tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71887514389334508302024-03-11T00:23:57.276-07:00Mahmahnds on FaiyaThe problems of the web, exposed!Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-81523688046218327672012-05-24T08:25:00.005-07:002012-05-24T08:25:55.227-07:00So Long, Blogger!<span style="font-size: large;">"Mahmahnds on Faiya"</span> departs from blogspot.com to new waters.<br />
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We're now hoisting the Webnode flag, new appearance included.<br />
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Make sure to <a href="http://mymindisonfire.webnode.com/" target="_blank">visit</a> and bookmark the new page's address:<br />
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<a href="http://mymindisonfire.webnode.com/"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">mymindisonfire.webnode.com</span></b></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">peace!</span> </span></div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-91346095274591560252012-04-25T19:14:00.000-07:002012-04-30T19:40:32.659-07:00SliTaz 4.0 Review - Small but fierce<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SliTaz</b></span> is awesome. I've used it in the past during its 3.0 days, and since then I already found it fascinating. If you haven't heard of it, here's a short description of the distribution, provided by their website:<br /><i><br /></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>SliTaz GNU/Linux is a free operating system working completely in memory from removeable media such as a cdrom or USB key. It is light, speedy and fully installable on a hard drive</i></span></span></b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sounds familiar? That's because Slitaz belongs to the minimalist family of Linux distros, which Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux are part of. Slitaz is a tiny ISO (~30MB) and loads into RAM on boot, making the Live session about as fast as a hard drive install. Although other distros could do the same, usually they're too big to fit completely. Slitaz, on the other hand, is small enough to fit even in 128MB of memory, making it the right match for that old computer sitting in the basement.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Slitaz 4.0 was released on April 10th, and I promptly downloaded it. Finding that no one (at least in Distrowatch) ever reviewed it, I thought I'd show my appreciation for this distribution and do it:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Booting:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">The link above takes you to the "Stable LiveCD" download, which should be the one you're looking for, right? Well, as soon as I got and checked the sum for slitaz-4.0.iso, I proceeded to burn it to a USB stick, just to realize that it wouldn't boot. I didn't feel like using one 700MB CD for something less than 100MB in size, but neither Unetbootin or dd would produce a bootable medium: the stick would invariably encounter a kernel panic, leaving me to reboot. So, after about half an hour trying to crack it, I gave up and looked for help.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">The Slitaz IRC proved to be quite helpful in spite of its popularity, and the answer came as downloading a different image. The standard one is a "4-in-1" image that reportedly caused problems when written to a USB, so I would have to find another one. Doing that, however, proved to be trickier than I thought. There are no clickable links pointing to the index of the page, so you'd have to find it manually. Don't worry, <a href="http://mirror.slitaz.org/iso/4.0/flavors/" target="_blank">here it is</a> for you. Unfortunately, the index itself is also quite crowded, but I found the <b>slitaz-4.0-core.iso</b> image to boot fine. So, after <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com.br/2012/01/how-to-create-linux-liveusb-without.html" target="_blank">burning it to the stick</a>, we're finally greeted with a nice boot screen:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzL6rZizeZruk5kAGl2qNvXrtVQPDX_Kc0uy6hNZ36JwDKVoWls4O_SdbpalOkD23grdhB2Chz-QoWivwOGTN2zWApH7hwXmyQxWgcjogO7AF-Prvf4W4oND-grXJpVmiwYKHJoxTM3Y/s1600/slitaz-boot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="557" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzL6rZizeZruk5kAGl2qNvXrtVQPDX_Kc0uy6hNZ36JwDKVoWls4O_SdbpalOkD23grdhB2Chz-QoWivwOGTN2zWApH7hwXmyQxWgcjogO7AF-Prvf4W4oND-grXJpVmiwYKHJoxTM3Y/s640/slitaz-boot.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">There are the standard options plus CLI only boot, but an interesting feature is the last one: Web Boot. I read about it in its testing days, and apparently since the image is so small, it's possible to download an even tinier image just to boot, and let the rest of the process be downloaded from the Internet. Yes, <i>the OS can be booted wirelessly</i>. I didn't try it, though, as I had the full image right there.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJBqJByNjQ-aSxjiKm6J1kbnN3dboSBAlOo-yr2c2XXvaokZGsnMNrur-l4J7U3DvgnqNBI8ukE2y4Z0LfQxuYBiNf8zIYOc0jWcVGQMfd3gP2sRGrwHGg8tqKgh4jRO1IDN2s_e6T4I/s1600/slitaz-options.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJBqJByNjQ-aSxjiKm6J1kbnN3dboSBAlOo-yr2c2XXvaokZGsnMNrur-l4J7U3DvgnqNBI8ukE2y4Z0LfQxuYBiNf8zIYOc0jWcVGQMfd3gP2sRGrwHGg8tqKgh4jRO1IDN2s_e6T4I/s640/slitaz-options.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">After answering two dialogues prompting the user to pick a locale and keyboard layout, we're presented with a GNOME3-looking two-panel desktop:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0Fyp0d3zVlE49CYdaj-1dC5cWgqyfVN_pigTNzWTlLCHpbuHGOkPpN5XugDNy7TtYrEXC-6MkFgpYudI_9tJuvfAVSD-qhTx94TbMN9uOr6g8LCyZqd9pIvxhSS_MuvGVMjl_5eizNg/s1600/slitaz-desktop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0Fyp0d3zVlE49CYdaj-1dC5cWgqyfVN_pigTNzWTlLCHpbuHGOkPpN5XugDNy7TtYrEXC-6MkFgpYudI_9tJuvfAVSD-qhTx94TbMN9uOr6g8LCyZqd9pIvxhSS_MuvGVMjl_5eizNg/s640/slitaz-desktop.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Desktop and Usability:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Distrowatch lists Slitaz as having "Openbox" as its default desktop. It turns out that it could easily be labeled "LXDE" instead, since it also uses <b>lxpanel</b> and <b>pcmanfm</b> as well to display the desktop. The layout resembles GNOME3's fallback mode, with the clock displayed in the middle of the upper panel and logout options in the upper-right. The wallpaper is simple but elegant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">A huge upgrade from the previous versions, in my opinion, was the merging of all configuration tools into one, <b>tazpanel</b>, which can be found in the upper-left corner. There's something frustrating about not being able to find what you want, and a few times in KDE this happened to me. Tazpanel, however, has everything you need wrapped-up nicely in a graphical app.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWofMrpsl7hQSUQUi5uzkiiPLY4TVCWi9ruzkvIa6AsJHa04kyOrHPztnvo24xw2dwb6qPK7qaKEJL-K5YLLaxkd6AN23TUVcPXAazu9p7P26xrBE4oPN0cTgCDjoN37My3bU_fA-brlA/s1600/slitaz-packman.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWofMrpsl7hQSUQUi5uzkiiPLY4TVCWi9ruzkvIa6AsJHa04kyOrHPztnvo24xw2dwb6qPK7qaKEJL-K5YLLaxkd6AN23TUVcPXAazu9p7P26xrBE4oPN0cTgCDjoN37My3bU_fA-brlA/s640/slitaz-packman.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Some settings are changed just like editing a file in CLI</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">This is not the best wireless setup wizard I've seen around, but it worked fine in my encrypted network. Also, some parts of tazpanel, especially networking, are just an embedded text editor to edit the configuration files and reload - not exactly what you would expect in a graphical app. However, tazpanel still solves the problem of scattered options; you can do anything from setting up wifi to performing a frugal install using this one app.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Applications and Package Management:</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Minimalist distributions tend to be thin on the variety of applications, and Slitaz is no exception to this rule. It has rich Internet applications as you would expect, including a web server with SSH capabilities. The browser of choice is <b>Midori</b>, a webkit-based lightweight browser, but an image with Firefox preinstalled can be downloaded from the link above.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">The thinnest side, however, has got to be Office apps. A glance in the menu shows no word or spreadsheet processors available, and the few applications inside this category are mostly viewers for pdf and images. Weird, since usually at least Abiword would come preinstalled for most lightweight distributions. You get a game of chess, which is alright compared to Puppy's Rubik's cube game, but wouldn't Solitaire or something be smaller (or at least simpler without the AI)?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Well, as lacking as this category is I think it's made up by the package manager. With tazpanel, it's easy to look up a lacking app and install it, especially if you've used Synaptic before. Also, since the base system is so small, having another program installed in the memory won't slow down the system as much.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqMKB25gRz2pDWGYNKxaJrNIUY7lO59pXcn2FIc3PWVWixnJuh_DKMpKpp787oJul4zkRMcSwnBOIQg3fPiz0i6SCuzG_dDzduzeYEsC710kByaRlAS5uP8Mpebf9JYeIDnxjdHd6ao0s/s1600/slitaz-packages.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqMKB25gRz2pDWGYNKxaJrNIUY7lO59pXcn2FIc3PWVWixnJuh_DKMpKpp787oJul4zkRMcSwnBOIQg3fPiz0i6SCuzG_dDzduzeYEsC710kByaRlAS5uP8Mpebf9JYeIDnxjdHd6ao0s/s640/slitaz-packages.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Here you can also download proprietary codecs and the flash plugin if you wish to use them while browsing. The process is as simple as searching, clicking and waiting. I was able to watch DVDs and YouTube without a crease. It's probably the best solution regarding a LiveCD, but installing a few lacking apps here and there did enrich my Slitaz experience significantly - at the cost of time spent.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKJm18u_KXkILNukR_dBDrejybcJtdD9vY9xHATrYTZJRExXWKu5b5AsE0DLhNM__FcYnO46ZKHWTXuPMTI9I5C3Hdcx2ZSQxBT1Hk9cnLXTQkAxH-svR_Y3nFULwKJv1vckdNNusmbW0/s1600/slitaz-codecs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKJm18u_KXkILNukR_dBDrejybcJtdD9vY9xHATrYTZJRExXWKu5b5AsE0DLhNM__FcYnO46ZKHWTXuPMTI9I5C3Hdcx2ZSQxBT1Hk9cnLXTQkAxH-svR_Y3nFULwKJv1vckdNNusmbW0/s640/slitaz-codecs.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">There two apps that are unique to this distribution: the <b>Sakura</b> Terminal emulator and the <b>TazWeb</b> browser. I don't know why the developers felt like coding their own terminal instead of using plain xterm, but Sakura does have its quirks, making it comparable to LXDE's lxterminal. TazWeb is a single-tab webkit browser, rendering in the same fashion as Midori. Though unfit as primary browser, it's used to display the documentation and is the window which runs Tazpanel. Frankly, I don't see much use or uniqueness in either app, but some further development could yield interesting results.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXjOwjrOEv_dcL20ChOG6i2SPJ-MPQR5Nme10vqELdVyFq56zYYyBjQXKrzVG4EpnROH9nGCyrciFvkJOgWfarnUKDOSlIqcqtvIJunqD3-3KyyxJso7t3Raibm5vAU1zXSWQx2S-lQyc/s1600/slitaz-sakuraterm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXjOwjrOEv_dcL20ChOG6i2SPJ-MPQR5Nme10vqELdVyFq56zYYyBjQXKrzVG4EpnROH9nGCyrciFvkJOgWfarnUKDOSlIqcqtvIJunqD3-3KyyxJso7t3Raibm5vAU1zXSWQx2S-lQyc/s640/slitaz-sakuraterm.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sakura resembles lxterminal</i> <i>in xterm interface</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWofMrpsl7hQSUQUi5uzkiiPLY4TVCWi9ruzkvIa6AsJHa04kyOrHPztnvo24xw2dwb6qPK7qaKEJL-K5YLLaxkd6AN23TUVcPXAazu9p7P26xrBE4oPN0cTgCDjoN37My3bU_fA-brlA/s1600/slitaz-packman.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVWDe6kXOSgwO-wQPLgF0xKfAmSUDUh9i1gXOCiZ_WxvvM8tVB0rjrWn8CmMnC4BP6sPAp6qbU4wu1IA0BAz-1SOWOeFGAQXfzF8NF0zZJ64vLgwlGT3Uk6-s1fuE_wlIe1ThipN_gdA/s1600/slitaz-tazweb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVWDe6kXOSgwO-wQPLgF0xKfAmSUDUh9i1gXOCiZ_WxvvM8tVB0rjrWn8CmMnC4BP6sPAp6qbU4wu1IA0BAz-1SOWOeFGAQXfzF8NF0zZJ64vLgwlGT3Uk6-s1fuE_wlIe1ThipN_gdA/s640/slitaz-tazweb.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Tazweb: why yet another browser? </i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"> And finally, I have to mention that despite the tiny size, the desktop does have its charms. A quick right-click on the desktop provides a menu entry that enables <b>desktop effects</b> - shadows and fading. They are actually just the <b>xcompmgr</b> program being activated graphically. This is the only distribution that I've ever seen with such options, even though they're fairly minimal. Either way, it looks awesome.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ycFskpQdp4YpC5SmWw6T3a-gbbadzNaxZBcSa5p5ajkV1uRXvprrkJ7ydstQ8PvhZJ4qJRnX8jlY6Sv5Qci7pPRj9C382Fw98iEN5K52Azob5EpeSdTifR0KMdGeqprYZ4l0cCntQOg/s1600/slitaz-composite.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ycFskpQdp4YpC5SmWw6T3a-gbbadzNaxZBcSa5p5ajkV1uRXvprrkJ7ydstQ8PvhZJ4qJRnX8jlY6Sv5Qci7pPRj9C382Fw98iEN5K52Azob5EpeSdTifR0KMdGeqprYZ4l0cCntQOg/s640/slitaz-composite.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Conclusion:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">I place Slitaz as #1 among the minimalist distributions, though it may not be the case for you. I hear that it does have less hardware compatibility compared to Puppy Linux, but it worked fine on the machines I've tested so I can't answer that. It does have a very thin selection of apps to choose from by default, but installing extra software is an easy task. I wouldn't exactly recommend it to a beginner, as the configuration can be a little tricky, but for a fairly experienced user, it can be a quite powerful tool.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">Final Score: 8/10</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"><i>April 2012 by K. Zimmermann</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"><a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"><b><i>Edit - Apr 27th</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8ssgy-soLcfaj-yOujvgF7r5kcBR2du9kWe2Ixv32Irqe39KFABpx1XGIY5929jx-iYcOgHPHcvwaVmHid2mtAtymH3668Ow0FR16bQ0Gz_3NYTcfXdsoAoAvb5qA2YSTPx-gE93xbU/s1600/distrowatch-mirrored.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8ssgy-soLcfaj-yOujvgF7r5kcBR2du9kWe2Ixv32Irqe39KFABpx1XGIY5929jx-iYcOgHPHcvwaVmHid2mtAtymH3668Ow0FR16bQ0Gz_3NYTcfXdsoAoAvb5qA2YSTPx-gE93xbU/s640/distrowatch-mirrored.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif, vernada, arial;">This humble site received over a 500 views in less than 24 hours, coming mostly from Distrowatch. Even though I didn't even request to be listed there, I guess I owe 'em some thanks!</span></div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-71345786854101541812012-04-22T19:07:00.001-07:002012-05-21T09:31:11.577-07:00DuckDuckGo: the search engine that packs a punch!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>***I am not associated with DuckDuckGo by any means at all. This post, my entire domain likewise, is my <b>personal opinion</b>.***</i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>While</b></span> it's easy to find alternatives to many things in the realms of computing - for example, hardware, applications, ISPs, OSes - there are a few things that usually remain overlooked for most users. Most of these are related to the Internet somehow. For example, email services, news feeds and search engines are things that usually are not compared or swapped by users in a regular basis, mostly because they pretty much fully resemble their competitors' services. In this post, I will do something unusual, and show an alternative <b>search engine</b> that I've been using for a while now.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://www.duckduckgo.com/" target="_blank">DuckDuckGo</a> is a search engine created with two core values in mind: <b>Privacy</b> and <b>Straightforwardness</b>. I usually could care less about privacy - I don't think I do that many bad things in the web - but getting things with the least amount of bullshit involved does interest me. I mean, straightforward results are the <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com.br/2011/09/one-reason-why-wikipedia-sucks.html" target="_blank">one big thing that Wikipedia lacks</a>. DuckDuckGo bundles them by default, and as a result, you get a secure search with less spam and bullshit around. Two-in-one!<br />
<br />
For some reason, DDG has a huge <a href="http://donttrack.us/" target="_blank">chapter</a> talking about it's privacy policy. They explain how search engines can track and encircle you, citing Google specifically as their sole example. Whoa there, chill! What has the G-man done to you? This kind of reassures my thesis that they are actually the guys from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scroogle" target="_blank">Scroogle</a> under a new skin. Well, either that or plain old paranoia.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2-X03AGMnrPvto5AwbcN_bIbCOwHWG_PdsZHRaQcqjBvr75DuFQ9jD5_YgKmMM3XLPdc9_RXWi387uKsGVH-HbCkdTsl5sXAemcjWuKzBoBdTvOoB3hOxx4mwo58HmaOOxuwKfosmY0/s1600/ddgdumbass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2-X03AGMnrPvto5AwbcN_bIbCOwHWG_PdsZHRaQcqjBvr75DuFQ9jD5_YgKmMM3XLPdc9_RXWi387uKsGVH-HbCkdTsl5sXAemcjWuKzBoBdTvOoB3hOxx4mwo58HmaOOxuwKfosmY0/s1600/ddgdumbass.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dumbasses.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Features:</b><br />
I very much think that switching to DDG from one of the "mainstream" search engines pretty much resembles the switch from Windows to Linux. You come fresh from an environment of "do one thing only" to suddenly being able to do pretty much whatever you want, only that it takes some time to learn. And that's how it works with DDG. It has a lot of features (some that you'll never use) besides searching, which you can find listed <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/goodies.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
There's one feature that deserves a highlight: the ability to <b>pipe the queries </b>directly into target websites, other search engines included. This is done through what they call the <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/bang.html" target="_blank">"!bang" syntax</a>, and I believe it is its greatest strength. The pipes work in such way that you can cut tremendous amounts of time with the proper setup and familiarity. For example, if you set Chrome to search through DDG by default, accessing an article in Wikipedia becomes a single line in the address bar:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: yellow; text-align: center;">
<i>!wiki article-title</i></div>
<br />
Got a video in YouTube in mind? Just type:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: yellow; text-align: center;">
<i>!yt video-title</i></div>
<br />
Hey, let's check Facebook:<br />
<br />
<div style="color: yellow; text-align: center;">
<i>!fb</i></div>
<br />
I guess my point is made for this one. In particular, the "!" modifier helps loads since it works similarly to Google's "I'm feeling lucky," only without needing to click around. This ability leads me to call DDG a <b>meta-search engine</b>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCPwhyphenhyphenGlQmIj0-bN2eDm_V3N28IXfDWwA4eRyscBknCj-AJ0t8RFOavpOXajLr5pMYc8YcVLP-ZH8tLO83ejhSvtKYteXOQQE4pmrC_UvN26PkwwOYJtUEafI-kP7cRfHdkKX_LboyHc/s1600/ddg-xobile.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCPwhyphenhyphenGlQmIj0-bN2eDm_V3N28IXfDWwA4eRyscBknCj-AJ0t8RFOavpOXajLr5pMYc8YcVLP-ZH8tLO83ejhSvtKYteXOQQE4pmrC_UvN26PkwwOYJtUEafI-kP7cRfHdkKX_LboyHc/s640/ddg-xobile.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Right on!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Drawbacks:</b><br />
As expandable as DDG can be, there are a few things that it can't do by default, resorting to third-party redirection. For example, it doesn't perform any kind of image or video searching. Sure, you can use the "!image" tag, but guess what? All it does is pipe the query into Google Images, destroying the original purpose. Keep in mind, DDG does that because it can't do it by itself, and that is also true for news, videos and map queries. It's like passing the ball because you know you're about to lose it.<br />
<br />
The relevance-orientation of search results ironically limits the capabilities for certain searches. Quoted searches (exact terms) won't be as useful as in Google's searches because DDG treats findings in fragments as spam. For example, searching for an exact quote of a book may not show up in DDG, which will prompt the !google tag as a solution. Searching for song lyrics sometimes also yield an empty result page, which doesn't happen in Google.<br />
<br />
And also, what's this over-the-top boasting about privacy? You're not the only one around when it comes to safe porn surfing, so don't make that your flagship. Here's another well known contender that does just the same:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigi0hYph42ixKSkbnusdFYSLASgpHBYCsw9WSjaQ-B_Td6UP69livNc5bimJGWr5kcyNRWpotFFbIWTnZZGMtXasF5VnSc2jUinXfPHsUgu1RiIgGyERwPHIzPMI3a59ZkRljYGJPkybI/s1600/google-encrypted.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="43" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigi0hYph42ixKSkbnusdFYSLASgpHBYCsw9WSjaQ-B_Td6UP69livNc5bimJGWr5kcyNRWpotFFbIWTnZZGMtXasF5VnSc2jUinXfPHsUgu1RiIgGyERwPHIzPMI3a59ZkRljYGJPkybI/s640/google-encrypted.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a simple URL trick does it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The "tracking" criticism that creeps into Google can actually be bypassed using a few easy, but little known options. In fact, Scroogle did little things like that, besides being hosted on Google's side-servers. It isn't too hard, and if privacy was really the only issue, there would be no real reason to switch.<br />
<br />
Conclusion<br />
<br />
DuckDuckGo may bear a silly name, but it's impressively powerful for its looks. It strives for relevance, and the piping capabilities can expand its domain to virtually anywhere the web touches. Even better, nobody is watching you while you're at it. It still kind of sucks for image searching, but who knows? It's still a young site, and as sponsors and servers come in, it might as well incorporate such tools of its own.<br />
<br />
I cannot end this review without mentioning the popularity of DuckDuckGo among Linux users: it comes bundled by default in the browsers of several distributions such as Linux Mint, SliTaz and Knoppix, and several other projects have made partnership with it. Go ahead, give it a try.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1694905288"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.duckduckgo.com/" target="_blank">Quack on</a>.<br />
<br />
<i></i><br />
<i>April 2012 by K. Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a>.Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-12573297708009998442012-04-09T14:01:00.002-07:002012-04-09T14:01:05.935-07:00Linus Torvalds refused to work for Apple: so what?<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I saw</b></span> <a href="http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/03/apple-tried-to-hire-linus-torvalds-kill-linux/" target="_blank">this article</a> a couple of weeks ago but didn't care too much to post something about it. I've been seeing, however, a lot of praising still going on about this, despite being posted a good two weeks ago, and the actual thing happening <b>more than a decade ago</b>, which triggered my ranting muscles. In the article, OMG Ubuntu editor Joey Sneddon writes, and I quote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="color: yellow;">[...] Imagine: no Linux would have meant no Ubuntu, no ChromeOS, and no
Android; the entire ecosystem of technology could have been dramatically
changed by acceptance of this one job offer. [...]</i><br />
<a name='more'></a></blockquote>
Say <b><i>what</i></b>? Hold on a second here: you're an editor for an Ubuntu-related news site, which explains mentioning it, but Android? ChromeOS? Both of these Google-made Linux-ISH operating systems have naught to do with mainstream community Linux, which by the way is the real Linux. Google gives jack back to what we know as Linux, and has a Frankenstein-like patched Linux kernel just to be able to call it Linux (a name that non-1337s are familiar with). So no, Google's projects wouldn't be doomed without Linus Torvalds working on Linux, they would just be delayed a couple of years more.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6nYzFrvjzSg2_i6_c4IOfMix-rpy-498d7SQSckx7eNrCJjS9vYelIrKIJbHEULV2513Da3FeguQn7gDfKBPVitQiBm4lvu4i4Z7FJOT1LnN9MLIoshR9wihqKlZCK8WLPOLX8aJkj8/s1600/GoogleFOSS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6nYzFrvjzSg2_i6_c4IOfMix-rpy-498d7SQSckx7eNrCJjS9vYelIrKIJbHEULV2513Da3FeguQn7gDfKBPVitQiBm4lvu4i4Z7FJOT1LnN9MLIoshR9wihqKlZCK8WLPOLX8aJkj8/s1600/GoogleFOSS.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Also, why do people assume that with Linus Torvalds working for Apple, Linux would disappear? Must I remind you once again that the power of Linux is exactly the thing proprietary software makers lack - the <b>community</b>? Take one developer out of the pool, even a great developer, and there are twenty more to cover up for the gap. Don't believe me? Well, it already happened a couple of times - take Debian's founder, who <a href="http://ianmurdock.com/sun/joining-sun/" target="_blank">ditched the project to work at Sun</a>. And besides, this is a nobrainer: Linus was asked to stop <i>working on Linux</i>. It's not like he would close the Linux Foundation and delete everything on kernel.org.<br />
<br />
The only certain thing that would happen if Linus Torvalds decided to work for Apple is that OSX would become slightly better - and only a tiny bit. Given his <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com.br/2011/10/linus-torvalds-is-douche.html" target="_blank">trolling attitude</a> and the arrogance of Apple Inc, the constant clashes that would ensue in such environment would contribute very little to either side, if not damage them.<br />
<br />
And finally, I'm fed up with how many people have commented about Linus's decision being some kind of "heroic" move, making him some kind of "idol." People, get a fucking clue already:<br />
<div style="color: yellow;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: yellow; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">OF COURSE HE CHOSE TO STICK WITH LINUX. IT BEARS HIS OWN NAME.</span></div>
<br />
The reason why Linus Trollvalds declined Apple's job offering was certainly <b>not</b> because of his duty with the community, and even less due to his commitment with the Free Software movement (he has none of that). It was because he would have to stop developing the kernel that <b>bears his own name</b>. Can't you imagine the game of pride that goes around these things? Something that is (or was, in this case) your creation and has your own name on it is at stake, are you going to give it up? Anyone with two bits of pride would say 'Hell no.' And besides, Apple was a broke ass company by then, who would trust them to get paid anyway?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_VRZj4meplOtUnW0PQJ1FsbV23TFyc5pIN2G7vHJ_QsQhg7hd1_bmuMzjPYCTsidtBwR2gmjrzbUKw45XwZ10VHjjRcrBA58he7lR1mzYhEfVjMvqPg8ySqRgCsQxN0VB83TAoQ4KcNk/s1600/omgubuntu-linushired.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_VRZj4meplOtUnW0PQJ1FsbV23TFyc5pIN2G7vHJ_QsQhg7hd1_bmuMzjPYCTsidtBwR2gmjrzbUKw45XwZ10VHjjRcrBA58he7lR1mzYhEfVjMvqPg8ySqRgCsQxN0VB83TAoQ4KcNk/s640/omgubuntu-linushired.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I cannot understand why people found this 12-year old piece of news so fascinating and heroic. The guy refused to work at Apple, big deal. He had the decency not to be sold off to an opportunistic company, so what? Both players in this story are well on their own today, except for Steve Jobs. But again, maybe as they say there really is a better world after this one, right?<br />
<br />
<i>April 2012 by Klaus Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a>.Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-68799442693517945392012-02-19T18:09:00.004-08:002012-02-19T20:28:52.505-08:00How to piss Richard Stallman off:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U_pNPTfso_w?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Source: <a href="http://youtube.com/zimmermannmermann" target="_blank">Youtube</a></div>
From <a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html">gnu.org</a>:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">[nonfree distributions] <i>do not have a policy of <i>only</i> including free
software, and <u><b>removing nonfree software</b></u> if it is discovered.</i></span></blockquote>
</div>
Alright..? Then I guess I just did it. Behold, Richard Stallman, for I just made a completely free Debian system go rogue, and in less than 3 minutes.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: yellow; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>BYTE ME!</b></span></div>
<br />
February 2012 by K. Zimmermann<br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-18716152006919049802012-02-14T21:14:00.000-08:002012-02-14T21:18:08.852-08:005 Shitty reasons to use Linux<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>This post is not </b></span>about the bashing of Linux, or why you shouldn't use it. It is, however, about weak or otherwise vague reasons that a few Linux "users" give when asked why they chose it. As you read on, take a minute and reexamine your timeline of Linux usage, and see if any of these apply - you may wanna rethink them. If you're an aspiring Linux user, ask yourself why you wanna use it. If your answer contains any of these, I'm not saying that Linux isn't for you, but rather that you can't bitch about it later when you start using.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="color: white; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"I'll become a hacker if I use Linux for long enough."</span></div>
<br />
The fact that many hackers, security experts and crackers (you know, the ones that the FBI arrest) use Linux doesn't correlate at all to Linux being a school of hacking. Linux, if anything, dominates the server world, and I'm damn sure that their administrators don't spend their free time peeking into their neighbors' machines. Hell, if that was true we would even see grandmas "pwning noobs" in their Ubuntu machines.<br />
<br />
And then come the people who claim that the best penetration testing tools are available for Linux, pointing that the fine BackTrack distribution is used even by the FBI. Hello? How many of these were also ported to Windows? And besides, you said it yourself: penetration testing <b><i>tools</i></b>. TOOLS. They are not a magical way to root your ex-girlfriend's computer and steal her pictures - you need time and effort to learn them, and even more to actually get to use them. And obviously a shitload more after that, when you do your sentence in jail.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: lime;">
<b>Doing it right:</b><span style="color: black;"> <span style="color: #b6d7a8;">I</span></span><strike style="color: #b6d7a8;">'ll</strike><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"> can become a hacker if I </span><strike style="color: #b6d7a8;">use Linux</strike><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"> study computer science for long enough.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="color: white; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Using Linux and Free Software is the first step in my way to become a communist!"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(NOTE: I'm not taking sides with any political views here)</span> </div>
<br />
Don't laugh, I've heard this one many times before. The only thing I can say is this: you wish. Regardless of whether Communism is a superior view or not, using Linux won't help you shit in achieving it. Oh, so you're talking community? Sharing of software? Equality of production means, since anyone can have it? No private property? Guess what; that's not Communism; it's Socialism. Actually, it's not even that - it's the ideals of <b>Scientific Research</b>. People working together and sharing the results for discoveries that will benefit all of them.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByJyo3-0MU87Ys0a9_s7kWFWr9ahNAHDRhhgTpqo316-CZyisYK5cU5ibUoh8FDQBVlsu41fbzxdOANkL1kL7m49TGya2dJa8NwVeUI7n7cpIwrIIAkg51nJYc7GfFXUtPZ1AAgIKSOc/s1600/linuxcommu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByJyo3-0MU87Ys0a9_s7kWFWr9ahNAHDRhhgTpqo316-CZyisYK5cU5ibUoh8FDQBVlsu41fbzxdOANkL1kL7m49TGya2dJa8NwVeUI7n7cpIwrIIAkg51nJYc7GfFXUtPZ1AAgIKSOc/s1600/linuxcommu.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Also, what's with this thing of associating Linux to Communism? It began as an <a href="http://www.gnu.org/" target="_blank">American project</a>, joined later by a Finnish Computer Scientist (look up the historical relations between Finland and Russia). And no, the fact that the Linux Kernel was introduced four months before the collapse of the Soviet Union doesn't make it an attempt to spread communism unbeknownst. Fuck your conspiracy theories. There are many things you can do to preach communism - using Linux isn't one.<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<div style="color: lime;">
<b>Doing it right:</b><span style="color: black;"> </span><strike style="color: #b6d7a8;">Using Linux and Free Software</strike><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"> Moving to Cuba is the first step in my way to become a communist!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="color: white; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Linux is Open Source, so I can easily debug and modify it anytime I need to."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*ahem!*</span> </span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">BULLSHIT!</span></b></div>
<br />
I can't believe how widespread and <i>bogus</i> this belief is. It's powerful enough to lure a dissatisfied Windows user into the Linux pool, but the bad news is that this same user will go back to Windows later on, hating Linux forever. Imagine that Joe, average Windows XP user, catches a virus and that's his last straw with Windows.<br />
<br />
Joe decides to use Linux, promised of power use, and the openness of programming, which he reads that gives its users the freedom to modify the programs as they wish. Joe doesn't think twice and downloads Linux, only to find out that:<br />
<ul style="color: white;">
<li>All programs are distributed in Binary form</li>
<li>Source code for his favorite programs is more than 3000 lines long</li>
<li>Bug reporting is overlooked, and at the mercy of the devs</li>
<li>Being the average computer user that he is, he casually remembers that he lacks any programming skills to alter anything in the 3000-line source code.</li>
</ul>
Now, replace "Joe" with your name, and re-read the previous paragraph. Does it sound like a likely situation you'd be in? That's because it is. Average users cannot appreciate the concept of "Open Source" simply because they lack the ability to manage the Source. Unless you are an experienced developer, this reason is <b>void</b>.<br />
<br />
<b style="color: lime;">Doing it right:</b> Linux is <strike>Open Source</strike> Free, so I can <strike>easily debug and modify it anytime I need to</strike> use it for free.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: white; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"I can game in Linux through Wine without worrying about damaging my system or getting hacked"</span></div>
<br />
It's true that Linux is a more secure OS than Windows, and that <a href="http://wiki.winehq.org/Debunking_Wine_Myths#head-dce536e4a98a938b1891b14029d9b09b7250b69e" target="_blank">Wine does not "open a door" to malware/hackers</a> by emulating it. The fallacy here is to think that gaming in Linux is of comparable performance to that of Windows. Short answer: it only is if you have the time, money and hardware to spend optimizing it. You can read the rest <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/11/gaming-in-linux-how-to-get-best-of-it.html" target="_blank">here</a>. So yeah, the latter part of the claim is valid, but the gaming experience is always a mystery.<br />
<br />
I am not saying that wine sucks. There are simply too many weak points where native Windows programs can fail in Linux/X11. Drivers for video cards, for example, are often not well-coded. A few DLLs may be missing, or not available in some version of wine. Or maybe the game you want to run was developed by idiots, and will not run no matter what. What you gonna do about it?<br />
<br />
<b style="color: lime;">Doing it right:</b> I can play <i>flash games</i> in Linux <strike>through Wine</strike> without worrying about damaging my system or getting hacked<br />
<br />
<div style="color: white; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"I will be free from Microsoft's wrath when I start using Linux"</span></div>
<br />
This is only true if you're willing to give up the following, among others:<br />
<ul>
<li style="color: white;">Skype</li>
<li style="color: white;">Hotmail and associated MSN services</li>
<li style="color: white;">Novell's SuSE and openSUSE Linux distributions</li>
<li style="color: white;">Compiz</li>
<li style="color: white;">Files in doc, ppt, pps, xls, msi, and exe formats</li>
<li style="color: white;">Games that were not produced for Linux /X11 platforms</li>
<li style="color: white;">XBOX, XBOX360, <strike>Zune</strike> (ok, this one doesn't count)</li>
<li><span style="color: white;">Websites hosted by Windows Servers, or using .NET framework.</span></li>
</ul>
If not, you just won't. You'll still eat Microsoft's shitcakes. Chap from work sent you "the funniest slideshow?" Microsoft-made! Boss needs you to make that report ASAP? Microsoft-made! Playing Call of Duty through wine? Microsoft API! Even some pages on the internet are powered by a Windows server, which explains the large amount of errors you get from them.<br />
<br />
By the way, if you're wondering what is Compiz doing there, get this: Novell started the Compiz project, together with XGL, and look <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/18/2643094/novell-microsoft-wordperfect-lawsuit-mistrial" target="_blank">where they are now</a>.<br />
<br />
<b style="color: lime;">Doing it right:</b> I will be free from using Windows <strike>Microsoft's wrath</strike> when I start using Linux<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So there you have it: <b>Five shitty, invalid and bogus reasons that you should never use as an excuse to justify the use of Linux</b> <b>over other Operating Systems</b>.<br />
But of course, there are the noble ones too. Maybe I'll put those in another post.<br />
<br />
<i>February 2012 by K. Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-52736514353421474572012-02-12T16:30:00.000-08:002012-02-13T05:42:36.221-08:00Support LXDE now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>GNOME has always</b></span> been my desktop of choice, despite even the recent shocking changes that it underwent. This preference, however, has just been toppled down. I've always favored the lighter applications, and I got to know LXDE while testing PeppermintOS. Back then, I thought of LXDE as nice, but lacking in features in comparison with GNOME - it left the impression that it was still unfinished. However, within a little less than a year of personal use, LXDE has finally overcome its last hurdle to become my standard, preferred desktop environment.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>I've been using only LXDE for a week now, loving every bit of it. Before that, however, only one feature kept me using GNOME, and that was the use of multiple monitors. I found a fix online last week and then was amazed with how LXDE is truly powerful. Now, in case you don't know LXDE, allow me to point out a few key points in its respect:<br />
<ul style="color: white;">
<li>It's probably the most recently released Desktop Environment, developed by a Taiwanese programmer in 2006.</li>
<li>LXDE's main components are pcmanfm (file manager), lxpanel (desktop panel), lxterminal (terminal emulator) and the Openbox window manager, though it comes with many other programs when bundled with a distribution. These are usually the lightest alternatives you can find.</li>
<li>Memory tests with several LiveCDs confirm that it has the lowest RAM consumption within any Desktop Environment.</li>
<li>Has been bundled with Ubuntu in the form of the Lubuntu distribution for a couple of years, but only recently (prior to 11.10) has gained official Canonical recognition as Ubuntu derivative.</li>
<li>Uses GTK+, so borrowing a few apps from GNOME won't cost you a performance hit - like happens when running KDE apps in GNOME.</li>
</ul>
I could go on forever with this list, LXDE is just that awesome. In fact, it even changed my opinion on what distribution beginners should go for. Why bother with clunky, slow GNOME Shell when you can be ultra fast with LXDE/Openbox? Fedora LXDE Spin, Lubuntu, Linux Mint LXDE, you name it...You would still have the full beginner-friendly background from the distribution, only faster and snappier. BAM!<br />
<br />
Now, I can't just go on pretending that LXDE has no defects. As I stated before, I thought for a long time that it was unfinished, unpolished, and and that feeling still remains sometimes. There are many features that aren't present in LXDE, some for a reason and some with no good reason at all. Here are the few pet peeves that I had/have with LXDE, with their solutions and workarounds:<br />
<ul style="color: white;">
<li>Visually, it's definitely less attractive than KDE or GNOME. This is reflected in the window manager's themes (though metacity also doesn't have great decorations either), absence of "desktop effects," and overall stale-looking panels (seems that other DEs' panels are more "alive," especially in KDE)</li>
<li>LXDE is slightly less noob-friendly, unless it comes by default. A vanilla installation of LXDE gives the user an lxpanel without any applets to control volume/networks/sleep features and will require a considerable amount of tweaking before full usability. Also, a few things done graphically in other DEs (such as changing keybindings) will require editing a few configuration files.</li>
<li>A few "special" keys like volume control won't be read by the window manager, requiring you to bind an "arbitrary" key, like F7 and F8 (Note: I'm pretty sure it can be fixed, but I didn't bother with it...)</li>
</ul>
The lacking visuals are a necessity to keep the consumption low. You can, however, install some minimal eye-candy like I did. There's, for example, a program called <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xcompmgr" target="_blank">xcompmgr</a>, that gives fading and shadow effects. Just keep in mind, however: the more you load the OS, the slower it gets. <br />
<br />
So, what are you waiting for? Start supporting LXDE. Install it in your favorite distro, or get the latest release of Lubuntu now. We need to get stuff done and waste less energy, so you don't really have a choice here. And besides, in comparison, here is what LXDE and GNOME would look like:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgskvjehKGOkRpZDs53vHSH2qo3RpwyvoYFn9IqnH2E0PSuOi-6jf5_dTWVcPUAqwU6DBpOekWcsoXjoT4nh0V4gakkc1ghK3q-lYAHy2wdS4mVTExXVRch1fIVM4fqgvhUgkV70bU0nMY/s1600/ubuntu-vs-lubuntu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgskvjehKGOkRpZDs53vHSH2qo3RpwyvoYFn9IqnH2E0PSuOi-6jf5_dTWVcPUAqwU6DBpOekWcsoXjoT4nh0V4gakkc1ghK3q-lYAHy2wdS4mVTExXVRch1fIVM4fqgvhUgkV70bU0nMY/s1600/ubuntu-vs-lubuntu.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If DEs were women...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>February 2012 by K. Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a>.Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-63708200221357716802012-02-08T12:14:00.000-08:002012-02-09T04:28:44.913-08:00Review of Featherweight Browsers<b><span style="font-size: large;">Browsers, if anything,</span></b> are the greatest paradox within computer programs. As much as people need them to obtain information (compare clicking a link to using 'wget' or 'curl'), they are the easiest doors to be exploited by attackers, and resource-heavy by comparison. However, browsers do evolve with these issues, and are constantly working on them - except that savvy users are never really satisfied. So one of the key terms for Browsers today is the concept of "lightweight." Every modern browser available for download today refers to itself as lightweight. The only problem is that nobody knows its exact definition. <br />
<br />
Firefox and Chrome(-ium) are both decent browsers in my opinion, and call themselves light. In truth, however, they support everything you can think of. The outcome is the standard recipe web-browser which takes a good 100MB off the RAM to run your favorite page, and a couple more to load a full browsing session. This may be adequate to you, provided you have the memory to spend, but it's kind of a waste to burn this much just to view a few tabs of content just to search something in Google. Hence, a lightweight browser isn't enough. It's time to dig for something deeper, a <b>featherweight browser</b>.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>For starters, here are the minimum specs through which I define "featherweight" (as to separate them from crap browsers):<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Able to load html, images (png, jpg, gif), and render a proper site structure (not stacking columns, making you have to scroll down)</li>
<li>Able to open content in tabs</li>
<li>Memory consumption must stay below 50MB</li>
<li>Javascript/Flash are optional, but welcome if #3 remains valid.</li>
<li>Extensions are optional, again welcome if #3 remains valid.</li>
</ol>
If you're on a hunt of your on, I recommend heading straight to <a href="http://www.helgefjell.de/browser.php?language=en" target="_blank">this site</a>. It has a list of many web browsers for Linux, although most are cross-platform. I did visit it to research on my own, and I now present you the results:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.seamonkey-project.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mozilla Seamonkey</b></span></a><br />
This is Mozilla's all-in-one Internet Suite. The program is a bundle of a browser, e-mail client and IRC, drawn from the same code pool as Firefox and Thunderbird, but with the premises of being a lighter alternative. In reality, I found it to be almost no different than Firefox itself, and that included the memory usage. The browser has a lower footprint than Firefox <b>per tab</b>, but that perk soon goes away when five or more tabs are opened. Just open up YouTube, and watch the consumption go to a whopping 230MB!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_eaNanKJhyxl-WE0Kfnqh1GZLcox-beh7DjRoDVtpuiIap6bmMkVUSB-9lRAjfZyqvSkNBaq_nBQjsumBjXXISXgz7lBsYwp7uVOosViqzyhl_86izF8uihXv8B86WTaawcoFsPgQ1w/s1600/seamonkey-sample.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_eaNanKJhyxl-WE0Kfnqh1GZLcox-beh7DjRoDVtpuiIap6bmMkVUSB-9lRAjfZyqvSkNBaq_nBQjsumBjXXISXgz7lBsYwp7uVOosViqzyhl_86izF8uihXv8B86WTaawcoFsPgQ1w/s640/seamonkey-sample.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice that it can use Personas and a variety of extensions, making it almost <b><i>no different</i></b> than Firefox itself.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I personally don't consider it lightweight at all. Puppy Linux at some point had a streamlined version of it which was considerably faster than the one in the Ubuntu repositories - which, by the way, is seriously outdated given that the latest Linux release is 2.7 compared to 2.4 in the repos. I think the only perk Seamonkey has is that it supports useful plugins from Firefox, like adblock and personas, so making a transition wouldn't be painful.<br />
Final Score: 4/10<br />
<br />
<a href="http://links.twibright.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Links2</b></span></a><br />
This browser is the follow-up to the classical Links text-based browser. The difference? It can display images, and therefore can be considered a GUI browser. The graphical interface (activated with the option '-g') resembles a lot of the classics, and is not pretty at all, but who cares. The web, or at least the meaningful parts of it, doesn't get any lighter than this. The browser rests at 6MB, and I doubt if it ever exceeds 10. It's also very stable, never crashing even when unable to load plugins.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BukKDsCzlZHY0-9Db8uBpmN-MXURNffz1YHPUZ285ADJWMdedCbufxypknmtYjnaLcl4O_RlWzBhAn3qdxbJbMlzWzHam0uYUTKV-yDsCtL011w40QDjTU5H2zaQOPZXzmtWyiLIR80/s1600/links-sample.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BukKDsCzlZHY0-9Db8uBpmN-MXURNffz1YHPUZ285ADJWMdedCbufxypknmtYjnaLcl4O_RlWzBhAn3qdxbJbMlzWzHam0uYUTKV-yDsCtL011w40QDjTU5H2zaQOPZXzmtWyiLIR80/s640/links-sample.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Command line just got Graphical.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The only drawback I see with Links2 is that it doesn't feature any kind of tabbed browsing. Which is a pity, seeing that even Elinks - also forked from the original Links, but text-only - can do that. I frankly don't understand what's so hard about implementing tabs, a core feature in browsers today, in Links2.<br />
Final Score: 6/10<br />
<br />
Truth is that many other projects were forked from the original Links, and actually implemented the tabbing feature. I'm gonna talk about them below. They're very similar in nature to Links2, so I'll just post the details:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1706769759"><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span></a><br />
<a href="http://xray.sai.msu.ru/%7Ekarpov/links-hacked/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Links-hacked</b></span></a><br />
Russian fork of Links, aimed to merge the good features of Elinks (tabs, SSH, Javascript) into the graphical interface of Links2. Unfortunately, I was unable to install it. The source package did not come with a "configure" script, telling me to produce one from their other scripts. I was unable to generate one, and that was pretty much it. What a pity, this browser sounded pretty kickass.<br />
Final Score: N/A<br />
<br />
<a href="http://linkx.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>LinkX</b></span></a> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVG6ar-njgBnTOwjKUV15tSnDmFxHwnExG88IlnzQAckznOxkUMVM_uAYitPZMjSvv6K41RySjJpqXWGbMQ6tVcX6qW7pjxNMW2kXvO6Wxa091H-ThIWeyDrGUDw9ECdfHVZi_IHfcRwA/s1600/linkx-sample.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVG6ar-njgBnTOwjKUV15tSnDmFxHwnExG88IlnzQAckznOxkUMVM_uAYitPZMjSvv6K41RySjJpqXWGbMQ6tVcX6qW7pjxNMW2kXvO6Wxa091H-ThIWeyDrGUDw9ECdfHVZi_IHfcRwA/s640/linkx-sample.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice tabs... but where did the images go?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Similar to the above, it implements tabbed browsing into Links2. <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-install-program-from-source-in.html" target="_blank">Installation</a> was also pretty straightforward. Sounds great, right? Well, unfortunately it came with a few bugs that weren't on Links2, like the inability to load JPEG and GIF (only PNG, apparently). What the hell... how can you fork it and forget the very thing that made Links2 good? Gosh.<br />
Final Score: 6/10<br />
<br />
<a href="http://tkhtml.tcl.tk/hv3.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hv3</b></span></a><br />
The Html Viewer 3 is available for Linux and Windows, programmed in TCL and distributed as a binary file of 3MB. Despite its size, it packs a surprising array of features, such as full support for images, caching, SSL and even Javascript (optional through ECMAScript). This one impressed me, especially because of the true rendering of images that makes it resemble Firefox without flash. RAM stayed low. Even with seven tabs open, hv3 took only 40MB to work.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioC9RkfJ11uW36xDJCNsaKuAB6V8trULuxwAI29G7E3-Q4jlEIRAnvvGBF4HbXK1zv3c4wHD7Ah0TDjVoINbsJlx-4-MTRqjLUVEzXk_35EeZmxlNGeRyeFTjlfrv-XTLahyF6e9FCuWs/s1600/hv3-sample.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioC9RkfJ11uW36xDJCNsaKuAB6V8trULuxwAI29G7E3-Q4jlEIRAnvvGBF4HbXK1zv3c4wHD7Ah0TDjVoINbsJlx-4-MTRqjLUVEzXk_35EeZmxlNGeRyeFTjlfrv-XTLahyF6e9FCuWs/s640/hv3-sample.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The closest to mainstream that a featherweight can get.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This browser is, however, slightly buggy. It shut down a few times under random circumstances, and after a while, it refused to work with keyboard. But for a featherweight experimental browser, I guess this is acceptable. Should you have the time, feel free to debug it through the terminals.<br />
Final Score: 8/10<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The bottom line</b></span><br />
You <i><b>don't</b></i> need to add more RAM just to surf the web while using another application. These featherweight browsers can display the only things that matter on the internet: text and images. That's about 80% of the internet resumed. Obviously you wouldn't do bank transfers or watch TV shows through these browsers, but they do pack a punch despite their size. Maybe if you give enough time, Hv3 will mature into a stable, yet featherweight surfing machine.<br />
<br />
Also, this calls for a lesson to webmasters. Quit designing your pages with that Flash or Java bullshit. You don't need a stupid applet just to present the readers with the information you got. Cut the crap, save bandwidth, and win nonetheless.<br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>February 2012 by K. Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-85756532822136494112012-01-31T17:44:00.000-08:002012-01-31T17:44:51.371-08:00How to create a Linux LiveUSB without UnetbootinIf you've been introduced to Linux by a hardcore fan, or just been adventuring yourself for a while now, chances are you've ran into a piece of software called <a href="http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">UNetbootIn</a>. It stands for "Universal Netboot Installer," but what it really does is create bootable USB drives from Linux CD images (.iso). It's a great program. Geza Kovacs (the developer) had a great idea in making it, and I personally still use it quite a lot. However, as with any program you can write, it has its own limitations. And today I will show you how to work around them, using a UNIX program called "dd."<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div>
To start off, these are the situations in which Unetbootin won't work (at least not straight away), so you'd have to find an alternative;<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Dealing with an .img file instead of an ISO.</li>
<li>Dealing with an image that is not Linux (BSD, Windows Boot disk etc)</li>
<li>Dealing with an unlisted distribution image, or one that reportedly has failed to produce a bootable USB, and the devs are not caring to fix it.</li>
</ol>
Number 3 has by far the highest occurrence rate. It's not uncommon to find a forum thread or bug file about Unetbootin being unable to produce a LiveCD of distro X or Y. Most of the time the fix is to get the latest version of the program, but knowing which PPA to add in Ubuntu or compiling from source may be burdensome, or may not even fix it at all. So the other solution is to use "dd."<br />
<br />
"dd" is a UNIX program specialized in the copying of raw data. What this means is that it won't do the old "copy and paste," but rather things like extract data from a packaged format and sort it out into a medium, or the other way around. And this is exactly what we need to do to "burn" an image. Before we begin, though, I'd like to put out a little disclaimer:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-size: x-large;">I HOLD <b><u>NO RESPONSIBILITY</u></b> WHATSOEVER FOR ANY DAMAGE YOU MAY CAUSE TO YOUR COMPUTER IN THIS PROCESS.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-size: x-small;">(even though I don't think you will)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-size: x-large;">YOU ARE DOING THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Since dd is ubiquitous to Unix-like systems, the first thing you need is an expendable USB drive/SD card of size large enough to fit the distro you want. Mount it and format it (since you will lose all the data anyway, doing a manual format double checks that you're not throwing away anything important). With that done, it's time for a little command-line action. With the <b>paths to your ISO and USB device in mind</b>, enter the following:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #073763;">sudo dd if=/path/to/your/ISO of=/your/usb/device bs=8M</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
External devices will almost always be labeled /dev/sdb. Not sure about the path to your device? Don't worry. Given that the USB is mounted, type in:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #073763;">ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/usb*</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And read out the output. Most likely you will have something like this...</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg65Oio1oibBrGQN2BOGio6WoX-7RfhmGb6zLsw-FxBWfptaKHao3pa5nvTqeY8oZQwh659ttahnmoYbvwnYvwfyL6T9rnF-OSNytXDx2KRAWpb0f28Cf3XQmj0wpxFCvx8v1UeqNMhN_Y/s1600/usblisting.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg65Oio1oibBrGQN2BOGio6WoX-7RfhmGb6zLsw-FxBWfptaKHao3pa5nvTqeY8oZQwh659ttahnmoYbvwnYvwfyL6T9rnF-OSNytXDx2KRAWpb0f28Cf3XQmj0wpxFCvx8v1UeqNMhN_Y/s1600/usblisting.png" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
See the sdb and sdb1 highlighted? The label sdb indicates the USB, while sdb1 is a partition within it. For dd, you want to use <b>/dev/sdb</b> AND NOT /dev/sdb1 for the path. So, for my case, the command is:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #073763;">sudo dd if=/home/vman/whatevertheisois.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=8M</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
By the way, if you're wondering what is the "bs," it stands for "Byte Size." The size of the "sectors" that will be burned into your USB. 8M coincides with the sector size of optical media, so we use it to pretend the USB is a CD. This command also requires Root privileges because it tampers with external devices, and there is a possibility of destroying your own hard drive if you type the wrong path to the USB (hence the disclaimer). But the listing above will bring in a surefire way of identifying it.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Once you've entered the command, you won't notice anything happening in the terminal. This is a disadvantage of using it instead of unetbootin. The cursor will just sit there blinking, and until the copying is finished, you won't know how far are you. Once the command is done, your USB is as bootable as a CD. Enjoy carrying a portable OS in your pocket!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Jan 31st by K. Zimmermann</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a>.</div>
</div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-56353048537295648022011-11-30T22:24:00.001-08:002011-12-03T19:48:36.701-08:00One reason to use Linux Mint over Ubuntu<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This post will make</span></b> heated arguments no matter what, so let me go ahead and shove the disclaimer in your face: I do not favor either Linux Mint or Ubuntu. If anything, I had more experience using Ubuntu than Mint, but I acknowledge both distros as great. That said, let's move on.<br />
<br />
I recently went back into distro-hopping, getting to test several LiveCDs unknown to me before. The motivation was that my friend requested my help to fix his computer, and I decided to try new tools for the job. In previous distress calls, I carried with me two Rescue media: a USB drive containing Ubuntu 11.10 and a CD containing the latest KNOPPIX release (6.7 I think). I've always used the Ubuntu USB unless the Computer couldn't boot from it. It's faster, snappier and is overall simpler. However, with the recent popularity boost of Linux Mint <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/11/linux-mint-pwnd-ubuntu.html">shaking the Distrowatch hierarchy</a>, I decided to finally bite the bullet and make a LiveUSB. And while I was at it, I also downloaded Fedora 16 and GhostBSD.<br />
<br />
Here is the short answer:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Linux Mint is a much better LiveCD than Ubuntu.</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b>However, for a full installation, Ubuntu wins.</b></span></div>
<br />
And now for the explanations. My friend requested me to test three key things in his supposedly damaged laptop: the Wi-fi, hard drive health, and the webcam. Nothing 1337, really. Following standard procedures, and computer etiquette, I connected the Ubuntu USB and proceeded to check the BIOS. After changing the boot order, the Ubuntu Desktop showed up, detected everything I needed and I proceeded to check the devices. Wi-fi was detected out of the box as usual, first check mark. Using the Disk Utility, I was told the hard drive was ok. Check. And then, faced with the webcam, I had an epiphany.<br />
<br />
Probably the simplest and most intuitive way to check upon a webcam in Linux is to run the program <a href="http://projects.gnome.org/cheese/">"Cheese"</a> and check if it captures images correctly. The only problem is that Ubuntu doesn't ship with it by default. Not a problem, it's free software, and since we have internet access all we have to do is install it, right? Well, here's where it got complicated. Simply running 'sudo apt-get install cheese' wouldn't work, for the "Universe" repository wasn't being used by the LiveCD. Not a problem either, all I had to do was open the software center and enable the repository.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoEy0eBccD2_vRuUZtvXpAB3Qchs61SLmlK3zogyumW_Y3DgFialyWscLSw4OLYWBvgf9MoQtKFSfDQpM_TUB3HyGcGmHp-b5oBl-tehGoxhWt128LHfFxwr7dpRVXZNG4L92vYCElydA/s1600/cheesefail.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoEy0eBccD2_vRuUZtvXpAB3Qchs61SLmlK3zogyumW_Y3DgFialyWscLSw4OLYWBvgf9MoQtKFSfDQpM_TUB3HyGcGmHp-b5oBl-tehGoxhWt128LHfFxwr7dpRVXZNG4L92vYCElydA/s320/cheesefail.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzKkk_XfnmAjXd0osHkX9UCGCy3B56WTxIBGEvc5gNAaxMYoS4X3xrcecGbNDqaIDRhZd-61TTPrCAYKzZdxhZWOYipzk60wbHqVDaFWVcIHZVXq7TMMDIwMa9sE8rejRg61ezeO31sbo/s1600/cheesefail2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzKkk_XfnmAjXd0osHkX9UCGCy3B56WTxIBGEvc5gNAaxMYoS4X3xrcecGbNDqaIDRhZd-61TTPrCAYKzZdxhZWOYipzk60wbHqVDaFWVcIHZVXq7TMMDIwMa9sE8rejRg61ezeO31sbo/s320/cheesefail2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That done, I got back into terminal and try the command again. So, apt-get searches the repository, finds the dependencies, and what I'll have to download is... <b>54MB of files???</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs2XckXDUKApSGwskJi_FO94L7yoT2jJMrJCypaSlZVcK1qfL6WO7Pc41aB_GJUiORmnJ-Lcc9x1stpJf5GfPcbRIw1-vj0BGzy_YNHYaakp3L4fHNWHBf5wsC1GclXXva5p642eRWOF4/s1600/cheesefail3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs2XckXDUKApSGwskJi_FO94L7yoT2jJMrJCypaSlZVcK1qfL6WO7Pc41aB_GJUiORmnJ-Lcc9x1stpJf5GfPcbRIw1-vj0BGzy_YNHYaakp3L4fHNWHBf5wsC1GclXXva5p642eRWOF4/s640/cheesefail3.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, fifty-four megabytes. And by the way, the binary is a mere 641<b><i>kB</i></b> in size. <i>What the fuck</i>?<br />
<br />
Turns out that because the dependencies for Cheese are not present by default, they have to be downloaded and installed. Now that's just great, under the shitty connection we have, it'll be a good fifteen minutes until I can begin to try to diagnose his webcam. I bit the bullet and hit 'yes,' but tripped on the power cord moments later, shutting the laptop down. Oh noes...<br />
<br />
Staring at the black screen, and to the rest of my tools, I decided to bench Ubuntu and put Mint for the job for a change. Booting was standard, resembling much of Ubuntu's, and finally we were in. I had in mind that Mint packed a few more things by default, and looked to see whether Cheese was among them - it's not. So, off to terminal to install stuff. This time, however, I had a surprise.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM39AvY-Zwd-Rzn880Ype8n6LBxwTVhIUeoAPE43Ja2GKnLPnauziWHKMmbbkqt5rRuj1nex108XCp_DrFf1SDr_Y594V3SsRu156iM9KH1AQ7IzrpPXwrukz4vu0c4beV3n1Jc7a25ZI/s1600/cheesewin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM39AvY-Zwd-Rzn880Ype8n6LBxwTVhIUeoAPE43Ja2GKnLPnauziWHKMmbbkqt5rRuj1nex108XCp_DrFf1SDr_Y594V3SsRu156iM9KH1AQ7IzrpPXwrukz4vu0c4beV3n1Jc7a25ZI/s400/cheesewin.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr>
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Packing "a few more things" proved itself to be quite the winning hand. Though it may sound preposterous to try fill a Live Medium with everything ever coded, having popular dependencies by default made Linux Mint a <b>much more flexible distribution from the start</b>. Flexibility that means that a program in Mint takes only <u>6.4% of the download size</u> that would be required in Ubuntu. That was the final blow - I decided that Linux Mint is my new rescue disk.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b>"Whoa, <u>that</u> was it? I think you're a shallow prick who gave up on Ubuntu way too easily."</b></span></i></div>
<br />
You're entitled to your opinion. However, do not take that I'm done using Ubuntu - I'll explain later. Here are my main points for making this decision:<br />
<ul>
<li>The LiveCD serves a dual purpose; to perform tasks (such as forensics or repair) without mounting the machines drives, and to politely use the machine's resources without leaving trace in the user's environment.</li>
<li>In order to save time, the LiveCD must contain as many useful applications as possible, avoiding the needs of extra installation.</li>
<li>Any extra installation will be lost in the next reboot, requiring you to repeat the process. The more the LiveCD includes, the more practical it is.</li>
<li>The LiveCD is much slower in comparison to a full install, therefore any shortcuts we can use to cut time down will be a plus.</li>
</ul>
Linux Mint not only comes with multimedia codecs and flash by default, but also an arrange of common libraries that are popular dependencies in Linux applications. Ubuntu chooses to include them separately, labelled as non-free. And as for me, I <i>am</i> indeed willing to piss off Richard Stallman if that's what takes to get the job done much quicker...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b>What about a full installation?</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Turns out that Mint's extra goodness has not succeeded in making me switch. Simply put, Ubuntu's lack of extra goodness also means less bloat for the full install. Once installed, you'll be able to build the distro your way. No need to try to have everything to begin with - that is the LiveCD's job. Also there are a few things that I find snobbish about Mint's policies: </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Why do the developers have to - in their own words - "mintify" everything that already exists? They're not reinventing the wheel for chrissakes, just painting it green and silver. Due to their effort to shape everything their in own ways, the GNOME edition of Linux Mint 12 features a bug-ridden GNOME Shell interface, stuck right between the past and present:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoB5WQLa4NGF_PIiNfrK0wa4-4VscHmRyA7uckvEruUrc6ABgIGIPgWcsRNT31pLO1a02pySeiaphyphenhyphenC5qrl25Gfsh_Zo0E3NYBXG7iQkQLhNF1etp7t8ULj8s0Yy5BpwNMiJQt3lewPRU/s1600/mint.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoB5WQLa4NGF_PIiNfrK0wa4-4VscHmRyA7uckvEruUrc6ABgIGIPgWcsRNT31pLO1a02pySeiaphyphenhyphenC5qrl25Gfsh_Zo0E3NYBXG7iQkQLhNF1etp7t8ULj8s0Yy5BpwNMiJQt3lewPRU/s400/mint.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What, were you trying to bridge the gap between GNOME 2 and 3? Well,<b> you failed</b>.<br />
<a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/10/real-men-use-gnome-shell.html">There's a reason why interfaces evolve</a>, and if you want GNOME 2 you must get the real GNOME 2, not a wannabe.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Final thoughts</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Ubuntu's legacy still is strong, but specializations exist. Mint's specialty is completeness, making it a more suitable LiveCD. However, this is not a reason to dump Ubuntu <strike>yet.</strike> There are still a couple of things that make Mint disgusting to me, and the snobbish looks is at the top. I mean... a partnership with a search engine called "Duck Duck GO?" Excuse me, I need to puke.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
My friend's webcam worked flawlessly, and I diagnosed that his operating system sucked and told him to switch to Linux.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>December 2011 by K Zimmermann</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a></div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-4545952601075768622011-11-27T19:49:00.001-08:002011-11-27T21:03:21.876-08:00Don't trust anyone who says "basically"<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Basically,</span></b> the title of this post means that basically the people who say "basically" are basically douchebags, because, basically, the word "basically" doesn't mean anything, basically.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Hurts, doesn't it? My ears surely do, after I spent a whole afternoon in the presence of a girl who said this word a minimum of five times per minute. Don't get me wrong, I did hate her already before I realized her vocabulary was limited to that word, but her constant repetition made my dislike grow to the desire of beheading her with my spoon. It's like a freaking artillery of shit coming out of someone's mouth, like they don't have anything to say so they place this empty word in to fill in a few more seconds of speech. <i>"Oh no, what I've got to say is too short, let me throw a few 'basically's in it to make people give attention to me for a second more LOLOLO."</i> Grow the fuck up.<br />
<br />
There are a few meaningless, placeholder words in the English language and the word "basically" is certainly on the top of that list. And this is coming from someone whose first language isn't even English to begin with. Words like that don't add anything to what someone has to say, and sure as shit <i>don't</i> make one's argument more reliable. It may even take credit away from it, as it pisses the listeners off. Case you don't believe me, here's a quick example. Let's start with a proposition about Half Life, taken from <a href="http://www.moddb.com/games/half-life/mods">here:</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Valve's début title blends action and adventure with award-winning technology to create a frighteningly realistic world where players must think to survive. Also includes an exciting multiplayer mode that allows you to play against friends and enemies around the world."</span></span></span></blockquote>
Let's paraphrase it, and add a few placeholders to it:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">"Valve's game basically blends action and adventure with some ballin' technology to basically create a pretty realistic world where basically, you need to think to survive. Also includes an pretty good multiplayer mode that basically allows you to play against with people around the world."</span></blockquote>
Length is around the same, and so is the message it tries to deliver. The difference? The latter makes you sound like a complete douche, while the original doesn't. There is a reason behind the choice of words, believe me or not.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> <b>The word "basically" does not add anything to the content, regardless of how much you try</b></span>. Here's another example, the opening paragraph of this post, in "Adult's writing" form:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: x-small;"><b>The title of this post means that the people who say "basically" are uneducated and ignorant, because that word doesn't mean anything.</b></span></blockquote>
Can you say "straight to the point?" This is how ANY kind of writing should be done. No placeholding, no empty modifiers, no bullshitting side details. The content shoved fair and square in your face. It's writing done by douchebag key pushers that plague forums and blogs with shit that takes long to read and does not prove anything, except for making people angry and willing to flame each other.<br />
<br />
Among the word "basically" there are also other most useless words in English. These words are employed by the same douchebags, in attempt to sound a little more reliable in their arguments, even though the truth is that they can achieve it by <i>not</i> saying them. I'm talking about words like "many," "lot," "majority," "few," "some" and chicken-shit passive voice usage.<br />
<br />
The reason why I didn't write an article on these words is that unlike "basically," these words can have a decent use as long as the user knows how to phrase them. Let's suppose that someone wants to convert netbook users to use the iPad instead. He or she might say:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px; word-spacing: -1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;">"iOS is the operating system for iPad. And it lets you see and do everything just by touching the screen."</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So far so good? Not strong enough, let's try to make it so it sounds like everybody endorses it! </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">iOS is the operating system for iPad. Many think it's the next generation of OS. And it lets you see and do everything just by touching the screen. Few things in the world are capable of doing that.</span></blockquote>
A keen eye is able to identify the vague and meaningless claims burrowed within, but a wandering eye will just read it and regard it as the truth. And even then it's easy to debunk, just take a look at the things that can be interacted with through touch:<br />
<ul>
<li>Non-iPad tablets</li>
<li>Non-smartphone Cell Phones</li>
<li>Smartphones</li>
<li>ATMs</li>
<li>Commercial Airplane entertainment</li>
<li>TVs</li>
<li>Information counters in fancy shopping malls</li>
<li>Touchscreen computer monitors</li>
<li>All kinds of buttons</li>
<li>Girlfriends.</li>
</ul>
Point made. All things considered, saying "basically" and other placeholder words is like saying "maybe:"<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yJj3mERrEgA" width="420"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
<i>November 2011 by K. Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-47030329052007251422011-11-20T18:37:00.001-08:002011-11-20T20:45:19.966-08:00Everyone should have a Hacking Machine<b><span style="font-size: large;">My computing experience</span></b> and opinions have changed slowly, but drastically over time. I resist change for as long as I can, but when it comes, the change is immensely radical. Many people (including me) condemn this "dive straight in" attitude, as it's bound for frustration and sometimes irreversible damage to the computers. In fact, I have gone through these two problems a more than a couple of times already. The difficulty of reverting determinate situations with Linux is probably one of the reasons many people are hesitant to try it at first. Sure, the LiveCD is one way of playing it safe, but has limitations on speed and extensibility. So what is the best solution to try new things without fear, you ask? Simple, use a <b style="color: white;">hacking machine</b>.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>A hacking machine is a smaller and less powerful computer in comparison to your main system, and that can be used to actually hack into stuff, though this is optional =)<br />
What kinds of computers fall in this category? Netbooks surely do, and so do older hardware, Desktops and Laptops alike. In short, it's a <b style="color: white;">secondary less powerful system</b> which you wouldn't be afraid of breaking, should something happen.<br />
<br />
You may be asking yourself <i style="color: white;">"So, in order to try free software I need to shell out money? What a paradox!"</i> The answer is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJj3mERrEgA">maybe</a>. Chances are you still have that six-year-old rig sitting somewhere in your basement, or a friend wanting to dispose of his computer. Or maybe you were already thinking about buying a netbook anyway. So spending the money is not completely necessary, keeping in mind that the hacking machine will be a test driving device, a literal hacking machine (in the sense of tweaking the shit out of your system). There are some great points in using a secondary machine to test and tweak things out;<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b style="color: white;">It allows you to easily grow a completely independent environment to test</b>. Partitions in a hard drive can also do this, but are more complicated to manage (labeling the boot sections is a bitch) and are not immune to a complete wipeout.</li>
<li><b style="color: white;">It allows you to use both computers at the same time</b> (depends on portability) without the performance loss of emulators. This is useful when working on non-defaulting installations, such as those of minimalist distributions (Arch, Gentoo), in which you may need to look into documentation.</li>
<li>It makes solving determinate problems easy - if something has gone ugly, <b style="color: white;">just format the whole disk!</b> All the things that matter are in the main system anyway... If you on the other hand mounted a partition in your main hard drive, the process is not as pretty. Good luck identifying the right partitions among the sea of 'sdas' and 'sdbs!'</li>
</ol>
A friend of mine once said that <i>you can never have too many computers</i>. Though refutable, this claim illustrates the point of a hacking machine. I ran into problems while attempting to multi-boot my main system, and decided after a couple of full HDD formats that master boot records are hella confusing. However, I had the lucky opportunity to acquire my sister's old laptop (6yo) which she thought was broken. Turns out that for a $40 HDD, I didn't have a brand new machine, but I had a fully working computer that I would use as a sandbox for my Linux experiments. In my hacking machine, I've already tried/tweaked the following distros so far:<br />
<ul>
<li>Puppy Linux</li>
<li>PCLinuxOS</li>
<li>Peppermint OS</li>
<li>Arch Linux</li>
<li>Lubuntu/Kubuntu</li>
<li>Moblin/Meego/EasyPeasy</li>
<li>Gentoo (not successfully, though...)</li>
</ul>
So, why limit yourself with one distribution per year? Use your hacking machine and live up the motto of Distrowatch: put the fun back in computing! There are hundreds of free Linux distributions waiting for a download. Go give them a try!<br />
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<i>Nov 2011 by K. Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-50560391048990269642011-11-16T02:55:00.001-08:002011-11-16T23:16:17.480-08:00Gaming in Linux: how to get the best of it<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The title</span></b> of this post is a paradox itself. If you're a Linux user, you already know that. If you're not, let's just say that the procedure to play a popular game in Linux is usually something like the following:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Think about some game not too heavy for the box you own (even when you ran Windows);</li>
<li>Look said game up on WineHQ's AppDB section;</li>
<li>Pray it's rated Platinum (or at least Gold, for mercy);</li>
<li>Torrent said game (unless you actually have a CD of it);</li>
<li>Install said game and play it, only to find out a few side glitches that were not there with Windows;</li>
</ul>
This is the standard procedure with most of the games I've ran, or currently run. Most of them (which were AppDB checked beforehand) ran seamlessly, and only two presented glitches that had to be tweaked out. So, though I know that gaming in Linux is a lost cause by definition, I find that the Wine workarounds have worked pretty damn well so far. And that is to say:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">I am pretty damn satisfied with Desktop Linux as it is at the moment - and <i>gaming <b>IS</b> included</i> in my satisfaction rating.</span></div>
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What... do you want more explanations? Well, I guess I do owe them in this case... It'll also help you to understand <b><u>how to get the best Gaming experience in your Linux box</u></b>.</div>
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For starters, a little disclaimer: <b>I am not a gamer, at least not a hardcore one</b>. I did play a lot of games when I used Windows, but most of them were limited to single player shooters or real-time strategy ones. Among other games that made my childhood, there were: Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem (3D and beyond), Age of Empires (series), Half Life (series and mods), Max Payne (series), and various games for non-PC consoles. You can see that my gaming aspirations were along the more modest ones. Not surprising given my age and raising environment. I do also enjoy a couple of games native to Linux - including emulators (they are native regardless of argument), MMORPGs and the Quake-based shooter OpenArena.</div>
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A basic rule for using wine is the KISS simple: <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">the simpler, lighter and older an application is, the better it will run on wine</span></i>. Batch files and DOS programs work 100% in bash under wine, for example. Hell, even my professor's self-authored Thermodynamics Calculator work without any problem. What this means is that games released from the 90s and mid-2000s will work without any problem. You can consult the AppDB to validate my argument. There are a few exceptions: Valve Software's Team Fortress 2, for example, has a platinum rating, and I've ran it without major problems. In fact, all of Valve's games can run perfectly under a Linux environment - so perfectly that it makes you wonder why won't they port them, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUHZd85nLBN4uEBo7yTCtcBWigMNgZIGNQr9jYOX9eQH8q_hssCLeq46EjyGgtO1J5O7C0RCu_xvMtlwTlEvCZzRfzwQZz5amyrJEz87WDCtXLORo9B1nEZkeCH_hC7rAasafz08alP4/s1600/hltrilogy.jpg">but then again they are Valve software...</a> Well, back to the gaming choice: your best bets for smooth gaming are the Platinum rated ones. With the right game on, let's move on to the next step: the choice of <b>base software</b>.<br />
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The base software I'll talk about are the Operating System and the wine release. Though many times generalized, there are great distinctions among Linux distributions, which also includes compatibility with certain Games. You can see that on the AppDB, as the test results are ordered according to both wine version and Distribution. Now, I've tested over 15 distributions in my Linux experience, but only gamed in two (Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS). Therefore the data I'll present here is drawn mainly from WineHQ's test results. It appears that the two most successful distros for Gaming are <b>Ubuntu</b> and <b>Gentoo </b>- and since Ubuntu is Debian-based, I take that most Debian-based distros should follow prompt. I expect that since you read through this in my blog, you probably use Ubuntu, so go ahead and game on without fear, son. Unless you are some L33t h4x and decided to tweak the shit out of your Gentoo box, but even then you are also good to go.<br />
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The other thing to consider is your <b>wine version</b>. It is indeed the spirit of Linux to live on the edge in terms of software, but it does have some small drawbacks. One of which is the fact that the latest version of wine may not exactly be the best to run the game you want. The <a href="http://www.winehq.org/download/ubuntu">WineHQ website itself</a> says it. By adding the Wine repository, you will end up installing an experimental package that does have a couple of holes in it. Your best bet? Download the latest STABLE package. As of Nov 2011, this would be <b>wine-1.2.3</b>. If you (in a Debian-Based box) type '<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">apt-get install wine</span>' after adding the repository, what you get is the experimental version. So search the repository carefully, preferably in Synaptic.<br />
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The last thing to consider is your machine. It is well known to the Linux community that certain pieces of hardware like Linux more than others, and that does reflect in the overall performance of gaming. ATI graphics cards, for example, had failed or did poorly on my gaming experience. Also, I've found that wine, although not a full emulator, tends to divide computer resources to separate the running application from the rest of the Operating System. This means that you end up taking all the free memory and CPU and splitting it evenly with the game you will play. Got a dual core processor? Your game will sack one of them! That is to say: <b>make your gaming environment lightweight</b>. LXDE works awesomely, and so does Xfce, I've heard, and it integrates better with compiz, should you really want that. Of course you can also put a heavy-ass KDE to play it, but the previous ones are the most optimal alternatives in my opinion.<br />
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Combine the above steps together, and you will have a pretty optimal experience in gaming with Linux. Feel free to contact me any issues you can have!<br />
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<i>November 2011 by Klaus Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a><br />
<span id="goog_1833243507"></span><span id="goog_1833243508"></span></div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-52658365655103734692011-11-06T23:33:00.000-08:002011-11-07T14:12:03.193-08:00Transformers 3 is a disgrace.<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Trilogies</span></b> tend to start off as the shit, and end up shitty. Lord of the Rings was like that, and so were the Spiderman movies. Sometimes this happens because producers pack as much awesomeness as they can for the first one (since they don't know if they will make a sequel) that the latter come out watered down in comparison. This trend is not limited to movies, though. Many video games also suffer from that, just look at Valve Software's <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><b>Half Life</b></span> series:<br />
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However, other trilogies suck because, in the latter parts, the Producers decide to smoke some crack and scriptwrite at the same time, and what we get is a complete mess with no connections whatsoever. This is the case with the Transformers trilogy (which I hope never becomes a series), particularly with <b style="color: white;">Transformers 3</b>. Apparently, film director Michael Bay thinks that audiences have fish memory. That's the only explanation to why he throws in things completely unrelated to the plot, and thinks it will make perfect sense for the audience. Yeah, Michael, audiences will only remember the explosions, and the titties... <b>not</b>.<br />
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This was bad already in Transformers 2, which called in for a prehistorical contact between Cybertron and the Earth that went completely unmentioned in the first movie. So now we have a huge spaceship buried in the Moon that was just waiting to take over Earth? Wow, this planet Earth has got to be pretty damn valuable to make everyone want to take it! And frankly, this plot conflicts with the second movie, in which they wanted the Sun. What a bunch of greedy bastards these Cybertronians are! However, there were enough Railgun fire, College Freshmen sluts, and Megan Fox hotness in the second one that made the movie not suck completely. This also brings in my next point.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtN6MeZVAkd6V_jBr38wxrgY5-ihTgZFx6Fy-mxR0pRu-g_VAShlGC1Dif0vIcNzIcXX8K1Vx5Gckg5MT5Rodcc6Ue4cJeqcDa5DFyf6pmvFrPnMo0xiX9L8yjlVd8r6xquH2T4MLP5CA/s1600/notmeganfox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtN6MeZVAkd6V_jBr38wxrgY5-ihTgZFx6Fy-mxR0pRu-g_VAShlGC1Dif0vIcNzIcXX8K1Vx5Gckg5MT5Rodcc6Ue4cJeqcDa5DFyf6pmvFrPnMo0xiX9L8yjlVd8r6xquH2T4MLP5CA/s640/notmeganfox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Why the hell wasn't <b>Megan Fox</b> in this movie? What, did the studio just run out of budget to hire her once more for the icing? Did Sam Witwicky learn how to be a douchebag in college, and dumped a broke bitch for one full of cred? I'm pretty sure that she was (at least) the eye candy for the dumb guys that were bored by a little bit of speech concerning the plot and just wanted guns and tits.<br />
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What you get in Transformers 3 instead is a skinny British Bitch that has diplomatic connections. Though still sexy, she lacks a very important point: Mikaela (Megan Fox's character) was also <b>badass</b>. I mean, she knew about cars, fought with Bumblebee's torso through the battlefield like a tank and was very independent. This new bitch not only is completely helpless and depends on Sam every time, but also doesn't do <b>SHIT</b> to fight the Earth invasion. Ok, she said: <i>"You've been his bitch"</i> but that was all. Oh wow, let's all applaud her for this immense feat!<br />
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Sam is also guilty in this one. Who is this guy now, a Corporate Dick-sucker? What happened to that badass who saved Optimus Prime from death <i>twice</i> while folding the Decepticon's Plan? So many acts of courage, national service and overall saving the planet, and he doesn't even get street cred. Photo with Obama? Check. Stable job? Nope. That doesn't seem to stop the man from rubbing in the face of everybody in his way how he worked with the armed forces, saved the planet, and knows confidential information. Too bad they don't give a shit about it.<br />
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Among the huge dump that was taken on the characters, and the addition of a completely random twist in the plot, this movie also lacked most of the good features of the previous. Now, things may be taken as long as something better steps in, but otherwise it's going to plain suck. It's as though the producers played jenga with the movie: let's see how many good features of the series we can remove and still keep it barely watchable!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0r5zkpKEjUvB-Qh5cqxqywBzK2NSoO8CZ7uHVh9GBzzRu1D1DdQb9AqCrO1nz0QvOTIYFB_EbGtIROVS9mxPMGtd6spkOm65Oae806TZkqeLKnD50sLdb9eGq9-hQxATNEPnQItBNqc/s1600/transformers3sucks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0r5zkpKEjUvB-Qh5cqxqywBzK2NSoO8CZ7uHVh9GBzzRu1D1DdQb9AqCrO1nz0QvOTIYFB_EbGtIROVS9mxPMGtd6spkOm65Oae806TZkqeLKnD50sLdb9eGq9-hQxATNEPnQItBNqc/s1600/transformers3sucks.png" /></a></div>
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In short, if you thought Transformers 3 was anything above an "ok movie," you're either a crackhead, a goldfish or just plain retarded. Explosions were plenty, satisfying your needs should you be the latter.<br />
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<i>Nov 2011 by Klaus Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-54791746198689410042011-11-06T20:31:00.000-08:002012-02-14T21:36:46.227-08:00Linux Mint PWND Ubuntu!<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ladies and Gentlemen,</span></b> it has happened. Behold the new most popular Linux distribution ever, <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Linux Mint</span></b>:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdi5xWhH_VfCjg5doSq75dA_SZp_b4RBTqaReFXkTNg6rOvUVnl-iwigcSTzcJH5NVrr1xVbstDKMpM5b-GlWJePikliVW6Gsq0mj0NELRwxDpgBuUURlfO1eu0HNj8P7PfLkatbnbvc/s1600/ubuntuPWNED.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdi5xWhH_VfCjg5doSq75dA_SZp_b4RBTqaReFXkTNg6rOvUVnl-iwigcSTzcJH5NVrr1xVbstDKMpM5b-GlWJePikliVW6Gsq0mj0NELRwxDpgBuUURlfO1eu0HNj8P7PfLkatbnbvc/s640/ubuntuPWNED.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh yes, they can! Source: <a href="http://www.distrowatch.com/"><i>Distrowatch</i></a></td></tr>
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I wasn't planning to post anything for a while, but this caught me completely off guard...<br />
Teaches you a lesson, Shuttleworth! Mint has turned its back on you <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/10/court-gnulinux-community-v-ubuntu.html">much like you did with Debian</a>.<br />
Find out about them <a href="http://www.linuxmint.com/">here</a>.<br />
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UPDATE: Regardless whether you think that Distrowatch is an accurate measurement on how popular a Linux Distribution is or not, all I have to say is the following; <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Since Linux is completely open and Log-free ,I see no better other way to know how many people out there are using whatever distro.</span> Wanna count all the forums? Go ahead, but I won't hold my breath.<br />
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UPDATE (Feb): Turns out that <a href="http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/02/stats-show-ubuntu-not-losing-ground-to-linux-mint/" target="_blank">Joey Sneddon</a> solved the mystery. Short answer: Ubuntu still rules, Linux Mint is still just a fad, etc... Go get a life.<br />
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<i>Nov 2011 by K. Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-66177672617443653432011-11-05T21:35:00.000-07:002011-11-05T21:37:30.855-07:00Stop making Dubstep progressively retarded<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I hate to watch</span></b> things that are good decay and become crappy. It seems to be a trendy thing in life, unfortunately. Two day-old pizza is sure as shit not as good as fresh pizza. 90s rap is an order of magnitude superior to 2000s rap. Dating and socializing was ten times more honest before the boom of the internet. We are faced with no other choice except to swallow these shitty things, and live on with our opinions shoved up our anuses. I still have faith in the ones that are past their glorious days, but are day after day becoming closer to a blob of poo, and I try my best to support them. One of such things is <b>Dubstep</b>.<br />
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Before I proceed, whether you like Dubstep or not is completely irrelevant - I'm pretty sure that you have experienced watching the things you like decay. Dubstep, regardless of taste, is <i>the</i> way for nobody-knows artists to make themselves in the mainstream, and become valuable musicians. This statement is irrefutable. Otherwise, how would a repressed emo kid like this one become one of the most respected musicians in the world?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLj8fpUUOi7tSOqHY_0bY8NNyT6cd1a2bDyXxt_xh4Vbrm2XXPuXtMxP9zI4ddufleI41HfwyBcyoTi_I4nShqw3LyZp1_MzikbP8-snLvkUCLtJtkYI5aia5x57BDbkBX4NNaLPGfdc/s1600/skrillexbitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLj8fpUUOi7tSOqHY_0bY8NNyT6cd1a2bDyXxt_xh4Vbrm2XXPuXtMxP9zI4ddufleI41HfwyBcyoTi_I4nShqw3LyZp1_MzikbP8-snLvkUCLtJtkYI5aia5x57BDbkBX4NNaLPGfdc/s1600/skrillexbitch.jpg" /></a></div>
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Now let's imagine the same situation, only that "Sonny Moore" dislikes electronic music and has a Punk Rock / Hardcore garage band that composes songs about High School breakups. How far he would've made into the music industry? I say a day job at Starbucks Coffee for the rest of his life, followed by a fat blunt in the evening, complaining about how the world is mean. And that's a pretty damn close prediction. Since Dubstep is good, what are my complaints about it, you ask?<br />
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I know the strong association between drug use and Dubstep music. Weed and Reggae Dubstep make it a perfect chill environment. Cocaine and heavy Dubstep make it a nice pump environment. Still, you never listen to Dubstep in an alcohol-only club (except for one shitty song or two). So the question inevitably keeps coming back to this one: since drug use explicitly dumbs down and take intelligence away from its users, and drug users love Dubstep, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white;">does Dubstep appeal only to retarded people?</span><br />
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Although I really don't believe it, more and more evidence stacks up supporting the horrible question above. If you don't believe me, do yourself a favor and look up the word "Dubstep" in YouTube. Next, click on any of the search results, and look for the top comments...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b9H5jckP4DJflAm21_5fS7YsLQJoPgCX6R1DW7thDiFIf_kNhzvXf-dX-R98bhqarMKtUZxWiSEsLaWpCQrvF3dkWUfnYZyI7BQvebllN3_vkYLk31hO-pw_CEJfzzI5YbUZIBGAsHY/s1600/dubstepretarded2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b9H5jckP4DJflAm21_5fS7YsLQJoPgCX6R1DW7thDiFIf_kNhzvXf-dX-R98bhqarMKtUZxWiSEsLaWpCQrvF3dkWUfnYZyI7BQvebllN3_vkYLk31hO-pw_CEJfzzI5YbUZIBGAsHY/s640/dubstepretarded2.png" width="606" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmp2QlBAtXu74idr7OQZOYU_i6WKBhwjU0aZTarXzwyweOKDbyDSKTls_QmSdvYe_11q7h3-iVI3vPUoaGeBI3Ny3sD-Wn5cXyrxUXoOQ1BeIGKQtgB6kgjnXaFeaeOJOO0e4gCP6MyuM/s1600/dubstepretarded5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmp2QlBAtXu74idr7OQZOYU_i6WKBhwjU0aZTarXzwyweOKDbyDSKTls_QmSdvYe_11q7h3-iVI3vPUoaGeBI3Ny3sD-Wn5cXyrxUXoOQ1BeIGKQtgB6kgjnXaFeaeOJOO0e4gCP6MyuM/s640/dubstepretarded5.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
And now, for a question... <b>what is Dubstep?</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RaTWC0zL2uzEsKdjIXOa38b9G3Sh3_cd2mDEm7DFvvqNZ8zgSmYAuooEuPaqNKSj8sZJUERFOVKsMc4wF132u1ixW33vKXpKlnwYNX-rirOHDMpqHzUt7A6h394KPrZjkRxeg_hXGaI/s1600/dubstepretarded6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RaTWC0zL2uzEsKdjIXOa38b9G3Sh3_cd2mDEm7DFvvqNZ8zgSmYAuooEuPaqNKSj8sZJUERFOVKsMc4wF132u1ixW33vKXpKlnwYNX-rirOHDMpqHzUt7A6h394KPrZjkRxeg_hXGaI/s640/dubstepretarded6.png" width="640" /></a></div>
How is one not to call this kind of behavior "retarded?" Or at least appealing to become? Reference to drugs, idiotic comparisons between the songs and dirty things, experiences about jizzing and testicles... I mean, how can one extract all these completely unrelated feelings from the same kind of song? What really creeps me out of these comments is how they state that <b>they really would rather listen to Dubstep than have sexual relations</b>. If a girl ever said <i>"Not tonight, I'm listening to Skrillex"</i> to me, I would send her remains to her family in a UPS box. It's a song, for chrissakes. It doesn't have a hand or fingers.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH87xzWI9-pAGjBUOq1CSsSh3FpInQ5bVLgPmfi8vVMjWmRswa9tLHDfghnBIniQ-zxiWWgLPwiAcescoDc2pAr0MjVEHtbOZvBkq9F_r_sIxEorzSWEFkh4sm_mRSVF8k9fpf7-SoTrE/s1600/transformershavingsex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH87xzWI9-pAGjBUOq1CSsSh3FpInQ5bVLgPmfi8vVMjWmRswa9tLHDfghnBIniQ-zxiWWgLPwiAcescoDc2pAr0MjVEHtbOZvBkq9F_r_sIxEorzSWEFkh4sm_mRSVF8k9fpf7-SoTrE/s1600/transformershavingsex.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I decided that it was about time for someone to save what is left of Dubstep, so it doesn't become completely retarded. So here are the things Dubstep fans must do in order not to look like wobbly-high morons:<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;">Listen to the Originals:</span></b> I don't know if you noticed, but most of the Dubstep songs (and the most popular too) are remixes of original songs made by either little known or failed artists. Now, wouldn't it be so much more mature if instead of saying how many times you jizzed, you took the time to get to know the original songs? It is more mature indeed, because it's respectful. And also while you're at it, you get to listen to different stuff. Now, <i>that</i> is healthy.<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;">Don't play spamming games in comment boxes:</span></b> just don't. This is not only overall internet etiquette, but also helps you not look like a complete moron. Two in one! Every time I see a comment about how some listener repeatedly "raped the replay button so he's giving you a new one for free," I'm grossed the fuck out. Tells me something about his personality!<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Dubstep is not Music, it's a genre of:</b></span> that's right, Music itself is a much broader thing than wobbles and bass drops. Dubstep itself was created from other genres of electronic music, so please: go outside, have a conversation, listen to other kinds of music, anything. Don't live <i>on</i> Dubstep. Wobbles are not going to feed you, or give you money for more weed.<br />
<br />
If these guidelines are not followed, who knows what's going to become of Dubstep... Maybe it'll be a cult in a few years. "Cult of Dubstep," "Cultstep." Fuck no, I'd personally suicide bomb their meeting halls should that ever happen. Although it sounds interesting at the same time...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">"Come to the Cult of Dubstep... we have wobbles!"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAtewkw4f98rhvsu_5lTsvOLCxvEXiHqDIE1PUGCDFkGWGxl9p1_pQ2uOxYs8mFT41AQdOw0_84-rUJyDNxIB8G7Zf2w9gtpbOC8q_AehmMATrJDGdiCwgLQ0DS3v0bH78YMuf1c3qIQ0/s1600/dubstepculture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAtewkw4f98rhvsu_5lTsvOLCxvEXiHqDIE1PUGCDFkGWGxl9p1_pQ2uOxYs8mFT41AQdOw0_84-rUJyDNxIB8G7Zf2w9gtpbOC8q_AehmMATrJDGdiCwgLQ0DS3v0bH78YMuf1c3qIQ0/s1600/dubstepculture.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Nov 2011 by Klaus Zimmermann</i><br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me</a>.</div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-73577905368289008092011-11-04T21:21:00.000-07:002011-11-08T14:42:02.789-08:00How to install a program from source in Linux<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gamedesign11.files.wordpress.com/2006/02/Computer%20Frustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://gamedesign11.files.wordpress.com/2006/02/Computer%20Frustration.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Installing software</b></span> in Linux is not the nightmare that Linux virgins tend to believe. There are package managers, repositories and precompiled binaries that make this task much easier. So much easier and cleaner that in fact, you must always refer to these methods FIRST before even thinking about installing from the source code.<br />
<br />
There are only two <i>"last stands" situations</i> in which I would install from source:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><ul>
<li>There are <b>no</b> <b>repositories or pre-compiled packages</b> (.deb/.rpm/.pet) available for my distribution. This is usually the case for lesser-known, recent software projects.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I am not satisfied with the way a program works, and wish to <b>alter its behavior in the source code</b> to fulfill my needs. This is even more rare, as Linux programs are usually highly customizable.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
If your installation needs do not meet any of these two criteria, then <b>DON'T install from source. </b>Use your package manager. That said, let's begin. I'll use the <a href="http://beaver-editor.sourceforge.net/">Beaver text editor</a> in my example:<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Part 1: Obtaining and extracting the code</span></b><br />
<br />
Source code comes bundled with many other files, such as configuration and readme files, in what we call a "tarball." A tarball is a compressed file (like zip or rar) and has an extension that is either .tar, .tar.bz2 or .tar.gz. When you choose to download the source code, this is what you get. For example, the Beaver text editor comes as the following file:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUwArQ3EYfBV2wSl8goD1V3qxdDT0RjTnJJkGQOiY6lsyHu95WQoL5WD5CSwjySUqVOayixWkT_bCo79GBFJOESyvnSM5hM95J6PELzfGLz-T1u2B94kMrb1BWQaV5fNZfai0gIUeCvhU/s1600/beaverdownload.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUwArQ3EYfBV2wSl8goD1V3qxdDT0RjTnJJkGQOiY6lsyHu95WQoL5WD5CSwjySUqVOayixWkT_bCo79GBFJOESyvnSM5hM95J6PELzfGLz-T1u2B94kMrb1BWQaV5fNZfai0gIUeCvhU/s400/beaverdownload.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">click to enlarge</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Your archive manager should be able to extract the tarballs by default. After we have the source folder extracted, we need to set a proper working environment to process it. This means, a temporary source code directory. So, copy your source folder to this folder:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #351c75; color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">user@computer:/usr/local/src $</span> (may need to be root for that)<br />
<br />
Or open your download folder in terminal and type:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #351c75; color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> $ sudo cp beaver-0.4.1.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywcQd6bhwKQ_bksy3SnT5MV7c9X46z0VL_Y3TmtolQT46E3ULGTc8Qu5IvQtMzRJ5PjJ7MeZMPG0sQRq2Zs69GVlwpW1Zcz4a3y2KvDKV9JWJGWIoUpKPUIHfszNg6FEUF1iDGLwANEs/s1600/extraction.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywcQd6bhwKQ_bksy3SnT5MV7c9X46z0VL_Y3TmtolQT46E3ULGTc8Qu5IvQtMzRJ5PjJ7MeZMPG0sQRq2Zs69GVlwpW1Zcz4a3y2KvDKV9JWJGWIoUpKPUIHfszNg6FEUF1iDGLwANEs/s400/extraction.png" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">click to enlarge</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now the source code is ready to be processed.<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Part 2: Resolving the dependencies</span></b><br />
<br />
Programs may depend on other programs to work, but when installing from a package manager, such dependencies are automatically resolved. Source Code won't do that. You will have to find out all dependencies and install those <b>before</b> compiling and installing from source. This is indeed the trickiest bit of the installation. For most of the part you need to use your intuition to find out the dependencies.<br />
<br />
-Read all the README files bundled with the source code;<br />
-Read the online documentation of the program;<br />
-Search for installation tips online (forums, etc).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzFVhAHXfkItKOGjgxtn5OZnLgxxIqVjNxjufC1mJNb8yxRMYUZ-XLhVL96W9mQJmxpeCpNjNV7__HNIbLz6FCJWF09BYkzL6g-o8Ks0UgC0RWJOBAz0nfhXrUJ0oQ-68hUaqXu9Gxco/s1600/source3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzFVhAHXfkItKOGjgxtn5OZnLgxxIqVjNxjufC1mJNb8yxRMYUZ-XLhVL96W9mQJmxpeCpNjNV7__HNIbLz6FCJWF09BYkzL6g-o8Ks0UgC0RWJOBAz0nfhXrUJ0oQ-68hUaqXu9Gxco/s400/source3.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">This is how the Source Directory should look like.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When you think that all the dependencies have been satisfied, it's time to check it. This is done through the 'configure' shell script that comes with the bundle. Open the source folder in terminal and type:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #351c75; color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> $ ./configure </span><br />
<br />
Lines of code will rain down. What 'configure' does is check if everything needed for installation is correctly installed according to the desired configuration. Here's where you may feel free to configure the program to your needs. In case 'configure' returns something like this:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsJLUlCaqodqUtV_xzckXBAsAuVHo-90CMhj_0_UOXxZnrMgzml6rRY5tf7Pzg8Ly2p_Tob5xdnDBUBH36MJ05CdJUoWCvlBdhUle1Jj8V-HQ_-plDsqVvvAQk1stkZcwJv_dPfrseAs/s1600/source4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsJLUlCaqodqUtV_xzckXBAsAuVHo-90CMhj_0_UOXxZnrMgzml6rRY5tf7Pzg8Ly2p_Tob5xdnDBUBH36MJ05CdJUoWCvlBdhUle1Jj8V-HQ_-plDsqVvvAQk1stkZcwJv_dPfrseAs/s640/source4.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><i>The dependency for 'intltool' has not been satisfied.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's hinted that some dependency has not been satisfied. Use your intuition again to install the package that contains the program cited by the 'configure' script and try again, until it returns no error at all. In Beaver's case, this is how it looks like:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6H_gsdgNKSDF5aAY0G5qtFSm-vvr2ntR8gk1cImj6jK6AhtbWYOjouOm8CmPvz0MJbGX0hdoljEMM_Y2HgVHarcatnb4EfgFW83SIRQDf1WeOF3mP3J8NPhK931GKPIICaxdj2QTwxeo/s1600/source5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6H_gsdgNKSDF5aAY0G5qtFSm-vvr2ntR8gk1cImj6jK6AhtbWYOjouOm8CmPvz0MJbGX0hdoljEMM_Y2HgVHarcatnb4EfgFW83SIRQDf1WeOF3mP3J8NPhK931GKPIICaxdj2QTwxeo/s640/source5.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Beaver has met all the dependencies.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If you made this far, you're 90% done. The hardest part of the installation is done. You have clearance to compile the program.<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: white;">Part 3: Compiling and Installing</span></b><br />
<br />
Compiling is done through the command 'make' (may need to be root for that). Since everything according to the 'configure' script is good, you can go ahead and just type:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #351c75; color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> $ sudo make </span><br />
<br />
Again, shit will scroll down your screen... Don't worry about it. When it's done, however, it means that the program has been compiled. Now all you need to do is proceed to the installation, through the following command:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #351c75; color: white;"> $ sudo make install </span></span><br />
<br />
Watch again lines scrolling down for a bit and surprise! Look what I found on my applications menu:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Z_dQ25AVRp24OHtVVharN-koUZDl5SeywuvDnvuaq4Hrx14UIYPKmE43rCfyrlyLjx45xd5F13bvoUmwioDkpyd_zvUEjnap_y4UtHmCa6JfbLoVoV21BlxyaOvQm0YUIR-AG0tGkcA/s1600/source6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Z_dQ25AVRp24OHtVVharN-koUZDl5SeywuvDnvuaq4Hrx14UIYPKmE43rCfyrlyLjx45xd5F13bvoUmwioDkpyd_zvUEjnap_y4UtHmCa6JfbLoVoV21BlxyaOvQm0YUIR-AG0tGkcA/s400/source6.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Have fun with your program - you earned it after all these steps...<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Note: </span></b>since you did not install through a package manager (you didn't enter apt-get, yum, rpm in the command line) you WILL NOT be able to receive any updates without recompiling a new source code release. Also, the package manager won't be able to uninstall it. You will have to open the source code directory in terminal and and enter the following command:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #351c75; color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> $ sudo make uninstall </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #351c75; color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Therefore MAKE SURE YOU DON'T DELETE THE SOURCE FOLDER after the installation!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Any doubt you may have, feel free to e-mail me.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nov 2011 by Klaus Zimmermann</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a></span>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-4905026287360404882011-10-30T14:35:00.000-07:002011-11-04T21:34:58.809-07:00How to win any argument against a Mac or Windows user<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The last thing</b></span> the Internet needs is more flame wars. It looks like everything that has a comment box is flaming just waiting to happen. I figured that it's about damn time that someone steps in to save the Internet, and that no one else is better suited for the job than myself. So, in order to stop the web from collapsing over its own fanboyism, I will teach you all how to dismantle and eliminate any flame war that you may face from now on. After reading this article, you too will be able to properly neutralize and serve any Mac or Windows fanboy you may face. Why I didn't mention Linux, you ask? Because, obviously, <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/10/competition-with-linux-is-futile.html">there is no such thing as a Linux fanboy</a>.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Paid Operating System fanboys base their arguments on one dumb pillar. Can you guess which one is it?<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Good things must cost good money;</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Even though I don't know anything about the competition, I know that they must suck;</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I have used this OS my entire life, hence it's physically impossible for me to change from it;</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Your OS may be indubitably better than mine for 90% of the tasks I do, but due to the remaining 10%, I will never ever use it because it's not "complete."</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
The correct answer is 4. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, behold the truth of how OS fanboys work. If you never saw a forum where this kind of claim is made, here's a quick example from <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/9h6fd/linux_is_gay_because/">Reddit</a>;<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: white;">
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<i>"I've always really wanted to like Linux. But the fact it can't
easily run the most popular software and games, removes any and all
usefullness.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
It really ends up being an operating system for computer-hipsters and more for bragging rights then anything else. [...]</span></i>"</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
"Any and all usefulness." Yep, you heard the man! According to our truthful Dipshit, Linux has ZERO uses because it's meant for serious people (you know, that grew up and actually know how to use the computer instead of just playing retarded MMORPGS) and it does not run two or three pieces of software for which the alternatives are better anyway. Great job, fucktard! Next time, why don't you just smash all the computers in the school's Mac Lab since they can't run Starcraft?<br />
<br />
Now that you've seen their argument, allow me to show the solution. Ready?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: yellow; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">DUAL BOOT.</span></b></div>
<br />
<br />
Done. Two words that will leave them completely clueless as to what to do next. The great problem with the fanboys is that they think that things in life are<b> binary</b>; you can only accept one and must completely eliminate the other from your life. Hence, if your operating system can't do one thing or another, it serves no purpose and deserves to be thrown in the trash.<br />
<br />
Truth is, however, that last time I checked, most things in life are <i>not</i> binary (at least not the good ones):<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipUBUVG6YJirgMVcrt1PdAKA0A92kPymS0FB56yvXSrBdcKhsGtgOqO5KmeQCQ2QIayKVuK83dhhHPGNOKg79SnNNP5r_S5KaOILZeCifdB2D60zOmrqcMZPexg0qnzaIyIe56ruYnbvg/s1600/binary.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipUBUVG6YJirgMVcrt1PdAKA0A92kPymS0FB56yvXSrBdcKhsGtgOqO5KmeQCQ2QIayKVuK83dhhHPGNOKg79SnNNP5r_S5KaOILZeCifdB2D60zOmrqcMZPexg0qnzaIyIe56ruYnbvg/s1600/binary.png" /></a></div>
<br />
I call QED here. There is nothing wrong in dual booting, and as a matter of fact, you can only win in doing so. Wanna play your stupid World of Warcraft? Windows is just next door. Feel like getting back to the real world? Boot into Linux. I can't find any valid reason on why fanboys don't accept multiboot. Linux isn't looking for competition, and it won't care about being a secondary OS either. It's like the less-known artists in the media; who cares if a couple of people don't like your work, when in reality it's much better than the mainstream crap they listen to? <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY5VhC4xEFfadkpceEVcA9J1snQceN5m4wSxCsXnZGoL7PDJOwdIG3j5MD2oDysYw2aHSQMCL4-7Xl_AiZQdJwFs6EfQHEYhDqAIs8dw40Fh_TPxXvw0xhOfF2ixnxJLzU0HJOBeBC9Lo/s1600/dualwield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY5VhC4xEFfadkpceEVcA9J1snQceN5m4wSxCsXnZGoL7PDJOwdIG3j5MD2oDysYw2aHSQMCL4-7Xl_AiZQdJwFs6EfQHEYhDqAIs8dw40Fh_TPxXvw0xhOfF2ixnxJLzU0HJOBeBC9Lo/s1600/dualwield.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The associated badassness is to be earned by the user.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
There you have it, the fail-proof way of winning any argument against Mac or Windows users. Dual boot, or die.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-84886113881050333372011-10-27T14:24:00.000-07:002011-11-19T15:22:34.061-08:00Linus Torvalds is a douche.<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Linus Torvalds</span></b> is a douche. There, I said it. And in doing so, I did what 20 million other people were too much of a pussy to do. The number one tabboo in the Linux world has just been stomped on, and by no less than a devoted Linux user himself. Linus Torvalds may be seen as a hero by many, mostly <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/09/computers-suck-and-you-should-smash.html">wet-pussied fanboys</a> who still think that the ultimate goal in life is to become a Virtual Che Guevara and ditch "Micro$oft." However, I've seen, heard and read enough about him to conclude that despite his contributions, Linus Torvalds is an arrogant and narrow-minded prick.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEB4Qv1xoecShB5NsbW7JoaYJowJ935QFHE1xd0YjAW93TXXFSjDMdNyaxb_VF2GsfrZV2SIFSVh_2VOgr0Gx9rraOENAq_r7OQq5w32o50jZt3cs-RxwPsW3cUqL7sergMtCGQm_9I_g/s1600/linustorvaldsdouche.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEB4Qv1xoecShB5NsbW7JoaYJowJ935QFHE1xd0YjAW93TXXFSjDMdNyaxb_VF2GsfrZV2SIFSVh_2VOgr0Gx9rraOENAq_r7OQq5w32o50jZt3cs-RxwPsW3cUqL7sergMtCGQm_9I_g/s1600/linustorvaldsdouche.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a>I don't feel any hatred towards the Linux Foundation, Kernel or the GNU-adjointed family of Operating Systems. In fact, I think they all kick a large amount of ass. I do think, however, that the major reason for the ass-kickery is due to the works of the Linux community, not the original author himself. Hell, what good has he done since like... Linux 2.2? That's quantity pwning your quality, bitch! Kernels 2.4 and lower can run on a raw potato thanks to who? That's right, the Kernel engineers worldwide!<br />
As Linus himself <a href="http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/01/our-exclusive-interview-with-linus-torvalds-lca2011/">admits</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<i>[...] people are using Linux in ways that I don’t use it or in ways that I never intended it to be used, people using it in embedded areas, and with cellphones like Android but also all the crazy people using it in printers and TVs. [...]</i></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnC-Q3_Ne70ZLihHMHyxGyvk8Y9-1man4zKCH0ucfSdjO2xKmqKx86wjyXlczkd5sKrHXBNG5V4TX_pwaVR65aw8j72QCGXdbX9r-NpfT4EHJsA2p_JR6iOi5eIu12_znTVUFhavbfaow/s1600/linustorvaldsOWNED.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnC-Q3_Ne70ZLihHMHyxGyvk8Y9-1man4zKCH0ucfSdjO2xKmqKx86wjyXlczkd5sKrHXBNG5V4TX_pwaVR65aw8j72QCGXdbX9r-NpfT4EHJsA2p_JR6iOi5eIu12_znTVUFhavbfaow/s1600/linustorvaldsOWNED.png" /></a></div>
<br />
Yeah, so long for your POSIX-compliant days ain't it, moron? Call it a movement, we can even make a movie out of it. "The virtual invasion of the free and brave;" I could make millions out of a catchy title such as this one...<br />
<br />
If you're curious as to exactly why I think Linus Torvalds is a douche, here are a few, but significant, points that pissed me off:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">He still thinks like a Computer Science student from the nineties:</span><br />
For Linus Torvalds, a computer is composed of a Rig (cream or white color), CRT Monitor, old-ass IBM-style keyboard with high keys, and a WIMP interface composed of desktop icons, launcher panel and menu - all of which must be completely accessible by a mouse. For this reason, here are a few of the good things in Linux that he has ditched in protest:<br />
-KDE (after version 4.0)<br />
-GNOME (after version 2.3x)<br />
-Anything that has a non-WIMP design, or comsumes more than 128MB of RAM.<br />
-Productive eye candy, such as Compiz<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">He is a narrow-minded prick that can't take any alternative methods or philosofies as constructive:</span><br />
One good thing that Linus has come up with (besides his Kernel) is the idea of a silent operating system. This means that the users won't be able to ever notice the operating system that lays beneath his/her shell because it would be processing the work as efficiently as possible (without errors and shit). However, I can't think of anything else that is great about him. He is a narrow minded prick that can't take other people's ideas if they don't agree with his standards. As an example, here's what he has to say about the C++ programming language and one of his only reasons to use the C language instead:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: white; font-size: x-large;">"</span><span style="color: white;"> C++ is a horrible language. It's made more horrible by the fact that a lot of substandard programmers use it, to the point where it's much much easier to generate total and utter crap with it. Quite frankly, even if the choice of C were to do *nothing* but keep the C++ programmers out, that in itself would be a huge reason to use C. </span><span style="color: white; font-size: x-large;">"</span></i></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
Don't believe me? See with your own eyes <a href="http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/57643/focus=57918">here</a>. Yes, behold the (partial) creator of Linux mercilessly bashing other users into believing that his biased opinion is clearly the best around. Among other names, I call this kind of behavior "trolling."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXAQt5IG6AlIKrXkP9dR7KrFhAN0-jkp_SER_MTZF4L7bWd-49N-4E7MJC0E7YC9HtLdAs44b4126df3QRjHPV4F7-fj1z-Af4ugYdQDUjF9FKMeRuF-ijF9xLmUahyQv-7S8B2zdaqFA/s1600/linusisatroll.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXAQt5IG6AlIKrXkP9dR7KrFhAN0-jkp_SER_MTZF4L7bWd-49N-4E7MJC0E7YC9HtLdAs44b4126df3QRjHPV4F7-fj1z-Af4ugYdQDUjF9FKMeRuF-ijF9xLmUahyQv-7S8B2zdaqFA/s400/linusisatroll.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now, I will go ahead and admit that I am no uber hacker, I just know a few more languages than you. Yet, even that being the case, I'm still able to recognize and justify that Linus Torvalds is a self-absorbed troll who thinks that his 2.5% market share (that's lower than the iPhone share) Operating System usage is enough to justify his non-educated and narrow-minded remarks.<br />
<br />
Now, to finish this nicely, here is my advice to Mr Torvalds:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Sit with your thumb up your ass and do not remove it until you completely and sincerely accept criticism and other people's ideas into your projects.</span> Oh wait, that's right, they're not yours anymore.<br />
<br />
So long, bitch. Be thankful that I didn't become a <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/09/computers-suck-and-you-should-smash.html">BSD Zealot</a> myself.<br />
<br />
<a href="mailto:trolartful@gmail.com">Contact me.</a>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-60487186739876150342011-10-24T22:33:00.000-07:002011-10-24T22:33:34.597-07:00I've found the PC equivalent of the beer world!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>La cerveza </b></span>mas fina, eh? If you wanna spend the cash, absolutely. However, smart guys like to get the most for their bucks, so when they see that six-pack tagged at $14, they look around a little bit to find the cheaper alternatives that will do the job just as well. This approach works well for most of the things in life, like clothes, cars, computers and fast food chains. When it comes to beer, however, there is a little problem: most of them <b>suck</b> (assuming you are in the US). But cry no more, gents, for I've found the perfect alternatives for this overpriced, tasty, AppleMacBook-like Beer.<a name='more'></a><div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But before I introduce you, allow me to ease into my background in beer-tasting. I've first turned into drinking age in Brazil, more especifically in Rio de Janeiro, and then proceeded to do the same in Japan. Beer was never my interest before that (yes, as a teen I drank Smirnoff Ice) but it was then, without fear of trying different stuff, that my taste really developed. Brazilian beer, excluding very little-known local brews, is mostly Lager, pale and embodied. Japanese beers are likewise mostly Lager (sometimes suffixed of 'dry' for a reason I don't know). So I'm naturally biased towards them, though I do enjoy ales, especially the brown ones and malt - Kaiser Boch being the best... YUM. However, I don't need to be a beer surgeon for this article, as what it's most concerned about is the price value.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That said, here's what you should get when you don't want to pretend you're a famous artist just to drink your beer:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; font-size: large;">1.Yuengling Lager</span></div>
<div>
Pros: CHEAP! American beer. Also, every convenience store has it. </div>
<div>
Cons: many bars (that I've been to) don't have it. Maybe it's only my neighborhood? It's the only beer that gives me headaches, for some reason.</div>
<div>
I believe that this (ahead of PBR) is the only American beer that actually doesn't suck. Heineken is barf compared to this. Since it's national production, it's very cheap. I only drink this beer if the bar has it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-size: large;">2. Presidente Lager</span></div>
<div>
Pros: wheaty, embodied and delicious. Resembles Brazilian beers (none of which suck). Doesn't get bitter as it warms (don't ask me how, but it really doesn't).</div>
<div>
Cons: imported, scarce, doesn't come in 12 packs.</div>
<div>
This beer is produced in the Dominican Republic and is more expensive than your local brews. However, the wheaty taste and consistency are unbeatable. I don't think that many stores have it let alone the bars, but when they do it's the perfect alternative to Corona. Go for it, try it yourself.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So my final verdict of what beer should replace the Corona monopoly is...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">PRESIDENTE LAGER</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3eVn3ru_hKY/TlHRe6F3ngI/AAAAAAAAABk/lUBo4WRIZT4/Dexter+Bebiendo+presidente+s2e4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3eVn3ru_hKY/TlHRe6F3ngI/AAAAAAAAABk/lUBo4WRIZT4/Dexter+Bebiendo+presidente+s2e4.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Because if this beer wasn't that good, why would old <b>Dexter Morgan </b>drink it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Have a great week, folks.</div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-22539938373607233892011-10-22T02:21:00.000-07:002011-10-24T21:44:58.730-07:00Real men use the GNOME Shell<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Contrary to</span></b> what all you pussy-whipped old-fashioned Linux users say, the GNOME Shell kicks ass. It pwns everything including compiz, GNOME 2, KDE 4, Chuck Norris and God Himself. So, if you are too much a pussy to try something new, or think that the real deal in computing will remain within a desktop with a bottom launcher bar and floating windows, here is my advice to you...<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplKtbwIMItE7iFQa1jG4iPUR76tmPA7lSMFqglRpzPlsnHb-_SBtp6rbZRSO0Habi5PEc1T5PWcT3byZW05JGxU2vhQ9Dz7otwVJCDNsaJD-FkgQt_nrf2YEFU5TfZXuvqxmQqoca4Ls/s1600/gofuckyourself.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplKtbwIMItE7iFQa1jG4iPUR76tmPA7lSMFqglRpzPlsnHb-_SBtp6rbZRSO0Habi5PEc1T5PWcT3byZW05JGxU2vhQ9Dz7otwVJCDNsaJD-FkgQt_nrf2YEFU5TfZXuvqxmQqoca4Ls/s400/gofuckyourself.jpg" width="333" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dick size is accordingly to the scale.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
You heard me right. Evolution is a process that takes its beings *forward,* not backwards, so if you choose to stay with the old shit, you will end up probed by a humongous cock. There is a reason why things get upgraded, and when dealing with computers, that is the norm. <b>Deal with it</b>. We don't use CLI everyday anymore, and boy isn't that great? Interfaces evolve, sometimes because they suck, and sometimes because we get bored of them. Now, some users refrain from upgrading to Ubuntu 11.10 or Fedora 15+ because they think they won't be able to get back to the classical two-panel compiz-puffed GNOME desktop and, frankly, that is the stupidest excuse I've ever heard.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://0.tqn.com/d/foodallergies/1/0/p/1/-/-/boy_eating_candy_cane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/foodallergies/1/0/p/1/-/-/boy_eating_candy_cane.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eye candy: it separates the boys from the men.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Listen, asshole,<b> GNOME 3 > GNOME 2</b>, essentially because 3 > 2. It's a mathematically logical progression that makes sense in computing as well. We want newer software because they're better. And regardless whether you think the GNOME Shell is the future or not, it's built on top of GNOME 3. Don't like the Shell? Think it's too "tablet-oriented?" Miss your Compiz effects? The solution is simpler than you think; all you have to do is choose the GNOME Classic environment (without the shell.) Are you morons feeling sorry already?<br />
<br />
So, pay attention. Ready?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeH7wVoYt5TjSTBPX17EuP6rZdhyJHRjl45QU2_neha8ItB86WYnEwzqm9UtGshBRfczbhOBuU3ZRRXZTM_BgeawrS49vLpZCGz-3YYdChWkFfY8uOQSe0Eq9lLz8M-BEeudfgOXUjvs/s1600/gnomehowto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeH7wVoYt5TjSTBPX17EuP6rZdhyJHRjl45QU2_neha8ItB86WYnEwzqm9UtGshBRfczbhOBuU3ZRRXZTM_BgeawrS49vLpZCGz-3YYdChWkFfY8uOQSe0Eq9lLz8M-BEeudfgOXUjvs/s1600/gnomehowto.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I frankly do not understand how the fuck it's possible to criticize the GNOME Shell. The shell itself is like every kickass thing of every Desktop Environment/Window Manager assembled into one final product. If there is anything that sucks in Linux, that would be the <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-thing-that-still-sucks-about-linux.html">naming conventions</a>. Linus Torvalds and others lost all my respect when they chose to flame it and switch to some pussy-ass DE like XFCE. Way to support the team, eh, assholes? I mean... you ditched your teammates just because you didn't like the uniform...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGtxVPXqxd7PINFoX3IeZTAFZNgpCIJ0tk1i3Zb8jwD6c9s13N8IZz1-j9yvJ9-Ihuh_gK3ofRtT8CMtmXjkF3DAFN9HGJ6PiXFHDMM6zdnVod5c0MialX05a_vOUjlkGmvJ6ZxiGG60o/s1600/buzzsuckmydick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGtxVPXqxd7PINFoX3IeZTAFZNgpCIJ0tk1i3Zb8jwD6c9s13N8IZz1-j9yvJ9-Ihuh_gK3ofRtT8CMtmXjkF3DAFN9HGJ6PiXFHDMM6zdnVod5c0MialX05a_vOUjlkGmvJ6ZxiGG60o/s1600/buzzsuckmydick.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Don't be a software pussy. If you can't change together with the change, you might as well boot back into Windows. Stop trying to justify tradition as the reason to remain in the past. If you're dealing with computers, do your thang and <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">live on the edge</span></b>. Now hush and let me get another PBR.Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-44531196748253703942011-10-21T13:08:00.000-07:002011-10-21T13:11:04.116-07:00Quit fighting piracy already...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5OqlLKJkyQv0aY9P1rXvFb1jFSFetCdwQUjOb8dYdSXY7FvlYGiwKynCI9MgsLW42nvCvk3eZ92OsPcTLdOt2DwCeEYpcnuhkTkPX1UznuN8NIYaUf0W_f_Dmouewx-st_XNnY2CbuM/s1600/ARRR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5OqlLKJkyQv0aY9P1rXvFb1jFSFetCdwQUjOb8dYdSXY7FvlYGiwKynCI9MgsLW42nvCvk3eZ92OsPcTLdOt2DwCeEYpcnuhkTkPX1UznuN8NIYaUf0W_f_Dmouewx-st_XNnY2CbuM/s320/ARRR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Piracy</span></b> has been around long before that time of the dipshittery of Johnny Depp and the Disney studios, and started with a noble purpose: to promote fairness among society. And ever since piracy has been around, pig-headed high-society pricks have done everything in order to fight it. Except that piracy is still alive and very popular today, which means one thing: they failed. So here's my suggestion to corporations dealing with Digital Media and Software:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>GET THE FUCKING CLUE ALREADY, AND QUIT FIGHTING PIRACY.</b></span></div>
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Though I don't have a good estimate on how much large corporations spend on anti-piracy measures, I know that it's significant and could be used instead to make better products. And since better products, like piracy itself, are awesome, both sides benefit. Flawless win.<br />
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Why is piracy awesome, you ask? Simple. Digital piracy, unlike the ship-sacking one, benefits everyone because<i> you are not comitting an act of theft</i>. Yes, really. I don't care what movie you pirated or for how much you sold it, you still didn't commit theft. And that is because you didn't steal anything, you copied an existing movie, and the original copy still remains there. Whether you deserve to be legally punished, however, is a whole other issue. But I want this to be clear because it pisses me off when corporations frame piracy as theft when it just isn't true.<br />
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This is the one single reason to why piracy will never die. People are afraid of commiting a crime, and this usually refers to something like murder, theft or trespassing. If software piracy isn't any of these to begin with, it never will be. They won't feel guilty doing piracy just because it doesn't sound like a crime. And that's what filmmakers and developers try to inflict: the idea that piracy is a crime indeed, and as evil as shooting someone in the face.<br />
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In reality, however, very few people take the practice to completion. Oh yes, I should add that piracy by definition<b> requires the individual to profit from it</b>. What a relief, huh? Yes, piracy requires some sales, otherwise it's plain file sharing. And even then, file sharing won't lead to any arrests. It's a game of catch, all you need to do is pass the guilt on to someone else...<br />
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Piracy simply will not die. There are just too many ways that you can disguise yourself while doing so, and it's too hard to frame someone in specific. I guess corporations will just have to suck it! And speaking of corporation, it's just plain ridiculous how they try to fight back with alternative methods, where alternative means things such as:<br />
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1.Making their media/software free of cost;<br />
2.Using their artists to talk pirates out of their business.<br />
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First of all, not charging for the thing is exactly what the pirates want. Therefore, #1 is useless and in fact, all it does is make piracy completely legit. And please... anti-piracy advertisements featuring the artists themselves is the personification of the word "asshole." How can these artists, sitting on billions of dollars, keep a straight face while saying that piracy will bankrupt them? Goddammit, I don't think there's any clearer way of being an asshole.<br />
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So I will end the post in a happy way. If even after all this spoonfeeding you still think Piracy must be stopped, my last resort is this video, made by QuestionCopyright.org. Happy sharing!<br />
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<br />Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-979237469019429962011-10-14T21:36:00.000-07:002011-10-14T21:39:30.468-07:00Competition with Linux is futile<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So</span></b> I turned my attention the other day to my YouTube homepage and found out an interesting video within my suggestions. It dealt with Microsoft not surprisingly bashing on Linux once more, only with an extra spin of F.U.D. on it. It wasn't like the old-fashioned Mac-PC wars, in which all you do is point things that suck on the other and it's up to the viewer to make the judgement. In this particular case, Microsoft took a pretty cheap approach. They called it their "training program" to supposedly educate completely neutral people into biased robots that despise and will kill anything about Linux. The training consisted of completely unbiased quizzes such as:<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">Linux upgrades and updates(sic) are easy. [Right or Wrong?] Answer: <i>WRONG</i></span></b></blockquote>
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I won't mention anything further, because this is explicit enough bullshit. You can see the thread with screenshots of the quiz right <a href="http://quaoar.ww7.be/ms_fud_of_the_year/569458-microsoft-attack-linux-retail-level-probably.html">here</a>. Though I did not give any further shit about Microsoft's FUD policy, it did leave me with one thought: why is Microsoft trying to <i>compete with Linux</i>? Aren't they still the number one computer software developer in the world? What exactly is this competition about, then? A quick look through several computer stores is enough to assert me that all PCs sold in the mass market run an Operating System called "Windows." Isn't that called a monopoly? Maybe Microsoft doesn't like to hear that some guys in a South African company came up with an Operating System that happens to be just as usable, only for free. Oh no, the impossible has just happened! Launch the emergency countermeasures, release our top secret shit to the public!<br />
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It doesn't make a slight difference, at least to Linux - you just can't compete with it. At the end of the day, Linux has become more popular and Microsoft has just got stressed and plucked out a few more hairs strands. The key here is to realize that Linux and Free Software no longer are that minuscule niche that everyone shat on fifteen years ago. They no longer are under risk of being crushed by Microsoft and therefore, today's Linux does not give the slightest shit about its competition anymore. That was the initial fight only, to acquire some respectable space. Apple figured that out. Microsoft? I think someone needs to them that already.<br />
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Frankly, I don't get how they think it's still possible to compete with Linux, let alone win. Can't follow my train of thought? Let me clarify with a quick example, taking the well-known fact that Linux is much more secure than Windows:<br />
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Imagine that, by some miracle, Windows upgrades its security issues and becomes far more secure than Linux, and this becomes a well known fact. How does that affect Microsoft's sales? They will sell more, but what is more for a company that already owns everything? It will change nothing. The real question is: what will happen to Linux? The answer is: nothing, either. Even if the "competition" gets ahead, as some think it already happens today, Linux won't <i>die</i>. Sure, some may be tempted and eventually switch back to Windows. But the development of Linux goes fast, and <b>free</b>. Would you want something better for a chunk of your paycheck, or use something still great, free of charge, and that you can do whatever you want with? In the end, Linux users will still use Linux.<br />
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Competing with Linux is as retarded as chasing your own shadow, or playing tag with a wooden plank. Two can't compete when one doesn't want to, deal with it. However, I can still find something more amusing than watching Microsoft banging heads on the wall, and that is watching Linux fanboys induce counter competition on Microsoft:<br />
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Oh, so PC is the working robot, Mac is the hipster bum, and Linux is... some smack-talking bitch? I can't believe this was an actual commercial aired by Novell... What's the deal with making Linux a girl anyway - so anyone can probe and mess it up without any resistance? Cheap and ridiculous... don't go down that road, boys.</div>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-3964905458108908752011-10-07T17:59:00.000-07:002011-10-07T23:41:38.747-07:00Three Cheers for the Late Steve Jobs<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Apple CEO</span></b> Steve Jobs has passed away on this Wednesday Oct 5th, 2011, victim of cancer. If by now you're still too much a moron to think it's a hoax, kindly check <a href="http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/">this link</a> and proceed to bang your head fifteen times on the closest wall. Actually I, too, thought of it as a hoax, but it lasted for only 15min. The media debunks most of the contemporary bullshit.<br />
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I think this is the part in which I unravel my ranting and give out my flammable opinions on whether the man was a hero or villain. But there is the whole <a href="http://badalhocando.blogspot.com/2011/09/computers-suck-and-you-should-smash.html">rest of the internet</a> for that. So I will make it different, short and sweet.<br />
<a name='more'></a>So here we have it, <i>three cheers for the man</i>!<br />
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Thank you, Steve Jobs, for creating a proper, fairly-sized competitor to the then monopoly of Microsoft, the only one that was able to put a real threat to them. The fact that your computers are twice as expensive and half as productive as theirs can be put aside for now.<br />
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Thank you, Steve Jobs, for creating the only commercial venue for UNIX that is actually taken seriously. The fact that you stole a well-built, community-made kernel (BSD) and made into your project for your own purposes can be forgiven for the moment being.<br />
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Thank you, Steve Jobs, for creating a device that allows me to store the thousands of songs I ripped off the internet and listen to them until my ears bleed. Nevermind the RIAA, who cares about them pricks anyway...<br />
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I better put on my flame shields before it's too late.</div>
Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188751438933450830.post-17791183755040018562011-10-06T15:12:00.000-07:002011-10-06T15:13:27.451-07:00"Why Teachers will never make it" or "Education is not all there's to it"<b><span style="font-size: large;">A year</span></b> before my own High School graduation, we received yearbooks with the wills written by all the then seniors. Taking apart the bullshit, the cliche and the falsehood that everyone wrote about loving the school, teachers and student body, I found an interesting quote on my good friend's will:<br />
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<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">[...] TO THE TEACHERS: The world needs more of you. Keep up the good work! [...]</span></i></span></blockquote>
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Let's bring out our critical eyes here - smartass statement or truthful opinion of his part? In several ways, this is true.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Education at an early stage is taken by schoolteachers, and there's an evident relationship between investment in education and progress of a country. South Korea did it, and went from being miserable to an enviable country. So clearly education is important, but that's a given. The real question is concerning the people in charge of that.<br />
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Think about for a second: just how much do we need teachers? I'm not starting an argument here - there's the whole rest of the internet for that. All I'm saying is that there are plenty of other fair sources of knowledge in modern times, and most are faster, more accessible and snappier than Mrs Smith or Mr Jones at 4th grade. I guess don't need to introduce Mr Wikipedia for you, but I may need to explain why the word "better" wasn't included before. <br />
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Let's think of the word "teacher," etymologically. It means "somebody who teaches." So, if Gary the Janitor tells me that life is bullshit, that you should drink it up instead of studying, and I take that as truth, then Gary the Janitor has just played my teacher. But see, Gary didn't have to go to college for that - and I doubt that he even finished High School himself. Yet he still was able to make my mind, he was able to teach me. Now, was Gary the Janitor a better teacher than Mr Vanderpool, who was crucial in making me choose an Engineering major? I doubt. The problem is that you can change "Gary the Janitor" with the name of any teacher you've had and realize that the quality of his/her teachings is subjective and doesn't even matter in the end.<br />
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Today, a schoolteacher of any grade has to have at least college-level education to exert the profession. This, if you still don't realize it, is a LOT of preparation. Regardless of what subject you intend to teach, you will have to go through four years of receiving immense ammounts of knowledge in order to become somebody that will be able to tell consistent things about anything you're asked. And yet, after all this stress, you'll end up being paid just about same as an ordinary job that did not require college to begin with. Has the drama sunk in yet?<br />
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I guess that means we really need teachers then. We need them to teach the kids what not to do in life. We need teachers to show children what an underpaid and under-appreciated job looks like. I see teachers much like philosophers; they know everything and how to change the world, but in reality are powerless on how to spread the word. I'm pretty sure that most of Greece did not give a shit to what Plato said about existence. If what your first grade teacher said to Johnny the Bully was really valid, he wouldn't be shanking old people for drugs today. Maybe, then, it's not about the one doing the teaching, but the ones receiving instead?<br />
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I see professors as only slightly more respected than teachers, in the context that their audience is generally mature and knows they need to pass the class. Teachers, on the other hand, are under the mercy of how interested their students are - because if too many fail the class, it's the teacher who gets fired. So if you are in front of a classroom full of dipshits zoning out, you pretty much have to bite the bullet. Your crusade to enlighten your pupils will just go as far as your paychecks allow you to. And to top it off nicely, the parents' opinion on the teacher's habits. Just what the fuck you would expect of an underpaid and under-appreciated worker: that he sees a psychologist and meditates daily to cope with his unbearable amounts of stress? Fuck no, he drinks and slaps hookers for a reason more than solid.<br />
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On the light of the above, here's my correction to my friend's will:<br />
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<span style="color: lime;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>TO THE TEACHERS</b>: the world only needs you in part. Get off your asses and do something useful. Education is not all useless, just in the sense that you are not completely useless either. But pushing pens and fabricating 'A's to look good is not what your job is meant to do. Go ahead and pass on something to these brats. Show them what is right and share your point of view. There's a lot of bias still living in this world and it is no less than YOUR JOB to destroy it. Go get'em, tiger. </span></span></i></span>Klaus Zimmermann is not my real namehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16396884855998949065noreply@blogger.com0