Learning to Love Linux

My entire family has been converted to Linux.  While I drove the adoption as the tech support in residence, the conversion wasn't always met with open arms by all.  In the end the the fear of the unknown was overcome and everyone did learn to (mostly) love Linux.

This post is a summary of the applications that have helped in that adoption.  There are many Windows to Linux application equivalence charts.  This won't be another one.  Nor is this a detailed analysis of the merits of various alternative applications.  Instead, like most posts on this site, is more statement of what worked for us, with minimal explanation.

User Interface

This is the area where adoption begins - initial navigation.  Being able to find, start and stop programs is crucial.  Like it or not, the 800 pound gorilla is Windows and it's navigation paradigm.  Following it has benefits both in home adoption and in transferring skills to systems outside the home, such as at school.  Based primarily on that plus overall out-of-the box functionality, Linux Mint is our main choice, however we have at least one of each below.

• Linux Mint - best Windows equivalent:  start menu, taskbar, min/max/close buttons
• Ubuntu - the foundation for the other two distributions:  inverted UI for Windows users, a lot of "the same only different"
• UNE (was UNR) - Screen optimized for netbooks:  nothing the same here, launcher very unique

Identical - Linux

These applications comprise most of the home computer usage in our family.  Either originally on Windows or once converted to Linux, these are identical.  It should probably be noted that no one is a PC gamer.  Those that enjoy those use dedicated consoles.

• Firefox - customizable web browsing
• Office - word processing, spreadsheet and presentations
• Picasa - photo management
• Google Desktop - desktop, email and web searching
• KeePassX - password manager 

 Office above refers to Open Office, which is cross platform.  Since most home users don't use 3% of the installed function of Office applications, switch the default file type to the Microsoft format (for sharing) and you'll never know the difference.

Alternatives - Linux

These are the native Linux applications that round out the functions wanted by the family.  Note that these links are given for information only.  Applications are installed via the package manager within a Linux system, not via web downloads.

• Banshee - music manager and mp3 sync.  Syncs perfectly to multiple mp3 players and Android.
• Songbird - music manager and iPod sync.  We have only one iPod owner and this works well for him.
• Totem movie player - DVD playback.  VLC has more options and may be use less CPU though.
• apcupsd - software control for APC UPS.  Battery operation options for UPS.
• gnuCash - accounting software.  Amazing software, gave it 14 months of usage, but switched back to Quicken.
• simplescan - multi sheet scanning to PDF.  The 300Mb+ of HP Solution Center is gone.
• Tomboy - cross platform - sticky notes, useful with DropBox. 

Productivity - Linux

Many people create written content either to send (email), print (documents) or remember (sticky notes).  Those that make a discipline out of creating content, in the hope they'll be more productive, might be interested in these.

• Nevernote - an open source, cross platform (near) clone of Evernote, focused on creating the "missing" Linux client
• Rednotebook - an open source, cross platform (including Windows portable version) journal and calendar application

Alternatives - Cloud

A switch in operating systems might also be a good time to look at cloud, or web based services.  Consider your access, storage and security needs.  You may find this is a good time to move to a computer anywhere model.

• Springpad - cross platform, web and mobile. Social and email linkage.  If I ever switched from Evernote, this would be it.  Maybe when I upgrade to Android 2.1, hmmm.
• Mint - Owned by Intuit, "Quicken Lite" - limited to pulling 3 months history when starting, relatively inflexible categories, very coarse grained tax designations.  But, like GnuCash, great for a free application.
• Google Docs - All office type applications and data are web based.  The performance lag, plus existing critical mass keep me from this, but there is a lot of positives if starting fresh.
• Dropbox - cross platform, web and mobile.  Synchronized file access for all your computers via the web.  Allows access from any web browser.

Identical - Wine

This section gives me a deja vu from my time as a OS/2 Version 3 (aka Warp) support engineer.  The Win 3.x compatibility and IBM's inability to market small systems led to OS/2s downfall, but I digress.  In any event, while trying alternatives I did test the following two 32bit Windows applications, which worked perfectly for everything I tested under Wine 1.2 (Windows emulator):

• Quicken 2009 - personal finance management
• Evernote 3.1 - tagged note taking, cross platform (except Linux), web and mobile

Don't Need

A short list of some of the things you'll no longer need to have bogging down your system, keeping updated or having to spend.

• Anti-Virus
• Anti-Spyware
• Disk Defrag
• Adobe Reader
• PDF Writer
• Proprietary Scanner
• Validation
• Upgrade $$$

Problems

Linux is not Utopian computing.  At the end of the day there are still some computer "they're all like that" issues - see the "mostly" comment at the start.  This is our short list of items that I haven't solved due to time, expertise or interest.  One of our Linux Mint systems loses X-Windows only occasionally when two users are logged in.  The UNE system uses a launcher that removed Places which makes local file sharing more inconvenient than it should be.  Our lowest end system (1.8Ghz/512Mb) runs movies better on WinXP, although everything else runs better under Linux Mint.  If none of these situations apply (or make sense to you), have no worries.

Still not sure?  Try one of the Live CD distributions.  While the actual boot is about 20 times slower than off a hard drive, you'll have full functionality once its up and running.  It will even allow installations (for that session) of additional software.

Hopefully this can be a small additional resource to those considering the move to Linux or just starting out.  Net:  the benefits far outweigh the small learning curve to be climbed.  You just might end up loving it.

Enjoy.

A Big Savings

Everyone thinks their dog is the best in some way.  I recognize that when I say that we thought our Yorkie-Poodle mix was too.  Last October, after thirteen plus years of companionship, we had ample opportunity to reflect on that when she passed on.

We knew we'd get another one.  It was only a question of when.  There were a couple of months of contacting shelters, rescue operations and private breeders.  That odyssey itself is enough material for another post, particularly the rescue operations that required more paperwork to just talk to us than I've signed buying some cars.

The question was finally answered when my wife visited the Petland Arboretum location.  The frustration of the previous months and the irresistible nature of holding anything small, warm and furry won out.   A full AKC Yorkie, now named "Oscar" resides with us.

This many months later, while organizing some files, I ended up handling the receipt for Oscar.  These little dogs are in demand.  We learned that from the private breeders.  We really learned that at Petland.  Such is a free market economy.  Nobody forced us to buy him, but he was well over our original target amount.  What struck me fresh today was at the bottom of the receipt:

"You Have Saved:  $13.10".  Hmmm.  What exactly was the cost comparison here?  This wasn't a commodity purchase.  No mass market comparison shopping is possible on individual dogs that I know of.  Possibly on the "free" stuff that was thrown in as part of the package?  So what is the amount - an automatically added random number designed to induce customer loyalty?  If it wasn't for the seemingly random and inconsistent pricing on the dogs we've seen there since while buying supplies, it probably wouldn't have struck me this way.

Oscar is a good dog, although a bit of a rascal since he is still a puppy.  All in all I'd have like to have paid less, but we did get what we paid for.  Most importantly, my wife loves the little dog so I guess it was a big savings.

Eating My Own Dog Food

I've written about "needs based computing" before as part of the decision process in buy vs clean in the Cleaning an Infected PC post.  This last week I had an opportunity to eat my own dog food when the integrated video failed on our home desktop.

This desktop is over six years old.  The power supply failed first a few years ago, which I replaced.  Then the integrated NIC failed a year later, which I disabled and added a 3Com PCI card to restore.  Lately the power supply has been running warm and I'd started to think that the over 52K hours that this machine has been in service had taken its toll.  When the video failed I was sure of it.

So what were the family computing needs?  Had they changed?  Increased?  Not really.  Basic web surfing, document creation, money and photo management, podcasts and music.  Pretty pedestrian stuff that the old 3.0Ghz system handled well.  Given the chance, I'd like to swap the desktop for a laptop, but this isn't the time to spend the significant money it would require to get comparable laptop performance.

Therefore, I decided to find a used system compatible with the known good components from my current system.  While there was some risk of transferring age related problems to the next machine, the immediate value equation seemed balanced.

So began checking Craigslist and the local computer shops for systems with comparable performance and compatable hardware to my current system.  The memory would be the biggest concern and the detailed specs at MemoryStock really helped speed the identification process.  The third leg the stool was insuring that the new target system was hardware compatible with my OS of choice - Linux Mint.  The Linux HCL is the definitive single source, plus Googling never hurts.

In the end, I purchased a Dell mid tower system from a local computer shop (Best Tek Support) and added in the working parts from the old machine.  Besides offering a 30 day warranty, they were incredibly flexible in configuring and pricing the system with only what I needed in it.

There's probably a "never say never" lesson for me in here too.  I stated when I bought the last desktop new, that I'd never build another custom system, piece by piece.  This came close, but I had a little fun with it too.  It has every kitchen sink media component I own installed (3.5", 250M Zip, 6-in-1 media reader, CD-RW/DVD-RW, IDE, SATA and more USB ports than I can count).

All in all a good value.  So far, we're enjoying it.  It meets our needs.

A Fair Comparison

WBTV reports that "A report from the watch group American Forests and commissioned by the City Council found between 1985 and 2008 Mecklenburg county lost 33% of its tree canopy; the city of Charlotte lost 49%."

In response, the city is reported as studying a increase in the required percentage of trees to be saved during construction, from 10% to 15%. Developers have stated that it would make development too costly.

A justification to the increased cost is then presented: "The city doesn't require private developers do anything it doesn't do. Each year the city plants and maintains tens of thousands of trees along city streets, in the right of way."

Wait...is this a fair comparison? Developers, who are responsible for profit and loss in meeting their payroll, based their response on cost. What is the basis the city used? Probably not the same profitability standard.

Don't get me wrong. I really like the tree canopy myself and would like to see it preserved. However, free market solution and logical reasoning would be nice too.

How Much Is Enough?

The EPA has declared carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Carbon dioxide?!!! Before examining the politics and science behind this, lets set some perspective through a simple question: Is this a good or a bad thing? Seriously. Some may state that it is really a complex question, with too many factors to consider.

One test I like to apply in situations where a simple question isn't so easy to answer, is to "test it at the extreme". Often there is clarity in extrapolating the action in question to a larger scale. So for example, if carbon dioxide is a pollutant, pollutants are bad and we want to eliminate all of them - what happens if we eliminate all the carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring substance on the Earth. It is required for all plant life. If it is completely eliminated, all plants die. If all plants die, no more oxygen is produced and we die. Sounds like a bad thing to me.

Not so fast you say? Its not that simple? Just reduce it by some amount? To all those questions, I would respond - how much is enough?

This is not a science question. This is a political question that will claim science as its justification. We will now be faced with the question of who do we trust to set that amount? The answer will drive governmental fines, penalties and fees (taxes). Fairness and justice will be tossed around as ideals not to be opposed, upon fear of character assassination. The funds collected will be redistributed to those "in need".

The basis of the original question has now changed from CO2 to dollars.

Domestically, the EPA bureaucrats, government funded scientists and elected politicians will now attempt to create new regulations to transfer funds from the private sector to the government. On the global level, the Copenhagen Climate conference is attempting to function as a world government and transfer wealth, using a similar rationale.

It might again be a good time to ask - how much is enough?

Retroactive Tax Increases

Those not concerned about paying income tax or whose sole interest is in getting an income tax "refund" (loaning the government part of their earnings interest free for a year) probably should skip this post. Others, particularly those that live in North Carolina, may be interested to learn that the state just approved a retroactive income tax increase last month. Yes, retroactive.

It is identified as a "surtax". The relevant section of Senate Bill 202 is 27A.1(a) and reads as follows (emphasis added):

PART XXVIIA. TAX CHANGES
CORPORATE AND INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX SURTAX
SECTION 27A.1.(a) Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 105-130.3B. Income tax surtax.
(a) Surtax. – An income tax surtax is imposed on a taxpayer equal to three percent (3%) of the tax payable by the taxpayer under G.S. 105-130.3 for the taxable year. This tax is in addition to the tax imposed by G.S. 105-130.3 and is due at the time prescribed in
G.S. 105-130.17 for filing a corporate income tax return.
(b) Sunset. – This section expires for taxable years

Note that this bill was signed into law on August 7, 2009 (scroll to the bottom of the list of actions). Retroactive over seven prior months of tax planning, now invalidated. Governor Perdue was sworn into office on January 10, 2009 (scroll to the bottom of the media releases). Retroactive nine days earlier than even the Governor's taking of office.

The surtax affects corporations and what the press would term "high income" individuals. Regardless of if this particular action has immediate personal application or not, every taxpayer should consider what principle is being demonstrated by issuing retroactive tax increases. Here are just two.

1. Is tax planning is useless? Any scheduled planning, giving or investing based on the tax rates at the start of the year are certainly now reduced in effectiveness. Businesses planning investments in the state will surely take this into consideration in the future.


2. What guidelines exist, or should exist, regarding enactment of retroactive laws? The paying of taxes has a clean yearly boundary due to the payment cycle. If the discussion was over issuance of licenses or permits what would the boundaries be?

FWIW - this is not an indictment of Governor Perdue or any political party. It is however of politicians and politics in general. It is an amazing display of the politics of power and money, this time at the state level. Be careful of the change you vote for. It can change the future - and the past.

A Fair Vote

Our family was selected to participate in an Arbitron radio survey. The poll lasted a week and consisted of simply recording when and what we listened to (individually) on the radio. We were selected by a random dialer as part of a nationwide survey. The results will be used to rank radio stations which no doubt will drive advertising campaigns and rates - although probably not on listener supported stations such as WRCM.

Maybe I'm just naturally suspicious or have let myself be influenced by national news reports on voting scandals (such as the fraud occuring in Minnesota with Al Franken since November). However in this case, I'm trusting Arbitron to administer the results fairly and then represent my preferences as part of the bigger picture.

A capitalistic free market should be driven by consumer demand. Government intervention to "balance" something the market won't support (such as with the politically driven so called Fairness Doctrine) has never proven to be sustainable. Thats why buying locally in your community and "voting" with your dollars is the best way to support the economy where you live.

Indirectly, thats what we did by participating in the Arbitron survey. It seems like a fair vote.

My $0.028

In 2007, Congress directed the Mint to produce four new commemorative designs for the Lincoln penny to be rotated throughout 2009, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. I'd forgotten about it until just a few days ago, when a link to a newspaper site reminded me. While not a coin collector myself, there was something generally fun in the 10 year schedule of the state quarter program, even if it was only the minor curiousity of what you might have just got back in change.

The timing of this years release of the Lincoln penny is a curiousity of sorts also. In the year we choose to redesign our smallest monetary unit, we are going to create our largest ever national debt. The irony of the government's actions is probably lost in Washington though.

It would be nice if politicians had a better sense of history. FDR's New Deal program is often cited as support for the current "stimulus package" but FDR's own treasury secretary is quoted as saying "...I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot." This isn't unique to the United States. The Heritage Foundation reports on a similar initiative in Japan, from which it concludes "...the Japanese government imple­mented such a program during the 1990s, and the consequence was two decades of economic stagnation."

What is the real solution? It seems clear that it has to be one built on real free market demand that creates sustainable jobs. Not one that it artificially supported by the government. The best way to do that? Let wage earners keep and therefore direct more of the money they earn. There are politicians that recognize this, such as Texas congressman Lou Gohmert, who proposed his own alternative plan. That is all academic now though, as the spending has begun.

One final economic thought as a footnote - due to increases in copper and zinc values it apparently now costs around 1.4 cents to make a penny. So I guess that makes this my $0.028.