Windows 7 – Why I'll take Ubuntu 9.10 over it anyday

I’ve written about this before – a view on why both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 will co-exist. But the matter of fact is, I have a preference. I run Vista as my primary OS, yet I see no reason whatsoever to upgrade to Windows 7.

Much maligned as Vista was, two service packs down the lane and it has become reliable enough for my needs. But if one must really toss aside Windows Vista, Windows 7 is probably not the best way to go.

Exorbitantly expensive for all who need any less that full scale compatibility with specialist software suites such as Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Word 2007, Windows 7 is trumped by the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 in four critical areas:

1. Price. Face it – Ubuntu 9.10 is free. And Windows 7 costs a fair amount of money.
2. Performance. I have tried the release candidates of both OSes and I can say with complete certainty that Ubuntu is far faster at all common tasks than Windows 7.
3. Security. Frankly, the only real method you would get a virus into Ubuntu (due to it’s Linux heritage) is if you made a deliberate effort to do so using WINE.
4. Hardware support. Windows 7 has indeed improved in many areas or hardware support – but one fact remains: Ubuntu supports far more hardware out of the box than Windows 7. This is not to say that Ubuntu will support all hardware, but most. I have an averagely dated machine for testing, and Ubuntu picks up all the hardware, while the Windows 7 test run missed the graphics.

Windows 7, of course, has it’s trump cards too:

1. Software. Windows has a greater range of software than all other OSes combined. Reason: Windows has been the desktop OS of choice for aeons and a lot of work has been put into it.
2. Pre-configured PCs. If you’re buying a new PC, chances are that Windows 7 will be bundled with it. With that comes a lot of guarantee, none of which comes with a Linux box.

Note that the two Windows advantages apply to new sets. If you’re already working, or familiar enough with computers to adapt to Linux alternatives to Windows software, Ubuntu 9.10 is the way to go.

The Excellent SUSE Studio (and tips)

I study in an engineering university full of geeks and nerds. Most of them use some (pirated) version of Windows, though they all know how superiorly Linux would perform on our sprawling LAN network.

They do not. And one of the major reasons is that there are some particular softwares that everyone here uses, but cannot be bothered to download for a Linux distro. People in Pakistan do not like the idea of not being able to double click and install, and when they see their favourite apps missing, they don’t bother to enable a repo and download them. They ditch Linux altogether.

Enter SUSE Studio. I’m a SUSE apologist, and nothing could be more exciting then a simple, easy way to build a personalized (or in my case, universitized) Linux distro – one that can keep the people on board the Linux ship longer, until they find out how good it can be.

SUSE Studio is still by invite only, but I got mine fairly quickly (in under a day).

And I went in. Many people in the blogosphere have already commented on how easy it is, how it runs in a browser, and how simple it is to test created distros. TuxRadar has a particularly nice account of the SUSE Studio.

My point is that in under 30 minutes, I had added the necessary repos, added the required software (recommended packages + DCPP, XChat, Blender, some DTP software, CAD, and some others). I also put in some artwork (our logo and wallpaper). But most importantly, I put in place of the license some basic starting instructions for getting up and about with iGIKI OS. I also set some of the fancier network settings that every node on our LAN has.

(The SUSE Config Panel screenshot. Taken from a VMWare guest running Windows Vista on a stock openSUSE 11.1 host)

The Test Drive works extremely well too. After making sure nothing was broken, I downloaded a LiveDVD image.

The result was a beautiful, custom, effortless openSUSE 11.1, that worked flawlessly. And it was a first time build. No second builds needed.

All I can say is that I am speechless in front of the technology Novell has brought to us. It is astounding. The bar has been lowered so much, even toddlers can vault.

My only gripe is the SUSE Studio itself is closed source. Hope you’re listening, Novell!

I have, since, built several distros for different purposes. I would like to share a few tips, that may come in handy:

• For initial testing, build hard drive images. You can then test, and also know what files changed when you ran it.
• Pay particular attention to the Messages in the left hand column. It often helps you avoid bloat.
• The software section is the one to which you must pay utmost attention. That, in all probability, is where any breaking or making of the produced distro will take place.
• Package dependencies are automatically resolved in most cases. However, I have found that some software that calls on E17 repos causes conflict with Gnome libraries. The Message section will notify you – take care.
• Live images test best. No matter which format you want to deploy in, I have found live images to be the best indicator of final performance. Then again, that may just be me.
• Don’t forget to create a new user account in the config section! It looks nice when you can show off to a first timer with a custom login.
• If you enable the firewall and also install some odd-port-requiring server or other networking tools like Samba or Nmap or Cain & Abel or something, then be sure to configure the firewall later through YaST. I have found the default firewall to be VERY draconic.
• (Other tips if somebody suggests them)

Happy building with this great service!

Linux and Piracy

One of the biggest plus points to Linux is that it is free. Truly, $0, nillium free. The only costs involved are those of downloading, and perhaps burning onto a CD or DVD. Compare that to the hundreds of dollars you dish out for a copy of Windows. The premium beef (the Ultimate editions) cost even more.

The world has many people. About 7 billion of them. Europe and America has just 897.2 million of them (Source: Wolfram Alpha). And the rest of the world owns plenty of computers.

But this rest of the world is not too rich. Not rich enough to buy and maintain hundred dollar worth Microsoft Windows operating systems. Seems like a perfect opportunity for Linux to pervade, right?

I’ve written before about what Linux really lacks. It doesn’t lack much really. But why does the world in general not use Linux madly?

The answer to this is, of course, piracy. I can talk about my own country. I can safely estimate that there are many millions of computers in my developing country of over 150,000,000. And over 95% of them use one or another version of Microsoft Windows.

Why would any average user want to bother with Linux when he can obtain a pirated version of the latest Windows Vista Ultimate 2 (with service pack 2, of course) for less than half a dollar?

What Linux really lacks is, after all, not an image or brand. It lacks a Microsoft that can enforce anti-piracy procedures in all parts of the world.

KDE 4.3 Released – One Great Desktop

KDE 4.3.0 is now officially released, and the first looks are amazing.

I was using the stable KDE 4.2, and the differences with in 4.3 are obvious and many. The most noticeable, of course, is the completely new ‘Air’ default theme, which, in my opinion is the best default theme for any OS or desktop.

I have just downloaded the binaries for openSUSE 11.1 from the KDE4 repositories. And my first experience is that it is great, perhaps even better than great. The overall pliability and verve of the whole system has gone up. I loved the highly improved response of the whole desktop and the improvements to Dolphin. Some of them are so finely implemented, I wonder why KDE didn’t release them earlier.

(The picture is not my desktop – it’s on the KDE announcement page. I have to yet to check out the widgets properly)

There is complete announcement and changelist back at the KDE website.

What Linux really lacks

Linux does not lack user friendliness any more. Ubuntu. openSUSE. Try them out.
Linux does not lack quality software. Openoffice.org. Firefox. Pidgin. Thunderbird. They all run on Linux.
Linux does not lack power. It runs on the widest range of hardware.
Linux does not lack company backing. Novell. Canonical. Red Hat. They are large corporations.
Linux does not lack hardware support. Most computer hardware actually runs more easily with Linux than other OSes.

What, then, does Linux really lack?

The answer could be:

• Wide spread adoption
• GUI emphasis
• Wide range of mundane software
• People willing to learn Linux

Actually, it’s none of them.

What Linux lacks is an image. A unified brand. A single banner under which Linux can fly. One of Linux’s greatest strengths (diversity) is also perhaps its greatest weakness. Linux was, and still is, considered a geek’s OS.

Perhaps the large companies such as Novell and Canonical should, every now and then, put out an advertisement that shows just how good Linux has become for the average Joe.

The more, the merrier, I always say.

Fedora 11 Review (KDE) – Desktop Emphasis

Introduction

It is no secret that openSUSE has always been my Linux of choice. I have always found it to support my hardware, do what I expect it to, and otherwise work correctly, practically out of the box. And as always, I excitedly install the latest, newest distros, hoping that they will give it a run for its money.

I am also a KDE fan. KDE4 is a lot more usable than GNOME, and the looks don’t hurt either.

With that in mind, and the latest Fedora release (11, Leonidas), I downloaded myself the Fedora 11 KDE Live CD and took it out for a spin.

Hardware

As always, I test my distro on two platforms: a VMware 6.5 Virtual Machine with 1 processor and 512MB RAM, running on a Windows Vista host; as well as a native installation on the hard disk partitions of my Acer Ferrari 5000 (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2, 2GB RAM, ATI X1600 Mobility Radeon).

First Impressions

On both the real hardware and VMware, I had less than favourable first impressions while booting off the Live CD.

For one, the default theme is passable at best. I like the wallpaper, but it is just so incongruous with the relatively modern and plastique KDE 4 look. It might look good with GNOME, but not with KDE 4. And why are the scrollbars of the Kicker Menu pink?

Secondly, Fedora 11 seems to have some major sound issues, because on both the hardware and the VMware, my speakers began to beep uncontrollably for about 2 minutes at login to the desktop before stopping. Furthermore, any sound files I tried to run restarted the same nightmare.

Thirdly, in an age of brilliant Linux installers, Fedora still forces you to use a fullscreen, archaic design installer. It gets the job done, no doubt, but these are first impressions, after all.

Deeper In

The install was relatively painless. But I noticed something bad: the shutdown hangs on my VMware install. This is not just bad, this is very bad. I have to do a hard shut down every time I shut down my machine. And this is not an issue with just the KDE 4 version, it actually occurs with the GNOME version too (yes, I downloaded the GNOME Live CD just to check this out).

And the sound problem still persisted. In the end, I was forced to keep a pair of earplugs besides me, for use every time I rebooted.

My ATI X1600 was supported out of the box, but desktop effects faltered. This is not so much a surprise, as many distros fail to do that, but I was expecting better out of this Fedora release.

What is worse, though, is that on changing the incorrectly discovered resolution to 1680×1050 (my native resolution), all the windows elements retained their earlier appearance. In a nutshell, everything looked horribly mis-sized.

I have plenty of grudges about the software selection too. KOffice? In favour of the well respected, and perfectly functional openoffice.org? Okay, I am using a KDE 4 distro, but so what? openSUSE never asked me to use KOffice. GIMP is missing, as are Mplayer, or even Totem. There isn’t even Firefox. Sticking to the default KDE 4 apps is one thing, but this is taking it too far.

In line with Fedora’s policy, I cannot play most media files without downloading extra codecs. But that is where I found out that PackageKit refuses to work for me. My internet is behind a network prock-sy, but despite setting up the internet prock-sy in the system, PackageKit refuses to get my files for me. No luck from the command line either. This is interesting, given that the internet browsing works fine otherwise.

Stability

It turns out that the shutdown issue on my VMware was not the only stability issue. On opening many windows rapidly on even my real hardware (which is fairly fast), I can easily hang the session. I have to kill the Xserver, or in some cases, even do a hard reboot.

Conclusion

To be honest, I was disappointed. I was expecting much more. This was a poor show from a major distro. Given the slipped deadlines, I was hoping for something worthy. In a phrase, I didn’t like Fedora 11 at all.

I guess I will just stick to my Ubuntu 9.04 and openSUSE 11.1.

Rating: 4/10

Update: Many readers are pointing out that Fedora 11 has worked well for them. I have not stated that Fedora is outright bad. It is just that Fedora did not work out well for me on two environments. And secondly, many of the readers are repeatedly pointing me to the repos for software gripes. As said earlier (now highlighted), my package manager is not working.

My original statements remain valid.

Is Linux finally ready for the Desktop takeover?

This is a repost of an article I wrote for a newspaper in my country. Its an enjoyable read, and I got quite a few retaliatory comments. It was published under the tagline:

“By attacking from the bottom, where Microsoft can no longer successfully compete, Linux will finally cut itself a large slice of the desktop”

Everyone with even a minor experience in computers knows what Linux is. It is a remarkably complete operating system and is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development. It has, in fact, more than one beautiful Desktop Environment (DE) available, that gives it the point and click capabilities that one expects from a graphical operating system. Actually, Linux is just a ‘kernel’ (a core base) around which the operating system (OS) is built. This means that, unlike the popular Microsoft Windows OS, there is no single distributor of Linux. Many companies and developers use it to build operating systems known as ‘distros’ (short for ‘distributions’). Spearing a thrust that aims to make Linux available to the average end user are the major distros. So why would the common home user choose one of these distros over the much more common Microsoft Windows (and Mac OS, which is itself a close relative of Linux)? One of the major reasons would be that Linux is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). This means that the full software is not only available for free, but the code used to make the OS is also openly available to everyone to view and modify. This translates into unbelievable stability and security: no more crashes, hang-ups, or viral threats. Linux is faster than Windows, more adaptable, and highly customisable.

It was always that much. These are the reasons large and powerful companies like Google, Yahoo, IBM and others adopted it. These are the reasons nearly all higher end network servers are run on Linux. But these reasons are not enough to entice the average user to start using Linux.

The clinching point now is the manner in which the Linux DEs and Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) have evolved. They are in no way lesser than their Windows or Mac cousins. They are fully functional, powerful, intuitive, and to top it all off, can be stunningly stylish. They can mimic the behaviour of the Windows OS, or work in absolutely unique ways. Gone are the days when the command line text was necessary to use. Even the installation procedure, once the most intimidating part of the Linux experience, is now so easy, that the Windows installation seems downright complex by comparison.

That would mean the Linux is finally ready to take over the average Desktop. A very recent adoption of Ubuntu by the French National Assembly is an indicator of how things are going. After the phase over, the politicians are unanimous in their opinion of how much better the new system is.

However, one is tempted to ask, “if I’m paying big money for something (Windows, Mac OS), there must be a reason.” And there is. Unless you get a commercial version of Linux (which indeed is available), you do not get any official support, even though there is plenty of community support available. Moreover, everything from Microsoft Office to professional development tools to graphical software to web browsers to media players has its fully functional (and often even more powerful) equivalent in Linux, yet the fact remains that most of the Windows software you are familiar with will not run in Linux.

But the biggest obstacle in large scale common Linux adoption is the hesitation in getting used to an entirely new way of thinking. Not much in Linux works in the same way as Windows. You do not double-click an executable to install something, you use a package manager. You do not have a C: and a D: drive, you have a structured filing system. Softwares do not usually come on a CD or DVD, you usually download them from online ‘repositories’. Window management is spread across ‘workspaces’. Not that the Linux Desktop is difficult to use, it’s just different.

In the end it comes to down to how ready the common user is to accept something new. Those who manage to get a Linux system up and running never look back. The now legendary unreliability and clumsiness of Windows is just a reason to change over. Also note that most distros can be easily installed alongside Windows in ‘dual-boot’ configuration: Linux is perfectly happy with that. You can get a ‘LiveCD’ and actually try out the OS without even touching your hard disk.

Linux is ready to take over the Desktop: of that, there is no doubt. The ever increasing number of users adopting Linux is testament to that. Whether it can complete the takeover, is something only time will tell.

Ubuntu 9.04 Review – Desktop Emphasis on the Jaunty Jackalope

Introduction

My previous experience with Ubuntu has been good. 8.10 did very well for me, even though I remained strictly in the openSUSE 11.1 camp.

People were expecting big changes in 8.10, but it never came to that. Even now, in 9.04 (a.k.a. the Jaunty Jackalope), the expectations of a big change were there, though somewhat damped.

As always, I put Ubuntu 9.04 through its blocks, in a manner that has now become a bit of my very own trademark: testing it in ways that the average, Linux illiterate computer user would use.

My test rig was the Acer Ferrari (2.0GHz, 64bit Dual Core, 2GB RAM, ATI X1600 Mobility Radeon).

Live run & Installation

The Live run was significant. In the release candidate, I had a major show-stopper when CD booted into the desktop only for hundreds of un-named generic windows to start loading and bringing my system to a halt. Thankfully, this problem has been solved completely in the release version. I did not delve much while live, but proceeded onto the install.

As with previous editions of Ubuntu, this too, includes the good old 7-step installer. Apart from a slightly upgraded time-map, it remains identical to old versions. I specified my partitions and went on.

The installation was flawless, fast and simple.

Impressions

The default theme is the same old brown ‘Human’ theme. Ubuntu never does seem to work on it’s visuals very much. But there was surprise.

Last time, Ubuntu introduced the DarkRoom theme. Now, in addition, there are two themes called ‘Dust’ and ‘Dust-Sand’.

Dust is the closest Ubuntu has yet come to making a real, professional, working interface. It looks very nice, and the styling is easy on the eyes. All that disappointed me was that it had no wallpapers or icon-sets to complement the theme.

Deeper in

Much hyped pre-release, there is the unified notification system. I really enjoyed the fact that all applications can now channel their notifications into a single uniform message. No more mess! Email notifications, messenger messages, system notifications etc are all there. All in all, this is one of the most welcome changes, and it really helps those users that are used to putting lots of applications in their traybar.

Boot times have gone down. I noticed an interesting trend: if I reboot my PC three of four times in a row, the boot times actually go down, to a minimum limit of 15s on my PC, while reboots after long work sessions takes about 25 seconds. I have no idea why that happens, but nevertheless, this is lot lesser than earlier versions of Linux. The only full distro that boots faster for me is Dreamlinux. Though I hardly ever shut down my PC, many people do.

Apart from that, is the updating of all programs: Kernel 2.6.28, X.org 7.4, OpenOffice 3.0.1, Firefox 3.0.9, Gimp 2.6.6 etc.

Stability

I had grudges with the stability of the release candidate, both on VMware and actual hardware, so I really pushed this one.

To my surprise, the stability issues have disappeared if by magic. This leaves me to wonder if my earlier woes were due to one or two problems from which the rest cascaded. But that’s another point. Here, the stability was no issue at all. I roved around on the desktop, barked up the menus, kicked the buttons, went F1, and overloaded the cart, but the Jackalope held on. Impressive indeed.

Everything else

Everything else was the same as in previous version, at least, there’s nothing really noticeable. And everything… works.

Conclusions

First, my only complaint with this release is that it gave me very little to write about. Very few earthbreaking features, but rock solid stability.

But. The But. This is the Distro. The Distro that has finally won me over from the SUSE camp. The swaying points were the theme, stability and speed.

To put it in better words, this distro takes over from openSUSE as my primary distro. At least, until SUSE 11.2.

Rating: 9.5/10

P.S. Here’s a very useful page about what do after installing the standard Ubuntu 9.04: Eva’s useful guide to Ubuntu 9.04

Note: Ubuntu 8.10 onwards (9.04 too) has an IPV6 bug. This disallows users with static IPs from connecting to the internet, and some users have trouble disabling this behavior. Thanks to kabel for the info!

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope coming soon

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope is to be released on the 23rd of April. That’s tomorrow. We’re all waiting!

Mint 6 "Fluxbox" – Short Review – Desktop Emphasis

By now, I have tested many Linux distros. But I had yet to come across any distro that actually did better in VMware then on actual hardware.

Meet Mint 6 Felicia, the community “Fluxbox” remake. The Fluxbox is a window manager that replaces Gnome’s default window manager. It is lightweight, customizable, and fast.

It performed absolutely flawlessly on VMware: no configuration issues, no graphics problems, perfect resolution detection. I also got a seamless installation of VMware tools, and the Unity mode worked flawlessly too. The Fluxbox menus were responsive, fast, and short of the special Compiz eye-candy, the distro ran as well on my VMware deployment as the best distros run on proper hardware.

Compare that to the problems it gave me on my real Acer Ferrari 5005WLMi. It had sound problems (sound coming in bursts), the codecs failed to work, the Flux box menus would sometimes not draw correctly, and the resolution it detected was nearly half my correct resolution in the X-Axis. Compiz, obviously didn’t run.

I have mixed feelings. Mint 6 Fluxbox, from what it ran on the VMware, seemed to be a great distro. It lacked Inkscape and OpenOffice.org, but otherwise included all codecs and ran my wired network out of the box. I specially liked the MintConfig center. It was stable and fast – a VMware dream.

If only it could present the same performance on my hardware. Most intriguing.

A Customized Mint 6 Fluxbox desktop