Ubuntucat

I saw Leaked: Dell Inspiron 910 (Mini Note) Specs and Release Date today and I’m intrigued, but I’m not excited yet.

I tend to be pretty cautious about computer purchases. I’ve heard rumors that the base model is supposed to be US$299, but I’m not sure what specs that’ll be. By the time you jack up the specs to be something reasonable, it may be over US$600, which I’m not willing to shell out.

I also find it odd that a couple of months ago, Dell hinted at the netbooks being announced in August. It’s almost the end of August now and it’s still just “leaked… specs” a few days before the supposed release date (August 22). If Dell is releasing the netbooks on August 22, shouldn’t they have released the full specs and pricing (not just “leads” and speculation) a lot earlier?

Well, I’m curious to see how this all turns out. I love my Eee, but I don’t love its Ubuntu-unfriendliness (I don’t think I can go back to Xandros at this point). If the Dell Inspiron 901s are priced reasonably, get good reviews, and come preinstalled with a Ubuntu version that boots up within seconds, then I may just regift my Eee to a friend who doesn’t mind Xandros and who also travels a lot.

Bring it on, Dell! Let’s see what you got.

I’m less understanding of those who don’t want to learn how to take care of and fix their own computers than of those who don’t want to learn how to take care of fix their own cars. In many ways, cars and computers are similar—both cars and computers are complicated machines made up of various hardware pieces and some software (newer cars have software, anyway).

Nevertheless, there are some important differences between the two as well.

• Even if you’re getting ripped off for car repair services, rarely will the cost of a repair rival the cost of buying a new car. The same cannot be said for computers.
• While there are certainly communities and jobs that involve a lot of driving and no computer work, we are increasingly living in a digital age. If you work an office job of any kind, chances are you spend upwards of 50 hours a week on the computer, combining work and home use. Unless you are a truck driver, it’s very unlikely you are spending upwards of 50 hours a week driving.
• Car repair is often more involved than computer repair. Yes, there are exceptions. It’s much easier, for example, to change an air filter in a car than to change a processor in a computer. That said, if you regularly do your own repairs on a car, you need an extensive workshop of tools and a dedicated garage. And it’s sad to say, but cars these days are being made so as to make it difficult to do your own maintenance. When I was growing up, my dad showed me how to change the oil and oil filter on my car. When I got a newer car, the oil filter was positioned in such a way that it wasn’t possible to get to it without a car-lift and specialized tools. Usually, with a computer, if there are hardware repairs or replacements that need to be done, all you need is about nine square feet of space, two screwdrivers, and your own two hands.
• Computer repair is less physically dangerous. Yes, it’s possible if you do something stupid, you could probably electrocute yourself with some of the electronics inside the computer, get a minor cut from some of the sharp metal edges of the computer frame, or get a bruise on your pinky if you stick it in the fan while it’s running (shame on you for not unplugging the computer first). Still, I know of no one who has suddenly died from interaction with a home computer. I do, however, know people who have been seriously injured or killed by cars. If a car isn’t in proper working order (particularly the tires and brakes), you could kill someone. It’s okay to fiddle with your computer, as probably the worst you’ll do is fry your motherboard or cut a wire. It’s not okay to fiddle with your car unless you know what you’re doing.

The other thing to keep in mind is that almost all problems with a car are hardware-related. If there is a software problem with a car, you can’t just boot your Linux CD into the car and scan for viruses or edit configuration files. Computers can have hardware problems (loosely connected cords, failed hard drives, dusted-up fans), but the vast majority of computer problems are software-related.

Not everyone repairs her own car or computer, and that’s fine. Nevertheless, the level of ignorance of basic, common sense computer use I see goes way beyond the ignorance of good driving practices I see. Not everyone obeys traffic signals, changes their motor oil regularly, or drives defensively. But almost everyone I know who drives knows to fill up the tank when it’s low on gas or petrol. Drivers know to turn off the car if they aren’t using it for extended periods of time. They know not to drive 100 Km per hour in 1st gear.

I don’t see this same level of common sense amongst most computer users I know. They don’t think it’s worth their time to get to know how to take care of their computers (back up important data, learn how to navigate menus, avoid social engineering).

I’m not saying all this to be some kind of snob. I was in that place before, not long ago. I was a computer user who lacked common sense for a long time. Eventually I finally embraced computer literacy, because I realized it makes sense to do so since I had to spend a lot of time using the computer at work and began increasingly spending more time using it at home as well. I don’t think it’s that most computer users are stupid or lazy. I think it’s mainly that they’re scared.

To most computer users I know, computers are mystifying. When you’re scared of something and don’t understand anything about how it works, it’s easy to use it only for what you need it for and then ask for help whenever you need help instead of exploring things for yourself. I’ve had to teach a Mac OS X user how to install VLC, teach another Mac user how to add songs to iTunes, teach a Windows user how to change her Firefox homepage—these are all things that can be easily explored through the GUI if you just click on a few menus and read the directions.

If we do want to make an analogy between cars and computers, let’s consider a little bit of social engineering. Someone goes to a website and sees she “needs” to download an “ActiveX plugin” to view the site properly. All of a sudden, the computer slows down and there are pop-ups everywhere, and if she closes one pop-up two more pop up in its place. This is like driving to a store and having someone in front of the store say “Can you give me the keys to your car? You’ll need someone to watch your car while you go in the store.” Would you give that person your key? If it’s not a store and it is a restaurant, do you quickly learn to tell the difference between a genuine valet and a con artist valet? Maybe not with 100% accuracy, but I’d say most computer users indiscriminately click on things without considering what is trustworthy and what is untrustworthy, while they’ll at least consider whether a valet might be a real valet or not.

I’m not really sure what the solution to the problem is. How can we demystify computers for computer users who are afraid of computers? How can we convince them it’s okay to explore menus and read the messages in those menus? How can we get them to recognize that it’s worth getting to know how to take care of something you spend 50+ hours a week using? All I know is that the car-computer analogy doesn’t fly in terms of maintenance and repair.

Ubuntu’s development is mainly focused on Ubuntu and less so on Kubuntu and Xubuntu, so most of my tutorials are also Ubuntu-centric.

Nevertheless, people do actually use Kubuntu and Xubuntu, so I thought I’d create a little tutorial on enabling extra software repositories and installing Flash in Kubuntu 8.04, since someone on the Ubuntu Forums asked how to do it, and I didn’t have a simple explanation handy (the process for installing Flash in Ubuntu is much simpler).

First go to the KMenu and and select System and Adept Manager.

Adept Package Manager handles software installation and removal. It fetches installer files and their dependencies from a centralized software server repository, and then it installs them for you.

Since Adobe Flash is proprietary software, we’ll have to enable extra software repositories to have it available for installation. If you don’t get this whole free v. proprietary business, you can read more about it at the Ubuntu philosophy page.

Click on Adept and select Manage Repositories

You should see both the Universe and Multiverse repositories unchecked (or unticked).

Check (or tick) both the Universe and Multiverse repositories. You can also, if you want to be considerate, change the software download source from the main Ubuntu servers to a local mirrored server (in my case, that would be the United States). Either way, the software available will be the same.

When you’re done making those changes, click Close

Adept will then check both what software is available for installation and what you already have installed.

In the search area, type flashplugin. This will filter for any software package that has the phrase flashplugin in it (there should be only one package—flashplugin-nonfree).

Click on flashplugin-nonfree in the filtered results and Request install.

Click on Apply Changes

Wait for Adobe Flash to download and install.

Once you’ve install Flash, you can quit the package manager by going to Adept and selecting Quit

In Konqueror (Kubuntu’s web browser), go to Settings and select Configure Konqueror

Click on Plugins and then select Scan for New Plugins

Once the new Flash plugin has been found, click OK

You should now be able to view Flash content through Konqueror.

If you experience any problems or have questions about any of these steps, you can find help at the Kubuntu Forums. You can also visit the the Ubuntu Forums for help—just be sure to let people know you’re using Kubuntu (and not Ubuntu).

My wife saw my new WordPress theme (the one I tweaked to be more consistent with my Ubuntu tutorials) and had a fit (she’s a graphic designer and can’t stand anything ugly). So, at her request, I’ve switched back to my old theme (Simpla).

Of course, I think it’d be great if she could design me a custom WordPress theme that is both Ubuntu- and cat-friendly…

I’m not sure how you define “a morning person,” but I don’t consider myself one, even though I do tend to wake up earlier than my wife does. Maybe, by my definition of “morning person,” there are no morning people. I consider a morning person someone who not only wakes up early but also doesn’t feel groggy and doesn’t feel immediately like going back to bed again.

So why do I wake up early? I like mornings. Lately, I’ve been going on morning runs in the park before work, and I like how quiet and beautiful the park is in the morning as the fog rolls over the grass and water. And on the weekends, I can’t sleep in too much, because I don’t want the whole day to just waste away, and I also don’t want my body getting used to that kind of sleep cycle on the weekends so that waking up on Monday for work is even more difficult than it usually is.

Still, I don’t drink coffee.

I know many people who need coffee to function in the morning. If they don’t have coffee, they are cranky, discombobulated, and inarticulate—sort of the way I am if I haven’t eaten in eight hours (give me three meals a day, please; thank you). I’d say there are three major reasons I don’t drink coffee:

• While my high school friends were starting to drink coffee in order to feel more grown up, I didn’t really care to feel grown up. I wanted to be intellectually mature. I wanted to be respected. But I didn’t particularly want to get drunk, smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, have sex, get high, or have an early mid-life crisis. I wanted to enjoy my youth while I still had it. Of course, some people would say all the stuff I didn’t do as a teenager is enjoyment of youth. I’ll respectfully disagree.
• I don’t really like taking drugs—caffeine, over-the-counter headache medicine, etc. I will take drugs if I have to (if I have a really bad headache or need antibiotics after surgery), but I try to avoid them if possible. I just like not to mess with my body if I don’t have to, and I also worry that my body could build up an immunity to certain drugs if I take them too often.
• I guess the most important reason is I just don’t like the taste of coffee. The smell isn’t too bad (doesn’t turn me on or anything, but I can stand it). Coffee taste? Bleh.

Yup. I’m a freak. I don’t drink coffee.