It's Been 12 Years with Linux!

Today this blog is celebrating its 12th anniversary! 😄

That also means it has been 12 years since I started using Linux and decided to document my learning and thoughts about the world of the penguin, some days later than Mandriva Linux Chronicles.

Since my first entry here, many distros have gone away (some that were truly dear to me) and others have appeared.

Also, I've seen Linux running on computers that previously would not let it do it. UEFI's restricted boot has interfered with the installation of my favorite distro on some laptops, too. Fortunately, those problems have been solved. 

So, what did I do to celebrate my coming to Linux land?

I bought an external HDD and installed MX Linux on it so that I may use it in my office at work. Using such device to work is extremely important to me, especially because my country was hit by Conti's ransomware and several government institutions, faithful Windows users, are currently experiencing a terrible time.

While they keep repeating the same mistakes and keep falling into the same traps, I will keep my freedom and continue learning.

 

11 YEARS! 11 Lessons I Got from Linux

 Today, this humble blog is celebrating its 11th anniversary.

 That also means that I have been using Linux for more than eleven years!

All this time in company of Tux has taught me many lessons. These are eleven of of them:

1- One can survive quite a long time on Linux without being a CLI expert.

2- With Linux, there is always more than a way to do the job. If you don't find it, you just need to keep searching.

3- With great power comes great responsibility!

4- Communities vary. So their ways.

5- Security is at the user's hands. You cannot resign that responsibility.

6- There are lots of ways to contribute with your favorite distro / free software project. All of us can contribute in some way.

7- Linux gets better and better each year.

8- Distros come and go. However, their contributions stay.

9- Experimentation with one's system teaches a lot.

10- Some people simply won't understand the value of free software even if they are using it on a daily basis.

11- Using a computer can truly become a pleasant experience. You do not have to pay lots of money for that.

Those are eleven of the many lessons the friendly penguin has taught me.

Happy anniversary, Linuxmigrante!!

A Decade with Linux!

I had totally forgotten about it, but Mechatotoro reminded me that today this blog is celebrating its 10th. anniversary!

The anniversary image that Mechatotoro sent me!

Wow!  A decade since I migrated to Linux and Free Software!

It has been 10 years of happy computing and lots of amazing discoveries.

This has been a decade in which I learned a lot; much more that I could have ever imagined.

No, I still don't know how to use the terminal as an expert.  My knowledge of its magic is extremely basic...

So, what did I learn?

I think that the most valuable lesson I learned in these 10 years using Linux and Free Software is freedom.  I no longer believe in the "this is how computers work" idea that kept me captive for so many years before my migration.

I feel really thankful for that!

Thank You, Free Software! Thank You, Linux!!

With the Covid-19 situation, many educators and students have been sent home and, with little or no training at all, they must keep their academic activities.  I am one of those professors.

While my workload has increased easily three times, I consider myself fortunate because I do not have to face the Windows-related issues that many of my colleagues seem to struggle with.

Also, I can say that the army of tools that Free Software offers has helped me to cope with my working needs. Thus, I want to make a list of all the tools I have been using lately (in no particular order):

1.  LibreOffice
2.  Galculator
3.  Kolourpaint
4.  Gimp
5.  Openshot
6.  Inkscape (and its Sozi extension!)
7.  Firefox
8.  Audacity
9.  Showfoto
10. Kdenlive
11. VLC
12. Openshot
13. Guvcview
14. RecordMyDesktop
15. HandBrake

And I still have many more to explore! Of course, all of them on top of my Linux system.

This list makes me see appreciate the great work of the developers and communities of each one of those great tools. I know that because of the pandemic, our pockets have also been affected but, if you can, please consider making a small donation to any of the projects that have had your back all this time.  :)

Covid-19, Work and Free Software

Year 2020 started with an unexpected rage.  The spread of Covid-19 has caused lots of deaths, fear, job losses, and an enormous uncertainty.

Anytime I turn on the news, my heart hurts.  Seeing so many people struggling, governments totally lost, and medical services collapsing sometimes makes me lose hope.

Here in my country we haven't had such a bad time as bigger nations, to which I send my best thoughts.  Still, the chaos is evident everywhere.  The authorities have instructed us not to leave our homes unless it is strictly necessary and thus, I (as many other people in the world) ended up working from home although I was totally unprepared for that.

My university literally sent us home with the command "work from there" and nothing else but an institutional platform that cannot hold such a heavy traffic.

Anyway, I am lucky if I compare myself to many of my colleagues.  They were much less prepared for the drastic change and some were heavily against online classes.  The same is true about most students here; they are not used to self learning and are very dependent on teachers telling them what to do. (*sigh*)

Fortunately, I can always count on Free Software.  Thanks to the army of tools available as Free Software, I can plan and make my online classes, even if I am totally inexperienced.

I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Coronavirus has really changed the way we live... many people are gone or will pass away due to this virus. I am deeply thankful to the great heroes who work long hours trying to assist the sick. Those of us who are not medics, nurses or workers in hospitals can help by staying home and following the safety measures.  I'll do that while I work from my house.  Please, let's all help by staying home!

Two Methods to Remove Vocals from Songs (Using Audacity)

Audacity is a very handy tool to edit audio files.  Lately, I've been testing its capacity to remove vocals from songs, using two different methods and obtaining mixed results.

The first method:  The "Vocal Remover" tool:

This is simple and relatively fast.  You need to go to "Effects" and once there, all the way down to "Vocal Remover".  Depending on your version, you might need to look for it under "Effects/Plugins/"

Once there, you run it, making sure you chose "remove vocals" from the drop down menu of the plugin.  And that's it! 

Vocal Remover will work well with some songs.  An important observation is that you need an unsplit stereo track for this method to work. What is an unsplit stereo track?  What can you do if you tried Vocal Remover and you didn't like the result?  Please read the second method to find out the answers.

The second method: Using "inversion" for one channel:

This is more difficult.  Stereo tracks have the audio in two different channels (left and right), and such channels are merged (unsplit) in most songs.  The second method consists of splitting both tracks and then applying the tool "inversion" to one of them.  Once done that, both tracks must be set to "mono" to be exported. 

That sounds a bit confusing, especially if we do not know much about sound edition.  Fortunately, several people have posted video tutorials.  This is one by Jimmy Ruska:

There you go!   The second method has worked better in my case, but it's a matter of testing to see what works best for you. 

Video editing, Open Source, and Community

This year my job kept me away from the developing cycle of MX Linux 17.  When I realized, the new release was already available.

I installed it in my ThinkPenguin laptop because the latest Ubuntu did not play nicely with it.  To me, that was quite a shock since that laptop went from Yakkety Yak to Zeisty Zapus without problems, but Artful Aarvark was another story.

MX-17 ran almost perfectly.  The only problem I saw was OpenShot; when trying to render animated titles, the video editor kept asking for a blender version 2.62 or up.  That was a requirement that my system met (it has 2.78a), but Openshot threw the obnoxious "No frame was found in the output from Blender" error.

I tried several fixes from different forums to no avail.  Then, I asked for help in MX forums, but nobody seemed to have a solution.

Then, I went to the page of OpenShot and downloaded an appimage of Openshot 2.4.1.   It worked flawlessly!

Thus, I went to MX forums and told them about Openshot 2.4.1, hoping to help other people in the future.

Ah, but I had forgotten the community sense that distinguishes Linux and particularly MX users and developers.  One of the lead developers asked me "Do you want to place a package request for Openshot 2.4.1?"

I did it and in about a day, the great packaging team had the new version of the video editor!  I downloaded it from the repos and it does everything without any problem.

It's great to see how people help each other in the community of free software.

Thanks a lot!

Open Source Is not an Unknown Concept Anymore

I remember when, several years ago, Mechatotoro and I started to use Libre Office and moved to .odt for all our word processing needs.  Some colleagues did try to force Microsoft file formats on us in spite of the university's approval of ODF.

But slowly, more people have come to understand that open source is here to stay and that closed source is neither better nor safer. At the end, most of the complaints by closed-source defenders can be reduced to the following:

1- They are used to X and don't want to learn anything new.

2- They want to use open source but are locked into closed source.

3- They think closed source is better because X has more features. [Which, by the way, most people don't know about or don't really care for because they don't use such features and probably never will.]

4- They had a negative past experience with open source and did not care to update their knowledge.

5- They don't really know what they are talking about but pretend they do. 

6- They simply prefer closed source as a personal choice.

In spite of all that, I've noticed that more students know about ODF and some of them are using Libre Office themselves nowadays.

An interesting case happened a few days ago: a student who wants me to direct her thesis is interested in using Twine, an open source tool for writing interactive texts.

The world is changing.  Many just don't really see how it is doing it.

Three Concepts Many Tech Journalists don't Seem to Understand

When I read articles about technology, I notice that journalists seem to confuse some concepts, take others for granted or are plainly biased about them.  These three seem to be the most common examples: 


1.  Computer malware

Whenever they write about an Apple virus or a Linux one, they are very specific about the OS.  However, when it is a Windows problem, journalists usually call it "PC" or "computer" malware.  Why not calling it what it really is, a Windows-related issue? This complaint is not new; although it has been repeated over and over, these tech journalists don't seem to learn.


2.  Linux vs commercial software

Without getting into the GNU/Linux naming debate, it seems that many journalists make the distinction between Linux and commercial software. Does that mean Linux is not commercial software?  There is nothing in free software preventing it from being commercial. In fact, many businesses are carrying out their commercial activities thanks to Linux.  Why don't these journalists also say "restricted" or "limited" software to refer to proprietary software, just to be fair?


3.  Fragmentation

I've read this word a lot of times in tech articles when writers are talking about Linux.  However, isn't Windows "fragmented" as well?  How many versions of Windows 7, 8, and 10 are there?  What about MS Office?  Is Windows 10, with its versions Home, Pro, Enterprise, Enterprise LTSB, Education, and mobile not fragmented by the same principle? Who can defend the idea that MS Office 2016 with its multiple versions:

• Microsoft Office Home & Student
• Microsoft Office Home & Business
• Microsoft Office Standard
• Microsoft Office Professional
• Microsoft Office Professional Plus

does not represent fragmentation?  Why don't these tech writers complain about the unnecessary differences and confusion that so many versions cause to the consumer?  The many versions of Linux have never caused me confusion: I call that "variety"!  :P

I really wish tech journalists were a bit less biased (or at least more precise) whenever they publish their articles.  Maybe I'm asking for too much.

Are there any other frequent misconceptions in tech articles I missed?  Feel free to tell me in your comments.  Thanks!


 

I Spotted ODF in the Wild this Week... Twice!

This week has been full of surprises.  The new semester has started and with that, much of what used to be paperwork is becoming digital files.  When I entered the platform to obtain the lists of my students in the courses I'm currently teaching, I realized that it now had two options to download such lists: "as a pdf file" or "as a spreadsheet."

Since I didn't want to have anything to do with .xslx, I went for the pdf.

But later, when I told Mechatotoro about it, he entered the platform and gave "spreadsheet" a try.

"I love these people!," I heard him say.

Instead of a .xslx file, the guys who added the feature did honor the university's migration to free software and made .ods available for download!

And just a few minutes ago, my editor sent me an e-mail.  Actually, the mail was directed to all the authors who work with her, and she wanted us to check the list of the available books and their corresponding prices to rule out any mistake.

I must say that I almost fell off my chair when I saw the attached document: another .ods file!

Yes!  I literally heard a choir of angels singing.  I am still hearing them!  ^__^  

antiX 16 Is around the Corner!

Great news!  Soon antiX 16 will be released! 

Dolphin Oracle made this great video showing us what we can expect in this new release:

Thanks a lot, Anticapitalista and all at antiX headquarters! You're great!

Good News!

This week has brought good news to my world:

1.  MX Linux, the sucessor of MEPIS, is currently at version 15 beta 2.  The OS will come in both 32 bits and 64 bits.

2.  PicarOS has just published a demo of an ISO made for x86 tablets. They used an ACER P3 with an i3 processor and the system looks great.

3.  There was a memo telling the authorities of my faculty to stop the lock-in on proprietary software and to encourage the use and teaching of free software.

Now, I wish I had a tablet to test PicarOS and that would complete this week!

How did I Spend Software Freedom Day?

The answer to that question is one word:

FREE!!

Free from viruses
Free from surveillance
Free from malware
Free from local-file gobblers
Free from keyloggers
Free from atrocious license prices
Free from pirated software
Free from crackers
Free from restrictive, non-inclusive document formats
Free from backdoors

LibreOffice 4.4 Is out! GREAT!!!

Yes, as soon as I read here that The Document Foundation had made a new release of LibreOffice available, I rushed to download it to give it a try.

You can find out what's new, from the technical viewpoint, about this suite here .  Let's see...it comes with a nice sidebar...it has better OOXML support (I don't care about that as I use ODF), and it even added textboxes.  Well, texboxes are something I never needed and I actually find them annoying, but others may think they're handy... Still, I am more interested in knowing if this new release could meet my needs.

Japanese input support! Wow! I thought I'd never see it again on this old system!

I installed LibreOffice 4.4 on my old Mepis 8 desktop system.  I had given away my hope of using Japanese input on LibreOffice because the suite did not support my old input method editor.  In fact, I had to keep an old copy of OpenOffice (3.1.1) around for the times I needed to type in Japanese.  I was greatly surprised when I could indeed type hiragana, katakana and kanji on LibreOffice!

What was next?  Customization might be another aspect to check...
I don't remember this feature on LO 4.3...  Now you have a handy theme selector to change the appearance of the office suite!  I entered "cat" and hit the "search" button...and sure enough, I got several matching themes.  That was easy!  At the end, I chose a theme I happen to like quite a lot!  :P

I still need to test Impress, Calc, and the other applications.  But I have to install first LibreOffice 4.4 on my laptop.  After all, that is the device in which I use Impress.

But while I do that, why not giving a little donation to The Document Foundation?

After all, LibreOffice is keeping me free from preying office subscription fees and from locking my data into the silly OOXML format.  I must add that it has saved me from the horrendous, unproductive ribbon madness! 

I hope all those who like LibreOffice made a donation, big or small, to this great project.

Quite a Surprise!

We had a School Assembly today.  Usually, the speakers use a netbook or laptop loaded with Windows 7 (which has caused already several embarrassments and delays) and use MS Office PowerPoint during their presentations.

However, today was a bit different.  When the speaker double clicked his document to open it, I saw an old friend:

That was a delight!  The computer used LibreOffice's Impress to do the job!

Little by little, our university's migration to Free Software is advancing.

My Third Year Blogging about TUX!

Today I'm celebrating my third year blogging about GNU/Linux!

I have learned a lot (although I still don't know how to compile my kernel), and I've shared with great individuals who have been my inspiration and support.

Also, I've been attacked by others and have been the object of discrimination and misunderstandings just because I dared to use different software.

Still, I must say I am thankful because, after tasting the waters of Free Software, I do not want to go back.

PS.  Thanks to Mechatotoro for the pic!

My Work is Done...Let the Fun Start!

I've been away of this blog for quite a long time.  Of course, the reason has nothing to do with viruses or computer malfunctioning...quite the opposite: my systems have been more reliable and productive than ever!

In fact, what kept me away from entering my experiences here was the intensity of the work I had to do.  Well, my graduation was also part of it.

By the way, I can say that my graduation serves as an example of the inaccuracy of all the arguments claiming that GNU/Linux is unprofessional software: everything, from online research to multimedia presentation design and my thesis writing, all was done using open source software exclusively.  Mepis Linux was my OS, Libre Office was my office suite, Firefox was my browser...I even used Kolourpaint for simple image editing!  Symbolically speaking, my Master's Degree has the Free Software stamp on it!  How come people say you cannot use Linux for serious tasks?  I have to disagree with them on the basis of my own experience.

What about my work?  There was an International Congress at my university and both my brother Mechatotoro and I had two lectures to present.  I thought about using Platinum Arts Sandbox (a 3D engine for games) instead of Impress to manage the visual aids this time.  Why?  Just for a little variety and a lot of experimentation!

                           These are captures of the presentation about Cruelty and Plays:

Since my knowledge about 3D designing amounts to zero, I had to learn everything from scratch, but I found the process very rewarding and intellectually stimulating (although I am not sure how many of my colleagues will be able to use it).

                    (This is a capture of the presentation about Children's Literature)

With the help of Mechatotoro, who gave me most of the special textures we needed to include in our virtual 3D environments, I set up the presentations.

                  These are more captures of the presentation about Children's Literature:

Apparently, those who attended our lectures were impressed by the innovative visual aids.  To me, that is the biggest reward since I put a lot of time and effort learning about 3D by myself!

And now that the work is done and I am on vacation...LET THE FUN START!
I bought a brand new ALTO 4330 Linux laptop from Zareason.  ( I guess my next entry will be about it!)  Also, I can play with a Toshiba netbook NB515 and a coworker wants me to install Linux on her Toshiba netbook NB-505 because Windows 7 is giving her lots of BSODs...what a surprise!

Testing Linux in a Serious Environment: My Thesis Dissertation

Some people still believe that Linux and other Open Source software cannot be taken seriously because, in their view, "FOSS is unprofessional."

To find out if that was true, I have tested both Linux and Open Office in rather serious environments, basically placing my head as part of the bet. To finish my degree in Education, I depended solely on Mepis Linux 8.5 and Open Office, which ran on my far-from-powerful netbook Toshiba NB-100. You can find my review of that experience here.

Two days ago, I tested Mepis 11 and Libre Office in another environment that I think my readers will consider quite serious: my final dissertation for my Master's degree. Again, I entrusted my head to a Linux distribution and to a free/libre office suite. Why? Because I really wanted to see it for myself: Was Free Software up to the challenge?

Now, some of the variables of the experiment:

1. My Toshiba NB-100 did not come preloaded with Mepis 11. It was "designed for Windows XP" but I turned it into a 6-OS-booting monster.

2. My NB-100 barely has 1 GB of RAM.

3. Mechatotoro was controlling the presentation (he is not a regular Mepis user).

4. I made the Libre Office presentation on my desktop computer and loaded it to my netbook.

5. The presentation had plenty of 3-D transitions and KDE desktop effects were enabled.

My dissertation began.  Mepis did not have any obstacles to use the projector and I had no unnecessary delays or surprises.  It was as if my modest Toshiba NB-100 were actually designed for Linux!  Too bad that Surface, the new Microsoft tablet (designed for Windows 8) did not do as well during its introduction.  People are talking about that already!


LibreOffice handled the presentation flawlessly.  The effects were neat and did not cause my system to freeze:


  This is the effect "Rochade" in action:

Here you have "Turning Circles":

This one is "Turn":

Once again I exposed myself to public embarrassment if either Linux or Libre Office had failed but instead I got praised.  Someone told me later that the presentation was smooth and it helped my audience and committee follow my dissertation without any issues or interruptions.  That's the goal of using technology in these circumstances, right?

In conclusion, Linux and Open Source Software were used again in a serious, professional environment and their performance was excellent.  I've seen XP, Vista and 7 failing during presentations and thus embarrassing the speaker.  However, some still insist that it is Linux the one that is not professional.  What a paradox!  

My Linux Christmas Lists!

This is my second Christmas as a full GNU/Linux user! My computer hasn't exploded, I was able to get all my work done (and even more!), learned a lot about computers, didn't get malware problems, have the fastest and most stable system ever...and even got quite lazy with the back-up ritual that I used to perform every 2 months during my Windows days.

Anyway, distro and OSs wars aside, I wish all my readers the best for this season!

And now...what is on my Linux Christmas list? Let's see:

1. MEPIS 11.5 released! :)
2. A Free 3-D Mind Mapping tool.
3. A Linux Christmas demonstration.
4. A Linux computer vendor in my country.
5. A Kaquarium on KDE 4 like the one KDE 3.5 has.

But in a more humorous note, what what would my list include? Something like this:

1. A USB thumb drive that can be plugged in regardless of how you try to insert it.
2. A Toshiba netbook with Linux preinstalled.
3. A Canon printer with full Linux support.
4. A Tech-support line whose personnel does not tell you "go to the button 'start'."
5. A university application whose installation manual does not include "drive C:"
6. A Microsoft EULA that actually cares for user rights.
7. The terrible, epic, all-platform virus equally affecting Windows, MacOS, and all Linux distros that a Windows fanboy once said it was easy to design.

What about your lists? What would they include? :P

A Case to Make Linux Big on the Desktop

Nobody can deny it: many articles have been written about why GNU/Linux didn't make it, hasn't made it, and will never make it on the desktop. If there were another time dimension besides past, present, and future, we would probably see articles explaining why Tux does not work in there, either.

Many reasons have been given: Linux is too stiff/ too flexible; Linux is too ugly/too beautiful; Linux is too weak/too powerful; Linux is too outdated/too ahead of our times; Linux is too cheap/ too expensive (yes! some people even have the guts to say this!); Linux is too fragmented (fragmentation: the quality of dazzling users with choices), too exotic, too dangerous (kids! don't try Linux at home!), too difficult to learn, has weird application names; is linked to communism, anarchy and to the devil. Does Satan use Satanic Linux?

Also, many strategies have been offered to make Tux popular. Among them, we can list reducing the list of options and choices, dumbing interfaces down, making aggressive campaigns, boycotting OEMs, killing Richard Stallman, making lots of viruses for Linux so that potential migrants may feel at home, and many many more.

However, these strategies, although useful, never reach the essence of the problem.

And what is the core of the problem anyway?

Is it the ugly GNU/Linux name? Should we get rid of the GNU? That would be a terrible idea: exotic animals are fashionable. Besides, it makes Linux look greener...more in touch with nature.

So, what is it?

It's so simple and evident that all eyes miss it. The core of the problem is that Linux is Free Software (free as in freedom and free as in free cookies). Businesses do not want to do business with Tux (true, Red Hat is one of the crazy ones who dared) because Tux is a free penguin. Nobody wants a free penguin in the office!

Thus, to make Linux popular, Linux should be totally restrained, locked up, forbidden, wiped out of the map. If people realize that the penguin that was beside them all this time suddenly disappears, they will feel curious about it even though they were never interested when it was with them. Those who never cared, instead of smiling happily, would be the first ones to run everywhere looking for the penguin, now gone with the wind.

The disappearance of Linux would cause a terrible envy frenzy, too. Whoever had Linux available would be bombarded with requests for copies and installations just because this person possesses something that the others never grabbed when they had the chance! That's human nature at its best!

It's very sad, though, that nobody will have the wits, guts, and economic power to recognize the genius of this simple idea and try it...thus, no individual will ever try to ban Linux...

Wait! There is still hope! Did anybody say "Unified Extensively Firmware Interface", and "secure boot enabled by default"?

Yeah! Tux will be popular after all!