oti0sus

The main drawback I've found with Linux is the problem of hardware compatibility. Specifically, in my case, trouble with the video card driver. I cannot use the TV out option with Linux. It's important to me as I don't watch broadcast, cable, video or DVD, but I do watch DIVX format, and I enjoy the extra size of the TV screen. I gather some versions of the Nvidia card are capable of handling TV out on Linux, but from the forums I checked with, and the fiddling about I've done, it seems my card does not do TV. It's possible that other hardware, printers, scanners, webcams etc could have driver issues as well. I am not concerned there in any case. Another problem I have with Linux is streaming some video. On many websites the streaming works but there are times it doesn't. ie C-Span. I've found though I can live well without lunatic call ins or reporters parroting government press releases. Games like Doom 3 are written for Windows, and supposedly work on Linux with some extra application, but I can live well without Doom 3 and haven't bothered to look into this.

So for the TV out option, I wanted to install Windows to work alongside Linux on my computer. My first attempt was to install Windows on the large D: drive, leaving Linux on the C:, and choosing which OS through the boot sequence options on booting. It was not successful. Linux is more submissive in this regard, while Windows will not install on the slave drive. Perhaps I could have made it work but there was nothing in the forums to indicate this was a practical solution. Next step was to format the C: drive and install Windows there. No problem. Next step was to re-install Linux, Suse 9.1, this time on the D: drive. After installation was complete, I ran into major problems: failure boot. My computer was crippled. I copied down the error message, Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS, and ran it through google on my office computer. Again the forums were extremely helpful; Due to the old BIOS I was using, I had to re-format the C: drive, putting Windows on no more than a 7 gig partition. Then I could put Linux on the remaining 13 gig of the C: drive. It worked! On booting, I'm prompted by a command line asking if I want Linux or Windows. Both are working fine. By the way, I found the utility qtparted on the Knoppix Live CD very useful for formatting and partitioning HDDs.

My computer has been running as described above for almost a month now. And in this time I've had more trouble with the Windows with its spyware and viruses. The Linux is very nice and I recommend it. I don't have complicated computer needs, so I haven't had to compile programmes and such. There is a lot left to explore, but that is not really a priority with me. I do like to poke around from time to time, and there is plenty of scope for that. Handling of Asian fonts such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean is vastly superior in Linux. Screen savers too are neat and there is at least one great game, Sokoban, which seems included with all distributions. Still I sometimes switch over to Windows though for a game of Internet Backgammon.

It's been almost a month since the first (and last) time I mentioned Linux. It's time for an update. But before I begin, a note on my hardware:
old pentium 3 with 64MB RAM and old BIOS
20 gig master HDD (system files)
60 gig slave HDD (data files)
old Crystal Codec sound card
new Nvidia Geforce 4 MX440SE video card
There is other stuff too, but not really relevant to this post.

About a month ago I had Windows XP installed and was using the Knoppix 3.6 Live CD. I was happy with Linux and wanted to install it for real. Via Bittorrent, I downloaded the 3 CD Mandrakelinux 10.1. I installed it over Windows XP on the C: drive. The installation worked well, but there was no sound. The system didn't recognize my sound card. I could still use the Knoppix 3.6 Live CD - the sound worked fine on that. I decided to install the Knoppix 3.6 over the Mandrakelinux.

I found that I could use the installed Knoppix well, and I spent a week reading through various documentation, notably Debian's intro to Linux. Using Linux is a little more demanding than Windows. You'll notice that as soon as you see that plugins don't necessarily plug themselves in. To some extent you have to be prepared to open up the hood and get your hands dirty. So I went through the manual above and familiarized myself with the Linux command line. I have used MS DOS before Windows came out and UNIX for a little while at school so it was not so alien. However, Knoppix is not really meant for installation on HDD and I noticed as I worked through the tutorial that discrepencies were arising between the manual and my own output. When I came to the point of installing new software, namely a Bittorrent client, I found that there were errors. I also noticed that the Open Office word processor, which worked so nicely from the Live CD, was in German only, and there didn't appear to be any way to change it back to English.

So I re-installed the soundless Mandrakelinux 10.1. I was able to install a Bittorrent client easily via the RPM packages. Using these packages is just about as easy as Windows. With the Bittorrent up and working, I chose a few more Linux distributions to download and burn: Mepis2004.04, and Suse 9.1. Mepis was another Live CD, designed to run with or without installation. But like Mandrakelinux, the sound didn't work. I then installed Suse 9.1 and was relieved to see that everything was (and still is) fine. Suse incidentally is owned by Novell, briefly owners of Wordperfect, and in the news these days. Wordperfect is an old favourite of mine and still in use on a rusty old IBM Thinkpad 510cs laptop. In fact it's the only thing that's still in use on that machine.

This past Friday, I reserved an airplane ticket for a six-week trip starting late December this year. I'll be heading for Bangkok, one of my least favourite cities in a country I don't particularly like. Bangkok though, will be only be a transit point. My next destination will be either Phongsali, Laos or Yangon, Burma. Visit both websites at least. They are nice.

I had previously decided on Laos, but I remember freezing a couple of Januarys ago in the highlands of northern Vietnam. Yangon is starting to look much better as January is said to be the most comfortable month to visit. I like pre-McDonaldized cities, and I expect Yangon to be something like Shanghai or Hanoi's old quarter, Phnom Penh or Luang Prabang - all great places.

Lonely Planet Online is a great reference for travel. I never use a guide book when I travel, but whenever I take a trip, I make sure to read all their entries for my destination, and that includes the posts from The Thorn Tree. Sifting through the perenial flame wars, there is usually something interesting. I like to travel light and though I do reserve space for several books, these are for entertainment - usually some thick novels.

My advice is to gather the information you think is necessary before you go and write it down in a small note book. Usually for me this is just an address of a hotel that looks promising and perhaps some information about what bus or train I need next and where I can get it. This should cover the first 12 to 24 hours of my stay, always the most confusing part of a visit. After that, things will get easier. On arrival, I try to get as good a map as possible in English and the native language, and a small compass doesn't hurt. If you find yourself in desperate need of a guidebook, just ask any tourist you see. Most have them literally at hand.

Can anyone direct children more ably than Iranian Majid Majidi? I've only seen this one and Children of Heaven, and either would suggest not. This is a great movie; a tear-jerker in the best sense of the word. Majidi does tend to be a little over-the-top for my tastes, but he does it with such sincerity that I have to forgive him. The story is one of a blind boy who sees more than his father; The innocent who teaches the cynic. There is a religious message in the film but that shouldn't spoil it for non-Muslims. I thought it was wonderful, and I, like all the greatest Persians, am more Mithraist than monotheist.

I think that Iran will be coming up more and more in the news. For people like me who consume large (or small) quantities of North American corporate news, the impression they receive will be overwhelmingly negative. I thought this movie might help to tip the balance in a positive direction.

Before writing, I remembered a New York Times article I read about birdwatching for the visually impaired. (Non-registration link to Taipei Times) If you find yourself birdwatching with the blind, some thoughtful Texans offer this advice. I thought the article might be the source for a piece of information floating around in my head, but it isn't. I have the idea that for every bird a birdwatcher sees, something like 10 birds are heard. Sounds interesting and surprising, but on reflection, it's not really surprising at all, and I can appreciate how apt a hobby birding for the blind would be.

This is a fantastic resource for bird calls from all over the world. Here's one of my favourites, and of course I love tits. I still can't find an MP3 of a Brain Fever Bird, featured so prominently in Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. Any suggestions?

Here is the link to download Colour of Paradise.

And here is the link to download Azureus, a new BT client. It's a much richer experience using Azureus, though a little more complicated. That's to be expected given how easy to use the original BT client was. The nicest thing about Azureus is how it will encourage file sharing. The user has to opt out in order not to share, rather than actively opting in. So sharing is the default option. I've been using Azureus for about a week now since I switched to Linux and I recommend giving both a try.

Looking over my previous post, I find it oddly prescient. Why did I concentrate on the consequences of a Bush victory? I certainly didn't believe Bush would win. Since before the start of the Iraq war, I was convinced that the US was stepping into a mess and that Bush would be defeated when he ran for re-election. Clearly, I don't know the US electorate as well as Bush does, and maybe more importantly, apart from the deaths of a few US soldiers and a few more Iraqis, the costs of US occupation are not yet apparent.

I'm surprised at how poorly Kerry did. I didn't pay much attention to the early stages of the presidential race but I assume that the Iowa Democrats who put Kerry into the lead were serious people who made their judgement as shrewdly as they could with an eye on the ultimate prize. Unfortunately, Kerry's power of persuasion was limited almost exclusively to convincing Nader voters. Let's assume that Kerry received all of Gore's and Nader's 2000 votes: 51 million + 4 million = 55 million. According to the latest CNN figures, Kerry actually received 56 million. Bush, on the other hand, was up 9 million votes from the 2000 results.

There are about 100 million Americans who sat out the election, not voting for anyone. They are all but ignored by the political class and media. Obviously, apathy runs very deeply among these people, and it'll take more than the likes of Kerry or Bush to rouse them. Maybe a kick in the stomach will do the job. And if the dire warnings of Bush's fiscal train wreck have any validity, the kick may be coming. I suggest that if the Democratic or any other party wants to take power, motivating a greater number of apathetics would be an excellent start.

The above comments presuppose that the results were fair and not fraudulent. But was there fraud? Do the results reflect the voters' will? Nobody can say for certain because all the votes were not and will probably never will be counted. We know that there were thousands of uncounted in Florida 2000, and the same equipment was again used. Were the paperless voting machines rigged? As far as I can tell, taking the results at face value is a matter of faith. But I am skeptical. So were European election monitors. They were actually barred by Republicans from inspecting polling stations. Decrepit machinery, murky vote tabulation, partisan officials: better elections are run in much poorer countries with much less pride in their heritage of democracy.

I read the blogs in the week leading up to the election and there were repeated stories of fraud, tampering and intimidation. All this is now forgotten. With all the time and the billion dollars the Democrats spent to unseat Bush, I would have thought that they would wait until the final vote count is in before conceding defeat. But they can't seem to do it fast enough. Perhaps Bush has a point after all...