Ubuntu, (open)SUSE, GNU and Linux: Roses and Other Names December 30, 2007

Posted by metaverse in Linux, SUSE, Ubuntu, open source.
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There’s much to consider in a pair of articles on how best to evangelize Linux to the masses. The tech and other cents: There’s more to Linux than Ubuntu argues that too many writers, and users following them, think that Ubuntu IS Linux. He wants to remind people that there are other distributions out there.

Meanwhile, over at the citizen journalism site, Newsvine, Vinnl wants you to believe that telling people you use “Linux” is confusing to new people. When you instead tell people about the distribution you’re using, you endorse “that combination of packages, software availability, and community support that you so appreciate.”

Comments in both pieces also raise the even more touchy subject of calling the whole ball of wax “GNU/Linux,” as Richard Stallman prefers/insists on.

As a writer, words are important to me. As a “Linux guy,” I’ve been committed to bringing my favorite operating system to the masses (some have called it “world domination”) for all of this century. For me, I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all solution for how to win people over–and that’s actually the way I like it.

There’s nothing all that new to the “Ubuntification of Linux.” When I was first coming around the Linux community, Linux = Red Hat, at least in North America. In the corporate world, that’s still largely true. And there was a backlash. I have to admit that at the time, I didn’t want to leave Windows into the waiting arms of the “Microsoft of Linux.” So I first tried SUSE (but didn’t have a good enough machine to install it), and then got (and this will surely date me) Corel Linux. This was a modified Debian desktop distribution with an easy install designed for ordinary users. I guess you can consider it an Ubuntu ahead of its time. There was lots that was wrong with the distro, which I won’t go into here. When it died, I used to tell people that the distro that combined the rock-solid stability of Debian with a simple install would be a killer.

I’m digressing, though. My point is that there’s always been a trendy and/or dominant distribution. After Red Hat, there was Mandrake (another tidbit: until very recently whenever I spoke to a support guy at SBC/AT&T/Yahoo and mentioned that I ran Linux, they’d tell me about their Mandrake experience. Every time!). Then Fedora Core…and now Ubuntu, which combines the rock-solid stability of Debian with a simple install and a very supportive community. Not going to gloat here.

So am I wrong to tell people “I run Linux” instead of openSUSE? Well, my publisher might like it better if I didn’t say “I write Linux books in my spare time” more often than “I wrote openSUSE Linux Unleashed.” (oh, there goes that plug again). But I figure that most people who even care about their operating system know “Linux” better than any distribution–yes, even Ubuntu. So I’ll continue to do that, and say “openSUSE Linux” if there’s some “hint of the geek” in the person I’m talking to.

Besides, now that I have my dual-boot Kubuntu/openSUSE Dell laptop, I couldn’t honestly say what collection of packages and community I like better. to my mind, it’s all Linux. Let’s go with that.

Anyone for a KDE/Gnome debate?

In case you haven’t heard… December 27, 2007

Posted by metaverse in Linux, SUSE, writing.
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openSUSE Linux Unleashed should now be at a bookstore near you. It is available at all the Borders and Barnes & Noble stores in my hometown (Milwaukee, WI), and should be at just about any independent bookshop with a decent selection of computer books. With the holidays over, and perhaps with some of your friends tearing their hair out over Windows Vista, the book is a perfect antidote.

Here’s a news release I sent to my local media for additional info:

West Allis author helps people break the Windows habit

If you’ve bought a new computer equipped with one of the six versions of Windows Vista and are underwhelmed, or you want to have the latest technology, but just can’t afford the upgraded hardware Vista requires—you just might need a new operating system. You want openSUSE Linux—and openSUSE Linux Unleashed.

West Allis author Michael McCallister helps both the Linux newbie and the more experienced geek in his latest book, openSUSE Linux Unleashed (Sams Publishing, www.informit.com/title/067232945X). “If people have heard of Linux at all, too often they think it’s just too hard to use,” McCallister says. “I try to show how easy it is generally, and help people over the rough spots too.”

The book walks the reader through installing openSUSE v10.3 (included on the accompanying DVD), setting up and using the Internet, and getting productive in the first three sections. By the time the reader is finished, he/she can administer the system, keep it updated, develop interactive websites, and sample a few programming environments too. Among other things, readers will also learn to:

Read song lyrics and get artist information inside their music player
Participate in Web 2.0 by reading and creating blogs and wikis
Create astounding web graphics with The GIMP and Inkscape
Secure your applications from attack with AppArmor

“Linux is a powerful operating system, but there’s nothing an ordinary person can do with their existing computer that can’t be done on Linux. openSUSE Linux Unleashed was writtten to help folks use that power to the fullest extent,” McCallister said.

McCallister, a 1989 UW-Milwaukee graduate, has been using SUSE Linux since the turn of the century. His first book on the subject, SUSE Linux 10 Unleashed, was published in 2005. He’s written for the old Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee Magazine, the Shepherd Express and Isthmus in Madison. He blogs about technology at Notes from the Metaverse.

openSUSE Linux Unleashed (744 pages, $49.99) is available at area Barnes & Noble and Borders stores, and is available online at sites including Amazon, BN.com, and Powells.com. Review copies are available from Sams. McCallister is available for media interviews, workshops, book signings and other speaking engagements. He is represented for technical books by Carole McClendon of The Waterside Agency.

Coming Soon? Importing PDFs into OpenOffice.org December 21, 2007

Posted by metaverse in Technical Communication, open source, writing.
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In some ways, technical writers (and lots of other folks) got an early Christmas present yesterday. Solveig Haugland reported that Sun engineers are working on an extension for OpenOffice.org that will import PDF files and make them editable.

Now if you hang out in the technical writing/FrameMaker/Acrobat world
for very long, you will learn that PDF is designed as a read-only
format. To use a programming analogy, PDF is the binary file and the
Word/Frame/whatever original format the PDF was made in is the source
code. You can see their point a little when you have gone through several iterations of a document, and don’t want trolls looking through Track Changes for a comment. Things are different when a company has hired you to redo their 300-page user manual, and all anyone can find is the downloadable PDF on the website! Acrobat Reader does have some copy/paste abilities, but it can be cumbersome. There are some Windows-based applications that will convert PDF to Word with varying degrees of success, but they tend to be of value only if you need to perform this activity fairly frequently.

If this project succeeds, everyone, regardless of their operating system will have free access to a tool that you might not use all that often, but will likely be a lifesaver when you need it. For now, Thorsten Behrens reports that they’ve been able to import a computer assisted design diagram into OOo Draw and Impress (the presentation module). Next up will be Writer, and that’s when I’ll really get excited.

For details, snapshots and (source) downloads, visit the OpenOffice.org wiki.

1000 pieces of paper a month? December 6, 2007

Posted by metaverse in working, writing.
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A
Gartner report from August (“How to Manage the Environmental Impact of
Printing”) says the “typical” office worker prints about 1000 pages per
month. If printing on one side only, they say it works out to 40 pounds
of paper per month!

At four 5-day weeks per month (give or take a couple days), this
would be 50 pages every working day. Really? Tragically, there are no
footnotes in this paper, so you can’t tell if this page count is a
misprint, or if you can trust the 40 pounds of paper number.

Does this seem out of whack to you? Well, maybe not. A Google search
today found quite a few sites that offer that statistic. The closest
thing I found to a reference is a 1997 report from the Lawrence
Berkeley Lab,
where they said that the typical office worker used 5 sheets per hour
of work. No footnote here, either.

I don’t know if I’m as skeptical of the original number, but a
decade can be a long time. I’d guess that I print (and copy) less than
I did 10 years ago. Some of the clients I work with run duplex printing
operations now.

Does anyone know if this factoid is still true (or ever was, for
that matter)? It would be nice to think we’ve made progress
(recognizing that our government is the brick wall to progress on
greenhouse gases).