My Teacher is Making a Switch

Yesterday I visited an old friend of mine, hadn’t seen him in years.

He (R) tought me the basics of computing back in the 90ties on a PC running MS-DOS, and later Windows 3.11 and Windows 95.

R actually inspired me to buy a PC and and, with his guidance, I learned how to use it.

Until 2001 I used Microsoft software, the last OS I used was Win2k , in my opinion, relatively, the best product they ever made.

In 2001 I switched to RedHat 7.1 and, after some distrohopping, now I use Debian, dual booting with Windows XP. (XP is mostly for my son who likes to play games)

My old friend stuck to Microsoft.

Yesterday he told me he was switching to Ubuntu, I responded how much I liked Debian and stopped using Ubuntu a while ago.

He asked if Ubuntu was a good Distribution for beginners, and suddenly I realized he was the beginner now, planning a switch I made 7 years ago, and told him it is a good distro for beginners indeed.

Its good to visit an old friend off an on .

Tuxicity.

Howto : Make Flash Player 9 work in full screen mode

To get Flash Player 9 to work in full screen mod mode you need Flash, build 9.0.64.0 , a prerelease of the next version of Flash

On most distros the Stable version of Flash: 9.0.48.0 is available

To get the prerelease of Flash you need to go to adobe.labs.com
The release notes of this prerelease version can be read here
And as you can read there in the fixed Issues :

In full-screen mode on Linux, playing odd-width movies (with screen widths not divisible by 16) may cause a crash.

Is fixed
It basically means ‘full screen Flash works now in Linux’ yaaay!!

Rpm based distros are lucky, they can upgrade with download Plugin for Linux x86 (RPM, 2.88 MB)
Other distros need to uninstall their original plugin and Download Plugin for Linux x86 (TAR.GZ, 2.88 MB)

Extract the TAR.GZ (usually a rightclick and a extract here will do) , then continue on your terminal:

cd /path/to/install_flash_player_9_linux/

If you use firefox or mozilla run the installer:

./flashplayer-installer

It will ask some questions and install flash locally
You can also run it as root (sudo) if you wish, but usually this is not needed.
You can also copy the plugin into the pluginfolder of your preferred browser:
as root (sudo)

cp libflashplayer.so /path/to/your/preferred/browser/plugins/

If all this sounds alien/confusing to you, just be patient for your next update of flash in your distro, which will probably solve the full screen issue.

Tuxicity.

Resources: labs.adobe.com , labs.abobe.com releasenotes

Pioneer Linux fails to excite

It looks like Pioneer Linux is no more then a Kubuntu clone with Automatix2 script an Firefox installed.

A quote (Linux.com):

“The Pioneer developers have done well by choosing a mature distro like Kubuntu as base. Unfortunately for them, Kubuntu is also one of the most popular distributions. Techalign fails to provide any compelling reason to choose Pioneer Linux over Kubuntu.”

Read the rest of this review here.

Debian releases version 4.0, code-named “etch.”

The Debian project has released its long-awaited new stable version, Debian 4.0, code-named “etch.”

In development for almost 2 years, etch has several notable improvements, but as Andreas Barth, Debian’s release manager, notes, some packages might need an update soon.

Read about it

• here (Linux.com), and
• here (Distrowatch.com)
• here (Debianadmin.com
• here (Desktoplinux.com)
• here (ITWire)

Linux Mint released a “nonsense” Edition: Bianca Light

It looks like some distro’s create a release for the sake of releasing a release.

Linux mint is an Ubuntu based distribution including proprietary software and patented technologies.

Bianca Light Edition however has removed those components because:

“In some countries where the legislation allows software patents to be enforced the Light Edition provides a way for users to legally download Linux Mint.”

This is a bogus reason; we have Ubuntu for that issue, Bianca Light is a:

“How do I get more attention release”

Well you got mine.

• Release notes of Bianca Light.

Tuxicity.

Choosing the Right Linux Distribution

Ready to use Linux? Choosing the right version for your needs can be seriously daughnting. Jethro Carr presents helpful tips for choosing the right Linux distro for your needs. He provides details regarding: purposes of different flavors, package management, stability, and personal experiences with numerous versions.

read more | digg story

Distro’s and (lack of) Packages.

I prefer Gnome over KDE, and also prefer Ubuntu Brown over Mandriva Blue, its all a matter of personal preference.

In other words, who cares, I am not going to flame anyone.

In KDE I need some Gnome apps, and need some KDE apps when using Gnome

In Gnome I use the following KDE apps:

• akregator

• ktorrent

In KDE I would use the following Gnome apps:

• Pan

• Xchat

• Gedit

• Gaim

There are usable replacement apps for both DE’s, but this just works better for me, and is the reason I have both environments installed.

My first experiences with distro’s that had an abundance of packages were Debian and Gentoo, and for the same reason I use now Ubuntu. There is so much to discover!

I’ll never be happy with any distro that has exclusively KDE or Gnome or in any other way a limited set of packages, however fast and/or stable it may be.

There are so many great open source applications to discover, and one of them might just be the one that suits me best.

Tuxicity.

Ubuntu based distro’s , An inventory

• Mepis
• Ulteo
• Linspire, soon
• Biznix Linux
• Elbuntu
• linux Mint
• fluxbuntu
• scribuntu
• Ubuntu Multi Media
• Guadalinex
• Arabian linux
• MoLinux
• Ubuntu Lite
• EduPuppy GioveLUG
• gNewSense
• X-Evian LiveCD
• Devubuntu
• Ebuntu
• Ichtux
• Ubuntu Christian Edition
• nUbuntu
• Dubuntu
• Zubuntu
• Ubuntu Satanic edition
• ImpiLinux
• mEDUXa

For Details of most of these Products Go Here
For the ones missing on that page go Here

Maybe I’ll roll my own, very, very unique Ubuntu based Distro one day

yet another Ubuntu based Distro : Syxoo Bizniz Linux F07

Syndicated from LXer:

Syxoo Bizniz Linux is a rock-solid Linux based on Kubuntu, which autodetects more modern hardware. It will run as a LIVE-CD on practically any computer. It is ideal for your common business needs – or simply for safe surfing and mailing in an internet cafe. It installs to your hard drive in just a few minutes and is ideal for use on your desktop workstation or notebook. Start to work whith Linux whithin an hour and save lots and lots of money.

The key features of Syxoo Bizniz Linux

Syxoo Bizniz Linux makes your computer virus-free, stable and dependable. You’ll spend less time fixing your PC and more time using an easy graphical interface to get work done.

*No spyware, virus and other common windows threats
*Stable, dependable and without any reinstallation
*Simple installation
*Firewire and USB support
*Import your Microsoft Office documents (WORD, EXCEL and others)
*Run from the CD/DVD drive or harddrive
*Absolutely virus-free environment
*Free updates
*The best software included to cover ordninary business work
*Copy/Download it for free

Software that is included on the cd:

*OpenOffice (a complete office suit)
*Kmymoney (Economy software)
*Kplato (Project management)
*Scribus (Desktop Publishing)
*Kvivio (Flowcharts)
*K3B (cd/dvd burner)
*Kontakt (contact management)
*Gimp (Graphics)
*And much much more…

I hope you find Syxoo Bizniz Linux useful

Have fun;
Magnus Grander

Syxoo Website Here

Development Release: Arch Linux 0.8 Beta 2

Original from archlinux.org:Hi folks,
after one month heavy hacking during the evenings/weekends on archboot.
0.8 Beta2 Isos are available for i686 and x86_64.This time only isolinux is used to avoid non booting cd media.
- switched to kernel 2.6.20.1
- to boot the ISO 96 MB RAM are recommended, it breaks somewhere between 80 – 90 MB RAM.
(calculated like this: kernel image + initrd size + decompressed initrd)
- fixed many other small things i cannot remember The 0.8 Isos now run like any installed arch system,
here are the highlights:
* pacman is included to allow installation of any other needed package
in install environment.
* complete /etc/rc.d/ and /etc/rc.conf support
* complete arch network support, including ssh,telnet and portmap services
* custom config files support:
any media with /config directory and files will be copied to /etc/
install environment
* loading packages as addons during boot:
any media with /packages directory including pacman packages will be
installed during bootup.
* links and naim included to be able to communicate over the internet.
* complete kexec support
* updated doku to 0.8

ISOs are on the way to the mirrors so please be patient until they are synced.

i686
x86_64

everything mentioned here should be fixed:
Showstoppers

Forum feedback thread is here:
Forum

please test those Isos well and try to break them, we are stepping forward to
rc candidates soon

Again to clarify Beta2 doesn’t mean Arch 0.8 is in beta2 stage, the install
environment is meant with beta2.

Have fun and thanks for testing.

greetings
tpowa