Replace macOS with Linux

Turn your Mac into a whole new computer: Replace macOS with Linux

Create a bootable USB stick on macOS

Nate's Linux

• Originally 2+ years ago
• New Linux Debian 7.6 server install - discs from osdisc.com

Samba file server

Finally after more than a year of not using my Linux box, I set it up as a Samba file server.

My wife brought the issue to my attention was we were cleaning out the den. The "you should get rid of that thing" conversation.

I am using Webmin for the administration. Samba could also be used for a print server but we are printer-less and intend to stay that way.

Powered up an old Linux desktop

I have a little project I am working on. Today I hope to install Debian Linux on an old tower PC. I have it set up on the dining room table for now. I just powered it on after it had been powered off for 5 and a half years. (It was gathering dust and cobwebs under the stairs in the basement). Suse Linux 9 came right up and believe it or not I remembered the password. (The last log on was 10/30/2006).

Turn a Pogoplug into a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) web server

Turn a Pogoplug into a Fully-Featured Linux Web Server

Excerpt:

Pogoplugs are great little storage devices, but they can do more than they let on. Let's take a look at how you can hack a Pogoplug into a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) web server.

Comment: Dan S .... thought this would interest you

Dumping Windows

Google ditches Windows on security concerns

Excerpt:

Google is phasing out the internal use of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system because of security concerns, according to several Google employees.

The directive to move to other operating systems began in earnest in January, after Google’s Chinese operations were hacked, and could effectively end the use of Windows at Google, which employs more than 10,000 workers internationally.


“We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,” said one Google employee.

“Many people have been moved away from [Windows] PCs, mostly towards Mac OS, following the China hacking attacks,” said another.

New hires are now given the option of using Apple’s Mac computers or PCs running the Linux operating system. “Linux is open source and we feel good about it,” said one employee. “Microsoft we don’t feel so good about.”

Comment: Photo credit

PogoPlug setup (Wow!)

I received my PogoPlug Thursday and today was setup day.

We had other activities that were higher priority (*) so I didn't begin until about 4 pm.

It literally took me more time to get the 500 Gig Iomega drive and the PogoPlug out of the shipping boxes than the set up.

Half a Terabyte does seem like much any more but I remember Norwest Colorado running all of our banks on 220 Gig! And I remember IBM System 3's with 15 MB drives. So yes 500 gig is a lot.

It's pretty impressive to have a secure, shareable 500 Gig available. How it works (for techies!): How Pogoplug Works

Excerpt:

So I reached out to Pogoplug maker Cloud Engines’ chief technology officer, Brad Dietrich, who in the past has worked in digital device startups such as Mediabolic (which has since been bought by Macrovision). He shared some insights with me via email as the innards of this device, which is a computer in its own right.

Om: Are you using an embedded Linux on this device?

Brad Dietrich: Yes, we are running a Linux 2.6.22.18 kernel on a Marvell ARM SOC. My team and myself have been working in the embedded Linux world for well over 10 years now (my background was at Mediabolic and the digital home) and we are very good at stripping things down to a bare minimum.

*

We had an fire alarm problem at 3:30 in the morning. All of our alarms - Firex G6 (original to the house) went off at 3:30. After less than 30 seconds they reset. 20 minutes later the same. It took us another hour to get back to sleep. Today Kathee was up on a ladder (10' ceilings) looking them over. No known problem. 1st time this has happened in 13 years.

Meet Ubuntu

A Software Populist Who Doesn’t Do Windows

Excerpt:

Created just over four years ago, Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) has emerged as the fastest-growing and most celebrated version of the Linux operating system, which competes with Windows primarily through its low, low price: $0.

More than 10 million people are estimated to run Ubuntu today, and they represent a threat to Microsoft’s hegemony in developed countries and perhaps even more so in those regions catching up to the technology revolution.

“If we’re successful, we would fundamentally change the operating system market,” Mr. Shuttleworth said during a break at the gathering, the Ubuntu Developer Summit. “Microsoft would need to adapt, and I don’t think that would be unhealthy.”

Linux is free, but there is still money to be made for businesses flanking the operating system. Companies like I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard and Dell place Linux on more than 10 percent of the computers they sell as servers, and businesses pay the hardware makers and others, like the software sellers Red Hat and Oracle, to fix any problems and keep their Linux-based systems up to date.

But Canonical, Mr. Shuttleworth’s company that makes Ubuntu, has decided to focus its near-term aspirations on the PCs used by workers and people at home.

The notion of a strong Linux-based competitor to Windows and, to a lesser extent, Apple’s Mac OS X has been an enduring dream of advocates of open-source software. They champion the idea that software that can be freely altered by the masses can prove cheaper and better than proprietary code produced by stodgy corporations. Try as they might, however, Linux zealots have failed in their quest to make Linux mainstream on desktop and notebook computers. The often quirky software remains in the realm of geeks, not grandmothers.

With Ubuntu, the devotees believe, things might finally be different.

“I think Ubuntu has captured people’s imaginations around the Linux desktop,” said Chris DiBona, the program manager for open-source software at Google. “If there is a hope for the Linux desktop, it would be them.”

Close to half of Google’s 20,000 employees use a slightly modified version of Ubuntu, playfully called Goobuntu.

PEOPLE encountering Ubuntu for the first time will find it very similar to Windows. The operating system has a slick graphical interface, familiar menus and all the common desktop software: a Web browser, an e-mail program, instant-messaging software and a free suite of programs for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

...

Microsoft had an estimated 10,000 people working on Vista, its newest desktop operating system, for five years. The result of this multibillion-dollar investment has been a product late to market and widely panned.

Canonical, meanwhile, releases a fresh version of Ubuntu every six months, adding features that capitalize on the latest advances from developers and component makers like Intel. The company’s model centers on outpacing Microsoft on both price and features aimed at new markets.

“It feels pretty clear to me that the open process produces better stuff,” Mr. Shuttleworth said. Such talk from a man willing to finance software for the masses — and by the masses — inspires those who see open source as more of a cause than a business model.

Comment: We are a Windows free home ... it can be done. You don't have to have a Mac OS X machine to do it. Everything most want to do with Windows can be done with Ubuntu. Ubunto boots up on a Dell Mini 9 in about 25 seconds. More information on Ubuntu here. More on the Dell Mini 9 here.

Linux into the mainstream

Why Your Next Computer Might Be A Linux PC

Excerpt:

In the rest of the computing world of desktop computers and mainstream notebooks, you're typically choosing between Windows Vista or Mac OS X, but in the world of netbooks, it's Linux or XP. Those two operating systems are perfect for netbooks thanks to their lower CPU and power requirements.

For those pinching pennies (and who isn't these days? ), the Linux netbooks are even more affordable than their XP counterparts, typically falling into the $300-400 range. If you're already doing most of your computing in the cloud - that is, you use webmail, create and edit documents using a service like Google Docs or Zoho, store your photos online at a site like Flickr, and, most importantly, don't need to run a bunch of software programs on your desktop, the Linux computer is now looking more like a viable option than before - and one that saves you a bit of change too. Just look at these prices: the Acer Aspire One ($399), the HP Mini 1000 ($379), the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 ($349), and the MSI U90X ($369).


As any Linux fan will tell you, the beauty of this OS is its stability. These Linux machines don't crash, boot quickly, and are generally known to be all-around reliable computers.

Comment: I've had Linux on a desktop for almost 4 years. Very stable. The Acer Aspire One is $ 327 at Amazon!

Technical read but interesting

ReiserFS bugs, 32-bit vs 64-bit kernels, cache vs inode memory

Comment: I use Fastmail as my email server. Because I work with servers regularly I found this article interesting.

More on inode and the Reiser File System

Zondu: a different approach

A PC That Uses Less Energy, but Charges a Monthly Fee

Technology
A PC That Uses Less Energy, but Charges a Monthly Fee
By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: July 16, 2007
Subscription-based personal computers are not a new idea — and never popular — but Grégoire Gentil and Alain Rossmann have devised a green twist.

Excerpt:

... a simplified Linux-based PC for $99 and a $12.95 monthly subscription charge. They say that the deal is better than it looks because the 15-watt PC can save up to $10 a month in electricity compared with a standard 200-watt PC ...

Zonbu.com

Comment: Looks very promising! Wish they had a laptop (one would think that would be EZ to do ... just add a screen!)

More on the Linux Dell systems

Ubuntu-based Dell systems $50 cheaper than Windows

Excerpt:

While it shouldn't exactly come as much of a surprise, a post on Dell's IdeaStorm site confirms that Dell systems pre-loaded with Ubuntu are, in fact, cheaper than comparably configured Windows-based systems -- about fifty bucks cheaper, to be precise. In the example given on the site, a Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop loaded with Windows Vista Home Basic Edition totaled up to $824, while an otherwise comparable system with Ubuntu installed rang up at just $774.

Comment: I posted on this earlier. Looks like a good deal. Linux takes less resources than Vista so a 512 mb or 1 Gig system would be adequate. Also Linux would not need a n anti-virus program. Plus it comes bundled with Open Office. Linux is not quite as user-friendly as Windows but is fairly straightforward.

Ubuntu Linux on Dell Laptop

Check this out ...

Ubuntu on Two New Inspirons

Inspiron 1420N

Ubuntu Linux

Comment: I've put Suse 9.2 Linux on 2 PCs (still have one of them). Linux is a great operating system. Nice to see that Dell supports open source!