A Blog For Fun

I know I promised a "How To" on building a DVR computer and I am going to do that (I'm rounding up the parts now) But I got bored and while archiving my photos and reading my friends personal Blogs I decided to do a personal one too. I wanted something different so I decided on a photo blog with a bit of a theme. I will be uploading some of the photos I took as I traveled my state. So please visit it until I get the goods together for the DVR.

Oh! The site name and address? WVpictures.blogspot.com

Extending This Project

I have acquired a Mni Atx motherboard (1ghz cpu firewire/usb2/sound/video etc.) Its only 6 inches square. I have a tv tuner/video capture card too. I think I'm going to build a media PC. I think I will try FREEVO on it. This will be both a hardware and software project along with a little modding. (I might try to stuff it all inside an old VCR for media conversion).

I think this will be an interesting and useful how to project. I should be able to document it with photo's and maybe a little video just for something different.

As soon as I have all the part together I will start the project. I think since FREEVO is a Linux program it will fit in here on this Blog. I will need to find a Linux Distro that works with the motherboard I have since everything is on board except the capture card. I hope this won't be a problem but we will see.

I'll probably start the project after Christmas (I have the week off)

READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP

This Blog reads from the bottom up. I change the look a little and turned archiving back on.

The End?

It's been thirty days (I had a few late work days so the math is a little fuzzy) and this is my first time back on a MS Windows machine. Lets talk about what I've learned and done with Ubuntu 6.1 Linux. I installed it on two computers, a desktop and a laptop. I managed to get 95% of all my hardware working on both machines but it was a fight (more later). The only real problem I had was with a scanner and these are cheap enough to replace.

My over all opinion of Linux was good, not great, not wow, but good. The good things that stick out to me were the application add/remove programs with the Internet updates, the highly customizable desktop, and the nice way Linux handles multiple users. The bad I remember was the command line and the way Linux felt like MS Windows 98 (Windows over DOS). It felt like I was working on two different OS's, one a pretty point and click windows system and the other an ugly command line back end. Ubuntu Linux makes me think of “The Wizard of Oz”, “Ignore the man behind the curtains, I am the great and powerful Oz”, Ubuntu puts a pretty face (windows) on the ugly truth (command line).

I found almost all the applications that I was looking for except a good graphics editor. There is no Photoshop equal in the Linux world (or the mac or windows world either). GIMP is ok but it is not Photoshop. Firefox rules, OpenOffice is great, Evolution was outstanding and Rythmbox did everything I asked it too. I ripped CD/DVD's and burnt them back. I converted the audio/video files to different formats. I edited the imported video, I did work (word processing, spread sheets, ect) with easy. I kept up on my podcasts and moved things around with flash drives. I accessed MS Windows network shares, connected the two Linux machines through Linux shares, and remote desktoped everything to and from everything else. It was a good experience and I enjoyed myself.

The sad thing is my worse experience was with the "old guard" Linux Users. Not newbies or general users, it was the "founders". Their “totally free or not at all” attitude is holding Linux back to the point where the community will not grow, and when new users do show up asking why it can't be easier, we're greeted with “you don't matter, your just a stupid newbie”. If you ask a question from one of these “zealots” you are berated for not knowing the answer and told to figure it out yourself or switch back to MS Windows because the Linux Community doesn't need or want you. I came very close to just giving up because of this. I had trouble with graphic drivers and wireless networking because these “zealots” don't thing you should use non-open source drivers even if they are better, free, and gets your hardware to work. They are perfectly happy forcing their moral choices onto you even if it means that Linux stays stuck in the 1990's.

The biggest question is “Will I keep Ubuntu Linux on the Laptop”? The answer is a simple “yes”. Will I remove MS Windows from any of my other personal computers? No. Would I recommend Linux to be installed on any or all of my work machine? No.

As it stands right now, Linux is a nice “hobby” OS but is not universal enough for the business workstation, until something is done with the “zealots” who sacrifice functionality and compatibility for personal moral choices Linux will remain the THIRD OS behind Microsoft and Apple and be treated as a geeky elitist hobby OS .

There is some hope, on one of the news groups, I notice that Ubuntu in their next release will be including the non-open source graphic drivers. I think this will help attract new users and that will be good for Linux.


Anyone who is on this page trying to get MEDIA (mp3, wma, divx, ect.) or GRAPHICS CARDS to work, visit the link on my menu to the right labeled "WHAT UBUNTU LEFT OUT"

For all those who helped me and gave me advice, I would like to say "thank you" and to those "old guard zealots" I hope you "bend" just a little and get the community growing because without you there would be no Linux. It's been fun, I enjoyed the challenge and I now count myself as a new full fledge Linux user.

Written November 30, 2006.

Solved the Stutter Problem

Remember when I told you about how I had a one second delay when opening new windows, with Ubunutu 6.1 Linux? When you would open a new window it would make the mouse lock up and cause the sound to stutter. After a second or two all would be well again until you opened any other dialog box or window. Well I figured it would be some power saving feature causing this because I using a 1.2 ghz PIII laptop with 512mbs of ram and a 40ghz 5400rpm hard drive. It shouldn't stutter.

My first thought was with the 5200 Nvidia ToGo graphics card slowing down (heat and power protection). I looked all through Ubuntu settings and turned all the power saving features off. That didn't help. My second thought was a BOIS setting. I went into BIOS and made sure all the power saving features were off there too. Still no help. I did notice an INTEL SPEED STEPPING setting but it was set to max performance. On a whim I disabled it. MAGIC !!! No more stutter.

Ok so what did I loose by turning this off? Well speed stepping lets the computer slow the processor down based on what you are doing. i.e. If you looking at web pages and are spending lots of time reading them and not changing pages much, speed step, would slow your processor down to help save batter power and cool the computer. Mine was taking my processor from 1.2 ghz down to 550 mhz. Man, what a hit! So as I was just reading stuff on the screen the cpu would slow down and when it had to go to the graphics card (opening or drawing another window) it would "stutter" while it kicked the processor back up to full speed. With this "feature" turned off the problems goes away. I will get less up time on my battery and my laptop will run a little hotter. I will monitor these "disadvantages" and report them later. Right now the trade off is well worth it to me and to compensate, since this is a brand new bulb in this laptop screen (I put it in) I turned its brightness down by half. That should help with the power some.

This is the last major problem that I was having with Ubuntu 6.1 Linux on the laptop. This weekend I have to move the desktop linux box back to MS Windows (the box is not mine and the owner wants MS windows). It is nice to know that I will be able to keep a Linux box after the experiment. The other nice thing that is nice, with all the removable media working I can easily move data from the desktop to the laptop.

I thought about duel booting the laptop but I came up with another solution. Someone I know has a similar dell 8100 laptop that was almost totally destroyed (don't ask how). One of the few surviving parts is the hard drive enclosure (the drive died though, odd). I think I will take the old 30gb hard drive that was originally in this machine which still has a valid working MS XP Home addition installed on it with MS Office 2002 pro, and mount it in the salvaged hard drive enclosure and make the hard drives switchable. Just a thought.

There is a 3.5 inch floppy drive in here too, wonder if I can replace it with a second hard drive? More reading.

Most of the rest of this blogs posts will be coming from a now "FULLY FUNCTIONING" Dell 8100 Ubuntu 6.1 Linux Laptop. My next project might be on "How to Pimp Out Your Laptop" I think I will break this one down and do a cool Linux paint job on it. Maybe even talk RycheRox into doing some custom graphics for me... hint, hint...nudge, nudge...know what I mean?, know what I mean?...A winks as good as a nod.

The definition of FREE by Ubuntu

The definition of FREE by Ubuntu. While trying to figure out how to make my Wireless work I ran into a few threads of discussions about DRIVERS that are given away at no cost (freeware) but are not open source (the company that made the drivers won't tell you how they made them). Several people were mad and were going to stop using Ubuntu because Ubuntu was going to use theses freeware driver from Nvidia and ATI drivers in their next release. Theses drivers are given away free by both companies but they are not open source.

In a move that reminds me of Microsoft, these Open Source Zealots brand these drivers as "NON FREE". The Zealots admit that the drivers work and are even better then the drivers that are Open Source but they claim that these drivers should not be used because the company that made them will not tell them how they made them. This is clearly a case of the Zealots trying to confuse people into thinking that by using the good working drivers provided for free from these companies that you are stealing or betraying Linux.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that non open source software has some problems (Quicken changes ever 2 years, making you upgrade or lose function), but when it comes to hardware drivers, who cares as long as they work. Who is more qualified to make the piece of software that communicates between your graphic card and you system? The company that made the graphics card or some zealot that has a "it works good enough for me" attitude.

After spending hours reading about the "NON FREE" vs "Open Source" crap, I learned that ever problem that I encountered up to this point could have been prevented if UBUNTU would have used "NON FREE" freeware drivers and codecs. (See how stupid "non free" freeware sounds)

If the Linux community wants Linux to succeeded they are going to have to give a little, companies spend millions of dollars developing the hardware and they have a right not to share that expensive work with you. They are providing you with FREE drivers to get it working and if they stop then you are sitting on a dead end road with last years hardware. You will always be behind, and never attract the critical mass of users that you need to get the big companies to pay attention to you and open up those drivers.

Progress To Date

Since wireless is working on the laptop, I have been able to test Linux to Linux networking, remote desktop, mounted shares, and learned a little about firewalls. I only have 6 days left on this experiment and with networking just coming into play it's going to be tight. I got luck in November and had about 6 work days off but none next week.

Remote desktop works just like it does on MS Windows. The only thing that I have noticed is that I have to use the IP address of the target machine instead of its name. This might just be a delay of the way that Linux networks. I remember the MS Windows 98 days of having to wait 5 to 10 minutes before machines "saw" one another.

To use Remote Desktop you have to ALLOW it on your machine. SYSTEM/PREFERENCES/REMOTE DESKTOP will get you to the ENABLE REMOTE DESKTOP there are just four check blocks here and a text entry box.

1. Allow other users to view your desktop
2. Allow other users to control your desktop
3. Ask you for confirmation
4. Require the user to enter a password
5. (text box for that password)

That is it. To test this I checked 1, 2, 4, and then typed in a password. I then closed this window.

I then went to the laptop and RIGHT clicked on my PANEL and selected ADD. I then choose TERMINAL SERVER CLIENT APPLET. It appeared on my PANEL. I clicked on it and got the familiar TERMINAL SERVER CLIENT window (see photo).

I tried to just type the computers name but that did not work, so I tried the remotes IP address (TERMINAL then type IP ADDR on the remote to get this). That worked but I had to change the PROTOCOL to VNC. I was then asked for the password I set earlier. I enter it and the remote machines desktop appeared in a window before me. I moved my mouse, it's cursor moved, I click on a program, the remote machine started that program. Very nice. You can even transmit sound from one to the other. There are a lot of settings here to play with but this is bulk of it.

When I first tried to connect to the remote system it failed and would not work no mater what I did. I then remembered the firewall. I turned it off and everything worked fine. I read more about the firewall program and VNC and punched a hole in the firewall for VNC and all was well.

WIRELESS working on the LAPTOP!!!!!!

I've done it! I got mad at Ubuntu 6.1 and refused to allow it to beat me. I went to my laptop and decided that I would either get Wireless working on it or Ubuntu 6.1 was leaving this laptop for good. I have spent about 5 hours reading and internet hunting to figure this out. As I read I reliazed that Ubuntu 6.1 did not work with BCM (Broadcom Chip Set) chip set which includes LINKSYS and DELL built-in wireless card. Now I could understand missing a few off brands, but DELL built-ins and Linksys are the two most common out there. Ok, enough of the rant, how did I do it?

I installed a MICROSOFT WINDOWS DRIVER, let me say that again, I used a driver designed for MICROSOFT WINDOWS. In addition I had to downgrade my Ubuntu install to use something called ndiswrapper. This method is not mine, I have just compiled it here from various news groups for your easy use:

HOW TO INSTALL A MOTOROLA WN825G WIRELESS CARD ON UBUNTU 6.1 LINUX

HOW TO READ THIS
1. STEP - Wait until your computer completes each STEP until you go to the next.
2. commands - these will be in red and this is exactly what you type in a TERMINAL window.
3. adding text to text to files - some of these commands open a file in a text editor. What you type will be in blue. After you typed in your text make sure to SAVE the file.
4. programs - that run in the windows envirmont (no command line needed).
--------------------------------------

STEP 0 start a TERMINAL windows (application / Accessories / TERMINAL)

STEP 1 (downgrade) unload the bcm43xx module.
sudo rmmod bcm43xx

STEP 2 add it to modprobe.d's blacklist to ensure that it is never loaded again, even by accident.
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

This opens a text editor, at the bottom of the file that is opened type the following then save it
blacklist bcm43xx

STEP 3 install the ndiswrapper-utils package.
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils

STEP 4 change the ID for your wireless nic to wlan0 from the default eth1.
sudo gedit /etc/iftab

This opens a text editor you change "eth1" to "wlan0" in this file and save it.

STEP 5 restart the network.
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

STEP 6 get your MICROSOFT WINDOWS DRIVERS for your wireless card.
Mine is a Motorola WN 825G and was found here

Motorola WN54G Drivers

STEP 7 extract your MICROSOFT WINDOWS DRIVERS and put them someplace you can find again.

I put mine HOME\DOWNLOADS\DRIVERS\WIRELESS

NOTE: if your driver is like mine you will have to extract the file on a MS Windows machine and then copy the files to your linux box or burn them to a CD. I cheated and renamed my WN-WPCI-Web-Update-v1.1.exe file to WIRELESSDRIVER.ZIP then used the Linux Archive Manager to extract it.

In the end you are looking for a file called bcmw15a.inf. I assume other .inf files for other cards will work the same way just change the name.

STEP 8 change to the directory where your .inf file is located.
cd DOWNLOADS
cd DRIVERS
cd WIRELESS

STEP 9 creates the driver wrapper.
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5a.inf

STEP 10 create the module in /ect/modutils.d.
sudo ndiswrapper -m

Step 11 move the module.
sudo cp /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper /etc/modutils/

Step 12 update the module.
sudo update-modules

STEP 13 restarts your network.
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

-------------------------------------------------
Ok that should be it if you do not have WEP enabled. I have WEP enable ...sigh... But I did see that my wireless cards lights were on. I remember what my friend El Gee told me he used to help him, WIFI RADAR. I downloaded and installed WIFI RADAR (add/remove applications) I ran it and it saw my wireless network !!!!

I then disconnected my WIRED Lan line and rebooted becuase I'm a MS Windows person and have to reboot all the time and besides it doesn't hurt anything. After the boot I ran WIFI RADAR and selected my WIRELESS NETWORK (home) and then clicked connect. It told me there was no configuration file for (home) and asked if I'd like to create one. I said YES and was presented with a standard WIRELESS config setup. (SEE Photo) it wanted MODE, CHANNEL, KEY, SECURITY. I set MODE and CHANNEL to AUTO, entered my 26 digit wep KEY, and selected OPEN for SECURITY. There was a small delay and then I was CONNECTED with WEP!!!!

You will notice in the screen shot it says I'm connected in the B mode (11mbs) hmm... this is a G card (54 mbs) ... At least I have wireless on the laptop.

IMPROVING THIS GUIDE
I'm sure there is a command line to configure the WIRELESS card (MODE, CHANNEL, KEY, SECURITY) but I couldn't find it and the WIFI RADAR program has other uses too and is worth getting.

NOTES
1) gets help with the ndiswrapper command
ndiswrapper --help

2) to run WIFI RADAR you have to enter your password like any sudo command.

3) This is not my work. Other people smarter then me figured this out. I just put all the small pieces together in one place in a step by step guide. Some of the steps take a few seconds to complete and will display lots of information in the TERMINAL window. I read it and understood some of it but it did not impact what I did.

Day Off, Yea Right!

I had big plan for some Linux tests over the holiday but I had to work. I got called out at 9:30 pm on Thanksgiving Day and did not get back home until noon on Black Friday. Once home I had to sleep and didn't get up until 830 pm Friday and had to go back to work to finish somethings. Today, Saturday, Nov 25, 2006 is such a nice warm day here I spent the morning out riding in my Jeep without the top on it. Even Computer Geeks Need Sun.

FSCK Forced File System Scan

I went to my Linux box today and it told me that "drive dev/hda had been mounted 30 times without being scanned, forced check" and then began running what I think was a disk check with the FSCK command. The process took about 3 minutes.

Ok I understand checking the disk for errors or on bad shutdowns but why FORCE me to do it. Linux, for an OPEN operating system is awful pushy. Why not just install and force virus scan, force a fire wall on me too, hey while were at it, hide my admin account and generate random 20 charter passwords and randomly rotate them a couple of dozen times over the year. This sure does FEEL like the way Microsoft treats me. If you are truely OPEN explain it to me then let me PICK what I want to do, not what you think is best.

I thought open meant choice. Don't get me wrong this fsck might be a good thing, and if it was explained to me before it JUST RAN and offered me a CHOICE, I might have opted in. If you keep protecting me from myself how am I to learn. I've had Hard drive crashes before, I know how to backup my data, I learned from those crashes.

Visioneer OneTouch 9220 USB Scanner

The Visioneer OneTouch 9220 USB Scanner does not work with Ubuntu. I plug it in and get nothing. I run Xsane and it says it can't find a scanning device. That's too bad, I really wanted to try Xsane and I had some photo's I wanted to scan. Oh, Well.

If some reads this and knows how to get this scanner to work let me know or post the name/model number of a scanner you have working.

Day 21 of Ubuntu 6.1 Linux

This is day 21 of 30 of my Ubuntu Linux experiment and I barely remember to write my weekly review. This is a good thing because if I have become so use to using Ubuntu that I almost forgot to review it, I must not miss MS Windows much.

I have used the Internet without trouble, figured out multimedia (with some trial and error), did word processing and spread sheet work without incident, burnt CD/DVDs, ripped the same, utilized digital photo's easily, viewed and organized the same, download, listened to, and transfered MP3s and Podcasts, and networked with MS Windows shares. All of this in just 63 hours of "on keyboard time" (21 days of about 3 hours a day). This is pretty good.

So lets break it down:

Office Productivity - 9 of 10
(word processing, spread sheets, email, presentations, PDFs)

Multimedia - 8 of 10
(play cd/dvds, play/record music/video files )

Graphic Software 8 of 10
(view/organize photos)

Graphic Editing 5 of 10
(GIMP there is nothing else close and I'm a photoshop guy)

Web Development/Programing 8 of 10
(These tools all work well nothing stands out here)

Internet - 9 of 10
(Firefox 2.0 and anything else you want)

Hardware Compatibility - 7 of 10
(Most things work well but if they don't figuring out how to fix them is very hard)

USB Function 9 of 10
(Everything I've thrown at it worked)

Networking Wired ? of 10
(I really haven't tested it much yet)

Networking Wireless 0 of 10
(I have now tried 3 wireless cards and none work)

Installation 9 of 10
(I had a bug when I tried to change my time zone)


Over all Linux (Ubuntu 6.1) on a desktop computer I give a 8 of 10
It installs easily, has 90% of what you need and is free.

On a laptop 4 of 10.
Wireless does not function for me and is too hard to trouble shoot. This is a noticable stutter on the user interface. It's a memory hog, yes its a memory hog, it requires 192 mbs of ram to install on it default settings. I am going to try Knoppix on my laptop.

Streaming (internet radio)

Lets talk streaming. On my MS Windows machine I usually listen to MP3s I've made or Podcasts I've downloaded, very rarely do I listen to live internet radio(Shout Cast, Live 365, ect...) because I couldn't find a stand alone player I liked. Winamp came the closest to what I wanted but you still had to use a web browser to find the stations.

I saw an application in the AUTOMATIX Package Installer called STREAMTUNER and it came with a player called XMMS. I took a shot and installed them. What a suprise, I like them both. XMMS (the little black Winamp looking player in the upper right in the screen shot) is very winamp like in its look and function. Its small and easy to use and if you like Winamp you'll like XMMS (I had an anonymous post suggesting I try XMMS a week ago, thanks, I love it, I'm just sorry I waited until now to get it).

Now for STREAMTUNER. It is very easy to use. You can see the list of Services (plugins) it knows (SHOUTcast, Live 365, Google Stations, Basic.ch, Punkcast, and Xiph). It also supports bookmarking you favorite stations, and I'm sure you can add your own but I haven't needed to yet. Basically you just select your service (i.e. SHOUTcast tab) then a list of music types (rock, county, talk, alternative, ect) appears on the left side, you then click on the music type you like and a list of all the stations appears in the main window. Double click on the station you want to listen to and STREAMTUNER launches XMMS player and your selected station starts playing. Very, Very easy. and lots of choices.

You'll notice that the main window provides you with the station description, currently playing song, number of listener, and bit rate of the stream.

Hey, I wonder what that RECORD button does??? (upper left in screen shot)

DVD Ripping

I wanted to rip a DVD to watch on my laptop later. I own the DVD. It's Season 1 of "The Tick". I decided to just rip one 22 minute episode to test Ubuntu with ripping. I end up using two different programs. One worked for me and one didn't.

The first was "DVD::RIP". It's interface was confusing and I had trouble finding the setting I wanted to change. I couldn't tell if I was ripping the whole DVD or just a single file. But hey, I'll try it. I changed the settings I needed then started the process. I got one frame in ten minutes and my DVD was locked. I had to reset the box to get the disc out. Well I figured that the DRM got me again so I got out one of my very early DVDs, "Dark City", and tried again. NOPE. Lockup, again. Ok, this is a new OS for me and maybe it was just the program I was using so I checked the built-in "Add/Remove Applications" and the very first app I saw was ACID RIP.

ACID RIP: It's interface was complex but understandable. Everything was there, I could pick my final format, bit rates and max file size. I put my DVD in and changed a few setting. I left most everything default except the output file type, I changed this to Xvid. This setting is under the Video Tab. The other settings here are LAVC, COPY, RAW, NUV, VFW, QTVIDEO, LIBDV, X264. Well I wanted something compatible with MS Windows too, so I chose the XVID becasue I had seen it on MS Windows and know it works. Once I made my changes I pressed the START button. The DVD spun, a status bar moved, the bit rate counter moved, the Frames Per Minute showed about 10 and the hard drive spun.

I could tell it was doing something! I looked at the ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE and it said 52 minutes. hmm... 52 minutes for a 22 minute clip. That's well over what I'm use to. This is a 16X Lite-On DVD +/- Burner. On my MS laptop with a 8X burner, I could do a whole 2 hour DVD in 52 minutes! And don't tell me "your recoding it too" because my MS Laptop does that too and in under an hour. So at this rate a whole 2 hour DVD would take about 300 minutes? FIVE HOURS to rip a DVD (not counting burning time)? This is a 2.4ghz P4 with 512mbs ram and a 16X DVD. This is way too slow but I guess it worked.

BTW the Video did look good and is in a NON-DRM AVI format that I can watch where and when I want on whatever I choose. No pirating, no file sharing, just my DVD on my laptop without having to take my DVD with me.

ACID DVD: It ran slow for me but it worked.

NOTE: Turn off any screen savers, this will help some with the speed.

p.s. I took the background photo on Saturday, Nov 18, 2006, at Audra State Park, WV, but it could have been any wet pile of sand :-)

Got Busy

I got kinda busy last week and didn't get much done. I'm off from work the rest of this week so I will be posting more. I drug out a Cannon Scanner, and an HP 1200 printer. I will hook them up and test them before Friday. I have not removed Linux from my laptop yet and I plan on giving wireless another go. I am using WEP encryption and I think that is what is keeping the DLink card from working. I noticed that the laptop had a Nvidia Go graphics card in it so I am going to try the Linux Nvidia drivers and see if that fixes my stutter problem.

I need to see if FireWire is working on the laptop too. If it is I will try the Samsung camcorder again using firewire DV instead of the priority Samsung divx codec.

I've created a second user account on this box to see how linux/Ubuntu handles multiple accounts. Tonight, I'm going to setup a couple of shares and see how well another linux box will connect to it. (Laptop to desktop) Also on the agenda is a DVD rip and burn (backup).

I'll let you know how it goes.

Hit a Wall

I think I have hit a wall with Ubuntu. I have made it 17 days but I'm running out of things to try. I have given up on WIRELESS NETWORKING for now and VPN ACCESS is a total loss (I can't find my needed VPN Client).

The things I have left that I want to try are Linux to Linux and Windows to Linux Networking but this will require some amount of research. I want to get a USB Scanner working and a USB Printer. I am going to play with some video editing and I want to try DVD ripping and buring.

Other things I have done: I've got full internet access thanks to Firefox 2.0, Email with Evolutions (all PIM function), Cell Phone access through the USB Cable, Digital Camera access, and all the removable media item I need. Open Office 2.x handles all my word processing, spreadsheet and slide show needs. Rythmbox works great for my audio needs and mPlayer does video pretty well. I've found a few surprises too, VYM (View Your Mind), I didn't even know something like this was out there (I'm searching for a MS Windows version for work).

The latest piece of software I installed was SKYPE, it's a very nice voice chat, IP Telephone. I haven't used it much but it works well and I like it.

On the photo editing front, I can use GIMP but I as I said, I'm a Photoshop guy and nothing will change that. With the photo viewers and organizers they are all pretty good and easy to use but nothing special.

I am comfortable using Ubuntu Linux with Gnome but once the windows disappear and I'm left at the command line, I'm at the mercy of other what others have written and just blindly type what they tell me too. I don't like not knowing what the commands I type in do.

Week Two Complete

It's been two weeks of no MS Windows and I'm doing just fine. So far there are just two things that I really miss from MS Windows, VPN access to work and Photoshop. I could, with time, learn GIMP enough to get by but "getting by" isn't what I want in a photo editor. Let's face it, I would only be happy if I could get Photoshop to work on Linux. With VPN, I need Watchguard software client for Linux. It might be out there but I can't find it. Without it I can't get to my work from home.

Linux on a Laptop. I have not had any luck getting my wireless network cards working on Ubuntu. This is a show stopper. I will be removing Linux from the laptop. I hate this but in this day and age, a laptop without wireless is not worth having. I have found some articles on line with hints and tips for fixing the problems I'm having but none work for me or the article is over my head for my level of Linux knowledge. The second problem I'm having with the laptop is the 1.5 second delay of mouse movements when opening windows. This made my laptop stutter. I could have lived with this but the wireless problem I can't accept.

USB support in Ubuntu is very good so far. Hardware support is good, but when you have problems there is never an easy answer. Rewrite the whole kernel, modify some "code", or buy a part that is compatible. These are your choices.

Software selection is pretty good. If you can think of it, you can find a program that will do it for you.

The built-in add/remove applications feature I like a lot. The ability to add other package installers is great. The problem starts when you have to download zipped files, extract them, get the dependencies too, and blah, blah, blah. What I'm trying to say is that if you can't find the program you want in a "package" it gets hard fast.

Over all I like Ubuntu Linux but I'm starting to see some of it's short comings. I have come to think of this Linux Box as more like a MS Windows 98 machine. MS Windows 98 ran a GUI (graphical user interface) over DOS (command line). If you wanted to do anything powerful you had to go to a DOS session to do it. Ubuntu is like this. The windows part is just "dressing" over the powerful command line. The real power lays in the command line. The problem is that most people don't like working with the command line so a windows "dress" was put over this command line. I think this duality is keeping linux out of the mainstream. Both MS Windows and Apple do almost everything through the GUI. Both REQUIRE very little command line action. Linux on the other hand REQUIRES command line access. You can not use LINUX without it.

I find myself comparing Linux to MS Windows. I've wonder why I do this. I have come to realize that this is because MS Windows is STANDARD. There are may things like this, the iPod is the STANDARD in mp3 players, Apple is the STANDARD in User Interfaces and TIVO is the STANDARD in D.V.R.s. These are just some examples, any products developed in those categories are compared to these items. Why are these items STANDARDs? Because they do what they do very well. MS Windows does not do everything right but it does do everything. Vary rarely do you to check computability list when buying hardware for MS Windows. There are usually three varieties of every piece of software for MS Windows (Commercial, Shareware, and Freeware) and they work with almost any combination of hardware. Is it pretty? No Is it cheap? No. IT JUST PLAIN WORKS EASILY.

With all of that said I don't dislike Linux. It's different and it has gotten something right. It's stable, it's fast (command line), and its secure. Those are great things to be, but it's just not user friendly yet. As I said, I think of it as MS Windows 98. It had a pretty windows "dress" on but underneath its still DOS (Terminal).

At Two Weeks of Only Ubuntu Linux, I give it a 7 out of 10.

Firestarter, Clam and ROOT Oh My!

I haven't post much today because I had to read a lot. I installed FIRESTARTER, a firewall, and CLAM, and antivirus. I read about theses apps before I installed them causing the delay in my posts. I figured this would happen as I went forward. The things I want to do now are getting harder and require research. I have medium experience when it comes to firewall so I wanted to make sure FIRESTARTER was something I could use. If you get a firewall wrong you loose your internet, network and more. The firewall installation went easy enough but CALM told me it was out of date and needed to update its definitions. I said sure, and it STOPPED. It told me I would have to log on as ROOT to continue. Hmm.... I'm new to Linux but more than one person told me not to use ROOT as my daily log on but hey, this was an install on VIRUS softwar, I can see where it would want ROOT access.

Now one would assume to get ROOT you log out and then log in with ROOT (root) as your user name. I did that, Ubuntu asked for my password. I never set one up for ROOT during install. I tried mine. NOPE. I tried (blank) NOPE. I tried ROOT. Nope. Well that bites. What now? read. read read. I did a Google search and found some articles about how to log on as root.

It's not hard but while reading the HOW TO article I saw something that bothered me, a lot. The author of the article did a nice job of explaining this task (HOW TO ACTIVATE ROOT IN UBUNTU ) but the response from the "LINUX Experts" was very shocking. They flamed the author for giving out this info. The "Experts" acted like the author should hide this knowledge from NEWBIEs because they "might" use it as their daily log on. They screamed the praises of SUDO (command line function more later) but none told how to use it. Many Newbies don't like or are scared to use the Command Line. The Experts who responded to this post basically told NEWBIEs, use SUDO (and figure it out on your own) or don't use Ubuntu Linux, we don't want you. One even said "Newbies need to learn to figure things out for themselves". I thought LINUX was an OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY. Was I wrong? Should the Experts hide the knowledge from newbies, else we use it wrongly? Or worst yet FORCE users to do it their way or not at all? Even though some of us are NEW to LINUX (Ubuntu)most are very EXPERIENCED COMPUTER USERs just looking for something different. We know better then to use ADMINISTRATOR or ROOT as a daily log on account.

Here's something that EVERYONE that uses ANY LINUX DISTRO should remember and never, never, never forget, SOMEONE GAVE YOU THIS WHOLE O.S. FOR FREE TO DO WHAT EVERY YOU WANT WITH IT SO GIVE BACK! If a newbie asks you how to do something tell them, give them the warnings and let them have at it. If they break their computer or it gets hack and used for evil so be it, it's theirs to break and learn.

I know "but their hacked computer can be used for DOS ATTACKS, Child Porn FTPs, (insert computer evil here) and that affects more than just them". Well I have NEWS for you, if every Linux machine in the world was hacked tomorrow, their sum would still be very small when compared to the number of MS Windows Systems OWNED right now.

Rant over, resuming normal operations.

The Road Map for the next 18 Days

This was created using VYM View Your Mind. I have gotten a lot done so far and really like Ubuntu on this desktop machine. The laptop is a different story. It looks cool. runs ok. but has some troubles. I need my VPN client so that I can do work stuff from home. Wireless is a Most have. This is a show stopper. But if you notice you'll see more working items then not. Next week is Hardware week. Printers and Scanners oh! my! I still see that I have lots of items that I need to explore so I will get it gear and start tomorrow.

This Week will be an important test week and will decide the fate of this machine. The person who is going to keep this machine when these tests are over wants an account put on here for her. So I will. She has agreed to try this Linux. She has two demands, One her Cannon i9900 Wide format printer must work without error. Second her Cannon USB scanner must work. She requires the ability to print photos from 2X3 up to 14X19. She has to have a photo organizer that is easy to use, and features rich. She wants to do some CD Riping, encoding to MP3s. DVD Ripping to iPod format. light Open Office Work, and some page layout. Internet and Email .

I see no reason that this can't happen. I will buy her a room 300-500mb external drive for storage and leave the two 80bgs in it for local stuff.

RIp and Burn CD

I wanted to end today on a high note. I wanted to RIP a couple of CDs. I wanted them in MP3 format at 192 bits rate. I wanted the MP3s be named ARTIST-ALBUM-TITLE-TRACK. I put a good CD in and CD JUICER popped up offering to RIP the CD for me but it did not offer to do it in MP3 format. I had my choice of OGG WAV FLAC and a few others. No MP3.

Well I went to the add and remove applications and added two programs GRIP and RIPPER X. Both look like they would work but Ripper X would not connect to FREEDB.ORG (track naming site) so I went with GRIP. I made a few changes (and there are a lot of options) Well I found the LAME encoder set it to be default then went to the ENCODING Tab and set it up to be 192 bit, Rip to Wav, Convert to MP3 , then Erase WAV. GRIP is not a MS Windows program and you have to have a little command line knowledge and not be afraid to play a little. This is more like I was expected from Linux. You get a nice mix of both command line and windows making it very customizable.

I recommend GRIP for your Ripping pleasures. After ripping and moving the new MP3s to my IPod I decided to see if I could convert the MP3s back to an audio CD. (I know I'll loose quality but this is just testing). I ran Serpentine Audio CD Creator who offered to help as soon as I put a black CD in. It created the CD just fine and I tested the newly created disc on a boom box left over from the 80's.

VPN

I tried to find a Linux Client of my VPN software, its to connect to a Watchguard firewall box. I had no luck. This surprises me, the Watchguard Box itself runs on Linux. The Watchguard Site is not that friendly either. This will require more reading.

I have moved back to my desktop Ubuntu Box because of the lack of wireless on the laptop right now. I also noticed a bad stutter when new windows open on the laptop, any window or dialog box does it. What happens is the mouse locks up for about a second and a half anytime a new windows or dialog box opens. There is also a quarter of a second delay when you click on a button (back/forward/ect) in Firefox. It reminds me of work on a REMOTE Desktop. It's not horrible but it is noticeable. If I get the wireless working I'll start using the laptop again.

Its been a bad Linux Day.

Dell Inspirion 8100 Laptop

While I'm complaining (and to just get it all out) the Dell Inspirion 8100 was made in about 2000? so it's six years old. It has nice features, but the screen is a 15 inch and has its resoultion set to 1400 X 1050. Text appears very small on it. Most people would think this is nice, but it won't rescale, it just makes the screen smaller with a black border (like letterbox on a standard TV).

There are only 2 USB ports (USB 1.1), but it does have a CD Burner, both touch pad and joystick mouse, Built-in 56K modem, 100mb Network Wired, Firewire, and a floppy drive. (not to mention the legacy Serial/Parallel ports. The complaint isn't with the features but with their locations. CD Rom left side, Floppy Drive front beside removable battery, USB back, external keyboard beside CD rom, Firewire and external auido jacks below PCMCIA Slot. and the worst is the NETWORK Jack. It's on the front, right. As you see in the photo's, if you use this and are right handed and use a mouse, they just get tangled or worst you pull on/bang into the network cable.

OK, I feel better now and besides, I only have my time into fixing this laptop (and not even my time) so it is basically free. BTW if you have a laptop that the screen is DARK or looks like it doesn't work at all, it's probable just a $35 bulb or $50 inverter but you better have very good soldering skills.

Wireless Networking Ubantu 6.1

Ubuntu 6.1 does it even support wireless networking? Yea I know it says it does, but mine doesn't. I've tried two different PC Cards, D-Link AirPlus DWL650+ and a Motorola WN825G. I am trying to get them to talk to a Linksys WRT54G Router with WEP enabled. I can't get either of them to work. I have read about the Motorola Card and know it has a Broadcom chip set which I see several people are having trouble with. I have seen a couple of solutions but they are so cryptic a solution I can't figure out how to use them.

I'm very disappointed with Ubuntu 6.1 Linux with wireless support. In theses days of wireless everywhere, especially on a laptop, this support is MANDATORY and should be very easy to use. There should be not "edit this file", "remove the built-in drive", or worse yet "go back to last years version". I know that Driver Supoort is very hard without vender help but you should CLEARLY STATE THAT YOUR HARDWARE WILL NOT WORK during the install process and tell me exactly what I can get to make it work or provide a clear, BUILT-IN to the INSTALL PROCESS, a list of compatible hardware that I can buy. Even APPLE Computers do wireless right. I know they make their own hardware but it works every time and so does MS Windows.

The other thing I don't understand is why can't there by an ADD/REMOVE Hardware option like the ADD/REMOVE Applications? Just let me pick my hardware from a list and click on it to install. If my hardware isn't on the list then I can research it to get it to work or just buy one of the Hardware items from the list of known working ones.

If I was GUARANTEED that a certain wireless card would work, without editing anything, just plug it in, run a single install app and configure it with my SSID and WEP, I'd go buy one.

BTW both these cards work fine in MS Windows. Just plug them in, run a single install file, reboot, and configure with your SSID and WEP Key.

LINUX and Wireless Installation 0 out of 10, it's did not work for me. Once I get it going maybe I change that number. Without good wireless support Linux is like a new 50 inch plasma tv that is stuck in black and white mode.

A Ubuntu Laptop Too.

I am lucky enough to have a lot of hardware laying around. (I work on computers for people who don't have lots of money and they usually "pay" by giving me their old or broken equipment or not) I've taken some of that stuff and put together a Dell Inspiron 8100 Laptop. It's a PIII 1.2 ghz, has 512mbs of ram, a 40gb hard drive, built-in 100mb network, a built-in modem, and a CD Burner. (I had to rebuild the screen, new bulb and inverter) It had MS Windows XP Home on it and it was just sitting there so I said what the hey, and put Ubuntu Linux 6.1 on it.

I was missing the portability of my laptop so this should cure that, plus I can take this to work and see if it will play on an ACTIVE DIRECTORY DOMAIN.

I started this install at about 6pm and I just now finished. Why? A bad CD. I have had the worst luck with my Linux media. If you've read all this blog you'll remember that I had to download the ISO twice because of a few bytes missing. I used the same CD I installed my Desktop Linux Box with, but it would lockup at 59% every time on the laptop. I took the CD out a few times and looked at it and it seemed ok but after the third attempt, I burnt a new CD and it worked.

I thought it might have been a Linux/Laptop thing (hence the three repeats) because it would hit 59% and run the CD for about 10 minutes staying at 59% then start the hard drive and run it until you powered it off manually. I thought it could have been the hard drive too but I ran a hard drive utility from a boot cd and it said the hard drive was fine.

Why tell you all this? Because when you are experimenting with a new OS don't rule out the little things. Who would have thought you downloaded a bad ISO? then just 10 days later have the presumed working install CD (had worked twice before) have a tiny scratch that kept it from working. So before you blame the OS or just assume that Linux can't do it, check your cables, check you CDs, and make sure its plugged into the wall power outlet.

Tomorrow I plan on testing wireless from the laptop and Linux to Linux networking. Anyone know if a Motorola WN825G PC Card works with Ubuntu? We'll find out.

Memory Card Reader/USB Hub

I just purchased a nice little item that works well with this Linux Box. It's a DIGIPOWER Combo Card Reade/Writer & USB 2.0 Hub. It's says its a 32 in 1 memory card reader and has 3 USB 2.0 ports too. It was $25-$30 at the local Circuit City. I bought it because I needed a card reader. I hate wasting the battery power on my digital cameras by plugging them into the USB port and downloading from them.

I just plugged the Digipower into a USB port and it started working. I plugged one of my thumb drives into one of Digipower's USB ports and it worked just fine. I tested it with a couple of SD Cards and they work too. Sony Memory Stick good too.

You'll notice in the photo that it has a big white circle in its center. That circle is what Digipower calls a "Mood Light". As it sits it cycles slowly and smoothly through all the Reds, Blues and Greens. This looks cool at first but could become annoying after awhile. All in all it's works, it it's small and it reads and writes everything I need (it will even let you copy from you SD Card straight to your USB Thumb Drive).


On a Linux Note: remember how I said when I plugged my digital camera into my USB port I was confronted with a window that offered to Copy my Photos from my camera to my hard drive but was not given an option to access the card directly. Well with this reader I still get the transfer window but if I cancel it, it's mounted as a removable hard drive and you can browse it, read from it, or write to it.

I'M MAD AT ME!!!

WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT!!! I'M MAD AT ME! and yes I am yelling. Here I sit happily just "tweaking" my new Linux Box into how I think a Desktop should look and feel and I just recreated the damn MS Windows XP Desktop. (and yes the background was changed for effect just now "we did do the nose a bit" Monty Python). I don't really believe that this is the "right way" but I have been conditioned over the years by MS to think this way! This has to stop right now! I need to quit trying to get this Linux Box to look, act, and feel like MS Windows, it's not. If I want windows I can just plug the stupid XP hard drive back in and have the real thing.

The straw that broke the camels back was when I went looking for a way to replace the Ubuntu Main Menu Button with a Green START ICON. That's just wrong! To get the most out of this experiment I have to stop thinking like a spoon fed MS Windows Users and start embracing the Linux that is on this box. The first place I'm going to start is with this Desktop, I'm taking the dress off this pig because she ain't no lady. Back to the Linux Look. Tomorrow is Command Line day!

(I think I just had an intervention with myself, scary).

View Your Mind VYM Software

I had some time to play with some of the software I've put on this Linux Box and I found one surprise, VYM (View Your Mind). Graphical Thought Organizer is the best term I can come up with for it. The software starts you off with a block in the center of the screen that you type a subject or goal into. You then right click on the block and create child objects for it and then right click on those and create child objects for them and before you know it you have a graphical outline of your SUBJECT. You can add picture, text notes, hyperlink and thought icons to your diagram. The best way to explain it to you is to just show you a picture of the one I did. I used this Blog's object as my starting subject and went from there. This was about 45 minutes of work to create. You can EXPORT charts as JPegs too.

I figured that I would just REMOVE this program for my Linux Box but I think I will keep it now. Try it before you say no.

It does have somethings I don't care for, like positioning sub-child lists and the way it colors things is weird but it might just be my 1.5 hours of experience on the program.

That was a quick chart so the spelling is probably bad.

Networking 1 Accessing MS Windows Shares

I figured, what the heck let's just try the "click and pray" with accessing my MS Windows Network at home. My network has three desktop computers (one XP Pro, two Win 2000), One laptop (XP Pro), there's also a Xbox and a Tivo. I'm running this network in the peer to peer mode and we will call the workgroup KNIGHTMARE. Now each machine on this network has a single share we'll refer to them as MACHINE01\SHARE01, MACHINE02\SHARE02, MACHINE03\SHARE03. The laptop does not share anything.

Ok, now I clicked on PLACES then NETWORK SERVERS, that pops up a window that had an Icon in it that said WINDOWS NETWORK. I double click that Icon and another window appears listing all the workgroups/domains that Linux found. Guess what? There is an Icon labeled KNIGHTMARE. Cool. I double click on the KNIGHTMARE Icon and I see my computers, MACHINE01, MACHINE02, and MACHINE 03. I then double click on MACHINE01 and I see a list of its share, SHARE01. I tested this on all three machines and it worked. I go back to MACHINE01 and double click it. I then double click on SHARE01 and I get a pop up window asking for my USER NAME, DOMAIN/WORKGROUP, and PASSWORD.

Since I'm running a peer to peer network, I figure that this wants my USER NAME and PASSWORD for SHARE01 on MACHINE01. I know that when I set this share up on MACHINE01 I only gave the ADMINISTRATOR account access to it. So I use ADMINISTRATOR for the USER NAME and the administrator password for MACHINE01 for the PASSWORD. All of this was exactly right. Now the third box was asking for DOMAIN/WORKGROUP, well I figured that this would be KNIGHTMARE (my workgroup name) WRONG. I know from my MS Windows work that if the workgroup or domain doen't work here try the Machine name. So I put in MACHINE01 for this block. WRONG. Ok I decided one more try before I start reading. I left this block filled in with its default, WORKGROUP. Magic! it worked. But why?

I have not read why yet but I figure if the machine I want to access was part of a DOMAIN it would have said DOMAIN instead of WORKGROUP? Or is this just a Linux thing? If you know, feel free to post. Later I will be setting up a share on this Linux Box and ... uh...hmm... if I'm not supposed to use MS Windows at home how do I check my MS Windows to this Linux Box access... (I just heard evil laughter coming from my MS WINDOWS Laptop).

Gnome Commander

This post should have been on November 8, 2006, but Blogspot would not play nice.

I installed GNOME COMMANDER and like it more than FILE BROWSER that was initially installed. It has a very nice two panel layout showing you two different directories at the same time. This makes moving files easy. In addition it displays more information on the screen at one time.

I installed another program called VYM View Your Mind. It looks like and says it is a brainstorming, graphical idea organization program. I don't know if I'll have much use for it but I thought I'd try to organize my list of things I want to test on this Ubuntu Linux Box. If it works out I'll post a screen shot or two.

The third thing I did was download a DEBIAN REFERENCE MANUAL. I plan on working on some networking this weekend and want to have some reference handy. I've spent most of my Linux Box time today reading and doing real work with the box (made a few spreed sheets, and a couple of Word Docs with OpenOffice).

Cell Phone Sync Part 2

In part one of Cell Phone Sync, I got my data from my Sanyo 7300 Cell Phone and into three CSV files with BitPIM. Well it turns out that CSV is not the best format to use when going from BitPIM to Evolutions Email. The vCard Export Option seems to be the best. I still had a lot of tweaking to do but it was just mouse clicks. I had about 85 contacts in my Cell Phone, each having 3 or 4 phone numbers and an email address. For some reason Evolutions read my HOME NUMBER category as PRIMARY NUMBER. This would have been fine except Evolutions refused to display PRIMARY NUMBER in the List View. I had to open every contact and change Primary Number to HOME NUMBER. I also had to change the way some names were displayed but that could have been me when I added them to the Cell Phone originally. It took about 20 minutes to clean them up but that was faster and more accurate than retyping the 300 + items.

There was a vCalendar Export Option in BitPIM too and I assume it would work better too. (I did not sync my calendars)

Oh, the way you, get your contacts into Evolutions from your saved BitPIM files into Evolutions is by going to Evolutions menu option FILE, then IMPORT, then pick FROM A SINGLE FILE in the pop up window, then browse to your BitPIM files and select them. The rest of the wizard auto-detected everything and I just clicked "Forward" until it was done.

Memory Upgrade

I traded my PC2700 for a PC2100 and it worked. I opened the box, put in the memory and turned the Linux Box back on. Ubuntu booted as normal with the added memory. I went to the Internet, read a little, and found the Command Line command FREE. I opened TERMINAL and ran FREE it now show 512mbs. That's better. I'd like to have taken it all the way to 1 GB but this machine will ultimately end up living with someone else :-(

Time to do upgrade? 5 minutes, opening and closing the Box took 4.5 of those :--)

After this experiment I will be building a Linux Box to keep and it will have a Gig of ram.

One Week of Linux (Status Report 1)

This is my seventh day of Ubuntu 6.1 Linux and I like it so far. I have sworn off MS Windows (at home) for 30 days and I plan on sticking to it. After one week of using Linux I have not missed my MS Windows Laptop too much. I have been able to get Linux to do everything I've wanted it to so far with one exception, VPN. If I want to access my work I have to VPN in to get to anything. Well our VPN machine is Linux based but I haven't found the time to research the VPN Client I need. But I feel I should be able to get the VPN to work on this Linux Box because the VPN server is Linux Based. I also think this will be hard. The other thing I miss is the Laptop mobility itself. This is not Linux's fault, the Box I had was a Desktop Dell that I rebuilt for someone.

What Have I done so far:

1. I've installed Ubuntu 6.1
2. Got Ubuntu working with my internet
3. Customized my Desktop
4. Installed several application that did things I needed to do.
5. Installed a second Package Installer
6. Got Ubuntu (easily) working with six different removable hard drives and thumb drives
7. Got my Cannon S2 1S camera working
8. Updated my Video Drivers
9. Got DVDs playing
10. Got my PodCasts downloading automaticly
11. Got internet radio stations working
12. Burned Music CDs
13. Burned Data CDs
14. Got my Sanyo Cell phone to Sync with Evolutions
15. Used thumb drive to transfer work files (MS Office Docs) to this Linux box and edit them with OpenOffice.
16. Created and maintained this Blog

Things I plan on doing:

1. Networking with my MS Network (shares)
2. VPN into Work
3. Remote Desktop
4. Memory Upgrade
5. Use some HTML editors with lite java
6. Install and use WINE
7. VMWare what is it and what can it do
8. Add a Firewire PCI Cadr
9. Add a Linksys Wireless Network Card
10. Edit Video shot with a Samsung Camcorder
11. Rip Cd audio
12. Rip DVD
13. Sync a Dell Axim Pocket PC 2003
14. Install a Scanner (cannon)
15. Install a printer (HP laserjet 1200 USB)
16. Access a remote printer on a MS Windows Box
17. Share a local Printer with a MS Windows Box
18. Add a second Hard Drive
19. Explore some network tools (packet readers, port scanners, ect.)
20. Learn the command line
21. Learn the file Linux structure (where does what live on the had drive)
22. Learn some disk editing tool (sector editor in windows)
23. Install and use MYSQL
24. Install and use Appache

Things have been going kind of fast. I've spent 3 to 5 hours a day working with this Linux Box. So Far I have been using my "Click and Pray" method and it has went well but as you can see from the to do list above you can't just CLICK some of those things and have them magically work (especially the LEARN things).

After one week of use I give Ubuntu 6.1 Linux an 8.5 of 10. If I stopped right now I could do 85% of what I usually do with a computer. The VPN, Web Site Programing and Graphics Editing will move that number up to 95%. I am a die hard Photoshop user and have been for years so switching to GIMP is a challenge. If I can install WINE and get Photoshop working that would rock. This is all based on the options of someone who has only been using LINUX for 7 days (21 to 35 hours total on keyboard time)

Sync Your Cell Phone

I thought I'd try something a little harder on my Linux Box. I wanted to SYNC my cell phone data with Evolution Email. I have a Sanyo SCP 7300 cell phone. Well I did a little reading and found a freeware MS Windows program BitPIM that said it would work with my Sanyo 7300. Well I checked and Ubuntu Linux Installer has that application too. It lives under Accessories once you install it with Ubuntu Add/Remove Application option.



Once BitPIM was installed I just plugged my Sanyo in with my USB cable and started BitPIM. I then CLICKED on the SETUP TOOL (see Screen Shot) and the phone wizard autodetected my Sanyo 7300. I then clicked on the GET PHONE DATA button (See Screen Shot, its the icon of a phone with a green arrow point right in the upper left of the screen shot) This will bring up a PHONE DATA GET SCREEN. You just CHECK the items you want to GET (PhoneBook, Calendar, Wallpaper, Ringtones, Memos, ToDo, SMS Call History, Play List). Once you have pick the items to GET and CLICKED the NEXT button, the BUSY light comes on (turns red) (an Icon at the bottom of the screen left side) and a STATUS BAR appears beside the Busy Button telling you whats going on. After a few seconds a window will pop up asking you how to import the read data, you can over write what's on your computer with the new phone data, merge the new phone data with the computer data, or cancel. Since this is the first time, I over wrote the computer data with the phone data. (both the PhoneBook and Calendar ask this question). Now you are done (mostly). You have your phone data in your computer, you can now edit your phone book, import data from many different email clients including Evolutions, you can edit you backgrounds, save your photos to your hard drive, add/edit ringtones, and clear your phone logs (incoming, out going, missed calls). Lots of stuff you can do and you use your full size keyboard.

Now once you made your changes, you will have to put your data back on your phone. All you do is CLCIK on the SEND PHONE DATA icon (upper left of window with a Green arrow pointing left) This will bring up a window asking how you want to send the data to the phone. You can MERGE it with what is already there (causing double entries) or OVERWRITE it. The scary part of this is once it has moved all your data to your phone it resets your phone! So be prepared for it. It does no harm but did scare me.

To backup your phone data you will have to EXPORT it from BitPIM before you send it to your phone. You can EXPORT it to different file types and each section has to be exported separately (phonebook, calendar, to do , ect, each get their own file). I used CSV format becuase of its universal acceptance. To get to EXPORT and IMPORT you go to FILE on the BitPIM Menu.

(NOTE: your function will depend on your cell phone model. My Sanyo SCP 7300 gave me errors when I tried to READ Memos, ToDo, SMS and Play Lists, My phone does not support these. If you get errors when READING your cell phone try turning off (unchecking) items you are going to rad in until it works).

Screen Captures

Pressing the PRINT SCREEN key on the keyboard captures a screen shot as you work. This is close to the way MS Windows works except on Ubuntu Linux it asks where you want to save the shot and what you want to name it. Nice.

RYTHMBOX and Internet Radio

I like RYTHMBOX. It says it will work with my iPod but I don't want to chance it. I have been playing with the INTERNET RADIO STATION function. It only comes with 4 station so I added some.

Here's how. Start RYTHMBOX. Look at the MENU on the left. CLICK on INTERNET RADIO option. Look at the ICONS on the top you will see one labeled NEW INTERNET RADIO STATION. Click it. Once again you have to know the url to the PLAY LIST you want to access. These will be a URL that ends in .PLS.

Where to find .PLS? Easy, WWW.SHOUTCAST.COM . Browse there with Firefox and RIGHT CLICK on a one of the TUNE IN links on ShoutCast. This will bring up a menu chose the COPY LINK LOCATION. Then go back to RYTHMBOX and PASTE your copied link into the NEW INTERNET RADIO STATION pop up window. Save it and that's it. You can right click on your new radio station and rename it and give it a category if you want.

I think you can also copy link that are directly to MP3s and MS Windows Media Files.

(Sorry went crazy with the colors)

More on NetCast (PodCast)

I started playing with some of the SOUND & VIDEO applications. I noticed that one, RYTHEMBOX MUSIC PLAYER, had a Podcast section. Well after a little playing I have it downloading, on a daily basis, all four of my favorite PodCasts (NetCasts). I had to figure out the FEED URL but it was not that hard. Here is how I did it.

Start RYTHEMBOX. Complete the short setup process and tell it what folder your music (MP3s WAV OGG ect) is kept in. Once RYTHEMBOX starts, look on the left and you will see a menu. One option is PODCAST. Click on Podcast then look at the ICONS on the top of the screen and you will see one labeled NEW PODCAST FEED. Click on it and a window will pop up asking for the URL to the FEED you want (this is where I got confused) This is the URL of your favorite Feed. It will be a web page address that ends in a .XML.

Finding the FEED URL was the trick. I listen to a lot of Leo LaPorte's NetCast (PodCast) so I went to the TWIT homepage TWIT.TV. Once there I clicked on the NetCast I wanted and that took me to a page with a link labeled SUBSCRIBE. There was a menu box below it that gave me a bunch of choice including iTunes and others. One of the choices was RSS. When I clicked on this and it took me to a web page that looked like a list of shows with a description about each one. Well, I noticed that the page I was now looking at had a .XML url. So I copied this URL from Firefox and pasted it into the NEW FEED URL window in RYTHEMBOX. Within a few seconds I saw a list of that show (NetCasts) and the newest one was downloading automatically.

If you want the older show just RIGHT CLICK on the one you want and select download.

Here are the URLs of the NetCasts (PodCasts) that I like:

(to get) Security Now!
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/sn.xml

(to get) This Week In Tech TWIT
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/twit.xml

(to get) FLOSS
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/floss.xml

(to get) Leo's KFI AM Radio Show
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/kfi.xml

(to get) DL TV wit Patrick Norton
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK) http://rssnewsapps.ziffdavis.com/audioblogs/DLTV.xvid.xml

A lot of these were found by "Subscribing" to the podcast which took me to the .xml page. I chose RSS as the type of subscription.

More on Desktop Icons

When you RIGHT CLICK on a Desktop Icon you get a menu that looks a lot like MS Windows right click menu with one exception, there is a STRETCH ICON option. If you select this option it puts four "handles" around your Icon. You just CLICK and DRAG on one of these handles and you can drag your Icon to any size. Pretty cool. I've always wanted this feature in MS Windows.

Icons on the Desktop

I figured out how to put ICONS on the DESKTOP. You go to the Applications menu, find the program you want, RIGHT CLICK on it and select "Add This Launcher to Desktop" from the menu that appears. That is all there is to it. The other options that appear are "Add This Launcher to Panel", "Add this as Drawer to Panel" and "Add This Menu to Panel". I haven't played with the other options but they seem straight forward.

DVDs Now Play

I tried some older DVDs, Starwars, Star Trek, and others. They all worked. The one I had trouble with was MONSTER HOUSE made by Sony I think. No where on the packaging does it say it won't play in a computer DVD Player. On one peice of paper included in the DVD box it says "Warning! This disc is copy protected" That's it nothing else.

DRM Sucks
Sony SUCKS.

I will be returning this DVD.

MP3 Solutions

I have a solution to my MP3 problem. I will download the NetCasts (PodCasts) as MP3s then burn them to CDs. This will let me take them with me and still keep this test on the up and up. I will assume that I could get the iPod working with Linux but choose not to.

MP3s and Me

I changed the look a little. Yea, I know big deal you can change the background but hey this is a text heavy blog and every little graphic helps. I need to find a program or a way to capture menus and applications as they run.

I've been surfing the web today and moving media onto the Linux Box so that I have data to test apps with.

On that note, let's talk about MP3s. I copied some from one of my USB removable storage devices to the hard drive then burned them to a CD. All went very well. I opened the CD in a FILE BROWSER window and was just looking at them when I moused over one and it began to PLAY!!! When I moved the mouse off the MP3s Icon it stopped. That was cool. I like it. By the way MP3s play without problems on any of the media players I have installed.

This brings me to a problem. I saw software where I could install my iPod on a Linux Box and probably even Itunes but I think I would have to activate this machine on my iPod account. That would be my fifth. All though I will probably have a Linux box in my house after this 30 day test, it will not be this Box. This Box will get it's MS Windows hard drive back and be given to someone who insists on MS Windows being on it.

Now there are about four PodCasts (NetCasts see Leo I really listen) I listen to weekly. They are TWIT, Security Now, Leo LaPorte's KFI radio show and DL TV. All are technology related and produced by former Tech TV personalities. Any way I could just download the MP3 versions and listen to them on the Linux Box but I like listening to them in the car and while at work from my iPod. I don't want to cheat and use my MS Laptop to update my iPod but i don't want to activate this Linux Box either... What to do? What to do?

Video Driver Update

I updated my nVidia Graphic Card driver. I use the AUTOMATIX Package Installer to download and install the new drivers. What a difference in the GL applications. Some games us GL and were very slow, now they fly. I also installed Google Earth, another GL program (It is a fancy map program with photo overlays). It went from unusable to very nice.

In addition I installed GNOMEBAKER, which is a CD/DVD burning program. It looks more like what I'm looking for in my CD/DVD Burning Software.

Lesson learned, update your drivers. I've been very timid so far when it comes to hardware driver changes or additions. I do not know what to do if I get it wrong and it crashes.

CD Burning

I burnt my first CD on Linux. I put a blank CD in my burner and a window popped up and told me that I just put a Blank CD-R in a CD Burner and want to know if I wanted to:

MAKE AUDIO CD, MAKE DATA CD, or CANCEL

I chose to make a data CD. (I want to backup my photos I transfered earlier and a friend sent me some Linux How to PDFs I want to print/read and keep)

After making my choice I was present with a window (File Browser) that had a WRITE CD button in its upper right corner. I opened PLACES/HOME FOLDER and copied and pasted the files I wanted on the CD to the newly opened File Browser Window. Once I had all my files in this new window, I CLICKED on the WRITE CD button and it started. (it gave a status bar window counting up to finish).

I did not like the automated process with the built in burning. I saw some other burning programs and think I'll download a few. I use NERO 6.X on MS Windows and want something similar.

Video Codec's Part 2

Yesterday I was disappointed in the way my new Linux box was playing videos. I installed all the Codec Packs I could find and was still having trouble playing my Samsung video files and DVDs. I went to the Internet with Firefox and tried to play videos from the web in the browser and had trouble too. I tracked down the Samsung problem to a Codec and found that there just wasn't a Codec for Linux for it. (I did find one for MS WIndows).

The DVD would not play at work either in one machine but would in another. The only common factor I saw was both my Linux Box and Work MS Windows Box have DVD burners in them...hmm...The MS Windows 2000 machine that it did play in did not have a Burner in it. I will chalk this up to DRM.

Firefox not playing videos from the Internet is troubling. I will work on it tonight and we will see.

On one of my removable hard drives I had some standard MOV, AVI, DIVX, and MPEG files so I tested them. They worked just fine. Good, that means I did not trash my Codecs on this Linux Box.

Video 4 of 10 (Had to get Codecs just to start, had to install a second Package Installer to get most Codecs, Windows has my needed Codec but Linux doesn't? Oh I could recompile my Linux Mplayer to get it to work, but why? Shouldn't it just be done already if its a know issue? This is the NEWBIE in me complaining about free things)

NOTE: Keep in mind this is my 4th day as a Linux user and I am looking at this OS from an easy of use point of view. I don't want to have to research that much at first. I will later in the month but not in the first week.