Ubuntu 9.10 oops!

This post will probably be a little more negative then the one I lost when my system just seized up and crashed.

Honestly to sum things up, I am having far more instability issues with the final release of Ubuntu 9.10 then I had with the final Alpha release I ran until the final came out.

I get repeated kernel oops crashes etc as my system resumes from suspend. After updating my system today my system froze and ultimately lost my first attempt at this post.

We really need to work on finding the sweet spot for releasing and building distros. We have not arrived yet.

I have watched my wireless go from stable in 7.10 to sluggish and unusable the next two releases and I thought finally fixed in 9.04. The regressions happen too much. This is unacceptable for production level systems.

There has to be a way to keep something stable yet incorporate new innovations in a timely manner. As I said we just have not found that sweet spot yet.

I think it would do us all some good to be realistic about where Linux as a desktop is rather then trying to speak excellence in to existence lets do more to make it a reality. The things that I tolerate with my Linux desktops would have put Microsoft out of business 10 years ago. That’s one of the weaknesses the Linux desktop still has. We seem to have given up on being honest about progress and resorted to saying we have arrived and that Linux blows away Windows etc. etc.

We need to stop talking out both sides of our neck.

When I started discussing some of these issues over the last year in forums and such, I was rebuked with answers ranging from “what do you expect it’s free” to “Windows is worse”. I have to say I can work for hours at a time in Windows without having media playback issues and the issues I reported here today.

I want to help make things better but I am at a state of learning in coding still so there doesn’t seem to be any projects out there willing to mentor a newbie or at least give concrete ansers to what I can do at my level of experience.

I know one thing until we admit where we fall short things will never get better. You know that whole thing about having to admit you have a problem before you can get real help.

Let’s start Linux Anonymous let’s be realist for a change.

Thanks for listening

Ubuntu 9.10, Awesome!

I have to say this current offering of Ubuntu is very impressive.

To name a few items I’m most impressed with would probably do little justice to how far Ubuntu has come.

1.The boot time and overall look of the graphical boot.
2.OpenOffice opens very quickly when opening a document, presentation etc.
3.UbuntuOne service is just what I have been looking for since I seem to lose my USB storage very often.
4.The system overall is very snappy.

Oh did I mention this is the last alpha release I’ve been using, so it isn’t even the final!

With that being said there is a few bugs I have ran across
1.UbuntuOne began last night to show an error concerning a “capabilities mismatch”. Not sure what the issue is yet.
2.I believe Windows shutdown improperly and since I have had a grub2 boot error that will not go away. I have to delete a certain boot parameter to get Ubuntu to finish booting. I did some investigating and noticed that there were bug reports filed but the status seemed to be up in the air currently. It is probably fixed in the final bits anyway.

Keep up the good work Canonical and community!!!

Now if I could only find a project that is looking for a new programmer I could really help out aw well!

My brain storming on the Desktop of the future…

Desktop abstraction idea.

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My idea simply is to use the 3d capabilities of modern processors and operating systems to make the idea of the desktop expand to a more usable less confined workspace. Think of the desktop work areas replacing or becoming an ordinary part of desktop icons allowing users to see there work areas as tunnels. This allows the illusion of items closer to the surface being larger etc and possibly alleviating the cluttered look to current desktops.

 

To think more precisely of this abstraction would lend itself to being almost workspace like. The work-spaces that have been used in Unix and Linux for years and to some extent third-party Windows add-ons.

 

The idea could go further and sort of use the virtual views that are used in Second Life and game applications. Where a user could literally navigate to their “file cabinet” in their office “workspace” and physically work in the environment as playing a game.

The collaboration needed between applications and such could bring endless ideas and possibilities to the desktop abstraction.

 

This also brings a new visual futuristic approach to computing seeming to only be taken advantage of by game programmers and designers. The ideas for users of various handicaps could be endless as well as the navigation doesn’t involve so much “digging” in and out of items or icons that you are looking for.

 

Obviously something of this level of interaction would be a monumental undertaking but could ultimately bring computing to the next level and move us away from the current eye-candy war being fought by designers and technologists alike at this time. The future is Virtual Desktop Rooms, OS domains on the client. That will at times integrate very well with the distributed nature (think internet) of our office and work area space today.

 

On a side note my programming skills are at let us say at a stage of development which would only go to confirm my inability to think inside the box. So much for a first time learning project for a program.

By Joseph Michael Ryan Sr. Baltimore ,MD jryanitpro@gmail.com

Red Hat, Novell, Microsoft new bed partners!

I have been looking for more info on the new deal Red Hat has signed with Microsoft. So far it seems to be an interoperabilty agreement concerning the two companies Virtualization offerings. After reading further in to the news concerning the deal there seems to be a coming together of Novell, Red Hat, Citrix and Microsoft to squash VMWare. I’m not sure that an opensource leader as Red Hat calls itself, should be participating in preditory business tactics. I do not think it is a coincidencec that all parties involved in the lynching are making announcements for their new offerings and colaberation to seemingly take attention from the VMWare conference happening in Europe.

I believe that this type of business ethic is the exact thing that keeps opensource and Linux fighting for deserved attention and adoption by regular companies and users (that being Microsoft and other proprietary companies not competing on technological terms but FUD and other predatory scare tactics toward free software)

My main point is that OPen Source and Free Software can win on its superiority and innovation coming from our methadoligies and open development practices. We should not resort to “win at any cost- deal with the devil” tactics.

This sort of made my decision as to what community I will be contributing to and hope that the Ubuntu community and Mark Shuttleworth continue to avoid making a deal with the devil (MSFT). I don’t think we need anymore money hungry corporations making deals with Microsoft for financial security or gain (Novell). It only serves the IP accusations still made by Ballmer to this day.

Just my two cents

Fedora 11 nicely coming along!

I have chosen Fedora as my Linux of choice after a scitzo past of distro hopping. I have been wrestling with leaving behind Windows as you can see in other posts but I am sincerely convinced now that Linux and opensource/free software will be my future.

This post is more of a call out to those who had issues with Fedora and Ubuntu and the Intel Wireless driver 4965. I had very slow performance issues and could only resolve it by installing the backports package for Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 10 was giving me the same problem unitil compiling the compat6_wireless updates from linuxwireless.org.

I am happy to say that Fedora 11 has this issue fixed as of the Alpha release I downloaded and installed today.

Just thought I ‘d give a shout out to all those looking for an update on this issue. I know it had me pulling my hair out. I’m not sure if the fix is in the latest Ubuntu beta but it probably will be if not yet.

Programming the Web?

I have decided to try learning programming through web development. It seemed that just going through books and such was too dreadful to be interesting. My current employer was interested in a website so it seemed like the perfect oppoetunity for me to actually have something to pull me along. Now it is the issue of deciding whether going the way of opensource or asp.net. But this is more then deciding a platform for me as I seem to be at a crossroads with Operating System and life philosophy.

I have tried Linux in several iterations always to seemingly be turned off by or just plain disgusted by something. As I have said in a previous post it seems that Linux as desktop is chasing the corporate heels of Windows (yes even Vista!) and now OS X. I don’t know how many programming books I have read as of late where all screeb shots are in OS X and the author makes to no apologies in recommending OS X as a perfect balance between Windows (the clean functional GUI) and the power of the Unix-like command-line (the BSD core). Although at this time the Mac is out of my budget range, so I won’t be commenting on whether or not it is true that the Mac is better thren Windows. Ubuntu to me has come the closest at clean usibility but it is so gosh darn ugly (it seems by design).

I am currently back to using Windows Vista again because it seems that I spend less time chasing down fixes for Linux quirks and more time just using my computer again. I have actually read people ranting on the internet about certain Linux distros functioning too well and being boring to “use”, isn’t that just revealing. Or it’s nice to get a good Linus comment and find out how out of touch he is with the industry as a whole.

I find it very funny when I hear opensource touted for being so much more responsive in fixing bugs and giving users what they want, then I take a look at the typical opensource mailing list and listen to users and other programmers get their proverbial heads chewed off by the “community” maintainers.

Again as I stated inm earlier posts most of this is just rantoing because I’m sure to be back using Linux again on a daily basis but these are things I hope to see improve but until they do maybe my rants will be at the very least enlightening.

Oh and I didn’t even mention my dliemna should I concentrate on Django(Python), PHP or ASP.NET to help me forward in my programming journey. Just today I purchased a book about building a real live Django application from scratch and it has somewhat excited my learning today. Maybe learning without having something to apply it too just doesn’t work for me. I have heard other people say that they can’t learn programming languages without having a problem to solve which makes sense to me. Most dry reference like programming tutorials lose me very quickly.

PS If anyone is wondering how my CS degree is going, I have not been able to afford to continue. Although it was very encouraging to me to have done so well in the first CS class I had taken (maybe one day I will be the great hacker I dream of becoming)

Well until next time!

God Bless

Ian Murdock rewrites history!

I can’t help but comment on Ian Murdock’s talks he has been giving since at Sun. His main premise seems to be that OpenSolaris is no different then Linux except for the kernel. I think he is playing fast and loose with the truth. I agree with the premise that Linux as most people refer to is the complete distro, ie GNU software, Firefox etc. The point where I strongly disagree is where he seems to claim that most people are not Linux people including himself but Open Source people. If this was cut and dry then the OpenSolaris kernel could be dropped in with the Gnome desktop and the new Project Indiana packaging system and the world could just as easily use OpenSolaris as they have used Linux. Well that is far from the truth. Just try for yourself and you will certainly see just how vastly different Linux and Opensolaris is. Ian seems to ignore the community around Linux (yes Linux not Opensource) that has enabled the seemless hardware support with the awesome work that continues to be done in the Linux driver space. So does anyone else seem to think that Ian is just slightly oversimplifying why Linux is so successfull and clearly the winner hands down when compared with Opensolaris.

No Ian, Linux is not just the distro that many people are sadly mistaken to have credited with more then it deserves. Linux is not “just” a kernel in that sense. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Without Linux, the distro as we know it would not exist. Please at least admit that Ian.

Is Linux Truly Innovative?

As someone who has been on the fence concerning this question. I thought I would comment a bit to see if I could ruffle any feathers or opinions out there. I’m sure we have all read the typicle articles about Linux being simply an immitation of Windows. If Linux didn’t or should I say certain distros didn’t find that a reasonable charge then why is it that we see so much of Windows immitated. I certainly think there is enough work to clean up any issues there is currently in Linux rather than making sure when the new Windows converts come in they feel at home.

I have just began my Comp Science degree after being a sysadmin in the Windows world. Let’s just say it is somewhat of a distraction making sure I’m focused on the “future”. I know Windows has it’s share of jokes with the maleware and spyware but everytime I go back to my Windows Vista Thinkpad from my Linux learning I really have a hard time seeing how some are saying “Linux has somehow defeated Windows and Vista/Windows is done, is garbage blah blah blah”. I mean the experience I get is somewhat seemless, you know the experience some have claimed Linux has arrived at. Believe me I wish it were true but it is not. Windows seems to be the mature stable polished system that Linux is only immitating and may I say the immitation is probably about ten years behind. Just two examples when I settled in on Ubuntu since the other distros needed more tinkering on every install. I upgraded and did a fresh install with Gutsy only to find that the flash plugin was broken. Oh you could fix it fairly easily but the point being that it seems that if you follow even a stable distro that as kernel upgrades happen and other packages upgrade in newer distros things that worked very well suddenly start to unravel. The next item was the terminals. I liked using since the command line was one of the main draws for me. Suddenly because of some kernel “fixes” I was back to no consoles or very ugly unframebuffered consoles with text on multiple lines to spell a word. The excuse for this was that framebuffers have always been buggy and will no longer be loaded by default. Now before you try and debunk my expectations these items worked without a hitch on the same hardware on the older version of the distro.

Now I know Microsoft is far from perfect but the fact that they are a business does allow for a system of accountability at the very least. But some of the so called awesome opensource support forums are quick to tell novice Windows converts “go back to Windows if you don’t like it” or the classic “submit a patch”

I guess the point is the supposed  superior distributed development has it’s sticky areas. There are some projects that just fade away god forbid you counted on the app for a business. I just think it is a shame to stick our heads in the sand and not recognize the obvious flaws of the so called superior development model.

What I think could work is for a vendor to bring together all the best of the open-source world sell the OS and stand behind it. Until then the Ubuntu’s and RedHat’s will have their cake and eat it to. “Oh the community will get around to that in the next release” Or “Microsoft won’t give us their source code so we can give you those features” HaHa.

Most of this is just me thinking out loud and ranting. I’m sure I’ll continue to learn Linux and OS programming on Linux since that is really a plus on the open-source side of the equation.

Thanks

Joe

C++ as a first language!

Hello world! This will be my first blog post ever. I have been itching for a while to start a blog and share my two cents, so off we go.

    I have just began my first class toward earning my degree in computer science and thought that it would be a good conversation starter. I began my life as a geek late in life (at 30). Last year I started getting more interested in automating system administration tasks in my job as a Windows System Admin. That was the beginning of my interest in programming. I started googling for opinions as to the best way to get started. This lead me to ultimately get interested in Linux mostly due to the fact that everything was wide open to learn. I couldn’t seem to get my bearings as to what direction to take. I spent more time then I should have constantly going deeper at every level I would hope to settle in it. The interest I had now was at a much deeper level then scripting or for that matter programming applications. I want to be at the OS/Hardware level and fealt that the best way for me to move forward would be to pursue a degree in computer science. Not as much about the degree but my interests seem to map very closely to the path taken through computer science with a concentration on Operating System design and implementation. Learning by reading alone seems not to work the best for me. Although I am very motivated and focused I just know from getting my degree in Networking Information Systems that no book could compare to the interaction you get in an environment with people from all levels and backgrounds. Not to mention the relationships that can be gained with like minded people.

    For a while I visited Berkeley’s online lectures listening in to get a feel as to what the classes may be like. Needless to say I learned that the beginnings of a computer science education could be very different. The whole thing of functional programming (Scheme) being the best place to start then move closer to the hardware with C after a few terms. In other words some schools seem to be starting students out in C some in Java, C++, Scheme etc. The reasons seem to get religious and even make sense but where I started my education it was neither Scheme or C it was C++. Somewhat in the middle of the two extremes. I seem to be picking things up nicely but I thought I would ask you guys what your opinions are.

    1. Do you think C++ is a good starting point? If not, why?

    2. Where did you attend and what was their philosophy?

    3. How did it ultimately work out for you?

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you all!

Joe