May 7, 2009
by sjvn01
0 comments

The Ubuntu and ATI Blues

I like Ubuntu 9.04 a lot, but ATI graphic drivers don’t work and play well with it. This is especially annoying since, for a while there, ATI was working hand-in-glove with Linux and even ATI’s proprietary drivers worked well with Linux. ATI has stopped keeping up with Linux though and the result is mediocre graphics performance.

This has happened because of two changes and a lack of co-ordination between ATI and Linux developers. The first change is that many desktop Linuxes, including Ubuntu 9.04 and Mandriva 2009 Spring are now using the latest X.Server, version 1.6.. X.Server provides the basic framework, or primitives, that Linux and Unix computers use to display their graphics. Everything else you think of as the Linux desktop, such as GNOME 2.26 and KDE 4.2.2, runs on top of X.Server.

X.Server 1.6 has been available since February of this year. ATI didn’t support it immediately. And, this is where the second change came in. The graphics branch of AMD finally got around to supporting X.Server 1.6 with the ATI Catalyst 9.4 driver (aka fglrx 9.4) release in late March. There’s only one problem with these new drivers: They don’t work worth a darn.

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May 6, 2009
by sjvn01
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Installing Windows 7 with some Linux help

I’ve been working with Windows 7 for some months now, and while 7’s not for netbooks, I vastly prefer Windows 7 to Vista. So, when it came time to try out the release candidate, I didn’t expect to have any trouble. I was wrong.

For the Windows 7 RC (release candidate), I used my main Windows test desktop: a Gateway DX4710. This PC is powered by a 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor and has 6GBs of RAM and an Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 3100 for graphics. It’s no speed demon, but it gets the job done.

In the past, I had updated this desktop to Windows 7. This time, I took Microsoft’s word that the best thing to do was to install Windows 7 as a new operating system. That was a mistake. After zapping the Windows 7 beta on my PC, Windows 7 couldn’t find a hard drive partition to install itself on.

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May 5, 2009
by sjvn01
2 Comments

How many desktop Linux users?

So how many desktop Linux users are there? If you believe in Net Applications’ numbers it’s just over 1%. If you want to buy W3Counter’s numbers, 2.16% of users use Linux. Or, if you want to go by my own Web site, Practical Technology’s AWStats statistics, 29.9% of desktop users prefer Linux.

The truth is we really don’t know how many Linux desktop users there are. That’s a pity because those numbers do matter. The more Linux desktop users there are, the more likely it is that ISVs (independent software vendors) and PC manufacturers will support desktop Linux. If Linux is to ever stop being considered a ‘niche’ desktop operating system, it needs more than just users, it needs an accurate way to count those users.

Web site surveys are all well and good, but they only tell part of the story. And, as the numbers I cite above shows, Web site numbers show an enormous range. Some of that may represent bias. The Boycott Novell Web site, for example, recently proclaims that Net Applications’ operating system numbers are a “Big Lie” and pointed out that Microsoft was one of Net Applications’ biggest customers. My own site focuses a lot on Linux, so it’s no surprise that I have a high percentage of Linux-using visitors.

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May 4, 2009
by sjvn01
0 comments

KDE 4.2: Finally a new Linux desktop I can like

I won’t rehash my feelings about earlier versions of KDE. Suffice it to say I didn’t like it and you can review my comments about KDE 4.0 and KDE 4.1 elsewhere. At first glance, I also wasn’t impressed with KDE 4.2, but I decided to give it one more try, after some performance fixes in the latest edition, and I’m finally impressed.

What got me to look at KDE 4.2.2 was the unofficial release of openSUSE 11.1 ‘Reloaded’ with KDE 4.2.2 packages. As Joe Brockmeier, openSUSE’s community manager told me, “This is an installable live CD, so it’s good for anybody who wants to run 11.1 without having to grab all of the updates since December, and for users who want to test out the latest & greatest KDE without having to re-do their system.”

Brockmeier, aka Zonker, added “This is not an ‘official’ release, so it’s not gotten the same level of testing as an ‘official’ release, but should be a relatively good release and is based on packages from 11.1, excepting the later KDE software.”

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May 2, 2009
by sjvn01
1 Comment

1% Linux, 99% to go

I know Linux makes a great desktop. You may know that it makes a great desktop. But, most people wouldn’t know Linux from a hole in the ground. Things are finally changing though. According to one survey, Linux finally has crossed over the 1% of the Web client market.

Net Applications, a Web site analytics company, just published their April 2009 Web users survey, Market Share, and they found that “Linux usage share on client devices has surpassed 1% for the first time in our tracking. Linux has been successful primarily as a server operating system, but client usage share has not kept pace with server share Linux has reached this important milestone on the client as Linux-based systems have become more functional, easier to use, and pre-installed on computers from vendors like Dell.”

It’s about time!

Desktop Linux has faced an uphill climb. It’s had to face Microsoft’s Windows monopoly on the desktop. It’s had to deal with its undeserved reputation for being hard to use. But still, slowly, ever so slowly, it’s made gains.

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April 30, 2009
by sjvn01
1 Comment

The Windows 7 ‘give away’

If Microsoft likes anything more than making money, it’s completely dominating a market. After years of uncontested desktop operating system rule, the combination of the Vista flop, the growing maturity of the Linux desktop, and the Mac’s growing popularity, Microsoft was losing its grip. So now, by giving away the Windows 7 RC (release candidate), which won’t expire until June 1 2010, Microsoft is now in the free software business.

Mind you, Microsoft isn’t making Windows 7 free in the sense of truly free software, where the real freedom is the freedom of thought and open-source code, but free as in ‘free beer.’ This actually goes further than my own suggestion that Microsoft owed its poor, benighted Vista customers a free upgrade to Windows 7.

It’s a good deal for Vista users. I’ve been running Windows 7 both on PCs and netbooks. There’s no question in my mind that Windows 7 RC is already better than Vista SP1.

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