Introducing Baby Gavin

This is baby Gavin, about 15 minutes after he was born. He was looking around at all of us.

I'm Voting Republican!

Pretty fly for a white...computer

If you're Apple user, consider this question carefully:
Would you still use Mac OS X if it could be installed on any type of PC?

I believe most people move to Apple because they were seduced by the pretty equipment. I'll give Apple that; they make good looking hardware. Others moved to Apple because they liked their iPod. The Mac vs PC commercials have been pretty successful at moving people to Mac.

Apple hardware is expensive. They usually go with the best stuff available at the time of manufacture, and make sure it runs on OS X. Price is the biggest obstacle for most people who'd like to buy a Mac. When money is tight, there's little choice when the laptop PC is $600, and the Mac is $1200. Yes, there is the Mac Mini. That does bring OS X closer to the masses, but the Mini hasn't been that great of a seller. I'd get one, but I'm me.

If you could go to Wal Mart, back in the electronics section, up to the software wall, get the recent upgrade to OS X (we'll call our imaginary version 10. 7.22.1 "Ferral Cat"), take it home and install it on your laptop or desktop PC, would you do it?

If so, why? Besides the malware issues with Windows, what other reason do you choose or prefer OS X over WindowsXP/Vista or Linux?

Knowing me, I'd rush to the Apple store, get me a brand spanking new Mac Book Pro, and have buyers remorse before I got to my car. I'd keep the computer, though. It's pretty.

Security or what?

Best line I've heard in years:

"It's not a question of Security vs Privacy. It's a question of Liberty vs Control!"

Security Updates

I'm of the mindset, "Once a system has been compromised, it can't be trusted." If I find malware on a computer, be it Windows, Mac, or Linux (unlikely for the last two), I complete wipe it (Dban), and reinstall the system. It's funny to me that people still call it, "reformat". We've passed the Windows 98 days, folks. If you try to simply clean the system with anti-virus/spyware/adware solutions, you can't be sure the problem is gone. Only by wiping and reinstalling can you be sure.

Wipe the hard drive:
Dban
Tutorial on using Dban: Iron Geek

Some information on reinstallation:
PC World - Step By Step, reinstall Windows
About.com - How to Reinstall Windows without losing your data
Chris Parillo - How to Reinstall OSX
Dartmouth - Reinstalling OSX

Reinstalling Ubuntu is about the same as the above information. You can install Ubuntu from the DesktopCD, or the Alternative Install CD. Free Geek Central Florida gives a copy of Dban and the Ubuntu DesktopCD with each FreekBox.

But, you then hit the problem of how the malware got there in the first place. Wipe/reinstall won't stop the problem from happening again. It might - if the original problem happened from a vulnerability that's been recently patched- but it will probably happen again.

Once you're wiped and reinstalled the system, don't forget to do ALL the system updates. This is especially important on Windows.

Most malware comes from manipulation the user in order to get to the system. Email attachments, malicious scripts on websites, malware imbedded in picture files, and 'cross site scripting' are just a drop in the bucket of social engineering. The hard part is to learning how the original problem happened.

If you're a home user, a simple wipe, reinstall, update will take care of most malware and vulnerabilities. But, if you're an organization with 5 or more users, that simple procedure won't be enough.

What will be enough depends on the size of your business, the importance of the data, and what you can afford. That is whole 'nuther book, not just a blog post.

Use the anti-virus/spyware/adware products and programs to detect if you have something. If you do, don't bother 'cleaning', 'quaranteening'. Just wipe and reinstall.

Free anti-malware resources:
ClamWin -This is what I use for Windows
ClamXav - ClamAV for Mac
ClamAV - for Linux/BSD

And don't keep your personal files on the same disk as your system. That's just asking for trouble.

Render Me This

Last week, I listened to the recent episode of the The Linux Link Tech Show, with special guest Campbell Barton - Technical director of Big Buck Bunny. Big Buck Bunny is an animated short movie created using Blender, a free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. Blender is an incredible program maintained by The Blender Foundation. And, like many open source programs, it's completely free. Blender also has a huge community, lots of free training information, and The Blender Institute behind it.

I was really impressed that Big Buck Bunny was created in less than a year, but a fairly small team. Campbell Barton gives a good insight into the process that helped create Big Buck Bunny, and how it pushed Blender to increase functionality.

When I first heard of Blender, I took it as an alternative to something like SolidWorks, or possibly even Pro Engineer, but I may have been wrong about that. Then again, I could be wrong about being wrong. Either way, Blender tends to be used more for content creation than solid model design and engineering.

Today on the Linux Today news feed, I saw this article about the creation of Helmer -a 24 core, 48 GB ram clustered machine using a Helmer filing cabinet from IKEA- for just $3500 in parts. Many companies offer rendering server farms to accomplish this tasks for unbelievable costs, but Helmer (and I hear Helmer II is almost complete) can be put together by almost anyone with a A+ certification. There's even pictures of the building process and documentation on the Helmer page. I wouldn't be surprised to see Helmer Servers showing up at IKEA stores soon. What appeals to me is that Helmer might make an incredible Ubuntu LTSP Server.

A small company could use just one of these (probably the Helmer II at 50 Teraflops!), or even two or three, to produce animated movies like Big Buck Bunny.

So, watch Big Buck Bunny here, then buy the DVD!


Big Buck Bunny from Blender Foundation on Vimeo.

Green Screen Space

I now see the point of having multiple desktops, but I don't think multiple monitors are necessary. Here's my setup at work:

My home computer has only one CRT monitor. It used to be a 21" model. I decided to try a 19", and found 19" is perfect for me. 21" is just too big.

At work, I've also found that while I have two monitors displaying stuff. I really only use one at a time.

Since Beryl and Compiz/Compiz-Fusion came out, I didn't really see the usefulness of anything like the Desktop cube, wall, expose, all that eyecandy stuff. I sit now with new information. I'm going to flip-flop.

It's been claimed that having a second monitor brings up productity 20% in the average office. With the cube, a person has 4 "monitors". With enough memory, video graphics and such, using the cube is incredibly productive, and using the engery of only one monitor.



So, Compiz-Fusion is green software.
Cool.

Edubuntu Classroom installation

Blogged about it on Free Geek Central Florida Blog. Pictures too:

http://freegeekcentralflorida.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26613431@N05/

An Almost Edubuntu Nightmare

Tomorrow, Free Geek Central Florida will be installing the Edubuntu LTSP system in the Interventions Unlimited school. I'm looking forward to it.

But, last night, I was sweating it.

Wednesday or Thursday, a bunch of updates came through for Ubuntu. One of those was a security update for openssh. As usually, I installed all the updates. But, from experience I decided to test the server/client. I set up one of the clients, booted into the server, and all seemed well. At first.

The Ubuntu login screen appeared. I entered the user name, then the password. Then.....nothing. I just said, "Verifying Password. Please wait...." I did just that. I waited. And waited. And waited. No login happened.

By now, I was on the edge of a slight panic attack. Not of of my full blown freakouts that happen when all my patterns change at once, but a "Oh NO! I'm going to have to stay up all freakin night!" panics.

I quickly searched the Ubuntu Forums, and found a post with the same problem. There was no answer, so I bumped the question up by dittoing the problem for myself. Within 5-10 minutes, there was a reply and a solution, from someone in Melborne Australia. I followed the instructions, rebooted the server and the client, and the login worked.

Disaster and a sleepless night averted.

We'll be taking pictures of the installation. I'll post them here, and on the Free Geek Central Florida Blog.

Peer Reviewed Software

Maybe Open Source Software isn't the term we should use anymore. When I say, "Open Source Software" to the average person, they reply with, "I have some band-aids, if you need them." Other times, people reply, "Shareware." I have to reply, "No. Shareware is so 1990's".

The term Open Source seems to give businesses the heebie-jeebies. I've heard one business person say, "I ain't using that commie crap. Give me good old capitalist stuff." I'm sure the Good-Ole-Boy network helped him get his job.

Open Source also seems to imply that the code base is just out in the wild. Available to anyone. I feel much more confident with Open Source, but if I took a look at the code, I'd have no idea what I was looking at.

When I worked in exercise research, the professors refused to even look at anything that wasn't Peer Reviewed. It also had to be independent of corporate involvement. Never mind that our checks had an exercise company's name on them, and not the University's.

The other day, I explained to someone that Linux was Peer Reviewed, while the code for Windows wasn't available for Peer Review. That made more sense to him that the term, Open Source. I also explained that Linux code was a meritocracy, while Windows wasn't. The best code made it into Linux, but whatever code was close to being ready made it to Windows.

While Linux is Open Source, I Peer Reviewed Software might be a better term. It implies that the code has been looked over -which it has- been reviewed by industry peers- which it has- and submitted for use -which it has.

I'd like some comments on this idea. Thanks.

Edubuntu Victory!

Since my Network+ class, I've been working on setting up an Edubuntu LTSP (Linux Terminal Service Project) classroom. The stumbling block was getting old Pentium II computers to PXE boot. Most of the older machines don't have a PXE option in the BIOS. I'd tried to use the rom-o-matic.net to make a bootable disk, but wasn't having any luck at all.

The new version of Edubuntu is different. Instead of Edubuntu being a completely different distribution, it's an add-on to a regular Ubuntu installation. To install an Edubuntu server or workstation, you install Ubuntu from the Alternate Install CD. If you want to create a server, you press F4 after selecting the language, and choose the "install LTSP" option.

The first Alternate Install CD I burned, I used the new Brasero disk burning utility. Everything seemed to checkout okay; MD5 checksum and disk integrity looked good. The installation when well until it had to install LTSP chroot. Each time it tried to install, it failed. After several more disk wipes and reinstallation, I tried burning another disk, this time using GnomeBaker -the utility I'm used to. On the next install attempt; success.

Free Geek Central Florida also recently got a donation of three enterprise level 24 port switches. I plugged one in, plugged the newly installed server up to it, and plugged my laptop to the switch. Netbooted my laptop by pressing F12 at boot, and it successfully booted in the the server.

I still had the problem of getting all the older computers to network boot. I surfed back to rom-o-matic.net. While looking through the list of individual Network Card drivers, I noticed a gPXE:all-drivers option. "Okay, that looks interesting." I downloaded the image, burned, and booted an older Pentium II up. It booted right into the Edubuntu server. I think this netboot image should be on the Edubuntu site.

So, this morning, I feel on top of the world.

Invictus

The next task is to install the classroom in the Interventions Unlimited center.

Ubuntu Story Dot Com

UbuntuStory is a must see site:
http://www.ubuntustory.com/

Warriors of the Net

A video of how packets work:

Users

No...not stoners. Computer users.
In my IT classes, IT message boards, and other areas, I found that many IT people often blame users for computer problem. The infamous ID ten T error (IDIOT), or "the problem is between the computer chair and the keyboard". I disagree. Users aren't idiots, and they shouldn't need to speak binary to use a computer.

Windows is a excellent system. Yes, I actually said that. Windows is easy to use, easy to install software, and very user friendly. The problem I have isn't with Windows. I have a problem with Microsoft's business practices, especially those practices that led to a 95% market share (probably more, actually. I also have a problem with the code for Windows being closed source, and not just in the ethical sense. I feel safer when source code is 'peer reviewed', so-to-speak (or write). From what programmers tell me, much of the closed source software is closed, not just for business reasons, but because the code is so full of garbage the programmers would be embarrassed to let it out.

Windows is an excellent system because is easy to use. Between Ubuntu, Mac OSX, and Windows, Windows is probably the easiest. I'd say Ubuntu would be next, but I'm sure I'd get heat from the Maccult people, so I won't say that. I'll just think it. (Thinking) OSX is an excellent system, and also easy to use, but not as easy as Windows. Microsoft has invested a lot in research for usability, and it shows. With millions of computer users, usability feedback is readily available.

All the system copy each other's 'usability' ideas. Window managers, desktop layout, file managers, Graphical User Interfaces, etc. While some of the companies may like to think they have software patents on some of the ideas (like Microsoft and double-clicking the mouse) those patents will eventually fall when challenge. That, or the companies will realize that the USA's stupid patent laws are holding innovation back.

Mac OSX has some usability features that help users. Primarily, for most tasks, there is only one way to get something done. I call this the 'franchise' approach.

McDonald's tries to create all it's equipment so that you have to try to mess up. Ideally, everything at a McDonald's would be so easy to use, the user wouldn't need an education to perform the task. Mac OSX seems to follow this model, and for the most part it works well.

I use and recommend Ubuntu for two reason:

1. Of all the Linux distros, it's the most usable for the common person. I know the PCLinuxOS people will complain, but I'll remind them of one thing: PCLinuxOS is rpm based. Nuff said.
2. Ubuntu, like most Linux distro, give you the ability to lock-step usability like Mac OSX (with Gnome), or have incredible variety and choice like Windows (with KDE). Gnome provides choices too, but Gnome is easier to use for the average user.

The reality is; what we now know as the Graphical User Interface will change drastically in the next few year. Windows, Mac, and Linux will progress fast. Usability will increase also.

The difficulty of computers today is NOT the users fault.

Bohemian Rhapsody on Acoustic

Yes, I've been a bit off the Tech and Linux stuff lately. Final Project, and Finals, don'tcha know:

Endeavour

For years, I've told this story. I got the date and place wrong, but now I know the details. I got the words right, and to this day I can't repeat them without a tremor in my voice:

Drama

I know this isn't tech relevant, and you've probably seen at least one of these videos, but I just like them:

WarGames: The Dead Code

I'm actually looking forward to this:

Boon2

Every so often I read complaints about how the Ubuntu name is spread too thin. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Gobuntu, Fluxbuntu, nUbuntu. There's a few more, but that's not the point.

Some people say it should be; Ubuntu Gnome Edition, Ubuntu KDE Edition, Ubuntu XFCE edition, Ubuntu Educational Edition, Ubuntu Server Edition. The server edition actually exists, but the others were already named above.

Okay, Ubuntu and Linux folks: BUNTU is the base name, if you didn't notice. So there's no need for that Ubuntu (insert favorite desktop) Edtion.

However, I propose changing the name to Boon2. We could have, OoBoon2, KooBoon2, ZooBoon2, EDooboon2. That way, people could have their base name. Then again, some would clamor for Boon2 Gnome Edition, Boon2 KDE Edition. You get my point. Freaking naming Nazis.

I don't really care how they name it.

Speaking of Naming
I understand the point of GNU/Linux, but like most others I refuse to say, "Ganew, slash, Linux." I don't say, "FreeBSD slash Darwin slash Aqua"when I mean OS X, or "EnTee plus Windows." The work done on GNU is a very important part of any GNU/Linux distro, but I prefer to call each by their own name.
Windows
OS X (Mac is the hardware)
S0laris
Ubuntu
Puppy Linux
Damn Small Linux
DesktopBSD

Those are ones I use. I don't go around explaining, "Ubuntu is a Linux distribution." I tell people, "I use Ubuntu on most of my computers", to which the usual response is, "What?" When I talk about Ubuntu, Fedora, SUSE, I don't bother explaining about Linux. Linux is the underbelly of those distribution.

Of those operating systems above, only Puppy and Damn Small have Linux actually in the name. If Linux is part of the name, then it should be called ____ Linux.

Most people who own a Volvo, Mercedes, Audi, or BMW don't care all those cars are assembled at the same plant in Belgium, and share some of the same frames. Most people don't care that almost all laptops come from three different plants, two in Taiwan, one in China. All they care is that the Operating System, car, or laptop works. Maybe they should care (I do), but they don't.

Most people don't know, and for them most part don't care, that alternatives to Windows and OSX actually exist. They don't even care most of them are free. But upcoming economic conditions may change that soon. When people don't have the extra money to spend on constantly upgrading to a newer, faster computer, systems like Ubuntu, Puppy Linux, and Damn Small Linux will be very important.

So, call your system whatever you want. I'm not a naming nazi.

Say Anything

My feelings about working: