Netrunner 14.04 is a Nice Strong Cup of Awesome

I haven't the time to compose a proper review, but just a quick note that Netrunner "Frontier" 14.04, 64-bit Kubuntu edition, is out of this world. I thought I'd be tweaking for hours to get the desktop nice and comfortable, but no. Netrunner is a distro that knows what users want and delivers it to them with a nice pretty bow on top.

If you want to check out a modern operating system outside of Microsoft's realm, then be sure to torrent a copy of Netrunner.

I haven't tried the Rolling Release and have no plans to do so--Manjaro seems Greek to me--but I can definitely vouch for the Frontier edition.

KDE is looking mighty good these days on an Intel Haswell Celeron G1820.

My Current Thoughts about Linux

Ubuntu should be rocky the next few years as Canonical rolls out Mir. I think that's why Linux Mint is avoiding Canonical's non-LTS releases. I don't know what I'm going to do with my Xubuntu 14.04 rigs. Probably in a year or so, I will feel the need to switch distros.

Xubuntu 14.04 is great, but Xubuntu's destiny is dependent upon Ubuntu and the choices that Canonical makes.

I've found SolydX to be fast, lean, and reliable. I may switch over to SolydX in the future.

Xfce has always given me far fewer problems than KDE and that is the main reason I use it. It seems to me that KDE is evolving at a fast and furious pace all the time, and that the desktop never settles down into a stable state. It's radioactive. There is something to be said for conservatism, for stability and predictability. Basically, XFCE does everything I want it to do. It could be a little bit nicer here and there, but I turn on the computer to run applications, not to stare at a desktop. The desktop is a mere conveyance, a road leading to Thunderbird, Firefox, Skype and other tools. The desktop should be reliable first of all and be easy to update.

Time to Bury Jedit

I buried Jedit today, because the blessed text editor has not been updated in years. I cannot copy and paste text from Jedit to another application without jumping through hoops. I always forget what cryptic command is required. In every other application written in the last ten years, a simple ctrl-C and ctrl-V suffices, but not in Jedit. For that reason, I uninstalled the program and will use the far more advanced Mousepad instead. Mousepad has the capability of copying and pasting without difficulty.

Consider all the Options

Most users use Windows merely due to marketing and advertising and the simple fact it is everywhere--in stores, in the media, and on their friends' computers. To climb a tree and look beyond one's backyard into the wider world and see what else is out there requires effort. Not much effort, I'll grant you, but effort. Those who like to consider all the options, and not just the most popular ones, try Linux. Log onto any of hundreds of Linux-oriented web sites to begin the ride. Today, I would recommend trying out Linux Mint Cinnamon, version 17 LTS.

One can't really go wrong with the Linux Mint brand, and it's a good basis to start with. I personally use Xubuntu and SolydX, which are also easy to use, but Linux Mint may be a little bit gentler for beginners in some ways. For instance, Linux Mint has a thriving, well-populated and well-moderated online forum, while Xubuntu defers to Ubuntu's forum. Linux Mint also has the beginner and ease-of-use in mind. I do like SolydX as well, but having to explain updates might make me sound a bit long-winded, and one may be more likely to encounter minor difficulties in that scenario. I have the impression that Linux Mint receives more end-user testing, because the testing process of Ubuntu is augmented by the testing process of Linux Mint's team. Testing minimizes the probability of problems, and whatever problems do arise are probably already known and have workarounds or solutions.

If Only I Had a Raw Computer

None of my many computers are raw, and more's the pity. Each of them are fully configured with a stable Linux-based operating system. As a distro-hopper, this makes me feel glum. Why can't I hate one of my operating systems anymore? That's the problem with leaving Windows. There's nothing to hate anymore.

Xubuntu is fine. SolydX is good. Those are the only two Linux distributions I use. Their GUI environment, XFCE, is clean, fast, flexible, and customizable, and that's all I want in a desktop GUI.

I'd like to try out Linux Mint Debian Edition Cinnamon, but I don't have a raw computer and can't justify starting all over again. There's an old law I abide by. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I like to leave well enough alone. I've done all the learning I want to do in regard to Linux, and to be honest, there really wasn't much I had to learn. Linux is a lot easier for the end user nowadays than it ever was in the past. I think that anyone that can handle Windows will find Linux to be, if anything, easier to use, mainly because all software comes from one source, and device drivers are installed automatically. If all software comes from one source, then the risk of malware is reduced dramatically. It's too bad that Windows never enjoyed the awesomeness of the software repository, which in my opinion is the greatest feature in Linux.

Why Cinnamon? Just because I miss Linux Mint. I really like Linux Mint's style, and it's hard to put my finger on the reason why, but perhaps the update process has something to do with it. Updating is very important, and not all Linux distros really have that process fully optimized. Some Linux distros have not put enough effort into streamlining the update process. The Debian-based editions are semi-rolling releases which are upgradable into perpetuity at least in theory. Now the Ubuntu-based editions of Linux Mint do suffer from the defect of not being upgradable. A complete reinstall is still required apparently with each new version. Xubuntu requires no such thing, so I don't know what the deal is here, but this is part of the reason I prefer to stay with Xubuntu for the time being, although I have noticed bugs popping up lately when I am doing nothing more exciting than using Firefox or Thunar. If the amount of bugs in Xubuntu reaches a certain level of annoyance, then one weekend when I feel particularly energetic, I will jump ship for LMDE Cinnamon.

Lose Your Linux Virginity

Some people are too skittish about losing their Linux virginity. After thirty years using Microsoft products (yes, I remember--and used to love--MS-DOS), this is what I did, and I recommend that you do it too. Just buy a hard drive. They are not expensive. I'll bet an 80-gigger sells for less than $30 on E-bay. Plug that sucker in and install the Linux distro of your fancy. I'm partial to Xubuntu, but that doesn't mean it's right for everybody. Due to occasional bug reports, I am sometimes tempted to try a different distro, but don't want to lose all my configurations, so I don't.

The first couple of days that I spent with Linux were on a fresh new hard drive. Everything worked, as I recall, with the exception of 5.1 surround sound via S/PDIF, and I spent a bit of time tinkering to get that working, but this was a couple of years ago, and I don't know whether I would still have that problem today. The end benefit for me is that I can reinstall an OS any old time I feel like it, and I have four computers operating without any Microsoft licenses and they work just fine. As a matter of fact, my Linux rigs have fewer problems than my one remaining Windows rig. I spent two hours setting up tasks in Windows's confusing, ill-designed Task Scheduler, only to receive errors this morning. My tasks have all disappeared due to a Windows bug, and I have had to spend another two hours entering the tasks, with no assurance that they will still be there tomorrow. With Windows, one pays a premium both in time and money. The Task Scheduler is one of Windows's hidden "gotchas". Linux is just easier to use all around, partly because it is a simple matter to customize every aspect to the user's preferences.

I think it's funny how some people assume that computers begin and end with Windows. It's a naive outlook and comes with a lot of limitations, the first being that provisioning a new rig is going to cost upwards of $75, while experimenting with a pirated Windows in this day and age is asking for trouble. I don't know why people will spend a lot of money buying new hardware and paying for a new Windows and then spend the ten to twelve hours required to get Windows fully configured and customized, but they won't spend an afternoon learning about Linux. I think the reason is similar to why people drink Coca-Cola, smoke cigarettes, and eat candy. Thinking probably doesn't have much to do with the equation at all.

China Bans Windows 8

I don't think China's decision to ban Windows 8 from government computers has much to do with the end of support for Windows XP. Rather, I think this decision is fallout from the NSA spying debacle, which is very bad news for every tech company in the United States. Can China trust Microsoft after learning that U.S. corporations cooperated with the NSA in spying on people both at home in the U.S. and abroad? The answer is obviously no. The day when people placed full confidence in closed-source systems has passed.

I avoid Windows 8 simply because I find it overpriced for what it offers. I can get the same benefits from Linux, which is free. I also find that Linux boots faster and has fewer technical problems. Device drivers are installed automatically, which means installation and configuration of a Linux system takes about fifteen minutes, as opposed to fifteen hours on Windows. Also, Linux has much less risk of malware. Some people think that pirated copies of Windows are fine and dandy, but then again, some people don't read the news and don't understand what is going on in the world. Anyone who uses a pirated OS is asking for trouble. There's a reason that pirated copies are made available, and it doesn't have much to do with generosity or vanity. Somebody is making money. Just imagine the possibilities.

Happiness is a New Version of Linux OS

Today I'm happy, because SolydX laid its golden egg for April the 15th, and I made pudding with it, updating two of my computers to the latest and greatest that Linux has to offer.

I don't know whether Windows users can grasp the happiness I feel. A new version of the SolydX OS is like a new version of Windows, except I don't have to reinstall or reconfigure anything. Imagine going from Windows XP to Windows 7, while keeping all of your configuration. Nice, eh? Now imagine you do it for free and legally. Get the picture? Linux is nice. Just--nice.

My other favorite operating system, Xubuntu, is due to lay a new golden egg today. I'm watching that hen with eagle eyes, waiting for the egg to pop out, so I can crack it open and make omelettes on two of my computers.

Come on, chicken. I just checked DistroWatch--no dice. Come onnnn! Lay that egg!

What's nice about Xubuntu's upcoming release is that it will be an LTS, a Long-Term Support release, good for many years to come. That makes it even more special than usual. Anyone who is curious about Linux should definitely choose this moment to make a leap of faith into the wonderful world of free operating systems. The payoff will be even greater than usual.

If you're a Linux neophyte, then begin your journey with Xubuntu. I like Xubuntu's "keep it simple, stupid" philosophy. Through their relationship with Canonical, they access timely security updates that make the paranoid less so. Also, Xubuntu holds hands during installation and updates, and even though I know a thing or two in my advanced wizardry, I do appreciate the hand-holding, because it saves me time and bother. The only downside to Xubuntu is the unfortunate choice of the two-panel approach, which SolydX avoids. I don't really grasp the need for a panel at the top and a panel at the bottom of the desktop, but this can be tweaked away. Canonical's feverish innovations in their Software Manager have also caused new bugs, but there is always Synaptic Package Manager to fall back on if the Software Manager misbehaves.

If you're a computer wiz, give SolydX or SolydK a spin. Try SolydX if you have old hardware or SolydK if you have newer hardware. My rule of thumb is that if you have 4 gigs of RAM, give SolydK a try, because you might like it and certainly you have more than enough memory. If you have less than 4 gigs of RAM, go with SolydX. You may prefer its agility and solidity. I chose SolydX mainly because I prefer a conservative, solid desktop with few issues. KDE tends to be more cutting-edge and enterprising, aggressive in developing new features.

04/18/2014 Update:

My Xubuntu upgrade from version 13.10 to version 14.04 functioned flawlessly and with minimal user interaction, making for a stress-free, calm and relaxing evening! In-place upgrade of an existing version is an awesome feature that makes the Ubuntu family more competitive against other Linux distributions. Never before have I seen as effortless an upgrade as tonight--certainly not in the Windows world, but not in the Linux world either.

On my second Xubuntu computer, I left the updater running overnight. When I checked on it the next morning, xscreensaver had frozen on a particular picture, and the computer was unresponsive. I powered the machine off, rebooted, and ran the updater again, and it picked up just where it had left off. Impressive! That shows that a significant amount of testing and refinement has gone into the installation and update process and reaffirms my confidence in Xubuntu.

I recommend Xubuntu to users fleeing the realm of Windows. Xubuntu is easy to use--no degree in computer science required! As a matter of fact, I maintain that Xubuntu is easier to use than Windows, because there is far, far less probability of picking up a malware infection in Xubuntu, for a lot of different reasons. Avoid the trojan-infested pirated copies of Windows and install a free, legal and open-source Linux distro instead.

I'm a Linux Evangelist

The idea of converting someone from Windows to Linux turns me on so much that I will practically do the work for free.

Well, not quite. But I charge very little. Someone called me up reporting a malware infection in their Windows computer, and they couldn't find their Windows installation disk. When that happens, rather than suggest that they call Microsoft or pay $75 - $100 for a new disk, I suggest switching over to Linux.

My reasoning is that first and foremost, Linux is safer. It is a secure operating system. Period. It is absolutely ideal for beginners and those who know nothing about technology. By setting someone up with Linux, I know they are much safer from the threat of malware infections, for which they have already demonstrated a vulnerability. To set them up with Windows again would simply be negligent, as though I didn't care what happened to them after collecting my fee. This is exactly what most techs do.

I certainly have an evangelical thread in my personality. I'm a Linux evangelist. I want to grow the Linux community. I want to bring in non-technical people, folks who have strengths in other areas. They should be using Linux. They should not be using Windows unless they really need it for a specific application.

My only concern is whether to suggest Xubuntu or SolydX. My personal preference leans toward SolydX, because Xubuntu 13.10 has seemed just a little bit flaky, and I really don't like the two-panel approach. I've also found that Xubuntu seems slow when it shouldn't feel slow, and reviews I've read have indicted the distro for bloat. Finally, SolydX offers the latest versions of applications, whereas Xubuntu offers applications from Granny's cupboard--a little on the stale side. For my own purposes, I prefer SolydX.

However, my personal preference does not mean that I think SolydX is right for everybody.

Xubuntu sends the user a regular stream of security updates, which I think might be reassuring to a beginner.  About once a week, I install updates on my Xubuntu rigs. Perhaps it is a placebo effect, but people are used to regular Windows updates, and I think the more similarity to Windows, the better. It is reassuring for an end user to think that their computer is getting help from a trusted outside source, that good programmers are looking after their computer and fixing things they may not even be aware need fixing. SolydX on the other hand only sends updates every three months. A new user might reasonably assume that the operating system is not being updated at all and that something is wrong.

I think that SolydX expects a little more technical competence on the part of the end user. Sometimes, when unexpected problems arise, it may be necessary to enter commands in the old-fashioned way. I'm used to that, but not everyone is, nor should I assume they want to learn. Xubuntu is nicely dumbed-down. It is designed with simplicity in mind, from the installation to the Software Manager and the automatic updates. The more conservative approach to application updates might actually be a good thing where beginners are concerned. Living on the cutting edge does, after all, invite the possibility of getting cut. I also love Xubuntu's close relation to Ubuntu. Canonical is a well-funded corporation with marketing muscle and certainly the largest footprint in the entire Linux community. One can't simply dismiss these advantages, because they are tremendous. A curious person could search Google and find tons of articles in the media, dating back many years, about Ubuntu and its cousin, Xubuntu. Such a person can also find a very well-populated user community. All this is very reassuring, particularly to someone new to Linux. For these reasons, with technical neophytes, I choose Xubuntu.

My Review of SolydX 201401

 

An Introduction to Solyd, the New Kid on the Block

Not long ago, Linux Mint offered a flavor known as Linux Mint Debian Xfce.. When Linux Mint discontinued this flavor, those developers and users that wished to keep it going forked from Linux Mint to create their own separate distro, SolydX. The same history applies to Solyd's other flavor, SolydK, forked from now-defunct Linux Mint Debian KDE.

SolydX and SolydK are both rolling releases, which means the user need only install the operating system once to receive automatic updates in a similar fashion as Windows. As in Windows, reboots may occasionally be necessary during updates. The rolling release model stands in contrast to default Ubuntu-based versions of Linux Mint, which require complete reinstallation to install a new version.

Solyd's Update Manager bears a striking resemblance to Linux Mint's Update Manager

Although Solyd users can point their update manager directly to Debian Testing, which is the ultimate source of all Solyd updates, the default configuration points the update manager to Solyd's own repository for a very good reason. Solyd developers test new updates before adding them to Solyd's repository. Updates that cause breakages are delayed or modified. This results in greater stability for the end user, hence the name "Solyd."

To install new software, a user can use either Solyd's Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager. I usually use the Software Manager, which is bug-free, unlike the one found in recent editions of Kubuntu and Xubuntu. Solyd's Software Manager works all the time, without reporting an internal error in a pop-up dialogue and asking the user for permission to transmit a detailed error report. Solyd's Software Manager also has some helpful user reviews, though I believe the reviews are now divorced from the pool provided by Ubuntu, and Linux Mint has its own separate pool as well. I would prefer that all the Linux distros pooled their review base, but I suppose competition interferes with efficiency in this area.

Solyd's Software Manager also resembles Linux Mint's

 

Why Choose Solyd over, say, Linux Mint or Xubuntu?

Do you want the latest versions of your applications? As of this writing, the latest version of Digikam in the 201401 edition of SolydX and SolydK is 3.5, whereas the very latest releases of Xubuntu and Linux Mint are limping along with version 3.3. Why care about the latest versions? Well, the updated version may have an important bug fix or a brand new feature that means a great deal to you. I don't see the point in waiting around for Ubuntu to finish their meditation on the meaning of life before I can get the latest edition of Digikam. Here's what Solyd offers me right now, today:

I don't wait around for Ubuntu before grabbing the latest copy of Digikam hot off the presses

Does your HTPC use VLC to watch movies? Then the latest version of VLC might be something you really care about. Right now, Xubuntu 13.10 is limping along with version 2.08 for no real reason other than they haven't gotten around to making a new release yet. Well, too bad. SolydX is ready with VLC version 2.12 Rincewind right now, today:

Do you play one of the most awesome games around for Linux, which is Wesnoth? Well, Wesnoth did release version 1.10.7 about two months prior to the release of Ubuntu version 13.10, but Ubuntu chose not to include it for whatever reason, possibly feature freeze or some such thing. SolydX offers 1.10.7, no question about it, no nonsense, it's right there in the repository, just grab it:

Solyd offers the latest stable of Wesnoth

There are other, esoteric reasons for preferring Solyd, for those that would rather their distribution shed some of the baggage that comes with a Ubuntu-based distro. I have yet to notice anything lacking in Solyd due to the absence of a Ubuntu base.

Why I Chose SolydX

Of the two flavors offered by Solyd, I opted for SolydX, which uses the light-as-a-mouse--hence the mascot--XFCE desktop environment. SolydX fit the bill for my $95 Thinkpad R61 laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of RAM. Why are these reliable Thinkpads that run Linux like a champ so darn cheap nowadays? I don't know. A better question may be, why do my good friends spend $500 on a brand new laptop just to run Windows 8? Alas, I don't know the answer to that, either.

The cousin of SolydX, SolydK, has its merits, too, and many people prefer its KDE desktop environment. I like the superb applications that tend to be included in KDE, such as K3b for burning DVDs and Digikam for managing photo collections. Dolphin is a pretty competent file manager, as well. I would recommend SolydK to anyone with a more powerful computer than mine.

Some people fear that the many excellent KDE applications may not work quite as well in an XFCE environment, but that's just not the case. I replaced a few of SolydX's application choices. I installed KDE applications Digikam, K3b, and Ktorrent and use them often. I've heard about Gnome's Transmission, which has many devoted fans, but Ktorrent is what I'm used to and it has never let me down.

Xfce boots fast, and that's important to me because I don't like waiting around. Another thing I like about Xfce is the file manager, Thunar, which fully supports time-saving custom actions.

I made a couple of changes to SolydX's desktop environment. The first of course was to the calendar. Everyone has their own preference, I suppose, but mine specifically is %R on %A, %B %d, %Y, and feel free to copy and paste that bit into your own desktop clock. I'm a diehard when it comes to military time. I don't see the need for the suffixes AM or PM and just want my time displayed in 24-hour format. AM and PM put me in mind of the Middle Ages and sundials.

The second change was to the wallpaper. I eliminated it. It's not really bad or anything, but I'm bothered that the computer has to load a .jpg file and keep it in memory just to fill up the screen. I want to bypass that load and shave a few milliseconds off the boot time. What I really like, anyway, is pure pitch black, or hex code #000000. A wallpaper would have to be awfully good to beat pitch black.

My Off button, a handy little time-saver, executes "/sbin/shutdown -Ph now"

In stark contrast to Xubuntu, SolydX has just a single panel. I use Xubuntu on two computers, but don't care for Xubuntu's two-panel approach, with one panel at the top of the screen and one panel at the bottom. A single panel will be most familiar to users of Windows, and I come from a Windows background.

Changes to SolydX and SolydK Introduced in 2014

Released on January 25th, 2014, the latest edition of SolydX and SolydK heralds an important strategic change. Going forward, the developers have wisely opted to change the update process from monthly to quarterly, which I think is better for both developers and users. Developers can spend more time adding features for the users and less time on the drudgery of updates, while users won't have to do massive downloads every month. A monthly update in my opinion may be too risky. There are thousands of different hardware configurations out there in the Linux user community, and every system can be a little bit different in one way or another. There is a lot that can go wrong, and not all problems can be foreseen. Limiting updates also mitigates risk. There is a golden balance that needs to be achieved between risk of breakage and enjoying up-to-date applications. In my opinion, either quarterly or even biannual updates offer the perfect balance. Either timeframe surpasses the Ubuntu family's nine-month schedule.

Summary

My laptop still uses the latest version of SolydX and I remain pleased with it. I have not encountered any problems and have enjoyed newer versions of applications that are not available on my Xubuntu-based computers.

At the moment, I only use Xubuntu and SolydX, both of which use the XFCE desktop environment. Xubuntu runs my workhorse computer and my HTPC, and SolydX runs my laptop, but I may introduce SolydX to the other computers in the future as I gain more confidence in it.

The only thing I miss in SolydX is the menu editor that is found in Settings in Xubuntu. However, it can be added to the Settings menu. XFCE's menu editor seems buggy, anyway, at least from my experience on Xubuntu, and that may be why the SolydX developers chose not to add it to the Settings menu.

What I really like about SolydX is having access to the latest and greatest applications and never having to reinstall. If that's important to you, too, then you should definitely look at this distro. Click here to visit their web site.

Age of Titans Works in Linux Under Wine

I was surprised to find that Age of the Titans, a classic Windows game, really does work in Linux using Wine. As far as I'm concerned, they just don't make video games like they used to. I'm a creature of habit and remain loyal to some of the old video games. Upon reflection, all the games I like are old. Chess is the oldest of them all, but Dungeon Crawl is certainly no spring chicken and is based on something even older, Rogue.

I have a purchased copy of both Age of Mythology and Age of the Titans. Like many charming old video games, they are available for peanuts on E-bay or Amazon. One can always purchase an old game for a fraction of the price of a new one. I think I bought my copies for about $5-15, tops, including shipping. Of course, I use some sort of No-CD patch in order to remove the copy protection, because I find the games virtually unplayable otherwise. I don't mind paying for software, but I can't be bothered shuffling a CD around, and copy protection also interferes with Wine on Linux.

I plan to burn a DVD with everything needed to install and enhance Age of the Titans. I think that will be a time-saver if I ever need to install it again, which I think is quite likely in the years to come.

I like to use a lot of enhancements from Age of Mythology Heaven. There are some very talented gamers in the world that have no problem developing enhancements for a game for free. I suppose I'm no different in that regard. There is a delight to be had in creation.

One of the problems in Linux has always been a lack of games, when compared to Windows, but Wine helps bridge that gap. I am pleased I won't have to keep a silly Windows XP system alive just to play a game.

Midori and Rekonq, Lightweight Subtitutes for Firefox

I used to wonder why Midori and Rekonq existed. That was before Firefox crashed on me while I was composing on Blogspot. Midori for Xfce and Rekonq for KDE are excellent browsers that can navigate hairy sites like Blogspot without breaking a sweat.

The most obvious missing element in Midori is the Home Page icon. Contemporary browser design suggests that home pages are falling out of fashion a bit. Mine has evolved over many years to be quite adept at saving me time. I require an icon to return to my home page at all times. In Midori, I found one can adjust settings by clicking the right-most icon resembling pen and paper. Then there is the simple matter of going to Preferences | Customizations and installing the "Toolbar Editor", which allows one to customize the toolbar in much the same way that Firefox does. I do the same thing in Firefox and Midori whenever I customize my browser.

Firefox gives short shrift to the home page. New tabs, by default, open a page with nine or more windows crammed together. The user is supposed to select one. The developers assume users want to visit pages they have recently visited. I don't know why anyone would be interested in looking at that mess. It is a very puzzling design choice. After installing Firefox, the first thing I always do is go to about:config and change the newtab page to be my home page. Thus creating a newtab is lightning-fast on my rig, and I can access the sites I really want, rather than what Firefox's primitive AI thinks I want. They may be making progress in the area of artificial intelligence, but I think during my lifetime I will know better than Firefox about which sites I want to visit.

SolydX Works For Me

After several attempts, I managed to install SolydX on one of my systems. I know now why my previous installation attempts failed. Solyd's installer didn't like my AMD/ATI kludge, an E-350 apu that uses the ATI video hardware. I do not have a good opinion of AMD/ATI due to overall poor support in Linux. I had a lot of different problems trying to install SolydX/K on the ATI system. Sometimes the installation completed all the way to the end, and then updates were downloaded, and the system was customized. Upon reboot, I restarted in grub rescue mode. Always I wound up putting Solyd aside and using something else instead. This is by no means an exclusive problem of Solyd's. Manjaro uses a strikingly similar installer and had the exact same problem. I believe Linux Mint Debian Edition has the same problem as well.

However, SolydX installed smooth as butter on my Intel-powered laptop, replacing Linux Mint 14 XFCE. As an aside, I think developers incur a certain risk by releasing a distro that becomes obsolete in a brief amount of time. At that point the user may reevaluate. I sure did. I'm not keen on the idea of reinstalling every nine months or so. Sorry, Linux Mint. You're great, you're wonderful, but I just don't want to bother with a reinstall in order to get the latest versions of my favorite applications.

In SolydX, as with all the Linux distros I've ever tried, there was no need to install any device drivers. Everything set up itself automatically. My laptop accesses wireless or ethernet Internet sources without any difficulty. Contrast this wonderful scenario with that of Windows. I was annoyed recently reading offensive forum messages in a forum stacked with Windows fan boys. They call Linux users "freetards" and claim that the only reason home users use Linux is because they're poor or cheap. Yes, the absence of cost is an important factor to me. However, Linux has a lot of other advantages, and to pretend that it doesn't is not very fair. Windows is good in some ways, such as software availability, but Linux can do a lot, including things that Windows can't do, and Linux is designed with security in mind, and continues to become more user-friendly as time goes on.

I've been pleased with how nice everything is in SolydX. It seems to have the advantages of Linux Mint, such as custom Thunar actions defined from the get-go, without the disadvantages, such as planned obsolescence and outdated software. I like the install-once and forget about it plan. I was pleased to see SolydX pull the latest Wesnoth and Digikam from its filtered Debian Testing repository. While SolydX pulls Digikam 3.5, the latest stable, Linux Mint 14 was only offering Digikam 3.3. I would recommend SolydX to anyone with Intel hardware, which is all I ever buy anymore.

Want to try Solyd (Xfce or Kde), a modern Linux distro? Visit the SolydXK web site.

All Linux Distros Have Value

I find merit in all Linux distros. Even if I do not use a distro, still there are often tips and tricks somewhere in that distro's forums or online documentation that may prove useful to me. For example, I often refer to the Arch Linux wiki, because their documentation, in my opinion, is the best in the Linux world. I don't know what kind of geniuses are writing on there, but they know what they are talking about.

Even so, I would like to get all the developers together working on one distro. One ring to rule them all, you see, and one ring to bind them. All this effort diffused into a hundred different directions is counter-productive. As the ants know, there is great virtue in teamwork. Learn to like one another, to share the glory, to cooperate rather than compete. Perhaps the same could be said to the nations of the world.

Xscreensaver Config for GLPhotoShow Slideshow

"Slideshow" can mean one of two things, the business version where one is presenting images to others, and the casual version, where one wants to view selections from an art collection. I use the latter. The best casual slideshow for Linux seems to be xscreensaver's GLPhotoShow hack, once it is configured properly, and so I use xscreensaver. Xubuntu plans to scrap xscreensaver in favor of something else in version 14.04 LTS. I will disable whatever they come up with and replace it with xscreensaver. Replacing xscreensaver seems to be common among desktops and distros. I don't know why. Developers could instead try to patch the tried and true. Xscreensaver's developer invites them to do so on his web site. Other screensavers seem to have a lot of problems, especially with the slideshow. But that is their problem, not mine, because whenever I install a Linux distro, the first thing I do is disable their problem, and install xscreensaver. So all of the work that Xubuntu plans  to do reinventing the wheel will not bother me in the slightest--but if it does, then I will abandon Xubuntu.

This config file for xscreensaver is the dope. It is the result of much experimentation and solves a couple of problems. Place it in /home as .xscreensaver to have GLPhotoShow behave as the fully-featured, no-nonsense, intelligent slideshow it was meant to be.

# XScreenSaver Preferences File
# Written by xscreensaver-demo 5.15 for igor on Tue Sep 20 11:21:31 2013.
# http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
#
# igor's version. http//techlorebyigor.blogspot.com/

timeout: 0:30:00
cycle: 0:10:00
lock: False
lockTimeout: 0:00:00
passwdTimeout: 0:00:30
visualID: default
installColormap: True
verbose: False
timestamp: False
splash: False
splashDuration: 0:00:05
demoCommand: xscreensaver-demo
prefsCommand: xscreensaver-demo -prefs
nice: 20
memoryLimit: 0
fade: False
unfade: False
fadeSeconds: 0:00:01
fadeTicks: 10
captureStderr: False
ignoreUninstalledPrograms:True
font: *-medium-r-*-140-*-m-*
dpmsEnabled: False
dpmsQuickOff: False
dpmsStandby: 2:00:00
dpmsSuspend: 2:00:00
dpmsOff: 4:00:00
grabDesktopImages: False
grabVideoFrames: False
chooseRandomImages: True
imageDirectory: /home/yourname/Pictures

mode: one
selected: 142

textMode: none
textLiteral: XScreenSaver
textFile:
textProgram: none
textURL: none

programs: \
- GL: glslideshow -root -delay 100000 -duration \
50 -zoom 100 -pan 1 -fade 1 \n\


pointerPollTime: 0:00:05
pointerHysteresis: 200
windowCreationTimeout:0:00:30
initialDelay: 0:00:00
GetViewPortIsFullOfLies:False
procInterrupts: True
xinputExtensionDev: False
overlayStderr: False


###############################################

I like to use XFCE as a desktop environment, and Thunar is the file manager in XFCE. One of the nicest things about Thunar that sets it above many other file managers is that one can easily configure complicated custom actions. I would like to see such a feature in KDE's Dolphin.

Configure a custom action in Thunar. Have it appear only for directories and audio files. The action should be "Play Music in VLC & Run Slideshow". The command is /bin/vlcs.sh %F. Executable permission may need to be set for that file. The contents of vlcs.sh are:

#!/bin/bash
vlc "$@" & sleep 8 && xscreensaver-command -activate

For movie files, the following custom action should be used:

vlc --play-and-stop %F

The configuration of VLC itself is complicated and highly dependent upon the system's resources. I always like to configure from scratch, in order to optimize the configuration for the particular hardware in use.

Xubuntu Bug: Open Word Documents with Archive Manager?

I finally found a bug in Xubuntu 13.10. Its default is to open Word documents with the Archive Manager, which makes about as much sense as elephants that fly. To fix Xubuntu, one must go to the Settings Manager, click on the anti-intuitive MIME Type Editor (No, not "Preferred Applications," because that would be too easy), enter "doc" in the search window, and change the wordprocessing types to be opened with AbiWord rather than Archive Manager. I spun my wheels a bit this morning, because I couldn't remember whether I had installed LibreOffice yet or not and kept looking for that. AbiWord seems to work well for my purposes however and I have no problem with it so far. Indeed, I may never need the power of LibreOffice, because my word processing needs are quite modest. I'm not one for fancy graphs and charts and graphics. I just wish that Xubuntu let AbiWord open Word documents, because I would rather read and edit what is in the Word document than examine the file types within the Word document.

Xubuntu > Kubuntu

I much prefer Xubuntu 13.10 over Kubuntu 13.10, because Xubuntu software updating just works as smooth as butter. I also like Xubuntu's default applications. If Xubuntu 14.04 LTS is at least as good as 13.10, then I plan to install Xubuntu on a second PC, my htpc, and possibly a third, my laptop. I am starting to wonder what KDE's desktop actually brings to the table other than bells and whistles--and occasional bugs and gotchas. The only KDE-based distro I like is Linux Mint KDE, because Linux Mint does everything exactly right, all of the time. The only downside to Linux Mint is the waiting period of 2-3 months after a Ubuntu release.

From Kubuntu to Xubuntu

I am happy I made the switch from Kubuntu 13.10 to Xubuntu 13.10. The problem with Kubuntu centered around the update process. I don't know why, but every program with a "Muon" noun in the title is buggy. My desktop got to the point where I had to disconnect the power cord from the back of the computer in order, not to stop Muon from spinning its wheels, but simply to turn the computer off. You see, Muon seizes control of the shutdown and restart commands and will not permit the user to power off until Eternity arrives, or is that Infinity? In other words, Kubuntu has decided in its infinite wisdom that the user does not need to control the computer. The user is irrelevant. Kubuntu is the supreme commander, not the human being, not I, a mere peon. Now, I begged to differ, since I am the one that actually purchased the computer in the first place. Perhaps I am impudent in the eyes of Kubuntu. I deleted Kubuntu from my system and searched for a replacement.

My first pick to replace Kubuntu was actually SolydX, because I admire one of the principals behind it, zerozero, who has helped me and many others on more than one occasion in the Linux Mint forums. However, to my dismay and bewilderment, SolydX/K does not work on my system and I do not know why. All I ever got was a terminal screen with "grub rescue" on it. Based on my reading, perhaps this has something to do with my motherboard's support of UEFI. I haven't the foggiest idea. I found a thread on the SolydXK forums that discussed the commands needed to recover, and after a brief stab at following the recommendations, I decided I did not want to bother with all of that jazz. If installation is so difficult, I can only imagine what maintenance will be like. Instead, I installed Xubuntu, which just worked, at least, after the second attempt at installation. So far, Xubuntu has been smooth and easy, although of all things in the KDE world, I do miss Dolphin.

Guake

Guake is an awesome idea--a terminal emulator for Linux that is activated by a keystroke and is transparent. At first glance, it seems so useful that every distro should include it by default. I often wish that Windows had such an innovation.

Review of Ekiga / DreamTime

I'm currently looking for a VOIP provider so that I can make inexpensive long distance phone calls from my computer. Ekiga is one of several VOIP clients available in Linux. I installed Ekiga, but did not get past the configuration Wizard. At step 5 of 9, I investigated setting up a Call Out service, which is my ultimate goal. Computer-to-computer calls are not very useful to me, because the convenience of telephones just can't be beat.

Ekiga's call-out service uses an outfit called DreamTime, which gives Ekiga's developers a decent ten percent of the take. I was willing at first to take a positive view of Ekiga and of DreamTime. However, to sign up, one has to agree to their Terms and Conditions, which seemed onerous:

"You shall not create, publish, distribute, or permit any written material that makes reference to DreamTime without first submitting such material to DreamTime and receiving its prior written consent..." "DreamTime, at its sole discretion, determines whether you are in violation of the User Agreement..." "Any violation of the User Agreement may result in locking of your user account..." "Any request for a refund will result in a minimum $50 research fee."

All of the above terms and conditions seem mean-spirited, written by a misanthrope. DreamTime is threatening to lock the accounts of any customer that dares complain about their quality of service, which they admit may be unpredictable at times. I think that their terms are of questionable legality. It would be interesting to see whether DreamTime could get away with confiscating the account of a customer that posted a negative review of their service. I think that DreamTime would lose that lawsuit, at least in the United States, based upon my limited understanding of business law. I also think that one of their customers could find recourse with the credit card companies or with Paypal, depending upon their method of payment. I am pleased to have read the Terms and Conditions, because now that I have, I know to uninstall Ekiga and not waste any more time with it. It is not a solution, but a potential problem that I don't need.