How a hospital opted for SimplyMepis...

"What?! The last time you're on PCLOS 2007 and now you're using yet another distro?! "

Ok, that's a bit exaggerated but that's what my friend told me when I told him that I am using yet another new Linux distro.

Its SimplyMepis 6.5.02! SM 6.5 is an Ubuntu based Linux distro being led by a certain Warren Woodford. Its official site is at www.mepis.org... other relevant sites are its Wiki, Guide, and Community Forum.

Its KDE based much like Kubuntu and PCLOS. Why SimplyMepis for me?! Here's what happened...

A hospital here in Tarlac sought my services thru my friend Jag Talon. They will migrate to OpenOffice, while half of their PCs will be installed with Linux. Actually, they would want to install Linux in all their PCs if not for an already developed hospital system they are currently using... oh well, that's another story.

I was supposed to install PCLOS 2007, but along the way the installer seems to fail in some machines... to the point of not being able to boot up to its live installer. And then I asked them if they would want to try on Ubuntu but they said that they would like to have something that looks close to Windows XP without much modifications... which is KDE of course.

I need Kubuntu! But I don't have one at that time. I only have PCLOS, Sam Linux, Xubuntu, Bayanihan Linux 4.0, Ubuntu Feisty and of course SimplyMepis 6.5.02.

Sam and Xubuntu are good but I don't think they will work well for these Linux newbies. PCLOS was my first choice, but alas, it won't boot right on a nice PIII 256 RAM ATI Video Card laptop owned by their boss. It seems to have problems detecting its screen, thus, it won't boot on a Live CD environment.

Down goes PCLOS 2007 :-(. And so I tried SimplyMepis... it flawlessly booted. It even detected the correct screen resolution plus the wifi card.

They were actually sold with SimplyMepis but I still insisted to try on an Ubuntu Feisty Live CD. To my embarrassment, Ubuntu Feisty took *years* to boot... a far cry from how fast SimplyMepis Live CD booted on the same laptop. And besides, they don't really like Gnome.

To make the story short, 17 PC desktops at Ramos General Hospital are now on SimplyMepis 6.5... and so is my office PC so that I can relate to what I am teaching them.

They even requested me to customize Mepis so that it would look as closest as possible with Windows XP and so here is my best imitation of Windows XP desktop look:


I am now compiling a few newbie KDE tips that I plan to post here when I have the time. Some of them are really simple but are often overlooked... and may already constitute as an annoyance to many new Linux users.

So far, Ramos General Hospital is happy and contented to migrate to Linux and OpenOffice.org. It saved them around P350,000.00 and are already looking forward to the development of custom FOSS solutions in the future.

Which makes me ask... anyone interested to develop an accounting software (FOSS of course!) for them? Email me ASAP!

A cool object dock for KDE

One thing that "amazes" me on a MAC desktop is its object dock wherein the icons actually zoom in a parabolic way when you hover your mouse pointer on it. I thought it was exclusive for MAC then so I didn't bothered looking for a Linux equivalent.

Now that I am on KDE, I found out that there is ksmoothdock. Ksmoothdock is a cool desktop panel (like KDE's kicker) for KDE 3.2 and above with smooth zooming (2 modes: normal & parabolic). Its aim is to provide a cool alternative/complement to kicker. As it is intended for KDE/Linux, its behavior will be like that of kicker.

Here's are screenshots:


Neat! I am using the Aqua Fusion Icon Theme the Baghira window decorator. Perfect for Linux (KDE) enthusiast who would want a MAC twist to their desktop look. :)

TIP: Undo wrapped text on your KDE desktop icons

An initial bad impression I had on KDE is that it wraps the text under a desktop icon that sometimes it even automatically shorten the text... it looks darn ugly to me:



I've tried searching the KDE Control Center for a solution only to get zero results. I later found out that the solution is really simple. Right click on your desktop (not on an icon), then hover on the word Icon and then left click on Align to Grid. You may also right click on Lock in Place to prevent accidentally messing up your desktop icons.

And dyaran...


No more wrapped texts under desktop icons while icons are neatly aligned. Simple does it!

Another distro hop - PCLinuxOS 2007

Again and again, a new Linux distro is installed on my office PC... and for a change, its not Debian or Ubuntu based.

It's PCLinuxOS 2007, a three year old Live CD distro based originally on Mandriva and is developed by a rpm packager known as Texstar.

Actually, my first distro is rpm based... Bayanihan 3.0. Then my 2nd distro is also rpm based, Mandrake 10.1. And then I got hooked on Ubuntu primarily because of Synaptic which makes software installation a few clicks away.

Now here comes PCLinuxOS, an rpm-based that actually uses Synaptic to install applications. Huh?! But it amazingly works! No rpm hell or whatsoever!

As of now, I am pretty much impressed with this distro. Essential (some say evil) codecs and plugins are already installed out of the box... to the point that any multimedia format I threw on it played without problems (I'm starting to like KMplayer).

The PCLinuxOS Control Center (that is actually ripped from Mandriva) is fantastic. Samba is installed by default which makes file sharing with Windows PCs on a network an instant. Beryl and Compiz are installed by default, while installation of Nvidia graphics card via Synaptics is a breeze.

One thing I don't like about this distro is the menu layout. Its like a "chopsuey" of applications that sometimes it is difficult to find this and that (or maybe I just got too used to playing around with Ubuntu Gnome). And oh, another thing is that it doesn't have any game installed by default but a lot are listed at the repositories via Synaptic.

PCLinuxOS by the way uses KDE.

The community is not as large as that of Ubuntu but I am already trying to blend in with the crowd of PCLinuxOS users.

But hey, I still do like Ubuntu. Its just that somehow I just felt that PCLinuxOS offers a better out of the box experience than Ubuntu. If someone will ask me to install Linux on his laptop or desktop PC with no internet connection, PCLinuxOS would be my choice coz I don't like my friend wondering why he can't play his 3gp or MP3 files out of the box... which is already a showstopper to many to some degree.

PCLinuxOS 2007 is good for PC users who are thinking of migrating from Windows to Linux and even to those who are not so technically adept (like me!) who would want to promote Linux to their friends.

Don't just imagine there how it feels like to use PCLinuxOS on your PC, grab a copy now!

Pahabol: Our LGU here in Gerona, Tarlac will launch an FOSS IT Skill Enhancement Program thru our Community eCenter. Our goal is to promote FOSS to the local constituency. Trainings, fora, and seminars will be launched along with free internet use on Linux boxes (PCLinuxOS 2007 maybe used instead of Ubuntu). Mabuhay FOSS!

Three snapshots of my PCLinux OS:

Yakuake on PCLinuxOS in action

Wobbly windows courtesy of Beryl which is installed by default

Multimedia playback are out-of-the-box... I'm playing a .FLV file with KMPlayer.

Mintified Edgy!

Last weekends, I suddenly felt like installing LinuxMint over Ubuntu Edgy on the PCs in our Community eCenter. However, I realized that all I need is the theme (not including the Biana usplash theme which IMHO sucks) and the mint tool namely mintMenu, mintDisk, mintDesktop, and mintConfig.

And then I realized that LinuxMint is in fact around 95 percent Ubuntu Edgy so why waste my time again doing a fresh install when all the codecs and plugins I need are already installed? So I did a few research and I theorized that Ubuntu Edgy can be easily mintified, so to speak.

How?

To be able to install the mint tools, you have to add the LinuxMint Bianca repository at the /etc/apt/sources.list file.

Open /etc/apt/sources.list

$sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and then add the following line at the end of the file...

deb http://www.linuxmint.com/repository bianca/

Please take note of the "/" after the word bianca. Save and close the file and then update packages...

$sudo aptitude update

Time to install mint tools. To make this a lot easier, simply open the Synaptic via Administration --> Synaptic Package Manager. Then search for the word "mint" (Ctrl + F then type in the word mint). Scroll down until you see the following packages: mintMenu, mintDesktop, mintConfig, and mintDisk. Select there four packages, right click then choose Install. Then click on Apply and then wait till installation is done. (You may also want to install the Bianca theme and mintWifi if you like.)

To use mintMenu, right click on a panel then Add to Panel, then scroll down to click on LinuxMint Menu. After selecting it, click on Add. You may change the word Bianca by right clicking on the mintMenu then Preferences. When a dialog opens, double click on applet_text and input any word you like.

You can now also access mintDisk via Administration. mintConfig and mintDesktop are at Preferences.

Here are some screen captures at Flickr....

I am still using the orange Human icon set but opted to use the linuxmint wallpaper plus the layout of its panel.

mintMenu, a replacement for the Gnome menu which is inspired by SUSE's Slab and based on USP.

mintDisk and mintDesktop, both imported from the Linuxmint repositories.

Beryl in action!

By the way, I had a chance to try on Envy and on Beryl. As you can see at the screencaps, it still looked yummy even only on 64 mb Nvidia video card.

Obviously, I am trying to keep myself busy to forget my disappoint not being able to install Ubuntu Feisty. Poor me!

P.S.: Thanks Dom and Chin for the Ubuntu Feisty Fawn installer!

Feisty'ng Yawa, stucked and getting to know LinuxMint

It seems Feisty has installation problems that were reported here and here that both unfortunately bugged me on my attempts to install Feisty on two different machines. More Google results on the said problem are here.

I had no problems installing the Dapper and Edgy versions of Ubuntu on the same machines so I just thought why waste my time on a version that won't properly install on PCs where previous versions can (without any glitch!). Sorry for me, no upgrade this time until they resolve the bug.

But then, thanks to LinuxMint 2.2 (Bianca) which somehow satisfied my itch to upgrade my office PC.

The purpose of this Ubuntu-based distribution, according to its website, is “to produce an elegant, up to date and comfortable GNU/Linux desktop distribution.” There is support out of the box for numerous multimedia codecs, encrypted DVDs, as well as the latest Flash and Java plugins. (Yes, I know its illegal in some countries. :-> )

Installation is almost exactly the same easy way as how you install Edgy Eft (in which Bianca is based) on your PC. I had no problems installing LinuxMint on a PIV 1.7 Ghz 512 MB Nvidia VC and on a PIV 3.0 Ghz 256 MB built-in VC.

The initial interface is much like Vista or XP if you wish. It uses a menu system that works like SLAB in Suse. I kinda like the menu system but when I right clicked on an item in which I am trying to find an option to add it on the desktop or panel... the only option is to Add to Favorites. I always use that option so I was a bit disappointed not to see it. I hope someday they could add that feature on this gorgeous menu system.

It doesn't have a workspace switcher by default on the panel. Beagle search is the default desktop search engine. No games included. No Gimp.

Despite being without workspace switcher, games, and Gimp... it has all the necessary codecs and plugins to play movies and music. No problems playing a movie at YouTube, or using Chikka JavaLite. I can play 3pg, mp3, and other formats by default. I can also play .flv but I have to install VLC media player coz other media players installed (Totem and Mplayer) doesn't play it properly (no sound). I also installed RealPlayer which is best for .3pg playing.

No problem detecting USB flash drives and sound. I installed nvidia-glx for the Nvidia VC the same way I once installed it on Dapper and Edgy and it just works.

Honestly, I don't like any interface that resembles Windows XP anymore. So, in an instant I modified the panels and everything to make it look like Ubuntu. I don't like the default theme and wallpaper. I went to System -> Preferences -> Theme and chose the pre-installed the Bea theme which is a blue tango inspired theme. I also used the simply blue Bea wallpaper. I love it.

I tried Beryl which installed and works flawlessly on LinuxMint but I uninstalled it soon afterwards since I am not really a fan of eye candy. You may also use Automatix with LinuxMint.

Other than codecs, what does LinuxMint have that its parent Ubuntu doesn't? It has mintDisk, mintDesktop, and mintConfig. With mintDisk, you easily mount NTFS partitions with read and write powers, mintDesktop is much like the desktop options in Windows OS, while mintConfig is its customized Control Center.

Oh yes, on your home directory... there are already folders like Documents, Videos, Projects, Network, Pictures, etc with the appropriate emblems. Pretty neat.

I inspected /etc/apt/sources.list and it actually uses the same Ubuntu and MediBuntu repositories plus a one line LinuxMint repository (in which I think where you can get the mint tools).

Although I am not sure if Bianca will stay on my PC for a long time, I'll surely keep its installer handy especially for installations on internet-less PCs (less hassle).

Next upcoming version is Cassandra which is most likely based on Ubuntu Feisty. I do sure hope that Cassandra already has the fix for the above reported bug... more reason for me to keep LinuxMint longer on my PC.

For the meantime, I must say that I am disappointed with Feisty... I hope not for long.

To do with Feisty!

I am yet to install Feisty on my PC but here's already my short list of to-do's, to wit:

1. Install VMWare and learn how to install different OS's.
   
2. Install IE4Linux, just for fun.
3. Install and setup a working LAMP.
4. Get an account at DynDNS.com to acquire a static domain.
5. Setup my PC so that I can ssh (or VNC) to it when I am out of the office.
6. Install and play with Beryl!
   

That's all for now. I just thought that I have been using Desktop Linux for two years and its about time that I experiment with other things than I can do with Linux (other than fiddling with proxy servers and iptables all the time).

This forever linux newbie is getting excited!

Paying it Forward

Dom promised to send me a copy of the latest Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) installer. I haven't met Dom in person or even online. He's from Dumaguete.

The only thing he asked me in return is free beer when he visits Tarlac. (But I read from a comment on his blog that he doesn't really drinks beer!) But then, what the heck... I am a beer drinker so no problem with free beer.

Pay it forward or paying it forward refers to repaying the good deeds one has received by doing good things for other unrelated people.

Just like Dom, I am paying his kindness forward... (of course, I am still reserving that free beer for him)... anyone who would want to have a free Ubuntu Feisty Fawn delivered thru mail, just email me your mailing info at daveasuncion@gmail.com. No fancy CD here, just works.

And if you can bring your laptop or PC here at my humble office (which looks like a bodega sale for PCs) at the Local Government Unit of Gerona, Tarlac... I may even help you install Ubuntu Feisty Fawn... for free!

There's one condition though: you have to promise me that you'll burn the installer CD (at least) into three copies and then give it to your friends, or just about anyone who would want to have an Ubuntu Feisty Fawn installer.

Deal?!

Of course, free beer shall also be greatly appreciated :)

Addendum: Oh yes! I'm also waiting for a CD from Chin who also promised to send me one :)

IPKungfu, Squid Screwed on Edgy... Nah!

Whew! I almost thought that I could no longer use my trusted combination of IpKungfu and Squid for a transparent proxy setup on our local intranet here at the Community eCenter of Gerona.

Yesterday, I upgraded our router/squid/samba/printer server from Ubuntu Dapper to Ubuntu Edgy Eft via a fresh install.

To my horror, as I tried to run ipkungfu from the terminal... it won't run leaving several lines of error warnings! I did some research with Mr. Google in which I find out that I only have to open /usr/sbin/ipkungfu...

sudo gedit /usr/sbin/ipkungfu

and change the first line to...

#!/bin/bash

and then my IpKungfu started to work flawlessly.

Then next is Squid. When I tried the same configurations I used on this blogpost, Squid won't start with matching errors (again!).

After a few seconds Googling the net, I found out that I no longer have to setup the lines below on Squid version 2.6 (Dapper uses the older version)...

httpd_accel_host virtual
httpd_accel_port 80
httpd_accel_with_proxy on
httpd_accel_uses_host_header on

Instead, all I have to do is to change the http_port tag at the squid configuration file from "http_port 3128" to "http_port 3128 transparent" and that's it!

Now Ipkungfu and Squid works well hand in hand (and a bit zippier!) on my Ubuntu Edgy Eft box as if it was configured by a pro. :)

Online Resources: Transparent Caching on Squid 2.6 and Ipkungfu on Edgy Eft.

My basic Squid Proxy configuration

A certain Albuemil asked thru a comment on this blog on how I configured my Squid proxy. So here I am sharing what I learned via PLUG mailing list (special mention to AC Perdon for his excellent instructions) on how to configure Squid proxy. Warning: I am no computer expert and so I welcome additional information to enrich my Linux experience.

First install squid via apt-get or synaptic:

sudo apt-get install squid

After installation, edit Squid's configuration file:

sudo gedit /etc/squid/squid.conf

In the /etc/squid/squid.conf file, search and edit the following options/tags:

#TAG:http_port
http_port 3128

#OPTION WHICH AFFECT THE CACHE SIZE
cache_mem (1/4 of the your RAM) MB

(e.g. assuming your RAM is 1Gb then its "cache_mem 250 MB")

#LOGFILE PATHNAMES AND CACHE DIRECTORIES
#cache_dir ufs /var/spool/squid 100 16 256
cache_dir diskd /cache (capacity of your /cache in MB) 16 256

(make sure /cache already exists)

#RECOMENDED MINIMUM CONFIGURATION
acl netxxx src xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

(specify your network and netmask e.g. "acl mynet src 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0)

# AND FINALLY DENY ALL OTHER ACCESS TO THE PROXY
http_access allow netxxx

(e.g. "http_access allow mynet")

#TAG:Visible_hostname
visible_hostname (yourserver name)

#Then i just add these lines after the last lines of the configuration file

ie_refresh on
httpd_accel_host virtual
httpd_accel_port 80
httpd_accel_with_proxy on
httpd_accel_uses_host_header on

Save the file and then close.

At the terminal, change the ownership of /cache

sudo chown proxy:proxy /cache

Then create swap directories at /cache:

sudo squid -z

Then fireaway squid!

sudo /etc/init.d/squid start

You may now follow the instructions on this blogpost for a transparent proxy using Ipkungfu.

To check if its working, open a web browser on a PC in your LAN and then do the following at the terminal :

sudo tail -f /var/log/squid/access.log

Enjoy Squid!

P.S.: I am using Ubuntu LTS on a Pentium IV 1.7 Ghz 1Gb RAM 120 Gb HB PC.

Have I died and gone to Linux heaven?

Once upon a time, I had a blog entry on how to share a printer from an Ubuntu box to other PCs within a Local Area Network. Back then, I have to hand edit a few configuration files here and there...

But now, printer sharing on Ubuntu Edgy has been made way much easier than it is used to be that you won't even have to open a terminal. The steps are:

1. Install printer.
2. Go to System --> Administration --> Printing --> Global Settings then click on Share Printer.

That's it!

On the Ubuntu Edgy box where you have to share the printer, simply go to System --> Administration --> Printing --> Global Settings then click on Detect LAN Printers then wait for a few seconds and there you see the shared printer automatically detected and installed.

Ain't that sweet?!

Problems moving from Linux to Windows

Since I can't think of anything to write about my Linux experience in the past few days, I just thought of sharing this comment posted at page.

I had a fun time reading this comment and I hope you'll enjoy it too. :)

I do have some sympathy for the poster that had problems moving from Windows to Linux. I had the same problem trying Windows.

I decided to try it after some friends who use it all the time told me it was great.

I went to the MS site to download it but it wasn't available. I got really frustrated as I couldn't work out how to download it. In the end I had to ask a friend who told me I had to buy it.

I got in my car, drove to PC World and asked one of the sales guys for a copy of Windows. He asked me which one, I said I want the most complete one please and he said that's £149.99 please.....I said a rude word then I drove home empty handed.

One of my friends gave me a copy of Windows XP but said I had to be very quiet about it. I thought that was odd because I always burn copies of Ubuntu for anyone that asks me and tell them to pass it on to anyone interested when they've finished. Anyway, I popped it in my CD tray and waited for it to boot into the 'live' CD desktop. It didn't work. It just kept asking me if I wanted to install it. I got on the phone to one of my friends in case I was doing something stupid but he told me, XP cannot run a 'live' desktop from the CD.

I thought I would try installing it. I followed the prompts but got nervous when it didn't ask me about other operating systems. When I installed Ubuntu it recognized I had Windows on my machine and asked me if I wanted to create then install Ubuntu on another partition. Back on the phone my friend told me that Windows will overwrite any other OS it finds when it installs.

I backed up all my stuff then took the plunge and installed it. The install was pretty straightforward apart from when I had to enter some letters for a serial code. I had to call my friend again but he got quite flustered came over and entered it himself. He told me to keep quiet again??

After I powered it up I had a look around.

I was shocked when it let me changed system configurations without asking for root access. My friend was getting a bit p**sed off when I called him again but came over. He told me that root access was given as default. I immediately made another account as a user and used that. I started getting confused when I tried to make changes but it didn't ask for access but he told me I had to log out as user then log back in as administrator. I started to understand why so many people run as root all the time and it made me shiver.

Enough of the playing. I had some work to do. I went to start > programs so I could open a spreadsheet I needed to complete but couldn't find any spreadsheet software. My friend told me Windows didn't come with any and I would have to download some. Oh I thought, a barebones distro. I went to add/remove programs in the control panel, (just like Ubuntu) but it didn't have any programs to add. It would only let me remove programs. I couldn't find the button to add applications. My friend told me I had to go and find the applications myself. After much googling I figured it out, downloaded and installed Open Office.

To be honest I had a torrid time with Windows. I didn't understand a lot of the terminology...why do they have an A drive, then a C drive, where is the B drive? I thought the distro is way too barebones, it ships with no real productive applications and it is very confusing to find any. My friend told me I needed anti-virus and anti-adware software but Windows didn't come with any.

I think it is difficult, confusing and too much hard work for me. It might be OK if you are a techie like my friend but I'll stick to Ubuntu. Thanks.

Who said this?!

I am not a Windows hater. Its just that I already love using Linux on the desktop and still wishing that I could learn someday how to use Linux on the server.

But I kinda like how the following quote sounds, to wit:

"Windows - a 32 bit extension and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company without 1 bit of sense."

Any idea of the original author?! I even forgot where I got it.

Ahhh, no more GoogleBot... I hope!

To my surprise, the bandwidth for our website at www.gerona.gov.ph is almost spent. :(

Upon inspection of log statistics with AWSTATS, I was surprised that it was no other than GoogleBot that has been churning our bandwidth. All the while, I thought that the culprit was the Gallery and all the photos on it.

So with my limited knowledge on this webserver stuff, how do I stop GoogleBot from eating our bandwidth?!

Ironically, Google itself provided the answers. I did this search and this search wherein I learned that I have to place a robots.txt at the accessible root (e.g. http://gerona.gov.ph/robots.txt) of our website.

So what are the contents of the robots.txt file?! I find this link very helpful. Even more helpful is this link where it automatically gives you the correct content of the robots.txt file to block specific bots. This webpage is also a good source of information.

As of this writing, I haven't tested if its working but I'm keeping my fingers crossed as GoogleBot is threatening to eat all of our site's bandwidth.

The question is, why is it doing that?! Is it being used by malicious spammers, some sort of vehicle?! I hope to be enlightened. Anyone?

Update: It works! GoogleBot and Inktomi is no longer eating my bandwidth :)

Joomla! did it for LMP

The office of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines thru Mr. Norio Alumno asked me if I can develop a website for them. Since I had no time to do such, I then offered them to try Joomla wherein I can help them learn it.

The TASK: Help three people who don't have any much idea on web publishing, HTML and website design to create a website for a national organization of municipalities in two days... impossible?! Not with Joomla! -- a free open source content management system and the first FOSS I've ever used. Its the software that made me ask "WTF is open source?!"

To make the story short, this is their website after two days of coaching them (with me just talking and them doing everything else): www.lmp.org.ph. I am proud of these guys for the interest and enthusiasm they showed during the training (or is it just coaching?!). They have Sir Norio, the amiable chief of the Research and Information Management Office, Sir Herbert who is an all around go-to guy, and of course my good friend Joseph who managed to create a banner for their website in just a few minutes.

For other government agencies and/or local government units who would like to learn the basics of Joomla!, I am just an email away at daveasuncion[at]gmail.com

Setting up your OOo default page

Some PC users are too accustomed with the MS Word default page setup (8.5" x 11" page size, 1.25" margin on right and left sides, etc.) that sometimes they get annoyed by the default page in OpenOffice... A4 page size, .79" margins on all sides...

Also, I also found that not all new users to OpenOffice.org knows howto change their default page so let me share my way. I guess there are other means to do this and if you have one, just share it here. Here it goes:

Open OpenOffice Word Processor. You'll notice that the side margins are smaller than the default margins in MSWord. First, you have to format the page by clicking Format --> Page. Then click the drop down beside the word Format to choose Letter. The height and width settings will change accordingly to 8.5" x 11".

Change the left and right margins to 1.20". Personally, .79" top and bottom margins are ok for me. Click OK.

Now you have to save the page as a template. Click File --> Templates --> Save. Give a name to your template, let's use LetterDefault. Click OK.

Now we have to set it as default. Click File --> Templates --> Organize and then double click My Templates. There you see the template you have just saved (named LetterDefault), right click on it then left click on the Set as Default Template. Click Close and that's it!

Close OpenOffice Word Processor (you don't have to save the document you are using). Open it again to see if it works. I hope this helps.

Firefox humor video at YouTube.com

I just found about this a few days ago and I just love watching it...

Have fun!

Ang kulit!

Once upon a time, I met this high school student to whom I introduced Ubuntu Linux... and the rest was pure "pangungulit".

He kept sending me emails on a daily basis on anything and everything he learned about Linux. The last time, he now uses Sabayon Linux... Gentoo-based.

He is already becoming a spam to me. One more thing is that it seems all he wants is eye-candy (he is inloved with XGL - Compiz), emulation of Windows software, and downloading viruses then running it on Linux.

Hay, kids.

A matter of choice, then what?!

A lot has been said about the proposed FOSS bill in the congress especially at the PLUG mailing lists where everybody seems to have his or her idea of what the bill should be...

Of course, I have something to say also but I choose to blog it here as it seems there are some members of the mailing lists who are really way too passionate about their beliefs that in the end you'll get tagged by certain terms... especially when you don't agree with them.

Oh well...

I believe in FOSS. I believe that we all should have a choice, and that includes the State or the Government.

Yes, it is a matter of choice... so what's next?

A choice has to be made -- a choice that is based after carefully weighing the scales of reason and that is beneficial to the one who is making the choice.

If ever the proposed FOSS bill will be legislated, then it only means that the State just made its choice. Is there anything wrong with that? FOSS (including open standards and all) will or may be chosen by the State because of reduced cost, interoperability of government information systems will be ensured, assurance that the public may be able access public information to the infinite and among other reasons why other country governments has chosen to adopt FOSS.

As what I understand, the proposed FOSS bill is intended ONLY for the government. If the government wants to use FOSS, so what's wrong with that?

Unless you are a government employee, then you don't have to use any FOSS all. You can CHOOSE to use propriety software in your homes, at the internet cafes, in your schools, or wherever you wish. If you are working in a private company that uses propriety software, the government won't compel you to use FOSS simply because the proposed bill doesn't cover that.

So what's with all the noise?

If you are software developer who doesn't believe in GPL or dislike it, then offer your software to private companies who can afford or prefer your software. That's the company's choice and the government won't even stop that company from choosing propriety software or you from offering your software.

I don't really see how the proposed FOSS bill would take out my, yours, or their freedom of choice. As per the proposed bill, the government must choose FOSS because it thinks that FOSS is good for the government but will not compel you as a private citizen to use or develop FOSS. It is clear that YOU still have your choice.

Let the government choose, the same way it allows us as private citizens to choose what we want or what we see is good for us.

You may choose for yourself but the government can't?! That's scary, ever heard of anarchy?


P.S. I hope they scrap Section 8 of the proposed bill, it doesn't make sense... but nonetheless I hope and pray for its passage.

Sa wakas nakapagBLOG!

Warning: TAGLISH

Wow, super busy ako ng mga nakaraang linggo kaya halos wala na akong time na makapagblog man lang. Pero ok na rin kasi sobrang daming nangyari at dami ko ding natutunan...

Last week, nag-attend ako sa isang Advanced Linux Training Seminar na sponsored ng National Computer Center at ng aming office para sa eLGU project. Ginanap ito sa NCC mismo sa UP Diliman. Gaya ng sabi ko, isa lang akong everyday Linux desktop user kaya napakabasic pa lang talaga ng mga alam ko kaya excited akong umattend.

Ilan lang sa mga natutunan ko ay ang mga sumusunod: mga bagay-bagay tungkol sa Logical Volume Management, Software Raid, sa Xserver at Xorg, sa Cron, booting process, troubleshooting at marami pang iba. Ang gamit pala namin sa training at RHEL 4 kasi tiga Touch Solutions ang nagturo.

Mayroong binigay na parang troubleshooting test nung last day (tslocal, tsnetwork, tsboot). Ang sabi ng instructor eh, iyong last at tanging trainee na galing sa isang LGU daw na nakatapos ng lahat ng mga exercises na iyon eh sa batch the past year at inabot daw ng alas-siyete ng gabi. Weee! Natapos ko lahat before 5 pm! At ako lang nakatapos sa batch namin! Yabang?! Oo, pero happy lang ako kasi ako lang ang hindi computer engineer o kumuha ng computer related course sa batch namin eh...

Nag-attend din ako ng Basic Linux Training conducted by the Development Academy of the Philippines kasi requirement sa Community eCenter project namin. Para akong tanga, at ang masakit.. ung mga batang instructor namin eh tinuring kaming lahat na tanga.

Oh well, I don't question their proficiency pero siguro they should consider na hindi lahat ng magiging estudyante nila eh pare-parehas na first time Linux user.

May itinanong ba naman ako dun sa isang instructor na nagkataong katabi ko... tapos hindi ako pinapansin pero after mga 3 times ako nagtanong... sinagot ba naman ako ng pabalang na "makinig ka sa nagsasalita sa harap para matuto ka ng Linux".

Dang! Puede naman siguro akong napagsabihan ng mas maayos di ba? And besides about Linux din naman ung tanong ko. Oh well, siguro magaling na talaga sila... pero still, I was offended kasi if I was in his case... hindi ako mambabastos ng estudyanteng nagtatanong.

Nasanay kasi ata ako sa Touch Solutions na kapag may naitanong ka eh sinisikap pa rin nilang sagutin kaya dami ko natutunan. Different people, different strokes.

At sa aking obserbasyon, base na rin sa training module na ibinigay nila... mukhang kulang ung training o hindi ito akma para magamit ang mga kaalamang ipinamamahagi upang magamit ito sa isang Community eCenter. May mga puntong may mas madali pang paraan na puedeng magamit upang madaling ma-absorb ng mga participants ang paggamit ng Linux sa desktop o puede ring kulang talaga ang dalawang araw para sa lahat ng topics na dapat pag-aralan.

Ang resulta? May balita ako na marami na sa mga Community eCenter sa iba't-ibang munisipyo ay nagpalit na nang piratang Windows sa kanilang mga PCs. Talagang nakakalungkot kasi pagkakataon na sana ito upang maimulat ang tao sa FOSS.

Ah basta kami sa Gerona, we'll push on with Kubuntu and Ubuntu para maimulat ang aming kababayan sa isang alternatibong mas ligtas gamitin, kadalasang legal na libreng gamitin at magdaragdag sa kanila ng ibayong kaalaman sa computers.

Balik sa Ubuntu, nakainstall ako today ng GyachE Improved. Hanep, deb package na siya. Isang Loell sa ubuntuforums.org na tiga-Davao ang nagpackage nito. Madali siyang install sa aking Ubuntu Dapper at may mga dagdag na features tulad ng puedeng irecord ang webcam session, etc. At mukhang hindi siya buggy hindi tulad ng Gyach Enhanced na kung saan kinuha ang project na ito.

Pero sana matapos na ang Gaim 2 kasi meron na din daw siyang webcam at voice capability, mas masaya na naman yun!

Sarap talaga ng Linux at Open Source, dami taong makikilala at daming bagay na puedeng matutunan.... hindi ka mauubusan!