Advise: before you switch to Linux

I'm pretty sure that I will stick with Linux from now on. I have had some problems on the way, but now I feel quite comfortable with my 'new' computer.

I'll give you a few advises before you decide to switch:
Find out witch programs you actually use on your computer. Do it very accurate, for example by making notes about it every day for about two weeks. Then, put priority on the applications. How often you use the programs and how important they are for you.

Also have in mind that some services on the Internet like homebanking and online shopping might be a problem. Not all banks and webshops actually accepts any other browser than Internet Explorer. Sad, but true.

Now find out if your most important applications exists for Linux. Many free software are actually available on many platforms. The applications that doesn't work on Linux must be replaced by alternatives. Do some research on the Internet about alternatives. If you for instance use MSN you can easily transfer your account to another application called Pidgin. It's just a question of finding the alternatives.

If you need help to find the best alternatives, don't mind asking questions. There are many people willing to help you. Search the internet and ask questions on forums and in communities.

A good database with 'alternative' applications:
http://www.osalt.com/

Another article about switching to Linux:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/switching-windows-linux-3-easy-steps

Good luck.

Networking sucks

Can anyone explain this to me ?
Every time I start using the internet from my Ubuntu Linux thing, my wife starts making funny noises.

It's true. I checked the manual (spoke to my father-in-law !) She's alright.

The Wireless network gets totally overloaded when I start my browser.

Half the time my netcard is Idle, but the router is still working so hard that it makes my wife say §@$¤£~!

When I decided to install Linux I knew I would face some serious trouble. You know, all the things they are writing articles about on the internet. But I seriously never expected to hear funny noises from mrs. caused by this.

It's a Jensen of Scandinavia Air Ling WBR 6954 with firmware v1.4.3.C

Episode 5: Finally success

Finally I got the developer version of openOffice.org 3.0 installed. I used

dpkg -i -–force-overwrite [path to install packages]/openoffice.org*.deb

The desktop integration thing doesn't work (multiple errors) so I'll just add the applications to the menu manually.

Thanks to all.

Linux: Episode 4

I ust admit that most of this episode actually took place in the garden. It was 23 degrees Celsius and the sun was shining. Sorry, but I just had to do something in the garden.

Nevertheless I tried some of the fine advice from you - the readers. Alexander Colorado suggested sudo dpkg -i folder/to/openoffice3.0/* but that didn't work. Result: -bash: ooobasis3.0-base_3.0.0-3_i386.deb: No such file or directory. And what do I know about that ? Nothing.

An Anonymous Danish reader suggested me to add a few lines to /etc/apt/sources.list from https://launchpad.net/~openoffice-pkgs/+archive
but that didn't work either.

Is it really that difficult to add new software ?

Never mind. I'll figure it out somehow - some day!

Thanks for all the comments. I really feel that I'm not alone.

My Linux: Episode 3

Am I tired ?

Guess.

I have spent all day trying to get my old e-mail store (inbox, folders, accounts, mail rules etc.) moved from my old Windows XP machine to Ubuntu Linux.

• I think I'we got all the extensions installed now
• I created the POP3 account manually
• I managed to move the inbox and all local folders. The file structure is not exactly the same, so I spent about two hours figuring that out
• I think I'll create new mail rules over the next couple of weeks

I also wanted to upgrade OpenOffice.org 2.4 to 3.0 (developer snapshot). I didn't succeed that one :-( I still can't figure out how to install packages manually. I think that root thing in a terminal window is rather tricky. Is it surposed to be that difficult ?

Oh, and I also got my Pidgin configured with some of my chat accounts.

Think I'll turn in now. It's been a long day. For Tux and me ;-)

My life with Linux: Episode 2

• The wireless internet connection is very slow. I had some problems that the encryption code for my network was lost during restart. Somehow it seems to work now.
• Sound card works fine now. I just needed to turn it up. -I can even hear radio over the radio (despite the slow connection)
  
• My documents is transfered using an USB-stick with no problems
• Firefox bookmarks transfered using the backup/restore function in Firefox - nice
  
• Homebanking works now after I installed a JRE-plugin for Firefox (wonder why this wasn't done by default?)
• I tried to transfer my complete mail store from the XP-machine by copying the Firefox folder to /etc/firfox. It didn't work. I'll need to find another way.

My new life with Linux.Episode 1

Intallation went fine. It took no more than about 20 minutes to install the CD on my new (old) laptop.

Wireless internet connection is up running
Danish keyboard is working fine
Sound card is not working (yet)

Right now running update manager (107 updates).

Finally I got the guts: Linux

I have been thinking about this for a long time. As an open source evangalist I should try to use something else than MS XP. Today I decided to try.

I'm what you could call an advanced PC user today. I fele happy about Windows XP and I feel comfortable with it. My son has a laptop running Vista and I have made a decission: I will never allow Vista to install on my computer. It's just to much.... to much.

I got a new (old) laptop and I decided to find out if I can make it work with Linux.

I downloaded the ISO from www.ubuntu.org and it's installing right now. I'm very exited to learn how everything will do in the next few hours.

Will I get access to the Internet ?
Will I get all the drivers right ?
What about all the applications I need ?
Will I be able to exchange files with my friends ?

Stay tuned. I'll tell you all about my experiences.

If you try to keep up with average, you will never get ahead

Bob Sutor spoke on LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco yesterday.You can find the presentation on Bobs blog here: http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=2446 .

One of the issues Bob spoke about, was the problem that open source development has been trying to 'keep up' with Microsoft for about a decade. 'The open source community cannot continue to copy a ten year old operating system' he said.

Of cause this is true and many people has joined the discussion and most agree with Bob on this issue (See discussion below this article: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.version2.dk%2Fartikel%2F8082&hl=da&ie=UTF8&sl=da&tl=en ). As long as we try to keep up with someone else, we will never get ahead.

But I also must add that this is not the whole truth. If it was that easy it would be a matter of months before we could beat Microsoft and kick Windows out.

Why ?

People in open source communities are not average people. Most people in these communities are working in IT related positions and so we have technical skills and we are willing to do experiments. How dangerous can it be ? We are able to fix any problems our selves.

Because Mr. and Mrs. Average don't like changes.

One of the most difficult issues when a company changes to OpenOffice.org is the people and feelings. When average people see a new computersystem they will feel unsecure and threatened.

Therefore we need to get ahead without scaring the users.

How can we do that ?

We must admit that Micrososft did something well. They must have done. Microsoft created a computersystem that Mr. and Mrs Average actually learned how to use. We must identify what is good about Windows and MS Office.

Linux also has many advantages. On specific details Microsoft is actually years behind. Just think about perfomance, security and so on and so forth.

My issue is: Nothing is black and white. Nor is this discussion. We must find a balance between the known and the future. And we must do better than Microsoft. We have one very big advantage: The communities are the customers. Microsoft obviously has some problems knowing what their customers are asking for. Just think about the fact that Microsoft for several years claimed that customers didn't ask for ODF-support and how Microsoft has to push and push to get Vista over the counter.

Lotus Symphony Linux Beta Review

This review of IBM Lotus Symphony on Linux http://polishlinux.org/apps/openofficeorg/lotus-symphony-linux-beta-review/ by Borys Musielak is actually quite positive:

Lotus Symphony is a really interesting initiative. There’s a great need of competition on the office suites (especially those that support the ODF format) market.

The positive outcome of the document support issue surprised me:

Testing results were quite positive for Lotus (it was a little surprise for me). Lotus viewed most of the tested documents (text documents and presentations) correctly. Documents had a little visual differences, but — and this is crucial for me — files created using Writer and then saved in Lotus, were identical after reopening them on OpenOffice Writer.

There is, on the other hand also some negative things:

In comparison to KOffice or Abiword (both can compete with OO.org on the efficiency and better graphical environments like GNOME and KDE cooperation fields) Lotus Symphony has nothing to impress us (except of few little functions).

13 reasons why Linux should be on your desktop

I just fell over this article by Kim Brebach (Oct. 16, 2007). The article is a summary of, how and why you should consider Linux a serious alternative to Microsoft Windows. http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT5836989728.html. Specially now, that it can be difficult to avoid an operating system that is defect and you actually don't want to use (Vista).

The article is specially relevant now, that Ubuntu has released 7.10.

Progress in Denmark

The last few days shown a few interesting news.

The Danish Government has made an agreement with Danish Municipals ( http://www.kl.dk ) and Danish Regions ( http://www.regioner.dk ) about how open standards should be implemented in the public sector. This press release is in Danish:
http://videnskabsministeriet.dk/site/forside/nyheder/pressemeddelelser/2007/bred-aftale-om-aabne-standarder
My own unofficial translation here.
A lot of details about the implementation has been published here: http://videnskabsministeriet.dk/site/forside/nyheder/Aktuelle-temaer/aabne-standarder/bilag e.g. these manuals for the offices: http://www.oio.dk/aabnestandarderforsoftware .

The Minister of finance has been asked to reveal how much the Danish state is paying Microsoft each year ( http://www.computerworld.dk/art/41817 ). The Minister (Thor Pedersen) claims that these numbers is impossible to collect. This is rubbish, because the sate has a centralized purchase of software licenses.

Several Members of the Danish Parliament wants to liberate the scholar system from Microsoft monopoly. Microsoft is offering a 70% discount to schools and universities but despite that, the bill is too high. And the MP know that monopoly in schools will keep the Microsoft monopoly in the rest of the country, both public and private sector. http://www.computerworld.dk/art/41789
The reason for this discussion is an article ( http://www.computerworld.dk/art/41785 ) that covers the fact that using Linux in the schools is more expensive than Windows. But the actual cause for that fact is, that Linux support is very expensive today. Why ? Because not many customers are using it. If the schools could gather together and collaborate about a common solution and establish a support center, it would be much cheaper.

What is nearly grotesque is that the agreement between the government and the Danish Municipals specifically mentions schools, hospitals and public libraries as not covered by the agreement. So what is it worth, when my children don't get the opportunity to learn about OpenOffice.org and open standards at school. They will end up as Microsoft users just like the previous generation. When they get on the job market, they will ask for Microsoft applications.

Sorry that all my references are in Danish. I'll try to find some time to translate to English one of these days.