Ubuntu Listed by Itself on NetMarketshare?

Today I decided to check on NetMarketshare's stats from last month and noticed something that caught my eye:

If you see the last entry, it reads "Ubuntu: 0.63%."

The curious thing is that, 3 lines above, you read Linux at its never changing one point something market share, according to the site, that is. Although, compared to July, when Linux had 1.29%, August's 1.38% is quite a leap.

But why is Ubuntu listed separately?  The page is listing desktop operating systems, so I see no need to separate Ubuntu from all the other Linux desktop distros.

If Ubuntu's share were added to Linux, then the penguin's market share would be 2.01%.

Or am I missing something?  Is Ubuntu using a kernel different from the Linux kernel, for example, and became a totally separare OS?

I guess I have to check that out. 🤔

My Old Samsung Chromebook Is Still Alive!

Yesterday, I took out my old Samsung 500C chromebook from its resting place and turned it on, to see if it still worked.

Well, some keys are not responding, some of them the ones I need to open my session, but fortunately the virtual keyboard helped me with that.

I just want to see if the battery is still OK.  If so, I may use this old timer for one last job.  It is a quite important one, by the way.

It involves LibreOffice, running on Linux by means of crouton.  Fortunately, both crouton and Linux work fine.  LibreOffice is there, too.

Great!  Now, let's see how long the battery lasts...

Making a Cell that Increments Its Value +1 in LibreOffice

Today I learned how to increase the value of an active cell +1 by making a simple macro, thanks to oguillaume, who kindly offered this tutorial for OpenOffice.

This simple macro will add 1 to the value of the currently selected cell (known as the active cell).
This increment cell value macro is useful when associated with a keyboard shortcut for counting things rapidly.

Simply create a new Macro Sub :

• In the menus, choose Macros > Organise Macros > OpenOffice Basic,
• In the dialogue box unfold the following hierarchy "My Macros > Standard > Module 1"
• Now that Module 1 is selected, click on button Edit
• Copy and Paste the code below
• Hit Save (Ctrl-S)    

Now all you have to do is Copy/Paste the code below in the editor that opened (the "ThisComponent... +1" is a SINGLE LINE).

Sub activecellplus1

ThisComponent.CurrentSelection.value = ThisComponent.CurrentSelection.value +1

End Sub

 Now to assign a keyboard shortcut:

• In Menus, choose Tools > Customize ... ,
• In Dialog, activate Tab called Keyboard
• Look for an empty shortcut key in the list and select it
• Now in the list called "Functions, Categories" scroll at the bottom of the list and look for '+ Open Office Macros'. (Click on the + to unfold) Now continue unfolding '+ User, + Standard, +Module1 '
• Now in the list called Functions, you should see an entry called 'activecellplus1' . Select it
• Now click the button called "Modify" and then OK at the bottom

Test it:

• Choose an empty cell or put a value in a cell (e.g. 5).
• Select the cell (click on it)
• Now hit the shortcut you have created and see the value increment by 1

That was exactly what I needed!  Thanks!

Electronic Invoices...

I remember that some years ago, I went  into my country's official page to obtain the tools to fill in my taxes.  I was greatly displeased to see that everything was Windows-based.  Not even Mac users had an alternative.  That day, I wrote a suggestion concerning multi-platform solutions, but I did not think they were going to do anything about it.

This year, the government started pushing for electronic invoices.  Thus, I went into the corresponding page to learn about the tools... My first thought was "Windows might be a must."

However, I could not believe my eyes: they had the software for Windows, Mac, and Linux!

Well, Linux 64-bit only, and just Debian-based, but hey, that was great still!

My desktop and main computer is a 32 bit box, so it would not be useful. That did not worry much because I own a Linux laptop that is 64 bits.

Thus, I downloaded the software and tried it...

Success!  I could effectively create, sign and send my electronic invoices! 

I still don't know how this will work in terms of accounting, but I am glad free software users were not completely left behind this time.  

The world is changing!

Migration Status: 8 Years and Counting!

Linuxmigrante is celebrating its 8th. anniversary today!

Wow!  That means 8 years have passed since I migrated to GNU/Linux and I haven't regretted my adoption of Free Software.

I've seen lots of changes I thought I'd never see.  I still see rejection, biases and recalcitrance from those who cling to the past and refuse to recognize that the arguments they used to resort to for attacking Linux are exactly what they experience with their OS now.

I've seen distros be born and die.  I've learned lots of interesting tricks and I've been able to experiment with tools I never thought I'd use.

What about the command line?  I still don't know how to use it beyond a few commands (very few!)

Anyway, thanks to the ones who take some of their time to visit this blog. I really hope that some of its content may have been useful to you as it was to me.

Pisi Linux Is Out!

Pisi Linux 2.0 was released a few days ago, and I did not realize about it.  Too bad, because I really liked this distribution and was fairly active in the community before everything went totally Turkish.

Well, it's time to download this little kitten, the heir of the old Pardus.  I want to see the result from the hard work of Pisi developers (they are a small team), and I have high expectations.

I can't wait for my download to finish (it's 1.7 GB).

The Latest News and a Few Tricks

These are very puzzling times.  Let's see a few interesting examples:

1.  Microsoft develops a Linux OS: This is not a joke. Really. Some think hell froze over.

2.  Ubuntu recovers its ability to produce customized live images:  The feature that many people miss from newer Ubuntu releases is finally back thanks to Pinguy Builder.

3. OLPC has met a sad end: I guess corporate influence had nothing to do with it.

4.  I've met more Linux users than ever and even saw the name "Linux"  displayed next to a smart TV in a printed advertisement of a mainstream seller here.


And now, a trick for those who, like me, have had problems with the newest Firefox, who refuses to obey its localization and language pack:

a. Install language packs
b. Add the add-on: a small colored notice will appear in the upper right corner. Click on it and then click to add.
c. Enabling. From Firefox 59 on:

• Type about:config in the addres bar
• Create a new string with this name:

intl.locale.requested

• Finish it with the appropriate value (fr-FR, es-ES,...)