/.bash

Sheer simplicity

2009-12-05T19:40:00.007+01:00

I read somewhere that UNIX is a very simple OS but it takes a genius to understand the simplicity.
One of the first problems I've written about was inability to extend desktop over two monitors. The solution is simple: xrandr. Using various arguments it is possible to set multiple video outputs in arbitrary positions, including rotating, distorting, zooming and paning (where monitor follows mouse). And all that "in vivo".
Display Settings in System Settings should do the same thing, but it doesn't. Even now, if I venture in that section, it sets the clone mode.
The command is this:

xrandr --output VGA --mode 1280x1024 --pos 1366x0 --output LVDS --mode 1366x768 --pos 0x426

It tells the X server (graphical subsystem) to set resolution on external monitor (VGA) to 1280x1024, it's left up corner to coordinate 1366,0; and laptop monitor (LVDS) to resolution 1366x768 and position 0,426. This way virtual space matches real position of monitors.
Simple, isn't it?

Next step would be to write a script that probes at boot time if monitor is present in which case it will execute the command. I have to learn how to write scripts first.

The lazy dog

2009-11-29T16:59:00.007+01:00

Just to mention two problems that appear because of proprietary nature of involved objects.

Tahoma font. Tahoma is default font in menus in Windows and users, including me, are very much used to it. Although it's possible to install ttf-tahoma-replacement, if you keep Anti-Aliasing off, at most font sizes rendering is very bad.

As you can see only sizes 9, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16 are well rendered. If I got it right, it is because Microsoft haven't released all subpixels layers for free use. I can change fonts in window titles, menus etc, but the problem is if web page requests Tahoma (which is not rare, Tahoma is popular font).
The solution is to uninstall Tahoma altogether, so text is shown in most similar font, Arial, which is rendered well. Goodbye Tahoma, you served me well.

The second problem is with Songbird and wma files. Songbird doesn't support wma in Linux because of some legal issues, which apparently don't bother others, like Amarok or Audacious. I found Songbird's media library the closest to one I expect in a media player, and then this. Like if somebody is doing it on purpose.

As time passes it seems as number of things I have to get used to is increasing. Not a very conforting notion.

EDIT:
It seems the problem was I was using Tahoma Replacement instead of real Tahoma. After downloading tahoma32.exe, extracting tahoma.ttf from it and installing it, it works much better:

You can see that all, exept the very small ones, are rendered well, as in Windows. Thanks.
Tahoma, I have rejected you too hastely.

Mixed signals

2009-11-28T19:09:00.003+01:00

I haven't posted anything in a long time, but that doesn't mean I gave up on Linux, in contrary, I have migrated to Kubuntu full time for some time now. Feelings are mixed.
Although it seems overall more stable than Windows, many programs are in developing stages hence are unstable and buggy. The good thing is it rarely affects OS so you can restart the renegade process. If you know which one is it, that is. Which brings us to the main point: one has to know their Linux system. But learning curve is steep, which is consequence of bad documentation, as it is written by developers for developers.
Lets start with examples.

The most recent one is MDic. It is a fairly good substitute for translator program Babylon (albeit very rudimentary one, it lacks many features), and it can also use Babylon dictionaries. But wait, we haven't even started yet.
Since it's version 0.8 it is not in the repositories, ergo it has to be installed from source. Following installation instructions worked fine, afterwards I was equiped with translator but without a dictionary, it had to be added manually. The most comprehensive is Babylon's english-english, but, it has to be converted into mdic format. Fortunately, MDic site already provides it. If you wish (or have to, for other dictionaries) convert it yourself, the tool to use is mdicconv, which also needs to be installed from source. Following instructions I ran ./config command which told me it needs sqlite3 development package. I searched for sqlite3 and sqlite3-dev in Synaptic and didn't find the exact package. Google told me I have to look for libsqlite3-dev. How stupid of me, indeed. I added it and ran ./config again. This time it missed xml2-config file, and told me I have to have libxml2 version >= 2.5. I have 2.7, what is the problem!? Again, Google told me I have to install the libxml2-dev package.
After all this, ./config poured some (for me) indecipherable errors. Search on the net told me that I'm not the only one with this problem, but missed a solution. The closest I got was this Persian (it seems that this error affects non English OS versions) Ubuntu forum (I got to use Google translate) where some guy said it's the problem with the 4.3 version of gcc (GNU C compiler), and that reverting to 4.2 should solve it. I have 4.4 and I'm not going to touch my gcc because some Persian guy said that's the thing to do.
In the end, I'm left without additional dictionaries.

Some problems I face are already reported as bugs, but for some I am unable to find even mentioning on the net. Like spontaneous disappearance of Recent Items in Application Launcher Menu, and inability to edit custom persona in Personas 1.4 Firefox add-on.
Reported bugs include: non functional Invisible status in Jabber/Gtalk protocol in Kopete (default instant messaging client), Stellarium (night sky visualisation software) menus are distorted rendering it unusable (luckily there exist KStars) and bluetooth startup “feature” (ie it turns itself at boot), for which proposed solutions didn't work.

But all is not so bad. For example KMail, mail client that follows KDE's guidelines of customability. It's not far from The Bat!, missing features are less important ones. I must say I'm impressed.
Also, some command line utilities that do one thing, but do it good. cat, for joining files, and avimerge for joining avi files. Simple and effective.

So, a conclusion would be that Linux requires much of your time, and even above that many sacrifices. So, for average user it's still more a question of belief than quality.

Bits and pieces

2009-11-14T19:57:00.005+01:00

The biggest issue using Linux, as I see it now, will be the lack of good audio player. Good as Winamp, that is. I guess it's all about what you're used to... and the unfortunate circumstance it is something simply nonexistent in GNU world. List of things that I'll miss is not short, and I don't think of much relevance either. Let's just say I found Songbird to be the easiest to get along with, for now.
A few other revelations I stumbled upon:
The use of local software repositories is probably not a very good idea, namely sr, as they are slow in providing the latest packages. Somewhat puzzling is that list of repositories is not easy to find... the closest searching for "ubuntu repositories" has led me was a thread in ubuntuforums where someone asked for the list and people replied with content of their sources.list files.
When there is no official deb package for a certain program, it is likely to be found on GetDeb.net.
Apt-get gets to clog internet connection so it is very useful to limit download speed. Solution on this blog worked for me.
Also, I would like to point you to a very good blog, especially to entries dealing with ubuntu and kubuntu from a user's point of view.

Quirky personality

2009-11-03T20:03:00.000+01:00

This Kubuntu is starting to give me headaches. Here is list of things that don't work and/or annoy me:

wireless and Bluetooth card are turned on at each startup
problems with dual monitor setup
screen brightness shortcuts practically don't work
I am asked for password each time it establishes connection with local network
sound in SMPlayer doesn't work

Some of them I've tried to solve but, you've guessed it, no satisfaction was met.
In Ubuntu 9.04 shortcuts (Fn + left/right) worked fine, in steps of 20%. Whereas now, it stuck on min and max after clicking corresponding key after the graphical indicator reached extreme values. Not cool. On the net people had the same, or similar, problems and this solution worked for me, alas only in 20% steps.
Only afterwards I discovered that there is graphical interface for this, on the widget that opens after clicking battery status in tray. Here I have 10% steps, but after moving slider up and down for a few times, it stopped responding, and the taskbar starts to lag like 30 seconds. Also, restarting took too much time, so after a few minutes without respond, a turned it down by button. Interesting quirk is that Bluetooth button adds 10% to brightness.
So far I found no sensible solution for SMPlayer sound problem. People asking for help on the forums have all variations of problems, but no hard and concrete reasons for them are found. You thought there would be many users with same problems and many users who know the guts of system and are willing to help. Well, think again.
But, not all is bad. Installing 64-bit flash plugin worked as advertised: extracting flashplugin.so in firefox plugins directory.

The beauty of it all

2009-10-31T21:20:00.001+01:00

You don't realize the importance of fonts until those you're used to are replaced with an uglier ones. That happens with fonts across Kubuntu - you can get used to different looking text in menus, since it's all new, but I could hardly get used to ugly looking web pages. The problem is similar to codecs situation: commonly used fonts on the web are not free, so they're not shipped with Linux, although it is possible to add them manually by installing ttf-mscorefonts-installer. Also, fonts are softened by default (anti-aliasing), so I disabled that too, as I find softened text harder to read.
Adjusting Firefox had it's problems too. After installing Tab Mix Plus Bookmarks toolbar didn't show any bookmarks, so I had to purge cache by following procedure on this blog. Again, it is 64-bit version of Firefox so problem with flash remains, but updating to 3.5.4 went smoothly.
As I tried to install flash I downloaded .deb file and clicked on "Open containing folder" option in Firefox Downloads, but, just as I thought it could be simple, it asked me what program should it use to open location on disk. Well, default file browser is Dolphin, but I don't know where is his executable hiding. I'll have to find that out in order to use this very useful Firefox option.
Booting with extra monitor present didn't do the trick, it still says "This module is only for configuring systems with a single desktop spread across multiple monitors. You do not appear to have this configuration". Yet another thing to pursue across forums and blogosphere.

Meeting Koala

2009-10-31T01:46:00.003+01:00

I've decided to use KDE instead of GNOME, because it has a lot more easily accessible interface tweaks, so I installed Kubuntu 9.10, codenamed Karmic Koala.
Intel graphics driver issue is solved so everything works much snappier. Changing colours, style and behavior of interface is quite easy and mostly logical. Some advanced interface features have surprised me in their simplicity and intuitivity, eg rearranging toolbars in Dolphin, default file browser, just works, drag and drop style.
Next thing was installing Firefox. It isn't preistalled, but it can easilly be done via "Install Firefox" menu item. Version 3.5.3, later I'll try updating it to the latest 3.5.4, my guess is it'll still need Ubuntuzilla. Same with Flash plugin which I haven't tried yet.
Attempt to extend desktop onto another monitor also failed. Options are there, but upon pluging in and enabling it, in Extended Desktop section reads "you don't seem to have another monitor". Maybe it will react different if I boot it with monitor plugged in.
Frustrating thing for new users might be unfortunate circumstance that mpeg codecs are proprietary, so most distributions do not include them by default, you have to do it manually. But, in Karmic, default (and by some the best) audio player, Amarok, notifies user about additional codecs that can be downloaded. Alas, clicking on "Update" button in notification dialog yields no action. Thank god for debian package system, the ease that installing has become (hovering over "to be installed" codecs in notification dialog gives the names of the packages).
One more thing that annoys me quite a bit is that Amarok ignores actions over files that it cannot play. It simply doesn't add them to playlist. At first you think you done something wrong, perhaps dropped it in wrong place, but no. Even right click on file and selecting "Add to playlist" does nothing. I read on the net that people say Amarok informed them if it cannot play a file, although I have encountered this ingnoring behavior in Amarok 2.02 as well as in 2.2.
One small, but significant, bug has been fixed. In 9.04, Network manager didn't remember subnet mask if you set IP address in local network manually. A friend of mine, who uses Debian for a few years now, replied: "What's the problem, network settings are stored in a text file." I had to edit that file in order to access internet to install much better network manager (wicd). The point of GUI is to eliminate the need of editing configuration files. Luckily, Network manager in 9.10 works fine, so hail to that.
Above mentioned Debian package system has a few front ends, the best among them is Synaptic. Unfortunately, (K)Ubuntu has it's own manager. My opinion is that one doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, so I use their manager (which changes name in each incarnation) to install Synaptic. Installing, removing and updating packages is really an ease, because it takes care of all dependencies.
That's quite a bit for first boot. Next episodes are to follow.

Going 64-bit

2009-10-28T17:10:00.005+01:00

Well, my reporting came to a halt 'cos I'm waiting for Ubuntu 9.10 for some time now, since it is said it will solve many problems, namely Intel graphics support. It is due to release tomorrow, so I'll clean install it and see those improvements for myself. For now I might just add one more detail.
Since I have 64-bit processor, I decided to use 64-bit version. And it worked perfectly except for one thing: Flash plugin. Canonical (company behind Ubuntu) ships the latest version of Firefox at the time of Ubuntu release, which means that 9.04 used Firefox 3.0. It is, however, possible to update to newest version, but it uses its development codename (Shiretoko for 3.5). It's strange though, but the problem was that Canonical releases 64-bit browser for 64-bit OS, whereas Mozilla releases only 32-bit. It wouldn't be a problem if the 64-bit plugin for Flash wasn't in alpha stage, and problematic to install, ie I didn't manage to do it. As you may assume, web is nowadays quite useless without Flash.
So, after some reading and unsuccessfully trying various stuff, the simplest solution seems to be to install Ubuntuzilla, which is tool for installing the latest versions of Firefox and Thunderbird on Ubuntu. The trick is that it installs 32-bit versions (and it doesn't hide them behind codenames) so Flash can easily be added.
It seems that 64-bit is still for geeks. Under 32-bit version there would be no problem. Unfortunately, I don't expect these issues to be resolved in 9.10, as it is due to Canonical's policy, and development of 64-bit plugin by Adobe. It's just sad that after many years of 64-bit processors and OSes it still requires workarounds to make it work. I guess this comic sums it all:

Present time

2009-10-13T00:47:00.002+02:00

I've been accomodating my computer to my needs for years now. In many cases I've tried many applications untill I found one that fitted the best. Often this solution was free, but the price itself was also big advantage (especially if it was open source). That way I came to a quite satisfactory system, OS as well as application look and do mostly as I like them to. It sets pretty high demands on new environment.
A few things I expect from my computer:

to do its job good
speed
ajustability
ease of use
to put me in control (I don't like when it does something without my knowledge)

Linux has a reputation of satisfying most of these (except maybe ease of use), but it also requires deeper knowledge of system inner workings. That takes time and determination, and in the meantime you're stuck with an alien system. In recent years Linux distributions have tried to address this issue. This blog should reflex my impressions of progress in this area.
In respect to my requirements I decided upon Ubuntu. It is said it's Linux anyone can use, a Linux for newbies. Also, it's based on Debian, the most active, completely community maintained distribution.
Since I have Core2Duo based laptop, I downloaded 64bit edition and installed it successfully.
System went up and running, but was somewhat slow and unresponsive. In Windows I use extra monitor in Extended Desktop configuration (one can never get too much desktop space), cable was left plugged in and Ubuntu recognized and configured it automatically. I'm not completely sure if it was just as I expected, but I had no problem configuring relative positions of monitors, although it was a bit different than in Windows. In Win wallpaper gets duplicated onto both monitors, mouse pointer cannot leave visible space, albeit opened windows can. In Gnome (default desktop environment in Ubuntu) wallpaper get stretched over whole desktop area (the outer rectangle of desktop space), pointer can move even in the invisible areas, but cannot drag windows into it. At least not straight away, it is possible under some conditions which I haven't figured all out.
Here comes the second problem: wallpaper didn't stretch to whole desktop, but left a stripe on the right side of extra monitor (which is also on the right from laptop). In that stripe windows were leaving trails when moved over it, otherwise it was black. Interesting bug.
Setting internet connection was not a problem, so I was able to search for solutions online. Here's what I've found:
In Ubuntu 9.04 (the latest stable version in august 2009) graphic performance of integrated Intel graphic cards were regressed. It was due to some discrepance of X.org drivers and mode in which they work, blah blah blah... too much detailed technical information for me at that moment, the important thing was that I have to wait for new release of Ubuntu to get that fixed. Out of all versions and distributions I've chosen the one with graphic problems. It was actually in release notes for 9.04. Oh well...
As for dual monitor/extended desktop configuration, in several places I found guides how to edit X.org config file, which is something I tried to avoid in belief that basic configuration of user environment ought to be graphical. As it seems, my understanding of "basic GUI configuration" differs over developers', as it will be seen many times later on.
At this point I decided to leave X.org as it is, and continue exploring other things, hoping that these problems will be resolved in Ubuntu 9.10.

What has gone before

2009-10-10T18:52:00.004+02:00

I'm thinking on switching to Linux for a long time now. To name a few reasons:

frustration over Windows' logic and attitude towards users
belief that all bad in Windows is because Microsoft is big bad corporation
I was always attracted to free alternatives based on different grounds
since I believe FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is the tool of the future, I find it useful to get to know it

First time I tried with Red Hat in 2003. It had a few stability issues, so it ended infamously. After a short time I tried SUSE. Since I didn't like bundled boot loader, I installed the alternative one, written by some Korean guy. That thing destroyed my hard disk. Well, not quite, but during the operation with my MBR it got stuck and practically rendered my hard disk useless. It had to be low level formatted. Disk survived (40GB Maxtor, still working) but my determination to tackle with operating systems took the damage. At that time computer had already become an important tool to me, with a lot of data and settings which I didn't want to compromise.
Next try was inspired by enthusiasm of my colleague Janoš towards Debian, as well as examples of usability of Debian. Installation went smoothly (with exeption of soft modem), but, since I got quite used to Windows, new, and often less usable, applications represented a real barrier in abandoning Windows. Later on, due to my mistake during update, system became useless, so my adventure ceased there.
But I haven't given up.