Archive for the ‘free software’ tag
Debian on a PowerMac G3
This week I decided to abandon the too-time-consuming-for-me Gentoo and switch to a binary-based GNU/Linux distribution. Of the options which appealed to me, only Fedora and Debian had official PowerPC support. I ended up going with Debian.
At first I installed the stable Etch (4.0) tem but soon found myself longing for the more recent versions of some of my favorite software (Pidgin, Claws Mail, Transmission). So I switched over to the testing Lenny branch (5.0), which is working quite well for me. The default Gnome install is a bit heavy for my 350 MHz G3, but I am getting on well enough.
So it seems I have found a new Linux home, as it were. Yes, Debian had a rather colossal screwup with SSL recently, and yes, it is not as exciting as its progeny Ubuntu. However, one of the things I really appreciate about Debian is its outspoken support for Free Software. Add that to a system that does everything I need (word processing, web, email, games, amateur radio, chat, etc.), and I am in heaven.
Like coming home
Today I was pointed to Decibel Audio Player. It is GTK+ audio player which is the happy medium between the minimalist players (like Audacious) and the mega players (like Amarok). I installed it on my Gentoo system and have to say I am quite pleased by what I have seen so far. So if you are not “looking for an audio player than can also make coffee,” Decibel is for you. Also, it is licensed under the GPL, so it is free software.
Goodbye MS Remote Desktop
For those Mac OS X users who have to connect to Windows servers via remote desktop, Microsoft provided their own Mac port of Remote Desktop. That was nice, but it is stale software and it’s a Microsoft product. Let’s face it: Apple users cannot abide a tainted system. Thankfully there is Cord, which is a free software implementation of a remote desktop client for OS X.
Goodbye iTunes
I just ran across a nice Free Software audio player called aTunes. It is written in Java, so it may not be possible to implement it in a fully Free Software environment (yet). Still, it is a nice iTunes replacement (on Windows especially).
It of course plays your music, syncs with your iPod, downloads podcasts, has support for more codecs and formats, implements Audioscrobbler and last.fm and other goodies, and in general is a nice client. The big drawback for some will be the lack of iTunes Music Store support and the inability to play DRMed files. I am using it as my primary player on a Windows box at work, and it does just fine.
Similar options for Unixy systems include Banshee and Amarok (which after being ported to Windows for version 2 will be my personal recommendation for a Windows audio player).
Desktop Linux Adoption: An Introspection
Daily I scan the headlines for more evidence of desktop Linux adoption. With more and more manufacturers offering pre-installed Linux, I have an increasingly sound basis for my hope. Many times I have asked myself, “is this finally the year of Linux on the desktop?”
Of late, however, I have been consumed by a different question: Why do I want the market share of desktop Linux to increase?
Among Linux enthusiasts (with whom I count myself) there is a stated desire to see the market share of our favorite product increase. No longer the choice only of hobbyists, we want Linux to be the number one choice of generic consumers as well. But why do I share that goal?
Am I a Free Software evangelist like Richard Stallman? Do I possess an altruistic urge to spread software freedom to all computer users? There is no doubt that Stallman’s ideas have heavily influenced my views in the area of software and elsewhere. Still my personal affinity for software freedom has not lead me to actively proselytize any of my friends and family.
Am I an Open Source evangelist like Bruce Perens? Do I desire others to possess the many practical benefits of an open development process? It is true that I greatly appreciate the increased security which transparency can bring and the responsive and participatory nature of such development.
Do I think Linux is the ultimately superior product? Is it so good that I think everyone should have the good fortune of using it? I believe that it is improving the fastest, but I cannot yet say that it is superior across the board, especially in terms of user-friendliness and confusion amongst the various distributions and desktop environments.
Is it simply hubris? Do I want everyone to use Linux because I do? Of course that has its appeal, but I rather enjoy being a “rebel” with respect to operating system choice.
It is all of these reasons, it is none of these reasons. So I am left without an answer. At times I think it is senseless to promote Linux on the desktop. Perhaps we should make it the best we can but keep it for ourselves. But such thoughts do not last long.
Software Freedom in Higher Education
Not long ago I noted that I am using only Free Software for coursework in my graduate program. I thought now a good time for an update.
I am running Gentoo Linux on my Apple iBook G4. In my opinion, Gentoo is the best flavor of Linux for use on PowerPC machines. After a brief stint with KDE, I’ve settled with XFCE for my desktop environment.
I just started using Zim for note-taking and am quite pleased so far (the Mono-based Tomboy just was not satisfactory). For Bible text wrangling I am using BibleTime. I would have used Gnome Sword, but that did not build correctly for me. BibleTime is a Qt/KDE program, so it is not optimal on this system, but it does the job just fine. For documents I am using Open Office and Lyx. Hopefully I will be able to tweak a Lyx template to match the particular thesis guidelines of my school.
In the area of Biblical languages, I am still using im-classicalgreek for typing polytonic Greek. I’ve yet to really dive into typing Hebrew, so I need to do more work. I do have the default X keymaps for Hebrew and Greek available via an XFCE plugin, so I can type consonants to my heart’s content. I did find a recently-published article on typing Biblical languages in GNU/Linux, but I have yet to read the whole thing. It looks promising.
So things are going quite well overall. It is apparently possible to get a Master’s degree in the free world. I still have to deal with professors and staff sending me accursed .doc files, but thankfully I am able to cope thanks to import filters. It is fun to see the varied reactions of people who realize that I am not running OS X on my Apple laptop. More fun is showing them compiz-fusion. Many have heard of Linux, few really know what it is, and even fewer have ever used it.
Sadly my main problem at the moment is that my battery is virtually useless, so my machine is portable in name only at the moment. Perhaps I will look into a new purchase.
Goodbye AIM
Some time ago I discovered that some of my IM buddies are still using AOL’s AIM client for instant messaging. It has been so long since I used that ad-riddled piece of garbage that I had literally forgot that it exists. I assumed everyone used free multi-protocol chat clients by now. I was wrong.
Thank God for Pidgin. Pidgin (formerly Gaim) is a free software mutli-protocol messaging client. What does that mean? It means that you can use one program to talk on AIM, ICQ, GTalk, Yahoo, MSN, and many others. Pidgin retains all the useful functionality but discards ads and possible spyware. It is also cross-platform, so Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and *BSD users (and probably more) can all use it. So what are you waiting for?
Goodbye WinZip, WinRar, et al
I remember the dark days of Windows computing when one had to download and utilize WinZip and WinRar just to unpack one’s goods. Now we live in an age of light, and in the age of Pea Zip.
Pea Zip is a open source archive and compression tool. It works great and is pretty fast. Also, you don’t have to wrestle with annoying “Register now…” screens while using it. Once again the world is one step closer to being able to use an NT-compatible system in the Free World.
Goodbye Adobe Reader
Adobe Reader is somehow the “standard” for PDF viewers on Windows in spite of the fact that it is a bloated, slow, and cumbersome piece of crap. Long had I suffered under its cruel reign, fearing to accidentally open a PDF in the browser and bring my surfing to a stand-still. Not too long ago I found Sumatra. Sumatra is small, fast, simple, and free (gratis and libre). I no longer dread opening PDFs and I laugh in the face of “PDF Warnings” on Slashdot. It really is a wonderful tool if you just need to view and print PDFs (which I think is what most people have to do with PDFs).
A while back I wrote about another open source replacement on Windows. I think I will keep blogging my finds (and there have been several so far). It is wonderful when open source software is available and superior to boot.
Goodbye Roxio
While I like to convert people from Windows to free operating systems, I am a realist and I know that there is always some “kill app” that is only available on Windows. Whatever, I can live with that. So what I do is bring free software to people on Windows. Thankfully there is an ever-increasing amount of quality free software available for Windows.
Today I was excited to find InfraRecorder, an open source CD/DVD burning program for Windows. It works well with my external burner. Goodbye Roxio! I can’t say it has been nice knowing you.
