I think I remember what I did this summer

A record amount of time has passed since my last post. Among other things, such as grading and getting a fifth part-time job, I've been traveling to Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, Takayama, and Minakami. I posted pictures on Facebook and caught up with an 8 month backlog of pictures. Facebook and iPhoto software had changed since the last time I used it. I am using a Mac Mini as my main computer and even bought Snow Leopard to install on it. I don't think I ever boought a new Mac OS so soon before. The Quicktime is good. They should have bundled that in instead of asking users to buy a "Pro" license from the start. Actually, since I have been converting to GNULinux(and/or BSD), I finally decided on PC-BSD as the free, open-source OS for the mini, but I have had a heck of a time getting it to boot properly, so I think I will give up on BSD for the moment and install Fedora on it instead. Everything will be dual-boot except the eee 4G, which is Mandriva-only. OpenSuSE has gone on to a Fujitsu used by the family. I recommend OpenSuSE if you need to recover the MBR to boot your Windows properly after a botched Linux install. (This page was for SuSE, not openSuSE, but installing OpenSuSE replaced the bad GRUB.) At our house, Ubuntu (8.04) screwed it up, and OpenSuSE fixed it up and installed a much prettier and easily customized bootloader. The Eee 4G worked perfectly with Mandriva while traveling around; I could check train schedules, maps, and travel-related information. The eeexperience of Ubuntu on the 1000HE is good so far, too. I will put Yellow Dog onto the iLamp and set up a "Remote Station" for some "wired clients" on the third floor, to make use of my spare AirMac Extreme Base Station.

I should probably use more debian-based distributions since they are more community-supported rather than business-supported, possibly slightly. Here are some notes about that:

software package management

deb
ubuntu 26000 jp ppc
debian 25000 jp ppc
crunchbang 23000 - -
dreamlinux 23000
mint 23000
sidux 23000 jp -ppc
elive 20000

rpm
openSUSE 22000 jp ppc
mandriva 20000 jp -
arch linux 15000 - -
fedora 8000 jp ppc
yellow dog ???? ? ppc

Notes are about major Linux distributions, the number of packages, whether they support Asian languages and particularly Japanese, and whether they have a PowerPC processor build of their distribution.


This was interesting:
GNUveau Networks builds solar-powered Linux computer networks for remote villages (video)



FreeGeek in Portland Oregon offers something productive to do with your used computers (or your free time).


Some free reading materials:

Free Software, Free Society by Richard Stallman

At the Duke University Law department's Center for the Study of the Public Domain you can read about the legal and social issues surrounding Fair Use in comic book form as html or as a pdf. There is an introduction by Cory Doctorow. The title is Bound By Law.

Hackett and Bankwell #1 is a free pdf ebook about converting a small business to Linux. It can be downloaded from "teh intarwebz". Issue 2 seems to have gone missing, though.


Teach the Children Well
I downloaded the (Fedora-based) Sugar-on-a-stick:strawberry OS for OLPC, Foresight Linux for Kids, LinuxKidX, and Berry (not really a kid-oriented distro but is Japanese and English). I am thinking of trying Qimo, too. These should work for kids age 3 to 10. We wouldn't want them to grow up using Windows, Mac, or other corporate proprietary software, would we? (link)