Computing – Page 9 – Brock at Cliff Cottage

2017-05-262018-05-11

Bunsenlabs Linux and other adventures not taken

A former pupil, Lars, suggested that I use Bunsenlabs Linux, I took his suggestion seriously, and investigated it. It is an impressive distro, especially for people with older and slower equipment. Its windows manager, Openbox, was developed in Canada. Even the release names, Hydrogen followed by Deuterium, appeal. Yet, I have not used Bunsenlabs, or even installed a test version. This post explains why I will probably never use Bunsenlabs, but also why new Linux users should still consider using it, and other distributions.

VivoMini & Tinker Board — Asus Tinker Board (left) and Asus VivoMini (behind ruler) both with their own versions of Linux.

Relationships

Relationships between people influence many (if not most) of our decisions. This is particularly so regarding computers. The relationship one has with his or her employer, can have a significant impact on one’s choice of equipment, as can the relationship of students with their schools. For a retired person, like myself, impact is personified in just one individual, code name Fluffy, who counts on me to solve most of her serious computing challenges. I could say to her, “Fluffy, this is your computer – fix it yourself!” If I did so, she might feel less enthusiastic about about feeding me, washing my laundry, etc. So, I lovingly look after her computer problems, and change her winter tires.

Relationships are often symbiotic, although not according to the biological definition of the term. Most often they involve mutualism, a relationship where both parties benefit. If you are involved in a commensal or parasitic relationship that benefits only the other person, please seek competent help!

In my web of relationships, I have one person I consult with on computer problems, code name Uncle Al. Sometimes, he will even ask me questions, so it is not fully a one-way street. In addition, there are two other denizens of this web who are dedicated Apple users, who have each other and an Apple infrastructure to help them. Because of our relationship, I can ask them questions about Apple products, of which I still have one, and they more or less feel obliged to help.

Because computing problems often require consultation to produce meaningful answers, one needs someone to talk about these problems. If Uncle Al went over to using another distribution, I would definitely have to consider using it.

In addition, I have at least five and a half other people in my web who use me when computing emergencies strike. These are listed as “external” in the table below. Often, they have no one else around who can offer them advice, who does not have a vested interest in having them spend money. I can use up to several hours a year working on their computing problems. I have code named these users: Ann, Axel, Ella, Eve, Henry and Kate. The person needing the most help, code named John, is no longer among the living. However, he was the most fun to help, if only because his insights into computing were so limited that one learned how such people think.

Typically these people have a cell phone, a laptop or desktop computer and possibly some other device. They are connected in some way to the internet, and may have a printer. I do not normally work with phone problems, except for those involving Fluffy or myself.

There is a third category, casuals, who may ask me questions, but who are not in any way dependent on me to solve their computing challenges. Sometimes, I may have even worked on a computing problem requiring several hours of work, but it is normally a one-off situation without ongoing commitments. Sometimes, I take on their challenges just to learn something. Casuals are not discussed further, except to say that I enjoy the

One way in which I try to simplify my work is to standardize the products I work with, but this does not apply to externals. John, if I remember correctly, managed to buy a Swedish language, Windows Vista machine produced from some obscure manufacturer, possibly Dell. At the time of this purchase, everyone else was using Windows XP.

Asus is my primary computer supplier because I can count on each machine behaving in much the same way. I have bought a large number of Western Digital hard drives. There are exceptions. I am still wondering why I purchased two Seagate 4 TB external drives.

Installations

During the past six months, I have installed Linux on six different computers, four of them with Linux Mint (two desktops and two laptops), and two Tinker Boards with Tinker Linux. Before each Mint installation, I seriously considered using Bunsenlabs Linux. Why didn’t I try Bunsenlabs? The main reason has to do with the complex variety of equipment that I have to relate to. I just could not bring myself to work on yet another OS distro.

Here is an overview of what I have to relate to in terms of equipment, with projections for 2018.

	Fjellheim	Fjellheim	Fjellheim	Externals	Externals	Externals
OS	2016	2017	2018	2016	2017	2018
ADM	1	1	1	0	0	0
Mint	1	3 + 1 ret.	4	0	1	2
Tinker	0	1	1	0	0	0
Windows 7	1	0	0	1	0	0
Windows 8	2	0	0	2	1	0
Windows 10	1	1	0	2	3	3 or 0
MacOS	1	0	0	0	0	0
iOS	1	1	0	0	0	0
Android	1	1	2	0	0	0
Kobo	2	2	2	1	1	1
Arduino	1	1	1	0	0	0
Total machines	12	11	11	6	6	6 or 3
Total OS types	10	8	6	4	4	3 or 2

The number of systems was reduced between 2016 and 2017 by returning two Windows 8 laptops to Nord-Trøndelag county (our previous employer), and by replacing Windows 7 with Mint on an Acer Aspire and then giving it away. Similarly, we gave away a Mac laptop (along with a spare iPhone). In addition, there has been migration to Windows 10 by external users, eliminated Windows 7 machines and reducing the number of Windows 8 machines in use.

One of the Asus laptops running Mint has reached its end of life, late in May 2017. Its replacement is the second Asus laptop. Soon the iPhone will be replaced by an Android phone. Fluffy is even considering “upgrading” her Windows 10 OS to Linux Mint. This will require a migration of our Windows based BookCAT library system to Koha, and a solution to our BankID identification system that doesn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about Linux. In addition, Fluffy is looking philosophically at the NOK 100 she spent buying Microsoft Office 2016, with updates guaranteed for the next 10 years. In the midterm there may be a need for a dual boot (Linux Mint + Windows 10) system.

Without having Windows systems in the house it will be a lot easier for me to offer “externals” a solution to their problems. They can either choose to install Linux Mint, and get some help, or they can keep Windows installed and find someone else to help them, a Windows expert

Ideal systems

There is no ideal systems because the uses made of systems are changing all the time. The needs of users vary, and there is absolutely no reason why anybody should imitate the choices of an old man!

A NAS (Network attached server) is a very different machine from a laptop or desktop machine. It performs a limited number of processes, but these have to be done well. A NAS needs an OS that responds to its server functions. ADM, is regarded as a good COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) OS, but possibly not as good as QNAP and Synology. People without ties to Asus would probably be better off buying a QNAP NAS – TS-451, for example, housing 4 Western Digital 8TB Red hard disks, or even their smaller TS-251 that houses 2 hard disks.

An Asustor 1004T NAS (Network Attached Server) with 4 x 6 TB Western Digital Red hard disks, running the latest version of ADM.

Lars may be quite correct that Bunsenlabs is a better system for laptops and desktops than Mint. However, I will probably be staying with Mint. Andrew Williams at Tech Radar has looked at seven distros in an article titled “The best Linux distros 2017: 7 versions of Linux we recommend” (despite the link’s name) dated 23 May 2017: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/best-linux-distro-five-we-recommend-1090058 These seven are: Elementary OS (Loki), Linux Mint (18), Arch Linux and its alterego Antergo, Ubuntu (17.04 LTS), Tails – claiming to be the best Linux distro for privacy, CentOS (7), and Ubuntu Studio – for home music recording or video production.

One of the main reasons I bought an Asus Tinker Board, was to work on home automation projects. I will be restricting myself to Tinker OS, at least for the moment. Since the Tinker Board is a superclone of a Raspberry Pi, people have the option of using 11 different systems that have originated on the Pi: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/pi-operating-systems/

That more or less wraps up the comments I have about Linux operating systems. Readers will be spared reading my prejudicial comments about Android on smart phones, Kobo on e-readers, and Arduino on Arduino boards.

2016-12-042022-12-25

General Systems Theory – Nine Requirements

Proton Bletchley is responsible for General Systems Theory at Unit One. Here are his Nine Requirements for working effectively with Systems.

1. Persona

Life can be distracting. A person who has a mind divided between, say, surfing in Australia and general systems theory will accomplish little, because they will be bouncing between dreams of waves and boxes of GST content. At Unit One, work is divided between several different personas. While Brock heads off to virtually surf at Bondi Beach, Proton Bletchley is responsible for GST. His last name comes from the secret WW2 centre where Alan Turing worked, and developed much of the foundation for computer science. His first name comes from Earnest Rutherford, who named protons in 1920.

Proton Bletchley is Unit One’s resident expert in General Systems Theory. He is also an environmentalist, which helps him focus his thoughts.

2. Wardrobe

If one goes to the trouble to develop a persona, the very least one can do is to clothe that persona in something relevant. Proton uses corn blue workwear. This in part is because his environmental focus is on water.

Workwear is useful because people who work with General Systems Theory also have to function in many different places in the real world. A typical example, might involve the collection of environmental data using Arduinos with SD cards. Devices may have to be made in a workshop, then transported to a site where they would be used as data loggers.

Of course there are GST theorists, sitting around producing virtual thoughts while puffing away on their virtual pipes, can reduce their clothing budgets considerably, by purchasing only virtual clothing.

star-sg-mechanic-factory-cotton-worker-uniform-workwear — Workwear feels appropriate when working with General Systems Theory. While Proton has only a blue outfit, other workers may wear green, black or red – depending on their moods.

3. Computer

Computing is an integral part of General Systems Theory. At one level this means supercomputing. Meteorologists and other -ists who want data in real time, need fast computers.

The fastest computer in the world is arguably D-wave’s quantum computer in Burnaby, just a few blocks from where our good friends Roy Sinn and Sue Innes live. See: http://www.dwavesys.com/

So, there is no point in Proton having anything big. It will never be big or fast enough. He is opting for the exact opposite – minimal computing. Proton remembers seeing his first ad for an EEEbook, and thought “I want that!” He was referring to the computer, not the girl!

eee_girl_1 — Asus EEE PC 701 was launched in Japan in January 2008. (Photo: Asus)

By June 2008, Asus had probably realized that many of its customers were women and offended by its previous ad. With the launch of the Asus EEE PC 900, it replaced its beach girl user with one referred to as “The Housewife”.

eee_girl_2 — “The Housewife” was used to promote the new and improved Asus EEE PC 900 in June 2008. (Photo: Asus)

Today’s (2016) ads for Asus have not changed much, although the computers are larger and more powerful.

Sam Rutherford, in Laptop Mag concludes, “The Asus EeeBook X205TA offers excellent battery life, a solid display and strong everyday computing that puts it a notch above other budget laptops.”

4. Operating System

Proton prefers Linux. Because of Proton’s connections with New Westminster, the original answer was Mandrake. Mandrake the Magician takes his name from Leon Mandrake, the stage name of New Westminster resident Leon Giglio. Leon Mandrake had been performing for more than ten years before Lee Falk “invented” the comic strip character. However, in 2004, MandrakeSoft lost a court case to Hearst Corporation, and was forced to change the name of its Linux distribution.

480px-leon_mandrake-50 — New Westminster’s very own Leon Mandrake with Princess Narda (Photo: Yes, well looks like Romaine down at the bottom …citing sources can be difficult at the best of times)

Fast forward to 2016. Mandrake has morphed into Mageia. Version 5.1 was announced 2016-12-02.

Proton has considered using other Linux distributions, including Linux Mint and elementary OS (which has a unique and simple design). If Proton wasn’t so prejudiced, I’m sure that he would be wanting to experiment with elementary OS.

5. Browser

In keeping with the open source philosophy of Linux, Firefox is an open-source web browser. There are many other open source browsers, including Chromium and Opera. However, Proton is concerned about the close bindings between Chromium and Google. Opera has started to require users to log on every twelve hours, so they can profit from advertisements. As an alternative to Firefox, Midori is a lightweight, fast and open-source (free) browser.

6. Email address

One of the main challenges of employing so many personas, is the habit of having only a single personal email address. Proton disagrees with this philosophy, and is considering having an additional email address just for the Proton Bletchley persona. The advantage is that one can keep all of the material related to that persona in a single place.

7. Office software

Open source office software provides many of the features and functions provided by Microsoft Office. LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice consisting of a suite of programs packaged in a single install. Components of the LibreOffice suite are:

Writer: word processor.
Calc: spreadsheet editor.
Impress: presentation editor.
Draw: graphical editor.
Math: mathematical formulae editor.
Base: database program.

Project planning software has always been something of a problem. LibrePlan, for example, states that it is open source, but that only applies to a limited suite of software. Anything really useful is excluded from the open source version, and has to be purchased. At the moment, Proton’s favored open source project software is Open Project.

8. Simulation software

There is a close connection between general systems theory and computer simulation. While Insight Maker is not open source, it is free and available, although Proton notes disturbingly, that it has not been updated for over a year. The last bimonthly newsletter was posted in August 2015. His fear is that someday it will simply disappear.

While some simulation programs are general, others are made for specific purposes. This topic will be covered again in another post.

9. Library

Books and articles are needed for inspiration. Ideally, they also have to be available for scrutiny at any time. It is becoming more and more important to use ebooks, which compress the space of even the largest library into less than a litre.

Update: 2022-01-26 13:00

This is historical content written and published in 2016. There is little point in updating this post, except to add how some things have changed, while others have remained the same.

Persona: From the number of weblog posts being written, a person might suspect that Proton had retired, rather than Brock.
Wardrobe: It is difficult to acquire cornflower blue workwear. Brock did manage to get some red workwear about 2017, but even these are difficult to get hold of. He is now using grey work trousers. Arduinos are no longer being used. These have been replaced by Raspberry Pi Picos, starting in late 2021.
Computers: Asus computers are still in use, but Brock’s latest laptop is now a VivoBook, with a 14″ screen, Ryzen 3 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 512 GB SSD. Trish is still content with her ZenBook UX305C. At some point, but only at her request, it will be upgraded. Other computers include an Asus VivoMini VC65, an Asus PN-50, an Asus AiO Pro.
Operating system: Linux Mint is in use. Brock still dreams of using Mageia, with version 8 the latest incarnation. The latest experimentation in the household has been with Linux Endeveaur. However, it was not performing adequately to replace Linux Mint. Mageia
Browser: Firefox is still the main browser in use. Brave has been installed.
Email Address: Currently, the McLellans have a domain at mclellan.no that serves their needs in terms of email addresses and websites.
Office software: no changes.
Simulation software: no changes
Library: A Calibre library stores household ebooks. People in the household then use their personal Kobo ebook readers to read books. We have ordered two new Kobo Libra H20 models, as replacements for our current Glo HD models, purchased in 2016-.

Update: 2022-12-24 23:00

Our general policy is for Trish and Brock to use the same equipment. Thus on 2022-08-30, we purchased 2 x Asus Zenfone 9 (A12202) hand-held devices, then in 2022-10-20 we purchased 2 x Acer Swift 3 14″ (SF314-43) laptops. Both sets of machines use USB-C ports for charging.

Soon after the previous update, the 2 x Kobo Libra H2O e-readers arrived. They supplement, rather than replace the Glo HD models. All of the Kobos use USB-micro ports for charging. Any future e-readers will have to use USB-C ports.