Starting PPPoE on boot in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty

I spend three hours trying to make sure that PPPoE started at boot time on my mothers computer. PPPoE works normally after running pppoeconf or pon dsl-provider, but for some reason would not reactivate on the next boot.

Turns out, I had to change:
iface eth0 inet manual
to
iface eth0 inet dhcp

in /etc/network/interfaces

After the change, PPPoE now starts automatically on boot.

If you need a hand:

• hit ALT+F2.


• Enter the following command:


• gksudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces


• Find the line that read iface eth0 inet manual.


• Change the word manual to dhcp


• Save the file and reboot!

Java (does|doesn't) suck

I use Java programs all the time: jEdit, Eclipse and ArgoUML just to name a few. As a programmer, Java has served me well for over a decade, and I've never once wrote a piece of Java code of which the performance was unacceptable.

However, I keep hearing other user complain and snicker about the performance of Java. Though I try to defend the performance of one of my favourite programming language, I continue to hear the same chant again and again.

Once and for all, let me say: Java is not slow. If you don't believe me, come to my Java Performance Tuning course. I'll be happy to write equivalent Java and C code and time the execution of both.

An article on Phoronix.com brought to light something that I never expected. It would seem that Java on Windows Vista actually runs slower that Java on Ubuntu. I have to admit that this was a great surprise for me! I always assumed that Windows being the larger market for Java it would be optimize for the platform. However, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Maybe that's why there are still a lot of folks out there who are disillusioned by the performance of Java.

From prior experience, I suspect that Java application take up much less memory on Linux than Windows, but I haven't investigate that yet.

Good News All Abound

Yay!

OOXML has been formally appealed by South Africa, Brazil and India. Microsoft has announced that they will support ODF 1.1 in Office 2007. However, they will not even support OOXML until the next version of Office.

To keep up with the good news, Internet Explorer 8 will finally be standards compliant. As a web developer, this is such a relief! No more double standards for web pages.

Furthermore, thanks to the success of the Eee PC, Linux is becoming more and more ubiquitous. Desktop Linux is, in my (no so) humble opinion at a level that is above that of Windows and the Mac. Not only do you have choice, but if you compare the ease of use of Gnome or KDE, I think that Linux is a powerful contender. The only obstacle that remains is education. Windows users need to unlearn things like C:\ drives or the pain of running setup programs.

Finally, even Novell is reporting success in the Linux front. I took the plunge and installed Novell's openSUSE, and thus far I'm greatly enjoying it. As much as I like Ubuntu, I would hate for a single Linux distribution to become the 'defacto standard,' just like I would hate to see Gnome or KDE displace one or the other. Choice and competition are good.

I'm so excited to see real competition gearing up in the world of informatics. I'm afraid that the Microsoft monopoly has set us back a number of years from where we could be in terms of technology. For example, it if hadn't been for Internet Explorer slowing the adoption of standard HTML, then CSS, where would the web be now?

Oh well. That's water under the bridge. Now that we are freeing ourself from the Microsoft stranglehold, who know what real innovation we are going to see in the world of computing.

What is Windows?

What is Windows? Yeah, I know, it's supposed to be an operating system, but I'm completely confused as to what is Windows.

Here's the situation. My work laptop is back. Of course, I promptly installed Ubuntu 8.04. Now, Ubuntu, like most Linux distribution is much more than an operating system. You get the rock-solid Linux kernel, the GNU tools, and a full-fledge desktop environment. By full-fledged, I mean that I have my office suite, Internet browser, email program, photo management and photo editing software, games, and other miscellaneous doodads. The whole thing takes a little over 2G. Oh, and none of those programs are crippled trialware.

Now comes the fun part: installing Windows Vista Ultimate!

Installing Vista is actually straight forward. Similar to Ubuntu, you just pop in the installation CD and reboot. Unfortunately, there's not 'live DVD' for Windows, so you can't try it on your hardware before you install it. That would have been really nice, as you'll see later.

Moving ahead, I went through the necessary motions (like entering the insanely long activation code). Vista installed. Vista rebooted. Vista came up. It took a little longer to install than Ubuntu but not too much, especially considering that the whole thing takes 10G of disk space already!

Now, for the fun part: Pop! pop! pop! pop!

That's the sound of all the popups that came up after the installation — or at least that would be the sound if my sound worked.

Windows Activation was one of the biggest annoyance. It complained that it had to phone home and validate with Microsoft that I'm allowed to run Vista — but it cant! Why? Well, both my wired and wireless network cards do not run.

Now, I should specify that the laptop is about half a year old. The version of Windows Vista comes with SP1, which means that it should be up to date, right?

So, here I am with 10G of hard disk space eaten up by an operating system that threatens to cripple its functionality if I don't phone home, but the operation system cannot phone home. Ouch! I can't even download the drivers, since I can't connect to the Internet.

We'll skip over the hunt for drivers and move ahead to the next interesting part about Windows Vista Ultimate. For the price, it contains remarkably little. I mean, I've got a web browser that passes as a poor imitation of Firefox, a crippled word processor called WordPad that supports only RTF or plain text and a paint programs that reminds me of my DOS days. My computer is barely powerful enough to support the whizzbang visual effects and is better without it.

(Do I need to mention that the 'whizzbang' effects are turned on in Ubuntu?)

So, here's my question to anyone who wishes to answer it: what the heck is Windows? What is the 10G for? What am I paying so much money for?

I mean, it can't be for the glitzy user interface, since that's been available long before Windows Vista (Mac OS X, XGL). It can't be for the load of default applications that are installed on it, since it's pretty naked for an operating system. It can't be for development purpose since I can't seen to find a single compiler on it, much less a decent text editor. It can't be for its hardware support since it was missing drivers for at least 7 devices on my older laptop. It can't be for it's performance, since Ubuntu is more responsive, boots faster and uses less memory.

I'm starting to suspect it's for games, since a lot of games are written for Windows. Is Windows Vista a really, really expensive virtual game console? Actually, I just learned that it's probably not the case. I just tried to run Civilization IV on Vista, and it told me that it had compatibility problems. It doesn't sound like it's the best operating system for games.

The other possibility is that people want to run Microsoft Office. Yes, Microsoft Office is a nice office suite, but I've been using OpenOffice.org since the StarOffice days. True, OpenOffice does not have all the features of Microsoft Office like talking paper clips or online activation, but it serves me marvelously well — and it has a real drawing toolbar instead of the silly ribbon. That ribbon may be great for Office neophytes, but is a total hindrance for power users.

But I digress. Let me close by saying that it's true that the best things in life are free.

Microsoft Windows for (Nearly) Free?

This is a follow up to Microsoft Windows for Free?

Shortly after I wrote this entry, a couple of interesting events occurred. As I predicted, Microsoft went ahead to compete with Linux on ultramobile PCs (UMPC) like the Eee PC. They are now offering Windows XP Home for $32 US. It's not free, but it's getting close to cheap. Actually, it's not free in either sense of the word, since Microsoft dictates what it considers a UMPC. The maximum specs are: 1G of RAM, 80G of hard disk space, single-core processor running at 1Ghz, screen size of 10.2 inches and no touch screen capability. Anything higher than that requires the vendor to buy Windows XP at their regular price.

That's fair. It's their product, so they can choose how it's licensed. However, I fail to see how they plan to compete with Linux on this field with those restrictions. Furthermore, the $32 US is only for Windows. This means that if you want Word or Excel, be ready to fork out more money. I'd be surprise that Microsoft would allow the vendors to ship Windows with OpenOffice prepackaged. Have fun playing Minesweeper!

With Ubuntu, I have a full fledged desktop with my office suite. The full install that takes up less disk space than Windows — And the $32 stays in my pocket.

Another interesting event is the fact that One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) recently announced that they would support Windows XP on the XO laptop. What a shame. To me, that alienates the whole concept of the XO — learning. How can they learn in a closed, controlled and censored system that greatly limits their freedom. Some of those children who are growing up in a dictatorship are denied yet another freedom. That is a massive loss for them.

Those poor children are denied freedom in the world of computing to further entrench the monopoly of an American company. I cannot help but wonder what goes on in the mind of folks who are more concerned with buying yet another, bigger yacht on the back of those children.

I remember in the early days that OLPC decided that the XO should only use free software (as in free speech). Thus, both Windows and Mac OS X were refused early on. Steve Jobs, president of Apple, went as far as offering Mac OS X for free (as in beer) for the XO, but was denied, since he would not free (as in speech) the software.

In their 'philanthropic' move, Microsoft is charging about $3 for Windows XP. Of course, that does not include Office or anything like that. Just Windows (Yay! Minesweeper!). Furthermore, to allow the XO to dual boot between Windows and Linux, the machine will cost an additional $7 to make.

Since Microsoft is all about their image, I was surprised that they did not offer Windows for free as Steve Jobs did with Mac OS X. I mean, $3 per copy isn't going to register a blip on Microsoft's revenue radar. So, why?

The only thing I can see is anti-thrust. Microsoft is having enough problems with the EU and the Department of Justice, that they may be reticent to offer Windows for free out of fear that it will be perceived as an anti-competitive move.

Though I may be painting Microsoft as a nasty, greedy ogre, we have to remember that they cannot force people to buy their products. They are doing a fantastic job of both painting their software as the 'only' option and — more importantly — hiding the true monetary cost of buying (and using) Microsoft software.

As long as the average consumer remains ignorant of both of those aspects, they may never realize that there are alternatives — much less of the need for those alternatives.

Ubuntu Vs. Windows Vista

Wow. What can I say? I actually had a chance to work on Vista. Really! Since the hard disk in my work laptop died, I was given another portable pre-installed with Windows Vista.

What an experience. It's an HP dual core 1.9GHz 2G laptop with an nVidia graphics card. It should fly, right? Well, it flew about as gracefully as a turtle on it's back in the middle of the highway.

For comparison, I'm currently writing this blog from an older Gateway machine running on an AMD Turion 64 (single core), 1G of RAM with a Radeon XPress 200M. running (for now) Ubuntu 7.10. The machine was out of commission since I dropped an entire cup of coffee into the DVD drive. Thankfully, the folks at Farstar Networking in Alexandria did a fantastic job resurrecting it for a fraction of the cost I would have assumed it would have been.

However, back to Vista. For starters, after I had booted, the machine was already sucking up >700MB of ram. That leaves less than 1.3G to run my applications. That's not overly bad, since I've go to 2G on the HP, but my Gateway has only 1G. So, forget about running Vista on it. In Ubuntu, running the Gnome desktop with Compiz, Apache, MySQL, Firefox 2, Thunderbird and a system update, I'm not quite at the 475MB watermark.

I've heard a lot of folks complain about the performance of Vista. I finally had a chance to experience this first hand. Yuk! Is it ever SLOW. I could not even drag a window without the system studdering. Furthermore, I got kind notification from Norton Anti-Virus that my subscription was expired, and I should renew. What's that about my credit card number? I forgot what it's like to run an OS where you need an anti-virus. Let's not get into the endless array of continual popups.

Here's my first major gripe: No package manager. HP installed tons of crap on the laptop, including a (I would assume) redundant wireless connection manager, a trial version of Norton, tons of little application that are — supposedly — there to improve the user experience, and god knows what else. Time to clean the system!

I crack open the Add/Remove program, click on the first application, hold down control, and click on the next. Guess what? You can't! In Windows, you can only uninstall a single application at a time. Furthermore, it takes forever to remove the tiniest of application. Oh, and let's not get into the reboots. Remember, I'm cleaning this up because I need to get some work done. How much fun is it when all of a sudden, all your windows starts to close one after an other, and the machine reboots. Oh, I just love it when my operating system controls me. Sure! I love being a slave to the machine. Kiss your freedom goodbye.

On the other hand, I want to upgrade my Eee PC to Ubuntu 8.04. Unfortunately, I lacked disk space. No problem. I cracked open Synaptic package manager, selected a number of application for uninstallation, clicked Apply, and waited while the applications were removed. By the time the applications were removed, Windows Vista had finished booting, and was almost at the desktop. Of course, that was just one of the many reboots I had to do with Vista. None so far on the Eee PC!

Vista is slow. I asked one of my Windows Guru how I could turn off Areo. After digging around a bit, my guru showed me the option where I could chose the Windows Basic theme instead of Areo. What a difference this makes!!! I can move my Windows without feeling like the system is about to go into terminal shock. Here, on my Gateway, I've got Compiz working with the wobbly windows and all the fun graphic effects. It works great &mdash smooth as silk. Oh, and the Gateway is Windows Vista Capable. Not Ready, which means that Areo would not even work on the machine. My Eee PC is running eeeXubuntu with Compiz as well. It's pretty!

As a last point, one of my coworker asked about an 'upgrade path' from Vista Home to Vista Premium. He needed to upgrade Vista so he could run SQL Server Reporting Services (if I'm not mistaken). The software does not run on Windows Home. Not because Windows Home is incapable of running it, but because Microsoft thinks you should not. That is why I love free software. I come from a country that enjoys freedom of expression, movement, religion, etc. I cannot imagine myself relinquishing any of those fundamental freedoms for any price. It's the same thing with software.

I'm a free person. I refuse to pay for proprietary software that limits your freedom when there are perfectly good (better!) free solution out there.

In closing, my Eee PC quietly upgraded to Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04). One reboot was all it took. I then reinstalled whatever applications I had removed. No reboots. Everything works. Don't you wish it was the same in Windows? (To be fair, the wireless card did not come back up. But it took two minutes of googling, and found a simple solution)

While I'm writing this on my Windows-Vista-Incapable Gateway laptop running Ubuntu 7.10, I'm upgrading to Hardy Heron. Can you work on your machine while you are upgrading your Windows version?

If the answer is no, I would then ask you: why not?

Oh, and you paid how much for Windows Vista? And that does not even include an office suite???

<SHOCK>!!!!</SHOCK>

Thank you Microsoft!

Microsoft is considered by many open source advocates to be the arch-enemy of Linux and free software. I think it's fair to say that Microsoft fears the success of Linux and the free/open source movement. They are doing their best to make compete. However, free software is not their traditional competitor.

Because GNU/Linux is free (as in speech), and is freely (speech & beer) available to anyone, they cannot buy it out and close it as they have done with some past competitor. Because free software is developed by a (tightly or loosely knit) community that may or may not receive corporate sponsorship, they cannot hinder the development. Because the software is free (as in beer), they cannot compete in terms of price. Even Internet Explorer is more expensive than Firefox. Though it may be a 'free' download, remember that you must buy Windows to have Internet Explorer. Thus, as part of what you pay in Windows, you also get Internet Explorer. In other words, Internet Explorer is just another (unfortunately inseparable) component of Windows — not a free download.

Finally, Microsoft cannot compete in terms of freedom. Their End User License Agreement (EULA) determines what you can and cannot do with their software. In the free software world, the license protect both your freedom to use the software, and the freedom of the software.

So, how is a multibillion dollar corporation to compete against the penguin and the likes? FUD is their answer. FUD stands for 'Fear, Uncertainties & Doubt'. Or, in Microsoftspeak, 'Get The Facts.'

In the hopes of driving people away from Linux and free software, Microsoft created a site called getthefacts.com. The site is a direct attack on free software. Though the so-called 'facts' presented by Microsoft are an assault on both intelligence and reason, I think that the biggest looser of the site is Microsoft and a major victory for Linux. For starters, I think that any reasonably intelligent person understand that asking a Honda salesperson what they think of the Ford Focus over the Civic will not get them an unbiased, objective answer. Why should it be any different with Microsoft?

What MSFT may not realize is by setting up getthefacts.com, they have provided immense exposure to GNU/Linux and the free software movement. The website presented free software as a true competitor and alternative to Microsoft products. Folks that had never heard of Linux before are now becoming aware of it thanks to Microsoft. Furthermore, IT directors who rely on Microsoft to keep them up to date with the industry are kindly informed of alternatives to Windows and Office.

For this, I say Thank You Microsoft. There is nothing like corporate backing to promote free software. After all, it's time that Microsoft catches up with the market, and joins the ranks of Novell, IBM, HP, Apple, etc who are all users and backer of free software.

Control Panel for the Eee PC

This week, I wrote a small Eee PC control panel that takes advantage of the wonderful eee kernel module. The control panel runs in the background and is available through the system tray. Pointing on the icon gives the general status of your Eee PC. A click on the icon will bring up the actual panel. From there, you can control the fan, the front-side bus (overclocking) and the voltage (from what I can understand).

Obligatory screenshots:
The system tray icon & tooltip

The control panel


The control panel is written in Gtk+, and works great on my eeeXubuntu. I would assume that it works fine on the default Xandros install or even (K)ubuntu. From start to end, the control panel was created on the Eee PC, proving that it can be used to get actual work done.

For the convenience of Debian or Ubuntu users, I've create a deb package. Otherwise, a tarball is available with a pre-compiled version of the control panel as well as the full source code. Of course, it's all GPL ;) Please copyleft.

eeectl.deb
eeectl.tar.bz2

Before you install the control panel, make sure you install the eee kernel module available at http://code.google.com/p/eeepc-linux/. Detailed installation instructions are available at http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:overclockfsb.

This is a first for me in many ways, so please forgive any stupidity or ignorance on my part. I've used Gtk, Glade and GkSu APIs for the first time, and I've created my first .deb package. I'm more than willing to learn from any guru who may find improvements to my little application.

Of course, usage of the Eee PC Control Panel is entirely at your own risk. Though I use it on my own machine, I cannot be held responsible if you fry or brick your little machine.

Hope you enjoy!

(Before you ask, there is no Windows version, nor do I intend on creating a Windows version. For starters, I'm not willing to buy a Windows license for my Eee PC. Someone else can take care of that)

Discrimination Against Linux Is Discrimination

"This gas station only serves Ford and GM vehicles. Yes, the gas works in your Honda, but we will not serve you."

"This CD player only supports CDs from Sony or BMI, Yes, your United CD would work, but we won't play it."

"This website only serves Linux or MacOS X. Yes, your operating system will work, but we won't let you view it."

How does discrimination feel? I feel fortunate that I come from a country when discrimination against race, religion or gender is protected by the constitution. I've spend most of my life ignorant of racism, and I'm very happy about that.

However, going to a website, and being told that I cannot use it because I'm not using the 'browser of choice' or the 'operating system of choice' is very insulting — especially when the website works fine with my browser and operating system. This gives me an idea of how discrimination and racism must feel.

Dilbert.com recently entered a major overhaul. That's not a problem. What's a problem is that I was greeted with the message 'Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP Media Center 2005, Mac OSX 10.3 or Mac OSX 10.4 is required to view this page.'

If you read any of my posts, you know that I run mostly Ubuntu Linux & Firefox. Thus, I was unable to enjoy part of the website. Now, before you gripe and say that Linux and Firefox do not have the capacity necessary to present the website, read on.

As someone who has developed a number of websites, I get suspicious when I'm told I can't use the site with my present configuration.

Should you be discriminated against, here are tips to help you.

Tip #1: If you are discriminated against, yell. The worst thing that you can do is decide "I'm never going back to that site." You are doing a disservice to yourself and to the site owner. Take a moment to use their comment or feedback page to tell them what you think. This is important. Some site owners may not realize the damage they are doing to their site. Help yourself by helping them. If they refuse to hear you, then leave, or try tip #2.

Tip #2: Use Firefox with the User Agent Switcher add-on. This add-on allows you to 'pretend' that you are a different browser on a different operating system. Using the agent switcher, I was able to use the section of the Dilbert's site by telling the site that I'm running (GASP!) Internet Explorer 7 running on Vista. Of course, I promptly wrote a (sorry to say) nasty message to the site telling them what I thought.

Tip #3: Don't switch! As long as your browser supports (most) of the W3C's recommendation, there is no reason for you to bow to discrimination. You have a right to choose your browser and your operating system.

I may disagree strongly with the browser that you use, but I will defend to the death your right to use it.

If it breaks, who do I blame?

A question I get in almost every seminar I present on topics like open source or Linux is: if the product fails, who can I yell at?

In other words, they are looking for a massive, faceless corporation they can call to complain (and sue). In the open source/Linux world, who can you scream at?

I think it's a valid concern ranging from home users to operators managing the information technology infrastructure of million dollars businesses. But is free software really that much of a risk compared to proprietary software?

If you download and install any piece of software licensed with the GPL, you will notice that the license boldly states that the software comes with no warranty whatsoever. In other words, if it breaks, you have no one to sue. Should you go back to proprietary software then?

If a warranty and support is the only reason to use proprietary software, well, you're in for a nasty surprise.

Let's take a look at a couple of commercial licenses:

To paraphrase the Microsoft Windows Home edition EULA, you have no warranty. Should the software not meet your needs, you have 90 days to ask for a refund. Should it cause your computer to meltdown, your claim is 'limited to the greater of the actual damages you incur in reasonable reliance on the Software up to the amount actually paid by you for the Software or US$5.00.'

I would love to peak at the Microsoft Office 2007 License, but it's in an EXE file. Strange that you need Windows to be able to see a license. Oh well, if Microsoft wants to be incompatible with the rest of the world, that's their choice.

The Adobe Photoshop CS3 license is not much more promising. Again, you have 90 days to ask for a refund. After that, you're on your own.

I'm assuming that if you feel that running proprietary software is preferable over open source, then you probably pay for an anti-virus. Here's the McAfee EULA. Aside from the warranty lasting only 30 days, the rest sounds awfully familiar. I don't know about you, but after a while, all licenses starts to sound the same, don't you think?

Just for giggles, let's take a look at one more license from a company that 'thinks different.' Can you guess who? Here's a link to their licenses. Any surprises over here? Not in terms of warranty, but looking at section 2.B, there's a mention of open source software included with the product. So, it seems that some software vendors do take a byte out of the forbidden fruit called open source.

So, are you still convinced that proprietary software offers better protection? But what about service and support agreements, you say? Microsoft will happily lighten your wallet in exchange for a phone number that you can call if you're up the creek without a paddle.

Here's the kicker. If you are in a situation where support is a requirement, that is readily available to you. You need help with your Ubuntu setup, call Canonical. You heard that PHP is a great web development language but want support, call Zend. What's a website without a database in the back end. Let's install MySQL and call Sun Microsystems for a support agreement.

If this is too many companies, you could look at one-stop single-vendor support from shops like IBM, Sun or even Novell.

And hey, if you're looking for friendly, personable support in Ontario or Quebec, call Farstar Networking.

By considering free and open source software as an alternative, not only do you get the complete source code to your application (which you don't with Microsoft), you can also get support. The choice is yours.

I'm hoping that this is a bit of a wake up call. I've seen a number of article discussing the virtues of single-vendor or multiple vendor-solutions. However, it sometimes seems like Microsoft is the only single-vendor solution out there. They may also seem to be the only one who is on solid financial grounds. If that's your opinion, be aware that when you buy Windows of Office, you are subsidizing their Internet and game division, which is known for losing money.

It may be surprising to know that Microsoft is not the only company that is making a profit. Open source is a billion dollar market that Microsoft has not been able to tap. Others are already tapping it.

So, next time you have a need for a new server or home computer, before you hit your quick dial button to Microsoft Sales, how about you place a few calls around. You may be surprised as to how much you can save in the short and long term.

And you can still have someone to blame if it doesn't work. Except you get to keep the code. What more could you want?

Microsoft Windows for Free?

How is Microsoft to compete? I mean, Mac OS X Leopard is $129 CAD, Mandriva Linux is about ~$80 CAD and Ubuntu is free.

Windows Basic, on the other hand is (GASP!) $199 CAD! And it does not even come with an office suite. You definitely get more bang for you buck with Ubuntu.

This brings me to two big questions.

The first one is: What exactly is Windows? I get a fat DVD which will eat a sizable chunk of my diskspace. It lack drivers for some older and even newer devices, and the closest thing you have to a functional word processor is WordPad. Whoopdidoo. I fell like I'm really getting value for my big, fat $200 dollars. Well, I guess that's Microsoft privilege to charge whatever the hell they want for their operating system. That's the beauty of having a near monopoly.

The second question I have is: How is Microsoft going to compete? Computer are getting dirt cheap. The Asus Eee PC is changing the way people think of laptop in terms of size and price. At the rate prices are going down, more than half of the computer's price will be for Windows Vista Basic. Even now, it is possible to buy a laptop at FutureShop for less that $500 CAD. How much of that $500 goes towards Windows?

At the rate things are going, Microsoft is going to have to dramatically reduce the price of Windows. I personally feel that $200 for a 'basic' version that allows me to surf the web and the privilege to install spyware, is highly unjustified. Especially when I can get a complete system that includes my office suite and development tools for practically nothing.

Or maybe the high price tag is to help support emerging markets? Since Microsoft is so altruistic, they will charge the develop world more to help subsidize Windows for the poor. What a nice robin-hoodish, humanitarian approach...except for the fact that the Robin Hood we are talking about here has more gold in his coffer than all the rotten sheriffs in the world. Furthermore, this Robin Hood is gladly charging the poor.

Once again, since they have a monopoly, it's only natural that they choose how much they charge. For years, it was easy to hide this Microsoft Tax, since a computer typically went for thousands of dollars. Now that computers are barely half a grand and that the price of Microsoft Windows keeps increasing, this tax is quite noticeable. People will quickly realize that an Asus Eee PC preloaded with Linux actually offers a lot more out of the box than the same Eee PC loaded with only Windows.

That brings me back to my first question: What the heck is Windows anyways? What am I paying $200 for?

Enjoying the Asus Eee PC

Having just received my Eee PC, I'm still getting familliar with it's capabilities. The keyboard requires getting used to, but I'm getting better. As long as I don't have to use the right shift key too much, I can almost achieve the same typing speed as on a regular keyboard ;) All joking aside, once you get used to the keyboard, it's actually quite pleasant.

I got the 8G model, which means that I have a whooping 8 gigabytes of 'hard disk' space. While this is tiny compared to a regular hard-disk, which is usually over 100 gigabytes for a laptop. However, for my needs, I think that 8G, or even 4G should be enough. Since the Eee PC supports SD cards, I'm using a 4 gigabyte card for my /home partition (for Windows users, think My Documents).

The pre-installed operating system is a custom version of Xandros Linux (which is based in Ottawa). Though the default is fine for most people's need, I wanted something that gave me more -- so I installed eeeXubuntu. I removed the default Gnome games, Abiword and
Gnumeric to save space, and them promptly installed:

• OpenOffice.org
• Java 6 SDK
• Eclipse
• C/C++ compiler
• Free Pascal & Lazarus
• Anjuta IDE
• jEdit
• Frozen Bubble
• Cedega
• Firefox 3
• (and a few more which I'm sure I'm forgetting)

I've got ~640M of space left (which ought to be enough for anybody) on my system partition. Not too bad, considering I've got a practically complete portable development system.

One of my goals is to get Morrowind working with Cedega. So far, no joy, but I'm not about to give up. I know some folks got it working, so I'm sure I can as well.

If you are going to install eeeXubuntu or Ubuntu, be aware of the Eee Wiki. One of the coolest trick I found is how to enable the ALT+F11 key to make a window take the full screen. That really takes advantage of the 800x640 screen resolution. There are many more cool tricks on the page. Check it out!

Software for Windows seems to take up much more room than software for Linux. If anyone plans to run Windows on the Eee PC, I would like to recommend they consider using Google Docs. It is a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation package that runs in a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. Using Google Docs does not require you to install and special software. As long as you are connected to the Internet, you can use it. Futhermore, Google Gears should eventually allow you to run online application offline.

Actually, I'm using Google Docs one my Eee PC right now to author this article. So far, the Eee PC turns out to be a fun, yet useful machine. My wife is starting to strongly hint that I'm spending too much time on it. Oups! I think I should wrap up this article, and spend some quality time with her! See ya!

(Hum... I'm a bit disappointed with the Google Docs' HTML exporter. I wish it did XHTML)

Got my Eee PC!

I got my Eee PC yesterday. Need I say more?

So far: Wow!

I'm currently installing eeeXubuntu on it. As most folks commented, the screen and the keyboard is small, but the rest is just great.

You can bet the next entry will be from my brand spanking new Eee PC running Xubuntu. I'm sure I'll quickly get used to the tiny screen and keyboard. I mean, my first serious graphic applications ran in 320x200 and my first computer had 16K of ram. The Eee PC has plenty of juice for my needs!

This blog is written using Slax because I needed to burn an ISO, and Windows does not come with any tools to burn ISOs. For that matter, the Windows installation has over half a dozen devices it does not recognize, including the sound card. Slax detected everything ;).

A Linux Dude Installs a SharePoint Server

Today, I had the dubious pleasure of having to install SharePoint 2007 on Windows Server 2003. Yay!

I'm a Linux user. I enjoy working with Ubuntu amongst other distros. I can setup LAMPs (Linux, Apache, MySQL & PHP|Perl|Python) with my eyes closed. I mean, I spend more time waiting for my package manager to download the packages than I actually spend configuring stuff. All the tools I need are immediately available at my fingertip.

A colleague of mine who is well versed in the Windows world kindly setup Windows Server 2003 on a laptop. He even installed drivers (they don't come with the OS?) and service pack 2. Now, it's my turn!

So, how does one install a package on Windows?

I easily found the 'Add or Remove Program', but quickly learned that it was more along the lines of 'Remove Programs'. I mean, I could only find the option to remove existing packages. There was no option to search for packages to install or how to configure your application repositories.

That's when I remembered that most Microsoft programs come on CDs. I found a CD for SharePoint 2007 in the office. This may not be so hard after all.

Now, with the laptop in one hand and the SharePoint 2007 CD in the other, I'm ready to rock! I slap in the CD, and wait for an install program to pop-up.

Instead, Internet Explorer 6 pops up with a security security warning. Click OK, and I'm brought to a little webpage that contains a confusing collection of links. After I find the link to the SharePoint installation program, it opens Windows Explorer, exposing a file called setup.cmd.

That looks kosher, so I double click on it. Oups! Looks like I need the .NET Framework 3.0, SQL Server 2005 as well as IIS 6.

So, how does one go about installing SQL Server 2005, .NET 3.0 and IIS 6? Why can it not take care of it's dependencies like my package manager on Ubuntu? This seems like a lot of trouble just to install a web application. One of the things that makes Windows so difficult to use it the lack of a solid package manager. Microsoft really needs to work on that before I can take Windows seriously. I feel like I'm back in the stone age where I have to manually download and compile stuff. I can already tell that installing SharePoint 2007 is not going to be a walk in the park.

I didn't chance Add or Remove Program again. I went straight for the CD. Going trough the setup was reasonably painless. However, I'm surprised as the number of steps (screen, windows, whatever) one has to go through just to install a database server. Why can't Windows keep things simple?

Now, onto the .NET framework 3.0. Before I started to look for yet again another CD, I though to myself mdash; there has to be an easier way! Thankfully, I've had enough experience with Windows to know about Windows Update. It took me a moment to find it in the Start menu. There were nearly two dozen updates. This is not concerning to me, since in Ubuntu, I may get dozens of updates for all my installed application (and I have a lot!). However, I'm concerned that the vast majority of my update are security related — and these are only for the OS.

Interesting, Internet Explorer 7 is a recommended update, but .NET 3.0 is an optional update. Nevertheless, I select all recommended updates as well as .NET 3.0. Click the button, and KABOOM! All the updates fail to install. The carefully worded error message recommends that I try again, otherwise, look up troubleshooting in the help.

I try again...and again...and again to no avail. Even a single update fails. So, I click on the convenient URL that links to the help. As convenient as the link seemed, the help was not.

Being in foreign territory, I turn to my Windows guru. After reproducing my steps a couple of time, He recommends a reboot.

Miraculously, rebooting worked! The updates downloaded and installed without problem mdash; except that I had to reboot twice more. I guess they were mostly kernel updates. How often do you have to reboot Windows? I have some server that have been live for over a year without reboot. I wonder if I could do the same with Windows...

I've also noticed that Internet Explorer required a couple of clicks to installs, and performed some work at boot-up. I wonder what kind of browser needs to spend about a minute setting itself up after a reboot?

Alright, so after a few reboots, I now have the .NET framework 3.0 installed. Now, to IIS 6.

This one took a bit of searching around. I found it where I kinda expect to find it but could not see it at first. There a 'button' on the left side that says 'Add Windows Component.' The button brought me to a dialog that I remember from the days when I first installed Windows 95. Digging in there, I found IIS 6.0. Thankfully, I love Java. When I saw Application Server as a category, I immediately clicked on it to see if JBoss or Glassfish was included. My first surprise is that there were not. My second is that IIS is considered an application server. I would have though it's a web server. But who am I to argue with Microsoft?

I select IIS 6.0 (including ASP.NET, which is not included by default), and clicked install. Windows prompted me for the original CD. I could not find a way to change the software repository to use the web instead of the CD. That's kind of annoying. Does that mean I have to carry my Windows CD everywhere I go? I mean, thats three CDs I'm going through.

The installation actually went smoothly. No annoying popups or anything like that. Just like Ubuntu, it installed and configured the server for me. Yay! So now I can install SharePoint!

I double clicked on setup.cmd again. This time, SharePoint complained about having to enable something in IIS 6.0. The popup kindly explained what I needed to do. So, I followed the instruction, which brought me to some kind of wizard. As luck would have it, after the third step, the wizard asked me if I wanted to remove some stuff. I said no, and retraced my steps to make sure I had done everything correctly. The same thing happened second time through. I do wish that Windows was less cryptic so that I could understand what I'm going through. There's a lot of popup windows over popup windows, and the interface is a bit inconsistent. I took a deep breath and continued forward.

Once again, I was prompted for the original Windows CD. After I slap it in, Windows starts installing this 'Active Directory.' It must have been a large package, because it took a long time. Furthermore, it asked me to reboot again! I can setup (even compile) an entire LAMP server with a fully functional GUI from the ground up and never have to reboot. What is it with Windows and rebooting every time you change something?

At this point, my coworker are wishing me good evening. Well, I've had enough of this Windows fad for the day, so I go home, and start blogging. While I'm blogging, I'm going to do something fun. Hardy Heron is out in beta, so I might as well upgrade!

I launch my good-ol' package manager, and click Upgrade to Hardy Heron. The upgrade warns me that it may take a long time to download all the necessary packages, but at least I can continue working while I upgrade my OS. I wonder if upgrading to the new Windows Server 2008 is going to be as easy?

It's always fun trying new operating system. Though Windows seems solid, it still has a number of frustrating quirks. Installing applications should be easier, and the consistency of the interface could be greatly improved. I'm concerned about the need to reboot so often &mdash especially when adding a desktop application like Internet Explorer. There is absolutely no excuse to force a reboot after the installation of a desktop component on a server machine.

I wish Microsoft would borrow a thing or two from Linux and make Windows truly easy to setup and use.

Why Should You Consider Linux?

I'm a lucky man. I've married a beautiful woman with wonderful critical skills. She kindly pointed out to me that I may explain this free software and Linux thing, but nowhere do I emphasize the reasons why I think you should consider Linux.

Let me remedy that.

I believe there are many good reasons why an individual or a business should look at open source software and the GNU/Linux operating system in particular. In this article, I will address a range of potential users, from the end-user (everyday user) up to the IT professional. Some of the reasons will be technical, others social or even personal.

1 - It's Fun
I have a lot of fun with Linux, whether it's trying new software packages like Blender, Eclipse or even Alien Arena, trying a new distribution, or recompiling my kernel for the Nth time. There's so much I can do that I never get bored. Also, none of it is illegal, since the software I use is free as in free speech.

2 - It's Secure
Linux had security built into it from the ground up. Windows had security added long after it was created. Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista are the first Windows versions to offer true desktop security.
One of the things I loved right away about Linux was the fact that applications cannot be modified or erased by end-users. In Windows, there's nothing stopping you from erasing part of the Microsoft Office or Windows folder. Yikes!
But it's not just a question of whether or not you are able to delete an application folder. The code, being opened, undergoes continual verification. Security problems are usually quickly discovered and corrected. It would be very difficult for someone to add a backdoor to any part of the code in Linux without it being noticed very quickly.

3 - It's Virus Free
Currently, there is not a single virus in the wild that can affect Linux. What I like about this is not just the peace of mind that it offers, but the fact that I do not need to install an anti-virus. You can if you really want to, but I generally tell Linux users not to bother.
(Having worked in the anti-virus industry myself, I'm of the opinion that anti-virus softwares are sometimes as obtrusive as the viruses themselves)

4 - It's (Mostly) Free
You can get a good thing for nothing. Open source software is an example of that. Linux is free (as in $$$) to download and use. The only financial commitment on your part is your Internet time, and maybe the cost of a CD.
Did I mention that you can then give the CD to whoever you want? That's right. It's not just legal to share Linux, it's also widely encouraged. For those that do not have a fast Internet connection, or who cannot burn CDs, Ubuntu offers free shipping of their excellent Linux distribution.

5 - Supports Many Hardwares
A few years ago, the situation was inversed. Windows had more drivers for more hardware. Now, it's starting to change. Windows is dropping support for older hardware, and according to the news, Microsoft will not install Service Pack 1 on Windows Vista machines that use unsupported drivers. Furthermore, when installing Windows and new peripherals, it is often necessary to hunt down and install drivers from the web. From personal experience, it is possible to plug in just about any hardware in Linux, and it's typically detected and ready to use.
Not every hardware is supported by Linux, but then again not every hardware is supported by Windows.
(Gripe: Many drivers in Windows are megabytes, if not hundreds of megabytes in size, and can take over your system. This is typically not the case in Linux — HP, I'm looking at you!)

6 - Supports Older Machines
Distributions like Vector Linux and Xubuntu work great on older hardware that simply will not run Windows Vista or even Windows XP. So, if you need to update from older versions of Windows but your current hardware does not support it, you could consider moving up to Linux instead.

7 - It's Stable
I have Linux machines hosting websites, mail servers, database servers, etc, live on the Internet. I kinda forget they exist because they just work. I rarely have to install patches or upgrade software.
How long have you kept your Windows machine running without reboot? Days? Weeks? Months? In my case, I've had servers up for over a year. Some almost two years. I've lost track.
Here's food for thought. In Linux, the only thing that forces a reboot is to load a new kernel. This is something I discovered the first time I installed Gentoo Linux. After I got my kernel compiled and loaded, I continued to build my machine — I compiled a GUI (Gnome), MySql, OpenOffice, sound driver and a whack-load of other stuff. Only after I had loaded my sound driver did I realize I never rebooted once, yet I had a fully loaded, fully functional machine. I was sold!

8 - It's Flexible
Why is it that Internet leaders like Google, Amazon and Wikipedia run Linux? I'm willing to bet that one of the reasons is its flexibility. Since Linux is free software, an organization can endlessly tweak it to suit its very specific needs. The success of Linux's flexibility is also noticeable in the fact that it is available anywhere from hand-held video-game consoles to cell phones to 85% of the world's super computers (Did you notice that Windows' super computer presence is barely 1%. Now, why would that be?).

9 - Free as in Free Speech
Following the idea of flexibility, we should not forget that Linux is free — as in freedom. It is your operating system. You can use it to do whatever you want. Don't be fooled into thinking that Windows gives you the same freedom. I challenge you to compare the terms of the GNU GPL to that of the Windows EULA. Decide which one gives you more rights.

10 - Community
There is a vast and expanding community behind Linux. It started as a community project that is now sponsored by large corporations like IBM and Sun Microsystems.
This community is visible in forums, newsgroups and mailing lists. Though the discussions can sometimes get nasty, most participants desire one thing: to continue the betterment of Linux. This community crosses all national and cultural boundaries.
To get a sense of the community, I invite you to take a peak at Ubuntu forums. You can freely browse without having to register.

11 - Altruism
Linux is developed by countless volunteers around the world. True, some developers make a living writing code for Linux, but without this mostly anonymous army of developers, testers, writers, translators and users, Linux would not be where it is today.
By using it, you are starting to free yourself from Microsoft's illegal grasp over the software world and are rewarding the community that helped bring Linux to where it is today. I'm sure there's nothing more rewarding to those countless individuals than to know that their contribution, minor or otherwise, is appreciated. Furthermore, you are encouraging freedom in the world of computing.

12 - Helping Developing Countries
I live I Canada, and I enjoy a wonderful quality of life, and I only realized how spoiled I am when I had a chance to visit Guinea in Africa. I realized that most folks who are considered 'poor' in my country would be considered quite wealthy in Guinea.
This said, not everyone in the world can (and should) pay Microsoft's tax. The added cost of Windows and Microsoft Office represents a large portion of a new computer.
OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!! I just went to the Microsoft website to check the price of Windows and Office for comparison. $259 for Windows Vista Home and $499 for Ultimate??? I must be living in isolation, because I can't imagine anyone wanting to pay that much just for fancy graphic effects (that Linux already offers). Half a grand for Ultimate? What is Microsoft thinking? I remember paying $99 for Windows 95 fourteen years ago, and I felt that the changes between Windows for Workgroup and Windows 95 was worthwhile. But $259 for a crippled and crippling operating system?
And if that's not bad enough, what about $539 for Office 2007? I don't even want to look at the price of Office Ultimate. (Ok, I did look at the price. Ouch!)
I'm sorry, but that's a total ripoff. This is what happen when a greedy company acquires not one but two monopolies. Do you realize how much of your taxes go to Microsoft? I shudder to think...

Ok, back to the point I wanted to make:

Helping Developing Countries - Second Try
Projects like the One Laptop Per Child are allowing children in developing nations to expand their horizons and join in the wealth of information that is available on the Internet.
I think that the XO is a wonderful piece of work, and I wish that even Canadian children could get a chance to work with it. One of the features of the XO I find amazing is the ability to view and modify the source code of the application they are working with. Talk about a total learning experience!
Such great philanthropic projects are only available thanks to free(dom) software like GNU/Linux, Open Office and many others. Not only is the software free as in free beer, it is free as in free speech.
By using Linux and participating in the communities, you help refine an already excellent product so that the whole world can take advantage of what computers have to offer.
Some Microsoft users point out that Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation do participate in philanthropic projects — but why are they trying their darndest to stop the propagation of Linux to developing countries? It doesn't sound like they care much about what's best for those children to me.

13 - Popular
You have probably already used at least one device that runs with Linux or some open source software without realizing it. It's everywhere. The moment you hop on the Internet, the information that makes its way to your machine probably passes by half a dozen Linux machines along the way.
By the way, Asus, Dell and even Walmart have started selling PCs with Linux preloaded. Compare the prices with PCs that come with Windows preloaded. Do I need to spell out why those machines are less expensive?

14 - It's Easy
Yes, you read that correctly. You no longer need to be a hard-core computer programmer who is not afraid of bits and bytes to use Linux. Quite the opposite. Thanks to great projects like Ubuntu as well as desktop like Gnome and KDE, using Linux is as easy &mdash if not easier than Windows.
Now, just to make sure we understand each other: I'm stating that Linux is as easy to use as any other modern operating system. I'm not saying that Linux is like Windows. In other words, there is a learning curve — just like there is for Windows. To get you started, please read Is Linux Like Windows?

There you have it — some of the reasons why I'm a die hard Linux user, and reasons why I think you should consider Linux as well. If you are already a Linux or open source user, why do you use it? Did I miss anything?

In a future post, I would like to show you how you can try Linux risk free.

In the meantime, spread the word. It's time that everyone realizes that Microsoft is not the only player in the world of computers and that there are alternatives to their products. If you think that Microsoft is the best thing since sliced bread, please do your research. You may find that beneath Microsoft's glossy packaging, there's a lot of ugliness. But just to be fair, here's the same for Linux.

Hope you have a great day!

Is Linux Like Windows?

This is a follow-up to the article on 'What is Linux?'
I'll cut to the chase, and answer right away - no.
It is possible to set up Linux so that it looks very much like Windows, but under the hood, it is not Windows. We have to understand that Linux is very flexible and customizable. Someone with some technical knowledge, time and determination can install a Linux system exactly the way he or she would like. Those who are interested in truly learning Linux from the ground up can take a look at Gentoo or Linux From Scratch. This can be a great technical learning experience, but it is very technical.
If you would like a gentler introduction to Linux, I would heartily recommend Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is a free Linux distribution (distro amongst the initiate). A Linux distribution is a full-fledged, pre-packaged collection of software. Distros makes it easy and convenient to install and use the GNU/Linux operating system. Currently, Ubuntu is one of the most popular distributions due to its ease of use, stability and continued support. It is not the only popular distribution. If you are interested, you can also visit and/or try any of the following:

• Debian
• Fedora
• OpenSUSE
• Vector Linux

This is only a sample of some of the many distributions available. All of the above can be installed with minimal difficulty.
However, as mentioned above, Linux is not the same as Windows. It does not strive to be a carbon-copy of Windows, but an operating system that stands on its own merits.
Let's take a look at the important differences you will encounter between Linux & Windows.

No C:\ Drive
Yes. That's right. There is no A: drive, no C: drive and your DVD-ROM is not your D: drive. Your 'C:' drive is called the 'root directory.' Everything starts from the root directory. Also, where Windows uses the backslash (\) Linux uses the forward slash (/).
Here's a little cheat-sheet to help you get started:

C: drive	/
My Documents	/home/<<your name>>/Documents
Desktop	/home/<<your name>>/Desktop
Settings	/home/<<your name>>/
CD-ROM / DVD-ROM	/media/cdrom
USB Flash Drive	/media/<<drive name>>

Mac OS X users may recognize the above structure. Just replace /home/ by /Users/ and /media/ by /Volumes/.

Linux does not use file extensions
In Windows, a file ending with .doc is assumed to be a Word document and a file ending with .exe is an executable. In Linux, the extensions are usually meaningless, especially for executable files. So, firefox.exe becomes firefox, oowriter.exe becomes oowriter, and so on.

Files are case sensitive
In Windows, there can be only one file called letter.odt. It can be called letter.odt or LETTER.ODT, but it will be the same file.
In Linux, letter.odt, Letter.odt and LETTER.ODT are three different files. Furthermore, be aware that if you are asked to enter a command, it may be case sensitive.

No Viruses
Yes, you did read that correctly. There are no viruses in the wild for Linux. This means that you do not need an anti-virus. Should your friend or coworker kindly send you an email virus, you are immune. No need for McAfee or Norton.
I'm not saying that Linux will never have viruses, but I strongly doubt that it will develop the rich virus ecosystem that is present on Windows.

Windows Applications do not work on Linux
Many Windows applications have their equivalent in the Linux world. Actually, many of the applications used in the Linux world are becoming available in the Windows world as well.
Another cheat-sheet to get you started (free of charge!):

Microsoft Office	OpenOffice.org
Internet Explorer	Firefox or Iceweasel
Outlook	Evolution
Outlook Express	Thunderbird
Adobe Photoshop	The GIMP

By the by, most of these programs are available for Windows if you would like to give them a spin.

No need to download programs
In the Windows world, to install an application like WinZip, it is necessary to go to the WinZip.com website, download the setup executable, run the installation program and then we can use the program.
In most distributions, there is a 'package manager' that does the work for you. In Ubuntu, the Add/Remove Program takes care of everything for you. Just select the program(s) you would like, click Install, and it's done. That's right -- no need to run around the web, manually download setup programs and doing the installation yourself.


It's Secure
Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista are starting to take security seriously. However, Linux has been written with security from the very beginning. This means that you don't immediately have access to every component of your system by default. Linux may refuse to show you a file or run a program. This is for security reasons.
Should you need access to a secure resource, you may be prompted for your password or the 'root' password. Be aware that once you enter the root password, you have complete control over your system. If you want to, you can render your system complete unusable. Note that you can do the same with Windows, except that Windows will not prompt you for your password.

It's Free
Free as in free beer. Yes, you can get something for (nearly) nothing. I add nearly because you need an Internet connection, and maybe a blank CD. Also, some of your time may be required.
Linux is also free as in free speech, and that's the part that is truly valuable for me. Windows is controlled by Microsoft — not by me. Mac OS X is controlled by Apple — not by me. Linux is controlled by — me! — and you!
That's freedom!
However, I know that too much freedom can be intimidating. That's where distros come in handy. They pick the most common option, and pre-package everything for you so that you get up and running quickly. However, once you get the hang of your environment, you can start tweaking stuff, and customizing stuff.

So, how does one get started with Linux? Well, stick along, and in a later post, I would like to show you how you can try Linux risk free!

In the mean time, you are welcome to continue your research. I would recommend Wikipedia as a great place to start. If you can, talk to other Linux users, and find out what they have to say. I personally think it's a great operating system, and I'm excited that you are interested in knowing more.

— and no, I don't make money selling Linux. This is a labour of passion and love.