Oh Gentoo, what had become of thee?

Dear friends

Yesterday was an important day for me. I stumbled into a very important issue, albeit small, which made me to come to the following decision: I am leaving Gentoo as a desktop platform.

It does not come as an easy decision. I've been using Gentoo and quasi-actively participating in the community for about 5 years. I have it installed currently on 3 out of 4 computers I have (the last one being mac mini, which I keep with Mac OS X). So why would I take this decision?

It all began with a one simple thing. You may have read my previous posts on various WINE installations, and I use some Windows applications with WINE. But recently Internet Explorer stopped working. I've tried to reinstall it (and it is easy in Gentoo, just as in any other Linux distribution with decent package manager), but to no avail.

Next step was slightly more complicated, but still quite simple: I've used VMWare to install complete Window XP environment. It worked fine for awhile, until I couldn't use VM images between different computers I have. It just stopped working. Besides that, the performance of VMWare on my AMD Athlon 1.8 with 1G of memory was, to say the least, appalling. Next came Innotek (now Sun) VirtualBox. This is the best emulation environment I could find to work on my computer. It works fine, and I use it for all my Windows-related projects.

But as a side effect of all installations, system began breaking. I started noticing various weird things, such as sudden applications freezing at times, etc. Couple of days ago, when there were no applications running, I've seen CPU usage at ~80%, I did what most Windows users do. I rebooted the machine.

And then, system just broke. System utilities seemed nowhere to be found. Some init scripts seemed to be incorrect, etc. I somehow fixed the situation by copying old versions from other projects, and updating the system. But now, GNOME has problems with graphics and themes, and most applets do not work and even do not exist. It just never ends, does it?

So, as a normal user of Gentoo, I went to emerge my world. I haven't done that for a couple of months, so there were almost 1G of updates waiting for me. I've downloaded all the packages, and began the emerge.

The thing that broke the last straw was a simple apache update. The system update failed because I had an old version. Not because compile didn't work. Just because it needed me to manually do something!! It redirected me to a Gentoo doc site, which has 2 lines of code that fixed the problem, and emerge now runs again.

Why in the heavens name wasn't this done automatically? Why did I loose half a day, during which my system could be updated? I lost this time because update procedure stopped. I had to fix the Apache configuration, so my GNOME desktop could continue updating. I understand that this specific issue with Apache may be serious, and that not many ordinary people run it on their computer, it still bugs me. I don't like it when I have to do this sort of manual intervention in update procedure.

So what is the problem here? Daniel Robbins created a Gentoo moto once: The goal of Gentoo is to design tools and systems that allow a user to do his or her work as pleasantly and efficiently as possible, as they see fit....If the tool forces the user to do things a particular way, then the tool is working against, rather than for, the user. (cited from Gentoo Philosophy)

The problem is that I spent too much time caring for the computer with Gentoo. I don't have that luxury anymore. There was time, when geeking with the machine and fixing problems was cool. Today, its a burden. I value time, and I only have 24 hours a day of it.

I believe that this may be one of the general problems with Gentoo. When it began, most folks using Linux were techies, who cared about all the bits on their computers. Gentoo fit very well in this community, so it flourished and became very popular. It provided tools that noone had (and used to compile anything manually anyway), and community of a good will and lot of friendship. It had the best documentation (and maybe still do) among brothers, and best team of engineers.

But nowadays, many users want word processor, web browser, email program and video player. They want it now, and not wait 20 minutes when compilation will finish. They don't care about technicalities. And as Gentoo haven't changed its nature, it doesn't fit for majority anymore. Sabayon anyone?

Gentoo distro has proven over the years, that it will stay the way it is. And that's why it won't be back on my desktop soon.

So, Gentoo, stay on server.

Ubuntu, CentOS - my desktop is waiting.

The Working Platform - Computer In Appliance (TM)

I just read another nice post by Brian Profitt from Linux Today about the the idea of an appliance-like computer. And I have the possible candidate to answer Brian's question.

I recently understood that most of my "computer"-related work is either already done or can be moved to be totally online. Once the process is complete, it allows the following (or combination of them):

1. I'm totally online. I never loose my data because I have it online all the time. The only moment when its not there is that split of a second I loose my wireless connection and my data not uploaded yet. I can do my work (or entertainment) anywhere, anytime.
2. I'm totally "dead" without internet connection. My powerful computer has no use for me. I can't access anything. I can't do anything. I'm so addicted to being online, that I have problems figuring out what are computers for. Although my movies and music are local and with me, I have no wish to "consume" them - after all, I can't access my email (don't tell me its unrelated! It is. I am not addicted).
   

Then I've thought about it even more.

We have an internet connection nowadays everywhere. I walk around my neighborhood and I catch easily 10 open WiFi spots. Many can check their email with 3G mobile phones, or even use them to connect to the "real" Internet. Many of those phones are good enough for Internet by themselves. WiMax is promised to come in couple of years give or take. So we have connectivity problem solved. That, probably, also solves me the "problem" with an Internet addiction usage. This means, I can work virtually everywhere anytime.

Now, what bothers me at this point, is the computer itself. I mainly use browser and email. I use simple editor for documents/blog writing. I am actually rewriting this post in vi. I use simple photo management application. I use somewhat more advanced pictures editing application. I use multimedia players.

These all are hardly resource intensive tasks. But my computer starts to crawl when I open more than 2 heavy applications at a time (which happens from time to time). Besides, when I'm thinking about installing applications and maintaining the computer, I wonder: why should I invest so much time in it?

So, I know what I want. I want a TV-like usability computer - something that just works. I want a "work" appliance. I want an appliance which is lite, small, convenient, has a long battery life, and fast and responsive. I want to know what it does and how it does it. I want to be able to customize it. I want my computing everywhere with me.

There's another possible use. I've wrote an essay on computing for grandmas. I think that an appliance computer can easily be used in those cases.

So, in one sentence - is there a future for appliance computing? I think that it might be.

Computer for gradma and world domination

This entry was inspired by an old entry in Linux, and its a revisited from previously written article of mine.

There are topics that have been "refurbished" at least once per few weeks, which are the use of small computers as appliances and usage of computers by senior citizens . The major points of those are twofold (although highly interconnected). Those points are being:

1. Whether my {favorite non-technical member of the family} can easily use computer?
   
2. Is Linux ready for desktop?
   

Please allow me to explain, why those 2 are interconnected.

Well, the first one is well understood. In last 15 or so years, computers transformed from geaky toy to a "in any home" appliance. We do many of day to day tasks with it: We send and read our mail. We read, see and listen to a news. We listen to a music/radio. We watch movies (and sometimes TV). We record music, speech and TV. We play. We talk.

So, if my grandma can operate a TV/VCR, why can't she operate a computer system? Of course she can. In the matter of simplicity, I'll ask anyone who is familiar with computers, to perform the following tasks:

• Check/Send an email
  
• Read/check news on favorite website
  
• Listen to a music
  
• Watch a movie/DVD (all legal, don't worry)
  
• Write a simple document (such as you shop list)
  

I'd believe that anyone who's been using a computer for at least a month, would be able to perform all these tasks.

Now consider the following: the "Alex computer system" that I asked to perform those tasks on has nothing but pretty picture on the desktop, with the following icons:

• Mail
  
• Internet
  
• Documents
  
• Music/Movies
  

Wouldn't you agree, that using only common sense performing the aforementioned tasks would not be too hard? Say, Mail would present some pretty interface to email (or Gmail, Yahoo or anything else - all our email interfaces are alike and pretty self explanatory), Internet would fire up Firefox (or any other browser; and all our browser interfaces are alike and self explanatory), Music/Movies would start something like "media center" application (like Windows Media Center/Tivo/MythTv/Telly, or any other similar application) which is pretty straight forward to use and self explanatory, and Documents will start simple document editor, either local or browser-based (they do have similar interfaces anyway, except MS Office 2007, of course).

Now, I still believe, that no age-related neither intellectual issues have been discussed here yet. It is all very intuitive and common sense.

Just like the TV.

So, at this point, considering all I discussed before, could you answer the following question, please, :

Do you know which operating system "Alex computer system" runs? And more important, does it matter?

This is what I've been trying to explain. I sustain, that there's sincerely and absolutely no importance in which operating system powers the all-powerful "Alex computer system". This, as great result, leads me to the following:

For any such general-purpose computing, Linux-based OS is completely ready for massive desktop usage, as long as it can be installed and maintained in a way that makes sense to a general public.

Please, note the "common sense" part. I don't think that working with "Start" (or "applications" or whatever) menu is very intuitive (although I have to agree that "Applications" is much better than "Start"). To watch TV, one has to press an "on" and that's it. To play a movie on a VCR one presses "play". That's common sense. That's intuitive.

So here's my initial suggestion to all those aspiring to "prove" to everyone that Linux is ready. Create an application with the following features:

1. Create a very beautiful GUI with pre-defined tasks, such as those mentioned above.
   
2. Make sure it works as stable and as predictable as TV.
   
3. Make sure that interface is consistent thorough the applications.
   
4. Try it on your not so technical {member of your family} to see whether it is intuitive enough.
   

Until now, we've been preparing to world domination. Now the final part:

When they are asleep, swap the OS to Linux. Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Heh, that would be fun and easy. Wouldn't it?

Technorati : technology

A dream that slowly comes true

No, I'm not speaking about becoming insanely rich. That would take a while longer.

I'm talking about my dream of a small and light computer, that I can take with me everywhere and one that could connect to resources I need (read, Internet) from anywhere in the world. And that's all of course thanks to the EeePC 701 and other similar devices. I wrote a piece on it a couple of months ago, but the subject is still hot and is becoming hotter every day.

I just read nice post in NY Times, which describes in funnny humor the way that Asus went. The author says that Asus "didn't get the memo" about how our laptops should be huge, inefficient, expensive and bloated with versions of Windows - and software that vendors like to load on laptops so very much. It should be slow, and its startup time should be long enough to have a cup of coffee.

I'm on the contrary, and as the author says, enjoy fast computing. And if you'd question what 'fast' means for me, then it's subjectively simple: when I work on computer I want it to react immidiately on my actions. If I'm waiting for something to happen, then I'm losing time. So, say, do we need computer to boot in 3 seconds? Yes. Do we need it to boot in 0.1 seconds? No, not really (unless the feature used to save power). Do I want to have 10 hours battery on a laptop? Yes. Do I want to wait until browser is started? No. That is fast in my book.

I've already compared Asus EeePC 701 with other similarly priced devices such as Nokia N810 (and previous models) and OLPC, and said that I'd probably prefer OLPC to Asus in order to read in direct sunshine. But recent issues in OLPC and the comparison I read the other day, slowly but surely tend me to Asus laptop.

It's small, fast, light. It doesn't have moving parts. Battery life could probably be preserved with few tricks. It has plently of room for blogging around, email, reading RSS feeds and web browsing. The advantage of an OLPC screen may seem less important after all.

I won't say that I'd prefer Asus laptop to ThinkPad x61s (or whichever one will be the best when I decide to purchase it), but at the price point of $400 no ThinkPad can be in any competition.

OLPG, or One Laptop Per Grown-up

Dear reader,

As the year of "Mobile is Linux (TM)" has now come, I foresee many devices that will be created this year that will run a variant of a Linux-based operating system. Current choices vary from embedded environments, such as Open Embedded (which is the basis for such operating systems as Maemo and OpenMoko), and to the big named platforms, such as Motorola's Platform and Android. All this leads me to hope and believe that there will be great products made this year, which makes a choice of one even more complicated and difficult (there will be some many great products, how can a person choose one?).

But there's a little thing that keeps me occupied: I like the OLPC. It was built using open source software from bottom up, and the whole idea of creating it was that every single part of it will be open to the public. While I'm not in the right place to argue whether they did it well or not, I know one thing: the software developments and improvements that were made during the life of the project are worthwhile for all projects used in creating this laptop.

Which led me to thinking about the following issue - OLPC is a laptop with, say in short, the following great features:

• It's small
  
• It's light
  
• It has great screen (small one maybe, but still a great one)
  
• It has very optimized software which makes up the great experience of using the device.
  
• It uses Linux.
  
• It has a mesh networking
  
• It's cool
  
• There are all sorts of recharging devices that help you to recharge it in case of inaccessible power outlets.
  

And so, I was thinking about this: I like this laptop. I like the small and light computer, which is built upon good hardware, has very developed software and runs Linux. So I though, I need another OLPC, but with the following slightly different features:

• Still small and light, not more than 12" screen. But no less than 11"
  
• No need for dust, water, wind, fire, bullets and wooden stick proofing case. A good keyboard with maybe fingerprint scanner would do.
• Bluetooth
• Some sort of high speed connectivity, for example 3G or 3.5G
  

So in fact, I'm looking for a sort of OLPC in a casing similar to ThinkPad X61s. Wouldn't it be great?

I'd call it a One Laptop Per (for) Grown-ups. I believe that such laptop would be appealing to a lot of people who need a simple computing device (journalists for example, or writers, or business people who need simple computer on the road to check their email, check web sites and write documents). It would be great for bloggers (say, something similar to Asus eeePC 701 but with bigger screen and better keyboard). I believe that all this possible, and even more so after the CTO of the project just resigned to start a commercial entity based on technology created for OLPC.

If the OpenMoko project can exists, and Sean says they are ready to produce other devices than Neo, why not make something similar with laptops? Creating a light and low-cost Linux laptop would benefit us all, as we could see it with Asus and Nokia Internet tablets N770/N800/N810.

Wouldn't you agree?

Technorati : Linux, OLPC, Open Source, Technology, hardware, laptop
Del.icio.us : OLPC

Olive branch to all Free Operating systems users

Hello my dear readers,

A little statistics part first. WHAT A RUSH!!!! That's my response on what happened after I posted my opinion on Ubuntu and Linux. At the beginning there were few responses from Planet Larry where I'm syndicated, as I mostly use Gentoo. Then I submitted it to digg and Linux Today, and until the end of the day in my time zone, it got 424 diggs and more than 5000 visits, which was about a total on this blog until this day from the start. That feels great. Then it came ~5000 more visits the next day, and about 1500 visits the day after that. It have received ~100 comments on my blog, and about 200 on digg. So its cool.

There are few things that I wanted to share about this. The comments are generally split into 3 categories, and they are:

1. Yea, exactly!!! My favorite distro rules! And its better than Ubuntu!!!! Ubuntu sucks!!!!
2. Yea!!! Ubuntu rules!!! We're here to get you all!!!!
3. Who cares?

And, to my own surprise, I agree with those who are in group 3. Let me explain:

Group 1 says the following (well, almost. I added some cynicism myself): you're right!! I've been feeling this for the long time already, and it makes me angry that my favorite distribution doesn't get enough attention in the press. Those evil Ubuntu people has bought out all the media and independent journalists to write articles about Linux and use "Ubuntu" instead. I hate Ubuntu!!! I will never ever use it!

Group 2 says: well, of course!! Ubuntu is the best distribution evah, and hence all the smartest people in the world are using it. So, no wonder they use it as an example of Linux-de-facto when writing their articles, and demos and reviews. Yes, maybe they misuse some words sometime, but its not a bad thing...

Group 3 says: Who gives a damn? Let Linux (be it Ubuntu or whatever else) to get some market share in computing, worry about the semantics later. Does it matter that my dad would know Ubuntu and not "Linux"? No!!! Its better than not knowing any of them at all.

So, I would like to put things into perspective, because they seem a little out of it.

Group 1: Take it easy folks. No one is trying to overshadow other distributions. Ubuntu is one of the most known distributions, definitely one of the easiest to use and so it is no surprise people using it more and more. Just as most applications in mid-90s were automatically written for Windows 98 and NT4 (and some companies still choose Windows only, and say it's just "for now", but then "other" never comes), most reviews and how-tos are written for the largest audience - and in our case, specifically for Ubuntu Linux. But there's nothing wrong with that. Most of the installation procedures regarding system environments (such as Gnome/KDE, or some application in those) or devices are almost always distribution-agnostic, and aside the installation procedure which varies from distribution to distribution, they are almost the same. I configure Gnome in Gentoo the same way as it is done in the same version of Gnome in Debian, [K|X|Ed]Ubuntu, PCLinux, FreeBSD, Fedora Core, Mandriva, SLES and all the others.

Group 2: Yes, we know your distro is the best. Or sort of. But we didn't chose it to use (well, not yet at least). So what? The time may come when we do, and also you might want to use my favorite distro once. And you know what? I will help you the best I can. And will not patronize on you. I don't understand - why do we have to argue all the time which ones shwartz is larger? Let's just all work to the same goal - make the computer experience easier for everyone (and it means both me and my dad).

Group 3: I'm totally with you. I believe that spreading Ubuntu is an important thing (just as Red Hat, Gentoo, Debian, SLES and others), and it makes all the Linux-based operating systems to conquer the computers around the world. The more the better, and if it is done with Ubuntu - its fine by me.

To all:

1. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. I don't hate Ubuntu. Do I make myself clear enough?
   
2. I actually like Ubuntu. Not yet having used it too much, I like the spirit and the attempt to get where no one else (except maybe Red Hat and SLES) has ever succeeded before. I will probably definitely start using it soon, because any literate IT person should know well enough at least 3-4 top spread distributions.
   
3. I still use Gentoo on all my machines and very happy about it.
   
4. Just consider this (suggested by multitude of comments): if the choice for a new user is to use either Windows Vista or Ubuntu Linux, what would you suggest that user? Now Ubuntu Linux doesn't look that scary anymore, does it?
5. I'm not an Ubuntu fan person.
   

On that happy note, my last words:

1. I like all Linux-based operating systems (and not only Linux).
   
2. Just to further enforce the point, I like all BSD systems (Free-, Net-, Open-) as much as Linux (and even better). And I also like Unix systems (like IRIX and Solaris).
   
3. I like Ubuntu.
   
4. I like Gentoo.
   
5. I like that Linux and other free software is spreading.
6. I like Mac OS X.
   
7. I don't like Windows OS line.
   

:-)

Many thanks to everyone who commented wherever.

Peace out.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Technology, Ubuntu

That Which we call free

I just read a reference to RMS' post to OpenBSD maillist. It is very him in the nature and the language, and I will not post anything here.But I started thinking then, how important nowadays the "openness" of the products? How the fact, that the product I use has a non-free parts impact its use?

I'm not sure anymore it does. I see more tendencies in many market niches to move to open systems, open protocols and open implementations. And Linux is, of course, a part of that. Open architectures allow changing in a very convenient ways. For example, I worked in a company which created a NAS solutions. We took standard harware and put a Linux-based software on it. Then, it is connected to a network, and here you go - you have a network storage.

There are 2 ways of creating such a product. A first one, is to create everything from the scratch - the operating system, the services, the protocols implementations, etc. The second one - the one many vendors choose these days - is to take some open system (and many use Linux in this case), and build upon it. The choice of open system is very convenient because it allows to change the whole system because, well, it is open.

But I still don't see the importance of "true" openness these days. There are so many licenses that are "open" but do not intersect or cannot be used together, that I don't think its a liable term anymore. Everyone has something open today.

No one has everything open.

But then, can I say that RMS is wasting his time on us? Are we that hopeless that we don't see beyond the $ signs and do not care for real open software?

Maybe. Maybe that's just $$ run the world. But I believe in RMS, and while I don't really agree with him all the time (he's quite fanatic after all), he is very important person for the development of our technology.

That which he calls free is free indeed.

Well, most of the time.

Technorati : Gentoo, Open Source

Mobile likes Linux

I've read an article today about a school in US that equipped its students with a new Asus eeePC 701 laptops. Aside the pedagogical issues, I find that very interesting from technological and social points of view.

As a social effect, I think that using a computer in the classroom have long halted to surprise anyone. The fact that schools are now doing this on their own, show that technology is moving forward, making other sides and areas to consider its impact on how things are done. I'm not saying that teaching has to be accompanied by a computing systems, but I believe that it definitely can benefit from it. For similar purpose an OLPC project was created, and I have written an essay on that.

Many of today's newly created small-sized computers are run with Linux. It is well done business decision, as at that price grades, the price of an operating system can reach up to 50% of the final consumer products' cost. That's really outrageous - if I only would like to use a browser and email, why would I buy an operating system that doubles the price of the device??

On the other hand, as these devices are small, they inherently have a resource limitations, which albeit arguably, are not enough for running the full Windows operating system (or Mac OS for that matter). This leads to using Linux on such devices, with possible following benefits:

• The basic cost of the operating system is zero, which can be leveraged by lowering the cost of the final product.
• The use of Linux allows very easy to change the product - either by changing the hardware, or the software. Because of open nature of Linux OSes, it is quite easy to customize and optimize the operating environment for better performance or other purposes.
• The openness of the platform would allow the creation of "eco-communities" around the product, which develop "hacks" and enhancements, thus further driving the interest and possible customer base.

All in all, the use of small mobile device will not stop any when soon. The ubiquitousness of high speed web access will catalyze even more the entry of all sorts of small mobile devices. But who will get the fruits of such thing - depends on applications and their vendors.

I think that Linux-based devices have a very bright future ahead.

Home Theater Modeled After Enterprise Bridge

Someone thought it would be a good idea to model their home theater after the Enterprise NCC-1701D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The result is super geeky, but actually rather cool. The system also features "one of the largest Kaleidescape hard-drive based storage systems" ever created, amassing eight servers with 3,816 DVDs.

read more | digg story

Technorati : Star Trek, tech

AMD: GPU Specifications Without NDAs!

AMD will release their GPU specifications to open-source developers without any NDAs! Therefore, the specifications will be completely in the open for the community to use without the NonDisclosure restrictions. Good job ATI/AMD!

Finally, OSS community will have the specs to work on. I hope that this could actually make my choice options wider for the time I buy my next computer...

-A

read more | digg story

Ubuntu is SuperOS

Ubuntu. Humanity to others. That's what it means, right?

For many of us, it is the Linux OS. For some, it is the only one. For others - its the show-off brother. An enemy for others.

What is it about Ubuntu, which in few years of its existence became one of the leading distros around, and the one for many? It gave a basis for many others and variations of sorts.
And what does it mean for the rest of us?

There are many explanations for many things, but I'm going to dig few important ones.

First. Ubuntu is GNU/Linux operating system. All those who jealous, please hold your peace. Ubuntu pushes forward the same thing that you do. It's in a user experience, stupid.

Second. Ubuntu is made with usability in mind. All Debian zealots (who "translate" Ubuntu as "can't install Debian") are probably correct from technical standpoint. They just forget, that computer is a tool, and I (and many many many) other users do not use Ubuntu, or Debian or Gentoo. They use computer. Surfing the web. Reading email. Watching porn movies. These sorts of things. So we don't actually care most of the time what operates our computer tool. That's why many of us like Ubuntu.

Third. Ubuntu has a commercial support of involved vendor. This in turn means that there will be someone who will push it further while money is in the game. Given that Linux OSes came up greatly up until now without formal support of many distributions (except maybe Red Hat and Novell), another player is definitely a plus, even though Red Hat and Novell do not see it that way.

Forth. Ubuntu is about community. Everyone knows it by now. For such a project to be successful, it has to build a community around it. There was a basis for this community in the first place: Debian. But Debian folk missed the usability part. Ubuntu created a community which is fun to be in. This leads us to -

Fifth. Ubuntu is a successful business model. Take some niche but wanted and/or undeveloped area. Find negative aspects in existing offers. Make what other don't. Eat them alive.

Sixth. Ubuntu is making it with a good planning and within the wishes of their users. Who said that I will always want open software? Yes, I'd prefer it to other one, but hey, first and foremost I want my tool to work. "No 3d drivers? You mean, not at all? Not even those non open source ones? No, thank you, I will use Ubuntu instead".

Seventh. Ubuntu is doing it for every platform. Desktop. Server. Mobile. Internet Kiosks. Ubuntu is everywhere.

And you know what? They will succeed. Where Red Hat will fail, Ubuntu will pick up. Where Novell will piss some communities off, Ubuntu will be careful.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe for a second Ubuntu is perfect. I don't think that any such project can be.

But I also remember, that their success will benefit me in all the ways possible.
Go Ubuntu!

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, technology

Computer for gradma and world domination

This entry was inspired by latest entry in LinuxToday, but refers to such topic as "Computers for gramma" or "Linux on a desktop" in general.

These topics have history now, and they've been "refurbished" at least once per few weeks. The major points of those are twofold (althouth highly interconnected). Those points are being:

1. Whether my {favorite non-technical member of the family} can easily use computer?
   
2. Is Linux ready for desktop?
   

Please allow me to explain, why those 2 are interconnected.

Well, the first one is well understood. In last 15 or so years, computers transformed from geaky toy to a "in any home" appliance. We do many of day to day tasks with it: We send and read our mail. We read, see and listen to a news. We listen to a music/radio. We watch movies (and sometimes TV). We record music, speech and TV. We play. We talk.

So, if my grandma can operate a TV/VCR, why can't she operate a computer system? Of course she can. In the matter of simplicity, I'll ask anyone who is familiar with computers, to perform the following tasks:

• Check/Send an email
  
• Read/check news on favorite website
  
• Listen to a music
  
• Watch a movie/DVD (all legal, don't worry)
  
• Write a simple document (such as you shop list)
  

I'd believe that anyone who's been using a computer for at least a month, would be able to perform all these tasks.

Now consider the following: the "Alex computer system" that I asked to perform those tasks on has nothing but pretty picture on the desktop, with the following icons:

• Mail
  
• Internet
  
• Documents
  
• Music/Movies
  

Wouldn't you agree, that using only common sense performing the aforementioned tasks would not be too hard? Say, Mail would present some pretty interface to email (or Gmail, Yahoo or anything else - all our email interfaces are alike and pretty self explanatory), Internet would fire up Firefox (or any other browser; and all our browser interfaces are alike and self explanatory), Music/Movies would start something like "media center" application (like Windows Media Center/Tivo/MythTv/Telly, or any other similar application) which is pretty straight forward to use and self explanatory, and Documents will start simple document editor, either local or browser-based (they do have similar interfaces anyway, except MS Office 2007, of course).

Now, I still believe, that no age-related neither intellectual issues have been discussed here yet. It is all very intuitive and common sense.

Just like the TV.

So, at this point, considering all I discussed before, could you answer the following question, please, :

Do you know which operating system "Alex computer system" runs? And more important, does it matter?

This is what I've been trying to explain. I sustain, that there's sincerely and absolutely no importance in which operating system powers the all-powerful "Alex computer system". This, as great result, leads me to the following:

For any such general-purpose computing, Linux-based OS (all you zealots, I know the difference between GNU/Linux and Linux, but I don't want to go into politics for a moment) is completely ready for massive desktop usage, as long as it can be installed and maintained in a way that makes sense to a general public.

Please, note the "common sense" part. I don't think that working with "Start" (or "applications" or whatever) menu is very intuitive (although I have to agree that "Applications" is much better than "Start"). To watch TV, one has to press an "on" and that's it. To play a movie on a VCR one presses "play". That's common sense. That's intuitive.

So here's my initial suggestion to all those aspiring to "prove" to everyone that Linux is ready. Create an application with the following features:

1. Create a very beautiful GUI with pre-defined tasks, such as those mentioned above.
   
2. Make sure it works as stable and as predictable as TV.
   
3. Make sure that interface is consistent thorough the applications.
   
4. Try it on your not so technical {member of your family} to see whether it is intuitive enough.
   

Until now, we've been preparing to world domination. Now the final part:

When they are asleep, swap the OS to Linux. Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Heh, that would be fun and easy. Wouldn't it?

The OLPC reviews review - the alternative standpoint

Dear reader,

I'd like to review all sorts of reviews that have appeared lately online.
I believe, that almost all of them are missing the point.

All these reviews show, or assess, what kind of computer system the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is and how does it compare to other [known] computer systems.

So, the following components are being compared:

1. Hardware specs (specifications)
   
2. GUI (Graphical User Interface)
   
3. Applications choices

So, lets go over those components:

1. Hardware specs.

It is well known, that OLPC is nowhere in top 500 HPC systems list. But such a list is not its purpose. Say, if you build the system, and you require it to do the following:

• Surf the web
  
• Chat with other people (either text, voice or video)
  
• Write docs
  
• Read books/other electronic material (and especially in a direct light environment)
  
• Have a battery life as prolonged as possible
  
• Lightweight
  
• Have an alternative power source (alternative to standard power outlet which can be found in most homes in developed countries).
  

So, what specs would you need then? Do you need a computer system, that would be able to land a man on moon for that? (In fact, humankind has such systems for a long long time, and many of today's calculators are capable of necessary calculations. So this would be not really such a good of an example).

Well, considering that all aforementioned tasks are not computing-intensive (except maybe video/chat, which is not that intensive load on the system after all), you won't have to have state of the art machine. I remember being a student in late 90' and being able to surf the net, listen to music, read the books, write lab reports and chat on ICQ with my friends. And that was on Cyrix 120 MHz machine, with 500MB hard drive and lousy 1MB Cirrus Logic VGA chip.

And you know what? Yes, it was slow. I had my kernel (I used Red Hat 5.2 then) compiling in 48 minutes. Compare that to two minutes 20 seconds on today's computers. But still, it did everything I wanted it to do. And did it ok.

I even played really good games on it (at least I think they were good).

So, considering today's applications for surfing, chat, music and reading are not much different (even sometimes even more efficient than those 10 years ago), I believe 300Mhz machine would be up to the task.

2. GUI

Hm, If I were to choose my favorite complain, this would be it.

Many articles complain, how not native this interface to people or even seasoned computer users. The common misconception as I understand it, is the assumption, that OLPC is the first computer that child will have, and it should teach a kid to use a computer.

Wrong.

First and foremost, it is not about teaching children to work with a computer. It is about teaching. It means, that OLPC and especially its GUI should not be directly compared to any other computer system.

Compare it to other education materials instead.
That's what main issue is all about. These computers is education tool. They will be delivered instead of schoolbooks.

Now imagine the potential this thing has.

Reading books (huh, well, any book has this feature, right?)
Editing book which is allowed to be edited.
Writing you school work, and allowing a teacher to test it.
Chat with friends.
Surf the web.
Compose music
Play
Imagine and do your own.

So, I think, if the child is about to learn something new and exciting - she will. And all you grownups computer whiz-es, who can't figure out the interface -thats not the problem for them. For them its a game.

3. Applications

So, as much as what I said about GUI, I have to say about applications chosen.

First, let me tell you about an OS chosen.

It is Linux OS, based on Fedora Core (GNU/Linux for you zealots). If someone asks why wasn't Windows/Apple OS X chosen - it is very simple. It is not about money. It is not about technology (almost). Its not about politics.

It's about choice.

When you choose a Linux to build your product upon, you have the fullest control possible over final product, both technologically speaking and IP-(intellectual property) speaking. I mean, it is so easy to develop product, when you can change every bit of it for your liking. It is not possible with Windows/OS X.

Besides, technology-wise, the improvements made to different subsystems which comprise the standard distributions (such as kernel, X, Gnome, etc) are to benefit us all.

Second, the applications.

If one would review again the list of requirement, she would understand, that apps she needs are as follows:

• IM (including text, voice and video)
  
• Browser
  
• Book reader (supporting standard formats, such as PDF/RTF/text)
  
• Games
  
• Music player
  
• Document writer
  

So - chat application (with text, voice and video), browser based on xulrunner, reader (evince), games, music app and doc writer (abiword) - that is actually everything required for this work.

There are more.

But no scientific calculator (though it might be useful for older than 7 y.o kids). No shooter games.
Just tetris :-)

Now, to the rest of things.

• I like that OLPC has a screen, that can be read at direct sunlight. If it's for reading books, what else would you need?
  
• I like that OLPC will have longer work time than most other laptops out there.
  
• I like that it can be put to sleep in few seconds. I like that it can be awaken in few seconds.
  
• I like that it weights about 1.5kg
  
• I like that it has an alternative power source. It means that I'd never have to worry about power outlets around me.
  

So, all those comparing OLPC to conventional computer systems, are not comparing it to the comparable one. They expect OLPC to behave like a conventional computer system, and when it fails to comply they say all these negative things, such as its "stupid" or "unnecessary" or "why, oh God, you didn't put full fledged system on this laptop?".

All this because comparisons are basically flawed. They all compare OLPC to something it is not really made to be comparable with. One should try and compare it to something better for reaching that goal.

Try a printed book.