The music player Banshee boasted a host of features that seemed to bring multimedia functionality in Linux up to what the rest of the world merely expected: a winamp clone.
OK: so here goes:
Banshee will not run from the Applications menu until it is run from the command line at least once. Even in Banshee's documentation, this gotcha is not made clear.
Even so, just dropping to console and using "start banshee" "banshee start" or just "banshee" is not good enough.
The way to run banshee from console is to login as root and use the command "banshee-1". It took an hour of combing forums to find this out.
It took Banshee three crashes and 15 minutes to start the first time. The only way to know Banshee had crashed was if you happened to have to console still up so you could see the error messages. Otherwise, you would just sit there and wait, as you have become accustomed to doing.
After getting it to run once, you quit and try the launcher. Banshee stalls, then explodes, like a grenade with a five second fuse. X goes down like a prom queen, ctrl-alt-esc results in scrambled video, and a reboot reveals that your entire partition is trashed -- Fedora reports there is no ext3 partition and dies.
I know I should just report this and ask nicely for help. But what good will that do if clear instructions never existed to begin with? How will I ever know if it was a problem with me, or the program, or both? And that took hours to sort out. Why would I want to subject myself to that? And what good are forums if it takes hours to find the somplest of answers?
I'm ranting now, but this is terrible. Do Not Want!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Linux Wall Part 2: A Flip-Flop
Earlier, I said one thing that made me happy about Linux is that things just work. I feel a need to qualify this: The things that work work perfectly. The things that don't work exist on a spectrum somewhere between not working at all and trashing your OS.
I know there are ways to work around these issues. As I said earlier, Linux seems to be designed around the idea of getting things to work rather than making them not work. You can change anything you need to change, even rewriting the programs or the OS or both if you need to. By contrast, getting Windows APIs is like stealing secrets from the Kremlin -- even multimillion dollar corporations under contract to Microsoft can't pay to get the level of cooperation your average Joe with a Linux box can get by just asking.
On the other side, simple things like syncing your MP3 player, getting your computer to boot up in under 15 minutes (!), or reinstalling a program/driver that is having problems take on a nightmarish, Kafka-esque proportion that will put off the new user as a default setting.
And this is coming from a guy who does not flinch at dropping to a command line, editing the registry, changing BIOS settings, or even taking the computer apart and playing with jumpers to get something to work.
Listen: One of the most complex games on earth is chess. It took millions of dollars and decades to research to build Deep Blue, which was almost good enough to beat someone who had put in the energy to become a master of the game.
But the saying goes: "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master."
This would be a good paradigm for Linux to look into.
I know there are ways to work around these issues. As I said earlier, Linux seems to be designed around the idea of getting things to work rather than making them not work. You can change anything you need to change, even rewriting the programs or the OS or both if you need to. By contrast, getting Windows APIs is like stealing secrets from the Kremlin -- even multimillion dollar corporations under contract to Microsoft can't pay to get the level of cooperation your average Joe with a Linux box can get by just asking.
On the other side, simple things like syncing your MP3 player, getting your computer to boot up in under 15 minutes (!), or reinstalling a program/driver that is having problems take on a nightmarish, Kafka-esque proportion that will put off the new user as a default setting.
And this is coming from a guy who does not flinch at dropping to a command line, editing the registry, changing BIOS settings, or even taking the computer apart and playing with jumpers to get something to work.
Listen: One of the most complex games on earth is chess. It took millions of dollars and decades to research to build Deep Blue, which was almost good enough to beat someone who had put in the energy to become a master of the game.
But the saying goes: "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master."
This would be a good paradigm for Linux to look into.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Getting The F*ing Linux Thing Off Your Computer
OK, so I totally blew up Fedora by installing the music player Banshee. Warning 1: Banshee will totally fubar your system. More later.
But now, I was in a pickle. I could not boot to Linux because the partition was trashed. But I could not boot to Windows because the bootloader for Fedora did not offer Windows at an option by default and I did not know how to change it. Finally, I managed to get Windows up, and was faced with the next hurdle: how to get the Linux partition off the hard drive so I could use it again.
The partition showed up in My Computer. But although you can access an NTFS partition from Linux, Windows will not read a Linux Ext or LVM partition. So Now what?
Here's how to fix your bootloader to get back to Windows and remove the Linux partition from your hard drive from within Windows.
First, you need your Windows XP cd.
1. Boot from the CD. Select Recovery Console from the setup menu. (Press R).\
2. A DOS-like screen will ask you which installation you want to log onto. Look for the number next to C:\windows and pressit.
Example:
1: C:\WINDOWS
Which installation would you like to log on to?_
1 (this is what I typed)
C:\WINDOWS_ (this is a good ol DOS prompt, you're ready to do the next step....)
C:\WINDOWS FIXMBR (type FIXMBR.This will erase the existing master boot record and create a new one. Many warnings follow. Type Y and hit enter.)
C:|WINDOWS_ FIXBOOT (FIXBOOT will recreate the Windows bootloader and GRUB).
Now restart the computer. Windows will load (hopefully) and run scandisk and chkdsk.
When you get to the desktop, right click My Computer and select "Manage". Select "Disk Management."
You will see all the partitions. Windows will be labelled NTFS (or FAT32, if you chose it), and the Linux partitions will either be unlabelled or labelled as "Unknown".
Right click each partition EXCEPT the one are using right now (!), and select Delete.
Now, you can right click the empty space, select Format, and reformat it as an NTFS Primary partition.
BuhBYE Linux partition. You may now reinstall your favorite distro and go back to torturing yourself. :)
But now, I was in a pickle. I could not boot to Linux because the partition was trashed. But I could not boot to Windows because the bootloader for Fedora did not offer Windows at an option by default and I did not know how to change it. Finally, I managed to get Windows up, and was faced with the next hurdle: how to get the Linux partition off the hard drive so I could use it again.
The partition showed up in My Computer. But although you can access an NTFS partition from Linux, Windows will not read a Linux Ext or LVM partition. So Now what?
Here's how to fix your bootloader to get back to Windows and remove the Linux partition from your hard drive from within Windows.
First, you need your Windows XP cd.
1. Boot from the CD. Select Recovery Console from the setup menu. (Press R).\
2. A DOS-like screen will ask you which installation you want to log onto. Look for the number next to C:\windows and pressit.
Example:
1: C:\WINDOWS
Which installation would you like to log on to?_
1 (this is what I typed)
C:\WINDOWS_ (this is a good ol DOS prompt, you're ready to do the next step....)
C:\WINDOWS FIXMBR (type FIXMBR.This will erase the existing master boot record and create a new one. Many warnings follow. Type Y and hit enter.)
C:|WINDOWS_ FIXBOOT (FIXBOOT will recreate the Windows bootloader and GRUB).
Now restart the computer. Windows will load (hopefully) and run scandisk and chkdsk.
When you get to the desktop, right click My Computer and select "Manage". Select "Disk Management."
You will see all the partitions. Windows will be labelled NTFS (or FAT32, if you chose it), and the Linux partitions will either be unlabelled or labelled as "Unknown".
Right click each partition EXCEPT the one are using right now (!), and select Delete.
Now, you can right click the empty space, select Format, and reformat it as an NTFS Primary partition.
BuhBYE Linux partition. You may now reinstall your favorite distro and go back to torturing yourself. :)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Startup Chores
After installing, there are some chores and things you might like to set up. One good thing to do is configure the "sudo" command. This will save you having to change your login status everytime you want to make some change to the system from the terminal.
First, a word on the terminal. There should be an icon for it on your desktop. If there isn't, find it in your applications menu, right click it, and select "add launcher to desktop." Terminal is your new buddy. As much as Linux has a graphical environment like Windows, it is still at heart a command-line OS, like old-skool DOS. This is what I meant by "be prepared to get dirty" earlier.
Whenever you see someone say "log in as console", or "open a console (or terminal)" this is what they mean.
Getting sudo set up is easy, but I'm still in the "shut-up and do what I tell you" stage of learning. So here is a good, easy-to-follow guide in plain language to setting up sudo:
http://fedoranews.org/mediawiki/index.php/Thomas_Guide:_sudo
First, a word on the terminal. There should be an icon for it on your desktop. If there isn't, find it in your applications menu, right click it, and select "add launcher to desktop." Terminal is your new buddy. As much as Linux has a graphical environment like Windows, it is still at heart a command-line OS, like old-skool DOS. This is what I meant by "be prepared to get dirty" earlier.
Whenever you see someone say "log in as console", or "open a console (or terminal)" this is what they mean.
Getting sudo set up is easy, but I'm still in the "shut-up and do what I tell you" stage of learning. So here is a good, easy-to-follow guide in plain language to setting up sudo:
http://fedoranews.org/mediawiki/index.php/Thomas_Guide:_sudo
Friday, September 26, 2008
The Linux Wall, Part 1
I really wanted to post a nice entry on configuring your hardware. I mean, from a Windows perspective, it seems that once you've installed the OS, the next sensible step is to set up your gadgets and drivers, right? Unfortunately, there is almost zero useful information on how to do this on the internet. There are some clues, but they are vague enough to confuse Ellis Peters.
So far, it seems to me that in Fedroa 9, device drivers are handled first by UDEV, which is a sort of on-the-fly device manager. The vastly oversimplified version is that UDEV detects devices and installs drivers each time you boot the computer, which is supposed to allow for changes (for example, if your USB hard drive was plugged in last time but isn't this time, UDEV is supposed to figure that out).
But just like in Windows, automatic driver installation is sketchy. The drivers may be installed improperly, or the wrong driver may be used, or it may not be installed at all.
There is a glimmer of hope that UDEV can be configured manually, but I haven't found anything that specifically address how to do this in plain language. It will be my goal to do it myself, if I ever figure it out. So watch this space. Or, if you know a place to get this information, post a comment!
So far, it seems to me that in Fedroa 9, device drivers are handled first by UDEV, which is a sort of on-the-fly device manager. The vastly oversimplified version is that UDEV detects devices and installs drivers each time you boot the computer, which is supposed to allow for changes (for example, if your USB hard drive was plugged in last time but isn't this time, UDEV is supposed to figure that out).
But just like in Windows, automatic driver installation is sketchy. The drivers may be installed improperly, or the wrong driver may be used, or it may not be installed at all.
There is a glimmer of hope that UDEV can be configured manually, but I haven't found anything that specifically address how to do this in plain language. It will be my goal to do it myself, if I ever figure it out. So watch this space. Or, if you know a place to get this information, post a comment!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Which Flavor? -- Picking a first version
Saying "I want to get Linux" is like saying "I want a dog." OK, which one? A tiny morkie? A big goofy Afghan? There is a lot of advice out there on how to choose a package. What do you use the computer for? How much Linux do you know?" How much general computer stuff do you know? It all leaves out one thing: they're all different, and your computer will like some of them more than others.
The sole criteria for choosing a Linux distro for a new user should be this: will it work on my computer with a minimum of hair-pulling?
There's only one way to find out. Try them all until you get one you -- and your computer -- like.
Search Wikipedia for "Live Linux Distributions". Get a bunch of them, burn them to CDs, and try them.
A "Live" distro is a version of Linux that can be run from a cd or USB key that will not make any changes to your computer. You plug it in, boot up, play around, and when you restart, Windows comes up as though nothing ever happened.
Be patient. Live CDs take a long time time to boot. What you're looking for is:
1. Boots with a minimum of weird error messages.
2. Picks up your sound, video, usb ports and network card with a minimum of hassle.
3. Will eventually get to a desktop by itself if left unsupervised.
4. Will boot up the same way and do the same thing more than once.
Since some distros took as long as 15 minutes to get to a desktop. I don't wana have to stand there and micromanage it. Some distros were spotty, and out of 5 reboots, would only work right 3 times. Other times it would not pick up some or all of the hardware, require a lot of tweaking to get cetain hardware to work, crash, or load the desktop and refuse to do anything else. None of this means any one version is better than any other.
I started out with NimbleX, Puppy, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and Fedora 9. NimbleX was spotty, Puppy needed too much manual configuring, OpenSUSE didn't pick up any hardware, and Ubuntu just barfed.
But Ubuntu gave me the insight regarding trying different distros. I spent three hours trying to get it to work.. But I have an old rule of thumb for software: if I can solve a problem by using someone else's product, there you have it.
So Fedora 9 was the winner. I loaded with no hassle, picked up all my hardware, and did it again several times. I installed permanently, and after only a couple hccups, it occurred to me that it worked better than XP on my laptop.
You may have different results. If you get a burp, do a little research and try to fix it The best way to start is by Googling the EXACT error mesage you get, or by seeing where it hung and Googling "(Linux Flavor) hung (the last thing on the screen when it hung)" or that sort of thing.
You'll start to learn how Linux works, and will find yourself increasingly able to step ahead of or around minor issues, and Linux in general will begin to seem less cryptic.
The sole criteria for choosing a Linux distro for a new user should be this: will it work on my computer with a minimum of hair-pulling?
There's only one way to find out. Try them all until you get one you -- and your computer -- like.
Search Wikipedia for "Live Linux Distributions". Get a bunch of them, burn them to CDs, and try them.
A "Live" distro is a version of Linux that can be run from a cd or USB key that will not make any changes to your computer. You plug it in, boot up, play around, and when you restart, Windows comes up as though nothing ever happened.
Be patient. Live CDs take a long time time to boot. What you're looking for is:
1. Boots with a minimum of weird error messages.
2. Picks up your sound, video, usb ports and network card with a minimum of hassle.
3. Will eventually get to a desktop by itself if left unsupervised.
4. Will boot up the same way and do the same thing more than once.
Since some distros took as long as 15 minutes to get to a desktop. I don't wana have to stand there and micromanage it. Some distros were spotty, and out of 5 reboots, would only work right 3 times. Other times it would not pick up some or all of the hardware, require a lot of tweaking to get cetain hardware to work, crash, or load the desktop and refuse to do anything else. None of this means any one version is better than any other.
I started out with NimbleX, Puppy, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and Fedora 9. NimbleX was spotty, Puppy needed too much manual configuring, OpenSUSE didn't pick up any hardware, and Ubuntu just barfed.
But Ubuntu gave me the insight regarding trying different distros. I spent three hours trying to get it to work.. But I have an old rule of thumb for software: if I can solve a problem by using someone else's product, there you have it.
So Fedora 9 was the winner. I loaded with no hassle, picked up all my hardware, and did it again several times. I installed permanently, and after only a couple hccups, it occurred to me that it worked better than XP on my laptop.
You may have different results. If you get a burp, do a little research and try to fix it The best way to start is by Googling the EXACT error mesage you get, or by seeing where it hung and Googling "(Linux Flavor) hung (the last thing on the screen when it hung)" or that sort of thing.
You'll start to learn how Linux works, and will find yourself increasingly able to step ahead of or around minor issues, and Linux in general will begin to seem less cryptic.
Dipping My Toes In
I'm looking to move over to Linux, since even the idea of using Vista makes me want to curl up under the desk and cry. And Mac's lock-in is worse than PC -- at twice the price. Linux is the third, and looks tasty. I love the eye candy of desktop managers that rotate in cubes and splat and wiggle windows, combined with the old school flavored tinkering in terminal windows -- very William Gibson. And you never even have to spend any money! Delicious!
But the trade off is that you have to swim the Linux Moat to get to the castle. Even though some new Linux flavors ("distros" to the hip) are user-friendly enough to look approachable, Linux still has a long way to go before it is a viable alternative to the average user.
By "average user", I don't mean the PEBKAC types who don't want to know how to use a computer, they just want to do stuff on a computer and become aggravated when stuff doesn't just happen. Linux will probably never be suitable for those types.
But there is still some way to go even for more responsible users who don't mind a learning curve and some DIY in exchange for independence from expensive "gurus" who make money by counting on their customers' ignorance.
I'm starting to think these are problems of perspective on the part of the Linux community, not function.
There are two main issues confronting the new Linux user:
1. It's not Windows. Trying to interact with it the way you interact with Windows is like trying to give specific directions to a New York cab driver. It smiles and nods, yammers back at you, and who the hell knows where you'll end up. Also, there is no Make This Thing Work Button.
2. Most of the documentation and support tends to assume a level of knowledge on the part of the user that probably does not exist.
It's the last part that is probably more likely to turn off a potential Linux convert than the first. To the uninitiated, Linux seems glitchy and clunky enough to create a thick layer of doubt: am I not doing it right? Is it a bug? Or does my computer just dislike this flavor of Linux? Including combinations, this makes a total of six impenetrable obstacles for the new user.
So you RTFM, and they tell you to:
1. Click on things that aren't there,because the documentation is three version behind, or
2. Rekafooble the flotutran by typing nimnumnuts at rt pleh%, (without bothering to explain what the flotutran is or how to find the thing that rekafoobles it) or
3. Do things you can't do because the thing you need to do them is the thing that isn't working.
So you head off to the FAQs and spend about three hours sifting through forums, finding the same as above, even if the person who asked the question explicitly stated he is a total noob and is completely lost, or complaining that the thing doesn't work/can't work/will never work, or someone asking the EXACT same question you were looking for - eureka!!- and following his post with "Hello? Anyone there?" .
If the instructions and support forums have no compassion for this noob perspective, the new user just feels barricaded. I mean, I'm trying to get away from having my computer be a tooth-gnashing, hair-pulling ordeal. At least Windows and Mac put out some sort of welcome mat (even the Vista welcome mat has a flaming bag of dog poo on it).
But it doesn't have to be like that. For one thing, you can tell they're trying to help, but either they take their own knowledge for granted or they're no better at figuring it out than you are.
And more importantly, I am now the proud owner of a laptop that runs nothing but Fedora 9, and I couldn't be happier. If I can do it, anyone can. Because everything just works. And I also know that in exchange for a little learning curve, even if something doesn't work or stops working it will be OK -- because there is a way to make it work.
This is the fundamental perspective of Linux that makes it so attractive. It's all about getting things to work. I think it could argued that Windows and Mac spend way more energy on finding ways to make things not work. How much time do you think they spend figuring how to get your Ipod to NOT work with anything but Itunes? And I'll bet MS has an entire zip code of buildings filled with people whose sole job is to sabotage Firefox and Winamp.
So here's my ongoing story of dabbling in Linux, written from the perspective of someone who is reasonably competent with XP, does not want Vista, and is just as lost as you are. It will be beyond the scope of this blog to get into specific errors -- unless there is some general knowledge to be gained, or unless it's funny. There are no universal solutions that will work for everyone except one: use your noodle and don't be afraid to get dirty.
But the trade off is that you have to swim the Linux Moat to get to the castle. Even though some new Linux flavors ("distros" to the hip) are user-friendly enough to look approachable, Linux still has a long way to go before it is a viable alternative to the average user.
By "average user", I don't mean the PEBKAC types who don't want to know how to use a computer, they just want to do stuff on a computer and become aggravated when stuff doesn't just happen. Linux will probably never be suitable for those types.
But there is still some way to go even for more responsible users who don't mind a learning curve and some DIY in exchange for independence from expensive "gurus" who make money by counting on their customers' ignorance.
I'm starting to think these are problems of perspective on the part of the Linux community, not function.
There are two main issues confronting the new Linux user:
1. It's not Windows. Trying to interact with it the way you interact with Windows is like trying to give specific directions to a New York cab driver. It smiles and nods, yammers back at you, and who the hell knows where you'll end up. Also, there is no Make This Thing Work Button.
2. Most of the documentation and support tends to assume a level of knowledge on the part of the user that probably does not exist.
It's the last part that is probably more likely to turn off a potential Linux convert than the first. To the uninitiated, Linux seems glitchy and clunky enough to create a thick layer of doubt: am I not doing it right? Is it a bug? Or does my computer just dislike this flavor of Linux? Including combinations, this makes a total of six impenetrable obstacles for the new user.
So you RTFM, and they tell you to:
1. Click on things that aren't there,because the documentation is three version behind, or
2. Rekafooble the flotutran by typing nimnumnuts at rt pleh%, (without bothering to explain what the flotutran is or how to find the thing that rekafoobles it) or
3. Do things you can't do because the thing you need to do them is the thing that isn't working.
So you head off to the FAQs and spend about three hours sifting through forums, finding the same as above, even if the person who asked the question explicitly stated he is a total noob and is completely lost, or complaining that the thing doesn't work/can't work/will never work, or someone asking the EXACT same question you were looking for - eureka!!- and following his post with "Hello? Anyone there?" .
If the instructions and support forums have no compassion for this noob perspective, the new user just feels barricaded. I mean, I'm trying to get away from having my computer be a tooth-gnashing, hair-pulling ordeal. At least Windows and Mac put out some sort of welcome mat (even the Vista welcome mat has a flaming bag of dog poo on it).
But it doesn't have to be like that. For one thing, you can tell they're trying to help, but either they take their own knowledge for granted or they're no better at figuring it out than you are.
And more importantly, I am now the proud owner of a laptop that runs nothing but Fedora 9, and I couldn't be happier. If I can do it, anyone can. Because everything just works. And I also know that in exchange for a little learning curve, even if something doesn't work or stops working it will be OK -- because there is a way to make it work.
This is the fundamental perspective of Linux that makes it so attractive. It's all about getting things to work. I think it could argued that Windows and Mac spend way more energy on finding ways to make things not work. How much time do you think they spend figuring how to get your Ipod to NOT work with anything but Itunes? And I'll bet MS has an entire zip code of buildings filled with people whose sole job is to sabotage Firefox and Winamp.
So here's my ongoing story of dabbling in Linux, written from the perspective of someone who is reasonably competent with XP, does not want Vista, and is just as lost as you are. It will be beyond the scope of this blog to get into specific errors -- unless there is some general knowledge to be gained, or unless it's funny. There are no universal solutions that will work for everyone except one: use your noodle and don't be afraid to get dirty.
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