Yes Virginia, there is a Hannah Montana Linux

I could not believe what I found on Sourceforge this week, Hannah Montana Linux is a Kubuntu variant rebranded with the Hannah Montana label to appeal to teens.

What the developer of this distribution did was to create new themes for Kubuntu, including the login manager, startup splash screen, and of course the backgrounds.  Since Linux is a freely modifiable and distributable product, the developer simply integrated the themes into the distribution and repackaged the ISO disk image.

To download this, you will need a Bittorrent client.

I tried this distribution in VirtualBox, and it actually worked, even with 384MB of RAM allocated for the virtual machine.  I was able to pull horneker.com from within VirtualBox, so the network functionality works.  What you get is a customized KDE 4.2 desktop with Konqueror, Amarok (of course there needs to be a media player in order to play Hannah Montana songs), and some basic KDE applications.  On the downside, you will need to install the GIMP and OpenOffice as they are not included with the distribution.

Since this is on Sourceforge.com, I am worried that this will be a short lived distribution, as the name Hannah Montana is trademarked by Disney.  I just hope that the developers got permission from Disney to use the name.

Windows 7 Propaganda

Windows 7 is to be released on October 22nd, and this past couple of weeks, Microsoft has launched a campaign to get the masses “excited” about the new release.  This is actually a two front campaign.  According to Linuxologist.com, Microsoft produced a “training video”, really a PowerPoint presentation, for Best Buy stores presenting the “facts” about Windows 7 vs Linux and its use on Netbooks.

I saw the PowerPoint slides, and true to form, it was not only misleading, but contained everything from factual inaccuracies to downright lying.  Fortunately, the presentation of the “facts” leads to the conclusion that Linux really is a better choice. 

One of the points made out was the inability of Linux to run popular video games.  First of all, who in their right minds would want to play games on a netbook with an eight or ten inch screen for a display?  Netbooks were designed specifically for Internet access on the go, not for playing games designed for desktops, which have far more computing power than a traditional laptop, let alone the new generation of netbooks.

The keyboards on these netbooks are one reason why I chose to purchase a new laptop instead of a netbook.  I have large hands, and the keyboards on even the large screen netbooks feel quite cramped compared to a laptop.

Microsoft also points out the multimedia capabilities of Linux are lacking.  This is not true.  Today’s Linux distributions provide a means of installing the necessary software to play certain types of multimedia such as WMF, WMA, and RealMedia.  In fact, MP3 is widely supported with all major distirbutions.

Microsoft bills Windows 7 as having complete support for hardware.  Of course it does!  That is because Microsoft made it that way.  How?  By paying some hardware manufacturers not to support Mac OS-X or Linux.  But that does not stop some small time developers and manufacturers from supplying drivers for Linux and Mac OS-X.  If a solution can be found, someone will come up with it.

Here is the best fabrication of all.  Microsoft claims that Windows 7 is safer to use than Linux.  Really?  When was the last time a Linux user had to worry about trojan horses, viruses, spyware, or other malware?  Never!  Why?  Because most of that malware was written specifically for Windows.  The reason for that is simple.

Linux, Mac OS-X, FreeBSD, and other UNIX variants were built on fourty years of UNIX development, which was developed with  security, multitasking and multiple users from the ground up.  Windows, in contrast, was originally designed for one user on one machine, and security, multitasking, and multiple users was considered an afterthought.  In fact, Windows was originally a graphical interface for MSDOS, which itself was designed as a single tasking and a single user operating system.

Here is another kicker.  The NT kernel was derived from Digital Equipment Corporation’s VMS (now a Hewlett-Packard product), which itself was plagued with problems when running on the old PDP-series machines.  (How many of you remember back that far?)

Back in the 1980’s, Microsoft had a UNIX dialect called Xenix.  Had Microsoft developed NT from Xenix, rather than from VMS, the computing world would have been a different place.  Of course, there would have been no Linux, but then, NT would have truly been the respectable operating environment that Linux is today.

Enough with the training video.  The other part of the campaign is the television advertising.  The ads involved a seven year old girl, assembling a “slide show” containing selected quotes from the mainstream computer press.  To top if off, the words “more happy is coming” were used to get the masses excited to pay $120.00 to $300.00 USD for the upgrade.  In these economic times, does it really make sense to spend a minimum of $120.00 for a software upgrade when that money could be used to pay down credit card debts!

More happy, indeed.

YouTube Video Review, Issue 2

What do you get when you mix Fred Penner’s Place, a classic Rick Astley track, and some video editing and dubbing?  A hilarious music video that could only be found on YouTube and perhaps other video sharing sites.

Thanks to video and audio editing technology, a new concept called Rick Rolling is a new wave of pulling a practical joke on the masses.  The song behind this is the Rick Astley classic from 1987 Never Gonna Give You Up.  The trick is that the song is embedded in the video without the subject knowing that the song is going to be played during the video they are in.

Here is the link to the video that I found to be humourous.

On YouTube, Bill O’Reilly fell victim to the prank when he was on Insider Edition.

Graduate Student ordered to pay $675,000 for downloading music.

This comes out to $22,500 per “violation” according to the story as reported by CBC News.

On one hand, this is the major record labels protecting a business model that has been outmoded and outdated by technology.

On the other hand, what was copied was copyrighted commercial music.  By commercial, I mean the record labels, which get most of the money for each copy of the song in question, determine the licensing for the songs, usually allowing you to own a copy of the vinyl, cassette or CD of which the song resides.

The artist who recorded the songs usually gets a mere pittance for each copy of the recording per contract with the major labels taking more than the lion’s share of the profits.

Of course, I do not advocate downloading and sharing copyrighted music.  But, how many of you know about the Creative Commons licensing concept?  Music or other works of art licensed in this manner can be freely distributed, modified, or otherwise collaborated on.  There are different types of CC licenses.  Some allow for derivative works, for example, you can take a piece of music licensed with a CC license that allows for derivative works, and freely include it in a remix.  Some CC licenses allow for commercial use, which means you can make money off the music.

However, all CC licenses require that if you use a CC licensed work, you are required to attribute what you use to the original author of the work.  In addition, you must license your resulting work under the same or a compatible CC license.

Jamendo and Magnatune are examples of music labels where you can freely download and exchange music, or if you are a musician, you can upload your music for distribution under a CC license.  These companies make their money from CD sales and donations.  Their business model calls for half of their proceeds to go to the artists who record for their labels.  Contrast that with a major record label contract.

In the case of the student who downloaded the music in question, had that student gone to a site such as Jamendo, Magnatune, or ccMixter, the situation would have been avoided in the first place.

Note:  ccMixter is a place where music and remixes are freely distributable.  There is some great music to be found here, and legal for you to download.

There are other places where you can legally download and share music.  Go to the Creative Commons site to get a listing.

We are Joyed, We Are Done, We Have Linux on the…Toshiba

Today, I made a big decision.  I am getting rid of my oldest hardware, that is all CPUs that I have in storage, and anything dating to before the Millenium change.  This is part of the traditional spring cleaning.  I am reducing my inventory to one desktop and two laptops.

I have just purchased a Toshiba Satellite L305-S5944, then created Restore Disks, and then replaced Vista with PCLinuxOS 2009.1.

Through research that I have done on Linux and some inexpensive laptops, even the low cost laptops such as this one make great Linux machines.

With 2GB of RAM in the system and a 250GB hard drive, I should be ready for the next generation of Linux distributions.  Mandriva 2009 Spring is the start of the next generation, and I should test this distribution on the new laptop.

System requirements for Linux depend on which desktop environment(s) you are installing.  GNOME and KDE 3.5.10 (as of this writing) require 256MB, while KDE 4.x requires 512MB minimum.

On one hand, I feel bad to have to do away with older hardware.  On the other hand, I really could use the storage space in the bedroom, and with the new laptop, I am ready to take on the future of Linux in 64-bit glory.

When I purchased the latest edition of Linux Format magazine, the DVD-ROM that came with it contained the latest version of PCLinuxOS (version 2009.1).

For those of you not familiar with this Linux dialect, PCLinuxOS is a Mandriva derivative that is one of the easiest distributions to install and maintain.  PCLinuxOS was developed by Texstar of Houston, and there is a mirror of the Texstar repository at Indiana University, Bloomington where you can download an ISO image for burning to a CD-R.  This is a LiveCD, so you can try out PCLinuxOS before committing the Linux dialect to your hard drive.

You only need 256MB of RAM for the system to boot.  I was able to get the OS to work on the older Compaq laptop, but performance is rather slow due to the use of swap memory.  However, PCLinuxOS smokes on the Toshiba laptop with 2GB of RAM.

When it comes to productivity, PCLinuxOS is better for the Laptop than OpenSUSE.

As for software, the same packages that are available on Mandriva are also available on PCLinuxOS, but then that is to be expected as PCLinuxOS is a derivative of Mandriva.  The difference here is that PCLinuxOS uses Synaptic rather than Mandriva’s package manager, making usability very familiar if you are used to distributions such as Ubuntu, SimplyMEPIS and Debian.

Now you are wondering, how well does PCLinuxOS work on this laptop?

Everything just works out of the box.  The only issues here are recording of audio from external sources.  This is an issue with the hardware as the laptop has one jack for audio output, and one jack for microphone input, and there is no monitoring of input while recording.

Sometimes the mouse pointer makes erratic moves and causes the cursor to move to unexpected places.  This is an issue with the touchpad, and you can work around it.  Other than that, I am quite satisfied with the laptop’s performance.

Random YouTube Video Reviews, Episode 1

If you are like me and visit YouTube often for entertainment, there are some great videos, some somewhat OK videos, some that are quite boring, and some that are outright stupid.  In other words, there is literally something for everyone.

Here I shall select what I find interesting, then do a review (and of course share my opinion) on the selected YouTube videos.

Prank Call to Kohl’s by xoxosunshine123

First of all, I am not a fan of prank calls, in fact, that is one of my pet peeves.  Prank calls have been a nuisance to businesses and individuals alike for many years.

Second, there is too much of this garbage on YouTube.  In fact, there are literally hundreds of videos on such shenanagans, most of them taking place at Wal-Mart.  Why?  The girls in this video apparently have nothing better to do with their spare time than to pull a stunt like that and then upload it to YouTube so the whole world will know what these pinheads are doing.

Third, this is an example of what happens when you leave children to do what they want instead of what you tell them to do.  Enough said.

Many of these prank calls, whether it be by telephone to the store, or worse over the intercom as is with this classic:

Note:  This video contains material not appropriate for all audiences.  Viewer discretion is advised.

Baby Got Back in Department Store by fatvids

What is amazing (and rather inappropriate) is that these are classified as comedy on YouTube.

Fortunately in the last video, the pranksters got kicked out of Wal-Mart.  This is what they get for being stupid.  My response to this video is a quote from Simon Cowell:

“Zero for effort, zero for style, zero for star quality, and you know what…I’m being generous.”

Here’s what else I think:  Where were the parents?! We’re they not aware of what they were doing?  Do they even care?

If that were my kids pulling that stunt, they would have their cameras and computers confiscated until they graduate from college and have proven themselves to be responsible.

Using a LG600G Phone with Linux

Disclaimer:  For this entry, my LG600G phone was not hacked, nor was any software modified for this to happen.  I simply activated the Bluetooth connection per instructions in the User’s Guide for setting up Bluetooth headsets.

Tracfone, IMO the best value for prepaid cellular access, offers the LG LG600G cellular phone.  I have one of these, and so far it is one of the best cellular offerings of any prepaid phone.  This phone is Bluetooth enabled.

Tracfone and other prepaid carriers that offer Bluetooth phones generally configure Bluetooth for use with Bluetooth headsets and other handsfree devices.

So I decided to configure the Bluetooth subsystem on Ubuntu 8.10 on my desktop and check out the Bluetooth capability of the LG600G.

I then activated the Bluetooth capability on the LG600G, making sure the device was “visible” to the Bluetooth subsystem.

Then, I plugged in my Targus Bluetooth adapter into the desktop.  Ubuntu automatically configured the adapter and placed a Bluetooth icon on the GNOME panel tray at the top of the screen.  Then, I right clicked on the icon, selected Setup New Device… and followed the wizard that came up.

Ubuntu automatically detected the phone, then setup a security PIN for that phone, at which time, the phone prompted me to accept a Bluetooth connection from the Ubuntu machine.  I then entered the assigned PIN, and Voila, a connection was made between the phone and the desktop.

An icon representing the phone next appeared on the desktop.  I then opened Nautilus (the file manager for the GNOME desktop), and found three folders, Images, Sounds, and Other.  Here is where files are transferred to and from the LG600G phone.

Now the caveat:

Anything downloaded to the phone from Tracfone’s website will not appear in the folders after connecting the phone to the desktop machine.  This is because content from that site contains a encoding scheme similar to the infamous Digital Rights Management (more like Digital Restrictions Management to tell the truth).

However, if you take a picture with the phone, or record audio using the Voice Recording feature, you can transfer those files to your desktop machine.  In addition, you can upload your own MP3 encoded ringtones and pictures in JPG format to the phone, provided they are not DRM encoded.

Note about the Bluetooth connection:

I used the Bluez stack, and allowed Gnome Bluetooth to do the configuration.  There are other utilities that use the Bluez stack, but this is the easiest way to get Bluetooth working on Ubuntu.

Why This Setup?

Many prepaid services whose phones have built-in cameras have ways of storing images in the phone.  However, up to now, there was no known way to print photographs taken with the phone.

Yes, Polaroid has the PoGo series of Mobile photo printers.  These connect to your camera or camera phone through Bluetooth or the PictBridge USB connection.

Of course, pictures that come out of this printer are only 2 x 3 inches, or wallet size, but for what it was designed for, the images from camera phones do not rival that of traditional digital cameras.

Note that TracFone phones are not supported by this device.  Hence this procedure is necessary.

The best part of this is that you do not have to hack the phone to do this!

Oracle Buys Sun Microsystems: Is This Good for Open Source?

Since I posted an entry on IBM purchasing Sun Microsystems, IBM backed out of the deal, and Oracle (still lead by Larry Ellison) stepped in and made a deal to purchase Sun Microsystems.

The deal as of this writing is pending approval from shareholders of both companies.

What does this mean for Java, OpenOffice.org, MySQL, and OpenSolaris?

Lets take a look at Oracle itself.  Oracle specializes in database solutions with a proprietary license.  Unlike Microsoft, their products work on UNIX dialects including Linux.

I have a copy of Solaris 8 (when Solaris was a commercial product) that came with a developer edition of the Oracle 9i database product.  While Oracle databases may come with a proprietary license, the database product was stable and reliable as any open source product such as Firefox and OpenOffice.org.

Oracle has made some attempts to get into the Linux distribution market.  The Unbreakable Linux product is a rebranded version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Oracle specifics and database products included.

Is it possible that Oracle wants to get into the Open Source field?  Let’s hope so.

The only conflict that could be effected here is MySQL, which was recently acquired by Sun Microsystems.  Hence, it is possible that Oracle functionality could be integrated into MySQL to make a database server worthy of enterprise use?  If so, is this not what the creators of MySQL wanted in the first place?  With MySQL as a part of many web server solutions, this could prove to be a merger that has some real merit.

…and then there is Larry Ellison.  At least he does not throw tempertantrums when he does not get his way, nor does he smash chairs in his office because one of his top software engineers migrated to Google.

Despite his products having a proprietary license, his products are definitely world class, and I see Larry Ellison (as of this writing) as a friend of Linux/UNIX, and of Open Source.  (Mainly because I have not seen evidence to the contrary yet.)

What about Java?  Again, Oracle and Sun Microsystems have always worked together with the integration of Java and Oracle databases.

What about OpenOffice.org?  Let us not forget that OpenOffice.org is sponsored by Sun Microsystems, and not manufactured by Sun Microsystems.  StarOffice, however, is the commercial version of OpenOffice.org, and it is that product that would get the Oracle enhancements.

A visit to Oracle’s website reveals that Oracle has been very involved with the Linux community, not only with open source projects, but also with commercial offerings for Linux.  According to the website, Oracle databases make up 82 percent of the market share in the enterprise where Linux is used.  This is good news for Linux, but not necessarily for MySQL.

Sure MySQL will survive, but with a different niche.

Netbooks vs Laptops

This past October, the Target store at Valparaiso started selling a new generation of portable computer we call a netbook.  The ASUS EEE had been in the market for a year outside the United States, and I had known about this through Linux Format Magazine.

The netbook at Target was the ASUS model 910, which has a 9-inch diagonal screen, and a keyboard that IMO is cramped (that is because I have big hands).  Disk storage is in the form of a 16GB of Flash memory built into the netbook.

Flash memory as main storage is nothing new.  Some of the newer iMacs feature Flash memory for disk storage instead of a hard disk, enabling Apple to design the latest iMac series the way it did, i.e. place what would normally be placed in a separate box on the back of the LCD monitor.

The problem I find with flash memory is that lifespan for the flash disk technology is relatively unknown, when compared to a traditional hard drive, and has not been proven to last longer than a hard drive.  However, flash memory is reliable in the sense that there are no moving parts to get damaged from dropping or simply being bumped around.

The netbooks did not really start selling until a version with Windows XP installed was available in stores.  The ASUS EEE came with a pared down version of Xandros Desktop 4, which IMO is not the best choice for a desktop operating system.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 notebook has a customized version of Ubuntu 8.04 installed, and Hewlett-Packard’s version of its netbook can be purchased with OpenSUSE 11.0 installed (however, you have to order this from HP, as the version in stores comes with XP installed).

At a base price of $279.00 USD at Best Buy, I do not see this as a bargain, especially when for about $100.00 more, you can purchase a new full fledged laptop and replace Vista with your favourite Linux distribution (or dual-boot with Vista if you wish).

The laptop I have is a second hand laptop I purchased at my local computer dealer (Priority Computers and Service in Valparaiso) for $149.00.  This is a Compaq Armada E700 of which I am running SimplyMEPIS 8.0, and everything works as it should. This is because the hardware built-in to the laptop is well supported under Linux.

Which brings up to the issue of why purchase a netbook in the first place?

The concept of the netbook was derived from the One Laptop per Child project, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to educate children in developing countries by providing low-cost laptops to connect to the rest of the world, as a method of providing education in these countries.

As for our region, the netbook is useful only if you are solely using the machine to surf the Internet.  If you are going to do other things on that laptop, then I recommend spending the extra money and getting a full fledged laptop (and installing Linux on it ).

Should IBM Purchase Sun Microsystems? Absolutely!

This business transaction makes sense, both in the perspective of business, and in the perspective of Open Source. Here we have two major corporations that have heavy investments in Open Source, as well as in the Linux and UNIX arenas, and they both manufacture GREAT software products.

On a personal note, I have used products from both companies, and never had trouble with anything I have used from these companies. From IBM, I have used OS/2 and Eclipse, as well as various Lotus products such as 1-2-3, Improv (How many of you remember this product?), and Symphony (the DOS version from the 1980s). From Sun, I have used Java, Solaris, OpenOffice.org, and MySQL. As for hardware products, I have used a variety of systems from both vendors over the past twenty five years, i.e. everything from the 3270 terminals, to a Sun 386i workstation, to AS400 through PCs running 3270 emulation software.

On the hardware side, this combination represents a plephora of hardware architectures, from Intel x86-based machines, to the PowerPC based machines, to SPARCstations, and various mainframes such as the AS400 series, all under one banner.  To me, this is a combination that could bring Linux and UNIX in general to true portability and openness when it comes to development of UNIX software.  (Heck, that is more than either Steve Jobs or Steve Ballmer can say about their products.)

Of course, Sun Microsystems is not in that great of shape financially.  Much of Sun’s revenue has been from the sale of computer hardware, rather than from Solaris when it was a commercial product.

IBM, on the other hand, transitioned itself from a company known for its prorpietary technologies in hardware and software sold from the 1950s through the 1980s, to a diversified company with revenues generated from hardware sales (even after divesting itself of its PC division to Lenovo), software services, and technologies such as speech synthesis and point of sale systems.

It also helps to dump older and/or redundant technologies and products such as OS/2.  Yes, I have used OS/2 back in the 1990s, and it was a great product.  Too bad they could not have marketed OS/2 Warp to consumers, but that did not stop me from purchasing OS/2 Warp for my then current computer, the Compaq Presario 425.

When I made the switch to Linux back in 1998, I saw the potential for its success, and apparently so did IBM.  During the first half of the current decade, IBM suggested to OS/2 users to switch to Linux as a replacement for OS/2.

*** This is the first installment ***