openswitch

Ben’s Rating:

Chances are you’ve never heard of Robert Randolph and the Family Band. If you have heard of this group then you’re probably in the minority of music lovers. It’s a band that’s relatively new on the scene; with the emphasis on “relatively.” They’ve played with greats such as Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews, which is evidence pointing toward their musical aptitude. To say that they’re extremely great musicians is an understatement.

The style of their music is somewhat hard to pin down but they definitely lean toward old-school funk (cf Brick House by The Commodores) and Black Crows style rock and roll. Eight out the ten tracks on their Colorblind CD completely rock me. The other two are “so so” and I usually hit the “next” button on my player.

If you enjoy listening to music from the Black Crows, Dave Matthews and Eric Clapton, but you still like a little bit of funk in your groove, then I highly recommend Robert Randolph and the Family Band.

Shawn writes about the execution of Saddam Hussein. As I read this short post I’m compelled to admit that my initial rejoicing in Saddam’s death was misplaced and wrong. Indeed, I’m broken in my sinfulness.

There’s a good discussion going on at Lo-Fi Tribe. Dawkins Lunging, Flailing, Mispunching. Stop by there and drop your $.02.

NOTE: THIS POST IS COMPLETELY OUTSIDE OF THE SCOPE OF THE TOPIC OF THIS BLOG. UNLESS YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE WITH LINUX YOU SHOULD REALLY SKIP THIS POST BECAUSE IT WILL BORE YOU TO TEARS.

In a previous post Nico suggested that I could write a post about the quirks and the reasons I found Ubuntu too difficult to use in hopes that those developing it could make it more accessible. I don’t want to focus too much on this because honestly this kind of tech writing isn’t really within the scope of this blog’s focus. But I do agree that it could be beneficial for others to hear what I ran into.

The first issue I had was with flash player in Firefox. I would go to a flash enabled site and get a dialog telling me that I was missing some plugins. It had a link to click that would install the missing plugins. I click it, the plugins are downloaded and installed and POOF! I can no longer view any site with flash. If I go to a site with any flash at all firefox crashes. The solution is to sign in as root go download the flash player 9 plugin, extract it and move its contents to the usr/lib/firefox/plugins directory. That solved the crashing problem but then I ran into another problem as a result.

After installing the flash player 9 plugin I was told that I needed a flashplayer-nonfree somthing-or-other but the computer was unable to find the archive. Where do I find this flashplayer-nonfree? No one could tell me. I did eventually find it on my own but then (and here’s the VERY frustrating part) I had no idea what to do with the files once I had them. There they were, sitting on my desktop in the home directory, completely useless. When the error popped up again telling me that I was missing the flashplayer-nonfree but it couldn’t find the archive there was never an option to “locate the file yourself.” That would have been helpful because I had no idea what to do with this file. I had no way of telling the computer “look, here it is.”

Totally unrelated I tried to download automatic updates. There were 4 updates available but when I tried to download them I got this error:

W: Failed to fetch http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/pool/edgy/3v1n0/flashplayer-nonfree_9.0.21.78.2ubuntu2+3v1ubuntu1_i386.deb



The HTTP server sent an invalid reply header




W: Failed to fetch http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/pool/edgy/3v1n0/wpasupplicant_0.5.5-3v1ubuntu4_i386.deb



Bad header line




W: Failed to fetch http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/pool/edgy/3v1n0/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics_0.14.6-3v1ubuntu0_i386.deb



Size mismatch




W: Failed to fetch http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/pool/edgy/3v1n0/xserver-xorg-video-ati_6.6.3-0+3v1ubuntu0_i386.deb



The HTTP server sent an invalid reply header

Seems like 4 servers were having trouble, right? Nope. I could go to each of those URIs individually and get the file manually, no problems. But again, what do I do with it now that I have it? That was a pistol. I was told that I should just uncheck the flashplayer-nonfree update so the others could be installed. But that’s a no-go because I CAN’T UNCHECK THE FLASHPLAYER-NONFREE OPTION!

So, I figured “OK, I must have done something wrong. I must have changed something critical without knowing it.” I’ve done bone-headed stuff before and there was a good chance I had done it again. So I reinstalled Ubuntu. Only now, after the reinstall, I only have one screen resolution available, 640×480. So I can’t uninstall, reinstall or anything because the confirmation buttons aren’t shown, they’re appearing off screen and there are no scroll bars. Back to the liveCD and reinstall again. This went on 3 or 4 times until Ubuntu finally gave me a 1024×768 resolution needed. Then it was back to the same problems I had earlier, over and over again.

I went to the Ubuntu forums which were filled with very friendly people. They gave me all this command line stuff to try, I would try it but none of it worked. It kept spitting out errors that when explained to the people on the forums, completely stumped them.

“Meh” I figured, “I can live without automatic updates and this flashplayer-nonfree.” After all, those were the only two things that didn’t work. So I went about the business of installing the Microsoft core fonts because, well, I’m a freelance web designer and I needed them. So I opened up a terminal, and I entered “$sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts” over and over again. Error, error, error. What was the error, you ask? I needed the flashplayer-nonfree! What the crap! Why do I need a flashplayer-nonfree to install fonts? That didn’t make sense. No one else on the forums was having this error and no one knew why I was getting it.

So, I signed out, signed in as root and went about the business of finding the corefonts somewhere obscure (I can’t even find them now), downloaded them, and manually put them in the fonts folder. Before I reinstalled Ubuntu (remember I had to reinstall?) this worked fine. Before when I put the ttf fonts in this folder they showed up system-wide. But now, for some Satanic reason, they weren’t working. No amount of rebooting, cutting and pasting or folder-making could fix it. Moreover, no one on the forums (again) knew why it didn’t work. That was the straw that broke the camels back. Not the lack of support, there was a lot of support, it was just too frustrating. After 9 hours of working on three issues I still didn’t have core fonts and still didn’t have automatic updates.

I fully expected Linux to be completely different than Windows. I did, I fully expected it. I’ve used Macs and they’re completely different from Windows too. The thing is, dealing with Linux felt like I was dealing with DOS and frankly, DOS went the way of the dodo when I was in 5th grade. It was the errors coupled with the need for command line that I couldn’t stand. I shouldn’t have to use a command line interface unless 1) I want to because I’m an uber-geek or 2) I’m doing some really complicated hacker crap. In that way Linux is still for geeks. It will never be for the regular person until the command line interface is pushed to the background.

Some people love DOS, they know it, they grew up on it. But they’re in the minority of computer users. Computer users today want it to “just work” and my computer, for a full day didn’t “just work.” It “just wouldn’t work” no matter what I did. To Ubuntu’s credit it was able to find and install all the necessary drivers, etc, for ALL my hardware. Windows makes me point it to the drivers manually which was frustrating. Ubuntu was much more simple to install than Windows. But usability-wise Windows is much more usable. It may not be as powerful or full featured but I’m not a power user. I imagine that Linux is great for folks who are power users, who love the CLI and who love doing stuff themselves. But for most people like me we want a machine that works out of the box.

I’m still going to tinker with Ubuntu. I’m a tinkerer, that’s my nature. So in that sense I’ve not totally given up. I have, however, reverted to Windows because Ubuntu was just too darn frustrating.

Why I switched to Linux is complicated. It’s honestly not something I can explain right now. Not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t find the words to express the satisfaction I have since making the switch. I feel … liberated. That’s really the only word I can think of.

I want to write about my first 12 hours on Ubuntu Linux. I’m not what you might consider a “power user.” I don’t run my own server, I’m not at all good with running command lines or terminals. I grew up Windows, I know Windows and switching to Linux has pushed my brain farther than I thought it would ever have to go. It has been a great experience. Here are some things that I’ve noted are significantly different and, in my humble opinion better, than Windows.

Installing programs

Installing programs isn’t necessarily more complicated in Ubuntu, it’s just a COMPLETELY different process from Windows. You use a thingy called “Synaptic Package Manager” to install almost anything on Ubuntu. It feels very foreign to me. You search for the software you want to install and then you tell Synaptic to “install” and it does the rest. It’s odd because Linux does all the leg work for you. In Windows you’ve got a lot of confirmation screens, and you sometimes have your own special installation screen (you know, that bluish/grayish screen?) But with Linux there’s none of that. And it’s lightning fast.

Fonts

Ubuntu doesn’t come with the standard fonts we all know and love. You have to install them yourself. Fortunately this is JUST AS EASY to do as with Windows.

“Everything looks prettier in Ubuntu than Windows. The fonts, the colors, everything. It’s just … pretty.”

Remember, I’m absolutely worthless with a Command Line. After literally hours of looking I found the complete MS core font set. Unfortunately I can’t remember where I got it from. If you need it email me and I’ll send it to you. You just then extract the file and put the fonts in your usr/share/fonts/truetype directory. It took me a long time to figure out where to even put the stinkin’ ttf files. But now that I’ve figured it out it’s all good.

Everything else

Everything else that I’ve experienced so far, while a little different from Windows has felt very familiar. An interesting option that’s available is that I have two workspaces which functions somewhat like having two monitors. I can switch back and forth between the workspaces by clicking on them in the lower right hand portion of my screen.

The desktop is clean; and that’s odd. Windows puts a lot of crap on your desktop but Ubuntu does none of that. It’s clean, clear and tidy. Feels good.

Ubuntu does automatic updates just like Windows and it’s just as easy to install them too. Very nice.

I feel like the past 12 hours on my computer (not consecutive) has been time spent in a foreign country where everyone speaks another language. Fortunately I’ve gone for “total immersion” and went “whole hog” into Linux. It was scary at first but it’s turned out to be a blast. I feel like I’m using my computer now and it has stopped using me.

I’ve finally made the switch from Windows to Linux. I’ve installed Ubuntu on my home PC and for the most part it has been painless. I had a weird quirk show up with Firefox, something about a flash plugin which was very odd. Fortunately the support community surrounding Linux is very strong and with a little Googling I was able to find the solution.

This move to Linux was part of the reason why I wanted to learn GIMP instead of Photoshop. I’ve always dreamed of having a completely open source system and now it’s a reality. It’s a great feeling, knowing that I’ve parted ways with Microsoft. It’s very liberating.

A couple observations, which I’ll have to keep brief because it’s 1:30am and I’m tired:

1. The fonts. They look like Mac fonts. They’re somehow clearer, smoother, prettier than Windows fonts. I assume this is due to the Gnome living in my PC now.
2. Very user friendly interface with Ubuntu. It’s also very different from Windows. I’m having to relearn where to find stuff. Fortunately it’s all pretty much common sense.
3. Installing programs is drastically different from Windows. In fact, it’s much easier.
4. Ubuntu takes up about a quarter of the disk space that Windows did. It’s nice to have my hard disk back.

That’s all my brain can squeeze out for tonight. I’m off to have merry dreams of penguins.

Mauritania’s ‘wife-fattening’ farm gives interesting insight into how other cultures view beauty. Very interesting stuff.

The problem inherent with this restaurant’s business model is that it assumes (wrongly) that people are generally caring and considerate. Sin nature is too pervasive for this to work.