NTFS Support in 2.6.20

I stumbled upon this image while compiling my 2.6.20 kernel:

If this is true, then I'll be having a ball testing this out!

Ken Starks and the L33T!

I've been Lobby4Linux' articles for a year now even before their new interface, and Ken Starks becoming ill and almost giving up on what he loves for his passion for OSS.

Glad to see he has recovered and the site is in good hands.. Oh yeah, people supported him at his time of need and has overcome all odds.

The sacrifice he made.... the time he wasted.... the useless effort.... screams that fell on deaf ears...

I idolize him!

You heard me!

And as a fanatic, I tried to Google his name and see what he has done for the Open Source Community.

That's when I saw his interview at Newsforge...

http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/01/30/1949228&from=rss

No... this entry isn't about him.. He's done so much that listing down his accomplishment would just insult him. You, as an OS supporter should've known what he's done for the community, for the people.

Going back to the topic...

His view on what a Linux distro should be for first-timers. A distro that will entice Windows users and prevent them from upgrading to Vista.

I remember my first distro, I have to download binaries and posts questions on forums I could get my hands on... User-Friendly, yes, well at least for those willing to make an effort. Ah yes, the magic word. Effort! "Why would we help you out if you don't help youself?" "RTFM!!!!" "Google it out, Dickwad!"

Those statements are enough to make anyone go back to their Windows, to their BSOD, to their spywares and viruses... Those statements are enough to make anyone (including me) to go back to Microsoft's sadistic ways... Those statements are enough to make Vista succeed...

To each his own. Half wanted to be seen as an elite with a couple of *nix/BSD boxes. Half wanted the community to conquer the world. Half wanted OSS to be exclusive. Half wanted to their software to benefit as many people as it could.

Yes, there will always be differences, and No, I don't think OSS will dominate the industry.

See... I'm veering off-topic again... Got to correct this bad habit!

Let's get back to the topic, the ideal distro for people migrating to OSS... and I qoute:


NF: What about people who would like to help but prefer other distributions?

Starks: In the first 72 hours of this blog's publication, the email inbox for helios@lobby4linux.com received 749 emails concerning the announcement. 281 of them asked the same question: Why PCLinuxOS?

In the first 90 days of Lobby4Linux's existence (when we had an office and money), we tested more than 90 desktop distros. When the smoke cleared, we had simply verified what I already knew. PCLinuxOS is the most "noob-friendly" distro that exists at this point. Everything works out of the box for 90% of its users and it has a stunning presentation, not to mention it functions as a live CD so you can test it against your hardware first. While Ubuntu has captured the spotlight, it is not new-user-friendly in many ways. It does not come out of the box with Java, multimedia, and Flash fully working. Not only does it not come "fully assembled," you must edit your sources.list in order to get the stuff you need for multimedia. SUSE, ditto. Now before I get cooked here, let me say that I purchased and use SUSE, but I along with other seasoned Linux folks can make it work. In order to get SUSE to function as a multimedia distro, you need to follow the directions. Once a new Linux user looks at that, they will run, not walk, back to Uncle Bill. Let's get them started on something they can use immediately. My business and personal machines began with Kanotix, but I evolved. PCLinuxOS is where I ultimately landed.


Again, I remember my first distro... plugins to install, apps to configure. Wouldn't it be great if "it just works"?

You wanna keep telling Windows-users to install Gentoo or Slackware just so they percieve you as elite... Elite! Yeah, keep telling yourself that!

powered by performancing firefox

The RAM and the PS

My last post contains my problem with my 128MB SDRAM failing. Well, it was actually my Generic 250watt Power Supply. I kept on installing a PCI card and 3.5in drives that I forgot to calculate my power consumption. Yeah, it was my PS and I will replace them once I have money to spare. Since I have a SmartBro connection, I think I can live without a PCI NetoDragon soft-modem, I won't need it anyway, at least for now. I should've known better not to buy a PhP 300 PS.



regrets... regrets... regrets...



As for my blog, I haven't have time posting some updates since I haven't been using Linux for weeks, well, all that's going to change. I'm now part of the Customer Ownership Team on our account and this will give me less stress and fewer people to think about (myself).



Anway, I think I can now juggle blogging, re-making my site (which is hosted by 110mb.com while my registrar it still Netfirms) using Joomla!, active participation/contribution to ubuntu-ph, igorot-linux, joomla!, 110mb, and Gentoo, my personal project, 98/ME/2000/XP Virtual Desktop, and installing and using Linux.



Aside from my Linux Diaries, I've also created a few more blogs that'll focus on my interests:

The Life of Arwen Venom: pics and comments of my daughter, Arwen Venom Umaming

Tech Support Freak: which is my call center life

Call Center Management: contains tips and stuff I've read in a book, I've applied to my agents before, and management stuff that my Coaches and Managers are doing

Starting C++: learning C++ as a beginner

and

The Magician: my expedition to the world of Hermetics

of course all my other projects like my personal Knowledgebase and Virtual Desktop would be posted on my Knightlust site.



Yeah, this might sound obnoxious, but you'll be seeing a lot of me online.

128MB SDRAM

Arrrgggghhhh! My 128MB SDRAM failed and for some reason, affected my PC.

What bothers me though is it won't boot any hardrive on my system, but the moment I take it out, everything would be fine, slow PC though, but fine!

Mandriva 2006: Google Talk and Kopete

I found this article at: Amazing Developments authored by Frank Spychalski

I wanted to have a graphical instructions on how to do it so I'll be basing it from the said article.

Google Talk needs a TLS connection before it could connect to the server. Unfortunately, some distros doesn't install the package by default, so listed below is the package name and the distro. You could download it via apt (synaptic, aptitude, etc.), yum, or urpmi (rpmdrake).

Debian & Fedora Core: qca-tls
Gentoo: app-crypt/qca-tls
Mandriva: libqca1-tls
SUSe: qca

Installing TLS

Now since I currently have Mandriva installed, I will configure Kopete to work with Google Talk.
Mandriva 2006 Free Edition doesn't have libqca1-tls so we'll be installing it using rpmdrake.

Open rpmdrake from the K Menu > System > Configuration > Packaging > Install Software
Then it'll prompt for the root password.
There's the Rpmdrake
Type in libqca1-tls and hit the Search button
It'll show up under the Search results, place a checkmark on it.
Once you checked it, this window would pop-up informing you of it's dependencies. Click on OK.
Once it's checked, click on the Install button at the bottom of the window.
Then it'll pop-up the progress bar/window.

Configuring Kopete

Now that it's done, let's configure Kopete:
Open Kopete from the task bar or from the K Menu.

If you already have a Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, IRC, etc. account, they you may have to enter your password for each account.
If you have KDE Wallet (which I don't like using), then you just need to enter 1 password to open all your accounts.
After entering your passwords, the Kopete window would show up.
Click on Settings > Configure Kopete
This window would show up. To add you Google Talk account, click on the New... button.
The Welcome to the Add Account Wizard window would pop-up. Just click on Next to start.
You're going to be prompted to select an account.
Since we'll be connecting to Google Talk via Jabber, select the Jabber Messaging Service.
OK, here's the settings:
Jabber ID: your Gmail address
Password: your preference if you want to remember the password.
Under Connection Preferences on the Connection tab, please check all options
Use protocol encryption (SSL)
Allow plain-text password authentication
Override default server information

On the Server field, type in talk.google.com
Make sure the Port Number is set to 5223
Click on the Next button once you're done
For this Congratulations page, just click on the Finish button.
Othere systems might open up this window. This is just for authentication purposes, since you're already connected, there's no need to worry about this window. Click on the Continue button to close it.
You could now change your status from the Jabber Icon on the bottom part of the Contacts window.
And you're done!!!

Mandriva GRUB Entry

This is my current Mandriva /boot/grub/menu.lst

timeout 5
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
shade 1
viewport 3 2 77 22
splashimage (hd0,6)/boot/grub/mdv-grub_splash.xpm.gz
default 0

title Mandriva 2006 Free
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title Mandriva No-FB
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 resume=/dev/hda6
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title Mandriva Failsafe
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 failsafe resume=/dev/hda6
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title Windows 2000 Advanced Server
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

title Windows Millenium Edition
root (hd0,2)
chainloader +1

title Windows 98 Second Edition
root (hd1,0)
map (0x81) (0x80)
map (0x80) (0x81)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Installing Mandriva 2006 Free Edition

Another screenshot time! As usual, I used my wife's Nokia 6600 camera phone for this. And as usual, I apologize for crappy pictures. Once I have the money to buy a decent digital camera, all would be better.

In the mean time.....

After the last Mandriva post, I decided to reinstall the Free Edition, document it, and use for future reference.

Let's move on.....


Before you could boot the CD, make sure you configure your BIOS to boot your CD-ROM/RW/R before your Hard Disk.

The screenshot below is my BIOS initializing (is that what you call it?). To access my BIOS, I have to hit the Delete Key. Other systems would require you to hit on F1 or Esc keys.

Once you're on the BIOS page, make sure you go to the Boot options.
Check your Boot Devices and the order they boot.
If you want your CD-ROM to boot first, highlight it then hit the negative/minus (-) positive/plus (+), or in my case the Page Up or Page Down keys on your keyboard.
Whatever you do, make sure you place the CD-ROM above the "Primary" Hard Drive.

Of course you have to save your configuration.

Once the Mandriva 2006 Free Edition CD 1 has booted up, you will see this screen.
Just hit the Enter key to start installing Mandriva

This screen indicates that the Mandriva installer is initializing. You'll the the progress bar at the bottom move to the right.

Now this is the first option the installer would let you choose.

By the way, this is the progress indicator that'll be on the left pane of you screen.
This would show you how many more steps you have to go through before rebooting to your new OS.
This pane would be your companion while installing Mandriva
So let's move on, the Language Choice options. I selected English (American) for this.

This is the License Agreement. It's like the EULA (End User License Agreement) in Windows but without the "you are renting Windows XP" clause.

After reading the License Agreement, make sure you select "Accept" before hitting the Next button.

Security options. This is the basic firewall and file/directory permission configuration.

I personally selected Standard. Why? Hehehehe! Because I won't need a High or Paranoid settings.

Here's the DrakX Partitioning Wizard.
I don't want Mandriva to take over my Hard Disk nor use the free space.
I'm a control freak, so I chose Custom Disk Partitioning, besides, I already deleted some partitions.

It's now time for DiskDrake.

I selected a blank partition (it's in white color) then clicked on the Create button at the bottom.

Then this the configuration. You could resize that partition, select a filesystem, and select a mount point.

Once that's done, click on the Next button.
I really don't understand what this is for. But I guess it's for other apps in the CD, but this is useless 'coz you won't know anyway what's inside the cd.

Next up would be addition source of updates (don't know what they call it) but in Debian, it's like the sources.list.

I didn't select HTTP or FTP since I like to know what apps (and it's versions) got installed by default.
Besides, I'm worried that Mandriva would tied up my bandwidth by downloading hundreds of megs of updates.

Package Group Selection

Close up of what packages are available.

Personal Preference: I installed everything listed under Workstation.
Hey, I'm a businessman, I'd rather use applications I use on a daily basis.

I love to use and experiment with different servers. But unfortunately, I'm behind a NAT (ISP Requirement) to save costs on acquiring IP Addresses.

So there it is, installing Mandriva on my PC. And while waiting for the installer to finish, I'm presented with this, er, images and advantages of using Mandriva.

Like this image, Developer Tools for Linux from Intel? Never heard of it. Hey, isn't it that Intel teamed up with Microsoft in developing Hardware-based security so that Microsoft could easily enforce DRM and Trusted Computing? Yeah! I really doubt this!

After copying the files to your Hard Disk,

This is now a chance for you to create you user account.
You could also create multiple user accounts here.

And of course, you could use the Autologin feature of Mandriva (actually it's available on all distros using KDE).

Bootloader installation

If you have an HP printer connected on your USB port, Mandriva would also auto-configure that for you, if you like it.

Another "Configuring your PC" progress bar.

And this is the Summary page, of course, you could still change your preferences here.
This is where I chose GRUB over LiLo

Once you click on the Next button, Mandriva would try to update your PC, this is the reason why I didn't want to add HTTP or FTP a while ago.

Congratulations page! You could now reboot your PC after taking out the Mandriva CD's.

I love using GRUB 'coz that's my first bootloader in Linux. Besides, it's much easier to configure.

Once Mandriva booted up, I was a bit surprised to see this since I didn't encounter this survey on my first install.

I tried answering it.

It's just a survey anyway.

This is where I messed up. After I selected "No, thanks" and hit Next, it didn't finish the survey, instead, it booted back to normal.