• I *HATE* preschool carpool pickup!! HATE!! #

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I first tried Sabayon Linux in the 3.2 edition and I was plesantly surprised. It found my wireless card, worked well with everything on my box, but it had a few kinks and oddities that they seem to have worked out. Needless to say, despite my dependency on Windows at work, I still like to have the ability to boot in to linux when I can, so I decided to give Sabayon 3.4 a try.

I was pleasantly surprised once again. I downloaded the Sabayon 3.4 Dvd, burned it and fired it up. The first time through I went through a normal boot, and once I was in to Sabayon (it took a minute or two as it worked out what it needed to configure), I was in a stock Sabayon install with out compiz fusion. I attempted to install from the live cd and I had no keyboard. Determined not to let that ruin my day, I rebooted the system (power button) and booted in to the Graphical Installer (you can see screenshots HERE).

The GI is headed by fluxbox, which for what it needs to do is good, it configures your internet access so you can browse the web while you install and it took maybe an hour to get every thing (including the kitchen sink) installed and configured. Upon first boot, it took a bit of time to configure everything as well, however if you’ve ever installed Vista, then this time is normal . The system worked out of the box. Sound, wireless, network, dvds, everything was working except Compiz Fusion. This is a must for me these days as I like eye candy and linux is actually ahead of Vista in this area.

It was a simple matter of enabling acceleration for my card and rebooting (I could have restarted X, but I feel a good reboot is better) and I was off and running with compiz. I have to say, they’ve done a nice job with the look and feel of sabayon. The kde menus are nice and they way they operate flawless. The selection of programs provided is abundant and they supply everything you could need on a linux box, including a plethora of games (most of which I have never heard of!). The system works. After a week of using Sabayon, I haven’t found very many things I dislike about it and I’m glad to say that I think I’m going to be using it a little more often.

I’d love to hear what you think about sabayon if you’ve tried it, please remember I am not tech support for the distro, if you have a specific question, I’ll try, but you should really check out their forums.

Popularity: 6% [?]

So I had an issue with apt-get the other night on the very server this site resides on that took me a while to work out. There were two packages (I want to say debianutils and passwd) that were both trying to install adduser (or useradd) and the debianutils kept erroring out. Well, this wouldn’t have been an issue, except I was attempting to do an apt-get dist-upgrade. I’ve had issues before with apt-get (it removed my kernel once and my host said the box would have to be reinstalled from scratch, but it was no match for my kung-foo) so I’m a little leery of it as it is (I’m a ./compile && make && make install kind of guy).

This time was no different. I couldn’t fathom why it wouldn’t just install one and then install the other. I had to find a way around it and luckily I was able to. Here’s what I did…


#dpkg-reconfigure base-files
#dpkg -i --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/debianutils_2.23.1_i386.deb
NOTE: You really shouldn’t FORCE dpkg or apt to do anything as it could really mess the system up yo!
# dpkg –configure -a
#apt-get dist-upgrade
#reboot


Of course, something else went wrong and removed all of my users (because I had them all set to the same UID so the system saw a problem in that there was really only one user and decided to fix it…) except root, which couldn’t login via ssh as I had disabled root login in sshd…. but that was easily fixed by my host (who have been superb lately…)

Any who, if you decide to try and mess up your system, do so at your own risk!

Popularity: 6% [?]

I’ve been using Linux in some way, shape or form since 2000, and its come along way since I first downloaded a version of Mandrake Linux to try. My primary OS is still Windows (Vista no less) due to the need of it at work (we use a management system here that is Windows only) however I still have two (yes, two!) different linux distributions installed on the laptop in addition to the windows install. I’ve compiled a list of the popular (read, heavily downloaded from LinuxTracker.org) distributions and why they’re worth a look…

1. Ubuntu - Love it or hate it, Ubuntu is the current golden boy of the Linux world (past ones have been red hat, debian, slackware, mandrake…). Ubuntu works. Its solid and it has good support. Dell is even preinstalling it on several of the home offerings these days. Ubuntu has come to represent the distribution that everyone else is striving to be (and the one many think could take over the world….). Not to mention, there’s a version out there for everything (don’t believe me, try UbuntuCE (Christian Edition)).
2. Debian - I can’t mention Ubuntu with out mentioning Debian. If Ubuntu is the golden boy of Linux, think of Debian as the lesser known, but equally attractive brother of Ubuntu. Its not as edgy, they don’t release as often, but if you need a rock solid linux distribution for a server application, you should stop looking once you arrive at Debian. Extremely stable, Debian is the OS of choice for sys admins every where who need a distribution that works out of the box and is easy to maintain. Yes, you can have the latest and greatest on Debian, but for those who just need a system to work, this is the one to go for.
3. Sabayon - Sabayon is a relative newcomer to the distro scene, and despite the fact that its based on Gentoo, it provides a seemingly well polished product. The developers have packaged the best that Gentoo has to offer (emerge) along with a plethora of games and other bells and whistles in to this growing distribution. The first couple of releases were a little lacking, but with the 3.4a release, Sabayon is quickly approaching the apex of Linux distributions (plus it comes with the nvidia and ati drivers and the necessary stuff for compiz fusion!). This is one of the two I have installed on my laptop.
4. Slackware - For the hard core Linux user there’s the oldest living Linux distribution (the suprising thing is that the original developer is still active on the project!). Slackware is not for those who are afraid of wading in neck deep and editing config files by hand. While a lot has improved, Slackware is still a distribution for the adventurous (and the second distribution I tried, though i gave it up when they dumped gnome for KDE).
5. openSUSE - The openSUSE project is a community program sponsored by Novell. openSUSE is based on the popular SUSE distribution that was bought by Novell several years ago and strives to provide a free open source alternative. Extremely popular, the SUSE distribution refuses to die out.
6. DSL - DSL (Damn Small Linux) is small enough to fit on a business card cd or a small (128mb) usb drive and yet still pack the same punch as the bigger distributions. DSL has been around the block several times and still provides an excellent Linux experience for those who want a small footprint. If you have an application you need Linux for, but you’re limited on space, DSL should definitely be on your list.
7. DesktopBSD - DesktopBSD is not technically a Linux Distribution, however, it is a rock solid alternative to Windows based on the popular FreeBSD system. Its main goal is to provide a desktop operating system that is easy to use, but still has all the functionality and power of BSD and they do that. While the development cycle is a little slower than some Linux distributions (three months between RC releases…) they provide a stable desktop that isn’t entirely ugly. A plus is that most Linux applications can be compiled and run on the system as well.

I want to let you know that this list is in no way scientific and is almost entirely based on my experiences in the Linux realm. If you have some opinions you’d like to share, please do, I’d love to hear if you think I’m right or wrong. Also, the numbering is not how I think they rank, just the order I happened to write about them…

Popularity: 6% [?]

Amy and I went on a cruise last week and I have to say, it was a great way to travel, but thats not what I’m writing about today… While in Coco Beach, Fl. we stayed at a Marriott Courtyard hotel and I was impressed with the “business center” at the hotel for one reason.

Two of the computers available (the only two by the way…) were running linspire. I was quite impressed that a hotel would put these in the loby as the primary computers for its guests. I think thats very cool. If you’re going to Coco Beach, or you need a hotel newar Port Canaveral, make sure to stay at the Coco Beach Marriott Courtyard. THEY KICK ASS!!

Popularity: 7% [?]

Popularity: 7% [?]

WUBI!! w00t!! Wait! What? WUBI?? Thats right, the Windows UBuntu Installer project installs an Ubuntu install right to your windows box with out repartitioning, or otherwise fscking up your partitions or harddisks. But wait you say, it can’t be a full Ubuntu install can it? Oh, but it can and it is.

I was a little skeptical at first myself, it sounded too good to be true, and I had used VMplayer to load Linux Distributions before and while they worked, there were things lacking (graphic support, sound and so on…). However, once I fired up the installer and I noticed that it downloaded what appeared to be the actual ISO for Feisty, I became a little more impressed. I let it run over night and when I came in in the morning, it was finished and ready for a reboot.

The installer actually creates a vitrual image of the OS that resides on your drive. Obviously, its size is a full size distribution and the more crap you download and add to the install, the more space it takes up, but in a world where you can buy 1tb harddrives these days, who cares? Anyway, it edits the NTboot loader and creates an option for ubuntu. I need to go in and change the timeout on it, but thats a minor thing (I believe that when there is an option on a non-mission critical machine, it should wait for you to select an OS no matter how long it waits….). I selected ubuntu and on first boot it took a bit of time and one reboot as it configured itself, after that though it was smooth sailing.

I did have to enable the closed source ATI drivers and add XGL support and beryl following some instructions I had found, but I would have had to do that on a regular install anyway (Thanks ATI!) and over all, I’d have to say, I’m pretty impressed. I have not tried the wireless connection yet, but the wired connection came right up and connected right away….

I’ll post some screenshots later today….

Popularity: 8% [?]

More ad goodness.

Unfortunately, they don’t quite raise the hair on the back of my neck like the ibm linux one did…

Popularity: 7% [?]

Well… *she* is:

I think most linux users (the male ones anyway) would equate their linux boxes with a female personality….

Popularity: 7% [?]

Yar, this weekend, almost 2 full weeks earlier than years past, the sound of people waking up an hour late for Sunday morning Services (or work) will be heard across the country. If you’re operating on a windows based OS with automagic updates enabled, you’re covered. If your cell phone is set to use the network time, then providing your carrier is up-to-date, you’re covered. What about us Lee-noox users? Well, you can make sure you’re covered in a relatively simple way….

Open up an xterm (or aterm, or whatever term you like….) and type:

# zdump -v EST5EDT | grep 2007

The output should look exactly like this:

EST5EDT Sun Mar 11 06:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 01:59:59 2007 EST isdst=0 gmtoff=-18000
EST5EDT Sun Mar 11 07:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 03:00:00 2007 EDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-14400
EST5EDT Sun Nov 4 05:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 01:59:59 2007 EDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-14400
EST5EDT Sun Nov 4 06:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 01:00:00 2007 EST isdst=0 gmtoff=-18000

If that’s not the case, then do an ‘apt-get update; apt-get upgrade’ (if you’re on debian that is, you could probably do an emerge sync && emerge world on gentoo based systems…) and then run the command again. If that didn’t fix your issue, then there’s the NIH.gov technique (mind you this is all in the terminal:

1. su
2. cd /root
3. ftp elsie.nci.nih.gov
user: anonymous
pass: you@you.com
4. cd pub
5. ls
6. use ‘get’ to get the latest tzdata file like so:
get tzdata2007a.tar.gz
7. quit
8. mkdir tzdata
9. mv tzdata*.gz tzdata/.
10. cd tzdata
11. tar xzvf *.gz
12. cp /etc/localtime /etc/localtime.LAST
13. rm /etc/localtime
14. zic northamerica
15. ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST5EDT /etc/localtime
16. zdump -v /etc/localtime | grep 2007

It should show Mar 11 and Nov 4 as the new times, in my case. My example above is only for the east coast of USA. If that’s not you, then modify for your timezone. Sorry I don’t know about other timezones, but you can grep the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory to see what else is there….

Note: This info was gleaned from UbuntuForums. Props to the original poster!

Popularity: 7% [?]

Despite the fact that I’m not a big fan of his… Wil Wheaton actually has a decent post about some good linux resources out there. Recently, he tried linux out again and his findings this time were pretty good… though, I will say, he was using the current Linux Golden Boy, Ubuntu.

Got any more good linux resources for beginners? Let us know.

Popularity: 7% [?]

So I did something on a live production server (the web server here at work) the other day that I probably shouldn’t have done…. I ran yum update with out masking anything out of the update and then I rebooted the server. Needless to say, I learned why there are certain things (kernel and kernel sources) that should be masked when getting ready to automatically update your server.

On reboot, the server nicely suffered a kernel panic because it couldn’t find root. This stems from my custom partitioning the drives and setting it up the way I know how (with out the logical volume manager). I do this for several reasons, but mostly because I like it that way. The problem is most modern kernels and distributions do not support this with their stock kernels and grub installs any more… grrrrr. So I rebooted the machine and at the grub prompt, I selected the older kernel. Which is fine, we don’t need the bells and whistles of the 2.16.20 kernel (we’re on 2.16.18 or something…)

To counter this, installers such as yum, portage (emerge), apt-get, swaret… have ways to mask or protect certain packages from being upgraded. It does strike me kind of odd, that Fedora 6 doesn’t seem to by default…

Before upgrading world on your boxen, make sure to mask out any mission critical packages that could potentially ruin you if they’re done wrong…

Popularity: 7% [?]

I am by no means a guru when it comes to Linux, but, as (I think it was Zaphod Bebelbrox’s Psychiatrist) someone once said, “I’m just a guy, you know?” As such, I have been using linux for about 7 years now, and I’ve watched it grow from a fun server/toy use to something that remotely resembles a usable desktop (see Ubuntu, Mandrivia or Sabayon). Having been part of the “Linux Community” for the time I’ve been a user/fanboy, I’ve come to believe that one of the things that makes Linux so strong is its community and the development community that surrounds it. On the other hand, its also one of the things that hurts it so much.

Take for example, the gazillion different versions of Ubuntu that abound online. From Ubuntu Christian edition, to Ubuntu Muslim Edition to Ubuntu Ultimate Gamers Edition, if you’re looking for something particular, you’ll most likely find it. Some consider this a good thing. Hundreds of programmers, doing the work of reinventing the wheel. As if Joe A. can make a better wheel than Joe B. Granted, most distributions that put out a sub 1.0 release rarely make it these days and if you look at it, almost no one is developing a completely new, never been seen before distribution, but merely a derivation of something that already exists.

Ubuntu is Debian. Sabayon is Gentoo. Mandrivia was Redhat… and so on and so forth. Are all these changes really needed? Why aren’t more people joining the development teams for the major distributions? Could you imagine the awesomeness that could be achieved if the Ubuntu (which, admittedly is taking on a life of its own… being one of the worlds golden boys right now…) developers teamed with the debian developers? The result would be a rock solid server/desktop combo with one of the best package management scripts (despite my lack of love for Debian, apt-get rocks). If the guys behind the Sabayon overlay would work with Gentoo? You’d have one of the best customizable distributions around (and it would look really really good too).

Maybe its time for the linux community to quit forking around and get down to work. The Linux Desktop has come along way in the past 7 years with more and more people switching to it for every day use…. now lets make it a little more consistent.

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I finally decided to try out linux on the laptop again, a project that was once a daunting task due to the wireless networking chip HP decided to use in this box. I was pleasantly surprised when i booted the Sabayon linux live disc in and on boot it found my network card and video card and had everything setup waiting for a key to access the network. Pretty smooth, and I did like the beryl features too, so I went ahead and installed it to the laptop, nuking the windows install I had labored so long to make almost perfect.

Installing sabayon was easy and I was actually able to install it on the laptop while I was driving home… as once you enter some key information, it does its thing until you’re ready to reboot. By the time I had picked the girls up from day care and gotten them all inside the house, the system was ready to reboot.

The machine boots about as fast as it does in windows, which is ok, I don’t need speed on boot (as I very rarely turn the system off) and the default WM is KDE with beryl. Which is ok too, I guess. I’ve always been somewhat of a Gnome fan, however, the recent switch of slackware going KDE only and the more recent stuff with Linus and the Gnome team left me with questions. I’ve found, in the week that I’ve been using it, its very similar to Windows in the way it does things and handles menus, and the new kicker is cool too.

Sabayon is not a distribution for those who like to go minimal. It is a Gentoo Stage 3 install on Steroids, and it comes with several versions of software that do the same thing (something like 6 videos players?!?!?!) however, if you have a beefy system and want something that looks classy, then its a good fit. I have had some problems with some of the software not playing nicely, firefox for one, which was stable as anything on the windows install has crashed on me several times when it comes up against embedded media that it can’t handle (I admit, this might not be a fault of Sabayon so much as firefox) and the lack of a really decent MS Exchange friendly mail client (yea, there’s evolution, but come on…..) has led me to throw together a windows xp box to use on my desktop for email (the company uses exchange…) and browsing trouble sites…

Over all, the distro is good, and probably stable enough for the average user, the polish is there, I would say that sabayon just needs to work on the stuff under the hood for the next major release. 3.3 is due out some time with in the next month or so. Below is a video of my desktop in action…. it didn’t come out as good as I wanted, but I think its not bad for a first time….

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So, those few who visit the site might have realized that it was down for most of last week (well, since the 18th anyway…) this was due in part to my registrar (RegisterFly) having an issue with their CEO embezzling and taking money from the company then when he was fired for it, he locked the entire support staff out of their own servers. Cool huh? Well, long story short, ICANN has interviened, Enom has been kind enough to give me back control over the domains that I own that they still have in their power (about half…) and I am seriously considering moving all my domains unless registerfly straightens up and flies right.

On another note, I have managed to install Sabayon Linux 3.26 on the lappy and I must say, I’m impressed, screenshots as well as a vidcap of the beryl WM inaction will be posted shortly.

Yo. Its good to be back.

Popularity: 7% [?]

A lack of physical memory can severely hamper Linux performance. In this article, learn how to accurately measure the amount of memory your Linux system uses. You also get practical advice on reducing your memory requirements using an Ubuntu system as an example.

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