Ubuntu Tip: Simple Backup Command Using CP

Backing up your computers hard drive is extremely important. Should the worst happen and you lose all of your important data, you need a way back. While there are many excellent utilities in the Ubuntu repositories that handle partial and full system backups. Sometimes a simpler solution is all that is needed.

Fortunately Ubuntu and Linux in general in fact comes with everything you need in the for of the very simple but also extremely powerful cp command. In case you haven't figured it out yet, cp is Linux command line speak for copy. The examples below will show you how to use cp to back up your entire system.

sudo cp -r -u -x -v [source directory] [destination directory]

Example 1:
sudo cp -r -u -x -v /home/ /media/MY_USB_DRIVE

sudo: Gives temporary root privileges.

cp: Linux command line copy command.

-r: Used with cp this switch causes cp to copy directory content recursively. Meaning it will copy all files and subdirectories in the directory being copied.

-u: Used with cp this switch causes cp to only copy files that have changed or don't already exist at the destination.

-x: Used with cp this switch stops cp jumping to other file systems which it will do if it encounters hard links or symbolic links.

This switch also stops cp eating it's tail if you choose to back up your entire system. See examples 2 and 3 below.

-v: Used with cp this switch cause cp to give feed back on what's happening.

Full System Backup With CP
If we wish to perform a full system backup then we might feel inclined to use a command similar to that in Example 2 below. The trouble is without the -x switch cp will also attempt to backup the backup to the backup. Basically eating it's own tail in a never ending loop until all disk space is used up.

This happens because all other file systems are mounted to a location branching from the root file system. So if root is / then home is mounted to /home. Within Ubuntu all USB drives tend to be mounted to /media/a_USB_drive, etc.

However with the -x switch the command in example 2 will not be enough to back up the entire system if there are several storage devices or file systems mounted to different mount points. To get around this problem we must write a small script that will backup each file system separately. Example 3 shows a small example where the root files system / and /home are backed up separately.

Example 2:
sudo cp -r -u -v / /media/MY_USB_DRIVE

Example 3:
#!/bin/sh
#
# cp based backup script.
#
sudo cp -r -u -x -v / /media/MY_USB_DRIVE
sudo cp -r -u -x -v /home/ /media/MY_USB_DRIVE

This script can be created in any text editor like gedit or nano. After the script has been saved it must be given permission to be run as a program. Example 4 shows the command needed to change to the directory/folder where the script is stored. How to apply execute permissions and how to run the script.

Example 4:
First open a terminal window if you haven't already done so and enter the following commands. The actual location of your script is where you chose to save it.

cd /home/aikiwolfie/scripts/ (press enter)
chmod a+x my_backup_script (press enter)
./my_backup_script (press enter)

And that's it. Sit back and watch the backup script do it's job.

OpenOffice: Why Do OEMs Ignore it?

I was just wondering exactly how much adoption OpenOffice had achieved.
13% of the market sounds good. But what does it mean? And how just what
exactly will the threshold be before the likes of HP, Asus, Acer and Dell decide they can't ignore
OpenOffice any longer?

• http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=138
• http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/more_momentum_behind_openoffice
  
• http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Major_OpenOffice.org_Deployments
  
• http://knowledge.oscc.org.my/solution-areas/desktop/OpenOffice.org/openoffice-adoption
  
• http://moodle.centerville.k12.oh.us/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32064
  
• http://ooomarketing.blogspot.com/2009/05/openofficeorg-in-education-adoption-is.html
  
• http://www.gabrielgurley.com/files/817a9ebbe54677f3e629f23b9698361e-10.html
  
• http://linuxbsdos.com/2008/11/17/norwegian-ministry-to-sponsor-adoption-of-openofficeorg/
  
• http://www.chrisbray.co.uk/danish-openoffice-adoption-case-study-reports-91-lower-tco
  

The following is a quote from the last link in the list.

"The total TCO for implementing OpenOffice.org LandsNet (the entire
public sector) ... OpenOffice.org results in a cost reduction of 91%".

The numbers speak for themselves!

Microsoft Thinks Your Stupid!

Does anybody seriously believe this child just happened to perfectly copy and paste all the key promotional slogans for Windows 7 into a slide show? My nieces and nephews don't even play with Power Point. They jump right onto cbbc and play games!

Boycott Windows 7

Digg doesn't like the direct IdeaStorm link. It does go through a lot of redirections. So here it is.

Vote to Boycott Windows 7

Redmond Running Scared!

Microsoft are seriously pushing the boat out here. But still manage to put the boot into their UK customers. Why is Windows 7 cheaper in the US for students than it is in the UK? If memory serves me correctly Microsoft pulled a similar pricing stunt with Windows Vista. How much longer are people going to tolerate such shoddy treatment?

The price gap can't be explained purely by exchange rates alone. So what gives? Does Microsoft think students in UK colleges and universities are stupid? Are they just sheep to be pumped dry and ripped off? Why is it Microsoft has decided to climb aboard the "rip-off Britain" band wagon? Any company treating you like this does not deserve your money. Vote with your feet and your wallets and buy something else.

You could also head on over to Dell IdeaStorm and show one of Microsofts largest OEM partners exactly how you feel about Microsoft ripping you off. Register an account and vote to Boycott Windows 7. Better yet, if you're looking for a new netbook to take to college. Order one of Dells Ubuntu Linux based models. Which contrary to Microsofts BestBuy indoctrination FUD are fully supported by Dell.

Of course it's only fair we ask the question. Why are Microsoft being so agressive with their pricing of Windows 7? It can't be because of Linux. Linux is free to download, install and use. You can even get your hands on the raw source code if that's what floats your boat. Linux in short is a fully functional and fully customisable all purpose OS. Ubuntu, which is pre-installed on some Dell netbooks is a fully featured OS with no artificial limts imposed on it. In contrast netbooks with Windows 7 will be running the "Starter Edition".

What is the "Starter Edition"? Basically it's cripple ware. Microsoft in one way or another artificially limit the capabilities of Windows to force you the consumer who has already "paid money" for a legal copy of pre-installed Windows to cough up more cash. Hardly seems fair. But Microsoft have been getting away with it for years.

Note: Windows 7 Starter Edition no longer has the infamouse "3 applications" artificial limitation. Microsoft buckled under preasure of scathing critisim by almost the entire technology press and on-line publications, blogs, twitters and whatever else. If it was talking about Windows 7 Starter Edition (other than the Microsoft Windows 7 blog), the artificial 3 applications limitation was torn apart.

I Want To Be Blissfully Ignorant

Okay I demand to be told what is in the water these people are drinking. I personally feel it is my God given right to be this blissfully ignorant of the world.

Ubuntu Tip: How To Mount ISO Disk Images

If you use .iso CD/DVD images here's how to mount them from the command line or in a terminal window.

Open a terminal window and type the following commands;

• sudo mkdir /media/iso
• sudo modprobe loop
• sudo mount filename.iso /media/iso -t iso9660 -o loop

Notes:

• mkdir creates a new directory. This directory will be used as a "mount point" by Ubuntu to allow you access to the .iso file. In reality any directory can be used. It's good practice however to use a clearly defined location. You avoid problems and keep your file system clean and tidy.
• filename.iso is the name of the iso file you wish to mount. Substitute "filename.iso" for the name of your .iso file.
• To unmount the file use the following command: sudo umount /media/iso or whatever you called your new mount point.
  

Five Best Disk Defragmenters

This article Five Best Disk Defragmenters from Lifehacker which I came across while browsing through digg.com took me back some. All the while Randall C. Kennedy is bitching about GUIs that don't meet his high journalistic standards and Linux design concepts "contaminating" Windows, Windows users are still defragmenting their hard drives? I mean seriously!

I can remember having to defrag my hard drive when I was using MS-DOS 6.22, Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows XP Professional. I can remember setting the PC upat night to run it's course and it still wouldn't be done by morning.  In the days of MS-DOS to Windows 3.11 I only had a tiny hard drive. A few hundred megabytes of capacity. When I got Windows 95 I moved up to a Quantum Bigfoot 1 GB drive. Which back then was huge! With Windows 98 and 98 SE I leapt up to 8GB and 10GB drives.

Defragging my PCs hard drives back then seemed to take forever. It was something you planned in advance. You'd have to clear your schedule for the week and mark it in the diary before hand. And after all the effort to get your files sorted out into easily accessible contiguous blocks of data, they were all messed up again as soon as you used your PC. Defragging was and still is a truly pointless endeavour. And Windows users are still doing this?

I was of the impression Windows Vista was supposed to have ushered in a new era? Windows 7 was to build on that and make it better? Why then are Windows users still behaving as though they're using MS-DOS? With my current Dell XPS 720 I have 1.5TB of internal storage on the hard drives and an addition 1TB extrenal drive. That's 2.5 terrabytes in total I'd have to defragment if I were still using Windows. The very thought alone gives me hives.

In my opinion defragmenting a hard drive on a PC is not only pointless. It's archaic. It's pre-stone age technology. Nobody should have to do this any longer. There are file systems out there in the real world being used everyday that essentially avoid this problem altogether. I've never defragmented a Linux hard drive. Not when I was using Red Hat Linux years ago. Not While using openSuSE and never while using Ubuntu. It's something I have simply never needed to do. It didn't even enter my mind until i read the Lifehacker article.

Microsofties really need to wake up and demand better from their masters.

Ubuntu Tip: How To Install 32-bit .debs In A 64-bit Ubuntu

This is a very simple tip for Linux users and in particular Ubuntu users. If you're running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu you will occasionally need to install a 32-bit application. The very awesome World of Goo for example only comes in a 32-bit package. It does however run just fine on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.04.

Simple double clicking on the 32-bit .deb package will throw up a "wrong architecture" error. The way around this is to use the "--force-architecture" switch from a terminal window. See the example below.

• sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture Desktop/WorldOfGooSetup.1.40.deb

Before we can do that however there are a few preparations to make. We must make sure all the supporting 32-bit libraries are also installed. To do this open a terminal window and enter the following command.

• sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

And that is really all there is to it.

News Just In! Randall C. Kennedy Becomes Even More Pointless!

Lacking any real news to report and desperately needing to fill a void left by Steve Ballmer after excavating Randalls' sphincter, Randall C. Kennedy has resorted random attacks on everything and anything not of Redmond.

Apple takes the first hit in a childish tantrum regarding Apples' advertising antics. Before they'd even started. It seems Randall has a case of the iGitters. Moving on however, next up for the chopping block was Googles' own Linux based OS. Chrome OS.

The short,snappy and memorable title of this particular blog entry "Will Chrome OS collapse under the weight of it's own Web browser?" would seem to imply Chrome OS is overweight. Morbidly obese one might say. Which is somewhat odd considering Windows not only seems to require a new PC with every iteration. But some how manages to devour the storage space on the hard drive like a fat chick let lose in a cake shop. Windows appetite for devouring system resources is so unseemly Microsoft considered it to be a huge achievement to get a tweaked version of Windows 7 running on a netbook.

Speaking of which. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed netbook specs have been on the up and up. In fact if it weren't for the 32-bit x86 based Atom CPU at their heart they'd be fully fledged notebooks with smaller screens.

Randall can't stop at bitching about Apple or Chrome OS though. Next target is the Linux desktop. The rather ironic title "Will desktop Linux ever grow up?", implies desktop Linux isn't ready to be the headline act. I'm pretty sure Canonical and others would disagree. Sharp in particular has just released a new Ubuntu based MID in Japan. One of the largest economies in the world no less. Brazillian education (52 MILLION NEW USERS) has all but abandoned Windows and Microsoft products entirely and Microsoft for the first time have included HP and Intels' Linux efforts as a threat to their business on their recently filed 10-K report.

Lacking any real complaints about the Linux desktop Randall unwisely decides to pick on X.org. X.org maintain the X server. Randalls gripe with this? The code has a 30 year history! Oh gosh quick we better not use it. Software does after all corrode with time doesn't it? Actually no it doesn't. Planned obsolescence, crap design and a total lack of foresight is what makessoftware bog down over time.

If the code is well maintained and properly looked after 30 years of service is a good sign of maturity and not decrepitude. X has served Linux and other NIXs well over the years. Better still it's going through a major overhaul right now as you read this to meet modern demands. Yes these changes break drivers. All major changes to an OS breaks something somewhere. For example when Microsoft implemented their new driver model they broke driver compatibility with XP. Then broke it again and again and again until their partners got fed up and did things on their own schedule leaving many Vista users with crap driver support for weeks if not months after the official release. ATI and Nvidia were amongst the companies that failed to deliver decent drivers on time. OUCH!

Next up it was Snow Leopard. Randall completely and I suspect deliberately misses the point of Snow Leopard. Unlike Windows 7, Snow Leopard isn't just a cosmetic make over. It's a re-plumbing of all the tubing and technical bits underneath the shiny Apply GUI that Windows and Linux users can't stop trying to emulate with theme packs. While the enhancements to Snow Leopard don't really help existing third party software. All Apple software has been rewritten to take advantage of them and third party offerings won't be far behind.

As a result of Apples tinkering with Snow Leopard, OS X has a smaller installed foot print and runs considerably faster. The net result of Windows 7 is a version of Vista that looks decent, is less secure and doesn't crash as much. BSODs are also still a coveted feature.

Finally we get to Randalls latest Cephalopoda like spaz attack with tentacles flailing every where desperately grasping for a target. "The 'Linuxification' of Windows has begun". Okay then. This "blog entry" has me seriously bewildered. FileZilla, VirtualBox and the Gimp all come under fire. For one reason or another their GUIs just aren't good enough. Apparently all GTK+ GUIs are a complicated ill designed blasphemous disaster. They should carry a public health warning. VirtualBoxs' error dialogues are clearly hazardous to ones health. Of course Windows BSODs are so intuitive. I speak in HEX daily. In fact I refuse to speak anything but HEX codes unless absolutely necessary.

Seriously, does InfoWorld actually pay this man-child to write this tripe? It's not helpful, it's not informative, it's not even a fully formed and thought out opinion. It's just random crap drugged up to draw attention away from the competition and back to Microsoft? Microsoft PR must be cringing right about now. At least they tried to spice up their tripe with some Photoshopping.

Well I have more bad news for Randall. Maybe this will send him completely over the edge. Dell are releasing an Android based smart phone in China. Remember Android is Linux based Randall. Now when will Linux grow up? I wonder? Who Runs Ubuntu Linux?

It really is time to wake up Randall. The Linux kernel is in one form or another embeded in every facet of your life. Remember when you use the Internet or a DVD player or a satnav, you're using Linux.

Windows Vista: Black Screen of Death Fix

The following are suggested fixes from various sources for the Windows Vista/7 Black Screen of Death (KSOD) problem.

Symptoms:

1. Windows boots to a black screen with a white cursor/mouse pointer.
2. Windows "Safe Mode" exhibits the same behaviour.
3. Nothing else ever loads. Not even a log-in screen.

Solution 1: Delete Some Log Files.

1. Use the vista DVD to go to the repair mode.
2. From the same screen where you do the system restore, there's an option to open an administrative command prompt.
3. That should open in X:\Sources or something like that
4. Go to the windows drive by entering C:
5. Now go to the windows event log folder on your machine (C:\Windows\System32\winevt):
   cd c:\windows\system32\winevt
6. ren Logs Logs_bad
7. mkdir Logs

This will create an empty folder for new event logs. Restart the system and cross fingers.

Solution 2: Edit The Windows Registry.
There apparently this a problem related to the Remote Procedure Call service (RPC) running under LocalSystem account instead of NT Authority\NetworkService account.

1. On the affected machine, boot using the Vista Media and Select “Next” and then in the bottom left you will see “Repair your Computer”; select Next and then Select Command Prompt.
2. At the command prompt, launch regedit.exe and load the SYSTEM hive, follow the below steps.
   • Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   • On the File menu, select Load Hive.
   • Browse to %WINDIR%\System32\Config Folder and select “SYSTEM”
   • Select Open.
   • In the Load Hive dialog box, type in “MySYSTEM” box for the registry hive that you want to edit.
3. After the hive is loaded, modify the following key value per the instructions below: You will need to know what ControlSet the machine is currently running on, this can be determined by going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MySYSTEM\Select and find the “Current” value in the Right hand side. (Example: Current value is 1 then the ControlSet will be ControlSet001)
   • Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MySYSTEM\ControlSet00X\Services\RpcSs (X is the Number from the Current Key from above)
   • Value Name: ObjectNameOld
     
   • Value: LocalSystemNew
     
   • Value: NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService
4. Unload the SYSTEM hive by selecting the key “MySYSTEM” and then select File -> Unload Hive… menu item.
5. Exit regedit.exe
6. Reboot the system normally

Solution 3: Restore The System From A System Restore Point.

1. Boot to the Vista media.
2. Restore the PC to a restore point 1 month before the problem occured.
3. Reboot as normal.

Solution 4: Dump Windows And Use Ubuntu

1. Get hold of a copy of Ubuntu. Most Linux PC magazines will carry a copy on their cover disc or you can ask a friend to download it for you and burn it to a disc. You will find the Ubuntu download page at www.ubuntu.com Don't worry about payment. Ubuntu is completely free of charge to download and use.
2. Boot the PC using your new Ubuntu installation disc. Select the option to try Ubuntu without changing anything on the PC. Once the desktop has loaded, navigate to your Windows hard drive.
3. Copy anything from your Windows hard drive you want to keep on the a USB stick or similar backup device.
4. Click the install icon and follow the instructions. You'll want to use the entire disc to rid yourself of Windows Vista entirely.

Will Randall C. Kennedy Ever Grow Up?

Yet another bullshit article promoting Windows 7 by attempting to run down Linux. It's all well and good for bloggers to cry wolf about this or that not working in Linux. But the fact of the matter is it's pointless without detail.

The crucial details left out here are the faulty systems specifications. What hardware was being used? Which version of which Linux distribution was being used?

Details Randall. The devil is in the detail and you've provided none. All you've done is written a generic blog entry ragging on Linux and praising Windows. Is it really so hard to promote Windows 7 based on it's merits? You've joined the pointless masses. Well done!

Now bend over. Mr. Ballmer wants you to pick up the soap.

Another Bull Shit Windows Vista 7 Article!

I am so getting tired of reading bull shit Windows Vista 7 hyping articles trying oh so desperately to make Windows Vista 7 sound so fantastic when it's just not. I'm tired of the Mac OS X comparison by people who've never actually booted the damn thing up under the conditions they are bitching about!

To these people I say go out and try it. All these "professional" bloggers earn more than enough to be able to afford a Mac. Microsoft made Windows Vista 7 Beta and RC available to everybody that wanted it. So what's stopping them?

Maybe outfits like InfoWorld are scared if they do actual tests they'll need to admit Windows 7 is really just Vista with a new coat of paint. I mean seriously is it blog worthy to ask why battery life is so crap on a Mac when running Windows? What's more what's the point in asking if you're not even going to try it out?

We could do a really simple and cheap test here to find out where to lay the blame. Install Linux. See how long the battery lasts then. If both Mac OS X and Linux hold up and Windows doesn't. Well we know who's building the shit OS then don't we?

Oh right I forgot. Redmond is releasing a new OS. I guess we should all pay attention, lubricate our sphincters and bed over.

And just what is the deal with all the "YOU MUST REGISTER TO MAKE A COMMENT" nonsense? Do I look like I want another password and user name to remember?!?

http://www.dailytech.com/Windows+7+RTM+Gets+Benchmarked+Results+Are+Mixed/article15892.htm

Dell Ubuntu ... What's Going On?

Dells stance on Ubuntu is supremely confusing. Ubuntu is clearly doing relatively well in the desktop market. There are several smaller vendors building and selling PCs pre-loaded with Ubuntu and doing it well. None of them seem to be going to the wall so they must be doing something right. Something Dell aren’t doing perhaps?

So Ubuntu it’s self simply can’t be the root of the problem.

Which means we need to look at other factors. It was only with the introduction of the Mini 9 Dell started offering Ubuntu as an option side-by-side with Windows. But even then they didn’t really tell people what it was they were offering.

If all you had ever known was chocolate ice cream. Would you try strawberry ice cream if you didn’t know what it was?

Are people overly critical of Dell for hiding their Ubuntu options? I don’t think so. If you were selling ice cream, would you only target people who had already tried it? The fact you’re already selling chocolate ice cream shouldn’t stop you from selling strawberry ice cream.

Almost any other company in the world selling any other product in the world would sell similar products from different vendors side-by-side. They wouldn’t shunt one into the basement.

Now finding Ubuntu based Dells is easy enough if you know where to look and if you know Ubuntu actually exists. But what if you don’t? If all the strawberry ice cream is in the basement and you’ve never even heard of it. How do you try it out? How do you get that first taste?

Lets say you’re out shopping. There’s a nice brightly lit store selling chocolate ice cream galore with all sorts of deals going on. Next to the store are some steps going to a dark dingy basement level with a tiny sign half obscured. It reads “Strawberry Ice Cream here”.

Are you tempted to try the strawberry ice cream?

Windows 7 Vs. Linux: OS Face-Off: The Muppets Return!

Why does the Microsoft press insist on perpetuating this phoney war? Are they that desperate to stave off the mass exodus of Windows users to Linux? Is there a mass exodus? You'd be forgiven for thinking there was given the way some "journalists" are writing these days trying to trumpet the merits of Windows Vista 7.

Speaking of which. An article from Information Week, the type of article that likes to pretend to be balanced and unbiased, caught my eye. Particularly this little snippet.

... Another issue may be the fact that while it's possible to install 7 on top of Vista and preserve one's applications and settings, it isn't yet possible to do this in Linux.

It is possible to automatically migrate documents and some fairly generic system settings -- Ubuntu does this, for instance -- but not the apps themselves. (For those planning on performing an entirely clean installation of either OS, though, it's a moot point.) ...

What complete and total bollocks! Fair enough. We can't really preserve Windows applications settings yet. But why would we want to?

I'm not sure what the author is expecting Ubuntu to do here. Migrate Windows OS and application settings to Ubuntu? Windows doesn't migrate anything from Linux. It can't even read Linux partitions as standard. And guess what? Windows doesn't even preserve the GRUB boot-loader. Even on Multi-boot systems!

If a user wishes to preserve application settings from Ubuntu 8.10 to 9.04 for example they can. First of all many applications use user specific settings stored in the "/home" directory. The easiest way to preserve these settings is to simply split "/home" off into it's own partition or even it's own hard drive. So when you do a simple upgrade. Everything in your own user account should still be as it was.

Even better though! With "/home" hived off in it's own little world we can do a complete re-installation of the OS and applications and still preserve out local application settings. So what about global settings?

It's quite simple really. Back-up before before you upgrade. That way you can restore your settings after the upgrade is done. This I think is a safer way to do things. Firstly it encourages you to make back-ups which can't possibly be bad. Secondly old global settings for old versions of applications aren't always appropriate for the newer versions.

In fact considering the pace that open source software development moves at. It's probably better to go with the new defaults than try to shoehorn old square preferences into a newer rounder hole. After all bad application configurations cause things to break.

Drivers! Drivers! Drivers!

Why the hell do "journalists" always pick on Linux for needing drivers to run a piece of hardware? Even when the driver exists they make a big song and dance about Linux needing a "third party" driver to run the WiFi or the graphics.

Guess what people. Windows uses drivers too. Of course the Microsoft-centric tech press that is a cancer on the web likes to pretend all that stuff is produced by Microsoft. WOW do these people have short memories. Remember the Vista fiasco where neither ATI nor NVIDIA amongst others had their drivers ready in time for the Vista release?

As for netbooks. Those that come with Linux come with a version of Linux tailored to that specific hardware set. Just like Mac OS X is tailored to Mac hardware. If Apple can do it why can't everybody? Why isn't Mac OS X being slated in the press every week because it doesn't run perfectly on non-Apple hardware? Why does it suddenly become a major minus point when Linux displaces Windows?

So guess what. If you take something like Puppy Linux and use it to replace a customised Linux distro specially put together to run the hardware on your netbook you might have problems. That's a bit of a no brainer. Of course if these so called journalists were reviewing a netbook running Windows they wouldn't even consider testing the hardware with an obscure unfunded fringe "spare time" project version of the OS. Would they? I honestly doubt it.

Over the past couple of weeks I've seen a disturbing trend developing in the so called tech press. As Windows Vista 7 gets ever closer to release all the Microsoft zombies are falling into line and desperately looking for ways to run down Linux. Which is just sad.

Linux as the underdog in the desktop and notebook markets has done well for it's self. It found a niche where it could grow and prosper and give people a real choice in how they use their hardware. It also allowed hardware vendors to slash their prices. Which in turn turned out to be of benefit to the Microsofties as Microsoft responded in kind and slashed the price of XP licences and then gave XP stay of execution time and time again and it's still not dead even though Windows Vista 7 is well and truely almost here and supposedly netbook friendly.

But no. Rather than appreciate what a little genuine competition targeted squarely at Microsofts core markets has done for consumers and businesses alike not to mention all the meaty tech news that has been generated, keeping the zombies in their jobs. These brain donors would rather agree to the Microsoft EULA which has apparently not just cost them their privacy, the right to use their PCs, netbooks and notebooks as they see fit, but also their souls and any kind of decency they might have had.

To all these people I say shut the fuck up and get a life.

Passed My Theory Test. Again!

Okay so for the second time I passed my theory test first time with only one wrong answer on the actual theory part of the test. The hazard perception test is completely pointless. Do the test the way the instructions at the start tell you and, clicking once for each hazard you see and again each time the hazard changes priority, and it becomes so easy to trip the nanny alarm that tells you you're just clicking at random. Which I wasn't. Which is why I almost got up and walked out at that point.

I'm glad I didn't though. I passed the test and filled in the questionnaire at the end telling them it was pointless. But it got me thinking about the last time I took my driving test a few years back.

Back then I completed my theory test just fine with only one wrong answer. There was no hazard perception test at the time. It was still under trial. The practical test is where things went wrong. Basically I had a snide bastard for an examiner. He liked to play with the dual controls. Not exactly fair. That really put me off trying again. What's the point when the test isn't fair and the appeals process is practically non-existent? Why waste my money?

Being stuck with a provisional licence does have it's draw backs though. You can't drive anywhere unsupervised. Which means job prospects are limited. So what can we do about cheating examiners?

The answer, rather shockingly is, not a lot. A driving examiners decision is final and it cannot be over turned. The appeals process involves either writing to the area manager or taking the case to a magistrates court. Unsurprisingly the DSA don't make a habit of making appeals easy. In fact it's almost impossible to find any information on-line at all. Perhaps the DSA are petrified that the 49% of drivers they claim fails their practical test first time round will swamp them with complaints? Maybe they're afraid the mythical quota system will be exposed? Maybe they're afraid their examiners will be exposed?

In any case, even if an appeal is succesful, the best we can hope for is a refund and a free resit. Perhaps 49% of revenues being refunded would cut into the DSAs' profit margines too much.

So if you have any driving test stories. Feel free to post them in the comments.

Portable Ubuntu Screencast

Nice little information video. Well presented and well done. But I'm missing something here. Why bother running Ubuntu inside Windows Vista or Windows 7? Why bother with Windows at all?

I've been testing the Windows 7 beta for a while now and I'm just not that impressed. To begin with it was fast and responsive. But since installing a few applications and using for only a few hours a week it's started to get sluggish. Start up is sluggish, application execution is sluggish, shutdown and reboot still run fine.

I'm just not seeing much improvement over XP or Vista. Certainly nothing worth another £300.

For people that want Linux. Just run Linux on raw real world hardware. It's faster, more stable and more secure.

Microsoft "Pays" Lauren To Buy A PC

"According to Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows consumer product marketing at Microsoft, the agency told recruits it was a market research firm and didn’t mention it was working with Microsoft. The recruits were told they could keep whatever money they didn’t spend on a PC so they had incentives to look for good values."

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/03/26/pc-to-mac-im-cheaper/

Seems like Microsoft not content with duping passers by with it's Mojave campaign have now turned to effectively paying people to buy Windows PCs. By proxy of course. Heaven forbid their marketing people should ever break the habit of a life time and be honest with people.

So if Windows is so bad Microsoft have to pay people to buy it pre-loaded with a new PC, why would anybody buy a Windows PC voluntarily. I mean when you have a near monopoly on the market and still struggle to shift your product there must be something wrong.

Powered By Linux: Avira AntiVir Rescue System

I absolutely love this. My favorite anti-virus company has brought out a free product based on Linux that repairs Microsoft Windows systems. More companies should do this. The Linux OS is free. So long as the product is free they're unlikely to hit any licensing snags.

Why give away freebies like this? The same reasons as always. Freebies attract attention and consequently increase mind share. Which in turn generates sales and also reduces the number of infections in the wild. Which in turn reduces the risks to your users.

Avira AntiVir Rescue System

Avira AntiVir Rescue System is a Linux-based application that allows accessing computers that cannot be booted anymore. Thus it is possible to:

* repair a damaged system,
* rescue data,
* scan the system for virus infections.

http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html