Fresh, Minty Taste

How I Came Full Circle With Linux Mint

I have related a few times over the past few years how I converted my main laptop, the one that goes with me when I’m working, from Windows XP to Linux Mint, then upstreamed it to Ubuntu because I wasn’t happy with Mint’s updates policy. Later, when I upgraded Ubuntu to 9.04 “Jaunty Jackalope”, there were some rough edges, including non-working sound. At that point, I appreciated Mint’s philosophy of trying to keep things more stable.

Now, that lappy is headed for the great recycle bin in the sky. Or actually to the San Bernardino County toxic waste disposal site. I was fortunate enough to have plenty of warning that it was dying, so I purchased its replacement a few months back, while I was in Missouri. Because I was out of state, and because the Dell Ubuntu site only had one computer on the list (Inspiron 15N), I bought a similar product (Inspiron 15) at Best Buy for the same price. I saved shipping to California, and shipping from California to Missouri.

By this time, I am quite accustomed to wiping off Infesticus microsoftii spp. Vistus (Windows Vista) and replacing it with something usable. So now I am back to using Linux Mint, currently “Gloria”, Linux Mint 7.

Gloria appears to be mostly based on Ubuntu 8.10. I say this because my graphics pad doesn’t work. But since I don’t travel with it, I’m not worried. On the other hand, it starts with sound muted (similar to Ubuntu 9.04 after I entered all the fixes). I’m not going to generate too much data in the next month, because I’m going to do a clean install instead of an upgrade next month when Linux Mint 8 comes out.

System requirements are generally the same as the underlying Ubuntu version. In this case, I actually replaced Vista with Ubuntu 9.04 and found that the issues were not just the dying hardware of my old lappy. This meant that I did not have to worry about the requirements. If you are hardware-challenged, opt for the XFCE or Fluxbox versions. The LXDE version would likely have been great, too, but it won’t be ready when version 8 comes out.

At this time, Firefox (version 3.0.14 or 3.5.2) is really crashy in the 64-bit version of Mint. It is probably best to use a 32-bit platform for the next year or so, then do a clean install in 64 bits at upgrade time. At that time, whatever plugin or extension is causing the crashes should be 64-bit also.

IceRocket tags: Linux Mint

Linux Mint

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Officeshots: View ODF Compatibilty

Officeshots.org: Test ODF compatibility: Requests

You want to try which Office software is any good for you or your organisation? It’s very easy. Five steps:

1. Submit a document that contains features you typically require.
2. Take a pick from the supported word processors, spreadsheet and presentation packages.
3. Select what you would like to see: PDF exports, screen output or ODF roundtrips.
4. Wait a bit while we work our magic…
5. Grab the results and compare them!

So you’re wanting to send someone an ODF document and you want to know what it will look like when they get it. Go directly to Officeshots and upload it, following the steps above. I love it when someone take the initiative to help vendor-agnostic standards grow.

Source: Boycott Novell

IceRocket tags: …, ODF

ODF

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Minty Again Soon

In “No Longer Minty Fresh“, I recounted my reasoning for “upstreaming” from Linux Mint to Ubuntu. Essentially, I disliked that I would not be receiving current security updates. Since then, I’ve lived through Kubuntu’s move to KDE4 (disasterous… KDE4 is seriously broken and almost unusable… I now use XFCE4 and LXDE [and occasionally OpenBox or IceWM] instead) and the Ubuntu PulseAudio breakage (lost audio in Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Kubuntu 9.04 “Jaunty Jackalope” 32-bit and 64-bit versions). I’m nearing seven months in Missouri, working around 12 hours per day, 6 days per week. When I come “home” to the hotel room, I don’t want to fight with my computer (or I could go to Best Buy and pick up a replacement with Vista on it). I want it to do what I want it to do without resisting, and without dire warnings that I might see Microsoft’s Barney underwear if I view hidden and system files, and without someone (whether in Canonical / Ubuntu or in Microsoft) rushing a non-ready product out to hit some deadline set by executives. So “broken” isn’t going to be acceptable.

I also bought a laptop for one of my nephews. I installed Linux Mint for him instead of Ubuntu, reasoning that Mint’s slower pace of updates means less chance of breakage, even if it also means they are slower to support certain peripherals. (Another one got a Dell Mini 10v netbook–running Ubuntu, of course.) Mint has a well-deserved reputation for being “improved Ubuntu”, just as Ubuntu is “a pretty face and reliable applications atop a stable Debian core”.

I’m looking to replace this laptop soon, as in within the next year. Linux Mint is the top candidate to go on the next one. (Fedora, SimplyMEPIS, gNewSense, Ubuntu, and OpenSuse are also being considered.) Yes, I know I had purchased another and even upgraded it from Vista to Ubuntu. But HP skimped on the screen resolution, and it bothered me that I couldn’t view windows as I’m accustomed to viewing them. So I popped in the Vista restore CD and gave the computer to MJ. I even saw an announcement that said that Lenovo would be shipping OpenSuse-powered lappies, and tried to order one. Learned my lesson–do not do business with Lenovo–but they did return my funds eventually.

I’d love it if Toshiba shipped a decent lappy that wasn’t infected with the HE11N0 flu (Infesticus microsoftii spp. Vistus, otherwise known as Windows), especially if Best Buy offered computers with your choice of the three major operating systems pre-installed or at least an install-your-own-OS option. (Question: how can they be the “best” buy, when they can’t offer you a full selection of available operating systems and software? How is it “best” if you have to settle for something that doesn’t meet your needs or go elsewhere?) I did look at Dell’s site, but it looks like they haven’t updated their Linux models in a while. The Linux-powered laptop I saw was seriously outdated in comparison with their Windows-powered models. I haven’t checked in a while, so they may have updated the product line.

I am very likely to return to Linux Mint when I buy the new computer. At that time, I’ll move the data I choose to keep onto an external hard drive (EXT3 or EXT4 formatted, of course), then sledge this lappy’s hard drive (that is, smash it with a sledgehammer), and then bring the data to the new computer. I think I’ll name it TOENAIL, because it’ll spend most of its time in the case (shoe / sock) wherever I’m currently working.

Can’t Browse Web, Can Ping and E-mail

This one is here so I can find it easily next time. I spent most of a day troubleshooting this before I found the solution.

Situation:
User cannot browse the Web. May be able to browse secured (https) sites, but normal (http) sites blocked. Can ping sites. Can use an e-mail client. Can use Telnet, except for port 80.

• Check firewall settings, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware. Run full scan with your security software.
• Check proxy settings.
• Connect another computer to see whether there is something filtering out HTTP upstream.

Done all that already? So had I. Then I found this, which led me to this.

Here’s what you can try next:

1. Reboot the computer into safe mode. If you don’t, you won’t be able to do this.
2. Log in with a local machine administrator’s account. Open the registry editor.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsdatant and set Start to 3. NOTE: if this key isn’t there, this isn’t your problem and this fix will not help you.
4. Restart the computer.

In this case, you’re probably dealing with the leftover pieces of a ZoneAlarm firewall installation.

As the HP discussion site above says:

1. Even if you think you never installed ZoneAlarm (like me), still look out for vdatant.sys, it may be there!
2. You cannot change the registry setting when vdatant.sys is loaded/running, even if you have Admin privileges. You need to boot your machine in safe mode (with or without networking), and then you can edit the registry setting to disable the driver.

Can We Stop Calling People Racist Now?

Much has been made of the “tea party” protests against President Obama’s health care plan. Apparently, a columnist for the NY Times even wrote that the whole thing is motivated by racism. (I’m a Californian, so the only Times that really matters to me is based in Los Angeles.)

Please. Let me tell you something about racism. Racism is intentional. There are plenty of misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and pure lack of sense that get called racism, not to mention political disagreements, as is the case here. But those are not racism. Racism isn’t just prejudices and practices that you’ve absorbed without thinking about it (such as minorities=poor, urban drug users). Racism isn’t opposing higher taxes or a federal health care plan. Racism is your intentional decision to hold such views and to act on them. Racism is clutching your purse tighter when you see a Black man walking down the street. Racism is when the officer lets two carloads of potential drug users go because a dark-skinned person drives past.

Look. There are some people who have not gotten over the fact that we have a Black president. We know that is true. There are others who question his religious beliefs (as though a Muslim would make a bad person to sit in the White House when we have so many intolerant anti-religious bigots in government already). Those people are out there, and we know it. If they’d rather have Vladimir Putin in the office, chances are, they are motivated only by skin color.

However, misusing the term racist to cover everyone who disagrees with the President is ultimately damaging to the country, to race relations here and abroad, and to our efforts to hinder the recruitment efforts of the kind of groups that go into hiding in the woods in Idaho. There are plenty of real racists out there. Don’t waste the term by painting all your political opponents with it.

Racism is repulsive and un-American. Speaking up when you feel the government is making major decisions that will harm you, your children, and the rest of the nation isn’t racism, it is common sense. It doesn’t mean that I agree with the protesters. In fact, my problem with President Obama’s health care plan is twofold:

1. It forces everyone to pay into the hands of the same idiots that nearly collapsed our economy in the first place, the financial industries (in this case, mostly the insurance industry). I ask you, is this who you want to be in charge of most people’s health care, especially after sixteen years of failure?

   Clearly, some kind of so-called public option should be the only option for some level of “basic care”, with private companies allowed to offer policies that cover things above that.

2. It is pretty clear, for people who read the Constitution, that our government is frankly not allowed to do this. The states, however, are. If the federal government approves it, all US states, territories, commonwealths, and possessions could form a kind of joint operating agreement. However, the federal government cannot and should not run the show. Again, look to the financial crisis for guidance: the practices that led to the collapse were so obviously dangerous that many states had tried to rein the financial industries in, but the corrupt federal government intervened on the behalf of financial industry after financial industry. Are you willing to let this happen with your health care?

Still, agree or disagree, any intelligent person knows that there are plenty of non-racist reasons why people might oppose the President’s agenda. We have enough real racists to deal with, if that’s what you want to do. Stop calling people racist just because they disagree with the President.

If you want to help rid our nation of racism (I surely do), here’s what I suggest: make friends, and I mean close friends, with people of different ethnic backgrounds from you. Get to know people who work in different industries, who hold different religious beliefs, who support different political views than you do, and work to build those relationships despite your differences. But if you are not willing to to do this, shut your mouth and get out of the way of those of us who want to repair our damaged nation.

This rant is the opinion of Walt Hucks, who is solely responsible for its content. Permission is granted to republish verbatim in any medium.

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Summer In Missouri

I’ve been in Missouri recently. I’m working about 70 hours each week, so I haven’t had a lot of time for anything else. However, I recently took some time off. I visited my granddaughter (no, I’m not posting photos… everyone that knows me in person has seen enough photos to last them for a while… if you haven’t, I still have more).

I went to see the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes host the Modesto Nuts. Their mascot Tremor was there, but I guess they must have retired Aftershock.

Quakes game July 30

I also got to see the Springfield Cardinals play.

Corpus Christi Hooks batter swings at pitch

Courts, Patents, XML, and Microsoft

Court Blocks Microsoft Word Sales in U.S. | News | The Mac Observer

According to i4i’s suit, the company owns a patent that saves users from having to embed command codes in their documents to control text formatting, and Microsoft’s XML formatting feature infringes on that. The patent in question, number 5,787,499, describes a system that removes the need for individual, manually embedded command codes to control text formatting in electronic documents.

The Judge’s order blocks Microsoft from selling or importing into the United States any version of Word that can open documents containing custom XML which includes .XML, .DOCX and .DOCM files. While the injunction blocks the sale of Word in its current state, it doesn’t prevent Microsoft from selling versions of the application that open XML documents as plain text.

As everyone knows by now, Microsoft has again been burned by the application of the patent system to the field of software. I maintain that the present patent and copyright system violates the Constitution, but even those who support the present system have problems with the way it was applied in this case.

Incidentally, both HP and Dell are asking to file “friend of the court” briefs supporting Microsoft’s appeal of this judgment.

I note that Andy Updegrove, whom I respect highly, doesn’t seem to think this is going to be the big, world-ending thing that everyone else seems to think. He’s right, of course, but I think it will be bigger than he thinks, particularly when coupled with the potential effects of Microsoft’s own XML in word processing patent.

Microsofties, I sincerely hope your company wins this case. I support you in this, even as I continue to disagree with the way that companies (including yours) are filing patents based on a misinterpretation of the clear meaning of the Constitution.

Storing text docs in XML may run afoul of Microsoft patent – Ars Technica

The patent appears to cover both the creation of the XML document and the file that’s created. That would allow a certain degree of leeway in terms of interoperability, as there is nothing here that would seem to cover reading a Microsoft-generated XML document, for example. But it certainly seems that Microsoft could assert that any word processor that used this class of XML storage as a native format was violating its patents.

The key question going forward is what Microsoft chooses to do with this patent now that it has been granted. The company is under pressure in both the US and EU to increase its software’s interoperability with that of its competitors, so a rigorous enforcement of this patent would seem like an express lane to further legal trouble, something the company has seemingly been anxious to avoid.

I hope that SteveB and company will awaken to the dangers posed by unlimited patents and copyrights and join me in calling for a greatly restricted scope for such “intellectual property”. Misusing patents and copyrights to lock up information for private profit harms everyone, as Microsoft is again learning. See the GeekPAC position paper for more information.

IceRocket tags: Software Patents, Microsoft

Software Patents, Microsoft

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