Category Archives: Advocacy

People wonder why I hate Windows

By | Published: August 14, 2008

Update: I have applied the BIOS update by putting the old hard disk back in, and using the working windows install there to do it. It still can’t see all 4G of my RAM.

Apologies for this slight rant. I need to get it off my chest.

I have a Toshiba Portege M400 (3G) laptop which I bought just over a year ago. It had a 100GB hard disk which initially came with Windows XP pre-installed. The very first thing I did was wipe Windows off and install Ubuntu. I wasn’t entirely happy because the system ran slowly. It turns out that a BIOS update from Toshiba fixes this. Unfortunately the particular BIOS update can only be installed from within Windows running on the bare metal.

I booted off an Ubuntu Live CD and copied the contents of my Ubuntu partition from the hard disk to a USB attached hard drive. I then used the Toshiba XP recovery CD which came with the laptop to wipe the drive again, and install a minimal-sized (10G) Windows XP Professional setup. I then booted to it and installed the BIOS update and the system became much quicker. I then reinstalled Ubuntu on the remaining space and copied back all my data from the USB disk.

Everything was fine.

I now use Ubuntu daily and only use Windows when I am using the 3G card built into the laptop – which doesn’t work in Ubuntu (bug filed here:- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/128556 )

Skip forward to this month. I started running out of disk space in Ubuntu so I bought myself a nice new 320G disk. Here’s how I migrated from the 100G disk to the 320G one.

1. Connect a USB hard disk.
2. Boot to ubuntu live cd.
3. dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/media/disk/windows.img # this backed up my Windows XP install to a file.
4. mount /dev/sda2 # root (/) filesystem for ubuntu
5. mount /dev/sda3 # home (/home) filesystem for ubuntu
6. rsync -avz /mnt/sda2/* /media/disk/ubuntu/root/  # backup root filesystem
7. rsync -avz /mnt/sda3/* /media/disk/ubuntu/home/  # backup home filesystem

I then yanked the 100G disk out and slapped in the 320G disk and again booted to the Ubuntu Live CD. Using similar tools as above I partitioned and copied everything back onto the disk. I happily use Ubuntu and all my data is intact.

However, Windows refuses to boot. I get the Windows splash screen (where you get the bouncing blue bar) and then it bluescreens and reboots. This repeats.

I have mounted the Windows filesystem from within Ubuntu to make sure it’s sane and it looks good. The usual files are all there. When I reboot I of course get the usual “We’re sorry” and am offered a “Safe Mode” option. This fails in the same way.

A kind guy at work loaned me a proper XP CD (not these silly recovery ones you get with laptops these days) so that I might use the “recovery” option. However when I choose that, Windows says it can’t find any hard disks because (presumably) it doesn’t have the driver for the SATA controller my laptop has.

The reason I _need_ to use Windows is because there is a new BIOS update for the laptop, and I need to install it. 64-bit Ubuntu can’t see all 4G of memory in the laptop – which it should. Installing the BIOS update will eliminate that from the list of possible causes. I can’t install the BIOS update without Windows however.

So my pain is summarised by:-

1. Windows wont boot and I don't know how to make it boot
2. Windows XP CD can't see the SATA controller without a driver disk (I have no floppy drive)
3. I have to use Windows to install Toshiba BIOS updates

So far the only thing I can think of doing is putting the _old_ hard disk back in the machine and using that (working) Windows install to do the BIOS update. In fact, I could of course keep that 100G disk just for Windows, and only put it in the machine when I need this kind of BIOS sillyness. Then I could remove Windows from my new 320G disk, thus giving me 10G back.

End of rant. Carry on.

The good news is that I’m off out for a curry with my colleagues from work at lunchtime.

Also posted in Linux, Rant, Ubuntu | 54 Comments

Ubuntu UK Podcast Episode 11 Out

By | Published: July 31, 2008

Another episode of the podcast put together by members of the Ubuntu UK LoCo team. We recorded the intro and a few segments outside at Tonys house, so there maybe strange noises in the background. We also have two great segments from LUGRadio Live UK 2008. One is an interview with Pete Stean about a new laptop he’s bought and one with the guys from OpenStreetMap. Again there may be some background noise there as there was a conference of some kind going on in the background ;)

One thing I’m impressed with about this episode is that Pete emailed the show and said he’d like to do a segment about his new laptop running Ubuntu. This is exactly what we envisaged for the show from the start. People from the Ubuntu community contributing content that they feel passionate about. Thanks a million Pete! If you have something they’d like to contribute we would love to hear from you, contact details below.

Another thing that I’m impressed with is the way we’ve spread the load about during this episode. During LUGRadio Live all six of the main contributors (me, Tony, Dave, Ciemon, Laura and Schwuk) were crew for the event which meant we were often busy. Getting slots with people to chat with them was difficult, so we didn’t get too many interviews from the event, but the ones we got are great, I’m sure you’ll agree. More of those to come in episode 12.

I’d also like to thank Andy and Etienne from OpenStreetMap for spending time with us. Their stand at LUGRadio Live was very popular and as a result the guys were extremely busy. Kudos to them for taking time out to talk to us, we really appreciate it, and as we said in the show, we could have chatted to you guys all day, but we think a 24 hour podcast episode might be taking it too far :)

Although…

No, stop it, bad thoughts.

Finally I’d like to thank the guys from LUGRadio who put on a great event (as always) in Wolverhampton. It was great to meet up with such a fantastic bunch of people. Looking forward to next year already!

Anyway, take a listen and if you’re interested in the Viglen MPC-L that we review, don’t forget we have a special deal so you can get them nice and cheap!

http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/2008/07/31/s01e11-blowin-in-the-wind/

Also posted in Linux, Ubuntu | Leave a comment

Screencast Video Formats

By | Published: July 30, 2008

I’ve started an unscientific poll on the Ubuntu Screencasts site to gather some opinions and start discussion about video formats.

In the past we’ve tried various options of providing OGG only to OGG, MP3, MP4, and finally OGG and Flash (FLV). Each format and resolution we add increases the workload though. For each format we add there’s the additional CPU overhead on re-encoding, and bandwidth required to upload the resulting files. Which is why now there’s currently only two formats used, OGG (Theora/Vorbis) and Flash (FLV/MP3).

I’ve always wanted to make sure the master OGG video is available because that means we should be able to play them on any Linux distro. However the target for the Ubuntu screencasts isn’t just existing Ubuntu users.

Our target is:-

  • Existing Linux users
  • Users of other operating systems who might wish to switch to Ubuntu/Linux in the future
  • Linux users, who also use other operating systems (such as Windows at work)

For the first we have OGG, the second and third we probably need another option. The question is, what is that option. Unfortunately there is not one video format that works on every platform out of the box. We can assume people might have some basic codecs, but there’s nothing that everyone is guaranteed to have.

That’s why I chose flash. Becuase of all of the nasty codecs, flash (whilst proprietary) is installed on a vast majority of desktops – irrespective of the OS they use. It also has the bonus that it’s a stream-able format which means people don’t need to mess about downloading, they can view the screencast directly in the browser. I don’t actually know if the flash video player works in the free flash plugins gnash and swfdec, but would appreciate if people could test.

On the Ubuntu Podcast made by the UK LoCo team, we discovered that the vast majority of listeners are using iTunes on Windows or Mac, and not as we expected a podcast downloader on Linux. This is an important fact. It means that people who are not necessarily Linux users are listening to our Linux-related content.

In order to make the screencasts work seamlessly with iTunes users, we’d ideally need to support MOV (H264/AAC) files. Then there’s the problem that people who sync their video podcasts from iTunes to their iPods will need a lower resolution version..

So that leaves us with:-

  • High res OGG for Linux users
  • Embedded flash streaming version
  • High res MOV version for iTunes users
  • Low res MOV version for iPods
  • Some other formats I have not considered?

I’d be happy to carry on just using OGG and FLV, but that is clearly not enough if we want to reach the widest possible audience?

Votes, suggestions, comments, all welcome.

Also posted in Linux, Ubuntu | 18 Comments

Demented by Design

By | Published: July 28, 2008

This just makes me weep. The Defective by Design campaign team are urging people to book slots at the Apple in-store “Genius Bar” to ask probing questions which they already know the answer to about their company policy on DRM and Free software. The ‘Genius Bar’ is an official Apple support avenue for their customers, and is a service provided inside many of their stores.

Defective by Design is an FSF initiative, setup in 2006 to target ‘Big Media’ companies which use DRM (Digital Rights Management) in their hardware and software to enforce the rights of copyright holders, and as a by-product restrict the rights of the consumer. The FSF is a donor supported charity which seeks to ‘promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users’.

The FSF attend conferences where their members attempt to recruit new members/donators and sell apparel, stickers and so on to fund their activities. I’ve seen them a couple of times at conferences I’ve attend and – based on the discussion with the guy on the stand, and the literature provided – I have considered donating to them. One stumbling block for me has always been the cost. It’s quite expensive to become a member (their preferred option), but you can of course donate as little or as much as you like. So far I have donated zero.

This latest campaign by the Defective by Design group is the third activity that the FSF have undertaken in the last year or so which I disagree with, and will guarantee I’ll never give them a penny. With their recent (and now moribund) Bad Vista campaign they focus on targetting one version of one operating system as the villan, with very little emphasis on the positive things Free Software gives users. They even leave the “What is free software?” ‘Common Question’ to the bottom of the front page!

More recently a member of the FSF joined the UK LUGMaster mailing list and kicked off a shitstorm by suggesting that all UK Linux User Groups (LUG) should change their names to GLUG – GNU Linux User Groups. The ‘deal’ was that if they did this, they’d get a link from an FSF site to their ‘GLUG’. When one LUG agreed to this, the FSF member edited their wiki page to add (a ridiculous amount of) detail about GNU and the FSF. When that detail was moved off the front page to a separate page (making their front page more readable), the FSF representative withdrew the offer of a link and promptly left the mailing list.

I am a pragmatic Free software advocate. I would love to be able to run a completely Free Software house, but feel that right now, the totally Free desktop/laptop is not for me, so I use non-free video drivers, non-free network firmware – just like the vast majority of the world right now. One member of the FSF offered to send me an ethernet cable to resolve my broken wireless card when using Free software. I didn’t see that as a solution, so instead I used Ubuntu with a non-free wireless-firmware based driver – which works.

Personally I use a lot of Free software and recommend others do the same. I support people who run Free software on their computers, donate to Debian, help make a podcast using only Free software, sponsor Free software events and generally do “my bit” to help foster a positive impression of Free software and the people who use and develop it.

It really feels like the FSF are undermining my efforts.

When the FSF come up with campaigns such as Bad Vista, Defective by Design and have members who have a near rabid insistence that Linux is called GNU/Linux, they create the impression that the only thing Free Software advocates can do is rubbish the competition and bitch to others who are doing good work in Free Software.

This is of course not true. Many of us are making great strides in getting Free Software on the desktop/laptop/server and in media players, mobile phones and other appliances. Clearly this isn’t good enough for the FSF though, their approach is all or nothing. You’re either with us as a Free software Zealot or you’re against us. This is incompatible with my philosophy on life, so I’ll be ‘against’ for now, and the foreseeable future.

Finally, I note in a recent mailing list posting on the subject of the Apple ‘Genius Bar’ campaign, Richard Stallman (of the FSF) claims that it isn’t a real-life ‘denial of service’ on Apple. I wonder, how would the FSF feel if their support avenues were flooded by users of proprietary software, wasting their time asking questions about FSF policy.

Is this the absolute best the FSF can do with their charitable donations? Don’t they have something better to do with their time?

Edit: Clearly I’m not alone in this:- neuro, mgdm, Pete, ZDnet, Slashdot.

Edit: According to Charity Navigator, at the end of their 2006 fiscal year, the FSF reported $832K in revenue, with expenses around $802K. How much did Defective by Design cost them? What else did they spend that on? Perhaps it’s a time for an external review of the FSF and see if they really are working in the interests of the Free Software community.

Also posted in Linux, Rant, Ubuntu | 17 Comments

Is that a Paul Smith shirt?

By | Published: July 5, 2008

Whilst standing in the back room at the ballet school that my daughter Sophie goes to, I had an interesting conversation. I was wearing my Ubuntu Hardy Heron T-shirt which I got from the Canonical Online Store.

.

One of the other parents (a mum) said to me “That’s a nice T-shirt, where did you get it? Is it a Paul Smith?“. This made me chuckle a little. I had to reply “No, it’s not, it’s ‘just a promotional T-shirt to do with a product I use’”. She was surprised. So was I.

There’s something to be said for geek-wear that doesn’t scream “I AM A GEEK T-SHIRT”.

Don’t forget that every month on the Ubuntu UK Podcast we are giving away discount codes for the Canonical store as competition prizes!

Update My family all just descended on my house for a Barbeque. My brother just said “Hey, nice t-shirt” :)

Also posted in Fun, Ubuntu | 6 Comments