Category: Linux

Linux is my primary operating system. I used it on the servers, desktops, laptops, netbooks, and even mobile phones since approximately 1997. I’ve tried a number of distributions over the years, and even created a couple myself. I still look around sometimes to see what others are up to. But most of my machines are running some sort of Red Hat – either a quick and easy Fedora Linux, or a stable and secure Red Hat Enterprise Server, or a cheaper CentOS alternative.

And while by now I am very comfortable in the Linux environment (both graphical and command line), I still discover a lot of new and interesting things about it. When I come across something worthy, I usually share it with the rest of the Open Software world, using this category.

Free Software Workshop 2011

I totally forgot to blog and let you know in advance about this, but they say it’s better late than never, so here it goes. The Ubuntu-Cy guys are organizing yet another event – Free Software Workshop 2011. It’s going to take place tonight, Friday, October 21st, 2011 at KXE1 Computer Lab at Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) in Limassol, Cyprus.

Below is the English version of the announcement, including the program. Visit this forum thread for any updates and for the Greek version.

Workshops of Free and Open Source Software 2011

The Ubuntu Linux Local Community in collaboration with the Information Systems and Technology Service of CUT and the New Technologies Club of CUT, invites you to a showcase event about the features the Free/Open Source Software in medicine, computing, home entertainment and search methods . The event will be held on October 21, 2011 in the KXE1 computer room of CUT, in the Andreas Themistocleous building (Old Land registry) in Limassol:

Click here for the Google Maps location

The agenda of the event is as follows:

18:00 to 18:30: “Free / Open Source in everyday medical practice” (Greek)
Dr. Eugene Metaxas

18:40 – 19:10: “What is version control software and why do you need it?” (English)
Leonid Mamchenkov

19:20 – 19:50: “XBMC as a core of home entertainment” (English)
Michael Stepanov

20:00 – 20:30: “make install: Installation Methods of Free/Open Source Software” (Greek)
Marios Isaakidis

20:30 to 21:00: “Intelligent search techniques” (Greek)
Theodotos Andreou

21:10 – 21:40: “Linux Security Tools” (Greek)
Gregoris Chrysanthou

The event is open to everyone and you can bring your laptop if you need any help. We are also going to give away Linux CDs/DVDs

Try Free and Open Source Software! Information without obstacles!

As you can see, I will be one of the speakers. Also, my very good friend Michael will do a presentation.

Once we are all done with the talks, we’ll probably move to a bar to continue the discussion over a pint. So if you are interested in Free and Open Source software, Linux, or just want to meet with fellow geeks, don’t miss this opportunity. They don’t come that often.

Dennis Ritchie, RIP


I’ve just learned of yet another great loss – Dennis Ritchie, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 70. It’s difficult to describe his contributions and achievements to non-technical people, but anyone with even a grain of knowledge of computer history and modern affairs can appreciate what this man have done. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia page:

Ritchie was best known as the creator of the C programming language and a key developer of the Unix operating system, and as co-author of the definitive book on C, The C Programming Language, commonly referred to as K&R (in reference to the authors Kernighan and Ritchie).
Ritchie’s invention of C and his role in the development of Unix alongside Ken Thompson has placed him as an important pioneer of modern computing. The C language is still widely used today in application and operating system development, and its influence is seen in most modern programming languages. Unix has also been influential, establishing concepts and principles that are now well-established precepts of computing.
Ritchie was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988 for “development of the ‘C’ programming language and for co-development of the UNIX operating system.”

Thank you Sir for all your hard work. Rest in peace.

Fedora 17 is a Beefy Miracle

The community has voted on the name for the next release of Fedora Linux. The name ‘Beefy Miracle‘ has won the voting race. It got most of the votes despite all the noise and protests from the ‘serious’ people. Personally, I am in favor of this name for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I don’t see Fedora as a ‘serious’ distribution. Not in the enterprise kind of way. It is a bleeding edge Open Source project which is supposed to be fun. And it is. So, nothing wrong with a funny name.

Secondly, for those who do promote Fedora in the enterprise environments, there is really no need to use the name. They can still reference the release by number. And Fedora Linux 17 sounds strict and official.

Thirdly, through the history of all Fedora releases, there were just a few names that I actually understood and could remember. ‘Beefy Miracle’ is easy to remember.

Fourthly, there were too much hype of different vegetarian cultures recently. I have nothing against that. But as a huge fan of meats, I’m glad to see any kind of meat promotion. Be that beefy or porky – I don’t mind at all.

Fifly, c’mon people – it’s just a name. It’s not a project or person name. It’s a release name. No matter what it is, in a year or so it will fade away. Like all the others did. Seriously, who can still remember Heidelberg, or Stentz, or even Laughlin?

Ubuntu naming permutations

Even though I don’t use Ubuntu myself, I think nothing stops me from sharing the fun those guys have these days.  But first, if you are anything like me, you need a little bit of context.  Here is a wiki page that explains Ubuntu code names and lists some of the previous ones:

The official name of an Ubuntu release is “Ubuntu X.YY” with X representing the year (minus 2000) and YY representing the month of eventual release within in that year. Ubuntu’s first release, made in 2004 October (10th month) was Ubuntu 4.10. Since the actual release date is not known until it’s ready and humans tend to prefer names rather than numbers, a set of codenames are used by developers and testers during the buildup to a release

[…]

The development codename of a release takes the form “Adjective Animal”. So for example: Warty Warthog (Ubuntu 4.10), Hoary Hedgehog (Ubuntu 5.04), Breezy Badger (Ubuntu 5.10), are the first three releases of Ubuntu. In general, people refer to the release using the adjective, like “warty” or “breezy”.

Well, now that we do have a context, here come the naming permutation from Mark Shuttleworth – a leader of the Ubuntu community.  Choosing the release name is not easy, especially with the help of the dictionary and all those enthusiastic contributors.  Read the whole thing to get a better idea.

The letter P is pretty perfect. It’s also plentiful – my inbox has been rather full of suggestions – and we have options ranging from pacific to purposeful, via puckish and prudent. We’ll steer clear of the posh and the poncey, much as some would revel in the Portentious Palomino or the Principled Paca, those aren’t the winning names. Having spent the last six months elucidating the meaning of “oneiric” I think it might also be worth skipping the parenthetical or paralogical options too; so sadly I had to exclude the Perspicacious Panda and Porangi Packhorse (though being an LTS, that Packhorse was a near thing).

Being generally of a cheerful nature, I thought we’d avoid the Predatory Panther and Primeval Possum. Neither sounds like great company for a seven year journey, really. Same goes for the Peccable Peccary, Pawky Python and Perfidious Puku. So many bullets to dodge round here!

Unix learning tips from Miguel de Icaza

Miguel de Icaza – a very well known programmer in Linux circles – shares a few tips to having a better experience in Unix environments.  Here is a summary of what he recommends:

  • Read, learn, and memorize the “Unix Programming Environment” book by Kernighan and Pike.
  • Read and learn the “Unix for the impatient” book by Abrahams and Larson.
  • Learn Emacs.
  • Use Midnight Commander, which Miguel is the author of.  Here is a handy manual.
  • Keep a copy of the “Unix Power Tools” book nearby.
  • Learn touch typing.

These are all solid recommendations.  I’d suggest to use Vim instead of Emacs, but that’s more of a personal preference – learn one or the other.  And I can’t agree more on the touch typing.  That is indeed the most important skill that you will ever learn.  Right next to the camp fire starting.

At this point you might be thinking “I am awesome”, “the world is my oyster” and “Avatar 3D was not such a bad movie”.

But unless you touch-type, you are neither awesome, nor you are in a position to judge the qualities of the world as an oyster or any James Cameron movies.

You have to face the fact that not only you are a slow typist, you do look a little bit ridiculous. You are typing with two maybe three fingers on each hand and you move your head like a chicken as you look at you alternate looking at your keyboard and looking at your screen.

Do humanity a favor and learn to touch type.