BoycottNovell has a posting on a letter on strategy, written by Bill Gates. The spin they put on the story is on how Bill Gates is afraid of linux, but I want to focus on something else: is it interesting?
First, a small paranthesis: Is the letter authentic?
I'd say yes, for the following reasons:
1. I'm not very familiar with BoycottNovell and their sources of information, but from what I've read of the letter (provided in it's entirety in the article) I would say that it's either authentic, or whoever made it is very insightfull and has lots of "vision".
2. If they published a fake letter, they be very open to attacks (which would only serve them in the short run - publicity stunt/shock value/whatever).
The letter talks (among other things) about linux and java being Windows' largest competitors and the need to preventing commodization by linux (you may be too late on that) about taking good ideas for improvement from a variety of sources, about a major overhaul of the file/storage system (the points being made there sounded to me both revolutionary and obvious at the same time), about a need (stated explicitely) to improve system monitoring enough to be better than on linux, difficulty of setting up windows for a speciffic purpose, unifying the application platform technologies to win back Java and J2EE developers, improving Windows boot time and improving asynchronous communication (email, Gmail, CRM, scheduling, etc) - maybe they should take a look at Google Wave.
All in all it's an interesting letter, and if they manage to achieve all that, it will make for interesting times.
Showing posts with label linux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linux. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24
Tuesday, November 11
eeebuntu on Asus EEE PC 1000H
I received my eee late last evening and installed eeebuntu today. The process was relatively straightforward, once I had all the pieces.
The pieces:
- eeepc iso image (torrent)
- UNetbootin: A windows application for turning a Linux distro CD image into an installable setup to be used with a flash drive.
- A 1/2Gb USB flash drive. I used a U3 Cruzer Micro, so in order to get a bootable USB drive I had to remove the U3 smart application from it. I did that with the U3 Launchpad Remover.
- The alternate kernel image (a kernel having the eee drivers compiled within. You can get those from here, but if you download them separately (like I did), follow the instructions from here
- The software configuration. This is a script doing it's magic, after the HW support has been set. The script can be found here.
Installation:
1. Get the ISO for the eeebuntu system.
2. Download UNetbootin. Within the application, choose the second option (Diskimage), load the ISO, then plug in the USB device and click OK.
2.a. In my case, I was using a Cruzer Micro USB drive. The device is seen as a read-only CD, and it mounts an extra partition for random access. To disable this, I used the U3 Launchpad Remover from U3.com.
3. Plug the USB device into the eee PC and restart (keep pressing F2 for the boot menu), follow the ubuntu setup.
At this step, you should have a functional linux installation, that unfortunately doesn't do that much.
Congratulations!
4. Copy the specialized kernel image to the USB device and install them. This only takes a few minutes, and the instructions to do so are here. You should make sure the laptop is wired to the network for the second part (Setup the Repository). Wireless network should not yet be functional.
5. Install the SW settings. The instructions for doing so can be found here.
6. Reboot.
7. There is no step 7.
The instructions were put together based on the eeeuser forum.
The pieces:
- eeepc iso image (torrent)
- UNetbootin: A windows application for turning a Linux distro CD image into an installable setup to be used with a flash drive.
- A 1/2Gb USB flash drive. I used a U3 Cruzer Micro, so in order to get a bootable USB drive I had to remove the U3 smart application from it. I did that with the U3 Launchpad Remover.
- The alternate kernel image (a kernel having the eee drivers compiled within. You can get those from here, but if you download them separately (like I did), follow the instructions from here
- The software configuration. This is a script doing it's magic, after the HW support has been set. The script can be found here.
Installation:
1. Get the ISO for the eeebuntu system.
2. Download UNetbootin. Within the application, choose the second option (Diskimage), load the ISO, then plug in the USB device and click OK.
2.a. In my case, I was using a Cruzer Micro USB drive. The device is seen as a read-only CD, and it mounts an extra partition for random access. To disable this, I used the U3 Launchpad Remover from U3.com.
3. Plug the USB device into the eee PC and restart (keep pressing F2 for the boot menu), follow the ubuntu setup.
At this step, you should have a functional linux installation, that unfortunately doesn't do that much.
Congratulations!
4. Copy the specialized kernel image to the USB device and install them. This only takes a few minutes, and the instructions to do so are here. You should make sure the laptop is wired to the network for the second part (Setup the Repository). Wireless network should not yet be functional.
5. Install the SW settings. The instructions for doing so can be found here.
6. Reboot.
7. There is no step 7.
The instructions were put together based on the eeeuser forum.
Thursday, April 24
I'm impressed
Granted, it doesn't take much to impress me, but still ... it's got to count for something.
It's 1 AM on Thursday morning, and I've just installed kubuntu again. It's nothing important, but the installer provides assistance under windows, in case you're unable to convince your system that it wants to boot from the CD.
Now all it has to do to keep me impressed is recognize my webcam, play steam games and set the monitor's native resolution seamlessly.
It was a tall order for the last kubuntu version I had, but I'm optimistic (or naive).
Wish me luck!
Edit, Apr 24, 2008, 10AM: Well ... One down, two to go: it recognized my monitor resolution with no problems (which is more than can be said for windows vista come to think about it); One down, two to go.
It's 1 AM on Thursday morning, and I've just installed kubuntu again. It's nothing important, but the installer provides assistance under windows, in case you're unable to convince your system that it wants to boot from the CD.
Now all it has to do to keep me impressed is recognize my webcam, play steam games and set the monitor's native resolution seamlessly.
It was a tall order for the last kubuntu version I had, but I'm optimistic (or naive).
Wish me luck!
Edit, Apr 24, 2008, 10AM: Well ... One down, two to go: it recognized my monitor resolution with no problems (which is more than can be said for windows vista come to think about it); One down, two to go.
Tuesday, February 26
tuesday morning activity
49 cd /usr/lib/amarok/install-mp3
50 ls
51 ls -lart
52 less install-mp3
53 sudo chmod +w install-mp3
54 sudo ./install-mp3
55 sudo . ./install-mp3
56 sudo source ./install-mp3
57 sudo sh ./install-mp3I now have mp3 support in amarok again.
Friday, December 7
funny guy
This ubuntu fellow is a funny guy:
user@<machine_name>:~$ sudo reboot
Password:
molly-guard: SSH session detected!
Please type in hostname of the machine to reboot: user
Good thing I asked; I won't reboot <machine_name> ...
Friday, November 30
Please do not port software to Windows!
I found a small plea on the net for not porting GNU software to Windows. At first sight, the arguments sounded convincing, but I find them to be mainly colour-blind arguments.
They sounded to me close to believer-fervour (and that should, I believe, always be closely examined, lest it degrades to fanaticism).
The writer says (among other things):
It is the same purpose that is provided by the wine on *NIX, by the way.
Is cygwin more powerful than Windows' default software?
Arguably, it is.
Still, the reason I had it installed at my old job, was because I needed to run some shell scripts that needed it. For a Windows shell, I now use Windows PS (easier to install, though not as powerful or complete in features, as cygwin, but it's enough).
More of the arguments, made me remember the how-to that I commented on, a few days ago: instead of having an open mind, they start from "Windows is evil, how do we get about replacing it?"
Do I think windows is evil?
Not in purpose.
Are they trying to make (more) money?
Yes.
Does that make them evil?
Not as such, no.
Does it make them unethical?
Sometimes (OK, most of the time), but still, not "evil", not "bend on sabotage/destruction" which "evil" would mean.
The writer of the plea is ignoring completely Microsoft's purpose here: they don't care for "making software", but for "making money". Once you keep this in mind, they're just another corporation.
Does that make them unfit for any purpose?
No.
It is (arguably) easier for a company to get up a Windows network, than a *NIX one (if for no other reasons, then for the number of Windows administrators available in the workforce, compared to *NIX administrators).
It is also easier for a commercial development team to use a suite of products that integrate together than five or ten separate ones.
When, as a team leader, you know you have to deliver in six months, you'd rather go for the software package with the smaller learning curve, not for "yes, but after we learn vi, we'll write code really fast" (especially if the month spent customizing vi and fighting the vi learning curve, is a month the team could be writing software in).
That said, I use Kubuntu Linux at home. It is fit for my purpose at home (playing with it's settings, adding lots of things and trying them out, browsing and a bit of development), and it's free (yes, freedom in software matters, both in price and in choice).
I feel having more of the world switching to free operating systems would generally be a good idea (if for no other reasons, then for encouraging competition), but using partial arguments and trying to limit choice ("please don't port my software to windows" so windows users might be forced to switch) is the same kind of play that Microsoft does, but on a smaller scale:
It is limiting freedom, all over again.
They sounded to me close to believer-fervour (and that should, I believe, always be closely examined, lest it degrades to fanaticism).
The writer says (among other things):
Many people using Windows don't care about their freedom. They do care about quality software and for that reason try to replace all the user space software from Microsoft with better free alternatives. This is the sole reason for the existance of cygwin.which is a gross generalization. The "sole reason" for the existence of cygwin is more than one (so to speak). Among these reasons, is providing a compatibility layer.
It is the same purpose that is provided by the wine on *NIX, by the way.
Is cygwin more powerful than Windows' default software?
Arguably, it is.
Still, the reason I had it installed at my old job, was because I needed to run some shell scripts that needed it. For a Windows shell, I now use Windows PS (easier to install, though not as powerful or complete in features, as cygwin, but it's enough).
More of the arguments, made me remember the how-to that I commented on, a few days ago: instead of having an open mind, they start from "Windows is evil, how do we get about replacing it?"
Do I think windows is evil?
Not in purpose.
Are they trying to make (more) money?
Yes.
Does that make them evil?
Not as such, no.
Does it make them unethical?
Sometimes (OK, most of the time), but still, not "evil", not "bend on sabotage/destruction" which "evil" would mean.
The writer of the plea is ignoring completely Microsoft's purpose here: they don't care for "making software", but for "making money". Once you keep this in mind, they're just another corporation.
Does that make them unfit for any purpose?
No.
It is (arguably) easier for a company to get up a Windows network, than a *NIX one (if for no other reasons, then for the number of Windows administrators available in the workforce, compared to *NIX administrators).
It is also easier for a commercial development team to use a suite of products that integrate together than five or ten separate ones.
When, as a team leader, you know you have to deliver in six months, you'd rather go for the software package with the smaller learning curve, not for "yes, but after we learn vi, we'll write code really fast" (especially if the month spent customizing vi and fighting the vi learning curve, is a month the team could be writing software in).
That said, I use Kubuntu Linux at home. It is fit for my purpose at home (playing with it's settings, adding lots of things and trying them out, browsing and a bit of development), and it's free (yes, freedom in software matters, both in price and in choice).
I feel having more of the world switching to free operating systems would generally be a good idea (if for no other reasons, then for encouraging competition), but using partial arguments and trying to limit choice ("please don't port my software to windows" so windows users might be forced to switch) is the same kind of play that Microsoft does, but on a smaller scale:
It is limiting freedom, all over again.
Monday, May 21
what finally worked
So ... for two weeks now I've been frustrated by how openSuSE 10.0 sees (or rather doesn't see) my mouse wheel (a Logitech tilt-wheel gaming mouse).
I had played with the settings and got to a point where I could do middle-clicks, and scroll down using the wheel, but there was no scroll up.
Tonight I fiddled with the settings again, and after a dozen (or so) restarts of the X server, here's what finally worked:
Apparently, what was breaking the scrolling up, was EmulateWheel: On / EmulateWheelButton 4. It seems the wheel emulation overrides one of the buttons.
I had played with the settings and got to a point where I could do middle-clicks, and scroll down using the wheel, but there was no scroll up.
Tonight I fiddled with the settings again, and after a dozen (or so) restarts of the X server, here's what finally worked:
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Buttons" "9"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "EmulateWheel" "off"
Option "Name" "Cordless Trackman FX (USB)"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Vendor" "Logitech"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Apparently, what was breaking the scrolling up, was EmulateWheel: On / EmulateWheelButton 4. It seems the wheel emulation overrides one of the buttons.
Wednesday, March 7
existing CVS root
This post is for my own reference (feel free to skip it).
I just restored my personal CVS repository from a DVD backup;
It went like this:
I just restored my personal CVS repository from a DVD backup;
It went like this:
60 7:31 umask 007
61 7:31 cd CVS
[...]
64 7:32 vi .tcshrc # added $CVSROOT
[...]
66 7:33 exit
67 7:33 echo $CVSROOT
69 7:33 cvs init
[...]
90 7:44 chmod -R 2770 $CVSROOT
91 7:44 cd work
92 7:44 cvs checkout cerberus
Sunday, February 11
from present me to future me
Hi future-me!
Here's a message about upgrading from openSUSE 10.0 to openSUSE 10.2: DON'T!
Apparently, although the new version of KDE looks better, the net is still not working on my laptop.
I'm back to dual booting and openSUSE 10.0 for now.
I gotta go.
Here's a message about upgrading from openSUSE 10.0 to openSUSE 10.2: DON'T!
Apparently, although the new version of KDE looks better, the net is still not working on my laptop.
I'm back to dual booting and openSUSE 10.0 for now.
I gotta go.
Friday, February 9
about the ScrewUp Fairy ... and linux
Yesterday evening I started upgrading from openSUSE 10.0 to openSUSE 10.2, and everything went well.
Then, with a new, fresh upgrade, I restarted my new system and connected to the internet, right? WRONG!
It seems the ScrewUp Fairy visited again and my old kernel problem surfaced again and I can't get past the local IP loop. So, now I have a shiny new openSUSE 10.2 installation, that works OK but is all alone in it's own little world.
I brought my laptop in office with me and I'm looking for a location of the 2.6.13 kernel sources.
Damn!
Then, with a new, fresh upgrade, I restarted my new system and connected to the internet, right? WRONG!
It seems the ScrewUp Fairy visited again and my old kernel problem surfaced again and I can't get past the local IP loop. So, now I have a shiny new openSUSE 10.2 installation, that works OK but is all alone in it's own little world.
I brought my laptop in office with me and I'm looking for a location of the 2.6.13 kernel sources.
Damn!
Wednesday, September 13
releasing too often
Hey, check this out: If you have an ACER Aspire 16004 LM laptop and are thinking about using linux, try to go for the 2.6.13 linux kernel;
Other versions (I'm not sure exactly which ones) will make a mess of your network settings (I was unable to get past the local IP when attempting to access the net); Also (though this has not been confirmed by other users), they might empty your credit cards and give all your clothes to charity while you're in the shower.
I tried Knoppix 5, SuSE 10.1 (Linux kernel 2.6.16) and the latest Ubuntu.
I also ended up with three days with no home net connection, a crashed laptop HDD, and a lot of headaches.
I think if the kernels weren't updated so often, they'd be more thoroughly tested.
Anyway, I'm back now, getting up to date with the latest security patches over SuSE 10.0.
Methinks in a few days I'll be up to date.
Damn (b)leading edge!
Other versions (I'm not sure exactly which ones) will make a mess of your network settings (I was unable to get past the local IP when attempting to access the net); Also (though this has not been confirmed by other users), they might empty your credit cards and give all your clothes to charity while you're in the shower.
I tried Knoppix 5, SuSE 10.1 (Linux kernel 2.6.16) and the latest Ubuntu.
I also ended up with three days with no home net connection, a crashed laptop HDD, and a lot of headaches.
I think if the kernels weren't updated so often, they'd be more thoroughly tested.
Anyway, I'm back now, getting up to date with the latest security patches over SuSE 10.0.
Methinks in a few days I'll be up to date.
Damn (b)leading edge!
Monday, September 11
random update
It's monday morning again, the sun is shining, if there were any birds around I'm sure they would sing a lot and so on and so forth.
On Friday evening I went to the End of Summer Party, 2006; The guys had to drag me there ( thanks guys :) ) as I didn't feel like going at all.
There was a show made by the social club, drinks, loud music and ... well ... it was a party afterall.
(photo taken by D)
... anyway ... I allready posted the link to the pictures so look there.
During the weekend I finally backed up my linux machine and installed SUSE 10.1 for Xgl, but that "didn't go exactly as planned". First during the setup it refused to format my partition (halfway through partitioning the damn thing), then I discovered it fsck'ed up my boot settings.
In an ... inspired move I wiped the harddrive clean and now I have an all-linux environment ... that's not connected to the internet.
So, for the first time in weeks, I spent a few frustrated hours setting and resetting the set settings, the few that I know that is, without any noticeable result; By yesterday evening I think I was going through net-dependecy withdrawal sypmtoms :(
I also visited people, watched a movie and played bridge (I think I did anyway) at S and vissited w/ L.
It was a full weekend afterall.
And by the way, this morning I went on the Limassol seafront to take some pictures, but all I could see clearly was a cup of coffee or my home bed. I guess I need more rest.
On Friday evening I went to the End of Summer Party, 2006; The guys had to drag me there ( thanks guys :) ) as I didn't feel like going at all.
There was a show made by the social club, drinks, loud music and ... well ... it was a party afterall.
(photo taken by D)
... anyway ... I allready posted the link to the pictures so look there.
During the weekend I finally backed up my linux machine and installed SUSE 10.1 for Xgl, but that "didn't go exactly as planned". First during the setup it refused to format my partition (halfway through partitioning the damn thing), then I discovered it fsck'ed up my boot settings.
In an ... inspired move I wiped the harddrive clean and now I have an all-linux environment ... that's not connected to the internet.
So, for the first time in weeks, I spent a few frustrated hours setting and resetting the set settings, the few that I know that is, without any noticeable result; By yesterday evening I think I was going through net-dependecy withdrawal sypmtoms :(
I also visited people, watched a movie and played bridge (I think I did anyway) at S and vissited w/ L.
It was a full weekend afterall.
And by the way, this morning I went on the Limassol seafront to take some pictures, but all I could see clearly was a cup of coffee or my home bed. I guess I need more rest.
Saturday, August 26
reluctant to sleep
It's close to five AM, Saturday morning; I've been awake since two, reading and for some reason I'm reluctant to sleep.
Instead, I've been downloading the SUSE 10.1 installation images because I want to play with XGL, a window manager only available on the latest release (kids these days!)
In other news ... well ... as it happened before, I have a feeling something new happened lately (on many different levels actually) but don't quite know how to put it in words;
I finally found out what data gets corrupted in my investigation at work ...
... and I felt I made a good step forward in something that's been keeping me busy on a personal level ...
... M is also comming for holidays in Cyprus at the end of next month ...
Anyway!
To be consistent with the stream-of-consciousness style this post seems to have, it's not that I cannot sleep; I know it's a matter of two minutes of reiki at this point to sleep like a log;
I'm also tired enough but ... I'm just reluctant somehow.
Instead, I've been downloading the SUSE 10.1 installation images because I want to play with XGL, a window manager only available on the latest release (kids these days!)
In other news ... well ... as it happened before, I have a feeling something new happened lately (on many different levels actually) but don't quite know how to put it in words;
I finally found out what data gets corrupted in my investigation at work ...
... and I felt I made a good step forward in something that's been keeping me busy on a personal level ...
... M is also comming for holidays in Cyprus at the end of next month ...
Anyway!
To be consistent with the stream-of-consciousness style this post seems to have, it's not that I cannot sleep; I know it's a matter of two minutes of reiki at this point to sleep like a log;
I'm also tired enough but ... I'm just reluctant somehow.
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