Linux death march (no one else was complaining!)

[edited comments about Kanotix and German]

Background: I've heard some linux developers gripe that PC manufacturers completely thumb their noses at any iso standards for hardware, they simply ship their product if it works with the current version of Windows. Oh boo hoo, how unfair life is, I say. I'm imagining some developers then taking one box which meets the standards. They make a distro that works fine on a few "perfect" boxes-- getting internet through an ethernet cable, of course-- and in effect thumb their nose at the rest of us with non-standard boxes.

That's one possible interpretation of my frustrations below. Another is that I do in fact have a hopelessly buggy box that is in need of repair, or maybe there's something seriously wrong with my burning process. I'm also a non-CS major, over 35, who's only been tinkering with linux for 18 months. You're free to take or leave this advice.

I call this round of testing for linux disros a "death march" because I am getting fed up with nonfunctionality. I am tempted to chalk this nonfunctionality up to indifferent incompetence. There's that Dilbert cartoon where an I-beam has fallen on one guy's head. That employee complains and Catbert informs him, "No one else is complaining." Well, I am.

Here's a description of the test.

THE DISTROS: A dozen live CD or DVD distros. I chose live distros because it's easy to compare and I've seen too many cases of nonfunctionality that I'm not committing a few hours to so many more distros. But as it is I have tested half the Distrowatch top twenty.

THE BOX: A NetVista with 512 MB memory and 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 processor. It's probably 2-3 years old.

THE TESTS:

USB: I booted up the box with a Lexmark SECURE II 1GB USB pen drive sitting in a USB port. I counted it a success if I were able to read one particular text file on the stick, even if I had to go to the trouble of typing a mount command to do it.

MPEG-I. I had an MPEG-1 animation stored on a hard drive on a pre-existing partition, in the /home/knoppix folder, as part of a Knoppix 5.01 HDD install. I attempted to access the file using icons for this hard drive partition that pop up on the desktop. I would then doubleclick on the icon for this animation and then see what happens. So playing the animation successfully is both a file-access test and a sound and video playing test.

WIFI: I don't do ndiswrapper. This box has an Atheros-based wifi card in it and I have been able to get it to connect to my home encrypted wifi network with many distros. Usually I use the "iwconfig" command.

The candidates:

Damn Small Linux 3.0 RC1

Failed to boot. "Unable to connect to X server."

Damn Small Linux- Not 0.1

Failed to boot. "Unable to connect to X server."

dyne:bolic 2.0

MPEG-1: Accessed the file. Worked flawlessly, including sound.
USB PEN DRIVE: worked fine.
WIFI: Probably not working. I couldn't fogure it out. I'd love to be proven wrong here.

Gentoo RR4

MPEG-1: Accessed the file. Saw the video and sound. (I had to change some settings in Kmix to get it to work).
USB PEN DRIVE: worked fine.
WIFI: KWifiManager worked for me.

Kanotix 2005-04

MPEG-1: Accessed the file. Worked flawlessly, including sound.
USB PEN DRIVE: worked fine.
WIFI: Worked flawlessly with the "iwconfig" command
CAVEAT: I once became frustrated with the language interfaces on the kanotix web site, but they have made dramatic improvements in the past six months.

Knoppix 4.02-DVD

MPEG-1. Accessed the file, but playback sound was plagued by an odd echo.
USB PEN DRIVE: Couldn't see it, even in USB view.
WIFI: worked flawlessly with the "iwconfig" command.

Knoppix 5.01-DVD

MPEG-1: Accessed the file. Worked flawlessly, including sound.
USB PEN DRIVE: worked flawlelessly.
WIFI: worked flawlessly with the "iwconfig" command.
CAVEAT: Sound and USB devices work flawlessly with a live boot, but gave me trouble with a HDD install. I published a bug fix I got from "AgenteFBI" at the knoppix.net fora.

Mediainlinux 4 RC5

MPEG-1: Accessed the file. Worked flawlessly, including sound.
USB PEN DRIVE: Couldn't see it, even in USB view. The irony here is that for an old laptop, MiL was the only distro that let me see the data on the stick.
WIFI: Worked flawlessly with the "iwconfig" command.

Paipix 5.0

MPEG-1: Accessed the file. Attempts to play it with Kaffeine initiated a reboot of the system. (I tried it four times across two different reboots).
USB PEN DRIVE: worked with use of the mount /dev/sda1 command.
WIFI: worked flawlessly with the "iwconfig" command.

Quantian Scientific Computing Environment 0.7.92

MPEG-1: Not able to access the file. Problem with the desktop-- a bug upon loading.
USB PEN DRIVE: never got to the data, although I was able to see it on the list with "usbview".

Slax Kill Bill 5.03

MPEG-1: Couldn't see the file.
USB PEN DRIVE: icon shows up, inoperatble.
WIFI: might have had it, but I coulnd't get it to run.

Slax 5.05

MPEG-1: Accessed the file. No sound when playing it.
USB PEN DRIVE: Accessed the data.
WIFI: Use of the "iwconfig" command locked up the system, requiring a hard power off!

SUSE 10.0

MPEG-1: SUSE will not ship with software that enables the playing of MPEG-1 files.
USB PEN DRIVE: I quit this distro because it USB access was painfully slow and intermittent. My perception is that it got worse with time.

SUSE 10.1

WIFI: I quit this distro because the developers capriciously took out the wifi driver because it didn't meet OSS standards.

Ubuntu 6.06

MPEG-1: "unable to mount the selected volume" when trying to access the file.
USB PEN DRIVE: worked
WIFI: It's over my head, or it's non-functioning, or madwifi not present. It accepted my iwconfig command but didn't work over all.
CAVEAT: On this box, I frequenly found that when I had various flavors of ubuntu products installed, I had a slow-up problem. When I would leave the box alone for more than an hour, and come back to it, my system would act like it was running on a 2.8 MHz processor instead of a 2.8 GHz processor. Neither the ubuntu fora nor my local LUG email-list were able to help solve, let alone scarcely believe, my problem.

Conclusions

1. Gentoo RR4 is the surprise winner. Ironically I didn't figure out either the wireless or the sound until I went back to it a second time. I guess I'm afraid to go Gentoo, but if these Debian-based systems don't get their act together, I'm bailing. It also ships with povray (and completely incidentally, comes with scene files I wrote for povray!). I would note that if one were going to the trouble of a live CD, then the software on it is a serious consideration, and live DVD's may often win out over live CD's.
2. Knoppix is my old friend. The DVD has everything I could want, except povray. The HDD install is working okay on my box.
3. kanotix 2005-04 used to have several problems with how it handled languages in its web site, and I'm proud to say the worst ones are fixed. (I tried out the 2006 "Easter" version and found its hardware detection not as robust as the older one). It is lacking a bit in software for the graphics fanatic, but Kanotix 2005-04 is still the first distro I would reach for as a rescue CD.
4. dyne:bolic is another distro I'd like to get to know better. If it has wireless drivers, I might consider it based on its overall beauty

SUSE's omission of wifi drivers: the reason

A distrowatch posting about a release of SUSE 10.2 eventually led me to a place in Novell's bugzilla where the "ath_pci missing" bug was being discussed. Novell took the wifi driver out of 10.1 without any fanfare. The reply to the bug, from Andreas Jaeger, stated:

The ath_pci part is not under an open source license.

Many developers in the kernel community consider kernel-level modules to be subject to the GPL terms. Novell respects this position and has a policy of distributing kernel modules that are compatible with the GPL. Novell continues to work with vendors to find ways to efficiently provide users functionality that may currently only be available through non-GPL kernel modules. These efforts include designing an open source solution or creating an alternative means for users to access the functionality.

Okay, it is a little less maddening to know that they had a principled reason for doing so, even if it were an obtusely and recklessly applied principle. I would that they had put this at the top of the release announcement and not kept it hidden until someone complained. The original complainant said,

So when you remove drivers for common hardware, you will not win new users :-(

Indeed. SUSE 10.1 was replaced with Knoppix 5.01 on one of my boxes. I'm still undecided as to what to do with the box which still has 10.0.

I am a bit ticked that the bugzilla informs us of SUSE's attitude toward the bug:

Status
RESOLVED

Picture 513

Picture 513
Originally uploaded by pterandon.

I took this one at a butterfly exhibit a the National Museum of History in NYC. I like it.

A review of google earth

Google is touting google earth on its birthday. I continue to find that it has much less detail of my neighborhood than does NASA World Wind. Attached is the view of my neighborhood at the default mag it gave when I typed in my hometown.

I was however able to get it to load the first time without too much anguish using linux, Knoppix 5.01, and its built-in WINE, although not all the controls were visible all the time. It is also not clear to me whether this WINE process will mean a fresh "install" each time or not.

A review of OpenLab GNU/Linux 4.1 Alpha 1

I tried this distro as a live CD. The Distrowatch announcement claims this release "includes significant enhancements for mobile computing, including improved wireless and WPA support." I say we need more distros to focus on this aspect of computing.

Openlab has the best design for user interface to wireless that I have seen. A window is on the boot-up for their home-grown wireless utility, and it's one of the best ones I've seen. While KWifiManager gives you enough rope to hang yourself several times over, with far too many options, and its panel for changing encryption key settings buried deep in sub-menus, Openlab's utility on the other hand is brief and to the point.

Unfortunately it didn't work for me. I wasn't ever able to connect to the internet using it on a PC which has worked with many other a distro. I haven't taken time to figure out why. I hope the reason is not that it fails to have the wireless drivers that even come with da__ small linux.

SUMMARY
Wifi user interface: best ever
Wifi functionality: not

Another analogy comparing events in the Occupied Territory in Palestine to the Holocaust.

I was discussing the ELCA's social statement on the wall in Palestine with some guys who are more politically conservative than me. An analogy crept into my head and I thought I'd try to flesh it out in a blog post first.

It involves comparing things happening in Palestine to what happened in Nazi Germany. I have this historical stuff in my head because I've been reading A Testament to Freedom : the Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some leftists have engaged in an inflammatory version of this analogy, saying that the Israelis are doing to the residents of Palestine exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews. This analogy onece worked for me, but it hasn't worked for me as my understanding grew. I've got a new angle, and it's inspired by reading Bonhoeffer's frustration of seeing a culture in decline into violence. My analogy is that the Lutheran presence on the ground in Palestine is like Deitrich Bonhoeffer, wailing at the gates as a society falls into madness.

Let's put in this analogy Hamas is like the Nazis, and what the political atmosphere there is like 1930's Germany.

Pastor Mitri Raheb of the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem noted that the only Christian candidates in the recent election were all in Arafat's old party. They stood for election against Hamas. I have heard through hearsay that Pastor Raheb personally wasn't too thrilled even with the idea of Arafat's vision for ruling should he have come into full power, in that Arafat promised eventually to invoke the sharia, where Christians wouldn't have much freedom. A few years ago, I read a sermon Bishop Younan of the ELCJ which expressed sadness not only at the Israeli treatment of Palestinians but also explicitly condemned the saber rattling of Arafat. I believe that the Christian church on the ground in the region ultimately is the key to lessening the extremism of the violent factions there-- that it has a track record of being the most vocal opposition to the violence of Hamas. Pray for them. To me, they read like the Bonhoeffer of 1938.

The Lutheran presence on the ground is also informing us that the poor common people cannot bear it any longer. Pastor Raheb spoke of the frustration and anger he felt when his father had a heart attack and the ambulance was stopped up by Israeli checkpoints.

The Christian Church in the West however, too often has the wrong idea. Looking for spiritual brethren in the region, it ignores the existence of churches in the east. It does not recognize the courageous witness of the "Bonhoeffers" on the ground there, it views any criticism they make of the Israeli military as Hamas propaganda. Drunk on a binge of Social Darwinism, Gospel of Prosperity, Theology of Glory, and economic libertinism, it cannot see suffering for what it is. Pray for us.

Where is God?

I was recently touched by the lyrics of the song, "Silence", by the group Jars of Clay

Did you leave me unbreakable?
You leave me frozen?
I've never felt so cold
I thought you were silent
And I thought you left me
For the wreckage and the waste
On an empty beach of faith
Was it true?

[chorus]
Cuz I...I got a question
I got a question
Where are you?

The song ends with a wailful repetition of the question, "Where are you?" Sometimes it's good to wallow in doubts, or at least let them come up to the surface and struggle with them honestly. That question seemed to resonate with me last evening.

I've been reading A Testament to Freedom : the Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is interesting how much he was stressing community. In some places it was like he was pushing this agenda to the expense of other doctrines or niceties-- I think in one place he went so far to gripe about musical performances in churches by soloists, because it didn't build up the community.

Then this Sunday, I had a nice day in my local congregation. Our family actually only did about a third of what was available to us, but I had an especial feeling of being at home and part of a community.

And there in my heart I heard the answer to Jars of Clay's wailing-- that God is found in the community of the visible church.

Shame at Guantanamo

Seen in "Guantanamo suicides a 'PR move'", BBC News:

But earlier, the camp commander, Rear Adm Harris said he did not believe the men had killed themselves out of despair.

"They are smart. They are creative, they are committed," he said.

"They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

I call for Rear Adm Harris' demotion.

News Flash: God is not a cruel meanie

I went to see the Christian musical group "Point of Grace" in an Assembly of God congregation tonight. Browsing through the hallways, I picked up an insert from The National Association of Evangelicals Washington Insight, the lobbying office of the NAE. There was an article on the immigration controversy.

When I saw the topic, given this group, I was expecting... well, no, you don't want to know what I was expecting. This article, the March/April 2006 issue, states:

"Is a compromise possible with House-passed legislation [H.R.4437] that would return illegal immigrants to their native lands and jail those who aid illegal immigrants? That's unclear, but white evangelicals need to hear the voice of Hispanics about the implications of H.R. 4437.

So the NAE is not championing the more cruel and unbiblical ("The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born.") creations of the House Republicans. The National Association of Evangelicals is hoping for a compromise on it. Alleluia! Praise be to God!

Ever since the House Republicans picked Bush in the early 2000 primaries, I've often thought there's something especially sinister behind this movement, which distinguishes itself from Lincoln Republicanism, Roosevelt Republicanism, Eisenhower Republicanism, Nixon Republicanism, hey even Reagan Republicanism, and certainly McCain Republicanism. When it comes to war and poverty, this movement separates itself from the historical teachings of the Christian church, from the writings of Luther to the papal encyclicals. It has thrust this awful war upon us. Eventually even its most faithful cheerleaders have to take a look at where this bus is headed.

Command-line setting up of wifi.

A friend was using a distro that came with wifi drivers but he didn't know how to set up the computer to run with his encrypted wireless network. Here is a tip that I know works with Knoppix, kanotix, and damn small linux-- probably any debian-based distro that has been kind enough to include madwifi-- when you've got an atheros-based card. Open a Konsole or terminal and do:

su
[respond to root password prompt]

iwconfig
[look to see what the software is calling your wireless device-- is it "eth0" or "ath0"? I will call this YOUR_DEVICE ]

iwconfig YOUR_DEVICE essid YOUR_NETWORK_NAME key YOUR_ENCRYPTION_KEY

pump -i YOUR_DEVICE

I believe I learned this method from the folks on the kanotix IRC channel.