace the platform and given time, Android’s Market will contain hundreds of thousands of applications. Well, at least that is the direction in which the Ubuntu dev team is thinking. They plan to introduce an easy way to port Android apps over to their flagship Linux distribution. While most applications will be useless on a desktop machine, there might be some apps that, with their small size and modest memory consumption, might do a certain task much better than its Ubuntu-native equivalent.

Comment: I have to hand it to the Ubuntu guy who first got this idea: very original thinking. However, I do not think this is a wise way to use developer resources. There are still many things in Ubuntu that need fixing. New features are going to bring new hurdles. The Android support idea is great, though we should wait until the Android Market grows a bit.

As you can see, 2009 may not be the Year of Linux on the Desktop, but it will certainly be an interesting year. Thanks to the openness of the platform, GNU/Linux remains the driver of innovation in modern desktop computing.

Are there any interesting technologies I missed? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Exciting Technologies Coming to Linux

This review is going to ignore the Ubuntu side of things, we have all read enough Ubuntu reviews (I know I have) to know what Jaunty is like. Even though Crunchbang is lighter than Ubuntu, I think it does not necessarily strive to be a lightweight, but more of an elegant and convenient distribution. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the applications included were very similar to my preferences. Generally (though not in all cases), heavy-duty software is replaced by lighter alternatives.

Clicking “Media Player” in the well-structured OpenBox menu opens a VLC window, should cover all your video-watching needs. OpenOffice.org is replaced by Abiword, my favorite file-manager PCManFM (easiest way in the world of managing desktop icons) is also there, with Midnight Commander hiding in the shadows. The micro-blogging app Gwibber still remains one of the (c)leanest in its category. I welcome the choice of including Skype and Flash. Yes, they are proprietary, but most people install both packages anyway.

Upon further investigation, I stumbled upon a few very interesting applications. Not all followed the “CrunchBang” logic, e.g. there are two video editors, 3 text editors, 2 multimedia applications etc. While I am aware that there is a “Light” version of CrunchBang available, it would be nice for all the applications available to follow the same logic. My suggestions are: remove Leafpad, because we still have gVim and Gedit. gFTP should be replaced with FileZilla, it is just that much better. Remove one video editor, and Transmission is good, but maybe  remove it, stay with rtorrent only, and include the FireTorrent package with Firefox in order to save space and squeeze in some OpenOffice.org goodness. Far more people need a full-fledged Office application than two video editors. The Cheese web cam app is also nice, but not very useful. Switching Empathy with Pidgin would also be a good idea, Empathy seems much closer to the “ChrunchBang feel” and I hear it supports webcam chat now.

All in all, I admit I had a lot of fun testing Crunchbang. Although some people can find the Openbox Desktop and the grey-black color scheme (the window borders are a bit too dark, people may have problems seeing the buttons) a bit intimidating, Crunchbang’s main strength is that it does not make you watch, but explore.

Visit the CrunchBang website or download and install the distribution. Tell me what you think. I loved it.

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• CrunchBang Linux 9.04.1 released in 32-bit, 64-bit flavors (downloadsquad.com)

CrunchBang Linux 9.04.01 Review and Screenshot Tour

The Internetling now has a new mascot (upper right), say hello to Tux’s cousin, Internetling.

The new blog has some nice new features:

• You can now easily reply to comments, look for the reply arrow
• The comment box automagically expands if you have a lot to write
• The share/save button (bottom of each post). Now you can post the content to many social media sites. Having just one button saves more space
• The Search function si now powered by Google. I believe it is a step forward from the “proper search” plugin
• Better avatar support (brought with the Wordpress version update)
• The old articles are now separated in pages, instead of just linking to “Previous Entries”
• I now have a gallery function which will enable me to post shiny new screen-shots and whatnot easily. It will make it easier for you to browse the images, too. No more Photobucket!
• An image slideshow will start functioning when I post my first gallery article

Explore the blog a bit, have fun! I am also open to any suggestions and critique. Now that everything is set up, I will start churning out content fast, because we all know that a shiny site without any content is nothing. See you soon!

Redesign and New Features