Linux Blog

TheLinuxBlog.com was intended to be a blog where I could log my thoughts, findings and generally keep track of how to do stuff. Since it was started this is still the goal. Ultimately I’d like to refer to TheLinuxBlog on how to do something just as much as I refer to google for everything else. That being said, one thing that recently came up for me was “How do I change my desktop on Fedora”.

I had done this before but I couldn’t remember the command to do so. Well, since this blog is as much for me as it is for the reader I figure I can post the how to here and kill two birds out with one blog post, I mean stone.

The program I use to change my window manager on Fedora is: switchdesk.

Switchdesk can be installed by Yum or if you installed Fedora from DVD or CD and didn’t fine tune your packages then you probably have it already. All you have to do to run it is type:

switchdesk

Now, if you are in an X session you will get a nice graphical dialog that will help you change your desktop manager. If your at the terminal it will exit and ask you nicely to type either gnome, kde, xfce or any other window manager you may have installed.

Don’t ask me why every distribution has a different named command and interface to achieve the same thing thats just the way it is. Maybe one day I’ll get a list of all of the commands and post them. Alternatively if anyone wants to start a list feel free to post them in comments or by e-mail.

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If you follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LinuxBlog then you may know that I regularly update a bunch of Linux PC’s and servers. Now, since I’m sort of lazy and don’t like manually doing anything I don’t have to I thought I’d post the one liner I use to automatically reconnect to a host.

while ! ping -W 1 -c 1 <hostname or IP> 2>&1 >/dev/null; do true; done && sleep 15; ssh <user>@<hostname or IP>

This script uses the ping command to ping the server once (-c 1) with the timeout of 1 second (-W 1) ping a host or IP with a timeout of one second. Once the ping loop is broken (ping returns true) I let it sleep for 15 seconds to enable SSH to come up. Then the inevitable happens. I use SSH to reconnect to the host.

There you have it, a quick way to reconnect to a host without typing the command or pressing the up arrow every time. Enjoy!

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A friend sent me an article from the register on VoIP today (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/12/iphone_voip/)

Now, it states that voip for apps on the iPhone could only be used if cost is an issue. I think that voip on phones is a good idea, even if voip is not on phones it can still be implemented very well. They state that 35 GBP will get you 10 hours of talk time, while this seems like a lot, how much international time is that? With an Asterisk box one can easily set up a voip trunk that would allow its owner to dial in and call internationally for the cell cost of local minutes and the cost of the voip provider. This could potentially save a lot of money.

With every plan, you get unlimited data. If you only get 450 minutes with your plan, you could use a native application with unlimited data to talk more.  I’ve also thought about creating “push-to-talk” PTT, sort of like the other walkie talkie services offered. If you could do this with Voip, it wouldn’t be limited to cell phones like the other major services are, people at their laptops or desktops could also participate where cell phone coverage isn’t available.

I’d like to see more people take advantage of Asterisk and start creating innovative phone services. I don’t think that having an application that utilizes VoIP would necessarily be a bad thing. I actually think that VoIP on the iPhone is a good idea and will continue to do so until it starts interfering with the providers income and in result interfering my bill.

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From InformationWeek I quote:

“Stop copying 2001 Windows. That’s not where the usability action is”

By this I think that Bob Sutor (VP of Open Source and Standards at IBM) meant that he didn’t want Linux developers to make a desktop OS. The article goes on to explain how he would like to see it further developments in Virtulization and making Linux more “green.” He believes that the Linux community has not done enough.

He’d like to see Linux take advantage of the small business market and help lower costs to businesses, but in order to do this “turnkey” applications have to be made that require little maintenance. I believe that small medium businesses can lower costs by running Linux technologies in the web applications market but not necessarily with desktop applications. Maybe this is something that should be leveraged? It would be hard to find open source developers that will work on a project that they have little interest in yet profits companies . But if an open source application became more mainstream then the developers would naturally follow as the application grew. Its sort of a catch 22. Who came first, the chicken or the egg?

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting article and I think that Bob Sutor should become an open source motivational speaker. Maybe IBM can fund a conference to get the Linux community to actually do something because they’re getting tired of waiting. I mean, how hard could it possibly be to motivate developers to create “turnkey business solutions” that will make IBM to ton of money?

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Using proprietary software to some Linux users is considered a sin, right up there with not reading the manual. Not everyone that runs Linux feels this way. I for one don’t mind using a commercial / propriety product if the product serves the purpose well, and perhaps better than an open source implementation.

Take VMWare server for example. Although it does have its problems, it works very well for virtualization. Its pretty stable, has a good interface, works well and most of all is free. I have no problem installing and using this as long as it works.  I’ve been using it for a while, its what I’m used to and I have no problems with it. The moment VMWare Server stops working, I’ll try to find another alternative. Be it open source or not.

I don’t get why some people are so into the open source movement. Not tainting a system to me has no clear advantages. If I were to not install any proprietary software I would hardly be able to use my Linux box. Think about it, no Java (ok, I’d have the IcedTea runtime and GCJ), but no supported Java for Tomcat / Eclipse, I’d have no Flash, hardly any video codecs and no 3D accelerated graphics. My virtualization, may or may not work depending on what day of the week it was or if I had supported hardware. There is probably a whole lot more that I am missing that I don’t even know about.

So, I’m just interested to know what is every one else’s take on using proprietary software? Am I alone in being “fine” with installing closed source / proprietary software? Is my computer going to go to robot hell and sing with Bender for eternity? Please let me know your thoughts.

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