Moley's Musings
I'm concerned with aspects of freedom, choice, respect, courtesy and consideration. This is obvious from my contributions. I also believe in the value of common sense.
Friday 17 April 2009, 4:25 PM
Ubuntu Netbook Remix woes
For the first time since I bought my Lenovo S10e and Installed Win7 and Ubuntu I have been experiencing issues. However, today, in the new page for the Ubuntu 9.04 Release Candidate, I think the issue has been identified.
In my first two attempts to re-install the Beta of UNR 9.04, I elected to use the Ext4 file system and was twice locked out of my system and had to go through the laborious process of restoring my hard drive from an earlier image. I thought perhaps the problem was with hibernation or the QGrubEditor programme.
Note that imaging a Netbook is a very slow exercise.
In my third attempt to re-install the Beta of UNR, I decided to revert to the Ext3 file system and not use QGRUBEditor or to try hibernating, and all has remained satisfactory.
Quote from Ubuntu
"Switching to ext4 requires manually updating grub
If you choose to upgrade your / or /boot filesystem in place from ext2 or ext3 to ext4 (as documented on the ext4 wiki), then you must also use the grub-install command after upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 to reinstall your boot loader. If you do not do this, then the version of GRUB installed in your boot sector will not be able to read the kernel from the ext4 filesystem and your system will fail to boot."
So I guess all my woes were caused by not doing 'grub-install' after the installation since Grub was already installed on my system. However, I'm reluctant to try to hibernate again because it is too time consuming to recover. The same goes for adopting Ext4 at this time.
Yet I'm not sure that I have really identified cause of my woes.
Another irritation with my Netbook is a recent tendency of the keyboard to fail initiate at boot or reboot time. I have installed the latest bios in the hope that this will resolve the issue - otherwise it'll be a warranty issue. Time will tell.
In my first two attempts to re-install the Beta of UNR 9.04, I elected to use the Ext4 file system and was twice locked out of my system and had to go through the laborious process of restoring my hard drive from an earlier image. I thought perhaps the problem was with hibernation or the QGrubEditor programme.
Note that imaging a Netbook is a very slow exercise.
In my third attempt to re-install the Beta of UNR, I decided to revert to the Ext3 file system and not use QGRUBEditor or to try hibernating, and all has remained satisfactory.
Quote from Ubuntu
"Switching to ext4 requires manually updating grub
If you choose to upgrade your / or /boot filesystem in place from ext2 or ext3 to ext4 (as documented on the ext4 wiki), then you must also use the grub-install command after upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 to reinstall your boot loader. If you do not do this, then the version of GRUB installed in your boot sector will not be able to read the kernel from the ext4 filesystem and your system will fail to boot."
So I guess all my woes were caused by not doing 'grub-install' after the installation since Grub was already installed on my system. However, I'm reluctant to try to hibernate again because it is too time consuming to recover. The same goes for adopting Ext4 at this time.
Yet I'm not sure that I have really identified cause of my woes.
Another irritation with my Netbook is a recent tendency of the keyboard to fail initiate at boot or reboot time. I have installed the latest bios in the hope that this will resolve the issue - otherwise it'll be a warranty issue. Time will tell.
Wednesday 3 December 2008, 9:52 PM
EIOffice Competitive Upgrade
Evermore Software (www.evermoresw.com) is currently offering EIOffice as a competitive upgrade at only $14.95 + VAT for the Personal Edition, both Windows and Linux versions are included in the download. I installed it last night and found it very nice to use and so much faster than OpenOffice. At the introductory price it's surely worth a try.
EIOffice has been around for about 6 years but the current version, EIOffice 2009, is considerably more attractive. So far as I understand it is fully compatible with all MS formats and the ODF, in addition to the alternative Chinese Standard. An interesting description can be found under Press Releases on the Evermore site.
I haven't yet had time to use it seriously, to see what it can and cannot do, so I will hope to report back in a few days. Meantime I can say it opens and displays my MS files faultlessly in a Windows environment.
EIOffice has been developed by the Wuxi Corporation in China and, I believe, is strongly supported by the Chinese Government. It would be nice if it could provide some more genuine choice and competition to M$ Office
EIOffice has been around for about 6 years but the current version, EIOffice 2009, is considerably more attractive. So far as I understand it is fully compatible with all MS formats and the ODF, in addition to the alternative Chinese Standard. An interesting description can be found under Press Releases on the Evermore site.
I haven't yet had time to use it seriously, to see what it can and cannot do, so I will hope to report back in a few days. Meantime I can say it opens and displays my MS files faultlessly in a Windows environment.
EIOffice has been developed by the Wuxi Corporation in China and, I believe, is strongly supported by the Chinese Government. It would be nice if it could provide some more genuine choice and competition to M$ Office
Tuesday 1 July 2008, 2:59 PM
A new twist - NBC online Olympic coverage for Vista only
I just picked up this bit of news. NBC are partnering with M$ to provide full online coverage of the Olymic Games in Beijing this summer but, wait for it, only for Windows Vista users. Windows XP and earlier are excluded, as are Mac and Linux users.
If this is tied in to the Media Centre, then it's only Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate that will provide coverage. If not then are we looking at something a little more sinister and deliberate to force Vista sales by optimising for Vista only.
So it appears that the usual strong arm tactics of a convicted monopolist may still be alive and well, and indeed flourishing. Or am I wrong and that it's only Vista's technology that can actually deliver?
If this is tied in to the Media Centre, then it's only Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate that will provide coverage. If not then are we looking at something a little more sinister and deliberate to force Vista sales by optimising for Vista only.
So it appears that the usual strong arm tactics of a convicted monopolist may still be alive and well, and indeed flourishing. Or am I wrong and that it's only Vista's technology that can actually deliver?
Thursday 26 June 2008, 12:04 AM
File Sharing
Recently, I have read a number of items about file sharing, both here and elsewhere.
When I became aware of file sharing of copyright material, before even the wide spread adoption of broadband, I could not understand why this could not be stopped. I was worried about the impact it would have on our freedoms and choices on the Internet in the longer term, in particular, such impact on those of us (the majority) not file sharing illegally.
To me it seemed that the facilitation of illegal sharing of copyright material fell into the classification of "accessory before (and/or after) the fact", and therefore there were already legal ways of proceeding and enforcement.
Contrary to current trends, I do not consider that it is the job of private organisations to pursue and prosecute infringements. This is the job of the Police, Prosecution Services and subsequently The Courts. Neither is it the job of ISP's, except when under instruction from the correct authorities.
To me the solution was simple. Identify the individuals/organisations making available and facilitating/encouraging the sharing of copyright material and either shut them down or instruct the ISP's to block their traffic. Subsequently only hold ISP's responsible for failure to comply with court instructions.
Now we blame the grannies and the children, when we should have blamed and prosecuted (where possible) the big players deliberately flouting reasonable interpretation of law with spurious arguments regarding 'freedom', when in fact the consequences will be massive infringement of everyone's genuine freedoms.
Of course, the entertainment industry has been far too slow to move with the times and adopt new technologies. Now illegal file sharing has become so prolific and embedded in the culture, out of control so to speak, that only draconian measures, affecting everyone, might stop it. In effect, another step towards the Big Brother society.
I 'fix' computers, mostly family or young people's computers, when these have got in a mess and no longer work properly. The amount of 'shared' music and video on these computers is staggering, much of it just copied/downloaded for the sake of it.
What troubles me here, and in society as a whole, is the loss of the moral imperative, the knowledge of right and wrong, which will inevitably lead to increasing legislation and technical control, again leading us towards the Big Brother society. The technology to enable and support this is already developing at a rapid rate.
If it's not too late, it's time to get the law working for us properly and to restore the basic values which make for a good society. I know that didn't work for John Major and he got pilloried for the attempt, but how much more relevant is it now?
When I became aware of file sharing of copyright material, before even the wide spread adoption of broadband, I could not understand why this could not be stopped. I was worried about the impact it would have on our freedoms and choices on the Internet in the longer term, in particular, such impact on those of us (the majority) not file sharing illegally.
To me it seemed that the facilitation of illegal sharing of copyright material fell into the classification of "accessory before (and/or after) the fact", and therefore there were already legal ways of proceeding and enforcement.
Contrary to current trends, I do not consider that it is the job of private organisations to pursue and prosecute infringements. This is the job of the Police, Prosecution Services and subsequently The Courts. Neither is it the job of ISP's, except when under instruction from the correct authorities.
To me the solution was simple. Identify the individuals/organisations making available and facilitating/encouraging the sharing of copyright material and either shut them down or instruct the ISP's to block their traffic. Subsequently only hold ISP's responsible for failure to comply with court instructions.
Now we blame the grannies and the children, when we should have blamed and prosecuted (where possible) the big players deliberately flouting reasonable interpretation of law with spurious arguments regarding 'freedom', when in fact the consequences will be massive infringement of everyone's genuine freedoms.
Of course, the entertainment industry has been far too slow to move with the times and adopt new technologies. Now illegal file sharing has become so prolific and embedded in the culture, out of control so to speak, that only draconian measures, affecting everyone, might stop it. In effect, another step towards the Big Brother society.
I 'fix' computers, mostly family or young people's computers, when these have got in a mess and no longer work properly. The amount of 'shared' music and video on these computers is staggering, much of it just copied/downloaded for the sake of it.
What troubles me here, and in society as a whole, is the loss of the moral imperative, the knowledge of right and wrong, which will inevitably lead to increasing legislation and technical control, again leading us towards the Big Brother society. The technology to enable and support this is already developing at a rapid rate.
If it's not too late, it's time to get the law working for us properly and to restore the basic values which make for a good society. I know that didn't work for John Major and he got pilloried for the attempt, but how much more relevant is it now?
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