The Linux Experience

A look at KDE SC 4.8

2012-01-28T06:50:00.000-08:00

Yes, shortly after announcing the upcoming features in KDE SC 4.8, it's live!!... Using Kubuntu backports I decided to give it a try and here's a brief look at what I found. Note that this is not a review of KDE SC 4.8, just a preview of what's in store once distros properly implement it using stable chanels.

NOTE: My Kubuntu desktop is highly customized to my needs/taste, so not everything you see here is representative of SC 4.8. On a different note, this is just a very brief summary, certainly not exhaustively covering all new features.

A SCREENSHOT TOUR

One of the first things that jumps at you is the new set of wallpapers, specially the new default one. Personally, I consider this new wallpaper a step back, even more so considering how good Nuno Pinheiro's Horos was, but I guess this may trigger more interest from other artists to add their two cents come KDE SC 4.9. In any case, a wallpaper is not such a big deal, but nevertheless, the following screenshots will show the different wallpapers added in this release along with some other highlights.

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Unfortunately, the next thing that caught my attention was how hungry Nepomuk had become. As demonstrated on the screenshot below, it consistently ate huge chunks of my CPU power. I thought that could be a result of indexing my inbox (since file indexing was idle), but after hours and a couple reboots, the behavior didn't change. virtuoso-t and nepomukservicestub processes were busy most of the time, and that was obviously having an impact on my machine's performance. Unfortunately, after investigating a bit, I found that Akonadi was the source of the problem. I was happy to get Korganizer to work at last with my Google Calendar (wasn't able to in KDE SC 4.7, no matter which method I used) and because my Plasma calendar was set to show events, Akonadi would start right away after boot and drive Nepomuk nuts. After a while, I disabled the calendar events and things got back to normal, but this is a significant drawback. I assume (rather hope) that these issues will be fixed in the first dot release.

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Another new wallpaper and the new device notifier, which has been ported to QML entirely. Rumour says it already incorporates enhancements that will come to fruition when KDE SC 4.9 is released.

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Don't know if there are improvements in the calendar plasma widget, but it looks better than it did in SC 4.7.

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I guess none of the recent changes to the Network Manager interface made it to KDE SC 4.8, which is a shame. In fact, those buttons look kind of funny!

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Dolphin and its animated icons have got lots of attention as we were getting closer to this release. Personally, I am not too satisfied with the new outfit. Those icons look way too close to each other.

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Just like the device notifier, the application switcher has been ported to QML and now supports theming. For now, there are just a few available, and while the whole thing looks a bit premature, I think we will see it bloom in all its beauty come SC 4.9.

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Here's an example of my favorite theme, the huge icons one (have I mentioned I absolutely LOVE Oxygen icons?).

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Among other things, certain applications were updated to more recent versions, like Amarok.

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Gwenview is my favorite Linux image viewer/manager and this latest release just makes it better. Transitions and animations make image displaying a joy, and all the good old features are there. You can read more about Gwenview's new features HERE.

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Okular also incorporates new features in this latest release, which you can read in detail HERE.

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Kate also incorporates new features and improvements, as detailed HERE

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Another very cool thing that makes its debut in KDE SC 4.8 is the concept of activity-specific energy settings. I consider this a great idea!

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If you are of the adventurous kind, go get KDE SC 4.8 now and help stabilize it by reporting bugs (don't expect a fully stable DM this soon after release date). If you love stable stuff, though, I'd suggest waiting until the April releases and get it with your favorite distro. Either way, KDE looks and works better than ever!

KDE SC 4.8 Upcoming Features

2012-01-20T02:27:00.000-08:00

Later this month we will see the release of the KDE SC 4.8 series, another one of the typical six-month cycles that KDE relentlesly goes through. As we have seen since SC 4.4, probably the first truly stable and fast release cycle since KDE SC 4.x series started, KDE SC 4.8 will continue the tradition of building over the previous release cycle strengths. Given how much has happened in the last six months, I thought it was a good idea to review what's coming in the next few months. Most people will probably be aware of the highlights, but I think there is a lot of work that may have gone unnoticed that we should keep an eye on.

SEMANTIC DESKTOP

KDE SC 4.7 series witnessed massive improvements in the Semantic Desktop. Led by Sebastian Trueg, efforts concentrated on improving stability through bug fixing, but also on improving performance, optimizing resource use, as well as including some cool features. As a result, KDE SC 4.8 will be the first release with a powerful, stable and fully functional Semantic Desktop.

KMIX REDESIGNED

Kmix will receive a much needed facelift in KDE SC 4.8. New features and a better looking outfit are part of what users will enjoy. More details HERE.

QML, QTQUICK AND PLASMA

From the official KDE SC 4.8 Beta announcement:

"Qt Quick is making its way into the Plasma Workspaces. The new Plasma Components provide a standardized API implementation of widgets with native Plasma Look and Feel. The device notifier widget has been ported using these components and is now written in pure QML. KWin's window switcher is now also QML-based, paving the way for newly designed window switchers."

DOLPHIN 2.0

The changes to Dolphin, the default KDE file manager, are among the highlights in this release. I have already covered them in a couple of articles, which you can read HERE and HERE.

GWENVIEW

Just like Dolphin 2.0 will meet icon animations, Gwenview will get some animations and transitions of its own. The following video demonstrates both Gwenview's and Dolphin's. This video also demonstrates the new QML based device notifier.

KSECRETSERVICE

A password storage service, KSecretService will enhance the integration of non-KDE apps inside the KDE Desktop, as well as KDE apps outside of KDE.

DESKTOP EFFECTS

We did see lots of improvement in this area thanks to Martin Gräßlin's efforts, specially after KDE SC 4.7.2. Martin did mention in an ARTICLE of his back then that things would get even better in SC 4.8: "But the real optimization by only calling the active effects will hit only 4.8".

This is cool news because the improvement in Kwin effects was very significant during SC 4.7, so even smoother effects in KDE SC 4.8 surely is exciting news.

KATE

Probably my favorite text editor (along Geany, but certainly a favorite in KDE) out there, Kate is in for some more changes and improvements. More details HERE.

NEW FONT: OXYGEN

I recently POSTED about this, and while it is not necessarily an SC 4.8 feature, it is likely that we will see the final release of Oxygen fonts during this release cycle.

NEW WALLPAPERS

After a few releases enjoying the awesome work of Nuno Pinheiro in the wallpaper department, it seems it is time for a change. Nuno himself conducted a contest to gather some new talent and eventually, the new official wallpapers for KDE SC 4.8. I have seen some information out there about the winners, but I am not 100% sure it is legitimate, so we will have to wait and see what the default wallpapers look like this time around.

POWER MANAGEMENT AND ACTIVITIES

A very interesting set of new features will land in power management land come this new release. I am particularly interested in isolated power management settings for each activity, something that I truly think adds value to the whole activity concept. Here's a video explaining more on the subject:

POWER INHIBITION

Dario Freddi posted the following in PlanetKDE:

"I wanted to blog about some improvements towards flawless power management inhibition. A GCI student, George Stephanos, took the task of testing and fixing inhibition in 4.8: the results were two bugs fixed, and dragon player being able to successfully prevent any power management action. But it does not stop here: yesterday I also added inhibition support in Okular – if you are giving a presentation with it, you don’t have to worry about your screen or your system going down anymore."

CALLIGRA 2.4

Not necessarily part of KDE SC 4.8, but it is during this release cycle that KDE users will be able to enjoy the final release of Calligra 2.4, a very interesting and promising take on KOffice that already works pretty well in its Beta state.

OVERALL IMPROVEMENTS

As usual, we can expect stability and performance improvements to come along with KDE SC 4.8. Aaron Seigo recently posted about bug fixing sessions that had gone particularly well, which made him feel very positive about this upcoming release stability. Having said so, I would recommend waiting until the usual April releases, which should allow enough time for distro builders to pack SC 4.8.1, 4.8.2, or even 4.8.3 along... unless you want to help bug fixing, that is!

So there you have it, I am sure I am missing things here and there, but even so, this short list should make it clear that there is plenty to be excited about as we sail into KDE SC 4.8 waters!

Try the new Oxygen Fonts!

2012-01-18T23:21:00.000-08:00

Yup, KDE's brand new font set, unsurprisingly deemed Oxygen, is now ready for testing. Simply go HERE and download the Oxygen ttf file (recommend the Oxygen Regular 0.1 test release).

To install it, simply go to KDE System Settings > System Administration > Font Installer. The installation of the ttf file is pretty straight forward. You can see how it looks in its current state in my Kubuntu installation right below:

Give it a go and report issues/feedback!

Relearning KDE

2012-01-10T03:45:00.000-08:00

KDE SC is great in many, many ways, but I have found that some of those ways are anything but obvious. Nothing specific to KDE, though, as it happens with all kinds of software and devices nowadays. Users want the quick route to do their thing, which most often results in them using a tiny portion of the application or device functionality... After all, who reads a darn manual, right?

I personally think most devices and applications are overpowered these days (they offer way more than the average Joe or Jane could ever dream of), so it is perfectly fine to stick to those functionalities that make a difference. Having said so, I found that such "lazy" approach often makes me miss things that I do care about, pieces of functionality that I would love to use if I knew were there, and that is very much the case with KDE. Indeed, the K Desktop provides lots of power, sometimes more than I need myself, so I used to stick to the basics to get the job done. In doing so, I overlooked tons of great stuff I do use now, I simply didn't know better!

Guilty of making me learn some interesting KDE SC features is MARTY'S TYPEPAD, a very interesting blog which recently published a series of articles entitled: The Great Features of KDE Workspaces and Applications. These great articles go over a number of basic KDE features that, while basic, are still sometimes anything but obvious, and could easily be missed by the standard user (even advanced users).

Marty has completed five interesting articles so far and I very much encourage reading all of them, regardless of whether you use KDE or not. KDE users may find something they didn't know already, thus improving the way they work. Non KDE users may find reasons to give it a try... or a second chance.

Article 5 - GWENVIEW image viewer

Article 4 - KIO resource provider

Article 3 - KSNAPSHOT screenshot tool

Article 2 - KLIPPER clipboard manager

Article 1 - DOLPHIN file manager

Read on and relearn your KDE. Enjoy!

Minor Kubuntu issues and their workarounds

2012-01-06T02:59:00.000-08:00

I have already mentioned several times that I love Kubuntu and how much it progressed in the last couple years. In my opinion, it went from being a weak KDE distro not that long ago, to becoming a solid contester to lead the way on KDE land today. Take Kubuntu 11.10, an awesome release which, at last, incorporates the best from Ubuntu. An incredibly cool installation wizard, plenty of applications and dedicated PPAs or great support from a huge and ever growing community are features that Kubuntu users could already enjoy, but the latest implementation of Muon and its social features (application ratings, comments, etc.), make Kubuntu even more interesting.

Nothing is perfect, though, so during my time using Oneiric Ocelot I have stumbled with a number of issues that, while minor, can get in the way of a great user experience. Let's look at them and how I found ways around them.

MUTED SOUND WHEN SESSION STARTS

I know some other people have experienced this one as well. The idea is that one starts Kubuntu, logs in and as the session starts, Kmix volume is muted. I tried some of the fixes that I found out there, but none would help.

Trying to find what was causing the problem, I was messing around with Kmix settings and I found one parameter that I thought could be related to this problem.

When I had the problem, the option "Restore volumes on login" was ticked, so fixing it was as easy as unticking it.

SHUT DOWN AND RESTART BUTTONS DO NOTHING

Not exactly sure if this problem came after an minor KDE upgrade, but somehow the reboot and shutdown buttons from the main menu stopped working. I did a bit of research and found a workaround that fixed it for me. From a terminal window, type the following commands:

cd /etc/kde4/kdm

sudo kate kdmrc

Once the file is loaded, find the [Shutdown] section and complete the following changes on the HaltCmd and RebootCmd parameters:

HaltCmd=/sbin/shutdown -h -P now

RebootCmd=/sbin/shutdown -r now

Save your work and reboot.

REDUCE AMAROK MEMORY HUNGER

Amarok can do lots of things very well, but it is clearly not the lightest of audio players. This is obviously not an issue specific to Kubuntu, but since Amarok comes as its default audio player, it is good for Kubuntu users to ensure it doesn't bite more resources than it should.

The default Amarok settings have many plugins and services enabled that may or may not be useful for end users. In my case, a vast majority of them are not, for I am solely interested in playing my local collection. If this is your case as well, there are lots of resource-eating options you can live without. Simply untick them as I did in the screenshot above, then restart Amarok.

More on Dolphin 2.0

2012-01-04T01:37:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I have not published any review for a while now. The reason for that is that I am having lots of issues with some of the latest releases. Some of them based on Kernel 3.1 don't seem to get along well with some of my hardware (screen flickering problems). Some others, such as Fedora and its forks, present issues with the default partitioning, for which my BIOSes are not ready. Unfortunately, even after enforcing DOS partition tables, I still get Anaconda crashes (consistent on all Fedora spins, as well as Kororaa). If that was not enough, I keep having issues with LiveUSBs for the likes of Chakra and OpenSUSE, but I hope that shall be solved soon as I have an external optical drive on the way!.

While I try to fix those issues, I keep reading Linux stuff all over the place and today I found an update I found interesting. Peter Penz, the main man behind KDE Dolphin published another update today, showing screenshots for the new grouping feature that will be part of Dolphin 2.0. I think the results are very interesting and this new feature certainly looks helpful, but I agree with Pete that there is room for visual improvement.

On a different note, Pete also discusses another feature that will make it to Dolphin 2.1, one which some old Dolphin fans will probably be missing: "The showing of any arbitrary meta-data of a file in the views."

Please visit Pete's own blog to get further information and see the screenshots from this ARTICLE.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T08:47:00.000-08:00

You may already be living your first minutes of 2012, you may be hours from it, so instead of trying to find the perfect time to say so, here it goes...

HAPPY NEW YEAR to YOU!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T00:14:00.001-08:00

Hoping you all have a very, very good time with your loved ones these days. Enjoy!

Google extends Mozilla sponsorship

2011-12-21T00:02:00.000-08:00

Quick note to let you know that Mozilla is safe again after having extended its partnership with Google for another three years. As usual, Mozilla will default to Google search engine in exchange.

This is great news to all Firefox fans like me because it was worrying to see the Mozilla agreement with Google coming to an end just days ago, specially considering Google sponsorship represents up 85% of Mozilla's budget.

Long live Mozilla!

Winamp + KDE = Qmmp

2011-12-19T02:21:00.000-08:00

These are times of Cloud music storage and players, when one can choose to store music on the cloud and listen to it anywhere from any device, or stream it from one of the available sites out there. Having said so, I guess there are still people like me, who also like to keep a local music collection and play it using more of a good old installed player. In fact, us Linux users are fortunate, because there is a plethora of audio players available in Linux these days. From the feature-full likes of Banshee and Amarok, to others that are maybe less powerful, but in turn lighter and faster, there is something for everyone.

Back when I used Windows as my only OS, I was a big Winamp fan, so I have always enjoyed using it in Linux. Nostalgia is a part of it, but also the fact that there are few others that work as fast. I usually go back and forth between the powerful media players and Winamp clones, but at the end of the day, I usually realize that I just need something that plays the music I like to listen to.

MEET QMMP

As far as Winamp clones go in Linux, there are a few alternatives, Audacious probably being the most popular one. However, Audacious is GTK based and I have experienced issues in the past when trying to make it work under KDE. QMMP is a much better option for KDE users, for it is QT based.

Click on image to enlarge.

Like others Winamp clones, Qmmp supports skins (unfortunately only the old .wsz ones, not .wal ones), which allow users to choose between a lot of beautiful options, as shown in these screenshots.

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All the usual classic Winamp features are also there, such as EQ, playlists, etc.

Click on image to enlarge.

Kubuntu to use LightDM

2011-12-15T05:59:00.000-08:00

Sounds like Kubuntu might stop using KDM to start using LightDM as the default login screen, just like Ubuntu does, perhaps as soon as Kubuntu 12.04. This is an interesting twist that is making some noise, for it seems that KDE is not going in the same direction. Kubuntu would therefore deviate from what other KDE distros are doing, leading the way to uncertain territory.

If the switch is successful, and I personally think it has big potential, it could add to the list of things that make Kubuntu unique today, perhaps helping to raise its popularity. The Muon Software center, DEB packaging, the many PPAs available and all other benefits that Kubuntu inherits from its older brother, along with a unique LightDM login screen, could end up turning Kubuntu into the first choice for KDE users.

We will have to wait and see what happens and whether Kubuntu can push LightDM into the KDE realm, but I personally am very pleased with the direction Kubuntu is taking and how fast it is improving. Back three years ago, I considered Kubuntu a weak KDE distro when compared to the likes of PCLinuxOS, Fedora or Mandriva, but I consider it just as good today. If it continues to grow at this rate, it might become my favorite KDE distro, specially after PCLinuxOS developers decided to skip the upgrade to KDE 4.7.

For those interested in this subject, please read this ARTICLE by Dave Edmunson himself, the man behind the LightDM development for Kubuntu.

KDE 4.7.4 available

2011-12-14T00:25:00.000-08:00

The latest bug fix release in the KDE 4.7 series was made available a few days ago. Some distros like Arch and Chakra got it first, while Kubuntu users had to wait until today. In this case, 4.7.4 goes back to being mostly a bug fix and translation enhancement release, with the usual performance and stability enhancements that should be installed by all 4.7 users.

Click on image to enlarge

Unlike the previous two bug fix releases, which included significant changes/fixes to KDE PIM components (such as Kontact, Kmail, Nepomuk, etc.), KDE 4.7.4 brings less relevant updates, but we are still going to see some important bug fixes to the semantic desktop, as explained by Sebastian Trueg himself in this blog POST of his.

...And I am back!

2011-12-11T11:25:00.001-08:00

Still a bit numb from a 24 hour trip back home, but I wanted to shake things a bit and make some noise to let you all know I am alive and kicking! ;-)

I will need a couple days to settle down and get fully up to speed with the ever changing awesomeness of the Linux World, but it should be no biggie.

Thanks to all of you who support/follow my blog in any way, shape or form!

Holidays, here I gooooo...

2011-11-18T12:37:00.001-08:00

Time for a good and deserved three weeks off!

No more posts until I am back.

Meanwhile... ENJOY!

Save the Internet!!

2011-11-17T01:49:00.000-08:00

From Avaaz.org Save the Internet pledge:

"Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!

Under the new law, the US could force internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users' activities. And, because so much of the internet's hosts and hardware are located in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us.

The vote could be in days but we can help stop this -- champions in Congress want to preserve free speech and tell us that an international outcry would strengthen their hand. Let’s urgently raise our voices from every corner of the world and build an unprecedented global petition calling on US decision makers to reject the bill and stop internet censorship. Sign the petition and then forward as widely as possible - our message will be delivered directly to key members of the US Congress ahead of the crucial vote."

Please go ahead, VOTE and share this with people you know. Let's make a lot of noise!

Linux Mint 12 Mini Review

2011-11-16T05:10:00.001-08:00

Once again Linux Mint developers released their release candidate for Lisa and, as is often the case, made it available with no expected date for the final release. Fine by me... Mint RCs are usually very good in quality, very mature and stable, so I rarely wait for the final version to get to grips with it.

Those who read my Linux Mint 11 REVIEW probably remember that I was not particularly surprised with it. It felt like a conservative step forward that didn't include that many surprises. In a sense, Katia was probably a safe bet to stay away from the brand new (and heavily unstable) Ubuntu's Unity interface and also to ensure the move to GNOME3 happened at the right moment. In that sense, Mint 11 was a great release and one of the best implementations of GNOME 2.32, with a very personal caracter and carefully designed aesthetics.

Linux Mint 12 is probably the opposite, for it represents the transition to GNOME3 and GNOME Shell, the developers first attempt to swim in these cold, unexplored waters.

How does it do, you ask? Let's take a look.

A COCKTAIL OF SORTS

In previous releases, it was easy to tell how Linux mint kept polishing their identity as one of the most characteristic GNOME 2.32 desktops out there. It was not simply an "Ubuntu improved" distro, but an alternative that included features of its own, such as its software center, its update tray agent, the very cool Mint menu, etc. Come this new release, Mint somehow maintains part of its essence, but it's undeniable that the move to GNOME3 and GNOME Shell has had significant impact.

To begin with, the Mint 12 desktop heavily relies on GNOME Shell extensions, and given the very young nature of this technology, it's easy to tell that Lisa's looks have gone through more than a few compromises. There is a extension for the lower horizontal panel and something similar for the Mint menu, but it's got little in common with its GNOME 2.32 older brother. It's short in features, not as customizable and let's face it, plain uglier.

The way extensions work is weird, because even with the lower panel and the "classic" menu available, the standard GNOME Shell interface is somewhat fully functional, so users get a mixture of the classic desktop paradigm and the new approach GNOME Shell is pushing forward. Aside from that feeling of having a desktop mismatch, there are many aesthetic inconsistencies, like the Faenza icon theme being used in some places and the old Mint-X being used in others, window decorations that feel a bit out of place, etc. Another element that does not help is that Mint's own applications, such as its very own Software center have not been migrated to GNOME3, so they feel like they are poorly integrated.

As I kept using Mint 12 I thought I would get a popup window saying "Under construction" sooner or later, because that's what it conveys. More over, one can tell that the big majority of the development efforts in Mint 12 have concentrated around the transition to the new environment and trying to tame it a bit, which means that Mint's own applications and features return with little or no change.

GIVE IT TIME

Of all the latest Mint releases, I feel Mint 12 is probably the worst. Don't get me wrong, it does everything that has made it popular, it is stable and the transition to GNOME3 has been somewhat successful, but it would be unrealistic to expect such a big jump to be 100% successful on the first go. Indeed, Mint needs time, perhaps a couple more releases to settle down in the new GNOME3 environment and start gaining an advantage just like they did in GNOME 2.32. It also needs to continue to polish itself, and to regain its own character, which has diluted in the midst of transitioning to GNOME Shell.

In my opinion, Mint developers have chosen the wrong path using extensions to try to mimic their old Desktop. I believe they should embrace GNOME Shell as is, improving minor things release after release, creating their own themes and becoming a reference in the GNOME Shell Universe, just like they did for GNOME 2.X. In fact, I think Mint 12 would have been better off concentrating on transferring its applications to GNOME 3, rather than adding tons of makeover to try to make GNOME Shell look like something it is not.

I never was a big fan of Mint myself, but after my experience with Lisa, I think I am going to step back for a couple releases and come back to it a year from now. The changes it has absorbed are pretty severe and time is required for them to settle down and mature.

A look at KDE 4.8 Dolphin 2.0

2011-11-14T03:48:00.001-08:00

As some of you may know, one of the most exciting changes/features landing at KDE 4.8 is Dolphin 2.0. The KDE main file manager is already full of powerful features and has seen its performance heavily improved in recent releases, but sounds like the jump to version 2.0 will bring several impressive extras.

Peter Penz goes deep into details in his ARTICLE on the subject, so I very much encourage reading it in full for those interested. For a quick summary, though, here are some highlights:

Dolphin 2.0 will no longer use Qt's Interview Framework: "The new view-engine for Dolphin 2.0 is built on a (very) modified subset of Itemviews-NG. In the longterm (probably with Qt 5) it is planned to integrate Qt-Quick but this affects only a non-critical minor part of the view-engine and has not high priority at the moment."

The benefits of this new approach include improved performance, unclipped filenames and more flexibility around item boundaries, which no longer have to be rectangular nor as big as they used to be.
Grouping enhanced: "Currently the "grouping" feature is only supported for the icons mode but will be available for all view-modes in Dolphin 2.0."
Animated Transitions: Probably the feature that adds less value, but the most visually evident and thus, the one that has created most noise. Here´s a preview which demonstrates this feature:

Personally, I think it adds to the eyecandy side of things, those animations do look good, but I have no strong feelings one way or the other. It seems Peter made sure those animations wouldn´t end up becoming a bloat fest, so as long as Dolphin does not slow down, I am good.
Reduced complexity: "From a developers point of view the new engine simplifies the maintenance a lot and lowers the barrier for developers to contribute patches for Dolphin."

So there you have it, Dolphin 2.0 is definitely one more reason to look forward to KDE 4.8, which will go live some time in January 2012.

My Fedora 16 fiasco

2011-11-10T00:09:00.000-08:00

I was very much looking forward to testing Fedora 16, to finding out about its latest new features and enhancements, so I downloaded the ISO images for both GNOME 3.2 and KDE 4.7 and on I went to test. I was so confident that both would be so great that I decided to wipe out Mandriva from one of my machines to make room for Verne. Unfortunately, my experience was short lived and a bit of a disaster.

To test and install Verne, I decided to use my HP 2730p and 2740p tablets. Specifically, I wanted to install both on the latter, being a model that´s usually demanding and difficult in terms of hardware recognition. That would also allow me to compare how KDE and GNOME squeeze the latest from Fedora camp following an accurate approach. My plan was also to install the KDE flavor on the former, given that I like Fedora better than Mandriva myself. Unfortunately, I was not able to get anything working.

On the 2740p, both the GNOME and KDE Live desktops would load perfectly and smoothly (albeit without support for the on board Broadcom Wireless card, a disappointment, I have to admit), so on I went with the installation. I used all standard steps, nothing fancy, choosing to use the full internal drive in both cases. I got identical results: an apparently good and complete installation that wouldn´t boot. In fact, it rendered my hard drive useless, for I was getting your typical "non-system drive found..." error. Because it happened in both cases, I started to worry that my drive was indeed broken, but after a quick Kubuntu installation, everything was working fine, so the conclusion is that both Fedora flavors were failing on me miserably.

On the 2730p, the error was even more interesting. Both GNOME and KDE Live desktops would load, but with a very weird and persistent screen flicker that would not go away. First time I had seen anything like that happening on a machine that has proven its worth with Linux, successfully running Fedora 14 and 15 in the past. Thinking that the problem could be down to the Live Desktop and hoping it would go away after the installation took place, I decided to go on anyways, but in both cases the installer would crash when completing the post-installation steps... Argh!!!

Here's a video of the terrible screen flickering:

Now, here's the crash (apologies, the quality is not that great!):

So there you have it, no Fedora fun for me. This is particularly disappointing because I am using machines that ran previous versions of Fedora smoothly. There may be a remote chance that it is all down to the ISO files I downloaded being corrupt, but I doubt it (EDIT: Indeed, it has nothing to do with the quality of the ISOs). I will download them again and give it another go anyways (EDIT: I did and didn't work), but I don´t keep much hope that I will be able to enjoy Fedora 16 any time soon (EDIT: Sounds about right, unfortunately).

How was your experience? Did you encounter any installation problems?

Fuduntu goes solo!

2011-11-08T00:13:00.000-08:00

Quick note to both congratulate Fuduntu on its first year and to let you know that it has become independent from Fedora, as it recently forked from the Red Hat sponsored distribution (more on the official ANNOUNCEMENT). Fuduntu was already a very interesting distro, but it will be even more so now, when it will have the opportunity to fly solo.

Where will it take us in its second year? Let´s wait and see.

Linux Mint 12 promises interesting changes!

2011-11-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to quickly share a recent Linux Mint Blog ENTRY which explains some of the most relevant changes and features that will make their debut sometime late november, come Linux Mint 12. That post is very interesting (screenshot included) and I can tell you some very interesting surprises are coming!.

Want a hint? Say "GNOME Shell"...

Next Ubuntu sounds good

2011-11-03T04:01:00.000-07:00

No, I am not a fan of how "precise pangolin" rings, it´s just that I am hearing things about the next LTS Ubuntu release that I find interesting and promising.

On the one hand, I like the fact that Ubuntu 12.04 development will focus on stability and polish. The following are a couple excerpts from Mark Shuttleworth´s own POST on the upcoming Ubuntu release:

"so this cycle is an opportunity to put perfection front and center."

"While there are some remaining areas we’d like to tweak the user experience, they will probably be put on hold so we can focus on polish, performance and predictability."

At last the words I wanted to hear... I still don´t like Unity and don´t think I will even after they improve it, but I am glad they decided to stop, think and get it to at least work as it was meant to when they designed it. In addition, further improvements in different elements that made their debut in 11.10 are expected, such as better integration of LightDM. I think Canonical also decided to extend LTS release support to 5 years now, so things are aligning towards a very promising release.

Last but definitely not least, we have seen some previews of what could become Ubuntu´s very own new icon theme. I personally think they look amazing and if they end up finally becoming the default theme in 12.04, Ubuntu looks will take a huge step forward! (See the previews from Yellowicon own site HERE).

The mistery of Chakra Linux

2011-10-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

As many of you probably noticed from recent articles of mine, I very much like what KDE is doing lately. As a result, it's sort of an obvious move for me to gravitate towards great KDE implementations. In that regard, Chakra is a very interesting one, not only because it is solely dedicated to KDE, but also because it is based on Arch Linux.

Unfortunately for me, I cannot even get Chakra to start working. I follow the instructions in their Wiki and think I am doing things right, but no joy. I am pretty certain it's all down to hardware support issues, but perhaps I am missing something, so I decided to post about it, describe what I am doing and see if someone can chime in and offer advice or a fix (plus I want to try a different approach, not the usual Forums/IRC).

Yesterday I went on and downloaded the latest release, Chakra 2011.10.26, from HERE. Since I have an assortment of machines, I usually am conservative and go for the 32bit release, chakra-2011.10.26-Edn-i686.iso in this case.Once downloaded, I successfully tested it under Virtualbox, being able to boot the ISO and navigate the Chakra desktop in my virtual machine. That told me the ISO was good, so it was time to create a LiveUSB. In order to do so, I go as follows:

Enter a USB drive and format it as FAT32.
Unmount it from a terminal:

sudo umount /dev/sdb2
Copy the ISO to the USB using dd:

sudo dd if=chakra-2011.10.26-Edn-i686.iso of=/dev/sdb
After a few minutes, the process finishes (apparently) successfully. I then test the newly created LiveUSB drive on my old trusty HP NX7400 and it works just fine, which in this case tells me the creation of the LiveUSB worked out well.
Since I don't want to install Chakra on my 7400 because it is, well, old, I aim for the other more modern machines I use. When I plug the LiveUSB in and start up any of those machines, I get nothing but a frozen BIOS screen while the USB drive seems to keep reading and reading.

The machines I use include: HP 5320m Elitebook, HP 6930p Elitebook, HP 2730p Elitebook and HP 2740p Elitebook (the former two are notebooks while the latter are tablets). All these four machines are very much Linux friendly and I have never experienced issues loading something as elementary as the boot manager.

Any ideas welcome!

Cantarell, a new favorite font of mine

2011-10-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago, I read that Sabayon had put together a very good GNOME 3.2 implementation (unfortunately, I read that from their own Sabayon 7 announcement, it actually isn't that good), which made me change my mind and give it a go before I had planned (before Fedora 16, that is).

I have to say I am impressed. GNOME 3.2 feels amazingly mature for such a young project, offering significant improvements in about every area. Having said so, several important features didn't work as expected (which I feel has more to do with Sabayon itself, to be honest), so I will not go into a detailed review until I have a chance to test Verne. I will talk about one thing that really caught my attention, though: Cantarell, the project's default font (Read more about it HERE)

In all honesty, I hadn't noticed this font much until testing GNOME 3.2, so I am not sure if it changed since the .0 release, or if font rendering has improved. Whatever it was, I am glad it happened, because Cantarell is a new favorite font of mine.

As you can see from the screenshots, Cantarell is stylish and beautiful, but most importantly, crisp and easy to read. With the help of the Faenza icon theme, it shines and helps make the GNOME desktop even prettier.

Kubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot' Review

2011-10-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Just a few days ago the latest from the X-buntu family went live, including Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and of course, Kubuntu. I was looking forward to playing around with it, specially since I had liked the previous release quite a bit. Kubuntu has indeed come quite far since I first tested it, back in 2008, from a KDE distro most people ditched as "not recommended" for Ubuntu users who wanted to take a look at KDE (me included), to a very decent contestant in a very tight fight for the K crown.

Kubuntu 11.10 incorporates many interesting features and new applications that make it extremely interesting. Here are some highlights:

- KDE 4.7.1 (4.7.2 available on the update repositories): The much anticipated Kontact 4.7 features, the exciting new OpenGL-ES and improved rendering effects, the enhancements in network manager, as well as fixes to Nepomuk, Dolphin, Amarok and many others, the latest from KDE is certainly exciting and worth checking.

- Muon package manager: Finally an up to date replacement to KPackageKit!

- Kernel 3.0 series

I guess it would be legitimate to claim most of those features/enhancements/fixes are not Kubuntu's but upstream, but the integration the Kubuntu developers put in place is critical, the factor that can make them fly or crash. Therefore, I will not try to limit this review to Kubuntu exclusive features, but look at the whole picture and see how it goes. Let's jump into it.

INSTALLATION AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Kubuntu sticks to good old LiveCDs ISO images, which means download times are short and convenient, which is welcome. Being so popular, it is standard for applications like UnetBootin, so creating a LiveUSB on a spare 1GB thumb drive takes just a few seconds.

After booting from the LiveUSB, we are given two options: Try or Install Kubuntu. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, I ALWAYS recommend trying first. It will give you a very good idea of where you stand in terms of hardware support and save lots of headaches in the long run.

The installation process in Kubuntu 11.10 is almost identical to that of 11.04, with one minor feature addition that allows for the installation of third party software (this time apparently including Wireless drivers) while the installation takes place. The lack of change is nothing but good news in this case, because the (K)ubuntu installation wizard is mature, solid, quick and pretty... about as good as it gets, really.

Booting for the first time is not that exciting, though, for no changes are apparent in this latest release. GRUB2, Plymouth, KDM and its splash screen all look exactly as they did in 11.04. One has to wait until reaching the desktop to see KDE 4.7.1 in action, as well as other new Oneric features. The overall feel is that Kubuntu 11.10 is somewhat more responsive than its predecessor, though.

DIVING DEEPER

The first welcome thing is that Kubuntu 11.10 managed to detect and correctly configure all the hardware onboard of my HP Probook 5320m, including its infamous Broadcom wireless card, webcam, etc. I am guessing Kernel 3.0 is to blame here, but having said so, Kubuntu 11.10 still incorporates its advanced features to help identify and solve hardware recognition issues, probably the best among KDE distros.

With wireless working right out of the box, it was time to get system updates (the 1st most important step to complete after installing a Linux distro). As expected, for I was installing one day after release date, there was nothing waiting for me. However, I was eager to get my hands on KDE 4.7.2, a recommended upgrade because it includes important Kontact and Nepomuk fixes, but also noticeable improvements on effects rendering (see my post on this HERE). In fact, for those interested, let me quickly go over the few steps I took to get my Kubuntu installation up to speed:

1.- Run a quick system update. You may do so using Muon or CLI:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

2.- Enable all repositories (main, universe, restricted, multiverse). Simply open Muon, Settings Menu > Configure Software Sources and tick all options once you authenticate as administrator. From the Other Software tab, click Canonical Partners as well.

3.- Change your Download Server. Depending on where you live, you may find it useful to choose a different server than the one set by default. It's a bit of trial an error, but if download times are reasonable, I would say there is no need to change anything. In case you have to, though, you can do so from the "Download from" picklist under Settings Menu > Configure Software. You can select "Other..." and find which server works out faster from your location.

4.- Add the Update repositories PPA. Simply run the following command from a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/ppa.

5.- Install codecs. You can do so by installing the restricted extra PPA. Just click HERE and complete the steps required.

6.- Update sources. You can easily do so from Muon or from CLI:

sudo apt-get update

7.- Upgrade to KDE 4.7.2. From a terminal, run:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

This may take a while!

After getting everything up to speed and very little tweaking, here's what my Oneiric Ocelot desktop looks like:

Click on image to enlarge

Hot stuff, huh? ;-)

ABOUT KDE 4.7.2

KDE continues to improve release after release. With the updated Oxygen icon set, it looks even better than before, so anybody can set up a beautiful desktop filled with gorgeous smooth effects after literally just a few clicks. Surprisingly, 4.7.2 also feels lighter, faster and more solid (even if 4.6.5 was already great), and the enhanced desktop effects truly make a difference. In fact, I think this is the first time I feel Kwin effects perform as smoothly as Compiz, which is quite something considering KDE users get the whole package natively inside Kwin, certainly a big plus.

Click on image to enlarge

Now, like I said, those effects are quite something, but there are lots of interesting things coming with this latest release. One of the most impressive ones is Kontact and the whole KDE PIM suite, which get significant updates.

Click on image to enlarge

To begin with, I loved the account creation wizard, which set up my Gmail account easily and quickly. Setting up the calendar and contacts was a bit harder than it would be on, say, Thunderbird, but Kontact provides better integration within the KDE environment, plus it provides other interesting features, such as the impressive Akreggator.

Click on image to enlarge

All in all, I am very impressed with Kontact as a whole, it is a mammoth application that covers a lot of ground, yet it does not feel particularly heavy. I have experienced a bit of a lack in stability here and there, but given I am testing so short after Kubuntu 11.10 was released, I cannot really complain.

Click on image to enlarge

Dolphin also got some changes, most noticeably, the removal of its top menu. I have no opinion on this change, don't really mind, specially because the menu can be brought back if the user so wants. Other than that, it continues to look amazingly good, but it is also fast and light, even more than Nautilus on GNOME 2.32, according to my testing. With the enhancements in Nepomuk (which will get even better come the next dot release, according to Sebastian Trueg), searching truly works great and allows for pretty complex queries from the GUI. In fact, Nepomuk and Strigi work better than ever in 4.7.2, with fast indexing and reasonable consumption of resources.

Click on image to enlarge

On the media department, Amarok 2.4.3 is on duty. I personally tend to gravitate to Clementine myself, but it's hard to deny Amarok's strengths... plus it's become much more responsive and feels lighter now. Dragon is the default video player, perhaps one of the weakest application choices. VLC took over pretty quickly as I began installing applications.

Click on image to enlarge

Internet browsing duties are managed by Rekonq, which is now two releases old. It is therefore a very young project, but very promising looking at how much improvement there was in just 6 months. Rekonq works great, is tightly intergrated, very fast and easy to use. On the down side of things, it's not as stable as the "big names" in the browsing business and lacks important features (automatic spell-checking for a start, but also cloud synchronization a la Chrome-ium/Firefox). In fact, I tend to think these projects are a bit of a waste of time myself, specially considering Mozilla Firefox is fully open source and, thanks to the OxygenGTK project, looks very much native in KDE. Why reinvent the wheel when there is already something available that is THAT good?

Click on image to enlarge

MUON SOFTWARE MANAGER

The brand new software manager suite in Kubuntu 11.10 well deserves a section of its own. Muon is an interesting departure from KPackageKit, and one that I personally very much welcome. As was the case with Rekonq, one could expect Muon to be slow, unstable or short in features, but it does a great job at providing a good looking and performing software manager to Kubuntu users.

Click on image to enlarge

Muon does many things incredibly well, such as:

- Performance. Start times are short, search results are very fast and even application information comes back very quickly. In that sense Muon does much better than old brother's Ubuntu Software Center.

- Information. Not only does Muon provide ratings on applications, it also includes add-on suggestions should the application support them.

- Keep Track. One can easily follow up the installation activity thanks to its interesting History feature.

Click on image to enlarge

All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised with Muon. I expected an immature application, but I guess the decision from its main developer to skip Kubuntu 11.04 was nothing but right. I hope Muon continues to be actively developed and improved, for if that is to happen, Kubuntu users will have a software manager that will lead the bunch in the KDE World for a long, long time.

THAT GOOD? REALLY?

As is the case in any release, Kubuntu 11.10 was not free of issues, and I have seen a few crashes here and there, most of which were "one-offs". One issue that I cannot get around of is related to the main menu "edit applications" feature, which allows for customization of application shortcuts, descriptions and icons system wide. I have noticed that, whenever I change an application icon, not only does the change not work, but it will make the application entry disappear from the "edit applications" menu, forcing me to reset to system menu. This is annoying because I love to tweak things and change some of my favorite apps icons, but it can hardly be considered a major thing. Besides, the first month is usually busy bug-fixing time on all releases, so I am sure things will get further polished as we go along.

Kubuntu also suffers from the huge notoriety of its older brother, and the fact that it inherits bits and pieces from a project that is VERY GTK oriented. As such, I was disappointed not to find qt-recordmydesktop, which forces users to have to put up with the GTK interface of this good screencast application. Moreover, and even if Oxygen-GTK is supposed to work for GTK applications, all of them look like crap on Kubuntu 11.10. Anything from GIMP to LibreOffice looks like something was broken.

Still, Oneiric Ocelot it is the most solid Kubuntu release I have used to date. It excels in hardware management, successfully setting up all devices on board, as well as dealing with historically "sensible" features, such as suspend and hibernate modes. I have used it non-stop since I got it, going into sleep mode and then waking the machine up numerous times, and not only did it work perfectly, but Wireless connection always resumed flawlessly (and fast!). Installing my HP 2600n printer was a breeze, literally plugged it in and got confirmation of successful configuration after 20 seconds.

In fact, I dual boot on my HP5320m with Windows7, and in so many ways Kubuntu simply blows it out of the water. In boot times it is around 40% faster, but also faster overall in day to day desktop activities. Similarly, hardware support is simply more convenient (even with the Windows 7 license on board being HP tweaked, it took several minutes to download an install my printer drivers), unless talking about a specific device which is not supported by the Kernel. The only bit Kubuntu (and Linux in general) still misses is better power management, a category in which Windows simply rocks thanks to its optimized proprietary drivers.

GO GET IT!

So there you have it, an awesome Kubuntu release that I recommend to all kinds of users.

Download, install and have fun!

Big SELinux improvements to land on Fedora 16

2011-10-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Fedora is a distribution that I am slowly appreciating more and more as I keep using it. Sure, it´s not as polished for home users as other alternatives out there, but it is a great product nonetheless, and once one gets confortable using it, it is a solid and reliable partner. Having said so, I still believe there are significant areas of improvement, such as the already mentioned lack of polish for home users, but also other things, such as performance levels that are not up there with its competition. I am excited to see this performance piece addressed prior to the Fedora 16 release, including promising enhancements in systemd, the complete removal of HAL, but probably most importantly, some much needed improvements in SELinux.

Testing on those improvements has thrown impressive results with significant cuts on boot times as well as applications start up times (for those that rely or interact with SELinux, that is). Dan Walsh has put together an ARTICLE on this, which I recommend reading in full in case you want to get better understanding of what this changes are and what their impact may be. If you are only interested in a high level summary including those impressive figures, though, here it is:

POLICY SIZE

Fedora 15 machine SELinux Policy size (compare the allow and dontaudit values):

$ seinfo
Statistics for policy file: /etc/selinux/targeted/policy/policy.24
Policy Version & Type: v.24 (binary, mls)
Allow:          282444
Dontaudit:      184516

Fedora 16 machine SELinux Policy size:

$ seinfo
Statistics for policy file: /etc/selinux/targeted/policy/policy.26
Policy Version & Type: v.26 (binary, mls)
Allow:           88242
Dontaudit:       11302

BOOT TIMES

Boot times showed similar improvements. Before the change was implemented:

Jul 28 06:39:29 tlondon systemd[1]: Startup finished in 3s 336ms 755us (kernel) + 11s 625ms 240us (initrd) + 28s 189ms 914us (userspace) = 43s 151ms 909us.

Now with the change in place:

Jul 29 06:00:41 tlondon systemd[1]: Startup finished in 1s 844ms 542us (kernel) + 4s 999ms 977us (initrd) + 29s 239ms 766us (userspace) = 36s 84ms 285us.

6.5 seconds faster!.

KERNEL MEMORY

Finally, another interesting piece is a much reduced use of resources. Below you can see the Kernel memory consumption in a Red Hat 6 machine (without these improvements):

RHEL 6

# du -s /etc/selinux/targeted/policy/policy.24
6004 /etc/selinux/targeted/policy/policy.24

Now, Fedora 16 with the changes implemented.

# du -s /etc/selinux/targeted/policy/policy.26
2156 /etc/selinux/targeted/policy/policy.26

CAN´T WAIT!

If these results remain consistent when the final version is released, and if they sit on top of the improvements brought by systemd changes and HAL removal, I think we are in for the fastest Fedora experience ever!

Bring it on already!

Make KDE feel like home for the Firefox

2011-10-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, pretty much anybody using KDE probably agrees that Firefox sticks out inside the K desktop like a drop of milk on black coffee. It is a superb browser and the quick development pace Mozilla has adopted is only making it better in a much faster fashion, but looks are also very important, aren't they?

How about making Firefox look like a native KDE app? Check out the screenshot below!

Click on image to enlarge.

Alright, if you want to achieve the same results, it is actually quite simple. The screenshot above shows Firefox 7 using Oxygen KDE 3.5.1, which you can download from HERE. Once the .xpi file is downloaded, drag and drop it to Firefox Add-ons manager screen and it will get installed. A restart of the application is then required for the new theme to become active.

Thanks to KDE BLOG for sharing this!

GNOME 3.2 Released, tons of new features!

2011-09-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

Just a very quick entry to let you all know that GNOME 3.2 is already available. It incorporates lots of new and awesome features that I will be testing when Fedora 16 final is out (don´t want to spoil the fun by forcing an installation on top of a distro release that may not be fully ready for this latest release). While we wait for Verne, though, it is a good idea to see what will be available for all GNOME 3.2 users.

The GNOME team have done a great job summarizing those features and enhancements, so please visit their Release Notes PAGE.

I already liked GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell under Fedora 15 (although I admit it took a little bit of effort to adjust to it), but with these great features I see GNOME as a truly great product (assuming they work as expected, of course). I do feel it has more than enough to satisfy any kind of user... Unless they are into heavy eye candy customization, that is.

The truth about Linux Power Management "issues"

2011-09-29T02:16:00.000-07:00

Anybody who's even remotely interested in Linux probably heard about a "power regression bug" in the Linux Kernel that was making lots of noise lately. The whole thing started from several posts at Phoronix, which not only stated the problem, but also accused the Linux Kernet team of completely ignoring it and doing nothing to fix it.

Power management is anything but a simple subject, so a big majority of us users hardly know enough to challenge claims about a power management bug. To make matters worse, many Linux users dual boot with Windows, which usually does a better job at energy saving (thanks to optimized proprietary drivers). For most of those users who could notice how their Linux installation ate their laptop battery faster than Windows, it didn't take much to give this rumor solid credibility. Therefore, the fact that Linux Kernel developers were apparently doing nothing about it simply felt all the more annoying, which only helped spread the rumor like fire on a windy day.

Well, guess what? That's all it is, a rumor. FEWT, the main developer behind the wonderful FUDUNTU distro and the slick Jupiter power management application has put together a very informative ARTICLE on this, clarifying some of the misconceptions spread by the whole power bug fiasco originator, Michael Larabel.

I very much recommend reading FEWT's article to understand this matter a bit better, and most importantly, to avoid spreading this poisoning rumor any further.

Thanks FEWT for putting the time to clarify this one!

Quick update about Windows 8 and Linux

2011-09-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

An ARTICLE by Sam Dean sheds some light on this subject, which raised concerns from Linux users who could be at risk of not being able to run their favorite OS on Windows 8 certified hardware. Sam shares portions of a response to those lockout claims from Microsoft´s Tony Mangefeste. As can be read from the excerpt below, it sounds like Microsoft has no interest in limiting what end users are able to do with their machines:

"At the end of the day, the customer is in control of their PC. Microsoft’s philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience first, and allow them to make decisions themselves... For the enthusiast who wants to run older operating systems, the option is there to allow you to make that decision."

This is by no means guarantee that installing Linux on those machines will be smooth sailing, because while Microsoft may not enforce those policies, they may recommend them, or hardware manufacturers may decide to follow that route on their own. I can think of reasons why that would be the case, such as potentially simpler support scope if they stick to Microsoft´s recommendations and limit other options.

Anyways, I guess we will have to wait and see, but Microsoft´s position is at least not as threatening as it first sounded like. Not a bad start.

Bring on the comments police!

2011-09-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Alright, I am tired of the huge amount of spam comments the blog is getting, so I decided to review comments before they are actually published. I know this will delay the whole process and will make the experience less satisfactory for those who truly want to share their opinions and interact with others, but I think it is the only way to truly limit the amount of spam posts I am getting.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Is Windows 8 a Linux killer?

2011-09-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

ITWorld has published an interesting ARTICLE about Windows 8 OEM specs that sounds quite worrying for us Linuxers. It's a little bit complex and involves legal issues, so I very much recommend reading it, but it comes down to this: Windows 8 certified computers will make it very hard for Linux users to install their favorite OS, and dual booting sounds impossible at this stage with the information we have.

WHAT IS THE RISK?

Tough to say at this stage, but it certainly sounds like an actual threat. In real terms, though, if we look at how slowly Windows 7 is growing when compared to Windows XP in terms of market share, it would take a long, long time before we run out of hardware options. Many large corporations are still on XP, ready to squeeze it to the last drop before they have to put big money on the table to transition to Windows 7. When they do, though, it is highly unlikely they will be willing to quickly invest into moving to Windows 8, specially considering the radical changes brought to the picture by its new Metro interface. Long story short, I believe corporations won't see any reason to move to Windows 8 in the next few years, which will force hardware manufacturers to continue to support more conventional (and incidentally Linux friendly) computers.

Another interesting fact is that Linux is second to none when it comes to mobile devices. Android is groing faster than its competition, clearly leading as the OS most manufactures build mobile devices for. Considering the recent changes in GNOME and KDE (Plasma active), as well as Ubuntu's Unity, it wouldn't be crazy to think the preferred hardware target for Linux users in a few years could be Android compatible tablets. Who knows when things move and change so fast!?

Last but not least, Linux users still have an interesting option available: If Linux does one thing very well is getting the most out of old hardware. Therefore, if it comes to that, Linux users should still be able to use their favorite distro on their current hardware and stick to it for years before they need to think of an alternative.

ONLY TIME WILL TELL...

Windows 8 is still very much in the works and things around it may still change, so we will have to wait and see how things eventually unfold. The great thing is that it doesn't seem like we will run out of options any time soon, even if Microsoft wants the Penguin extinguished.

NOTE: Thanks to Andrew at WebUpd8 for his article on this topic!

Support Nepomuk

2011-09-15T02:33:00.000-07:00

Just a very quick entry to echo a message from Nepomuk's lead developer, Sebastian Trüg. He is in a difficult situation due to the recent financial problems Mandriva has experienced and is asking for help so he can continue to make Nepomuk a reality.

The following is an excerpt from his own Blog ARTICLE:

"In the last months I have not been paid. It has been, and still is, an uncertain situation with an uncertain future in which I was still hoping that Mandriva would recover from their financial problems. But slowly hope and savings are running low.

Since I see a golden future for the semantic desktop in general and Nepomuk in particular I would prefer to continue working on it instead of choosing some other unrelated job. There was great progress in Nepomuk in the last months, the community grows, and the system design is nearly matured. My departing from the project would essentially stop the development since I am still the only one working full-time on Nepomuk and having a deep knowledge of every part of the system.

Thus, if you think the semantic desktop is worth the effort, if you are interested in feature like semantic desktop search, sharing of relations between people, projects, events, files, emails, if you want the Semantic Save come to life, if you want Plasma Active to distance itself from the rest through powerful features exposed in Contour, if you want to browse files independent of physical folders, if you want to save snippets of web pages, pdfs, images, and others, annotate and tag them, if you want the system to adopt to contextual changes and previous usage patterns, if you want to organize your work the way your brain works then please support my work on Nepomuk."

So yeah, if you love Nepomuk and want to see it mature further, please help Sebastian. If you are not interested in this project or cannot offer financial help, please speak up and pass on the message. The more people aware of this, the better!

Thanks!

Get in the Fedora Ring

2011-09-14T00:46:00.000-07:00

Ever since I tested and witnessed the significant improvements in Fedora 15 (both GNOME and KDE), I have been looking forward to yet another improvement come Fedora 16. This time around, it is even more exciting, for Fedora 16 will sport GNOME 3.2, a release that promises lots of interesting new features and enhancements, as well as KDE 4.7.2 (I think... and hope!), which also incorporates lots of exciting stuff.

Now, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to compare the latest from both desktop managers under the same hardware and distro? I personally think it would be interesting to see how each compares now that GNOME has had a few months to settle down and KDE has matured even further. I guess it could be argued that GNOME is still too young for this to be a totally fair comparison, but given how its developers decided to limit its set of features and complexity, it should be fine.

So, what do you think? Interested in this comparison? I'd like to see if this is equally interesting to you, but also which areas/concepts the comparison should concentrate on (i.e., ease of use, performance, Look&Feel, etc.).

Please comment below!

The art of stealing

2011-09-13T03:54:00.000-07:00

I accidentally stumbled across this blog POST by some Mohamed Malik about PCLinuxOS 2010.1. I was reading through, interested in checking out what others found great about this fantastic distro... After a while, I started to find it creepy that our findings and conclusions were almost identical. I was so surprised that I went back to my review... And there it was, almost the exact same thing, therefore stolen word by word!

For anyone interested, here's my original REVIEW

I love Linux, love sharing my experience with it and hope that other people may benefit from reading my articles. Having said so, my reviews and comparisons take time and effort, and while I obviously don't register my material and am happy if someone else uses or refers to it, I hope they credit the source (just like I do myself).

Either way you look at it, I think it's pathetic that someone would copy and paste my review, then tweak it to make it look like original material.

PATHETIC!!!!

A Look at Plasma Active

2011-09-12T02:09:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share a nice video Aaron Seigo recently shared on his BLOG on Plasma Active. The project entered Beta status around ten days ago and is already looking interesting.

The quality of the video is not great, but Aaron's explanation makes it easy to understand and see how this interesting initiative is coming together. You may want to read his full blog ARTICLE for further details.

Enjoy!

Significant improvements coming to Kwin

2011-09-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's used KDE for the past couple years has surely witnessed the vast improvements in performance it has experienced lately. These improvements were particularly evident once KDE 4.6 went live, so much so that, for the first time ever, I can't tell the difference in performance between my trusty Ubuntu 10.10 GNOME 2.32 desktop and my PCLinuxOS KDE 4.6.5 desktop.

Well, if you were happy about that, you'll be pleased to hear that things are about to get better very soon. Martin Gräßlin has shared some very good news on the matter in a recent blog ENTRY of his. The content of that article is somewhat technical, but I think anyone can follow and understand what the gains will be.

Long story short, Martin wanted to understand why Kwin couldn't reach 60 frames per second rendering and do so consistently, so he started an investigation, going through the code to try to spot a bug. Luckily for all of us KDE users, he did find a bug and fixed it, and anticipates considerable rendering improvements coming to KDE as soon as 4.7.2 goes live. Even more importantly, further and more significant improvements will be part of KDE 4.8, so I think we will see Kwin effects perform faster and smoother than ever very soon!! (even if 60 frames/sec. is still out of reach)

BIG Thank you, Martin!

King of KDistros

2011-09-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, done at last! After some time gathering opinions from readers and quite some more time testing each one of the contenders, I have finished my comparison of the best of the best in KDE distros.

...Want to know the winner?? Read on!!!

THE CONTENDERS

The final list of contenders was not directly extracted from the poll I put together. I decided to include some other distros at some readers request, as well as leaving one behind. The infamous leftover was Chakra, which I didn't manage to install (used both 2011.4 and 2011.9 images and followed all suggestions in the project's own Wiki with identical results: None) and the additions were Mandriva and Fedora. The final list of contenders goes as follows:

OpenSUSE 11.4 (12.1 Milestone 5 was still too un stable)
Mandriva 2011
Fedora 15 (16 Alpha was still too unstable)
PCLinuxOS 2011
Kubuntu 11.04
Pardus 2011.1

CRITERIA & SCORING

Alright, so we have the contenders, the next thing we need to define is the criteria by which they will be judged. Here's the list I will use:

It just works
User Friend... or foe?
Performance
Software Management & Applications
Hardware Friendliness
Aesthetic Uniqueness
Media support

Now, all distros will be judged against each of those categories and be given a score based on how they do. Scores will go as follows:

Score		Description
5		Excellent
4		Good
3		Average
2		Poor
1		Terrible

As a technical note, all distros were tested on the same piece of hardware, an HP 2740p Tablet PC (except for Pardus, which was tested on an HP 2730p). I chose to do it that way because I wanted a fair and consistent testing environment, but also because I know it is a great, high performing computer which sports some hardware devices that are not always easy to configure. As such, it would pose a challenge to the different distros hardware support capabilities, clearly showing where each stands in this area. I am aware that this approach would also narrow down the testing conclusions to a very specific scenario, so please keep in mind that scores and overall results described in this article may not apply everywhere.

Alright, we're good to go now... Let's dive right in!

IT JUST WORKS

Whenever I test a Linux distro (or any piece of software for that matter), the first thing that comes to mind is whether it does what it should do. If it doesn't, or if it does in such a cumbersome way that it is effectively not viable for standard users to actually use, then I simply discard such distro. As a result, it made sense to start this comparison here.

Because this is the first item in the comparison, let me explain a bit how I will approach each of these items. Basically, since there is a big number of distros that I have to compare against quite a few criterias, in the interest of time and space, I will only go into detail when something is remarkably good or terribly wrong. Distros that do a good enough job won't get too much attention, so their actual score will be the best indication on how they did.

PCLinuxOS is rock solid, everything works as expected.

Anyways, if there is one distro in this comparison that I can highlight as an example of smooth use and out-of-the-box functionality, that would be PCLinuxOS. It pretty much required nothing from my side to get things working, providing a satisfying experience right off the bat. At the other end of the spectrum we have OpenSUSE and Pardus. The former was often a nightmare to configure and use, both in hardware and software terms (more on this in my REVIEW) while the latter did not even boot due to problems with the onboard Intel HD graphics card. On different hardware, though, Pardus works OK, but to be fair to the rest of the contenders which did manage to get things rolling on the 2740p, I have to give it the lowest score in this category.

KDE Distro		Score
OpenSUSE 11.4		2
Mandriva 2011		4
Fedora 15		3
PCLinuxOS 2011		5
Kubuntu 11.04		4
Pardus 2011.1		1

USER FRIEND... OR FOE?

Even acknowledging the big late improvements in this area, KDE itself is not an example of an extremely intuitive and user friendly environment. Therefore, it is quite critical to find which distros smooth out the path for the end user. Along the same lines, none of what was discussed in the previous category makes any sense if users can't understand it. Therefore, I personally see this category and the previous one as the most important ones, and consider they go hand by hand.

So, how did I measure ease of use? It certainly is subjective to a certain extent, but I was specifically looking for wizards, popup messages and any kind of information that helps the user get things done. If the OS required the user input to configure something (like software repositories), was there any message providing the required information or was the user left on his/her own to find out? Similarly, I was considering each distro community size, documentation availability and average forum/IRC channels response times.

Pardus provides an extremely clean and user friendly installation wizard.

Looking at it from that angle, Pardus is slightly ahead of the bunch. The installation process is probably the most informative and best documented. Once on the desktop, users get introduced to their desktops by Kaptan, a wonderful wizard that allows for some basic tweaks that can prove time and frustration saving. It is a bit of shame that Kaptan only shows up on the first boot and is not easy to find thereafter, though. On a different note, software management in Pardus is by far the most user friendly of all distros compared here, as we will see in that specific category later. Mandriva gets second place, even if its installation is not as user friendly as Kubuntu's, but it does a much better job at informing the user on screen. The Mandriva Control Center is also a great tool that makes system management easier to deal with, specially for users coming from Windows. PCLinuxOS benefits from its Mandriva inheritance here, even if on-screen messages are nowhere as informative, as well as the fact that most configuration work is taken care of from square one. Kubuntu goes next, not because it is particularly intuitive, but mostly because of its top quality installation wizard and the huge community of people behind it, which results in a plethora of resources available on the web. OpenSUSE's Yast and great community support leave Fedora on last position in this category.

Note that no distro got Excellent scoring and there were no terrible scores either. That's because all distros are a bit weak on this area and in all cases there is big room for improvement. In addition, each distro has strong and weak spots, so at the end of the day I am concentrating on which ones provide a smoother experience for the Linux novice.

KDE Distro		Score
OpenSUSE 11.4		2
Mandriva 2011		4
Fedora 15		2
PCLinuxOS 2011		3
Kubuntu 11.04		3
Pardus 2011.1		4

PERFORMANCE

For this similarly important category, I will base my scoring on my experience over (approximately) a week of continued use of each distro. In other words, I didn't use any fancy benchmarking software or anything like that, just my experience over quite a big number of hours and working on very similar tasks.

PCLinuxOS felt faster and most responsive than its competition.

Yes, KDE 4.6.x already did bring significant performance and responsiveness improvements, so I must say all distros provided more than reasonable performance. Having said so, PCLinuxOS proved to be the most optimised and best tuned of the group, performing great both on my 2740p (whose solid state drive could have had a lot to do with it) but also on less powerful computers. OpenSUSE and Mandriva would follow with similar response times and overall performance feel to them. Pardus did OK, as did Kubuntu, but the latter did provide a bit of an inconsistent experience (menus freeze at times for no apparent reason). Fedora got to the checkered flag last once again, but not by a significant distance.

KDE Distro		Score
OpenSUSE 11.4		4
Mandriva 2011		4
Fedora 15		3
PCLinuxOS 2011		5
Kubuntu 11.04		3
Pardus 2011.1		3

SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT & APPLICATIONS

This category involves a number of concepts, ranging from the application provided to manage application installation to the number of applications available, as well as the ability of the distro to keep its applications up to date at a decent rate.

In my opinion, Pardus and PCLinuxOS cross the finish line together, each leading for different reasons. Pardus stands out due to the quality of its software manager application, which is the best there currently is in KDE land, if you ask me. It does OK in terms of keeping up with external application releases, but its relatively low popularity usually means third party software will not be installable until it's packaged on the distro repositories, or until the user compiles from code (if the option is available).

PCLinuxOS provides lots of applications that almost always are completely up to date.

PCLinuxOS' strength, on the other hand, comes from the awesome job its developers do at packaging software and keeping it current. The sheer amount of apps available from its repositories is overwhelming, as is the fact that updates come as quickly as system stability allows. Because of that, it hardly suffers from third party software developers not packaging for it specifically. Having said so, while Synaptic is a good software manager, it is quickly getting obsolete, plus it looks out of place inside KDE.

Fedora, Kubuntu and OpenSUSE provided similar experience, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, one could offer a better software manager while suffering from lower third party software availability or a slower rate at maintaining software current. Mandriva suffers from all three problems, not offering that many applications on its repositories, not managing to keep them that much in synch (Firefox and Thunderbird are still on version 5 as I type these lines), and not getting that much attention from third party software makers when they package for Linux.

KDE Distro		Score
OpenSUSE 11.4		4
Mandriva 2011		3
Fedora 15		4
PCLinuxOS 2011		5
Kubuntu 11.04		4
Pardus 2011.1		5

HARDWARE FRIENDLINESS

Some of you may consider this category the most important of all, and I would have to agree to a certain extent. After all, nothing really matters if the computer won't boot because no drivers are available to support the hardware in use. The only reason I didn't position it first is because all distros in this comparison (except for Pardus, perhaps) did a fairly good job in terms of hardware support. As a result, I expect most users to be able to get a reasonably good experience with any of them.

Note that I am not taking into account (just like I think most users won't) legal constraints here. I understand and many times share the open source view, but at the end of the day, users want an OS that allows them to get the most out of their computer. Because of that, I will score higher the distro that best manages hardware, regardless of whether it does so using open source or proprietary drivers. The way I see it, even if a certain distro does not include proprietary drivers out of the box, it should still provide an easy way for the user to install them if in need to do so (it's all about choice, right?).

PCLinuxOS managed to detect and correctly configure all devices in my HP 2740p.

PCLinuxOS leads this one by a significant distance, providing a satisfying experience for the end user and being able to recognize and correctly configure about any piece of hardware under the sun. Kubuntu comes second, if not for a particularly thorough catalog of drivers (proprietary ones are almost always left out), but because it does a great job at identifying what is missing and providing an easy way for the end user to overcome the problem. Mandriva follows closely, even if it failed to configure the onboard Broadcom wireless card (again, seems the final version didn't fix this problem). It did a great job with the rest of the hardware on board, though, plus it supports 3G mobile modems, something that still makes a difference (at least until NetworkManager0.9 shows up alongside KDE 4.7). Fedora was about the same as Mandriva, minus the 3G support. OpenSUSE was a bit of a nightmare and only after hours of tweaking provided partial support (the onboard mic never worked, quite a limitation when using applications like Skype). Pardus was by far the worst of the bunch, not even allowing me to boot on the 2740p. I had to test it on my 2730p, but even if that computer is usually Linux friendly, the wireless card wouldn't work.

KDE Distro		Score
OpenSUSE 11.4		2
Mandriva 2011		4
Fedora 15		3
PCLinuxOS 2011		5
Kubuntu 11.04		4
Pardus 2011.1		1

AESTHETIC UNIQUENESS

Alright, these are all obviously sharing the same KDE desktop, so how to decide which one looks best, specially when that is such a subjective thing? Well, I thought about it and decided to leave my own taste aside and talk about which distro has made a stronger effort to develop a unique character, a branding of sorts, if you will.

High scores in this category simply show which distros look more "customized", as opposed to others which may sport more of a pure KDE desktop Look&Feel. Therefore, scores here don't necessarily mean better or worse.

Mandriva's unique Look&Feel.

With the above in mind, Mandriva hits the top podium stand with its recent 2011 release. An almost entirely original icon theme, the rosa dash launcher, a completely revamped (and awesome looking) KDM theme, window decorations and controls, all make Mandriva stand out and look... only "KDEish". Pardus also adds many original touches, bit of a shame that the strong branding displayed during the installation is not properly translated to the desktop. On a similar level, OpenSUSE looks quite original, incorporating eyecandy of its own here and there. PCLinuxOS does include many of its own elements as well, from a custom GRUB screen to a PCLinuxOS splash screen, a couple KDM themes, custom plasma theme, etc. Unfortunately, and this is where subjective kicks in, I find them ugly myself. Fedora brings a very distinctive and beautiful KDM theme and wallpaper on an otherwise "stock" KDE setup, while Ubuntu sports an almost totally pure KDE desktop.

KDE Distro		Score
OpenSUSE 11.4		3
Mandriva 2011		5
Fedora 15		3
PCLinuxOS 2011		3
Kubuntu 11.04		1
Pardus 2011.1		4

MEDIA SUPPORT

We all know computers have become full blown media centers, capable of playing music, movies, manage and display photo collections, organise and read eBooks... you name it. Most of that functionality is offered by KDE itself, so instead of focusing on things all distros cover, I will concentrate on their readiness to play different media formats, as well as their choices in terms of media players, etc.

PCLinuxOS can play about anything you can think of.

If one is looking for a KDE distro capable of playing about any media format in existence, that must be PCLinuxOS. It's choice of applications is also great, including VLC, digiKam, Gwenview, Clementine and more. It also includes all kinds of plugins for browsers, such as Flash, Quicktime, Java, etc. Pardus comes loaded as well, and then the rest are pretty much on the same level, requiring the infamous "Things to do after installing XX" to get all media formats and plugins in place.

KDE Distro		Score
OpenSUSE 11.4		2
Mandriva 2011		2
Fedora 15		2
PCLinuxOS 2011		5
Kubuntu 11.04		2
Pardus 2011.1		4

OVERALL SCORES AND CONCLUSION

Ok, you still with me? If you are, thanks and congrats, this is a looooong article!

Summing up, PCLinuxOS shines in many categories and deserves the King of KDistros crown. I have already covered many of its strengths, but let me add its rolling release nature as yet another benefit. Users can install and pretty much forget about obsolescence of applications, downloading ISO images, testing, configuring their desktop after installation, etc.

Position	KDE Distro	Score
1st	PCLinuxOS 2011	31
2nd	Mandriva 2011	26
3rd	Pardus 2011.1	22
4th	Kubuntu 11.04	21
5th	Fedora 15	20
6th	OpenSUSE 11.4	19

Mandriva's bold move with their latest release deserves recognition as well. I think they have got it all right this time, and if luck is with them, they can become the next Ubuntu now that Unity is in the way and KDE is looking so strong. Pardus, Kubuntu and Fedora follow and are closedly matched, while OpenSUSE's poor behavior in a number of categories relegate it to last position.

I guess it's easy to figure it out, but I will be explicit about it: These are six of the top KDE distros out there, so they are all good quality products. Minor details can go a long way when comparing back to back, though, and that's where the results in this comparison come from. The most important thing is that KDE users can confidently smile looking forward, because their favorite desktop management is a truly impressive piece of work, providing a great user experience under many different distro combinations... and looks like it's only going to get better!

Introducing The amazing GPS (Gimp Paint Studio)

2011-09-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

It would be hard to find a Linux user who´s never heard of GIMP, the incredibly powerful GNU Image Manipulation Program. Unfortunately, GPS (Gimp Paint Studio) may not be known to that many people, but it certainly deserves to be, and users deserve to know about it.

WHAT IS GPS?

From the GPS site:

"GPS is a collection of brushes and accompanying tool presets. Tool presets are a simply saved tool options, highly useful feature of the GIMP.

The goal of GPS is to provide an adequate working environment for graphic designers and artists to begin to paint and feel comfortable with GIMP from their first use. Later the user will change these settings based on his own workflow preferences and understanding of GIMP."

...Alright, clear as mud? There really is nothing like seeing it in action, so here is a great video displaying what GPS 1.5 is capable of:

Quite impressive stuff, I must say.

I want to use the opportunity to congratulate fellow Spaniard Ramon Miranda for the amazing work he´s put on GPS.

Ubuntu, see you in October 2012

2011-09-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably know that Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot has reached Beta status today. After intentionally skipping any reference to Natty Narwhal (I didn't want to sound negative or overly skeptical), I was curious to see if the dreamy cat brings major improvements. Unfortunately, it does not sound like that's the case.

I can't say I have thoroughly tested Ubuntu 11.10, but I have quickly checked through the main new features and I must say it does not cut it for me. It feels slow, looks ugly, is needlessly cumbersome at times and plain irrational when it comes to some of its design decisions. Sadly, some interesting features like the introduction of Light DM and Thunderbird fall short when compared to a difficult to explain rush to hide pretty basic controls and a more than obvious desire to copy Apple. In fact, it seems like Ubuntu became "Linux for Human Beings ...that love Apple products!".

Unity keeps being the main reason for me to stay away from Ubuntu, with global menus coming close second. Unlike GNOME Shell, which (like it or hate it and even acknowledging its flaws) does feel like an entire and well-thought paradigm shift, Unity still feels like a glorified menu... that crashes way too often. I know, it does things that classic GNOME menu could not do, but I have not seen anything that justifies the switch.

On a different note, yes, this is simply a Beta, but I remember when I tested Ubuntu 10.10 Beta, it was like previewing the final release version, 95% solid. This feels like pre-Alpha software at times.

Anyways, enough with the complaining, just wanted to say that I have seen enough of Unity to know that I don't want to see any more until I have to. In other words, I will stick to my trusty Maverick Meerkat until it runs out of support in October 2012, hoping that Unity is mature enough by then. If not, I am fairly confident that GNOME Shell and most certainly KDE will be perfect alternatives.

No Ubuntu reviews for a while, it seems!

Congratulations to Google Blogger Team!

2011-09-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to quickly both congratulate and thank the Google team behind Blogger for the interface update the have put together.It looks awesome, light, intuitive, feels faster and provides more information than before.Big thank you!

Improve font rendering in Fedora 15 KDE

2011-08-28T01:38:00.000-07:00

Font rendering is a touchy subject for some, something completely irrelevant for others. It happens to be an important thing for me, for I find poor font rendering distracting, sometimes even demotivating.

When I tested Fedora in the past, I usually found font rendering different, poor when compared to Ubuntu's. That's obviously subjective, but I find Ubuntu font rendering smooth and good looking, while Fedora's is certainly not as smooth. In fact, this issue with font rendering was not limited to Fedora, for many other KDE distros apparently had the same problem.

In this particular case, I was testing Fedora 15 KDE for my King of KDistros article. I happen to love "Lovelock", so it kinda bugged me that font rendering was not up to par with the great overall quality of this last official Fedora release. As a result, I decided to do some research on the matter to make Lovelock look even better.

IMPROVING FONTS IN FEDORA

I quickly found that there are loads of resources available on the topic, often going into huge levels of detail. While I was finding those reads interesting, I didn't want to put that much time and effort into something like that, so I found a somewhat simple solution that provided a good enough result. Having said so, those interested may find the following two blog entries from Andreas Haerter particularly interesting:

How to change Fedora's font rendering to get an Ubuntu-like result

Ubuntu fonts installation for Fedora 15 Lovelock (and above)

Now, like I just said, I didn't go that far. Here are the steps I followed:

1.- In Fedora, install RPM Fusion (FREE and NON FREE) repositories (find more on this on RPM Fusion's own SITE).

2.- Install the freetype-freeworld font package.

NOTE: This package is not free (as in speech), so legal regulations may apply in your country.

su -c 'yum install freetype-freeworld'

3.- Install Droid Sans Fonts.(if you want to achieve the results shown in the screenshots below)

su -c 'yum install google-droid-sans-fonts'

4.- Create a backup for your fonts config file.

cp .fonts.conf .fonts.bak

5.- Edit your fonts config file:

kwrite .fonts.conf

6.- Change the hinting from hintmedium (as used in Fedora) to hintslight (as used in Ubuntu).

7.- Logout and then log back in.

NOW, HERE'S THE PROOF

That should do it, here are a couple screenshots showing the difference after applying the changes I just explained. First off, in a web browsing environment:

Now, in a desktop environment:

LIKE IT? USE IT!

So there you have it, a quick and easy way to make your fonts look a bit better in Fedora. As you can imagine, the same or similar steps would apply in other KDE distros with similar issues, only the freetype-freeworld package name may differ.

Have fun!

Happy Birthday, Tux!

2011-08-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

YES! Linux turns 20 years old today... now, ain't it awesome where the little Linus Tux has taken us!

King of KDistros - UPDATE

2011-08-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hey, quick update on this one:

I am struggling a bit to get all distros together. On the one hand, I wanted to test Milestone 4 from OpenSUSE´s upcoming 12.1, but it´s been delayed. On the other hand, Mandriva 2011 will be out in a few days, so I want to wait until the final production release is out. Finally, I downloaded the recently released Chakra 2011.04-r2, but I can´t install it (I managed to build the LiveUSB following the website instructions and even got the greeting load menu, but it won´t get past there!). Fortunately, I have Kubuntu 11.04 and PCLinuxOS 2011.6 successfully installed and already tested, with Pardus 2011.1 currently in the works.

I am aiming towards an early september completion for this article (hopefully!), sorry for the wait!

Mandriva 2011 Review

2011-08-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

In my recent King of KDistros poll, several readers wanted me to include Mandriva in the comparison, claiming it had become a KDE exclusive distro and that it was doing a great job with its latest release, Mandriva 2011. Having tested Mandriva 2010 not so long ago and feeling disappointed by its apparent lack of progress, I decided to leave Mandriva out of the poll. I felt PCLinuxOS already somewhat represented the heart of Mandriva, but I have to admit I was not aware of the latest changes and progress at Mandriva camp.

Intrigued by those recommendations, I decided to download Mandriva 2011 RC2, the last of the release candidates, which with the exception of a few bug fixes, should not differ much from the latest official release. I must admit Mandriva 2011 pleasantly surprised me, showcasing a lot of refreshing ideas and quite an impressive amount of customization that is not usually found in KDE releases.

INSTALLATION AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Having installed PCLinuxOS recently, I was quite familiar with the Mandriva installation process, which PCLinuxOS uses as well. Unlike more visually appealing ones (Pardus, Chakra), Mandriva installation goes straight to the point and gets the installation done and dealt with simply and quickly. A big plus for many, I am sure, but I think a bit more eye candy would help.

Booting the system begins with a legacy GRUB boot menu, which leads the way to a (not so silent) boot process that incorporates a simple yet interesting splash screen. The real interesting stuff starts with the KDM theme, though.

Although incorporating more similarities to Windows than I would like to admit, the Mandriva 2011 KDM theme looks awesome, with beautiful big user avatars and some cool animations. Simply beautiful, and a much needed fresh take on something that was getting old already at KDE camp. Unfortunately, I am having issues with my Virtualbox setup, so I cannot show screenshots of the KDM theme nor the splash screen that shows up before the desktop loads in KDE implementations. In Mandriva 2011 this cool little animation incorporates the distro's own ROSA icon theme, a neat appetizer before we reach the desktop.

THE DESKTOP

Click on image to enlarge

Once again, I find the similarities with Windows a bit too obvious myself, but it's hard to deny Mandriva 2011 sports a beautiful desktop. At a glance, it is easy to tell that those are some new icons, and some cool icons they are. However, there is more to this desktop than just a few new icons.

Click on image to enlarge

Just clicking on the main menu button brings the awesome ROSA menu, an interesting take on the by now popular dash that both GNOME SHELL and Unity are using. In fact, the functionality is quite similar, with three tabs at the bottom. The first of those tabs, which is the default one, is your typical "Places"/"Recently used" kind of deal. The second one is the usual "Applications", while the last one is meant to show a "timeframe". Apparently a registry of activity through time, I personally have not seen it in action due to the short time my testing required.

Click on image to enlarge

The default wallpaper is nice, but is unfortunately the only one Mandriva provides. All other wallpapers available are default KDE ones. Luckily, customization continues in other areas, including a custom set of controls and window decorations, as well as a custom ROSA Plasma theme. Plasma widgets look great and so does the Logout/Shutdown dialog.

Click on image to enlarge

Mandriva have made a bold move with this release, bringing a much needed fresh take to the KDE desktop. I believe this is a great thing in many respects: On the one hand, Mandriva starts its own path as a KDE exclusive distro and does it with style, making a difference and setting the bar high in terms of quality and Look&Feel. On the other hand, it's good to see KDE out of the same old Oxygen suit, which hopefully will encourage other distros to create their own icon themes, window decorations, KDM themes, etc.

It's important to note, though, that many of the new elements that Mandriva 2011 brings forward, such as the ROSA icon theme, still feel a bit like a work in progress. Not all system and application icons get their ROSA "representative", which sometimes ends up looking rather poor. Similarly, the window decoration could use some polishing, and a more original and unique control theme would also be welcome. I hope this new Mandriva beginning will close those gaps in feature releases, though.

Aside from the new pieces of functionality and eye candy, Mandriva does offer quite a special set of features accessible through its Mandriva Control Center. While this is by no means news, I think it's relevant for those who have never given Mandriva (and derivatives) a chance in the past.

Click on image to enlarge

I will not cover the Control Center in depth here, but I can guarantee all kinds of users will appreciate it. Those coming from a Windows background will feel right at home, while the rest will find a powerful yet intuitive management tool that can do anything but baking a pizza. To give just two examples, as displayed in the screenshots just above and below, it provides a powerful partition manager and a parental control suite.

Click on image to enlarge

Nothing is perfect, though, and I have always thought it was a bit confusing when both the Mandriva and the KDE Control Center were there, specially after using distros which rely in the KDE Control Center to manage everything. It doesn't take long to figure out which does what, but depending on your experience it may feel a bit quirky.

SOFTWARE & APPLICATIONS

Mandriva claims to be a very user friendly distro, perfect for Linux starters. I personally would agree with that claim for the most part, but there are some things that are downright quirky. A good example is how it manages software, which requires the activation of repositories to get started. Now, I am not sure if that is something to do with this being a release candidate version, but if the final release is the same, most users with no Linux background will get lost right there. I believe all essential repositories should be enabled by default, with a dialog offering the optional enabling of auxiliary repositories (i.e., Non-Free).

Click on image to enlarge

Having said so, the Mandriva Software management tool, which is part of its overall Control Center, still works great and is easy to use (it could use an aesthetic revamp, though... The whole Control Center could).

Click on image to enlarge

Mandriva includes an interesting software selection, including Firefox 5, Thunderbird 3.11 (weird, as TB5 is available in the repos), LibreOffice 3.4, Shotwell 1.10 (nice, hopefully more stable than the shaky DigiKam), Kopete, Gwenview, Clementine, SMPlayer and others.

Click on image to enlarge

While I have no major issues with the default software selection, I find it weird that several popular applications (such as Dropbox or Skype) were not available for download, not even with all repos enabled. Coming from a PCLinuxOS experience, I was hoping these neat apps would be available for Mandriva as well.

In terms of media capabilities, Mandriva 2011 is ready to play about anything you throw at it. Clementine deals with music libraries with ease, and SMPlayer managed to play a wide array of video formats (AVI, MP4, MKV, etc.) How about browser plugins, you may ask? Well, Flash is installed and correctly configured, but there was nothing at hand to play quicktime material.

Click on image to enlarge

HARDWARE MANAGEMENT

Once again, using PCLinuxOS led me to wrong assumptions on this one. In my recent experience with it, all the hardware in my HP 2740p was detected and correctly configured out of the box. I somehow assumed a similar result would apply with Mandriva 2011, but it was not the case. The first issue started with the on board Broadcom BCM4312 wireless card, which was detected successfully, but not correctly configured. The default wireless driver included was not able to make it work, so I was forced to look for a solution in forums and the like.

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Luckily, Mandriva provides some great documentation and help through its Wiki, and finding how to set up the B43 driver on Mandriva 2011 was fairly simple once I found where to look. For those interested, here are the steps I had to go through:

1.- From a terminal, run the following command to download the appropiate driver:

wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4.tar.bz2

2.- Extract the contents just downloaded:

tar xf broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4.tar.bz2

3.- As root, run the following command (bear in mind the path depends on where files where extracted on step 2.)

b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware/ broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4/linux/wl_apsta.o

4.- Activate it

modprobe b43

Voila!... That did it for me, and I must say that once the driver was configured, I am getting the fastest wireless connection times I have seen (Windows or Linux). Wireless is literally connected BEFORE the desktop shows up.

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As you can see, setting up wireless was not THAT difficult, but that is precisely what bugs me about it. If the system detects my card successfully and is aware of it not working, and if the solution to my problem was clearly identified and documented, why not providing a simpler solution, or at least some meaningful help? Given how advanced and user friendly the approach of Ubuntu/Kubuntu is on this matter, I think Mandriva has a lot of work to do before they can say they are the user friendly distro they claim to be.

Click on image to enlarge

The next problem I found was with the on board webcam, which was again detected, but not configured... Meh, I didn't even bother to search how to set it up. After all, I was just testing, but I was again disappointed to see no simple way to get it installed and correctly configured.

On a different note, not entirely related to hardware management, I wanted to share something strange I found during my testing. After testing for a while I realized how hot my tablet was, and the fact that its fan was constantly working, sometimes at full power. I ran a quick check and found a worrying misuse of resources.

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Unfortunately, such behavior was not a one off, for it is consistently happening every time I boot (even with Nepomuk disabled and no other application running).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Mandriva 2011 is quite an interesting turn in this popular distro recent history. After a few rough years that slowed down development progress, Mandriva seems to be alive and kicking hard again. I like its new ideas, features and unique character, the fact that they decided to commit to a single desktop environment and the potential I see looking forward. However, I think those ideas still need a bit of time to mature and settle down. Similarly, there are some things that need polishing or fixing, but considering I was testing a release candidate version, that's not to be taken too seriously.

In short, I recommend Mandriva 2011 once it goes live to all kinds of users. If you used it in the past and found reasons to move to a different distro, think about giving it another spin. For those who have never used Mandriva, well, this is a great time to start.

King of KDistros (Poll Results)

2011-08-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

Alright, thanks to mobile technology, I was able to put together a very quick note to let you know how the King of KDE distros went.

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Yup, the four distros that gathered most votes are OpenSUSE (30%), Kubuntu (29%), PCLinuxOS (28%) and Pardus (15%), so those will be the ones I will review back to back. However, since I very recently REVIEWED PCLinuxOS 2011.6, I will not cover it again in so much detail and use the space to include Chakra in the comparison.

Now, that's officially it until I am back from holidays... As always, thanks to all who voted!

Enjoy!

Summer Holidays!

2011-08-04T23:57:00.001-07:00

Sweet!...

Summer holiday time is here, so there will not be any posts during the next 10 days or so.

If you are on holiday or soon will be, ENJOY!...

If you are not so lucky, well, have fun with Linux. ;-)

Try KDE 4.7.0 now

2011-08-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

KDE 4.7.0 went live just a few days ago, ready for October releases to safely incorporate it into their software stacks. Impatient and adventurous users who don't get updates automatically on their distros can have a go at it now, though, obviously acknowledging the risks implied in this approach.

Many of the most popular distros out there offer ways to try KDE 4.7.0. I personally found Kubuntu's way easiest, so that's what I did. For those interested, I will discuss how to upgrade at the end of this article.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Click on image to enlarge.

As you can see from the screenshot above, KDE 4.7.0 does not look terribly different from KDE 4.6.5. Quite the contrary, it's only minor details that make it noticeable, such as the "Activities" button on the upper right.

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I was eager to see the new mobile broadband support in action, and after some brief testing, I have to say it worked perfectly!

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KDE 4.7.0 continues and perhaps even improves on its trend towards reducing its resource footprint. It's too early too tell, but it felt light, responsive, and fast.

INSTALLATION

If you want to install KDE 4.7.0 on Kubuntu like I did, simply follow the following steps:

Note that this is not the official Kubuntu implementation, so proceed at your own risk!

1.- From the command line, add the following PPA to your sources:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

2.- Update:

sudo apt-get update

3.- And now upgrade (note that I am using dist-upgrade purposedly to force the upgrade through):

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Enjoy!

NOT A REVIEW!

Just to clarify, this is by no means a KDE 4.7.0 review, not even a preview.

Installing KDE 4.7.0 on Kubuntu 11.04 like this is not the best way to try it for many reasons. For one, the Kubuntu developers don't get a fair chance of polishing things down to their tastes and needs. Another reason is that Kubuntu tends to limit or simplify some of KDE's features, so there will be things that you won't find here. Last but not least, it seems like the KDE 4.7.0 version that was packaged on that PPA is not the latest, or at least not complete (things like Kmail 2 were missing).

In any case, I think it is a good opportunity to take a look into KDE edge, and a fairly simple one as well. If you decide to go ahead, have fun exploring 4.7!

Awesomeness to land in KDE with release 4.7

2011-07-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

Ever since the bumpy start of KDE 4 series, KDE has maintained a steady improvement, consistently bringing stability, performance and features, as well as raising its overall quality release after release. Personally, I think KDE 4.4 was the first release to really bring stability and performance to high standard levels, while 4.5 and 4.6 have managed to improve that even further and expand that same level of quality to other areas.

Today, KDE 4.6.5 is an impressive desktop environment, packed with great features and no longer suffering from the issues that held it back in the past (lack of stability, performance and a heavy resource footprint). Having said so, I have historically disagreed with some of the project fundamentals and its apparent lack of interest for setting the basics consistently. Unfortunately, things don't seem to improve much in that regard with version 4.7, as explained by Bruce Byfield in this ARTICLE.

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Issues aside, today I want to talk about the new features that will soon be available in KDE 4.7, which are significant both in terms of quality and quantity. Note that you can get more information from the Official KDE 4.7 announcement HERE.

PLASMA WORKSPACES

According to the official announcement: "The Plasma Workspaces gain from extensive work to KDE’s compositing window manager, KWin, and from the leveraging of new Qt technologies such as Qt Quick."

That already sounds juicy, but a bit more detail and examples truly help in understanding the extent of these improvements. One of the first changes in this department (and a very welcome one, I might add) is an update of the Oxygen icon theme that should improve overall aesthetics. Another change involves better consistency in panel items, such as clock and notification areas. While it's hard to understand how far that consistency goes now, I have been thinking it was a much needed improvement for quite a while. Just hovering over one of the panel icons or clicking on it will randomly bring up menus that either look like plasma or nothing like it. I think that's acceptable for third party applications (i.e., Dropbox), but sound, clock, calendar, klipper, battery and device notifier should all behave and look the same, preferably like plasmoids. Hope that's been achieved in KDE 4.7.

One of the most exciting new features is Kwin support for OpenGL ES, which not only will make KDE portability to mobile devices easier, but will also make Kwin perform better in standard computers as well as position it in a favorable spot looking towards a future transition from X to Wayland. Along those lines, another impressive feature can now proactively detect if support for OpenGL ES is available, if support for less advanced graphical features is, or if none at all, automatically configuring desktop visuals accordingly. This is quite an impressive achievement in an area in which KDE is leading over other desktop environments.

Improvements are not limited to visuals, though, and the fact that KDE 4.7 includes NetworkManager 0.9 support, as well as BlueTooth tethering (Yes!), 3G (Yessss!!) and VPN support makes me want to upgrade already! KIO, the system-wide proxy manager also gains features and stability. Media management improvements are also part of this release, including Phonon Zeitgeist support, as well as better integration between Kmix and PulseAudio.

APPLICATIONS

KDE 4.7 brings a lot of exciting new features and improvements to the table in the application arena. Probably the most anticipated (both due to its relevance as well as the fact that it missed release KDE 4.6) is the return of Kontact, now with full Akonadi integration. Similar levels of Akonadi integration apply now to Kmail 2, which apparently brings no significant interface changes (shame, as there are things that need work, such as a better account creation wizard), but should provide much more robust contact management.

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In a somewhat surprising turn (in that it is not consistent with what other apps in KDE are doing), Dolphin returns with a simplified interface that gets rid of the standard menu bar. Whether this is an actual improvement or not, we will see, but I think it is a plus from an aesthetics stand point... and it's not like I use Dolphin's menu all that much!

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Digikam 2.0 comes out at the same time as KDE 4.7, including great and much anticipated features such as face recognition, image versioning support and reverse geotagging, among others. Kate, KDevelop, Gwenview, Marble and Okular also bring interesting changes and enhancements.

An interesting new addition is KDE-Telepathy, the new instant message solution in KDE, which for now is not part of the main release due to very early stages of development. If this solution brings similar features as the one in GNOME Shell, like deep desktop integration, it will be a big plus. If, on the opposite, it is just another chat client, well, I know I won't be using it.

On a different note, KDM can now interact with GRUB2, making it possible to choose which OS to reboot to (obviously on machines with multiple OS). Not like this feature is incredible useful or time saving, but I think it's nice.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Looking at the official announcement release notes, this is one of the most ambitious KDE 4 releases ever. After a few mostly concentrating on stability and performance, KDE 4.7 brings many new features and enhancements that should raise the bar even higher. Unfortunately, some of its long-time shortcomings are still not getting much attention.

Expect a KDE 4.7 review as soon as it lands in my PCLinuxOS installation!

NOTE: All images from KDE.org

King of KDistros

2011-07-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I have been trying to make up my mind about which distro is the best KDE implementation at the moment, but it´s not easy! I checked out some articles out there, but I always felt they were too biased towards this or that distro, or simply incomplete. As such, I would like to get your thoughts on which KDE distros are the current best, then pick 3 or 4 out of those and review them head to head.

Please pick your choice(s) and vote on the poll I created to this effect. Once the poll closes, I will download the latest releases from the four distros with most votes and put together my review.

Thanks for your help... Now vote away!

PCLinuxOS 2011.7 KDE MiniME

2011-07-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Quick note to let you all know that 5 days ago PCLinuxOS RELEASED its 2011.7 KDE MiniMe version, a barebones KDE setup aimed at advanced users who know exactly what they want to install.

If the standard version is already quick and responsive, MiniMe can get even faster!

Highly Recommended!

At last, the Bird became the Thunderbird

2011-07-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Back from a week in London, it's about time I post something, right? Well, today I want to talk about Thunderbird 5, a recent update to the popular Email client from Mozilla that I believe is worth talking about.

Click on image to enlarge

SO WHAT'S NEW!?

Straight from the official Mozilla RELEASE NOTES, here's a summary of the most relevant features/improvements for Linux users:

More responsive and faster to start up and use
Thunderbird is based on the new Mozilla Gecko 5 engine
New Add-ons Manager
Revised account creation wizard to improve email setup
New Troubleshooting Information page
Tabs can now be reordered and dragged to different windows
Attachment sizes now displayed along with attachments
Plugins can now be loaded in RSS feeds by default
Over 390 platform fixes that improve speed, performance, stability and security

So, does it actually live up to its expectations?

HANDS ON EXPERIENCE

I first tried Thunderbird 5 on my new PCLinuxOS 2011.6 installation. The Mozilla Email client comes installed in the default image, so I just had to upgrade to get it. To be totally honest, I don't think I would have tried it otherwise, for I personally gravitate towards minimalistic distro configurations that don't use heavy local clients for services that I can otherwise get through a browser. Fortunately, though, PCLinuxOS gave me the opportunity to test the latest Thunderbird, and I am glad it went out that way... It really is worth the try!

The initial configuration wizard has been polished further and is now easier than ever (not that it was not already). As soon as we enter our information, we are taken to the home screen.

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The first thing I noticed was that Thunderbird 5 was much quicker than previous releases, both in terms of start up times and overall performance. The same power is available, perhaps more than before, but it does not feel bloated or slow any longer. At first I wondered if that snappy behavior was down to PCLinuxOS (a very optimised distro) or, most probably, to the SSD it was installed on. As a result, I decided to install it on my Zorin 4 OS installation using the Ubuntu Stable PPA. Thunderbird 5 proved itself convincingly again, behaving much faster than it had in previous versions, and surprisingly close to how it does on an SSD.

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Lightning is still an add-on, something that some may regret, but I don't. Not everyone may be interested in checking their calendar through their email client, perhaps not even interested in a calendar itself. I believe that including it as an option is a smart move, but because many people use it, it could be offered as an option during the initial setup.

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Among many other great features, I was happy to see that Thunderbird now includes a button to manually display remote content for messages that include images, which are not often not displayed by default for security reasons.

INSTALL ON UBUNTU

In order to install Thunderbird 5 in Ubuntu, you'll first need to add the Thunderbird stable PPA, as shown below:

1.- From the command line, add the Thunderbird stable PPA.

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

2.- Update your repositories.

sudo apt-get update

3.- Install Thunderbird 5.

sudo apt-get upgrade

Other distros, like Fedora and PCLinuxOS probably can get away with a standard upgrade.

MEET THE THUNDER

Thunderbird fans will find more than a few reasons to smile in this latest version. Those who were not, may find reasons to become fans themselves... And if you never tried Thunderbird, there probably never was a better time to do so.

Technical Problems!

2011-07-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

EDIT: My bad, there is actually an easy way to recover deleted files in Dropbox, which I have completed already!... Forget about the text below!

Pheeeeeeeew!

;-)

Hi all,

Unfortunately, Dropbox played nasty tricks on me today. I was trying to create a folder and it wouldn't do it, simply showing a "Saving..." message forever. After a few tries, I noticed that it was actually creating the file despite that message never going away, so I tried to cancel that last try by deleting that specific entry... AND IT REMOVED THE WHOLE PARENT FOLDER! As a result, you will notice that all screenshots are missing and links to them are not working.

I have already contacted Dropbox Support to see if they can recover my folder.

Sorry for the inconvenience!!

PCLinuxOS 2011.6 Review

2011-07-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I published my last article on PCLinuxOS. Those of you who have read previous reviews know that it is one of my favorite distros, certainly a favorite among KDE contenders. I decided to use the opportunity provided by the recent release of PCLinuxOS 2011.6 to go ahead and revisit it, find out what's new and how it has evolved in the last year or so.

For those who don't know, PCLinuxOS is rolling distro that originated from several other distros, Mandrake/Mandriva probably being the most influencial. It incorporates stuff from others as well, though, as well as its own software. Its goal is to provide a smooth user experience, which it achieves through very thorough hardware support, lightning fast performance and a wide range of applications, most of which are constantly updated to their latest stable versions.

A LOOK AT 2011.6

As usual, PCLinuxOS 2011.6 is provided in a LIVECD format, which has both pros and cons. I personally love the smaller size, specially because lately I spend more time uninstalling preinstalled applications than installing new ones. What can I say, I can live with a fairly small selection of software!

Booting from the LiveCD is a cool experience, I particularly liked the new branding, which has changed significantly since the last time I saw it. Overall, it is more consistent transitioning from splash screen to KDM and then to the desktop, as well as more attractive with that brushed metal outfit. Unfortunately, the default desktop in the LiveCD is not that visually appealing.

Click on image to enlarge.

Simply changing a couple things already makes things look better, so that's not really big deal by any means. The LiveCD session is what one would expect, always recommended to understand whether your hardware is correctly supported, but it should be a short stop before installation.

INSTALLATION AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS

As was the case when I first tried it, installation of PCLinuxOS went by pretty quickly this time around. Perhaps I am bit biased from recent installations, which involved heavy LiveDVD configurations, but PCLinuxOS seemed to get installed almost too quickly.

Booting for the first time provides an introduction to the new branding, starting with a new splash screen showing the PCLinuxOS Logo and a progress bar at the bottom. In my opinion, both look poor and dated, and the same applies to the default KDM theme, unfortunately. This is a shame, specially because the default installation brings better looking alternatives with it, such as the Textar KDE KDM theme.

As I mentioned already, the default desktop is not that good looking, but changing the Workspace theme already makes a big difference.

Click on image to enlarge.

All in all, PCLinuxOS 2011.6 is an even more refined version of the great KDE distro I tested about a year ago for the first time. Let's dive a little deeper into it.

FEATURES

From the distrowatch.com announcement:

"PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.6 for 32-bit and 64-bit computers is now available for download. The Linux kernel was updated to version 2.6.38.8. Additional kernels are available from our repositories such as a PAE kernel for computers with more than 4 GB of memory. A BFS kernel for maximum desktop performance and a standard kernel with group scheduling enabled. X.Org Server was updated to version 1.10.2. Mesa updated to 7.10.3 and libdrm to version 2.4.26. These updates bring enhancements to the PCLinuxOS desktop including speed, 3D desktop support for most Intel, NVIDIA and AMD/ATI video cards, better font rendering, black screen fixes for most NVIDIA cards, better Flash playback and more."

Aside from that list of features, one thing that is easily noticeable after installing PCLinuxOS is that it is very fast and responsive. In fact, it kind of makes one wonder how there can be such a difference in performance when comparing it with other distros that sport KDE as the default desktop manager. This proves that some of the claims raised against KDE (heavy, slow, bloated, resource eater, etc.) may actually be down to the distro it sits on top of.

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As can be seen from the screenshot above, resource consumption is fairly low. More on this on the screenshot below, the KDE system monitor, which demonstrates reasonable CPU and Memory use, even with KTorrent, Chromium and the system monitor itself open.

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On top of that superb performance and tight KDE integration I just mentioned, PCLinuxOS has some other interesting features of its own. Its Control Center, one of the most obvious Mandriva influences, is a great tool to manage all things system, from Hardware to User accounts. As such, KDE's own network manager is nowhere to be found, users have to deal with PCLinuxOS own network manager.

Click on image to enlarge.

Now, is this mix of KDE and PCLinuxOS features good or bad? On the one hand, I see advantages in that the Control Center is easy to use, powerful and probably easier to grasp for users with a Windows background. Along those lines, the PCLinuxOS Network Manager is similarly easy to use, supports 3G connections out of the box and based on my testing so far, is both quick to connect and reliable (no connection drops). On the other hand, splitting some of those system management tasks can sometimes get confusing, and some of KDE's features don't seem to get along well with PCLinuxOS's own. For instance, many Plasma widgets that rely on a network connection (weather and RSS, to name a couple) often fail to fetch information or refresh it, which is something I have seen work perfectly in other, more "purist" KDE implementations.

GOOD TO GO

One of PCLinuxOS best things, specially from an end user perspective, is that everything is perfectly setup and ready to go out of the box. Codecs, drivers, fonts... Anything you can think of "simply works", and that is quite an achievement.

Starting with fonts, PCLinuxOS 2011.6 sports Ubuntu's own by default. Perhaps a weird choice for some, I personally believe they look great in a KDE context, perhaps even more so than in GNOME... If they are rendered correctly, that is.

As it turns out, PCLinuxOS manages to make them look better and more consistent than even Kubuntu itself, which in my experience always seemed to lose correct rendering after a couple sessions. In any case, correct font rendering is not that common in KDE distros, so that makes PCLinuxOS even more special in that sense.

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Java comes installed and correctly configured, so downloading YouTube videos from keepvid.com was just a couple clicks away. Similarly, all kinds of Audio and Video Codecs come preinstalled, which enabled me to watch trailers from Apple's website without any extra configuration.

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Hardware support is superb, thanks to a wide range of preinstalled drivers. Except for Zorin 5 OS, no other distro managed to configure all hardware successfully on my HP 2740p out of the box as well as PCLinuxOS 2011.6 did. It even detected its infamous Broadcom wireless card, also perfectly configuring video and audio devices, including its webcam.

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APPLICATIONS

PCLinuxOS 2011.6 includes many of KDE's best applications, such as digikam and Clementine, a photo manager and music player respectively.

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Digikam version is 1.9.0 and it has as many features as one could imagine, perhaps too many, but I guess that's the only way to appeal to both experts and novices in photo management.

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Clementine is on 0.71 and seems to be taking the KDE Audio player World by storm. At first, I was surprised to see several KDE distros drop Amarok in favor of it, something most seem to have done by now, but after using it for a while, I understood why. Clementine is a fabulous player, much lighter than Amarok, which includes the most relevant features in an easy and intuitive interface. It also gets the best from Amarok, such as the cover manager, leaving bloat aside.

All in all, I always felt like KDE had less options in terms of Audio players, certainly lacking something as cool as Banshee, but Clementine proved to be a perfect candidate to fill that gap.

Other application favorites include Firefox 5.0 (default browser of choice).

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Chromium 12 is available from the repositories.

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VLC is the default Media player.

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SHINING KDE

As I mentioned already, KDE shines in PCLinuxOS 2011.6. Not only does it feel solid and quick, but it also put me in a different mood, more willing to appreciate its strengths, given that its weaknesses were only partially showing. In all fairness, one has to wonder which one is the real KDE, the slow and heavy desktop manager that we see in many distros or the light, fast and responsive one we see in PCLinuxOS.

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All in all, I must admit I enjoyed this mature version of KDE 4.6, it is more flexible and less cumbersome than others I tried to this date. I still think it leans too much towards a desktop paradigm that originated in the 90s, but it's hard to challenge its strengths.

KDE users enjoy features that GNOME users only recently attained, or that require extra configuration, applications or plugins. A good example is the KDE panel, which incorporates features that GNOME users can only enjoy through the use of DockBarX. Similarly, mouse gestures that allow window maximize or split actions are native to recent KDE, while only recently present in GNOME Shell or Unity. Kwin effects, activities and semantic search are other relevant examples of KDE's great features.

My main thing against KDE is, as I have mentioned several times already, its unnecessary complexity and unintuitive aproach to certain pieces of functionality. Unfortunately, all of it returns unchanged release after release since KDE 4 series started, so I am starting to lose hope that it will ever improve.

Aside from what I just mentioned, some things are downright strange when compared with GNOME. For example, the use of conky requires some quirky fixes to get transparency to work.

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...But then again, it doesn't get along well with Plasma widgets!

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To be completely honest, though, I was pleasantly surprised with KDE 4.6.4 under PCLinuxOS.

RECOMMENDED TO ALL

PCLinuxOS 2011.6 is a natural evolution of all the great things that made PCLinuxOS 2010 the awesome release it was. I think it is a great Linux distro for any kind of user and the best way I know to experiment KDE in all its glory.

Download, install and enjoy!

EDIT (July 19th): Five days ago, PCLinuxOS released its 2011.7 MiniMe version, an interesting option for advanced users looking for a barebones KDE setup to customize at will. Highly recommended!

New face!

2011-07-06T00:04:00.000-07:00

Tired of the old outfit? Yeah, so was I... Time for a change!

Hope you all like it!

Fuduntu 14.10 Review

2011-07-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Back when I first tested and REVIEWED Fuduntu (14.7), I found it a bit lacking in certain areas, most of which were somehow linked to its Fedora inheritance. In fact, one of my main issues back then was that the influence of the distro it derived from was still way too evident. My review goes in detail into what my experience was like, so I recommend reading it to better understand how far release 14.10 has got.

Having talked with Fuduntu's lead developer Andrew Wyatt for some time now, I knew he wanted to keep pushing Fuduntu towards becoming a distro that could stand on its own, with a unique character. I kept checking back on it every now and after skipping a few releases that sounded interesting (but were perhaps too close to my first review), 14.10 felt like a great opportunity to find out what was happening at Fuduntu camp.

SO... WHAT'S NEW?

In the Official Fuduntu 14.10 ANNOUNCEMENT there is plenty of information around new features, packages and tweaks. Here's a brief summary including some highlights:

Features

-Linux kernel 2.6.39.1
-Adobe Flash 10.3
-Chromium 12
-Shotwell 0.10.1
-EXT4 is now our default filesystem during installation
-Support for nVidia (akmod-nvidia), and ATI** (akmod-catalyst) proprietary drivers
-A tool to help simplify customizing your installation
-A Theme refresh, correcting several bugs and streamlining the look and feel.
-New background choices
-New tweaks to improve Flash playback
-Bug fixes
-As always, the quarterly patch rollup

Default Applications (for new installations only)

-Chromium 12
-Google Mail
-Empathy
-Google Docs
-Banshee
-VLC

As you can see, there are lots of interesting things listed here. Let's see if Fuduntu 14.10 lives up to its expectations.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

After an interestingly looking boot up Plymouth theme, anything from the GDM theme to the default wallpaper and GTK theme, including a highly customized application catalog and a nice AWN menu at the bottom, screams uniqueness. Fuduntu 14.10 feels a lot more like an entity of its own, not so much a slightly customized Fedora desktop anymore.

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The set of default wallpapers incorporates a few new custom Fuduntu ones along with some GNOME classics. I personally like the Fuduntu creations, even if I find them too dark at times myself (probably better for battery life but perhaps not the best choice aesthetically given how laptops spend lots of hours in screen saving mode).

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Many of the Look&Feel elements that were part of previous versions return almost unchanged, like the custom GTK+ theme, Faenza Cuppertino icon theme, fonts, etc.

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Being the customization freak I am, it didn't take long before I changed things my way. Equinox GTK engine, Droid Fonts, standard Faenza and Conky Lunatico came together for quite a make up. Looking sexy, huh?

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APPLICATIONS

The application catalog also gained a character of its own, and I must admit I love where it's heading. Some of the choices that captured my interest the most have to do with leaning towards cloud applications, particularly Google related products. Chromium 12 is now the default browser, which is a great choice (I would have chosen Firefox 5, though, given its superior integration within the Linux desktop).

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When it comes to desktop Gmail and Google Docs, I wonder if this choice was somehow influenced by Peppermint OS. Any way you look at it, though, saving the space an Office suite (honestly, how many people really use OpenOffice or LibreOffice, let alone get the most out of them?) and an email client would take is a good idea.

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It could be argued that users are limited in what they can do offline (in fact, that's another argument to not use Chromium, as it does not support Gmail offline functionality), but with 3G and Wireless devices flying all over the place, chances are offline time shall be minimal.

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Other perhaps more common application choices include Shutter, Shotwell, VLC, Banshee, Cheese Webcam Booth, GIMP and Nautilus Elementary, to name about a few. I personally love these choices, as they are mostly what I use myself, but things got even better when I found Dropbox preinstalled as well!

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IT'S IN THE DETAILS

After using Fuduntu 14.10 quite regularly for a few days, I started to really notice how good a release it was. In the past, I have always found Fedora releases quite slow in terms of performance (not Fedora 15, though), at least when compared with Ubuntu and derivatives. It was hard to explain, but day to day activities always seemed to take longer in Fedora and, consequently, and the same applied in my Fuduntu 14.7 testing.

This time around, though, I noticed a big difference. Fuduntu 14.10 provides a snappy response, maybe just lacking when it comes to install/update packages, but I think that's the downside of using RPM packages (it has other advantages, though). Other than that, from booting up to logging in and opening applications, it feels fast and responsive. These performance improvements probably owe a lot to the enhancements introduced by Andrew and his team, some of which he discusses in the INTERVIEW I recently published.

Jupiter also provides an improvement in energy management. When I first tested Fuduntu, I must admit I didn't really notice much of an improvement, but my informal tests this time around show longer battery life.

One thing I miss in Jupiter, though, is the ability to manually tweak it to my liking. In that regard, KDE does a really good job providing several energy management profiles, all of them customizable. It does not stop there, for users can also decide when each profile kicks in. To provide a quick example, high performance profiles usually turn screen brightness all the way up, which may not be necessary with newer devices that already incorporate very bright screens. Therefore, what if I want to configure screen brightness for the high performance profile to be at 85%? Similarly, what if I want to trigger power saver profile when battery life is at 45%? I think those are parameters that most users with portable devices would like to be able to customize. Moreover, this approach is not necessarily intrusive, it wouldn't really require any extra effort from users. They would still be able to use default profiles if they so choose, but if they want to customize them, then the option is there. I would love to see something like this come to Jupiter moving forward.

So far I haven't been somewhat negative about the Fuduntu Fedora inheritance, but that's unfair, there are certainly many great things coming from it. One thing that I found pretty cool from a user stand point came about when I was trying to download a torrent file. I double clicked on the torrent file and the system detected that there was no default torrent downloader. I was then presented with a list of options to install. I chose Transmission, went ahead with the installation and that was it, I was set! Very neat and tidy!

HARDWARE

In terms of hardware support, Fuduntu 14.10 partially passed my HP 2740p test. Having Kernel 2.39 series onboard, I was confident it would recognize its Intel HD video card, which it did, but it failed to do the same with its infamous Broadcom wireless card. Most distros I have tried have failed at this very same trial, but Zorin OS 5 did not, so there is room for improvement here. Similarly, Ubuntu and its derivatives do a great job noticing that the firmware is not available on the machine but can be downloaded, offering the end user the option to do so at will. Fedora, and consequently Fuduntu, are not there yet.

Other hardware recognition tests I ran involved printers and photo cameras, all of which were successful. Bluetooth worked smoothly as well, but I must admit I didn't test any Webcams.

GETTING THERE QUICKLY

Fuduntu is a fork of Fedora, but it is also inspired in Ubuntu, which shows. Its goal of providing a great Linux distro for tablets and laptops while offering a smooth user experience and overall ease of use is certainly closer now than it was just six months ago. This is nothing short of amazing, for Fedora requires much more polishing than Ubuntu if the goal is to create an easy to use laptop/desktop distro. During the few days I have been using Fuduntu, it somewhat reminded me of Moon OS, a great Ubuntu fork, which is quite an achievement considering where each of them starts from.

All in all, Fuduntu 14.10 is a great release which I recommend to anybody, even users who have historically used Ubuntu. Fedora fans will surely enjoy the smoother user experience, but even Linux novices will find lots to enjoy.

Congratulations to the Fuduntu team for a fine piece of work, can't wait to see how it continues to evolve, specially now that GNOME3 is available.

Fuduntu 14.10: An interview with Andrew Wyatt 'Fewt'

2011-06-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

As I recently mentioned, I will soon post a review on Fuduntu 14.10. I can already share with you that I am loving this release and that the Fuduntu Team's hard work is showing, but I will leave details for the review itself.

It was around 6 months ago that I got in touch with Andrew Wyatt (a.k.a. Fewt, lead developer for Fuduntu) to REVIEW release 14.7 of his distro FUDUNTU. Fewt kindly answered a number of questions which provided context to why Fuduntu was shaping up the way it was. I think that interview is still relevant, specially because it makes the evolution to 14.10 even more obvious when compared to current Fuduntu. In fact, Andrew was kind enough to answer some more questions about 14.10, so it's interesting to compare what his take was back then and where he stands today.

THE INTERVIEW

I now noticed how Jupiter is making a difference in my battery consumption and also how it automatically applies different power schemas depending on whether the PC is running on batteries or AC. Can you quickly explain what the latest changes in Jupiter are about?

The only recent changes to Jupiter revolve around enabling power savings in hardware devices like your SATA or Audio. I revised Jupiter for kernel 2.6.38 as well where I started managing things like NMI Watchdog.

Are there plans to bring an administration console to Jupiter, so profiles can be tweaked in detail by users?

No, the idea behind Jupiter is to set it and forget it. Since Jupiter uses CPUFreq, the frequency change would be made there. For the dynamic kernel tuning feature, that lives in /usr/lib/Jupiter. Just apply the kernel tuning there and it'll manage it automatically.

There is no default Torrent app (personally, I wish there was, I use em so much!), is it because of a CD size limitation?

It's based on my assumption that not everyone uses torrents. There hasn't really been a demand for it, so we left it out for space purposes, yes.

I see you took a step forward embracing cloud services, specially from Google, which I personally think is the way to go. What do you think are the benefits of offering these services through a desktop application wrapper instead of a browser tab?

The only real benefit is to inform new users that they have the ability to use this service. Kind of like a bookmark. That way they don't feel as though we have given them a desktop without the tools needed to perform their needed functions.

AWN over Docky. Any particular reason?

Yes. We tested AWN and Docky heavily, and found that AWN was lighter on resources which improved battery life and reduced memory consumption.

After introducing Gmail and GDocs, why a heavy audio player like Banshee? I think perhaps a wrapper around a service like GrooveShark would have also worked?

I don't think Banshee is terribly heavy. In addition, I like how they have integrated the music store, and feel we should support that.

VLC is the default video player, but I noticed that several video formats don't default to it, so sometimes I was getting Banshee trying to run them. I think it would be great to have VLC as the default player for all. Any plans to make that happen?

It's on my list of future improvements. If you run the 64bit version of Fuduntu it doesn't seem to have this issue. I'll fix it soon.

I have noticed an improvement in font rendering since the last time I tried Fuduntu. What has happened behind the scenes for such improvement?

I integrated Infinality's font rendering patches. They aim to improve fonts without violating patents. They look great, don't they?

You do mention many other improvements in many areas which, among other things, improve performance. Can you provide a bit more background here?

Certainly. We utilize cgroups to manage terminal processes. We reduce swappiness so the kernel doesn't write memory out to disk as often. We also move /tmp and /var/log to memory which reduces latency when opening and using applications in addition to improving battery life.

There are more changes too but those are some of the most important changes.

TO BE CONTINUED...

As I said, Fuduntu 14.10 is a great release. Expect more on it in my soon to come review...

BIG THANKS TO ANDREW FOR HIS TIME AND ANSWERS!

Linux is speed and power

2011-06-21T02:25:00.000-07:00

Man, what a busy time lately!!... I have struggled big time to finish any of my ongoing articles, but fear not, this blog is very much alive and kicking. Stay tunned for upcoming articles, for there are some interesting things on the way, including reviews for Fedora 15, Fuduntu 14.10, Zorin 5 OS and (maybe) an article on why I decided not to review Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity.

While I finish those reviews, I thought I'd share an interesting International Business Times ARTICLE which lists the 10 most powerful computers on Earth today. The piece that I find particularly interesting is that ALL TEN OF THEM RUN LINUX! (Go Tux!)

Here's the list:

1. K Computer, Japan

Built by Fujitsu, the Japanese supercomputer at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Kobe, is capable of performing more than 8 quadrillion calculations per second (petaflop/s). “The K Computer is also more powerful than the next five systems on the list combined and also one of the most energy-efficient systems on the list.”

2. Tianhe-1A, China

The Chinese supercomputer at the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin, China, performs at 2.6 petaflop/s.

3. Jaguar, United States

The Jaguar, a Cray supercomputer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is ranked No. 3 with 1.75 petaflop/s.

4. Nebulae, China

The Nebulae supercomputer at China’s National Supercomputing Center in Shenzen is ranked fouth with 1.27 petaflop/s performance.

5. Tsubame 2.0, Japan

Tsubame 2.0 at the Tokyo Institute of Technology is fifth most fast supercomputer in the world with 1.19 petaflop/s performance.

6. Cielo, United States

The Cielo supercomputer at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico performs at 1.11 petaflop/s.

7. Pleiades, United States

Pleiades, located at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, allows over 1,000 active users around the country advance knowledge about the Earth, solar system and the universe. Pleiades helps meet computing needs of NASA's aeronautics projects and other space operations. It has a performance at 1.09 petaflop/s.

Pleiades Westmere-based racks: The addition of the Westmere and Nehalem nodes increased the computing capacity available on Pleiades by 170%.

8. Hopper, United States

The Hopper supercomputer, located at DOE’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) in California, is ranked eighth with 1.054 petaflop/s performances.

9. Tera 100, France

Tera 100 at the CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) in France performs at 1.05 petaflop/s.

10. Roadrunner, United States

Roadrunner at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico performs at 1.04 petaflop/s.

So there you have it, our tux penguin may look harmless, but it can turn your PC into a mean muscle machine if you ask it to!

Introducing BackTrack 5 'Revolution'

2011-06-10T03:51:00.000-07:00

Released less than a month ago, BACKTRACK 5 is an up to date version of this impressive specialist distro. Aimed at security experts (but just as good is you an enthusiast getting into it), Revolution lives up to its name and introduces a few cool new features, as described in the official release announcement:

"Based on Ubuntu Lucid LTS. Kernel 2.6.38, patched with all relevant wireless injection patches. Fully open source and GPL compliant. Head down to our downloads page to get your copy now!"

A few more things worth noting:

- New Look&Feel
- KDE 4.6
- GNOME 2.32
- Firefox 4.0.1
- WiCD as default network manager
- KeepNote 0.7.1
- ZenMap

INSTALLATION & FIRST STEPS

As I mentioned, BackTrack 5 is very much a specialist distribution, probably not the kind of distro you would use on your main desktop (that may apply if you are professionally dedicated to security, though). As a result, I think the most convenient way to experience this Revolution is to either run it Live or install it on a USB, which is exactly what I did. In case you want to do the same, you will find the necessary instructions in the BackTrack website (it's all very easy thanks to UnetBootin).

Once installed, the specialist vibe is made evident from the first minute, as Revolution boots to a command line by default. This is probably the best option for those experienced with the tons of tools included in the default image, but if you are new to BackTrack and its applications, it's probably best to start X Windows, as follows.

1.- Login as root using the provided default password (Change it to your own right after your first login!!).
2.- type startx to get to the GUI.
3.- Feeling right at home by now? ;-)

DESKTOP & APPLICATIONS

The default BackTrack 5 desktop was an interesting déjà vu experience for me. Even with the distro's own Look&Feel, the reminiscence to Old Ubuntu is more than evident. I wasn't uncomfortable with that, though, just switched to Faenza icons (so used to them by now...) and adjusted fonts to my liking.

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Other than that, I have to say I loved the default set of wallpapers (saved under /usr/share/wallpapers/backtrack/, in case you want to get to see them all) and icons. The overall vibe is serious and professional.

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The set of applications available for penetration testing activities is overwhelming. I was both smiling in awe and feeling a bit intimidated, to be honest.

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Categories include Information gathering, Exploitation tools or Forensics, to name about a few.

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Yup, you are right, these tools could potentially be used for some wicked ends on the wrong hands, but the distro is aimed at security experts and enthusiasts who need them to audit their systems. Use these tools responsibly!

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Some other applications include Firefox 4.0.1. One thing I missed myself when putting together this article, though, was the GNOME application to take screenshots. I found that odd, because I could see use for screenshots in the context of a distro of this kind.

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KeepNote is an interesting little application that does exactly what its name says, certainly handy in a distribution such as BackTrack.

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GOOD TO KEEP AROUND

BackTrack 5 is a good specialized distribution, a great tool worth keeping around. I personally find it very interesting and want to keep using it to learn more about the whole security side of things, which I find fascinating, but I believe even experts will get a kick out of this latest BackTrack release.

PiConvert updated!

2011-06-06T05:40:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I POSTED about the wonderful imagemagick command, which provides image manipulation capabilities through a command line interface. As I described back then, when I write reviews, I usually take lots of screenshots to provide visual context, all of which are generated as PNG images by default. In the past, I used to manually convert all of those images into JPG format to reduce their size, but I also had to manually create thumbnails for all of them... Quite tedious, if you ask me.

PiConvert.sh

Using the extremely flexible and powerful imagemagick command, I created a script to automate some of the most common image manipulation activities I do. Originally, PiConvert.sh only converted PNG files into JPG, creating the corresponding thumbnails in the process. Since I completed the first version, though, I kept adding options based on my needs and now this simple script does a number of interesting things.

All available options are depicted in the screenshot below, which incidentally is the menu that shows up when the script runs.

BLACK AND WHITE CONVERSION

An interesting piece of functionality that I often use when an artistic vein kicks in, converting color pictures to black and white is also one of the most popular image conversions available. Unfortunately, imagemagick conversion is not the smoothest I have seen, but I wanted to make it available anyways.

A simple example of how a sample color image is turned to black and white using PiConvert.sh.

SEPIA CONVERSION

Converting color images to Sepia tones is another one of my favorites. In this case, imagemagick manages it better, and with the right setting, results look great.

For this example, I used the latest Fedora 15 default wallpaper, whose intense blue color makes the conversion to sepia stand out.

IPHONE & BLACKBERRY

When I find cool wallpapers for my PCs, it doesn't take long before they end up in either my iPod4 or BlackBerry 9700. I thought PiConvert.sh could help me save some time there, so I added two new options to cover my needs there.

NOTE: The iPhone default screen resolution is a bit difficult to achieve with landscape wallpapers, so while I find a good way to do it, I am simply squeezing pictures to fit in. Not perfect, I know...

NOTE 2: I know, I know, PiConvert.sh code is anything but fancy, but I can hardly find any time to keep adding options. At some point I hope I will find time to optimize my code and remove any redundancies. For now, I just concentrate on getting it to do what it was designed to do, it is a very simple script after all...

DOWNLOAD PiConvert.sh

If you like PiConvert.sh and would like to use it, you can download it from HERE

Hydrogen: Translating in an Open Source Project

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

HYDROGEN is an open source advanced drum machine application. I mostly use it to record drums in my songs, but it can do way more than that. The aim of this article is not necessarily to go on about Hydrogen as an application, though, but I definitely encourage all musically inclined to check it out... With the right drum samples it rocks hard!

GETTING INVOLVED

Today I want to talk about getting actively involved in an open source project, as I recently did for Hydrogen, translating the application tutorial to Spanish. It was my first time helping with translation in a project of this nature, and I must admit part of the process was a bit intimidating at first. I learned some new tools I had never heard about before, new ways of working and interacting with other people and shared conversations with project leaders and other enthusiasts, all passionate experts in what they do.

Ever since I first started using Linux, I have always felt thankful for all the effort, help and support volunteers all around the globe offered expecting nothing in exchange. It didn't take long before I wanted to give something back myself, but I must admit I always felt somehow intimidated, like I needed to be a respected guru before I could be in that position. As a result, I donated to several projects (most notably Ardour), bought merchandising (mostly Ubuntu wearables) and tried to offer my limited experience helping others in forums when I felt confident enough to do so. In fact, I part of the reason why I started this blog was to try to help Linux and the wonderful open source world. After all, I wasn't a guru, but I could share my experiences and hopefully get the message across.

The truth is, once you start, there is no end to it. Through the last few years, I have increased the number of things I do, including active participation in a few open source projects. As I was working on the last one, the translation activities for Hydrogen, I thought I could share a bit of my experience. Who knows, maybe others feel the same way I did and think they have nothing to offer due to their limited experience or skills... Maybe a few of those decide to participate in a project after reading someone else's experience... Who knows, but I think I would have probably helped earlier on if I had a better understanding of what the experience was about.

WELCOME... LET'S GET TO WORK!

Hard to believe at times, but these projects are usually comprised by a fairly small number of people, something particularly surprising when compared with the amount of things they achieve. I have used Hydrogen for my recordings for quite some time, browsed the project website and posted in its forums, so I thought it was kind of a big thing. I somehow had the feeling that a big group of people was behind the project, but once I got into it, I found that the core of the project was down to no more than five people!

Another interesting thing is how these little groups of people literally find order in chaos. It's important to understand that all people involved are volunteers, so the idea of how things are managed inside corporations, where a project plan, some risk assessment and deadlines are usually all it takes to start telling people what to do, does not apply here. In this case, a mailing list is all there is to get everyone in touch. Project leads explain the tasks that need attention and then they are assigned when people volunteer. In that sense, it was amazing how quickly everyone was "introduced" (if such thing makes sense over email) to each other and started to work.

Aside from volunteering, project leaders also wanted to get a feel of each member's previous experience. This is good practice, because they don't want to have one person take on too much or do something they are not prepared to do. I had never done any translation work, so I was lost when they started talking about GTranslator and other tools they were using. To be honest, at that point I thought they could just say "You know what? Thanks for your offer, but we need someone with experience here" (The corporate world spirit kicking in, I suppose). Luckily, all I got was encouraging feedback and the information I needed to get going. Once I started to get to grips with it, if I had any question, I would get an answer in a matter of hours, most often minutes. Before I knew it, I was adding my two cents and having fun with it!

GTRANSLATOR

The bulk of my translation work I did was done on GTranslator Editor, which (acknowledging my extremely limited translation background) felt like a solid and well designed application.

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The first thing all translators were asked to do was to review the existing Wiki, which included information about the software we had to install for translation purposes, the location and method to download the latest code and documentation, etc.

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I used GTranslator with the project's tutorial.pot file. The application allowed me to translate each "milestone" and then export the final result to tutorial_es.po, the specific translation file for Spanish. That file could then be easily converted into HTML, which was the actual end goal.

GTranslator offers an intuitive interface, displaying the original text to be translated and a text field at the bottom left corner of the screen. That text field is where translators are meant to type in their own language. The upper left menu shows all paragraphs which should be translated, displaying progress bars for each one of them, as the screenshot above shows. This particular feature proved critical, as it made it very easy to keep track of my progress whenever I (sometimes days apart) sat down to continue translating.

GO FOR IT!

Getting involved in one of the tons of projects ongoing in the open source community is fun and rewarding. Even if you believe your skills and experience are limited, let me assure you there will surely be something you can help with. These projects are almost always short in resources, so go for it, offer your help. At a bare minimum, you will get to know interesting people and learn a lot in the process!

Keep up to date with GNOME Shell Extensions

2011-05-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

If you have read any of my recent articles that touched upon GNOME Shell, of if you use it yourself, you probably know and perhaps already use one or more GNOME Shell Extensions. These extensions are good for many things, from switching Shell themes to adding panel indicators.

GNOME Shell is very much in its infancy now, which means that a frantic development pace is underneath it. Changes, fixes and patches happen at a rate difficult to keep up with. In fact, I have found it difficult to keep track of all the extensions available, understand what they are for, etc.

Fortunately, the hardworking guys at WEBUPD8 have made it easy for all of us to follow their articles on the subject. Simply bookmark the following LINK and you will always stay up to date with all their posts on GNOME Shell Extensions.

Meet MiniTunes

2011-05-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

In my endless journey to find the best possible media player, I recently stumbled across MINITUNES, one of Flavio Tordini's creatures, a talented Italian developer who is bringing some very cool applications to both Mac and Linux.

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After launching the application for the first time, I was asked for the location of my music library. The import process started and finished (a fair amount of time later, I have to say, mostly due to the artist search in Last.fm) successfully despite the considerable size of my music collection. I mention this because several other players (Amarok, Songbird and pre-v2.x Banshee, for example) have failed or crashed on that first import in the past.

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The interface is light, uncomplicated and beautiful. Unfortunately for me, Last.fm didn't fetch all artists pictures and album covers, which resulted in several "blank" spots here and there, but the looks are impressive nonetheless. I wish it was possible to add pictures and covers manually, a great feature available in other players that I dearly miss here.

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Another great thing about MiniTunes is that it is extremely easy to use, partially thanks to a limited set of available features, but also to an intuitive interface. On top of that, probably the most valuable feature for me, the application performs well and feels quick and snappy. This is particularly evident during startup, way quicker than other heavier players, such as Amarok or Banshee.

If I could ask for more features, though, aside from the already mentioned ability to manually modify artist and album covers, I guess I would like to see a better sound menu integration. Moreover, it would be great if it was possible to close MiniTunes and keep it running in the background.

Fortunately, MiniTunes is in very early stages of development and will hopefully gain momentum as more and more people get to know it. I bet it will get better and better, even if it is a great audio player already!

May Screenshots

2011-05-17T02:08:00.000-07:00

Argh! Time is short and the reviews I need to put together require a fair amount of it, so I thought I'd share how some of my desktops look like today while I finish those reviews.

ZORIN 4 OS

A Window-ish vibe, a great looking GNOMenu theme, some Conky eyecandy thanks to Conky lua and a much deserved tribute to Pulp Fiction.

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FEDORA 15 Beta

Gnome Shell provides an extremely clean desktop, perfect for an impressive wallpaper to take the leading role. The Orta theme and Faenza iconset look amazing on their own, but even better when combined.

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UBUNTU 10.10

Once again, Orta, Conky Colors and the Air Docky theme... All good matches for a bad-ass lizzard.

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UBUNTU 11.04

Yes, I keep testing Unity (In an attempt to avoid jumping into conclusions earlier than I should), and although I hate how the menu and dash look, there are some things one can do to make Unity look rather attractive.

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Linux Mint 11 "Katya" Review

2011-05-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

The wait was finally over for the many Linux Mint fans who wanted R11 to become available when the release candidate was made public just a few days ago. For those who don't remember or didn't know, Linux Mint 10 RC went live soon after Ubuntu 10.10, but then it took quite a while for the final official version to be available. Users with the RC would get all the updates required and would eventually be at the same level as the final release version. Long story short, if you can't wait to get your hands on Linux Mint 11, there's no real need to wait for the final version to be available.

Please note that early download/upgrade/installation is not recommended for users who require a very stable environment. Such users are better off waiting a few more months before actually downloading or maybe even skipping the upgrade altogether.

AN UNUSUAL REVIEW

This review of Linux Mint is a bit special in that it will be a lot shorter than usual. The guys behind Mint have again done a great job summarizing everything that is new in this latest release, including relevant screenshots for new applications and features, as well as thorough descriptions of changes, known bugs, upstream dependencies, etc.

As I was taking my own screenshots and putting together the material for this review, I noticed how terribly redundant a lot of it was when compared with that official Linux Mint 11 feature list, so I decided to bound my review to my own experience and opinion, leaving the "facts" to them. Therefore, before you continue reading, I strongly recommend checking out the Linux Mint 11 official WHAT'S NEW page. It will help you understand Linux Mint 11 better, as well as give you a solid background to follow this review.

You may also find it useful to read my Linux Mint 10 REVIEW, which is still relevant because many areas have not changed much in these past six months.

MINT 11 IN ACTION

The Ubuntu influence is once more evident in the installation process, but in a good way, as is often the case. The carefully put together Mint branding adds an elegant touch while green tones take over from purple and orange. As usual, installation went by pretty quickly and worked out perfectly. It is a very solid and well-designed feature at this stage.

When Clement Lefebvre first ANNOUNCED that Mint 11 would not use GNOME Shell nor Unity, but still be based on Classic GNOME 3, a lot of us smiled and nodded in approval. Judging by the early demonstrations of GNOME Shell and Unity, neither of them looked a viable route, but incorporating the latest from GNOME inside the classic interface we all knew and loved felt like a great idea.

Unfortunately, that idea was short lived, for Katya is actually based on GNOME 2.32, just like Natty Narwhal. Not necessarily a bad thing, though, and it may prove instrumental in taking Linux Mint popularity to new heights as Ubuntu users who are not happy with Unity look elsewhere for an alternative. I must admit it was a bit of a disappointment for me, though. On the one hand I think it is good that they bet on stability and continuity, but on the other hand, particularly after testing Ubuntu 11.04 and Fedora 15, Linux Mint 11 changes feel not that exciting.

It couldn't be any other way, though: I like many things about this latest release, the Update and Software Manager new features being right at the top of my list. Indeed, the Software Manager has improved considerably in terms of Look&Feel and a more intuitive, informative and interactive interface. Have you used Apple's App Store? Well, I like this one better in many ways, that's how good it is. The Update Manager has also become sleeker and faster (a much needed improvement), and has at last received a fix to the unresolved dependencies problem it suffered from for some time now.

As is always the case with each new release, there are some Artwork enhancements. Katya includes a wide selection of high quality wallpapers, some minor updates to Mint-X icon and GTK themes, as well as the sometimes controversial new Ubuntu overlay scrollbars. Nothing revolutionary, but still nice.

In terms of application catalog, there are some interesting changes, most notably the switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice, RhythmBox to Banshee, F-Spot to gThumb and the removal of Gwibber from the default image. Again, nothing groundbreaking here, but I particularly appreciate that Mint developers are listening to their user community and shaping new releases according to the feedback they receive.

Other minor changes include the ability to download a LiveCD image and then easily upgrade to the LiveDVD version. I am not so sure about this one, to be honest... Considering the upgrade to the LiveDVD version implies download and installation time, why would anybody interested in having those features download the LiveCD version in the first place? I am sure it will be a welcome feature for some, though, but I find it somewhat useless myself.

Classic Mint features like the Mint Menu are very much alive and return unchanged. No shame in that, really, for Mint Menu already covers most of the ground a menu can cover anyway. I personally would only change its behaviour when scrolling through application category entries, which sometimes feels inconsistent and ends up becoming annoying.

WORTH THE TRY?

After testing Linux Mint 11, one word comes to mind: Continuity. Katya does include several new features and enhancements which improve the product further, no doubt about it, but are they enough for Linux Mint 10 users to dump their current installation and upgrade? I personally don't think so.

I currently have Linux Mint 10 installed in one of my machines and it will stay there for another good six months, at least. I don't use the Software Manager that much, so I wouldn't gain much from its new features and other minor changes like Artwork and Application selection I could get manually anyway if I wanted to. Others may have different needs or may want to try Mint for the first time, and I would definitely encourage them all to go for it, but if you are currently happy with Linux Mint 10, you might be better off sticking to it for a while longer.

Mozilla says NO to Homeland Security ICE

2011-05-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

In a move that can only be described as jaw-dropping in this stinky system-controlled little planet, Mozilla rejected a Homeland Security request to remove the MAFIAAFIRE REDIRECTOR add-on, which was designed to "Un-censor illegally taken down domains".

Mozilla's Harvey Anderson explained: “Our approach is to comply with valid court orders, warrants, and legal mandates, but in this case there was no such court order.”

Even more surprisingly is the list of 11 questions that Mozilla sent to ICE, which you can read HERE

RESPECT.

PS: Oh, and Firefox is even more a favorite of mine after this! ;-)

How to painlessly switch from Ubuntu to Fedora

2011-05-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu and Fedora are arguably the most popular Linux distros out there today. They both make a huge impact on the Linux community release after release, but are somewhat opposite philosphies at times. Fedora, the RedHat-sponsored community project is adamant of RPM packages, while Ubuntu is based on Debian and therefore uses DEB packages. Fedora maintains that RedHat corporate environment vibe to it, more like a specialised distro, the perfect choice for developers. Ubuntu, on the other hand, based its strategy around creating "Linux for human beings", a friendly desktop environment that is accessible to all kinds of users.

One of the common things they had up until their latest release was the default desktop manager of choice. Both offered GNOME as their main option, along with fairly good implementations of KDE and other alternatives. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it), that is no longer the case. Come their April/May releases Fedora will become the flagship implementation of GNOME3 and GNOME Shell, while Ubuntu will step into uncharted territory with its own developed Unity interface.

It is clear that many will reject both and stick with other distros which remain loyal to classic GNOME2.x. It is highly unlikely that many Fedora users will reject GNOME Shell to embrace Unity, though, but not so much that some Ubuntu users shall decide to ditch Unity to use GNOME3 and GNOME Shell instead. Because Fedora is currently the best and most current implementation of GNOME Shell, many are already attempting the switch.

"NO BIG DEAL, IT'S LINUX AFTER ALL..."

Indeed, Ubuntu made a big impact on the Linux World and, for many of us, it was the host that introduced us to the exciting "Free as in beer and free as in free speech" OS. Users whose Linux experience is limited to Ubuntu and its derivatives may assume switching to Fedora should be smooth sailing, but that is not exactly true and can lead to frustration in the long run.

Fedora and Ubuntu are in fact different in many ways, so I wanted to provide a few guidelines which may help those of you making the transition. Please note that these guidelines are (despite the length of this article) somewhat high level. I limited the scope to a few areas that I consider essential for desktop users, which boil down to:

Considerations before installing
Sudo, Su and Root
Add/Remove Software: RPMFusion, GPK and yum
Make yourself at home
GNOME Shell tricks and customization
Hardware support and troubleshooting
A bit about SELinux

So without further ado, let's get to it.

CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE INSTALLING

First thing to keep in mind: It's always a good idea to make it a progressive transition. If you made the move from Windows to Ubuntu in one radical jump, I am sure you got your fair share of frustration as you learned the hard way. If, on the other hand, you kept Windows alive and only moved to Ubuntu when you were confident you had everything you needed, learning one step at a time and keeping a fully functional system available, things were probably smooth and satisfactory.

Once again, Fedora and Ubuntu are siblings, but they certainly are different in many ways, so you don't want to trash a solid Ubuntu installation to install Fedora. Anything from installing Fedora on VirtualBox to doing so on a USB drive (recommended) is better than attempting to jump with no parachute.

SUDO, SU & ROOT

One of the first things that will feel different to Ubuntu, which is a pretty fundamental change, is the fact that Fedora does rely on the root account for administrative tasks. As a result, you will be asked to assign a password to root as part of the installation process and only when you boot for the first time, will you be asked to create standard user accounts.

The default Ubuntu installation includes a disabled root account, encouraging the use of sudo for all things administrative. In other words, an administrator can do pretty much anything using her/his own password, both from the CLI and from the GUI. Some claim this is a security issue (perhaps you have read one of those endless discussions on su versus sudo?). On the opposite side of the spectrum, Fedora sports an active root account while disabling all kind of default sudo access.

What does this actually mean for an Ubuntu user landing on Fedora soil, you may ask? Well, impact varies depending on the interface in question. Command line users will notice quite a significant difference, being forced to impersonate themselves as root every time they need to complete an administrative task. The GUI impact is not as obvious, but might still get a bit confusing for users with an administrator profile, for they will be asked to enter their own or root's password depending on the task to be completed.

In terms of system administration, limiting administrative rights to the root account is obviously not as flexible as managing a sudoers list, but it is probably more secure and less prone to human error. Ultimately, both approaches have pros and cons, the most important thing is that both are available regardless of whether you are using Ubuntu or Fedora.

Let's see how it works with some real examples:

To become root, one needs to use the su command, as follows:

su root or su -

From that point on, the end user would be on a root bash session, sitting on root's home folder, etc. Of course, becoming root is not a good idea unless it is strictly happening for very specific administrative tasks. In other words, you should not become root for day to day tasks, even if that feels more convenient at times. There also is a way to use su for a single command:

su -c 'yum update'

Such command would still require root's password every time it is run, but would preserve the user session as it was. We will see what that specific command does shortly.

ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE: SYSTEM UPGRADE

Alright, you have now installed Fedora and understand how to perform administrative tasks, next stop is to install your favorite applications and make yourself at home. Unfortunately, Ubuntu's Software Center or Synaptic are nowhere to be found, apt-get does not work and even after finding a way to install things, you can't find the applications you are after... What do you do?

First off, it is always a good idea to update your system to the latest, most up to date version. In order to do so, you have a number of options. On the GUI side of things, there is your typical Update Manager, labelled Software Update under Applications > System Tools. If you are the CLI kind, it's time to get to know yum. Ubuntu users will be familiar with apt-get or perhaps aptitude commands. Fedora users use yum instead, which I find better in some ways. To learn more about yum, type the following from a terminal:

yum --help | less

That's about as much as you will be able to do as a standard user. Updating your system will require admin rights, I usually do it like this:

su -c 'yum update'

See? We now understand what that command I mentioned earlier was meant to do.

ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE: RPMFUSION

One of the steps that is going to satisfy standard users the most in the long run is the addition of RPMFusion repositories. Fedora users are lucky to have RPMFusion, which includes a huge catalog of software and lowers the need to add as many PPAs as Ubuntu users are sometimes forced to. On top of that, Fedora users enjoy very current software in general, as opposed to the Ubuntu policy of freezing applications for every six month release window.

From RPMFusion own Website:

"RPM Fusion provides software that the Fedora Project or Red Hat doesn't want to ship. That software is provided as precompiled RPMs for all current Fedora versions and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5; you can use the RPM Fusion repositories with tools like yum and PackageKit."

To add RPMFusion to your system, follow the instructions HERE.

ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE: GPK & YUM

With RPMFusion enabled, it is time to start modifying your system to your heart's content. There are two main ways to do this, from the GUI using PackageKit (labelled Add/Remove Software under Applications > System Tools) or from the command line using yum. The GUI way to do it is pretty straight forward, and while PackageKit is nowhere near as user friendly as Ubuntu Software Center (as shown below), it should be easy enough for any kind of user.

Click on image to enlarge.

As you may imagine, I personally tend to use yum instead. PackageKit is fine, but I tend to do things faster from the command line, specially when setting up my computer for the first time like we are doing here.

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

Time for installation frenzy! Behold the power of the command line as I install pretty much everything I need in one go:

su -c 'yum -y install gnome-tweak-tool gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-bad-free-extras gstreamer-plugins-bad-nonfree gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-ffmpeg audacious audacious-plugins unrar java-1.6.0-openjdk java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin gparted vlc gimp gimp-data-extras gimp-fourier-plugin gimp-lqr-plugin gimp-resynthesizer gimpfx-foundry yum-plugin-fastestmirror'

Wow, that's a long line! It may look scary, but it's all for a good cause. The applications that this command will install include:

Gnome Tweak Tool: An absolute must under GNOME Shell, it will get you close to the amount of customization you were allowed in GNOME 2.x.
Gstreamer plugins: All kinds of codecs that will allow you to play about any media format under the sun.
Audacious and plugins: A great light-weight audio player, very similar to Winamp.
Unrar: Can't handle .rar files without it, another must for me.
Java and the Java plugin: Once again, pretty essential.
Gparted: The awesome Gnome Partition Editor.
VLC: Top Video Player in my list.
GIMP and plugins: Priceless.
Fastest Mirror plugin for yum: Install faster!.

Obviously, there are several quite important bits and pieces that were not included. Here's how to get some of them:

NOTE: In order to configure some of the required repositories, the wget command is required, install it as follows: su -c 'yum -y install wget'

Flash Plugin

Start by installing the Adobe repositories.

rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm

Now install the plugin as follows:

su -c 'yum -y install flash-plugin'

NOTE: You could always download and install the RPM from Adobe's site if Flash plugin is all you plan to install. Might as well be easier.

Chromium Browser

Start by adding the repository to your sources:

su -c 'wget http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/spot/chromium/fedora-chromium.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/chromium.repo'

Now proceed to install:

su -c 'yum -y install chromium'

Google Chrome

This one is a bit more involved, but still easy enough. First off, let's create a local yum repository file for Google. Become root and open a gedit session as follows:

gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/google.repo

Once gedit opens, enter the following code and save the file:

32 Bits Architecture:


[google]
name=Google - i386
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub

64 Bits Architecture:


[google64]
name=Google - x86_64
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/x86_64
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub

Now install using the following command:

su -c 'yum -y install google-chrome-stable'

NOTE: According to my testing, the Google Chrome version on those repositories is pretty outdated. Probably best to download and install manually from Google.

Dropbox

Download the RPM from the application official SITE, installation is the same as in Ubuntu, but the notification icon appears in the intelli-hiding panel below in GNOME Shell.

Skype

Once again, the creation of a specific repository file is required, so open a gedit session as root as shown below:

gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/skype.repo

Now enter the following code and save the file:


[skype]
name=Skype Repository
baseurl=http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/fedora/updates/i586/
gpgcheck=0

Now install using the following command:

su -c 'yum -y install skype'

DVD Playback Support

Install the following two packages first:

su -c 'yum -y install libdvdread libdvdnav'

Now, download and install libdvdcss.

32 Bits Architecture:

su -c 'rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/repo/15/i386/libdvdcss-1.2.10-1.i386.rpm'

64 Bits Architecture:

su -c 'rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/repo/15/x86_64/libdvdcss-1.2.10-1.x86_64.rpm'

...There's more!

I think those few apps make for quite a good start, but in case you want more, you can find a very exhaustive list (albeit in Spanish) HERE. Thanks to the guys at FEDOREANDO for their awesome work through the last couple of years!

GNOME-SHELL TRICKS & CUSTOMIZATION

Ok, The jump from Ubuntu to Fedora can be a bit more difficult nowadays, as both are introducing new GUI interfaces. In my experience, appreciating Fedora 15 has a lot to do with getting comfortable with GNOME Shell. Let's see some things that will surely help in getting used to the latest and greatest from GNOME camp.

Tweak Tool

If you followed the previous section, you should already have Tweak Tool installed. This little application can cover lots of ground and make the transition from classic GNOME 2.x to GNOME Shell less traumatic.

As is the case with many GNOME 3 components and applications, there is a lot of development activity going on at the moment, probably getting things ready for the upcoming Fedora 15 final release. Tweak Tool is no exception, having gone through a few updates in the recent weeks. The latest version includes a five category menu:

File Manager: Turn on this feature if you want to be able to manage the desktop as you used to in classic GNOME (Icons are visible, active right-click, etc.)
Interface: Icon changes, theme changes... All good and fun.
Fonts: Self explanatory enough.
Shell: Clock, date and other settings... You can even bring the minimize button back!
Windows: Window themes, title bar actions, etc.

GNOME Shell Themes

As I mentioned in a recent article, DevianArt's half-left is putting together some very impressive themes, all of which are now compatible with GNOME Shell final. Installation instructions are available on each of them, which you can download from HERE.

GNOME Shell Extensions

A few pretty cool changes that bring back some of the classic GNOME 2.x functionality to the new Shell. Anything from good old Alt+Tab window switching to displaying the Power Off option in the menu by default is included here. You can see a list of the extensions available running this command:

yum search extension | grep gnome-shell

YES! yum offers a very cool search feature!

Install at your convenience, I personally recommend gnome-shell-extensions-alternative-status-menu.

HARDWARE SUPPORT & TROUBLESHOOTING

Fedora is not as sleek as Ubuntu when it comes to hardware support. Having both run on the same machine, Ubuntu automatically detected proprietary hardware (My HP2740p Broadcom Wireless card) and suggested the download of the necessary drivers. Fedora would simply show Wireless as not available. Unfortunately, this seems to be an ongoing problem that is impacting other users (see the following Fedora Forum THREAD for further info) and the solutions available don't seem to work reliably. I personally couldn't get wireless to work on that machine.

Similarly, I had problems with Bluetooth (apparently an ongoing bug since F14), which was apparently detected, but not properly working. Here's what I did to fix it (as root):

systemctl enable bluetooth.service

Now start it:

systemctl start bluetooth.service

(That's assuming your Bluetooth device was properly detected, of course)

I also had problems after installing Dropbox, which completely messed up my repositories and pretty much rendered yum useless. As root again, open the Dropbox repository file as follows:

gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/dropbox.repo

Now, edit the code in there, it should end up looking something like this (no repositories seem to be available for F14 nor F15):

[Dropbox]
name=Dropbox Repository
baseurl=http://linux.dropbox.com/fedora/13/
gpgkey=http://linux.dropbox.com/fedora/rpm-public-key.asc

A BIT ABOUT SELINUX

Given the length of this article, I will keep this one very brief. The idea is that SELinux may have an impact on your system performance. I haven't experienced that in Fedora 15, but did in F14 and specially in F13. If you are experiencing poor performance, you may want to check what the current SELinux status is by using the sestatus command:

[shred@Fedora15 ~]$ sestatus
SELinux status:                 enabled
SELinuxfs mount:                /selinux
Current mode:                   permissive
Mode from config file:          permissive
Policy version:                 24
Policy from config file:        targeted

Click on image to enlarge.

Aside from performance issues, SELinux could also be blocking some of the applications you use (I had issues with empathy, as shown above), so if you want to change it to permissive mode as I did, or simply disable SELinux altogether (not recommended), you can easily do it as follows:

gedit /etc/selinux/config

Then simply change the SELINUX value from enforcing to either permissive or disabled.

NOTE: The same can be achieved from the GUI, using system-config-selinux (part of policycoreutils-gui package).

FEDORA IS NO FOE

Previous versions of Fedora suffered a bit from a somewhat poor and not very polished GNOME implementation, which felt a bit archaic when compared to Ubuntu and its derivatives. As the leading GNOME 3 developing distro, Fedora now enjoys a bleeding edge implementation of the GNOME Shell, which, on top of all the great changes coming with Fedora 15, sets the stage for a very successful release.

After testing Ubuntu 11.04 and Fedora 15 intensively in the last few days, I have come to appreciate the latter more and more. While Ubuntu developers have done an incredible job getting Unity (somewhat) ready in just a few months, it still feels immature. In addition, probably as a result of all that frantic development for Unity, Natty Narwhal is one of the less stable Ubuntu releases I remember. Fedora 15, on the other hand, is surprisingly stable for a Beta release.

My choice (at least until Unity grows mature enough) is pretty clear by now after getting to grips with Fedora in the past few weeks. It's a no brainer, really, as I now enjoy the best possible GNOME Shell implementation... and can't say I miss a thing from Ubuntu!

NOTE: Just to clarify, I have kept and still actively use my Ubuntu 10.10 and derivatives installations, I am just talking here about the idea of upgrading or installing Ubuntu 11.04.

Avoid Ubuntu 11.04 Upgrade!

2011-04-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Upgrading an Ubuntu installation has never been a safe move, much less days after a release. This time around such statement is particularly true due to all the stuff that is being introduced as part of the switch to Unity.

My recommendation? Stay away from Natty Narwhal for some months. If you want to use it, don't upgrade, use a clean installation instead, BUT...

DON'T EVEN TRY IF YOU ARE USING AN UBUNTU DERIVATIVE!!!!

The Elementary OS team have stepped forward and publicly warned their users not to upgrade to Ubuntu 11.04:

"It has come to our attention that on Thursday, April 28, 2011, users of elementary OS Jupiter may be prompted to upgrade to Ubuntu 11.04. We strongly urge you not to do so if you are prompted to; not because we do not want you using Ubuntu, but because the upgrade process may render your install unusable."

You can read the full public service announcement on the project's own WEBSITE.

Unfortunately, this potential risk applies to all Ubuntu derivatives. ZorinOS, MoonOS, Pinguy and Linux Mint users (to name just a few popular examples) could wreck their systems with this upgrade process as well!

NOTE: I am currently testing Natty, working on a review which I will publish in the next few days. From what I am seeing, Ubuntu 11.04 could use some time to mature further, so no need to rush an upgrade!

A look at GNOME Shell

2011-04-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell were finally released, after years of development, just a few days ago. Their release was obviously raising enormous expectation, so it should come as no surprise that so shortly after it took place there are already tons of material both positive and negative about it. Exciting times, if you ask me.

MY THOUGHTS BEFORE TESTING

I had read several reviews on early GNOME3, as well as comments from an assortment of sources. As is so often the case, negative comments usually resonate louder and I must admit I approached GNOME3 with a generous dose of skepticism. I wanted to be fair, though, so I didn't give it a try until I knew it was mature enough. My review is based on the recently released Fedora 15 Beta, which already includes GNOME3 final.

A WORD ABOUT FEDORA 15

In my opinion, Fedora 15 LoveLock is probably the most exciting release to come out of the Fedora camp in years. While some of the previous releases excelled in certain aspects (such as features aimed at developers), they fell short in other areas as or more important, such as providing a polished end user experience. Things are not silk smooth yet, but I have definitely seen an improvement, plus there is a host of exciting new features coming as part of this release.

I will dedicate an article to review Fedora 15 final when it goes live, but let me just say that my first impressions were quite positive. Power management is superb (hard to tell which component is responsible for that, though, the Kernel, Fedora, GNOME3 or all of them combined) and the Beta feels like a final version already, solid as a rock. Tell that to Ubuntu 11.04 Beta!

A BUMPY LANDING

Before getting to the GNOME Shell desktop, we get the login screen with an up to date (sort of, as it is very very similar to Classic GNOME 2.x) GDM theme. That GDM theme already hints at the predominant colors in GNOME Shell: blue and black. I couldn't help finding a funny similarity with the original KDE 4.0 colors (blue and the shiny black Oxygen theme they used back then)... Coincidence?

Click on image to enlarge.

Having used GNOME 2.x for a long time, the first thing that came to mind when I started using GNOME Shell was lack of freedom. If you are used to your good old GNOME tricks, have customized the heck out of fonts, icons, themes, controls and Compiz effects... Well, all of that is pretty much gone now. You can still create your custom keyboard shortcuts, but customization is certainly limited.

Click on image to enlarge.

The GNOME Shell desktop is an extremely clean one. There is nothing on it (whatever you save on the desktop folder does not actually show) and the only visible thing is the top panel. Its name is the only thing that is similar to our beloved GNOME 2.x panel, though, for it does not support right-clicks, no add/remove icons, no launchers, no transparency... There is an Activities button on the left, the clock in the middle and a notification area on the right, no more, no less.

Clicking on the Activities button is the only action that seems to bring some joy, as we start to see something happening. There is a favorites menu on the left, a virtual desktop bar on the right and a couple buttons on the main screen: Windows and Applications. The former is the default, but it is a bit confusing as chances are, you will have no open applications the first time you get to it, so it apparently does nothing. When you do have applications open, though, they will all appear there with an animation reminescent to good old Compiz. The latter is, in my opinion, the most beautiful screen in GNOME Shell, displaying the full list of applications with big and beautiful buttons and a slightly transparent background, making it look as if icons were actually floating on top of the desktop.

Click on image to enlarge.

I must admit it, after a short time using GNOME Shell I felt lost and frustrated. The environment felt even more limited than other proprietary options out there. Undoubtedly there were many improvements, from the greatly enhanced looks (it looks muuuuuch better than anything GNOME 2.x) to a smart design and well implemented ideas... But the lack of options was killing me!

KEEPING AN OPEN MIND IS IMPORTANT

First off, let me be honest here: A lot of that frustration came from my own ignorance. Many things were different in GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell, so trying my trusty GNOME 2.x tricks did not get me very far. My own arrogant "experienced user" pride got me stuck trying to find things on my own, and when one is trying to open a new lock with an old key, chances are it will not work. I finally took the time to research a little bit (it doesn't take long, don't worry) and found my way through pretty quickly. On that note, the official GNOME SHELL CHEAT SHEET is a valuable asset. I personally believe it should be part of the Help documentation included in GNOME Shell, perhaps even made available on the desktop by default.

Anyways, once I made GNOME Shell a bit of my own environment, I started to feel a lot more comfortable. I had to learn a few of its quirky features, such as having to press Alt to get the Power Off option to show on the menu, a few system keyboard shortcuts available, etc., but the interesting bit is that once I got rid of those few "blocks" that bugged me about GNOME Shell and actually sat down to truly work with it, I quickly came to appreciate it.

As far as lack of customization goes, luckily there is GNOME TWEAK TOOL (available from the Fedora repositories), a great little application that brings back A LOT of that missing flexibility. Fonts can be changed, and so can icon themes and other elements. What's even more important, the community is quickly raising up to the challenge and releasing some very impressive stuff. A good example is the work that DevianArt Artist half-left is doing, releasing some of the most visually awesome GNOME Shell Themes I have seen to date. You can find and download those themes from HERE (instructions included on each theme's own page).

THE PLEASANT SURPRISES: Looks

The default GNOME Shell look is already quite a step forward when compared with classic GNOME 2.x. Everything looks polished and carefully put together and even if you don't like it from a subjective point of view, it is undeniable that GNOME Shell looks... Well, expensive. The panel, the notification area drop-down menus, the logout, shutdown and other dialogs... everything conveys an elegant and consistent vibe here.

Click on image to enlarge.

There is room for improvement, of course. I can't say I am a fan of the default Adwaita theme and fonts, and while icons look better than ever before on a default GNOME desktop, there are better options out there.

Click on image to enlarge.

Fortunately, even if customization is cumbersome at this stage, one can make GNOME Shell look truly awesome. In my case, I downloaded the Smooth Inset theme by half-left, Droid fonts and my beloved Faenza icon set. Combined with a new, better-fitting wallpaper, things improved considerably.

Click on image to enlarge.

Sexy, huh?

THE PLEASANT SURPRISES: Features

From the moment I started thinking about this review, I thought it wouldn't be fair unless I actually gave GNOME Shell an honest try, so I have been using it almost exclusively for the last week or so. Through these past few days, I have come to appreciate its features, sometimes small details that truly make a difference.

Click on image to enlarge.

GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell sport some exciting new features, most of which have been designed to "not get in the way and let users do their thing without distractions". One of the areas in which this is more evident is the great integration of social and communication tools inside the desktop. Notifications are a great example of such integration, and those from Empathy and Evolution are particularly impressive.

Click on image to enlarge.

Users only need to open Empathy and have it running in the background to see instant messages show up perfectly integrated with the desktop. Not only that, users can very easily reply straight from that same notification spot, there is no need to bring up Empathy at all. The same kind of notifications appear when Evolution is open and email messages are received.

Click on image to enlarge.

The desktop calendar also integrates perfectly with Evolution, showing current and short-term appointments straight from the desktop... Even meeting alarms show up perfectly integrated as system notifications... Killer feature!

Click on image to enlarge.

Another great feature I love, which again is cleverly integrated in the desktop, is the expanded search feature. In my experience with other distros or even other OS, this feature (if available) requires users to open the main menu, then either expand the search menu item or click on the search field to start searching. As far as I am concerned, that usually means that I end up ignoring the search feature, regardless of how cool it actually is. I just forget it's there when it's more than a click away!

GNOME Shell requires just one click (technically, not even one), so I have found myself using it quite a bit. All it takes is one click on the mouse on the Activities menu, typing on a single key (Windows key, although Alt+F1 can be used as well), or a mouse gesture to the top left corner to get the search enabled. In other words, one simple gesture or click and there you go, search is enabled, you can start to type. After a couple tries, it becomes second nature and a very convenient way to look for and start applications. That said, the search feature is not limited to applications installed; users may also click on the Wikipedia or Google links at the bottom to extend their search to those popular sites.

Another thing about GNOME Shell that is innovative, certainly different from what we were used to, is the use of virtual desktops. In Classic GNOME 2.x, the amount of virtual desktops was fixed, usually 2 or 4 by default, depending on the distro builder. There are obvious issues in providing a fixed number of desktops: They can be too few or too many. In addition, this awesome feature was not obvious unless one knew about it. I have seen many people with a Windows background who didn't even imagine virtual desktops existed, sit in front of a Linux desktop and it didn't occur to them that they had a better way to organize their open applications than what they had been using for ages. In fact, even after showing them, some wouldn't really "get it".

GNOME Shell introduces the interesting idea of Dinamic Virtual Desktops. The concept is simple: No matter what you do or how many desktops you are using, the system will automatically create an extra empty one for you. Likewise, and sticking to what I just mentioned, the system will remove those desktops which are no longer in use. Some people (myself included initially) will see this and, in burning frustration, immediately go "WHERE IS MY COMPIZ CUBE!!!!!" That point of view is a bit narrow minded, I think. Yes, the cube and other desktop effects were great to watch and made the desktop a bit of a "game" in itself, but they also added a potential point of failure and a source of frustration for many users who could not get them to work, as well as lots of inconsistency and a very hard to support environment.

Along those lines, I asked some people who had never seen a Linux desktop before to sit down and play with GNOME Shell. One amazing thing was that not only all users actually noticed there was a bar on the right of the Activities screen (it raised interest and questions), but some of them actually understood the concept of virtual desktops on their own and were off and using them after a few clicks. I believe that is quite an achievement that the GNOME Shell designers and developers should take credit for.

GNOME Shell introduced other features that have raised a fair amount of controversy, the lack of a minimize window button being one of the ones that has made most noise. Strictly speaking, minimizing is possible, as there is an option to do it through a custom defined keyboard shortcut, but a hack is already available to re-enable the minimize button. In any case, I wanted to give a chance to the GNOME designers and embrace GNOME Shell design for what it is, in this case getting the most out of virtual desktops instead of trying to minimize applications... And you know what? It works. It only takes a while to get used to, so there is no need to troll or waste time discussing minute stuff like this, specially when it mostly has to do with a personal preference. Once again, keeping an open mind is important.

GNOME 3 EXISTS!

The GNOME Shell and the changes it brings with it concentrate so much attention that it is easy to lose track of things and not even realise GNOME 3 and all the latest stuff from the GNOME camp are there too! I haven't looked into all applications in detail, but I have noticed some nice improvements in some of them, specially the Evolution email client, which is much simpler to configure now, faster and less resource hungry. I was very pleased with its supperb support for Gmail messages, contacts, calendar and tasks. Empathy also felt better this time, more solid and mature. Totem, Rhythmbox, Shotwell, The GNOME Dictionary and others also bring new features and/or enhancements. In fact, all those features and improvement will become more and more a reason to migrate to GNOME 3 as development on 2.x eventually comes to an end.

THE PRICE YOU GOTTA PAY

The latest GNOME release is loyal to its motto, providing users with a practical interface that offers very little resistance to user productivity. The learning curve is minimal, thanks to a very intuitive desktop design and all features and applications feel like they are there for a reason. Customization in many aspects has been cut, sometimes quite drastically, but users get a much more solid desktop that is fully usable out of the box. Yes, many of the bells and wistles that a fancy GNOME 2.x Compiz setup could carry are pretty much gone now, but if hardware support is there, users will get quite an impressive set of them that are reliable and consistent, no effort implied, no frustrations attached.

Long story short, the GNOME developers aimed at providing more of a finished product, a more balanced mix that is not as extremely featureful as older versions, but that a offers a reasonable amount of eye candy within the realm of a fully functional and reliable desktop. As much as I miss some of those neat compiz effects, I think it is a reasonable decision and the right call to make. It is also a bold move, one that will surely generate rejection from experienced users initially, but it will probably get a more positive response from new comers in turn.

"HEY, REMEMBER KDE 4.0?..."

I have read lots of comments about GNOME 3, GNOME Shell and the radical change they bring with them being similar to what happened when KDE 4.0 was released. I have now tried both and I completely disagree with that comparison.

Let's rewind around 3 years back to the first release of the KDE 4 series. Those who experienced the transition from KDE 3 or those who simply tried KDE for the first time back then will probably agree with me that it was Alpha software at best, more of a proof of concept than an actual release (Even Aaron Seigo himself agrees!). The software was unstable, inconsistent, slow, buggy and resource hungry. Even worse, it took about two years (KDE 4.4.x series) to get it to a state most users considered stable. Even to this day KDE still suffers from some basic functionality limitations, lack of consistency and an interface that is anything but logical and intuitive at times. Heck, it took 3 years and KDE 4.6 series to get Kwin effects to a usable level!

In other words, KDE 3.x users were asked to upgrade to software that was a departure from what they knew and loved, but most importantly, not comparable in many ways with what they were already using. Therefore, it was a no brainer for many of them to stay away from it. New comers, on the other hand, found software that was not ready, even if it looked nice. The end result? KDE went through hell to regain the status they had before they made the move to KDE 4, losing plenty of users in the process.

GNOME 3, on the other hand, is quite a departure from previous versions in the way it works, but I would say it is 85-90% there in terms of consistency, stability and ease of use. Sure, many experienced users will probably stick with what they use now, but not necessarily because GNOME 3 offers lower quality. New users will get a pretty polished product out of the box, completely functional and ready to go, which they can embrace from the first minute.

As I am typing these lines on my Fedora 15 Beta installation, I see the frantic pace of development GNOME 3 is under. I get lots of updates on a daily basis, but in 8-9 days of intense use, I have only seen one crash (On GNOME Dictionary, caused when I closed the application in the middle of a search, which by the way, I have not been able to reproduce). In other words, I believe GNOME 3 will reach acceptable maturity within 3-6 months after its release. Quite impressive, I might add.

OK, BUT WHERE IS THE CATCH?

Please, don't get me wrong, GNOME Shell is certainly far from being perfect. While I agree that limiting features is probably the safest way to provide a consistent first release, I hope that some of the functionality that's been removed will eventually make it back in future releases. I consider GNOME 3 is on the right path, offering an intuitive interface that requires little or no training to get the basics moving, but I believe it is unacceptable that something as basic as changing fonts, themes or icon sets, which even proprietary OS support, is not available.

The System Settings tool is literally being updated on a daily basis, so I am not entirely sure what it will eventually be able to do, but it is still missing some important features at this stage. Aside from the already mentioned tool to easily customize icons, themes, fonts, etc. (Gnome Tweak Tool is not there yet, but even if it was, it is not "officially" part of GNOME 3), I see the need for more flexible power management, for example. I believe power schemes are a must today, and they are nowhere to be found. Some other annoying little things include the inability to maximize the System Settings screen (What tha...?), the fact that it completely ignores the default icon theme, to name just a couple.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

All in all, after using GNOME Shell almost exclusively for several days, I have to say I consider it a big success. It is certainly not perfect, there are plenty of things that can be improved, but the foundation is much more solid than I anticipated or even hoped for. I can only encourage current GNOME 2.x users to keep an open mind and embrace this new release. After all, the more support it gets, the sooner it will improve and mature, and that's best for everyone. Unfortunately, the Ubuntu move to Unity will certainly have an impact on the number of users testing and using GNOME 3, but I believe it has got a bright future ahead nevertheless.

I would recommend giving GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell a fair try, using them intensively for a few days. Get past those initial adjustment struggles and I am confident GNOME Shell will surprise you.

NOTE: The transition from Ubuntu or Ubuntu derivatives to Fedora may be a bit of a concern, so I will put together an article with some recommendations to hopefully help those of you with issues to "land" safely.

Play Angry Animals (offline) on Linux

2011-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Angry Animals, a clone of the hugely popular Angry Birds game, is a FLASHNINJACLAN online game built with Flash. Obviously, online games are convenient in that they only depend on compatible Web browsers... But how about playing when you are offline? Or maybe play without those awful banners getting in the way?

PLAY ANGRY ANIMALS OFFLINE

As a Flash game, Angry Animals can be played offline with two main ingredients: The Flash Player and the Angry Animals SWF, both of which must be stored locally. This is somewhat simple if one knows where to get each of those elements, but for those not comfortable with the process or firing commands from a terminal, or perhaps too lazy to even try, Zarko Zivanov created a script that automates the whole thing.

Click on image to enlarge.

Zivanov's script essentially runs a simple dependency check, then quits if one of the dependencies (namely wget, tar, convert) is missing, asking the user to install them manually. If all dependencies are satisfied, it downloads the required components and creates a desktop launcher.

I liked the idea behind his script, but thought it could be enhanced with a GUI and adding some more automation and flexibility. I decided to pick up where he left it and put together a script that does the following:

1.- Offer a graphical interface for the script. After all, lots of people get easily scared by the command line.
2.- Check dependencies and automatically install whatever is missing. The script will find what is missing and automatically install it as part of the Angry Animals configuration process.
3.- Customizable launcher location. Zivanov's script had a fixed location to create the launcher: The desktop. While this is a logical place for a launcher, it relied on a path (~/Desktop) that is only good for installations in English. As a result, I decided to offer the user the option of choosing where the launcher should be created.

DOWNLOAD AND PLAY!

So? Wanna play? If you want to easily get Angry Animals running locally on your PC, using the script I created is an quick and convenient way to do it. Here's what you should do to get it to work:

1.- Download my script from HERE.
2.- Save it locally and review the code to make sure it's safe (I know it is, but this is something you should always do with any script to guarantee the safety and privacy of your data)
3.- Make the script executable using a method you are comfortable with.
4.- Double-click on the script and you will be playing in a matter of seconds!

Here are a few screenshots which show the script in action:

Click on image to enlarge.

Once installation is done, the final step is to select where to create the game launcher.

Click on image to enlarge.

Voila!... Just double click on the launcher and go Angry Animal!

Click on image to enlarge.

HAVE FUN!

NOTE: While AngryAnimals.sh relies on apt-get and zenity, it should be quite easy to adjust it to any other package manager or dialog app so that it runs on KDE or even other distros.

Oracle stops commercial plans for OpenOffice

2011-04-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

Just a very quick note to let you know, in case you don't already, that Oracle have decided to drop commercial plans for OpenOffice, releasing it as a community-based project. This was communicated recently and it is still unclear what the future holds for OpenOffice, but as they say, Better late than never...

You can read more about this HERE.

POLL Results: Firefox still Linux Browser King

2011-04-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

In an ARTICLE I wrote not long ago, I spoke about the recently released Firefox 4.0 and highlighted some of its new features. I also put together a poll to find out how the Mozilla browser compares to Google Chrome/Chromium in the mind of other users. My idea was to give a bit of context based on my own experience to spark discussion, but also to narrow down the comparison to certain specific criteria, as both browsers are so powerful and feature rich that things could get too dense... or downright "philosophical"!

Click on image to enlarge.

Looking at the poll results above, it seems Google Chrome/Chromium is becoming a force to be reckoned with, for more than 30% of those who voted in this poll claim to use it as their main and favorite Internet browser. That was the case for me for a while, but since Firefox 4.0 has improved a lot on this last release, it has gone back to the number one spot again. It seems many others think alike, because Firefox leads with 62% of the votes.

The big question here is whether Firefox 4.0 is recovering some of its user base and gaining new fans again or if, on the contrary, Chrome/ium continues to increase its user community. In my opinion, the new fast development pace that Mozilla is adopting, with plans to release Firefox 5.0 in about two months, will have a lot to say there.

Batch convert images with Imagemagick

2011-04-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

When I am writing a distro review (actually, pretty much any type of article I put together), I usually spend quite a significant amount of time putting together screenshots of noteworthy features, relevant or unexpected behaviors and why not say it, bugs and errors. I believe those pictures support the text and provide elusive comments like "very cool branding" or "beautiful icon theme" with enough visual context.

Taking those screenshots is often a pretty simple and quick process. The burden comes when I have to open all of them and start saving them as JPG, in an attempt to reduce their size and make them more "Internet-compatible". What's even worse is that each of those files must also be reduced in size to provide thumbnails that I can instert in my articles. Long story short, each PNG file has to be converted into a full size JPG image, then reduced to match thumbnail size and saved as a separate JPG image.

Those of you who know about the convert command and the IMAGEMAGICK PROJECT are probably scratching your heads, wondering why I am wasting my time in something that can easily be achieved from the command line, but what can I say... I only learned about this awesome tool very recently!

CONVERT, CONVERT, CONVERT...

Alright, so if you didn't know about the convert command, just a a quick look at its help page from the command line should give you an overview of what it offers. Assuming it is installed on your machine (if not, from a terminal type sudo apt-get install imagemagick), type the following from a terminal:

convert --help

To give you a quick idea, this powerful command can pretty much perform any operation or set of operations on an image that one could do using GIMP. Here's a short list of highlights:

Convert image format
Resize
Crop
Switch to sepia or B/W.
Colorize
Change contrast and brightness balance
Merge layers
Gamma correction
Flip/flop image vertically/horizontally.
Enhance
Many, many more...

This is all very nice, but you may be wondering what all of this has to do with my Blog and all that time I waste manually converting images and creating thumbnails? Well, thanks to the power of the command line, I could automate the whole process, so I now get all my image conversion and thumbnail creation done with a couple clicks in just a few seconds!

PICONVERT

Let me introduce PiConvert.sh, a simple script I created to get all this image conversion business automated. Its functionality is simple and perhaps limited to my needs, but could easily be tweaked to extend it if needed. Here's how it works:

1.- After running the script, a welcome dialog appears which briefly explains how things work:

2.- If the user decides to continue, a file-selection dialog shows up, allowing for single or multiple file selection (the images that should eventually be converted).

3.- Next is a directory-selection dialog, which allows the user to select the destination where those converted files will be saved to.

The script will now proceed to convert files and create the corresponding thumbnails, all of which will be saved at the specified target location.

USE PICONVERT!

If PiConvert.sh provides functionality you think you could use yourself, here's how to use it:

1.- Download the script from HERE.
2.- Review the code to make sure it doesn't do anything that could harm your computer or privacy! (ALWAYS do it when you download a script of any kind)
3.- Grant execution rights to the script following a method of your choice.
4.- Double-click on the script to execute.

NOTE: PiConvert.sh is obviously dependent on imagemagick. The script will check for this dependency and error out if it is not met.

Beware of Firefox Add-ons!

2011-04-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

If you are using Firefox, chances are you use more than a few Add-ons or extensions. After all, they have been one of the main strengths of the Mozilla browser. If you do, though, you should know that such extensions might have an impact on performance. In fact, the impact can be so significant that Mozilla themselves have decided to publish a list with the 10 (on the main view, there are more listed) Add-ons that slow Firefox down the most and surprisingly, that list includes some of the most popular extensions available!

Click on image to enlarge.

I personally only use a couple extensions myself, none of which is listed here, but if you do use many and feel Firefox takes forever to start up or has less than acceptable performance, you may benefit from visiting this SITE and learning which extensions could be the root cause of your problem. Most popular extensions have alternatives available, so you might be better off disabling that particularly slow Add-on and installing a similar one.

If, on the other hand, you are an Add-on developer, please make sure you are clear on Mozilla's Performance Best Practices in Extensions.

Elementary OS Review

2011-04-05T05:55:00.000-07:00

"Elementary: Of, relating to, or constituting the basic, essential, or a fundamental part"

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Probably one of the most anticipated distro releases in a long time, Elementary OS JUPITER finally came to life just a few days ago. Building on the popularity and success of some of the projects own applications, most notably Nautilus Elementary and Postler, this distro has raised high expectations, but does it live up to them? Come on in and let's find out.

ELEMENTARY, PHILOSOPHY AND IMPLEMENTATION

Elementary OS, as its own name already hints at, is all about simplicity. Good simplicity, that is, the kind that removes bloat and strips applications to the core of their functionality so nothing stands in the way of the end user. On top of that, in a sometimes controversial way (due to the obvious Apple influence), it also attempts to bring up the elegance and beauty of such simplicity, aiming at a sleek and clean Look&Feel.

That's the theory, at least.

INSTALLATION AND FIRST LOGIN

Booting from the LiveCD/USB, the Plymouth theme already showcases that "simple yet elegant" vibe, showing the Elementary OS Logo (a big 'e') surrounded by a neat glowing animation. Nothing groundbreaking, but nice.

As is the case with most Ubuntu forks, Elementary OS sticks pretty close to the original installation wizard, just tweaking certain elements to make them fit with the distro's own branding (and simplicity motto, in this case). If you have seen the Ubuntu 10.10 installation, you will find nothing surprising here.

The GDM theme is pretty standard, but it does show a little bit of the Elementary GTK theme. The default background, which is the same that is used in the desktop, is somewhat cheesy and cheap, failing to convey that sleek-looks vibe that the distro sports in other areas.

Click on image to enlarge

THE DESKTOP, APPS AND ALL THAT FUN

Leaving the default wallpaper aside, another element that strikes me as odd is the default icon theme, which again does not seem to stand the comparison with other portions of the desktop. This is all entirely subjective, of course, but after seeing the project official Website and how carefully everything Look&Feel was being put together, I must admit I was expecting better. As far as the choice for default wallpaper is concerned, I think it is quite unfortunate, as there are others available which would have fit better.

Looking for some fancy GTK themes and window decorators? Look elsewhere, the elementary theme is the only one available.

Click on image to enlarge

The application catalog continues with that idea of simplicity, particularly obvious in the distro's own apps: Postler, Dexter and Lingo.

Postler is an extremely simplified email client. It's got some nice features, like a very clever account creation interface, which is as easy as it gets. In addition, thanks to its simplistic interface, Postler loads very quickly and is surprisingly snappy for a mail client. On the down side of things, I think the interface is too simplistic and I found myself missing some options I often use in other mail clients. Surprisingly, Postler did not all messages from my Gmail account, but just a portion. I have messages from today all the way back to 2005, but I could barely get anything from 2009. I have not tried Postler in other circumstances, so I am not sure if this is expected behavior or a true bug/application limitation. (Can anybody comment from their experience?)

Click on image to enlarge

Dexter is a neat address book that seems to offer cross-applications support. Once again it sports an extremely simple interface and snappy performance. Adding contacts is simple and automatic import is supported. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to see no obvious integration with online contact address books (ie. Google Contacts) or worse yet, Postler. Both Thunderbird and Evolution offer easy integration with their address books, so one can very quickly add contacts from existing messages just by right-clicking on the contact's address. Not here.

Click on image to enlarge

As for Lingo, it is another cute little application, a dictionary to be specific. I haven't played much with it, but I see nothing here I didn't get from Gnome dictionary. The GUI is simple, as one can expect from any application in this project, but again, nothing groundbreaking. From a philosophical stand point, I am not sure that a dictionary fits the definition of Elementary, as in a fundamental or critical application.

Click on image to enlarge

Other apps included Gnumeric and Abiword, both of which try to cope with Office Suite duties, but falling terribly short, unfortunately. For example, it only took 10 minutes before I got a message with a PPS attachment and guess what? There is nothing available to open it with.

I personally like to keep the full OpenOffice or LibreOffice suite installed, but it could be argued that they are heavy and take quite some room. Looking at it from that perspective, I like the Peppermint approach better... Why not integrate Google Docs straight from the desktop?

Another application that made me scratch my head was Midori, the default Web browser. I was curious to test it because I had read good things about it, but boy did it disappoint. As another browser based around the WebKit rendering engine, one expects speedy browsing from Midori, but I got the complete opposite. In my experience under Elementary OS, Midori is ridiculously slow and unstable. It consistently took more than 20 seconds to partially load my Blog page, only to systematically crash time and again. After a few tries, I downloaded Firefox 4.0 and it was back to browsing fast and reliably.

Another "pleasant" surprise was the lack of Flash plugin... In an Ubuntu fork? Really? Come on!

And how about listening to music? Fancy downloading or copying your favorite MP3s over to give them a listen with the on board default audio player? Don't bother, there is none.

Click on image to enlarge

As I continued to play around in the desktop, I started to get more frustrated with lots of features having been removed or heavily limited. Right-clicking on the desktop, the panel or the main menu had been disabled, as well as drag-and-drop, so lots of things could not be done, at least not in an obvious way. The same applied to Docky, which did not support effects, addition of new launchers and had no apparent settings edition available. As already mentioned, the application catalog was poor, so I started to wonder "What is so good about this simplicity to begin with?".

THE SIMPLER THE BETTER?

I cannot understand the rationale behind using GNOME but limiting its flexibility and/or options. If a distro builder is willing to deal with the extra weight, what's the point in stripping it down? It certainly doesn't make GNOME faster nor cuter. On top of that, there are other alternatives out there that better fit the simple-and-fast category, such as LXDE, Openbox or XFCE, to name a few.

The application catalog feels weak, lacking in many areas, and it seems to fall in the middle of nowhere. It does not provide enough firepower to be considered a heavy client that can do most things offline, yet not light enough to be able to compete with other simple-and-fast distros out there. Elementary OS' own software is alright, but I personally find it too simplistic, often lacking features I use on a daily basis.

Another element that seems to be part of the Elementary "identity" is a sleek Look&Feel, but I only saw that partially in Jupiter.

NOT A FAN

Long story short, Elementary OS was a bitter disappointment for me. I think the concept is there, and it could be a successful one with the right implementation, but I don't see that happening in Jupiter. Moon OS, Zorin OS, Linux Mint... The list of Ubuntu forks that do better is long and I don't see that changing as long as the Elementary project does not realize that Linux without flexibility is hardly an option.

Is Elementary OS for you? I find it hard to believe if you enjoy Linux, but by all means do give it a go. After all, looking at Unity and GNOME Shell, lack of flexibility may be the theme moving forward.

POLL: Firefox 4.0 vs Chrome/ium under Linux

2011-03-31T02:52:00.000-07:00

Now that Firefox 4 has been available long enough to get an actual taste of its capabilities, I think it is a good moment to check out where it stands. Personally, I have to admit I have been positively surprised by the obvious improvement I have seen over the Betas. Back in testing days, I knew about the new features that were being implemented, most notably a faster rendering engine (Gecko 2.0), tabs groups and synchronization, but none of them seemed to be working that well. I think I was not alone in thinking Firefox 4.0 was coming late and would not live up to its expectations. Boy, was I wrong.

In my experience, judging by the posts and comments I read and hear, it seems both Firefox and Google Chrome/Chromium are the top choices for Internet browsers in Linux. Firefox was probably comfortably leading not that long ago, but because of the continuous delays in the development of version 4.0, the obvious limitations in version 3.6.x and the ferocious Chrome/ium improvement rate, many users have already made the switch. At this moment, I believe Firefox is still probably the king, but certainly no longer leading that comfortably.

SO, WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT THEM?

The aim of this article is to serve as an introduction for the poll that I will keep open for some weeks, but in order to provide a bit more context and discussion material, I would like to share what I consider good about both browsers. I will discuss the not so good bits in the next section.

Firefox 4.0

Click on image to enlarge.

Great Integration in Linux Systems. System application defaults are recognized and most often used correctly. The Java plugin, onboard audio/video players or PDF readers, to name just a few, all work as expected. On a different note, but also important, Firefox can look completely native in both GNOME and KDE.
True Commitment. Along the same lines, Mozilla has demonstrated true interest in delivering to the Linux community, keeping their Linux releases almost completely aligned with the Windows ones.
Lightning Fast. The new Gecko 2.0 engine has proven its worth. I no longer notice any difference in speed when browsing with Firefox or Chrome/ium. They react differently, Firefox apparently waiting a bit longer to load web pages contents, but displaying them almost entirely when they are loaded. Chrome/ium seems to start displaying stuff as soon as it gets it, but then takes just as long to display the whole thing.
Extensive Extension Catalog. Firefox was the first to implement extensions massively and it played a significant role in its success. Most of the extensions available have been migrated and made available for Firefox 4.0 by now.
Extreme Customization Flexibility. Anything from the thousands of great themes available to the more recently released "personas" screams custom. One can get Firefox to look radically different from the default theme. Personas and Themes are kept once downloaded, so it is extremely easy to switch back to that favorite theme you haven't used in a while.

Click on image to enlarge.
Tab Groups. Not a feature that I use a lot, but I am sure it will be a blessing for some. I have to admit I like how Opera implemented this idea better, though.
Save or Run. Maybe a minor thing for others, but I love how Firefox allows me to save or run/display contents when I click on a download link. Most of the time I have no interest in keeping stuff that I only want to read/watch/listen to once.
Simplify to your liking. There is a tendency lately to oversimplify interfaces, strip them down to the core basics. I definitely agree in that I don't like clutter and bloat, but sometimes stripping down can get too far. Not with Firefox, though, I think Mozilla has done a great job in finding the right balance, removing bloat while keeping functionality and flexibility pretty much untouched.

Chrome/ium

Click on image to enlarge.

Web App Store and Web Apps. Ever since Google released the Google Chrome Web Store, I have thought that it was the best thing about this browser. Granted, most Cloud apps can run on any browser, but the great interface in the browser and the store itself are a master move by Google.

Click on image to enlarge.

While it is disappointing to see that some apps are nothing more than glorified bookmarks, there are some interesting projects going on which provide deep levels of integration with Google accounts and APIs. While this is not necessarily exclusive to Chrome/ium, integration is as native as it gets. (It is amazing what one can do by simply signing up for a Gmail account!!)
Fast Development Pace. Everything about this project is smoking fast, development being no exception, which means support for new technologies/standards is often made available earlier than in other browsers.
Quick Browsing. Probably the most popular feature in Chrome/ium, browsing speed has been the motto ever since the project took its first steps. The WebKit project certainly adds to that.
Extensive Extension Catalog. Following the trend started by Firefox, Chrome/ium now offers a large set of extensions as well. While the Firefox catalog is probably larger and richer, Chrome/ium extensions offer unbeatable integration with Google services, which is a big plus for anybody using them.
Web Standards. Probably the only browser that can claim a 100% score in Acid3 tests.
Google Love. Google is certainly a force to be reckoned with. The endless list of services and applications available gets even better when one closes the loop with the enhanced integration offered by its own products. Chrome/ium users will always benefit from such integration, as they are part of the loop to begin with. The Chrome/ium extension that provides connection to one's Android device is a good example.

ALRIGHT, WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD ABOUT THEM?

Firefox 4.0

Not Google. Hardly a Firefox problem, but in the same way iOS users will always sorely miss the native integration Android users get for anything and everything Google, Firefox users may find it annoying to have to miss on some of those features.
Fat bottomed. Much improved in version 4.0, but Firefox is still a bit lazy when starting up for the first time in a given session.
Sloppy Synch. Yes, it's mostly fixed now (quite a headache during Beta testing) but the synch feature still lacks in certain areas. For example, I like to keep my bookmark bar pretty crowded with icons (see Firefox screenshot above), but I find it frustrating that those icons are not transferred as part of the synch. In other words, when I start a new Firefox 4.0 session on a new computer, I can't see those icons until each one of the sites linked is loaded. In other words, I am forced to click on every bookmark and wait until every icon is downloaded if I want to see them all!

Aside from that, I can't say I am a fan of the way synch was designed in Firefox. Yes, it's probably designed with more than one device kind in mind (Firefox 4.0 mobile has just been released), but it still feels cumbersome when compared with Chrome/ium's design.
Web Standards. While the latest updates have got Firefox to an impressive 97% in the Acid3 test, it still misses out in some areas.
Independent tabs? One feature that was much missed in previous versions of Firefox and that was meant to debut for Firefox 4.0, but is still missing. Unlike Chrome/ium and other modern browsers, which generate a separate process for each tab, Firefox 4.0 and all its tabs still work as a single one. In other words, a non-responding tab could still potentially knock it down. Having said so, while this may sound like a significant flaw, it really isn't, not in my experience, at least. I spend lots of time browsing the Web with both Chrome/ium and Firefox and so far I can't say such feature has made much of a difference. I very rarely stumble across a non-responding page, but when I do, it often knocks down Chrome/ium as well, even if that is supposedly not meant to happen.

Chrome/ium

Poor Linux integration Probably the thing that bugs me most when using Chrome/ium in Linux is its poor integration. Not only it is almost impossible to make it look native, specially on KDE, but better integration with the system settings and applications is a big miss.
Lack of commitment Even if Google is massively taking advantage of Linux and its free (as in beer and as in freedom) nature, they don't seem to be too concerned with providing great support for the Linux community. In fact, the Google Chrome version of Linux is constantly suffering from lack of features when compared to its Windows relative.
The simpler the better? Undoubtedly the Chromium project has changed the way we think and interact with a web browser. With a very simplified structure, Chrome/ium appealed to lots of people who were tired of using overcomplicated and bloated browsers. Having said so, it kind of bugs me that I have no input in the features that get thrown away. I would rather have them in there and be able to disable those I don't use.
Poor themes. Theming in Chrome/ium feels like a "forced" feature, one that was not part of the project requirements to start with but had to be introduced later on. I am not sure if that is the case, but Chrome/ium themes are somewhat poor, limited to a mere background change. While this may appeal to some, it's clear the level of customization is nowhere near that of Firefox.
Save it or Save it?. Yes, probably just a personal thing, but I hate that I am forced to download files (ie. zip, tar, torrent, etc), then double click on them to start the corresponding application.
No customization history. This one I plain don't understand. Download a new theme and you lose the one you were using... What tha...?

SO WHAT'S YOUR CHOICE?

I have listed some of the things I like and dislike about both these browsers, but let me make myself clear: I consider both top quality material.

When I started testing Firefox 4 Beta, I felt I could put an end to using two browsers in Linux. Firefox offered the better integration and stability, but Chromium was the main option for casual browsing due to its superior speed. That idea has materialized now that Firefox 4.0 is available. Today I keep my Firefox instances in synch, get the most out of its superb system integration and stability, enjoy its awesome browsing speed and have fun customizing the heck out of it. Yes, Firefox 4.0 is my Internet browser of choice in Linux (I am sticking to Google Chrome on Windows, though).

Let me know what your choice is (for Linux!) by voting on the Poll at the top right of this page.

Thanks!

Test Chrome OS on VirtualBox

2011-03-28T03:01:00.000-07:00

Chrome OS, The Cloud-computing-oriented operating system by Google is quickly progressing and maturing towards a soon to come final official release. Many of us have heard about it, but testing it is actually not that easy... Until several days ago, that is.

The great HEXXEH (THANKS!!) has done it again, improving his great Chromium OS project even further by providing virtual machine nightly compilations. If you have tried to install Chromium OS in the past, chances are you did so in a USB drive and then tried to run it on your PC. That was a great way to test-drive the stable version available, Chromium OS Flow, but the problem is that it is quite old, pretty obsolete at this stage. On the other hand, the nightly compilations, while more up to date, lack decent hardware support... Dead end? Not anymore!

Hexxeh has made available some virtual machine images, one for VirtualBox, which I will test here, and another one for VMware. The great thing about these images is that they no longer depend on your hardware to run smoothly, so you can download the latest nightly build knowing that it will run, period. In addition, it is convenient that a USB drive is no longer needed, thus providing more flexibility and a chance to test those nightly builds frequently to keep up with the ongoing development pace.

DOWNLOAD AND TEST

In order to download one of those nightly builds, simply access Hexxeh's SITE and get one of the latest compilations (obviously, the most current is recommended). Depending on your virtual software of choice, you should choose either VirtualBox or VMware links.

Both options are extremely simple to use, but I will discuss the VirtualBox one, since it is the one I am using.

Essentially, once you click on the download link, simply save the tar.gz file at a location of your choice.
Extract the file content, which is a VirtualBox virtual disk file, wherever you see fit (your home folder is probably most convenient).
Open VirtualBox and create a new virtual machine (I used the generic Linux 2.6 profile).
When prompted to create/use an existing hard disk, choose the latter, then select the .vdi file you downloaded on step 1.
ChromeOS is apparently quite a resource eater as it stands today, so allow 2GB of RAM.

Once done, start your Virtual Machine, you should see an extremely simple, three-step installation setup. It very simply runs you through some minimalistic instructions to select your Google account, the network interface, etc. Since we are using a virtual machine, just leave the connection settings alone, they should pick up whatever your hosting PC uses (as long as your machine has a working connection, of course).

With everything in place, the login screen continues the minimalistic tradition, as can be seen below. The account that was created during the first access is set as owner, but Guest access is permitted.

Click on Image to enlarge.

Chrome OS is essentially just the Chrome browser with just a few extra options that provide the most basic system management features. I will concentrate on those, as I am sure almost everybody knows about the browser features already.

The screen below shows the user administration tab, which is again extremely basic. The only noteworthy feature is the ability to block certain users from logging in, one that I am not sure I understand given the Cloud Computing orientation of this OS.

Click on Image to enlarge.

It is easy to see these nightly builds are bleeding edge. The Chromium version is 12.0.711!!

Click on Image to enlarge.

Another example of an extremely stripped down interface is the Internet tab, which provides the basics for network connection management.

Click on Image to enlarge.

Chrome OS should be released as preinstalled software that comes along with devices specifically designed to provide optimum performance and tailor-made features. We can see below that the OS provides a bit of hardware tweaking, specifically for the mouse pad sensibility.

Click on Image to enlarge.

The Personal Stuff tab is where we can tweak/enable personal information, such as an account specific picture or the awesome sync feature.

Click on Image to enlarge.

So there you have it, an incredibly simple and convenient way to test/try ChromeOS before it goes live in the next few weeks/months.

THE FUTURE OF COMPUTING?

Chrome OS is an elusive concept, one that many (myself included initially) fail to understand. Not surprisingly, all you get once you login is a browser tab which allows you to browse the Internet... So what's the big deal?

Well, after spending quite a lot of time wandering the Chrome OS Web Store myself and getting to know and understand some of the applications available, I came to the realization that this concept could very well be the future of computing, at least for standard users. The amount, variety and power of some of the applications available is unbelievable given their online nature, which is why standard users will not miss a thing once they get past that starting learning curve. Storage, music, movies and all kind of collaborative tools are literally one click away. Games are improving by the minute, and with the latest WebGL and HTML5 technologies, I am sure we are about to see some impressive titles become available in the next months or years.

Nothing is perfect, of course, and one argument that has been raised as a concern here is that the computing model that is being proposed is extremely simplified and prone to privacy conflicts. I personally agree with the privacy bit to a certain extent, but it would be foolish to deny that at this stage I am already using tons of Cloud-based applications/services, so I have been assuming that risk for some time now. I disagree with the simplified part, though, because if there is one thing the new wave of smartphones and tablets are showing us is that end users want it simple. And yes, it is likely that power users may choose to keep machines that provide more processing power and richer features, but I am convinced Chrome OS and the Cloud capabilities it "sponsors" can cover the needs of most people out there.

Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Woohoo!... 100 followers!

2011-03-24T01:32:00.000-07:00

It was only a few months back that this blog turned ONE YEAR OLD. Back then I mentioned that the number of followers was 67 and growing... Well, to be completely honest, I was already surprised that it had achieved such number, and that comment about it growing was more a desire than a conviction.

Today, I am so happy that not long since then The Linux Experience has achieved 100 followers! I know, I know, it may not be an impressive figure compared to other sites out there, but it means a lot to me.

I want to say THANK YOU to those 100 loyal followers and everyone who's taking time to stop by and read and/or reply to my articles!!

Install Firefox 4.0 Stable from PPA

2011-03-23T02:10:00.000-07:00

At long last, Firefox 4.0 is now officially with us. It's been a long while, a ton of Alphas, Betas and any other Greek character you can think of, but it is now ready for everybody to enjoy... So why wait?

Given that Firefox is hugely popular and that there are lots of posts about this recent release and its installation already available, I wasn't thinking of posting about it. However, and probably as a result of such information overkill, I realized the whole installation business was starting to get confusing, specially if one was trying to install Firefox from a PPA in Ubuntu or any of its derivatives.

For those of us who were trying/testing Firefox 4 Beta, PPAs proved to be a very convenient solution. They get all the fresh updates and getting the latest Beta was as easy as running a regular system update. Nothing is perfect, though, and the use of a daily PPA is no exception. In this type of PPAs activity is frantic, so the amount of updates users get from them can get annoying. Aside from that, because this daily PPA was good for all Mozilla's products, chances are you won't be able to keep Thunderbird stable, but have to install and use Shredder instead, the development branch.

Well, if you struggled with any of those little (or perhaps not so little) annoyances, you will surely love to hear that Firefox 4.0 is now available at the Mozilla stable PPA for both Ubuntu 10.10, Ubuntu 10.04 and derivatives.

Before proceeding with its installation, though, I would recommend removing any previous Firefox installation, specially if they are not stable ones. Along the same lines, it would be smart to disable or remove the Mozilla daily PPA in cause it was in use, just to prevent any potential conflicts or a messy setup in the long run. Once ready to install, just follow these simple instructions:

Open a terminal and add the Mozilla stable PPA:

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

Now update and install:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox

Note that, by adding the Mozilla stable PPA, you will also have access to other stable releases, such as Thunderbird 3.1.

Now go ahead and have fun with Firefox 4.0. The reviews I have read so far seem to confirm it is a huge improvement over previous releases, and while start up times are still a bit slow, browsing speed is getting pretty damn close to Google Chrome/Chromium's, albeit with a much better Linux integration!

Get the WEBUPD8 PPA!

2011-03-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

I am sure some of you probably know about this already, but I still want to share it because this is one of those things that is bringing constant joy to my Linux desktops lately: The WEBUPD8 PPA and WEBUPD8 themes PPA.

The great ANDREW and team are actively maintaining these Webupd8.org PPA, packaging and adding great GTK themes, interesting applications, icon themes and a lot of desktop candy that we all use and love. To give you an example, I have downloaded the latest Faenza 0.90 updates, the amazing Wow GTK theme and many more, all of which make my desktop sleek and beautiful.

Updates are constantly happening at breakneck pace, so much so that sometimes it's hard to follow what is going on, which sweet apps or themes are waiting for you to download. Andrew has put together a sleek blog that works as a change log. Yeah, you guessed it: PPA.WEBUPD8.ORG.

Click on image to go to http://ppa.webupd8.org/

WANT SOME?

I very much encourage you to take a quick look through Andrew's blog. If you like what you see, just follow these simple steps to add this PPA to your software sources:

- The Webupd8 PPA holds many interesting applications that users may not easily find in their official repositories. To add it, open a terminal and enter the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

- The Webupd8 Themes PPA includes lots of great window decoration and control themes, icons and other kinds of eyecandy. Once again, open a terminal and enter the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes

In both cases you will need to update your sources before you can download anything:

sudo apt-get update

To install apps and/or themes, simply follow the method you feel more comfortable with. Package names are always part of each one of the updates published. Now, download stuff, enhance and beautify your desktop, and if you get a chance, say "Thanks!" to Andrew and his team for the fabulous work they are putting together.

Have fun!

NOTE: In case anybody didn't notice, this post is only good for Ubuntu and its derivatives.

Install Linux on an external USB Hard Drive

2011-03-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

In my recent OpenSUSE 11.4 REVIEW, I briefly mentioned that I install Linux distros on external USB drives. I received some feedback from people who wanted to know more about this, so I decided to put together a quick tutorial to show how I do it. First off, let me explain a little bit what the goal is here, and what benefits may come from it.

When you test as many distros as I do, you either have a huge array of testing machines (which would be ideal, but way too expensive), a huge Hard Drive and tons of patience to deal with Virtual Machines, or you simply buy some external USB hard drives and get on with it. In my case, I want to be able to test stuff or install many flavors of Linux with flexibility, but hopefully not spending a fortune, so installing on USBs is the way to go for me.

I think that testing on a VM is a pain for many reasons:

Managing virtual drives is painstakingly slow.
Creating and removing virtual drives like crazy is not good for file system health, certainly not a good way to keep the hard drive defragmented.
Most distros I have tried require extra drivers to be able to correctly configure my monitor and other pieces of hardware.
If things go wrong, you are never 100% sure if it is something in the VM that is causing that error.
More importantly, VMs are great to get at quick look at a distro, but not for reviews. More specifically, if you are interested in finding how that specific distro does in terms of hardware management, VMs just don't cut it.

Installing on an external USB drive, specially if that drive has good throughput (fast read/write speed), is as close as it gets to installing on an internal drive. Sure, USB drives and buses are slower, but buying the right one can get you pretty close to real life responsiveness. Unfortunately, USB drives with fast input/output are the most expensive ones... Oh, well, nothing is truly perfect.

Another great thing about installing on a USB drive is that you can turn a single PC into many. In other words, if you have one PC and want to use several different OS, either you partition your drive, with the risks and limitations involved in doing so, or you stick to a single OS, which is what most people do. Installing different OS on different USB drives allows users to experience truly different OS on the same machine.

This approach is also great to introduce people to Linux progressively. Instead of trying to get rid of their current Windows installation (not recommended), you can simply give away a USB drive with an installation of your favorite distro. That way, they can go back to Windows whenever they need to and learn Linux at their own pace. Needless to say, this eliminates potential frustration in the long run, but also risks of losing personal data/settings when moving from Windows to Linux.

Similarly, if you travel with your company PC, chances are you are stuck in an airport or a hotel with a corporate build. You cannot install the applications you want, anything personal is a no go and performance is crazy slow due to trillions of security policies nobody understands. Guess what? You can plug in your Linux USB drive and use that same hardware to run your own distro of choice, which does exactly what you want it to do, how you want it to do it. Oh, yes, and it modifies absolutely nothing on the company Hard Drive, so you won't get into trouble.

These are just examples of a few applications I have noticed so far, but I am sure you will put it in use for your own wicked ends. Alright, let's see how this simple but neat trick goes about.

IMPORTANT NOTE: While the steps that follow are simple and represent very low risk, they could result in permanent hardware damage if you don't know what you are doing. Use this tutorial at your own risk!

STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL

Meet my HP NX7400 Notebook, my main distro testing workhorse. Yes, it is old, heavy and ugly, but it is as Linux friendly as it gets. I consider it a perfect starting point for installations because hardware support in Linux is sometimes a bit elusive, so I think it's always smart to stick to devices you know and trust. Getting the last thing in the market is not necessarily a good idea, and you can end up banging your head against the wall when you don't get past GRUB.

Now, for the purpose of this tutorial, let's say that step 1 is removing the laptop battery, as shown below. This is extremely simple, just turn your laptop upside down and find how it works (usually just a matter of sliding a couple parts to get it out).

The main reason behind removing the battery is that we want to make sure we lower the risks of static electricity screwing up our hardware. If you are doing this on a desktop, make sure you unplug your PC before you try to disconnect your internal hard drive.

Once the battery is out, it's time to remove the hard drive cover and extract the hard drive, as shown below. A small screwdriver often comes in handy for this task. When you are done, put your hard drive inside an anti-static bag and away from any magnetic source (stereo speakers, for instance). Now, put the cover back in place and restore the battery to its original position. Even with the battery on, I recommend running installations with AC power on, just because most installation wizards don't give you any clue about your battery charge levels. An installation broken due to power loss is most probably a corrupt one.

Your computer lacks any boot media now, so it's time to insert your LiveCD/DVD/USB and boot from it. This may require a bit of BIOS tweaking to modify the boot order. I personally like to keep USB first, then optical drives. If you are not using any other boot source, configure your internal hard drive to be third in the chain.

In my experience, LiveUSBs and the tools to build them up are still anything but reliable, so I always like to keep a few RW-DVDs around. More and more distros are leaning towards LiveDVDs so they don't need to deal with space limitations in CDs, which is another reason why RW-DVDs are the way to go. After all, a DVD can accomodate both a LiveCD and LiveDVD ISO. Last but not least, the RW bit is important, because (assuming you have a RW-DVD burner) you can reuse a single DVD many times, thus saving time and money.

Now, boot from your LiveDVD and let it load the installation wizard. In my case, because I am using my trusty NX7400, I almost always jump straight into installation. I am confident that hardware recognition will not be an issue, but if you are not certain, it's always a good idea to start a session from your Live media and make sure that hardware management is not an issue.

Before you start the installation piece itself, make sure you plug in your USB drive. When it comes to USB drives, if you want good performance in the long run, I would recommend spending a bit more and getting a model with speedy I/O. In addition, if you want to use whatever you install for anything other than mere testing, I would say anything below 16GB falls short.

In order to be able to set up your USB drive for subsequent installations, it is a good idea to keep a LiveCD around with some sort of partition utility (I would recommend Parted Magic specifically). This comes in handy when you need to fix any issues with partitions, create new ones or delete existing ones, or even recover your system under some extreme failure.

Everything is in order now, so simply go ahead an proceed with your installation. Your USB drive should appear as /dev/sda1 and selecting the option "use the entire disk" for the installation is probably best.

That is all there is to it, really. Once again shut down your box, remove your battery and put your internal hard drive back on. Then, restart your system and boot from your USB hard drive. You'll probably notice that most day to day activities are very responsive, and sometimes you may find it hard to believe that a USB drive is all there is behind the scenes. Having said so, some other activities like running updates can take significantly longer than they would on your standard internal hard drive. Because of that, my recommendation would be to keep your system as up to date as possible by updating often.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.