Life without Windows or OS X

The T-Mobile G2X on Simple Mobile

2011-07-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

Note: This is not a review of The T-Mobile G2X. This is more of a review of how well the G2X run on the mobile virtual network operator, Simple Mobile. Simple has a bring-your-own-phone model and rents T-Mobile's national GSM network for its service. Simple Mobile is picking up steam in the market, and passed the 1.5 million activation

T-Mobile G2X is the US version of LG Optimus 2X. T-Mobile G2Xsupports the 1700Mhz band, features a 4” WVGA display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and equipped with Tegra 2 Dual Core processor at a speed of 1 GHz and two cameras an 8MP at the rear side and a 1.3 MP camera at the front. This is an Android based device that runs stock Froyo Android/Linux 2.2.2. I'm perfectly happy with Froyo, supposedly the Gingerbread (Android 2.3.) update is coming soon; don't matter to me one way or the other. The voice controls work good, I've had no problems with wifi or bluetooth. The only thing I have seen is short battery life. So programs like task killer and JuiceDefender are a must and you need to turn off 4g when your not using it.

The Nvidia Tegra 2 processor has great performance. Tegra Zone, Nvidia 's mini app store show case top quality games. Their selection is very small right now. The G2X comes with Need For Speed Shift HD a racing game a demo version of N.O.V.A, a futuristic first person shooter.

All the calls made on the G2x were crystal clear. It sounded like I was using a landline phone and I didn’t have any complaints from callers on the other end. T-Mobile’s 4G networks, my average download speed was just under 3Mbps and my upload speeds got around 1.5Mbps. But having Tegra 2 dual-core power comes with a price. You may only get about 4.5 hours of continuous web surfing over 4G.

There are some people having problems with getting every thing working on the G2X. It's not obvious though how you activate the APN though.

g2x activation at simple mobile.
Simple Mobile website--> Enter in Android config on a new APN--> Save and hold down the radial button long enough for it to turn green. From there, internet, gps, mms, etc. all works.

Simple Mobile has 3 plans for this phone

The $60 plan includes Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text and data up to 4G speeds. However only phones like the G2X, support T-Mobile's HSPA+ network technology would qualify as supporting 4G speeds.
The $50 plan includes Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text and data up to 2.5G speeds. 2G speed is more than adequate for IM, MMS, Web browsing , Email and social networking.
The $40 plan includes Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text

Tubely.com: Online Scam

2011-07-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

You will get a Friend request from (supposedly) a friend. The Invitation page looks just like Facebook and so many will assume that Tubely.com is legit and then go ahead and clicked on Accept, fill in the information fields, etc.
So If you receive an invitation from any one whom has supposedly joined Tubely, it is probably not true. Do not click on ANYTHING in the invitation - just report it as spam or delete it.

Install FireFox 5 on Linux Mint 9 LTS

2011-07-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

If you’re still on Linux Mint 9 and want to try Firefox 5, then this tutorial will show you how.

First you need to open terminal. A "terminal" is a way of typing commands to the computer.

The easiest way to open the Terminal is to go to Applications menu - Accessories - Terminal.

It will look like this.

Next copy and paste follow commands in Terminal

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/
firefox-stable

sudo apt-get update

apt-get upgrade

The last thing you will see is

Configuration file `/etc/firefox/pref/firefox.js'

==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.

==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.

What would you like to do about it ? Your options are:

Y or I : install the package maintainer's version

N or O : keep your currently-installed version

D : show the differences between the versions

Z : background this process to examine the situation

The default action is to keep your current version.

*** firefox.js (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ?

Note: This tutorial will work on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick and 10.04 Lucid too.

The pitfalls of a home home WIFI net work

2011-07-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

I am sure you heard; the Senate's website was hacked , just one of many breach of security to hit a major U.S. based institution. The Sergeant at Arms Office, which provides security for the Senate, said that the breach had not compromised any individual senator's information.

Home wireless networks can be attacked much easer, because of free and widely available Wi-Fi cracking programs like Gerix WiFi Cracker, Aircrack-ng and Wifite. The programs work by faking legitimate user activity to collect a series of so-called weak keys or clues to the password. WiFi has now become a mainstream technology. WiFi Access Points are increasingly being deployed by home users and organizations. Laptops and smartphones now come equipped with built-in WiFi connection capability. Incidents of WiFi hacking & malicious use are on the rise. People are downloading illegal content like music through home WiFi connections or using the connection to send malicious attacks.

Tips to protect Wi-Fi

Disconnect your computer from the Internet when you aren't using it. I know that sounds very simple. The idea is to make you a hard target. technologies such as DSL and cable WIFI modems have made it possible for users to be broadcast their signals all the time. The likelihood that attackers or viruses scanning the network for available computers will target your computer becomes much higher if your computer is always connected. Depending on what method you use to connect to the Internet, disconnecting may mean disabling a wireless connection, turning off your computer or modem, or disconnecting cables.

Modern network routers contain built-in firewall capability, but the option also exists to disable them. Ensure that your router's firewall is turned on. For extra protection, consider installing and running personal firewall software on each computer connected to the router.

Each piece of Wi-Fi gear possesses a unique identifier called the physical address or MAC address. Access points and routers keep track of the MAC addresses of all devices that connect to them. Many such products offer the owner an option to key in the MAC addresses of their home equipment, that restricts the network to only allow connections from those devices.

All Wi-Fi equipment supports some form of encryption. Encryption technology scrambles messages sent over wireless networks so that they cannot be easily read by humans. Several encryption technologies exist for Wi-Fi today. WEP-encrypted password (for wired equivalent privacy) is not as strong as a WPA (or Wi-Fi protected access) password, so it’s best to use a WPA password instead. Even so, hackers can use the same free software programs to get on WPA password-protected networks as well. It just takes much longer (think weeks) and more computer expertise.

Disabled SSID broadcast. In Wi-Fi networking, the wireless access point or router typically broadcasts the network name (SSID) over the air at regular intervals. This feature was designed for businesses and mobile hotspots where Wi-Fi clients may roam in and out of range. In the home, this roaming feature is unnecessary, and it increases the likelihood someone will try to log in to your home network.

March of the Digital Rights terrorist

2011-06-24T04:31:00.000-07:00

Capcom, the makers of street fighter, placed the DRM on Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. This is nothing new. French video game maker Ubisoft demanded a constant Internet connection in order to play Assassin's Creed II. Days after that their servers used to authenticate the game went down. People who legally paid for their game could not even play it . For a while only the pirated versions were the only working copies of the game.

First Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition game will require a Games For Windows account. I don't understand that. Why must I have have an account for a game that is played offline?

Next you must have always-on Internet connection while playing the game. Why must I be online for a game that is played offline?

Capcom's latest approach to DRM is simply stupid . To make people have constant instant connections at all times makes no since. If there is a break in the connection, the game will wait until the end of your current fight and ask you to log back in to your Windows account. If the player is unable to sign back in, players will only be able to select from 15 of the included 39 characters in the game.

See once again “Digital Rights Terrorism” hurt the little person. People who pirate games will find a way to circumvent the restrictions. People who legitimately pay for the games will have to suffer the restrictions. They may even turn to piracy to avoid them.

Unlimited data service at 2.5G speeds for $50 a mouth..

2011-06-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ever hear of Simple Mobile?

Don t worry most have not. Simple Mobile is what’s called a mobile virtual network operator, MVNO for short, that uses T-Mobile’s network. Simple, which runs on a bring-your-own-phone model, rents out a national GSM network for its service. Simple Mobile's business model, customers can add the MVNO's service to any unlocked GSM phone. Customers can call Simple Mobile's customer care--which the firm outsources--to get help activating their service. Unlike some cellular programs which limit your choices to just a select group of phones, they support more than 180 different handsets; the iPhone 4, Samsung Google Nexus S, Nokia E72, and G2X to name a few.

Note: Currently Blackberry Instant Messaging, BlackBerry Internet Service, and Social Network services are not supported. Blackberry OS 6 devices are not supported. Blackberry is only Web accessed via Opera Mini browser and Gmail via the Gmail application.

SIMPLE Mobile’s existing $50 prepaid plan has been rebranded to $50 Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text & Web plan. Previously, this plan included 100MB’s of data, which wasn’t enough for a lot of people. The new plan has unlimited data service at 2.5G speeds, which is adequate for IM, MMS, Web browsing , Email social networks and looking up maps. Need more speed? The $60 plan includes unlimited data at up to 4G speeds. However only phones that support T-Mobile's HSPA+ network technology would qualify as supporting 3G or 4G speeds. In other words, for 3G to work, make sure your phone supports the 1700Mhz band. If you use AT&T branded phone like the iPhone 4 or Samsung Infuse you will only get 2G speeds. If you are usually close to a wifi hot spot there is no need to play for date plan. For $40 you get unlimited voice and texting.

SIMPLE Mobile does not have a 1GB limit. I hear that a lot... How ever, they do have Terms & Conditions which will explain prohibited usage on their network. This includes tethering, live streaming, and keeping an open connection over a long period of time.

How to install the restricted formats in Ubuntu/ Kubuntu?

2011-06-14T01:02:00.000-07:00

The Ubuntu installer lets you check an option during install that adds at least some of these missing codecs to your system.If you didn’t check the ‘Install 3rd party codecs/restricted drivers’ during the installation of Ubuntu 11.04 then these steps are important for enabling all of the “not-shipped-ware” that provides you with a comfortable, stress-free time in Ubuntu.

1. Issue the following command at the terminal -

sudo apt-get update

2. After the package list has been updated, issue the following command at the terminal -

sudo apt-get upgrade

3. After the packages have been upgraded, issue the following command at the terminal -

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Enter ‘y’ when prompted.

4. After the packages have been downloaded, you’ll need to accept the license agreement for installation of Microsoft Core Fonts

Due to legal reasons, Ubuntu can’t ship things like patent-encumbered codecs for playing back things like MP3s, .WMV videos or encrypted DVDs.

In Ubuntu 11.04, you have to install and configure Samba Share to share folders with other computers in your network.

To easily install Samba share, you can search and download from the software market. Or you can open the Terminal and execute the below command :

sudo apt-get install samba

Cyber Space and its Invisible War

2011-05-31T07:48:00.000-07:00

In the U.S. and all over the world, we are Internet dependent more and more. Now we are in an inviable war where cyber attacks are carried out by planting deadly viruses, inflicting denial of service attacks, hacking into websites, snooping into e-mails, stealing confidential scientific and strategic data and posting malicious mails and propaganda. Cyber crooks are not only 12 years anymore. Many threats come from nation states, terrorist networks, organizational criminal groups, and adult individuals.

The U.S. military's now has what is know as the “Cyber Command”, responsible protecting military computer networks from cyber attacks. The is well and good for the military but the nation as a whole. The financial systems, power grids, telecommunications, water supplies, and flight controls are all online making them vulnerable to countless attacks by cyber criminals as well.

Stuxnet should make all us take notice. It was a windows virus uniquely programmed to attack Iran's nuclear facility. It was designed to disable specific control systems running Iranian centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium, causing some of them to spin out of control. It also covered its tracks by fooling operators into believing that the equipment was working as usual. Stuxnet was designed to proliferate aggressively. And it went unnoticed for so long because it was able to exploit four previously unknown flaws in the Windows OS. Stuxnet was as effective as a military strike, but without loss of life or risk of full-blown war. On Aug. 2010, Microsoft issued an emergency update (MS10-061 update) to patch the bug that Stuxnet was then known to exploit in Windows shortcuts.

Even with that revelation our most critical infrastructures are still remain unprotected. Power, oil, gas and water are all open hostile infiltration and nothing is really being done about it. In my view this is as great a threat as nuclear warfare.

My overview of OpenSuSE 11.4

2011-05-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

On my dell inspiron 1420n, I have the new openSUSE 11.04. Many of the improvements in 11.04 are said to be based on the distro's upgrade to the Linux 2.6.37 kernel released in January of this year. The new kernel is said to improve the scalability of virtual memory management and the separation of tasks executed by terminal users, leading to less interference between tasks. Provided you have a dual-core machine, the new kernel brings a significant speed boost, particularly when transferring large files. OpenSUSE features the KDE Plasma Desktop 4.6 along with GNOME 2.32, Xfce 4.8 and LXDE 0.5 as alternatives. Also included is GNOME Shell, which will be part of the up coming GNOME 3.

The installer is one of the fastest, easiest ones available for desktop Linux. I found that all I had to do to install openSUSE was to start the process, confirm my time zone, pick my user name and password, choice which desktop interface I wanted to make my default (I picked the KDE installation), and then went to feed the cat while the full DVD installation ran through the setup. By the time I was back, it was done, and ready to go. The install took about 15 minutes or so, and I had no problems with it. Windows 7 takes much longer to install. Even total newbies to Linux should not have a problem installing openSUSE 11.4. The OpenSUSE KDE interface is quite stylish and feels corporate. It keeps your desktop settings and additional options in quick to access locations. There are many misconceptions surrounding Linux with “command line”. In GNU I rarely go to the command line any more, because the gui’s are everywhere and varied enough to do just about anything one would want to do to solve just about any problem you might have.

Most proprietary codecs are still not included out-of-the-box but OpenSUSE 11.4 includes MP3 baked into Amarok, which is the default media player in openSUSE KDE. OpenSUSE will offer to add software to play those closed formats. A dialogue warnings box pops up about possible copyright violations.

YaST2, while still not as fast as Synaptic Package Manager, feels light-years ahead of what it was in openSUSE 10.2 My favorite programs Pidgin & Banshee was not part of the default installation. Not a problem With SUSE you can quickly add new software any time you want. I went to system-configuration-install/remove software. And added them with a with a single click. All available software is neatly categorized into sub-sections for you to browse, or use the search bar to quickly find the applications you want. The repositories for openSUSE 11.4 are reasonably well stocked but are not nearly as large as either the Mandriva or Ubuntu/ Linux Mint repositories. Neither Skype and Google Earth are available in the main openSUSE repositories, but they are available as an RPM files on the Skype and Google Earth websites for releases on openSUSE . I downloaded the files and opted to make them open with KPackageKit, which also happens to be included alongside YaST2. Skype and Google Earth installed with a single click.

Many people that has seen my notebook actually prefer my KDE 4 desktop to Windows 7. Its using an intuitive, point-and-click interface with features that even Windows 7 has yet to incorporate like multiple desktops, which is one of those things that some can't live without once they have gotten used to it. the KDE notification area is one of the cleanest and easiest to use. You can add widgets to your desktop. Most of these options can be found in the desktop toolbox in the top right corner of your desktop. Settings for each individual widget can be customized by hovering over a widget that is already open and clicking the wrench symbol. Or while hovering over a widget you can also click the scale icon to adjust its size. You can also choose the rotate widget icon. openSUSE 11.4 makes it easy to use the Web, send/receive emails and one-click connections to available networks, whether those networks are based on Wi-Fi, broadband, and dare I say it, dial-up.

Plasma Desktop.
KDE has seen significant work on the Activities system, making it easy to associate applications with particular activities such as work or home tasks. This will allow you to easily manage different tasks and more quickly switch between them. Activities make use of session management, starting and stopping applications based on the active activity and showing windows depending on what you are doing.

Browsing the Internet.
Firefox is your window to the world. You can preview search results from top search providers including Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and Ask. Panorama allows you to overview all of your tabs and organize them into groups using a drag and drop interface.

Downloading Files from the Web.
If you download a file with Firefox, the Firefox download manager starts and saves this file to the folder configured in Firefox Preferences. By default, the Downloads folder in your home directory is the destination for downloaded files. Firefox shows your finished downloads in the Downloads window.

E-Mailing and Calendaring.
For reading and managing your mails and appointments, you can use Kontact as your personal information management tool. Kontact combines KDE applications like KMail, KOrganizer, and KAddressBook into a single interface. This gives you easy access to your e-mails, calendar, address book, and other PIM functionality. Kontact can also manage multiple e-mail accounts.

Office suite.
LibreOffice is the successor to OpenOffice.org Novell Edition. It can work with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases in many other formats, including Microsoft Office.They can be seamlessly opened like other files and saved back to the original format.

Managing Your Digital Image Collection.
DigiKam is a easy way to manage your digital images. Download your images from the camera, edit and organize them in albums archive them on CD or DVD, or export them to a Web image gallery.

Managing Your Music Collection.
amarok plays media files in various formats like FLAC, Ogg, MP3, AAC, WAV, Windows Media Audio, Apple Lossless, WavPack, TTA and Musepack. Even associating cover art with a particular album, and retrieving the cover art from Amazon. However it does not play digital music files embedded with DRM. Associating cover art with a particular album, and retrieving the cover art from Amazon.

Enjoy watching DVDs with full navigation menus.
Kaffeine is a full-featured multimedia player for Linux. Almost all supported multimedia files can be played by point-and-click.

Instant Messaging.
Kopete is an instant messaging program. You can talk to your friends using AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, Skype, SMS, SILC, win pop up. Kopete has webcam support for MSN & Yahoo Messenger.

Creating a CD or DVD.
K3B is CD burning software like Roxio's Easy CD Creator that enables users to create music CDs, data CDs, and much more.

Security Updates.
Security updates are provided for 18 months for every openSUSE release. When new updates are available you'll be notified by KPackageKit which will appear in the system tray.

openSUSE 11.4 performed very well for me. I didn’t have any system crashes or other noticeable headaches, however it did not work perfect-fully with the dell inspiron 1420n laptop. The home button did not work. If you tap the power button it takes a while for shut off menu to appear. Those things worked perfect-fully under Ubuntu. They can have more to do with some problems with KDE than the openSUSE release.

MY Life without Windows or OS X

2011-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

OpenSuSE is one of oldest Linux distributions around. Originally SuSE Linux was owned by a German company by the same name. But in January 2004, it was acquired by Novell which continued to further develop and include more SuSE specific features to it. The end result is was an OS which has come into its own. OpenSuSE is a community program that was sponsored by Novell and had been developed into an open model. Late in 2010 Novell was acquired by Attachmate,for $2.2 billion. The deal included Novell's SUSE Linux, which Attachmate plans to build a a separate business unit with.

Back in 2007 I came across a DVD of OpenSuSE 10.2. At the time I was using Linspire Five-O, PC Linux OS and Linux Mint, 3 pretty nice GNU/Linux distributions. However unlike those guys, out of the box, openSUSE did support proprietary video codecs or encrypted DVDs. You had to add an unofficial repository. By default OpenSuSE had a choice between KDE and Gnome and one could choose one over the other at the time of installation. I picked KDE. Then there was YaST (Yet another Setup Tool ). It was a unique tool found which allowed one to do all the system administration tasks from within its GUI interface which includes package management. With YaST I could do almost all system maintenance and network administration tasks but it was kind of slow for my taste. YaST GUI refreshed the repository databases automatically each time it is opened. Updates were slow at times, particularly during installation. But OpenSUSE performed very well for me. I didn’t have any system crashes or other noticeable problems.

Then openSUSE 10.2 reached its end-of-life on December 16th, 2008. With YAST's poor performance, OpenSUSE 10.3 not making any significant improvement and with Linspie on its way out. I bought a Dell inspiron 1420n laptop with Ubuntu 7.10. My desktop was Mandriva power pack 2008.

Fast-forward to May of 2012.

SUSE is back in the form of 11.04. I hear it is good. I will post again when I fine out.....

Linux Mint 9, codename Isadora

2010-09-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

I was in Best Buy today and saw win7 upgrades on the self. To up grade 3 computers from xp to 7 was nearly $400. In this tight economy, it's more important than ever to make sure every dollar spent counts. As we all know running older releases of Windows can be dangerous. Because older releases of Windows are often no longer supported with needed security patches among other fixes. In other words you are putting yourself at risk of malware issues. Soon Xp will not be supported. Would it be really be necessary to upgrade all 3 systems to Windows7?

One could try something called Linux Mint. It dose not cost anything. No its not one of those internet scams. The best thing about Linux Mint is its out of the box capabilities. This version comes with GNOME 2.30. It's similar to SUSE's Slab menu by offering access to all entries from main interface and features a filter/search. Some may say having something like Linux Mint could put your system more at risk. The reality is quite the reverse: Linux Mint is much more secure than either Windows or Macs, as countless examples and security researchers have confirmed over the years. One of the Linux Mint many advantages is that it's designed not to hog resources, meaning it doesn't require the latest and greatest hardware to work really well.

Firefox is preinstalled, with is latest version, 3.6.3. I have been a Firefox advocate for a long time. Thunderbird is also preinstalled in its latest version. Adobe Flash plugin, MP3, DVD playback along with most popular video codecs are bake in as well. Since Mint 9 is based on an Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) release, you have support for the desktop through 2013.

So if you have 3 computers with WinXp maybe only one them should get the windows 7 upgrade. The other two would be just fine with Linux Mint installed on them. You could save yourself a lot of money.

No matter what O.S. you use always update your web browser to the latest version. An out of date web browser is often riddled with holes worms can crawl through. Trust me you don't need that kind of trouble. In fact keep all programs you run patched and up-to-date. Never click on links in emails if you can't verify the sender. Don't enter credit card numbers or other personal information into sites you don't trust. Legitimate business and organizations will never ask you to enter your username or password via email. Just some things to think about.

Digital Rights Terrorism.

2010-09-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

Before I start my rant, I would like to say that we should all fight software pirates. I believe that the software pirates should be hunted down where ever they are and taken out. Pirated copies of software is a major source of destructive viruses, often avoiding detection by anti-virus programs designed to prevent infected files downloaded from the Internet. These pirates and hackers have the know how that enable them to navigate through binary code. With that knowledge they attack license management systems and valuable algorithms. Piracy is theft, plain and simple, it's smash and grab, no doubt. Theft is theft and should be punished, and intellectual property is no different. We can see that much of it is an inside job. Why is it that companies are willing to make every one suffer at the hands of an invasive DRM scheme, but they can’t seem to take a few basic steps to find the person or organization that has sold them out? I have seen games show up on P2P days or even weeks before hitting retail shelves, how is that possible, I mean really? The marketing and PR companies want you to believe that they are combating piracy of their content with DRM. This is completely untrue. Every DRM scheme out there can be easily defeated by a person with the will, time, and money. So what is DRM really designed to do?

It attacks people that has nothing to even do with the intellectual property war. Terrorist kill civilians and can justify it as the lesser evil in a particular circumstance. Some digital media content publishers claim DRM technologies are necessary to prevent revenue loss due to illegal duplication of their copyrighted works. Just like terrorist if the only way to win (the intellectual property war) is by intentionally targeting non-combatants, then they are morally right to do so. Digital Rights Terrorism does not effect pirates and everyone knows that. Every DRM scheme out there can be easily defeated, any software protection system can be cracked, just as any lock can be picked or any door can be broken.

French video game maker Ubisoft demanded a constant Internet connection in order to play Assassin's Creed II. So now I must have an Internet service provider to play a single player game offline? I already bought the game. Now I must pay for internet service too? How is this defeating the pirates? After Assassin’s Creed 2 was released, the custom DRM was cracked within 24 hours. Days after that their servers used to authenticate the game went down. And guess what? The people who legally paid for their game could not even play it . And it gets even better..For a time the pirated versions were the only working copies of the game.

Blu-ray’s copy protection DRM is based on regularly updated encryption keys. Blu-ray firmware changes on a regular basis. Once a key is compromised, an update is released, which then also requires updates to Blu-ray players. Once again the non-pirates/ non-combatants were attack without mercy. People like you and me who bought a movie but could not watch it. People reported problems with playing the Avatar Blu-ray disc on some Samsung players. It got so bad that Amazon now gives a warning message on their movie’s product page. The Book of Eli, Sherlock Holmes, and Invictus I heard had problems too. Again if you had pirated version of Avatar , you are not affected by this problem. If you legally paid for it, your night can be done. These kinds of copyright protections actually make more people to turn to piracy. If the companies choose use more of this kind of terrorism against consumer non combatants then they may find even more people turning to P2P to avoid the hassles of registering and obtaining licenses for products they legally purchased.

So why not take this war to the people who are raging it? Why not go after foreign governments that have rogue organizations doing this kind of business within their borders. Torrents and p2p networks have made it hard to effectively crack down on piracy and colleges and universities have not done enough on their networks either. We know that the nation of Georgia is the world's top software pirate, with 95 percent of all software used in the country deemed illegal. Why not start there? Its the poster child for intellectual property infringement. Because like terrorist, The Business Software Alliance and others feel its better to go after civilians than they do their real enemies aka pirates.

DRM was a big issue with music downloads, but these days places like Amazon.com currently have non DRM in their downloadable music files. We all remember the Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal of 2005. They used something called XCP. It used a rootkit technology to hide certain files from you on a your own computer and that technique turned out to be a security threat to computer users. One of the uninstallation options provided by Sony BMG introduced further vulnerabilities to computer systems. They realized that attacking non pirates did not make them any friends. It was a black eye and bloody nose for the music industry at large.

We all can agree that Piracy has gotten worse in the world as Internet connection speeds have improved. The Business Software Alliance should flex its business power and hunt them (intellectual property pirates) down...all of them. Bangladesh is also country with a high rate of software piracy along with Indonesia , Vietnam, China and India. Send all your forces to theses gangster nations and protect us all from this underworld. Why not set up snitch funds to reward people for turning in bootleggers. Using DRM Terrorism is wrong. It never hurts pirates and punishes people caught in the the middle. Digital Rights Terrorism attacks the freedom of people who has committed no crime.

Year 5: Life Without Windows Part One

2010-09-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hello welcome to my weblog. This is not at hate blog. I don't hate open or closed source. I don't hate WinXP nor OSX.

I started this site 5 years ago this today, to explain what GNU/Linux is.

GNU/Linux is freely available, and most are not required to register their copies with any central authority, so it is very difficult to know how many people use Linux to date. Could be as many as five million users. Yes, some free software can't stand up to some of the commercial alternatives, but most software on GNU costs nothing to use, and it's built by passionate developers who love what they do, and who usually get very little in return. I use Mozilla Firefox web browser, Banshee multimedia player (similar to Windows Media Player) and the OpenOffice.org productivity suite (the Linux equivalent to Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, etc.) are just three examples of free open-source programs found on Gnu/Linux systems.

There has been many changes in the last 5 years.

Intel released open source software drivers for the newest generation Intel graphics , including support for 2D and 3D graphics features.
Dell officially unveiled its three consumer systems the XPS 410n and Dimension E520n desktops, and the Inspiron E1505n notebook that come with the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux distribution factory installed.
Android-Based T-Mobile G1 Hits Stores back in 2008. The G1 ran Android/Linux, Google's open source operating system, which was designed to bring the desktop computing experience to mobile devices. The release of the T-Mobile G2 will mark the two-year anniversary of Android availability in the U.S.
AMD opened up their proprietary microcode drivers to the open source world and enabled open source developers to write hardware accelerated 3D drivers a day later for some Radeon cards.
In 2009 one-third of the 35 million netbooks shiped was with some variant of the free, open-source operating system, ABI Research said. The exact split is 32% Gnu/Linux versus 68% Windows. This year there are tablets based on Android, which are Linux-based hitting the market, along with sophisticated tablets that will run Google’s upcoming Linux-based Chrome OS.
Banshee a music manager and All-in-one media player which lets you rip, play, burn and share your digital music collection now supports loading the Amazon MP3 AMZ files for downloading audio that was purchased from within a web-browser session. The web-based Amazon rendering within Banshee is being done using WebKit.
Nokia and Intel have become allies. In February 2010, Nokia and Intel announced the merger of Maemo and Moblin to create MeeGo, a Linux-based software platform designed to work across a range of hardware architectures and devices including mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, and in-vehicle systems.

2010 has been a rather interesting year for Linux, and 2011 promises to be even better. Linux share of the desktop market grew to 1.13 percent in May of this year. I believe the economy has been a major incentive for its adoption, with netbooks becoming increasingly popular. As low-powered and cheaper tablets become the norm, with alternative ARM-based chipsets instead of x86, systems like MeeGo are sure to be the winner due to there immense portability. Open source software is an idea whose time has finally come. It's breaking out into the commercial world, and that's changing the way we all use to think.

2005 seems like a life time ago. There were times I just did not have much to right about. However in that time Living without Windows becomes easier over time. Even now it still maintains its image of being a geek's operating system, hard to install and use but those things have been far from the truth for a long time.

It's all want to write for now. I did not want this to go on and on....

I'm a GNU: Starling NetBook

2010-09-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

Do you really need an overclocked Core 2 Duo SU7300 based laptop to check email? Do you really need a 1GB nVidia GeForce GT335M mobile graphics in your laptop just to look at a few youtube videos? If you’re mainly a Web surfer, note-taker, social-networker , emailer, and a consumer of photos, videos, books, periodicals and music a netbook could be for you.

What is that you ask? Netbooks are neither mobile phones nor standard laptops, maybe something in between. The netbook is a term coined by Intel for a particular kind of sub-notebook that emphasizes power-management, internet access, small size, and a simple operating system.

Today I want to talk about The 2nd generation Starling netbook made by system 76. The build quality of the Starling is amazingly solid for a subnotebook of this size and weight. It powered by an 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N455 processor, and equipped with 2GB RAM, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, VGA port, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone jack, SD card reader, a built-in 0.3 MP webcam, Kensington lock, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, and 10/100 Mbit Ethernet. They have crafted a solid mini-laptop that's good for kids and has plenty to offer anyone looking to hit the road with the bare minimum of computing hardware.

Its comes installed with Canonical's UNR. The Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I think, is an attractive, easy to use interface. It’s qualitatively different, a whole new type of computer that, through a simple interface. You need to do a task “there is an app for that”. The heart of the Remix user interface is its customized launcher which replaces the desktop and provides access to applications and other important system functionality.

The layout and design of the launcher is effective and it is very easy to use. The big buttons that are easy on the eye. Rather than using a dock, start menu, or typical drop-down menu to access commonly used programs and files, Canonical's UNR uses a different sort of menu on the home screen which runs vertically down the left. As you can see it’s divided into several categories Favorites, Files, Folders, Accessories, Games, Graphics, Internet, Office, etc.

Note: The Ubuntu Netbook Remix can not play encrypted DVDs or use certain Windows codecs out of the box. Configuring these formats after a fresh install is simple. This guide will allowing you to play Flash, Java mp3, aac, DVDs ,mp4, avi, wmv and many more formats. It also installs the Microsoft true type fonts for better compatibility with Word documents.

To add the every thing you need:

In a terminal program type or copy and paste: sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Terminal program is found in Accessories.

The Starling can help people break free of wires and lightly enter the world. Everyday work which includes editing simple documents, sending and receiving email, surfing the Web, and chatting with friends. None of these things need the most powerful hardware ever, That is why specialized components like Intel’s Atom CPU was developed. So consider them in the light of the activities: sending e-mail with evolution , browsing the net with fire fox, enjoying multimedia with rhythmbox(I highly recommend Banshee)., and chatting on the go.

System76 provides and supports Ubuntu pre-installed laptops, desktops, and servers with a commitment to the ideals of open source software. System76 enables consumers, businesses, schools, and governments to easily transition to the world of open source software through world class hardware, software, and support.

Ubuntu provides a system based on Debian with frequent, regular releases and a consistent desktop interface. It is backed by Canonical's commercial services and support on both the desktop and the server. It releases critical bug fixes and is never more than six months away from the latest version of anything in the open-source world.

So in 2010 we have a choice.

2010-09-02T01:12:00.000-07:00

The last five years...

Much has happened. I started this site 5 years ago this month, to explain what GNU/Linux is. I have done my best in my small world to let others know there are choices out there and I will say here and now that those other choices don't fit everyones needs in all cases.

The people at Microsoft encourages people like you and me to think of open-source, its for nerds. A number of significant milestones were reached that promise to continue to move the systems ahead in 2011. I know that getting started with a new OS is a big adjustment. Yes it is true that Windows is the OS that is used by the majority populace in the United States. It comes preinstalled on most consumer brand PCs. In 1984, it was impossible to use a modern computer without installing a proprietary operating system. So in 2010 we have a choice. Gnu/Linux shouldn’t necessarily try to be the other the OSes and people new to it should come to it with open minds. You come to this grassroots os because you believe it to be better, but is disappointed. It is impossible for any thing to be better than something if its completely identical to it. A perfect copy can be equal, but can never surpass the first.

In fact I am posting this on a system running Linux Mint 9 a user-friendly version of GNU. I never found a need to buy a copy of window7. I know people will say I'm missing out, but what am I really missing out on?

Well its not face book or my space. Both sites run just fine on my system with fire fox. Its not buying music form an online store as Amazon mp3 meets those needs. Going to sites to like hulu the re-live my youth with classic programing? Well that works fine as well. I know some one will say, what about itunes 10? Yes what about it? Apple has chosen not to write a Gnu version. It is their choice and I guess 1-3% of the market their not going the bother with. Did you know the zune dose not work with OSX?

I never know who reads this web-log of mine. So just in case this shows up in some kind of Google search. I just want to remind everyone to go out and see the world. To that end, I don't mean my space or face book but the real world. People who have become disconnected from, or have had a inability to connect too, social activities are more likely to use and abuse the foundations of social networking. People seem so into their personal tech that they don't mind being interrupted from dinner, during a trip to the bathroom or even during sex. So don't forget there is a world out there.

The many faces in the open-source

2010-08-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well as everyone know I am a strong proponent of open source. Does it pay me anything? No not really. So why should any one care about this thing we call “open source” First lest recap...What is it? Open source means any software whose source code is made available for use or modification for users or developers. Open source software is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open-source s oftware packages allow organizations to examine the underlying code and, in some cases, change that code to fix a problem or modify it to run with other software. Its that cool or what? I know; how does it help the common man?

Unlike other commercial programs that are controlled by one company, OSS is free to distribute and use. Even if you are unaware of OSS, it is likely you on daily basis use open source software. Most e-mail is now routed through Send mail, while most websites are hosted on Apache servers, both open source projects. Open source software is an idea whose time has finally come. It's breaking out into the commercial world, and that's changing the way we all use to think.

Now we know all about Linux. It was on 14 March 1994, Linux 1.0.0 was released, with 176,250 lines of code. In computing, the kernel is the central component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. So when a computer crashes, it actually means the kernel has crashed. If only a single program has crashed but the rest of the system remains in operation, then the kernel itself has not crashed. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources. Kernel development is thought to be one of the most complex and difficult tasks in the world of programming. It has been said that it would cost over $1.2 billion to develop a Linux kernel by conventional proprietary means in the U.S. Thats a lot of cheese. The Fokes who work on Linux-related projects and build this value profit by sharing the development cost even with competitors. So it’s becoming clear in todays world that shouldering the R&D burden alone “in house” is an expensive approach to building software. Thousands developers, from many different Inc, contribute to every Linux kernel release. As of today Linux 2.6.34 has around 13,320,934 lines of code. The Linux kernel has reached the stage now where it is just as effective and as usable as any as anything that MS could come up with. The 2.6 is also a lot of fun for the tinkerers and those who want to learn how things tick.

Then you have the OS (operating systems) that are power by Linux.

GNU was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system. It was not until 90s when SLS was the first Gnu system to be built on top of the Linux kernel to hit the world stage. Some time later SLS became Slackware. The first Slackware release, 1.00, was on July 16, 1993 and is the oldest GNU/Linux distro currently being maintained. Gnu like the Linux kernel are Open-source software packages. The source code for Microsoft's products is closely guarded and unavailable to most customers. To date there are currently hundreds of Gnu/ Linux distributions. Over three hundred of those are in active development, constantly being revised and improved led by Canonical's Ubuntu, Red Hat, Novell, Inc. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED), Debian, and Oracle's Oracle Enterprise Linux.

In the smart phone world there is the power house know as Android/Linux. At the beginning, Android wasn't all that great. The Android App Market was empty compared to Apple's mighty App Store. Android took an open-source approach, one very different than the closed-natured iPhone OS (now iOS). Over the past year and a half, Android has evolved rapidly, leaving its origins in the dust and rushing ahead to catch up, and even pass, Apple in some respects. Was it just the power of Google? Well yes and no. Did the name Google help the consumer trust it? Yes. Did Google create and maintain Android/Linux in house all alone? No. The Android platform is available under one of the most progressive, developer-friendly open-source licenses. People have made it better than it was,they are comfortable with it, and they fixed the flaws. And this happed at a speed faster than conventional software development. With the exception of brief update periods, Android OS has been available as open source since 21 October 2008.

A knew face in the open-source world is MeeGo

MeeGo is an open source that brought together Maemo by Nokia and Moblin headed up by Intel. MeeGo is designed from the ground up to be open in every way. It integrates the experience and skills of two significant groups and they believe they have the two pillars form the technical foundations for next generation platforms and usages in the mobile and device platforms space. The new ecosystem will deliver a range of experiences for users, including internet-based, computing, communications, multitasking and multimedia. Asus and Acer, have announced plans to release MeeGo netbooks.

Kindle 3 is not trying to be iPad

2010-07-29T02:35:00.000-07:00

Its been a very-very long time since I posted so yes I have much to say yet so little to say. I know sounds nuts, but hey thats me.

Amazon.com plans to release a cheaper Kindle e-reader next month. I read it on the web some where. It is said that the new Kindle will have a screen with increased gray-scale contrast, a battery that lasts for a month, and a slightly smaller size. It will come in two types: one with Wi-Fi and 3G Internet connections selling for $189, the other with Wi-Fi only for $139. Sounds like a good deal. People say that the iPad has killed the Kindle. Thats just crazy talk. The kindle 3 will be a standalone e-reader, not a multifunction tablet computer like the iPad.

The kindle is about 9 ounces and 1/3 of an inch thin, it is lighter than a paperback and thinner than a most magazine. The Kindle's screen looks and reads like real paper, with no glare even in bright sun light.

Did you know there were free e-books available in the Kindle format on the Amazon website, including many books from 1922 and before that were now in the public domain? Now you can share meaningful passages with friends and family with built-in Twitter and Facebook integration.

The Kindle will find its way to the US and UK on the 27th of August.

McAfee blames unpatched IE bug; Microsoft to release security advisory later today

2010-01-14T15:29:00.001-08:00

By Gregg Keizer

January 14, 2010 04:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Hackers exploited an unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser to break into some of the firms targeted in a widespread attack that compromised Google's and Adobe's corporate networks, McAfee said today.

more here...

Songbird, the open source iTunes

2010-01-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

Philips To Bundle Songbird with Music Players

posted by Thom Holwerda on Sat 9th Jan 2010 19:52 UTC, submitted by John Mills

Songbird, the open source iTunes alternative (which we reported on earlier), has landed a big deal with Philips. The Dutch electronics manufacturer will bundle Songbird with its GoGear line of .mp3 players as the music management and sync tool. While this is good news for Songbird, there are is a catch.

more here...

In 2010 the penguin will be a force

2010-01-10T22:53:00.000-08:00

Ever heard of Freescale?

Well...Freescsale, supplier of the chip that powers the Kindle as well as my Arcos 5, has just developed a 7-inch tablet reference design for tablets starting 2010. it features a resistive display. While Freescale could have gone with the capacitive one, it restrained itself to resistive to keep the overall cost of the Smartbook as-low-as possible. A "smartbook" is larger and more versatile than a smartphone but isn't as large as a netbook and doesn't run traditional Windows operating systems. Their smartbook includes ATi’s HD decoder, 4-64GB SSD, single USB port, micro-SD slot, accelerometer , light sensor, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS webcam and headphone jack. Freescale says that in their own tests, it can run for 12hrs with WiFi and the display on (80% brightness).

The OS for this tablet will be primarily browser based and Frescale’s Smart-Book Tablet will run on either the Android-Linux mobile OS or custom Gnu-Linux, providing a web-based mobile computer in a low-profile, finger-friendly design. With a customized Debian Gnu/Linux build, we could theoretically install Linux applications onto it. This smartbook platform is intended to run with Adobe Flash Player and other multimedia plug-ins, PDF and image viewers, a mail client, an RSS reader, an office suite, and widgets for Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Weather SMS and other applications.

Linux smart phones coming 2010.

The Nexus one will the best Android/Linux powered phone out there. It’s going the fastest and most coolest looking smartphone on the market today, solidly I think, beating the iPhone in most a lot of ways. The most obvious thing it has over the iPhone is the 480 x 800 OLED capacitive touch screen.

The Nokia N8, will be Nokia's latest GNU/Linux smartphone. With the Nokia N8 handset, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store software apps.

The Desktop.

In the 2010 desktop environments continue to evolve. Gnu/Linux these days just works--no drama with day-to-day Internet activities like e-mail, Web browsing, IM, Twitter. As it is open source it doesn’t give them the same level of problems as Microsoft or Macintosh. Yes barriers to Linux adoption for the masses are still there, including compatibility with popular software such as Apple's iTunes.

Could this be the year of Linux 64 bit?

The main benefit of running a 64-bit operating system is that it allows applications to access more memory. If you have an application which would like to access more than 4 GB of RAM, then a 64-bit system is for you. But one is not likely to find many Linux applications which need that much memory most may even notice performance improvements when running a desktop on a 64-bit operating system.

First Driver for USB 3.0 (Linux goes first!)

2009-06-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

(Anika Kehrer)

Jun 09, 2009

After a year-and-a-half's worth of work, Intel hacker Sarah Sharp announced that Linux will be the first operating system supporting USB 3.0.

What's coming in 2.6.30?

2009-06-02T04:04:00.000-07:00

"A few days ago, Linus Torvalds released the seventh Linux 2.6.30 release candidate. According to Torvalds, most of the merged changes are minor, and the next big kernel version is nearing completion -- although Torvalds does still anticipate an eighth release candidate. The Kernel Log takes this opportunity to discuss what's new in the driver arena of Linux 2.6.30; the final version of the forthcoming kernel will probably be released in one to three weeks.
"Audio, video
"The audio drivers of Linux 2.6.30 will roughly be in line with the status of the ALSA 1.0.20 drivers. Aside from a driver for Atmel AC97 codecs and Xonar Essence STX support, this curiously also includes a new ISA driver for various sound cards of the Turtle Beach MultiSound series. The ASoC (ALSA System on Chip) framework and the HD audio drivers were also overhauled quite extensively. The latter now offer improved runtime reconfiguration via Sysfs (1, 2, 3). As in every new kernel version, the developers also considerably extended the white lists that allow hardware-specific adjustments ("quirks") to be made automatically -- see the list at the end of this article for details."

Complete Story

200th post

2009-05-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

I did it. I made it to my 200^th post. Yes it did take a long time but I made it. A lot has changed in that time. Back in 2005 the Linux kernel I was using was 2.6.10. In the last 3 years, Microsoft has encountered more competition from Linux on the desktop than probably all of the other years combined. While its presence is felt to most of the world's data centers and large corporate networks it is also beginning to show up on desktop computers in major corporations, and large banks. Close to half of Google’s 20,000 employees use a slightly modified version of Ubuntu. Dell started to sell PCs and desktops with the software in 2007, and I.B.M. more recently began making Ubuntu the basis of a software package that competes against Windows.

This is not at hate blog. I don't hate open or closed source. I don't hate WinXP nor OSX. I just tend to live in a world without Vista & Leopard. Gnu & Linux are big time grass root movements. My idea was to put the thought into the minds of people ever were that, Gnu/Linux shouldn’t necessarily try to be the other the OSes and people new to it should come to it with open minds. You come to this grassroots os because you believe it to be better, but is disappointed. It is impossible for any thing to be better than something if its completely identical to it. A perfect copy can be equal, but can never surpass the first. So when you gave Gnu/Linux a try in hopes that it would be better, you were inevitably hoping that it would be different. In deed it has a way to go in terms of education, mind share and credibility because of the lack of pop apps. In 2009 there is such wealth and depth of applications that as a power user I seldom miss anything. It is all so still true that occasionally you may encounter a certain Windows application for which no Linux equivalent exists, and that you simply can't live without. In those cases a software program called Cross over Linux available through codeweaver did sometimes help. It's a layer that lets you run native Windows software in Gnu. It doesn't work for many applications, but the list of supported programs is growing all the time.

Back in 2003 I found that I did like a lot of what I saw in the Gnu/Linux ego system. I preferred it over xp in many ways because I did not need to worry about the quality of my GPU or how much RAM my computer had. It just worked with what I had, which was not much at the time. Linux Mint is what we should want for any operating system: less attention on the operating system and more attention on higher-level features. While it shares a lot with Ubuntu, it has its own unique ways, which gets my nomination for one the easiest desktop Gnu/Linux distro candidate. Once installed the system works fine with as low as 256MB RAM. Also a Gnu/Linux download & upgrade gave me the newest drivers available for my machine, whereas in Windows I would have to surf to multiple sites and download all the upgrades individually. It's a very different process, and I found that to be very, well user friendly.

What brought me to Gnu/Linux was Linspire Inc Lindows 3.0. Linspire Inc. was founded in 2001 by MP3.com creator Michael Robertson. The company and its desktop Linux OS were originally dubbed “Lindows,” leading to a legal challenge by Microsoft over the latter’s “Windows” trademark. The squabble was eventually settled out of court; Microsoft reportedly paid $20 million to Lindows, and Lindows changed its company and OS name to Linspire. Then Linspire Five-O hit the street and it emerged as my favorite distro because of its Click-N-Run (CNR) software platform. Linspire 5-0 could handle many office and media file types including QuickTime, Windows Media, Flash, Java, Real, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .mp3, .pdf, .mpg, out of the box. Linspire called their product the world’s easiest desktop Linux. And it was. As for my experience, it took me a grand total of 15 minutes to boot my Pentium 4 , put in the Linspire CD, reboot, install 5-0, reboot again, adjust the time, date and sound level, and then start the desktop. At the time I could not wait for Linspire 6.0 to hit. It's after installation of the new Linspire 6 I was like, what happened to the world’s easiest desktop Linux? Linspire's previous major release, Linspire 5.0, was a show-stopper of a distro The new Linspire 6.0 could not even mount the FAT32 and NTFS Windows partitions on my computer.

Sad to say the Linspire is no more. On July 2, 2008, Xandros, Inc. took them over. The web site says

“Xandros and Linspire are the only Linux vendors with digital distribution warehouses that let users download and install both free and commercial applications with a single mouse click. Together, the companies will offer the best digital software distribution warehouse for a variety of Linux platforms, including Freespire, which will continue to be maintained as an open source project.”

Linspire helped bring much needed commercial attention to Linux when companies were looking for an alternative to Windows 98 or even Windows 2000. It will be missed.

Gnu/Linux has grown up a lot in the past five years. There are distros that almost anybody can install, even distros that live on CDs and detect all your hardware for you without any intervention. There are many misconceptions surrounding Linux with “command line”. In GNU I rarely go to the command line any more, because the gui’s are everywhere and varied enough to do just about anything one would want to do to solve just about any problem you might have. I have sat with people that have never used any computer and found GNOME or KDE to be equally qualified desktops for doing simple things like web browsing, text-editing, and so on,without issue.

Its been a long 3 years of coming up with things to write about. I intend on keeping this site more up to date than I have in the past.

Firefox 3 market share crawls past IE 7 in Europe

2009-04-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

According to Web analytics firm StatCounter, Firefox 3 has finally surpassed the popularity of Internet Explorer 7 in Europe. Internet Explorer's total marketshare across all versions, however, still exceeds that of Firefox.

By Ryan Paul | Last updated March 31, 2009 10:25 PM CT

Mozilla's Firefox Web browser has made impressive market share gains in Europe over the past few years. In the latest marketshare report released by StatCounter, Firefox 3 has finally surpassed Internet Explorer 7 as the most popular browser in Europe in a breakdown by version number.

Firefox 3 holds 35 percent and IE 7 has 34 percent in that region. The recent decline of IE 7 in the past week can largely be attributed to the release of IE 8, Microsoft's new browser. According to StatCounter, IE 8 has grown to 2.3 percent in Europe, with most of those users upgrading from IE 7. This change was enough to put Firefox 3 on top. IE 6, however, still has 11 percent marketshare, which means that all users of Microsoft's browser across all versions still outnumber the total number of Firefox users.

more here

Trekstor ibeat Move + Banshee + Amazon MP3

2009-04-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Trekstor ibeat Move + Banshee + Amazon MP3

Well recently I was in pursuit of a new mp3 player. I’m happy to report that a few weeks ago I got a trekstor ibeat move and I've been having a lot of fun with it. It has pretty much all the basic features I wanted, decent battery life, and a fm radio. It's small and light and the display is really sharp. It features direct recording from the built-in FM radio, 25 radio station presets with automatic station search. On top of that, the Move features a microSD card slot for up to an additional 2 GB of swappable room.

I wanted to put trax on it, so I used the open source Banshee media player. Basically, this does everything iTunes does now days including video playback, podcasts, remembering last-played position for audiobooks, ripping and burning as I said it acts very much like iTunes. Banshee 1.4 offers automatic library synchronization for mobile devices and can also handle device playlists. It works with iPods and MTP players in addition to USB mass storage devices. I used it to rip my Tori Amos Collection: Tales Of A Librarian CD to my Move at a variable bit rate of 256kbps. I am sure that there is a lot of people that will unfairly compare the trekstor ibeat move to an ipod or other expensive players,but it fit my price range.

The next thing I wanted to do was buy some MP3 tracks online, but many sites across the web traditionally have to impose some form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions on downloadable content as a requirement by the recording industry. So I went to Amazon MP3 where their music is always DRM-free and will play on any device. There are a few restrictions. One of the biggest is that there's no re-downloading of tracks; you'd better make a backup, because if you lose a song, you'll have to purchase it again to get another copy. Individual tracks can be downloaded directly to the hard drive, but full album purchases have to use Amazons download application. The Amazon MP3 Downloader is currently available for Windows, Mac OS X and for GNU/Linux users their offering the program in both Debian's DEB and the RPM format. To make it easier to install, Amazon is including versions for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE. The Amazon MP3 Downloader, program displays what your songs you're downloading. You should install the MP3 Downloader before your first purchase. Its not hard. I just double clicked the one marked Ubuntu because thats what my Dell 1420n runs. The "Package Installer" GDebi Package opened. I them Clicked the "Install Package" button, put in my root past word and launched the Amazon MP3 Downloader to complete the installation process. Before you purchase a song or album, the Amazon MP3 store lets you play a 30-second music clip via an embedded music player.

When I was ready I bought Valhalla by Emily Richards & the 80s Pop Hits full MP3 albums along with the MP3 single of Coldplay's, Viva La Vida. Buying songs from Amazon MP3 was fairly painless. You click on the 'Buy MP3' button, Amazon asks to make sure you meant to buy that track and then you are taken to a Thank You page which explains what is happening. Each one the MP3s came with embedded high-resolution album art, which showed up on my trekstor ibeat move and Banshee 1.4 just fine.

Although Amazon’s library is a little smaller than iTunes' and Napsters, it is a great place to buy DRM- free music downloads. Amazon MP3 uses a more variable pricing model, with most tracks selling between $0.49 and $0.99 USD

Bait-and-switch:The Windows 7 multitasking tax

2009-03-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

First let me say that I am not an open-source only evangelist. One of my favorite native GNU programs is NERO Linux 3, nothing open about that one. I must ask one question of the Microsoft apologists. What about this MTT I posted about before. Is it real or did I just make something up? Do I see a bait-and-switch in the works.

It the world of computers, there is something that many of us take for grated every day. Its called multitasking. In computing, multitasking is a method by which multiple tasks are done at once, meaning, running more than one program/process/task at once. No big deal right? The ability to multi task should not cost the user, more should it? We are pre-conditioned to believe that the OS we are run generally does just that, we have been able in the last 10 years run any program as many as we wanted only limited by the performance of our computers.

The Starter edition is aimed at the low cost ultra portable market. I have heard every where that Windows 7 is light-weight enough to actually run on those machines, yet there is a three app rule in place. The three-app rule includes applications running in the background, meaning that a user running Windows Messenger and Fire Fox, for example, could only use one further application on their machine like word or Thunderbird. If you want to open them both your force to close Messenger or Fire Fox. Buyers of ULCPC devices with Windows 7 starter will have the option of upgrading (paying the multitasking tax) to the more powerful versions, Ballmer said.

Now we all know that Microsoft by putting out Vista that Ballmer under estimated the need for an operating system that ran on cheap low spec machines. You want the full power of vista, buy a new high price system was the mainstream line. Then ULCPC devices hit the market place, going for as little as 389.00. That gave rise to GNU/Linux on the new platform. In response to the rapid growth of Linux on these machines, they extended the lifetime of XP and started giving it away nearly free. Falling hardware prices is putting the hurt Microsoft’s profits. The biggest problem with computers these days is that they don’t cost enough to invisibly hide the fees of a Windows PC license.

I tested Windows 7 Ultimate Edition (beta) on a Asus Eee PC 1000HA. Guess what? It runs five apps just fine. There is no need to even have a Windows 7 Starter Edition on similarly configured ULCPC devices. Remember that the three app restriction was to make sure that users can get the best possible performance from power limited hardware. The 1000HA uses the usual Atom N270 processor with 1GB RAM. I did not upgraded any hardware to run Windows 7 beta.

I want Microsoft Windows 7 to be competitive with the forces of open-source. It makes every one work that much harder to improve Firefox, open office, or even KDE. What Microsoft needs to do is just price 7 competitively and not give a deceptive price (pre-multitasking tax) for a crippled product so as to just look price competitive, then force you to pay MTT to get what you really expected in the first place, that ability to open more than 3 apps at once. One could say thats a type of bait-and-switch.

2009-03-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

The release of version 1.0 of the Linux kernel was announced on March 14, 1994. When it was released, it contained 176,250 lines of code.

The Linux mascot is a penguin named Tux, created by Larry Ewing. Many variants of the Tux graphic exist. The mascot is a penguin because as Torvalds put it, "Linus likes penguins. That's it." The name Tux was suggested to represent (T)orvalds (U)ni(X), and it stuck.

To day LINUX is used by over 12 million people as well as by groups like the The GNU Project which was founded by Richard Stallman in 1983. GNU's kernel was never finished,it had text editors, a compiler and many programming tools, libraries, filesystem utilities, and so forth. GNU O.S. had everything but a kernel.Linux came along at the perfect moment to fill that hole. The two forces needed each other, One kernel one, O.S. Thats the main reason why Richard Stallman insists that the proper name is GNU/Linux, rather than plain old Linux.

One of Linux + GNU + FOSS most compelling strengths is their one simple screen for the power to download and install a wide range of free software. There need not be any CD for the most part, you get the absolute latest versions, and all dependencies are resolved. GNU/Linux on the desktop grew in 2008 as a number of substantial milestones were reached that promise to continue to move the Linux desktop/notebook ahead in 2009.

A big problem is that several mainstream applications are not available in GNU.One day the world's ISV will wake up and realize the vast market opportunity that lies in GNU/Linux platform.

To date the Linux 2.6 kernel contains 11,010,647 lines of code.

Linux.com to Get a Makeover

2009-03-04T02:36:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

Tuesday, March 03, 2009 3:30 PM PST

The neglected Linux.com domain is about to get a facelift courtesy of the Linux Foundation, which said Tuesday it will take over the site and jazz up its content.

SourceForge, which previously maintained Linux.com, stopped publishing original content to it in January. The Linux Foundation will now provide that content, as well as host the site and provide general oversight. SourceForge will continue to sell Linux.com's advertising.

more here...

Windows 7 is seen as a Linux killer?

2009-02-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

Im really not understanding why Windows 7 is seen as a Linux killer and not a Mac killer. Most people simply don’t know what GNU/Linux is. They don’t even know what an operating system is. Theres only PCs and Macs. They don’t know that they are essentially the same hardware with different software on top. Linux is unusable, right? All software running on top of it sucks, and when there is a problem, it is impossible to find somebody around to fix it. The problem with linux is that there are too many different distros & non-existent or incomprehensible documentation, incompatibility between the distro and lacks the key applications people want to run. Windows by far has the most software, and the most different hardware supported and will be for a long time. When Windows 7 ships, you can expect a massive marketing war pushing it mainly to digital nomads with special deals, and Ultraposrtable laptops hardware taking advantage of Windows 7 capabilities, including touch screens. But I have question. Why would a billion dollar Inc spend time fighting an OS (GNU/Linux) that is only 1% of the desktop market? As of 2009, every new Macintosh computer ships pre-loaded with currently Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard. According to Apple, Leopard contains over 300 changes and enhancements. In fact in the U.S.A. the Mac accounts for 7.48% of the market while Linux has only 0.61%

Now it is true that GNU/Linux accounts for like 20% of all Ultraportable computers(which Intel calls ''Netbooks'') sold world wide. Thats still not much of the market when XP home still holds over 80%, and at brick-and-mortar retailers, MS windows is sold with mini-systems 99% of the time. So again is there a need for a "LINUX KILLER"? MiniBooks have become an important segment of the PC market, but overall growth has been stunted some by the current global economic crisis. Ultraportable computers are loved because their designed to be highly portable even at the expense of certain features. A typical MiniBooks or ultraportable weigh less than 3 pounds making it very easy for people to carry while traveling. Most offer 802.11 g wireless, which is more than adequate for basic needs around the home, office, airport, or hotel room. Screen sizes range from 6 to 10.1-inches in size and they are cheap at 200-600. Cheap is the key word. There meant for doing simple things like web browsing, text-editing, and so on. And the windows price point could bother some. Microsoft isn't just worried about the 20%-30% of the mini-books market being Linux base. It's also worried that if people get used to running Linux on that plat form , they'll consider buying powerful GNU desktop PCs as well. I mean think about this...If GNU/Linux is used on those netbooks, it means that Microsoft Office 2007 & Out Look may not be.

Microsoft has targeted late this year or early next year for the release of Windows 7. The OS is currently in its first public beta

The One-Percenter: The desktop GNU/Linux User

2009-02-20T01:43:00.000-08:00

The economic news is grim, for sure. The New York Times reported that nearly 600,000 jobs have been lost in January alone. Some believe that the 2008 crash is probably the most serious economic crisis we have faced after the Great Depression. I believe of that in 2009 will see open-source become more mainstream than ever before. Now I’m not here to say the open-source applications are better than commercial ones. I just here to lay out the idea that open-source applications can be a life saver for those facing hard times. This is software that is designed to be totally free. Not just free of cost but means that anyone is at liberty to change the program or trade it as he/she sees fit. I have been using open source and free software for years now. Part of the challenge open source faces, is a perception that if it's free, it must not work well or they would be charging for it. That is not true at all .Open-source applications are going to have flaws and there are going to be aspects you like and dislike just like any commercial software. Obviously some alternatives are better than others. In these times Gnu/Linux is quickly gaining popularity, but there are still many users afraid to convert as they are not familiar with the applications. My mission here is to provide the names of some high quality open source alternatives to well-known commercial products. And remember that open source software is also a freeware alternative. The majority of them, come pre-installed in the most popular Linux distributions, or are available through their online software repositories.

You have a 4 year old system which came with xp home. You could update it to vista but it will cost you about 180.00 plus it may not be able to run on your system. With the price of gas, food and living expenses in general, do people need to upgrade their systems yet again with another Windows release? Linux is perfect for doing simple things like web browsing, text-editing, and so on, due to its speed, simplicity and dependability. Mandriva Linux Powerpack 2009 cost $60.00 or Linux Mint 6 for free. Gnu/Linux works as well on a high-end workstation as it does on a subnotebook. I must note that in Mandriva Linux and Mint Linux you will not find free Windows nor Mac. You'll just find a completely new operating system, working in a completely new different way. It can be frustrating for people who are new to Linux when things don't work the way they expect them to.

You need an email client. Im sure many of you heard of Microsoft Outlook 2007. It is often used mainly as an e-mail application, and it also includes a Calendar, Task Manager, Contact Manager, note taking, a journal and web browsing. You can pick it up for $100.00. Or try Evolution which has mail, calendar and address book standards to ease data sharing. Evolution connects to corporate communications architectures, including Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise. Users can create customized reminders for their events that open windows or play sounds. Users can organize their work by entering to-do items into the task component. Summary, description, due dates, priorities, and categories can be entered. Users can then view their items by date, priority, deadlines and other criteria or view tasks in the integrated calendar view. Cost to you free.

You need to do a paper for class. Well just go down to your locale best buy and drop down a cool 99.00 For Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007. The suite offers good integration between all of its products - with a good unified user interface that make you as the users feel at home in all of the applications. Why not try OpenOffice.org. It's a multi-platform office productivity suite. The software suite combines word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tools similar to the Microsoft Office suite. While OpenOffice.org today may not be a 100 percent, feature-for-feature match with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, its strong interoperability with Office file formats, combined with the fact its free, making it the best alternative for people that need only basic capabilities. Again Free.

Nero Software NERO 9 is around 60.00 Nero Burning Rom has many features for backup, cd copying, audio and more. It is easy to use - and your will soon be backing up your data or burning your ISO files with this program. K3B CD-Creator is a user-friendly CD burning software. K3b project provides a comfortable user interface to perform most CD/DVD burning tasks like creating an Audio CD from a set of audio files or copying a CD. How much? Free.

The great Adobe Photoshop Elements is around 70.00 The main features of Photoshop Elements are photoed organization and user friendly editing. The GNU Image Manipulation Program or Gimp is a valid competitor. Clearly, GIMP feels very different from Photoshop. Among Gimps features you find: powerful painting tools, layers and channels support, multiple undo/redo, editable text layers. Also Gimp imports files from Photoshop (psd) and can also read scalable vector graphics (svg) files. To date it is not be 100 percent, feature-for-feature match with Photoshop Elements, but $70.00 can be hard to come by right now.

Switching to open source software means the end of software license fees, not just for the operating system, but for the major applications that run on it, as well. The free alternative might not be as eye poping or as well-known as the commercial package, and some aspects of the program might not be as polished, but in many cases will get the job done. Open-source applications are a product of the internet, when bright people exchange information they can make amazing things happen. I believe it to be a very social environment, where your constantly encouraged to speak out, talk to your fellow users, to the developers, and even participate in events. All of the source code for these programs are licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, which means that anyone can access and change them to suit specific purposes. Open source apps do tend to lack the integration and polish you’ll find on other platforms. I will also say that for some people with that lack of eye candy they just dont cut it as replacements for their proprietary counterparts. However, these projects are supported by the free software development community and is provided to Gnu/Linux users at no cost.

Photo shop 70.00 /Gimp

Nero 60.00 / K3B

Office 100.00 /Open Office

Outlook 100.00 / Evolution

$330.00

Hackers Lurking in Obama's Web Site

2009-01-31T01:36:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 26, 2009 1:30 PM PST

U.S. President Barack Obama ran a successful Web 2.0 campaign last year. Now, as president, he's got to deal with a very Web 2.0 problem: hackers abusing the social-networking features of his Web site.

Hackers have registered bogus accounts on Obama's online community, my.barackobama.com, where they are posting images designed to set off a chain of events that lead to malicious Trojan horse programs. These programs are stepping stones used by hackers to download more and more malware onto a victim's computer.

more here..

Microsoft's Multitasking Tax

2009-01-30T23:20:00.001-08:00

Ever here the M.T.T. Aka the “multitasking tax”. I know what many of you are about to say. There is no such thing, right? Wrong. The multitasking tax is very real. Real stupid if you ask me. Microsoft will launch a Windows 7 Starter Edition as a low-cost option designed specifically for mini-systems, like they did with the XP stater way back when. With Windows 7 Starter Edition computer users could run up to three programs concurrently, thanks to the three-app rule. The three-app rule includes applications running in the background, meaning that if I ran MS word and Firefox for example, I could only run one further application on my system. Microsoft’s defense behind the restriction was that it ensures that users can get the best possible performance from power limited hardware. Now I did some checking. A cross the web read that Windows 7 is working great with as little as 512 MB RAM and Atom low end processors. Blogs say usability has been improved better and now it is lean like XP. Windows 7 has been designed to run well on low-end systems is what everyone is saying, right?

The sad truth is that if 7 stater was the only Edition able to run effectively on mini-systems then there would be no plans to install Windows 7 Basic & Home Premium on such under powered hardware as they can not run more than 3 apps at once. Didn't that group learn a lesson the last time they tried to put one over everyone. You know, the class-action suit from people who bought machines labeled as "Vista Capable" in the months prior to Vista's release accused Microsoft of selling a bill of goods, because many of the computers were able powerful enough to run only Vista Home Basic, the lowest-priced edition. To be fair Microsoft has denied the charges, and you can’t blame a cow for not barking like a dog. Microsoft earned more than a billion dollars on the sales of PCs marked "Vista Capable." Don’t be mad because that snake you saved from the house fire bit you. Since last year M.S. has promoted the fact that Windows 7 is able to run on hardware not able to handle Vista. Can’t afford real WIN 7 you poor souls, then the WIN 7 Starter Edition is for you guys, “wink-wink”. A lot of poor people could be disappointed with Starter if they weren't aware of its limitations, you know like getting shocked when the fourth app won't run.

Microsoft is ready to fight its war against GNU/Linux and they don't care who gets hurt. With the cost of the Windows operating system remaining relatively unvarying, even as PC hardware components costs have dropped over the last 10 years. It stands to reason that if hardware price is down then why not is cost of Windows operating system still so high and getting higher each time. Things like SLED Linux, Ubuntu Linux and Xandros Linux seem to run systems for less. The thing is Microsoft wants users to buy cheaper systems pre-installed with Windows 7 Starter. The the single mother of 4 will get the shock of her life when the fourth app she clicked on won't open. She reads the fine print to see whats wrong, only to find that she needs to upgrade to Home Premium paying the “multitasking tax” (MTT) because Starter is so crippled.

I'm a Gnu

2009-01-11T22:07:00.001-08:00

I hope the first week of this year has been good to everyone. I’m sure everyone has seen the I’m a Pc and I’m a Mac ads on U.S. Television. Well on this site it is possible to become a Gnu. Gnu/Linux is beginning to rival Microsoft Windows, the leading desktop operating system. Gnu/Linux in many cases is absolutely free of cost to the run of the mill, non-commercial user. Linux is now over 17 years old. Its free nature meant that it developed fast, and even less than a year after it was released, there were associated newsgroups springing up.

One Saturday evening, September 10, 2005, I made my first post. If your seeing this site for the first time. I want to make it clear that this is not a weblog just for geeks. It’s for those who like computers and computer software. I've been working with computers for a little while. In that time I've used a variety of environments. Linux is freely available, and most are not required to register their copies with any central authority, so it is very difficult to know how many people use Linux to date. Could be as many as five million users. Linux 2.6.25 has 9,232,484 lines of code, up from 176,250 lines of code in Linux 1.0.0 back in March 1995. Many users do not understand the difference between the kernel, which is Linux, and the whole system, which many also call “Linux”. The system as a whole is basically the GNU system, with Linux added. When you're talking about this combination it is called really GNU/Linux. Technically, GNU is like Unix. But unlike Unix and other commercial operating systems, GNU is free to distribute and use.

The Windows desktop user community is much-much larger than the GNU/Linux one and it takes a lot to have someone switch to another operating system. I use GNU/Linux for the every day person. This is the type of GNU/ Linux that is widely available. Microsoft makes its living selling people plain operating systems and has a lot to lose if Gnu/Linux ever got popular with the masses. For that reason they have done everything in their power to warn the public that Gnu/Linux is something that you probably can’t use. I feel that the meager income that many are stuck with now days should not keep them out of touch with the tech revolution. So with Gnu/Linux a non-profit organization, can recycle, refurbish and giving away computer systems to families who are on a low income with kids at school.

I know that getting started with a new OS is a big adjustment. Yes it is true that Windows is the OS that is used by the majority populace in the United States. It comes preinstalled on most consumer brand PCs. In 1984, it was impossible to use a modern computer without installing a proprietary operating system. So in 2008 we have a choice.

In fact this post is being made on a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, that I borrowed from a friend. This Gnu/Linux version is a nice price and offers all the basic functionality you would expect from a notebook. It has the Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics, which are good enough for non 1080p HD video playback and can manage older games at low settings. I loaded Unreal and it played just fine. Last but not least, this GNU system has a 32GB solid-state drive, which has very fast storage and makes this thing very quiet and 2GB of RAM for the best performance. A 4-cell battery offers up to 3.5 hours of battery life. However the basic system has a 4 GB solid-state drive and 512 of RAM ($349.00 U.S). But if do buy the basic one and you need more power later, not to worry. The Mini 9 is very easy to upgrade than other netbooks. I have looked at many netbooks like the Aspire One, which require complex disassembly in order for you to get to the storage drive, system RAM, or wireless cards. On other netbooks they have slots for upgrades but no connections on the motherboard so it is impossible to upgrade them. This is not the case with the Mini 9. The combo of Intel's Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, and Unbutu Gnu/Linux works well for basic tasks, as long as you keep expectations modest and don't mind occasional slowdown if you try and open too many browser windows at once. If you need more power go with Dells Inspiron 1525N

Happy New Year...

2009-01-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

My first post of this new....

Super Bowl 43 is upon us. 12 teams make it to the post season. However only two teams make it to the last dance. Who win? Its anybody s guess. I predict a Cards & Pitts Super Bowl 43. I'm hoping for a Giants-Raves Bowl, but im just sure it wont be the case.

Will there be a cards win for the first time ever?

Without vision we will perish

2008-12-24T23:45:00.000-08:00

The end is near. No not the end of the world as we know it. It the end of the year is near. As we're faced with a new year, none of us can help but reflect on the past twelve months. I like so many sit back and think of who I was and what I was doing at the beginning of this year and compare it to now. Let us understand we're all born the same very naked and helpless but not hopeless. Every able-bodied person was born with free will ... the free will to make change ... to make your life whatever you want it to be. IT was Pearl S. Buck that said “ Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.”

Going into the New Year, hope is what many of us seek, but some unable to find. Buck went on to say, “You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.” Without vision we will perish; without Ideals we are lost. We are to be curious. With out that life can seem, well hopeless. We should have wonder. Wonder about where we all come from, how we came to be where we are today and where one appears to be going. Idealism enables one to claim the future for optimism takes no account of the present.

As I have said before we tend to get comfy thinking in a particular way. This comfort provides only an empty way. Resistance to change is a dead-end street. Old ideals and processes must be tossed aside so that new ones may be learned. At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, that strange new thoughts are possible. But when people begin to hope then vision enables them to believe the in the it idea can be done, and all the world wonders why it was not done long ago.“Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.”

Office

2008-11-15T15:46:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 cost about 100.00 thses days. Most people will spend most of their time in Word, creating word-processing documents. These days it is essential for home computer users to be able to quickly and easily create great-looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and organize your notes and information in one place.

But does one have to have spend 100.00 for this. In today's economic times, that's a very big deal. If you downlode OpenOffice 3 you can yourself plenty of money. It has all the features you'd expect, but some very nice extras as well. With a single click, for example, you can bring up a gallery of backgrounds, bullets, and other graphical elements, and then embed them in your document.You can run it on anything: Macs, PCs, Linux, Unix workstations. It includes six full-blown applications: the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet, Impress presentations program, Base database program, Math equation editor, and Draw graphics program. And it doesn't cost a penny. Like other great open source projects such as Firefox, Open Office has support for extensions to allow you to tweak the software as you see fit. The Open Office Extension Repository is filled with everything from dictionaries to templates to file import wizards to code formatting tools.

The Face of an Election in the states

2008-11-02T01:36:00.000-07:00

When I saw the photos and read the words of 78 year-old Cleopatra Nelson the effect on me was immediate. No matter what way you come down on the issues, one can not help but feel her fierce amount of emotion.

"I cried when I marked my ballot for him. We've had such an incredible journey to this point," said the former civil rights activist, her voice quavering. "I think he's going to win, but I really am very, very cautious."

"With my generation, in the '60s every leader that we had was killed," she said. "Then it's almost like a plate over your heart. Once you've been hurt — King, Kennedy, Medgar Evers — you dare not put that much emotion out there again."

Changelog for CrossOver Linux/Games

2008-10-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

Changelog for CrossOver Linux:

7.1.0 CrossOver Linux - October 22, 2008

* Outlook fixes:
o Restored use of the Rules and Alerts dialog
o Improved connectivity with Exchange servers
o Fixed installation of several custom versions of Outlook
o Improved copy and paste behavior
o Fixed 'reply all' behavior
o Improved printing
o Partial support for signed emails
o Fixed some address autocompleteion in Outlook 2007
o Fixed ability to create new contacts, appointments & tasks
o 2003 & 2007 now exit cleanly on the Mac
o Can now open recurring Calendar Items
* Application installation changes:
o Many more versions of Office 2007 (including Enterprise editions) now install properly.
o Office 2003 Service Pack 3 now installs.
o Office 2003 one-shot updates now apply.
o Several more versions of Office 2003 now install.
o MS Office language packs now install
o Visio 2003 sp3 now installs.
* Other fixes:
o Office 97 now works better.
o PowerPoint 2003 slide preview improved.
o Bidirectional text behavior is improved.
o Access 2002 reporting is improved.
o Improved Java behavior.
o Use the native FreeType library on Leopard systems.
o On Linux, add the ability to generate Debian bottle packages.
o Fixed a CrossOver installation error specific to Estonian locales.
o Fixed: Word 2003: Can't open Word doc, Out of Memory
o Pull-down menus now appear more than once (WordArt)
o Can now open Project 2007 files with Project 2003 (with the add-on installed)
o Rotating text boxes now works in the proper direction

Changelog for CrossOver Games:

CrossOver Games 7.1.0

The gamma control should behave better now. It doesn't change the gamma
on Macs to blue on application exit any longer

The death screen in Team Fortress 2 on radeon cards should be fixed now.
Also the G-Man intro is fixed on those cards

Reflective(environment-mapped) surfaces in Portal work now on Macs with
Geforce 8 cards

The Final Fantasy XI benchmark should run again. This was broken since
CrossOver Games 7.0.

Civilization 4 leader faces should render now on Macs

Fixed a texturing bug on the earth on the Civ4 main screen.

Half Life 2 should run again

Flickering objects in Guild Wars should be fixed

A bug causing crashes on certain CS:S and TF2 MOTDs is fixed

A few regressions in unsupported applications are fixed

About CodeWeavers:

CodeWeavers' mission is to transform Mac OS X and Linux into Windows^®-compatible operating systems. By doing so, we provide a bridge to help users migrate from the Windows software world to these other environments. We do this primarily by making it possible to use Windows software on Mac OS X and Linux.

CodeWeavers is the leading corporate backer of the Wine Project. Wine is an open source software initiative that is systematically re-implementing the Win32 API under Unix. Wine makes it possible for PCs running Unix-based operating systems (like OS X and Linux) to run Windows application as if natively. We offer a range of Wine-based products offering cross-platform capabilities for both corporate environments as well as individual users.

We also use our expertise in Wine to provide professional services to our customers. We use Wine to port their applications directly to Linux or Mac OS X, or to create custom versions of Linux that support mission critical applications.

The world of Windows Applications is very large and diverse, and tracking the status of any given application with regards to Wine is a challenging task. To meet this challenge, we maintain the CodeWeavers CrossOver Compatibility Center, which provides a focal point for application information and tools to help ensure that all applications progress towards full compatibility.

The News page has the latest information on what we are working on.

2008-10-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have been using open source and free software for a for a while now. I thought it was time to dedicate a post to them. One Saturday evening, September 10, 2005 I made my first post. If your your seeing this site for the first time. I want to make it clear that this is not a weblog just for geeks. Its for those who like computers and computer software. I've been working with computers for a little while. In that time I've used a variety of environments. Linux is freely available, and most are not required to register their copies with any central authority, so it is very difficult to know how many people use Linux to date. Could be as many as five million users. Linux 2.6.25 has 9,232,484 lines of code, up from 176,250 lines of code in Linux 1.0.0 back in March 1995. Many users do not understand the difference between the kernel, which is Linux, and the whole system, which many also call “Linux”. The system as a whole is basically the GNU system, with Linux added. When you're talking about this combination it is called really GNU/Linux. Technically, GNU is like Unix. But unlike Unix and other commercial operating systems, GNU is free to distribute and use.

The Windows desktop user community is much-much larger than the GNU/Linux one and it takes a lot to have someone switch to another operating system. I use GNU/Linux for the every day person. This is the type of GNU/ Linux that is widely available. Microsoft makes its living selling people plain operating systems and have a lot to lose if Gnu/Linux ever got popular with the masses. For that reason they have done everything in their power to warn the public that Gnu/Linux is something that you probably can’t use. I feel that the meager income that many are stuck with now days should not keep them out of touch with the tech revolution. I know that getting started with a new OS is a big adjustment. Yes it is true that Windows is the OS that is used by the majority populace in the United States. It comes preinstalled on most consumer brand PCs. In 1984, it was impossible to use a modern computer without installing a proprietary operating system how ever in 2008 we have a choice.

I started with Win 95 in 1997, Win 2000 in 2001, Slackware 8 in late 2001 but still mosly using my trusted Win 2000. Then 2003 I went too WinXP dual booting with LindowsOS then Linspire 5 & Ubuntu 5.10 the Breezy Badger in 2005. By 2006 I was using Linspire 5.1 full time.

At times there were windows base program I could not do without. I had looked long and hard and found that the company had chosen not to port it to Linux. Linspire, Inc. developer of CNR.com, gave me a an easy-to-use, one-click digital
software delivery way to get a virtualization program called Win4Lin Pro which runs Windows as a Linux application and stores documents and settings in the Linux file system without dual booting. In essence it displays a window on a Linux desktop which contains the Windows desktop environment. It provides an environment for the Windows operating system to run, and as such one must still have a copy of Windows to use with it. Then I got CodeWeavers' CrossOver Linux to run my of my fav Win based apps. Crossover, simply put, runs Microsoft Windows applications within Linux. Unlike virtualization, it is a re-implementation of the Win32 API, allowing applications to run as if natively on your system. The programs will display in their own windows just as if they were native Linux applications. Sad to say this is an IE Explorer world and its the first app I installed. Once installed, IE integrated seamlessly with my Gnome and KDE environments. All I had to do was click on the IE icon exactly as I did in Windows, but with the full freedom of Gnu/Linux. But one should also keep in mind that while CodeWeavers supports, or is trying to support, the most popular Windows applications on Gnu/Linux, it doesn't support every program by any means. Not all Windows programs will run perfectly -- some won't even run at all, although most of them will at least install properly. In the long run, you might prefer to find a native Linux program as a really good substitute for your Windows applications.

I have done my best in my small world to let others know there are choices out there and I will say here and now that those other choices dont fit everyones needs in all cases. A Gnu/Linux has lead me just about anywhere in the digital world I have wanted to go. They are packed with features: a full Internet suite; a complete office suite; digital photo and music managers; advanced notebook and wireless capabilities; and a lot more.

3 years of rebel said

2008-09-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hello welcome to my weblog. I started this site 3 years ago this month, to explain what GNU/Linux is. The people at Microsoft encourages people like you and me to think of Linux, when we think of it as an also-ran operating systems for nerds. A number of significant milestones were reached that promise to continue to move the Linux desktop ahead in 2008. Linux is a computer operating system (OS) like Microsoft Windows, Unix, or Apple OS X. Linux has been widely accepted for use on servers by businesses throughout the world. Even if you are unaware of Linux, the groundbreaking open source operating system, it is likely you on daily basis use open source software. Most e-mail is now routed through Send mail, while most websites are hosted on Apache servers, both open source projects. Linux is arguably far more secure than Windows--something of concern to PC users everywhere. The Linux community regularly releases patches for security issues almost the same day that bugs are reported.

First there's a new hype going on in the world of computing. They called netbooks any many run come pre load with GNU/Linux. Netbooks are trying to fill a specific gap between notebook computers and handheld devices. Netbooks are trying to fill a specific gap between notebook computers and handheld devices. A simple interface to access full programs makes sense A simple interface to access full programs makes sens The new generation of netbooks includes more powerful processors, better displays, higher storage capacities and much powerful batteries. Last but not least they bring us the Intel Atom processors, SSD storage ranging from 8 GB to 32 GB and better batteries. They have almost similar configurations, with slight changes in the designs and other features. Their prices are also very much in the same range, starting at around $300 to $700.

The are many good things about GNU/Linux Linux is versatile. The current versions of Linux still run fine on very old machines allowing them to be recycled for various purposes. You’ll find things exactly the same, working to the best the hardware offers. Next there’s no digital rights management (DRM) slowing down the computer or causing conflicts with system in anyway. High quality audio visual output isn’t artificially degraded. So you can play music, watch movies and run software. The operating system won’t interfere with the content you own. Last but not least GNU/Linux doesn’t crash without any apparent reasons. A crashing web browser can’t render your system unusable.

Well take care all.....

A new browser to look out for. Change is good right?

2008-09-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

It is called Google Chrome (how did they come up with that name). The people at Goggle believe they can add value for users and help drive innovation in the net world. The new browser features a process manager which means that each individual tab can run separate processes. If one crashes it will not affect the running of the other tabs. The search giant say that they are making all of Chromes code open source.

While it seems that Chrome is in a show down with IE and Firefox, but the target maybe really be the Windows OS. With Chrome you can search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. Sounds like a neat idea. With more and more computing moving online, net browsers are the most critical piece of software on our desktops.

Will there be a Linux port?

“We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and we'll continue to make it even faster and more robust.”

Ultamatix

2008-08-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ultamatix may be a worthy successor to Automatix for new Ubuntu and Debian users

By Jeremy LaCroix on August 01, 2008 (4:00:00 PM)

Some Ubuntu fans out there may remember Automatix, a tool for Ubuntu that allowed easy access to many popular non-free applications and commonly-used audio and video codecs. It debuted a few years ago, and got negative reviews from Ubuntu developers and experienced users due to the risk of breaking dependencies, but it offered an easy solution for beginners who weren't familiar with the way deb packages worked. Automatix was discontinued in March, when its developers moved on to other projects. Now Ultamatix hopes to continue where Automatix left off.

more here.

Intel acquires Linux distro developer

2008-08-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

"Poky Linux" and Matchbox developer OpenedHand announced that it has been acquired by Intel Corp. The U.K.-based embedded Linux services team will join the Intel Open Source Technology Center, and will focus on Moblin development for mobile Internet devices and other mobile devices.

Windows Programs on Linux

2008-07-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hello all and welcome to my web-log I hope every one is having a good day. Its true I have not posted as much as I once did in the past and not sure how many readers I even have. I have a few, for they email me from time to time.

What is my mission here: To give information on what the web has to offer, like 5 TVs, which make finding the best TV on the internet easy. More on that in another post.

I know, your a Linux user that has a windows base program you cant do with out. You have looked long and hard and found that the company has chosen not to port it to Linux. Until then, there's CodeWeavers' CrossOver Linux. It is well known to people, who use GNU/Linux all the time. Crossover, simply put, runs Microsoft Windows applications within Linux. Unlike emulation, it is a re-implementation of the Win32 API, allowing applications to run as if natively on your system. The programs will display in their own windows just as if they were native Linux applications. CrossOver 7.0 includes support for programs such as Microsoft Office 2007 along side including Outlook 2007, Quicken 2007 & 2008, and the Adobe Photoshop CS & and CS2 product lines.

CodeWeavers, also way back when, came up with a new feature called bottles, which are virtual environments representing different versions of Windows. At this time, there are three of them: Windows 2000, 98 and XP. Some programs run well in one, but not the other. While this expands the total number of Windows programs that CrossOver Linux supports, it also comes with one key problem: ie Windows application in one bottle cant inter-operate with a program in another bottle. Say your running Internet Explorer 6.0 in a Windows 98 bottle and you want to cut and paste some text from a web page into a Word 2003 document, which only runs in a 2000 bottle. Well let me put it this way, it looks like it should work, but it doesn't. But on the plus side you can paste text in a native GNU/Linux program like OpenOffice without a problem.

GNU/Linux on the desktop continues to grow. And not only that, it’s improving. Today’s Linux desktop offerings are vastly superior to the one available even two years ago. But this is the is a conundrum; it’s hard to make the transition to Linux without being able to bring many of your Windows base applications with you. To me, Crossover is getting better all the time and it’s something that benefits all Linux users by giving an even greater range of software and the freedom to use whichever a app you can't live without, unencumbered by the operating system chosen.

CrossOver Linux Version 7 has two licensing schemes. The software comes in Standard and Pro releases, for US$39.95 and $69.95, respectively. The Pro release includes CrossOver Games--a special product designed to provide Windows game compatibility with your system (a US$39.95 value free)

Tue 12:00 Noon CST Zero Hour

2008-06-17T01:52:00.000-07:00

Fire Fox supporters are organizing launch parties around the world today, and Mozilla is trying to set a world record for most software downloads in a 24-hour period. Mozilla will try to set a Guinness World Record: the most downloads of software in the first 24 hours of its release, A.K.A “Download Day”. Mozilla has received over 1 million pledges to download the software on the day of its release. This day is Ten years in the making. The Mozilla project is a global group who believe that openness, innovation, and opportunity are key to the continued health of the Internet.

“March 31, 1998 is the date that Mozilla was officially launched. It's the date the first Mozilla code became publicly available under the terms of an official open source license and a governing body for the project the Mozilla Organization began its public work.”

I am very happy with FF2 (Firefox) but as far as I can see F.F 3.0 is a worthy successor to the current version. Phishing sites are now blocked before the pages are even loaded, so your computer is never in danger, unlike Firefox 2 loaded the page. F.F keeps track of all reported malware sites, protecting you by blocking them before the pages even load, ensuring that your system. And there are fifteen thousand changes since the introduction of Firefox 2.0.

And lets face it with more and more computing moving online, net browsers are the most critical piece of software on our desktops.

Mozilla has met a major milestone:Firefox 3

2008-06-15T01:28:00.000-07:00

Mozilla announced Wednesday that it plans to release the final version of Firefox 3 on Tuesday, June 17, less than a week away. Here the twist. they have a goal of breaking the Guinness World Record on June 17th, becoming the most downloaded software in a single day. Over one million people so far have pledged so far to download the software in the first 24 hours it's available. Firefox 3 has been in development for three years, and has been worked on by thousands of people. Firefox browser is produced by one of the greatest open source communities in the world..developers, designers, localizers, testers, marketers, and documentation writers around the world all for a common goal.

Firefox 3 keeps track of all reported malware sites, protecting you by blocking them before the pages even load, ensuring that your system. How cool is that? Firefox 3 also has improved Phishing protection. The phishing sites are now blocked before the pages are even loaded, so your computer is never in danger, unlike Firefox 2 loaded the page, then warned you that it was a reported phishing site. Phishing is the emails you see every day telling you that your bank accounts will be closed for some reason unless you log in right away. Of course, the link in the email doesn’t take you to your bank, but to a clever forgery that steals your information, and then uses it to steal your money.

The Firefox 3 people say that this is best browser ever, big shock huh? Users of the new browser will see up to fifteen thousand changes since the introduction of Firefox 2.0

Flash Player 10

2008-06-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

Adobe Systems today rolled out a beta version of its Adobe Flash Player 10 (formerly called Astro) browser plug-in, which adds features to help designers and developers create special effects and cinematic Web experiences.

more here

Asus Eee PC $399

2008-06-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

For several months before its release, the Asus Eee PC was one of a handful of small, inexpensive PCs that had tech types buzzing with anticipation. While the other systems, the Intel Classmate and the One Laptop Per Child XO, are aimed at the educational needs of children around the globe and not generally available to consumers, the Eee holds no such highbrow pedigree--it's for sale directly from Asus to the laptop-buying public.

more here

Alpha 400 $250

2008-06-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

A Hong Kong-based manufacturer is shipping a Linux-based ultra-mini PC (UMPC) laptop for only $250 ($180 in volume), which appears to give it the lowest price yet for a Linux laptop. Bestlink's Alpha 400 offers a 400MHz CPU and a 7-inch, truecolor display.

more here

Acer's $380 Aspire

2008-06-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

The world's third-largest PC vendor has announced a "netbook" based on a 1.6GHz Intel Centrino Atom processor and Linpus Linux. Acer's $380 Aspire One offers 512MB or 1GB of RAM, 8GB flash, an 8.9-inch, 1024x600 display, WiFi, webcam, and an optional 80GB hard drive.

more here.

Resistance to change is a dead-end street

2008-02-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

People get comfy doing tasks in a particular way. This comfort provides them with the security that they are the masters of their world. Resistance to change is a dead-end street. Old ideals and processes must be tossed aside so that new ones may be learned. It is not to say that all change is good but all change can be look at on a case by case bases. The problem is some of the things that cause people to fear change include a dislike of a disruption in their lives; meaning looking like a fool by not being able to adapt and learn fast enough, and they have a feeling of of control.

Change happens through a journey of discovery. The only pre-requisite for starting this journey of discovery is that you are willing to learn. If you realize that there is something there to learn, then you can learn it. If you realize that there are things you have not yet understood about yourself and about life, then you can understand them. What you will learn might be unexpected and surprising, but that is the nature of discovery.

Lets look at something. Does windows vista work for you? Its a question without a right a wrong answer. However, can success only be found there? There is a little thing out there called GNU/Linux. True it is not XP but is it impossible for something else not to be considered because its not identical to it. One must understand that a perfect copy may be equal, but it can never surpass. So when one looks at GNU/Linux distro in hopes that it would be better, many are inescapably hoping that it would be different. Too many people ignore this fact, and hold up every difference between the two OSes as a Linux failure. Some people just need to cling to the way certain things work, and many don't realize it. Friends of mine have tried to make the switch to Linux, only to be stopped because of one or two apps they are already familiar with in other incarnations are written only for the windows platform. The first step to success in Linux is learning to think in Linux. Take what you already know and redirect it to doing things the Linux way. Switching from Windows to Linux is like switching from a car to a motorcycle. They have two different approaches to fulfilling the same goal.

Linux is getting more mainstream exposure all the time. The biggest headache associated with most versions of Linux these days is the actual installation, but that's the case for any operating system, even installing Windows Vista from scratch on a machine can hit many snags just as much as installing a version of Linux. It's now being pre-installed by big guys like Dell and Lenovo. You even now can select among fantastically cheap computers that are perfectly adequate for the limited needs of most users. The $399 Eee PC subnotebook, Wal-Mart's $199 Everex Green PC, and even the Mirus Intel Celeron D desktop may not be super systems but they are universally affordable.

So whatever change you want in life keep your options open.What you will learn might be unexpected and surprising, but that is the nature of discovery.

my first real post of 2008

2008-02-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

If your your seeing this site for the first time. This is not a place just for geeks. Its for those who like computers or computer software. I've been working with computers for a little while. Well not sure what to really post this time. Well I do enjoy using Gnu/Linux. I know many others use it as well.

So I will ask are you ready to switch from the Windows 9x, 2k, XP, Vista world to Linux? Well I will say in many ways Linux is technically superior to Windows 9x and even Windows NT (I know many people have never used NT).

Here are things to keep in mind... These are the main differences between DOS/Windows and Linux

Windows runs Microsoft Office
Has lots of games
Can be bought pre-installed at most retailers
Is notoriously unstable; performs poorly; crashes are frequent.

Linux runs OpenOffice,
scores of technical software
fewer games
can not be bought pre-installed at most retailers
Is rock solid; performs impeccably; crashes are extremely rare.

When a company releases a product, they first ensure Microsoft compatibilty followed possibly by Apple. If there is time and the company cares, they will consider Linux last. That's not a Linux problem in itself, there is no technological reason why Linux would not able to run those apps many would mention. The companies simply don't release a Linux ver. of them - and there would be legal issues in most cases if it were to be reverse engineered and made to run, thats why you things like Photo Shop CS3, Amazon MP3 Downloader, or Turbo Tax wont run.

The new year has brought a new release of the Knoppix live CD. With this CD, can run GNU/Linux right of the CD ROM. In other words... you get an opportunity to check advances and new features not available Windows world without having to install anything and breaking a perfectly good installation. Recent versions of both Windows and Mac OS X have largely been focused on “eye candy” and visual/interactive improvements rather than revolutionary new features. The most noticeable change in Knoppix live CD version 5.1.1 is the inclusion of the Beryl 3-D desktop “eye candy”with the Emerald theming engine.

Pidgin: a multi-protocol instant messaging client

2008-02-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

Pidgin (once known as Gaim) is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu and Zephyr networks.

Pidgin users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time.

Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, typing notification, and MSN window closing notification. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, iconify on away and more.
Pidgin runs on a number of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Qtopia (Sharp Zaurus and iPaq).

Pidgin integrates well with GNOME and the KDE system tray, as well as Windows' own system tray. This allows you to work with Pidgin without requiring the buddy list window to be up at all times.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Linux Edition

2008-02-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is one of the best solution available at no cost to home users and provides I beileve high level detection capabilitys that millions of users around the worldwide trust to protect their computers. It provides free antivirus protection for Windows XP/2000/NT/ME/98 & GNU/Linux. Installing only 47.1 Mb of files and 4 running processes, AVG Free Edition is the smallest antivirus scanner I have seen out there so far and may well be the best choice for an older systems with severely limited system resources.

Now when installed AVG Anti-Virus in Linspire 5.1 and clicked on the Update button in the main window to try to download the latest updates from the internet, I got error:

Update process failed. Reason: Sorry, you do not have permission to execute avgupdate...

If you get this same error, this will help.

... open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal):

... and run the following commands:

sudo chmod 775 /opt/grisoft/avg7/bin/avgupdate
cd /opt/grisoft/avg7/var/
sudo chmod 777 run
sudo chmod 777 update/log

If you now get an error like Online update failed. Reason: Can not download the file 'avg7info.ctf'...

... you can manually download the latest updates from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/24/lng/us/tpl/v5 and save them in a special folder (e.g. /home/falko/avg):

In AVG Antivirus, go to Service > Program settings:

Then go to Update > Source, select Folder, and click on the Browse button:

Select the folder where you've saved the updates (e.g. /home/falko/avg):

Photoshop CS2 on Linux is Just the Beginning

2008-01-29T10:01:00.000-08:00

The Wine team just announced that they have made Adobe's Photoshop CS2 work on Linux, but this is just the beginning. For most people, this will not instantly let them switch to Linux, but as bugs are resolved and more Adobe applications begin to work, people's software ties to Windows and OS X will begin to erode.

Install Office 2007 fonts for Linux

2008-01-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

To be compatible with many Office 2007 documents, you need the new ClearType Collection fonts introduced in Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007: Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, and Corbel. Here's an easy installation guide for Linux users. Also included is how to setup OpenOffice.org font substitution for those who do not install these Vista fonts because of license restrictions.

2007: has been a good year for Linux

2007-12-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

Life without Windows or OS X

Windows or OS X, the 2 big dogs on the planet. While Windows is the dominant desktop computing platform, it isn't the only game in town. Millions of people live every day without Windows XP or Vista all the time. Linux can be acquired and installed for as little as zero dollars, potentially very attractive to a small business with more than one or two machines. Now I will say that adoption of Linux as a desktop operating system has been an uphill battle, however fortunes may be changing for desktop Linux thanks to several shifts in the balance world of operating systems.

In particular, desktop GNU/Linux have matured, more PCs came with Linux pre-installed in 2007. Wal-Mart introduced Everex's Ubuntu Linux-powered TC2502 gPC for a list price of $198. Two weeks later, they're sold out. Everex has confirmed plans to ship a laptop, UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) with a 7-inch screen in 2008. Not to be out done the Asus EeePC Xandros sub-notebook, which made its Australian debut in the Myer department store chain in December, was sold out completely across the stores in days. Also Lenovo, maker of the business-favorite ThinkPad notebooks announed that T-series models would be available with SLED 10 pre-installed in late 2007. But the biggest pre-installed announcement of the 2007 was Dell's decision to offer two PC models with Ubuntu pre-loaded rather than Windows. The $499 Desktop 530N and $749 Notebook 1420N both include Ubuntu 7.04.

This mouth Linspire new open-source CNR client went to beta. So for now only Linspire/Freespire, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint users can be able to safely and legally add support to their Linux desktop for things such as mp3, Windows Media, Quick Time, Java, Flash, ATI drivers, nVidia drivers, and so on, from CNR.com. It even includes dozens of commercial Linux software titles for sale, such as Sun Microsystems' StarOffice, Parallels Workstation, Virtual Bridges' Win4Lin, CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office and TransGaming Technologies' Cedega. Both Debian and RPM distributions will be supported. During 2008, CNR.com will be rolling out support for future versions of the following distributions: Debian, Fedora Core, and OpenSUSE.

So has this been a good year for Gnu/Linux, in a world yes, but nothing earth-shaking market impact-wise to the masses. For those who care its been a monster year.

Review of Linspire 6.0.15

2007-11-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

The strengths and weakness of Linspire 6

Linspire 6 release comes two years after Linspire Five-O, and yes a lot has

changed. It is no longer a Debian based architecture, Linspire has

changed over to the Ubuntu code base which is kept more up to date
than Debian and has adopted more features. What has not changed is
that it continues to offer users without limitations or restrictions, available proprietary software where there are no viable open-source alternatives. Linspire 6 comes with KDE 3.5.6 asits default desktop, so if you are a Gnome fan, sorry..there is noway to change it. The interface is very clean for the start menu and
the desktop. You get a standard set of office and Internet programs,
including the OpenOffice.org office suite, Pidgin for instant messaging, K3b for CD/DVD burning, RealPlayer for playing music, KTorrent for downloading torrents, and other KDE apps, including KMPlayer and KDE games. Also included is Firestarter for setting upfirewalls and GParted for managing partitions. Like many distros, Linspire has custom apps as well, Lsongs and Lphoto. The distro also uses
a modified version of Firefox for Web browsing which includes Linspire's popular Hot Words extension and a modified version of ThunderBird.

The Strengths...

Unlike other distributions Linspire comes with AMD (ATI) and Nvidia graphics
drivers by default. As we know setting up the drivers is not always
an easy task whether it is configuring it to use the manufacturer's
driver in Linux or finally getting 3D acceleration to work, these
headaches have been removed. What has also been included is enhanced
compatibility with Microsoft Office formats with Open Office. Also
Linspire has obtained licenses to many CODECS that are not “legally”
available to be used upon distribution. Many CODECS have been
included like the latest Windows Media 10 audio and video codecs,
MP3, DVD, flash Wi-Fi, Win-modems and Linspire 6.0.15 has the
Microsoft’s RT Audio Codec to promote voice-enabled
interoperability between Linspire’s Pidgin instant messaging client
and Microsoft’s instant messaging clients for business, Microsoft
Office Communicator, and, for consumers, Windows Live™ Messenger.

Installation of software is still done through web based Click-N-Run (CNR) or,
since Linspire 6 is based on Ubuntu, also uses apt-get to download
Synaptic. CNR is quite easy to use as you have to sign up for a free
account at the CNR.com website and then you can search for software
from a multitude of categories. CNR means what it says -- I used it
to install several apps, including Beryl and kpackage a super tux
game, few issues. It is the best solution so far for the
novice user of Linux.

The weakness

For me Linspire 5.0, was a showstopper distro. It impressed windows
users with its user interface eye candy and ease of use. Linspire 6
disappoints in both of those areas.

One of the best user-oriented feature of Linspire 5.0 was the guided
video tour and help. This does not appear in Linspire 6.0. The CNR
Warehouse, which is still in alpha, its hit and miss.
On some days, I've found that the service simply isn't available.

It failed to mount all FAT32 and NTFS Windows partitions on my
system.

Linspire includes no package management utility . You can
grab the KDE package manager from CNR

After working with the distribution for a while I had mixed feelings about

Linspire 6.0.15. It has a pretty good thing. The installer is a bit
confusing and a little less user-friendly than Linspire 5.0. Hardware
support was outstanding. In an ideal world, there would no MP3, WMV,
QT and the such, only OGG Vorbis and OGG Theora, and only be ODF,
over OXML. There would be no graphic card manufacturer wanting to
have his driver closed. I think that open source an proprietary
programs can work together in order to make better and accessible the
software.

It's close to being wonderful, but too many flaws prevent me from recommending
it. Linspire 5.0 has spoiled me.

Hulu

2007-10-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hulu Hands-On Review in One Word: Brilliant

Written by Om Malik

This morning, between fielding phone calls, answering emails and writing blog posts, I have been watching TV, a lot of TV…on Hulu, the new online video portal backed by NBC (GE), News Corp. (NWS) and $100 million in funding from Providence Equity Partners.

Before I go any further, a mea culpa: I mocked the service, and its backers, all through the summer. From the moment I learned about the new company, I was skeptical. And now, after spending three hours or so on the service, I am ready to eat crow. And not just any crow, but rotten, six-month-old crow: I have never been more wrong.

Now to my first impressions: This is an awesome service, one that worked flawlessly on my Macbook Pro and ThinkPad T61 without a hitch. The quality of the video shows is good enough to enjoy without straining the eyes, and even in the full-screen mode, the Flash video looks pretty amazing.

more here...

Lawsuit Charges Open-Source License Violation

2007-09-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

In what may be the first action of its kind in the U.S., a lawsuit has been filed to enforce an open-source license.

Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service

Friday, September 21, 2007 7:00 AM PDT

In what may be the first action of its kind in the U.S., the Software Freedom Law Center has filed a lawsuit to enforce an open-source license.

The SFLC filed the suit on Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Monsoon Multimedia Inc., on behalf of the developers of BusyBox, Erik Andersen and Rob Landley. The suit charges Monsoon with using BusyBox under the GNU General Public License version 2 but failing to publish its source code. Under the terms of the license, distributors of software that uses the licensed software must make their source code available. Failing to do so is considered copyright infringement.

more here...

Two years of RebelSaid...

2007-09-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my web-log...

Its been nearly two years since I started this site. For years, supporters of open-source software have touted the Wildebeest symbol known as GNU and Linux with its universal yellow-beaked penguin logo as the next operating system to challenge Windows on the desktop.

If your your seeing this site for the first time. This is not a place just for geeks. Its for those who like computers or computer software. I've been working with computers for a little while. In that time I've used a variety of environments. There is a learning curve in windows and there will a learning curve in Linux. Also This site is NOT anti-Microsoft or anti-Windows. It is just about the different world.

What is this different world? “Gnu/Linux”

What is Gnu?

GNU is a Unix-like operating system that comes with source code that can be copied, modified, and redistributed. The GNU project was started in 1983 by Richard Stallman and others, who formed the Free Software Foundation. Stallman believes that users should be free to do whatever they want with software they acquire, including making copies for friends and modifying the source code and repackaging it with a distribution charge.

What is Linux?

Linux's kernel (the central part of the GNU operating system) was developed by Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland. To complete the operating system, Torvalds and other team members made use of system components developed by members of the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project.

In the last year I have seen that some of the biggest names in computing are pushing harder for the GNU/Linux open-source operating system as an option for desktop PCs. And with that analysts say the moves show that Linux and other open-source software products are finally ready to compete on the desktop. Research firm IDC says just 3.8% of desktop PCs shipped last year had an open-source OS, almost always Linux. It has started shedding it’s image of being hard to use and even without tons of applications or the right support for hardware sometime, people are switching over everyday. Things that used to be a nightmare in Linux are for the most part solved.

I have done my best in my small world to let others know there are choices out there and I will say here and now that those other choices dont fit everyones needs in all cases. A Linux has lead me just about anywhere in the digital world I have wanted to go. They are packed with features: a full Internet suite; a complete office suite; digital photo and music managers; advanced notebook and wireless capabilities; and a lot more. You may be used to regularly defragment your hard drive under Windows. Under GNU/Linux, however, the file systems in use are extremely resistant to fragmentation so that this is completely unnecessary. I mean the 2.6-series kernels are simply amazing . The kernel design is modular, so that the actual OS code is very small yet able to load whatever functionality it needs when it needs it. Other operating systems which slow down the computer and waste memory by loading everything all the time, whether it is needed or not.

last word...

If you're coming from a Windows background, like I did, and most people are in the world, you probably have some Windows programs that you really want to keep using even when you're using Linux. Sad to say Windows programs will not run natively on Linux, but you can find a few solutions to run Windows apps under Linux or within a Linux session if you really need to do so. Virtualization is one option for running your Windows applications under Linux. Virtualization software will allow you to run a full instance of Windows under Linux so you can run almost any Windows program unmodified on top of Linux, within the Windows environment. 90% of windows based programs will run under Virtualization but you need a retail copy of Windows to make that work. Another option is CodeWeavers CrossOver Linux which is based on Wine, but unlike Wine, is not entirely open source. CodeWeaver includes features not found in Wine to make it easier to set up and run Windows programs under Linux. Only maybe 5% of Windows written programs will work well under CrossOver's implementation of the Windows API, but no copy of windows is needed.

NOTE: In the long run, you might prefer to find a native Linux program as a really good substitute for your Windows applications.

Linux client for UT3

2007-08-25T02:53:00.000-07:00

This week it was officially confirmed by Epic's Mark Rein that there will be a Linux client for UT3. Mark Rein is the VP of Epic Games as well as being their forum administrator. He had stated earlier this week: "We're a multi-platform company folks please come to grips with that. We like the PC. We like the 360. We like the PS3. We like the Macintosh. We like Linux. We will deliver UT3 for all of these platforms and it will rock on every one."

This is very good news for me. I am a big Unreal fan. I've always enjoyed the Unreal franchise , but this thing they call UT3 could quite possibly be one of the best games Epic has made. I one of those that went out and bought Unreal Anthology, which is a compilation pack containing Unreal Gold (which includes Unreal and its expansion pack), Unreal Tournament 99, Unreal II: The Awakening, and Unreal Tournament 2004. The package includes pre-patched and up-to-date versions for most of the included games. Cool huh? Believe t or not, UT99 still has an active but dwindling online community with a couple of thousand UT dedicated players online in multiplayer combat at any one time across approximately 1,000 servers located on almost every continent of the world.

My fav game mode in UT2004 is Invasion. Some would say that it is the closest game type to true co-operative play in 2004. All human players are on the same team, and that team must work to clear waves of (CPU) invading aliens. If you are killed, you sit out until your team defeats the current wave; all dead players re-spawn for the next wave.

On to Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3 is actually the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series. The original Unreal Tournament is considered by Epic to be the first series. They were followed by UT2003 and UT2004, which Epic considers the second series. UT3 is part of a third generation. The previously known Assault and Onslaught modes are gone and will be replaced by some gametype called Unreal Warfare. I hear to Unreal Warfare will feature a style of gameplay similar to UT2004's Onslaught, while also having objective-based side missions like you have in Assault. Well I do love Assault thats one of the things I hated about UT2003, its lack of Assault game mode.

Publisher's Description:

"The Necris invasion has begun, and your clan was one of the first to be slaughtered. Head to the front lines and join this Epic battle to defend humanity while taking your revenge. Unreal Tournament 3 marks the return of the premiere tournament-style first-person shooter. Unreal Tournament 3 unleashes the full power of Unreal Engine 3, taking graphics, gameplay, and challenge to a whole new level. Players engage in intense and hyper-real battles with other human players online or against incredibly realistic Unreal artificial intelligence. Over two dozen weapons and vehicles have been upgraded and enhanced for maximum killing potential. Take on all comers in a variety of game modes including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, an all-new Warfare mode and more."

There is no officially announced release date for UT3. Epic has stated the game will be done when it is done

The engine will require DX9 graphics cards like the

ASUS N7600GS SILENT/HTD/256M GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card if you have an AGP motherboard or the ASUS EN7600GS SILENT/HTD/256M GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card if you have an PCI Express x16 motherboard.

online $85.00-$100.00

Cool GNU/Linux native programs part 3 of 3

2007-08-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Linux is expanding rapidly beyond its traditional base of enthusiasts, finding rising popularity as a server platform for corporations and desktops for home use. I have here the final list of 31 GNU/Linux native programs I fine very useful in a None Windows & Mac OSX world. I'm not saying their the most important, only that they or the most useful for me. Many of these programs come in deb. or rpm. installation packages. However many GNU systems have most of these free programs pre installed.

10. klik

klik provides an easy way to download and use software for most major distributions. Klik allows you to run applications from a single file (Like OSX application dirs), but its for linux.

9. CrossOver Linux (formerly known as CrossOver Office)

CodeWeavers' CrossOver Linux is a software framework that emulates the Microsoft Windows 98 , 2000 and XP application programming interfaces (APIs) on GNU/Linux. CodeWeavers Inc. CrossOver Linux supports, among other programs, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Visio, and Internet Explorer; Adobe Photoshop; Macromedia Dreamweaver; Intuit Quicken and QuickBooks; and Lotus Notes. This allows Windows programs to run on GNU/Linux without having to run a virtual instance, so it does not require a copy of Microsoft Windows CD/DVD rom, unlike virtual machines like innotek VirtualBox ,Win4lin, Parallels Workstation or VMware which do.

8. Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim)

Pidgin is an instant messaging program for Windows, Linux, BSD, and other Unixes. You can talk to your friends using AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, and Zephyr.

7. Frozen Bubble

It is a fun arcade game. It lets you control a cannon and fire “frozen bubbles” to the ceiling. When 3 bubbles of the same color are touching, they fall down. Its a great starter game and comes with many distributions, because of its relatively small filesize.

6. CNR.com (Click N Run)

Users of CNR.com, will be able to safely and legally add support to their Linux desktop for things such as mp3, Windows Media, Quick Time, Java, Flash, ATI drivers, nVidia drivers, and so on. Both Debian and RPM distributions will be supported. With the CNR® Service you can install over 20,000 Linux software applications and packages directly from the CNR® Warehouse - all with just a single click. CNR.com will be rolling out support for current versions of the following distributions soon: Linspire 5.0, 5.1, 6.0. Freespire 1.0, 2.0 , Ubuntu 7.04 and Linux Mint 3.0 Cassandra. Later Debian, Fedora Core, and OpenSUSE.

5. OpenOffice.org 2.2

OpenOffice.org the product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office, and the vendor-neutral OpenDocument standard from OASIS.

4. K3b

K3B CD-Creator is a user-friendly CD burning software like Roxio's Easy CD Creator that enables users to create music CDs, data CDs, and much more.

3. Amarok

Is a music player for Gnu/Linux systems. Quick and simple drag and drop playlist creation, Automatic cover art download using, Amazon servicesFull lyrics download, K3b (CD-burning) integration,upport for your iPod, iRiver, PlaysForSure, NJB, and generic USB device with the all new media-browser.

2. Thunderbird 2

Thunderbird offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages Thunderbird makes it even easier to integrate and use various Web mail accounts from one inbox. Gmail and .Mac users can access their accounts in Thunderbird by simply providing their user names and passwords. Thunderbird protects you from email scams which try to trick users into handing over personal and confidential information by indicating when a message is a potential phishing attempt.

1.Firefox

Firefox has built-in spell checking to keep you from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based email. Firefox can actually suggest search terms for what you’re looking for. Just start typing into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.) Firefox will not allow a Web site to download, install, or run programs on your computer without your explicit agreement.

End of Part III.

Part I. list 21-30

Part II. list 11-20

CNR.com

2007-08-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

From intercitylinux

After hard work and a long wait, CNR.com is armed ready. For those who don't know. Back in January of 2007. Linspire Inc. announced it was revamping their CNR system to work with multiple Linux systems. This new, free service is meant to make it easy for users to both find and install desktop Linux applications.

We here at Inter-City Linux know that the GNU/Linux desktop since 2001 has made strong advances in usability and capabilities. However the difficulties of finding, installing, and updating software with each distribution (.deb v.s .rpm) requiring its own installation process has been one of the biggest complaints among desktop GNU/Linux users.

more here...

Windows has 'fewer flaws' than Linux

2007-08-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

Form Vnunet

Microsoft data says Mac and Linux flaws dwarf Windows
Shaun Nichols in California, vnunet.com 20 Aug 2007

Data collected by a Microsoft security researcher suggests that the company had to patch far fewer software vulnerabilities than competing vendors in 2007.

A vulnerability report maintained by Jeff Jones, strategy director at Microsoft's Security Technology Unit, claimed that the firm's Windows XP, Vista and Server operating systems required patches for some 20-45 vulnerabilities each.
more here

Linux On Laptops

2007-08-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Deciding whether a particular laptop is a good candidate for installing GNU/Linux can involve a nightmare of details about hardware compatibility. yes hardware support for GNU/Linux has improved a lot since 2001. Today you can pick out any computer system and stand a strong chance of having it work out of the box.

If you want a hassle free time, look to System76 or even DELL for your laptop needs. System 76 & DELL provide the Ubuntu Linux operating system with all of their GNU/Linux machines. Ubuntu includes more than 16,000 pieces of software. Ubuntu covers every standard desktop application from internet access applications, email software, word processing and spreadsheet applications and of course several little games.

If you already have a laptop check out..tuxmobil.org which maintains lists of laptops, music players, cell phones, PCMCIA cards, and other mobile devices known to work. Hardware4Linux is a pretty good place to check out information laptops as well.

However if you just want your system to just work out of the box, then your time would be best spent looking at DELL, System76, Tuxedo, NextComputing , or madtux for pre-installed GNU/Linux Laptops.

New Software Interface with 1-Click Installation Online

2007-08-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Software.opensuse.org got a completely new face which improves the downloading of the desired openSUSE distribution a lot. It comes with the new look and feel following www.opensuse.org.

Additionally we got a really easy-to-use software search and installation interface there as well. The search is part of the openSUSE Build Service, which allows features like limitation of search results to a given base distribution. This does work also for Fedora, Mandriva, Debian and Ubuntu distributions, beside the openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise distributions.

The interface provides also a very easy installation featuring the 1-Click Installation YaST module of Benjamin Weber.

more here...

Linux native programs

2007-07-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

I have a list of the first 31 Linux native programs I fine very useful in a None Windows & Mac OSX world. Im not saying their the most important, only that they or the most useful for me. Many of these programs come in deb. or rpm. installation packages. However many GNU systems have most of these free programs pre installed.

20.Win4Lin

Win4Lin emulates an environment that is comparable to a usual Windows environment. First of all, Win4Lin adds some hooks add various places in the Linux kernel, like the scheduler. These hooks are utilized by the mki-adapter module, which provides an interface to the hardware for the Win4Lin BIOS. The BIOS and the kernel interface provide everything DOS needs to run.
In contrast with VMWare and innotek VirtualBox , Win4Lin does not use a hard drive image. Windows filesystem operations are translated to operations on the Linux filesystem. This means that Windows is installed on the Linux partition. This makes files from the Windows installation easily accessible.

19. Digikam

It is software for communicating with your digital camera and downloading pictures from it. Auto detects and works with USB cameras. Drag & drop support, plus a slide show mode.

18. GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Photo editing application

17. innotek VirtualBox

Many people rely on certain Windows-based pieces of software and will either be prevented from switching or they will switch and have an immediate problem when they can't use a specialized program for work -- and that's where innotek VirtualBox comes in. VirtualBox allows users to run an unmodified operating systems, including the software embedded on them, directly in a special environment on top of the currently running operating system by forcing the guest OS to 'think' it's running on a real machine. Currently, VirtualBox supports the following guest operating systems: FreeBSD, Linux 2.4/2.6, OpenBSD, OS/2 Warp, Windows NT/2000/XP/Server2003/Vista.

16.Unreal Tournament 2004

Unreal Tournament 2004 makes a good case for the idea, as there's no doubt that this is a bigger, tighter, better game than the last. Best of all, UT2004 isn't simply a refinement of UT2003 with new maps; two new game modes, the returning Assault and the brand-new Onslaught, are alone more than enough to justify the new title.

Unreal Tourament 2004 took some of the best parts of the original UT and UT2003 and summed them together to make the complete package. The gameplay is more balanced than ever, as the developers took time to listen to the complaints people had about UT2003 and fixed almost everything. The end

15. Kaffeine

Kaffeine is a media that can handle all kinds of media. There are several buttons that let you listen music from the HDD or CDs, to encode music, to play DVDs, to watch digital television and more.

14. Envy & Xgl (desktop effects) Both 14th

Envy

is a video driver installation utility that helped to take the pain out of installing NVIDIA and ATI drivers for thousands of Ubuntu and Debian users alike. Always under constant development, the creator of this project has been able to provide a real model of open source software efficiency.

Xgl (desktop effects)

They turn the desktop into a malleable 3D environment with features such as 'wobbly' windows that can be stretched and pulled like rubber , with true real-time opacity, and treating the entire desktop as a multi-faceted rotatable 'cube'.

13. K9Copy

K9Copy which is a small utility which allows the copy of DVD, similar to the popular Windows application DVD Shrink. K9Copy reproduces the original structure of the DVD. The navigation packs as well as IFO files are modified to point on the compressed MPEG stream. Its very easy to use and understand. Lots of options to choose from in how a DVD will be backed up. Very flexible in its output.

12. Novell Evolution 2

Novell Evolution embraces mail, calendar and address book standards to ease data sharing. Novell Evolution connects to corporate communications architectures, including Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise. Users can create customized reminders for their events that open windows or play sounds. Users can organize their work by entering to-do items into the task component. Summary, description, due dates, priorities, and categories can be entered. Users can then view their items by date, priority, deadlines and other criteria or view tasks in the integrated calendar view.

11. Automatix

Automatix is a free graphical package manager for the installation, uninstallation and configuration many applications in Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Debian 4.0 i386, Mepis 6.0, 6.5 i386 and Linux Mint users. Its list of supported applications include a whole range of multimedia codecs, burning and ripping software, file sharing software, and much-much more.

End of Part II Part I

SkipJack: The rise of Linspire 6.1

2007-07-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Linspire 6.1 “skip jack” will be built on Ubuntu 7.04. Previously, Linspire has been based on Debian. The next generation of Linspire&Freespire will also incorporate the will use the Linux 2.6.20 kernel, KDE 3.5.6, the new CNR and the latest third-party proprietary software, drivers and codices for better hardware and multimedia support. It is also compatible with Ubuntu software repositories. Soon with CNR.com you can search from tens of thousands of Linux software products, packages and libraries by title, popularity, similar software, category, author, or function, and then install the software with just one click of your mouse.

Publisher's Description:

Powered by Ubuntu

Linspire is a Debian-based Linux operating system, which uses the popular Ubuntu Linux OS for its baseline. Linspire starts with Ubuntu, then adds many additional features and software applications including proprietary software, codecs and drivers to provide provide you the world's easiest Linux-based operating system designed for laptop & desktop PCs.

Multimedia Support
Linspire comes pre-loaded and ready to support MP3, Real, Quicktime, Windows Media, Java, Flash, and more. No more hunting around, buying, licensing and then installing all the different multimedia support software. Everything is already licensed and ready to run.

Plug-N-Play Hardware Support
Linspire provides the most extensive hardware support available including drivers from ATI, nVidia, Intel, and others. Connect digital cameras, scanners, MP3 players and more. Linspire instantly recognizes USB and Firewire devices. Thousands of peripherals are supported without requiring the messy installation of drivers or other software. Just plug in the device and go.

Wireless Networking
Linspire supports the latest 802.11b and 802.11g wireless networking and an updated Network Control panel lets you customize profiles so you can effortlessly shift between home, work and other networks without bothering with any configuration screens.

Office Productivity Suite
Linspire's comes pre-installed with a complete office productivity software suite (Open Office 2.0) which includes Microsoft file-compatible word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software, as well as new Open XML translators which enables bi-directional compatibility so that files saved in Open XML can be opened by OpenOffice, providing more interopability so you can easily read and share documents.

Internet Suite
Once connected to the web, the Linspire Internet Suite provides all you need to make the most of your online experience: An easy-to-use tabbed web browser with pop-up ad blocking, multi-account email program with SPAM filtering, an address book, calendar, and web page creator! And Linspire is compatible with Windows media, Flash, and Java and more!

Instant Messaging
Stay in touch with all your friends using Pidgin. Instant Messaging from Pidgin supports AOL, AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, and other messaging networks, and includes plenty of advanced features such as tabs, chat rooms and buddy notification.

Lphoto - Digital Photos
Linspire includes Lphoto, the best all-in-one photo manager available. Import, organize, edit, crop, enhance, and share photos from over 300 hundred plug-n-play supported digital cameras. Even use your photos as a screensaver and make video CDs!

Lsongs - Digital Music
Lsongs is an all-in-one music manager built-in to Linspire and ready to help you rip your favorite music, organize it, play it, sync it to portable players, and burn it to your own music mix CDs. Lsongs provides everything you need to easily manage and enjoy your music collection.

Nvu - Web Publishing Tool
The complete web authoring system for Linspire users, Nvu rivals other expensive programs such as FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu makes creating web pages easy and then allows you to publish your web pages with just one click!

Free Internet Calling
The popular Gizmo Project VoIP software lets you talk to your friends all over the world for free with no long-distance phone charges. Call computer-to-computer, set up conference calls, and check voicemail - all at no charge. Or you can "Call Out" to land-line telephones for as little as a penny per minute, and automatic account creation makes Gizmo Project a snap to set up.

About Canonical and Ubuntu

Canonical Ltd, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, is a global organization headquartered in Europe committed to the development, distribution, and support of open source software products and communities. World class commercial support for Ubuntu is available through Canonical's Global Support Services team and partners. Since its launch in October 2004 Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions, with millions of users around the world. Ubuntu will always be free to download, free to use and free to distribute to others. With these goals in mind, Ubuntu aims to be the most widely used Linux system, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem.

About Linspire & Freespire

Linspire, Inc. (http://www.linspire.com) was founded in 2001 to bring choice into the operating system market. The company's flagship product, the Linspire operating system, is an affordable, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system distributed primarily pre-installed on PCs for home, school, and business users. Linspire pioneered CNR Technology, which allows Linspire users access to thousands of software programs, each of which can be downloaded and installed with just one mouse click. The thousands of software titles available in the CNR Warehouse (http://www.linspire.com/cnr) include full office and productivity suites, games, multimedia players, photo management software, accounting tools, and more. Freespire (http://www.freespire.org) is a community-driven, Linux-based operating system that combines the best that free, open source software has to offer (community driven, freely distributed, open source code, etc.), but also provides users the choice of including proprietary codecs, drivers and applications as they see fit. With Freespire, the choice is yours as to what software is installed on your computer, with no limitations or restrictions placed on that choice. How you choose to maximize the performance of your computer is entirely up to you.

About CNR

CNR is a one-click digital software delivery service for desktop Linux applications, libraries and packages developed by Linspire, Inc. CNR allows desktop Linux users to find, install, uninstall, manage, and keep updated, thousands of free open source, as well as commercial software programs, on their desktop Linux computer, all with just one click. CNR is so easy to use, literally anyone can use it, of any age or computer skill level.

For more information and interview requests:

Canonical Limited
Christina Armstrong
+44 (0) 207 590 2551

Linspire, Inc.
858-587-6700 ext 183
858-587-8095 Fax
pr@linspireinc.com

Free game:Nexuiz 2.3

2007-07-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

8"> As I said once before...Nexuiz is no replacement for a well-made proprietary game. How ever It is available on a single download for Windows, Mac, and Linux . Its released entirely GPL and free over the net. Let it be known, that it is the first for a project of its kind. Since ver. 1.0 it has been downloaded over half a million times (should be more if you ask me), and the game is still being updated and developed all the time. It is using Quake3 format levels, and is based on the Darkplaces engine, built on OpenGL technology.Another thing is, Nexuiz 2.3 does not require a dual core system. Video cards such as a Geforce2 will be able to run Nexuiz, while newer video cards will be able to take advantage of some features such as real-time lighting and bump-mapping. I see a lot of that with my Geforce 4. There is more eye candy with reduced graphic memory usage. Things like transparent console background, new Nexgun effect, bullet impacts, and animated most jump pads.

The offline singleplayer campaign offers improvement over 1.5 , more human-like bots while the new maps add a fresh thrill to both offline and online play. But I can only seem to find one offline singleplayer campaign map.

Last: Nexuiz 2.3 runs faster and renders more much better. I think forced team balance works better than it did in the last ver. It just over all introduces sharper effects taking advantage of an improved engine with reduced graphic memory usage and better compatibility with quake3 maps.

If you're still playing Quake 3 Arena, you may like Nexuiz.
Its “Free”
It can be played on any platform.

System Requirements
200 MB of hard drive space
Windows 2000/XP/Vista (32-bit or 64-bit)
Mac OS X 10.4 or better (PPC or x86)
Linux Kernel 2.2 or better with glibc

High Quality - Realtime lights and shadows on, bloom on, high detailed maps, 1024x768 or higher res
- A 1.5 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 chip or AMD Athlon 1500+ or better
- 9600ati or 5700fx or better
- 512 MB of ram or better

Low Quality - no realtime lights, no bloom
- 1 Ghz Pentium III or AMD Athlon
- Geforce2 Video card
- 512 MB of ram

OpenOffice Sports All-Around Improvements

2007-06-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

By Tiffany Maleshefski
June 13, 2007

Going head to head with Microsoft 2007, the latest version of the free-for-all OpenOffice.org touts across-the-board improvements in the software's word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation applications.

However, the brightest aspects of OpenOffice.org 2.2, which began shipping at the end of March, are its price tag—free—and its impressively broad platform support. OpenOffice.org runs on: Windows, Linux x86 and PowerPC, Solaris x86 and SPARC, Mac OS X and FreeBSD.

To read the rest of Tiffany Maleshefski's article go to eWEEK.com

1 Billion PCs Forecast in 2008

2007-06-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

Forrester predicts the PC population will hit 1 billion next year, and 2 billion by 2015.

Siobhan Chapman, Computerworld UK

Analyst firm Forrester forecasts there will be more than 2 billion PCs worldwide by 2015, with more than 1 billion of these in use by the end of next year.

New research from Forrester predicts a dramatic growth in PCs, particularly in emerging markets, with a worldwide compound annual growth rate of more than 12 percent between 2003 and 2015.

more at PC world...here

Dont Blame Malicious-ware: Blame..Julie Amero

2007-06-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

"Spyware is a general term used to describe software that performs certain behaviors such as advertising, collecting personal information, or changing the configuration of your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent first."

"Unlike viruses and worms, spyware does not usually self-replicate. Like many recent viruses, however, spyware — by design — exploits infected computers for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements; theft of personal information (including financial information such as credit card numbers); monitoring of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites."

From the start, Amero has protested that she’s innocent, contending that spyware hijacked her classroom computer in explaining the pornographic pop-ups that some students at Kelly Middle School saw on 19 October 2004. In truth, Amero, a computer novice, was just the victim of malicious software that took over IE and the PC in the classroom where she was substituting. And you know what every one of us in the world understands, that if you use a windows base PC that goes on the public web, it is at risk form this kind of attack. So why did a jury last January convict Julie Amero on four counts of risk of injury to a minor? Why must we always play this game. I have heard no where that any law enforcement group was going after those responsible for the malicious spyware.

Evidence presented at Amero's trial showed that the school's computer was infected with malicious JavaScript code, after a visit to a Web site devoted to hair styles. No one is blameing the school, the IT administrators or OS, their blameing some one who had no control over the systems or network in question. Windows XP IT administrators everywhere find themselves going into battle against spyware-controlled computers even when these computers are up-to-date on malware detection and patching they can still find it themselves under attack from an unstoppable flurry of popups.People just aren’t clear about what spywares can do. Malicious spyware can take control of your PC and you won’t even know it. I think these are the kinds of facts that needed to be put in front of people or before a jury came to decide on a case such as this. W. Herbert Horner,a computer expert, was not allowed to present some information he considered vital to Amero's defense, because the evidence was never given to the prosecution to review prior to trial; a standard procedure.
But now A superior court judge in charge of sentencing in the Julie Amero case has set aside the guilty verdict. She ruled that the prosecution’s computer expert gave incorrect testimony concerning the computer in the classroom. Its sick if the state thinks it should retry her.

If Kelly Middle School was useing say Novell, Linspire, or Mandriva, I would not even be writing about this tragic state of events. And since all three are based on Linux, they are free from the viruses and spyware that plague Microsoft Windows computers. The basic underlying architecture of Linux was designed with security in mind. The IT administrators at that school would not have to worry about trojan horses, hackers, worms, spyware or any other intruders as much.

Native Gnu/Linux Software

2007-06-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

Are you thinking of making the move to GNU/Linux?

Yes, Linux does have a history of being a command line OS (Operating System), but that is old news people. At this point you can still do a lot in a command console, but it's rarely necessary anymore in todays GNU/Linux desktop world. GNU/Linux is generally faster for a given set of hardware specifications. Linux is well known for its amazing reliability...GNU/Linux reduces the need to upgrade or replace hardware when upgrading to newer versions. This is because its code is very efficient and compact. This is due to greater optimization of the source code, including far less code bloat., thus allowing it to work effectively on older computers that are not suitable for the newest versions of Microsoft Windows. People use computers for applications, not the OS. Some people need professional design apps that have real color profiles for high end printing for example, for another there is no video editing program even in the ballpark of Final Cut Pro Adobe After Effects, and no real match for the visual web design ease of Dreamweaver. An OS is only as good as its ISVs (Independent software vendors).

I have a list of the first 31 Linux native programs I fine very useful in a None Windows & Mac OSX world. Im not saying their the most important, only that they or the most useful for me. Many of these programs come in deb. or rpm. installation packages. However many GNU systems have most of these free programs pre installed. Note: Pixel image editor & Nero linux cost money.

30. NDISWrapper (A driver wrapper that allows you to use Windows driver for wireless network cards)

29. BitTorrent (client)
Torrent is a protocol designed for transferring files. It is peer-to-peer in nature, as users connect to each other directly to send and receive portions of the file. However, there is a central server (called a tracker) which coordinates the action of all such peers. In most of these networks, ordinary Internet users trade files by directly connecting one-to-one. The advantage here is that files can be shared without having access to a proper server, and because of this there is little accountability for the contents of the files. Hence, these networks tend to be very popular for illicit files such as music, movies, pirated software, etc. Typically, a downloader receives a file from a single source, however the newest version of some clients allow downloading a single file from multiple sources for higher speeds.

28. FoxyTunes (plugin for Firefox)

Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web? FoxyTunes lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser.

27. RealPlayer

The Player supports RealAudio, RealVideo 10, MP3, Ogg Vorbis and Theora, H263, AAC and etc.

26. Songbird

It uses GStreamer to play audio files and for other platforms it uses VLC plugin for playing audio files and supports a number of file formats including Ogg Vorbis , FLAC,Windows Media , and MP3 . It can also play some video files .Songbird can be used simultaneously for browsing Internet and listening music and you don't have to launch a new web browser or a media player to do so since it has Internet browser and media player built in it . One can search various music blog for information related to song you are playing also you can configure Songbird to get additional information about the Track you are playing from the Internet and show it simultaneously while you are playing the song .

25. Nero Linux

The new version of NeroLinux brings amazing features like Blu-Ray and HD DVD data recording support, but also an improved GUI (graphical user interface) that is similar to the one from Nero Burning ROM 7 edition.

24. Kopete

Like Gaim, Kopete is an instant messenger supporting AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus SameTime, and more. Kopete is designed to be a flexible and extensible multi-protocol system suitable for personal and enterprise use.If you have a webcam and want to show yourself to the person you communicate with you can use it. Kopete has webcam support for MSN & Yahoo Messenger.

23. Exaile
is similar to Amarok. Like AmaroK, Exaile also includes a built in shoutcast directory browser and tabbed playlists. It's GTK+ based, so it runs more smoothly in GNOME.

22. Wine

Linux is a software framework that emulates the Microsoft Windows 98 , 2000 and XP. Wine does not require a copy of Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available.

21. Pixel image editor (formerly known as Pixel32)

Pixel is an RGB, CMYK and HDR image editing, photo retouching and manipulating program available for many operating systems formerly known as Pixel32. Pixel Image Editor includes many brushes, gradients, patterns, effect plugins, image import/export plugins (including animated GIFs).

End of Part I

Review NeroLinux 3

2007-05-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

system Requirements:

Linux Kernel 2.4 or newer (2.6 recommended) with X-Window

Glibc 2.3.2 and libstdc++6 3.4

GTK+ 2.4.10 (or newer)

800 MHz Intel® Pentium® III processor, AMD Sempron™ 2200+ processors or equivalent, 128 MB RAM

Hard drive space: 50 MB for program installation

CD, DVD, Blu-ray, or HD DVD recordable or rewritable drive for burning

NeroLinux 3 comes in both .deb and .rpm packages and sports an improved graphical user interface similar to the look and feel of the current Windows Nero Burning ROM 7 edition. I won't say I prefer it over k3b because some of the greatest KDE applications out there integrate burning via K3b; Amarok, K9 Copy and Digikam come to mind. Of most interest to many people is the fact that NeroLinux 3 will allow you to burn both HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs, but like most I do not own a Blu-ray or HD-DVD recorder (way out of my price range), so I am unable to test out that feature. In addition to offering Blu-ray and HD DVD burning capabilities enabled through full UDF support, Nero Linux 3 natively supports 32 and 64-bit GNU/Linux systems and is fully compatible with numerous GNU/Linux distributions. You should not have a problem unless you are running something truly odd.

Nero 3 accepted all my audio formats including FLAC, MP3 and OGG, how ever it did not accept my WMA stuff. No big shock there. I did find NeroLinux faster than k3b in the few tests I did.

For those familiar with Nero in Windows, the new GUI will make you feel right at home since it's based off of Nero Burning ROM 7.0. NeroLinux 3 has been released and costs $24.99USD for the license key. It's leaps and bounds above NeroLinux 2.

Google Earth for Linux 4.0.2722

2007-05-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

Publisher's Description:

Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips. Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in. Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions. Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings. Save and share your searches and favorites. Even add your own annotations.

Page here...

Mozilla has met a major milestone

2007-05-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Publication:LinuxWorld Australia
Reporter:Gregg Keizer
Mozilla has met a major milestone in its march to Firefox 3.0, developers said yesterday, by adding another chunk of the new Places feature to the alpha set for release late next week.

Places -- a complete revamp of the bookmarks and history functions of the browser -- was at one point slated to debut in Firefox 2.0, but was yanked a year ago in the run up to that version's October 2006 release. Instead, it will debut in Firefox 3.0.

more here...

Google Opens Up Gmail

2007-05-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

Google Opens Up Gmail
Google has removed invitation requirement to join, and increased file attachment sizes to 20MB.
Jonny Evans, Macworld UK
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 7:00 AM PDT

Google has made it possible to send larger attachments using Gmail -- and opened the service up to anyone who wants an account.

more here...

Streets of Rage 2: On the Wii

2007-05-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

Streets of Rage 2, Sega's answer to Final Fight follows the story of Mr. X, who returned from the first game to turn the peaceful city once again into a war zone. Chaos will reign in the streets, far worse than before.

Streets of Rage 2 is a major improvement over Streets of Rage 1. Characters were made bigger, better detailed and with more animation frames and scenarios are less blocky. It features much longer levels. and the special attacks are what really distinguish this game from its predecessor. They are probably the best addition to the game as they take it beyond a just punching and kicking moves.

On the Wii gameplay is straightforward and simple. Levels are in typical arcade side-scroller fashion: move from left to right, with a few exceptions. To me, the gameplay is still amazing after nearly fifteen years. Not downloading this game would only be a mistake, considering more than half of the game released for the Wii VC aren't anything spectacular.

Four young friends, rage burning inside them, make a stand for friendship and peace...

You got "RAGE" in you? spend $8 and download this small game

Michael Robertson Helps Linux By Removing DRM

2007-04-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Carmony

April 17th, 2007

Digital Rights Management (DRM) wrapped music is a serious challenge for Linux, so I wanted to make sure all of you knew about something very important that happened recently, and let you know how YOU can help in the fight against DRM.

more here

AnywhereCD sues Warner Music

2007-04-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

From Reuters US:

By Yinka Adegoke

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AnywhereCD, a two-week-old online music retailer, filed a lawsuit against Warner Music Group on Friday, alleging breach of contract, business defamation and trade libel.

But Warner Music said in response that it had also filed an action asking the court to move to enforce Warner's termination of contract with AnywhereCD.

go here....

Nero Linux 3 comeing soon.

2007-04-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

As GNU/Linux becomes more mature, the need for more mainstream applications becomes apparent. This process of growth is of course still continuing and Nero AG has decided to jump into the game, with a Linux version of their real popular Windows disk authoring software, NeroLinux. NeroLINUX comes with .deb and .rpm packages. I installed the .rpm on my openSUSE 10.2 box. Nero added menu items to KDE as well as openSUSE 10.2 's universal menu creation scheme which supports all available window managers. According to the manual, it's supposed to support GNOME menus as well.

I know there are GNU/Linux fanatics who will only use free/no cost software.You know me, I think that kind of thinking is just crazy myself. If there is a good commercially available application in Linux offered at a fair price, and you need it, then go buy it. I have installed Nero Linux 2 which has better support for dual-layer DVD drives than the open source counterpart CD burner package, K3B, which recently released version 1.0. How ever K3B is actually a little better than Nero 2 for many things. Good news if you own a retail copy of Nero 6 for Windows, you can simply plug in your Windows license key into Nero Linux to activate the full version. They don't make you pay twice....If you already own the Windows ver. consider it a free bonus, which is awesome.

Now enters Nero Linux 3 beta...

Again NeroLINUX3 beta comes in .deb and .rpm packages. It sports an improved graphical user interface similar to the look and feel of the current Windows Nero Burning ROM 7 edition. Though K3b can be used to copy almost any DVD to similar medium, it does not provide a way to copy, or reproduce HD DVD, Blu-ray disc or a double-layer DVD onto double-layer medium. If you need to copy the contents of a double-layer DVD to double-layer medium, you may want to look at NeroLINUX over K3b.

NEROLinux 3 beta here

Publisher's description:

Nero Linux 3 features:
Blu-ray and HD DVD data recording support
Upgrade to GTK 2.0
Improved graphical user interface similar to the look and feel of the current Nero Burning ROM 7 edition
Unicode support in all languages currently supported by Nero 7 Premium Reloaded

System Requirements
Linux Kernel 2.4 or newer (2.6 recommended) with X-Window
Glibc 2.3.2 and libstdc++6 3.4
GTK+ 2.4.10 (or newer)
800 MHz Intel® Pentium® III processor, AMD Sempron™ 2200+ processors or equivalent, 128 MB RAM
Hard drive space: 50 MB for program installation
CD, DVD, Blu-ray, or HD DVD recordable or rewritable drive for burning

About Nero

Nero (www.nero.com) develops and distributes the world’s leading digital media solutions for consumers and professionals. Today more than 200 million users worldwide rely on Nero’s award-winning and trusted, industry approved applications to manage the needs of the connected digital home and forward-thinking corporations.

Nero’s rapidly-growing portfolio of products defines new levels of innovation in the company’s three key areas of focus: Digital Media Solutions - delivering multimedia applications for audio, video, photo and TV capturing, editing, burning, managing and sharing; Audio and Video Compression Technologies - providing world-class interoperable standards-based solutions for encoding and decoding digital content with support for Next Generation HD and popular handheld formats; and VoIP Solutions - providing cost-effective voice, text and video communication over the Internet for home and business.

Nero products are globally distributed by leading hardware manufacturers, international distribution partners and online portals, and can be purchased directly at www.nero.com. Nero provides worldwide coverage through Nero AG Headquarters based in Karlsbad, Germany and three Sales Offices worldwide: EMEA in Karlsbad, Germany, Americas in Glendale, California, USA, and APAC in Yokohama, Japan.

Its time for this in-fighting to end.

2007-03-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

Which is the biggest GNU/ Linux distro on the planet? Does it really matter? While obviously the core Linux Kernel isn't fragmented, its community is. Most of these zealots don't even use Linux anyway. What they use is some flavor of GNU/Linux and many these flavors aren't uniform in nature. These days, the differences between distributions are narrowing. Most distributions that you look at will have much the same choice of software: KDE and GNOME for desktops, Mozilla Firefox for web browsing, and OpenOffice.org for office productivity. By definition, a distribution is a collection of software made by other projects. The problem still remains that vendors just can't predict their behavior. GNU/Linux is still seen as a nerdy operating system. Advanced configuration can be a challenge for non-nerds, but the same is true for Windows. One definitely would have to agree that GNU/Linux is, in many ways, is more intuitive and easy to use for non-nerds. Linux is still an operating system developed by geeks and hackers for geeks and hackers. The disconnect between geeks and the non-technical end user is still immense, and too many geeks like it that way and will actually defend their isolation as something moral.

GNU/Linux, the grass roots os, is ready to be sold at local retailers. I am well able to install Linux by myself - I'm running PClinuxOS at the moment. However, for a lot of people, this is a very awkward process. Linux on the desktop grew in 2006 as a number of substantial milestones were reached that promise to continue to move the Linux desktop ahead in 2007.The LSB specification is intended to furnish interoperability standards via a base set of APIs and libraries so ISVs can develop and port applications that will work on LSB-certified Linux distributions. The reason that people buy computers with Windows is that they don't see much of an alternative.

It's time for this community to put itself behind one or two good flavor(s) of Linux and stop all the in-fighting. Lets back a distribution. To attract the masses, a Linux desktop must work out of the box, ideally preinstalled by the hardware vendor. Many GNU/Linux distro's can't even play DVDs without introducing the risk of lawsuits, and multimedia support files are usually hosted on non-US sites for legal reasons.

If people want to start to hurt Windows/MacOSX, distro's like Linspire and SLED are idea for preinstalled PCs at large retailers. Novell's SLED provides a reliable, stable, and scalable operating system, server, and application deployment environment. The Novell Linux Desktop is the end-user version of side of SUSE's enterprise offerings. Almost all other Linux operating systems are designed for servers. Linspire was designed specifically for desktop use. They have in fact paid close attention to the many details required for easy desktop computing.

Why SLED...

Novell has put so much work into their Computer Menu, beagle search, Windows networking via SMB, dual boot and making the whole distro feel professional and polished. Novell produce that wow factor by using the relatively new Xgl. Xgl uses the power of your video card to produce some stunning visuals on the dekstop. With Xgl and Novell's 3D compositing window manager, compiz, users can switch among 3D virtual desktops with translucency.

Why Linspire..

Linspire comes bundled with the ability to view QuickTime, Windows Media, Flash, and other media types. you are able to view movie trailers without doing anything other than clicking on the trailer and choosing your media type. In fact they are in a unique position. They are the only company with the legal right to ship Linux ports of Windows Media Format codecs, including QuickTime capability. They extracted this concession as part of the settlement of their successful trademark lawsuit against Microsoft.

In conclusion...

While I realize the question of favorite distro can get quite heated, here are two that can perhaps spread Linux to those who would otherwise not try it. Ease of use, included software, maximum support this is what these distros should be measured by. Linux users have a tendency to forget this - while Microsoft pockets gets bigger. In the end, selling to the non-nerds, is where the money is made. Mom & Pop that want to buy a new PC for the family. And with Linspire and SLED they will get something that will work for them out of the box.

Polls like dellstorm could make it look like they're they want to sell GNU/LInux so that Dell can continue to claim that Michael just can't figure out which kind of Linux everybody wants. Instead of making the big decision , Michael can continue to talk the Linux talk, but fail to walk the Linux walk. You can't make everyone happy with choosing a distro, just choose one. People who aren't happy with the choice and prefer another one know what they want and can install it for themselves. Most serious users don't care which distribution is shipped/supported so long as their hardware works. As far as I'm concerned, Dell can arbitrarily pick any of the popular Linux distributions, as long as at least some laptop and desktop models are available that work out of the box with only free software drivers.

The battle for the desktop starts on a brick& stone retail store not on a dot-com site. People want to feel, look at and experience the piece of hardware their buying. I want to see GNU/Linux desktop side by side with MS Win-Vista.

Locking people into open source is just as bad as locking people into proprietary software.

Linux games:Loki tools

2007-03-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

Somethings I found on the web. Much of the Info I pasted here came from here.

Because of the limited amount of native Linux games, its due to Wine (http://www.winehq.org/) and
Cedega (http://www.transgaming.com/) that it is possible to play Windows games under Linux.

But sadly the first problems appear with de/installing or updating such games.
With the help of the Loki tools (http://icculus.org/loki_setup/) we try to simplify the de/installation and updating of Windows games.

Additional we create Installers for native Linux games to simplify complicated installation processes, to correct provided Installers of commercial games and to provide Installers for subsequent ported windows games.

"Section 1201 exemptions."

2007-02-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

House Bill Seeks to Exempt Backups from DMCA Violation
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews
February 27, 2007, 6:40 PM

In an announcement this afternoon prior to the publication of the bill by the Library of Congress, Reps. Rick Boucher (D - VA) and John Doolittle (R - CA) introduced a bill that apparently would grant a new exemption for private, non-commercial copies of digital content, from violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - technically creating a new class of "Section 1201 exemptions."

more here

2007-02-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

Linux In The New Year...part two

What else is new for GNU/Linux in 2007?

Many people may imagine that installing Linux is difficult, but in fact for the most part it isn't at all problematic. Most modern distributions of Linux have tackled the installation problem so most of its difficulties have been solved.

Lets look at in the summer of 2006, Intel released open source software drivers for the newest generation Intel graphics , including support for 2D and 3D graphics features. In years gone by; graphic vendors had been unwilling to open source drivers that supported hardware acceleration for 3D graphics. A proprietary driver, even if it worked, rose complications at times. Well good for Intel.

Which takes us to Xgl and AIGLX.

Xgl will only get better 2007 as it is designed to take advantage of modern graphics cards via their OpenGL drivers. It supports hardware acceleration of all X, OpenGL and XVideo applications and graphical effects. It offers a new and intuitive navigation experience that helps you more easily find and organize your applications and files, but Xgl goes further by delivering a truly next-generation desktop experience. They turn the desktop into a malleable 3D environment with features such as 'wobbly' windows that can be stretched and pulled, true real-time opacity, and treating the entire desktop as a multi-faceted rotable 'cube'.There is also AIGLX which can do do the same however,NVIDIA graphic cards currently lack any support for AIGLX in some cases. Many features in Xgl and AIGLX even surpass what we've seen in Vista.

Next on the list: Adobe Systems has released Flash Player 9 for Linux.

Version 9 of the Flash Player, they say, runs scripts up to ten times faster than previous versions, and also allows programmers to write portable applications exploiting more of the capabilities of Adobe's Flex 2 development platform.

For those that use OpenOffice.org, new in version 2.1. Impress, now supports an option for multiple monitors to allow users to choose where to display the presentation. The spreadsheet application, Calc, has improved on its HTML export capability so that browsers are able to recreate the original spreadsheet's appearance more accurately and Base now has improved support Microsoft Access.

The Portland Project was established to help get a greater GNU/Linux foothold in the desktop market.

Linux is a kernel, part of an operating system—not a complete operating environment in the sense that Windows is a complete operating environment. So in other words, Windows has a single interface. You have no choice in the matter. But Linux has no built-in GUI interface. People are free to choose among many commercially available or free GUI X-Window interfaces, such as Gnome, KDE, and Xfce
each of which provides a different look and feel. That has been a problem in the past; the differences in GUI X-Window interfaces extend to the programming interfaces as well, meaning that software developers must either support multiple GUIs or choose which GUI(s) they plan to support; ie Amarok and Exaile. some developers would just generally target one or two primary GUI programming
models. The Portland Project aims at resolving a number of key factors that are believed to reduce the adoption rate of Linux distributions as desktop operating systems. The project has Alex Graveley (GNOME) and George Staikos (KDE) as two of the task force leaders, who will look to gain feedback from ISVs, integration possibilities, and possibly create a draft implementation as well. The release of Portland 1.0 is expected to accelerate adoption of Linux on the desktop. According to market analyst IDG, this will help the desktop Linux market grow to around $10 billion by 2008.

Part ONE

BetaNews: Microsoft Responds to Alleged Ballmer 'Threats' Against Linux

2007-02-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews

February 22, 2007, 4:06 PM
"Comments made by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last Thursday to an analyst conference for the most part went unnoticed until stories this morning cited excerpts from a freshly published transcript of that conference. In one such story, an excerpted partial sentence was interpreted as part of a statement that Microsoft may yet exercise its option to sue manufacturers of Linux operating systems other than Novell for infringement of patent.
"A fresh read of the extended excerpt from that transcript, however, suggests at first this may not have been Ballmer's intended meaning..."

Complete Story

Life without Windows

2007-02-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

This the new year and yes still on subject for the most part. The subject being: Life without Windows or OS X, the 2 big dogs on the planet. While Windows is the dominant desktop computing platform, it isn't the only game in town. Millions of people live every day without Windows XP or Vista all the time. I use Windows on my terms, if and when I choose to. I use open Suse, Linspire, and PClinuxOS for almost everything I have ever done in Windows. When I say "almost everything," I mean that Linux at this time does not have the support of many ISV's as Windows XP. That is changing....slowly, but that is changing.

K.D.E desktop

You know there was a time when a time Microsoft was able to charge PC companies a Windows licence fee for every PC they shipped, whether or not the PCs actually shipped with Windows preinstalled. Cool deal while it lasted, but regulatory concerns have subsequently eroded Microsoft's ability to collect a Windows licence fee on, say, a PC that ships with Linux preinstalled.

And last year Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer’s declaration that Linux “uses our intellectual property” , a horse thought long dead by many. Novell objected to Ballmer’s characterization of its patent deal with Microsoft and some users accusing him of trying to sow fears about using Linux. Then Microsoft later released a statement saying it “respects Novell’s point of view on the patent issue, even while we respectfully take a different view.” Microsoft acknowledged that Novell is “absolutely right” in saying it didn’t admit to any Linux patent problems as part of their agreement.

They have 95% of the desktop market in the US, it seems they want the other 5%. They over there know what we all know. No matter what; people have no intention of trying something new no matter how many articles they read about someone going to Linux because they have had it with XP. For every one person who has made the switch to Linux, there are thousands who are buying their first computer with Windows on it.

So what is this fight for 5% about? Truth be told, My parents have got an ancient system at home that runs KDE and open SUSE well enough, see that's the great thing about Linux, it's light enough to run on just about anything. They try not to leave an old system behind. But if you are a hardware manufacturer, that is news you don't want to hear. Windows Vista will help PC vendors sell more desktops than Linux will. Bought a system new in 2003, just got it paid for a week ago. Well its time to go in deat again for a Vista PC able PC.

Linux on the desktop needs strong support from groups outside the Linux community and its just not really there yet. Microsoft has nothing to worry about. They just want 100% of every thing. In guess every one does, but i like every one else was taught to share at a young age.

Here are things that have made Linux better the past few years...

KDE-based Live Installer for Knoppix+Kanotix:

Klik allows you to run applications from a single file (Like OSX application dirs), but its for linux.

To install the Klik client:

1) Press Alt-F2 and paste:

wget klik.atekon.de/client/install -O -|sh

2) Restart your browser.

To uninstall klik client:

wget klik.atekon.de/client/uninstall -O -|sh

Note...If you get: need to install "rpm2cpio" It means you have to install “rpm” on your OS

The is not a package management system. It doesn't strive to replace apt-get, dpkg, rpm, yum, apt4rpm, portage, smart, autopackage, or CNR.

open-source CNR CNR.com

Linspire released a new open-source CNR client in December for other popular desktop Linux distributions called CNR.com. Users of CNR.com, will be able to safely and legally add support to their Linux desktop for things such as mp3, Windows Media, Quick Time, Java, Flash, ATI drivers, nVidia drivers, and so on. Both Debian and RPM distributions will be supported. During 2007, CNR.com will be rolling out support for current versions of the following distributions: Debian, Fedora Core, Linspire/Freespire, OpenSUSE last but not least Ubuntu.

There are those in the Linux world that would want Will Gates to just go away. I am not one. Locking someone into open source is just as bad as locking someone into proprietary software.

instant messaging (IM) client for Linux.

2007-02-11T01:36:00.000-08:00

Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu and Zephyr networks.
Gaim users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time.

Gaim supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, typing notification, and MSN window closing notification. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, iconify on away and more.
Gaim runs on a number of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Qtopia (Sharp Zaurus and iPaq).

Gaim integrates well with GNOME 2 and the KDE 3.1 system tray, as well as Windows' own system tray. This allows you to work with Gaim without requiring the buddy list window to be up at all times.

Canonical and Linspire Announce Technology Partnership

2007-02-09T19:22:00.000-08:00

Linspire to base Linspire/Freespire on Ubuntu and Canonical to use the CNR commercial software e-commerce technology.

LONDON & SAN DIEGO, February 8th, 2007 - Canonical Ltd, the lead sponsor of the popular Ubuntu operating system, and Linspire, Inc. the developer of the commercial desktop Linux operating system of the same name, today announced plans for a technology partnership that integrates core competencies from each company into the other's open source Linux offerings.

Linspire will transition from Debian to Ubuntu as the base for their Linspire and Freespire desktop operating systems. (http://www.linspire.com/OSblocks). This will mean that Linspire users will benefit from Ubuntu's fast moving development cycles and focus on usability. The Freespire community will start seeing early releases of Freespire 2.0 based on Ubuntu in the first quarter of 2007, with the final release expected in the 2nd quarter of 2007, following the official release of Ubuntu 7.04 in April. more here....

Word processing

2007-02-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

Word processing developed as specialized programs on mainframe computers. The term word processing was invented by IBM in the late 1960s. By 1971 it was recognized by the New York Times as a "buzz word” who knows.

OpenOffice.org is a free office suite of applications available for many different operating systems including Linux, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X. It supports the OpenDocument standard for data interchange.
OpenOffice.org is based on StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision and acquired by Sun Microsystems in August 1999. The source code of the suite was released in July 2000 with the aim of reducing the dominant market share of Microsoft Office by providing a free, open and high-quality alternative. OpenOffice.org is free software, available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

If you want to write something. what you need is...OpenOffice.org Writer which is an open source/free software word processor which is a component of the OpenOffice.org software package. Writer is a word processor similar to Microsoft Word, with a roughly equivalent range of features. It provides a number of features not present in Word, including being able to export to the PDF format natively.
As with the entire OpenOffice.org suite, Writer can be used across a variety of platforms, including Mac OS X, Windows, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris.

Dell's open-source n Series desktop

2007-02-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for a desktop on which you can run Linux® or other open-source operating systems? Look no further.

Dell's new open-source n Series desktop solution provides customers with a Dimension E520, E521 or C521 desktop without an installed or included Microsoft® operating system. With the n Series desktop, customers have the flexibility to install an alternative operating system (such as a version of Linux®), and help reduce the price of this system. In addition, the n Series desktop comes with a non-formatted hard drive ready for your custom installation. Dell's n Series desktop ships with a copy of FreeDos, an open-source operating system that is ready to install.

Dimension n Series E520
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual CoreTechnology(2.80GHz,800FSB)
FreeDOS™ included in the box, ready to install
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Free Upgrade! 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache

Dimension n Series E521
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
FreeDOS™ included in the box, ready to install
512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 1DIMM
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

Dimension n Series C521
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
FreeDOS™ included in the box, ready to install
512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 1DIMM
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

Exaile media player and Mint in the new year...

2007-02-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

If you using linux Mint 2.1, based on Ubuntu 6.10, you have to get Exaile media player, for it incorporates many of the cool things from AmaroK , like the automatic retrieving of album art, handling of large libraries, lyrics fetching, artist/album information via the wikipedia, last.fm support, optional iPod support if you have python-gpod installed .Exaile also includes a built in shoutcast directory browser and tabbed playlists. It's GTK+ based, so it runs more smoothly in GNOME.

Mint 2.1 Bea runs on the Gnome desktop. For those who don't know, Gnome got its start in the Americas, and development remains centered there till this day. Gnome, for the most part resembles the classic Mac in terms of layout.. There's a menu bar atop the screen from which applications are launched; a clock and other applets often live in this bar, too.

The purists have really got to recognize that people want to watch Flash movies or play MP3 tracks or Windows Media Tracks. isn't time to combine the power of open source with proprietary code, because its just a simple fundamental core of the Internet experience. Even Ubuntu 7.04, scheduled for release on 19 April 2007 reportly will be including some proprietary drivers. A large proportion of people using Ubuntu has new computers and need a non-Free driver for reasonable performance from their graphics card, wireless card, or modem, because there is no Free driver available, they have little choice in the matter.

The Ireland-based Linux Mint project team, whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java, and other components.

Linux In The New Year...part one

2007-01-31T12:55:00.000-08:00
The development of desktop Linux in 2006 has set the stage for new market
growth in 2007. A number of significant milestones were reached that promise to continue to move the Linux desktop ahead in 2007.

KVM (for Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V). It consists of a loadable kernel module, kvm.ko, that provides the core virtualization infrastructure and a processor specific module, kvm-intel.ko or kvm-amd.ko. The kernel component of KVM is included in mainline Linux, as of 2.6.20.

Fluendo, leader in GNU/Linux and Unix multimedia solutions, is expanding its offerings with the general availability of a wide range of codecs for the GNU/Linux and Solaris desktop and server systems.

Fluendo is a company specialising in delivering products and consulting services focusing on UNIX and GNU/Linux multimedia. Fluendo employs several of the central developers of the GStreamer multimedia framework, which is quickly establishing itself as the de-facto standard multimedia framework for GNU/Linux and UNIX systems.

Fluendo, a leader in GNU/Linux and Unix multimedia solutions, recently announced that they are making available plug-ins to handle Windows Media Audio, Video, and MMS streaming protocol, MPEG-2 video decoding, MPEG-4 Part 2 video decoding, ASF container format demuxing, MPEG-2 Program and Transport Stream container format demuxing, MPEG-4 ISO container format demuxing and MP3 audio. Further CODECs are planned for release by Fluendo over the course of 2007.

Version 2.0 of the popular Web browser was released in October of 2006, with the first update ready in December. By the end of last year, Firefox had more than 10 percent of the browser marker.

last August, RealNetworks announced it would deliver state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities on the Linux desktop. Novell will distribute Real's upgraded RealPlayer, which will support Windows Media formats and Helix Banshee music player, as part of its SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.

Then came Beagle (not the dog). It is a search tool with the release of version 0.2.14 in December that looks through your personal information space to find whatever you're looking for. Beagle can search in many different domains. including documents, email, Web history, instant messaging, source code, music files and images.

end of part one...

While Windows is the dominant desktop computing platform, it isn't the only game in town. Millions of people all over the world live every day without using "any" Windows-based products. It's a choice, and so is using Windows & OSX.

FoxyTunes

2007-01-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

FoxyTunes is an Extension for Mozilla Firefox 2 that supports the Mozilla Suite ,Mozilla Thunderbird and IE7 . It allows you to control your favorite media player without leaving the browser. The IE version supports 18 different music players at this time, as opposed to the 21 supported in the Firefox version.

What's cool about it...

FoxyTunes for Mozilla Firefox & IE, have the same interface , giving you full control over your music player from within your browser. Play, Skip Forward, Skip Backward, Hide Player and all the other music navigations in the original FoxyTunes.
So now you don't have switch away from Firefox /IE to control your media player. This gives you hands on control right from your browser.
Music Web searches - find lyrics, artist images, videos, bios and more, while listening to music with FoxyTunes.

FoxyTunes Planet coming soon!
FoxyTunes Planet is a Universal Music Mashup. The Planet, along with the FoxyTunes browser add-on connects between your favorite media players and great music sites and services.

end of 2006.....

2006-12-31T22:35:00.000-08:00
KDE 4 is now in rapid development and is scheduled for release sometime in 2007. KDE4 does run on a variety of Unix systems, the most popular being Linux. The thing KDE has is the cross-platform Qt development toolkit from Tolltech. What 4 has over 3 will include a new desktop interface, better accessibility support, better hardware integration, integrated comprehensive search facilities, and continued improvement in integration between core applications.

from stlouisfreespire: RestoreIT Linux Edition coming to a CNR warehouse near you

2006-12-29T16:50:00.000-08:00
FarStone announced way back when,a Linux version of their cool Personal Disaster Recovery software , AKA, RestoreIT.more here

from:OS and Servers News

2006-12-29T16:31:00.000-08:00
OS and Servers News

29 December 2006
CIO study finds Linux ready for prime-time

By Bryan Betts, Techworld

Nearly half of all enterprises will be running mission-critical business applications on Linux in five years' time. That's according to survey of IT directors, VPs and CIOs carried out by Saugatuck Research, which questioned 133 businesses worldwide.

The company predicts a steep rise: only 18 percent of businesses will be using Linux in business-critical roles by the end of 2007.

"Linux operating systems - and open source-based software in general - have reached critical marketplace mass," said the study's authors, Bruce Guptill and Bill McNee of Saugatuck Research.

They predicted that the number of companies in "early or full deployment" of mission-critical applications on Linux would grow by 40 percent from 2007-2009, and would then accelerate to grow by 80 percent from 2009-2011.

Vendors, service providers and IT execs alike all need to take notice of the trend and reposition themselves to meet it, the researchers claimed.

"Recent Linux deals and announcements by Oracle and Microsoft have only reinforced the 'open source is enterprise-grade' message that IBM, Unisys and others have been preaching for years," Guptill and McNee said.

"In short, open source, especially Linux, is being legitimised by the major enterprise vendors, and user executives are more than happy to believe them." They added: "Microsoft's thawing toward Linux is now easier to understand when faced with such data - even as Windows continues to grow as the other main server platform of choice."

Software as a Service (SaaS) and application hosting suppliers will also get a boost from Linux, as it cuts software and maintenance costs and brings greater standardisation, the researchers said.

They added though that "most large vendors remain tied to legacy cash-cow operating systems" and need to reposition themselves on Linux fast.

Mint #1 distro on Distrowatch in the last 7 days

2006-11-20T13:40:00.000-08:00
I have said it before. I will say it again. People want their codecs. I know many Linux users that get so sick of having to thumb through repositories trying to find just the right combination of codecs to get OS to “just work.”

Ubuntu is a good distro however, Mint 2.0 Barbara based on Ubuntu is far better due to the fact that it provides a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java, and other components. You still for now have to install the Mplayer's browser plugin, but Synaptic makes that an easy process. I hear Mplayer will come standard with the next version of Mint,as well as some graphical updates.

If you have MP3's, download Exaile which is a media player similar to KDE's AmaroK. Like AmaroK, Exaile also includes a built in shoutcast directory browser and tabbed playlists. It's GTK+ based, so it runs more smoothly in GNOME.

Even the Ubuntu developer community has decided that with the next version of Ubuntu, Feisty Fawn, it will be including some proprietary drivers.

All you Ubuntu fan boys will be really impressed with Mint 2.0 Barbara . It just works, and you guys should highly recommend it to people that you're trying to convert to Linux since there's very little tweaking necessary. Mint has one of the best out-the-box experience around.

Novell Makes a Critical Error:by Tim Patterson

2006-11-02T20:30:00.000-08:00
After the Q&A segment it was clear that the patent agreement was a defacto acknowledgement by Novell that Linux violates MS patents. Ballmer made it clear that the patent agreement protects ONLY users of SuSE Linux. When questioned about wether the patent agreement covered technology which will be developed or if it covers MS patents already existing in Linux the attorney made it clear that the agreement protects existing Linux in the form of SuSE.

So MS has found the big Linux vendor foolish enough to "legitimize" a patent claim on Linux by Microsoft. This makes it easier for MS to claim that Linux infringes their "IP" and claim that Novell recognized this "fact" and struck a deal.

Now it's only a matter of asserting claims against all distributors except Novell thereby thinning the herd and finally, deal with Novell SuSE last.

Nice going you Novell morons.

After using SuSE for years it looks like it's time for a change.