Practical Technology

for practical people.

January 29, 2009
by sjvn01
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32-Bit to 64-Bit: Why Software Development Is Lagging Hardware Improvements

Why are you using 32-bit software on your 64-bit computer? If you just bought a top-of-the-line Sony BRAVIA 52″ 1080p 120Hz Flat-Panel LCD HDTV for $2,500, would you use a rabbit-ears antenna for your TV signal? I don’t think so!

Even though 64-bit software for UNIX goes back decades, mass availability and adoption of 64-bit operating systems and applications been slow. In theory, if you run 64-bit software on a 64-bit CPU-powered PC, you should get better performance. In practice, it’s not so clear cut. A 64-bit program that’s not optimized for a 64-bit processor can actually run worse than its 32-bit twin working on either 32- or 64-bit Windows Vista.

To make use of 64-bit’s performance and features, both the operating system and application must be optimized for the new processor. However, many developers see 32-bit software as being “good enough.” They rely on the processor’s improved speed to disguise the 32-bit code’s inherent inefficiency on a 64-bit processor. That inefficiency may not be trivial, since every call to 32-bit code must be translated to 64-bit code before it can run. For example, on Windows Vista 64-bit, 32-bit applications must be “thunked” via the WoW64 (Windows on Windows) subsystem to run. Similar methods are used in other operating systems.

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January 28, 2009
by sjvn01
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How Vista’s total failure hurt Linux

Once I got a good look at Vista, I knew desktop Linux was in for good times. Vista was, and still is, a disaster of an operating system. I was right too. When netbooks started coming out, it was Linux, not Vista, that ruled.

What I hadn’t expected though was that Vista would be such an absolute sales flop that Microsoft would actually reverse course and bring back first XP Home and then, in December 2008, XP Pro.

Of course, Microsoft hasn’t come right out and said, “Vista sucks, we get it, here have XP instead,” but for all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what they’re doing. That’s one reason why they’re pushing Windows 7, aka Vista Lite, out the door as fast as possible.

Windows 7, unlike Vista, will run on netbooks. Once, Windows 7 is out, Microsoft will go back to the business of killing off XP.

In the meantime, though, Linux has gone from owning the netbook niche to no longer even holding a majority stake in it. What happened?

According to Gary Marshall on Tech Radar it’s because users are being presented with a choice between “Windows XP versus a whole bunch of different distributions.”

I don’t buy that. Only a Linux fan knows the differences, or even the names, of the various Linux distributions on the netbooks. What a customer or a sales rep. knows about a netbook is what it looks like, its amount of RAM and storage space, and its price. That’s about it.

So why is XP making such a strong comeback? Well, I think Microsoft is offering some very sweet deals to the OEMs to make sure that XP gets a lot of play. The OEMs, who feel like Microsoft owes them after sticking with the Vista stink-bomb, are happy to get low-cost XP.

Even so, Linux-powered netbooks are still cheaper than ones with XP, but the vendors, with the exception of Dell with its Ubuntu hardware, aren’t doing much to promote them. Yes, everyone who’s anyone in PCs now offers desktop Linux, but they’re not advertising it.

I suspect all of them are happy to have desktop Linux now. I also suspect, however, that it’s mostly so they can tell Microsoft to make them a good deal for XP and Windows 7 licenses because if Microsoft doesn’t come across, they can always switch to Linux instead.

So what can Linux do? Well, for one thing, we need to get the word out that desktop Linux is available and every bit as good, when it’s not better, than Windows.

The Linux Foundation is doing what it can to promote this by pushing forwards with its “We’re Linux” video contest. Desktop Linux has gone about as far as it can without the support of the broader, non-technical market. With the ads springing from the Linux Foundations’ work, easy-to-use Linux distributions, and pre-installed Linux laptops and desktops, it’s up to Linux’s fans and vendors to get Linux moving forward on the desktop again.

A version of “How Vista’s total failure hurt Linux” first appeared in ComputerWorld.

January 27, 2009
by sjvn01
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Windows 7 beta is already better than Vista

If you’re expecting me to kick Windows 7 around because I like Linux, you’d be wrong. Windows 7 is actually a decent version of Windows. It’s not, however,a new version of Windows. It’s Vista Light or Vista Second Edition if you prefer.

I’ve been running Windows 7 beta for the last few weeks. I’m running it in a VM (Virtual Machine) on openSUSE 11.1 with VirtualBox and natively on a HP 7360n. This PC is powered by a hyper-threaded 2.8 GHz Pentium D 920 dual-core processor, 4 MB of L2 cache, an 800 MHz front-side bus, and 2GBs of DDR (double-data-rate) RAM.

People who know my work well will recognize that HP 7460N as the same machine on which I found out just how truly awful Vista was. In fact, one of the reasons why I put Windows 7 on it was that even after all this time Vista still was fouling with hardware. In its latest foul-up, I ran straight into an ancient network bug with multiple NICs (network interface cards) and video transmission that still hasn’t been fixed.

So, it was good-bye Vista and hello Windows 7 beta.

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January 26, 2009
by sjvn01
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You can’t hide from location-based apps

Where the heck am I?” I’ve asked that question many times as I’ve gotten lost on America’s interstates. It’s not as common a question now as it used to be, thanks to GPS devices such as Garmin’s Nüvi 200W, Magellan’s Maestro 4350 and TomTom’s GO 930. Such dedicated GPS devices will probably go extinct before too long, but even after they’re gone, you’re unlikely to hear anyone ask “Where the heck am I?” again. That’s because everything from your mobile phone to your laptop will incorporate GPS technology or tools that duplicate GPS functionality.

Meanwhile, we’re going to see a new breed of applications that incorporate GPS data: location-based software, or LBS.

What will these applications do? One example is Xora’s GPS TimeTrack, offered by AT&T as software as a service. Igor Glubochansky, director of industry solutions at AT&T, explains that users of these vehicle-installed devices can track field personnel and their activities from a password-protected Web site that provides up-to-the-minute information on location, speed and stop times.

On the consumer side, there are offerings like Loopt’s “buddy finder” application, which allows friends to see one another’s locations on an online map, thanks to an LBS infrastructure that works with Qualcomm’s QPoint location-based server software. I can already foresee games of Twitter tag and Twitter hide-and-seek.

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January 26, 2009
by sjvn01
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What do KDE 4.2 and Windows 7 have in common?

I tried, I really did, to like KDE 4.2 I really didn’t like the early versions of KDE 4. I then tried KDE 4.1. I hated it. I kept getting told by people that I just didn’t get it.

OK, I thought. Maybe I didn’t get it. So, I gave the last KDE 4.2 beta and release candidate another try for a month on one of my openSUSE 11.1 desktops. Historically, SUSE and KDE developers work closely with each other, so openSUSE is a great distribution for any version of KDE. Well, they may work well together, but openSUSE with KDE 4.2 doesn’t work for me.

Just like Windows 7 beta, which I’m running on another PC, my fundamental problem is each desktop’s fundamental interface changes. In both cases, I find that, instead of helping me to get my work done, the interfaces are actually getting in the way.

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January 24, 2009
by sjvn01
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The best five books for Linux beginners

In a recent story, I wrote about the best three ways to pick up desktop Linux. These are: buying a PC with pre-installed Linux; Live Linux CD/USB-sticks; and installing an easy-to-use Linux distribution like Mint or MEPIS. That’s all well and good, but a recent reader note reminded that many users need more than just a running Linux distribution to get up to speed. What these users need is a good introduction to Linux. So, for all of you to whom “root” is something that trees have but operating system don’t, these books are for you.

My favorite Linux book for beginners is still Robin “Roblimo” Miller’s Point & Click Linux!. This 2004 book may be out of date, and the copy of MEPIS Linux that comes with it several generations behind the times, but Robin does a great job of explaining exactly what you need to know to get to work with Linux. It’s still the best beginner’s book out there as far as I’m concerned.

If, like a lot of people, you’re interested in learning about Ubuntu Linux, then the best book for you is Mark Sobell’s A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux (Versions 8.10 and 8.04). This book takes you all the way from the basics to intermediate system administration. What I like about it is that it includes numerous real-world examples and JumpStarts, which are well-written, how-to guides. The second edition, which covers Ubuntu 8.10, just came out and, based on my quick overview, is as good as the first edition.

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