racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

If you want to skip the long story and go straight to the fix, click here.

I’ve been a Windows guy for most of my computing life (I have used DOS, of course, then desQview on top of that, and then Windows 3.1 onwards). Then I got hooked on the Mac. Since then, my computing was split between Windows and OS X, with the Mac dominating sometimes, and PC the rest of the time. When I got my PC laptop back from the service center (with a lot of parts being replaced at the tail-end of warranty period) I shifted my preference toward PC. But I wanted something more, and Windows XP just didn’t cut it.

Sure, it was stable (as how I usually build up my machines), but after a year of every day wear and tear, XP was starting to slow down.

So I took the plunge and installed Linux on My Presario V2000.

It’s not actually my first time to explore Linux, as I may have mentioned before. I used to use Linux on my work machine back in the corporate world (cost saving measures, and because some tech companies tend to have this preference for open source). I tried running Ubuntu on all my laptops so far using the Live distribution CD (from 5.10, to 6.06 LTS, and now 7.04, a.k.a. “Feisty Fawn”). I even ran 6.06 on my PowerBook the first time I got it, since the pre-installed OS X release was 10.1, and it didn’t support some of my devices, such as the Cardbus wireless adapter. But that’s not the same as actually installing it and using it as your main OS.It’s only now that I’ve committed Linux to my laptop.

So here are some thoughts about blogging on Linux, and Linux in general.

A quick comparison

First off, a comparison among Windows, Linux and the Mac, from my perspective. That means someone who’s not really a hardcore hacker, and someone who’s not exactly an idiot, either. I’m an enthusiast who loves to explore, but I don’t have the time to do uber-serious tweaking. I just want something that works.

Windows XP – Seems to be a reliable and stable OS–that is, if you know how to secure yourself from malware. XP is solid as a rock as long as you prioritize security, meaning you’ve installed a good Antivirus (AVG recommended), anti-spyware (such as Spybot S & D), and you let auto-update do its thing. Of course, there’s the human aspect, so security doesn’t preclude your being victim to social engineering attacks.

Don’t even ask me about Vista (I’ve used it, but I’m not about to install Vista on any of my computers anytime soon).

OS X – It just effin’ works. I hope that’s enough said, but then again to the uninitiated, OS X was supposed to be designed from ground up by Apple to work 100% well with Apple hardware. So there should be no glitches, hardware incompatibilities, and other such difficulties you might expect with an OS of wide distribution like Windows.

The Mac is supposed to be simple and straightforward enough for a dummy user to use. But it also accommodates the more advanced users–it’s a UNIX-like operating system, after all. I’ve had my share of command-line hacking and tweaking via Terminal, myself. So basically, it’s a solid, secure UNIX-based operating system with great eye candy for a user interface. Actually, the GUI is not all eye-candy. There are usability and efficiency concerns, too. Like Expose is not only supposed to be a beautiful way of switching across windows. You can make your workflow more productive and efficient with it.

Linux – It’s the OS for enthusiasts. Frankly, I’ve tried a handful of distributions in my life (including Red Hat, Mandrake / Mandriva, Slackware, and even locally-developed Bayanihan Linux, and as well as several live CD distros like Damn Small Linux and Knoppix), but none have been desktop- and laptop-ready as Ubuntu.

By this, I mean Ubuntu is the only distro I’ve encountered so far that a user can just pop into his computer, install, and run without much trouble.

Of course, this is relative. Sure, you will still encounter some incompatibilities, and you still have to tweak configurations and install patches. But compared to other distros, this one is less of a hassle. Great thing with most distros is that as long as you’re online you could download or install updates straight off the web (like with apt-get). You’ll have to spend some time searching for fixes to problems or issues, though.

I could go on and on, but that would be too much rambling on my part (and something that I would rather not do, as you would read further on).

Blogging about Linux

Now the thing with using Linux is that you would inevitably have to get online to read up on blogs, forums, bug reports, and other such online resources. That’s because you will encounter some glitches one time or another. And these are usually fixed either by updating your OS, or applying fixes/patches, or fixing something that doesn’t work natively–meaning a hardware incompatibility or unsupported hardware/devices.

For instance, I was really amazed by how Ubuntu Feisty got to detect all my hardware, including the built-in Intel Pro 2200BG wireless card. On Windows, I had to download and install drivers from Intel before this worked (silly, eh?). Same with audio and video drivers. Ubuntu worked like a charm when I first ran it. Windows XP needed specific drivers for the Intel 915GM chipset for video and the sound, and these I had to download from HP and Intel.

So here’s an observation I have with bloggers who blog about Linux (I’m generalizing here). Most of the time, the posts are about:

* Comparison between their experiences with Linux and other OSes, like Windows.
* How-tos, hacks, and fixes, like how to make incompatible or unsupported devices work.
* Bashing other OSes, or telling the world how better off they are with Linux than other OSes.

Okay, I guess I’ve adequately met most of these criteria. Now on to the fix.

ACPI and Network Manager Fix

While Ubuntu was generally able to detect my hardware and use the appropriate drivers (where Windows failed to do automatically), I still faced several issues. One, whenever I woke up the laptop from sleep, my wireless networking will not always turn on. In fact, sometimes, Network Manager would just stop working, and I would have to restart the computer just to get WiFi and wired networking back on.

I added a few scripts that forced Network Manager off before sleeping and forced it on again during resume. Here are the files I added (based on this fix on the Ubuntu forums):

/etc/acpi/suspend.d/05-network-manager.sh

#!/bin/sh

dbus-send --system \
--dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager \
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager \
org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.sleep


And,

/etc/acpi/resume.d/91-network-manager.sh


#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system \
--dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager \
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager \
org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wake

I made sure to make the files executable by running:

sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/resume.d/91-network-manager.sh

and

sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/suspend.d/05-network-manager.sh

I also had to edit /etc/default/acpi-support to include the following line, so the Intel Pro 2200BG driver would be enabled upon resume after standby:

MODULES="ipw2200"

Then another problem I noticed was that while my laptop LCD blanked when idle, the backlight would turn on after a couple of minutes, and stay this way until the computer was put to sleep or when the screen was awaken . This was so, even when the LCD had actually blanked out. I try manually turning off the LCD backlight using the command

xset dpms force off

but I still experience the problem–backlight turns on after a few seconds. Same if I substitute “off” with “suspend” or “standby.”

I scoured the web for a week until I found a fix that worked. Apparently, battery events (such as charging, full charge, switching to and from AC adaptor power) reported by the system caused the backlight to turn on. Using the NoPM option prevents these events from being misinterpreted (okay, not really a technical explanation, but it’s something like that).

The fix involves adding this line to /etc/X11/xorg.conf to add the following line under Section “ServerLayout”:

Option "NoPM" "yes"

I’m actually in doubt as to what this exactly does, since the X.org manual just says the following about “NoPM” “Yes”:

Disables something to do with power management events. Default: PM enabled on platforms that support it.

How descriptive, eh? At least it says the option has something to do with power management events, some of which–namely the battery events like charge update and power supply changes–were causing the backlight to turn on.

If you’ve been experiencing the same problems, I hope these fixes could help. For reference, my machine is a Compaq Presario V2617TS, with a Celeron-M 750 processor, Intel 915GM chipset, and an added Intel Pro 220BG mini PCI wireless card, DVD-RW drive (all of which work with Ubuntu 7.04).

Last time, I wrote about how I protected my laptop’s palm rest and touchpad with frisket film. I mentioned in passing how avid laptop users buy (expensive) skins for their palmrest and keyboards, and these include the iSkin for Apple laptops, among other brand silicone or rubber skins.

Unfortunately, however, not all laptop models have skins that fit the keyboards. Also, I’m of the opinion that keyboards can stand the wear and tear of everyday use, and the best thing to do to maintain them is keep them clean regularly (yeah, that and both my laptops don’t have skins available for them). Besides, I like the feel of the keyboard beneath my fingers. Having silicone in between, no matter how thin, just ruins the sensual experience.

My one-year old Compaq Presario V2000 was almost made new again with the LCD assembly, lid and housing replacement. But the keyboard was still filthy and grimy.

The before image. Check out the grime to the left of the Z key.

So armed with some patience, an hour of free time, and some cleaning implements, I set out to clean up my laptop.

Computing.net and lifehacker have a few tips on cleaning your lappie’s keyboard, along with materials you can use, ranging from common household cleaning solutions to auto-detailing sprays/lubricants. Since I labored with cleaning my car’s exterior and interior the day before, I decided to use some auto interior cleaning implements.

For this, I used Armor All protectant and some soft cleaning cloth (the kind that comes in different colors, and which street vendors hawk at intersections).

Basically what I did was spray a liberal amount of cleaner/protectant to the cloth, and wipe each key thoroughly. I made sure to focus not only on the top surface, but also the edges of each key, where the grime usually accumulates. For the edges, cotton swabs come in very handy.

As the protectant’s packaging said to “avoid use on painted surfaces,” I had to make sure I didn’t apply it onto the laptop’s painted surface (which, on the V2000, meant all the silver colored parts).

Of course, these were done while the computer was turned off.

And the finished product:

Here’s the keyboard after cleaning.

Here’s the before cleaning image again. Compare.

As an alternative, you can use alcohol, or even water with mild soap. If you’re the meticulous kind, you can follow the computing.net link above and actually pry off each key for thorough cleaning. Desktop keyboards can easily be cleaned this way, and you can actually clean each key as if you were washing dishes.

Now keyboards tend to accumulate dust, food particles, hair and other such stuff in between the keys. If you have a can of compressed air, or a manually-pumped blower (a nebulizer compressor will do, actually–you know, those noisy things you use when you have asthma attacks!) you can use this to force out any dirt lodged beneath the keys.

You’ll feel great using a laptop that looks and feels new. Happy laptop computing!

This is a lazy post, by the way. Lots of work to do, so here are some highlights.

* I installed Ubuntu Linux Feisty Fawn (version 7.04) yesterday. Finally got to archive some old files (via DVD) to get a big enough space on my hard drive to re-partition. The entire process took about 8 hours (most of which was spent working while waiting for the ISO to download via BitTorrent, Acronis to resize my partitions, and Ubuntu to actually install).
* Ubuntu detected all my hardware, and activation, setup and operation was seamless. Even Windows couldn’t detect my newly installed Intel Pro 2200BG wireless card. And that was an Intel chip supposed to come built-in with laptops of this vintage.
* Just faced some problems with sleep and wake-from-sleep while running on battery mode. The wireless network won’t work after waking up. Solution: I added ipw2200 to the MODULES line under /etc/default/acpi-support (be sure to edit this using superuser). Working fine so far, except for some instances when the laptop won’t sleep when lid is closed.
* Enabled NTFS write access, so I can still work on my files in the Windows NTFS partition.
* Imported my entire Firefox profile (which just involved copying over the profile from the NTFS partition to the Linux one.
* Installing apps was a breeze, wit the application manager. Just check the ones you want, and Ubuntu will download and install these for you.
* Installed Beryl. Wow! This was one of the main reasons why I was dead serious with installing Ubuntu on my V2000. It’s as good as OS X Expose. And it even has the 3D cube (which I believe OS X Leopard will feature as “spaces”.).

I’m not exactly a newbie to Linux, as I’ve been using Mandriva as my main work machine back in 2005. But I’m not exactly much of a Linux power user either. But still, I’m not alien to the command line (having started using computers when DOS was still in fashion), and there’s always Google for easy reference. So I’m not totally lost.

One stark observation: It’s easier to start using Linux coming from the OS X camp. Both being Unix-derived, a Mac user won’t get lost navigating through Linux, especially if one is used to tweaking Darwin using the OS X Terminal. If you’re primarily a Windows user, though, you might need some time to adjust.

And of course, the Beryl desktop manager makes all this even better.

Best thing is that even if my machine wasn’t too spiffy (it’s a Dothan class Celeron-M running at 1.5 GHz, with 512M of DDR1 RAM), it can still support all this eye candy without breaking a sweat. I don’t think Windows Vista or even XP can do that. I tried installing some 3D cube type desktop managers on XP and I wasn’t so impressed.

Ubuntu passes the J. Angelo Racoma test. It’s easy enough to install, and it works well enough without the usual headaches you would usually imagine having when doing a fresh OS install on your machine. But more importantly, it gets my seal of approval because I got through with installing Ubuntu even with my very short attention span. My previous attempts at installing Linux distros by myself (Red Hat, Slackware, Mandrake/Mandriva) were all in vain. I gave up too easily.

I think Ubuntu Linux will do well as a free OS for home-based computing, and as an alternative to Windows

More testament to Ubuntu Linux’s coolness over at Max Limpag’s site.

The in-laws recently bought a spiffy new desktop computer, and courtesy of the shop discounts, they also got me a desktop computer table. I’m not much of a desktop user (as I prefer to work on laptops), but my wife and kids use the desktop for documents, web and games. So I thought of reorganizing my home office to minimize the clutter and to help with the workflow.

Previously, all the computers were on one table, and that included the 17-inch CRT the desktop used. It was really cramped. And I tend to clutter my desk with documents, computer peripherals, wires and even used mugs and plates from snacks.

Here’s my new setup after assembling and installing the desktop computer table. It took me a couple of hours to assemble the thing (no easy task because of the cryptic instructions!).

That’s my desk, sans the clutter. In a few hours the clutter will be back.

I know the elliptical table doesn’t exactly serve as a good office desk, but I had to make do with what I have. I know I have to buy a real desk pretty soon. At any rate, this used to be our dining table, and I folded the other half down, so I can set it up adjacent to the wall (but not directly against the wall, since the wall tends to get hot during daytime). I used to face the window, and I could easily glance sideward towards the TV. Now the TV is behind me (which will hopefully lessen the possibility of getting distracted when the kids are here watching).

Now that some space is freed up, and now that the desktop computer can be used without the table being so cramped, and now that I cannot glance toward the direction of the TV, I’m looking into boosting my productivity.

There was a time in my life when my laptop was underpowered and I just had to get some things done with much processing horsepower. Heck, there was a time in my life I didn’t have my own laptop, and I just borrowed from the office. The home desktop was my staple for home computing. I kind of moved away from desktop computers when I got hooked on laptops (and got my own). But when my laptop needed repair, I salvaged some parts just lying around the house and re-built my old Pentium-IV based computer. And it was good.

Ever since I started to use laptops to work with (two, namely the Powerbook Pismo for serious writing stuff, when I don’t want to get distracted, and the newer, zippier Compaq Presario for graphics work, watching videos, burning discs and the occasional writing work), the desktop had once again been turned into a glorified paperweight. The monitor had been used on occasion as second screen for either laptop. But the rest was just in a state of rest.

But just this evening I had to look for a file that I know I saved on the desktop’s hard drive about a year back. So I plugged in all peripherals, flicked the power supply switch, and pushed the power button.

Silence … Fans whirring … That familiar POST beep.

Ah, sheer desktop computing bliss. I never know the day would come when I would be elated watching a Windows startup screen unfold.

Having worked on laptops for so long, I’ve grown used to touchpads (or trackpads, as MacHeads call ‘em), small screens and keyboards with integrated function and directional keys. I never realized I missed the large screen real estate, full size keyboard, separate pointing device and zip of a desktop computer. And of course there’s the expandability. With laptops, there’s only so much you can do to upgrade–memory, hard drive, and perhaps even a spare battery. But with a desktop, the possibilities are only limited by your budget, compatibility and the power supply’s capacity.

Sure it’s a bit dated, but it can still carry its weight. I do miss my desktop computer. I think it’s time to play around and tinker.