Argentinean Tango with Gecko: Ututo XS

I have already written couple of times about distributions from this country: country of tango, football, beef and Linux. Results of my trips were different.
First time I tried Dragora Linux, and could not move further than to the initial screen: this Linux distribution does not have Live version.
Second time I was more lucky with Musix, which is rather good distribution for artists.
Would this blog be good without another trip to this wonderful country? Of course not! That's why today I am making another trip to the country of tango, to Argentina.
The Linux distribution I am going to talk about today is not brand-new. Actually, it is already more than 10 years old! Its name comes from the gecko, which lives in Northern Argentina. Do you have enough hints already? Not? Then I'll tell you the name: Ututo, or as they write sometimes themselves, UTUTO.
This Linux distribution is one of few that Free Software Foundation recognises as absolutely free (as freedom) and includes into Free Software Foundation approved list. It means that Ututo only includes free software.
Latest version of Ututo XS was released in March 2011. If you get to their web site (in Spanish only, but you still have Google Translate to help you - links are somewhere in the middle of the screen), you are able to download two versions of disk images of this distribution: one for USB and one for DVD (Vivo). Of course, this distributions supports different architectures (32- and 64-bit). Both types of images weight about 3.5 Gb.
I tried to create Live USB with specially created IMG image. Unfortunately, neither command dd nor Unetbootin worked for me. That's why I downloaded different image and burnt DVD-RW.
As for downloading, official Ututo Project site states option to use different mirrors. Actually all the mirrors take you back to the same server, which has quite limited access speed. I was not able to get images downloading with speed more than ~360 Kb/s. With images of this size, it is a task of several hours.
Anyway, I recorded DVD-RW and placed it into optical drive of my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop.
Reboot. Choose to boot from DVD. Let's go!

Disadvantages of Using Linux

From DarkDuck: Before we begin. This guest post is about Disadvantages of Using Linux. If you want to know what advantages of using Linux are, please read my own article Advantages of Using Linux.

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There are three major operating systems for computers: Windows, Mac and Linux. Most people are versed with either of the first two, which are copyrighted, while a smaller number of people are knowledgeable about the Linux operating system, which is open source.
There are differences and similarities in each, and which one you prefer will largely depend on your personality, and you personal computing needs and preferences. Once a person is experienced with one OS, it will inevitably take some time to get used to another.
There is a very large community of people who swear by Linux, but there are some disadvantages to using it. Here are some of them:

Italian Job: UbuBox SalentOS

It is not often that I got requests from authors of operating systems to review their projects.
I am very pleased every time when I get the request. Whether authors are pleased with my reviews - that is a question of their own interests. You may have noticed - all my reviews are very subjective and are targeted to my own interests, which I believe resemble interests of average mid-advanced user.
Couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from author of UbuBox SalentOS project to review it. I am happy to present you the results.

This project does not have its own domain and hosting yet, but uses good platform for all open source projects - Sourceforge.net. You can find this project at http://www.ububoxsalentos.sourceforge.net.
Main site is in Italian, but you can easily use Google Translate tool to read it in your favourite language. Distribution itself is currently maintained in 2 languages: English and Italian, and both versions are available in 32 and 64 bit.
I downloaded ISO image of 32-bit English version, which weights about 930 Mb.
For test purposes, I burnt image onto USB stick with Unetbootin. Because this is Ubuntu-based distribution, I requested persistence to be added by Unetbootin. Let's see if it works.
So, Live USB stick is ready. It is plugged into the port of my laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from USB. Let's go!

Mousetrap in a Hat: Fedora 16 XFCE

I have already written about recent release of Fedora 16 several times. These were reviews of Fedora 16 GNOME in Live mode, Fedora 16 KDE in Live and installed modes.
Probably it would be enough for now.

But OpenSuSE team has released version 12.1 too, and this is something I'd like not to write about. That's why I prefer to "stay tuned" to Fedora wave, and try another spin of this distribution. This time my choice is Fedora 16 XFCE.
This spin "aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and user friendly". Let's check if this is true. How lightweight is it, and how user friendly?
To check this out, I downloaded ISO image from torrent. It weights about 625 Mb, which is just a little bit more than GNOME3 version. Why? I'll tell you later.
As previous KDE version of Fedora, I decided to try Fedora 16 XFCE using Live USB stick. It was created with Unetbootin tool.
So, USB stick is ready and plugged into the port of my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from USB. Let's go!

Getting the Blooming Flavor of Fedora 16 KDE

If you have read my review of Fedora 16 KDE Live, you should understand that I liked this Operating System. That's why I decided to give it a chance to show all bloom in installed version of Fedora.
In order to run installer, I booted my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop using same Live USB as before.
Before running the installation, I activated WiFi  connection. This is for 2 reasons:

1. To let Fedora installer (Anaconda) to download missing parts from Internet, if need be
2. To check whether WiFi connection get transferred from Live to installed version, like it was for Mageia 1 KDE.

When all the preparations where finished, I ran installer.

How to Automate Tasks in Linux

Whether you are running a Linux server or simply using it on your desktop computer, some repetitive tasks can be a pain if you have to do them every day. It may be as simple as running a backup program at the end of the day, but with so many things going on, you probably do not want to take the chance that you might forget to do it.
Fortunately for the hard working Linux system administrator, a program called cron is here to rescue you from repetitive tasks. With cron you can automate just about anything, from programs to custom-made scripts. Cron is a daemon, meaning it runs in the background and is always on once you start your computer or server. It reads a file called “crontab”, which tells it when to run the programs or scripts listed in it.

Fedora 16 KDE: Improving Perfection

Desktop Environment is very important part of today's Linux distribution which pretends to be used on desktop or laptop. There are some Linux distributions which give you only one Desktop Environment by default, being it Pardus with KDE or CentOS with GNOME. As opposite, there are distributions which are supplied with selection of different DEs available: Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora.
Last week we saw release of freshest version of Fedora, community Linux distributions supported by RedHat. The most popular option of Fedora is GNOME, and Fedora 16 includes the most recent version of it, GNOME 3. You can read my review of that system here.
But as soon as I am KDE fan, I could not miss a chance to try another option of Fedora, this time with KDE desktop environment.
Image size for Fedora 16 KDE is just under 700 Mb. It is much more than GNOME3 option, and the reasons are quite clear. I'll tell you later.
I downloaded ISO image from the torrent, which worked pretty well, as usual.
Having troubles with creation of Live USB from Debian and Ubuntu ISO images, I was scared that Fedora wouldn't work in Live USB mode either. But anyway I gave Untebootin a chance... Let's see if it works...
Reboot. Choose to boot from USB. Let's go!

Pardus Corporate 2 Kurumsal - quick, powerful, rogue

I have confessed several times that KDE is my favorite Desktop Environment. And even more, that I prefer KDE3 to KDE4. That's why every time I approach Linux distribution with KDE3 on top, I am full of awe.

Some time ago one of my readers advised me to try Pardus Corporate as distribution which runs KDE3. I have always highly appreciated Pardus. And, of course, I was absolutely excited to see KDE3 on top of this Linux distribution.
As you can understand from its name, Pardus Corporate is targeted to corporate users. With all the security features required by them: remote installation, management and so on. Is it any good for personal use? That was a task for me to study.
Pardus Corporate 2 Kurumsal was released in February 2011.
Unfortunately, this version of Pardus does not have Live version. You can only get installation ISO image of this distribution. Of course, I could not try this Pardus until recent.
If you remember, Salix XFCE was replaced with Ubuntu 11.10 and then with Kubuntu 11.10. Neither of these systems was good for me to stick to them, so I eventually got a partition on my HDD to try something new.
Finally, it was my turn to try Pardus Corporate 2 Kurumsal.
ISO file for Pardus Kurumsal weights about 1Gb. It means you can't burn it to CD. Instructions to create Live USB also did not work for me. Finally, I burnt DVD-RW with the image.
So... DVD-RW is ready and inserted into the optical drive of my laptop Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505. Reboot. Choose to boot from DVD. Let's go!

Fedora 16 GNOME: New and Stable

It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Do you think I am going to talk about Christmas? No, not yet. Too early still. Even if shops are already full of Christmas stuff, we are in autumn yet. That's why I am NOT going to talk about Christmas.

What then? It's a wonderful time when most world famous Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora release their fresh versions.

I have already written about Ubuntu 11.10 and Kubuntu 11.10.

And literally yesterday another big event has happened. Fedora Project released Fedora 16, the latest version of their baby.
ISO image of GNOME version of Fedora 16 weights just above 600Mb. It is much less than Ubuntu, I should admit. I downloaded it from BitTorrent and was able to write my own CD in few minutes.
So, CD is in the drive. Reboot. Choose to boot from optical drive. Let's go!

Would you like to get souvenirs?

You well may notice that I have not posted anything new for a while now. The last post was about Kademar Linux.
This is mainly because of 2 reasons:

1. I tried to write a review of installed Operating System. And it broke my existing installations. Or maybe it was a coincidence, but too suspicious. I am trying to get my laptop back to life. If you want to help, then please do it in here. Which OS it was? That'll be announced soon, because review is half way through.
2. Some family problems which take a lot of my valuable time. Obviously, family matters are highest priority for me, so please be patient.

In the meantime, I'd like to discuss something with you, my readers.
Now, when this blog is matured, well-established and even has its logo, would you consider to become a real fan and purchase t-shirts, pens, mugs and so on with the logo?
Please comment below. I will definitely appreciate if you tell me what exactly would be interesting for you, and which e-shop would you recommend me to set up the affiliate account with, so you could buy with direct links.
Of course, you are free to use logos yourself (they are under Creative Commons license) and order your own goods. But order via provided link will help this blog. And myself, to some degree.

Kademar 4.9.5 - two-faced surprise from Spain

Do you like prizes? Yes, most of us do. That's why I offered prizes to winners of contest which ran on this blog to celebrate its first birthday. Prize for the winner of "social" contest was 8Gb USB stick and CD with any Linux distribution available.
The choice of the winner was Kademar Linux. It is the distribution based on Debian and Knoppix, created by community in Spanish province Catalonia.
If you follow the link just above, you will notice that the site only has front page. Other pages return Error 404 (Not found). Not a good sign though. It made my searches for distribution ISO image little bit more difficult. But not impossible.
The latest version of Kademar, as per official site, is 4.9.5. The only mirror with version 4.9.5 was found at ftp://caliu.cat/pub/distribucions/k-demar . Don't be surprised with domain name. This top-level domain (.cat) is for Catalonia, area in Spain. The FTP server has very slow connection speed, which varied from 180 to 330 Kb/s.
As I mentioned above, Kademar is based on Debian (Squeeze in case of 4.9.5) and Knoppix.
Image weights above 2 Gb, which made me to extend CD offer to DVD, but that was not a big deal. When DVD+R was ready to dispatch, I asked myself... Can I try it and write a post about Kademar? Sure, I could!
So, DVD is in the optical drive of my laptop Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505. Reboot. Choose to boot from DVD. Let's go!

How To Create an Ebook with OpenOffice.org

Do you want to see your name on the front page of a book? It’s easier than you might think. First, write the book. Next, follow these simple steps to prepare an ebook using the free OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice desktop publishing application.