I found an interesting bug in Mint today. It happened after I changed my monitor setup without restarting X. It looks like my panel froze with whatever programs were open earlier. What makes this interesting is that the system continue to add items to the panel without refreshing the graphics.
I like Firefox's old logo
This doesn't look like Kate to me!
As we prepare to bring The Linux Experiment to a close over the coming weeks, I find that this has been a time of (mostly solemn) reflection for myself and others. At the very least, it’s been an interesting experience with various flavours of Linux and what it has to offer. At its peak, it’s been a roller-coaster of controversial posts (my bad), positive experiences, and the urge to shatter our screens into pieces.
Let me share with you some of the things I’ve personally taken away from this experiment over the last three-and-a-half months.
This has been a point of discussion on both of our podcasts at this point, and a particular sore spot with both myself and Tyler. It’s come to a place wherein I’m sort of… afraid to perform updates to my system out of fear of just bricking it entirely. While this is admittedly something that could happen under any operating system and any platform, it’s never been as bad for me as it has been under Fedora 12.
As an example, the last *six* kernel updates for me to both Fedora 11 and 12 combined have completely broken graphics capability with my adapter (a GeForce 8600 M GS). Yes, I know that the Fedora development team is not responsible for ensuring that my graphics card works with their operating system – but this is not something the average user should have to worry about. Tyler has also had this issue, and I think would tend to agree with me.
Though there have been so many frustrating moments over the last four months that I have been tempted to just format everything and go back to my native Windows 7 (previously: release candidate, now RTM). Through all of this though, Fedora – and Linux in general – has never stopped interesting me.
This could just be due to the fact that I’ve been learning so much – I can definitely do a lot more now than I ever could before under a Linux environment, and am reasonably pleased with this – but I’ve never sat down on my laptop and been bored to play around with getting stuff to work. In addition, with some software (such as Wine or CrossOver) I’ve been able to get a number of Windows games working as well. Linux can play, too!
Customizing my UI has also been a very nice experience. It looks roughly like Sasha’s now – no bottom panel, GnomeDo with Docky, and Compiz effects… it’s quite pretty now.
If there’s one thing I’ve chosen to take away from this experiment it’s that there is ALWAYS some kind of alternative to any of my problems, or anything I can do under another platform or operating system. Cisco VPN client won’t install under Wine, nor will the Linux client version? BAM, say hello to vpnc.
Need a comprehensive messaging platform with support for multiple services? Welcome Pidgin into the ring.
No, I still can’t do everything I could do in Windows… but I’m sure, given enough time, I could make Fedora 12 an extremely viable alternative to Windows 7 for me.
There’s a reason I’ve chosen my clever and rather cliche title for this post. According to lore, a phoenix is a bird that would rise up from its own ashes in a rebirth cycle after igniting its nest at the end of a life cycle. So is the case for Fedora 12 and my experience with Linux.
At this point, I could not see myself continuing my tenure with the Fedora operating system. For a Linux user with my relatively low level of experience, it is too advanced and too likely to brick itself with a round of updates to be viable for me. Perhaps after quite a bit more experience with Linux on the whole, I could revisit it – but not for a good long while. This is not to say it’s unstable – it’s been rock solid, never crashing once – but it’s just not for me.
To that end, Fedora 12 rests after a long and interest-filled tenure with me. Rising from the ashes is a new user in the world of Linux – me. I can say with confidence that I will be experimenting with Linux distributions in the future – maybe dipping my feet in the somewhat familiar waters of Ubuntu once more before wading into the deep-end.
Watch out, Linux community… here I come.
I’d just like to wish a happy, safe, and food-filled Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian readers out there. Enjoy yourselves – go forth and be merry!
On top of Tyler’s self-congratulatory post, I’d like to commemorate that it’s been two months since our very first post here on The Linux Experiment, with many more to come – don’t you worry. Extended props from me to the folks at mintCast for mentioning us in their podcast at the beginning of September. Keep up the awesome work, you guys.
LINUX HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Edit: here’s some birthday cake. Enjoy.
After a brief hiatus of making posts (I document my daily trials all day at work, so it’s not usually the first thing I want to do when I get home) I’ve decided to make a beneficial post about how I can now do WORK (from home) on my Fedora 11-based laptop. Hooray!
At the corporation where I work, our network and firewall infrastructure is – of course – Cisco-based. Naturally, in order to connect to our corporate network from home, we use Cisco’s own VPN Client. For distribution to various users across the company, my workplace has provided discs with pre-configured installations of this client, all set and ready to go to connect to our corporate network. This prevents the dissemination of unnecessary information (VPN IP addresses, etc.) across the ranks, and makes it much easier for the non-savvy user to get connected.
I’ve all ready had a bit of experience using this client on my Windows Vista and Windows 7-based computers. Unfortunately for me, the Cisco VPN Client we use at work only operates in a 32-bit Windows environment… meaning that on Windows Vista, I had to run a full-fledged copy of Virtual PC with a Windows XP installation. In Windows 7, I was fortunate enough to be able to use its own built-in Windows XP Mode.
Trial and Error
My first thought to get this software working under Fedora 11 was probably the most simple – run it in Wine! I’ve had limited experience with Wine in the past, but figured that it was probably my best bet to get the Windows-only Cisco client functioning. Unfortunately for me, attempting to install the program in Wine only results in a TCP/IP stack error, so that was out of the question.
My next thought – slightly better than the first – came when it was announced that I could nab a copy of the Linux version of the Cisco VPN Client from work. As luck might have it, it’s a bitch of a program to compile and install, and I had to stop myself short of throwing my laptop into the middle of our busy street before I just gave up.
Better Ideas
At this point, I was just about ready to try anything that could possibly get VPN connectivity working for me on my laptop. Luckily, a quick search of ‘Cisco VPN Linux’ in Google shot back the wondrous program that is vpnc. After seeing various peoples’ success with vpnc – a fully Linux-compatible Cisco VPN equivalent – I did a bit of reading up on the documentation and quickly installed it using yum:
$ yum install vpnc.x86_64
There, easy enough. Further reading on vpnc indicated that I needed to edit a file known as default.conf – located in the /etc/vpnc directory – to store my VPN settings for work, if desired. Opening up the config file included with the Windows version of the client, I pretty much copied everything over verbatim:
$ cd /etc/vpnc
$ nano default.conf
IPSec gateway [corporate VPN address]
Xauth username [domain ID]
Xauth password [domain password]
Domain [corporate domain]
From there, I performed a write out to the default.conf and saved my information. The only complaint I might have about this step is that everything in this file is stored as plain-text, and does not appear encrypted whatsoever. Since we are using a WPA2-encrypted wireless network and the VPN tunnel is secured, I wasn’t too concerned – but still.
At this point, I was now ready to test vpnc connectivity. Typing in at the terminal
$ vpnc default.conf
I was rewarded with a triumphant ‘vpnc started in background’. Hooray! But what to do from here – how to connect to my work computer? On Windows, I just use Remote Desktop… so logic following through as it does, I typed:
$ rdesktop [computername].[domain]
Instantly, I was showered in the beauty that was a full-screen representation of my Windows XP Professional-based work computer.
A shot of vpnc running in terminal, and my desktop running in rdesktop.
It certainly was not as easy a process as I’m making it out to be here – indeed, I did have to figure out to add .[domain] to the end of my computer name, as well as allow vpnc’s ports to flow through by performing a terminal netstat command and then opening them accordingly in the Fedora firewall – but I am now connected to work flawlessly, using open-source software.
As you might be able to tell from the title of this post, I feel like I’m fighting an uphill battle here. Through hummus. In the middle of winter. While I’m getting clawed back down the hill by a thousand lesbians. Tempted to join them, but ever vigilant.
After much cajoling and terminal commands, I’ve managed to get the real (REAL!) nVidia graphics driver up and running. While I was very excited for the ‘nouveau nVidia driver’ offered by default in Fedora 11, turns out this offers shit in the form of functionality with my graphics card. No desktop effects and no ability to change screen brightness? No thanks.
Hope eventually came in the form of a nice little .run file from nVidia’s site with the latest 64-bit drivers for my graphics card. Hooray, I thought! Sweet victory. But wait, I’ve never seen a .run file before…?
*some searching*
Twenty minutes of Googling and tinkering later, and I figure out how to: 1) run a .run file, 2) kill X, and 3) work my way through the driver installation. Which eventually failed, yes, but hey. Five more minutes of Googling later and I came across this fantastic little site. It gave me detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to add new repositories to yum (to which I’ve rather taken a liking), and from there getting the kmod-nvidia driver up and running. Easy as pie!
Some time later, I’m now running with full desktop effects (shiny) in Gnome and the ability to change the brightness of my screen. As far as other devices go, most things seem to work out of the box. Touchpad and sound controls are fully functional, as well as some of my Fn+ keys (such as screen brightness and mute). It’s been fun so far.
Next up: networking. Might need some help here…
I just got back from vacation last night, in time for tomorrow’s experiment start date. I’ve all ready backed up my laptop in preparation (running the release candidate version of Windows 7 at the moment) and am very excited to get started.
TO LINUX WE GO!
Hi, all. Just a fair heads up that I’ll be relatively incommunicado as I head out on vacation until August 30th. I hope that everyone else on here can keep you entertained enough until I return (with two days left before experiment start! Ack!)
First off, congratulations to Tyler B. for finally picking a distribution. Nobody else has been as careful and diligent with this (nor documented their process nearly as well!) as he has. I’m looking forward to testing the same distribution as he is, mostly so that he can help me and my n00b self out.
Secondly, some of you may have noticed slowdowns with the site recently; we sure have. Please keep with us as our hosting service – provided by the always-fantastic Dreamhost – is moving our site to another server due to technical difficulties. Everything should be back to normal within the next 72 hours.
My third (and final) point for the evening? Spread the word! We here at The Linux Experiment loves us some word of mouth. If you like what you’re seeing and want to pass it on, link to us! Blog about us! Follow us on Twitter! Our job is to get the word out about what we’re doing.
Happy reading!
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