Migration:Netbooks have quickly moved from their intended purpose (appliances) into extremely low-cost notebooks. Screens went from 7" to 10". SSDs became HDs. 256 - 512MB RAM became 1GB. Prices went from $199 to $500. People expect all the same functionality from these new machines as they do of their normal notebooks, and that requires Windows software. XP wins through the network effect.
Poor promotion: Linux netbooks were never promoted in stores or evenly reviewed by tech journals. Those located in stores were always the "cheap" option with lower spec'ed hardware. Salespeople didn't understand how to promote the Linux systems. Reviewers tended to ding the Linux models for not having XP. XP wins through a premium image.
Poor education: Consumers often weren't aware that what they were buying wasn't a notebook and wasn't intended to run random software. They went home, opened the box, and were unpleasantly surprised. XP wins due to ubiquity.
Poor OEMing:OEMs didn't do their job -- they supplied machines which weren't completely functional out of the box. They didn't tune. They didn't test. They sold machines without wireless drivers. There were sleep/resume issues. The distributions provided were crippled. All of these things would have been easy to fix (and they were in the XP models), but the Linux models got little to no engineering effort. The only Linux models still selling well are Asus EEEs. Asus put a lot of effort into their custom distro. Win XP wins through adequate engineering from the OEMs.
I said that Windows 7 will kill Linux on the netbook. Win7 will be too late to do any more damage and Linux will continue to sell 5-10%. Android and ARM netbooks still hold promise, but the chances are slim.
Most users run to YouTube first to check their Flash capability, and they are told that Flash isn't working for them. YouTube helpfully offers a download from the Adobe site, but this doesn't help many new users.
This problem occurs because YouTube uses Javascript to detect the Flash version. Other sites not using Javascript and containing Flash videos trigger the plug-in finder.
Solution #1: Ask Adobe for help
Ask Adobe to place an apt:adobe-flashplugin link on the download page that YouTube links to. Make sure that this link is clearly for Ubuntu users.
The user will click the link and Flash will be installed from the repositories.
Solution #2: Re-write the YouTube link to be an apt: link.
We could use Greasemonkey and a userscript to rewrite the link to Adobe into an apt: link installing the software. This would require Greasemonkey to be installed by default. There could be space and security ramifications.
In Pwn2Own trifecta: Hacker exploits IE8, Firefox, Safari, it's obvious that the browser situation is pretty bad. Mac with Safari fell first with the first contestant, but the contestant order was by luck of the draw, meaning that any of the exploited browsers (that's all of them, by the way) could have been first to go. Ubuntu never fell, but that's mostly because it wasn't in the competition. The P2O discussion gets a lot of people stating that Linux (generally Ubuntu) is too well designed to be pwned this way. I say rubbish.
While getting a straight "drive-by" download going for a Linux distro would be difficult, if you include a little social engineering, it becomes quite easy.
Necessary ingredients:
1) Functionality the user want (e.g. porn viewing directly in Totem via a plugin)
2) A browser vuln giving you the ability to run a local command. Firefox has a few.
3) A distribution which uses gksudo to elevate permissions with a time-out policy. Ubuntu will work fine.
Process
1) Create a HowTo page or spam e-mail.
2) Ask the use to install software which is likely not installed -- totem-xine for example. If you use and apt: link, it will help. These are from the repos and are absolutely safe, and everyone knows it.
3) Break to second page (via link) with the browser exploit running gksudo and whatever command you need. It will not time out (using the gksudo token from the totem-xine install) and will elevate privileges automatically.
4) If your "Porn viewer" really works, you'll get plenty of traffic and plenty of bots. Make it really work.
5) Almost no one will ever know that they are owned because few run anti-virus or rootkit detection, and they didn't install anything outside of the repositories.
Not too difficult. Or you can take the more direct approach -- package your exploit in a .deb file with your porn viewer. The user downloads, double-clicks, and installs your malware.
The Wall Stree Journal reports that IBM is planning to buy Sun, maybe even inking the deal this week. Sun reportedly wants a buyer, and IBM makes sense. Why?
Sun is a company which has recently transitioned to an open source business model, but they haven't quite figured out how to make it work yet. Java, MySQL, and a good part of Solaris are OSS now. Then of course there's OpenOffice.org and VirtualBox. People knowledgeable about Sun have talked about the struggle inside the company over OSS, with the public face seeming to waffle over what it wants and where it needs to go. It hasn't quite figured OSS out as a business model.
Then there's the hardware side. SPARC and the server line have seen a recent refresh, and enterprise geeks have been drooling over them. Does IBM really need more hardware in its line-up?
In contrast to Sun, IBM is a business that understands open source. It has been selling services on several competing OSS operating systems since 2000. It makes billions every year with OSS. Acquiring Sun will give Java (which IBM already has a competing implementation of), Solaris, and the other offerings direction. IBM will figure out how to play this software to profit.
Good luck on the merger guys. It sounds like a win-win situation.
Dana Gardner has a nice article explaing why the purchase makes no sense.
This month I'm running between 33 different classrooms with what seems like 33 different Windows XP setups, all in Korean. Getting around the mess is hard, so I've long depended on Portable Firefox to help me out. I installed it long before FF3 was out and have lived with FF2 because I didn't want to borrow someone's computer to get it up and running.
When I finally decided to upgrade, I though "Hey, why don't I just go whole hog and install the whole suite?" so I downloaded it and was ready to find an unused Windows machine when I realized that Wine might work for the install. After all, I have pretty good luck with installation in Wine, even if the program itself doesn't work. Sure enough, the portable apps suite installed fine (though it took almost ten minutes for the file copy) using Wine 1.1.17, and I was left with the question of whether the suite was installed properly or not.
Why not test in Wine? I left the "Launch Portable Apps" box checked and there in my notification area was the PA menu. Firefox worked, and I logged into my Google Apps and Zoho accounts, saved the passwords, and set my home page. Cool Player +? Sounds great. OO.o3? Works as slowly as ever. Sudoku? Fine. In fact, it all appeared to work.
What can I say but "Cool beans?"
An anectdote about the Portable Apps suite: I installed it a couple of days ago for another teacher who is sharing my material on Google Apps, and she had a Toshiba USB device already plugged in. When I taught her how to use PA by plugging the USB key in another computer, some Toshiba software came up, which she promptly closed. Later, when it came up again and she was slower closing it, it turned out to be a Toshiba-skinned portable apps suite with no apps installed and a wizard to install Firefox, OO.o, and the others. I guess PA is hitting its stride and being pre-installed in some USB keys. Note: After some investigation, this is probably be a branded U3 installation.
It's interesting that almost all of the functionality of Brasero could already be had from Nautilus (to burn data CDs and images), Rhythmbox (to burn audio CDs) and Totem (using the VCD/DVD burner plugin). Burning a CD from the media's application always made more sense to me.
On another note, Rhythmbox will see a 0.12 release, after which active development will cease, Jonathan Matthew feeling that the code base is too much of a dead end. This doesn't mean that it will be replaced as the default music application anytime soon, but the news could cause some distros to move toward Banshee or Exaile. There was much gnashing of teeth over at the Ubuntu Forums.
Knoppix has always used KDE. Shockingly, that has changed recently according to Download Squad and Linux Magazine.LXDE is now the choice for the father of Live CDs and prominent Debian prodigy.
Download Squad says:
Lat[sic] month Knoppix 6.0 was released, and it's even faster and prettier than earlier versions. But it's still designed to run well on older and slower computers. Among the changes in version 6.0 is the switch from the KDE desktop environment to the LXDE graphical environment. LXDE is light weight and loads quickly, but it's capable of offering all sorts of visual candy including Compiz desktop effects.
Knoppix 6.0 also boots twice as fast as Knoppix 5, and comes with fewer applications preloaded, which helps keep the size down. While the main disk image weighs in at 645MB, it can be remastered to use 256MB or less.
You can also now save your settings after shutting down the system by creatng a persisent boot image.
LXDE is an awesome new DE that I use for all my old Win2000-era laptops. It runs great in 128MB RAM with Debian or Ubuntu as the base so there's no surprise when Linux magazine says about Knoppix on netbooks:
Knoppix has always been regarded as one of the most versatile Linux distros out there, but the latest version of the venerable Live CD Linux distribution has got yet another trick up its sleeve. Thanks to its excellent hardware detection, blazingly fast boot process, and the lightweight LXDE desktop environment, Knoppix 6.0 makes a perfect distro for netbooks. In fact, it supports all hardware on ASUS Eee PC 701 and 900 as well as Acer Aspire One right out of the box, including the wireless card. That's right, you don't have to fiddle with ndiswrapper or install a custom kernel in order to make your wireless card work. Knoppix 6.0 also detects the graphics card correctly, chooses the proper screen resolution, and enables Compiz Fusion 3D desktop effects. Even with 3D desktop effects enabled, the system feels very snappy.
Congratulations, Knoppix, on staying so relevant for so long!
I've written about the XDG specs several times before (and had debates over them). The most conspicuous XDG folders are the ones in your Places menu -- Documents, Pictures, Videos, etc. (possibly localized for you by xdg-user-dirs) -- but they aren't the only ones the XDG specification covers. Application information like data, cache, and configuration is also covered. Ploum writes:
Your application should not have its own folder anymore (and should not use another software hidden folder like .gnome2).
User data should go into $XDG_DATA_HOME (which default to .local/share), user preferences should go into $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (which default to .config) and cached data should go to $XDG_CACHE_HOME (which default to .cache).
Of course, there's no need to read the environment variable yourself : most language provide a library to use XDG folder. For example a patch for a GTK application or one for a python application.
There's a nice discussion at the linked blog. I disagree with some posters' view that XDG goes against Unix history. I think the spec is well though-out and helps everyone know where to find stuff, which is difficult with a bunch of dot files and directories in $HOME. Is Rhythmbox config in .rhythmbox? No, it's in .gnome2/rhythmbox. Ugh. If you are interested in the details of this spec and how it's evolving, you should join Freedesktop.org's XDG mailing list.
NOTE: This is from last month but never got published for some reason.
Installing apps under most distributions is rather simple. When it's not simple, though, it becomes a lot more difficult. Easy is dead easy. Everything else is pretty difficult.
There are five classes of applications:
Apps in the distribution's repository. Installation is dead easy, but unless you are on a rolling-release like Debian Testing or Arch, your package versions are fixed. That's where Michael Horowitz hit his glitch -- he wanted a different version. Most long-time Linux users don't think about this part and just assume they'll get the newer version when they update. Six-month distros like Ubuntu and Fedora make the wait bearable.
Apps packaged for the distribution but not in the distro's repo. Skype comes to mind here, and GetDeb is similar. There are no external dependencies, and a user can just download and install the package. GDebi makes this a "double-click" affair. This is probably the most comfortable for Windows users, but is still harder than #1.
Apps packaged for the distribution that require additional dependencies outside the base repositories. Newer versions of software often fit here. If someone wants the latest version of Elisa, that's going to include some Python upgrades and maybe GStreamer, too. This generally requires adding a repository, and the process is kind of scary for non-techies. Ubuntu has had a blueprint since Hardy for a one-click repo add using whitelists, but it hasn't actually happened yet. Adding outside repos is also a good way to screw up your machine now or during an upgrade.
Apps not packaged for your distro, either in tarballs or with special installers. These are difficult to get for newbies and almost always involve four or five command line operations. It's also pretty easy to hose your system if you don't know what you're doing and put stuff in the wrong place, accidentally writing over system libraries.
Apps not designed for your system. Windows programs are the best example of this class. While some programs work well, and some work (but not well), I prefer to tell people in this situation to expect that programs won't work under Wine until proven wrong. I have a website of no-config tested games (most using Wine) for just this purpose.
If a person's needs are satisfied withing the repos, life on Linux is simple. If they need something outside, it gets a little more complicated. We need to recognize that. Ubuntu has had a blueprint for simply adding third-party apt repositories for some time, but it has been stalled due to security and implementation questions.
Still, Michael Horowitz was being disingenuous and probably trolling, as he refused to accept much of the great advice that was given to him in the comments, preferring to compain about the difficulty involved. Oh, and Firefox on Ubuntu 8.10 isn't "buggy and out-of-date." He won't seem to accept that, either.
As of openoffice.org 1:3.0.1-5ubuntu1 in Ubuntu Jaunty OOo will be using gvfs fuse instead of gnome-vfs or gio. This is because both gnome-vfs and gio support in OOo is buggy. Currently gnome-vfs fails to save documents properly and enabling gio causes OOo to not start at all. Of course using gvfs fuse has exposed numerous bugs as well, before gvfs 1.1.8 it did not support ftruncate well enough for OOo to save files. It does work now but there are still a few bugs with saving to ftp and webdav.
Wow! Talk about pain .... This has the potential to be a train-wreck in the same way PulseAudio + Adobe Flash was in 8.04. Loss of data? I hope this is ironed out before Jaunty goes gold!
I took a look at the Alpha6 and these are the noticible differences to 8.10.
New login screen
I think it's pretty hot!
New Notification System
Mark Shuttleworth talked at length about the new "out of your way" notification system. It's definitely better looking than the old one.
As you can see in this screenshot, the new system includes a notification icon. This notification is that Pidgin needs some setup. It was kind of confusing that I had three icons (Pidgin's notification area icon, the new system's icon, and the user switcher icon) for a single application.
Totem Plugins
Totem has some cool new plugins. It has uPnP capability installed by default, Jamendo playlists, automatic subtitles, and the ability to turn the current playlist into a DVD or VCD. These plugins make A/V networking and backup a simple matter.
Writing a DVD is as simple as using File > Create Video Disk ...
Although it doesn't appear functional at this point.
Brad Sucks is my favorite Jamendo artist, so I searched for him. I'm not exactly sure why this plugin duplicates Rhythmbox functionality (RB is dead, BTW .... more on that in a later post). Maybe GNOME will move toward a single player.
New Brasero Interface
Brasero has a recent projects pane.
The F-Spot Sidebar Bug and Add-ins
The awful bug which causes the F-Spot sidebar to be completely hidden (zero width) hasn't been resolved yet (though the fix is in Trunk). I've dragged it out a little in the screenshot in order to show you that it's really there.
Export filters exist for quite a few online services.
New Ekiga Interface
Ekiga 3.0 has a brand new (an long awaited) interface makeover. It now shows important things like availability. Go, Ekiga!!!
OpenOffice.org 3.0
There was a bit of an outcry when OO.o3 didn't make the cut for Intrepid 8.10, but there was no problem getting it into Jaunty 9.04 -- though there was a lot of trouble integrating it ... but that's another post.
The repository system is a great strength of open-source operating systems, but some people want the latest-and-greatest of a particular application while keeping the core system unchanged. There is also the situation where non-free applications aren't available from within the standard repositories. In these two cases, adding outside repos can help you get the functionality you want. I've done some homework for you and here are the "Extra Repositories for Ubuntu 8.10 You Might Want." Simply open up System > Administration > Software Sources and add the repository lines listed below as a third-party repository.
Here are your repositories!
Medibuntu
Medibuntu is the best way to get some video and audio playback capability that isn't included in Ubuntu 8.10 for patent reasons. If you live in a regioon which doesn't support these patents, you can go ahead and get them. Popular packages include:
Acrobat Reader
Firmware for the ALSA sound system
Google Earth
DVD decryption
MPlayer / MEncoder
Non-free codecs and
Skype
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ intrepid free non-free
When you are finished, install the medibuntu-keyring and app-install-data-medibuntu packages.
Wine
Ubuntu 8.10 ships with Wine 1.0, but the development version is able to run many more Windows programs. You can get the latest version from the Wine repository.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt intrepid main
When you are finished, install the wine package.
OO.o3
OpenOffice.org 3.0 just missed the cut-off for Intrepid. If you want the additional functionality of 3.0, you'll need to add the PPA for the OO.o team.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, upgrade and everything should be fine.
Opera
While Firefox is a great browser, some people just prefer Opera. Opera makes it easy for Debian-based OSes.
Add this line to Software Sources: deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ stable non-free When you are finished, install the opera package. Google Chrome Google's browser isn't yet available on non-Windows systems, but you can get an automated daily build of Chromium to test. It's not guaranteed to work on any particular day. This is native, not the Crossover Wine version that's been out since as remains at the 0.9 beta version.
Add this line to Software Sources: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main When you are finished, install the chromium-browser package.
Banshee
Banshee is an audio and video manager which is seeinging extremely rapid development. New features are added every month.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, install the banshee package.
VideoLAN Client (VLC)
While I prefer Totem, many people, especially those recently from Windows, prefer the media player they've known and loved for years. VLC is in the repositories, but keeping up with recent versions means adding this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/c-korn/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, just install the vlc package. You can also get apt-cacher-ng from this repo.
Boxee
Boxee is an amazing media center (derived from XMBC) that runs on OS X and Linux, and it does just about everything you could imagine. Right now, it's alpha, and you'll have to sign up on the Boxee registration page in order to use the software.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://apt.boxee.tv intrepid main
When you are finished, just install the boxee package.
Elisa
If you don't need all the craziness of Boxee and just want a simple media center, take a look at Fluendo's Elisa. It uses GStreamer, already the default A/V decoder on Ubuntu, so it won't add a lot of weight to your installation.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/elisa-developers/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, install the elisa package and update your computer.
Netbook Remix
One of the most innovative things to come out of the Ubuntu camp is the neetbook remix interface. Want to try it out?
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu intrepid main
Then follow the detailed instructions on how to get it running.
Gnome Do
This launcher amazes everyone who tries it. These days, it even comes with an optional dock. Although I don't use it daily, I think everyone should give it a shot.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, install the gnome-do package.
Deluge
Intrepid comes with the Transmission BitTorrent client installed, and Tranmission is fine, but Deluge is a full-featured client which rivals and may now beat the Azureus cum Vuze client that so many people swore by for years. As a bonus, Deluge is a GTK2 application, so it doesn't use up 50% of your CPU while running several torrents. Deluge has a wide-array of features, including:
Web UI
BitTorrent Protocol Encryption
Mainline DHT
Local Peer Discovery (aka LSD)
FAST protocol extension
µTorrent Peer Exchange
UPnP and NAT-PMP
Proxy support
Private Torrents
Global and per-torrent speed limits
Password protection
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/deluge-team/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, install the deluge package.
Google Gadget
Google used to host a repo itself, but that went away and we are just left with a PPA for Google Gadgets. It's for Hardy (8.04), but there doesn't appear to be a problem with running it on Intrepid. Caveat emptor.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/googlegadgets/ppa/ubuntu hardy main
When you are finished, install the google-gadgets package.
Mythbuntu
If you installed Mythbuntu and want to keep up with the latest release of MythTV, including all kinds of extra plug-ins:
mytharchive create and burn DVD's from MythTV - binary file
mytharchive-data create and burn DVD's from MythTV - data files
mythcontrols External controls for MythTV
mythflix netflix module for MythTV
mythgallery Image gallery/slideshow add-on module for MythTV
mythgame Emulator & PC Game frontend module for MythTV
mythmovies Find nearby movies and cinema listings
mythmusic Music add-on module for MythTV
mythnews An RSS feed news reader module for MythTV
mythphone a phone and videophone module for MythTV
mythplugins Metapackage for MythTV plugins
mythvideo A generic video player frontend module for MythTV
mythweather Weather add-on module for MythTV
mythweb Web interface add-on module for MythTV
mythzoneminder view status and display footage recorded with zoneminder
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mythbuntu/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, update your installation.
Compiz
Compiz Fusion comes standard on Ubuntu, but you might want to keep up with the mosst current version to have all that extra BLING.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/compiz/ubuntu intrepid main
When you are finished, update your installation.
Miro
"Miro is a free HD video player." Somehow, the website's description falls so short that I don't know how Miro is as successful as it is. They must be going understated. It aggregates a browser, an RSS reader, a bittorent client, and a video player. Want TV on your computer? Get miro.
Add this line to Software Sources:
deb http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/miro/linux/repositories/ubuntu intrepid/
When you are finished, install the miro package.
Shutter
Vadi recommends Shutter (recently renamed from GScrot), an extremely capable screenshot tool. Features include:
take a screenshot of your complete desktop, a rectangular area or capture a website
take screenshot directly or with a specified delay time
save the screenshots to a specified directory and name them in a convenient way (using special wild-cards)
Shutter is fully integrated into the Gnome Desktop (TrayIcon etc.)
generate thumbnails directly when you are taking a screenshot and set a size level in %
Shutter session collection
keep track of all screenshots during session
copy screeners to clipboard
print screenshots
delete screenshots
rename your file
upload your files directly to Image-Hosters (e.g. http://ubuntu-pics.de), retrieve all the needed links and share them with others
edit your screenshots directly using the embedded drawing tool.
Commenters recommend AppSpot and the Ubuntu PPA search to find repositories for applications you may need. AppSpot even has a grouping of recent searches to spur your imagination.
Keys
You'll have some package manager complaints about keys if you're not careful. Import these keys to get rid of the warnings. Allaun recommends using the NO_PUBKEY value (e.g. C5E6A5ED249AD24C) to add the key with the following command.
If you use the manual method, open 1) a browser 2) a text editor 3) Software Sources Open the page from the http: lines listed below, then copy the part of the displayed text which begins at " -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----" and ends at " -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----" Paste that into your text editor and save it as delugekey.gpg or something similar. Then use Software Sources to import the saved key file in the "Authentication" tab.
Image via Wikipedia![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1e582d2b-5373-438d-938a-696ea0e46cc1)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1756839f-034d-47e8-9922-1e0264b0dcd0)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=7cda2334-5fc1-4c16-8e0b-ca4a74a22a8e)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8810d5f5-45db-4f54-b09d-75b23fa7b420)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=abf54dc3-76db-46fd-8284-6acc1295d845)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8a388c7f-1c4b-4888-85f5-317f83d7c3c6)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e5f753db-f2d1-4670-bc04-2050fc5861a8)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=475ba76f-795c-471f-a6b4-13e2b0df9787)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f8288b1c-5323-42fd-a804-0c3aec7fbfdf)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=94fd9b0d-f070-4eac-91c9-09923dc1c997)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ecafa4a6-dd44-4e8e-846f-c5b4ad0c310b)
