SliTaz 4.0 Review - Small but fierce

SliTaz 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:

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

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.

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:

DuckDuckGo: the search engine that packs a punch!

***I am not associated with DuckDuckGo by any means at all. This post, my entire domain likewise, is my personal opinion.***

While 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 search engine that I've been using for a while now.

Linus Torvalds refused to work for Apple: so what?

I saw this article 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 more than a decade ago, which triggered my ranting muscles. In the article, OMG Ubuntu editor Joey Sneddon writes, and I quote:

[...] 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. [...]

How to piss Richard Stallman off:

Source: Youtube

From gnu.org:

[nonfree distributions] do not have a policy of only including free software, and removing nonfree software if it is discovered.

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.

BYTE ME!

February 2012 by K. Zimmermann
Contact me.

5 Shitty reasons to use Linux

This post is not 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.

Support LXDE now!

GNOME has always 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.

Review of Featherweight Browsers

Browsers, if anything, 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.

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 featherweight browser.

How to create a Linux LiveUSB without Unetbootin

If 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 UNetbootIn. 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."

One reason to use Linux Mint over Ubuntu

This post will make 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.

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 shaking the Distrowatch hierarchy, I decided to finally bite the bullet and make a LiveUSB. And while I was at it, I also downloaded Fedora 16 and GhostBSD.

Here is the short answer:

Everyone should have a Hacking Machine

My computing experience 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 hacking machine.

Gaming in Linux: how to get the best of it

The title 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:

• Think about some game not too heavy for the box you own (even when you ran Windows);
• Look said game up on WineHQ's AppDB section;
• Pray it's rated Platinum (or at least Gold, for mercy);
• Torrent said game (unless you actually have a CD of it);
• Install said game and play it, only to find out a few side glitches that were not there with Windows;

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:

I am pretty damn satisfied with Desktop Linux as it is at the moment - and gaming IS included in my satisfaction rating.

What... do you want more explanations? Well, I guess I do owe them in this case... It'll also help you to understand how to get the best Gaming experience in your Linux box.

Linux Mint PWND Ubuntu!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it has happened. Behold the new most popular Linux distribution ever, Linux Mint:

Oh yes, they can! Source: Distrowatch

I wasn't planning to post anything for a while, but this caught me completely off guard...
Teaches you a lesson, Shuttleworth! Mint has turned its back on you much like you did with Debian.
Find out about them here.

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; 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. Wanna count all the forums? Go ahead, but I won't hold my breath.

UPDATE (Feb): Turns out that Joey Sneddon solved the mystery. Short answer: Ubuntu still rules, Linux Mint is still just a fad, etc... Go get a life.

Nov 2011 by K. Zimmermann
Contact me.

How to install a program from source in Linux

Installing software 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.

There are only two "last stands" situations in which I would install from source:

How to win any argument against a Mac or Windows user

The last thing 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, there is no such thing as a Linux fanboy.

Linus Torvalds is a douche.

Linus Torvalds 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 wet-pussied fanboys 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.

Real men use the GNOME Shell

Contrary to 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...

Quit fighting piracy already...

Piracy 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:

GET THE FUCKING CLUE ALREADY, AND QUIT FIGHTING PIRACY.

Competition with Linux is futile

So 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:

Linux upgrades and updates(sic) are easy. [Right or Wrong?] Answer: WRONG

I won't mention anything further, because this is explicit enough bullshit. You can see the thread with screenshots of the quiz right here. 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 compete with Linux? 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!

Three Cheers for the Late Steve Jobs

Apple CEO 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 this link 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.

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 rest of the internet for that. So I will make it different, short and sweet.

In Court: GNU/Linux Community v. Ubuntu

So here's the article that everyone wanted, yet nobody made. It's like one of the greatest taboos in Linux. The huge elephant standing right in the middle of the living room that yet nobody dares to move. Gather around, children, for today I will share my thoughts on how is Ubuntu viewed by the Linux community. Is it flamed or loved? Will the GNU project twist their noses and finally embrace it or once and for all forsaken it?