Tag Archives: OS

Linux Mint 14 Nadia Released In XFCE Edition

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Hey all you Mint and XFCE fans. This is what you have waited for the Nadia edition of Mint 14. I looked at the RC release and I thought it was a finished product so this must be really good. I am starting my download now. If you can spare a few bits consider using and sharing the torrent for a few days. This is a super simple way to give back in a small but meaningful way. Servers get hit pretty hard during a new release announcement.

I have been using the Cinnamon release of Nadia for a week or more and I really have enjoyed the performance, the new looks and some neat features. XFCE proves to add just as many new features as Cinnamon if not more. Look for better artwork, XFCE version 4.10 and more. If you run this version let us hear about it.

penguin2sm3

 

New Laptop, Windows 8 Gone, Installed Linux Mint 14 Nadia

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g580Well I finally took the plunge and purchased a new laptop. I got myself a Lenovo G580 with a B980 PDC CPU sporting 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive and more goodies. For the longest time, 10 years, I have either used a build it yourself desktop or a second hand laptop. It has been a long time since last buying new. While I did not go all out and get the latest i7 or i anything, the B980 compared rather well on Intel’s site with their newer and last years models. And as a bonus it sits atop the Sandy bridge giving it an extra punch in the graphics arena. All said and done I am happy with the purchase so far.

As you might be guessing from the post’s title, Windows 8 did not last very long on this machine. :) First priority was to disable the secure boot in the BIOS. And I do not give Lenovo much credit in making this intuitive. Perhaps there is industry pressure not to? We’ll never know for sure. Once in the BIOS you have to enable the legacy boot option and other OS options. This disables the secure boot but does not tell you it does. But upon checking you will find it is disabled after doing this. Save the settings and boot normally. At this point you can boot Windows 8 or your favorite OS. I booted the former. I wanted to see it first hand and I knew there would be an app to register the computer.

After a rather lengthy install process and a video or slide to show you Windows 8, one slide and not helpful at all, you are finally logged in to the desktop. What surprised me right off was I was wired to the network and it would only choose wireless as an option. My second thoughts were how clunky the interface was. Once in an application, which was not an issue, getting out was. No instructions, no pop ups, nothing. I managed to get out eventually and did indeed register the laptop with Lenovo. That is as far as I wanted to go with Windows 8. I have had my experience now.

I replaced the 500GB hard drive with mine, Linux already installed, faster spindle speed (7200rpm) and booted. Linux roared to life as expected. But that is not to say there was not any issues to deal with. Apparently this laptop comes with a newer network chip that does not have a module in the kernel yet. My first thoughts were that I was running the Debian edition of Mint and that the drivers were in the non-free category. I had been planning on installing Mint 14 Nadia since its debut but had not yet given in to the task.After all nothing was broken or anything. I fired up my employers laptop and downloaded the ISO burning it to a thumb drive in short time. Once again the install went off without errors and I was running Nadia in no time.

But the wired network was not working nor was it detected. The command lspci did indeed show the chip set, Ather03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8162 Fast Ethernet (rev 10), but nothing was happening network wise on it. Enter the best Linux trouble shooter Google and I found the answer here in the Ubuntu forums. There were other posts from Google but this one had the crucial step of installing build-essentials. Without it the fix does not work. I had Ethernet in short order once again. Wireless was functioning but where I live there are so many signals that it is degraded all the time for serious connections. So I prefer wired over wireless right now. It should also be mentioned that the wireless is the famous B43cutter and worked right off the bat. The non-free driver was also available if desired.

So far this setup is doing great and there are not any issues that are deal breakers. My only complaint and I do not yet know if it is the OS or the hardware, is when I go the click something the mouse pointer hides itself. Annoying to say the least. Oh well if that is the worst thing then I have done pretty well.

I should also mention that after setup sound was working, video was set to a good resolution and everything just worked as it should. Nice work to the Ubuntu teams and to Clem and the Mint team for putting this together.

Update: I noticed when changing themes the disappearing cursor is gone. I will have to pay attention to which one it was since I had been switching around on them. This is good to know and I will update again if I notice it.

penguin2sm3

KDE Fan? Linux Mint Fan? RC Release for Fans

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Linux Mint 14 ‘Nadia’ was released for testing as a RC in the KDE spin. Fans of KDE will want to give this a run especially if they like Linux Mint. It is featuring the KDE v.4.9 desktop and many more features especially for Mint.

Nadia is one of Mint’s downstream spins of Ubuntu. In this version it is sporting the KDE desktop which is very versatile along with having what I think is the most ‘bling’ in a desktop environment. If you want to impress your friends with how well your desktop looks and performs, this is for you. The KDE environment also has many optional programs written just for the KDE framework. There are so many written just for KDE the list could fill a book describing them all.

Remember that this is a RC (release candidate) and if bugs are found please report them upstream as appropriate. Have fun!

Will Secure Boot Impact You?

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Well the time has come for many to replace aging computers or laptops. And the deals could not be more enticing. Prices are seemingly slashed everywhere and Windows 8 logo is on nearly everything too. But beware of Secure Boot being on those Windows 8 stamped machines. This technology is supposedly good for us. That is if we run Windows but I do not. Yes the malware it is supposed to stop from booting is a problem but I think getting the malware in the first place is worse and I have never seen an infection start with the boot process. Hmm, apparently MS has seen this since they have almost threatened, key word almost, manufacturers into installing Secure Boot with of course the keys to MS Windows 8 and nothing more.

Wait but I am not going to run Windows 8 you are saying. It will not impact me right? Well read this account from Jesse Smith on DistroWatch and keep in mind he is a seasoned user well adept at using alternate operating systems of all flavors. He gets through it but I have to agree with him that many users will not or will just get plain frustrated and quit.

So do not buy that new shiny computer without knowing what pitfalls you may have to overcome in order to run a free operating system. As a footnote, the Secure Boot link is from an article on the Linux Foundation’s efforts written on ZDNet’s website all about how Microsoft is delaying the keys for Linux. Hmm, just one more reason to buy new equipment from alternate retailers that put Linux first or buy used.

How Versatile Is Linux? Three Examples

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When it comes to versatility, I think Linux wins hands down. You can find it in many things now from cell phones, cars, TVs and many other gadgets. Way too many to be able to name in a small post. But today I want to point out three examples of Linux versatility all having had new releases in the past few days. I am referencing them from the terrific website DistroWatch. In fact their announcements of new releases all were posted on the same day. A quick disclaimer: I have not used these distributions yet but after researching them I think they are good examples for this post.

The first is Redo. A specialty distribution created with a focus for backup and recovery. It is Ubuntu based, a live cd and also can be a disaster recovery tool. Redo contains some simple yet powerful tools for the jobs it was created for, backups/recovery and disaster recovery. Their website follows the simple trend and is easy to navigate as well as informative. This category is filled with many examples of how versatile Linux can be and I like their approach to simplicity. This can be of great help to those who are not as sophisticated with backups but need them nonetheless.

Next up in the line up of versatility is IPFire. Now this is a much less crowded category but you will still find more than one choice if you look. IPFire is a tool to me more than a distribution. A specialty tool for securing a network both big and small. This is one you can get what you take the time to put into. If you want the basics it is there. If you want to fine tune and get complex you can. The emphasis from the dev team is security no matter which approach the end user is taking. Their website is very clean and easy to navigate including many links to the products core support and community.

My last example for the day is Bio-Linux. Bio-Linux sounds like a game but is far from it. Being based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS it is also a full fledged desktop. This is the type of tool(s) professionals will use in scientific research. I dare say that this is an extremely small niche. I personally only know of one other dedicated science distro, (Scientific – Red Hat) but I am sure I could be totally wrong. (Tell us in the comments of those you know about.) Their website is packed with information as would be expected from a set of tools in this category. This is a not for everyone distribution but if this is your field or you are studying, this can be of great value to you.

This is one of the many things I like about Linux as an operating system and as a community. It can appear in many forms and can do many tasks. From simple to the most complex and everything in between. Last comment I want to stress is that this list is most definitely non-inclusive of all that Linux has to offer in the realm of versatility. These three just happened to get an announcement all on the same day and that caught my eye. The Linux kernel is alive and doing very well and you may even be reading this from the palm of your hand on the kernel itself.

openSuse Releases v12.2 to Arm

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Just as announced last week openSuse Arm has been released. This is going to be very welcome news to the base of Arm users. I can only think that this category of Linux distributions will grow. Arm processors are fast and low power consumption making for a great combination. Boards with the Arm processors are extremely popular due to the versatility and size.

 

Tell us what you think and what your experiences are with Arm in the comments.

From My Linux Soapbox!

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If you know me well you know that I like to cull the broken laptops and bargains (free) from Craigslist. Well last night I decided to retire the Sony Vaio I have been using for the past year and a half. I acquired it for free and have put about $150 in it via a new screen and a RAM upgrade. It is still running well but I wanted a larger screen. A couple of months ago I snagged from said list, a nice R61 series Lenovo in near perfect condition.

There is very little difference in the two laptops except for screen size. The R61 is much wider than the small Sony. My eyes will enjoy and appreciate the extra room.

Now this is where I get on the soapbox and brag a bit about Linux. One of the strong points about Linux is its hardware detection at boot time. The kernel is prepacked with modules for about any type of hardware and it detects most of them very well. Of course there are exceptions like the Gentoo family where the distribution is compiled for the hardware specifically. But most mainstream distributions are going to load on whatever you happen to load it in.

I took the hard drive from the Sony and placed it in the Lenovo and turned on the power. I would like to see someone do the same with Windows or OSX. It just won’t happen since both have very different views on how to utilize the hardware abstraction layer or HAL. Linux, specifically in this case LMDE, started without any issues whatsoever. It detected and loaded all the drivers and wireless was functional too. I know I have stated I would not be bashing other operating systems but you won’t be able to do that with either of those OS’s. Linux rules in hardware detection.

Now I have a slightly larger laptop, same hard drive and RAM as before, a more comfortable typing experience and a larger screen for a small investment and a few minutes of my time. Gone are the days of reconfiguring all the tweaked settings and establishing software etc.

Secure Boot, Is Linux Ready?

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There is growing trepidation in the Linux community when the phrase secure boot is mentioned as it applies to Linux or other open source operating systems. Are you ready for Secure Boot? I personally can see the good that can come from it giving a more secure environment but on the other hand I also see the potential for locking consumers into only certain product lines whether they are open or not. This to me is clearly not in the best interest of open source operating systems or consumers.

There are several Linux distributions that are openly working to be able to implement a secure boot version. A few that I know of are Red Hat with Fedora, SUSE and Ubuntu. There may well be more I simply have not read about so feel free to add to the list in the comments. But on the other hand again, not every camp is very happy with secure boot. Especially when the emphasis is being reported from a Microsoft standard point of view. Last February Distrowatch’s Jesse Smith reported how OpenBSD’s founder was particularly unhappy with Red Hat and Canonical embracing secure boot. I did a quick search and have come up empty with regards to BSD embracing secure boot. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Linus Torvalds, as reported in Wired, told ZDNet that although not a fan of UEFI, he could not see what the big deal is. Citing the $99 purchase of the right to distribute keys Fedora has purchased. Linus mentions here that the real issue is how the implementation could be vulnerable to hacking and thus not so secure after all.

So now we have major vendors embracing the concept, Microsoft pushing the standard and setting the bar for manufacturers, will you as a consumer have a voice? That is the million dollar question that only time will answer. I think in the end consumers will get the short end of the stick even if open source distributions survive these changes. The number of choices will ultimately drop on new hardware with the current specifications of UEFI unless changes are made in the direction reported by the Linux Foundation.