All that and she’s running on Linux too!  You can get the rest of the story here.

If the world runs on

Microsoft Windows,

that gives a whole new

meaning to ‘Blue Screen of Death.’

Normally, I don’t do this.  But I found an article about everyone’s favorite operating system that I just had to share.  Click here.

Going through the myriad of articles in my RSS feeds yesterday, catching up actually, and one popped out in my face. ‘Air on Linux test run‘ is a blog post on ComputerWorld’s site. I am interested in Adobe’s shiny new toolkit. I don’t know if I’ll ever use it, but I am interested none the less.

The author, a self proclaimed ‘cyber-cynic’, glosses quickly over the text book description of what Air is exactly. (I know, kinda like your’s truly. I’m working on it OK?) This is the first paragraph. The remainder of the article is spent whining about how you have to have ‘root’ privileges to install the application. He doesn’t just mention it, he drones on and on about it. Dude! It’s Linux. If you just want to download and install any old application by double clicking, then use Windows… with updated anti-virus software… and updated anti-spyware… and a hardware firewall… and crossed fingers… and a rabbit’s foot…

The article contained no real information on the function of Air. No list of benefits or drawbacks. Just another Windows guy taking a sneaky stab at another operating system. Of coarse the comment threads were the same old crap. “Why is installing software on Linux so hard? You just double click in Windows.” “Who uses the command line anymore?” Honestly I think they pay these people.

If I want to use Linux it’s my choice. If you want to use Windows, then have at it. I don’t use Windows because I hate the eventual 10 minute boot cycle. I hate spending all my non work time reading up on how to prevent the latest spyware, viruses and adware. I don’t believe a simple system upgrade should require a complete and expensive hardware replacement. I believe that all of the computers on my network should be able to talk to each other. I believe I should be able to print without installing the latest greeting card creation software and yet another photo management suite. If these things are not important to you, then by all means please buy a brand new computer with Windows Vista. I don’t care. Hey, if you are too lazy to learn something about your computer, then hang in there a short while and you can have Windows 7.(Whoo hoo!)  People use Linux. A lot of people. And many, like myself, use it for the very reasons you Windows people gripe about. Security, stability, consistency, connectivity and legacy support are still important to us so go play ‘Second Life’ or ‘World of Warcraft’ and leave us the hell alone!

Get your head out of your ass!  Everyone in the world does not run Windows!  Verizon tech support sucks.  (Yeah people, this is a rant.)  Why do I say that?  Because for over two weeks my DSL has been dropping out.  I can use it for about a half hour, then it just stops.  The connection apparently stays live but the networking takes a crap. If you log into the modem and press reconnect it does.  If you cycle the power on the modem, it connects.  But this is a pain it the butt, especially if you are not in the same room.

So I call Verizon. (several times) And each time I call I get the beloved voice response bot.  “To ask about our new services, say ‘Take my money’ now, or press 1.”  So twelve button presses later I finally get to the DSL tech support options menu.  “For Windows XP or Vista operating system, say ‘Windows’ or press 1.”  “For Apple’s operating system, say ‘apple’ or press 2.”  For other operating systems, say ‘other’ or press 3.”  Now at this point I will warn you, if you press 3 the stupid bot simply says, “If you are at your computer, I will tell you how to find out what version of Windows you are running.”  I’M NOT RUNNING WINDOWS YOU STUPID REJECT FROM A LATE NIGHT SCIFI MOVIE! WE’VE ALREADY ESTABLISHED THIS!

So, I fire up my Windows.  After the same exercise in frustration, I get a person.  I won’t rant about the fact she didn’t speak English, but trust me I could. (I mean I’m calling from Heartland, USA about phone support, speaking the same language is kinda important.)   This is complicated by the fact that since she’s first line tech support, she has to read from her script which is geared toward first time connections.  “Please click on the Start button at the bottom left of your screen. Now click on the Settings tab which is in the middle of the menu that has just appeared…”  Now regardless of what you tell this person, you can’t proceed until you follow theses instructions.  And heaven help you if you refuse to change your network settings.  “Sir, I cannot help you unless you do as I have instructed.”

After that point, she puts me on hold for like 3 minutes and comes back to tell me she reset something and that everything will be fine now.  Which is a crock of coarse.  Hour later the DSL takes a dump.

Note to Verizon.  I’m a SysAdmin for a group of companies in the MidAtlantic region.  I know how to set up computers on a LAN.  Trust me, not all of your customers are as gullible as you would like to believe.  Your service and tech support suck.  Guess I gotta go cable now. ($$$$)

Debian’s new ‘testing’ distro has been available for public consumption for a while now.  Named ‘Lenny’ it is the planned replacement for ‘Etch’.  Debian tends not to turn over releases anywhere near as fast as the more popular distros that are based on it.  Since it is the core of many of the ‘kitchen sink’ distros, most of the improvements made to Debian are stability oriented.  Also, even a minor change (forget anything major) this far up the food chain could spell disaster in ways no one has even imagined.

‘Testing’ is the distinction given to the latest release of Debian called Lenny.  I first began working with it when a project I am working on required a newer kernel than was available in Etch.  This project is web-based so X was not a factor.  For you MS Winders people, X is the GUI engine that enables desktop managers like Gnome or KDE to run and give you all those shiny, spinny, boppy things. Anyhow, I decided to give Lenny a go on the desktop… or laptop as the case would be.  I inherited an old Dell Inspiron from a bankruptcy auction that had been sabotaged. (That’s another story.)  So I had wiped it and attempted to install Ubuntu 8.10 with nothing but frustration to show as a result.  (Still not liking Intrepid so much.)  Ok, with the old WTF attitude I decided to do a net install of Lenny.  Oh, Dude. If you ever do a Debian install, definitely do a net install.  That’s the best way.

To do a net install, simply go to debian.org and download the net-inst.iso for what ever version you want.  They average about 150 mb and allow you to select your repositories and retrieve the latest versions of all the packages you want.  That way you don’t have to spend hours after the install downloading and installing updates.

Lenny is the ‘Testing’ version.  I keep saying that because it’s important.  Average users probably won’t notice any issues.  Tweakers on the other hand will find that some packages aren’t that hard to break.  X works fine, I just don’t suggest screwing with it too much.  If I wants to limit you to 1024×768, you may want to just live with it. Actually I haven’t had any trouble, but I have heard of a couple of instances where people were trying to configure 3-D cards and having issues. Only issues I’ve had were with the Gnumeric package (which I’m sure is a repository issue, not a Lenny issue) and trying to get my one wireless card to work. No big deal, Gnumeric works, it just crashed APT (which I fixed and did a bug report on) and I just use my old WaveLan card.

Other issues are simpler, such as getting used to the complaining web sites that don’t like Iceweasel which is the de-branded version of Firefox that Mozilla’s all in a tizzy about. Trust me, it’s Firefox 3.04 but it just doesn’t say so. And yes, you have to install Flash and Java the old fashioned way.  This lends credibility to something I read in a forum one time… Ubuntu is an ancient African word which means “I can’t configure Debian.”

On the plus side, network configuration is still far simpler than any of the bloatware distros.  (Yes Ubuntu, I’m still talking about you.) You tell it to use a wireless connection with a static IP, and low and behold when you reboot, it uses the wireless connection with a static IP!  Imagine that.  Also, the current repositories are loaded with the tools you know and love as well as a whole bunch of brand new shiny ones.

Ok, I wondered off for a short while, but hey Debain,  I’m back!

If you like to troubleshoot unstable Linux distributions then Intrepid Ibex is for you.  If you want a stable, working desktop Linux distro, then stick with Debian, Suse or an older Ubuntu.  This point release has too many bugs for daily use.  Issues such as the in ability to preserve a manual network configuration, while known are listed as ‘low priority’.  Of coarse you have your know-it-alls in the forums whining about how all you have to do is edit your /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/base and restart net services.  How does this help convert users to Linux? It doesn’t.  Ubuntu is perceived as the most advanced desktop Linux distribution out there, and you still have to dick around with text based config files to get your network card to work?

Everybody wants a pretty desktop. Everybody wants all the shiny, spinny, boppy things.  How about we focus on functional first?  The only reason I moved from Debian to Ubuntu was to conserve time while setting up workstations during our office migration from Microsoft.  If I still can’t get functionality without screwing around in a terminal window for hours I have gained nothing.

I have also found the Ubuntu forums and IRC to be filled with elitists who have reverted back to the bad old days of ‘RTFM’.  Not much help for newbies.  Not a very welcoming ‘community’ Jono.

The Hiwaypilot.

Like millions of others, I listen to the TWIT network, a series of podcasts produced by Leo Laporte from TechTV fame. One of Leo’s fine sponsors is Audible. Don’t get me wrong, Audible is a fine company that’s been around for years. They sell wonderful products. (I assume, because I don’t use them.) My problem is their proclivity towards DRM. Face it, we still don’t live in an ‘open source world’ so to each their own.  I have alternatives!

First off is my new favorite site, Podiobooks.com. Getting past the name. (I still can’t believe we named an entire web-based innovation after Apple’s little piece of proprietary, plastic crap!) Podiobooks are audio books released under Creative Commons, Non-commercial licenses free of charge. And get this, they’re real good books! Right now I am laughing my way through ‘Playing for Keeps’, a hilarious tale about superheros, supervillans and the poor people who are neither.

Second is Librivox.org. This is a great site. They are a service where volunteers read non-copyrighted works and release them for free. This site is wonderful for kids, because of all the great classics that are available. Plus if you like it you can participate by reading chapters from ongoing works. It’s a win / win!

If you still feel you must pay for your audio books, that’s even better. Both sites I listed accept donations. Podiobooks passes 75 percent on to the book’s author, (who is usually also the reader) and the remainder keeps the site working. Librivox just needs the money to stay on the net. So by all means pay for your audio books. Just think about who you are paying.

I have searched (no pun intended) throughout the Google product line for an honest to goodness feedback form or email address.  I found tons of references to forums, videos or even comic strips for help but no true ‘Contact us’ link.  I suppose I can understand how they would like to keep from having addresses harvested for spam.  And the manpower for actually reading suggestions from the millions of users who would have access to a ’suggestion box’ form would be insane.  But this does make one wonder how they can say they ‘listen’ to their customers when the only tech support they get is from other customers.

Anyhow, what I wanted to ask them was if they would put a little more effort into supporting the Opera browser.  I use Opera.  I like Opera.  But while it’s fully functional in all of the Google apps,  they continually take up half of my screen with annoying text boxes telling me how my browser isn’t supported.  Hey Google, I use Linux.  Firefox has become a slow pig and you refuse to port Chrome for Linux so I use Opera.

Now since they don’t take suggestions or offer any constructive way to get in contact,  I’ll just throw this rant into the web.  I guess this is just proof that once anybody gets large enough, they tend to forget where they came from.