Posts published in “Operating Systems”

An Educational Crap Shoot With Linux As A Player

By Ken Starks on August 12, 2014 |

A few months ago, Brian Conner approached me and asked if I would be interested in talking to him about what we do at Reglue. He wanted to write an interview/story for Linux Journal.

I was not only surprised, I was honored to think that what we do might be of interest to the greater Linux/FOSS community. The article was published in the June issue of Linux Journal. Friends from all over the world are still emailing me, asking if I have seen the article.

Indeed I have, thank you.

What amazed me more was the conversation the story generated on Reddit and Slashdot. I don’t think it made the front page on either site, but there was a good number of comments and feedback, which we are going to talk about now.

Ken Starks

Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

Computer Dating, Linux Style

Computer Dating, Linux Style

By Ken Starks on August 6, 2014 |

Humor and Operating Systems

Look…let’s face this together. Dating can suck.

When you’re young, it’s an adventure. One has relatively little baggage, the emotional scars are few and you haven’t even begun to think about dating’s therapeutic value yet. In other words, the dating world is your oyster.

Then you find yourself at midlife, when you’ve accumulated a large pool of of crises. You know, stuff like that divorce or two under your belt, some strong political or religious beliefs that are deeply ingrained and…oh yeah…that messy conviction for hacking that’s still on your record. These are things that tend to narrow down the potential list of candidates for life-long bliss.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

When Linux Was Perfect Enough

When Linux Was Perfect Enough

By Christine Hall on August 3, 2014 |

Distros, Operating Systems and Software

The other day my colleague, friend and sometimes partner-in-crime, Ken Starks, published an article here on FOSS Force on one of his favorite gripes: things that don’t work right in Linux. This time he was complaining about a font issue in Mint when using KDE. This is nothing new from Ken. In the past he’s written other articles about broken aspects of various Linux distros that never seem to get fixed. It’s his contention that these “small” bugs, which remain unfixed release after release after release, are largely responsible for desktop Linux’s failure to take hold with the general public.

He might be right.

For Christmas I bought my roommate a new second generation Nexus 7 tablet running Android, an OS built around the Linux kernel. It “just worked,” out of the box, with no tweaking necessary. During the last seven months she’s used it for hours daily. As far as I know, she’s found no glitches that require fixing. I’m reasonably certain I’d know if she did, since the main reason I gave her the Nexus to begin with was because I had tired of trying to keep her Windows laptop running to her satisfaction. She has no trouble telling me when her computer goes kaput, and she always wants it fixed right now. Facebook waits for no one, you know.

I point this out because Linux has all but taken over the tablet and phone end of the computing spectrum. Apple makes plenty of money with the iPhone and iPad, but that’s due to their high prices. In market share, they lag far behind Android devices. And Microsoft has proven that Windows isn’t the unbeatable giant it was once thought to be. Even with massive money spent on television ads and conspicuous product placement in nearly every scripted drama on CBS, mobile devices running Windows remain a mere asterisk when looking at market share.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com

Linux Advocates in the Wild

Linux Advocates in the Wild

By Ken Starks on August 2, 2014 |

Desktops, Operating Systems and Software

Every now and then, you get the opportunity to show others what your Linux computer looks like. Some of those people will want to give Linux a shot on their computers as well. I can’t think of anything as gratifying as teaching someone how to use desktop Linux. On a personal level, I do it because I am sick of fixing friends’ and family’s Windows problems. On a professional level, well…that’s my job.

I want to tell you a story about one of those Linux conversions and the amazing ripple effect that one person caused. You just never know how far your kindness can spread.

Jaimee is a bright young lady. She attends a magnet school for the gifted and accelerated students in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She lives with her aunt during the school year and comes home to her family during the summer months. She will be a senior this coming school year and she is focusing on a career in physics. The entrance exam for this magnet school is brutal.Think of it as SATs on steroids. And this is just the high school.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

Ripe Linux Nits To Pick

Ripe Linux Nits To Pick

By Ken Starks on July 26, 2014 |

Desktops, Distros and Operating Systems

I remember when I dove into Linux at full tilt boogie. It was 2004. Nickelback could still be found in the top 10 charts, The…

China Says ‘No’ to Windows 8

By Christine Hall on May 21, 2014 |

Business, News, Operating Systems, Politics and Security

Reuters reported yesterday that the Chinese government has banned the use of Windows 8 on Chinese government computers. According to the official Xinhua news agency, the ban is being put in place by the Central Government Procurement Center primarily over security concerns now that Microsoft has ended support for XP, which is thought to be the most widely used operating system within China. This news has led Forbes to speculate that this may prompt Redmond to continue to support the OS within the People’s Republic.

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

Where Loyalty and Trust Still Matter

Where Loyalty and Trust Still Matter

By Ken Starks on May 12, 2014 |

Operating Systems and Potpourri

It was in 2010 when Skip Guenter began winding his way through friends and contacts, finally succeeding in finding our organization a place to call home.

That place is Taylor, Texas.

Since 2005, HeliOS/Reglue has operated from any place we could find. We’ve worked from garages, work sheds, tack rooms, barns, the back of pickup trucks and even in monthly storage places.

But we are home now.

Taylor a small town of 15.5K or so. Big enough to have a Walmart but small enough for the checkout clerk to know you by your first name, as well as the names of your spouse and kids. That’s also true of the people at the post office, the bank, the grocery store, the vehicle registration place…. And that’s kind of nice.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

Windows XP, Internet Explorer, Security Bugs, Black Hats & Linux

By Christine Hall on April 30, 2014 |

Browsers, Internet and Operating Systems

Ha! Maybe the gods are just happy that Steve Ballmer’s desk no longer resides on the Microsoft campus. Then again, maybe the boys from Redmond…

Ikey Doherty Talks Evolve OS & Budgie Desktop

By Ken Starks on April 24, 2014 |

Desktops, Distros, News, Operating Systems and Software

Ikey Doherty is probably one of the most tech-smart people I know. Fact is, Ikey is much like that guy you hear about on the news, the guy that can hear a string of four digit numbers and tell you the sum of them in a couple of seconds. Now, I don’t know if Ikey is capable of that feat, but I do know what he can do.

Ikey Doherty can code. Ikey Doherty can code in a number of languages.

So you might say to me, “Well Ken, I can code too. Anyone who goes to college to study Computer Science can code something.”

OK, I’ll give you that. But let’s back up a bit. How much could you code before you went to college? A little bit? Was it a hobby until you decided you were interested in doing it professionally? The last time I did the calculations in my head, Doherty writes extensive and complex code in at least four languages.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

What Would You Do to Improve Linux?

What Would You Do to Improve Linux?

By Ken Starks on April 21, 2014 |

Operating Systems

The Linuxsphere is a wild, wonderful and adventurous place. By its nature alone, Linux is often considered a maverick. It’s been my observation that Linux users tend to explore and take more risks when using their computers. For better or worse, it appears that Linux users have been associated with the hacker elite. I’ve even thought of it as being the wild west of tech. I’ve referred to using Linux as computing without a safety net.

There were days past when I let my idealism and fervor dictate my thoughts and actions. I saw magnificent potential in Linux as a desktop operating system. With all my heart and soul, I evangelized for a competitive presence of Linux on the desktop. Like many idealists, I ignored the facts and barreled ahead as if by sheer will I could blow obstacles to dust that would dissipate in my wake.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

Making a Difference the Linux Way

Making a Difference the Linux Way

By Ken Starks on March 31, 2014 |

Operating Systems

The year of the Linux desktop.

The phrase has been a comical punching bag for a number of years. At the turn of every new year the question can be found on hundreds of Linux-centered websites.

“Will this be the year of the Linux desktop?”

The fact is, we’ll never see “the year of desktop Linux.” Not the way we imagine it anyway. Many of us long for the time when Linux will become a well known alternative to Microsoft Windows. That just isn’t gonna happen.