This stupid trial will cost a fortune
They tried it decades ago - it failed - but it seems that they'll keep on pushing until they get their way. Bastards.
They obviously don't realise what this will cost in re-working IT systems worldwide, to cope with this "trial" - the expense will be horriffic and at a time of austerity, it is thick headed and daft beyond belief - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15490249
In case this makes it on to any search engines, I had to migrate from kmail to kmail2 in a hurry. The automatic migration wizard failed.
It turned out that it needed the password for the passwords database, but the automatic migration wizard couldn't handle it.
In ~/.kde/share/config I had to "rm *migratorrc" files and then run "kmail-migrator --interactive" because that then started an interactive session which asked me for the password to the database.
Migration completed, but on starting kmail2, I had to right click on the top level folder and refresh that, and all subfolders. Then, mail started appearing.
I had taken a backup of my original kmail mail folder before I started.
Nervewracking when you don't have a clue as to what is happening!
OK, so let's look at the detail here.
The first thing I'm doing is killing some applications.
I don't like Evolution mail system because it critically doesn't have a filter action to forward mails. My e-mail system is running 24/7 and checks for new mail every 10 minutes. If it spots mail from key people then it will forward them to my mobile phone, but only if it has the ability to forward, in the rules. That's why I install Kmail instead; true, it is part of the KDE build, but it works perfectly happily on Ubuntu.
I also remove the, "transmission," torrent client. I have no need of it. Instead I use ktorrent; I prefer its way of working.
F-Spot gets the heave ho as I control my picture library with Digikam instead. I back that up with Gwenview as an ad-hock picture browser.
Kaddressbook does get nobbled as well. For some reason, I'm not actually handling my contacts on the PC. Still haven't found a good system of keeping an address book on the PC. I did use my Palm T3 for a while, but that got to be a real pain. Most of my contacts live in the phone, at the end of the day.
The important stuff for me are Kmail for e-mail and Firefox for browsing. Open Office or Libre Office then provide all the standard word processing, spreadsheet and presentation functions; you can get the mathematical and drawing parts of the suite if you want to add them yourself. These are the basics.
Financial dealings are handled by Gnucash. This is the equivalent of Money or Quicken. Nice tool which I've been using since 2003 to keep track of my accounts.
Celtx can also be downloaded from their web site and I use this for my script writing. Don't forget to get the English British dictionary! It is mostly a case of unpacking the compressed file to your home directory and then running it from there.
If you unpack Celtx (and some others like it) in your home directory, and you transfer your home directory from one installation to the other, then the odds on that Celtx won't need to be installed again; it should just work.
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For imaging, Digikam controls my library and Gimp with the uFraw plug in handle the editing. As I mentioned, Gwenview comes in as a nice little picture browser for folders which are outside my main libraries. You can learn how to use The Gimp at Meet The Gimp
Inkscape handles the vector drawing side of things that Gimp isn't too good at handling. I use this for my primary web design work.
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Video work is something I've been doing a bit of lately and Cinelerra ended up being the choice. The fork called Cinecutie was better for me, but it seems to have dropped off the net. I also ran KDEnlive for a while, but it turned out to be buggy, especially with my twin screens.
Translating video from my camera, to a standard DV format needs the command line and "ffmpeg" - running with the -sameq options, it can go as follows... ffmpeg -sameq -i MOV001.MOV MOV001.DV ... and that would translate a video from MOV format to DV format while retaining the same quality. The -i defines the input file.
When it comes to Cinelerra output, I either output in DV format for uploading to You Tube, or if I want to go wide screen, I'll output in Ogg format. I posted basic tutorial videos here. Before translating the DV to YouTube, however, I translate the DV file to Mpeg ...
ffmpeg -i fulltitle.dv -b 1600000 -ac 2 -ar 44100 fulltitle.mpg
... again the -i for the input file. The -b is the bit rate which I find to be a nice balance between file size and quality. -ac specifies 2 audio channels with -ar being the audio bit rate of 44100. Finally, the output mpeg file name. Once that is complete, the video can be uploaded. It is a shame that ffmpeg is so powerful and has so many options, that writing a GUI for it is not that simple.
Blender is something I only use rarely. It is the 3D animation engine and you can see more of the output from Blender right here. This is no lightweight system. Learn to use it at Blender Underground.
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Internet programs consist of Empathy for chatting on multi-systems at once. It handles my MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, and more, all in teh one client. It is also integrated in to Ubuntu itself.
Filezilla is great at handling file transfer. I use it for my SFTP transfering.
Clipgrab is the tool for downloading videos from services like YouTube. It manages to get the really good quality downloads.
Skype is also available, but I think I got this via an Ubuntu/Debian package from Skype's own web site.
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Maintenance is done via the BlueFish program for editing web pages. It lacks some of the more powerful search and replace functions that I used in HomeSite, but it does a great job.
As most of my databases are MySQL, I use the MySQL Workbench which takes a little getting used to, and I still pine for SQLYog on Windows, but they wouldn't port Yog, so Workbench it has to be these days.
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Audacity is the Open Source version of... you know, I haven't used the Windows package for so long now that I've forgotten what it was called. Goldwave. That was it.
There are also MIDI programs that I use in place of Cakewalk; Rosegarden something or other, but I havne't done Midi now for a while.
Ubuntu usually comes with Brasero as a CD/DVD burner. I suplement that with QDVD Author and DVD Styler if I want to make a playable DVD.
Handbrake is my loyal program for ripping my DVD's to quality M4V files. My tips, use a 12000 bit rate, change the audio DRC to 3, save that to your presets and make it your default. Those are my go-to setings.
Rythmbox comes with Ubuntu and behind this is not only a local audio file cataloguing system, but it can handle your pod casts and radio channels as well. Not only that, but once you've signed up for a free Ubuntu One account, you can use the shop to buy and download your audio files.
Ubuntu One, by the way, also has a synchronising area so you can synchronise files between computers and also access the files from any machine on the web as well. Cool. All built in and all for free.
VLC is my default DVD player. I can use it to see which track and chapter are playing along with any subtitle tracks being used. That is useful input for Handbrake.
Xine is my default media player for everything else. Adding the command, "xine -p" to the application launch types really makes things easy.
EasyTag enables me to handle the media tags of my MP3 and OGG audio files so I can ensure they come up properly in the media libraries.
Juice Audio CD extractor enables me to rip my audio CD's to OGG files as well (I prefer Ogg to MP3, but not many commercial players want to handle OGG. Their loss.)
This is backed up with Avidemux and DVD Encoder.
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Added to this is Virtual Box. Part of Sun Microsystems kit, now rebadged to Oracle. It allows me to run Windows in a virtual environment on my machine.
Among the things that I do is use the "Menu Editor" to add an option to my System Tools. I select, "Application In Terminal" and call it, "Admin Browser". The command is, "sudo nautilus" and when selected, it will ask me for my admin password, before starting up a file browser with administration privs. This is useful for moving files around between media where permissions are an issue.
Other useful things to watch out for are GTK Disk Free, usually found in the system tools, it will give a graphical report on your media usage. Also, there is "Disk Usage Analyser" in the Accessories; simply point it at a folder and it will give you the sub-directory usage just like TreeSize Pro used to on Windows.
If the menus are getting too cluttered for you, then go in to the menu editor and simply remove the tick from the applications you don't want to see. You can also, if you want, introduce a new folder and move some items to a lower level.
By right clicking on the desktop and going for the background change, you'll notice a tab called "Visual Effects," and the high version of this is responsible for all the springy window effects. Note that if you use VLC, then it might have problems with Visual Effects set to high. This is a long standing bug; simply take VLC to full screen and back down again, and it will show the video properly.
The other thing I load up is the Compiz Config Settings Manager. As well as being responsible for the cool desktop cube effect, there is also a handy Enhanced Desktop Zoom in here. I bind it to the "Start Button" which is known in Linux world as the "Super" button. Pressing the supper button while using my mouse scroll wheel, allows me to dynamically zoom in on any area of the screen should it be too small.
There are a lot of options here, though, and they can take some time to work through.
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At the end of the day, everything is command based. The menu editor is simply editing the launching commands. You can launch a program manually by pressing ALT and F2. When the box comes up you could type in the command "dolphin" to launch the dolphin file browser for example.
The shear weight and number of the customisable options can really seem confusing at first. You can almost change around anything you want to in the "panel" bars at the top and bottom of the screen. They're not fixed!
Also, if you're at the command line and are looking for options, go to a browser and look for "man
Some of the equivalent commands are...
ls = dir
ls -lat brings out more detail in the directory listing.
cd = cd - change directory. This is also the same with md and rmdir. Here the .. works as well, but remember that under Linux, the slash is forward "/" as used in the Internet naming convensions and not the Microsoft backslash "\".
mv - move files.
rm - remove files.
Putting sudo in front of commands will tell the system, "execute this command as if I was the root user." It will ask you to confirm your password. Also note, privileges to do this are only automatically assigned to the user that created the system; to allow anyone else to do the "sudo" trick, make them members of the admin group.
This is my application installation instruction set that I use after installing Ubuntu on a new machine. I store the commands as a text file on a memory stick. Once the operating system has updated, I issue the commands one at a time to install the majority of my applications in a little over half an hour ... it sure beats taking the day to rebuild Windows!
sudo apt-get remove evolution transmission transmission-common transmission-gtk f-spot kaddressbook overlay-scrollbar
--- used to ensure that overlay scrollbars are killed
echo "export LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0" | sudo tee /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80overlayscrollbars> /dev/null
sudo apt-get install firefox digikam audacity ufraw gimp gimp-ufraw gimp-data-extras gimp-help-en empathy qmmp camorama gnucash gwenview gnomescan vlc xmms2-plugin-all gparted filezilla blender ffmpeg mpegdemux winff argyll xvidenc gddrescue foremost gnome-alsamixer easytag soundconverter clamav youtube-dl ktorrent okular regionset sound-juicer enfuse pfstools qtpfsgui rar bluefish clamav clamav-daemon clamav-freshclam clamtk inkscape pdftk pdfchain subversion alacarte avidemux ubuntuone-client libreoffice gnome-utils
sudo apt-get install xmms2 xine-console xine-plugin libxine1-dbg libxine1-ffmpeg xinetd gxine xine-dbg deejayd-xine libxineliboutput-fbfe libxine1-plugins libxine1-doc libxine1-all-plugins x11proto-xinerama-dev libxinerama-dev gxineplugin libxcb-xinerama0-dbg libxine-dev libxinerama1-dbg libxcb-xinerama0-dev libmp3lame-dev xine-ui wine ntp
-- ZFS system - not needed by many
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/bugs-sehe/zfs-fuse/ubuntu oneiric main"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get remove gvfs-bin
sudo apt-get install zfs-fuse gvfs-bin
-- Handbrake for DVD ripping
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk
-- if the above doesn't work, then use the developer version
-- remember to remove the other ppa first
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-snapshots
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk
-- Clipgrab for Youtube video downloading
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:clipgrab-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install clipgrab
-- Cinelerra video editing
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cinelerra-ppa/ppa
(that line on its own as it requires confirmation)
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinelerra
Remember that on seting up cinelerra for the first time, go to the Settings -> Preferences. Set the Audio driver from OSS to Alsa and also in the "Recording" tab, set the "Import images with a duration of..." to "ticked" and something like 5 seconds, otherwise you'll have problems importing your PNG overlays.
Over on The Register there is an article of ex-Sun founder Scott McNealy having a series of shots at Larry Elision, owner of Oracle who recently bought Sun out.
The comments are very interesting and include this one by an anonymous coward who shielded their name....
"GNU never said you're not allowed to make money out of your work
Posted Friday 5th November 2010 23:19 GMT
All it says is you're not allowed to enslave the end-users with your work. It is OK if you want to lock them in, twist their arm and squeeze their wallet, just don't use free software for that. Pick any proprietary license like others do.
Oh, and for me as an end-user, I certainly want that MY information remains free at least for myself if not for others. Even if this is crap for you, I don't want anybody to put a lock on my own data."
McNealy, the article and some of the posters make the principle point here, which is that it is a very dangerous game when you choose a closed system that will, once it has your data in its grasp, charge you a holy fortune to get away from them. You become a ready source of money for that company if you are not very, very, very careful. And how many organisations have the kind of money that it takes for the army of lawyers (or one very clever one) to spot all the traps and nooses in the contracts?
It is at times like this that it is worthwhile calculating the real, true cost of proprietary software versus hiring the team that it would take to run open source.
Fortunately for the general public, it has little information on databases save perhaps the address book on the mobile phone or perhaps the odd geek has the odd birthday list somewhere. For the corporates and more scary still, the public service, things are more serious.
As someone who is experiencing first hand the cost increases that Oracle are imposing on licensing and training now that it has bought Sun, it is concerning to witness.
The thing that has continuously struck me, year after year after year, is the people who buy mobile phones and put shed loads of data on them without ever giving a thought to what is going to happen when they move handsets. It is difficult enough when they change phones within the same manufacturer. If they want to change brand, then they're usually in very real trouble.
So long as we have people like this in charge of corporates and public services, then we will continue to waste copious amounts of money because of lack of forethought and vision.
Who among us believes that our mobiles will last more than a couple of years at the most, yet how many plan ahead for that moment? Why do these people think that database solutions and their supporting systems stay static forever more?
It brings me to mind of the classic You Tube clip by Fascinating Aida where the flight for fifty pence turned in to a very expensive trip by the time they'd finished. I particularly love the line for the end of the flight, "If you haven't prepaid to use the steps you'll have to feckin' jump."
Heh, heh; I couldn't help but chuckle at this BBC graphical representation of the supercomputing superpowers by operating system. Linux is, ahem, ever so slightly the market leader in that environment :-D
I thought I'd detail something that I happen to be doing right now and thought might be a good thing to share.
There are shed loads of security erasing systems on the market these days and plenty of them can cost you a packet. However, I've got a computer running in the background which I booted from a USB stick in to a, "live," copy of Ubuntu 10.04.
By simply dropping to a terminal window and issuing the command...
sudo shred /dev/sda -f -v -z --iterations=6
... it goes away and totally trashes the hard drive by writing garbage all over the sectors.
Firstly, you might have to change sda for whatever your hard drive happens to be. sda is usually the first hard disk on a SATA system, so for your average PC, this should work fine.
Secondly, how fast it is depends on a number of factors. These are the size of your hard disk and the speed of both the data channel and also the speed of the hard disk itself. Some hard drives also have secure erasing subsystems to help you out.
However, rather than my bland words, I think estaticd puts it much more eloquently in their video...
