Rebecca's Linux Page

Red Trillium on Williams River in the rain

Some Linux Links

Open Source Accessibilty Software (September 7, 2005)

I've been on an Internet fact-finding mission, looking for anything that could make computer use easier for people with limited mobility and motor control. Of course, I always like to find open source and freely available solutions if possible. Here are some promising things I've found.

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The GIMP Links

I've been using the Linux flavor of the GIMP to prepare photographs for my Web pages. I don't really know how to use it, and I don't know the first thing about Photoshop, so I'm a completely naive user. In theory, this should make it easier, because I don't have to "unlearn" anything. In practice, however, I have some expectations based on my ancient experience with MacDraw, and I spent about a couple of hours last weekend trying to make a little arrow and paste it over the top of a photo. I couldn't do it. That was when I decided to actually learn the GIMP. Here are some links I found promising.

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Dr. Bootsie Grapples with RSS, Liferea, and Buzzwords (November 2, 2005)

I spent more time that I meant to recently reading about RSS, news aggregators and something called Web2.0, the "living Web." I've been using Amphetadesk, a news aggregator, on my Macintosh for quite a while, but I find myself doing more and more work on my Linux box, and I thought it might be interesting to try reading news there. That reader is fine, but when I checked their Website, I found the last update was made in 2002. I thought it might be worthwhile to try a new one in Linux-Land. Here are some RSS feed reader resources I found helpful.

The third item on the list linked to the author's Web presence, Personal webnode of Haiko Hebig. Here I found many fascinating things, and I expect this will become one of my "regular reads." I found his photographs of Endangered Machinery quite beautiful. I particularly enjoyed the article about Web 2.0 from Joel on Software - Friday, October 21, 2005. Joel on Software says:

I'm starting to see a new round of pure architecture astronautics: meaningless stringing-together of new economy buzzwords in an attempt to sound erudite....Now it's tagging and folksonomies and syndication, and we're all supposed to fall in line with the theory that cool new stuff like Google Maps, Wikipedia, and Del.icio.us are somehow bigger than the sum of their parts. The Long Tail! Attention Economy! Creative Commons! Peer production! Web 2.0!

I feel better already!

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My Linux History

Recent Linux History: 2005

May 23, 2005. I have a Kingston Digital Media flash memory stick, and I'd like to use it to tote home This Week in Tech podcasts. (These are slow to download on the dial-up connection at my house.) I discover an excellent Flash-Memory-HOWTO, and procede to follow the instructions.

1. I become "root,", and I find that everything I need is already installed and present on the Linux box....

hamlet:/proc# cd bus/
hamlet:/proc/bus# ls
pci usb
hamlet:/proc/bus# cd usb/
hamlet:/proc/bus/usb# ls
001 devices drivers

hamlet:/proc/bus/usb# more devices
T: Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
B: Alloc= 0/900 us ( 0%), #Int= 0, #Iso= 0
D: Ver= 1.00 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 0.00
S: Product=USB UHCI Root Hub
S: SerialNumber=ef80
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=40 MxPwr= 0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 8 Ivl=255ms

hamlet:/proc/bus/usb# mount
/dev/hdc1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/hdc9 on /home type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdc8 on /tmp type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdc5 on /usr type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdc6 on /var type ext3 (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)

hamlet:/proc/bus/usb# mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb
mount: none already mounted or /proc/bus/usb busy
mount: according to mtab, usbfs is already mounted on /proc/bus/usb

So, I go ahead and make a directory for the flash drive....

hamlet:/proc/bus/usb# mkdir -m 777 /mnt/memstick
hamlet:/proc/bus/usb# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/memstick
mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

hamlet:/# cd mnt
hamlet:/mnt# ls
memstick

hamlet:/mnt# cd memstick/
hamlet:/# mount
/dev/hdc1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/hdc9 on /home type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdc8 on /tmp type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdc5 on /usr type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdc6 on /var type ext3 (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)

hamlet:/# mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb
mount: none already mounted or /proc/bus/usb busy
mount: according to mtab, usbfs is already mounted on /proc/bus/usb
hamlet:/# ls -l /proc/bus/usb/
total 0
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2005-05-16 06:38 001
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-05-16 11:22 devices
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2005-05-16 11:22 drivers

hamlet:/# less proc/bus/usb/devices
hamlet:/# less /proc/scsi/usb-storage-0/1
hamlet:/# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/memstick
hamlet:/# ls /mnt/memstick/
hamlet:/# mkdir /mnt/memstick/TWIT

hamlet:/# cp /home/rebecca/Desktop/TWiT0005L.mp3 /mnt/memstick/TWIT
hamlet:/# ls /mnt/memstick/
twit
hamlet:/# ls /mnt/memstick/twit/
TWiT0005L.mp3
hamlet:/# umount /dev/sda1

Hey, it works!

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May 16, 2005. I installed Wine so I could run the "Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of North America" multimedia CD-thingy, but the program won't finish installing. I keep getting a message that a file is corrupted. Perhaps it's true.

Therefore, I've spent some time researching bird field guide software. It seems universally overpriced, marketed to computer-illiterates by computer illiterates, and the Web sites are seldom updated. Oh, it's all for Windows, too but none of the sites are specific about what Microsoft OS's will run these programs. Here's what the Thayer Birding Software people have to say about platform issues.

We have received reports that folks using Virtual PC for Mac...are able to make our version 3 CD-ROMs run....on...at least 256 MB of RAM. We do not offer any technical support to Mac users....We understand that some Mac users have strong emotional feelings when discussing PCs. We really don't care to debate anyone about the merits of Macs vs. PCs. However, we are not able to consider creating a Mac version of our software at this time. PC performance has improved drastically over the past few years and prices have plunged to under $600. If you are thinking about getting a new computer, you would be wise to buy from Dell. We strongly recommend Dell Computers.

OK, how did we get from operating systems to computer brands? I guess they are saying, "Dells are so cheap you should buy one just to run our software. When it gets full of viruses and spyware, you can just pick up another one." It doesn't say anything positive for Thayer's attitude toward the intelligence of their customers, does it?

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May 10, 2005. Ubuntu Linux disks (Hoary Hedgehog) come in the mail. I spend some time playing with the Live CD, but unfortunately, the computers where I had hoped to use it for demonstrations to the uninitiated all have too little memory for it to run successfully. Well, I'll continue to play with it. It's awfully nice of them to send out the disks for free.

May 2, 2005 The only program I miss from my (brief) days of running Windows is the "Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of North America" program. You could look up a bird, click on the picture, and hear the bird call. I used it exclusively to hear the bird calls, and lately I've been missing it.

I've been reading about Wine, off and on, for several years, and I decided to try it out.

1. First, I check it out, the Debian way:

rebecca@hamlet:~$ apt-cache show wine
Package: wine
Priority: optional
Section: otherosfs
Installed-Size: 2872
Maintainer: Ove Kaaven ovek@arcticnet.no
Architecture: i386
Version: 0.0.20050310-1.1
Replaces: libwine (<< 0.0.20010216)
Depends: debconf (>= 1.2.0), libwine (= 0.0.20050310-1.1), xbase-clients (>= 4.0) | xcontrib
Suggests: wine-doc, wine-utils, msttcorefonts, binfmt-support
Conflicts: binfmt-support (<< 1.1.2)
Filename: pool/main/w/wine/wine_0.0.20050310-1.1_i386.deb
Size: 1299330
MD5sum: 01640c62cacf149060c32da9aa901d68
Description: Windows Emulator (Binary Emulator)
This is an ALPHA release of Wine, the MS-Windows emulator. This is
still a developers release and many applications may still not work.
This package consists of the emulator program for running windows executables.
Wine is often updated.


2. OK, let's install it.

rebecca@hamlet:~$ su root

Password:

hamlet:/home/rebecca# apt-get install wine

Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
freeglut3 libglut3 libwine
Suggested packages:
wine-doc libwine-print wine-utils msttcorefonts binfmt-support
The following NEW packages will be installed:
freeglut3 libglut3 libwine wine
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 113 not upgraded.
Need to get 13.1MB of archives.
After unpacking 44.3MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

so I say "y" and it installs wine.

3. Then as rebecca I type

rebecca@hamlet:~$ wine

Wine called with no arguments.
Invoking /usr/lib/wine/wine.bin ...
wine: creating configuration directory '/home/rebecca/.wine'...
Xlib: extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0".
wine: '/home/rebecca/.wine' created successfully.
Wine 20050310
Usage: wine PROGRAM [ARGUMENTS...] Run the specified program
wine --help Display this help and exit
wine --version Output version information and exit

rebecca@hamlet:~$ wine -help

Invoking /usr/lib/wine/wine.bin -help ...
wine: cannot find '-help'
Wine failed with return code 1

4. But I get a little pop-up box that says I need to install winesetuptk. so I do, as root.

hamlet:/home/rebecca# apt-get install winesetuptk

Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
winesetuptk
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 113 not upgraded.
Need to get 840kB of archives.
After unpacking 4219kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 ftp://mirrors.kernel.org testing/main winesetuptk 0.7-1.1 [840kB]
Fetched 840kB in 6s (125kB/s)

5. Then, as rebecca, I say

rebecca@hamlet:~$ winesetup

and up pops a little "installer" type thing, sets up a bunch of files and defaults for me. Here's where the directories and files and things are:

rebecca@hamlet:~$ pwd
/home/rebecca
rebecca@hamlet:~$ ls .wine/
config dosdevices drive_c fake_windows system.reg userdef.reg user.reg
rebecca@hamlet:~$ ls .wine/drive_c/
My Documents Program Files windows

Now, where to put files? I have sol.exe (Windows solitare) on a floppy disk, and I type

rebecca@hamlet:~/.wine/drive_c/windows$ wine /media/floppy0/sol.exe

and it runs solitare!

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April 26, 2005. I made some hardware repairs to gertrude@elsinore.denmark and I installed the Afterstep windows manager. I've gotten comfortable with Icewm, and it works fine, but there are so many out there, I thought I should shop around a bit. AfterStep has a number of cool features. Like Icewm, though, it isn't possible to set up different user accounts, some using a left-handed mouse, others a right-handed mouse. (GET REFERENCES FOR THIS)

April 18, 2005. I finally figured out how apt-get update and apt-get distr-upgrade work. I used them on the Debian machines in my classroom with great success. What a wonderful way to keep the system up to date. My Linux box at home, however, is on a slow dial-up line. To complete the distr-upgrade would take 1 day, 13 hours.....Well, at least I can update programs individually on dial-up. Only 45 minutes for Mozilla, less for Bluefish.

April 11, 2005. I had installed the "bloatware" version of Debian Linux on macduff: I used the Sarge installer, and selected the option "Install Desktop System," and let it put on Gnome, KDE, and all sorts of games, playthings, and programs. This goes against my philosophy of "less is more" for computers, but I have been having fun playing with programs I did not know about. I have been enjoying Rhythmbox 0.8.8, (like iTunes on my Mac, but less annoying), Kjots, a note-keeping program, and especially Bluefish, an html editor. I had been writing html in Emacs, and it had been working fine. I still go back and forth between Emacs and Bluefish, because when I'm composing text, I don't like to use the mouse. However, the way Bluefish lets you insert images and anchors with those cool little drop down menus has really won my heart.

I've also been assessing the relative merits of OpenOffice and Abiword. They're both fine; I don't have a strong preference. Because I write all my drafts in Emacs, I probably won't develop a preference. Eventually, I'll have to use a word-processing program for a job--perhaps then I'll make a choice. A couple of years ago, I counted up the word processing, text-editing, and document-generating software I've used since 1976, when I first used a computer to generate a text document. I got to 24, before I quit counting. That was before I'd tried Abiword. There were always people who thought the program they used was the ONLY one that was any good. I haven't switched since I found Emacs, but I usually export the text and mark it up in the program du jour.

April 5, 2005. How I installed Linux cookbook, and how I will go about installing .deb files I get from places other than the Debian mirrors.

1. Downloaded the linuxcookbook.deb file from its source.

2. As root, I created a directory to keep such files: /root/debs

3. I moved the file:

hamlet:~/debs# mv /home/rebecca/Downloads/linuxcookbook_1.2-1_all.deb

3. I ran dpkg-scanpackages to "unpack" it:

hamlet:~/debs# dpkg-scanpackages ./ /dev/null | gzip - > ./Packages.gz

4. I added a line to the sources list for apt

hamlet:~/debs# echo "deb file:/root/debs ./" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

5. I updated:

hamlet:~/debs# apt-get update

6. I installed it:

hamlet:~/debs# apt-get install linuxcookbook

Cool, eh?

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April 4, 2005. I installed icewm on fortinbras, following the directions from linuxquestions.org. It's taking me a little while to learn my way around, but I'm liking it very well. It makes fortinbras, who only has 64 Mb RAM, hum right along, and he runs the same software I run on the newer boxes.

March 27, 2005. I add a slave hard drive to mcduff. Here's how I did it.

1. Set it to be a slave drive, by moving the jumper on the back. Plugged in the power and cable, closed the case up. Booted up, hit F1 for set-up, the BIOS recognized hdb, yeah! I got some of this information from http://linux.ncl.ac.uk/format/

2. Become root

# umount /dev/hdb1

# fdisk /dev/hdb

3. This is an interactive program, where we edit the partition table on the disk. Create a new primary partition (hdb1) and set the size to be the whole disk, then write the changes to disk and exit.

4. Now we format the partition as ext3:

# /sbin/mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -j /dev/hdd1

(This is where stuff on hdb gets erased.)

5. Now we make a place to mount dev/hdb1:

# mkdir /mnt/storage

# mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/storage

We're in business!

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6. Now, to automount hdb1 at startup, add a line (as root) to the fstab file. (I used Emacs, so I have a nice little ~fstab to remind me of the changes I've made.

rebecca@macduff:~/WebDev/adult_ed$ more /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# file system mount point type options dump pass
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /mnt/storage ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

7. Now, make some user-writable places in the /mnt/storage directory:

# cd /mnt/storage

# mkdir Music chown rebecca Music

# mkdir Pictures chown rebecca Pictures

And we're in business!

March 23, 2005. I have installed Debian Sarge on a Gateway Solo 2500 that was donated to the local school system by a school of mining. A very helpful feature of Gateway's web site is its "Support" page. If you have an old Gateway machine, you can enter its serial number and retrieve its original shipping date, warranty information, and a lot of detail about its original components. This has been very helpful for installing Linux on the desktop machines in my classroom, and I've used it with the laptop to figure out the non-obvious solution to getting sound to work.

The Gateway site told me my sound chip was "NeoMagic NMA 2; 16 bit stereo audio, built-in OPL3 (FM synthesiser), built-in 3D enhanced controller; full duplex operation with two DMA channels; supports Sound Blaster and Sound Blaster Pro Game playback compatibility." So I installed the sound modules ac97, for the Neomagic 256AV/256ZX sound chip, and sblib and sb for SoundBlaster support; soundcore soundcard support; sound OSS modules; uart401 Yamaha OPL3-SA1 audio controller. Selecting the ac97 and sb modules seemed to automatically select the other modules.

With this installed, and with the appropriate settings for Sound Preferences on the Gnome Desktop, I am able to use the Gnome CD Player and cdcd (a command line cd-player) to play audio CD's in the CD-ROM drive. It works! I have tunes!

However, Audacity and XMMS do not work as well with .mp3 files or .wav files. Audacity (Version 1.2.3) successfully launches files, but gives the error message "Error while opening sound device. Please check the output device settings and the sample output rate." XMMS, on the other hand, begins to play the files, but they "skip" like old vinyl records with scratches. That is, bits of the tune drop out.

I've been reading about this, but I remain confused. I've been able to get the sound functional this far, but no farther.

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March 7, 2005. I start installing Debian on everything at work that will hold still long enough. With a broadband connection, I am able to install via ftp, which is a lot more fun than juggling Cd's. I learn all kinds of cool, cool things.

March 5 and 6, 2005. I'm so excited about Debian that I run upstairs and install it on macduff, heedlessly blowing away the quite essential Mandrake Linux I've been using for years now. I install, screw up, reinstall, and repeat. I learn a lot about Debian, and quite a bit about Linux. The installation I leave on the machine is Debian's own "bloat-ware" version. I selected the "Desktop" option in the Sarge installer, and let it load me up with what it thought I might want. I have Gnome and KDE, all sorts of software I've never seen before. This will be fun to play with. Also, although it's a large chunk of software, it isn't dragging down the performance of my Pentium II box with 128 Mb RAM the way Mandrake 10.1 does on the 128 Mb RAM machine at work. Hmmmm.

March 4, 2005. My new Debian Sarge Cd's come in the mail. I immediately install it onto the donated laptop. I play with it, break it, reinstall it, etc. I am really excited.

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February 28, 2005. Some old laptops appear in my classroom. They have been donated to the school system by a technical school, where someone clue-fully and lawfully deleted the operating systems before sending them out. I install Mandrake 9.0 on one of them. After a couple of tries, I get it to work, albeit very sluggishly. I bring it home to tweak it some more.

February 26, 2005. I order the Debian testing release, "Sarge" from DebianVendor.org. I was afraid to try it a couple of years ago, but Sarge has a new installer that is supposed to be easy to use, and I am impressed with all the documentation and on-line help available. Plus, it's got the GNU Software Foundation stamp of approval. As a non-commercial version, Debian updates less frequently, and doesn't have the "Microsoft bloat-ware" effect of requiring ever more powerful computers for the latest release, as Mandrake 10.1 has done to me.

February 10-16, 2005. I screw my courage to the sticking point, put the Mandrake 10.1 disk in the CD ROM drive of macduff, at home, and boot up. At least, I try to boot up. Imagine my disappointment when macduff won't read the CD. I make a copy of the disk on macbeth; no luck. I go to work, borrow a computer, make a copy of the disk, and download a new ISO, burn it, and take them home. No luck. Reading LinuxQuestions forums, I discover this is not a unique problem. Macduff's CD ROM is "too old" to read Mandrake 10.1. I decide to go shopping again, for a new distro.

January 31, 2005. First day of GED classes; I install Mandrake 10.1 on my least favorite machine. I discover that Mandrake 10.1 won't run on a machine with 64 Mb RAM. This is unfortunate, because that is all most of these machines have. I try it in various configurations on various machines. I keep it on gertrude, which has 128 Mb RAM, but go back to Mandrake 9.0 on the rest.

January 3, 2005. The Mandrake 10.1 disks come in the mail. I am too chicken to install it on my machine at home without a test drive on a less essential box at work.

December 27, 2005. I decide to order Mandrake 10.1 installation disks from CheapBites. I'm pretty sure I won't need the book or the email support, and I want to test it out before I spend serious bucks for it.

November 22, 2004. I have used the Linux machine a lot, especially for "real work" like data analysis, web page development, long text projects, etc. However, it is clear that I need to update my OS, and most of the open source software that I use regularly. I've had no luck at all updating using my dial-up modem and the URPMI/RPMDrake system either at home or at work. I begin shopping.

September 5, 2004. Over the summer, several of the Windows machines in my GED classroom have been converted into paperweights by viruses introduced by unauthorized users. I don't have a budget for maintenance, or system restoration disks for the Microsoft products. I bring in my Mandrake 9.0 disks and install it on four machines. Functional equipment ensues. Turns out, my workplace has a peppy broadband connection. I never knew it was fast.

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My Ancient Linux History

April 15, 2003. I install the Ethernet card, plug the Pentium box (henceforth known as macduff) into the eMac (henceforth known as macbeth) and presto! it's a LAN! (Well, OK, I spend days reading about packets and protocols and IP addresses. Not so presto, really. Still, I am amazed when I get it to work, and I know a lot more about networks than I did before.) Now I can ssh into macduff and kill offending processes that are making XWindow freeze. I can also swap files back and forth between macbeth and macduff. This turns out to be really useful.

March 15, 2003. I install Mandrake Linux 9.0 on my Pentium II box. It works almost flawlessly out of the box. I have a little trouble setting up the modem, and KDE makes XWindow freeze. I switch to Gnome, and order an Ethernet card.

February 1, 2003. After three months, I am still unable to give away my Pentium II box. I decide to shop for a new version of Linux. I hear that Mandrake Linux is easy to install, and is very good at recognizing hardware. I order the Official version, complete with the little book and 60 days e-mail support. It takes six weeks to come in the mail. (The Mandrake people apologize profusely.)

December 6, 2002. The eMac arrives in a snow storm. (Well, actually, in a UPS truck in a snow storm.) The UPS man leaves it down the mountain at the Hillsboro library. We dig out the four-wheel drive truck to go get it. I take it out of the box, plug it in, turn it on, and up comes that excessively groovy Mac interface. I open a terminal window, and it says, "Welcome to Darwin!" It's a command line! There's sed, and awk, and grep, and Emacs! A Unix file system! I don't have to wonder where the GUI programs have stuck my files anymore! Eventually, I even develop a fondness for some of the Macintosh GUI-ness.

November 29, 2002. I have #$%^*%$!! had it with Windows. After a year of hanging at shutdown, Windows98 is now hanging at start-up. I boot the machine in safe mode one last time, go to Apple, get out my credit card, and order up an eMac with OSX. It's supposed to be a Unix-like OS, and the machine's name sounds a lot like Emacs. Surely that is a good sign. I turn off the Pentium box and stick it in the corner.

May, 1999. I buy the update package for Windows 98 and install it. By now I have quit my job at a Unix shop, and this is now my only computer. I still have not got the right driver for my modem or scanner. I find myself using Windows more than Linux. I am not enjoying my computing experience as much as I used to.

June, 1998. I buy a speedy Pentium II (400 MHz) box with Windows 95 on it. I pick up a copy of Red Hat Linux at Best Buy and go merrily home to set up a dual boot machine. Nothing works as I had hoped but after several days I get both systems running, after a fashion. Because my machine has fairly new hardware, the Red Hat installer doesn't recognize much of it, and I have to track it down "manually." However, Windows gives me much more trouble. It's our first Windows experience, and we hates it, don't we, Precious?

February, 1994. I first hear of Linux. I get excited at the idea of my own personal Unix workstation at home, but I find out that my stand-alone 386 DOS box is not a good candidate for an install. Also, it sounds like there is a steep learning curve, and I don't really have leisure to learn it.

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