It's snowing today. The first flakes began to fall a few minutes ago. They give a reason for the sky to wear brittle, steely gray. Jimmy may go to Al's funeral; I couldn't. Maybe snowflakes are a quiet reminder of the impermanence of life; they float, they fall, a perfect shape among countless other beautiful shapes unnoticed, remain a short time, and melt away just as we eventually will. Mama always said February is a long month; shorter of days and longer of time. The money never reaches, the bills from last year accumulate, the cold comes, and we close ourselves indoors. So its snowing and the winds build and time will come so slowly, too quickly gone. Our days float down in silence, soon will melt away, and soon be gone. 

Four Years with Linux--Ubuntu Matures

Well, I turned on my Windows XP Box a couple of months ago, back in March, and spent a few hours doing the upgrades--I hadn't run Windows at home since before Christmas, and almost every piece of software from the OS to the applications needed an individual upgrade, with the McAfee virus scanner insisting on running in background and slowing the process down.  Immediately following the upgrades, the system was perceptibly slower, with no other changes except the upgrades. Reminds me of why I switched to Ubuntu in the first place.

The last Alpha release for Ubuntu 11.04 came out in the middle of last month, and I loaded it on my production machine, AMD FX-60 with 4gb of ram.  I'd heard it was buggy, but I found it as stable as any release so far even considering the big changes, including a shift in Office from OpenOffice.org to Libre Office, and an upgrade in kernel. The Ubuntu team skipped the Beta release ostensibly because of a holiday.

In class, we had all loaded the alpha1 release several months ago with very few crashes, and no crashes I did not believe were caused by student experimentation with the OS or student install choices.

The very first comment I heard from students was, "How do I get rid of the MAC doc?"  Perhaps not MAC exactly, but darned close to it.  In fact, the system is stuck with it--a huge kindergarten goofy dock stuck to the side of the monitor.  Unity.  On the other hand, there is a choice--switch to Ubuntu classic.  However, on switching to classic mode, we immediately discovered the scroll bar was missing.  OK, not missing, but changed to a cellphone style scrubber.  On the Human Clearlooks theme I have managed to keep since it first came out, the little orange vertical dash is nearly invisible.  What used to be a fairly intuitive mouse over to scroll up or down, has become a hunt and search for that stupid scrubber which is apparently sometimes inside the line and sometimes out. I hate that thing.

Too bad the designers have made the choice for me apparently irrevocably.  The scroll bar I've lived and worked with since Windows 3 days is choking out it's last breath as far as the Ubuntu/Unity team are concerned.  I really don't mind the reduction in size of the scroll bar, but in my higher resolution screen, it is invisible.  How about at least giving us a means to change the color or the size of the scrubber, guys?

I perceive this as part of the maturization process of Linux. 

Back in the DOS days, Peter Norton and Bill Gates worked to add more functionality and control to the OS.  Somewhere along about DOS 5 or so, the software writers decided corporately that users were too (dumb, larcenous, smart, undeserving, etc.) to have that much control, and user controls became more and more restricted until the users finally got fed up and caused the early demise of Vista.

Now I perceive this same mode of thinking seeping into the Linux world--"why would 'they' need to be able to do 'that'?"  So, now we have that distinctly MACish  dock on the side hopping around and poking it's little icons in and out like Whack-a-Mole.  Or, we can choose classic mode and deal with the scroll bar overlay.  Even the classic mode is destined to go away in 11.10, Ocelot.

Another change that caused me to throw my arms into the air was the arbitrary deletion of Open Office.Org for Libre.  I had selected OOO prior to the move to Linux from Windows, and sincerely don't appreciate the deletion of my program.  I understand the reasoning, having researched the decision, but Libre is a little rough around the edges for my level of word processing usage. Same with the swap from GQView to Geeqie last distribution upgrade.  What about personal choices?

People on the forums are in arms about the arbitrary changes in functionality.  I like Ubuntu.  Hope it's not time to apply the Red Green men's prayer to my choice of operating systems: "I'm a man and I can change if I have to---I guess (sigh)." We'll see.

Three Years with Ubuntu

I've been perfectly happy with Ubuntu for the last three years or so.  Right now on my production computer, I'm running 10.10, Maverick Meerkat Beta.  The final version will be released three days from now, but I upgraded as soon as the alpha product went to beta. There have been only the minor adjustments one would expect with a beta product--but no crashes or major fixes. I tested the alpha on a few PCs, and found it a well-rounded and well-developed product.

The Ubuntu interface is slick and polished, and the applications for the default installation are well chosen.  There are a few changes I made just because I have been used to certain favorite applications and interface styles, but nothing I would demand in a new install, for instance, I like the VLC media player because it is cross-platform, and I like the Filezilla FTP application.  If I were a new user switching from OSX, XP, or Win7, the learning curve would be relatively flat.  Having given the Ubuntu desktop to others on refurbished computers, I have had primarily positive remarks.  Even those who are new to computing have found the Ubuntu Gnome Desktop with default applications to be simple and intuitive to learn.

Coming up here in about two weeks, one of my classes will be wiping the hard drives of the classroom computers and reloading from scratch.  I fully expect to find very few difficulties. The main difference between this installation and a home installation is that here, the classroom computers are bound to the network.

I really feel that considering the high level of development of the new distribution, there is no reason not to run Ubuntu Linux at home or in a business environment. There are numerous reasons why it is superior to either Windows and Mac OSX, for instance, on a PC, the installation with all the necessary applications included takes less than half an hour, and any individual can do it easily. My vote--thumbs up for Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Linux -- 2 years later

In February 2007, I noted I was about ready to make the switch from Windows to Linux. There were some hesitations: I had a sizable monetary investment in Windows software. I wasn't sure Ubuntu--Edgy Eft at the time--would adequately support the workload.

In my computer maintenance classroom, I had the students load 20 PII 450 MHz computers with a clean install of Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) then later upgrade to 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn). I was fully prepared to have them wipe the drives and reinstall Windows should the experiment fail.

The result was fairly impressive. The transition from Windows 98 and Windows XP was all but transparent to the students. They found the Gnome interface intuitive and easy to use, the network easy to connect to, and access to the various flavors of servers and printers in the school easy to find. In fact, they found the capabilities of Linux exceeded the capabilities of Windows, and there were more ways to look at a network in Linux than there are in Windows.

The complaints: No 'jiggles' in Pidgeon. Can't load Google Chrome. Google Earth didn't run very well. No Windows games. Ubuntu is far less forgiving than WinXP at being shutdown with the powerbutton.

At home, I made the transition as well. There were some minor nightmares in the learning curve, but as a rule all went well. The Ubuntu Forum on usenet is a great place for newbies to find help and advice.

Once I found the equivalent applications lists on the web, I was pretty much done. I depended on ACDSee and PhotoShop a good bit, and found GQView and GIMP excellent replacements. I'm not going to say GIMP is as powerful as PhotoShop, but as a general purpose tool, it is great.

I also depended greatly on Microsoft Office--Word, Powerpoint, Excel--and was wowed by the ease of transitioning to Open Office.org. I'm not sure I would have been able to make the switch without those three elements.

Two weeks ago, I powered up my old Win XP box looking for files. I had not powered it up since July! Which is to say I haven't needed XP in 6 months. I was quickly reminded how fast Ubuntu loads compared to WinXP.

Ubuntu is an excellent alternative to Windows. I put my 11 year old daughter on it and she found it easy and intuitive. OK, she's not administering the system, but she's not really able to break it either.

At the office, I bravely upgraded to the Alpha Release of Jaunty Jackalope. There have been no problems to speak of, none major. When April rolls around, I'm sure I'll be upgrading the classroom to 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).

Comment to Canonical: Keep up the great work people!

Linux

I'm about ready to switch. I've been fighting this too long. After years of loyalty to Microsoft products, the expense of yet another upgrade to a similar operating system weighs heavily on my wallet. The availability and power of various Linux distributions shines a welcoming light from the end of the tunnel.

At risk of geezerfying the first post to my blog, I have some experience with new operating systems. Over the years I have enjoyed the increased capabilities each new iteration DOS brought. I own in my collection of outdated software every version of DOS and Windows since before Microsoft Corp. put its byline at the bottom of IBM DOS boxes. If you want to look, stop by the display case outside my office.

I remember the thrill when DOS first catered to 16 bit color, and when we first began to make the computer beep in customized tones thanks to Peter Norton. Each iteration of DOS gave us new capabilities, new utilities, new power over the organization of the electrons hurtling through our systems. There was Zenith DOS, Burroughs DOS, IBM DOS, and the coveted Microsoft DOS. No stranger to swapping floppies back and forth, we all stood up when the first dual 3 1/2", 720k floppy machine came into the office, and again when the first Winchester equiped box arrived.

Then the change began. I mark it with the demise of X-copy. Initially, a powerful tool, it quickly degraded and then faded. Somehow, the ability to own the flux of magnetic media has been taken from us piece by tiny piece. In the beginning, given a little skill, every file could be moved or copied from one folder to another, from one disk to another. Quickly, certain files were not permitted to be copied directly. Changes occurred. The files weren't the same. Files DOS would read couldn't be duplicated on 12 bit floppies. Attributes changed significantly. Legalities concerning intellectual property of electronic data mushroomed and exploded.

I'll admit that I have not looked back fondly on the need to swap floppies, particularly when everything I need is happily stored on the terabyte of disk space in my plain putty box. I have managed to figure out how to deal with the plethora of online media Windows hides as it downloads data into my computer and generally how to keep my own data safe. I hardly make a grimmace as I reboot my computer five times a day with every upgrade, update and self-installing program.

After years of maintaining my own computers and computer labs for others, I can install and upgrade service packs as well as anyone. But when I threw in Knoppix live for the first time a few days ago, I was significantly impressed. Our corporate network runs on Debian Linux and I've loaded various distributions of Mandrake, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Red Hat, Fedora and others over the past several years. Certain special purpose boot discs such as Helix and Knoppix have their uses in a computer lab. Still, I never bothered to make the change personally because, while fun and interesting, Linux has always required more hands-on time than I was willing to give it in a production environment.

I almost stumbled onto the new Knoppix distribution on Distrowatch.com. Just to stay knowledgable, I had downloaded Knoppix 5.1.1, released this weekend. Freshly burned, the disc was in the drive while Windows required a yet another reboot to update one of those increasingly mandatory spy protection utilities. Set to boot to CD, the computer auto-started Knoppix, and I let it have its way.

Knoppix 5.1.1 booted far faster than I expected. Helix Linux actually found my exact monitor--an old Dell--but I watched Knoppix find all the remaining pieces of my two year old home-brew 64-bit AMD system and come up fully within 60 seconds. I was on the internet immediately using DHCP. Knoppix includes a new browser--Ice Monkey--which performed as smoothly as the more familiar Mozilla browser, even taking the ctrl-enter stroke to complete web addresses. Open Office ran nicely and only wasted a few pieces of bond paper as I found the correct printer settings for my old HP 4p. Frozen Bubbles is as much fun as ever. File browser was able to mount and read my NTFS drives, although I didn't try to write back.

Overall, Knoppix performed far above my expectations--particularly since it was running live from CD and not installed on my HDD. I would anticipate it to perform even better after installation and updates from certain repositories.

With the arrival of Windows Vista and its significant price tag, Linux is looking more and more appealing. I grudged myself $89 each to upgrade to Win ME and 2000, then $129 to move to XP Pro , but Vista Ultimate is a big chunk of change considering the corporate protections built in to serve them rather than support users. I won't go back to swapping CDs like floppies from the golden days, but Knoppix is very appealing right now. I just may switch.