Stephen O'Sullivan

I recently bought an HP netbook, the brushed aluminium Mini 2140. I am currently triple-booting XP, Ubuntu 9.04 (the netbook remix, but I have switched to standard desktop) and Moblin v2 Beta.

I love the machine. It looks beautiful, the keyboard is sensational, the screen looks great, and it has features I like not found in other netbooks, such as a standard VGA out. Ubuntu Jaunty runs perfectly on it (with the exception of a bit of trouble getting my Internode 3G USB broadband working on it). Moblin also works perfectly, but given it is still in early development, it is missing some vital features I want, such as a word processor. Nice interface though.

More details later.

I have uploaded 20 photographs of day one (September 15 2008) of a three week trip to NYC, documenting a casual walk from our apartment on W17th near 6th Avenue down to Washington Square; then up to Union Square; then further to the Flatiron building and Madison Square Park; then across to Gramercy Park and back down to Union Square.

I have recently purchased a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8GB, and have had serious (i.e. data destroyed!) issues with it. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had such issues, but I think I have also found a solution.

This USB disk is a work tool for me, and given my work environment, means it has to work with MS Windows; my home PC runs Ubuntu 8.04 Linux. I need my portable drive to, among other things, reliably move data from work to home and back. I had a 1GB micro Cruzer that worked perfectly, but I wanted more space.

In short, the issue has been that the drive has ceased to be recognised both by Windows and Ubuntu, regularly. The only way to fix this issue has been to reformat the drive. The problem has occurred so frequently, until recently, that I raise it here!

The drive comes with a load of crapware under the title "U3", which apparently makes the drive "better". I hardly have to tell the reader, but I don't want SanDisk's idea of "assisting technology", I want a bloody portable hard drive I can carry in my pocket!!! I obviously unstalled this rubbish immediately using the (admittedly convenient, though in the past, apparently not so, uninstall process). Needless to say, this rubbish was Windows only...

However, the issues I have had have been, apparently, not entirely related to this - though looking at the Windows registry its very hard to tell (Registry persists in refering to U3 - it appears that U3 is somehow inextricably linked to the drive). I found that the drive would become unrecognisable, both in Windows and Linux, after use, for some unfathomable reason, but most often, after use with Linux. And the key here was after unmounting the drive in Linux. There was no consistency, though - sometimes it would cease to be recognisable as a drive irrespective of whether I had: a) used it with Linux; or b) unmounted it or just yanked it out!

There are many comments in the net about issues with this drive (e.g. link)

My solution, which so far (a couple of weeks) has worked, was to reformat the drive to NTFS. That doesn't seem to make sense, but it has worked (remembering I have to use it with Windows as well). I suspect, without evidence, that it changes the drive as it is recognised by Windows.

I did this in Windows, but had to (of course) jump through some hurdles. It would have been easier just reformatting in Linux but, it is, for me, primarily a Windows tool, so...

Right-clicking on the drive in Windows Explorer and choosing "format" only allows, by default, FAT32. However, in Device Manager (right-click "My Computer" > "Properties", choose the tab "Hardware" and click on "Device Manager") you can go into the properties of each of your attached drives. Choose the Cruzer in the "Disk Drives" section, and in the "Policies" tab, change it from "Optimise for quick removal" to the only other option, "optimise for performance". This will allow you to reformat the drive to NTFS.

Irrespective, I no longer unmount the drive in Linux - once I am more than sure all the tranfers have occurred, I just pull it out...

Today I've read a number of articles and blogs on the topic of everyday usage of Linux as opposed to WinXP, and I just wanted to say: I've mucked around with Linux in various incarnations (Mandrake and Suse typically) for a decade, and a couple of years ago decided to shift my everyday computing to Linux, in this case Ubuntu. In hindsight, it is a no-brainer, but I am pretty knowledgable, comparatively, when it comes to computer OSs. I love the Debian system, and vastly prefer Gnome to KDE - Gnome is a far more elegant interface, but I have a real soft spot for Thunar and the XFCE thing.

I have tried Vista, and was appalled. Its a truly awful operating environment - way too much Las Vegas (apologies to Las Vegans, I've never been to your city, so am using the term as an analogue) and seemingly built on the principle that MS should control the way one interacts with one's computer. I can make my Ubuntu system look exactly like Vista, or OSX or WinXP if I so chose, or I can make it exacly as I want it. This is a major plus in a graphical interface, because we all have preferences of interaction. I can only get the sort of desktop I want in Linux. Any brand of Linux. I do love the BSD-based Mac OSX, but don't want to be constrained. If you don't know what I mean, you obviously haven't experienced the freedom of Linux.

No, my hesitant resolution to "switch" had very few hiccups (and I might add, far fewer than general usage of WinXP as an experienced user, from Win 3.1 - seriously, what is it with the registry?). I'd be lying if I said I didn't kind of enjoy mucking around with the fundamentals of an OS, but I had done that for years with the odd dual-boot (Win XP as automatic boot) system. That said, by far the majority of issues I encountered were as a result of my own meddling.

Simply put, Linux as a desktop is far superior (and let's not even mention cheaper) than what MS can muster, and far more adaptable than the major options. And, at the pace it is currently improving - given that in my opinion it is far superior than the proprietry competition - it will outpace the opposition in general opinion in but a couple of years.

Converted? Absolutely!

Linux.com has an excellent article (here) on the "Ten sticking points for new Ubuntu users" by Michael Reed. Michael's list is excellent, but a few comments.

Number 1 is Screen setup, and my previous posts attest to my own commitment to this issue. A brief survey of my blog's visitors tells me that my recent howto on dual-screen setup in Ubuntu 8.04 is far and away the most viewed item in my blog, and certainly the most commented on. His point is succinct: "Ubuntu is still bad at properly detecting and setting up the display. Once it's gone wrong, there isn't much you can do from the GUI setup tool -- it either lies about your screen settings or offers inappropriate screen modes. Anyone for 640x480@52Hz on a 19-inch CRT?.... This problem is so widely acknowledged as a weakness of Ubuntu that I was surprised that Ubuntu 8.04 was still getting it wrong. Ubuntu should use its leadership muscle to create a robust, reliable solution from scratch or champion an existing project?"

Number 3 is Mounting - "It's a shame that Ubuntu doesn't come with a GUI tool to configure the boot-time mounting of new partitions. Most advice on this issue revolves around editing /etc/fstab. A common complaint is that the partition can be seen but the permissions are wrong." I have had this latter issue, which was easily solved, but in a "just works" desktop shouldn't happen.

Number 10 is Building from source - "Ubuntu's package management implementation constitutes a significant enticement for the potential switcher in its own right. However, building packages from source is unavoidable when a desired package isn't in the repositories or the version in the repositories is out of date. (Para break) The build instructions in most source packages put the package manager out of sync with the actual packages that are installed. Why doesn't Canonical standardise on one of the GUI build tools in tandem with Checkinstall? Checkinstall installs the compiled application but works with the package manager to keep it in sync with the real state of the system." This is a very good point. I install many apps outside of the apt-get control, and have to monitor them manually. One of the best things about a .deb install system (or any Linux system for that matter) is the ability to install so many different apps, which will upgrade automatically. Except those not in the apts...

A very good article, in my humble opinion, and I hope that Canonical hears his suggestions, but I would add, based on the pre-release theme for ubuntu 8.10 (here), an eleventh suggestion: the first thing I do upon a fresh Ubuntu install is get rid of the awful look, but this has to be the worst....